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

Well, the point is crop circles (whether naturally formed or man-made) exiust in Wiltshire more than anywhere else in the world. INDISPUTABLE FACT. I've indicated that most of them are probably hoaxes. The Entry says little more than this. (In fact, the only ones I really believe in are the plain circular ones.It'd be interesting to know how many of these actually appear each year..

It does make the entry seem a little skewed though - one of the longest sections is about crop circles Maybe if you explanded the hill figures (I would have thought more associated with wiltshire than crop circles), maybe explain how they were made and why, it would be a bit more balanced?

I think you could do with a little on each of the major towns you mention, too.

Apart from that, it's great stuff!

... also, perfect circles periodically appear all over the world in various media - such as the soot on the inside walls of (railway) tubes (Japan).

There is also the mystery of the circles that exist in a 2000km swathe along the western edge of the Namib Desert in south western Africa. These are from 2 to 10 metres in diameter. Each patch has a circle of tall grass around. There've been many theories on these, including termite activity, poisoning from indigenous toxic plants, contam. from radioactive minerals and even ostrich dust baths..
Researchers find that grass withered when planted in soil taken from inside the circles, but it grew well in soil taken from outside the rings; thus confirming a difference in the soil between the two areas.
However, chgemical analysis has so far failed to yield any further information.
Local tradition maintains that these circloes possess magical powers.

That's another entry waiting to happen by the sound of it, Al!

- one of the longest sections is about crop circles Maybe if you explanded the hill figures (I would have thought more associated with wiltshire than crop circles), maybe explain how they were made and why, it would be a bit more balanced?

Well IMO the Entry is balance - particularly if at some stage some crop circles were found to be genuine. (Which I think they are - pity the true picture has been obscured by hoaxers).

I think an Entry about how hill figures were made would be more appropriate to put into a specialist Entry about hill figures.


'I think you could do with a little on each of the major towns you mention, too'.


Well, I think anny more info about the towns should be put into specialist Entries about the towns. i.e. What more should one put into an Entry about 'Wiltshire'? ie

Wilts named after the town of Wilton which was once the most prominent town

Biggest town is Swindon.

County town uis Trowbridge

City of Salisbury has Salisbury Cathedral which has rtallest spire in England.

View of Salisbury Cathedral voted miosr beautiful view in Britain.


Also, Azara is always telling me off for putting too much info into Entries.

To maintain 'balance', I've just provided a list of the places in Wilts where white horse hill figures may be found. At the moment these are as a continuous list in a paragraph, so I'm wondering whether top organise them vertically into a bulleted list?

You did ask for more comments, Al...

I was just trying to point out that most people associate Wiltshire with white horses. I didn't even know there was any special connection with crop circles. So as an introduction to the county, I would have thought the horses would have more of a mention, that's all.

>I think an Entry about how hill figures were made would be more appropriate to put into a specialist Entry about hill figures.

But the same could be said about crop circles, surely?


Sorry if my feedback has offended you in any way, though I can't see why it would have

'Sorry if my feedback has offended you in any way, though I can't see why it would have'.

You haven't ( to give you that impression).

'I think an Entry about how hill figures were made would be more appropriate to put into a specialist Entry about hill figures.

But the same could be said about crop circles, surely?'


Well, I haven't explained either how hill figures are/were created nor how crop circles are created because, as I said, both of these should be explained in specialist Entries (and there already is one for Crop Circles' to which I linked).

With Crop Circles, I thought it worth pointing out that some are fakes, but some could still be perfectly natural/ecxplainable

As I said, whether natural or man-made, Wiltshire is still the crop circle capital of the world, so I don't think I over did it.


Reply

... also the 'crop circles' phenomenon is more dynamic than the hill figures, with new circles appearing every year. So, they are uppermost in peoples' conciousness at the moment, with a great deal of public interest.

Tell you the truth, I don't think I could cut down on what I said about them, which is:

What they are/look like
Where they're found (arable crops)
Theories ( either natural or man-made hoaxes)
Indicated a little about their antiquity (i.e. possibly not all are hoaxes).

"Also, Azara is always telling me off for putting too much info into Entries." Well, now that you mention it, the whole section on crop circles has been added in since the last time I commented, and yes, I think that section is far too long, since there is a full Edited Entry that you're linking to. (If you look at the original Peer Review thread for that entry, http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/F84067?thread=173566 you'll see that a lot of reviewers were very dissatisfied with the balance of that entry ) In this thread, you say: "I've indicated that most of them are probably hoaxes. The Entry says little more than this. (In fact, the only ones I really believe in are the plain circular ones.It'd be interesting to know how many of these actually appear each year.)" but in the entry, what you're saying is actually the *opposite*: "It is thought that there is no possibility that all the complicated patterns that appear are hoaxes." The electrical discharge theory that you link to, and any other scientific theory, has only ever explained the simpler circles. Only mystics and UFOlogists believe that the complex patterns are not made by people. I think that you should change that sentence to something like: While it is generally agreed that all the complicated patterns are the work of hoaxers, the origin of the simpler circles is still debated." (That's still way more sympathetic to the woowoo side than I am myself!) There are a lot of knowledgeable people on the Science Explained forum who don't necessarily contribute to Peer Review (or may not be interested in Wiltshire ). Why not raise the topic there and get a balanced scientific view? Azara

I agree with Azara; the sentence I originally highlighted is still completely wrong:

"It is thought that there is no possibility that all the complicated patterns that appear are hoaxes."

This suggests that the complex patterns may not be hoaxes. In fact, it is generally believed that _all_ the complex patterns are hoaxes. But the simple circles may be caused by something else, particularly since similar simple circles have been found in many parts of the world for centuries.

Well, in an Entry of this length, I wanted to avoid having to define what is meant by a 'complex pattern'.

I've decided to shrink that whole section.

I've re-written the 'Crop Circles' section.

Nice entry seems to cover the main aspects. I would like to see the intro location paragraph be slightly more specific:

The county of Wiltshire occupies an area of 1,345 square miles situated centrally in the south of England. It is bordered by the coumties of Glostershire, to the North, Oxfordshire, to the North-East, Berkshire, to the East, Hampshire, to the South-East, Dorset, to the South and Somerset, to the West. It encompasses the upper reaches of the River Thames at Lechlade in the north, and the New Forest and Cranborne Chase in the south.

If you think that is too fiddly then perhaps just list them in a clockwise direction:

The county of Wiltshire occupies an area of 1,345 square miles situated centrally in the south of England. It is bordered by several counties; clockwise from the North these are Glostershire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Hampshire, Dorset and Somerset. It encompasses the upper reaches of the River Thames at Lechlade in the north, and the New Forest and Cranborne Chase in the south.

PS Can't remember with points of the compass should be capitalised or not, sorry if I got it wrong.

I've expanded the intro para as you suggested, Scrumph.

for removing the offending sentence in the crop circles bit!

The brackets in the White Horse bit look a bit odd: the overall list is onelong sentence, but the internal brackets have full stops inside them.


Azara

Yes, as I say, I'm not happy with that section at the moment. I may bullet-point it.

I've re-organised the Wiltshire White Horses as a bulleted list.

Your Guide Entry has just been picked from Peer Review by one of our Scouts, and is now heading off into the Editorial Process, which ends with publication in the Edited Guide. We've therefore moved this Review Conversation out of Peer Review and to the entry itself.

If you'd like to know what happens now, check out the page on 'What Happens after your Entry has been Recommended?' at EditedGuide-Process. We hope this explains everything.

Thanks for contributing to the Edited Guide!