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H2 g2ā¦ whatās it all aboutā¦?
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Message 1.Ā
Posted by bandick (U14360315) on Sunday, 9th January 2011
Can anyone spare the time to explain just what the heck this H2 G2 thingy is aboutā¦ and the hitch hikerās guide to the galaxyā¦ what is that, whatās it got to do with the Ā鶹Ō¼ÅÄ? Itās just a list of namesā¦ Iāve been delving into the bowels of wisdom deep in the depths of the Ā鶹Ō¼ÅÄ archives, god knows where or how, and I kept getting referred to H2G2ā¦ is it some form of code? I canāt help being thickā¦ but if someone can enlighten me, Iād be ever so grateful.
Bandick. -
Message 2
Posted by Sambista (U4068266) on Sunday, 9th January 2011
H H G G aka H2G2 stands for "Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy", the universal repository of truth about life, the universe, and everything (for a given value of the word truth) in the eponymous series. Sort of Ā鶹Ō¼ÅÄ centred equivalent of Wikimisleadia.
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Message 3
Posted by CASSEROLEON (U11049737) on Sunday, 9th January 2011
Bandick
Following from Urnungal
H2G2 is a Ā鶹Ō¼ÅÄ web site with various features among which are:
(a) there are sections for the whole universe- or nowhere at all
(b) each h2g2 member is given his/her "Own Space" where- unlike the History MB- there is no even nominal word limit (Original posts on the History MB are supposed to be no more than c500 words.. and I frequently run into trouble over my over-lengthy posts .
(c) there is no "active moderation"- in effect censoring what you write- though the computer picks up some words it finds offensive and worries about plagiarism and copywright.
Therefore it is possible to post up a whole book- "Lost in Space"
Cass -
Message 4
Posted by CASSEROLEON (U11049737) on Monday, 10th January 2011
bandick
This should be a link to the Front Page:
Cass -
Message 5
Posted by bandick (U14360315) on Monday, 10th January 2011
Yes Iāve delved into it a bit nowā¦
I think what put me off for so long is the constant referencing to āThe hitchhikers guideā thingyā¦ I just canāt be done with thatā¦ one of the biggest TV turn offs ever.
I know everyone was raving on about it years ago but it did nothing for me.
A bit like Monty Pythonā¦ totally soppy. The actors Cleese and Pallin et al brilliant, but the showā¦ I thought you had to be a bit weird to understand it, or on drugs... but āThe Life of Brianāā¦ is one of my favourite films.
Canāt understand the fuss over Dr Who eitherā¦ it used to be a kids showā¦ now itās aimed at parentsā¦? I think I must have spent too much time workingā¦ or am i just a sad old git?
Canāt work out what āmy personal spaceā is forā¦ theyāre all blank. Waste of space.
Regards bandick. -
Message 6
Posted by CASSEROLEON (U11049737) on Tuesday, 11th January 2011
bandick
If you have joined H2G2, your personal space will be empty until you put something into it.
Mine is far from empty- especially the Guide Entries section.. Since someone discovered that the Ā鶹Ō¼ÅÄ web-site is accessible through Google, I always now log-in through "casseroleon bbc" that immediately takes me to my Personal Space and any current threads that I am following on the various Ā鶹Ō¼ÅÄ web-sites.
As for your attitude to weird and wonderful fiction, you seem to have even more of a background than me in the fantastic way that people have managed to construct and make things of direct utility and value, including great and beautiful functional art like Salisbury Cathedral. It makes it difficult to share the current obsession with make-believe, escapism and virtual reality.
Incidentally the Salisbury references on the other thread reminded me of the summer of 1964 when I cycled off from Oxford for a short cycling holiday, and in the cool of the evening was able to visit that beautiful building. Of course as a native of Oxford I had grown up amonst stone, but the Cathedral seemed to be standing proudly amidst full- on Nature.
regards
Cass -
Message 7
Posted by bandick (U14360315) on Tuesday, 11th January 2011
Cass
I rather gathered that when you sign up to the history boards the H2G2 thing is part and parcel of the ādealā. I was unaware you had to ājoināā¦ that may explain why itās so bereft of entries.
I used to post here about ten years or so agoā¦ I donāt seem to remember anything like it then. Also, am I right in saying if someone added a contribution to āyourā discussion, it triggered an automatic email to you? I seem to remember something like that.
I canāt grasp why if itās āyour personal spaceā, youād want to put anything into it. Would that not be like leaving your diary laying around for any Tom, Dick or Harry to pick up and read?
°ä²¹²õ²õā¦ what dark secrets do you keep stashed away deep in the bowels of the Ā鶹Ō¼ÅÄs āGuide Entriesā section? What are the āGuide Entriesā¦?ā
*āSince someone discovered that the Ā鶹Ō¼ÅÄ web-site is accessible through Googleā* is that the recent revelation that āPaulā brought to the attention of us allā¦? that was so strange as Iād spent the night googlingā¦ and then when I was trying to retrace my stepsā¦ a lot of new stuff came up, soānāso on the Ā鶹Ō¼ÅÄ message boards this that and the otherā¦ Iād not noticed it beforeā¦ and then Paul issued a warning first thing. I think it upset a lot of peopleā¦ wasnāt it about the time of the dreaded ānew lookā.
Is there any advantage to it, does it help in researching, does it help to navigate your way through the webā¦?
Oh °ä²¹²õ²õā¦ your going to think me as some sort of nitpicky pedantic twitā¦
*As for your attitude to weird and wonderful fiction, you seem to have even more of a background than me in the fantastic way that people have managed to construct and make things of direct utility and value, including great and beautiful functional art like Salisbury Cathedral. It makes it difficult to share the current obsession with make-believe, escapism and virtual reality.* Iāve had to read and reread that several timesā¦ at first I couldnāt tell if you were taking the āMichaelā, or a word to the same effect. But I think I can take it as a form of compliment, in view of the fact I donāt have much time for novels, science fiction, horror, or war books. Is it that apparentā¦?
I have visited Oxford a fair number of timesā¦ and it is a very beautiful placeā¦ marvellous stonework as you say, and oozing with history. Sadly Iāve never had time to see as much as Iād likeā¦ too many bicycles to avoid, itās surrounded by some wonderful countryside. On your holiday were you youth hostelling?
Thanks bandick. -
Message 8
Posted by somewhatsilly (U14315357) on Tuesday, 11th January 2011
I think what put me off for so long is the constant referencing to āThe hitchhikers guideā thingyā¦ I just canāt be done with thatā¦ one of the biggest TV turn offs ever.Ā
You're right about the TV version but when it was first aired on the radio, it was wonderful, perfect for that medium. I first came across it when it was being broadcast on the World Service in the middle of the night and I loved lying in the dark listening to it, smiling away to myself.
If you're still around Neilson, I'll join you in a bump and a bottle. -
Message 9
Posted by somewhatsilly (U14315357) on Tuesday, 11th January 2011
Dear me, I'm getting my threads tangled, obviously too early to be partaking. Here's me, thinking I'm in the bar with Neilson.
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Message 10
Posted by CASSEROLEON (U11049737) on Tuesday, 11th January 2011
bandick
Whether suggesting that we may have some things in common should be considered a compliment or not is the kind of thought that I am currently struggling with in the piece of autobiography by Stephen Fry that I am reading.
It is funny how some things take on a significance that almost seems to be "meant".. Hence many years ago, struggling with a piece of French translation at the age of 13-14, I was struck by the words "a califorchant". Someone in the wild found their way across a river "a califorchant".. It seemed to have something to do with California. In fact in this case it meant sitting astride a felled tree perched across a chasm.
I think that it resonated with my life as an Oxford "Townee" in a school that was preparing pupils to be Oxford "gownees".. But these academic teachers did not have the kind of practical knowledge that, for example, had resulted in my lorry driver father appearing on TV Inventors' Club in 1953. Perhaps I was ruined for life by helping him to demonstrate his invention on the TV Club's stand at the next Ideal Ā鶹Ō¼ÅÄ Exhibition at Earls Court.
I seem to have spent my life trying to bridge chasms, and it has often felt like those circus riders who are in danger of falling between two horses.
I suppose this is relevant to your question about Guide Entries, As someone said H2G2 aspires to be a kind of Wikipedia, and people can use their Personal Space to write up Guide Entries that they can finally submit for Peer Review.. and eventually achieve general recognition. In fact when I tried that, on someone's suggestion, people decided that actually what I should have been doing was aiming for the University of H2G2.. But no-one has been willing to take up the editorship..
No matter. I use it as a place where I can make things available that are too long for the History MB.. Not least because "Andrew Host" urges me to do so, and Thomas B and I found ourselves being heckled and attacked for the kind of discussions we were having there. There are, however, one or two people who have read some of those pieces, though no-one else quite as heroic as Thomas B.
But we live in hope, for Thomas B has kept encouraging me to believe that someone will eventually publish my "Towards Project".
Cass -
Message 11
Posted by bandick (U14360315) on Tuesday, 11th January 2011
°ä²¹²õ²õā¦
Now I donāt know whether I need to apologise for taking your comments that I reprinted in my last post as āa humorous jibeāā¦ you may have long guessed Iām no academicā¦ I studied at the university of life and hard knocksā¦ and thou some may say I have a chip on my shoulder as a resultā¦ nothing could be further from the truth.
What I am sore about thou is when it became apparent to my school teachers that I would not be āstaying onā, and it was the same for other pupilsā¦ they lost interest in us. We were a waste of time and not worth bothering withā¦ heaven forbid we were destined to become blue collar workersā¦ or worse still, become overall wearers, gas fitters, plumbers, carpenters and the rest of the dregs that the teachers looked down on. Apart from one, who took me for technical drawing, I was good at that, but heād worked in a drawing office, and gave me a lot of encouragementā¦ the others had never stepped outside the world of academia in their livesā¦ they had not a clue what life was like outside the classroom. They went thru the school systemā¦ went to college, onto university, teacher training, and back to school. I felt sorry for them; they were disadvantaged, having never lived in the real world. Pretty much the same attitude prevailed regarding sports too. A bowl of porridge may have had a higher IQ than some of the kids, but if they could hit a ball with a stickā¦ they were enlisted into the cricket team, if they could kick a ball, in no matter what direction they automatically qualified for the school football teamā¦ with special privilegesā¦ they were school celebsā¦ they may have sat in the corner drooling all day, but were the housemasters heroās when wheeled out onto the field to ārepresent the schoolā. It sickened me.
I note that when my kids were at school, there was always so much in the news about the schools curriculumā¦ there didnāt seem to be anything like that when I was a kidā¦ there was no structure to the day, no planning, we had teachers that thought they could only teach by shouting, or beating the crap out of youā¦ it donāt work. I couldnāt wait to leave, and Iām so glad that I never lost the urge to learn. Itās just a pity itās taken so long to get the opportunity.
My toolmaker father came home from work, and began again in the shed up the garden where he had a small engineering machine shop. Heād designed some special kind of acid proof pumps that could deliver a specific volume at a precise flow rateā¦ essential for agricultural crop sprayers, and thatās where I earnt my first pocket moneyā¦ operating a capstan at the ripe old age of seven. It was something like a farthing each nozzle produced, I loved it. Big shafting spinning away overhead and flat belts flapping over pulley wheelsā¦ thatās how we got our pocket money thru the school holidays. Lathes capstan and milling machinesā¦
He too exhibited... at the agricultural exhibitions either at Earlās Courtā¦ or Olympiaā¦ I canāt remember, I was very young. I still have a couple of his pumpsā¦ and a few catalogues from the exhibitions with his pictureā¦ seems like a lifetime away. Iāll never forget him dressed up in the ātweedsā and a flat cap like a farmer sitting on a tractor demonstrating his sprayers. He had a few patents tooā¦ one was for a heating unit for the busses in Glasgowā¦ I still have the parts neatly tied up with metal tags for that one, god knows how it works.
I seem to remember him having a stand at one of the boat shows as wellā¦ that must have been for his pumpsā¦ but it was when the Tristan da Cunha islanders were thereā¦ they were building a traditional boatā¦ I spent a lot of time with them, when dad was busy.
ahā¦ is this the āTowards Projectā Iāve heard reference to on the history boardā¦?
Is Thomas B the only sauce of encouragement you have to publish?
I have tried reading itā¦ but itās far far too highbrow for meā¦ another language; Iād venture to say the language of academia. After the time and effort youāve put into it, it must be a little disheartening, but never give up.
bandick -
Message 12
Posted by Sambista (U4068266) on Tuesday, 11th January 2011
Always reckoned no-one under 25 should be admitted to any sort of teacher training course.
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Message 13
Posted by CASSEROLEON (U11049737) on Tuesday, 11th January 2011
bandick
Thanks for that.... No offence.. I probably should spend more time crafting my posts.
I too worked at times in my Dads garden workshop-- until the "sky fell in " when I was 12-13 years old.
Around that time my older brother (now dead) left Ā鶹Ō¼ÅÄ to serve an RAF apprenticeship having spent a couple or years in a Technical School, where he learned skills that much later made it possible to build a home for his family- brickwork, pllumbing, electrics. He did employ some specialists.. But Iccarus..and flying too high. When it was finished it was legally in his father-in-law's name, so it was subject to "second home Capital Gains Tax." He had to sell it to pay the tax, and continued living in a council house for another 12-15 years.
I mention my brother because, as an RAF electrician, trained to work on jet engines for fighter aircraft, he was pretty exceptional back on civvy street. One of his last jobs- though he was not paid accordingly- was as an essential part of the R&D team for a small firm in England's "silicon valley". Highly educated boffins would give him computer print-outs of latest ideas, knowing no better than the computer that what could work on paper would not work in practice. He made the thing that did work.
In our family I think we have had a bit of a tendency to acknowledge that working with real life is the real test.. Hence the problem with the things that I have written.. As you say perhaps too much of the language of academia, for I believed not only that I needed to know more of the world than Oxford, but also that I would understand the reality of life more by getting "down and dirty" in the Inner City amongst children and families in "the front line".. If I had been less committed to find "life answers" -and has stayed buried in University libraries-.......
Still. Next phases...
Cass -
Message 14
Posted by Andrew Host (U1683626) on Wednesday, 12th January 2011
Hi all,
H2G2 is a great recource and am happy to see it promoted here - but this seems to be getting rather off-topic - is there much more to say on the subject?
Cheers
Andrew -
Message 15
Posted by CASSEROLEON (U11049737) on Wednesday, 12th January 2011
Not at all Andrew.. You have shown bandick the reason for Personal Space
Cass
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