Geek Fu #35 - The Wisdom of Douglas Adams
My Odeo Channel (odeo/b24793b97f50478b) (yeah, I really messed up Odeo… what’s it to ya?)
Kinda disjointed this podcast. I break my promise about this being my last geek music podcast, but I make it up to you guys who don’t like the music by a) playing it at the end and b) not cheating you out of the essay, which is about Douglas Adams.
The deal with the music is that the Phenomenauts need money - they had their bus do very bad things in Nebraska, which Mike Mennenga tells me is a horror in itself. They are now suffering from several thousands of dollars in repair bills. They and the Epoxies cannot continue the second leg of their tour without these repairs. So, they need help. And I and my sponsor, Split Reason, are willing to reward you for your generosity.
For the next two weeks, the top 5 donators to the Phenomenauts will receive t-shirts from Split Reason, and the top contributor will get a Geek Fu Action Grip t-shirt. Be sure to mention in the paypal transaction that you’re coming from Geek Fu Action Grip, or you won’t be entered into the contest!
Thanks a lot to my sponsor, Split Reason, for helping me help the Phenomenauts.
Other stuff: partnership with Random Signal, geek shower gel, and the mourning of Douglas Adams.
- Random Signal
Save the Phenomenauts!
Look at His Butt
Podcast 411
Sturgeon’s Law
Pure Bath
Duke Podcasting Symposium
PodcasterCon
(oh, and I’ll be getting Geek Fu tshirts in soon, so we’ll be able to start selling! Woot!)
8 Comments
1. Random replies at 6th August 2005 um 8:38 pm :
Thanks again, Mur. And you basically plugged The Whole Truth for me, too! Go you! Woo!
Okay, I’m going to bed now.
-R
2. Mur replies at 7th August 2005 um 6:05 am :
Random, I forgot to link to you in the show notes.
I am the worst show notes writer there ever was. I’m sorry. Editing now.
3. FoolsRun replies at 7th August 2005 um 11:17 pm :
Mur,
I am new to your work and I’m already a fan. I thought I’d share a real life Hitchhiker’s Guide moment that I’ve experienced recently.
A few weeks ago, my beloved nearly new iPod crashed and burned. I brought it into the Apple Store (a dangerous course of action as I always seem buy something new when I’m there). I knew my model iPod had been discontinued months before, but it was still under warranty, so I figured they’d still have replacements lying around the store, and I’d walk out with a new one.
I’m not sure how familiar you are with the original radio production of Hitchhiker’s Guide, but in the second series, which aired in 1980, Ford and Zaphod find themselves aboard a starship that has been docked for hundreds of years, its passengers kept in suspended animation. Civilization has crumbled and all but ceased on the planet, and the ship sits there, waiting.
Upon investigation, Ford and Zaphod discover that the ship’s automated systems are awaiting their supply of lemon soaked paper napkins.
“Statistics show that civilizations will rise again. There will once again be lemon soaked paper napkins. Until that time, there will be a short delay. Please return to your seats.”
At the Apple Store I was told that Apple doesn’t carry the replacement parts for my iPod anymore, but that I should leave it with them for when the parts start shipping again.
Apple doesn’t carry the part, yet I was to wait until the part arrived. Effectively I had been told to wait for my supply of lemon soaked paper napkins.
Douglas Adams was brilliant and saw the world in a way I only dream of doing. Our eyes are opened when we are allowed to look through his.
–
M
4. Mur replies at 8th August 2005 um 5:32 am :
M…
Wow, that does in fact stink of the lemon soaked paper napkins incident. (Yes, I am familar with the radio drama, I had a problem with the first 15 or so min of the HHGG movie because the lines were *supposed* to be spoken just like the radio drama… (complete idiocy, I know)
So what did you do? Are you waiting for your napkins?
Mur
5. FoolsRun replies at 8th August 2005 um 6:33 am :
Mur,
I was instructed to send the iPod to Apple in California. It took about two weeks and they had to custom order the replacement hard drive, but I am once posessed of an iPod.
–
M
6. DuckPuppy replies at 8th August 2005 um 3:21 pm :
Hi Mur (if I may be so familiar),
I have been a Douglas Adams fan for a very long time. I have indeed met the man himself at a book signing in Atlanta for “Mostly Harmless”, and he was wonderful. He even signed my towel. One of my most prized book posessions is a 1978 advance reader copy of HHGTTG for reviewers that I picked up at a used book store in Atlanta. (I also saw him at the same E3 you did as well, but like you I was too shy to approach him out of the blue… chances are we actually passed each other at that moment, since I believe that was the last time I saw him at the Digital Village booth). Over the years I, like you, have really seen the almost prophetic similarities between things Mr. Adams wrote about and many things I’ve experienced in life. I think that he just had a wonderful way of packaging human responses and situations (be it religious, political, or emotional) into a sci-fi setting… subtle satire of whatever struck him.
(Rereading that previous paragraph, I feel like I’m trying to one-up you… it’s not that, really, but I’m trying to present my geek credentials. Time honored tradition among geeks… we must weed out the pretenders.)
If you really want something entertaining from him that’s not even fiction (especially if you like hearing him speak), try listening to the audio book version of “Last Chance to See”… non-fiction, but utterly HILARIOUS as he reads it.
7. Pulp Gamer » Blog &hellip replies at 8th August 2005 um 6:41 pm :
[…] pporting Links Include Geek Fu Action Grip Mur’s last experience with Arkham Horror Mur’s essay, “The Widsom of Douglas Adams” The Aquabats Dragon*Con Random Signal […]
8. Rolf - Audio Books Fan replies at 13th February 2007 um 3:46 pm :
iPods…… I’ve just had mine in for repairs in Zurich. Seems that we have less of an issue with the customer service here in Switzerland than in other places. The guys were really nice about it and instead of having me wait for a repaired unit, I got a brand new unit! (I had purchased the broken one 6 weeks ago, and it simply stopped working….) Sure glad to be listening to my audio books again. Got some really good sci-fi stuff on it!
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