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

Hmm, ok.

Once again, I've tired of the Editorial Process.

- It took 11 months to publish one of my entries after it had been picked;

- I've volunteered to be a sub-editor again to speed up the process, but after six weeks I still haven't got any reply, not even a "we're considering your request";

- I've written lots of entries and put them into Peer Review, but nobody is commenting on them. One entry was five months in Peer Review and didn't receive a single comment. While it would be nice to think that this is because it was perfect, it didn't get picked. It would also be nice to think that it was because there was so much in Peer Review that it was overlooked. But no, there aren't many entries in Peer Review. The truth seems to be that there are no longer any scouts.

Yet I still like to write articles for people to read. I've no idea whether anybody reads them, but I like to think that they do. SO it's back to Gnomon's Guide, my own personal subset of the Unedited Guide, where I will build up a Guide to the Galaxy covering the topics I'm interested in. I won't be restricted by the delays inherent in the current Editorial Process. I'll just put them into Gnomon's Guide when I feel they are ready.

Unfortunately, I can't add photos to them. This is a real pity. I may have to find somewhere else to publish the Guide.

Here's today's contribution:

A87850759 Hong Kong Mahjong


but my

"but my" ... no idea what that was about.

I've just looked at the Hong Kong Mahjong entry in the Pliny system and it doesn't look great. I forgot that due to the various bugs in Pliny, the tables don't display correctly.

This is a bug that I reckon could easily be fixed in about an hour, if someone put their minds to it. It's just a mistake in a CSS file. But I'm not allowed to suggest this to anybody in power.

I'll have to apply my workaround, which will take me quite a bit of time and effort....

Is there even anybody actually in power paying much attention anymore?

Traveller in Time building vessels
"Why not submit your entries to the post? Unlike the FrontPage Dmitri will publish your work perhaps even next week.

And as far as I understand he also likes to add some pictures.

'New in the Post; Walking with Gnomon' "

I mean besides the moderators?

When I was a volunteer, I had access to various behind-the-scenes programs which allowed me to talk directly to the Guide Editors and other volunteers. I no longer have these, so I don't know the answer to your question.

I'm still a Facebook friend of one of the owners of h2g2. I don't think he has any more idea of how to resurrect this site than anybody else.

I think this one is ready for Gnomon's Guide:

A87852018

Off to add this to the list....

For those of you using Pliny to look at your conversations, here's that link again:

Entry A87852018

An email was sent to you yesterday, Gnomon.

We'll resend it in case you deleted by mistake.

I've received the e-mail. I've replied.

Hi Traveller In Time. Nice to see you back under your old name.

The thought of publishing The Post is tempting, but I don't want to publish a diary, I want to publish the Guide. Although you may be right about putting in pictures, I don't think The Post's brief is to compete with the Edited Guide.

Since the Edited Guide's publishing process is not capable of publishing entries at the rate I want to write them, (for whatever reason) I'll just have to come up with my own way of doing it.

"You're doing a fine job " [Icy North]

I second, third, and fourth that, Gnomon!

I've gone through the couple of hundred entries in Gnomon's Guide and put either "Gnomon's Guide" or "GG" in the title (I started with Gnomon's GUide but it was too long so I changed my mind).

Now I'm going to go through them and remove all the links in them to the Edited Guide.

I have been following this thread, as I admire your work and think it is an asset to the Guide. I'm confused though about what you want from the Guide. Your Entries are always in your Entry list, just as they are in Gnomon's Guide, but if you put them in Peer Review they can go in the Edited Guide too. It may take a while for them to become Edited, but if they're not in Peer Review they will never be in the Edited Guide...

I'm sorry one of your Entries had no comments - Tolkein isn't something I have much knowledge of, so I didn't get chance to read it - but you aren't the only one with no comments yet (I'm in that club at the moment)

Sorry - the message posted instead of making a new paragraph...

I meant to add that people don't have to be Scouts to comment on Entries in Peer Review, which is good.

Anyway, see you around, and I do notice your writing even if I don't always get chance to read it.

Yours is a good question, Sasha. What do I want from the Guide? Why don't I just put my entries in Peer Review anyway?

I suppose that by writing my own subset of the Guide, I give myself more freedom. I can do the sort of things that should be encouraged in the Edited Guide but aren't. For example, I can have links to some really small entries which wouldn't be big enough on their own to get into the Guide. I can put links to points in the middles of other entries, a practice which was encouraged early in the history of the Guide but then frowned upon. And I can play around with tables, backgrounds and so on to my heart's content.

It's really a process of experimentation, I suppose. I can try things and if I don't like them, I can change them all around again.

I've already bowed to modern practice and rewritten the Anglo-Saxon entry to be called Old English.

Latest addition to Gnomon's Guide:

Entry A87853233 The Mass in B Minor, by JS Bach

Nice overview (even if you do accuse Bach of going overboard with his fuguing; isn't that like accusing Michelangelo of using a lot of flesh?)! Your own call, this is clearly a light approach.

In the text I just notice you repeat the 'Credo' line at the beginning of 'Patrem Omnipotentem'.

Also your translation of Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine could be tightened up a tad:

"Who was conceived by the holy spirit, born of the virgin Mary" is my memory of the phrases, though literally it should be something like "And was incarnated by the holy spirit in the virgin Mary and was made man". Or you could do your own translation... implanted in the virgin Mary by the holy spirit? Endless fun with subtle changes of implications.

Virgin needs no capital, either in Latin or English, unless you wish to use the word as an honorific title. Traditional usage in Latin is lighter on the capitals than the English of the last few centuries, so you could quite handily dispose of them in 'spiritu sanctu' and other places.

I mean sancto of course.

You also repeat the words Et expecto (should that be exspecto?)... and rather than 'from death' shouldn't it be the traditional 'resurrection of the dead'?

I get the goosepimples at that stage of the B minor mass. I noticed when singing it at college that the music gets shifty and obscure just before this phrase, as though the faith of the speaker is wobbling, not quite confident in the remission of sins... then the 'et exspecto' comes in loud and clear with trumpets and sunbeams.

Ah, it's easy to sing with conviction what you cannot say with conviction.