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

A790175 - Correct Use of the Apostrophe In English. I've read it before and it's good to see it here.

A189407 - How to Prevent Computer Obsolescence. Short and sweet but a tad dated!

A6557295 - Amoxicillin. I think I remember this in PR. Very interesting and informative.

A291728 - Q Section and Desmond Llewelyn. A bit too short.

A662924 - Nick Drake - Singer and Songwriter. By Mr Moxon no less! Didn't read it but will get back to it.

A930151 Fears and Phobias and How to Deal with Them
The BLOB made me run before I could read it *shudder*

A1431 Exercise
Not my day so far... this is a 'mostly harmless' from 1999

A59591 Numbers
I'd already read this - still good.

A3724931 The Mole (Chemistry)
I almost understood this I will go back and read it when I have had a coffee and the house is quiet.

A3100221 First Shot Monument, Gettysburg National Military Park, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA
Not a subject that interests me, particularly but well written.

W

**checks TV**

Yup...Monday night's always good for a quick round of this.

A13857906 - Scouting, The First 100 Years.
A bit dated (already!) to my modern Scoutmaster's eye, but enjoyable nevertheless.

A13645442 - John Carpenter's 'The Thing'
Good fun in that it doesn't spoil the best bits of the film, but still gives a decent insight. I also found out that if you don't put the inverted commas into the title of this Entry, it sounds like a bit of scandalous graffiti.

A3952343 - Broadway The Hard Way
A bit nerdy but readable.

A272657 - Privet Hawk Moth
I'd hitherto assumed this was a type of aeroplane, so at least I learned something.

A3826190 - Kings Lynn
Mostly notable for making me wonder why so many towns have a theatre called the Corn Exchange. So-so.

I'll call it 4 out of 5 for tonight. Better than previous performances.

B

I'm working through my Monday IID Entries and having lots of fun...

So, a question. If the EG is *the* prime focus of the site, why the hell is the IID button/link so hidden away in the right hand margin of the Front Page? (Well, that's where it is in the lovely Brunel).

Sticking with Brunel, there's some old faff about 'RSS feeds' lurking in the left hand column as though they are important to h2g users. I think they were introduced a number of months back, presumably to convince the higher echelons at the BBC that h2g2 has its finger on the pulse of all things that are t'internet. Who uses them? Not me. Anyone agree with me that the IID link would be better placed in this position?

If we want people to read the guide and ultimately contribute, surely the IID needs to be at a central place, on every page, so that users click intentionally (or preferably accidently) and discover the hidden wonders that lurk in our bowels.

What say you?

The RSS feeds do seem to be a well intentioned waste of time. I've got 'em on a RSS reader and the only one that works is the 'Announcements' one. As I'm subscribed to the announcements it's a bit pointless!

It would be nice if the IID was just under the FP entries.

'Don't fancy any of those? Click this!'

But if they click just below the new FP Entries Roymondo, they currently get you!

Or rather, your extremely good update on Marillion.

'Don't fancy Roymondo? Click this!'

Wouldn't the por IID button get over-used in that case?

I know you'll never believe me but I meant *between* the FP entries and the Marillion thing (which will be off the FP soon anyway). Mind you, I'm never going to turn down a bit of clicking.

A622595 - Eleanor of Aquitaine
I've heard the name and I'm always interested to fill some the yawning gaps in my knowledge of history. Not bad, though I was a bit befuddled (and not for the first time) by royalty's habit of giving three generations of offspring the same name.

A666227 - The Wirral
Not overly long, so I read it even though I'm not particularly interested in that part of the country. Unfortunately I'm still not much interested even after reading it.

A689006 - How Long Is a Tick?
An good idea taken far too seriously.

A2660609 - The Years of Billy Joel's 'We Didn't Start The Fire' - 1952
Quite interesting, but it's practically three and a half articles in one and my attention was drifting by the time I got to the end.

A970869 - Nickel Creek - the Band
Read the first paragraph and skipped the rest.

I make that two and a half, a slightly disappointing result. I'll have to try again soon.

<>

From what I understand, one of the most amazing things that h2g2 has seen in its history, fathomed and brought to life by MB (correct me if I'm wrong).

It's still in my bookmarks and I'm steadily reading through it. Quite simply it's a stunning piece of work and a credit to all who worked on it. It's also one 'up the pipe' for W*k*. The h2g2 community spirit was alive and kicking wildly at that time, I'd wager...

And how y is this? Billy Joels 'We didn't start the fire' is now blasting into my eardrums via 'Vault' on the digi-chanels that the nearest and dearest is watching...

A412769: Driving Etiquette - Canada. Utter rubbish from 2000. What amazes me is that so many authors are listed as contributing, yet there's nothing there! If people think Entries now are of dire quality, have a look at this - the golden days!

A297254: Tortilla Surprise. Another lightweight Entry from the glory days.

A508268: Vehicle Bumper Stickers. Unlike the previous two, there was a little bit of content here, but I felt it tried a bit too hard to be funny.

A228692 TV Blooper Shows: I really am on a roll for flimsy Entries today!

A471485 Biggles: Not bad. Another from 2000, better than the others. The author seems to have a soft spot for Biggles, without ignoring how daft the stories are.

This haul through the Guide seems to back up my feeling that there never was a period when all the entries were vibrant and riveting reading.

I feel I should clarify what I meant in that last sentence. It sounds a bit like I'm running the guide down. What I meant was that some people seem to feel that there was a time when everything was rosey, and we need to write more Entries like the good old ones. From that completely random selection, the good old days weren't any better than today. Today will be tomorrow's good old days.

Yep *nods in agreement*
W

Right then, let's have another go...

A10726850 Postcrossing - The Postcard Crossing Project
Interesting and well written - a good start!

A2903843 The Ring of Brodgar, part of The Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site
A good Entry, but perhaps a little dry for me, given that it's not a particular area of interest.

A769278 How to Skim Stones
Again,perhaps a little long and dry, given the subject matter. Not bad, though.

A2554157 Bedlam - The Hospital of St Mary of Bethlehem
One of Mina's - 'nuff said

A3502531 Sourdough
I liked this one, but I can't quite put my finger on it!

So, overall, I'd give this batch 4.5 overall

I think the driving etiquette one was a series of entries, and anyone who had contributed to any single entry was credited to all of them for some obscure reason (possibly it started life as a single entry and was split later on - when nobody could remember who contributed what).

Having read all the backlog I'm hoping that someone will find one of my Entries one day.

I'll join in this experiment when I've finished subbing

Today's results:


A455401 Brixton Academy, London,UK - idn't contain much information, other than some concerts take place there, made me wonder if it still exists.

A1283122 Roman Roads and Bridges - only three yers old, but I don't think it would go into the EG as it is now, a bit repititive though interesting.Should post to EF because of the mistakes I spotted.

A6767698 Bletchley Park, Milton Keynes, UK - thought it was about yet another concert site, but to my delight it's a really good entry about something else entirely: the enigma machine

A71731 Blood Oranges - three or four short sentences, but the last one made me laugh.

A994728 Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, USA - Nearly stopped reading as it seemed to consist of statistics only, when finally the history part came. It left me completely confused as to which Greeks were expelled - maybe that was a joke as there weren't any Greeks?
And why didn't the students have any water a day or two after their 'Flush in' protest?

So of these entries I really liked of 1/5, and one was interesting but lacking something, and one was slightly amusing.

(ooooooooooooo got a massive grin now because one of mine showed up - and apparently didn't suck! )

A2654787 - 'Voices of a Distant Star' and Shorter Anime Films By Shinkai Makoto, 1997 - May 2004 (19 Jul 2004)
nah, sorry. Much as I like the look of anime, I really can't summon up the enthusiasm to read a detailed analysis of a film I haven't seen.

A472763 - A Quick Guide to Fossils (30 Nov 2000)
It's short and to the point. Interesting, but it seemed more aimed at kids than adults (which is no bad thing)

A738768 - HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother - Her Early Years (1900 - 1923) (15 May 2002)
I'm not a fan of the Royal family so I wasn't enthused to read this. But it's well written, so that's a bonus. I'm leaving a comment on the entry,though because one line made me

A1118521 - General Midi and Midi Files (24 Sep 2003)
No. Sorry. My eyes glazed over and I had to hunt for the back button. I'm sure it's a fine entry but these sorts of things are not for me.

(I'm hoping something gripping is going to turn up now)

A640171 - Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon (31 Oct 2001)
Now that's great. Nothing I hadn't already heard about - possibly because back when this hit the front page I read it most days and I know I've read this one before). It's factual, interestingly written and it ties in with the book I'm reading for work just now.

not a good haul but I'm stll because one of my entries turned up on the IID

Good game, this.

A398973 - Portishead - the Band
{a bit thin, but adequate for its purpose}

A857667 - Chocolate Birthday Cake
{sounds gorgeous - I'm almost tempted}

A8573042 - Silent Hill - the Computer Game Series
{I'm not really into video games, but this is well-written and informative}

A545203 - Coffee Republic, Waterstones, Nottingham, UK
{Excellent piece of writing}

A14017754 - The Straussenwirtschaft - Popular Seasonal Tavern
{One of Belana's recent little slices of German life - I loved it. p.s. it "needs a picture" he said loudly}

4.5 out of 5

I'm really chuffed