Hitch-Hiking In The Real World

I couldn't get www.fordprefect.blogspot.com as my U.R.L. because it was already taken and, three years later, I find it's not even being used. Ford Prefect is a dick!

Google 'ford prefect' and this site is your 8th result. Pretty neat, huh? (It must be one of the two pages mentioning pornography.) The others are for some guy from The Hitch-hiker's Guide To The Galaxy and the car.

Douglas Adams also named Hotblack Desiato, a rock star in some versions of The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe story, after something in the real world. Alta Vista's Babel Fish translation site (see sidebar), on the other hand, is clearly based on the book and not the other way around.

Blogging under a fictional name is easier than making up your own and an easy way to get hits. Arthur Dent found me, as did Slartibartfast, though I think she goes by a different name these days. Can you blame her? There are Zarniwoops, Tricia McMillans, you name it. It would be quite interesting to see whether distinct types of people in real life identify with the same characters - all the egoists with Zaphod, for example. Blogger itself uses Stavromula Beta as the name of the fictional blog on its How To pages. It's the height of fashion, don't you know?