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

Entry: Surviving Hot Weather - A1141011
Author: quizzical - U216391

This entry started life as a whimsical piece for The Post, and another researcher suggested that it would fit in the Edited Guide. I've left some of the 'humour' in the next to last section - I won't be crushed if I have to remove it, though.

I think people also react to temperature changes as much as the actual temperature.

E.g. If its 30 degrees now and drops to 20 in the space of an evening one would feel that 20 is a bit nippy.
However, if its 10 degrees and the temperature rose to 20 in a few hours 20 would feel warm.

It doesn't even have to be as much as a 10 degree change.

Now I'll read the rest of this.

2/3

I had a quick gmance at the entry.

It would be better to link to the more 'helpful' areas of some of the links at the bottom of the entry, rather than the home pages. For instance - http://www.kakadookids.co.uk//UV_Clothing_Benefits.htm instead of http://www.kakadookids.co.uk/. It gives us a better editorial reason to link to them, rather than just looking as if we're sending readers to commercial sites.

The other thing that sprang to mind was how about a link to this entry - A804124 - somewhere around this comment - Speaking of sunburn, be sure to liberally apply sunblock with SPF 15 or more on exposed parts of the body?

I'll be back to have a proper read when my eyes aren't being held open with matchsticks.

You're absolutely right, 2of3. I talked about this a bit in the second paragraph, but more in the context of gradual, heat wave sorts of changes. I'll add the comment about abrupt temperature changes during the day.

Mina, I'm adding the link to the Edited Guide entry on sunscreen and the link to a description of the benefits of sun-protective clothing. I'm also removing the commercial links in the last section.

quizzical

By the by, is there a correct way to handle temperatures in the Edited Guide? It's awkward to keep repeating things like '10 degrees Centigrade/50 degrees Fahrenheit'...

quizzical
(in more ways than one)

I think temps should be listed in Celcius asa this is the British norm. You can bracket or footnote the farenheit scale for our American cousins.

Looks good though Quizzical. Glad you took the advise.

This is a very nice article. The change in style is quite noticeable to me. If you like, you could probably salt the upper part of the article with a little of the lower part's humor, but it's not necessary.

I wasn't sure how much humour would 'fly' in the Edited Guide. Perhaps if I keep it low-key?

I like your suggestion of putting a little humour throughtout the article to keep the tone consistent throughout. Back to work...

If you ask me (and I know you didn't!) the EG doesn't have to by dry and dull as sawdust... a little subtle low-key humour certainly doesn't go amiss

I think entries where the humour comes out of the way someone informs us about their subject are brilliant - the trouble starts when people submit guide entries that are just *trying* to be funny and say nothing in the way of information and, well, that's just tiresome... which I suspect is why humour is kind of discouraged in the writing guidelines. Unfortunately the type of people that want to submit to PR just to show how funny and gag-tastic they can be are generally the kind that don't bother reading guidelines...

Anyway, back to your entry - it's informative, and the bit towards the end raises a wry smile as you read - I can't see what could be wrong with that!

A couple of links that might be useful:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/travel/features/traveltips3.shtml

http://213.86.179.35/ (Dept of Health Sunsafe)

http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/misc/ht.asp?ID=184

I think it's a great article full of good suggestions!

I think the author's Fahrenheit converter is a bit skittish. There are a couple errors there. 35C is 95F (not 87F) and the body-temp of 37C is 98.6F (not 91F). Oddly enough, virtually all of the other mentions of C/F conversions are correct.

I, for one, would support just sticking to C since that's the World Standard anyway. I'm quite used to some amount of mental conversion.

This is great stuff - I was taught a lot of these lessons when lifeguarding various pools out here in New Mexico as a teen.

- JD

Thanks for all the suggestions. I fixed the problem with the temperature conversions and put the Fahrenheit numbers in footnotes. Also discovered that I'd used the words 'Celsius' and 'Centigrade' interchangeably - I replaced 'Centigrade' with 'Celsius' to be consistent. I added the new links suggested by Zarquon's Singing Fish (and removed the previous two on desert survival since they're more personal annecdotes and a bit off-topic).

And I left the humour alone (although I'm still not sure about the comment).

quiz

Do you put cold water in with the teabags for 'sun tea'?

Good entry Couple of things that could make it even better though:

A footnote explaining the term 'brownout' could help- I know it's a widely used term in the US, but not so much else where I think.

I'm not sure that roads 'buckle' as such- this implies metal, to me at least- how about "warp or crack"?

Footnote 6 is on the large site to be a footnote- can you work it into the main body of the text?

The road pavement (if its bitumen or tar based) melts in the heat.

I agree that footnote 6 is far too long. I'm not sure it'd fit into the text either. Would've been nice if there was an article that covered the subject that you could link to.

2/3

KerrAvon has already said what I came to say What is the difference between a brownout and a blackout then?

I agree about footnote 6, it is a bit long. If it doesn't fit in this entry then maybe the EG needs a separate piece about sweating...

Ahhhh. Just found this: A929801

FYI (I'm not a power engineer, but I know a few ... hopefully I get this right, though I'm pretty sure this is accurate in the USA anyway)

Blackout = Total loss of power in the affected grid portion.
Partial or Rolling Blackout = Loss of power to selected loads (usually intentionally done by power companies in order to keep a grid from going down as a whole, causing a much more severe blackout).
Brownout = Reduced power availability for the affected grid portion. Sometimes the term "brownout" is used even when it's more appropriate to use "rolling blackout," which is quite frequently the next step after a brownout occurs.



- JD

OK, I've incorporated the changes that everyone has suggested. The very long footnote 6 about sweating was replaced by a link to the Body Odour article. I added definitions of brownout and blackout (which were exactly as JD said) in a footnote which is also somewhat long-ish and coincidentally number 6 again. I could probably cut the comment about brownouts harming things like computers but thought it may be of interest. Also added a note that sun tea uses cool water.

Around here (midwest USA) our roads can indeed buckle in summer (as in 'warp, bend, heave'). Driving on some parts of the nearest interstate highway is like driving on miles of speed bumps. The roads generally don't crack or break (that happens in winter when alternating freezing and thawing results in pot holes the size of small countries). I'm sure you all find that fascinating... Anyway, I'm not in love with that tidbit of information, so if you think it's best to leave it out or rephrase it, I will.

I'd go with 'warp and bend', in that case- 'buckle' definitely suggests metal.