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

I've told the Editors that I am not writing any more entries, but it's not strictly true. I did have two new entries on the Front Page in December (Sirius and Nautiluses). The problem now is that I have become very critical of my own work. I can't write about a topic unless I say everything I want to say, and it has to be exactly right.

I've always wanted there to be an Entry on Isaac Newton, since he is probably the most important person in the last 500 years. But every time I start to write the entry, I got bogged down in detail and it doesn't work out the way I want. So I've kept it on my list of "things I'm working on", although I may not do anything on it again for months.

I'm also working on the First Crusade, which is a fascinating topic. But my scribbled notes run to 18 pages, and I've only got half way through the story. This is going to be a big entry to do the topic justice.

So who knows when I'll be on the Front Page again.

I'm currently in the 'no entry-writing' stage, too. There are a coupöe of things I've meant to write about, but I don't manage to read the material I'd need to read, so it's not looking as if I'll write for the EG any time soon.

Mine always seem like good ideas, until I have to decide which path to allow the Entry to take

I haven't got the time to write at the minute!

But could I put in a plea for you to continue with your Sundial columns in The Post?

"Continue" is a euphemism for "Resume", in this case. I'll think about it.

I go in waves, a massive output then nothing. I find it easier to sub-edit other people's work than write sometimes, and it also inspires me with other subjects as well. I think all of you ^^^ work hard for H2G2 in your own ways, which is marvellous considering we're all volunteers. I don't know how anyone manages jobs as well, so to all of you

Sounds like Newton and the First Crusade should be divided into subtopics and made into a Project.

This desire to cover absolutely everything and get the writing write is what usually holds me back ... I'm always sure there must be more!

That strikes a chord with me, as I started off thinking I would write a small piece about the Potteries, then it turned into a possibility of a Project, and now I feel daunted.

Still, the desire to include every single detail can be held in check somewhat by reading some of the more verbose Wikipedia articles.

I just looked up Rory Gallagher, the great Irish guitarist, and the Wiki article has 11 lines of detail on exactly which parts of his guitar were replaced over the years, by whom and for what reason. Does every single detail of the world need to be recorded?

Arthur Clarke, in his first book "The City and the Stars", pictured a time in the distant future when through medical improvements, people could live for ever. He speculated that they would choose to sort regularly through their memories and delete a lot useless information.

I think the ability to forget some things that have happened may be a good idea in some circumstances. I know that I throw things away rather than be reminded of stuff I no longer want to always be thinking about.

As to your proposed Newton entry, can you not write a 'Beginner's Guide' to him? Maybe with a few 'Quite Interesting' asides?

Newton is a biggish topic. It is a fascinating problem, and no doubt a very healthy exercise, to say what you want to say on a topic within a few pages.

Wiki is ridiculous to keep all the details of Rory Gallagher's guitar maintenance. One rule of Wikipedia is 'no original material' so all that information must be available somewhere else. It certainly doesn't belong in a short bio.

The human memory doesn't run out of space, like computer storage; I gather it adds stuff by conflating it with existing memories, just adding the equivalent of distinguishing pointers.

That's why at my age you forget things like whether you have locked the door. Nothing distinctive enough to constitute a new pointer. Remedy is to visualise the act as you do it, in the most lurid and even painful dramatisation.

I really feel I have written all the little I wanted to say on hootoo. Mind you I thought I had last year, but found I simply had to write A55545348 which wouldn't find a place in Wiki, as it contains original research, and personal conclusions.

I thought my brother had done an entry on Newton years ago, but I can't find it.

I know my writing has dropped off significantly since I left university - less to write about.

Newton himself was at great pains to publish his calculus - because he wanted to make sure it was absolutely correct.

So, you're in good company, at least.

Not to mention Darwin.

Nice thing about publishing online: you can revise as howlers become apparent later.

I've not been very productive in the writing dept of late. Recent cataract probs haven't helped. I'm about 2 mths behind with open uni studies as a result so when the new reading glasses are sorted towards end of this mth I'll have a lot to catch up with.
I've got a couple articles started but one has grown so big it's likely to end up a Uni project, (which I don't have time for right now), the other I need to do some field research on as there's very little info on the t'internet or library. A few visits to the place I'm writing about may be needed over the summer months.

I very much look forward to reading your Newton and First Crusade articles, Gnomon. From the very little of Newton I know (mostly from reading Neil Stephenson's Baroque Cycle as my American education barely covered Newton, the man) I can appreciate that he is tough subject to write about in a concise article and probably should be split into several. But I've very confident that if you do write about him, your entry(ies) will be excellent.

I mean, he's the inventor of the cat flap, for BoB's sake! He deserves an excellent entry here.

Hey, look what I just found:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8461591.stm

I'll read through that later.

<>

I'll remember that when I unplug the iron/lock the front door/shut the basement window/turn off the oven/take out the rubbish.

If I remember.

...Maybe if I close the garage door on my foot when I leave the house, then I'll remember later if I closed it or not.