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

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/a600986

I have just submitted this guide entry after haing been inspired by the entries written by Hoovooloo (yes, that *is* the correct spelling!) on the coriolis and centrifugal forces. I hope that interested people will find it witty, engaging and informative.

My worry is that it is in fact none of the above, so I've put it up for discussion here, rather than in Peer Review.

Another reason is that I may wish to make minor grammatical tweaks, check one of the bibliographical entries and alter the entry according to any advice I receive here.

Jules, thank for the shout.

This is very, very good. It really should be in Peer Review!

Anyway, on with the niggle pedantry. Most of what I put here will be followed by a question mark, since I'm really asking whether you think it would be better another way, rather than saying it should be, but onward...

1. "material object" might be better than "massive", and it stops you needing a footnote there. Then again, I *like* footnotes. You do have plenty though...
2. "It's also physics" would, I think, look better *before* the heading, rather than just after. It would then sort of introduce that section, a segue if you like...
3. No comma is necessary after "predictable" (I said this would be pedantic...)
4. I seriously advise you to translate the title of Mach's book, and Newton's for that matter. Moderation has gone a bit over the top just lately, and foreign languages are on the list of no-nos. Sounds stupid, but I'd hate to see this disappear, like certain personal spaces recently...
5. "It would be something of a coincidence if all the stars appeared to be at rest when you were in an inertial frame, and when they moved you weren't. " I don't know why, but that just sounds odd to me. I'm afraid I can't offer a constructive alternative. Should it perhaps be "when you weren't they moved"?
6. "There is one body that satifies this criteria quite nicely: our own Milky Way." should be "satisfies".

Other than that: brilliant, get it in Peer Review!

H.

PS top marks for linking to the edited versions of my entries before they've even been "officially" put in!

Yes! There should be no inertia in getting this one on the Peer Review!

Cheers both! I did put quite a bit of thought onto it so I'm am seriously glad the only comments *are* pedantic. Most of them will make it in.

In defence of having lots of (11) footnotes, it is quite a long article, so the footnote density itself isn't that high. I've tried to keep them brief as well.

As for the others, I did say it would need a few tweaks, but thanks anyway, 'cos I hadn't spotted most of those!

Watch this space for updates!

I've made most of the changes suggested by Hoovooloo (thanks again ). More drastically, I've changed the structure under "defining uniform motion", because, on re-reading, it didn't scan as well - at least, not as well as the rest of the article. So the section on "Newton's Laws" are separated into two sub-headings: "Defining Uniform Motion" and "Defining Inertial Frames". Let me know what you think.

I have translated the book titles, but left the original Latin/German titles in for all to see. I would really appreciate some serious advice on this area, preferably from someone who makes moderation decisions. Anybody out there ?

* forgets all about his english lessons *

Now zis is absurd! Zees mods ahr going ouver ze top nau, and pahranohja is ze ohnli ixplanaischen! Wot on öhrz culd be rong wenn qwohting dschörmen buuktaitels in an entri abaut inertia?

Ju schud have risivd an imail bai nau, wiz an ixplanaischen. Ai wudd laff to hier wot zei haef saed zere!

Has anybody heard of a Dr. Victory-Mouth Joy lately ?

Errr...no I haven't heard of him, lately or otherwise. Late, perhaps, as in the late Dr. Victory-Mouth Joy? It's a kind of quote you see - never been terribly good at them myself.

The only e-mail I've received was to say my entire entry has been hidden, because one of the links was broken. Which as far as I can tell, it isn't! I removed the link anyway, so at least the article can be read. Or blue. Any colour you fancy, really.

Aaah, it was a broken link! And I thought it was foreign language

There's the solution: "Victory-Mouth Joy" tranlates word per word into German as:

Victory - Sieg
Mouth - Mund
Joy - Freud(e)

Hence, it's the BBC-compliant alias of Siegmund Freud

Ah! Sorry my German is just not up to scratch, I'm afraid!

On another note, I've put this article up for Peer Review.

Editorial Note: This conversation has been moved from 'The Writing Workshop' to 'Inertial Frames'.