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

Hey ... please allow us to thank all of yous for doing so much for us and for Willem's parents lately. Hugely appreciated. Just tell us if there is anything we can do for yous.

Willem, Valerie, Vivienne, Malisse, Griffin, and others

Willem, Valerie, Vivienne, Malisse, Griffin, and all others,

You're welcome.

I'm not very good at small talk and 'newsy' type stuff, but I can and do offer whatever practical support seems to be needed. So, since I wasn't sending youse regulare emails, making sure that messages from your family got to the right places seemed like the thing to do.

David, and a bunch of others.

Well ... Topica is down at the moment. Bummer. I really looked forward to hearing from LeKZ again. I still don't have email. My father did not manage to send even half of the messages I wrote to them all. I think I will post some of them here ... can yous see to it that they read them? I really have lots of thanks I wish to send them, acknowledgement of what they did for me, and messages of support, hope, courage, whatever they need that we can give.

I'm not even sure which messages reached whom. My father has been having trouble with his email at work as well ... and yesterday evening and this morning, my own ISP acted up. I hardly received any messages this past week. Do yous perhaps know if LeKZ sent me or my parents any messages during the last ten days or so? Sorry - I don't want to make more work for yous, just would be interested to know. Thanks again for everything.

I don't think they sent out anything in the last 10+ days. It's been a bit hectic here, and their computer was down for about a week. They know you're back, and things here are *starting* to settle down, although that's subject to change without notice.

I'm sure they'll be talking with you in the next couple of days. In the meantime, I've changed my work schedule to four 10-hour days, rather than five 8-hour days. Most people who do that take Monday or Friday off, to get a three-day weekend. I'm taking Wednesday off, so I never work more than two days in a row!

In the meantime, my war and protest article about U.S. involvement in Vietnam just keeps growing. I'm nearly done with 1968 though, so it shouldn't be too much longer. I hope.

Good seeing you back around.

David et al

Hi David e. a.! You'll probably be in bed now, it's a bit past midnight over there, and a bit past eight o' clock in the morning over here. I had a good night's sleep, but I've already taken my morning medication, so I'll probably start getting sleepy again in a while. But at the moment I'm still clearheaded! So I can talk a bit.

That four-ten-hour-day-schedule sounds interesting! So I'll be seeing yous over the weekend, and on Wednesdays! I still have to work out a schedule for myself, but I guess it will be something like: weekdays, four hours painting, four hours writing on the 'net; weekends: twelve hours or more writing on the 'net, per day! I'm also going to try and improve the quality of my writing: even when I'm just casually talking to people, I'm going to put serious thought and effort into it.

I will certainly be looking at that war/protest article of yours! I have quite an interest in the Vietnam war; I think I know a bit about it, but I certainly can do with a bit more knowledge! Many people today have forgotten about that war, or never even knew about it.

Okay ... that's enough for now ... will talk more quite soon!

Willem e. a.

Conversations to take a bit longer to complete when they're being held on the internet, by two people seperated by eight timezones.

Of course, without this electronic magic this conversation wouldn't, couldn't have started. So it takes four days to have what could have been a two hour conversation. I don't see a problem there. It actually gives a person time to formulate a response and not blurt out anything stupidly embarassing. Or embarassingly stupid.

The Vietnam article is up to 24 pages long in MSWord. And I'm at near the end of 1968. Of course, a lot happened in 1968... The Tet Offensive, a couple other major battles, the Chicago Police riots (against anti-war demonstrators), My Lai... it was a busy war.

I had really wanted to go to Chicago and participate in the anti-war demonstrations in '68. I was pretty upset that I couldn't, just because I was only 14 years old. I mean, what kind of an excuse was THAT for my parents to refuse me permission?

It never occured to me that someone who had to ask permission to attend an event like that probably wasn't mature enough to attend that event. I'm still not mature enough, but no longer have to ask permission, so I attend those things I must. I must when I feel a moral imperative telling me I must.

Okay, I've run off at the mouth enough now. Especially since, just a little while ago, I was telling you how I'm no good at running off at the mouth.

I'll talk with you later, Willem.

David et al

Conversations to take a bit longer to complete when they're being held on the internet, by two people seperated by eight timezones.

Of course, without this electronic magic this conversation wouldn't, couldn't have started. So it takes four days to have what could have been a two hour conversation. I don't see a problem there. It actually gives a person time to formulate a response and not blurt out anything stupidly embarassing. Or embarassingly stupid.

The Vietnam article is up to 24 pages long in MSWord. And I'm at near the end of 1968. Of course, a lot happened in 1968... The Tet Offensive, a couple other major battles, the Chicago Police riots (against anti-war demonstrators), My Lai... it was a busy war.

I had really wanted to go to Chicago and participate in the anti-war demonstrations in '68. I was pretty upset that I couldn't, just because I was only 14 years old. I mean, what kind of an excuse was THAT for my parents to refuse me permission?

It never occured to me that someone who had to ask permission to attend an event like that probably wasn't mature enough to attend that event. I'm still not mature enough, but no longer have to ask permission, so I attend those things I must. I must when I feel a moral imperative telling me I must.

Okay, I've run off at the mouth enough now. Especially since, just a little while ago, I was telling you how I'm no good at running off at the mouth.

I'll talk with you later, Willem.

David et al

You know, if you want, you can email me the complete text of that when you're finished ... sounds like it's going to be too long for h2g2, unless you break it up into fifty or so separate entries! Or how are you going to manage it?

33 pages in MSWord so far, and I'm in the middle of 1970. Official US involvement in Vietnam ended in 1973, although covert involvement continued well into 1975.

It's been suggested to me that I'm really doing a Uni project, or should turn it into one, but I have a certain amount of pride in my work and a sense of ownership that would be lacking if I did it that way. Besides, of the seven articles I've sent through peer review, six have come out better than when they went in. I've become a fan of the peer review process.

The Editors have said that they reserve the right to break up long entries in multiple shorter entries, and that may well happen with this. I think the number of headers and subheaders keep it readable as it is, with each section being reasonably short, but I also recognize that some of the sections would make decent stand-alone articles.

For me, history is interesting only within the context of 'why'. Names and dates are boring. Context creates an understanding of what was 'really' going on, and why certain events happened. In this case, the context of what I though my entry was going to be was so big that the entry had to grow with it to do the thing justice.

Operation Dewey Canyon III was a moving event in 1971, but the context really begins in 1945.

The Editors may turn it into multiple entries, but I'm writing it as a single entry and will submit it to peer review that way. I'll either end up with the longest article in the guide, or on the list of reasearchers with the most entries.

Well, I wish you the best of success! I can tell you one thing ... I will want to read the whole of it!

Hey, I sent LeKZ a happy-birthday email! I hope they get it ... can you perhaps tell me if they got it? I cannot access Topica for some reason ... it says there is no such list as 'folkz' in their databases. But I'm also going to leave LeKZ a 'happy birthday' message on the 'multiple people' board, so if they don't get the email, they can go look there!

Topica now admits that they're having server problems.

LeKZ did get your 'happy birthday' message. I'm sure that they'll be writing you soon.

David et al

I'm glad to hear that! You can see I have set up yet another account ... this one for my father's computer at work! I am here today to visit a psychiatrist, but so far he hasn't turned up. So I'll probably be here a while longer!

I hope Topica fixes their problems soon! But anyways, I will be emailing yous soon! We would like to resume some of our earlier conversations, and perhaps talk about other important matters as well!!

Love,

Willem e.a.

Oh brother ... so much else happens! We *still* haven't emailed yous! We certainly have to make a point to do so, and soon! We want to get to know yous better ... and tell yous a bit about ourselves as well! Yous haven't really talked much to anyone other than Willem, have yous?

No problem, y'all. We haven't exactly gone out of our way to email yous, either. Seems like so many things are happening all the time that some of the really important stuff gets shoved aside for things that have to be done RIGHT NOW.

Stephen Wright (I think) said that time is what keeps everything from happening at once. There hasn't been enough of it. That's okay, though. I understand that more of it is coming.

NBY

*Sighhhh*... the problems just go on! I will see what I can do ... maybe I can find some time today to write a little something to yous. I *will* write something to LeKZ, because I promised them.

I have to always bear in mind that there *will* be more time ... the end of the Universe is still rather far off!

Life is hard by the yard, but by the inch, it's a cinch!

s all

Kid

Nice to see that you haven't completely fallen off the face of the planet, Kid. back atcha.

NBY

No, indeed he has not! s to you all!

- Willem

Well, not completely, but I have slid down it quite considerably