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

Hello there John, forgive me for being presumptious, but I'm just asking you this because of your nickname

Would you have any interest helping me to set up some sort of gardening forum on h2g2? I know there are some gardening and plant related entries in the guide, but many are a couple of years old. What I'm thinking is that if there was some kind of central hub, more people might take an interest in posting and discussing entries. After all, it's quite a common interest.

Just a thought, anyway, what do you think?

That's a good idea. I'm surprised, now that I think about it, that there isn't one already. I'd be happy to help out.

Did the last part of my name tag, h2g2 Friends of Tibet - A2170982, pique your curiosity?

Let me know how I can help.

JTG

Actually yes, I noticed the bit about Tibet. I've known about Tibet for quite a while. Actually I was going to go to see the Dalai Lama speak last year but had to pull out at the last minute. A mate of mine went though, and was seriously impressed. One of the things he seemed struck by was his great sense of humour - I got the impression he expected him to be very "solemn" and "spiritual" in the dusty dry sense - not the case at all!

Oh, dear; it's a shame that you had to miss the Dalai Lama. My wife and I have seen him several times, most recently at the Kalachakra initiation in Toronto this year. It's quite amazing how he can be very solemn one moment and cracking jokes the next. You get the sense that he operates on a lot of different levels at the same time, and shifts effortlessly back and forth from one to another.

I noticed your new post on the Peer review, which I want to re-read when I get more time. I want to brush up on the history of Tibet. I'm probably quite rare among sympathisers for Tibet in that I do have a certain amount of respect for Mao Zedong , and I don't feel that everything that resulted from his movement was completely wrong. That said there were definitely horific events committed in the name of socialism, not least in Tibet. It is certainly a topic that deserves to be studied, and for people to be made more aware of it. What first sparked your own interest in the matter?

On the gardening thing, I'm not sure how to go about it. I suppose the first thing would be to make a basic page with links to some of the good guide entries. My hope is that we can centralise it a bit, and more people will come across it, hopefully they will feel encouraged to discuss and post entries of their own.

The initial thing is probably just the first page though. Maybe I'll get cracking on it sometime this week. Then it'll be a matter of publicizing it really - and creating a few more entries of course

Cheers
KB

The Tibetan Photo Project Entry has been languishing a bit, I'm afraid. I think a lot of people have the tendency to roll their eyes when it comes to Tibet, which is very unfortunate. Perhaps the Tibetan cause is suffering a bit from being embraced by celebrities. Sadly, Tibet has taken on a bumper-sticker quality for a lot of people which seems to overshadow the harsh reality of what is actually taking place.

If you do get the chance to have a read of my Entry, do please follow the links to the Tibetan Photo Project site and have a quick look around; it's quite an accomplishment. A very good source of information about Tibet is UK-based Tibet Information Network:

http://www.tibetinfo.net/.

I agree, there is quite a lot about Mao that is admirable. I think to judge him fairly you have to see him in the context of the shambles that was China at the end of the Qing Dynasty through the Japanese occupation and the civil war. On the other hand, if a European leader had been responsible for so many deaths of his own people he would be pretty thoroughly reviled. I guess we can only speculate whether or not the Nationalists would have done a better job.

My interest in Tibet was sparked by the Drepung monks and their Sacred Music and Dance tour. Then, I was really bowled over by books such as Mary Craig's 'Tears of Blood - A Cry for Tibet' and the amazing autobiography of Ama Adhe, 'The Voice that Remembers', which is one of the very few books I've read from cover to cover in one sitting - probably the only one, to be honest.

The Post has an announcement section that you could use to promote the gardening thing. You can also arrange to have the page you create installed in the World of h2g2 categories. You should get a good response, once word starts to get around; there is quite a lot of interest in gardening in the h2g2 community. I've written a few Entries myself, and subbed a good project by Mina, who's a keen gardener, on wildlife gardening.