I'm overwhellmed as all of you are at the situation. If anything it point to just how fragile modern civilized living really is. Everything I see and read seems like it should be coming out of a third world country, but instead it's coming from New Orleans, a place I've enjoyed several times. How could things deteriorate so quickly? How long will it take to restore? and what will the "new" New Orleans become - I am just dumbfounded by these questions.

But I think Prudence really hit it on what we oursleves should be doing, taking a look at our own situations and seeing what we would do to survive a disaster in our towns. Most disaster planners recommend that you have supplies enough to last 72 hours on your own, as it could take at least that long for someone to respond - clearly after Katrina, we'll have to up that expectation.

I used to make fun of the fact that when we bought our house we had to sign an aknowledgment that we were in a Tsunami inundation zone; however, today as I exited the freeway and crossed over the typically dry Los Angeles River bed, I cast a glance at the recently upgraded floodwalls and wondered if they were high enough, or strong enough to protect our home from a freak-tsunami-caused flood.

So perhaps it's time to check out the camping gear, the propane stove, and make sure they're in a higher elevation of the garage. Contemplate how would I keep our 5 cats safe (gotta get another carrier), wattered, and fed. Think about what I would need to take, and what could be left behind.

You see this stuff and think it shouldn't happen to us, as advanced as we are, yet nature always finds a way, and always triumphs. God, I hope things are finally turning around for those who live in the gulf coast but I know it will be a long time till anything is close to normal again.

Bravo!

Drones to help rescuers

A new purpose for war machinery

I'm OK with that ;)

am I the only one who just saw Kanye West go completely off script on the NBC Hurricane Relief concert? wow. cool.

NBC? That's television, right?

I remember television

*Scrooge bangs his head on the wall*

Cablelynx, Please fix my cable and internet

[/whining]

I read on americablog.com today that Condaleeza Rice was at 'Spamalot' on Wednesday night.


http://www.broadway.com/gen/Buzz_Pho...aspx?ci=517286

I guess she feels one should 'get your funny on' while hundreds are stranded and dying...
:(

The Red Cross was never in New Orleans. They weren't allowed in.

Homeland Security (FEMA, if my guess is correct) thinks their presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city.

Dang, lost a long post.

To summarize:
Scrooge, I'm glad your friend's ok - that has to have been scary (all of it).
I DO hope the 'doze the 'dome, but I doubt if they do (not sure I want to look at it when I get back to the office, but also not sure I want to look at a leveled site, either.

Emergency prep for animals - put proof of vaccinations with your house insurance papers (I almost had to get Jaxie re-vaccinated to be able to board him when I go check on my place) - also don't forget their food, containers for feeding, and litter arrangements.

Have a back up plan to calling people on their cell phones to make sure 'everyone' is ok - the cell phones with New Orleans numbers are ok outside the city to make calls, but I can't receive calls because incoming calls are routed through New Orleans (why they don't reroute them, I'm not sure...)

If you live where ash fallout from a volcano may be an issue, include surgical masks for the people and nylons to use as a pre-filter on the car air filter.

Oh, and if you want to listen to Mayor Nagin's 'no more press conferences' interview, this link http://kiro.liquidviewer.net/kiro-od/sullivan4sept2.asf, supposedly has it (and KIRO is a Seattle news outlet!)

This has all been so overwhelming.

A week ago I was just getting around to thinking about the conference I was going to attend in New Orleans starting 9/12. I got out the book I bought after my last visit in 2000 so I could remind myself about some of the places I wanted to revisit and others I'd missed the first time.

Tuesday morning I knew that wasn't going to happen. And I've gone from feeling whiny because I'm going to miss the trip to horrified at the destruction. NO is such a special place but it's also old and fragile and I don't know if it will recover from this. Or how much of the spirit of the city will survive.

Can you even imagine what it must be like to be trapped there? I can't even think about it.

There's been no leadership anywhere in this country to handle this situation. Cutting short your vacation to show you're concerned is not leadership, George. You should have been out there yelling at your people to get things done from the first day. You've built up a lovely buracracy there with the Department of Homeland Paranoia but all they know how to do is choose a threat-level color scheme.

Okay, I'm done. I've been sick for more than a week and every time the cold medicine wears off there's more bad news to absorb. I'm a little cranky.

You know, I actually wouldn't begrudge someone a night of entertainment -- even if I disagreed with their politics. Sometimes those are great opportunities to solict donations. And sometimes when I'm in problem-solving mode I go do something totally unrelated and let my brain start to free-associate.

However, I readily conceed that in this particular instance, a sense of balance is lacking. If the recovery and refugee efforts were well under way, demonstrating both hard and effective work on the part of various officials...hey, after so many hours of work my brain stops functioning well unless I rest it. But the recovery efforts are crap, so everyone involved should go to bed without dessert.

Meanwhile, someone please send that photo to the fugly website.

I am an antichrist
I am an anarchist
Don't know what I want
But I know how to get it
I wanna destroy the passerby




Is the Vice President of the United States still on vacation?