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

Hi Mugwump,

I have just opened a Natural History Museum at http://www.h2g2.com/A416819 and I wanted to ask you two things.

Firstly, are you happy to be in the museum (you only have to stand still when there are visitors)? Secondly, may I link from your name in the museum to your Space?


Amy the Ant

~~{Hey! You awake newt?}~

Amy, I'm so sorry! I wasn't paying attention (so like my kind!) and I didn't spot your message. Yes, of course, I'd be deeply honoured to be in your Natural History Museum and yes, of course, a link from your museum would be most welcome.

I've been over to have a look at the museum and it looks very accurate in terms of taxonomy and you seem to have got almost everyone but I noticed Wumbeevil wasn't there. I know he won't admit to being an insect but I feel sure he's a weevil. Well, perhaps you're right to exclude him. An insect in denial is going to be nothing but trouble.

Anyway, I'm happy to be recruited into the museum fauna.

Yes, I was wondering about the Wumbeevil but you can't go around accusing entities of being weevils just like that.

In your conversations with the great W, if you can persuade him to come out as a weevil, I'll be glad to include him in the collection.

The Natural History Museum is taking shape. I have designed a logo for it and I hope you will display it on your user page. Here is the code for the logo and links for GuideML pages. It can be modified for HTML pages by changing the LINK tags to HTML anchors.

The H2G2 Natural History Museum
You can find me in the H2G2 Natural History Museum run by Amy the Ant.

{{{BIG HUG}}}



Amy the Ant

Hi Amy. I've tried to do the deed. I've changed my intro to GuideML, put in the required tags, copied in your code, clicked [change style] then [preview]. The preview is just fine, but when I click [update], my page looks the same as it did before without your lovely logo. What am I doing wrong, clever and talented Ant?

Thanks for the compliments. You have done nothing wrong but you have fallen foul of the famous six minute h2g2 server delay. Just press refresh (or reload) and all will come right in the end.



Amy

It's done! My page looks much better with the Natural History Museum logo and now you've sort of pushed me into changing my page to GuideML, I might feel tempted to do some more fiddling with it. Thanks for the push.

Good afternoon Amy I've just come from the H2G2 Vegetarian Society, to ask you a question. I've told them about the very nice logos you've provided for the Library and Museum and I suggested the Veg Soc should also have a nice logo. Their current one is big and blue. They don't know anyone with the skill to make a nice subtle little logo like the ones for the Library and Museum. Do you know anyone who might have the time, skill and inclination? If you do, the thread regarding the need for a new logo is here: http://www.h2g2.com/F48594?thread=64702&post=602391 . Hope you can help. 8-) Sal

I'll see what I can come up with tomorrow.

Thanks Amy!

Try this for size!

http://mcbrideweb.future.easyspace.com/vegsoc.jpg

Hi Amy

Thank you ever so much. Yes, I love it. It looks knitted. It has texture. I've taken it over to the veg soc for their approval. I hope they all like it as much as I do. Can I go ahead and use it in the meantime? I'm learning how to use GuideML as I go along (slowwwwly).

I have another question for you. I've had an idea. I've been looking around at the guide entries and the Library and I've noticed a gap. I have a particular fascination with unusual animals and unusual survival strategies and life cycles - that sort of thing. I expected to find some of the strange and interesting creatures that are famously odd like the Honey Pot Ants and Periodical Cicadas but couldn't find any. I've started doing a guide entry on the Cicadas and I thought I might do Rotifers and Tardigrades and so on. I wondered if you would be interested in doing the Honey Pot Ants. If not, I'll do them. I know what a busy Ant you are. It'll probably take me quite a while to do all the bizarre animals - oh, and slime moulds. If my ambition for the project doesn't go way beyond my reach, you might have a strange critters gallery in the Natural History Museum if you feel it would fit.

Also, I haven't even done my first guide entry yet (apart from a test one just to see how it works) so I'll probably spend quite a while messing about with the Cicada one trying to find out which tags to use and where. Are we supposed to take them to the Peer Review page only when all the frills (there won't be many - just headings, notes and references) are in place or as soon as the text is finished?

Sal

I'm glad you like my knitting project. Is it the size you had in mind? (It is the same as the museum logos).

I seem to have a lot of work on the go at the moment. I got a part time job as a web page design teacher last week and I have to put a course together. We'll see how things are when you're ready for the Honey Pot Ants. BTW I just love slime mould.

Get it as complete as you can before posting to the Peer Review. That way it might get picked up by a scout while it is still at the top of the pile.

Yes, the size seems exactly right to me. In my humble opinion the logo's perfect and I wouldn't change a thing. Can I go ahead and use it? Please?

Thanks for the advice re the Peer Review. I'll crack on with the Cicadas - and no rush for the Honey Pot Ants. If I get all the other weird and wonderful life-forms done and you're still too busy, then I'll tackle it. In any case, I think it'll take a long time for me to do them all because I'll have to do the research first. Then there are the constant demands of making a living . . .

Oh please use it, yes, if you're happy with it.

It will be good to see more articles about insects in the Edited Guide. My Pharaoh Ants piece seems to be stuck in the works.

The lovely new logo's in and looking very nice too!

I was disappointed to discover the dearth of invertebrate entries here at h2g2. On the brighter side, I was casting about for a subject for my first entry and now I've hit on the idea for lots. I just hope I don't make a mess of the first one. I'm not really used to writing straight-forward descriptions. When I was last in full-time education I had to write the sorts of essays where you compare and contrast the opinions of several people - you know the sort where you do an introduction where you say what you're going to say, a middle where you say it and then a conclusion where you say what you've said. No need for that sort of thing when you're just describing an animal, thank goodness.

Where has your Pharaoh Ant entry gone? Do they take them away when they get into the editing process? Hope it gets edited status soon. Don't you just hate to wait?

My Pharaoh Ants article is still there but it's fallen off my front page. You have to click the link To See More Guide Entries. It still says submitted so it hasn't gone to an editor yet. Can't be long. There are only 200 or so left in the queue.

Oh yes. It's still there. It's changed a bit. There's a wasp link that wasn't there last time I looked. Are you going to do an entry on wasps to link it to, at some point? If so, give me a prod when you've done it. I'd like to read it.

Your whole page has changed. It's all happening. You must have spent the weekend shifting the furniture around. I liked the Ant poem and the big bird but I missed the balloons. They made it even more colourful and lively. I'll have to nip over more often to see what's going on.

Well, the election is over so the campaign balloons had to go. I'll have to think of something else to go on the page now.