When I first read the Hitchhiker books at age 14 or thereabouts, I thought it'd be a pretty neat idea if someone started putting together a real-life version. (Possibly a reflection on my life-long feeling that everyone else knows the rules, and I don't; it would have been nice, when I was a teenager, to have a book that told you everything you needed to know about everything.) From there, I started wondering about ways and means to start a Guide of my own.

Imagine, then, my delighted chagrin (if there can be such a feeling) to discover that someone had already done it, and done it well. Very well indeed. It was some years ago that I first heard of h2g2, and I'm only now getting around to joining, though I have done some fitful exploration from time to time.

So now I'm off to dive cheerfully into a welter of facts, theories, information, opinions and little interesting bits. I guess I can say goodbye to whatever faint hope there was of getting any work done this afternoon...