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

A footnote? You're asking me to add ANOTHER footnote?

*waits for the footnote police*



I'll see what I can do...

There. Done. And i've ammended a feew other bits and pieces.

A5527514 - Rain

hmm. Just thought. This is about 5000 words. Somewhere I recall there being a guideline that said if Entries were over 2000 words they may be split into two when subbing. Not jumping the gun or anything, but if this is picked and needs to be split, could it be done at the Where Does It Rain section?

Oh so 5000 words can't be in the same entry, even if they are all pertinent to the subject title? I'd argue otherwise - A6379310 has 7027 words and it's perfectly fine as one entry.

Well, I'll stand behind you when the big scissors come a-waving

No, I agree, I think it works as one Entry, but it was more a 'just-in-case' kind of thing...you know?

I doubt it will be split. I've written a couple of similar-length entries and they've been left alone. Actually, A3998767 isn't officially in the EG yet. Perhaps I spoke to soon...

*runs off to throw self in front of entry, thus saving it from unspeakable act of vandalism by editors*

Don't worry. I hid the spray-cans and 2x4 with nails in.

points out that I have 10,000 word entries. I occationally 'forget' about the word limit. Hmm, the subs love me !!

Actually, I'd say A13064780 was practically a day off for me...

Well, one of you didn't do a great job with it.

F4700336?thread=3441089

B

I'll stop worrying so much now...

Maybe.

Although you've quoted modern people/bands like Madonna and Garbage, and children's nursery rhymes, you've missed out some of the authors of our greatest literature, e.g.

'the rain it raineth every day. Twelfth Night. Shakespeare.
'the gentle rain from heaven. The Merchant of Venice. Shakespeare.


Also, the Book of Common Prayer praises God for sending gracious rain.

One of our favourite hymns (at harvest time) extols the good gift of soft refreshing rain. ('We plough the fields and scatter...'.

Under 'Storms' you could've mentioned the devastating effect of the great storm that scattered the fleet of the Spanish Armada in 1588.

Under 'Drizzle', t'The Lonely Planet Guide to England says,

'Anyomne who spends any extended period of time in England will sympathise with the locals' obsession with the weather. You can expect cloudy weather and light drizzle in any part at any time.'

You could also link to my Entry on Global Warming at A197488 by pointing out that as the world warms up rainstorms will become more frequent and more intense. This is due to the fact that the land warms up and cools down faster than the sea so that, as global warming increases the contrast in temperature between the land and sea will also increase. This will generate stronger winds and greater instability.
Warmer seas cause more water to evaporate which, in turn, comes down as heavier rainfall.
As global warming continues we can expect more floods. As the ground has less chance to absorb the extra water, there will be an increase in soil erosion.. This will make farming more difficult and may waterlog large areas of land. Indeed, it is predicted that it may ultimately be impossible to grow crops on 86% of the East Anglia fens.

With respect BigAl - yes, some of those things have been missed, but the Entry is very large as is and not everything can be included.

There are numerous storms I could quote - the Spanish Armada one, the Michael Fish one, the list is endless. So I'd rather not start another section purely devoted to storms.

I may put a Shakespeare quote in, I'll think about it, and I'll link to Global Warming in the acid rain section.

But I don't want to sart adding more otherwise the Entry becomes far too long for casual reading.

"Acid rain is formed when pollutant gases (a contributor to Global Warming),"
-->
"Acid rain is formed when pollutant gases (which also contribute to Global Warming),"

This is just to make it clear that acid rain and global warming are separate problems.

Ah, yes. , fixed.

I'm not really happy with that parenthesis at all, to be honest. The group of gases that cause acid rain are not the same as that group of gases which (allegedly) cause global warming.

B

What about Suplhur Dioxide? That contributes to photochemical smog *and* acid rain.

I think I'll do some rejigging. 'ang aboot.

'Acid rain is formed when pollutant gases (which are contributors to Global Warming), present in smoke from sources such as factories, fossil fuel power stations and the internal combustion engine, containing for the most part chemicals like sulphur dioxide (SO2), oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and - more rarely - carbon dioxide (CO2) dissolve in water vapour in the atmosphere and eventually precipitate out as rain from acid rainclouds.'

I think this sentence is far too convoluted. It would be better to separate out the 'global warming' aspect completely.

> 'Acid rain is formed when pollutant gases, such as sulphur dioxide (SO2), oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and carbon dioxide (CO2), which are present in smoke from sources such as factories, fossil fuel power stations and the internal combustion engine, dissolve in water vapour in the atmosphere and eventually precipitate out as rain.

Several pollutant gases, expecially carbon dioxide and dinitogen monoxide (N20) are 'greenhouse gases and contribute to Global Warming.

Rejigged. It looks like a bolt on (which it is), but it's there