The New Orleans Times-Picayune writes the first sentence of a great Southern novel.

In the middle of a recap of the day's chaos in New Orleans, this gem:

As the sun set over a still-churning Lake Pontchartrain, the smoldering ruins of the Southern Yacht Club were still burning, and smoke streamed out over the lake. Nobody knew the cause of the fire because nobody could get anywhere near it to find out what happened.

Free Opera browser day

If you've wanted to try the Opera browser and you want the no-ad-banners version for free, today only you can get it. Get the Windows version at download.com or the Mac version at versiontracker.com, and if you use a unix version you no doubt know where to get it.

I'm going to try it on Mac again. I really liked it on Windows and Linux before.

Edit: Wow! I can browse my lame-ass HR website with it!

Then go to this Opera.com page and get your reg code.

via sachmet.

The link you save may be your own

1. Desktop wallpaper images of WHO?!?!
   
   
2. Song for New Orleans, from Lone Justice, 1983: After the Flood. (mp3, 3.4 meg) Do not click if you do not like sentimental country-rock.
   
   
3. The official poverty rate in the U.S. is now up to 12.7 percent. The real figure may be more like 18%.
   
   
4. If you need anything from ACME, look no further than here.
   
   
5. A good chunk of scientific publication is wrong. Makes sense, science isn't about one shining true paper. But the number is a bit crazy.

Intelligent Agents Will Shop For Us in the Future!

...and the future is NOW!



via fimmtiu

The Raft of the Medusa

The sheer size of the Katrina disaster is boggling my mind. The submersion of a city, the terrible suffering of people waiting to die as the waters rise, the spectre of disease, everything. It's staggering.

And then we see this, from http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/

Edit: This was an erroneous report, per nola.com themselves: http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_08.html#075510

Thanks to leolo for the follow-up.

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Children's Hospital under siege
Tuesday, 11:45 p.m.

Late Tuesday, Gov. Blanco spokeswoman Denise Bottcher described a disturbing scene unfolding in uptown New Orleans, where looters were trying to break into Children's Hospital.

Bottcher said the director of the hospital fears for the safety of the staff and the 100 kids inside the hospital. The director said the hospital is locked, but that the looters were trying to break in and had gathered outside the facility.

The director has sought help from the police, but, due to rising flood waters, police have not been able to respond.

Bottcher said Blanco has been told of the situation and has informed the National Guard. However, Bottcher said, the National Guard has also been unable to respond.

Useful

Long collection of links to places dealing with the Katrina aftermath, including news sites, blogs, etc:

http://www.weather.com/newscenter/topstories/20050830katrinadamagelinks.html?from=blog