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Douglas Adams & The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster...

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https://www.simplemost.com/dont-panic-sign-elon-musks-mars-bound-tesla-means/
If a future Mars expedition could land that on the surface, they may be able to charge it up and drive it about for a while.
Until dust gets in the mechanism, that is.
 
Hulu's developing a new HHGTTG TV series.

https://boingboing.net/2019/07/26/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-gal.html

Must confess, I'll be immediately comparing it to the BBC version...

Seems to be rather hit and miss with adaptations of DA's work. Loved the radio/book/BBC TV versions, didn't like the film at all. Loved the Dirk Gently books/Harry Enfield radio versions, didn't like the BBC America version.
As for Eoin Colfer's "And Another Thing" - I've listened to the radio adaptation twice and I still can't remember the bloody plot. Just snippets involving Ed Byrne and Random Dent.
 
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I almost took a towel out with me but thought better of it and didn't see anyone else with one.

However, I did pick up this decent enamel mug in a charity shop:

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As Hitchhikers' was vaguely on my mind the 'Don't Panic' leapt out at me from my peripheral vision ... yet this is, of course, official DAD'S ARMY merchandise.

For some reason it has never occurred to me that these two very different shows which I know very well share a catchphrase.

There's a nice ceramic mug Dad's Army design with the words 'Stupid boy!'
I picked one up in a charity shop and it was immediately taxed by a friend.
 
Isn't the number wrong anyway?
Dunno, I was never much of a Hitch Hikers fan apart from the bit when they had that fish you stick in your ear and the dolphin that did the final ultimate trick jump.
 
The best solution to 42 I've heard is - and I might be wrong - something along the lines of 42 in a form of ASCII is an asterisk. And an asterisk, in early programming languages, meant...

Anything you want. So the meaning of life is whatever it means to you, or whatever you want it to be. Which to ubergeeks like Adams and Fry would surely be neatly irresistible.
 
I still love the show the 1980s special effects but wondered why they didn't do more.
 
Listening to the Audible version of Salmon Of Doubt, narrated by Dawkins reading his own contribution, Fry his, and Simon Jones the rest, there's an amusing section where Jones gamely reads Adams saying how disappointed he was in the TV version of Hitchhiker's.
 
Listening to the Audible version of Salmon Of Doubt, narrated by Dawkins reading his own contribution, Fry his, and Simon Jones the rest, there's an amusing section where Jones gamely reads Adams saying how disappointed he was in the TV version of Hitchhiker's.
Oh. well. And I thought it was pretty good, albeit low budget. Used to have it on VHS.
 
Oh. well. And I thought it was pretty good, albeit low budget. Used to have it on VHS.
That was his main beef. The performances and script were sound (obviously) but the budget and effects limitations didn't do it justice.
 
That was his main beef. The performances and script were sound (obviously) but the budget and effects limitations didn't do it justice.
Zaphod Beeblebrox's second head was definitely one of the worst things.
 
The hexagonal phase is replaying on R4 at the moment (written by Eoin Colfer). It's not bad but I find the constant knowing references to the past stuff a bit irritating. Mind you I don't really like Eoin Colfer so it could be that too.
 
Zaphod Beeblebrox's second head was definitely one of the worst things.

It was pretty awful viewed dispassionately. . But it didn't spoil it for us. My wife and I had the series recorded on VHS and used to replay it time after time. The acting is brilliant and the 70's style presentation of the HG2TG itself we found utterly delightful, maybe because we both started our computing careers when a green on black screen was the white heat of technology.
 
H2G2 is an eternal classic....I really wish that Douglas himself was still here, dispensing his witty wisdom....he'd bring a lot of sense to the current Covid conundrum.

I agree, and I've often thought the same about the late Terry Pratchett, I'd love to hear his views on Trump, Brexit, Boris, the COVID-19 pandemic, etc. No doubt any books he would be writing would reflect those issues in some way.

Both authors are very sadly missed.
 
The best solution to 42 I've heard is - and I might be wrong - something along the lines of 42 in a form of ASCII is an asterisk. And an asterisk, in early programming languages, meant...

Anything you want. So the meaning of life is whatever it means to you, or whatever you want it to be. Which to ubergeeks like Adams and Fry would surely be neatly irresistible.

This Scientific American article mentions a number of possible associations for Adams' cryptic pronouncement and delves into some of the mathematical aspects of 42.

For Math Fans: A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Number 42
Here is how a perfectly ordinary number captured the interest of sci-fi enthusiasts, geeks and mathematicians

FULL STORY: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/for-math-fans-a-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-number-42/
 
It was pretty awful viewed dispassionately. . But it didn't spoil it for us. My wife and I had the series recorded on VHS and used to replay it time after time. The acting is brilliant and the 70's style presentation of the HG2TG itself we found utterly delightful, maybe because we both started our computing careers when a green on black screen was the white heat of technology.

I never felt the poor special effects were a distraction. It's the BBC special effects department so I knew what to expect. I was also a fan of doctor who and Blakes 7 so I just accepted it and filled in the gaps with my imagination.
 
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Brian Griffin's stellar shots – in pictures: The photographer’s new autobiography covers a career spent running in cornfields with Kate Bush and throwing ping-pong balls at Douglas Adams

Douglas Adams, 1986
‘All it took was a sheet of Perspex with a hole cut into it. For the hole to glow, its edge was sand-papered then light was passed down the thickness of the Perspex. My assistant tossed a number of table tennis balls on to the Perspex, with the photograph lit by flash and tungsten. Then I wound the camera on but not the film, then made a second exposure of more table tennis balls placed on to the Perspex, with the photograph lit by flash and tungsten’
https://www.theguardian.com/artandd...ian-griffin-photographs-kate-bush-in-pictures
 
It was pretty awful viewed dispassionately. . But it didn't spoil it for us. My wife and I had the series recorded on VHS and used to replay it time after time. The acting is brilliant and the 70's style presentation of the HG2TG itself we found utterly delightful, maybe because we both started our computing careers when a green on black screen was the white heat of technology.
I seem to remember that the BBC couldn't afford any actual computers so all The Book is actually hand-animated.
 
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