h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

There are many things in this world, indeed the universe as a whole, that we pass by without notice. Cement is one of these. Perhaps the story of how this ordinary grey powder came to stick the man-made world together is uninteresting, perhaps it is dull, as grey as the material itself. Or perhaps it is an intriguing mystery based on muman endeavour at its most challenged, then again.....read on!!

Okay, my advice is this, I'd delete this bit.

"Once upon a time, in a land faraway, a cave person sat by their fire, that had been established for a long time on the same spot on a LIMESTONE rock. The wind direction changed, and the fire was moved, but it had been so hot for so long that the surface of the rock that had been the fireplace had turned to powder. It rained a little. A few days later, the cave person noticed that the powder that had been wet had re-formed into a hard stone-like substance that stuck to the rock. Aha, thought the cave person, I have discovered cement. If I mix this with some sand maybe I can stick rocks together and build a great building. (It is possible that the above story is apocryphal)"

The reason being, it's specifically mentioned in the guide to writting for the guide not trying too hard to put humor into your subject, because of the mercurial nature of what some people find funny and others not.

The other thing I'd do is activate the web page links at the end of the article. You do this by adding http:// to the beginning of the links. As in:
http://www.h2g2.com/u133044
Hope this is helpful to you, if you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I'm always glad to be of service.
~S

Advice received and acted upon. See revised version. I am not sure humour was what I was striving for, just an understanding of how simple the chemistry appears to be (of course its not) but never mind.

Excellent job on the revision. It really is a well written and informative peice. I'd hit the submit button and zip it on out there for review by a Subeditor. I know I'd approve it were I myself one, but as I'm not I can't. HOWEVER, being a Scout and an ACE what I can and have done is submit it to the Peer Review Page. If people read it and like it, then it goes into the guide. I'd still hit the submit button myself also.
~S

Now my true ignorance is revealed! I cant see any 'submit' button. Please explain further. Many thanks.

Whoops! Since I wrote my last two Guide Entries, "Death and the other one Coyotes in the USA" H2G2 has removed the Submit button. To have "A Story of Cement" entered as a permanent part of the guide you have to now post it at the Peer Review page and it's picked up by the Sub-Editors there. Sooo...since I've already put a link to your Guide Entry up there, you don't have to and it's submitted already. Now all you have to do is be patient and keep your fingers crossed.

I myself am 99.9% sure it will indeed be accepted, but you never know so keep those fingers crossed. Just as I'm pretty sure my next Guide Entry I'm writing at the moment will be. Yes, I know it's hard to eat, type, etc with your fingers crossed, but hey you've got to suffer for your art, otherwise it isn't art, right?
~S

Thunks, sorry, thonks, I mean thienks....u know what I mean!