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

Solo only records those entries which were promoted properly using the editing tools. If the Ed tried to short-cut the process by just setting the entry status, then it won't count it. I have one of those ghost entries too (War, What Is It Good For).

War creates a lot of ghosts, so that seems only fitting.

On the other hand, some entries are changed to edited in the correct way so they count in the solo count but haven't yet been featured on the front page so I don't count them yet.

My entry on the Bohernabreena Reservoirs was picked today. I like that entry because it discusses Victorian waterworks technology, folklore and walking.

I've put my Tolkien's Maps entry into Peer Review - I thought it was too geeky for the Edited Guide, but others think it might attract some Tolkien fans.

A wise move.

About Tolkien--I receive a daily OED Word of the Day and yesterday's was an Old English word for July, revived by Tolkien in Return of the King.

Happy Afterlithe, everyone!

My Corbally Harbour walk is on the Front Page. That's 220 solo Edited Entries. Only another 30 and I can get my badge back.

I always assumed that Tolkien had invented the word Lithe. The ancient Irish (Celtic?) calendar doesn't seem to have had special names for midsummer (21st June) and midwinter (22nd December). Instead it celebrated the starts of the seasons:

Imbolc - start of Spring - beginning of Feb
Bealtaine - start of Summer - beginning of May
Lughnasa - start of Autumn - beginning of August
Samhain - start of Winter - beginning of November

Afterlithe is in the OED as an Old and Middle English word for July, revived by Tolkein in 1955.

They don't have a date for the earliest quoted use, in which it's spelled "Æftera Lyða". It's then used in 1225, spelled "Efterliðe".

That's an interesting section of the dictionary. My eye was caught by 'Aftermath', which we use to mean the period or state after something terrible has happened.

But what did Aftermath originally mean?

The day of reckoning?

No, it's a field of grass, etc, after you've mowed it (alternative spelling is 'after-mowth')

There is also an aftermath cheese, made from the milk of cows who feed on the aftermath - typically richer.

Thank you so much for posting that; good clean fun

I'm surprised Tom Lehrer hasn't written a song about Aftermath.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIKGV2cTgqA

My Bohernabreena Reservoirs entry is on the Front Page this week. Gradually all my favourite walks are appearing as Edited Entries.

. . . . .. ...

I've been doing some hiking lately, too. Boston's Conservation Commission owns 22 "Urban Wilds," which are pieces of conservation land, mostly next to residential areas. People can walk out their front doors and take a walk in the woods, forgetting that they're in a big city. I've been to three of them, and am planning a visit to a fourth one this Sunday.

"Elves" is on the Front Page today. That's 225 solo entries. Nearly all my Tolkien entries have now been published.

"Sauron" is on the Front Page. That's all the Tolkien entries I intended to write now published. But I've one more in Peer Review that I thought wasn't suitable (Tolkien's Maps) but others liked.

And I've started writing the missing Film Review, of RK. I'm not good at film reviews, but we've reviews of the first two films of the LR trilogy and none of the third.

this might be relevant: There is a programme on Radio 4 about the search lost recordings made by JRR himself. You can still download the podcast.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p044g69l

I've downloaded it but not listened yet.