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

go on then, see what you get It's a bit biased to USA Geeks and Star Trek fans, but still. And doesn't include any Doctor Who or Red Dwarf or the like.

Oh, I got 36.88363% - Major Geek

15.97633% - Geek

Thanks for that - it really brightened up my day. I have some friends who I will show this to now...

My aim in life - to get a higher score than you without cheating!

did I post the link above? I know I meant to, and you've clearly been to it, but it ain't there now? Or is it that you were clever enough to find it from my convos list?

Glad you liked it

No, you didn't post the link. I typed in "Geek Test" on Google and chose the first result. The test gave my percentage to a silly number of decimal places so I assumed it was the one you meant. I only got half your percentage though .

how useless of me! More braincells refusing to function!
And how coincidental that the test you found via google is actually the one I meant and at the same time!

Ah, but I've had a few more years to do all those geeky things in! Plus I probably got a few more points for roleplaying which I doubt is your sort of thing.

Mind you, if it added StarGate knowledge in there I reckon you'd have done a *lot* better

Thank you - I think. BTW, which sci-fi programmes are you into? I know you're not a big fan of Stargate, but I don't actually know which ones you do like.

Maybe I'll do the test again when I've been at Uni for a few years - I'll be a real geek then!

It was a compliment, honest!

I don't think I've ever really had a favourite scifi show. The nearest I got was Babylon 5 which I strongly recommend you see if you ever get the chance. But you need to watch it from episode 1 as there's stuff that happens then that makes a difference/makes sense much later on. Although it is episodic in format, the entire set of series tells a story so it's on the star trek format of each episode tells one story, but rather that each moves the whole story along, whilst also containing its own sub story. A format that it was first to do properly.

Deep Space 9 was out around the same time and for my money falls squarly into the trap that so many scifi shows do which is that it is basically a soap-opera-with-lasers show. Which is not what I wan't from my scifi.

I prefer the one offs really. Or short series. Mainly because it is very difficult to avoid the soap opera approach when you have a long running series - you need to keep the interest somehow and it is easier for the writters to do this through character stories than it is through having a story arc which inevitably becomes quite convoluted. I find that much more natural and real than the 'who's going to get off/backstab/disappear/change into something who' type stories. But then I always feel if I wanted social commentary and stories I just have to look outside my front door!

One offs that I like would have to include some of the best films in the genre.
Bladerunner, of course, is a must. You will have to see it at some point, sheer class.
Alien series of films is very good too, although they started off more as horror/scifi than pure scifi - although the horrow aspect isn't that bad really. Prob still got an 18cert on it though. Strong female lead as well which was somewhat unusual for the time in hollywood.

Doctor Who, of course, although I wish RTD would get over his assistant fixation and realise that The Doctor is the main character!

I watch Andromeda when it is on - s'okay with a few different takes on some of the technology.

Would like to see FireFly (cancelled US show) cos I saw the Serenity film which was quite good.

I'll give most stuff a go and see what I reckon to it. Not a huge Star Trek fan it must be said.

Stargate is OK but but I found some of the character motivations a bit weak - although that's more with Stargate atlantis than vanilla stargate.

I guess my problem is that as a teenager I devoured most, if not all, of the scifi and fantasy in the library so I've basically read every single storyline many times over in many variations of quality so I now look for something new or unusual in a story, something I haven't seen before. And that excludes most of the output because of course they make what people have watched before.

I do wish they'd remake Blake's 7 (don't try and watch it unless you can ignore the 'special' effects for the story line - it really was truly terrible visually!).

But most of the best scifi is still in dead tree format. You can do so much more with a readers imagination, if you are a good writer, than you can with CGI.

Oh yes, and there was a series I read a while ago about someone called Sky - that was quite good.

You said Doctor Who, what about Torchwood? (Although Captain Jack probably has more appeal for me than he does for you.) I have to say, I prefer Doctor Who to Torchwod for plot. Well, the last series of Doctor Who wasn't as good as the other two that I've seen, but in general the story lines are better.

I wanted to see the Serenity film but Mum wouldn't let me. BTW, a friend sat next to me now says to tell you that Firefly is brilliant *cough*mad-hatter*cough* (You know, it's hard to concentrate when the other three people in the room are messing arond. Oh well, I love 'em anyway)

Blake 7 scared me when I was younger - although I seem to remember enjoying it, kind of.

Dead tree format - I've never heard that phrase befre. It's quite clever. I haven't read many sci-fi books, unless you count Anne McCaffrey, and I've read the Dragons of Pern series so many times that I've lent them to a brother. As for Sky, she's been stuck in the computer for quite some time now, and she'll probably stay there, at least until a certain person has more time to go back and make them a whole lot better than they were.

for your lunch? I'm going to go and have mine now, coz I'm hungry. Bye!

I take it you're managing to get time on the computers at lunch again then? I do think it's great this place being on the BBC website so most webfilters don't block it

Torchwood. Well, it has a *lot* of potential. But so far unrealised.
It could have been, and should have been, far darker and more edgy, more mature but RTD seemed to get lost in his 'same sex relationships are OK' stuff (yes, we know, now get on with the story). Plus saying 'Torchwood!' every 5 minutes. He seems to think that everyone sh*gging everyone else = edgy/adult and it doesn't. I was really hoping they would develop the Captain Jack character and there were a few glimpses of a 'real' person but not nearly enough. I think RTD had been watching too much Buffy/Angel and thought he was Joss Whedon. In the end, I felt it almost ended up being a parody of itself. But there some good episodes.

I must get round to downloading FireFly one of these days.

McCaffrey is OK but I really never got on with the world she had created. Didn't quite gel for me. Plu!s all those! wo!rds with pun!ctua!tion in them More of an Isaac Asimov/Arthur C Clark/Brian Aldiss etc person. But again, I read whatever looks interesting, not just because a particular author has read it, and have found some real gems that way.

Enjoy your lunch!

We'll have to wait and see what the next series of Torchwood is like - it might fulfil all those criteria that you have! I've just watched it on BBC 3 actually - the one with Eugene in it. I like it, partly because it doesn't really focus on the Torchwood team for once, it's just a really good story about an ordinary guy.

I would also like to see Jack's character developed and explored - I like the episodes where we get to see more of him - I'm referring to his body in that statement as well as his emotions etc. Seriously, he's a really interesting character and it would be good if they went into who and what he was in more depth. We can but hope!

I tried reading Isaac Asimov once - didn't really get it though. I used to pick up whatever sci-fi stuff looked good, but I was nearly always disappointed so stopped bothering. The writing styles were all too odd, although I did come across a couple of good stories. Now I tend to read factual stuff more, although the local library doesn't really have many interesting books left now. I may actually have to start reading more stuff - expand my horizons and all that. Move away from what I normally read...Scary...

yews, I'm looking forward to the next series too. Having reread my post above it does come across rather negative, but I did watch all of the last series of Torchwood, and I did enjoy it. Just wasn't quite what I was hoping for - but what in life is

Asimov, and I'll prob get lynched for this, is not the worlds best writer. It's just he's the only one that writes the sort of stuff he writes (if you know what I mean). He's not too good on characterisation, but his exploration of society and so forth is interesting. Same with Clarke.

Nowt wrong with reading factual books - it's what I've been mostly rteading for the past couple of years with the occasional bit of fiction for relaxation.

Still haven't completed the book I have which explains all the current theories on the universe and existence - the algebra and geometry takes quite a bit of getting into (although you can skip it I fail to see the point! If you're going to read an explanation you might as well try and understand it!)

BTW - you come across this yet? http://www.freerice.com/index.php a chance to waste some time, help others and polish up your vocab at the same time!

I got to 500 grains of rice and stopped - while I have the computer to myself, there're more important things to do. However, I can see myself spending a lot of time on that site in the near future...

I have to admit, I tend to read the maths stuff in my books and think "OK, didn't understand that" and move on. If a book looks like it'll have too much algebra stuff in it, I leave it on the shelf. No point reading it until I'll understand it. I'm reading one about String Theory at the moment - it's quite heavy going, but I'm persevering. Proabably won't remember any of it, but it's quite interesting.

My relaxation? Watching Stargate and Torchwood - what else?

Ah, string theory - which version thereof?
Personally I quite like M-theory which tries to bring several different string theory varients together. I do not fully understand it, and it is not yet a complete theory. Plus the likes of arnie appelaide on here will tell you it really isn't taken too seriously (which, given he's done quantum physics at degree (poss. phd) level I guess he should know). But hey, we (human beings) are still working all this out.

"My relaxation? Watching Stargate and Torchwood - what else? "

Just wish they'd put the new series on - think it is on in Jan time. Meanwhile, my relaxation has been reading philosophy and the QI annual - learning is so much more fun when it isn't all about just learning numbers, dates and names by rote.

Well, I've only just got to the part in the book that's actually about string theory - the rest was about particle physics and stuff, which wasn't what I had expected when I picked it up off the shelf. I think it deals with a few different theories, but I don't really understand it so not much of it is sticking in my head. I may take it back soon and get another one out instead.

Aaaah! - no Torchwood until January (I knew that anyway but still) aah! However will I survive that long without the gorgeous Captain Jack? I really want it to be January...

I have to admit, it's great reading stuff at home rather than at school, because there's no-one telling me what I do and don't need to know. Plus, in Physics the other day, I was the only person (apart from the teacher, who I dislike) who knew that time was the fourth dimension. It's brill knowing stuff that the teachers don't expect you to know.

sounds like a sensible approach. I think it's why I don't do overly well at exams and tests. Thing is, when I'm learning, I'm learning stuff I find interesting, which isn't necessarily what the course admins test me on. It all goes in somewhere and swills around in my head until I have a reasonable idea of what it is on about. Then, perhaps, at some point I read something else that has a resonance with something I've read before and you get an 'aha!' moment that clarifies your thinking. Well, that's my excuse for bad grades anyway


You'll be surprised at what you read now and don't 'get' that comes back in the future at some point.

It can be a good feeling like you say to know stuff people don't expect you to, although in at least one case in my 2nd yr science (or poss 3rd year) I was the only one in class that knew the SI units for frequency. Which was great apart from the fact theat the teacher used that to berate the rest of the class for not showing interest. As you can imagine, didn't exactly make my life any easier at school!

Did you know that one of the experiments at CERN (I think it was) based on some of the quantum mkechanics theories has provided some evidence for the existence of a 5th dimension? Not conclusive, but certainly interesting.

No, I didn't know about that. Is there a website or link that you can give me where I can find out more about it? It sounds interesting. (BTW, I had to try to explain to my friends at school today how there could be more than three dimensions. Not an easy task!)

I'm quite lucky at school. Apart from being asked by various people if I could "Just help me with this one question for homework", people generally leave me alone. Well, normally anyway. Some of the teachers have (finally) picked up that I can actually manage the class work with relative ease (not meaning to sound big-headed) and have started to give me extra stuff to do. That, I don't mind - I like proving that I can do extra stuff. It's when they start asking me questions in class that I object - I don't like giving answers in case they're wrong. Oh well, I guess you don't get one without the other.

I did it again - 26.62722% - Total Geek!

yay! Well on your way now, I expect you to beat me within the next 4 yrs

btw, the fact you quote all the decimal places should give you a bonus I reckon!

I shall have to point you at a proper IQ test as well one of these days, just to see

Once I go to University, I shall win hands down! Well, maybe. I think I lose points on the computer related stuff, unlike you!

Do I lose the bonus if I say I just copied and pasted?

I've done a couple of internet ones; do they count? And, out of interest, have you done a proper one?

I did the home test MENSA one which won't give you entry (not sure I'd want to anyway) which I got top score on (cos it tops out at 152/top 1% or 2% (can never remember, porob 2%) so can't measure an IQ higher than that) and an invite to apply for a proper mensa test. The home one cost me a tenner (and I've since lost the letter ) the proper one is a tad more.

you can do their online one if you haven't already as a guide, but only that cos they can't tell if anyone is cheating! - http://mensa.free-iqtest.net/

The other site I go to when bored is http://www.queendom.com/ which has more tests than you can throw a stick at. The emotional intelligence is interesting (I'm not very good, no surprise there!) and their classic IQ test is a 'proper' one if you like. Interesting to while away 15/20mins and compare with mates!