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DirectNIC Crisis Manager Braves the Chaos of New Orleans
Aleks Clark writes "The Interdictor, a DirectNIC crisis manager, is currently braving the madness of post-Katrina New Orleans. Server rescues, OC4 repairs and live video and audio feeds abound as he and his crew battle the odds with what seems like the entire internet at his back. 1700+ People are tracking his blog, and IRC channels are full to capacity."
as a directnic employee working remotely from Manhattan I have been working round the clock to aid these guys any way I can.
we are on freenode in #interdictor
we have had a lot of support, thank you guys.
as far as directnic employees, we have made contact with most, we are still missing our entire accounting/HR department and many of our support people are MIA, we can only assume they got out.
as a company, the majority of our employees are currently homeless and are regrouping in Florida currently.
They are pretty hardcore there, not sure they can even get out now..
anime+manga together at last.. in real time.
His blog is hosted by LiveJournal. I find it highly unlikely that LiveJournal can be slashdotted considering it's enormity. Mirroring LiveJournal seems a bit silly, it is like mirroring slashdot if boingboing were to link to it, it is pointless.
AmeriCares:americares.org
RoommateClick.comSite offering a service for the New Orleans homeless, free of charge.
Baton Rouge Area Foundation(BRAF): 877.387.6126 or braf.org
Episcopal Relief & Development: 1-800-334-7626 or www.er-d.org
United Methodist Committee on Relief: 1-800-554-8583 or gbgm-umc.org/umcor/emergency/hurricanes/2005
Salvation Army: 1-800-SAL-ARMY or www.salvationarmyusa.org
Catholic Charities: 1-800-919-9338 or www.catholiccharitiesusa.org
FEMA Charity tips: www.fema.gov/rrr/help2.shtm
National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster: www.nvoad.org
Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals: www.la-spca.org
Operation Blessing: 1-800-436-6348 or www.ob.org
America's Second Harvest: 1-800-344-8070 or www.secondharvest.org
Adventist Community Services: 1-800-381-7171 or www.adventist.communityservices.org
Christian Disaster Response: 1-941-956-5183 or 1-941-551-9554 or www.cdresponse.org/cdrhome.html
Christian Reformed World Relief Committee: 1-800-848-5818 or www.crwrc.org
Church World Service: 1-800-297-1516 or www.churchworldservice.org
Convoy of Hope: 1-417-823-8998 or www.convoyofhope.org
Lutheran Disaster Response: 1-800-638-3522 or www.elca.org/disaster
Mennonite Disaster Service: 1-717-859-2210 or www.mds.mennonite.net
Nazarene Disaster Response: 1-888-256-5886 or www.nazarenedisasterresponse.org
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance: 1-800-872-3283 or www.pcusa.org/pda
Southern Baptist Convention - Disaster Relief: 1-800-462-8657, ext. 6440 or www.namb.net
We are NOT full to capacity, please feel free to participate.
irc.freenode.net #interdictor
There are several sub-channels, such as #interdictor-chat for discussion/dialogue, #interdictor-scanner for a transcript of the radio scanner, etc.
We are also trying to track any news and information we can find to provide a summarized glimpse of the events as they happen. We're avoiding things that are already available through major news outlets, but any first-hand accounts, independent news sources, eye-witness information, international news, etc. (anything you couldn't find through, say, Fox News or MSNBC), please don't hesitate to help out.
Moo
He's got at least a couple of OC3s coming from Bell South(?) It's listed farther down in today's entries.
"Hell, the dikes wouldn't have overflowed if the repair money to fix them hadn't been diverted to the dept of homeland "security" last summer."
Not true. I guess it makes for a more dramatic story if they leave out the facts. Simple fact is, if the money had not been diverted, the money would of been spent on a project which would still not have been completed and the city would have still be lost. But, telling half truths on the news makes for a much better story. I heard this from an Army Corps of Engineers representative on the news this morning. According to him, even if they had started the project in 2002, the project probably would not have been completed until at least 2008. This is 2005, last I checked, which means the project probably wouldn't of started until about a year ago, which means we would of flushed that money with the rest of the city.
You can hear more streams and check out more info here http://wiki.nola-intel.org/index.php/Main_Page
We could call this site craigslist
and more.
great place to offer what you can
The OC4 will be fiber all the way to a major exchange building and most of that sort of stuff is way up top. If its a typical telco, they have lots of batteries for the OC4 gear because they tend to build battery packs as if they were for the exchange gear which takes far more power. The result is there is a very expensive fiber switch thats has a direct fiber connection from very far away (maybe as far Dallas or Atlanta) and it has power. The risk to that type of connection is that sometimes the water will cause noise in the fiber splices or the generator will die or someone will break the upstream link while trying to fix something far away.
please. get a dose of reality. he *is* supporting the government/military/Red Cross. he's supporting a data backbone, for christ's sake. have you actually read the damn blog? they're wading through the water setting up links to the city hall. they're coordinating between deisel runs, city hall, and the police force to make sure that people can keep in contact with the outside! do you know what the hell an OC3 even is? for christs sake, get a grip on reality and get over yourself.
he's getting fuel runs because the police precincts are *abandoned*, and his office *isn't*. he's getting fuel runs because his infrastucture is *still intact*. the police and military are helping *him*, because he's got his shit together and is keeping data trunk lines running.
and just for the record, blogging, as a one-to-many means of communication, is the most efficient way that these folks are able to communicate to everybody else. they don't have time to sift through emails and make phone calls, so they're using their blogs as a broadcasting mechanism.
God, I hate self-possessed tards who don't appreciate the work that other people do, and don't know what an OC3 or a metro-area disaster recovery plan is.
for someone with such a low UserID and who, apparently, has been around here for a long time, I'm surprised that you don't understand the importance of keeping telephone lines up in emergency situations.
To any moderators reading, please mod parent post as Troll.
interdictor map.
I've only got a little on there now, but will add more (like other flood lines, etc) if people send me email with coordinates to gmap AT danREMOVEshockley.com
I've got a simple click-to-find-coordinates map at:
Test Map Coords
Lose essential liberties to get temporary safety = get only hassles and security theater.
If you lost touch with family due to Katrina, please visit:
http://www.survivorregistry.com/
Katrina survivors can leave messages for family, plus we link to several other lost and found sites.
"Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." - A.B.
What has America done? Well, you're clearly not interested in the answer to this question, so I won't even mention the vast amounts of international aid given every year.
I'll just go directly to refute your points. The US people may be many things, but they are neither sheep nor complacent. I'm not sure you understand the meaning of complacent if you call Americans complacement.
Next, the US was by no means isolationist until the second world war. There was a first world war you know? We participated in that too. There was the Marshall plan after WW2 you know--I'd be interested in seeing what Europe today would be without that (you aren't in one of the countries rebuilt by the Marshall plan are you?).
Kill people in Vietnam? After being begged to go in by the Vietnamese... Killed people in Korea? Yes, the UN did go in Korea, you're right. Killed people in Iraq? Yes, the UN did go in Iraq, you're right. Killed people all over South american--of all your criticisms of American foreign policy this is probably the closest to having a point, thoguh i notice you don't blame the communists who funded insurgent rebel groups across the continet for causing bloodshead? Lead the world in prison population per capita? Figures please? Invent nuclear weapons? Yes, we did invent them, as did China, maybe the Germans, the Russians, and others. Your facts are simply wrong if you think the US had anything to do with Israel going nuclear--many of these records are now available, and much of the initial material was actually from Britain. US had no part in the early days of Israel.
The US almost destroyed the planet? Huh, Idon't remember that. You can just as well say the USSR almost destroyed the planet. Either way it's nonsenisical. What Big Ron did was force the USSR to quick economic collapse, that has seen countries frok Georgia to Ukraine to Poland find freedom in the ensuing decade.
Do I consider Survivor or American Idol to be accomplishments? Me personlaly, no? But given the number of people who want American TV worldwide, yes, I would have to. And besides, both of those TV shows derive from British shows, so your ideas are off their too.
This article tends to contradict your assertion. It kind of sounds like the corp was in fact going around Louisiana begging for money to do emergency repairs. Not clear if the repairs would have salvaged the levies that collapsed but one was on the canal levee that failed. When it comes to levees the old saying "a stitch in time" usually applies. If you let a crack develop or let it sink, when flood water starts spilling at the weak spot it quickly takes out the whole thing.
"Also that June, with the 2004 hurricane season starting, the Corps' project manager Al Naomi went before a local agency, the East Jefferson Levee Authority, and essentially begged for $2 million for urgent work that Washington was now unable to pay for. From the June 18, 2004 Times-Picayune:"
"The system is in great shape, but the levees are sinking. Everything is sinking, and if we don't get the money fast enough to raise them, then we can't stay ahead of the settlement," he said. "The problem that we have isn't that the levee is low, but that the federal funds have dried up so that we can't raise them."
"The panel authorized that money, and on July 1, 2004, it had to pony up another $250,000 when it learned that stretches of the levee in Metairie had sunk by four feet. The agency had to pay for the work with higher property taxes. The levee board noted in October 2004 that the feds were also now not paying for a hoped-for $15 million project to better shore up the banks of Lake Pontchartrain."
@de_machina
This is NOT libertarianism!
THIS IS ANARCHY in the city! NOTHING LESS.
ANARCHY ANARCHY ANARCHY!
According to http://www.m-w.com/ Anarachy:
1 a : absence of government b : a state of lawlessness or political disorder due to the absence of governmental authority
Libertarianism involves a civilized society. I am sure you can Google to find lots of books and essays on the subject. But a few requirements for libertarianism:
- LIMITED government (not non-existant)
- free markets
- personal responsibility
- individual freedoms
The main philosophy behind libertarianism is 'your rights go so far until they impede on other people's rights"
DO NOT spread misinformation like this; it is iresponsible, and ignorant!
Libertas in infinitum
Several hundred megabytes of pictures from sigmund.biz, taken in the disaster zone by Mike and his team at DirectNIC have been mirrored to:
/. away. Sits atop four GigE, and a load balanced www cluster. If anyone else needs a mirror of Katrina content, let us know.
http://www.nerdshack.com/katrina/
http://findkatrina.com/
http://www.fullcircle.net/
Those who can do. Those who can't sue.
I don't think you understand the word libertarian. Libertarianism != anarchy (complete lack of rule). Libertarians don't believe in raiding high ground or infrastructure, and they don't believe in slavery (they believe it is a violation of one's freedom; remember, libertarianism has the philosophy of freedom and of non-coercion). And many libertarians have the heart to rescue innocent people for no charge.
I don't know what you've been taught about libertarianism, but somebody must have taught you that all libertarians are cold, apathetic, greedy, and selfish individuals. That's not true. Many libertarians support helping others, and many libertarians are filling the government's shoes and helping donate to Red Cross and other organizations. (Libertarians love private charity). I wish that the local, state, and federal governments (especially the local and state governments) had a more active role in providing these citizens food and water. It doesn't help to be in a huge shelter if you're going to die of dehydration. (And, yes, I'm a libertarian. Whaddo'ya know, a Libertarian who supports pinko commie ideas like giving food and water to displaced citizens. Who would've thought....) What you are seeing in the streets of New Orleans isn't representative of libertarianism at all. You're seeing almost pure anarchy.
We spend millions to provide MREs to Africa/Asia; spending billions on our own people shouldn't be a problem.
I don't know that gouging is necessary to ensure a healthy profit and encourage rebuilding. I'm quite sure "getting rich" instantly is not necessary for construction projects to be worthwhile.
But I must emphasize your 1000x underestimation of US aid to Africa. Please note that we spend Billions in Africa (with a 'B') just to fight AIDS and that's not enough!: There remains today a huge gap between the estimated annual needs of $3-4 billion for HIV/AIDS and current annual expenditures.
Bush has refused to endorse Blair's plan to double aid to Africa from rich nations to $25 billion annually now and $50 billion each year starting in 2015.
The White House has not decided how much more direct assistance to Africa it will offer at the G8 summit. The United States provides $3.2 billion in aid and much more through Bush's AIDS program, which calls for $3 billion a year to be spent combating the deadly disease, of which about 80 percent is expected to go to Africa. About half of the $5 billion Bush has promised from the Millennium Fund, which provides financial assistance to governments that commit to democratic and economic reforms, will go to Africa.
everything in moderation
"what magical land do you live in that has no natural disasters?"
Colorado. Although the natural disaster here has been drought, and fire. You know what happened after that? People who want to build their houses in the woods can't get fire insurance.
And if their homes get burned down again, they shouldn't get federal money for that.
I do appreciate culture and history. When will be rebuild Pompeii?
The city is sinking into the swamp like a scene in a Monty Python skit and you want to build it up again.
Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
The problem with FEMA preparedness and intervention goes a bit higher up.
http://www.nola.com/hurricane/katrina/pdf/083105/a 5.pdf
More likely, a lot of both. What ppl seem to be forgetting here, is that NO police department about 5 years ago, was considered the most corrupt in the nation. In fact, during a federal probe of the city, they had to call an early end to it, because they had to stop a murder. Apparently the chief of police (or possibly an assistant chief) had ordered a hit on somebody for not paying up.
That does not mean that all are corrupt there. But no doubt there are a lot that are.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.