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MostlyHarmless @echoesinyourmind.bsky.social · 13h

Zaphod: You’ve been writing songs in your spare time?
Marvin: Spare time is all I have. Turns out I’m really good at it. Not that anyone cares.
Trillian: It’s always nice to have hobbies.
Arthur: Does it help you feel any better?
Marvin: No. But at least the songs are as miserable as I am.

MostlyHarmless @echoesinyourmind.bsky.social · 15h

The weight of that missed moment the realization that help was so close yet completely out of reach would be almost unbearable and something Ford would have a very hard time coming to terms with.

MostlyHarmless @echoesinyourmind.bsky.social · 15h

and then just six months ago Zaphod someone so close to him arrives on Earth even briefly to crash a party and Ford has no idea.

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MostlyHarmless @echoesinyourmind.bsky.social · 15h

It would be utterly heartbreaking if the Sub-Etha Sens-O-Matic failed him and faulty equipment is a very real possibility. Imagine spending fifteen years waiting and watching the skies every day hoping for a lift

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MostlyHarmless @echoesinyourmind.bsky.social · 15h

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTXO...

Marvin, the Paranoid Android - A Side: Marvin [HQ Sound + Lyrics]

YouTube video by Zeta Zeta

www.youtube.com

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MostlyHarmless @echoesinyourmind.bsky.social · 17h

He might look back on it all and feel like those years were wasted, not only because no ships came, but because the one tool he relied on to spot them couldn’t be trusted.

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MostlyHarmless @echoesinyourmind.bsky.social · 17h

It seems far more likely that Ford’s Sub-Etha Sens-O-Matic was simply a lot more unreliable than he ever realized. That could explain why he was stranded on Earth for fifteen years in the first place.

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MostlyHarmless @echoesinyourmind.bsky.social · 17h

Zaphod is being chased down by the police so any theories about the Heart of Gold avoiding detection is out of the question.

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MostlyHarmless @echoesinyourmind.bsky.social · 17h

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MostlyHarmless @echoesinyourmind.bsky.social · 18h

Remember when Zaphod dropped by in Islington? How come Ford's Sub-Etha Sens-O-Matic picked up the Vogons, but not when Zaphod crashed the party Arthur attended six months ago?

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MostlyHarmless @echoesinyourmind.bsky.social · 18h

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MostlyHarmless @echoesinyourmind.bsky.social · 20h

He had no choice but to survive and adapt on this planet or die. That could explain why, even as an impoverished hitchhiker, he most likely spent that time learning British English, understanding money, finding jobs, and picking up survival skills while keeping a low profile.

MostlyHarmless @echoesinyourmind.bsky.social · 20h

He said he spent a week on Earth before he realized how isolated the planet really was. As the days slowly rolled by he most likely realized his currency was useless, there were no passing spaceships, and he was forced to confront the cold, harsh reality he was stuck here.

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MostlyHarmless @echoesinyourmind.bsky.social · 20h

We should all be more like V.

MostlyHarmless @echoesinyourmind.bsky.social · 20h

But how could he have managed to spend a week on Earth without British currency? After all he’s an alien from Betelgeuse and wouldn’t know anything about the United Kingdom when he first landed here.

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MostlyHarmless @echoesinyourmind.bsky.social · 21h

That’s the thing. In the book Ford handles alien money and is used to hanging around sanctioned parts of the galaxy where aliens know each other and getting a ride to other planets is easy.

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MostlyHarmless @echoesinyourmind.bsky.social · 1d

I love it when I have my window open the neighbor is mowing their lawn and I can smell everything.

The gasoline…

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MostlyHarmless @echoesinyourmind.bsky.social · 1d

Evil never stopped their species from advancing.

MostlyHarmless @echoesinyourmind.bsky.social · 1d

Shame, as evil as our politicians here on Earth are, the Vogons may be just as evil, but it never prevented their species from advancing. The Vogons are objectively cruel, bureaucratic, and even murderous, and yet they still manage to invest in what matters for their civilization.

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MostlyHarmless @echoesinyourmind.bsky.social · 1d

You cannot deny they accomplished something. As corrupt and cruel as our politicians are on Earth, they will never reach Vogon levels of efficiency while wielding science, bureaucracy, and even poetry as tools to their advantage.

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MostlyHarmless @echoesinyourmind.bsky.social · 1d

The thing about Vogons is that they are just as mean, bad-tempered, and downright evil as humans. Yet somehow they manage to maintain unity and achieve the scientific and technological advancements a civilization needs to dominate the galaxy.

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MostlyHarmless @echoesinyourmind.bsky.social · 2d

While on the subject of happiness and humor, I don’t know if you’re familiar with John Finnemore, the creator of Cabin Pressure, but he did make a point right here.

MostlyHarmless @echoesinyourmind.bsky.social · 2d

“No no,” said Ford, “it’s just that the world’s about to end.” and somedays it feels a lot like that...

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MostlyHarmless @echoesinyourmind.bsky.social · 2d

Ever since I made the effort to improve my mental health, it feels like a fog has been slowly lifting. Some days my head still feels full of cotton, but I can sense progress.

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MostlyHarmless @echoesinyourmind.bsky.social · 2d

I haven’t read The Road to Mars yet, but I understand the point humor helps me manage fear. Douglas Adams has been keeping me grounded, and after deleting Twitter and taking care of my mental health has made a real difference.

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