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

Entry: The Iditarod; Nome, Alaska - A687936
Author: amukinak - U179029

Just looking for some input on this piece...thanks for checking it out.

Hi Amukinak,

Looks good! With very few exceptions, the powers that be don't allow first person. So you might have to rework the few places where you've used "I". etc.

Do you think it's worth mentioning the woman who won it a few times? Hmm - I used to know her name. (And the tee-shirts that were going around? Something about "... where the men are tough and the women win the Idatarod").

I did a little bit of "mushing" in Northern Ontario (just touristy stuff. A one day trek in, one night winter camping, and back out the nextday.)

Awu

Thanks for the note and the praise, I had forgotten the first person rule, so you enabled me to make a quick tweak.

Susan Butcher was the winner you are thinking of, I believe, though Dee Dee Jonrowe has come close. Tough people, but lots of fun to be with.

Excellent, can't really fault it although there is an american spelling or two (the guide requires english english spelling).

Good stuff, doubt I'll ever make it there but you seem to have got the essence of the time and place.

Orcus

This is a wonderful entry. There are a few spelling mistakes, but I'm sure a careful reading will spot them. Is there any way you could put a few headings in? Perhaps "Origins of the Iditarod", "Nome", "Hazards" and so on.

Are the bicycles really bloody, as in covered with blood? If not, take the word out, because it doesn't really add anything to the sentence.

Well done.

Thanks for the input. I noticed a few problems with mixed tenses in a sentences which I corrected, and I did misspell "inaugurated". Please point out any other spots I may have missed, this free editing is actually very nice.

You were right on the "Bloody", I read it a few times and decided to pull it. The bikes are occasionally bloody, but only during the brief transition to icy. Absolutely crazy. Two years past I put up two German lads, very nice folks, who had dreamed of Skiing the Iditarod trail in reverse (Nome-Anchorage). They practiced in Scandinava and bought the best gear they could, and started out from Nome in November. Unfortunately that winter featured the lowest snow levels and coldest temtperatures in 20 years. Without being able to travel quickly enough (walking not skiing, after all) they quickly succumbed to hypothermia in the -50 to -60F weather. The National Guard rescued them, one psychotic and the other nearly catatonic from the cold, in a small cabin on the Yukon river the end of December, and I put them up for a few weeks while their injuries were tended to the point where they could return to Germany. Just because we can imagine doing something doesn't always mean we should.

Some nitpicking:

tryings time --> trying times
rock covered --> rock-covered
Iditasport or some such -- leave out "or some such"
you you --> you, you
iditabikers -- do you mean iditahikers?
As to Nome --> As for Nome
penninsula --> peninsula
This generates income --> should this be "this redistributes wealth"
slowly collapsing --> slowly-collapsing
showered the mushers --> showered, the mushers
room can usually be found -- This sentence should be rearranged to make it a bit more understandable.

Hi - good stuff, and I want more!

Gnomon:

Thank you for taking the time to look it over, and for your very good suggestions. I have incorporated most of them into the piece, and it does read much more smoothly. Thanks again.

So how are people feeling about this entry right now? It looks good to me, but are other people satisfied?

I didn't get around to commenting on this before, but I agree with the reviewers who think it's great stuff. I'd prefer a few headers to break up the text a bit, but that's only a minor niggle. If you (Strider) are considering picking it I think you should go ahead. do it now!

Azara

Great article. I agree with the others about some headers for the different sections but, looking at the code, I notice that you have stayed clear of GuideML. And who would blame you?

Don't worry about it. Just put ideas for headers in as paragraphs in plain text. The Sub Ed will do the GuideML conversion for you - they love doing that sort of thing.



Amy the (Guru) Ant

Congratulations, Amukinak!

I see this entry has now been picked, so have some

Azara

Hi amukinak!

Sorry I haven't been here earlier, but Real Life is being incredibly hectic for me.

As Azara has pointed out, I recommended this entry for inclusion in the Edited Guide, and the Editors accepted my recommendation! Congrats!

You can find more about what happens to your entry now here: A308260

Thanks for the toasts, and the recommendation, my dear editors!