Vogon Jeltz quoted at the House of Commons !

(thanks to Dave H for this goundbreaking news)

Brandon Lewis, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, is undoubtly so coool it would fluster a Vegan snow lizard! He quoted Vogon Jeltz in an answer to a question from a Member of Parliament.

Sadly it was a written answer. It would have been great to have Vogon Jeltz quotation read aloud in the UK Parliament !!!

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether his Department has any plans to deregulate the publication of planning permission applications in local newspapers.

 Brandon Lewis : (...) my Department does not have any current plans to remove the statutory requirement for certain planning applications to be advertised in newspapers. Such notices ensure that the public are informed of decisions by their local authority which may affect their quality of life, local amenity or their property. This is especially the case in relation to planning applications, where there is a limited period for local residents to make representations.

 More broadly, in response to his implicit suggestion that such notices should be abolished in newspapers, I would direct the hon. Member to a passage from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:

“People of Earth, your attention, please... This is Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz of the Galactic Hyperspace Planning Council. As you will no doubt be aware, the plans for development of the outlying regions of the Galaxy require the building of a hyperspatial express route through your star system, and regrettably, your planet is one of those scheduled for demolition. The process will take slightly less than two of your Earth minutes. Thank you... There's no point in acting surprised about it. All the planning charts and demolition orders have been on display at your local planning department in Alpha Centauri for fifty of your Earth years, so you've had plenty of time to lodge any formal complaint and it's far too late to start making a fuss about it now... What do you mean you've never been to Alpha Centauri? Oh, for heaven's sake, mankind, it's only four light years away, you know. I'm sorry, but if you can't be bothered to take an interest in local affairs, that's your own lookout. Energize the demolition beams.”

Google pays tribute to Douglas Adams for his 61st birthday

The 11th march 2013 we celebrate Douglas Adams' 61st Birthday. Google pays tribute to the man with one of its famous doodles. Thanks Big G ! ;)

The doodle was created by Sophia Foster-Dimino. She explains how she worked on this doodle on the doodles' site where all the doodles are archived. So you can still see it here and read Sophia explanations and homage to DNA .

Google founders love Hitchhiker. When you ask google.com what is "The answer to life, the universe and everything", it still answers 42.

And Eric Schmidt, executive chairman and former CEO of Google, told last year : "Think back to Star Trek, or my favourite, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Much of what those writers imagined is now possible," Schmidt said.

"Translating... voice recognition, electronic books. The people who predict that intelligent robots, virtual reality or self-driving cars will soon be commonplace are right," he continued. "Governments will be able to spot the economic makings of a crisis before they happen and doctors will be able to accurately predict the outbreak of disease before anyone feels it."

Douglas Adams died 12 years ago and Google's doodle also makes us remember how young he was when he died. 49 years old, damn it ! It was such a shock for so many fans in the universe. "Life, don't talk to me about life" !

Douglas Adams was a comic genius, author of the celebrated "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series (which started in 1978 as a radio series but which also spanned through five books, a six episodes BBC TV series, several plays, a movie, a computer game,...),  but also of two Dirk Gently books (two books plus an unfinished one, a famous play called "Dirk", two radio series and a four episodes BBC TV series), a dictionary about names that should exist ("The Meaning of Liff")  and a remarkable book about endangered species "Last Chance to See"(book, radio series, computer software, TV documentary series).

He was also a radical atheist, a rock addict (who owned many left hand guitars and played on stage with Pink Floyd for his 42nd Birthday).

For more informations about Douglas Adams and his work, you can read my website www.douglasadams.eu