Journal Entries
-
- 1
- 2
-
December 2003
Posted Dec 14, 2003
In March, 2003, American planes destroyed the home of an Iraqi family just outside Baghdad. The mother, father, and most of the kids were killed. One child, Ali Abbas, who was 12, was severely burned and lost both his arms. He was sent to a poorly-equipped Baghdad hospital. With severe burns over most of his torso, it was expected that he would die. The image of this badly wounded orphan drew the attention of the world; Kuwait offered to care for him, Hollywood offered to use him, I offered to set up a web site to monitor his tenuous situation, a German travel firm offered to host the web site, and http://www.aliabbas.net was born.
Since then, Ali has recovered from the burns, he and Ahmad Hamza (who lost a leg) were moved to London (http://www.limbless-association.org), both have been fitted with prosthetics, and they're now learning to overcome their challenges. Ali was recently awarded the International Child of Courage medal.
Just yesterday, it appears that Sadaam Hussein has been captured. This does not make the American invasion of Iraq right (although if it's true, it makes a LOT of people happy! Many of Bush's actions, both internationally and within the US, have been BAD for the US and BAD for the WORLD. Wherever you live, help to spread the word! Give Peace a chance! Dennis Kucinich for President of the United States in 2004!!! (http://www.kucinich.us)
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Dec 14, 2003
Vietnam
Posted Feb 15, 2003
I was fortunate enough to spend the month of January, 2003 in Vietnam. I spent the month living in Soc Trang, in the Mekong Delta. Living in Vietnam helped me to better understand America. We are spoiled, many of our people are not self-sufficient, and we need to get rid of all the lawyers. While the Vietnamese people are poor, they take responsibility for themselves and their actions. I did not find any beggars, the only adult who asked for money was a drug addict. In Vietnam, it seems, everyone sells whatever they have - soup, bread, rice wine, cakes, snake eggs, or lottery tickets. There were all kinds of hazards which in America would inspire lawsuits, but in Vietnam it was presumed that if someone tripped over that cable, it was their problem, not grounds for a lawsuit. While Vietnam is certainly not an ideal country, if I were stranded on an island I would want at least one Vietnamese person with me. And if I ever need to build a bridge, I will choose a Vietnamese engineer to design it.
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Feb 15, 2003
9-11-2001
Posted Sep 16, 2001
This is the first time since the World Trade Center stood proudly that I've been away from the TV enough to visit h2g2. I'm very glad that I have -- all the sympathy and prayers and kind thoughts have been fortifying me.
Reading some of the articles in The Post, I thought I should put something in my Journal about all this. Lou Reed's "Dirty Boulevard" was playing. I thought that surely Lou, a committed New Yorker, would have sung something appropriate. I visited an exceptional lyrics site [URL removed by moderator] Regrettably, the "New York" album had nothing appropriate to this tragedy. Then I ran into this, and felt that indeed Lou Reed, New York personified, did have something to share, something that fit, something that might help us deal with it all...
Magic And Loss - The Summation
[copyright material removed by moderator]
Whatever events in his life inspired these words, they seem like very fitting advice for Americans as they cope with all that's happened...
-Dent 
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Sep 16, 2001
All right, then.
Posted Sep 9, 2001
After nearly a month of tinkering, I finally met with success by re-installing Windoze 98. So I may never know precisely what was causing this bizarre problem -- I called upon friends, tech support people, newsgroups, and web sites, yet nobody could identify my problem. One suggestion made in a newsgroup to someone else with a vaguely similar problem was to remove and reinstall TCP/IP. I followed the Microsoft Knowledge Base instructions for doing that, which resulted in a completely broken Windoze. After some futile efforts to restore the system, I re-installed. Then when I installed the network again, all was well...
(sigh)
At any rate, since that was consuming most of my free time for the past month, I'm now hopeful that I can get on with starting my first submission, an article on Worcester, MA.
-Dent 
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Sep 9, 2001
Networking
Posted Aug 18, 2001
I have a DSL broadband connection to the Internet. Great. I have a router which enables me to have several devices share that connection. Everything has been fine with a single PC and a Sega Dreamcast sharing that connection.
I've been away from H2G2 because I've been fighting for a full week now the process of getting a second PC to access the Net.
My ISP doesn't have a problem with multiple systems using the connection. I had no problem adding the Dreamcast - the Dreamcast and my original PC were able to use the connection simultaneously with no problem.
I have now spent seven days attempting to get the 2nd PC to see the Internet, and it's beginning to p**s me off. This being the Guide, I suddenly thought that it wouldn't be a bad thing to post my problem here. Perhaps someone will read this and think "I had that same problem!!" and reply with useful suggestions.
By all appearances, the router (an SMC Barricade 4-port router) is not configured to restrict the new computer's access in any way. File- and printer-sharing are not a problem. The PC can ping the router, winipcfg.exe sees the router. I can NOT ping beyond the router, and I can not access the router's configuraton IP from the new PC with either IE or Netscape (both configured as instructed).
If anyone has ANY thoughts or suggestions that may help me get beyond this very frustrating problem, I would be eternally grateful. Or at least for several months.
You see, until I solve this problem and get the new PC online, I simply will not have time to do my duty as a Researcher!!! I've been urged to work on an entry for Worcester, but presently I'm spending almost all my free time trying to get that new computer online!!!!!!
So, my apologies to any who would like to see the Worcester entry get started. It WILL get started, but I am a Taurus, born in the year of the Monkey, and I will NOT rest fully until I have the new computer ONLINE!!!!
Thanks in advance for ANY AND ALL useful comments!!!
-Dent 
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Aug 18, 2001
-
- 1
- 2
-
Arthur Dent
Researcher U181338
Write an Entry
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."