"In Life, there are many hundreds of common experiences, feelings, situations and even objects which we all know and recognize, but for which no words exist.
On the other hand, the world is littered with thousands of spare words which spend their time doing nothing but loafing about on signposts pointing at places.
Our job, as we see it, is to get these words down off the signposts and into the mouths of babes and sucklings and so on, where they can start earning their keep in everyday conversation and make a more positive contribution to society. " --
Douglas Adams, on
The Meaning of Liff. And because it's Adams, there are some internet pages for your enjoyment.
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on Dec 1, 2011 -
18 comments
Richard Henry has died. "The bird was originally discovered in Fiordland in 1975 when kakapo were believed to be extinct. [...] Richard Henry played a vital role by offering genetic diversity to the breeding programme, which now numbers 121 birds"; Kakapo,
memorably described by Douglas Adams as the "world's largest, fattest and least-able-to-fly parrot", are not the only New Zealand bird
brought back from the brink (and
Don Merton features in many of their stories, as well as others
farther abroad).
[more inside]
posted by rodgerd
on Jan 12, 2011 -
27 comments
Halfway through the third book of the
Hitchhiker's Guide series, there is
a throwaway reference to a doomed starship, one whose incredible splendor was matched only by the cosmic absurdity of its maiden-day annihilation.
But the story didn't end there. Unbeknownst to many fans, this small piece of Adamsian lore was the inspiration for an ambitious and richly-detailed side-story: a 1998 computer adventure game called
Starship Titanic.
Designed by Douglas Adams himself, the game set players loose in the infamous vessel, challenging them with a maddening mystery laced with the devilish wit of the novels.
The game was laden with extra content, including
an in-depth strategy guide,
a (mediocre) tie-in novel by Terry Jones,
a whimsical First Class In-Flight Magazine, and even a pair of 3D glasses for one of the more inventive puzzles.
Key to solving these puzzles was the game's groundbreaking communications system -- players interacted with
the ship's robotic crew through a natural language parsing engine called SpookiTalk, whose 10,000+ lines of conversational dialogue spawned
16 hours of audio recorded by professional voice actors, including
John Cleese,
Terry Jones, and even Douglas Adams himself in
several cameos (spoiler cameo). Want to experience the voyage for yourself? Then watch this narrated video playthrough (
intro (ads) -
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9? 10 11 12 13) ...or click inside for a information on how to run the game for free on Windows, Mac, and Linux (along with a bunch of other goodies!).
[more inside]
posted by Rhaomi
on Dec 22, 2010 -
109 comments
"
Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space. " -- Douglas Adams
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posted by SpacemanStix
on Dec 2, 2010 -
73 comments
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was (originally) a radio series, broadcast on BBC Radio during March and April 1978. It was a success. Since then it has spawned
a 5-book trilogy,
additional radio broadcasts,
a television adaptation,
a computer game,
a comic book series,
a movie, and
at least one minor holiday. However, subsequent releases of the original radio series were edited (in part for copyright reasons), and the original broadcasts have been unavailable, until now. A software engineer and H2G2 fan has now tracked down the recordings of the original broadcasts, analyzed the differences between them and the official CD releases, and provided patches and instructions to update the CD release to match the original broadcast. Not only that, but
he has written software to automate the process.
posted by fogovonslack
on Oct 25, 2009 -
30 comments
Toast always reminds me of the global division of labor. A British artist inspired by Douglas Adams is attempting to make a toaster from scratch. Apparently this concept was also addressed before in an essay, "I, Pencil," by Leonard Read, a founder of a Libertarian think tank. Bottom line: Pencils and toasters are difficult for one person to make and using a microwave to smelt stuff for the toaster is apparently cheating.
posted by ShadePlant
on Jun 25, 2009 -
40 comments
It’s only natural that if you wish to present yourself as a well-read person, a certain degree of complete bullshit is required. There’s no shame in lying about what you’ve read. There’s only shame in getting caught. Then you look like a doofus, and an illiterate one at that... How to lie about books.
posted by Artw
on May 28, 2009 -
73 comments
The fourth part of a trilogy of interviews with Douglas Adams before he got all famous. "I find the difference, for me, between having no money and having quite a bit is that the bills get bigger. And that's it. The lifestyle doesn't change." Well, he certainly didn't. And for that, much thanks.
posted by humuhumu
on Jun 1, 2007 -
11 comments
"Lovely crinkly edges." Third and final part of an excellent series of unpublished interviews with Douglas Adams, with the first Hitchhiker's book still to be complete and script editing on Dr Who taking up much of his time.
posted by humuhumu
on May 1, 2007 -
6 comments
Win a part in the new Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy movie, by submitting to The Guide, a photograph of the place on Earth you think most deserves to survive the planet's inevitable destruction. Deadline:
Friday 25 June 2004.
posted by Blue Stone
on Jun 24, 2004 -
15 comments
douglas adams mp3 audio archive ...
"The Douglas Adams media archive is presented here by the wi2600.org groups for your enjoyment. This allso is to serve as a tribute to Mr. Adams's great, but suddely shortened career. Those who have not heard his voice and those who know it well will both enjoy having this material available. We will miss him!"
posted by crunchland
on Jul 24, 2003 -
16 comments
Final Hitchhiker's Novel Found: A Salmon of a Doubt, the sixth novel in Douglas Adam's series, will be published next May upon Adam's death. But is this a serious effort from a man who was growing tired of the
Hitchhiker's series towards the end of his life or an easy way to cash in on Adams's death, V.C. Andrews-style?
posted by ed
on Nov 19, 2001 -
19 comments
Towel Day -- tribute to Douglas Adams Here's an idea for those of you who want to show some sort of public sympathy for Douglas Adams. This site is proposing May 25th be "Towel Day" - carry a towel prominently and use it as a talking point for discussing Adams with people. I can't decide if this is lame or cool, so you tell me. (via
FARK)
posted by briank
on May 16, 2001 -
30 comments
Douglas Adams dead? The BBC has reported that the Author of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy has died of a heart attack age 49. I'm in shock...
posted by LMG
on May 12, 2001 -
84 comments
The Second Reincarnation of the Final Grandson of Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged. For those of us in constant search of universally meaningful insults, wowbagger delivers.
The program is based on a character in Douglas Adams' "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", a character who, after an incident involving a time traveling machine and a piece of elastic band, became so pissed off at the universe that he sought to insult every creature in it, in alphabetical order.
posted by samsara
on Mar 15, 2001 -
5 comments
Don't Panic! Did anyone else realize that The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy really existed? I don't know that I'd describe that font as "Large, friendly letters", but it is, indubitably, on the front cover.
posted by baylink
on May 19, 2000 -
6 comments
