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T-Mobile Offers Relief for Hurricane Victims
lilrowdy18 writes "Eweek reports that T-Mobile is offering free Wi-Fi to areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. This relief will be free until Sept 2 and an evaluation will be done to see if it will continue after that. The hot spots are only available to residents of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi and does not include phone service. The article also includes a link to a map of T-Mobile hotspots. At least we can use some form of communication to get in touch with loved ones."
I had a friend, located in Biloxi, MS contact me via SMS this morning to let me know that he and his family were all ok. Their house and their cars were flooded out. He had to turn off the mobile after a couple messages to conserve energy.
Now, I saw this story ahead of time (and t-mobile's site was already snail slow) but I got to the page for Mississippi. My SMS to him:
t-mobile is offering free wifi to hurricane victims: Flowood (Borders),
Kinkos (Hattiesburg & Jackson), and Starbucks (Ridgeland & Southaven)
Now, after I sent it, I thought about it. In the entire state of MS they have *5* wifi hotspots? Are these locations operational? Will they offer some electric draw for those that need it?
I really think it's great that t-mobile is offering this to those people affected by the storm but so few locations and many w/o power? What good can it really do? Skype, where are you?
Most of these people would probably prefer telephone service over Internet access. Luckily this guy was able to e-mail via SMS and get in touch w/those that care about him.
I'm just glad that one of the people I know from the area is ok and I wish all those affected by the storm the best of luck for a speedy and safe recovery.
I have put up a mirror of locations in text format. Hopefully this will be easier to disseminate.
This relief will be free until Sept 2
That doesn't make any sense. Why would you only do it for 3 days and then "evaluate" whether you'll charge or not. Why in the world wouldn't you offer it for at least a week or two before evaluating? So if you are stuck in the disaster area and want to get a hold of someone that way, you've only got until Friday. After that you are out of luck or you might have to pay.
I think it's good they are helping out, but that's almost a cheap way to get some good press.
If you are a company like that and you really want to help, then go in whole-heartedly.
A man with a gun is called a citizen. A man without a gun is called a subject.
Well that's good. What people without electricity, food, drinking water, and a roof over their heads really need is internet access!
So, exactly how does someone without power get a computer working? Are they really that hard up for porn?
Hey T-mo! Stop pushing your products and instead give something that could really help. Like phone service so people can call loved ones, or cold hard cash to help bring relief.
We may not have a house, a vehicle, or any earthly posessions for that matter, but at least we have free WiFi with our frappuccino!
people need food, shelter, power, etc and you give a month of free wifi. Well, the people who do have a laptop, despite they have no home, they still have their inet porn!! woo!
This is just great, this is just what these people need. Free WIFI for a couple of days
Actually this is a clever PR stunt by T-Mobile, it is not like anyone actually has electricity to use these hotspots.
These victims need water, food, clothing and shelter. And of course money to rebuild, why not donate a couple days of revenue instead of free WIFI?
T-mobile does realize that there's no power, right?
If they want to help, they can get more manpower working on the phone system. I evacuated from New Orleans to north Alabama, and my t-mobile phone service has been spotty at best. I haven't been able to make outgoing calls for the last 3 days and I've only been able to get a few incoming calls.
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- Version: 3.12 GIT d? s: a-- C++++ UL++++ P++ L+++ E- W++ N o-- K- w--- O- M+ V PS+ P
...on my new laptop!
Surf urchin site is nearly dead :-(
Another option is to go meet your friendly neighbor ham radio op. I'm sure there is an emergency net operating right now.
Krispy Kreme is offering residents whose homes were destroyed a chance to win a free dozen donuts.
Similarly, Pizza Hut is offering a Buy-1-Get-1-Free offer for anyone who lives in New Orleans (good until tomorrow morning).
Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. --Nietzsche
I'm sure this will help many people deal with the emergency by using the net to communicate.. an interesting side effect, since phone service isn't provided, is people will probably use more VOIP programs such as Skype, which are an alternative to T-Mobile's regular service..
New Orleans is only 80% under water. The people might be able to use it if they can get their laptops and cell phones to dry out. That is, assuming that they can find them. Besides that, Louisiana is under marshal law. What gives T-mobile the authority to offer anything?
oh wait.. did i say a month? im dumb. i meant 2-3 days. THANKS A BUNCH!
Thanks T-Mobil, for 3 free days of Wi-Fi access to a city that's been destroyed! Come on. I can see where Wi-Fi COULD be useful for the people who have dry, operating cell phones which have not run out of batteries yet (which they cannot recharge) and they aren't busy clinging to their roof for dear life...oh wait, no. I can't see where that would be useful. And even if it WAS...only THREE DAYS?!
It is great that Germany is chipping in to help out the disaster victims. I hear Hugo Chavez is helping out with oil from Venezuela.
I remember hearing that the citizens of the USA (not the govt.) are extremely generous, and help out when others have problems. Our government doesn't help out much (it allows the citizens to decide how the money gets spent, if it gets spent at all) -- but the citizens of the USA are insanely generous. At the drop of a hat, they send teddy bears and other useless feelgood items to disaster sites. I'm fixing to send a big stuffed dinosaur to Alabama, Missispi and Lousiana any minute now.
Anyway, I'm happy to see it isn't only a one way street, and that other coutries can be generous too. E.g. India, Somalia, Sri Lanka and Thailand will be sending us something -- e.g. maybe some of those made-in-China teddy bears we sent them.
http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/when_to_
Fantasy World is giving free lapdances at their nearest location.. do they really need it at that hour? they could set up some more towers or join other mobile operators and provide a blanket coverage all over these states for greater accessibility (free roaming or so)
Army Corps of Engineers: water is no longer flowing into New Orleans from Lake Pontchartrain
So are you saying you're going to pay for everyone to mail letters!? You are a nice guy.
Stop Global Warming!
Just say no to irreversible processes!
Oh, I forgot, I have to go fill up on $3+ a gallon gas.....cause the oil companies used their record profits to update their infrastructure.....NOT!
It's either on the beat or off the beat, it's that easy.
I moderate therefore I rule!
--
What great guys they are at T-Mobile! Reaching out with free wifi. I'm touched. Its a great marketing move, and during the next catastrophe they can plan ahead and hand out free 6oz bottles of water with a "T-Mobile" label.
At really big emergencies, they can give out free "T-Mobile" blankets
For the next terrorist attack, they can hand out bandages with "T-Mobile" subtly stitched in.
The only PT Boat Journal on the web: http://www.PT171.org
A coworker told me that he has been using Nextel to communicate with people in the area without any problems whatsoever. Not free, but he said it works.
Best Windows Freeware
It's better than going to Six Flags. Free Admission to KATRINA Evacuees Over Labor Day Weekend http://www.sixflags.com/parks/astroworld/ParkPress /Katrina.html
Hey! House under water? Everything you own destroyed? Come eat overpriced food, spend your last $80 and watch other people have fun!
...this laptop I just looted!
Sorry, bad joke, but I couldn't help it.
What would be more helpful is if T-mobile brought over generators and created computer kiosks in shelters and surrounding areas with free Internet access (and phones!) so people can contact their loved ones and let them know, "Hey I made it out safely!"
Otherwise I agree with what people have already said... This is PR bull-caca!
While others are donating real money out of their personal pockets, T-Mobile is donating a couple of hundred dollars worth of Wi-Fi. How about handing out some of the cheap pre-paid phones with service. Or better yet, some communications centers with computers and phones that people can come and try to get a message out to their families.
A couple of trucks with personnel, generators, multiple GPRS data connections, computers and a dozen cell phones - might cost $50-60,000 (being generous). Far less than one television ad with what's-her-name, and would actually be of some use to those in Louisiana.
Oh yeah, bring some bottled water with you.
Let's see here. We are looking for someone in New Orleans who fits the following description: 1) Has a dry cell phone 2) Has a charged cell phone 3) Has T Mobile service 4) Who knows T Mobile is offering this service I'll bet that's approximately no one. T Mobile should get off their arrogant butts from offering free Wi Fi access for THREE DAYS to a destroyed city and offer some real help.
And where exactly do I get the power for my laptop?
these assholes dont care about us. I was hit by the hurricane and a tree fell on my house. this is some crap marketing ploy. its immoral and wrong.
how am i supposed to use my computer if there is no electricity.
i have none of that, water, and iwas trapped on my street for two days while we cut our way out with chainsaws.
im typing from my brothers dorm room in Baton Rouge.
i cant believe these assholes.
T-mobile does not have electricity, food, drinking water, or building materials. They could possibly buy such things, but it isn't what they have on hand. What they have is wireless communication services. They are a cell phone company. They are giving what they have.
I'll agree that perhaps this isn't going to be the most realistically useful thing ever. But at least they are doing something.
Yes, free cell phone service would have possibly been something that t-mobile has which would be even more useful, but there are practical barriers there. That is, most people don't have cell phones which you can just reassign to a different cell phone carrier at will, and even with phones with such features most people don't know how to use them. It seems likely either you're an existing t-mobile customer and can already use their network, or you're not easily going to be getting on their cell network anyway. Wifi may have a more limited utility than cell service, but there's fewer logistics involved in letting people use it.
In the meantime, if you or anyone else reading this is really concerned with being productive, something easy to do to help would maybe be instead of complaining on slashdot, take the time in the next couple of days to donate blood
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
Hope they brought power to charge stuff with.
The long term help for the entire country would be to fix the energy supply.
Need more oil wells. Yea, if there are more places actually producing oil, then each amount of downtime would impact all of us less. We'd be able to live better, not having to spend more and more of our income on fuel costs to drive to work, heat our homes, run our computers (power plants have to run on something, even if it's nuclear), and keep reasearchers powered working on other fuel methods.
Really, we need more refineries. They're not pretty, but having 6-12 more of them would really help smooth things out. Think of the extra effort that can go into maintenance now that they don't HAVE to run 24x7x365 days a year. Again, downtime at one refinery won't hurt prices of energy keeping those researchers looking for alternative energy sources. They can even work in the winter, because they'll be able to afford the heating bills.
Reduce the number of gasoline types in the country. Have one federal standard. That's all. Make everyone use it. Right now there are so many gasoline blends, that the fuel companies are struggling to produce them all. Find a compromise between all of them that is a mix of quality, and cost. Generally change the fuel in the long term to make it burn cleaner, and for our children's sake, put and end to MTBE.
-- Liberalism is a mental disorder.
and an evaluation will be done to see if it will continue after that.
Relax, complainers. It's not that T-Mobile is deciding whether or not they WANT to continue it. They just don't know whether their network will hold up after a few days. And this has nothing to do with the hurricane, just business as usual at T-Mobile. When I use their Starbucks hotspots, I'm lucky to have one workday without a service interruption, let alone a few days.
What's your damage, Heather?
It's nice to know that someone can get reception with T-Mobile. ;)
(Yeah, I'm jaded. Hey T-Mobile, another tower in the higher elevations of 34689 would make me the happiest man alive)
I read about people using craigslist to try and post info about missing loved ones... It would be helpful if the free hotspots would redirect people to a missing persons / general information page where they could get an idea of what services are available and what their best bet is for locating people or letting others know where they are.
Get your torrents...
Fuck T-Mobile. What kind of bait and switch is this crap?
We'll give it away for three days and then decide to charge.
Way to help out.
Louisiana's state constitution does not allow for martial law. A state of emergency has been declared for the areas most impacted by Hurricane Katrina, but that is a far cry from a state of martial law.
From TFA: T-Mobile service locations include Borders, FedEx/Kinko's, Starbucks, Hyatt Hotels, Red Roof Inn motels, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and US Airways. If I am staying at Hyatt or am near prominent office/location/outlet, do I need a Wifi?
Ya know -- we sit here and make jokes about hurricane victims not really needing WiFi services, but let's look at a more relevant "web community" issue...
Apple.com and Amazon.com jumped on the donation (Red Cross and other charities) bandwagon within a day or two of the tsunamis last December. I really admired them for doing that -- it spoke highly of their awareness of the powerful community of online customers/users that they could tap for donations to help the victims of the tsunamis.
I e-mailed them today asking where the dedicated homepages for Red Cross donations for hurricane relief. So many people visit their sites every day -- they have a real opportunity to stem the relief effort tide now rather than later. It's odd that a local American disaster hasn't registered as quickly, EVEN IF the loss of life is so much less.
Maybe I'm expecting too much for massive property damage (hurricane) vs. massive loss of life (tsunami). Maybe they've not had enough time to come up with something. I would definitely hold them in high esteem for getting something up -- such an opportunity there.
Meanwhile, if you want to donate to the Red Cross, be sure to use a localized website (e.g. http://www.atlantaredcross.org/) if you're having trouble getting to the main Red Cross website. You'll get through to online donation forms, and you'll also have a better chance of earmarking donations for hurricane relief rather than general relief funds.
IronChefMorimoto
You know, I have T-mobile. Just about the only thing worse than having all of your worldly possessions ripped away from you in an instant would be the ability to call someone you love and say
..HELLO? ARE YOU THERE?
"Hey Mom...I just wanted to say...
YOU'RE CUTTING IN AND OUT
HELLO?
*click*"
Followed by the call to T-mo customer service:
"Hello, here's my info,
umm, no I can't call you from a land line.
Yes, I'll hold.
Hello, here's my information.
No, I don't have anything but this phone.
Yes, I'll hold.
Hello?
*click*"
Congrats, they just found a way to make it worse.
This'll go great with the laptop I just looted!
Cingular Wireless has set up free emergency calling stations at its open company-owned retail stores across Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana to help the many individuals and families who are without power and phone service due to Hurricane Katrina.
Free phone calls to friends and family anywhere in the United States can be made at Cingular stores during normal store hours. The calling stations are available to anyone who simply needs to use a phone.
The company has also set up a free mobile calling station at the Cajundome in Lafayette where thousands of evacuees are being housed.
All Cingular stores will offer free calls as they open.
Gather round the camp fire chilin'! Grandpa is going to regale us with stories of how T Mobile came to the rescue when the city was destroyed.
T Mobile will long be remembered for this, I'm sure.
I know they are doing it out of the goodness of their hearts, but come on, they can do better than that! Until sept 2nd????? I bet there are thousands who lost their wallets and such, can't find there credit cards.
Relief is what you get when someone takes over for you.
Relief is what you experience when you get something you badly needed.
Relief is what you feel when your pain is removed or reduced.
Getting free WIFI access in a few limited locations where there is no freaking power to charge a laptop (or probably even run the hotspot) is not relief, it is a PR move.
Check out our infosecurity industry blog: http://securitymusings.com/
Office Depot: $1m
BP: $1m cash + $/$ match of employee donations
Capital One: $1m cash
Anheuser-Busch: $250K cash + 875K cans of water
Eli Lilly: $1m cash + $/$ match of employee donations + $1m in insulin
Kellogg: $500k cash and food
Home Depot: $1.5m cash
Wal-Mart: $1m cash
Exxon Mobil: $2m cash
Amerada Hess: $1m cash + $/$ match of employee donations
Chevron: $5m cash
JP Morgan Chase: $1m cash + $/$ match of employee donations
DuPont: $1m cash
GM: $400k cash + vehicles
Culligan: 5 semi trailers of water
CVS: $250K cash + $254K in food and water
~Someday, I hope to be an aspiring author.
no house, no car, no food, no water, employer underwater, but dang it, I can still play my addictive MMORPG!
"Flame away, I wear asbestos underwear"
Some other companies are donating some more useful things. Here is a link that describes what some different companies have donated or promised so far:8 -30.html
http://www.onphilanthropy.com/onthescene/os2005-0
From the page, it seems Cingular is offering something more practical:
Cingular Wireless: Cingular Wireless has created free emergency calling stations in its retail stores in affected states. When conditions allow, it will send out vans to offer the service on a mobile basis.
We are already running out of Gasoline. Gas prices today jump 20 cents.
The afternoon news said that a pipeline to Atlanta,(we are a big refinery here) has been shut down.
It is being estimated that starting sometime tomorrow that all of Atlanta will be with out Gas.
Nathan
Here in Pensacola we were nailed pretty hard by the eastern eye wall of Ivan last September. Nothing like these poor blokes but pretty bad.
Within a few days, virtually every cell phone provider in the area had brought in mobile cell towers on trailers and crates full of cell phones. Anyone who could make it to one of the many locations was allowed free, unlimited use of the phones from that location. This went on for SEVERAL days.
It's great PR and it was incredibly beneficial to the residents whose homes had been washed away.
My guess is that T-Mobile is offering this now because of the near impossibility of entering these areas. Be patient and rest assured that companies like Verizon and Alltel won't pass up the chance for good press, a positive brand impression on consumers in a given area and , let's hope, the opportunity to do some good for people who are in desperate need.
Support teams
Cells on wheels
Walkie-talkies for rescue workers
Free calls from Sprint stores as they open
Matching all employee donations to the Red Cross
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/050830/305947.html?.v=1
In related news, Taco Bell has announced that if the water level in New Orleans reaches a certain mark on their Taco Bell FloodMeter(tm), everyone in America wins a free taco.
Celebrate the finer things in life
Now that Vinokourov has signed wit hLiberty Seguros. Basso's gonna win it next year anyways. (Note to self: what's the overlap of the nerd and bike nuts domains?)
=======
Science -- Sealed, Delivered.
Depending on how fast a connection you're offering, there are enough voice-via-Internet clients out there that T-Mobile's offer could very well count for phone service.
...the mayor of Biloxi said "This is our tsunami." WTF?!? I know there's lots of lost property, but 56 lives versus 200,000-plus? Hell, there were a thousand times more known dead in the first two days after last year's tsunami. I think he just won the Lifetime Insensetive Clod award. Or maybe he meant to say "This is our tsunami, except with 4,000 times* less loss of life since we had days of warning."
* do the math, that's not an exaggeration.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
Hey, don't get me wrong, I'm all for donating blood in principle.
But people are dying of exposure and drowning. Blood transfusions will do nothing for them.
I'm sure there are some injured people around who do need some blood, perhaps more than normal. But given that there aren't refrigerated trucks to get the blood there (hell, there isn't even gas), what good is this influx of blood really going to do?
Honestly, cell phone service would probably be more useful than blood in those areas right now.
Cue the hams...
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
This is a generous (marketing) move by T-Mobile. But a bit of an empty gesture in much of the area. New Orleans is now Atlantis, at least 80% submerged. Without power. Anyone with the money for a computer has fled the city, probably not to return for weeks or more. Power won't be restored, certainly not to most of the city, for days or weeks - maybe months, knowing New Orleans, and the possibility that the city won't ever be repopulated. None of the desktops will work without power, and laptops will be dead by now without recharging. Emergency services might use this offer, but they've got their own wireless comms, with their own bands, which aren't WiFi.
This offer reflects well on T-Mobile. But it doesn't mean that much, at least in New Orleans and other similarly devastated towns. Considering its hollow benefit is worthwhile to everyone considering how such a disaster changes fundamentals in the region. Most of us have our own catastrophe risks to consider. We can't expect something like "free WiFi" to help us when our world actually turns upside down.
--
make install -not war
I see all these people getting pissed at T-Mobile... it's understandable, yeah. I mean, their entire life just got blown to shit, no pun intended.
But T-Mobile is not an energy company, or a grocery store chain, or Goodwill. They are a telecommunications company, and that's what they know. Just like I'm a geek. If I were a company, I'd be doing exactly the same thing: doing what I can to help out. I wouldn't be flying helicopters, I'd be setting up communications. I have a bunch of computer hardware, not medical supplies. I wouldn't expect Motorola to jump in with Insulin, or Apple to show up at the stadium with 9k people stuck inside with fresh food -- and if they did, I bet the same shout would come up. "It's all a big PR stunt."
They're a company with a bunch of wireless access points in various cities. And now they're opening them up so you can email whoever and let them know you're okay (or look at pr0n, or troll Slashdot, or whatever).
And you're complaining about it.
I bet if their cellular network could handle it, they'd open that up, too.
(FD: I'm a T-Mobile customer.)
I agree with the Parent poster. If people will loot merchandise during times of need and disaster, they'll abuse other resources during that same period.
I don't moderate anymore. Karma penalty for 90% fair mods? Can I mod that unfair?
Microsoft, I'm sure, will just have to top this and offer free Windows site licenses for the emergency camps.
"The article also includes a link to a map of T-Mobile hotspots" T-Mobile has hotspots? (gee, I hope slashdot doesn't get sued for me saying that.)
Eweek reports that T-Mobile is offering free Wi-Fi to areas affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Well, I can't imagine the offer is as welcome by the locals as bottled water, or a few porto-lets would be. Perhaps T-Mobile thinks websurfing will occupy the homeless who would otherwise be looting. Ofcourse they have no power or computers. What are these idiots thinking?
an ill wind that blows no good
Cell providers (like Sprint for one) and other companies have in place mechanisms for providing account credit to allow for cost-free service for any disaster situation. The difference is they don't require wide-spread recognition for their contribution.
Okay, I said it. Open up the black clouds and clobber me with lightening (or high winds & rain?).
---
"The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple." Oscar Wilde
"If you didn't see the movie (when it aired in mid-June), here it is in a nutshell: a category four hurricane destroys a vital pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico...panic sweeps of the nation...speculation drives the price of crude higher and higher...U.S. government turns to Saudi Arabia for oil...Saudi extremists commit terrorist attacks, killing 300 American oil workers...America sends troops to Saudi Arabia...still major lines at gas stations...Americans begin to turn against each other...the U.S. government decides to turn to Russia for oil...the Russians help in return for an investment in the upgrade of their pipelines...oil falls from it's high of $153 a barrel down to around $77...and all is right with the world."
"Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell
Been updating for a while. Someone dropped this link in an efnet channel last night/this morning.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
This offer is for the displaced populations, not for the destroyed areas. That 's why it overs all of three states (and needs to cover SE Texas too.)
Considering the entire 600K+ population of greater N.O. is going to be dispersed to random places all over the South for an extended period of time, this is useful, assuming you have a laptop. Because it's going to be a long long long time before your DSL works again.
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
...in New Orleans alone (now that they're finally giving an honest estimate, they say there are floating corpses all over).
I'm not saying this is ANYWHERE near as bad as the 04 Tsunami, but it is pretty bad for America (where nothing ever goes wrong, right?), and it'll only get worse. Just wait for the intestinal diseases to start hitting these poor folks.
I've made my Red Cross donation, I recommend you all do so as well.
With the first link, the chain is forged.
These people are so poor do you really think even a tiny fraction of them have laptops with wifi cards?
http://www.livejournal.com/users/cixel
Logistics, management and coordination would be a nightmare. Try moving thousands of people, from a branch that was never designed to be mobile far beyond state borders, then figure out which state national guards have experience/training with water rescue then coordinate the efforts of all of those remaining with no clear high level chain of command. (I'm pretty sure theres no General of the National Guard.)
I was born in florida and have been through a lot of hurricanes. This is a total waste of time. I was so busy rebuilding fences and roofs, cutting up trees, trying to keep my family/house/stuff from being destroyed or planning which relatives place to head to, I didn't even look at the news for more than 10 minutes at a time, much less my computer.
One working phone booth so you could tell people you and your family are alive would be more useful than 5 million wi-fi hotspots.
Off Topic: what is the point of these news people. I don't need some rich a$$hole to tell me it's windy and raining. I wish they could just stick to the facts. Maybe the rest of the country enjoys the destruction.
I know this might not sound true, but I think if you were a hurricne victim who recently lost your house and family relatives, having an _wireless_ Internet connection might not be your priority
The Bush administration agreed Wednesday to release oil from emergency stockpiles to help Gulf Coast refiners hobbled by a loss of shipments due to Hurricane Katrina. The administration also moved to temporarily ease some pollution standards on gasoline and diesel fuel to avert shortages.
So are we going to see a lot of clogged up catalytic converters in the next few years?
There are a huge number of yeast infections in this county. Probably because we're downriver from the bread factory.
Louisiana is in a state of emergency rather than a state of martial law. Should someone be apprehended for violating the law in one of the areas for which this state has been declared, will that person be tried before a civilian jury or by military tribunal? Certainly this state of emergency has some aspects of martial law, such as suspension of habeas corpus. But until you show me civilians being hauled up in front of military tribunals for civilian crimes, I don't think that what is going on in New Orleans counts as martial law. At most, the US military can hold individuals without charges. We won't be seeing any military tribunals in Louisiana.
Your point about Lincoln is misplaced. It was only after the Civil War that the Supreme Court placed further restrictions on key aspects of martial law in the US. Chief of these restrictions is that the US military is only allowed to resort to military tribunals in the absence of functional civilian courts. Given that civilian courts are functioning within the state of Louisiana, I don't foresee the possibility of martial law in the near term.
But, then maybe you're speaking of Marshall Law rather than marital law.
The Mississippi river is higher than the lake. So the water will now flow from the break by the river into the city, then out into the lake.
So the water won't be still at either location.
And besides, fixing the levee on the lake side now will only cause the city to flood more, so the levee that needs fixed most is the one by the Mississippi and it is still flowing just like before.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
Anheuser-Busch is one of my largest customers and they are the real deal. I have spent a lot of time in St Louis with them and the company is full of stories like this. They really do "the right thing" most of the time.
I love that /. just got totally /.ted
Maybe it was all the cynical people logging on ang giving each other mod points for being informative and posting the same point over and over again that it is a marketing ploy.
The wifi covers a large area and it is not assuming the people who are swimming out of the area will have their laptops over their shoulder but it is making sure that when they get somewhere safe they can contact their loved ones and let them know.
It also allows agencies in the areas who may not have phone lines and mobiles to be able to keep in touch with the outside world... lots of aid groups may not have access to sat phones or be able to afford the cost.
I was unfortunate enough to be in the US on 11/9/2001 and at the time a lot of the long distance and international lines were jammed however through email my girlfriend and I were able to contact her brother who was in the area and he was able to relay lists of people who were safe to us so we could contact their folks back home, it also meant that I was able to let my folks know that I was OK and that I had not taken my flight.
Good on them... lots of people can get their hands on computers and generators and bottled water but there are very few people who can get decent comms into an area like this and they rose to the responsibility of providing it 'pro bono'.
Be nice, sponsor me: http://jailbreak.ragabonds.org.uk
Is there anything, that the average /. geek could do? Maybe create a website to search for missing persons or something like that?
OK, I am biased since I work for a competitor.
Now, with that disclaimer out... My company has deployed mobile sites, is donating thousands of radios to search, rescue and relief, has assisted in setting up shelters and donations, has given $250,000 to the American Red Cross, is matching employee contributions to the ARC (up to an additional $100,000), etc. I expect to head to the area myself soon to relieve employees working alongside public safety and other entities.
But oh.... FREE WiFI!!! Wow....
Come play Moral Decay!
T-Mobile has been screwing people from the beginning of their existence. Providing free WiFi access during a disaster like this is the least they can do.
I'm interested in knowing why you left the "t" from the DOT (.) in "/.ted".
blog & fiction: jd87
The problem is, nearly all people who stayed behind for the hurricane are extremely poor, and I doubt that many of them have even computers, let alone Wi-Fi enabled laptops. South LA was not a particularly well-off area in the first place ( IIRC, 75% of population of New Orleans were African-American ); and most of those who are rich enough to be able to afford a car, have evacuated before the hurricane hit.
Seriously. I laughed the last 300,000 times I heard that joke. Tell it again, it can only get funnier.
well from slashdotted I replaced the word slash with a / to make /dotted and the word dot with a . and was left with /.ted
Excuse me for my silly logic.
Be nice, sponsor me: http://jailbreak.ragabonds.org.uk
Great, they have wi-fi. I'm sure that's on the top of the residents' list. Right above clean food, uncontaminated water, and their homes which just got blown to hell.
And power.
Wait. What?
That's right, you give free wi-fi to people who don't have the freaking electricity to run the devices to use it.
It's a nice gesture, but completely friggin ridiculous nonetheless...
how in the flying fuck is that flamebait?
Look, moderators, it's not that hard:
If someone is Attempting to get people to flame them, they are FLAMEBAIT. If someone is trying to make a joke and ISNT FUNNY, they are OVERRATED.
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
I actually heard a reporter refer to this water in the city as "toxic gumbo"
Sounds appetizing?
Libertas in infinitum
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/08/30/1/?nc= 1
Ham Radio has become a lifeline. I work for the ARRL and I think its great that people are using their ability as Ham Radio operators to help people in crisis.
If anyone is interested in becoming a ham, so they can help in an emergency one day, you can call 1-800-32-NEW HAM. ARRL is also helping people try to contact loved ones in affected areas
>>What good can it really do?
Many of our folks affected are reporting that SMS is working on their cell phones, while voice is not. This includes Biloxi area.
Some people would complain from winning the lottery..
What a great idea I hope the other wireless compaines get onboard with helping in similiar ways.
The link I made above to the actual governor's proclamation, I think, would be definitive. It clarifies that there is no state of martial law.
I'll concede that an arguable case may be made that martial law has been declared, but I think that there is presently good reason to reject the term for the present state of affairs. Martial law is when the military becomes the sole means of justice. Presently, the military has taken over the role of the police in New Orleans. But there are many other cases where the military does police work, so I don't think that the military enforcing the civilian code of law ought to be referred to as martial law.
If the military were trying individuals before military tribunals or creating a new code of law to be enforced, I would agree that martial law is present in New Orleans. As it is, though, if military personnel arrests individuals, will be tried before civilian courts. Further, the military is only enforcing the decrees and statutes of the civilian government of Louisiana.
Consequently, I think that
The media cluster-fuck that is CNN, MSNBC, etc, is concentrating on the poor people who are stuck in New Orleans. If you RTFA and MFP this offer is for the entirety of all three states (and ought to be extended to Texas) where the majority (and probably more like 80%) of New Orleans residents evacuated on time, with their laptops and a bare minimum of other possessions, and are sitting around in shelters wondering just what the hell they are going to do with their lives.
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"