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

Sorry, I think I need an eye test......

Has it reappeared yet, because I think (especially now) we can learn something from this period of history.

I liked this entry. Learned a lot of stuff.

Grat one.

HELL

Thanks
Yes it's back- the editors agreed with me that the link was fine, so they reinstated it.

Great. So now we have to keep posting here and keep it top of the list....

Hmm, it's been here five weeks now. I'm getting the feeling that any minute they'll shove it off to the desert that is writers workshop. If it was going to be recommended it would have been already, I should think.
But we can by all means try and keep it to the top. At least then someone'll read it and learn something.

>Waves to all passing scouts<

This belongs in the edited guide.

The scouts get annoyed when entries get bumped up to the top for no reason, so I of course won't do it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/F47997?thread=142658 would that be a solution?

oops, sorry. The link should go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/F72126?thread=142652

The thing about bumping something up is to get it noticed, surely? And if one is not a sout or a power that exists, then how can we possibly reccomend what goes in the guide? Off to your thread, because I just thought of something...

Well, this Scout certainly thinks that this Entry should go into the Guide. However, as I've contributed just enough to it to be listed as a co-author, I can't recommend it!

All I can do is concoct a valid reason for posting so as to get this thread back to the top of Peer Review. So, to that end, I have compiled the following nitpicking list of typos and other errors!

In the first paragraph, 'paranoia' is spelled without the 'i'.

In the fourth paragraph, there's a sentence in which both 'implicate' and 'particular' are misspelled. I'm actually not sure that 'implicate' is the right word there anyway. For greater clarity, I would suggest that the sentence be rephrased: 'The committee would interrogate individuals who had been accused of "Un-American activities..."'

In the first paragraph under the 'Hollywood and blacklisting' header: 'acquitted' is spelled without the 'c'. In the next paragraph there's 'adknowledged' instead of 'acknowledged'.

Under the 'Red channels' subheader, in the first paragraph 'alleged' is spelled with an extra 'd', and in the third paragraph 'echoes' is spelled without the second 'e'.

In the first paragraph under the 'The end of an era' header, 'seriously' is spelled with an extra 'e'. But I think the sentence in which that occurs could also be improved upon, as its meaning isn't entirely clear. It says: 'His accusation stretched to president Eisenhower, and the validity of confessions was seriousely questioned.' I presume this means that McCarthy actually accused President Eisenhower of having Communist connections? If so, this is an important point in the story, and one that should be made clear.

How about rephrasing that passage as follows: 'McCarthy's accusations became wilder and more implausible. At one point, he suggested that President Eisenhower was part of the communist conspiracy. Meanwhile, the credibility of some of the "confessions" given to the HUAC was being seriously questioned.'

OK - I hope some of that is useful. I don't mean to be over-fussy - I'm just trying to earn my co-writing credit!

It's OK. I've been crushed in PR enough times now for it not to hurt... it was here I learnt that the spelling I had prided myself on was actually appalling. I've made the changes you suggested in the spelling, and altered some phrases, but not wors for word as you suggested.

Bossel; I thought PR was a lottery anyway. Actually it sounds like a good plan, more fun than just reading entries out of a sense of duty.

I'm holding back my comments until tomorrow, just to be able to push up the threat back into the first page

Well done, Dastardly! I didn't expect you to use my exact words - those were just suggestions.

However, I have to tell you that one of the amendments needs further amendment! That sentence in the 'End of an era' section now includes the words: '...and the at the same time...'. One too many 'the's, I think!

aaargh! I really shouldn't post anything here after having been to the Oktoberfest. Please read 'thread' instead of 'threat'

I suppose threads could be a method of getting things into the guide....

Damn. That was suppose to be 'threats' of course, which is just fate paying me back for making fun of Bossel.


Anyway, I suppose THREATS could be a way of getting an entry into the guide....

It's much better without the extra the.

Thanks.
What do you all think about the links? The Banned books one is interesting but I wasn't sure if it was overly relavent. What say all of you?

A few points:

To my knowledge, McCarthyism was a negative term for these witch hunts and he didn't 'lend his name to it' but the term was coined by the press and historians. Also, this was really going on near the start of the Cold War, not the middle. And McCarthy was never a general.

I can't recall ever reading that he accused Ike of being a Red, but rather Ike's Secretary of the Army (btw: Army & Marines are always capitalized according to the Associated Press).

Do read the text of your links, they support my recollections for some of these points.

But this *is* an interesting topic and well worthy of going in the Guide if these little things are fixed up.



- Jimi X