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

I'll have to look for that dsic then

Just out of curiosity, how many words does my FP article today have?

A33314960

It has 3,819 words.

Thank you,

OK, OK, I guess I shouldn't have generalised.
There are long entries where I don't realise they're long, and there is this one which I started reading, couldn't find access, started scrolling and found that it doesn't seem to end, and I have a mental block. Just imagine, it took me HOURS to even remember the music of the Hitch Hiker radio series. My mind had gone completely blank. I hope remembering the music will help me to get into the entry.

I'm in awe how you even cope with small entries. If you were to hand me something in German (or any other language for that matter, as I've mostly forgotten the French I learned in school) then I couldn't even read a sentence.

I can remember the music to the television series very clearly, and still can not get into this Entry. It is an "anorak entry", not accessible to the common reader.

If you really have a problem, Bel, hand it back. Claim diplomatic immunity.

I have actually thought about handing it back. I think I'll make a last attempt over the weekend, there should be things I can do without understanding the entry, like taking out the links at the bottom, adding a reference tag and searching for links to add.

I'm relieved I'm not the only one who can't access it, thanks for telling me.

Oh, and GB: I'm sure if you had been 'talking' in a foreign language for years, after having learned and studioed it for years, you'd manage just as well.

If I come across postings from years ago, when I was still new to all this, I can clearly see the difference.

If you don't have Microsoft Word, this website works just as well-
http://www.javascriptkit.com/script/script2/countwords.shtml

It's what I use for word count, and not coincidentally, it's the first research for the Google search 'Word Count'.

Anyone with a google account can use google docs. That's fascinating, it counts the words and does some calculations as well, like how many words per sentence (in average), how many syllables per word (I think), how many letters and so on. It's not that I need to know it in such detail, but I certainly was impressed.

I think that level of detail is an unwarranted intrusion into our personal writing. The next thing you know is they'll be preventing us from searching for things with less than 1.38 syllables per word.

But a word with less than 1.38 syllables is hradly worth searching for in the first place.

No, I meant pages with that ratio. Tabloid newspapers and Big Brother fan sites could all suffer.

>>an unwarranted intrusion into our personal writing<<

You mean, you write for tabloids and Big Brother fan sites?

No - I failed the IQ test. It was too high.

Bummer!

Have you seen the 'Garlic' thread on 'Ask'?

Do you think whatshername paseed the test?

How about using Open Office? It has basically the same functions as Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint...), you can save documents to be compatible with Microsoft, and it's free (legally so )! There are precompiled versions out there now - you no longer have to compile them yourself - or if anyone wants a build with German, English (UK and US), French, Spanish and Dutch dictionaries, just e-mail me and I'll send it to you. I think it was small enough for that.

Here's Einstein's Theory of Relativity written in words of one syllable:

http://www.light-science.com/slosson.html

How do you pronounce 'matter' in one syllable?

Nice one, Gnomon.

How to pronounce matter in one syllable? That's easy:

'stuff'.