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Technology In Katrina's Wake
We've had many submissions about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It doesn't come easy writes "From 'the end justifies the means department', the BBC is reporting that bogus emails about the current situation in New Orlean contain links to websites that promptly infect the concerned reader's computer. From the article: 'The separate virus and fake donations bogus e-mails have been discovered by computer security firms SophosLabs and Websense Security Labs. They are similar to previous fraudulent e-mails connected to last year's Indian Ocean Tsunami.'" Less cynically, an anonymous reader writes "A Linux developer is organizing volunteers for a public 'web station' project to assist Hurricane Katrina victims. The plan is to create numerous Linux-based public kiosks that boot directly into the Firefox browser and display a special home page with links to various services. In addition to offering disaster relief information and news, the kiosks will provide basic email capabilities via Yahoo!, Gmail, Earthlink, MS Hotmail, and other web-mail services. They're looking for donations of time and money. If you're looking to donate more directly, tech companies across the country are maintaining pages with ties to respected charities. Yahoo is maintaining the Red Cross donation page, and everyone from Microsoft to IBM has a message on their frontpage."
What with the vast numbers of people without homes, food or water the ideal solution is clearly to make sure everyone has internet access ASAP so that they can check their email before starving to death or collapsing from dehydration.
I saw the link. What these people REALLY NEED is FOOD, WATER, A DECENT PLACE TO SLEEP, and for those POOR PEOPLE STILL IN NEW ORLEANS is a RESCUE. GOT IT. NOT A STUPID FUCKING WEB SITE!!!!!
Evil people don't think they're evil. - George Lucas, Making of Ep III
"So is the war in Iraq causing troop shortfalls for hurricane relief in New Orleans? In a word, no. "
But if you think about it, yes.
Plenty of Guardsmen are still available for deployment. So why aren't there more troops in NOLA & environs, knowing that they might be able to do some good? Because it costs money. The war on Iraq is a huge drain on resources, resources which could be used elsewhere.
You can talk about troop numbers available, but the meaningful number would be deployments available. Equipment (such as helicopters, amphibious vehicles, and heavy trucks), food (for the troops), cash on hand for payment, and everything else necessary for deployment.
"It is hard to understand what more should, or realistically could have been done up to this point.
I can think of a couple things off the top of my head that could, and should, have been done:
(1) Better planning. Transportation, shelter space, medical care -- all of these things were/are woefully inadequate. Contingency plans were not done well at all.
(2) Implementation. We knew the hurricane was coming; why was the response not in full stride the day after it hit? Yes, you say 9k troops were on the ground within 24 hours. Why were they not on the ground before it hit? Why are they continuing to "trickle in" as you have pointed out, rather than there already? Why was the DOD pre-staging supplies only after Katrina hit?
The bottom line is, we need to choose, as a people, where our resources are being expended. Every military dollar spent in Iraq is a dollar not spent here -- and yes, that translates to number of troops deployed.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
I for one don't give a damn about preparing for 1000 years in the future. The way I see it, I've got a maximum of half a century to live. After that, I don't give a shit.
I look after myself. I have to, no-one else will. Why would I cut the standard of my living so someone in a millenium can go on holiday to Mars?
Damnit I've drunk too much, you know the point where you sort of feel sick, you can't go to sleep because when you close your eyes it makes you feel like you're going to throw up. I hate that. I should switch to spirits, beer and wine are the worst.
I couldn't give a damn about 'higher ideals'. Why should I care what future generations get up to?
The way I see it, you're only on this world for a very short time. Therefore you should make the most possible use out of it. This means doing what gives you the most benefit during your lifetime. Nothing else matters.
Argue if you want, but don't mod me down because you disagree, that's not what the mod system is for.
I sincerely doubt that. Chicago is alright, but it really can't compare to LA (for shopping or restaurants at least). I'm not sure there's anything else in the midwest that compares to Chicago so... yeah.
on the left coast.
I've never understood this. Does it follow that the east coast is the right coast? I guess that means you live in the mid-left, east?
I wonder how many Americans support the Stalinist dictator who opposed our response to 9/11 in Afghanistan and mocked our need for help during this crisis of Hurricane Katrina.
Does anybody not want to harm Chávez?