Unbelievably Fragile

What to do when gas prices get too high, a photoshop contest.

Dictionaraoke: Your favorite songs, as performed by the audio pronunciation samples from online dictionaries. Very, very strange. Via MetaFilter.

There's a Mystery Bulge in Oregon. Is it a new volcano? Is it just magma moving around? Is it something else? Nobody knows....

Augie has some good links again, today, including 25 tips on saving money on gas.

Websnark ponders PvP.

Saturn's Rings are changing faster than scientists would expect. And in other out-of-this-world news, volcanoes on Mars might still be active and the comet isn't quite what they expected, either.

Bragging rights to the first person who posts in the comments as to where the title of this post is from.

Hurricane Thoughts:

Elayne has a list of heroes of New Orleans.

Comic Book Related Charity efforts. Also more information here. FilkerTom suggests Network for Good.

Harry Potter fans continue to raise money.

Dave lets us know about one church that has taken in refugees*.

Polite Scott is going to assist refugees*. Thank you, Scott, and we can wait for the story dissections.

A great story (LA Times) about a Vietnamese Houston Mall owner who took in and helped refugees* from NOLA. Thanks for the link, Garrett.

News about the Aquarium and Zoos.

Here is a very good timeline of events in the disaster.

A fascinating view of the Austin Convention Center from Jasmina Tesanovic. Read this one. It's uplifting in a great many ways.

$2000 won't go far, but it will help a lot right now.

Perhaps the absolute best news yet, Coast Guard's Chief of Staff To Assist FEMA (Washington Post). If Brown is smart, he'll give Allen control since the guy has actual credentials and knows how to help people in a disaster. Via Collective Sigh.

I've confined my more shrill comments to Gjoblaag. While I certainly recommend that everyone check out the links there (new ones are at the bottom), if you are suffering from stress you'll want to avoid them. Particularly this one.

*A note regarding the word "refugees". I have heard it argued that the word is somehow racist. It isn't. It's a word about people taking refuge from something. In this case that something is the dangers of disease in NOLA. I've heard it argued that the word has negative connotations. Of course it does! It implies disaster of some sort. I've heard it argued that it implies poor black people. It doesn't to me. My first thought when I hear "refugee" is of Serbia. And so, I'll continue to use the word. If it offends you, I suggest you find something better to do with your time than read my blog.