we strayed too far offtopic - I was an Adams fan too, well at least as much as everybody is. I own the Hitch-Hiker videos, the radio tapes and the books, all of which i really enjoyed. Adams influence is showing up in our culture because most computer and net people have read his works. There was an (earlier generation) chess playing computer named Deep Thought. There's a Web translation program calle Babelfish. I hear they even named an asteroid "Arthurdent!" (besides the usual designation number.) He had just the right "witty" sense of humor to appeal to educated people. (Or students.) you're struggling with caclulus or something, and then you stumble across the ceraeal-box equation proving there are no people in the universe. (take that Frank Drake.) Almost as funny as the proof somebody else got by dividing by zero that one equals two...Or you're musing on theology, and suddenly you'd find out anything that proves God exists proves He doesn't, causing God to vanish in a puff of logic! But hey, is a Babelfish really any unliiklier than the Star Trek Universal Translator? Such a shame he dropped dead like that. It was a shock and a sorrow to the whole world, but I really feel sorry for his family, especially his 6 year old daughter, losing her daddy all of a sudden....what could it mean to her whether he was famous or not? That's such a cruel thing to happen to a little kid! no matter who or where! Kristin (Six times nine really IS 42 - if you're counting in base 13. A prime number base. That's whats wrong with the universe!)
