posted
If this blog is to be believed, things are quite a bit worse in NO than has been being reported in the mainstream media (or than was being reported until very recently--the business about the rescue helicopter being fired upon is in keeping with what's in this blog.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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quote: A lot of people have been asking what company I work for that has such a huge data center in downtown NO. I ought to take this opportunity to plug the company, huh?
directnic.com - hosting hundreds of thousands of domains through Hurricane Katrina. Now if that's not a reliable company, nothing is.
This is scary (from Tuesday):
quote: I do not want to be an alarmist, but people who have the means to leave the greater New Orleans area need to do so. The infrastructure required to maintain a city is down. It could be a long time before it's back up. There will be too many people fighting for exceptionally scarce resources.
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I'm not surprised that the news isn't getting out if this is the truth. It doesn't sound like anyone really knows what is going on, or if they do, they're not really interested in reporting it because they're too busy.
The destruction of the hurricaine itself was bad enough; the human destruction is, in its way, far worse.
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"the people we've been talking to say they are not recognizing the NOPD as a legitimate authority anymore, since cops have been seen looting in Walmarts and forcing people out of stores so they could back up SUVs and loot them . . . You know, this crisis is going to end. One day it is going to be over, and people are going to have to live with themselves and the knowledge of how they behaved. The cowards, the thieves, the murderers. We're getting a guy on cam right now stealing tires from one car and putting them in his car. What a bunch of monkeys. No respect at all for their fellow man. Like I said, one day this is going to be over, and I hope the shame overwhelms these bastards"Posts: 1256 | Registered: May 2005
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Rivka: *laugh* I blame the Latin. I really liked having only one word per verb, and the result has been to leave off the auxilliary verbs in English.
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Yeah, I've been following that blog for a couple of days, and what I've seen and heard elsewhere, I believe every word of it.
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I've been finding myself leaving out verbs more and more often in my posts. And Katie, I totally you! Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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With everything that is happening, and with New Orleans being effectively a non-existing entity, I wonder if the city can ever be revived. It isn't unconcious, it's dead.
Just when we think that we can control nature, nature says no.
quote:Originally posted by katharina: This is like watching Alas, Babyon come alive.
That's what came to my mind when I heard about the looting, too. I'm sure some of the people who stayed behind (not all, but some) looked at it as an opportunity to get some of the stuff they've been wanting and couldn't get before.
Posts: 2034 | Registered: Apr 2004
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quote: All of our providers are dropping. We're down to one. We have enough fuel to keep us powered for a long time, but we could lose internet access soon if our last provider drops.
So I guess what I'm saying is that any moment could be my last moment online. If we do lose internet, Outpost Crystal might have to be abandoned by all but Sig and Myself. I've got to get Crystal out of here safely and relocated to someplace out of this state. I'm working on escape routes now.
...
In case anyone in national security is reading this, get the word to President Bush that we need the military in here NOW. The Active Duty Armed Forces. Mr. President, we are losing this city. I don't care what you're hearing on the news. The city is being lost. It is the law of the jungle down here. The command and control structure here is barely functioning. I'm not sure it's anyone's fault -- I'm not sure it could be any other way at this point. We need the kind of logistical support and infrastructure only the Active Duty military can provide. The hospitals are in dire straights. The police barely have any capabilities at this point. The National Guard is doing their best, but the situation is not being contained. I'm here to help in anyway I can, but my capabilities are limited and dropping. Please get the military here to maintain order before this city is lost.
quote: 3. Dead bodies everywhere: convention center, down camp street, all over.
4. National Guard shoving water off the backs of trucks. They're just pushing it off without stopping, people don't even know it's there at first -- they drop it on the side in debris, there's no sign or distribution point -- people are scared to go near it at first, because the drop points are guarded by troops or federal agents with assault rifles who don't let people come near them, which scares people off. It is a mess. When people actually get to the water, they are in such a rush to get it that one family left their small child behind and forget about him until Sig carried him back to the family.
posted
I actually had to put up a network alert here at my work to ask people to NOT stream in any more audio or video feeds through their internet connections -- everyone is crashing our system -- or at least bogging it down really really badly.
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I guess what this teaches me is that civilization isn't a given. That it's something for which we should be profoundly grateful, and do everything we can to maintain. It's something we could lose the benefits of at any time.
To be watching and unable to help is agonizing.
I guess one thing we should do is think about what we would do if it happened here to us. How would we cope? Are we prepared? What does preparation consist of?
I love what this guy is doing. Taking these pictures of the looting and documenting everything. That's one powerful tool we have on the side of civilization, information. I really really hope he survives. He's determined to stay no matter what.
posted
So now we know it takes 3 days. The hurricane hit Monday morning, and now it's Thursday. So utter loss of civilization is less than 3 days away from any of us at any time.
Is there a science of civilization, studying how it is established and how it can be broken and how to fix it back after it breaks? If there isn't there should be. There should be an intense scrutiny of every breakdown of civilization everywhere in the world throughout history so that we can identify those influences that help to reestablish normality and understand how to prevent its loss and how best to respond to situations like this to rebuild it as quickly as possible.
What would you do?
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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Unfortunately, with vandals and visigoths at the gates, so to speak, you have to go restore order, and that means draconian measures, at least for a time.
Thankfully, those powers are apt to be released in the US, once the need has passed.
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Is there any way to check the veracity of the blog? Could it just be someone writing it from a cozy office in Santa Barbara?
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I noticed that, too. I wonder what exactly that means.
Surely no one would be so stupid as to go there now. I think it must mean that people who were there as tourists and couldn't get out are being attacked by the locals.
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I think he meant tourists who were trapped in hotels and unable to evacuate before the storm hit. There have been several stories about them.
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Wow... Somehow I never thought that such a thing could happen in the US. I wonder if there actually exists a place on Earth right now where this kind of disaster would NOT spawn the same horrors...
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quote:Originally posted by Tatiana: I can't get the live video feed to work for me. Can anyone else? It's probably swamped.
I was able to get the mirrored feed to work for a while. And my boss recognized the view. We have an affiliate law firm in the same building where he was camped out, a few floors above. So, yes, it's absolutely a true video feed.
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quote:A National Guard military policeman was shot in the leg as he and a man scuffled for the MP's rifle, police Capt. Ernie Demmo said. The man was arrested.
"These are good people. These are just scared people," Demmo said.
There are indeed good people trapped in New Orleans, but the reports that we are hearing are evidence of real evil. Evil is alive and walks among us, everywhere.
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I can't stop crying. I just can't stand the thought of babies dying because no one can get them out or get them food and water.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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quote: There are people just taking potshots at police and at helicopters, telling them, `You better come get my family.'"
I don't know if it's "come get my family[or else]" so much as "we're over here". They are probably thinking firing into the air is a good way to let people know where they are.
This article is actually much more hopeful that the one I linked to from the N.O. Times Picayune.
Am I crazy or does Babylon have an L in it? No matter.
Posts: 2010 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Y'know, today a small fight in one of the shelters got turned into a riot downtown complete with shootings. Most people still think that riot and shootings actually happened. I can't say how much of the blog is truthful and how much is crap, but just remember that we're all so ready to believe the worst here, because it's actually happening that...well, rumors are being blown way far beyond what they usually are, and everyone is hearing and believing them
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posted
We did the airlift thing to Berlin when the wall went up. I wonder why we can't airlift enough supplies to these people? This is so terrible! I'm sure there are logistical difficulties that we can't appreciate, sitting here in peace and comfort from afar, but it really seems like more could be done, doesn't it? What is going on?
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I need to remember what it was really like so that when my children are being taught about it in school, I'll be able to tell them what it really was.
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quote:Terry Ebbert, head of the city's emergency operations, warned that the slow evacuation at the Superdome had become an "incredibly explosive situation," and he bitterly complained that FEMA was not offering enough help.
"This is a national emergency. This is a national disgrace," he said. "FEMA has been here three days, yet there is no command and control. We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims, but we can't bail out the city of New Orleans."
I thought this was pretty telling. When the officials are wondering why things aren't working...
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posted
Thanks for posting the link. Bookmarked. Can't think of any worthwhile comment to make about this--blown away.
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quote:Originally posted by Tatiana: We did the airlift thing to Berlin when the wall went up. I wonder why we can't airlift enough supplies to these people? This is so terrible! I'm sure there are logistical difficulties that we can't appreciate, sitting here in peace and comfort from afar, but it really seems like more could be done, doesn't it? What is going on?
Airplanes take landing space... and literally miles of it. From what I've seen there isn't a stretch of dry land big enough to land on. I know for a fact supplies are being flown into the area... it's getting them what telecom companies call the "last mile" to the people that is the difficulty, as I understand it.
Posts: 3846 | Registered: Apr 2004
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posted
Here is where I am confused. I read reports of soldiers not letting anyone leave the superdome (because it is too dangerous), and I read reports of the superdome not accepting anyone. I don't get it. If they can turn people away, why can't they let people leave?
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I'm afraid I don't have more information than that. I can get 1 minute at a time to play because that's what my buffer is set to... but after that, it has to buffer again.. VERY slowly.
It doesn't look very worrisome. I think I saw a firetruck driving around the building.
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quote:Originally posted by Corwin: Wow... Somehow I never thought that such a thing could happen in the US. I wonder if there actually exists a place on Earth right now where this kind of disaster would NOT spawn the same horrors...
It's not hard to believe the reactions of the people in New Orleans; they're desperate and frightened like they never have been before. People are people no matter where you go. There's nothing different about the U.S. that would change how people react when confronted with a situation like this. Everything that has and is happening is terrible, but can we honestly say that we wouldn't do some of the same things? There's no way to tell, even if we say we wouldn't; most of us have never been through something like this before.
Posts: 143 | Registered: Sep 2005
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