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

That's right, actually. I run the computer here off a large assembly of car batteries, which I recharge with a solar collector which I leave on during the day. I also have a couple of spare battery arrays for overcast days like this one...! Fragrant candles combine with the aroma of compost in the warm summer air, Mmmmmmm...

Anyway, Daze, I've been up since 5.30 this morning and I have to shower before I go to bed. Catch me quick if you need to, otherwise I'll speak you tomorrow.

You're back!!!

oh, wait, you disappeared

there you are again

stop toying with me!!!

Sorry Daze - browsers at work and at home have been cutting me off recently: the "monolithic dominance of the Microsloth Corporation" with all its usual repercussions is responsible for this, I think. Last night I was waiting for a short time for you to reply, and then the browser went "ping" and kicked me off. This was probably all for the best, I suspect, because I was late getting in to work this morning as it was... It's certainly not the intention to toy with you, however.

Did you manage to get some sleep in that time, or are you insomniac as well...?

I was joking about the toying thing so don't think that I was actually mad okay?

yes, Amanda and I are both insomniacs which explains why you don't ever see either one of us here until later in the day. I've always been like that. Yesterday, I got up at noon, took a nap from 4-6, and stayed up until 6am. Then I went to bed. Same today.

I didn't actually have the impression that you were mad - just that I could probably have explained myself a bit better!

I'm afraid I couldn't live that insomniac lifestyle - I'm much more like the rhyme ("Early to bed, Early to rise..."), it's just that I'm not wealthy, and wisdom seems to be further and further from my grasp each day. It's good to see that you do actually sleep, however. Thank goodness when time differences actually work out in your favour!

I went over to your home page and read your new intro: very impressive. This is exactly the sort of thing I think a good article on the subject should include. From a purely sub-editorial viewpoint, you need to work on some spelling and punctuation! I suspect that the writing genes in your family haven't entirely deserted you, though...

well, thank you for being impressed. It was the best I could do in the middle of the night. I didn't really write it so as to have it critiqued, but I did correct the ONE misspelled word for you. Otherwise, aside from the somewhat misplaced semicolon, I didn't see much else wrong with it grammatically. Thanks for the feedback, though.

EVERYTHING people write on h2g2 gets critiqued - but few people write as well as you do to begin with, so there's probably not quite so much you can learn from it! I think that the corrections you made were the right ones...

Have you had a look at Vegiman's Critique Fun Runs yet? Speaking of critiquing, I'm pretty sure that it was this alone that enabled me to get my "Housewarming parties" article accepted, so I'm a big fan of the idea.

BTW I'm just going through your "questions" email now. It's difficult at this time in the morning (Saturday morning) though!

it's difficult to read or to answer?

Only to answer - plus then I have to decide who else to send it to...!

um...you could send it to me for a start

Pending...

okay, I got it...I'm confused about a couple of things though. I think I'll just e-mail you and clarify.