Total Perspective Vortex
What really happened to Trillian? Theories abound, but you can see what she's really been up to on this blog. If you're looking for white mice, depressed robots, or the occasional Pan Galactic Gargleblaster you might be better served here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/hitchhikers/guide/.

Otherwise, hello, and welcome.
Mail Trillian here<




Trillian McMillian
Trillian McMillian
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Women, The Internet and You: Tips for Men Who Use Online Dating Sites
Part I, Your Profile and Email

Part II, Selecting a Potential Date

Part III, Your First Date!

Part IV, After the First Date. Now What?


"50 First Dates"






Don't just sit there angry and ranting, do something constructive.
In the words of Patti Smith (all hail Sister Patti): People have the power.
Contact your elected officials.

Don't be passive = get involved = make a difference.
Find Federal Officials
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Contact The Media
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Words are cool.
The English language is complex, stupid, illogical, confounding, brilliant, beautiful, and fascinating.
Every now and then a word presents itself that typifies all the maddeningly gorgeousness of language. They're the words that give you pause for thought. "Who came up with that word? That's an interesting string of letters." Their beauty doesn't lie in their definition (although that can play a role). It's also not in their onomatopoeia, though that, too, can play a role. Their beauty is in the way their letters combine - the visual poetry of words - and/or the way they sound when spoken. We talk a lot about music we like to hear and art we like to see, so let's all hail the unsung heroes of communication, poetry and life: Words.
Here are some I like. (Not because of their definition.)

Quasar
Hyperbole
Amenable
Taciturn
Ennui
Prophetic
Tawdry
Hubris
Ethereal
Syzygy
Umbrageous
Twerp
Sluice
Omnipotent
Sanctuary
Malevolent
Maelstrom
Luddite
Subterfuge
Akimbo
Hoosegow
Dodecahedron
Visceral
Soupçon
Truculent
Vitriol
Mercurial
Kerfuffle
Sangfroid




























 







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Highlights from the Archives. Some favorite Trillian moments.

Void, Of Course: Eliminating Expectations and Emotions for a Better Way of Life

200i: iPodyssey

Macs Are from Venus, Windows is from Mars Can a relationship survive across platform barriers?
Jerking Off

Get A Job

Office Church Ladies: A Fieldguide

'Cause I'm a Blonde

True? Honestly? I think not.

A Good Day AND Funyuns?

The Easter Boy

Relationship in the Dumpster

Wedding Dress 4 Sale, Never Worn

Got Friends? Are You Sure? Take This Test

What About Class? Take This Test

A Long Time Ago, in a Galaxy Far Far Away, There Was a Really Bad Movie

May Your Alchemical Process be Complete. Rob Roy Recipe

Good Thing She's Not in a Good Mood Very Often (We Knew it Wouldn't Last)

What Do I Have to Do to Put You in this Car Today?

Of Mice and Me (Killer Cat Strikes in Local Woman's Apartment)

Trillian: The Musical (The Holiday Special)

LA Woman (I Love (Hate) LA)

It is my Cultureth
...and it would suit-eth me kindly to speak-eth in such mannered tongue

Slanglish

It's a Little Bit Me, It's a Little Bit You
Blogging a Legacy for Future Generations


Parents Visiting? Use Trillian's Mantra!

Ghosts of Christmas Past: Mod Hair Ken

Caught Blogging by Mom, Boss or Other

2003 Holiday Sho-Lo/Mullet Awards

Crullers, The Beer Store and Other Saintly Places

Come on Out of that Doghouse! It's a Sunshine Day!

"...I had no idea our CEO is actually Paula Abdul in disguise."

Lap Dance of the Cripple

Of Muppets and American Idols
"I said happier place, not crappier place!"

Finally Off Crutches, Trillian is Emancipated

Payless? Trillian? Shoe Confessions

Reality Wednesday: Extremely Local Pub

Reality Wednesday: Backstage Staging Zone (The Sweater Blog)

The Night Secret Agent Man Shot My Dad

To Dream the Impossible Dream: The Office Karaoke Party

Trillian Flies Economy Class (Prisoner, Cell Block H)

Trillian Visits the Village of the Damned, Takes Drugs, Becomes Delusional and Blogs Her Brains Out

Trillian's Parents are Powerless

Striptease for Spiders: A PETA Charity Event (People for the Ethical Treatment of Arachnids)

What's Up with Trillian and the Richard Branson Worship?

"Screw the French and their politics, give me their cheese!"


















 
Mail Trillian here





Trillian's Guide to the Galaxy gives 5 stars to these places in the Universe:
So much more than fun with fonts, this is a daily dose of visual poetry set against a backdrop of historical trivia. (C'mon, how can you not love a site that notes Wolfman Jack's birthday?!)

CellStories

Alliance for the Great Lakes


Hot, so cool, so cool we're hot.

Ig Nobel Awards

And you think YOU have the worst bridesmaid dress?

Coolest Jewelry in the Universe here (trust Trillian, she knows)

Red Tango

If your boss is an idiot, click here.

Evil Cat Full of Loathing.

Wildlife Works

Detroit Cobras


The Beachwood Reporter is better than not all, but most sex.



Hey! Why not check out some great art and illustration while you're here? Please? It won't hurt and it's free.

Shag

Kii Arens

Tim Biskup

Jeff Soto

Jotto




Get Fuzzy Now!
If you're not getting fuzzy, you should be. All hail Darby Conley. Yes, he's part of the Syndicate. But he's cool.





Who or what is HWNMNBS: (He Whose Name Must Not Be Spoken) Trillian's ex-fiancé. "Issues? What issues?"







Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.


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Reading blogs at work? Click to escape to a suitable site!

Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Smart Girls
(A Trillian de-composition, to the tune of Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys)

Mama don’t let your babies grow up to be smart girls
Don’t let them do puzzles and read lots of books
Make ‘em be strippers and dancers and such
Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be smart girls
They’ll never find men and they’re always alone
Even though men claim they want brains

Smart girls ain’t easy to love and they’re above playing games
And they’d rather read a book than subvert themselves
Kafka, Beethoven and foreign movies
And each night alone with her cat
And they won’t understand her and she won’t die young
She’ll probably just wither away

Mama don’t let your babies grow up to be smart girls
Don’t let them do puzzles and read lots of books
Make ‘em be strippers and dancers and such
Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be smart girls
They’ll never find men and they’re always alone
Even though men claim they want brains

A smart girl loves creaky old libraries and lively debates
Exploring the world and art and witty reparteé
Men who don’t know her won’t like her and those who do
Sometimes won’t know how to take her
She’s rarely wrong but in desperation will play dumb
Because men hate that she’s always right

Mama don’t let your babies grow up to be smart girls
Don’t let them do puzzles and read lots of books
Make ‘em be strippers and dancers and such
Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be smart girls
They’ll never find men and they’re always alone
Even though men claim they want brains





























Life(?) of Trillian
Single/Zero

 
Tuesday, February 10, 2015  

Brian Williams just went from Saturday Night Live Darling Guest Host and to Saturday Night Live Butt of Jokes.

On the plus side, perhaps people will take the time to dig deeper for all the angles of a news story rather than take what’s reported at face value. And that may lead to people actually thinking for themselves and forming their own knowledgeable opinions rather than taking on the opinions of talking heads who are paid by networks who are paid by sponsors.

It’s not so much that Brian Williams lied. That is a fact, it happened. And now the truth is revealed. Instead of shock and anger at Brian, let’s look at the fundamental issue.

I know, the fundamental issue is that he’s a liar, liar pants on fire.

But why did he lie?

Is he a bombastic megalomaniac whose ego is so inflated that a) he manufactures lies to suit his delusional fantasy life of a hard-hitting journalist, and b) thinks he can get away with lying?

Is he mentally ill?

Is he just a jerk?

Maybe those are all factors.

But I suspect there are other factors that play a role in this.

Megalomaniacal ego aside, the more sensational the news, the more viewers tuning in to watch and listen. The more viewers tuning in to watch, the more the network can charge for advertising minutes. The higher the advertising rates, the more profit the network pockets.

Yes. Marketing baby, marketing.

It’s all about the money.

I don’t watch a lot of network news. However. I have watched enough to know that the primary advertisers are pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies. Those are the two industries with pockets deep enough to pay the ad rates for top-rated network news programs.

Perhaps Brian took his position at the helm of NBC news a little too seriously. Perhaps this was a misguided (and, yes, ego driven) attempt to gain ratings that would in turn lure pharmaceutical companies to spend millions of dollars to advertise the latest pill for an ailment like restless leg syndrome. And those 2-minute side-effect disclaimers? Cha-ching!!!

I’m not defending Brian Williams. I’m just saying that “we” may have played a role in fueling his reporting puffery. The collective we, the public who keep current with news, have become desensitized and disaffected. Nothing surprises us, nothing shocks us. When we watch the news it barely garners our attention. The “big” stories barely generate a cynical smirk or sad tut tut. We’ve seen it all, or at least we feel that way.

What’s a network news program to do? They need us to tune in because they need that ad revenue. How do they get our attention so that we tune in? Sensationalize! In the words of Don Henley, “get the widow on the set…” We, the disaffected, expect more! grittier! bloodier! scarier! shocking-ier! salacious-ier! scandal-ier!  And we want to know it first! Before anyone else tweets it! Tell us now, tell us more, tell us something no one else knows! Then we can tweet or post something to Facebook that will get views and likes and retweets and reposts…because…

We’re a lot like Brian. Social media has created a yearning within us (the collective us) to appear relevant. Smarter, cleverer, cuter, funnier…faster. First. When, in fact, we’re (the collective we) are just a bunch of gossiping nitwits regurgitating the same info other gossiping nitwits are regurgitating. Which fuels the need for more sensational and exclusive news to post in order to rise above the other gossiping nitwits…and so it goes. #IPostedItFirst #IKnowMoreThanYou

What fuels the office gossiper? The need for control. The need for an ego stroke. The need for attention. The need to manipulate. The need for revenge. The need to deflect inadequacies. The need know everything, even if knowing everything means exaggerating one small bit of information to an all-out noteworthy event. “Mary went to the bathroom twice in one hour” turns into “Mary is snorting coke in the ladies room” or “Mary is pregnant.” Speculation-as-truth.

What fuels the office gossiper? Insecurity.

How do you stop a gossiper? Call their bluff. Fire back with irrefutable truths. Defend the person who is the target of the gossip. Or. Recognize them for what they are and then don’t engage. Don’t listen. Ignore them.

We (collective) bear some culpability in the Brian Williams Story. Yes, he’s the one who lied, but we’re the ones who tweet and post to Facebook. We’re the ones who did not call his bluff or and did not stop listening. We’re the ones who blindly believed. Sure, we had a right to trust a credible news source. And that trust was betrayed. But we demanded more and we demanded it first and fastest. Had we been more patient, more willing to wait for facts rather than sensationalized speculation we wouldn’t have been fueling Brian Williams’ ego or his need to attract our attention with reports unlike any we were hearing elsewhere.

No, I’m not blaming the victim (us). I am saying let’s lead by example and do what Brian should have done. Give the issue some thought. Don’t be so quick to assess blame. Be interested in facts rather than garnering followers and “likes” and retweets.

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