HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: kiemschies@ohstpy.mps.ohio-state.edu
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: Re: Mostly Harmless - POTENTIAL SPOILER thread (?)y
Date: 14 Oct 92 13:24:05 EDT

In article <1992Oct8.123319.522@dct.ac.uk>, mcramm@dct.ac.uk (McRamm) writes:
> Well, I picked up my copy of MH yesterday, and was disappointed. IMHO
> it lacks something of the flavour of the originals. I got the distinct
> impression that DNA is bored with the whole HHG scene and just wants to
> kill it off somehow. The characters from the originals just didn't feel
> right, there was something weird about attitudes and behaviour.
> 
> Please, no flames - this is a purely personal opinion and I'd welcome anyone
> else's (constructive) comments.
> 
> -- 
>  Angus M. Marshall, MCRAMM@UK.AC.DCT,amarshal@uk.ac.dund.mcs, (+44 382) 308600
> ".. and in the grove, by gate and hill, midst  merry  throng  and  market
> clatter -  stood  the  Hall  of  the Mountain Grill, where table strain'd
> 'neath loaded platter " (from the legend of Beenzon Toste - Hawkwind)      
   I noticed the same thing. Ford for instance seems interested in saving the
Whole General Mish Mosh, which is very unlike him. Trillian doesn't make a very
good mother either. I believe in his earlier books there was a whole lot of
silliness about the galaxy, with a bit of a plot mixed in (but not enough to
ruin the fun). In this book there's a plot with enough silliness to keep you
interested, and I found the plot to be VERY VERY VERY depressing. I love DNA's
stuff, but , IMHO, I don't think he should have written anouther Hitchiker
book. I think ending the series with Arthur having a place in the Universe (ie
with Fenchurc), Marvin having one brief happy moment before he died, and giving
away God's final messege to his creation, is a great way to end a series. Not
everything is meant to last. Great bands break up, great leaders die, Camolot
fell, and we didn't NEED another Hitchiker book. DNA is great but he should
have given us other characters to love.
   In a way, however, I, as a fan, feel we may be somewhat responsible. I do 
believe he just got fed up with the chacters, and wanted to kill them off. I 
think that we, the fans, are to blame for making him sick of it, and making him
feel the need to end the thing like this. But this is just a theory, perhaps I 
am reading too much into the last of the series. I just would have prefered to
see another Dirk Gently, or even something completely different, from an Author
who can so effectively create a Universe so much more interesting than our own.


                                            -----Ollie
From: jseaver@bigwpi.WPI.EDU (Jason John Seaver)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: Re: Mostly Harmless ending questions (definate spoiler)
Date: 13 Oct 1992 11:18:49 GMT
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
NNTP-Posting-Host: bigwpi.wpi.edu

In article <1bd4p2INN4e5@aludra.usc.edu> cokin@aludra.usc.edu (Darren Cokin) writes:
>I bought it yesterday and read the whole thing.  Towards the end it was 
>pretty late, and I guess I wasn't reading all that carefull, cause I'm a bit
>confused by the ending.  It may be a while before I have time to reread it,

	Aren't you supposed to be? :)

>Ok, let me tell you what I think happend, and you tell me how right I am.
>The Grebulons destroyed the earth.  This of course is nothing new, it's been
>destroyed before.  Only this particular time, Arthor and Trillian happen to
>be on the earth at the time of the destruction, so the destruction is 
>permanent.  Had they not been on it they would have mucked about time as they
>always do, causing there to be another earth.  No the reason the Grebulons
>destroyed the earth is that the Vogons used the Guide to make them, in the
>same way Random used it to get Ford to land.  But Ford thought he was going
>by his own free will, homing in on the old guide.  So, why did the Grebulons
>think they were destroying the earth?  

	Huh?  I thought the Vogons destroyed the Earth all by themselves in the
end, and the Grebulons were just there to give Tricia somthing to do so that
she didn't seem to come out of left field in the end.

						-Jay
From: egolub@cs.umd.edu (Evan Golub)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: I Just Read THHGTTG
Date: 8 Oct 92 14:31:43 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742


   I have just finished reading THHGTTG (actually I technically just
started reading it too, since I read the whole thing in a day).  I
finally understand a whole lot of things people I knew had said to
me over the years.  Now that I have read the first of the series, 
I was wondering if there was a FAQ/InfoGuide to things to notice in
the first book.  I found lots of cute things already, but I figure
that there have to be things out there which took years (or at least
a couple of minutes) to realize.  Since the book is fresh in my mind,
and I would like to start reading the next one soon, I was hoping to
accumulate all signifigant knowledge before I read TRATEOTU (I think 
that is the next one).  

   Thank you to all that may help, and just for the record, although
I am a computer science grad student, have designed an ultra-efficient
(although cost ineffective) 4-by-4 bit multiplier circuit, have used
supercomputers to near optimal levels, I am one of those who is STILL
fascinated by the digital watch.


					-Evan Golub-

PS : The chances of me posting to this news group a week ago were
  Four Million, Thirty Four Thousand and Three Hundred and Thirty
  Three -to- One, AGAINST it, but fortunatly those odds correspond 
  the University's dialup lines.  Go figure, huh?
From: lindq@etek.chalmers.se (Johan Lindqvist)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: Re: WANTED: Hitchhiker's guide to the net
Date: 12 Oct 92 21:19:18 GMT
Reply-To: lindq@etek.chalmers.se (Johan Lindqvist)
Organization: Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, SWEDEN

In article <1992Oct11.231423.20010@eskimo.celestial.com>, thalos@eskimo.celestial.com (Kris Knien) writes:
|> 
|> A while back, I read a 12-part story called The Hitchhiker's Guide to the
|> Net.  Unfortunately, I only was able to find the first 11 parts and never
|> got to read the conclusion.  I would really appreacite it if someone would
|> mail this to me, (all 12 parts). Better yet, post it, I feel it's good
|> enough to share with other readers of a.f.d-a. :)

Well, I have it, and if you liky, I'd mail it to you, but I don't know if
it's worth posting (86 k and not that funny).

If you (or anyone else) feel that he (or she) would like to get it in his
(or her) mailbox, or if enough of you brothers (or sisters) out there
want me to, I'll consider posting.

______________________________________________________________________________
Johan Lindqvist                     |Due to lack of interest, tomorrow
Gothenburg         Mail:            |has been cancelled.
Sweden      lindq@etek.chalmers.se  |
______________________________________________________________________________
From: ajdh@bnr.co.uk (Andrew J D Hurley)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: Re: Request:ISBN of Mostly Harmless
Date: 8 Oct 92 14:16:19 GMT
Organization: BNR Europe Limited, Harlow, GB

In article <Bvr5y7.4nn@cosy.sbg.ac.at> bjelli@eule (Brigitte Jellinek) writes:
>Dear fellow Hitchhikers
>
>Could someone please post a full description of 'Mostly Harmless',
>I mean: Title, Author, Publisher, ISBN, .....

OK, I got my copy yesterday - it's a black hardback with a big arrow
pointing to a tiny blue/green planet on the cover.

Title page:

  Mostly Harmless

   Douglas Adams



        \/
       W/\H

HEINEMANN : LONDON


Other info:

William Heinmann Ltd
Michelin House, 81 Fulham Road, London SW3 6RB
LONDON MELBOURNE AUCKLAND TORONTO

First published 1992
Copyright (C) Serious Productions Limited 1992

ISBN 0434 00926 1

As for a full description, it is pretty good, I'll reserve full judgement
till I've finished reading it.

Andrew

Just another confused soul in the WSOGMM


-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Andrew J D Hurley ,   <><         |  Email:   A.J.D.Hurley@bnr.co.uk
                                  |   or      Andrew.Hurley.EG40@bnr.ca
BNR Europe Ltd., London Road,     |  route:   uunet!ukc!bnr!ajdh
Harlow, Essex CM17 9NA, UK.       |  Phone:   +44 279 402535
From: v120qldp@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Zaphod Beeblebrox)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: zb: Mostly Harmless...
Date: 13 Oct 92 21:58:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

For you froods here in the States, you can find Mostly Harmless in your local
Waldenbooks.  I got my copy today (15% off too!).  You might also try your
campus bookstore.  But don't try UB's; Gerson got the last one!  =)  
I understand B. Dalton has it as well.

And.......Our club here at UB is getting ready to head up to Toronto on Friday
for a DNA visit...

I'll be typing up a long letter about our trip, so until then...

Share and Enjoy!


Patrick A. Ferrel - ferrel@acsu.buffalo.edu | WWIVLink 1@17659 | Disaster Area
v120qldp@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu | WWIVnet 1@7659 | IceNET 1@7659 | (716)683-6657
"What's so unpleasant about being drunk?" - Arthur | 14.4k v.32bis * 9600 v.32
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
From: oahvenla@silver-surfer.cs.hut.fi (Osma Ahvenlampi)
Subject: Re: Scrabble and Book Signings
Organization: Helsinki University of Technology, CS lab
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 16:38:11 GMT

In <1992Oct5.110540.836@aston.ac.uk> thompsmr@uhura.aston.ac.uk (Mark Thompson) writes:
>	And secondly, and slightly more importantly - In a very idle moment
>during the holidays I happened to have a Scrabble board handy, and tried to 
>spell out "What do you get if you multiply six by nine" (mainly to irritate my
>parents, because it was one of those magnetic travel thingies. Anyway - you
>can't. There aren't enough y's in a Scrabble set. Even if you use the blank 
>provided you end up one y short.
>	Oh for a touch of realism, eh? ;-)

Who told you to use Scrabble set? Arthur doesn't use one, he made the letters
himself. Why couldn't he have made more letters than in the original?
--
Osma Ahvenlampi  -  oahvenla@niksula.cs.hut.fi
My opinions are mine, and though someone else may share them, that's not my
fault. You may freely agree or disagree with me, I don't much care.
From: aep@aber.ac.uk (Andrew Pagett)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: Re: Significant Numbers
Date: 15 Oct 92 15:00:47 GMT
Organization: University of Wales, Aberystwyth. ( Physics Dept. )


	In article <domalley.718890017@unix1.tcd.ie> 
	domalley@unix1.tcd.ie (Slartibartfast (alias Daniel O'Malley)) did say :

<lots of stuff mangled>
->(69 is obvious - but 111? and 3?)
111 - Nelson, unlucky in cricket, for England at least.
3   - Well this one gets me too... I wanna know its significance.
<stuff eaten>

Pag.....
----------------------------------+------------------------------------------
 email to aep@aber.ac.uk          | This article in no way represents the   
 or       aep%aber@ukacrl         | views of anyone at my place of work, if
 or even  ...!mcsun!ukc!aber!aep  | it did we would all be in trouble.
-----Hi, I'm a signature Virus :-) Copy me into your sig to join in.---------
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
From: mkreger@ux4.cso.uiuc.edu (Michael John Kreger)
Subject: Adams Sightings
Summary: Trying to find out if Adams will ever be near Champaign
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 02:19:50 GMT
Keywords: Adams, Harmless


    Does anyone know if Douglas Adams will be visiting anywhere near
Champaign, IL?  Seems like he's been almost everywhere else.  Or even
Chicago?

Mike Kreger
mkreger@ux4.uiuc.edu
From: cuscd@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu (Charles Dey)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: Cool Things for DNA...
Date: 12 Oct 92 15:42:22 GMT
Organization: Educational Computing Network


  Seeing as though Douglas Adams is going to be here in Denver in a few
weeks, I was trying to think up cool saying/things for him to sign in my
book....


   There's the "normal" ones...

              "To a cool frood"
              "A Guy who really knows where his towel is"
              "a Guy stranger than his breakfast cereal"
              "Don't Panic"
              "Go Stickyour head in a pig"
              "goorsnaugh"

any other ideas ???
the fate of the universe is in your head.
kind of a scarey thought.


...Crimson
my .sig got eathen by a wormhole.
this one was made up on the spot.
From: dleclair@netlink.cts.com (Douglas LeClair)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: Mostly Harmless
Date: 17 Oct 92 00:28:32 GMT
Organization: NetLink Online Communications, San Diego CA


        I was just at Waldenbooks today and they seem to have a big stock 
of "Mostly Harmless". They seem to be half-height hardbacks for a 
hardback price. $20 bucks! And Waldenbooks run them 20%, but that is 
still steep. 
        Also available is the 20th (?) Anniversary edition of the More 
than Complete HHGTTG leather bound. It doesn't include Mostly Harmless 
and I'm not sure on the price.
 
/Doug/

--                    
INTERNET:  dleclair@netlink.cts.com (Douglas LeClair)
UUCP:   ...!ryptyde!netlink!dleclair
NetLink Online Communications * Public Access in San Diego, CA (619) 453-1115
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
From: randhol@alkymi.unit.no (Preben Randhol)
Subject: Mostly Harmless
Keywords: Where to order it in England.
Organization: Norwegian Institute of Technology
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 92 16:07:33 GMT

I have read a lot about the new book from Douglas Adams.
I live in Norway and have not yet seen the book in any store 
here. If anyone living in England could give me the address 
of a book-store, so that I can order the book?

                                                    -preben
------------------------------------------------------------
.. the best drink in existence is the Pan Galactic Gargle
Blaster. It says that the effect of drinking a Pan galactic 
Gargle Blaster is like having your brains smashed out by a 
slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick.
------------------------------------------------------------
-It doesn't look like a vortex to me.
-It's just the lift.
------------------------------------------------------------
From: Bernard.Stern@info.unine.ch
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: Re: Challenge for Douglas Adams-freaks
Date: 9 Oct 92 16:12:50 GMT
Organization: University of Neuchatel, Switzerland

In article <1992Oct8.133455.22176@eua.ericsson.se>, etxjlar@eua.ericsson.se (Jorgen Larsson) writes:
> I have just (a week ago) finished reading the four Hitchhiker's books 
> (for the first time) and extremely recently (some ten minutes ago) 
> discovered this group!
> Now I have a challenge for you Douglas Adams-freaks. Can anyone bother to list 
> all his other works (in case he has done something else, I don't know...) and give me 
> your opinion about them, compared to each other and to the Hitchhikers trilogy 
> of four books. 
> 

Yep, there're the following I have read

The Ditk Gently Series:
- Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
- The long dark tea time of the soul

In collaboration with Mark Carwardine (or approaching, I'm writing from memory)
- Last Chance To See ...

The first two are obviously fantasy literature from the same vein as the well-
known and strikingly mis-named Hitch-Hicker trilogy of up-to-now five volumes,
while the last mentioned is definitely NOT fantasy. You will find this book
under Travel/Non-fiction (Mark Carwardine is a zoologist). The book is about 
travels to the home countries of animals that are treatened of extinction. 
However, the sharp style of Douglas Adams has not been lost en-route.

Hope this help. I'll follow the answers, there may be others I haven't heard of.


                                            Bonjour chez vous,

                                              Baron Alucard.
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
From: nab2@po.CWRU.Edu (Nicholas A. Barendt)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: MOSTLY HARMLESS
Date: 15 Oct 1992 13:20:45 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH
Reply-To: nab2@po.CWRU.Edu (Nicholas A. Barendt)
NNTP-Posting-Host: slc12.ins.cwru.edu


	I, for one, enjoyed MH very much.  I don't really think that it
is up to snuff compared with the first couple of books.  Neither was
SLTFATF.  It did keep me laughing, though, and that is the main reason that 
I read the series. 
	
	I can't say, however, that I liked reading the ending very much.
I didn't like it.  Not one iota. It was not cool.  It was not froody.
DA was truly a bastard.  

	On further meditation, however, I realized, that however much I hated
the ending, I couldn't blame DA.  As a writer he is not writing to please me.
I can't blame him for apparently ending the series.  He has said on more than
one occasion that the reason he stopped writing was because he had grown to
hate the the characters. It is his right.  I can't, however, get past the idea
that he wrote MH just for the money.  He could have just left the series 
dangling and said "piss on everyone" who wanted another HHGTTG book.
From: handgl@ucbeh.san.uc.edu
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: Anyone Read Seven Wonders
Date: 16 Oct 92 22:25:57 EST
Distribution: world
Organization: Univ. of Cincinnati

Many posts to this newsgroup refer to Adamsesque literature that DNA fans may
also enjoy. I've yet to see this short story listed, so I'm describing it here,
and wondering if anyone else has read it:

"The Seven Wonders of the Universe"
by Mose Mallette
from _The Best From Fantasy And Science Fiction: Sixteenth Series_
copyright 1965, 1966, 1967 by Mercury Press
Edited by Edward L. Ferman
Doubleday & Company Inc.

(This book also contains "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" by Philip K.
Dick -- the source for the film "Total Recall.")

As near as I can tell, "Seven Wonders..." is the only SF (or fiction) published
by Mose Mallette. He (?) doesn't show up in any of the standard SF guides, nor
the few pen name guides I've searched. A shame, because the story is a
masterpiece of SF humor -- as well as a skewering of academic prose in general.

Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
From: hackett@gaul.csd.uwo.ca (Mike Hackett)
Subject: Mostly Harmless Canadian info
Organization: Computer Science Dept., Univ. of Western Ontario, London, Canada
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 04:53:53 GMT


Hello all,

    I just wanted to let you all in on what I found out today.  I went into
my campus book store here at UWO in London, Ontario, and asked about the
status of the new book.  One of the ladies working there is a big fan too,
and she told me that they have a whole bunch on order, but the Canadian
printings aren't ready yet.  Apparently they've only printed enough for the
British market so far.  She expects them to arrive over here near the end
of October or beginning of November.

     For those of you in or near Toronto, though, DA is supposedly holding
a book signing at Harbourfront on Oct. 13 or 14th (next Tuesday or
Wednesday - I can't remember which).  Signing what, you may ask?  Well,
according to this woman, "they" (don't know who this refers to - the
publishers probably) hand-bound a bunch of books for the signing that
you'll be able to pick up there.  It's very tempting, but I don't think
I'll be able to go.  The most disappointing thing she told me, though,
was that DA was supposed to visit the UWO again this time around (on the
other of the two dates mentioned above), but it was cancelled since the
books aren't ready.  Oh well, I still can't wait to read the book.

    BTW, please inform the list if any of you hear of any TV or radio
appearances that DA will be doing.  When he was here for "Last Chance..."
he did a local radio interview (that I never heard) and a half-hour TV
interview on the cable community channel.  I saw the latter, but I didn't
have any way of taping it at the time, which is unfortunate since it was
very funny.

    If anyone gets further details about the Toronto signing (or can at
least confirm it), please email me or post them.  If there's anyone from
London going (fat chance, I know), drop me a line.


=====================================================================
Mike Hackett                  | "She wouldn't make love,
<hackett@gaul.csd.uwo.ca>     |  but she could make good sandwich"
Honors Computer Science IV    | -Ian Anderson, "Budapest"
University of Western Ontario |                - _Crest of a Knave_
From: scarter@almaak.usc.edu (Steve Carter)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: Acheivement of bliss
Date: 14 Oct 1992 17:18:41 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: almaak.usc.edu

YeeeooooooOOOOOOWWWWWW!!!!!  <-- Him, seeing the large pile of D. Adams'
                                 latest installment to THHGTTG arranged
                                 artfully atop a painted pressboard plinth
                                 immediately inside the college bookstore door.

What? Hey! <-- His Advisor, realizing a moment too late that He (Him, that is)
               is about to escape his ambulatory treatise on the tribulations
               of the already-tenured.

.......the flashback dissolves in a suffusion of yellow.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

I just wanted to tell you guys, that after something like a MONTH of
exiling myself from this newsgroup, in the knowledge that if I did
not I would _surely_ read too much ABOUT "Mostly Harmless" to ever
enjoy it, I'm about to acheive bliss!!

Now, if I could just get a Pan Galactic Gargle-Blaster around here...

SRC

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Carter                          |  "We think, it is true, but we think
Dept. of Psychology                   |  so badly that I often feel it would
University of Southern California     |  be better if we did not."
Los Angeles, CA  90089-1061           |                    - Betrand Russell
Phone: (213) 740-2279                 |  "There is no fate that cannot be
SCARTER@ALMAAK.USC.EDU                |   surmounted by scorn"     - A.Camus
----------------------------------------------------------------------------