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

I'd think that was a superb idea.

It's done with an unobtrusive footnote.

I've had probs. with the placement of footnotes before, please let me know if the placement is not correct.

Emmily

'morning Emmily. I think the FN is .

I had a couple of other thoughts:

1.

I would change this to 'most people would be delighted...'. Reason is, for example, that I have a sister-in-law who is petrified of birds!!

2. I'm not sure whether the following is entirely true. It's really a stereotypical cliche: .

Perhaps you could say something like, 'The sterotypical image of the robin is of him (it?)sat on the handle of an abandoned fork, watching the gardener dig the ground. Certainly the robin will very quickly arrive at freshly dug earth, where insects and juicy worms have been brought to the surface.

3. Under, 'Identifying a Robin' I thougght it was interesting that it can be easily . This is because I read somewhere that the bluethroat (mentioned later) is not related to robins, but is a closer relative of nightingales. Perhaps it would be worth making this point.

P.S. Also, consider linking 'calcium' to A682484 (Postmenopausal Osteoporosis)

BigAl

>"I would change this to 'most people would be delighted...'. Reason is, for example, that I have a sister-in-law who is petrified of birds!!"

I doubt that someone who is petrified of birds would have a bird table or bath. I've changed it anyway.

>"'The sterotypical image of the robin is of him (it?)sat on the handle of an abandoned fork, watching the gardener dig the ground."

Bigal, if the robin is sitting on the fork's handle, what is the gardener using to dig with?

I quite like that sentence about watching the gardener, and robins *are* known to do that. I'll take a look, see if I can do something with it.

I'm not sure I quite understand your point 3. The Entry is about the robin, with a passing reference to bluethroat, as a competitor to the robin. The word 'relative' with the ' - ' wotsits ( can't remember at the moment what they're called) I thought indicated a loose connection, rather than a real relative. Not sure I explained what I mean very well.

>"P.S. Also, consider linking 'calcium' to A682484 (Postmenopausal Osteoporosis)"

BigAl, I don't think that's relevant to robin.

Emmily

I.M. 'Links don't have to be 100% relevant. The relevance is that calcium is required for both shell formation in birds and bone formation in humans and all other animals.
Ref the bluethroat, if you remember (*when you first wrote your article) you mentioned that there was a "rare bluebreasted robin. This is also how the BBC News Bulltin referred to it. Subsequently [we] discovered that the bluethroat is in fact a different species and is more closely related to the nightingale that to the robin.

I just think that this is an interesting point because, in your entry, you mentioned that juvenile robins are virtually indistinguishable from nightingales.

(PS I'm not asking you to change that sentence about robins watching the gardener. All I'm saying is that that image is rather stereotypical rather than a frequent occurrence. However there is an element of truth in it because robins are not far away if the gardener is digging.)

That reminds me of the robin in 'A Secret Garden' -- key character, he was.

Can't remember that Mikey.I'll have to re-read it.

(I'm afraid I've caused Emmily's Entry to lose some of its original sparkle and . I'll try and compose something which retains that but encapsulates the points I was trying to make, Emmily. I'll get back to you later).

I would suggest something like this, Emmily - although I still don't feel 100% satisfied with it: (In this first sentence I prefer the word 'most' rather than the phrase 'the majority of...' because it has softer connotations).

The robin, is common thoughout Britain, and is probably the most easily recognisable garden bird, and one which most people would be delighted to have visit their bird table or bird bath.

The stereotypical image of this cheeky bird being perched close by as the gardener digs the ground is not so very far removed from the truth; as the robin will very quickly arrive on the scene once the area is left unattended, to search for juicy earthworms and insects to eat.

s off to look at the 'bluethroat' section.

BigAl, I maintain that A682454 is not relevant to the Entry. It's not often I disagree with suggestions.

When I first wrote the bit about bluethroat, I was in rush, and wanted to get it in entry before someone mentioned it, and I didn't read it properly. It was only when I went back to the link and re-read it, it had said it was rare for the bluethroat to spend the winter in Britain, not that it was rare per-se(sp) it's in the back log, but anyway that's all history.

Lay off the mulled mate

I didn't say ">that juvenile robins are virtually indistinguishable from nightingales."

This is what is says:

"It is classed as a songbird, often singing until late evening, or even into the night, which can lead to it being mistaken for a nightingale. Males and females are virtually indistinguishable.

The plumage of a juvenile robin is dull speckled brown all over. This soon speckled brown all over. This soon changes after the first moult when the robin’s adult plumage grows through."

PS Too later, I've already changed it, from 'favourite' to 'occasional'

Emmily

I'm happy with the gardener para, as it is.

Going to get a or 2 or 3

Emmily

While links in EG entries do not need to be relevant to the entry as a whole, they *do* need to be very strictly relevant to the word in the text used as an anchor. A link in an EG entry using the word "calcium" as an anchor would need to be an entry that was all about calcium, used calcium in the title, or was about the broader subset to which calcium belonged -- i.e., "vitamins and minerals". Any link to the osteoporosis entry would need to be removed by the sub-ed anyway, as it would not meet those criteria.


Mikey

Emmily, it was only a suggestion.
This is my suggestion for the bluethroat:

It would appear the robin has some competition this Christmas, in the form of the Bluethroat; (Luscinia svecica) a much less well known 'relative' of the robin which was spotted in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. In fact the bluethroat, originally called the 'blue-throated robin' is more closely related to the nightingale (Luscinia megarhychos) than to the Uuropean robin; although all three belong to the Family 'Turdidae (thrushes). The beautiful song of the bluethroat resembles that of the nightingale.

Have a super New Years Eve.

s drunk had my 17 yr old son harassing me, as it was 8.01 and 8.00 was his turn on PC

I used 'majority' rather than 'most' to avoid repeating of the word most in one sentence.


>"(I'm afraid I've caused Emmily's Entry to lose some of its original sparkle and "

I don't think so, I've only changed a couple of words, it's fine

to disagree with you again BigAl, but I think that unnecessarily complicates 'bluethroat para.' Which I think is fine as it is, though I could add a footnote, and I thought I had already added a link for Scotland.

PS Haven't you got any essays to mark or inspections to get ready for teach, to keep you out of mischief

Happy New Year to everyone else too

Emmily

Hmmmm it would appear I do need to amend 'bluethroat para' after reading this from the link from the RSPB Scotland;

>"Now, however, an extremely rare bluethroat, a close relative of our own native robin, has been found wintering at an RSPB nature reserve in Aberdeenshire"

Emmily

But that is exactly what you've already got in your Entry!.

The justification for saying anything at all about the bluethroat is that it was originally called the 'bluethroated ROBIN'. However, your Entry provides an opportunity to clarify the issue by saying that it's actually more closely related to the nightingale. Hence they share the Genus name , Luscinia. I don't think this complicates the issue at all.

Ooooppppsss forgot to add about blue-throated robin in footnote, I'll add it after I post this.

BigAl, I can only write what I understand and I don't understand the scientific names, and IMO neither does the average person.

With that in mind, (reguardless of scientific names), the info. I'm working with, and that I understand, is; *the bluethroat is a very close relative of the native British red robin*

That info. is from: RSPB Scotland and BBC News.

Two respected establishments that I trust to report accurately.

Emmily

Emmily - your choice. But really there is nothing to understand about the scientific names except that the bluethroat and the nightingale share a common one - which makes the bluethroat more closely related to the nightingale than to the robin.

I'll try and find the website that states this explicitly and post it here.

It is not untrue that the bluethroat and robin a related - as I said, they're both in the Family thrushes.

I really think that you're missing an opportunity if you don't make this point in your Entry.

The reason that organisations like RSPB and BBC have said that they're a close relative of robins is that they look just like robins but with a blure breast - and 'Joe Public' can understand that. But the danger is that Joe Public might think that the blue throat is a mutation of the robin (a bit like albino rabbits) but this is NOT the case.

Well, I've searched high and low on the web to find a site that states explicitly that the bluethroat is more closely related to the nightingale than to the robin - but can't find one. (I'm sure I read this in black and white somewhere, though).
At this point I'm sure you're .

However, I think this is an excellent reason for stating the point explicitly in your Entry.i.e. it's information that's difficult to find, and yet if it's not appreciated then the misconception that I exoplained in my previous post could well ensue.

>"At this point I'm sure you're ."

No, BigAl, I breathed a sigh of releif I got no pleasure from disagreeing with you, but I believed my info. to be correct and had stick by it.

I've added a footnote, that both the robin and bluethroat are similar species to the nightingale, with a link to nightingale, and that is as far as I am willing to concede.

Now, can we please 'drop this'

Emmily