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

Good evening Mimi et al

I'm off to bed myself soon but I'll be watching the DVD of 'Edelweisspiraten' that my Dutch friends got for me from a German online shop; so I might well be sleeping late tomorrow!

On what you've told me I think you're right about sis. If someone hangs up on you it's down to them to make the next contact.

Heinlein is a name from the past - along with Ray Bradbury and Richard Matheson. Did you hear the dramatisation of 'I am Legend' on BBC7 recently? I remember reading 'Farnham's Freehold' when I was at school but I'm afraid Heinlein's name always makes me think of 'Starship Trooper'. "Sister bluebird...." What were you writing to him about then? (no need to answer if it's something embarrassing like offering to have his babies or do his typing for free!)

I'll be around tomorrow if anyone else is

Goodnight

H

Hi H,

Sorry it's taken me a while to get back to you.

I've dug out my letter from Robert Heinlein, that was written in 1982 when he was in his 70s and I was late-20s and no I was NOT offering to have his babies!! I can't really remember what I wrote but this is what he sent to me:

"An ever-increasing flood of mail forced me to chose between writing letters and writing fiction. But I read each letter sent to me and check its answer.

Your letter was most welcome!--loaded with friendliness and with no requests or demands. You suggested that no answer was expected but I must tell you how MUCH it pleased me. I wish you calm seas, following winds, and a happy voyage through life." So now you know why it is so treasured!!

I also can't remember the first book of his I read, I wasn't really that enamoured of sci-fi - I knew his name because 'Stranger In A Strange Land' was hailed as a Classic, but that wasn't the one I read first. I think it was 'The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress', followed by 'I Will Fear No Evil' (one of my favourites, where the brain of an old man is transplanted into a young female body!), then I was hooked and there was definitely no shortage of material to keep me going.

I've got some new calculations for my front page - I'll have to run them past you in the absence of Andy D! (I've left them downstairs but I'll remember to bring them up next time!!).

Back soon,

Love,
Mimi
xxxx

Good evening Mimi et al

Mr H seems a very considerate person. I don't know how popular he was in 1982 but if he was personally answering his mail in the late 1960s/ early 1970s it's a miracle he got any literature written. I was never a big SF fan either but lots of my schoolfriends were and he was certainly in the top five or ten authors by popularity.

BBC4 are showing 'Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy' again. Surely it's less than a year since it was last on. Maybe it's because of Ian Richardson's death. I wish they'd show it on consecutive nights so I could record it. Seven weekly episodes means I'm almost certain to miss one. Mind you I know it almost by heart as I've read the novel a couple of times too; so missing an episode is no big deal.

I'll have a look at your calculations...but have you forgotten it took me three goes to pass Maths 'O' level?

bye for now

H

Hi H,

I'll leave the numbers for tomorrow (don't worry, 0-level Maths is way beyond what I'm doing, there won't be anything complex I can assure you!) ... just coming back to 9/11, I thought you might be interested to see this from our local paper:-

http://www.theargus.co.uk/mostpopular.var.1219050.mostviewed.interview_the_untold_story_of_september_11.php

Back tomorrow,

'Night,
Mimi

Good evening all

Thanks for the link, Mimi. The thing that first struck me was "up to 75 per cent of Americans believing their government hasn't told them the whole truth about that tragic day." Does that mean 25% believe the government has told them the whole truth? That would amaze me. But as for the conspiracy theory itself: is there a bit missing? Are they claiming the government said "right, that's the twin towers judiciously mined; now to recruit people to fly a couple of planes into them"; or that they knew of the plot to hijack the planes and fly them into the buildings and some bright spark said "hey, instead of foiling this plot we'll help it along a bit"? I'd rather believe things happened that science can't yet explain than swallow either of those tales. Even if it's true I'd rather not be paranoid enough to suspect it!


I'm afraid I'm sticking with my mild conspiracy+cock-up+cover-up explanation. The terrorists conspired but cocked it up in that they didn't think the whole lot would collapse like that (and weren't the planes late? I have in the back of my mind the idea that this should have happened before the rush-hour got under way) and then some of the details were covered up - some even for good reasons like not telling the next lot of terrorists about any weak points in your civic defences.

Anyway I'll cut this short and leave the message that episode 2 of 'The Day Today' is on BBC4 at 2100 if anyone's interested.

bye for now

H

Hi all of you. As you can see I've been tempted to sign in again - I have so little will-power...

Here's a little teaching anecdote which is still making me chuckle... Our topic this half-term is Senses and I was explaining to the children on Monday how they could identify the mystery object in the Feely Bag by using a sense - but which one? They guessed "feeling" so I asked them which sense that would be. No answer so I prompted: "You'll use your sense of...???" At last one little boy put his hand up. "Your sense of humour?" I think it was a serious suggestion - which made it even funnier!

MJ
xxx

Good evening all

and a special welcome to MJ. I trust you enjoyed 'Discovering Music' on Sunday. I've looked at your home page and, judging by your discussion list, you've plenty of will-power - unless you're contributing dozens of posts on the few threads where you've been active! I registered with the alternative R3 board. It's quite impressive and I almost feel guilty for not posting more there; but the fact is I've never been very active on the R3 boards outside the Proms season. I might have a peek at the Opera board later and see if there's any clue as to why the BBC4 'Ring' has ground to a halt before 'Siegfried' again. I'm off to Cologne in a couple of weeks' time and I might catch 'Die Walküre' and/or 'Siegfried' while I'm there.

Are you still watching 'Party Animals', Mimi? I see ITV is running 'Confessions of a Diary Secretary' against it tonight. So that's something I already know to be awful against something that's almost certainly awful (just because all ITV dramas are usually rubbish). I'll be listening to 'CotW', one R Wagner.

bye for now

H

Hello H,

No 'Party Animals' in any shape or form on my tv tonight! Brighton & Hove's Secondary School Admissions Review was lead item on BBC Lunchtime News (also on R4 'Today') - I won't go into all the ins and outs (we're talking Council here ... conspi .... oops, nearly!) but on the News, the words Schools Lottery were the banner headline for the story ... now that's one collocation that makes me shudder. There's a logistical problem here since a Secondary School in East Brighton was closed and there are others bunched close together on the other side of the city but the Council's solution to the problem is complete lunacy. It is not just parents who are in uproar - the schools are as well.

Here's a link, just in case you (or MJ) want to know more:-

http://www.theargus.co.uk/mostpopular.var.1222722.mostviewed.school_plans_pushed_through.php

Love
Mimi
xxxx

Hi Mimi

I haven't time tonight to do your story justice but I'll save the text in case the link goes dead and read it tomorrow.

goodnight all

H

Good evening all

Looks like a right old mess as far as the schools are concerned, Mimi. That trick of taking people off committees if they don't toe the party line is rather disturbing. I suppose there might be good reasons but it looks, on the face of it, like cynical politicking. It certainly doesn't do the image of the Green party much good. I'm less surprised to see New Labour at it. There's an awful lot of correspondence attached to the report. What is "the influential Queens Park lobby"? You used to live near Loftus Road, didn't you? Conspiracy theory, anyone?!

Time for Wagner now. I'm going to record the 'Reichenbach Falls' thing on BBC4, too. It looks worth a disc.

back later

H

Hi Mimi and H and Andy and Douglas and Achilles,

I wallowed in Verdi last night - thoroughly enjoyed Simon Boc on R3 - though now and then Hampson's tendency to sing sharp did grate a bit. He was good though. Wish I could have been there. And Angela G was marvellous. You can't beat a live performance on the radio - I think it's the element of danger involved that I love; for example, ensemble singing can fall apart so easily so I appreciate it all the more when it's spot on. Also of course you can hear them moving about on stage which adds to my enjoyment. I don't mind some audience noise though intrusive clapping can be annoying and there's always some idiot who has to shout a premature "Bravo!". (There was a Bravo discussion a year or two ago wasn't there H?)

Anyway, today it's a getting on with a massive back-log of jobs round the house day, not a posting on here day so I'll log off now and try not to return too soon...

Hope you're all enjoying your Sunday whatever you're up to - oh, must just add that Little R did very well yesterday playing her Grade 1 piano pieces in a local music festival and won a medal. I'm in Proud Mum Mode now!

MJ
XXX

Good evening all

Good to hear from you, MJ. I'm glad you enjoyed Simon B. That's been two weeks on the trot for your type of thing, hasn't it? I heard some of the Verdi (you'll remember I find him much more bearable than Puccini) and I was quite horrified at the number of interruptions for applause. Did they shout 'Bravo' for Ms G, then? You probably remember my getting mildly annoyed on WoM at audiences who can't learn 'Brava' and 'Bravi'. It doesn't annoy me nearly as much as drowning out the last few bars, which Met audiences have almost turned into a tradition. And even that doesn't annoy me as much as WoM posters telling me that even Italian audiences always use 'Bravo' only when I'm listening to recordings of live performances in which 'Bravi' can clearly be heard!

It's 'Meistersinger' next week, overlapping with 'Siegfried' on BBC4 - whatever happened to joined-up scheduling? It's a good job I can record one (or even both) of them. After a wait of almost a year they're now showing the ROH 'Siegfried' between 2100 and 0200. What a peculiar slot! It means I have to stay up at least until the end of Act II because my discs will only record 2 hours on a reasonable-quality setting.

That's good news about your daughter. Is she sticking with the piano or is it too early to decide?

Have you been to London this weekend, Mimi; or are you too busy with school politics? I trust your mum is still well.

I'm going to get my dinner now. I'll look in later - if I can extricate myself from a rather pointless discussion with Welsh Chris on WoM!!

bye for now

H

Hi H,

I didn't make it up to London yesterday - the weather was awful and I had a few things to catch up on - I probably won't go up until Mothers Day on the 18th. Still haven't heard from M but E is keeping me informed on how Mum is, she's in a care home for a few more days and seems ok but often the 'care' falls short of what is really needed.

Did you see any of the lunar eclipse on Saturday? We had a really clear sky but the view from our back garden was somewhat marred by the glare of a bare lightbulb shining from an upstairs window in a newly-painted, very light-coloured room that intensified the electric light (our neighbours are away, their builder/decorator had left it on). Anyway, it was still very impressive, very red!

And I'm trying not to get too caught up in the school politics - I know the fight will go on so will make sure I keep up-to-date with developments. There are plenty of strident parents out there to fight the cause, who will be personally affected by the changes. I'm quite happy to leave it up to them! This whole business will be crucial to my decision on how to vote in the May elections and I think a lot of people will be feeling the same way.

I liked the way you brought in a football reference with the mention of Queens Park - yes, way back in the mists of time I was a very keen QPR supporter (Rodney Marsh had quite a lot to do with that, apart from the fact that I did live practically on the doorstep of the ground ).

I'm not so inclined to post on WoM at the moment - it sems to be going through one of those funny little phases, which it does once in a red moon (ha!).

Love
Mimi
xxxx


PS to MJ

Well done to Little R



By the way, I forgot to say I liked your 'Senses' anecdote - you should keep these gems in a book. We used to have one in our staff room entitled "They said what?!" but it disappeared ... maybe someone has taken it away to get it published!

Love
M

Quick hi before bed. Baby rhino's been born at last - did I mention it before?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/content/articles/2007/01/02/rhino_birth_launch_feature.shtml

So far, for 3 hours, mum Sita hasn't shown much interest - exhausted, poor thing but baby's OK on heated floor. See clip under Rhino Cam - Watch Now. Fingers crossed she'll help him up to feed him soon...

Thanks for your kind comments about Little R's little triumph! She loves playing piano, also flute and singing so as long as she's enjoying her music she'll continue. She tried my saxophone the other day and to my amazement started playing tunes on it - now she wants lessons on that too!!! It almost weighs more than her!

Goodnight,

Jane
XXX

Good evening all

I missed the eclipse, Mimi; well I missed the spectacular red effect. I did notice the moon was very dull later but that might have been a local thing. The sky wasn't cloudy but the moon looked like a torch with weak batteries if that means anything to you.

WoM isn't too bad. There does seem to be a lot of smartarses there at the moment but I can ignore that. It's people taking the threads off-topic all the time just for their own amusement that annoys me. I hope you know what I mean.

I must dash now in case the bar comes down at midnight.

Oh, I liked your 'sense of humour' story too, MJ. Sorry I didn't acknowledge it earlier.

goodnight

H

Hello H,

Another quickie ... my head is still spinning with numbers, numbers, numbers. Took a mock test yesterday and scored 36 out of 40 (it would have been 37 but I finished early and changed one of my answers ... grrr!). I'm supposed to do some more online tests before the real thing on Monday but there are 10 of them and they take 1 1/4 hours so I don't think I'll be doing ALL of them!). I've just been having some light relief, typing out the Minutes of the Governors' Curriculum Committee Meeting (I'm not a Governor, I just sit in on those meetings, they're REALLY interesting!).

WoM - like the new competition, you know my propensity for proverbs! As for smartarses - I have found out quite a lot about a certain troll I came up against recently by going to Alan Seago's own message forum (on which I am now registered - uh-oh!). And as for people taking threads off-topic for their own amusement ... like getting in as many song/lyric connections as possible, you mean?

You mentioned the bar coming down at midnight in your last message - has that been happening recently?

Love
Mimi
xxxx


PS to MJ - Saw baby rhino being born on the News, BIG AAAAAAAAAAAAH!!

Good evening all

Good to see you on WoM, MJ.

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So you're good at mockery then, Mimi! Seriously, though, I'm a little puzzled by maths (especially arithmetic) tests. When I was at school it wasn't unusual for me to get 36/100 (not 36/40 like some clever clogs!) but now whenever I take a snap test - like the ones they sometimes put in the paper or online to accompany a news story about educational standards - I tend to score 100% with ridiculous ease. I hesitate to conclude that standards have fallen; but that explanation does suggest itself, doesn't it?

<>

Could be!!! No, I know that threads can naturally take a direction of their own. I'm thinking more of people who post stuff that hasn't any natural connection to the topic AND persist even if their proposed diversion isn't taken up. Does that make sense?

<>

More often than not. I think the board comes back to life some time before 0100 but I'm usually well abed by then. Try posting at 0002 and see if you get a message like 'there is a problem with our system'.

goodnight

H

>>>Try posting at 0002 and see if you get a message like 'there is a problem with our system'.

Goodnight!!!

It was 00:02...

Maybe my pc's fast!!!