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

Two questions about the Byzantium project:

1. Do you think my Byzantium project would look better if the headers at the top of each entry didn't repeat the word Byzantium each time?

2. Should the entries be re-ordered so that the Walls are second last and Hagia Sophia is last? This would end the whole project with the Pope's visit.

I just want opinions on these. I'll make the changes myself as a curator if you think they are worth doing.

1) No
2) Yes

I am very impressed with the picture of Hagia Sophia, and am really regretting not altering your description of it (rather ugly)


I also think I should have put the Latin name in italics tags, sorry.

Would you mind checking this for me: F41297?thread=3829509

Thank you

Demotic Egyptian --> demotic Egyptian (in two places)

There should be and around the list item "The Rosetta Stone." in the bulleted list of items to be returned to Egypt.

Thanks, that was all done

I saw this on the news last night, in case it's slipped your notice: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6311939.stm

I don't look at my mail.com account unless someone tells me there's a message there, so I've only just seen your messages since 20 Jan. Don't take too much on yourself - it should be a pleasure. If it stops being a pleasure, stop doing it and do something else.

No worries, I should have mentioned it here and I will in future

I don't get stressed by h2g2, it's the other way around the work I do here is a great distraction from my sometimes harrowing RL. I honestly can't imagine what I'd do without it.

Have fun in London

Can I ask you what do you call dark green? I've had a brain-freeze.
Ivy? Doesn't sound right.

Bottle green. No I hadn't been swigging too many!

You seem to have solved that one without me. I'm back from London now.

Welcome back. You have been missed
I'll read your updated journal

By the way, the first three entries of my Queen Victoria project are finished. Would you like to start reading - or do you want to wait until I'm finished, I'm hoping to this week, but I still have the Jubilees to research.

A13915154 <---project page

I've looked at the Birth to 19 Entry. I found it confusing when it talked about her lineage, because you mention so many different people in such a short paragraph. You've got George III, George IV, a Princess Charlotte and a stillborn son in the first few sentences. Later in the section about William IV, you've another Princess Charlotte and another stillborn son.

Is it really necessary to go back as far as George III? Wouldn't it be sufficient to just talk about William IV, the fact that he had no heirs and so Victoria was the next in line when he died, being the first cousin once removed (or whatever) of the king?

EMR has just pointed out that a Uni project should be 5 entries, and I doubt I can stretch it that far.

Princess Charlotte of Wales was important because it was her death which sparked the mad rush to wed & bed & produce an heir. Victoria wouldn't have been born otherwise. But I can remove all reference to William IV's children, to make it less confusing.

Some other points:

Victoria was a carrier of haemophilia although she didn't suffer from the disease. Because her children were married to all the crown princes and princesses of Europe, the haemophilia was spread to all the royal families of Europe. Most notable was that of Nicolas of Russia whose problems with the disease are legendary.

It was Albert who introduced Christmas trees into Britain.

Victoria insisted on using ether (a primitive anaesthetic) when giving birth to one of her children, despite the fact that the Bible said "ye shall bring forth your children in pain". It became accepted in British society for a woman to use anaesthetic. I'm sure you could find details on this if you did a google search.

I think your discussion of evolution is misleading.

1. The debate between evolution and creation doesn't "still rage today", except among ignorant Americans. All the major religions of the world now accept the theory of evolution.

2. The Victorians were not left without a God by the acceptance of evolution. God and Evolution are not conflicting theories.

You might like to mention Gilbert and Sullivan. Victoria was very fond of their operettas. She once asked Sullivan in casual conversation when he was going to write a proper opera. He took this as a royal command, and struggled for years, eventually producing a Grand Opera called Ivanhoe. He presented it the queen, but she wasn't interested.

Post 75: I have gone into detail about the anaesthetic Victoria demanded for childbirth. Also that she passed on the haemophilia gene. I did forget to add Christmas trees thoughthanks

Good morning Gnomon

I've updated with your comments (except Albert's Christmas trees, I'm still looking for the actual date)

Gilbert and Sullivan added

Ether vs chloroform - seems to be an even division.

I have to work in the assassination attempts.

Birth to 18

I think the very confusing first section could be simplified by starting in 1817 rather than 1820, and taking events in the order they occurred.

In the final sentence of this paragraph, you have "the widow of Prince Karl whom he had just met" or words like that. It sounds as if he had just met the Prince.

virtually as well as legally -- virtually is the wrong word here. Virtually means in a theoretical way. What you mean is "actually" or "physically".

In the list of godparents, it's not clear how many people we're talking about. It's normal to have two godparents but there seem to be more than that here. I presume the Prince Regent is a different person from the Emperor, but I can't make out whether that is two titles for one woman or two different women.

none achieved adulthood --> none survived to adulthood

Heiress apparent -- does this require an explanation (first in line for the throne?)

The sentences about the colour of her hair look odd. They look as if you are trying to settle an argument which took place elsewhere. Instead you should say something like "although Victoria's hair was brown/black/whatever, the artist Richard Lane chose to depict her with auburn hair in his celebrated portrait of the young queen dating from 1837.


G

I meant to attend to those this weekend but I've subbed three entries and taken my son to see Ghost Rider

Definitely tomorrowand thanks a lot, Gnomon