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

Hey, correct me if I've got the wrong info. Are you of the Canadian persuasion?

The reason I ask: Bel says you are, and the 2 July issue of needs one.

Could you do something for us about Dominion Day?

I'm carrying out a threat I made, but I don't want the whole issue to be about the people south of Niagara Falls. Can you help?

I'll give it a go.
What's the deadline?

~jwf~

Great! Say, next Wednesday? Would that be okay?

Hello,

I offer you A2601992.

I have copied and pasted the story into the format
of one of my old "To Whom It May Concern" entries
and I hope you will present it in that format as
part of that ongoing series complete with the blobs
I used to identify these pieces. No additional artwork
is required (please).

But I have forgotten everything I know about GDML.
So I'm not sure if it will hold together when you
copy and paste it to your Post pages.

In particular you will need to check especially how
to create a proper link to the URLs near the end and
to amend the title bar (delete 'holding file') as
well as any necessary formatting changes needed to
be compatible with Pliny, etc.

Hope this meets with your expectations,

~jwf~

PS:

It occurs to me that in my haste I may have
made errors that I might wish to edit.

So while I hope you will review the entry at
your convenience and be reasonably satisfied
that you have the requested entry available,
I would ask that you give me until Tuesday
to make any additions or corrections that may
occur to me upon further reflection before you
take your copy.


~jwf~

I will do that, jwf.

Thank you SO much! This is even better than I'd hoped for - exactly what we need for a 'July over the water' issue.

Thanks for making the point (better than I could) about the Loyalists. I do have a question about that in the Post Quiz, too.

I made a very few changes but now I think I'm done.

Feel free to lift it.

But please let us discuss any further changes you might
wish to make, before you do, as I am quite sensitive
to editorial changes made behind my back.

Let me know the secret A-number where you will hide it
prior to publication so I can keep an eye on it.



~jwf~

Not sure where all that paranoiac attitude came from.

Often, I take an idea and let my writing just free-flow
around it - like an actor getting into character. It may
have seemed like a good idea at the time, but in the light
of this cold rainy morning it sounds like a petulant and
high-minded ego trip. Not me at all.

That said, dontcha dare change a thing.

~jwf~

That's fine. I haven't looked at the latest version yet, but I'll pick it up as it stands.

The A-number will be A87763233. There's isn't anything there yet, and won't be for a few hours, as I am very busy right now.

If you see anything you want changed, just say so here.

Okay, it's up. And it's exactly the way you wrote it, with the difference that it is necessary to replace dash symbols with GuideML symbols, or 2 million browsers go ...

If you want a different title, just let me know.

All I see at that A-number is the new title which is fine.
And a banner for the Post. Perhaps the Post's reserved
A-number are protected from prying eyes prior to the
date of publication.

But not to worry.
If it is otherwise 'as written' my only concern is that
the two URL links need to be GDML formatted - but you
probably did that when you did the dashes. I'm assuming
the old blobs (typewriter and elephant) still work.

I hope it gets some reaction and provides a fair and balanced
contrast to your own July Fourth jingoisms.

~jwf~

PS:
I am looking forward to reading your Yankee Doodles on Monday.

Just you wait. We are ironic. ABout *everybody*.

I'll go back and check those links. You can see the entry by replacing the 'A' in the URL with the word 'test'. (You can only do that in Goo, Alabaster, or brunel, not in Pliny.)

Just had a look at the test page
and I fear that the two external links
are somehow imbedded inside the text of
the last paragraph.

Can't see what it will look like but I
believe that the formatting has shifted
somehow and those links will not appear
separately below the last paragraph as
intended.


~jwf~

Aha. I misunderstood you. I embedded the links because that's what I thought you wanted.

It would be good if you would indicate here what you'd like to see.

Do you want the links bare, like you had them?

Do you want them in a separate paragraph? If so, what text do you want them to be linked to? Please give specifics, and I will make the change.

I have reinstated the links at the bottom of the article. Please take a look and see if the text is all right.

Yep, that's it I think.
Just let them float below the last para like I had them.

I just couldn't remember the GDML code HREF-LINK to make them work.




~jwf~

No problem.

I see you have been exercising your editorial prerogative.
And it looks good.

That's why you are the Editor.
Thanks.

~jwf~