h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

How strange...all the apostrophes have been replaced with question marks! Is it just my pc or is it the messageboards?

My screen display is fine, MJ. How much of the Aussie red (liquorice) have you had, then!?

Posted: Sunday 18 February 2007 23:50:03

>>I had a listen to some of your Jussi Bjorling links. You won’t be surprised to hear I’m not a big fan, but I did enjoy listening.

Ooooh you shouldn't have said that H, MJ will never talk to you again

None - I bought Panda but that's long gone! (Does liquorice - thought you spelled it with a 'c' a few weeks ago? - have hallucininatory powers?) However, the wine bottle's only half full - or perhaps half empty - whichever you prefer.

Posting my last to the soon to be closed Opera Quiz over on R3 - it's been fun following it and occassionnally posting too.Nice bunch of regulars on it.

Night night everyone,

MJ
xx

I would prefer it to be emptied. Into my glass. Immediately.

Best wishes
Achilles

Good morning all

I wrote something for posting last night but the system was down - does anyone know when it comes back on? I waited until about 0020 and gave up; but when I've been working late I've noticed it usually seems to be working again before 0100. Anyway, it's a bit stale now but this is what I wrote:

Hi Andy

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I know. I’m testing my risk-taking skills!

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Don’t know about hallucininatory - or even hallucinatory; the Dutch say that ‘Drop’ is mildly addictive – which I find quite credible. Earlier, though, I was playing with the words ‘red’ and ‘black’ which used to describe something other than liquorice when I was a student! Mimi will tell you all about it. Is there a 'gold' liquorice from Acapulco?

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Probably quoting the packaging, MJ. My usual spelling is with a ‘qu’. Both spellings are given in the COD; interestingly, though, when I looked up what I imagine to be the William Brown spelling I found it means something else:

Lickerish, liquorish: Fond of dainty fare; greedy, longing; lecherous.

something new learned every day, huh? This must be cognate with the Dutch 'lecker' (sp?) meaning something like 'delicious'.

It must be good wine you're on, though; your “occassionnally” is even more idiosyncratic than usual!

goodnight all

H


I see Achilles has paid us a visit in the meantime. Hi Achilles.

Hi, H. Good to see you in.

Good evening all

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Nearly missed this little message. I hope you're well, Achilles. Dorinelle (Mrs Lecuir) was asking about you a mere 15 minutes ago on the WoM board.

It might be a bit late now, but BBC4 starts a re-run of 'The Day Today' at 2100. I think Mimi's a fan and it seems the kind of thing to interest MJ. I'm not so interested as I, uncharacteristically, bought the DVD set at full price a while ago; which shows how highly I rate the series.

I'm going to resume watching the football now.

back later

H

Hello H et al,

Quite a flurry of activity here during my absence! MJ, I am very glad you are not lost to us after all. I am used to Achilles and Andy appearing less frequently ... always a nice surprise when I do find them here.

I haven't had much of a chance to sit down at the computer over the last few days. I saw my Mum and sister E on Sunday - for some unknown reason, I got the frosty treatment from sister M on the phone (and also had it put down on me when I tried to find out the reason) but she wasn't there while I was visiting.

I managed to get home in time to watch The Conspiracy Files on BBC2 about 9/11 ... interesting (and a bit scary! ... I did have my large pinch of salt at the ready, though!!).

Will try to return tomorrow evening - Weds. my busiest day at work.

Love,
Mimi
xxxx

Hi Mimi

I'm just off to bed, I'm afraid. I'll reply tomorrow

Goodnight

H

Good afternoon all

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What a pain. I wouldn't even have tried to find out the reason - life's too short. These things usually blow over, don't they?
I trust your mum is well.

I didn't see the Conspiracy programme. I shouldn't let it worry you. In most cases the official version might be more or less of a cover up but it's still likely to be more accurate than any conspiracy story. I have a private theory that 9/11 was a mistake in that the people who planned it didn't expect mass carnage. They wanted a spectacular event with perhaps a few dozen deaths - not something so enormous it would brand the perpetrators as loonies of a barely-human kind. Conspiracy theories usually arise because we want to balance the cause of an event with its emotional impact. Some people just didn't want Diana* to have died because of a drunken driver and some money-grubbing journos so they give credence to any daft theory that makes it more mythical. Likewise it's quite painful to accept that 9/11 happened through the agency of a gang of sordid extremists. But that's almost certainly how it came about.

Our pavements are being replaced this week - though it's just another coating of tarmac; it seems we common folk no longer deserve flagstones - we'd only trip over them and sue the council. The noise is pretty loud so it's lucky I haven't got any complex tasks to do in this week's work schedule.

I suppose I'd better get back to work

bye for now

H

* Did I ever tell you that my brother's m-i-l revered Diana, saw her as a role model and was devastated at her death. She was inconsoleable until she fixed on a new object of reverence - Jill Dando. Don't tell the conspiracy theorists!

Posted: Wednesday 21 February 2007 17:15:32

Have you looked at the new Radio 3 boards H? They're dismal, many regulars have given up and left. You're only allowed to talk about 4 programmes (in addition to Jazz). They brought in a Radio 2 Rottweiler yesterday on the Music Matters board to mod people and close threads since people were trying to use it to discuss "off-topic" programmes ie most of Radio 3's output.

Don't know if you've found "the other place" yet http://r3ok.myforum365.com

Hi Andy

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MJ 'found' it for me. I've not only been there, I've said 'hi' to someone claiming to be Andy D over there! That's got to be you, hasn't it?! I've also commented on the Angela Hewitt 'Artist Focus' programmes that seem to have little to do with AH other than having each programme begin with her playing.

I'm quite amazed by what the BBC has done with the R3 boards. As I said in my message to you on the 'other' board they could, at the very least, have set up a miscellany board like R4's 'The Choice is Yours'. As things stand there's nowhere to discuss Opera, Orchestral Concerts, Recitals, Drama, World Music, or New Music. Even if one accepts, and I know you don't, that the last two are somewhat esoteric the others are surely at the heart of R3. It bodes ill.

must get my dinner now

back later

H

Posted: Wednesday 21 February 2007 18:07:30

>>I've not only been there, I've said 'hi' to someone claiming to be Andy D over there!

Ooops, I remember now - Andy D IS me. You used to be able to look at the list of members but you can't now so I couldn't check whether you'd registered. I recorded the Artist Focus thing, expecting it to be all AH but was sadly disappointed. Won't bother in future.

dinnertime for me too
Andy

Evening all

Good result for Liverpool tonight, eh, Mimi. Let's hope they don't do something daft like play for a draw in the second leg.

bye for now

H

Hello H,

Yes, good news about Liverpool ... we'll still keep quiet about WH!

Now then, I'll know all about references to 'Red' 'Black' and 'Acapulco Gold'? You know me so well .... hey, hang about, you seem to know quite a lot about it as well.

Moving swiftly on ...

Still haven't spoken to M but she can stew in her own juice as far as I'm concerned! I did think about writing her a letter as she can make phone conversations really awkward ... but I've been quite busy. I've just written a letter to the Head of English at my children's school in an attempt to find out just what is being taught in respect of English grammar. I'll let you know what the answer is ... then I'll probably have to make a grovelling apology to all those people on WoM who bang on about falling standards!!

Conspiracy theories, I love 'em ... yep, Diana as well (I was semi-obsessive about that at one point), and (since you mentioned Jill Dando) Barry George. I know there are some crackpot theories around, I think I am discerning enough to discount the most implausible (there again, when CIA/MI5/MI6/KGB/Vatican etc. are involved, it's hard to know what IS implausible ... but that's half the fun).

I'm about to have tea, may be back later but I have my penultimate Maths tutorial tomorrow so I could have my head full of numbers, Pi etc. instead of words!

Love,
Mimi

Good evening all

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I never touched the stuff but once, Mimi. I suspect I was just too drunk to appreciate it but I formed the lifelong impression that it was a lot of fuss about nothing. It was impossible not to know the terminology, though. I bet MJ knows what we're talking about really...hang on..MabelJane...oh, no, it's MaryJane isn't it? As you were. I can still imagine her making Alice B. Toklas brownies on the quiet, though - vegetarian ones, of course.

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that's the spirit! Don't be tempted to write, though. I know people who'd keep such letters for years and it's surprising how crazy your words can look when dragged up out of context many years later.

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Ah, poor Mr Bulsara! Actually that could be an exception. I don't know if it's a full-blown conspiracy but I'm still amazed they got a conviction for that. Some of the contrivances used in that prosecution were breathtaking.

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You weren't alone. It was quite scary how people got carried away by grief that can't possibly have been genuine. Where I work we tend to the other, the iconoclastic, end of the spectrum. As D had evicted the Spice Girls from the newspapers we took to referring to her as Dead Spice.

dinner calls

back later

H

I hate to disappoint you H but I really don't know exactly what you're on about! I can hazard a guess of course but I led an exceedingly sheltered student life - pints of cider were about my only vice!

Did you all have pancakes on Tuesday? I thought not! We did but not for any religious reason, just that it reminds me that pancakes are nice to have now and again. I remembered the lemon:
http://www.laiwa.com/cache/3/1/128_511166_128x128.gif
but he wasn't too pleezed to be squeezed!

MJ

Hello again

<>

Pints of cider, MJ? What's wrong with halves of lager and lime in a laydeez glass? As I said earlier, I never bothered with this kind of thing; and you clearly have no need of it as you appear to be capable of canvassing the opinions of lemons without narcotic encouragement. MaryJane - and MaryAnn for that matter, but not MabelJane - is, of course, Marijuana. 'Red' was usually Lebanese hash, or 'red leb'; 'Black' often came from Pakistan and, for reasons completely unassociated with drugs, its usual nickname probably can't even be posted here. As for Alice B. Toklas brownies, well:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_B._Toklas

read for yourself.

I didn't have any pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, I'm afraid. I had enough pancakes to last the next decade while I was in Dallas. My yankee s-i-l is very proud of her pancakes and they are rather good; but, boy, did she make a lot of them. You'll be glad to know I made her buy me some lemons because all that cream and maple syrup stuff is just too much for me.

bye for now

H

Hi H,

Just called in quickly ... head still spinning with numbers after a day of Maths but that was the last of the teaching - the last one is a mock test, then it's the real thing. I must watch the film 'Pi' again - have you seen that? A told me it was on Freeview a few weeks ago (that might mean a few months ago, though) - we have it on video somewhere in the loft!!

I'm not writing to M - I feel the onus is on her to make contact ... but if I did, it would not be anything that I would regret at a later date. My letters have been known to work wonders in the past ... two of my most treasured possessions are replies from Peter Gabriel and the author Robert Heinlein!

Oh dear, am I name-dropping again?

Love
mimi
xxxx