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

Where is it?

Where does it flow from and to?

What's its history?

What can be see along its banks?

How do they compare today with their past?

Do they offer river tours and are they any good?

Los Angeles river.

From one sewer to the other

It was made with cement

You can see the air in Los Angeles. (Smog)

It's still not reallly a river...

WHo would want a tour?

Moon River.

It's wider than a mile.
You can cross it in style.

Where's moon river?

Breakfast at Tiffany's

The Severn

I like the two bridges. Portishead is nice.
I think you can get a tidle wave on certain days on the Severn (?)

That's the Severn Bore, a hydraulic jump moving upstream in fact. There's some maths involved there, which I haven't quite got a handle on.

The Severn has (to my memory) the third largest tidal ragime in the world, after two Candaina systems, one of which is the Bay of Fundy. The secret to a large tidal regime is the deep funnel shaped estuary - The Bristol Channel.

Sorry, I may be missing something here but why has this thread been started in Ask h2g2 when it is the current Collaborative Topic of the week? Surely the place to post your thoughts is from that page A930287.

Amy

Coo what a coincidence. Now if you'd like to get back on topic ...

If there was a link on the Collaborative Topic page to this conversation then it would be a different matter but, as it is, people who might have a comment to make on the postings here may have no opportunity to do so because they don't know that the thread is here.

Likewise, people finding the thread here might not have been aware that this is the Collaborative topic of the week because you neglected to mention it, or to give a link, in post 1.

Surely the whole point of the Collaborative Topic is to have the community working together. The collaboration is at least as important as the topic (the identification of Great Rivers not being a matter of great urgency in the World). If half the h2g2 community is posting in one place and the other half in another doesn't this dilute the effect?

Amy

This seems like as good a place as any to ask what Dr. Trout means by the "smiley-conga community", when he referenced this thread from another. You said, Dr. Trout, that you hoped to attract such members. Who are they? Am I one? How do you arrive at this generalisation?

Lil

I think, Lil, that the smiley-conga community to which Dr Trout refers is a term for a section of the h2g2 Community that creates threads in Askh2g2 that are, at least in part, a succession of posts containing only smileys.

This intolerance is not unrelated to previous concerns we've shared over attitudes held by some of the researchers who focus primarily on the Edited Guide towards those who spend their time in what might be termed 'community activities'.

I'm trying to demonstrate that there are people on "this side of the fence" who have valid and worthy contributions to make to the "Colloborative Topic of The Week", but perhaps don't because they're not aware of its existence. I believed it to be one of a number of shortcomings in the way the "Colloborative Topic of The Week" operates.

I know from experience that the "ask the h2g2 community" has more to offer than smiley congas, and simply wish to draw on the breadth and depth of knowledge that exists herein, perhaps simultaneously demonstrating to the I-talics my above-stated belief that the "Colloborative Topic of The Week" should be explicitly posted in this community. Fair?

So, What's Your Favourite River, and Why?

I was going to nreply to the Colaberative Topic of the Week but thought that time had run out so here goes. I've seen many rivers around the world including the Nile and the Zambizi and great rivers in North America, England (The Thames etc.) but my favourite is a mere 2 minutes from my home here in Ontario Canada. The Ganaraska. In it's Hay Day it was a trading route and later was home to 8 Breweries, a Tannery and was also used as a logging route which fed the mills downstream. It runs into Lake Ontario.The mouth of the river once housed Tall Ships from the United States ferrying tourists on summer vacation as well as Commercial fishing vessels. This river ws once very polluted. Now it is one of the best Salmon and Trout fishing rivers in all of Canada. Because I'm a Fly fisher, I eagerly await the opening of theseason, when I can drive 5 minutes and surround myself with nature and abandon life's pressures. I can stand in the river, cast my line, observe Bank Beavers, birds, listen to the rush of water aaround my legs and totally loose myself at 6 in the morning. Truely awsome. It is almost like transporting myself into the film "A River Runs Through It" I only wish I could be as graceful. In the midst of winter, I cross country ski upon it and in the very early spring I observe the annual "Float your Fanny down the Ganny" race which commemerates a terrible flood which happened in 1980 ( It obliterated a large portion of our downtown) Each year during the first weekend in April, people from all over Ontario participate in this race, building "crazy Crafts" donning wet suits( some without wet suits), costumes they venture forth along the rapids towards the finish line. A 5 KM route with portages. This race attracts approx. 15 thousand spectators. Mostly tourists! After that eventful weekend, the fishing begins. There you go, a simple river within a very small town with an abundance of pleasure. Who needs the Severn or the Thames? Small is often just as romantic but more satisfying. K

Dr MontaguTrout, I'm sure your intentions are honorable but this idea has been discussed before and was not adopted. I wonder whether there was a better way to revive the debate within the community rather than by taking unilateral action?

I wouldn't be surprised if this thread was moved to the A930287 today.

Amy

<>

Not really.

'h2G2' is a community.

'Ask h2g2' is the title of a conversation.
It is not a community.

Everyone in the h2g2 community already has equal opportunity of access to the front page.

Why do you assume that those community members posting to Ask h2g2 should need any preferential help in this regard?

People subscribe to the "Ask The h2g2 Community" page. I do not beleive that it is possible to subscribe to the Front Page. Going to the Front Page is an extra effort. I don't look at it every day.

Anyway, at least two river-lovers have already posted here who hadn't posted to the Collaborative Topic of The Week page. Is that not a successin itself?

But anyway, as Amy Any points out, I'm raking over old coals. So unless you want to describe "What's Your Favourite River, and Why?", which is the title of this thread, then this conversation has no future.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/F110483?thread=279574

Anyway, at least two river-lovers have already posted here who hadn't posted to the Collaborative Topic of The Week page. Is that not a successin itself?

No it isn't a success because they've been deprived of the collaborative experience. Had you posted a question like 'Have you visited the Collaborative Topic at A930287?' and the researchers had gone over there, read other people's responses, posted their own thoughts then _that_ would have been a success.

But before you decide to post such a question on a weekly basis think about whether you're the best person to take on such a task. If the community wants such a thing to happen, and the Italics agree, perhaps it should be carried out in a way that new researchers can clearly see that this is an official and important part of h2g2 and not just someone drumming up business for their own project.

Amy

You're not going to answer the question then, Amy?