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

The other thread where we've been being a public nuisance got too long, so I'm moving the gantries, anacondas of coax, mixing vans, hot dog stalls and crew over here. You don't mind, do you?

Umm, I guess it's pretty ironic that one of the first people here is a newbie. Stragbasher referred the old forum to some of us, and I came in at the tail end. I was intrigued by the conversation, and I wanted Stragbasher to know that I have an open mind, as most people here do. I don't remember how exactly I found h2g2, but in the few months I've been here, I've met quite a lot of intelligent, informed people. I am Canadian, so I am really out of the politics and most of the news.

It just happens that as I sit here NPR has run a little item about your beer commercials starring "I am a Canadian!!" Joe. It's described as an uncharacteristically nationalistic ad which has drawn a lot of fervent applause.

So welcome alicat; I believe I've met up with you in other fora, but can't remember where. In case stragbasher hasn't told you, Mrs, ffMike will be having a baby in early August. I felt it wasn't too soon to start organising the celebration...

Hiyall,

In between trying to follow this forum as it hops around the place I'm writing an email to Alicat to fill her in on who everyone is, and why we're all bitter and twisted.

It gives me something to do while things load. It's really slow today isn't it? I thought they had fixed that a few weeks back. It all certainly seemed OK for a while.

Oh well.

Important announcement: I've done away with the divert that brought stragbasher's email to tmwc, and set up a new user profile on my browser. The new profile has the cookies to get me into h2g2, which means that I won't be tempted to just swing by whenever I log on 'for 5 minutes' in case someone wants to buy a rocket from tmwc.

It won't really affect anyone here, so I don't know why I mention it, except that it means you can now all harangue me when I re-appear every 20 minutes instead of doing something more useful.

Speaking of which, I finished the final coat of white enamel on the boat today and some guys in the boatyard nearby promptly blew dust all about it. Remember my mention of the tarps to keep the dust down? Laws like that obviously only apply to people who can be bothered thinking about them, so I have to support Io in saying that intelligent people tend to be more bitter.

However, if intelligence and bad temper are linked then next door's dog must be the smartest person I know. Or would be if we hadn't moved away. Her owner (Canadian & barmy!) was making noises about the humane society when we left, so it'll be interesting to see how smart she is really.

Perhaps I should give her to Mike A for his 'furry experiments'?

I quit the aviation job, on account of financial difficulties, and start painting (sigh) in the morning.

I found h2g2, after going to DNA's website, after hearing a radio show that he made for the BBC about the internet. I downloaded the show after seeing a link to it from the bbc online, and I have no idea how I came to be there - although I was probably looking for the world service in a desperate bid to get some quality news.

Which only goes to show that in the modern, wired, world being Canadian is no excuse for being out of the politics and news. Personally I prefer to just say "well I looked at the news and it was all kak so I stopped again", which is basically true.

Although I'd still like to know about the Sultan of Brunei's lil bro' and his nipples.

Lil, I love the idea of you muttering to yourself while waiting for the page to load. I usually try to perform a useful task, and if I was to follow your example I'd be up on deck, in full view of the world, shouting "But how can you refer to God as an eternal truth if you can't prove he exists?". Worse still I could have been at Mike's bestiality forum!

And how does the teacup suddenly 'go empty'? I used to have a vodka bottle that could do that, so I'd be interested in knowing the answer to 'liquid impermanence'.

Loony, nice entry on Napier. I was there in the company of two teenage american girl hitchhikers.

all the best.

LOL. Thanks for your welcomes. Asteroid Lil, I also remember your nickname, though god knows from which forum. I am of the belief that the people you meet are the one's you are supposed to meet , at that time and place. All for the betterment of your existence. And, so, I met Stragbasher. Things are certainly slow today, server-wise. I couldn't even get on to h2g2 for some time. Then my own homepage was unavailable. Anyway, it's a pleasure to be here, and I am looking forward to your e-mail, Stragbasher.

Hey Alia

The email is winging it's way to you.

Or whingeing, depending on how you interpret these things.

As for meeting the people you're supposed to, I believe in self determination coupled with a heartfelt commitment to being open to new experiences.

Many of the people I meet, like many of my experiences, are not really to my tastes. But if I refused the possibility of new experiences then I wouldn't be able to meet any of the people I'm really glad about meeting, would I?

The essence of tmwc-hood lies in being able to deal with the bad events/encounters, and focus on the good. Eventually the world appears, to the casual observer at least, to be run for your personal benefit because the things that everyone else worries about don't seem to affect you.

I explained this to my previous girlfriend, who was an innocent american college student at the time, and six months later she's just sailed from Kiwi-land to Tonga and is still wandering around barefoot.

Alternatively Lil thinks it's down to my astrology, but we never did finish that conversation. Did we love?

Hmm 15:30 + 8 = past Mike A's bedtime. I'll come back tomorrow.

See ya.

Garius Lupus tells me that there were 87 people logged on at one point today, 24 of them brand-new.

Beats the hell out of me how my teacup (mug) gets empty. I reach for it and to my surprise there's nothing in it.

alicat, your belief about the predetermination of meeting people is covered by a word Vonnegut invented, "karass." A karass is the subset of all people whose presence in your life is meaningful. A "granfalloon" on the other hand is an organization of people who think membership of that organization is especially meaningful when in fact it is not. He had nationalism in mind when he posited that definition, but it applies to many other groups, like Mensa the the Republican Party.

I am ging to go away soon and play with my Painter app; I have discovered a gorgeous new special effect. If it works, I shall post some cyberjewelry. A variant may be useful for the planet chris website.

Oooh, oooh

A new word and some jewels for my homeplanet!

Can we use them to illuminate Paddy's 'artillery'? Apparently he's also got some shots of his girlfriend (or at least some girl he knows) painting faces on his buttocks with tomato suace, too. He claims to have been unconscious at the time, which must have rather spoiled the experience.

Could this be another one for Mike, the patron saint of things we'd rather not talk about in polite society?

Does anybody have any idea what the population of h2g2 is these days? Last I heard (months ago) it was nudging 30,000 but I'd be surprised if all of them were active. I know I have 3, maybe 4, usernames that don't do much except in times of emergency.

All I really know is that I'm glad, at this point in time, to have wound up in this forum, with you people. I have read your e-mail, Stragbasher, and I am now familiar with all the players. I want to read it again to really absorb the info. I don't have Noname's e-mail address, but I will try and get it, if he has one. He lives north of Johannesburg, in Africa, and is a very interesting person. I will e-mail you soon. Tomorrow.

Tomorrow is not 'soon'.

In fact, tomorrow never comes.

For instance I've been going to do a hard day's getting things done on the boat 'tomorrow' for some weeks now.

And only a few hours ago I decided to finish what I'm doing 'tomorrow' even though I know I'm going to be working 10 hours or so for money somewhere else.

But I get the general drift, and I'm glad you're glad.

Perhaps you can even introduce some temporal accountability into my life by emailing me within, say, 30 hrs and demonstrating that time is not simply relative, but subjective as well.

Also, if anyone has the faintest idea what I'm talking about would they also email me and explain it to me?

Can you tell I have nothing more to do, except eat, until Cadence gets home from mpls?

I went and read through some of the whatnot on your homepage, Strag... I'm sure you can find something to do with yourself. Impressive.

Lil, I was gonna start the whole Cat's Cradle discussion, but you beat me to it.

A quote: "Strange travel suggestions are like tap dancing lessons from God."

I gotta run... more later

Another karass member heard from.

The technique worked pretty well against a h2g2-coloured background, and would probably look even more neat on black, like an Elvis painting. I'll send you an email with sample attached.

OK, Stragbasher, I will reread your e-mail again, later, and respond right now.

That Alicat doesn't hang around, does she?

Io, thanks for the nice comment(s). I've just been to your homepage - very well presented, lots to say although too many links for me to know where to start! Instead I just followed the last one.Ha Ha. It inspired me to do one of my own and put it on my page. I hereby formally invite you to be the first person to follow it.

I liked the use if forum as a verb, too. Congratulations on expanding the English language.

Re: Strange travel suggestions are like tap dancing lessons from God. Do you mean they make the earth move for you? It put me in mind of a story I heard once about thunderstorms speaking in Sanskrit.

My mind is wandering excitedly. I've just been asking Elico how to Tango. Maybe....... God giving us directions in Sanskrit (Did you ever read the beginning of Tolkein's "The Silmarillion", about the creation of the world in a song?)

Wasn't there a song about dancing naked in the rain?

I should invite Elico over.

God I wish Cadence would come home.

Oh, here she is

I sure hope the poor bloke wasn't hallucinating.

OK, now I'm here I can start following conversation proper

Stragbanger keeps going on about furry metal...ok, here's the deal.
I am furry fan, I am a metal fan. I can tell you loads about fur, I can tell you loads about metal. I can get you fur-porn and pictures of Secret Of NIMH characters having sex in every orifice. I can get you all sorts of things...

Now, there was other stuff to say...but I forgot. I smoked dope for the first time an hour and a half ago.

You all know that I know all this chatter is just a plot to keep me hanging around, right?

Just so we have that straight.

Welcome aboard, Alicat. If you like chatting with this crew you ought to sign up for the *very* unofficial H2G2 mailing list: send mail to [email protected] with the subject "subscribe" (no quotes, and be sure to spell it right <hi mike!&gt

Baby watch: we visited the doctor today for the glucose stress test & another extended ultrasound. Some ultrasound pictures will go up on our websites as soon as I work out some technical difficulties. Mother & child doing fine, daddy getting jittery.

Whatever works, ffMike! If a Squatters' Club is what it takes, then get used to it. I'll check out larkfarm tomorrow and see if the pictures have been posted.

MikA, did the earth move? Did you cough? Is that any way to revise? *she asked, remembering her cyberaunt status* You sounded remarkably coherent, under the circumstances. Oh yes, and tsk tsk.

Mike smoked up for the first time? Congratulations! Now you're an official adolescent!
*sings*
"Now you should not feel so all alone -
Everybody must get stoned..."

I remember that Dylan yeah

Smokin' it...there wasn't any high, I thought I must have been doing it wrong. I wasn't feeling light-headed like the other two I was with. But it felt good just to have the joint in your hands, breathing it in and blowing it out, getting the taste in your mouth.
Sometimes I took a little too much back, and had a little grunty cough. That happened about twice. Towards the end I think I had it sorted, judging by the clouds I was blowing out
I nearly said "I think I need to practise this", but immediatly I clicked. That's what you -don't- want to do, keep practising. That's how you get hooked, innit?
Either way, I'd try it again any time.

Oh yeah, the kid who supplied me with it puked up afterwards.