Random Thoughts

I know these posts are a bit odd, with the normal crap on top and the Katrina bits on the bottom, but I've got to keep part of my brain out of NOLA or I'll do nothing but cry in helpless fury. So I apologize if parts of my posts seem flippant and pointless. They feel that way to me, too.

Doug at Howling Curmudgeons asks why Aquaman gets no respect.

Statler & Waldorf have a new From The Balcony.

Pat O'Neill claims that Manga isn't Comics. I don't know why he'd make such an odd claim, but the Beat is covering it.

The Beat also talks about the Spider-Man crossover, the one I chose to stop buying Amazing because of. See, Marvel wanted me to buy two extra books a month just to follow the one that I've been a faithful reader of for a couple of years. Sorry. That seems a bit stupid to me. And frankly, I don't give a rip what sort of "ramifications" the crossover will have. Marvel just lost a reader because they refuse to give me a story in a single title (which is, incidently, why I don't buy any Batman or Superman books for myself as well).

Targeting games at Granny. I'm not really sure what a talking cat will do, but it's a funny concept.

The Art of the First Fleet. Pictures from Australia.

Slashdot reports that a new WinZip is in beta.

Lawrence Lessig believes that the public domain is going to be destroyed by corporations' anti-piracy efforts.

Augie has good links.

Four Color Media Monitor tackles the issue of Black Manta, and makes some good points.

Hurricane Thoughts:

Even Mr Bill was aware of the risk. Via Rude Pundit. More here, here, here, and here. And a review of headlines was enough to let anyone with a brain know about it, too.

The Beat lists some facts. And here is where I want to put in my own little rant. After Katrina hit Florida and went out over the Gulf, lots of folks assumed it would die down. But it didn't, instead it grew in strength. At that point, when it was growing, the leadership of the states in its path and the federal government should have started planning for what would happen if the worst came to pass. This is what "homeland security" should be for, right? The National Guard in all those areas should have been put on alert, warned that they might be needed. As the hurricane grew in strength, the guard should have been called up. By twelve hours before the storm hit they should have been prepared to move in the instant the storm had passed. In the meantime, the local police should have been working on the evacuation of people who didn't have the means to evacuate themselves. Shelters should have been prepared in areas outside the predicted scope of the storm, and all evacuees should have been directed there if they had nowhere else to go.

To be completely honest with you all, I assumed that this was taking place. I assumed that our country was a civilized nation.

Within 24 hours after the storm had passed, the Guard should have been on the way in. They should have hit town about the same time the levees were breeched and should have been starting rescue operations and levee repair immediately. The lack of any real authority led to the thuggish side of human nature coming out. But the Guard should already have been there, delivering emergency supplies and keeping order! Why weren't they ready? What failed? After 9/11 we were told that we would be ready for disasters... this is a disaster, and we couldn't even do the most basic stuff that makes sense. Why? How could this happen?

Here's how they deal with hurricanes in Cuba. Jim Macdonald explains that we have a system, but it wasn't used by FEMA. Making light on the situation.

Wonkette has the full transcript of New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin's rant about the lack of support. I'd call this one a must-read. You can also listen to it, links here and here.

The international community asked to come in and help, but Bush refused. Why?

How to build a refugee camp. With people unable to return to NOLA for a minimum of a month, maybe much longer, we're going to need a lot of refugee camps.

Boing Boing rounds up offers for students of aid and schooling.

Neil Gaiman on the disaster.

Raphe tells about his experience with a hurricane.

Cryptome has a bunch of images of the devastation.

Kos has political images. Pacific Views also has political images.

The SCA is moving in.

Christopher Priest has had a few words on the situation.

A bunch of BBC reporters look at the disaster. If you are American and aren't ashamed after reading this, you have no soul.

And lastly... as Kos points out. We're sending BILLIONS of dollars to Iraq to "rebuild", so why is our "leadership" saying that we shouldn't spend any tax money to rebuild New Orleans?

And really lastly, if you can, give: