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

Thankyou for all the kind messages. Sorry I can't stay. Tara.

Pegasus

P'raps ..if you're ever by here, y'know, just browsing you'll be moved by my curiosity concerning the word 'expended'. I am one of those unforunate people who never learned how to read or research - even the internet is relatively useless to me as a quick resource - because I always depended on friends, family, co-workers, co-habitants, etc., to keep me abreast of whatever is worth knowing or currently topical.

Generally this policy has kept me well enough informed to carry on seemingly mutual beneficial conversations with all sorts about everything under the sun. The downside, if there is one, is that I tend to take a word I've never seen before, or used in a context I've not encountered before - like 'expended' - and simply try to extrapilate the meaning intuitively.

I have learned from painful experience that looking up something like that will lead to multiple possible meanings. Certainty may only be achieved by asking the original source directly, what does that mean?

Failing that I am left believing it is 'ex' as in 'from' and 'pend' from 'pendre' or 'penser'. Then choosing only between these two logical possible meanings - 'taken out of' or 'out of thought' - I would want to believe the latter. The literal interpretation, 'dead', is to horrible to contemplate and presumes I will never get a proper response to my quite legitimate question (above).

Let me assure we all run out of thoughts. It happens to the best of us, though many will (somewhat paradoxically) not want to consider that. Being temporarily lost and brain blanked is part of Life's cycle, part of the growth and healings processes. If however you are suggesting you were 'taken out' or 'driven out', I would like to know why and have a quiet word with the dispersing agent or agents. BTW: I love your flying horsey.


~jwf~

Were you moved by my explanation though?

I'm assuming you mean your explanation at A704387?

Yes. I have been greatly concerned for all those who have lost something of themselves, of their community, of DNA, of their innocence or of the Meaning of Liff by the changes to h2g2. I have watched dozens sink beneath the murky waters of despair and disappear; that's why I needed to reach out to you in particular and let you know that the end is not here, really.

Just as the 'restaurant at the end of universe' is always serving 'last meals' and always will be, life is always more dear on the death row, nearer the edge of the abyss.

Perhaps I have been having too much fun, playing with fire. With the <./>agggag</.> group I have been poking the Beeb and TPTB in the eye at every chance I get because I am convinced that the only way to hang on to 'what was' is to hang on to the form and format of DNA's absurdism, iconoclasm and constantly unexpected rescues.

Yes, there will be a large bird appear beneath us sooner or later to break our fall and lift us to new heights even if that means being trapped in a guano filled ear of a gigantic statue erected in our honour for heroic events that haven't happened yet.

More seriously, more to the point, it isn't just h2g2 and the Beeb. The entire web has been raided by mercenaries and all the old 'free' sites are gone. 'Free'-dom has been replaced by user fees and moderation everywhere. And the world to seems to have gone a little madder since last September.

For me, all of this only means more reason to hang on here where the greatest number of froody dudes ever gathered and try to keep the homefires burning.

The secret of course is not take 'Them' or 'He' or She' or 'It' seriously. I still get moderated about once a week. If I fight it, I usually get re-instated because I walk a very fine line which is always subject to interpretation and I can usually argue that 'evil is in the eye of the beholding moderator'.

And sometimes I just let it go without a fight because the 'hidden posting' makes a statement of its own and is usually followed by unifying messages of empathy from others and my own ridiculous attempts at apology which endear me to those whom god says will inherit the earth.

Anyway, me red headed wench, don't be a stranger.
Either here or at n2g2 (where you can say anything you want).
I noticed you joined us there but you haven't said much.
Or is there really another redheaded flying horse in this universe?

~jwf~

Actually, I was referring to the mail I sent you (at n2g2).

I will try and stop by there, but the convos proved too hard to follow by mail.

Thanks. I don't want to lose touch with the peeps that made h2g2 great. Just don't feel I want to 'contribute' here at present.

Sus xx

Ooops. Yes I just checked my n2g2.com mailbox and there you were. I keep forgetting about that one and probably should delete it from my name. But it was such a hard fight to get it and keep it in my name bar during the early days of moderation when n2g2dotCom was a viable alternative to the situation here. But Doctor Gonzo has been quietly missing and the message boards there are dusty with non-use... so I keep forgetting to check that mailbox.

The e-mail link at the very bottom of my h2g2homepage goes to a new account at Canada.com which I check much more regularly and is perfectly safe and private.

Of course n2g2dotCom still has a link to the n2g2 at yahoo forum, which is the main area where the disgruntled and disenchanted go when we have 'Nowhere 2 Go 2'.

I have forwarded your e-mail to myself at [email protected] and with your permission will subsequently post it on to the n2g2Yahoo thread. But not without your consent. The story is incredible, almost beyond belief. Even I who rail against the powers have never seen the like before. I am not a 'joiner' but the recinding of a guru badge, if I had one, would have made me quit too.
As for the inaccuracies and inadequacies of any dialog with those of the italicised persuasion, I have long since given up. I get more satifaction from yelling at the 'auto responder' at TV Guide when I complain that 'my show wasn't on!'

Yes, n2g2 at Yahoogroups is a muddled thread and the e-mail digests must get quite choked with redundant 'replies' attached to previously read postings. Especially since those of us who read it all online sometimes 'reply' inside the previous posting or at the bottom and or the top... It must be maddening to follow that way.

And yes it is dominated by four or five voices mostly just being silly but at least we are free of moderation. Perhaps you will join us there more often.

I have seen your other invitations and will pursue them as well.
(Suddenly have the feeling someone is listening to our conversation...)

peace
~jwf~