HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: C.L.Gannon@newcastle.ac.uk (C.L. Gannon)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: Re: Pizza...
Date: 21 Jan 93 10:12:26 GMT
Organization: Computing Laboratory, U of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK NE1 7RU.


In article <7630@sersun1.essex.ac.uk>, dauldb@solb1.essex.ac.uk (DAulignac D D) writes:
>Hi!
>
>I've just started to read 'The long dark tea-time of the soul' from 
>Douggie and there is something that irritates me.
>	In Chapter one he explains that Kate often gets depressed on
>english soil because the people are to stupid to realise that pizza
>is something that has to be delivered and then eaten in front of the TV
>(a situation that fortunately has been relived in our latter days).
>	Now, Dirk's kitchen, who lives in North London, is descrived in
>Chapter 3:
>
>	Like most of the rooms in Dirk's house it was large, looming and
>utterly dishellved. It simply sneered at anybody's attempt to tidy it, 
>sneered at them and brushed them aside like one of the small pile of dead
>and disheartened flies that lay beneath the window, on top of a pile of
>old pizza boxes.
>    ^^^^^
>
>Now, one might think that those boxes were from frozen pizza packages, but
>as one recalls there was a full-scale war going on between Dirk and his
>cleaning maid over the non-fridge-opening. So if the fridge was not separated
>into freezer and cooling compartment, and since Duggie describes it as
>looking like a monolith what proves this theory, it would have been impossible
>for Dirk to store the frozen pizza unless he would have a separate freezer
>(i.e. appart from the fridge) and this would-be-important-fact is not
>mentioned in the description of the kitchen.
>	So Dirk does NOT store the pizza. Does he go to the store and
>prepares it imediately after buying it? How can it be explained that
>Dirk has pizza boxes lying on the fridge? Does he have a maniatic obsession
>for the collection of pizza boxes, the author does not inform us of in his else
> so detailed description of characters? Does he steal them from his neighbours
>trashcans?
>	I'm stuck and I'll be grateful for any sugestions to where the
>solution of this tricky problem, that doesn't let me sleep until 3.00 AM, lies.
>
>Later,
>	Diego.
>
>"Gelb", dachte er.



          the answer is quite simple he eas gone to the restaurent that makes 
          the pizzas and got a take away. noticekate misses not havng pizza
          delivered she doesn't want to go out and pick it up herself.



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     |  actually try it.                 /    ||     |||||  ||    ||  #
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From: jute@sday.pulp.nullnet.fi (Jussi Kantola)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: Re: The Bit About Shoes, Was: Lintilla ?
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 07:33:48 PST
Distribution: world
Organization: Splattersday

jroberts@chimera.UWaterloo.ca (J. P. Robertson) writes:

> for the Guide.  I suppose that bit was editted out, to leave just
> "Mostly Harmless".

No.  In SLATFATF we learn that Ford wrote a whole lot about Earth,
clearly much more than some article about shoes.  I borrowed my copy,
but I think New York was mentioned, among many other things.

---
 Jussi Kantola from Paltamo, Finland
 email: jute@sday.pulp.nullnet.fi
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
From: dkf11@cl.cam.ac.uk (Donal K. Fellows)
Subject: Re: Pizza...
Reply-To: dkf11@phx.cam.ac.uk
Organization: U of Cambridge Computer Lab, UK
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 11:22:55 GMT

In article <1jlq5aINNst@darkstar.UCSC.EDU> keeper@deeptht.armory.com writes:
>
>In article <7630@sersun1.essex.ac.uk> dauldb@essex.ac.uk (DAulignac D D) writes:
>>	In Chapter one he explains that Kate often gets depressed on
>>english soil because the people are to stupid to realise that pizza
>>is something that has to be delivered and then eaten in front of the TV
>>	Now, Dirk's kitchen, who lives in North London, is described
>>[as containing] old pizza boxes.
>>	So Dirk does NOT store the pizza. Does he go to the store and
>>prepares it imediately after buying it? How can it be explained that
>>Dirk has pizza boxes lying on the fridge? 
>
>Couldn't he just be getting takeaways?  They aren't delivered, but come
>in a box, surely.
>

Pizzas certainly come in boxes when you get a takeaway, and I can't
imagine why they wouldn't when they are delivered (Yes. For the final
time, there is now pizza delivery in the UK. I put this down to DNA
pointing out in tLDTotS a market niche never before noticed :)

(Wishing that I had the money for a pizza at the moment....)

Donal.
--
If the opinions above are anyone else's, that's their problem.
From: carsten@pizza.fb10.tu-berlin.de (Carsten Schultz)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: My favorite MH scene
Date: 27 Jan 1993 02:56:04 GMT
Organization: ZRZ/TU-Berlin
Distribution: world
Reply-To: carsten@pizza.fb10.tu-berlin.de (Carsten Schultz)
NNTP-Posting-Host: pizza.fb10.tu-berlin.de


Hi,

after all this talk, why MH was _not_ as good, as some of us would want it  
to be...

I really liked the scene with Guide MkII configuring itself!

I have to think of it every time, I install a software package that  
behaves like that:

testing if your chars are signed ....
testing if you have thisLibraryI ReakllyNeed.a ....

Carsten
From: eeyimkn@unicorn.nott.ac.uk (M. Knell)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: Re: Lintilla ?
Date: 23 Jan 93 00:00:57 GMT
Organization: Cripps Computing Centre, University of Nottingham

In article <CC.93Jan22114335@arran.dcs.ed.ac.uk> cc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Chris Cooke) writes:
>What a pity - these were two of the most memorable bits of the series!  Those
>birds ("Look, this is absolutely luuuuuudicrous!") who were afraid to mention
>- errm - those things between your ankle and the ground, you know, the bits
>you walk on if you can't fly; and the massed ranks of Rula Lenskas:
(stuff removed..)

Agreed! Episodes 9-12 of H2G2/Radio were possibly some of the best radio I've
ever heard - I often dig out the tapes just of Ep.10-12, as stuff such as
Poodoo suddenly appearing with three Allitnils, (and Varntvar the priest..)
who does "Weddings. Other stuff as well, but mostly weddings."...
has me rolling on the floor (well, almost) every time.
Arthur asking the Footwarriors to stop shooting because 'I've just got three
impromptu weddings breaking out behind me' - 'Weddings? Did you say weddings?'
- 'Yes! With this ring I thee wed, and so on' - 'Can we come?' - whoa!
Unbeatable stuff..
Oh dear. I think you'll find reality's on the blink again. :-)

  The whole bit (especially later on) smacks slightly of DNA writing himself
out of a hole (esp. Poodoo etc, reality folding up..) but it is eaaassily the
best bit of the whole series, probably the wierdest bit in the whole story.

Cheers,
Mike


+-- 'with the lights out, it's less dangerous...' --------------------------+
\------ Mike Knell, Willoughby Hall, University of Nottingham, IO92JX ------/
 \  AMPRnet: mikee@g7gpa.ampr.org -=- Internet: eeyimkn@unicorn.nott.ac.uk /
  \   JANET: eeyimkn@uk.ac.nott.unicorn   AX25: G7GPA@GB7BAD.#23.GBR.EU   /
   +--------------------------------- 'oh well, whatever, nevermind...'--+
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
From: lendl@cosy.sbg.ac.at (Otmar Lendl)
Subject: Re: discrepency in Guide
Organization: University of Salzburg / Austria
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 20:17:40 GMT

In article <105956@netnews.upenn.edu> weemba@sagi.wistar.upenn.edu (Matthew P Wiener) writes:
>>>I wonder if anywhere in the U.S. has its crosswalks painted with white
>>>stripes, thus being worthy of the name `zebra crossing'.
>
>Now that the issue has come up, I've noticed for the first time in my
>life (and I'm from here originally) that Philadelphia has genuine white
>stripes on black zebra crossings.

Same here in Austria. (Yes, that little country in Europe.)
They are called "Zebrastreifen" which translates to "zebra-stripes".
So for native German speakers it's clear what zebra-crossing is supposed
to mean.     (^^^^^^ Yes, German is spoken here.)

/Otmar

-- 
|Otmar Lendl (lendl@cosy.sbg.ac.at) | Student of CS & Math at Salzburg |
|Akademiestr. 15  A-5020 Salzburg   | University (Austria / Europe)    |
| Put the scrabble away Arthur, it won't save the human race !  Ford P.|
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
From: sek@cch.coventry.ac.uk (Trillian )
Subject: Re: j: Towels and things...
Organization: CPSFS
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 12:43:20 GMT

In article <V4ZHXB3w165w@anarky.tch.org> nightsng@anarky.tch.org (Nightsong) writes:
>> Does anyone know if these towels (and for that matter, anything else) can sti
>> be bought?
>
>
>Well just get your own towel.. probably less expensive and  you can 
>choose one that YOU like.. unlessyou prefer Hitchhiker towels.. I kind 
>of like mine with a whole bunch of cats on it personally :)
>
>-Nightsong

Does that include a clone of Roosta's towel???  The Have-A-Quick-Snack-If-
You're-Desperate-Towel, as Zaphod found out....  'the yellow stripes are full
of protein' 'and the brown stains' 'bar-b-q sauce' 'ugh'................

-- 
==============================================================================
            Myshella        | sek@uk.ac.cov.cch |    Rest in Peace
       Empress of the Dawn  |                   |  Till we meet again
==============================================================================
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
From: jon@chopin.udel.edu (Jon Deutsch)
Subject: Re: Mostly Harmful?
Organization: University of Delaware - What state is that in?
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 18:26:23 GMT

In article <1k2f57INNdmv@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu> ginsu@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Wes Simonds) writes:
|>Doc writes:
|>
|>No... but if YOU were paid a million bucks to do a job before you'd even done
|>it, wouldn't you at least try to do it right?   And not spend a month and call
|>it a wrap regardless of personal standards of quality?  I wouldn't care if
|>MH was the best DNA could do at the time, but if you ask me, it wasn't.  The 
|>man is just spoiled and sick of having to listen to people ask for more HH.

	It's easy to see why MH was the worst of the 5 -- look at the 
	cirumstances surrounding its creation:

	When DA wrote the first 3 (poss. 4) books, he was still in touch with
	the "writer's life" including hardships, pain, and would do anything
	for a buck (sorry, pound).  They say that pain is the root of all
	comedy, and I tend to believe that.

	But, it's been quite a long time since DA has seen this lifestyle,
	and is in a new lifestyle of fame, fortune, and GOBS of pressure!
	Pressure to write better books.  He is a tough act to follow, even
	for himself!  
	I know that when I write a fabulous peice of music, I am worried
	sick that I'll never come up with anything of that quality again.
	It is thoughts like these that inhibit creativity.  Instead of seeing
	a never-ending landscape of ideas, you see a narrow path that you 
	feel you must follow if you are going to succeed.
	It's a real bummer.

	So, try to keep these things in mind when ripping DA apart for
	writing a less-than-above-average book.  He probably didn't even
	want to write it in the first place.


       X-------------------+--------------+-----------------------X
       |  |   |\       |>jon@chopin.udel.edu<|  "For my 2 cents,  |
       | \|on |/eutsch |>>-----------------<<|  I'd pay a dollar" |
       X------+--------------------+--------------------+---------X
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
From: eeyimkn@unicorn.nott.ac.uk (M. Knell)
Subject: Re: Lintilla ?
Organization: Cripps Computing Centre, University of Nottingham
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 93 16:42:39 GMT

In article <C1IHA0.JsE@cck.coventry.ac.uk> sek@cch.coventry.ac.uk (Trillian ) writes:
>In article <1993Jan23.000057.8597@cs.nott.ac.uk> eeyimkn@unicorn.nott.ac.uk (M. Knell) writes:
>>In article <CC.93Jan22114335@arran.dcs.ed.ac.uk> cc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Chris Cooke) writes:
(all the crap I wrote removed)
>Talking of the Footwarriors and the SHoe Event Horizon bit, how about the
>Computeach and the pupil "Can I press the button?"  'Oh all right then'  "oohh
>so nice!!'  is another of the funniest bits...

Yes, but don't forget to press the OTHER button... :-)

Cheers
Mike


-- 

+-- 'with the lights out, it's less dangerous...' --------------------------+
\------ Mike Knell, Willoughby Hall, University of Nottingham, IO92JX ------/
 \  AMPRnet: mikee@g7gpa.ampr.org -=- Internet: eeyimkn@unicorn.nott.ac.uk /
From: jsfjp@acad1.alaska.edu (PERRICONE FRANK J)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: Re: Pizza...
Date: 26 Jan 93 22:30:00 GMT
Organization: University of Alaska - Fairbanks
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41.UAC

>>>However, Marvin's asking the mattress the same question, then saying that the
>>>answer the mattress gave was wrong, is intriguing as evidence, since Marvin
>>>read the question from Arthur's brain.  But of course Marvin knows the

>Actually, I think Marvin is just proving that the mattress is incredibly stupid
>as most people would say words to the effect "What conditions haven't I met" or
>"This is bloody stupid" whereas Zem (I think that is his name) thinks that 
>Marvin is bloody brilliant, but only proves that Marvin was right.

Well, that's what he's doing on the surface.  But the fact that the same
question pops up unexpectedly in another part of the book, immediately after
a discussion about the question and during a last attempt to find the question
(reread that section and it almost looks like Eddie is suggesting that that IS
the question for a moment), makes it suspicious.  Then you can go back to the
Marvin and Zem scene and think, hmmm..., maybe DNA is giving us more of a hint
here... after all, Marvin would do well to compare his intelligence to Deep
Thought and The Earth, and Marvin knows, or thinks he knows, the question and
the answer at the same time.  By asking the mattress The Question, then
concluding that the given answer is wrong... well, you can see why that
Question would be a particularly Ultimate one to ask the mattress.  The
mattress scene on its own could never ben accused of meaning this, but in the
context that led to the other scene in question, it becomes a lot more
reasonable to interpret as a "secret message", and we know DNA knows how to
hide things in his books.
From: ferret@paradox.engin.umich.edu (kenneth r lipka)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: Re: British humour (was Re: discrepency in Guide)
Date: 22 Jan 1993 15:57:48 GMT
Organization: University of Michigan Engineering, Ann Arbor
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: paradox.engin.umich.edu
Originator: ferret@paradox.engin.umich.edu


In article <19896@mindlink.bc.ca>, Jeremy_Reimer@mindlink.bc.ca (Jeremy Reimer) writes:
> A good point.  Fortunately all the Adams books sold in Canada appear to be
> the unedited and original British versions.
> 
> Yet more proof that Canadians are superior to those noisy Yanks... :)
> 

	If this is the case, why is Canada preparing to be no more?

	Quebec is going to secceed from Canada and be its own country some time before the end of 1994.  This will then set the precedent that other provinces like British Columbia need to break off from Canada and join the United States.
And if you don't believe me, check the records.  I heard a prominent Canadian
analsyst describing this durning the holiday break.  (No, I don't know his name; it was Canadian and therefore unimportant.)

	Ken Lipka
	ferret@engin.umich.edu
From: drwho@coyote.WPI.EDU (Eric Ant Von Laudermann)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: Re: Artificial Universe
Date: 21 Jan 1993 20:33:36 GMT
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
NNTP-Posting-Host: coyote.wpi.edu
Keywords: MH, Mostly Harmless, Artificial Universe

In article <C15DH7.94I@cs.vu.nl> fvkampen@cs.vu.nl (Kampen van F) writes:
>Sombody wrote that when Ford left the building through the window
>he might be in an artificial universe. But the people with the 
>rocket launchers came through the door, and so they must be real.
>
>Suppose Ford IS in an artificial universe (remember, He went through
>the window TWO times) the rocket launchers came in through the
>door, yes, but in an artificial building, so they are artificial too.

No, he went through two different windows.  In Restaurant, Zarniwoop
was the editor-in-chief of the Guide.  In MH, Vann Harl is the
editor-in-chief.  So, presumably, the window of the editor-in-chief's
office in *any* Guide building is a gateway to an artificial universe.
Ford only went through that window once.

Wait a minute,  I just checked, and the Vogons were grey even before
Ford went through the window.  Dang.  All right, how about this: when 
the Vogons first captured the building, they searched it.  Being told 
that there was an artificial universe through the window,
a (green) Vogon squadron went through to check.  They found no
difference, and what's more, they fell to the ground because they were
stupid enough not to wear jet packs.  However, Vogons are very tough,
and they survived the fall and went back upstairs to give the leader
their report.  But now they are grey, because when the real Vogons
went into the window, the grey ones came out the other side at exactly
the same time.  The people inside the room didn't notice, because they
were looking through the window, and therefore they were looking into 
the artificial universe, where the green Vogons had just entered.
People outside would have seen grey Vogons exit the window.  (All this
is in the split second before they started falling to the ground.)

Now, in each universe, the Vogons who went through the window have the
wrong color.  They are the ones Ford met up with before going through
the window.  The ones he sees outside the building (in the artificial
universe) have not gone through the window.

Or maybe Ford has been in an artificial universe since the beginning
of the book, in which case the whole "Ford jumping through the window
might put him in an artificial universe" thing is a red herring.

My, this is fun, isn't it?

>-- 
>Florentijn van Kampen
>email: fvkampen@cs.vu.nl
>"Oh dear" says God " I hadn't thought of that" and promptly vanishes
>in a puff of logic...

--E.V.L. (drwho@wpi.wpi.edu)  # "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you see
a.k.a.:  The Eternal Newbie,  # before you a killer, and of the worst kind.
The Amazing Tubeman!,         # Madonna."
Murphy's Law Incarnate        # --Commercial for the movie "Body of Evidence"
Any similarities between what I say and what I mean are purely coincidental.
From: cc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Chris Cooke)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: Re: Lintilla ?
Date: 22 Jan 93 11:43:35 GMT
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Edinburgh, Scotland

In article <w3h38ag@rpi.edu> tuffyd@bray1b.its.rpi.edu (Devin 'Nice Guy' Tuffy) writes:

   This bit of the plot is NOT found in any of the books.  Apparently Adams
   didn't like it that much.  The only remaining part is the bird-shoe thing.
   It occurs on Frogstar (i think) and the plant's history ruined via the
   show business takes up only half a page.  As for Lintilla & friends,
   there's no trace of her anywhere.  --

What a pity - these were two of the most memorable bits of the series!  Those
birds ("Look, this is absolutely luuuuuudicrous!") who were afraid to mention
- errm - those things between your ankle and the ground, you know, the bits
you walk on if you can't fly; and the massed ranks of Rula Lenskas:

"Lintilla?"

"Yes?"		"Yes?"
	"Yes?"		  "Yes?"
    "Yes?"	"Yes?"
	"Yes?"	  "Yes?"

Even now, years afterwards, the "Shoe Event Horizon" has become part of the
language for many people.
--
	-- Chris. 	cc@dcs.ed.ac.uk   (on Janet, cc@uk.ac.ed.dcs)

		
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
From: sek@cch.coventry.ac.uk (Elizabeth)
Subject: Re: Comment on MH
Keywords: dolphins, mice, man...
Organization: CPSFS
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 11:29:55 GMT

The mice and the dolphins left the earth before the vogons arrived...

The whale and the bowl of petunias - all the bowl of petunias said was 'Oh no
not again...'

So long and thanks for all the fish - the dolphins, most intelligent species
on earth...

the mice are the second most intelligent species...



-- 
==============================================================================
            Myshella        | sek@uk.ac.cov.cch |    Rest in Peace
       Empress of the Dawn  |                   |  Till we meet again
==============================================================================
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
From: martin@cs.curtin.edu.au (Martin Dougiamas)
Subject: Re: A changing DNA (was Re: Mostly Harmful)
Organization: Curtin University of Technology
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 05:49:37 GMT

ginsu@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Wes Simonds) writes:
>I never said I didn't like _Fish_!

Ah, when you said his last two books, I assumed you meant HHGTTG books.
My apologies.  I consider the Dirk books as a separate series.

>My favorite Adams sequences:
[...]
>7. Nothing in MH.

Not even the "Disgusting Old Lady" scene?  Not even the Ford/Arthur 
reunion scene?  If you didn't like these then all I can say is comedy
means different things to us.  What about Ford plummeting to a certain
death past all those floors in the HH building and flicking V signs
to them all as he passes?

>Here is a line from _Fish_:
>"Grown men, he told himself, in flat contradiction of centuries of accumulated
>evidence about the way grown men behave, do not behave like this."

And a great line it is.  But not that brain-swivellingly better than
most of his writing, in all his books.

>It is, in my opinion anyway, rough going looking for lines of this quality
>in _MH_.

Perhaps, but the quality of MH is not *that* far behind.  You seem to be
saying that just because MH has no lines in it that are as good as one of
the best lines in a previous book (IYO) that it is a pile of worthless crap.

>And as for scenes to match the Hyde Park scene in the same book, you
>can forget it.  They aren't there.

Oh, I agree.  But this does not mean the book is entirely worthless as
you suggest, or bad enough to make sure you wouldn't buy a sequel, as
you said.  It's a different kind of book.  That's why he got rid of
Fenchurch.  I'd like to see you write a better book that Mostly Harmless.

Martin
--
Your eyes are weary from staring at the screen.  Your eyelids feel very heavy.
You feel very sleepy.  Watch the cursor.  Notice how restful it is to watch it
blink.  Close your eyes.  All the opinions stated above are yours.  You cannot
imagine why you ever felt otherwise.  When you awake, you will be irresistably
compelled to send all your money to: Martin Dougiamas, martin@cs.curtin.edu.au
From: zaphod@src4src.linet.org (Steve Wechsler)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: Re: A changing DNA (was Re: Mostly Harmful)
Date: 26 Jan 93 15:40:33 GMT
Organization: The Source for Source

In article <1k1jj1INN577@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu> ginsu@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Wes Simonds) writes:

>I never said I didn't like _Fish_!  In fact, I think the Hyde Park/Biscuit
>scene in it is one of the best scenes Adams has ever done, period.

DNA was on Late Night with David Letterman (several years ago - he's
probably been on since then - this was when _Fish_ came out), and
related that story.  He claimed that it actually had happened to him
(he as Arthur).

Steve
-- 
Steve Wechsler | zaphod@src4src.linet.org    |    Call Lady Hawke's Castle BBS:
Please respond to my queries via e-mail (post also if you like) | 516-226-4630
because my site purges news much faster than I can keep up with it.
"Watch??  I'm gonna pray, man!  Know any good religions?" -- Zaphod Beeblebrox