zabzonk

People posting here are perhaps missing that it is a comedy - with a bit of tragedy right at the end.

no, not really. occasionally the power pickup thingy would get detached from the overhead wires, but the driver had a big pole to hook them up again.

the trolleys were basically replacements for trams, which needed a lot of street furniture in the form of rails, points, etc. which caused problems for the increasing use of cars. but i always liked them (trolleys).

in the 1960s, the UK had lots of double-deck trolley buses with few problems - I used to ride them to school.

> I don't know where you live but UK summers were unbearable

well, i live in lincolnshire and used to live in london. i usually have a fan on for a few weeks over summer, but that's it. where in the UK did you live that the summers were so unbearable?

A mystery to me as well, given (as I have pointed out before here) he is the spit image of Carter Burke, the creepy Wayland-Yutami exec in the film "Aliens" - if you want to do a deal with face-huggers, either man is for you.

Thinking "I am in the presence of Satan" is quite common, though.

Somehow "USS Dolly Parton" has a bit of a ring to it for the next US warship after the "USS Dorie Miller".

> Sierra Ferrell does a pretty good rendition of that.

Emmylou Harris does a great one also.

that "i before e except after c" rule often gets taken too seriously

Indeed, AFAIK. I've never seen an explanation for this. Most things that reproduce successfully want to do it again - or at least their DNA does. Perhaps octopuses are simply disappointed by the experience.

Though FWIW, they do protect their eggs quite well.

Hence one of the activities they are best known for - "cottaging".

"Illuminatus!" I read this while suffering from the worst attack of flu (fever, hallucinations, the works) I have ever had, Edinburgh circa 1975. I thought I was going mad. Never dared to read it again.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Illuminatus!_Trilogy

Not exactly a cult, but... "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" by Tom Wolfe. Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters. It sounds like fun, until it doesn't so much. Soundtrack by The Grateful Dead.

> language and style of speaking sentences

Nabokov? His protagonists have very special styles of speaking. I'd recommend "Pale Fire" (which is also very funny and has an interesting hypertext-like structure) as a starter.

> At the same time, the replicants are being perceived as becoming more human.

Surely this is what the acknowledged replicants in the film do, particularly Roy Batty when he saves Deckard?

I was a great PKD fan (collected his books), and was a little disappointed when the film first came out, but it does grow on you.

Go for "Great Expectations", "David Copperfield" and "Bleak House". If they are not great novels, I don't know what are.

As an ex-microbiologist, the thing I can't stand is how smelly life is. Be in the same room as gangrenous flesh and your intestinal fortitude will be severely tested.

Other than that, I don't mind it, but I still prefer silicon.

> exploring the entire city

there were many sites, not just one city

I honestly think the child would be far better served with Scratch rather than some half-assed adventure writing language (having created several such languages myself).

Edit: To clarify, the languages I created were also half-assed - it's very difficult to create a good one.

> which they put on the bookshelf and never actually read.

Much like the many unread copies of Knuth's TAOCP.

LTT did a very funny video on bad tech ads: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXVeSJ1WAt0

> beaver was rabid

We don't have rabies in the UK, thankfully, and I don't think my bro got a rabies jab for his French coypu bite. Just naturally grumpy rodents, I guess.

My little brother was attacked once in France by a coypu. Needed medical attention. Beavers (we already have coypu) are being re-introduced into the UK, so maybe this sort of thing will increase here.

Trading systems? Most complex things I've worked on.

Well, I don't know. Most of the Myst games seem to be background, painted, with a bit of moving art. Comparing this with (say) an isometric RPG (think BG3, Pillars of Eternity) and those look a lot more expensive, but still capable of making money. Or maybe it's just that I never liked Myst - too stupid, I guess.

Thanks, but I think that is more gardens that are owned by people with professional gardeners and other caretakers. The scheme I was thinking of was more individuals. I remember looking in to a small bungalow garden, where the owner proudly showed off her border plants, and offered us some cuttings.

Perhaps including one that is scooting across the universe (Dr Becky): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHLF6sgLdrs&t=4s

Too much web stuff.

I remember back in the mid 1980s there was a scheme in Lincolnshire UK where you could just turn up at a house and go into their back garden to admire their plants - only gardens owned by people taking part in the scheme, obviously. Doesn't seem to exist anymore, and I guess I'm not surprised,