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

Hi benjaminpmoore

I enjoyed it I've only seen Rich Hall on QI a couple of times, so I learned a lot and found the entry very interesting - I'll give it 5/5

Thank you. Now... everyone else go off and read one of my entries.

The Al Rashid Mosque, Edmonton, Canada A1081225 - a couple of typos in the intro, but otherwise very good - short and informative 4/5

Octopuses - a Guide A2818659 - excellent - I like octopuses, and this was informative and detailed yet light 5/5

Autism and Aspergers Syndrome - the Little Professors A10450694 - one I have read before, and it is a very good account 4/5

The Grammy Awards A54788719 - very good - not a topic I was familiar with, but I liked the lightly humorous style and the Entry held my interest 4/5

Bigger and bigger infinities A593552 - a nice mathematical Entry Technical, and I can't comment on how someone with less knowledge of maths than me would find it, but I thought it did a good job of explaining its point in a concise way 4/5

It's been ages, but here goes: A87817765

I found this an interesting entry, early peace activism by mothers.

It's about time I had another crack at this:

A21649098 - Ceredigion, Wales, UK
An epic county entry - full of history, culture and fascinating facts. Needs a photo. 4/5

A62049648 - The Gomboc
Fascinating, quirky subject. I was jealous Alex wrote it first, but he did a good job with it. 3/5

A5142520 - Pick-n-Mix Sweets in the UK
Fun entry that hasn't really dated. Enthusiastically written. 3/5

A52964003 - The Boston Smallpox Epidemic of 1775 - 1776
I know all about this one as I sub-edited it. History brought to life by one of h2g2's most talented writers. 5/5

A647129 - Greek Myths - Centaurs
Well written but far too compact - there must surely be something else to say about centaurs? The final section is redundant as the project entries are linked at the top of the page. 2/5

I'm definitely going to have to come back to this too!

It's been far too long for me too, here are mine.


Stage Fright - the Film - A12645074

What a gem. I've never seen the film, but now I want to. 5/5

Chalcedony - an Holistic View - A86140

Yeah, well, hmm, it's well written, but 2/5

The Crab Nebula (M1) - A44762097

As a very amatuer astronomer I loved this. Great pic too. 5/5

How to Make Hair Extensions - A653753

I'm getting on a bit now, didn't read it, sorry.

Ginger Rogers - Actress and Singer- A42130333

This *needs* a picture, Ginger is legend. 4/5 (because we don't get to see her)

Not a bad haul overall 16/25.

Must do this again. Soon.

I have NEVER done this, although I've always watched the thread out of the corner of my eye.

So - here goes

A187300 San Diego, California. Read this because my son is moving to California next year and we shall definitely have to go out there and visit him and his little baby (due in July this year). It was written in 1999 but overhauled in 2012 so it should be pretty accurate. If only I could remember if my son is going to San Jose, San Diego, Santa Clara or Sacramento. 8/10 - it's short and covers a nice lot of stuff with no beating about the bush. Not as detailed as an entry would be these days.

A34088213 The Cooper Formula One Team
Not my sort of thing at all. Skimmed over it because I learned to drive in a mini Cooper, but this was about the clunky car-racing in the early 1950s. I haven't seen either of the much acclaimed F1 films, Rush or Senna, so I'm not bitten by the bug at all

A4075616 Two Storey Outhouses of the United States. Quite amazing (a) that someone should write about these and (b) that they exist at all. you would have thought that there was enough space in the States to put two of these outhouses side by side without having to put them one on top of each other?!?! I learned that places in the US have very strange names, and that people will even sell tee shirts (buy tee shirts) saying that they had visited the loo.

A25734323 Tea in Britain. Read this when it was in PR. Lovely stuff. A bit breathless, because there is so much to say, so little time.

A3065140 Marfan syndrome. What a treasure trove this is. The syndrome seems fairly benign; the theories on which people in history could have had it are fascinating. Call them far-fetched, if you want, but no one seems to have disproved the theories either.

Whoops, sorry, beginner's mistake. Must remember to mark them.

Cooper: 7/10
Outhouses: 8/10 for originality
Tea: 10/10 - it's all you want from this site
Marfan's : 9/10 - well written and a completely new subject for me.

Just for the record A187300 San Diego, California. in on the south western corner of California, quite close to the Mexican border.

San Jose and Santa Clara are both located at the southern end of San Francisco bay (about half way up the coast of the sate. Sacramento is a bit to the north-west of the city of San Francisco. You should really narrow this down for a proper response


F S

oops that should be North East

I'll learn the geography in preparation for my trip over. There is obviously a great need.

"A3342593 - History of St Pauls - looked and sounded dull, didn't read"

Cheers for your tact and diplomacy, especially from an ACE.

Please remember everyone who is giving 'low marks' that someone, somewhere, put a lot of work into their entries and it's just plain rude to be so dismissive.

Fine if it's not your area of interest, and you don't want to read it, but to call something dull *without* reading is ignorant.

I agree, Mina.

I enjoyed that entry. I guess if they don't read it, they'll not know how fascinating the history of that site is. The entry also links to some other great entries on London and its history.

This experiment forces participants to review entries they wouldn't normally read, which is enlightening in itself. It's an important skill to have: Peer Reviewers, Sub-editors and Editors all need it.

Thanks Icy. I was wondering if I was a bit OTT. I don't like everything I read in the Guide, in fact sometimes I didn't like everything I had to write when I worked there, but I would never be quite so rude or dismissive.

If it's read by someone interested in the subject and it's still called 'dull' then that would be different, as an informed opinion!

1) Singin' in the Rain - A852770 - A good, interesting piece - unfortunately I already knew most of the quirky bits about it, but that's not the entry's fault. Not sure if it would work that well if you haven't seen it - 3.5/5

2)Vins de Pay - A156557 - a phrase for good but affordable wines, since they're reasonable, that I didn't know - but it was in effect a lengthy definition, without much to intrigue me - 2/5

3)UFOs in Lincolnshire - A87782241 - an entertaining, educating piece, well worth a read - more sightings than might be expected - 4/5

4)Frietkot - A327133 - a piece about little stands in belgium to sell their ubiquitous french fries (or whatever they choose to be called), didn't interest me, but I think to some it would be worthwhile 3/5

5)Cooking Steak - A197219 - a v. short piece, just covering differences between rare, medium etc. Nothing on how to go about doing it - needs a heavy re-write on how to go about doing the cooking, and more besides. Given it's pre-2000 era, surprised it wasn't classified mostly harmless - 1.5/5

Overall: 2.8/5 - lower than I normally get for these, but the most harmless ones do bring it down (although this one was at least correct, just short)