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[am520dj]

[spaceXplorer]

I read the Dirk Gently book a long, long time ago and as such I've forgotten most of it! I just went to search to find my copy of it but no luck so far...

Anyway, was wondering if anyone can remember (or could look up - Marrec as you have a copy handy? ) how he eventually solves the sofa problem. I vaguely remember it had something to do with a time machine?

Sorry if this is a spoiler for those who haven't read it, but may help the rest of us understand the reference in the newspaper ad !

[quetzlcloth]

Another Dirk Gently thought (and an addition to the growing number of music references). The software program created by one of the main characters is a Macintosh spreadsheet-ish kind of thing that represents data sets or numbers in very custom ways -- and the way that everybody wants to use it is to turn their corporate statements into music (the software is called Anthem).

("You see, any aspect of a piece of music can be expressed as a sequence or a pattern of of numbers," enthused Richard. "Numbers can express the pitch of notes, the length of notes, patterns of pitches and lengths..." pg. 30)

The character is supposed to be working on an update to this software when he makes the computer program to figure out how to extract the sofa from the stairs.

Is this another hint to think about musical codes somehow? Could the 24-character postcard code somehow represent a tune?

[tanner]

its how the sofa got there in the first place that's the fun bit

all we need now is newton doing conjuring tricks with a salt cellar

[newlifein2k5]

[tanner]

[maxim]

Does anyone know what kind of price tags are associated with adverts like the ones we have seen? I heard that the marketing week and Guardian ads were several thousand each.. is this true? And how do the newspaper ads compare (obviously nowhere near as much)?

[spaceXplorer]

OK great! I've found my copy of Dirk Gently's, and i've found out how the sofa got into the stairwell! For anyone else who has a copy, its the first page of chapter 36 - unfortunately i don't have a scanner here otherwise i would upload it (and unfortunately i'm just too darn lazy to copy it out )

But, to summarize...

[spaceXplorer]

Another thought just occurred to me if this is to do with time machines....

The Time Machine was one of the most famous novels written by H G Wells...another of which was War of the Worlds. Theres a Spielberg remake of the War of the Worlds movie coming out sometime this year!

Its slightly tenuous i know, but theres always a possibility that these are connected.

[enaxor]

Here is a link to the book Dirk Gently Holistic Detective I think it is complete, but not sure.

[spugmeistress]

as much as i love douglas adams and dirk gently n all that, i'm pretty sure there must have been other 'sofa in the stairwell' incidents in all of history, and that without further evidence (possibly the 42 thing but i havent read that bit yet) we don't know if this advert is specifically referencing the particular incident in this book.

for a start, although i guess there must be plenty others, there was a somewhat amusing but much less sci-fi 'sofa in the stairwell' incident in an episode of Friends once.

rach x

[revelling]

capitalisation of Find

[gubble]

Anyone notice that the classified add actually says "sofas in the stairwell". I haven't read the book but from reading the other posts it seems to me as if there was only 1 sofa in that stairwell. ???

[leakingpen]

you all are making a large assumption that it WILL all fit together. since the fragments are just large enough that we get the picture, i think that, based on the way fragments have been used in the past, with pictures, logs, ect, that these are all fragments of different storys, from a simple entertainment piece before the fact, to the theft, and the reward. look at the wording.

security on the ball, to make sure no one gatecrashes their exclusive party." In previous years, the annual ball has been the occasion of various student pranks including the ''sofas in the stairwell'' incident.

you could read that as, the acadamy has increased security on the ball.

this is happening BEFORE the ball, and thus before the theft.

[Scott]

I'd sort of like to know a little more about this ball. where was it? what was the occasion? who was there? who was NOT there? It makes enough sense, offhand, fFor a major theft to occur while everyone is beefing up security somewhere else, such as at a big ball. So the perpetrators used the ball as a distraction.

Don't conentrate on what the ad says; the sofa is an anecdote. There's a lot of ways any sofa could get stuck in a stairwell. when moving into my house, i had a mattress stuck in my stairwell due to simple poor judgement. (and it came dislodged easy enough; saying something was "stuck" somewhere could mean it was there just long fFor people to scratch their heads and think how to move it)