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

Oops... Thought this box would start up a new thread...

's ok. This is definitely a thread of wanderly intent.

Yup, I'm in Seattle -- you're where, in California? I've actually never been there, but keep planning on it. My high school roommate lives in San Diego, and I really owe her a visit.

Hope all is going well!


Mikey

I'm in Sacramento Not *quite* on your way, I don't think Though if you wanted to make a detour sometime...

Posted Yesterday by Mikey the Humming Mouse - the ferocious Linkinator I'm not sure what you mean by "getting the conversation rated" -- could you explain a little more what you're hoping to have happen? Hi, Mikey! I just wanted to drop you a note to say... Thanks for your mail. I realise now that what I wanted to say was how do I go about getting a peer review on my article http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/F110470?thread=253408 It is a true personnal story of how I overcame my problem with blood tests and the sight of syringes to such an extent I even volunteer for blood tests now. Matter of fact I'm Having a big one later Friday 7th. Individuals with this problem typically feel shame, humiliation and isolation which is why I have written it 1st person I don't feel the article carries the same impact in the 3rd person as it does not then convey the empathy of a fellow victim that is needed. Receiving several replies from people who have been aided by my experience and suggestions, I decided I would like to have it reviewed. Any help/suggestions greatfully received/anticipated.

I've taken a look at your article, and agree that it is probably better suited to being a first person kind of piece. That being said, it may find a better audience in some place other than Peer Review. Have you thought about submitting it to the h2g2 Post?


Mikey

Hi, Mikey! I just wanted to drop you a note to say...Does your site/board/room just say hello....with the name of the lurker inserted? that is sooo clever! Hi!clever clever person.

Raindog.

Yeah, I like to add clever stuff every now and then. If you want to see how I did it, you can look at the GuideML for my page using the testuserpage function. Up in your browser bar, where the URL is, just stick "testuserpage" in front of my Unumber, in place of the letter U.

Like this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/testuserpage99875

Hi, Mikey! I just wanted to drop you a note to say...Hi! Not very original I know, but the hour is late in this neck of the woods, and my brain is logged off for the night. *looks around* Nice place you've got here. Any chance of a cup of ?

Noggin

Hi, Mikey! I just wanted to drop you a note to say...

Since you're into microbes, have you seen the current issue of Wired? There is an article titled "The Bacteria Whisperer" - interesting stuff. Here's the URL: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.04/quorum.html

Quizzical

Hi, Mikey! I just wanted to drop you a note to say that I just found your entry on Julian May's Milieu books! Cool, another Julian May fan on H2G2. But are you planning on expanding the entry beyond just a list of the titles? There needs to be something more on H2G2 about such a brilliant series of books (IMO) - I re-read them all last year, and although they took ages I really enjoyed the experience (although what I've read of her other work hasn't made me rave so much).

Anyway, catch ya later,



ATB,

David.

Yeah -- I'm eventually planning on having a behemoth entry that tries to explain to the uninitiated the cyclical plot sequence of the books, the major characters and their heiritage, and maybe some other bits and pieces.

It's always really difficult to convince people who haven't picked up her books to give them a shot. Frankly, I can understand why. The Milieu books don't have nearly the impact unless you're going to read them all, and even then, the whole cyclical nature means that there's no real "book 1" -- you just have to start at the "book 1" of one of the three subsets, and read all the way through all nine books at least twice. If, say, you started with the Pliocene books, there would be so much you wouldn't pick up on because you wouldn't have the background of the other books. But you could say the same thing about starting at any other point in the series.

For a bookaholic like me, that's quite the rush, but I can understand where others might find it daunting...

As a writer, the fact that she must have had all of this more or less in her head before she started writing just totally blows me away....


Mikey

> Yeah -- I'm eventually planning on having a behemoth entry that
> tries to explain to the uninitiated the cyclical plot sequence of
> the books, the major characters and their heiritage, and maybe some
> other bits and pieces.

I look forward to it. I'd be happy to help out if you feel I can.

> The Milieu books don't have nearly the impact unless you're going
> to read them all, and even then, the whole cyclical nature means
> that there's no real "book 1" -- you just have to start at
> the "book 1" of one of the three subsets, and read all the way
> through all nine books at least twice.

Mm. ISTR first reading the Pliocene saga when I was way way too young really (just in the sense that a lot of it went way over my head and I found the prose style a bit of a drag); then I saw "Interference" in the local library and decided to check it out, and was hooked back from that point. I re-read everything apart from "Magnificat" back in 1994 (because "Magnificat" hadn't been published then, and I've a feeling that was the year "Diamond Mask" came out, which probably prompted the re-read), and then the whole lot last year. Well worth the effort.

> As a writer, the fact that she must have had all of this more or
> less in her head before she started writing just totally blows me
> away....

Quite. I think I'm more familiar with the Intereference/Milieu books than the Pliocene ones (not helped by the fact that the Pliocene ones are written in what comes across as a rather dense sub-Tolkein style, whereas the chattiness of so much of the first-person Rogi material in the Interference/Milieu books makes it a far easier read, IMO anyway). Re-reading them last year and seeing just how darn much of the later books is prefigured in the Pliocene saga really was astounding. (OTOH, I was a bit disappointed by how soon it became obvious that Marc was the Lylmik - I was sure that when I first read the books, it wasn't that obvious. Oh well, the memory cheats and all that.) Goodness knows how long May was carrying this whole load of stuff around inside her. I'm just so glad the whole lot was written and published.

Pity some of her other stuff is less than good. The Trillium books suffer (again IMO) from the "sub-Tolkein" problem, but with a far less interesting plot than either the Pliocene books or indeed anything Tolkein ever came up with; and the more recent sci-fi trilogy...I forget the name of it, but I was wincing about 10 pages into the first volume and never read the later ones - it was just far too info-dump heavy for me and overall read like the kind of thing E.E. "Doc" Smith used to write.

Do you know much about Julian May's writings *before* the Pliocene saga? I'd love to sample some of it, but as far I'm aware none of it (not even "Dune Roller" which is sometimes referenced in her biogs on the book jackets) is in print at the moment.

Anyway, TTFN.

David.

Hi, Mikey! I just wanted to drop you a note to say...how yeh doin' me owld marra..what yeh have no beer in,hmmmm sad see yeh later Mikey

Hi, Mikey! I just wanted to drop you a note to say...that I fell for your title...I will now tell you something that nobody else knows...I´m called micki (because I had a friend in the 1st.grade (she was tall) and called daddy longleg and then I was called micky mouse but our friens spelt it wrong and skipped the mouse part and so ..´."micki" that´s me! Sleep well! Have a good life! /

A1011402 - Installing a satellite dish

Thanks for your helpful comments. I've made corrections to the title and text.

A1011402 - Installing a UK Sky satellite dish

Martin Pickering

Hi there how are you? I as you have gathered by now am a newbie and I'm just trying to find my feet at the mo on this site. It seems great but daunting at the mo.

Hi, Mikey! I just wanted to drop you a note to say... hi

Hi, Mikey! I just wanted to drop you a note to say.. thank you for adding a comment to the Hydrotherapy/aquarobics entry. It was getting a bit lonely there !
It appears twice and I find it odd that in one of them it seems to have the formatting instructions only , while the other one is formatted . Would YOU know why this is so -- darned if I do !

Hi there to all the newbies who've popped in and said hi!

And to brislib, I'm not sure what you're referring to with something appearing twice -- is there a link you could give me so I could see it?

If in one version, the "formatting instructions" are appearing (I'm guessing that maybe you mean the GuideML tags?), it could be because you need go into "edit entry", then click on the "GuideML" radio button at the bottom, then click on the "change style" button, then click on "update entry". If you don't do all that, the system assumes that the entry is a plain text one, and leaves the tags in there as text instead of reading them as formatting instructions.

Hope this helps some!


Mikey

Hi, Mikey! I just wanted to drop you a note to say... Thank you for your reply.

On my personal space , under my * Most Recent Guide Entries* , there appears this -- *From h2g2 A969564 Hydrotherapy and aquarobics , Feb 17 ,2003 edit. It is currently in Peer Review .

When I go to *This is the conversation forum for Peer Review* , where you posted , the entry appears with all the Guide html instructions included

Best description of the situation I can give