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

MC,

My idleness in failing to unsubscribe from (almost) anything has again proved educational.
I thank you for the apostrophic information.
One day Finnegans Wake will serve some useful purpose.

p.

Otay. Thank you for the Clangers. I'd barely heard of them.

Hi Metal Chicken, can I link to your photo's of the Onion please for the FC&MC?

Course you can Granny

Thanks, just got to get replies from Phil & Croz & we're rockin'n'rollin.

See you soon (from under a big hat it the weather stays like this)

Hey
I read your section on the League of Gentlemen and Hadfield being turned in Royston Vasey. I'm starting up a LOG site, and was wondering if I could place on it a copy of your piece (fully credited of course). If yes, could you please send a reply to [email protected] and say who you want it credited to exactly (a name or an e-mail address or something)
THANKS
JOE

Hey Joe (Reminds me of a song that does )
Glad you enjoyed reading my piece on 'Royston Vasey' and yes you're welcome to use it on your website. I'll drop you an email later with some contact details.
The copyright situation here on H2G2 is that although I retain copyright of my own material, Aunty Beeb also reserves the right to publish anything on here in any form it chooses. Not a problem, but you probably ought to be aware of the fact. There's something in the FAQs about it if I can find it. Try somewhere here http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/classic/DontPanic-Contrib#3

Hope you've had a good root around now you've signed up. There are all sorts of people here and you never quite know what you'll find next...

er, lurking around, looking at your pictures of the meet I couldn't attend
Thought it would be rude not to say 'allo.

And 'Allo to you too, superdogmonkey

*offers , or

Bad luck on missing the meet But there's always next time...

Hello! Nice to know that there are bionic chikens around.

Hello!! I was just looking for someone talk to and I happened to click on your name.
Chauncey

i am a lonely nurse in need of a lovely man to play with

Hi Researcher 205547, if you'd like to write something in your personal space, just click on the button under your name on your page & type 'Hello' or something, one of us ACE's (Assistant Community Editors) can pop by and give you a run-down on this site.

Oh my, it has been busy here since I last checked in

Greetings to all, apologies for missing you till now.
Have and . Come back and chat, tell me how you're enjoying H2G2 life. It's a big place with loads of sociable, friendly, interesting people around - but always room for a few more

Hi!

Just dropping by - again. I've been neglecting H2G2 for a long time, but I've come back. Am now in college studying science, with an eye on botany as a major.

Any further adventures in the worlds of nature and literature?

- Nora

Hi Nora!
Good to see you back. Hope you're enjoying the studying. So if you're thinking of majoring on botany does that mean you're currently on some sort of wide ranging foundation type year?

Most of my experiments in the world of nature this Summer have been gardening related really. My gardening's always tried to be wildlife friendly but this year has included visits to a few inspirational organic gardens so there's been more effort put into mine than previous years. Certainly reaping rewards with the birdlife, I've had an abundance of bluetits and even a pair of woodpeckers visiting the birdfeeders. There were so many sparrows around they attracted a buzzard to the garden to prey on them - cruel nature perhaps but a thrill to watch all the same.

And I've still not read Finnegans Wake

Well done on the gardening! We had a sparrowhawk visit our feeder earlier in the year - I chased a mob of jackdaws off him once. Crows don't like hawks. Have pretty much given up on seeing hedgehogs, though - our garden is surrounded by a high wall, and I just don't think they'd be that bothered. As for woodpeckers, we don't have any here, which is a shame. In Georgia we see redheaded, redbellied, and pileated, as well as their ground-feeding cousin, the flicker. Isn't it funny how so many of them have patches of red?

Yes, I'm studying biology, chemistry, and maths at the moment. The other options were geography/geology (a combination course) and physics. Next year I get to do biology I (micro) and II (macro) and chemistry, unless I drop one of those to take geology instead.

Yeah, I'd got the idea you were finished with that one. What *have* you been reading?

Hedgehogs are wonderful beasts too, spotted one snuffling round the garden a couple of times this Autumn. Hope he found somewhere safe to settle in over the cold weather - I want him back in fine slug-catching appetite for next year.
Saw my (greater spotted) woodpeckers again this week Checking out the red patches, it appears the male has an extra one on his head, whereas the female just has a flash of red behind her wings. Maybe it's as much to do with recognising each other from a distance as anything else, their territories are quite large after all and they don't seem particularly sociable birds.

As to what I have been reading, hmmm, lots so it's hard to remember them all. I reread the Dirk Gently books and found I'd forgotten so much it was just as good as the first time. There was one on the development of humans and humanity over the aeons which was quite entertaining. There was a very interesting book called Red Dust written by a Chinese guy about his journeys across the country in search of his identity. In fact I'm about to start reading a lot more travel writing because I've just won some from a travel magazine I read regularly. The first one arrived on Saturday and took me completely by surprise - you send off entry forms but never think you might actually be the lucky one!

Hi Metal Chicken, just ran a search for Glossop (and your place appeared) as it's a waypoint for my cycling day trips, just living over the hill in Dukinfield. Cheers!

I agree about woodpeckers being solitary. We generally only see them together during the fledgling period. Don't have any info on their territories, though - how big are they usually?

I enjoyed the Dirk Gently books, particularly the second. Have you tried "The Salmon of Doubt"? I keep thinking about it.. will probably get to it eventually. I've been reading course-related stuff, mixed with some tried-and-tested novels (a period romance of my mother's; a children's fantasy novel by Diana Wynne Jones), but a couple of my American authors are out with new ones, which I'll try to pick up while I'm home at Christmas. Also, have just become involved in an inter-departmental philosophy course, which will probably involve some interesting reading. (The thought has just occured to me that there should be a smiley..)

The only travel writing I've read has been "Arabian Sands" by Wilfred Thesiger, and the autobiography of Dervla Murphy, who cycles around Eurasia. Oh, and I'm a few chapters into "Astoria", by Washington Irving, which as far as I remember is a history of a fur-trapping venture in Oregon. As you can tell, I haven't been reading that in a while. Anyway, I've enjoyed what I've read, but my exposure has not been great.