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

I thought this was well written (considering the topic) and informative as well. It's not so much a story of cement as the brief history of it. Have a looksee http://www.h2g2.com/A407620
~S

Well, I doubt I've ever read anything quite so succinct or intriguing about cement!

Nex...

Hey, all the stuff I never knew I wanted to know about cement!

I like it. The only things I can see that are a problem getting it in is that the last bit of the paragraph that deals with the driving force behind the advancement of cement for Forts etc doesn't read very well.

Oh, and you'll probably have to ditch all but the first of the links. One is dead (or was when I looked), one is in french and the other is a blatant ad for a company. Which the Guide doesn't like especially.

Cheers

Haze

If not prior to, the links would probably be removed by the sub-editor anyway. If one wishes to link to their own company, probably the best place to do it is on one's userpage rather than a guide entry. H2G2 doesn't allow ads within an entry, so it will probably have to be removed, if it is to become an edited entry.

One could also always add the link to an edited entry later on by posting it in a forum.

Otherwise, I agree with everyone else, the entry is very informative and interesting.

Would it be worth mentioning the dangers of cement somewhere?
I've seen some lovely full colour photos of third degree burns caused by contact with wet cement.
Or was that concrete?

- Adam

Thanks for your comments everyone. I have edited the entry to take account of most of them. Please look back. I do also need someone to make it look nice with sections and headings, something I havent quite figured out yet.

I have not included anything about the 'dangers'. Cement comes with Health and Safety warnings on the packet! The burning you mentioned is awful, and caused by the amount of 'Free' Lime in cement. Strangely, it doesn't affect everyone, but if you are sensitive to it, it burns horribly, as you say, like putting your hand in caustic soda.

Incidentally, they type of cement I am particularly interested in, 'Natural Cement' does not have so much of this free lime, and causes less burning, but it does still happen, particularly in humid atmospheres (e.g. some mines). Whilst on the subject "The Natural Cement Company Ltd" is no longer active, except for technical information. However, noting your comments I have removed the link, and updated the others. (Since when do people not speak French???)

Since I got an F in GCSE French at school

Since it was either take french or smoke cigarettes in the locker room. Man I made some GREAT choices...

Since only one foreign language was required in High School (and none in college). For some reason, I decided that Latin was a nice, useful language to learn. (Maybe someday I will travel to Latin America... )

Now, years later, I'm obsessed with several French authors, and I have to read them in translation.

Of course, there's also another old joke that goes something like this:

Q; If you call someone who knows two languages bilingual, and someone who can speak three languages trilingual, what do you call someone who can speak only one language?
A: An American.

Gavroche

Excuse me, you're supposed to be studying the history of cement here, not reminiscing about schooldays!

My comment was not without irony, but I understand that that too is a foreign language in some parts!(I have yet to learn smiley faces)

Actually, I too studied Latin, despite my Latin teacher imploring me to take up knitting instead, and would claim that it has proved fairly useful in fathoming out meaning in written text in French/Spanish/Italian etc. Gallia in tres partes divisa est, or somesuch. It is, of course, no longer but it may interest you to know (or may not) that the house of which we speak (Casamaures - the moorish house - described on the website in question) is at a place outside Grenobles called 'Porte de France' (Gateway to France) which marks the old border between what was Savoy (Italian) and France until the last century.

Aren't you glad you didn't ask!

What if you're an American and speak 3 languages and 4 computer programming languages as well?
~§~

Congrats Pheroneous,

Cement has been picked for editing for inclusion in the guide. Please be patient for a while, you'll get an email when it's done.

Cheers

Good news indeed. My flabber is truly gasted, and my breath bated. Thanks.

Told you it was Guide material, congrats Pheroneous!
~§~

Having very recently acquired the knack of using this guideML stuff, I have used it to edit the entry, and it, indeed, now looks a little better and digestible. I am hoping that this will move it a few places up the list.

Editorial Note: This thread has been moved out of the Peer Review forum because this entry has now been recommended for the Edited Guide.