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Back in a bit
I’m off to the old country. Expect lots of photos.
Update: I’ve added word verification for commenting. Everyone keep following the saga of DirectNic vs Katrina.
And before you complain about “gouging” please read this post from Jane Galt..
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History in the making
I think we’ll be learning the “lessons” of Katrina for years. The chief one being to take care of the low-hanging fruit of pump maintenance and levee inspections. Most of it will be of this variety. I’m sure there will be a left wing version of the same list soon.
I think some of the unobvious lessons of the current New Orleans debacle will be
- Failure to show a police and National Guard presence in the early hours
- Allowing the perception of preferential treatment to go unanswered (I’ll have a much longer post on self-selection in who stayed and who left when this is all done)
- No mass communications, either through megaphones on boats, or Donald Sensing’s leaflet idea. This gives the impression that society has ceased to exist, hence more lawlessness and looting. For a lot of these people the more “social” people left, which altered the composition of the folks remaining. More thoughts on this later.
- Leaflets could also be used to convey simple instructions on how to survive in this situation. This would let people do something to improve their situation instead of just waiting there (specifically the people waiting at the convention center) feeling like suckers. Much disease prevention could be handled in this manner, for that matter a solar still (for water) seems quite possible as well.
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Best put down I’ve seen in a while
From the comments on this blog post discussing shooting looters in New Orleans.
I’m so glad you aren’t in charge of anything more important than your opinion…
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Get ready to recoil in horror
When you see this column by Christopher Hitchens.
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The market clears
I went to the bank to make a deposit (Kroger ATM) and then drove around a bit. The lowest I saw gas was $2.89, the highest was $3.41 (at a place that is always the highest) and the average was around $3.15. At least in the Avondale-Decatur area.
All of the places seemed to have gas though, which would indicate that the biggest problem didn’t happen. For more on the Atlanta area situation see this post on VodkaPundit.
Fifty cents in one day. I do realize that recent events were the result of a supply disruption, and not a long-term trend, but can we drill in Alaska now? I thought that would arise in the national conversation but it seems like it won’t.
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Survival of New Orleans Blog
The Interdictor (some Special Forces terminology I think) has some simply amazing commentary from a high-rise office building in NOLA right now. A truly staggering account.
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Rapid Fire
- Anti-rape condom aims to stop sexual assaults – it’s a female condom, and it would be quite effective
- Storms Vary With Cycles, Experts Say
- Reality is nothing but a collective hunch.
- Pizza Man Bombing Remains Odd Mystery – This is still the strangest crime of the new century.
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Amazing
I go to check on some domains today and what do I see “directNIC Versus Hurricane Katrina“
Apparently they’re in New Orleans and they’re toughing it out on the 26th floor of a non-flooded area. It would seem to be just a few people doing it. They are currently running a blog, a photo gallery, and a video feed (!!!) is here.
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Solid Quality
Dearborn Animal Hospital (no site that I know of) gets a solid thumbs up from me. I just got back from Drex’s first appointment there, and I’m very impressed. Good people, knowledgeable and kind, and surprisingly well priced.
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Social Decline
From the article Police: Witnesses mum in rap mogul’s shooting
“It’s disturbing that someone can let off six shots in a packed club and can escape without being arrested,” said Elliott Wilson, editor in chief of the rap magazine XXL. “The hip-hop community doesn’t trust the police to confide info to them, and in turn the police have done little to make us feel like they give a damn about our safety. It’s a vicious cycle.”
He said this out loud. As if giving information on someone who had shot a member of the “hip-hop community” was some sort of deep favor to the police. Sigh.