Day-to-day thoughts, technical information, a random grab-bag of thoughts, discoveries, and interesting little tidbits.

Friday, December 9, 2011

The Before-Death Experience

The Hitchhiker's Guide has this to say about the before-death experience:

It is said that before you die, your life passes before your eyes. This is, in fact, true; the process is known as "living."  This is a horribly tedious process, sometimes pleasant, such as times when one is enjoying tea and fairycake, and other times, less so, such as when attempting to explain to the Vogons just why their planet should not be demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass.  And less so when listening to the reaction on the part of the Vogon who, in a fit of inspiration, decides to share a poem about the types of muck found between their toes one midwinter night.

Some people will seek to shorten this process, especially when listening to said poetry, in order to be on time for tea in the afterlife; fairycakes optional. Others, unwilling to experience the unpleasantness of "dying," particularly those who have not yet heard a Vogon reading poetry, will do everything in their power to extend the period, only to discover just how tedious the whole "living" process really is, until they can no longer stand it, and die anyway, usually in the middle of a dream of tea in the afterlife.  Of course, these people tend to become confused as to whether they will ever wake up on time to have their morning tea, and then decide that it's not important, as there's a perfectly good cup in front of them.

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