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

Woohoo, Jackpot! Lots of visitors suddenly. Now the pressure's on to write more stuff though... I'd better go get busy.

Yet another visitor!
Just popped in to say thank you for your kind mention on your home page.

I am, as you say, a new kid in town. I've only just got a PC at home. My office has a slightly Orwellian approach to web access, so this is really my first real few days of honest to goodness uninhibited web experience.

The result? We'll, I've just spent six hours of today (Saturday) in bed asleep, recovering from a massive overdose of webtime.

I knew things had gone a bit far when something in me actually recoiled from the blue page background when I logged on to h2g2 last night. It was as if some remnant of my pre-web personality was desperately trying to be heard. It was a non-verbal message, but a clear one. I squelched it, and spent a happy few hours logged on, though I notice the quality of my postings has deteriorated.

Also interesting how my often paranoid/alienated interior life kicked in last night, even in virtual social interaction. Sleeplessness can do that to you, I suppose.

I'm going to try to keep quality up and quantity down, if I can.

Anyway, thanks again for the plug, and I hope to exchange many postings with you in the future.

Welcome, then! I know what you mean, although I must sheepishly admit to having been around the web a lot longer, my first week on H2G2 has been a constant nose-to-screen experience. I could never turn down a good argument.

Wotcha! *Gwennie smiles sweetly over a glass of vodka*

Just thought I'd drop by and say hello..... (hic!)....

Did you find that God person, by the way? Zebedee says he won't do it for time and a half at weekends.... be God that is.... oops - I'm lowering the tone of conversations again.....sorry!

*Gwennie takes another sip of vodka, waves and vanishes to find a hot tub and some chocolate fishes which happen to be filled with more vodka.....*

Hey there, thanks for stopping in. I'll be God if you want. I'm reasonably benevolent. I'd only send people to hell for wearing lederhosen. Oh, and for listening to rap music.

Hooray! I'm safe *wink*..... I'm banned from playing anything remotely like rap music as my hubby's a music snob. I sneak a bit of MTV in when he's asleep! Shh - don't tell my confession.....

I'm a bit of a music snob too, but in my own defense I know that most of the music i DO listen to is pretty froody. MTV is acceptable. Now that I think about it though, there are a few televangelists I'd probably want to send to hell too.

If you're looking for lighter reading check out my piece on SETI, it's pretty cruel but I think it's worth a chuckle.

cheers

Rightho! I'll pop along. I've already got the downloaded the SETI stuff a few months ago.

Toodlepipski!

Hi Twoph, (if I may call you that)

We made the H2G2 font page!

BTW: I've replied to a few of the shorter discussions under "Free Will". Im saving my response to the humdinger of a thread until I've got time to read it and think it over.

I'll be back!

(Hope the flu is better.)

J.

Good, looking forward to hearing from you. I'm glad to hear you cal it a hum-dinger, cause I can't help feeling it's naught but mad ravings sometimes

Flu's clearing up thanks

What's this about the front page?

We made Peta's Picks!

You had 2 - "belief" and "common sense", I had "free will".

*Sound of mutual-back-slapping*

J.

PS. I'm going to need to print out the hum-dinger thread to read before I re-enter it. Heavy, heavy, heavy!

Hey Twoph! You there?

I just wanted to say that I've been catching up on some threads in which you figure prominently (including "FW+D"), and I've been enjoying them greatly.

I've been keeping quiet for a number of reasons.

First, I realise that I have little to say re. the physics. My grasp of the subject was always limited, and I've not thought seriously about most of the areas I'm interested for some years, preferring a less intellectual approach (or at least letting my rationisations take second place to my experience, which (should? does?) come first).

(I was cheered by the way the FW+D thread turned out though. I feared it might just be a debate about how many physisists can dance on the head of a pin.)

Second, perhaps like you, my feelings about the (boundless) issues conventionally lumped together as "religion" are deep and almost inexpressible. I find it hard to enter the fray head-on as you (so amusingly) do. Perhaps I should try harder, but sometimes silence seems the best response.

I'm spending silly hours at work these days, preparing for 3 weeks away, so you may find me even harder to find. I will be logging on when I can, so I won't completely disappear.

I hope the flu is past, the book is going well and you are in good order.



J.

Good to hear from you. Hope you'll take some time to post when you can; don't let a lack of knowledge of physics slow you down. Like I said, most of what I know is bits and pieces of books i've read or conversations i've had, and I certainly couldn't claim 'formally' to know what I'm talking about. Part of me hopes that someone who does know physics well will stumble across one of those threads and cut me down a bit; I'm hear to learn from these discussions if I can.

You might enjoy checking out the 'yes and?' thread I've been posting to (if you haven't already). Grand old discussion going on there.

My life is sort of rotten right now but will improve I expect. Thanks for checking in.

"Yes and?" is a real hoot!

I'll definitly be keeping an eye on things and posting when I can.

The life thing - I'm sad to hear you say that. Everything changes. Everything.

Bye

Change almost seems to be the problem. Ah well. You've been keeping pretty quiet I keep waiting for you to jump back into the fray.

Actually, I'm seriously stressed out. An intranet project I'm working on is going live tomorrow night, I'm building other sites for it, and setting up one for a friend, and trying to get things together ready to fly off to Seattle early on Saturday, and trying to do my bit for the most fledgling of internet start-ups which I'm involved in (but I think is already doomed).

I've been in a rush for weeks now. My energy is so taken up with just keeping it together that I don't have much left for pleasures of the mind.

Sometimes I get into the mental equivalent of the "fog of war", and I find it hard to prioritise and make simple judgements.

Talking of which, I finally saw "Saving Private Ryan" over the weekend, and that has left me with a few gaping existential wounds which I normally try to keep well dressed and out of the way.

So, frankly, I'm screwed.

I just hope I can get through to the end of the business part of the trip and get some time to chill out.

Blargggh!