Watch Out For Tanks

Since I've got on the Internet, it's opened a whole world of wasted time for me.

Mick Ralphs
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Let's face it, the computer is a battleground. I spent from 10 a.m. until 1:45 p.m. yesterday trying to send a single email. I kept getting a window that said I was blocked from sending emails. Blocked. That was followed by a long complicated explanation from Keyword. Evidently the Great Bubu, the man behind the curtain, thought I was trying to send spam. Spam!? Me? Spam and I don't mix.

The techie at AOL finally figured it out and had me deleting periods, brackets and other such marks until the email was sent. Then I sat down to write this Vagabond Journey and when I was almost finished writing it the computer deleted it.

I used to play war games with a friend, those games played on a paper map with a grid of numbered hexagons and small cardboard squares that represented armies or parts of armies. One of those games was about tank warfare in the desert. There was an attacker and a defender. The defender was allowed to secretly hide tanks under the sand or behind dunes, making notes about where they were. The attacker wouldn't know where they were unless he came upon them whereupon the tanks would suddenly appear and a battle would ensue. Depending on the route through the desert the attacker took it was possible for him to pass the hidden tanks and avoid all contact with them, but it wasn't likely, even though it would have been easier than dealing with a computer.

It seems AOL, Google, Microsoft and who knows who else have these secret weapons buried in your main frame, your keyboard, your monitor, your modem and on the Internet. They are like alien creatures hiding under the sand waiting for you, but you don't know they're there unless you try to do something.

How stupid of me to think I could send an email from Pennsylvania to Indiana. BLOCKED. How ignorant of me to try to write a journal entry. DELETED. That should teach me a lesson.

What is this world coming to that we have to beware of our computers?

DB
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