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Don't Panic!
inspector Started conversation May 13, 2001
The best advice I have ever received is, "Don't Panic." It has served me time and time again over the years. Thanks to Hitchhiker's Guide, I have walked through life with the smug satisfaction that I know something 'they' don't. And now I have lost a kindred spirit. Many times I have found myself seized with oddly distracted moods, staring into the sky... Thank you so much,Douglas, for being my life raft. My heart aches for his family upon losing Douglas...we are all the better for having known him and his work.
Don't Panic!
McDuff Posted May 13, 2001
When I switch on my mobile phone, the words are there to greet me. "Don't panic." People who do not have this will be very suprised to learn that this ACTUALLY WORKS. I do not know why, but Mr Douglas Adams hit upon something fundamental that was beyond the mere creation of h2g2. Don't panic should be the national motto. Everyone should have it taped to their foreheads. Computers should display it at bootup.
Don't Panic!
nufe Posted May 14, 2001
I have "Don't Panic" on my mobile too. I honestly can't think of any person that has had a greater influence on my way of thinking, and my attitude towards life. I cried last night. The best thing I learnt from Hitch Hiker's was that it's not the end of the world, but the start of somthing even more bizzarly inexplicable.
Don't Panic!
Quidam Posted May 14, 2001
So it isn't just me. I too have the same little message appear whenever I switch on my phone and the words are displayed in front of me all day on my computer desktop. In large friendly letters, of course. They are strangely comforting. Perhaps because Douglas understood and with those two words let us know we weren't alone in this after all.
Q.
Don't Panic!
Researcher Maria W Posted May 14, 2001
When I had a mobile phone I used "Don´t panic" as a welcome message as well. Not only because it helped me to calm down, but also because it made me think of the great books by Douglas Adams. It always made me smile.
Actually, Douglas has become sort of a hero for me, and I almost started crying when I heard the news from my boyfriend on Saturday night. I had been planning to send mr Adams a letter to ask him to write some more books, since I already have read everything he has written several times, in both English and Swedish (which is my language). Now it´s too late and I can only go back to read the existing books over and over again.
Don't Panic!
Al Kennedy Posted May 14, 2001
I signed up for this site eighteen months ago, give or take. And then I had to move away to another country, and lost net access for a while. And then I forgot this place was here.
On Saturday morning, on Radio 4 news, I heard Douglas had passed on.
And it was like being hit in the gut with a shovel. I had to run to the payphones and make an international call and speak to my brother, who is also a huge fan and admirer of Douglas' incredible legacy.
There's that one part of The Meaning Of Liff, you know? In the B's.
Babworthy (n.): Something that justifies having a really good cry.
Babworthy seems hardly enough to cover it, but I think it is the most appropriate term right now. My thoughts, prayers and condolences are with his family now.
Don't Panic!
Martin M Posted May 14, 2001
I feek like I'm lying at the bottom of a deep dark hole. Does it matter ? Even if it does matter, does it matter that it matters ? This time I feel that it does.
I heard the news yesterday, but it hadn't really sunk in till I saw all these postings. Douglas, you gave us a scale for measuring the absurdity of the world. Beljum (sic)
Martin.
PS : What price a fifteen-mile-high statue ?
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