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Rewiring (and Unwiring) New Orleans
stinkymountain writes "Is New Orleans bouncing back from Hurricane Katrina with the most advanced telecom system in the country? According to Network World, carriers have invested billions to rebuild the wired and wireless networks in the city, and businesses are taking advantage of new, advanced telecom services."
This story selected and edited by LinuxWorld editor for the day Saied Pinto.
Just imagine the future of New Orleans; a technological marvel, with gigabit ethernet connections to each home, instantly transmitting terrabytes worth of images showing topless coeds partying outside.
sick, politically-correct joke. There's really no point except that people equate throwing obscene amounts of cash at the poor with having compassion on them. That is also why there will never be any meaningful welfare reform, and why folks will continue to game the welfare system.
Let the ocean take it and live somewhere else. Or, at the least, quit asking for my tax dollars to bail your sorry asses out and hold back the gulf.
I think it is a collosal waste of money, and investing $B in infrastructure is just going to encourage people to move to an area which is inherently unsafe and very expensive to make livable.
Oh, go ahead, hit that troll button, but there are an awful lot of us that are getting sick and tired of people spending an inordinate amount of taxpayer money on projects that keep "beautiful" places in the black. I'm okay with the occasional monument or historic home, but forking over billions of dollars to artifically change the landscape for a commercial venture is not my idea of good government. That goes for all you weenies on the east coast, too. I'm tired of paying the Army Corps of Engineers to put the beach back so your oceanfront home keeps its value. You want beach, you pay for it.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Is New Orleans bouncing back from Hurricane Katrina with the most advanced telecom system in the country?
Yes, yes it is.
In fact, New Orleans' broadband is so good, Korean tourists are flocking there to mob-harass the local Web pariahs.
New Orleans' broadband is so good, Al Gore is working on a movie advocating we de-decentralize the Internet, putting New Orleans right in the middle.
New Orleans broadband is so good, mint juleps are already outselling Mountain Dew as the official drink of computer nerds.
New Orleans broadband is so good, girls at the last Mardi Gras were flashing their MySpace pages in exchange for beads.
Hope that answers your question!
Sincerely,
SlashdotAnswerGuy
If you're going to rebuild the city (and they are, except for apparently the lower 9th ward, which by the looks of it will just be allowed to remain a pile of rubble that even the cops are afraid to go into until it crumbles entirely to dust), it would be idiotic to put old technology in there. They're going to be spending billions to dig big trenches and replace poles and whatnot, do you expect them to do all of that and put in, say, cloth insulated wiring?
NO will get the most current technology because it makes sense to rebuild in such a way that you won't have to be digging up the same streets 5 years from now to upgrade wiring that was obsolete when you first installed it.
They went wi-fi cos they learned that the standard internet tubes fill with water....
I've been musing about this since Katrina... There is a lot of emotional power behind the "rebuild New Orleans" concept, and it will most likely happen. As huge parts of it were destroyed, that rebuilding process will be from the foundations up.
During the Civil War, Sherman burned Atlanta to the ground. Now, as far as cities in the Southern US goes, it's pretty damn advanced. It most assuredly would not be what it is today had that event not occured. Savannah, Georgia was "spared" by Sherman, and the place seems allergic to progress. At least part of that comes from a valid desire to preserve the historic elements that have been there for centuries. NOLA faces some of those concerns, but only in the sections that weren't destroyed...
I very seriously hope to see, perhaps in 20 years or so, the beginnings of one of the first NEW cities in the US in quite some time. The causality may suck, but life has already delivered those lemons... I want to see a 21st century city over here, and it has a chance to happen. Failing that, I'm hoping some growth happens around one of the spaceport sites.
Things are getting better each day here in New Orleans.
One problem that is still present is phone service. A lot of people I know are primarily using cellular phones as their main numbers since the landlines are not reliable / available in some areas. To BellSouth's credit, they have taken this opportunity to replace the copper wires throughout the city with fiber optics, which will provide more bandwidth. But this will take some time to do (and it does not take an inordinate amount of extra time than replacing the lines with new copper wires).
A lot of people in the city are now talking about scanning their important pictures into the computer and sending them off to relatives out of town (by CD or email).
Some of the lessons learned from Katrina in New Orleans include:
It is hoped that the lessons learned here help prepare other people in other places for the next emergency.
Writing stories for computers and humans since 1979
. . . you should go tell those Japanese to abandon their tiny island country so that the next earthquakes won't destroy their lives. . .
Actually, they tried that a while ago and we told them to knock it off.
KFG
The only thing that is stupid is your anon comments. What about the businesses and residents that live here? FYI, the cost for replacing the copper is the same as fiber, so just are we to do to please your ignorant ass? Here's a heads-up, the people that live here-(ME) don't give a rat's ass about anybody's opinion about why we should do this and why we should do that. This is our HOME and we will do as we see fit.
Won't Bow.....Don't Know How
Probably because NO is very much a port city, just like Philadelphia or NYC. Moving the city further from one of their main industries will just make the port more expensive to run.
Hopefully one of the technological advances will be new levies and such...
FWIW, I don't think NO has ever been hit by a storm which 'wiped out' the city before... its unlikely to happen again in the near future, I'd think.
I lived in New Orleans for years before Katrina created Lake George, and I've returned several times since the storm and flood. I talk with people living there all the time.
New Orleans is not "bouncing back". As usual, some rich people are getting extra care and money, like the people getting the fat contracts in this article. The local poor people, though desperate for jobs and rebuilding, are cut out by imported Mexican and Central American workers, mostly illegal, all subsidized by living cheap in their own countries when they leave. Imported by fat American contractors, also mostly from out of state. Meanwhile, they still haven't hauled away the trash from the storm 355 days ago.
New Orleans isn't on TV much anymore. But it's still screwed. It's still a great place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. I hope these new infrastructures are worthwhile investments in its future, but it's certainly not "bouncing" yet. What it really needs is more of you to come visit, spend some time and money seeing it for yourself. It's cheap and easy to get to by plane, rail and road, it's cheap to eat, party and learn there. And even if it never bounces back, at least you'll have seen America's most magical city for yourself before it's finally gone after 300 years - on our watch.
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make install -not war
Don't kid yourself..it isn't just the 9th ward that isn't seeing any rebuilding action....ANYWHERE that was flooded, is still pretty much dead. I used to live on the very edge (poor side) of the Lakeview area. Last time I was there a month or two ago, I was amazed at how it still looked like an atom bomb had gone off there...that area is still mostly a ghost town too...hardly anyone living there, hardly any rebuilding. A lost of the debris and trash is gone, but, that's about it.
No...for the most part, any part of the city and outskirts that was flooded...is still dead, and I dunno when/if it will come back. Hell, FEMA and the other agencies can't get off their asses to tell everyone officially how much they will have to raise there houses in order to get insurance...
And that brings up insurance...hell, will you be able to get it again?
But, no..it isn't just the poor 9th ward with troubles or New Orleans east...the wealthier parts hit are in just as bad a shape...
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
True...but, the damage potential now is due in great part from the erosion of the coastal wetlands...lost in GREAT part, but, the slicing and dicing of it for pipelines for oil and gas to come in from the Gulf, and canals cut into it for transportation of such. You do realize that about 30% of your energy comes through this area don't you? Remember that 'little' gas crunch that happened after Katrina? Hmm? Well, a lot of the flood damage potential is due to the sacrifices and all that New Orleans and southern LA has put into giving the US this place for energy harvest, refinement and transport. We need money now, in forms of giving us a more fair share of off shore drilling lease royalties, to ensure that the coastal wetlands that are the best and a natural barrier from hurrican surges can be rebuilt and maintained...funds that are continuous and dedicated to that.
In another post you said "Move the City"...do you really think that is possible? Let's see, San Francisco is on a fault line, and they had some pretty bad damage awhile back, and are due for another catastrophe..maybe we could move SF? New Orleans is a major port city!! It is not only a source of a lot of importated goods, but, more importantly, all large percentage of exports from the central part of the US go through there...not really possible further up river.
Give a little thought to helping NOLA...it has been her longer than the US itself...nearly 300 yrs old. It has given the US cultural gifts, it is a strategic port city, and a central point for much of the energy the US needs. I don't see any other states shouting to let them build new refineries in 'their backyard', and the east coast, Florida, and the west coast all bad drilling for oil...so in trade for us letting people do that in our area...give us a fuckin' break, and instead of criticism, how about some help...perm. help.
I'm having to live outside NOLA for now...I desperately want to go back to live there, I do work there...but, I gotta see if the city and state will get their act together, and restart this city as it should be, and clean house. (Good start by taking over almost all the previously failing schools and making them charter schools), but, also, if we'll be able to get insurance on a house, and if the Corps. of Engineers, can and will build a comprehensive levee system that is built in a smart fashion, and not a half assed one like last time, that failed way before it should have and nearly killed the city.
Lastly...c'mon...we're part of the US. You can see what the Dutch did for their special town of Amsterdam. Is NOLA not that important for the US? If not for sentamental value, then for business as I've listed above. We send tons of $$ to other countries as foreign aid....why not keep a little of that to take care of our own...just give us the tools to protect ourselves, and we'll gladly keep exporting culture, fun, and energy for the US.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
"It should also be noted the Dutch tax base is local to the problem. Perhaps Lousiana can come up with a way to pay for a big chunk of a proposed project."
Or perhaps we can stop pretending that we are a series of gated communities who are not a part of a federal union. Federal taxes built the highway networks and the suburbs that sprang up around them, subsidize the oil companies that fuel them, and constructed the canal that killed the ninth ward. If you can spend the federal money to build up rich gated (metaphorical or literal) communities you can spend the money to save the most beautiful American city.
Implied in your comments -- actually directly stated -- is that the 2 million in New Orleans aren't worth the money, the way those around the Zeider Zee are. Why would that be... little dark over there, ain't it.
Racism informed the coverage of Katrina, focusing on looters rather than the dying. Racism caused the panic that made the NATIONAL GUARD refuse to enter the city for a week, because gunfire (which we learned, if you get your news from anywhere but TV, actually was from suburban cops firing warning shots over the heads of New Orleanians trying to leave the city via a bridge) from negroes was rumored. I've been to New Orleans a dozen and a half times, and I know damned well what the wealthier white folks think. EVERYthing down there is about race, and that's a liberal, hated city in Louisiana. The suburbanites and country folk f-ing despise blacks, and are rejoicing in their removal.