A fellow atheist in N.O. is safe, for the moment

[Synnical]

From American Atheists, Inc. (Posted with permission)

Conrad Goeringer, editor of American Atheists News, reports to the American Atheists Chat List:

Hello, all

Many of you know Harry Greenberger, head of New Orleans Secular
Humanists. Harry is a staunch American Atheists supporter and dear
friend of many of us.



(Harry is on the right)

A long time New Orleans resident whose pleasant demeanor typifies
the whole attitude of so many who live in "The Big Easy," he tried
to leave town as Katrina approached. The roadways were in gridlock;
and the airlines, for reasons still not explained, canceled outgoing
flights. I talked to Harry twice as Katrina was creeping up on the
city. He decided to remain behind, had stockpiled food and water --
and was, true to form, sipping that Martini he cherished for early
evening comfort.

When the phone lines went dead last night and through today, I could
only think the worst. Had he made it?

Turns out his house flooded, and he managed to cross the street
(swim?) to his neighbor's residence. They had a couple of floors,
but the winds blew off the roof.

Early this evening, I got an e-mail from sister in Puerto Vallarta,
Mexico. Harry and friends and neighbors were rescued by Coast Guard
helicopters (what a story that must be, eh?) and he is now safe and
sound in a shelter. Hopefully, he and everyone else down there will
make it through the worst of Katrina.

And, oh yeah, none of us prayed for Harry. I think the rescue
personnel and first responders are probably doing more good for
humanity than all of Pat Robertson's high-fallutin' posturing, or
the prayers to a deity who, if he/she/it had existed, could have
prevented all of this, right?

But enough of that ... I'm just glad Harry is alive and kicking.

Will keep you posted.

Conrad Goeringer

[Gelliebeans]

1. That is great news !

[beam me up scottie]

2. Excellent news!

Funny, listening to the politicians, I'd have sworn that all NO residents were christians.

I don't suppose he was down on his knees thanking the lord all day, was he?
I'm sure he thanked his rescuers, though, and rightly so.

[Gelliebeans]

3. there u are

I know you had some PC probs but I hadn't seen ya around. Glad to see ya back :pals:

[beam me up scottie]

4. Thanks!

I took a look in GD and I don't want to go anywhere near those people.
How much hate and discontent can people manufacture during a crisis?

Geez, who'd a thunk the A&A group would be the safest place on DU?

[Gelliebeans]

5. omg BMUS!

After last night I find it hard to engage them. I can't tell you how many looting threads have popped up. blech. :puke:

People don't know if they will live or die and someone has their panties in wad about whether someone stole a 12 pack of beer :eyes:

[beam me up scottie]

8. Between the

"I've never been destitute" DU socialites and the narcissistic attention whores, I really can't stand GD or GDP anymore.

And I used to think the Lounge was harsh.

[onager]

13. Hey! Welcome back!

We missed you.

If you think the Lounge is harsh, stick your head into The Meeting Room. They should change its name to "The Beating Room."

Fish in a barrel...

[beam me up scottie]

16. Thanks! I see you're taking on two woo woos

at the same time in that thread.

That's hardly a fair fight.

I'll go get some more woo woos to even it out.:evilgrin:

[salvorhardin]

6. She's back!

I guess annointing your computer with the blessed tomato sauce worked. :-)

On edit: just saw your post in the BMUS tribute thread. I guess it didn't. Sorry about that.

[beam me up scottie]

7. Nah, the magic water didn't work either.

Lost everything.

This just proves I'm just destined to go through life without a verifiable past.

I have the damnedest time hanging on to things that mean a lot to me.

Companions(human and non), material and now virtual too.

After reading the past two days worth of threads on DU, it's time to move to an island and chill for the rest of my days.

[salvorhardin]

9. What problems were you having with the drive?

read/write errors?
drive just doesn't spin up?
wretched clicking noises?
drive not being recognized by machine?

Chances are your data is still there. Did you try sticking the drive in the freezer for a few hours?

[beam me up scottie]

12. It crashed .

Couldn't get it started, even in safe mode.
It just kept dumping everything and trying to restart windows.
I had to restore as the only "help" available was online.
I was totally screwed.
Maybe there is something I can do to get some of it back?
I have spent the past couple of days just signing back into my accounts, trying to remember the old or getting new passwords, finding and saving contact information and getting my computer back the way I "like it".
I cannot find the older versions of a lot of the programs I was running so I'm sort of in data shock right now.
And pissed. Still pissed. I lied about that.

Crap!

Everything was so ... comfortable.

Jinxed myself, is what I did.
Not that I believe in superstition, but jesus f christ...

[salvorhardin]

14. You're probably out of luck

if you reinstalled Windows, especially if you had to do a reformat of the drive to get Windows to install.

For the next time though, assuming you have Windows XP, try booting off the install media (if you have it -- it's not uncommon to just get a "restore" CD these days instead of actual install media) and running the recovery console. Windows likes to poach its' own MBR sometimes and this is the only solution.
http://www.wown.com/j_helmig/wxprcons.htm

If the problem is with the drive though, taking the drive out of the machine and sticking it in the freezer for a few hours (3-4 should do) sometimes helps with electromechanical components. I'm not exactly sure why, but (worthless anecdotal evidence) it's worked for me on 4 drives over the years.

In any event, this is all after the fact advice and doesn't help. Sorry that you lost all those memories. I know not having local help really sucks too.

[beam me up scottie]

17. Thanks for the tip.

I thought you were talking in woo woo speak when I read about the freezer part.:banghead:

I guess I'm lucky it was Windows and not my drive, considering I can barely afford to put gas in my car

[salvorhardin]

18. Freezing old jedi tech trick it is

Like I mentioned, I have no idea why this works sometimes. There's a lot of postulation about contracting overheated and warped read/write head arms and increased viscosity of the lubricant in ball bearings and stepper motors, but as far as I know the veracity of this claim has never been tested scientifically. It may very well be woowoo speak. :-)

One last tip and then I'll return Synnical's thread...

Linux live CDs (e.g. http://www.knoppix.org) are a real asset when trying to recover a drive that no longer boots. They will at least allow you to boot off the CD and get access to the net. Combined with the freezer trick you may just be able to copy off the important files (assuming you have somewhere to copy them to) or even create a disk image using the dd utility (http://www.geocities.com/tipsforlinux/articles/036.html). You may even realize you *like* Linux.

[beam me up scottie]

19. Thanks. I've been wanting to switch

to Linux for a while.
Of course, I lost the last link you gave me...

[salvorhardin]

10. dupe -- delete

[salvorhardin]

11. dupe -- delete

[YankeyMCC]

15. So nice to see people

and their hard work and good works be thanked instead of a mythical being.

Glad to hear he and the people he took shelter with made it through ok.

[salvorhardin]

20. Definitely

We don't need no stinkin' magic sky fairy!

(excepting his sauce covered goodness of course :-))