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

Hello Jimi!
İ am sure you are fine.I want to know how you can add so many information of different places...???Is it your job?? or it is your hobby??

It's a little bit of both job and hobby.

Once upon a time I worked at a newspaper and took my notes from some travel pieces I wrote and converted them for h2g2 use. I also did a lot of writing for classes in college and grad school that never saw publication (just papers for grades) and I re-worked them for h2g2 as well.

Others are entries about family vacation spots or places close to home (I've played dozens of rounds at each golf course I highlighted so it was easy to do a bit of history for the course and then a hole-by-hole recap).

There's no rule that you have to write a lot (or anything) but contributing to the Edited Guide was Douglas' original vision for the site.

Good luck!

Hi Jimi!
I hope everything is ok. I want to know just one thing.As you said you worked at a newpaper.I didn`t understand what kind of articles you wrote or you just got some interviews from people.It is more interesting and difficult to be a journalist in this time.

When i was a child i thought i would be a journalist but when i finished my school i understood Journalism comes from nature or inborn.

Take care. Good-bye!

As a general assignment reporter, I was responsible for covering local government meetings, events in the community, school news, police and crime news, and loads and loads of random stuff.

I once did a series of stories on a house that was infested with bees. Apparently, killing bees with insecticide would work but then 'wax moths' would eat the beehive and the remaining honey would leak through the walls so a beekeeper was hired to lure the hive away from its queen to another queen and when bees abandon a hive, they steal all the honey for their new queen so it solved the whole problem and then they transported the new hive to another part of the county.

That was the beauty of my job - every day was an adventure and a learning experience!

I've found that you can be a fair writer, but you've got to have curiosity and a willingness to ask obvious questions to learn what's going on. A lot of people won't ask 'dumb' questions because they don't want to reveal what they don't know.

I've never had any trouble with looking dumb. My wife says that's part of my charm...

Hello Jimi!
How are you?
I liked your way of writting and i can say just one thing....YOU MIGHT COMPELETLY RIGHT. I found it funny...And i have a question to you...why do you people need so much sites for chating?

take care..Chau!

I've never really used h2g2 for chatting.

I do say hello from time to time to friends I spy online, but the majority of my posts are feedback in Peer Review, comments on completed entries or greeting newcomers even though I'm no longer an Assistant Community Editor (ACE).

I've been here for nearly eight years now and I've been taken with Douglas Adams' vision of creating a collaborative guide (much like wiki but before wiki).

Granted it never took off the way he would have hoped, but you can see from the success at wiki that it was a grand vision!

Hello Jimi!

You know something.....I can`t talk or know anyone else here..of course,you and some others...only this...when i open who`s on line then i see nobody is available. Why?

Thanks a lot JIMI for keeping company here with me.

The best way is to strike out and make a conversation with someone.

Did you ACE give you any suggestions?

I've found that there are always interesting chatty people at <./>Askh2g2</.> for starters...

Good luck!

Also, the United Friends of h2g2 are a friendly lot, they play games and chat and whatnot. They can be found here - A703126.

Good luck.

Finding yourself on this site can be a daunting task. I remember when I first started it wasn't nearly as large but still seemed pretty confusing.

It does get better - a journey of a million miles starts with a single step!

Hello Jimi!

Thank you very much for your e-mail.

Best wishes!

No worries!

Hello J&#304;M&#304;!!

I hope you are fine.And to be frank,i didnt find United friends so interesting.
Can i know one thing....what kind of benefit gives this site ??? Of course,i have my thought about it but i would like to hear something about it from you.

I wanna say something...I like to ask about things I dont understand more but if it bores you,then that`s ok.It is not so improtant.

Thanks
Take better care!
Happy working!

My thought has always been that the site provides the benefit of creating a Guide to Life, The Universe and Everything as proposed by Douglas Adams himself here - A550955.

Those of use writing, editing or somehow involved in the Edited Guide process are slowly building the Guide. It's similar to the wikipedia model, however we're operating in an environment where people can't modify entries that have been through the editorial process without another round of proper vetting.

And while that may seem more bureaucratic than the wikipedia model, I rather like it. It provides a sense of 'ownership' to what you write *and* it prevents vandals from making inappropriate changes to an entry while you're not looking.

There's nothing wrong with asking questions - how else do we learn?

Just the other day a friend of my wife actually quoted from a restaurant review that I had written for h2g2 without knowing that it was me that had written it.

It may take *years* to get to the point where that happens with some sort of frequency, but it was brilliant when it happened to me!

Hello Jimi!
How are you?

Thank you very much for answering my questions .To be frank, first tiems it was a bit surprising to me but now i completely trust you are a journalist or were.I have not seen yet such a person who are so willing to reply to questions ..it doesn`t depend on professions of course..Anyway,great thanks to you!

I liked A550955 more. thanks for it as well

And what do you think about some journalists who go to the Iraq and try to find something out or to do their work? Would you wish to do that? Or you find it not so interesting.I think 2 things might force journalists to go there,first-great love to their profession,i think they adore it, second-their salary(much money).and....it is possible we can find such journalists who might do it for prestige.
Just i would like to know your mind. if it is possible..

take care! Adios!

Since I have two small children, I would be disinclined to enter a war zone where noncombatants are at as much risk as soldiers...

I think trying to cover the war in Iraq would be extremely difficult because of the numerous factions all trying to get their own spin on every event. I think the people who go there as journalists are brave from a personal safety standpoint and from a journalistic perspective because it takes a special person to make the attempt to make sense of a sensless situation.

To be sure, covering this war is an important story. But there are important stories everywhere.

I've covered criminal trials which mattered tremendously to the victims of the crime. I've covered municipal meetings which impacted the lives of literally thousands of people.

But I've also covered a grub infestation in someone's lawn that really mattered to one or two lawn fanatics.

Each story had an impact - which sort of goes back to what a former editor always said: "Every story matters to someone, that's why you always do your best!"

Hope that makes sense?!?

Hi Jimi!

How are you?
I wish happiness ro you and family ,May God help you all for good! You are right.It is very hard to go to Iraq for married people.Even if they have kids...it is unfair to make children disturb because of policy war..

If i were a journalist ,I `d do my best to go to Iraq to see some facts of history with my own eyes,and I`d try to write about "dirty money" and People who are sold ....they are all I am more interested in.For example, I don`t like to read the same thoughts we ,people might see and understand.

Anyway,what do you think about .... Can you or could you write or find something out about these issues? or have you had such a desire?
And are you into politics? I think any good journalist can`t get rid of politics. What about you?

Take the best care!
Good-bye!

I don't get too wrapped up in politics - except at the local level.

I'm more concerned with the running of my local school system and the paving of our roads.

During Watergate, Deep Throat said 'follow the money' and I've found that for investigative reporting - that is the best advice you can receive. If you can figure out who is making a profit from the war, you can really get to the bottom of everything.

Personally, I feel for the Iraqi people - they suffered under Saddam but now their lives are even worse. But I also feel for the troops sent there to 'keep the peace'.

To my way of thinking, soldiers make war - not enforce peace. It's a role these kids aren't trained for, aren't equiped for and aren't able to succeed in.

Hi Jimi!

How are you? I hope you rest and enjoy this summer.

But i wanna ask you one thing. Why does a modren person need so much information??? For example, i see and read or hear so much information but i see it is very hard ,although i have an elephant memory. To kill time or to make people puzzle? When i am in fron of computer,I really get tired of it.

Take care! Good-bye!

I guess the increase in knowledge is an evolving thing...

My grandmother recently died at 101 year old. A project in one of her college biology classes involved gathering leaves in a scrapbook.

As a student in kindergarten, my 5 year old daughter did a science project where she gathered leaves in a scrapbook.

When my grandmother left the farm for school, she took a horse-drawn buggy. In her lifetime she saw a man walk on the moon.


As the world becomes more complex, we need to be better able to deal with these complexities - thus the need for more information and education.

As hard as it is to fathom, our children and grandchildren will look at our 'modern' world as quaint.

Hello!

Yeah, you are right, people might learn and keep it till the end.
But it doesN` t mean that educated people do the best or normal things.Education is useful for everyone,we all know it.I don`t think that people need so much information.I don`t know exactly how the education principles in your country BUT I see one FACT - It is for me so- i think Education doesn`t change something completely and all the information of everything(majority of them might be wrong)

Just look! How many people drink or how many people are addicted ....many of them come from normal family and many of them,know how some things are dangerous for health. BUT WHO thinks it??? How many people suffer from different desease and most of them keep being so.....just like stupid But i have not seen such similarity in the animal kingdom

Sometimes I don`t trust any education and information. I am sure there is something amiss with this "WORLD" and its "People"

Just a simple person Have you ever tried to change something In this world? for the sake of yourself.

take the best care! keep smiling!..