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

In Hollywood you've got your A list celebs, your B list celebs, etc. Brad Dourif is in the top five of your weird list celebs, along with the likes of Harry Dean Stanton, Bruce Dern, Dennis Hopper. Brad Dourif has the starring role in one of my favourite films - Wise Blood.

Have you seen One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest? He was in that too.

gotcha.
i think the only thing i've seen him in was two towers, and looking at imdb, i'm assuming they've cut him completely out of return of the king.

I haven't checked the entry for TROTK, but since Christopher Lee's part has been cut out of the film, and since Wormtongue only appears in the book with Saruman, then Brad Dourif would have to be out of the film too

Thought for today:

90% of the world's population does not have access to the internet. If you can read this today, you're that most well known of statistics - a one in ten. A very lucky and privileged one in ten, able to afford a computer and an internet connection.

So how can you tell me that you're lonely,
And say for you that the sun don't shine.
Let me take you by the hand
And lead you through the streets of London.
I'll show you something, to make you change your mind.

can you imagine how bonkers this place is going to be when the other 90% catches up with us?

Bloody 'ell

<>


That's easily fixed. Just wait three years, and 80% will have access.
The number of computers in use has doubled every year (or at least it was still doing that in the mid-1990s). Therefore, next year 20% of the world's population will be able to get on the Internet. The year after that, 40%. Three years from now, 80%. Four years out, 60% of the world population will extra capacity.

The number of computers in this household has tripled since in the past three years (true, one of them is currently a very expensive paperweight ), but the number of occupants has remained the same.

Beware of statistics Paul

I think they'd prefer to have clean water first, *then* electricity, *then* internet access

Oddly enough, even in some areas without the aforementioned utilities, you can sometimes find a TV hooked up to a generator someplace.

Ladiesd and gentlemen, this is the most amazing home appliance you've ever seen. It's supposed to be a home computer, but it doesn't really work as a computer, yet it dices vegetables, keeps your ice cream frozen, and plays polkas at all hours of the day or night, especially when you are trying to sleep.

'Last posting 2 weeks ago'... goodness me, is it really that long since I've had a thought? Time for another

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3357779.stm
One question that often nags away at the back of my mind - are they really sure that ultrasound scans aren't harmful to a foetus?

Of course they're sure! How many fetuses have ever complained?

At first I thought maybe you weren't aware of the differnce between CT scans and ultrasound, but then I re-read your post.

I heard of s back in the early 80's when ultrasound was first available who refused to use it because of worries about how it might affect the infant's hearing.

There's always concerns about what might negatively affect a developing fetus, but ultrasound has been used more and more extensively during pregnancy for the last 15 years or so. When I had Amy+ back in '82, my obstetrician had just had an ultrasound machine installed in his office and used it to confirm that she was breech mere days before she was due. They were only used to confirm suspected problems at that time. By the time Shorty came along, they were still only using them for suspected problems. For instance, I was considered "large for dates", so they did an ultrasound to confirm my due date - and to make sure there was indeed only *one* baby in there.

Nowadays, it seems they do at least one or two ultrasound studies routinely during nearly every pregnancy. I'm not sure why... To make sure all internal organs are developing normally so that any problems can be detected early and prepared for or corrected? Because of parental demands for ultrasound photos early in the pregnancy? Because they can make more money? (actually,despite my cynicism that's not so likely, unless the is getting a kickback from the hospital)

At any rate, neither of my kids seems to have any kind of hearing problems... except the usual selective deafness kids always seem to have. If I whisper something they *want* to hear from across the room, they'll hear just *fine*! The ears of most teenagers are far more damaged by deafeningly loud stereo systems or headphones.

As far as other possible damage is concerned, apparently they haven't found any yet.

Even if they do find that it can cause damage, that doesn't mean every kid will end up damaged by it - When my mother was expecting me, it was standard prodeedure to do an abdominal x-ray at every pre-natal visit, and I turned out fine...

When I was 8, I was diagnosed with chorrea. The treatment? Medication that contained arsenic. Yes, arsenic. I wonder how I have managed to survive this long, frankly. In my teens, I had migraines. The treatment? A combination of caffeine and ergotamine (remember lysergic acid, in LSD? Same general substance). If I'm <weird", I have an excuse.

I had my tonsils removed when I was 6, but supposedly my adenoids were far too big to remove. They claimed that they were actually starting to wrap around my eardrums (although Mom may have misunderstood... they may have only been wrapping around my eustacian tubes). Anyhow, the concern was that if something wasn't done to stop them, I'd be completely deaf by the time I reached my teens...

So I was given radium treatments to stop their growth.


I grew up across the road from a stone quarry that had lots of asbestos in the stone. My brother and I used to go out on the farm and find rocks with asbestos in them and play with them. You know, like "oh look, it doesn't burn! cool!" The stone quarry would generate lots and lots of dust... dust that contained lots and lots of asbestos. We played with asbestos, in asbestos laden air, on asbestos laden dust covered grass. So far, we're fine.

I'm sure you managed asbestos you could.

If Tom Waits was female, Icelandic, and 20 years younger... would he be Bjork?