Katrina / post-deluge resources Air America's Emergency Voice-Mail  ¶ 21:42 2 comments  

  blips + updates While the world [and I] remain preoccupied with the disaster wrought by Katrina, here's some other things to think about. Some good, some troubling.
  •  Peak Oil News & Message Boards. If you think Katrina's impact on Usonian oil access is horrible, this may get you thinking the situation may be a [long-term] blessing in disguise. A focus on the very real need to wean ourselves off petrol products.
  •  The Currier Museum's Zimmerman House. We took Bruce's mom to stay with her son, Tom, and Courtney [Matt's mom] up in New Hampshire. While there we spent an hour or so at a Frank Lloyd Wright designed home. Transcendent. Timeless. Unhurried. Serene. I lost my moose hat [again!] while touring; maybe Whitey will find it for me. [See also: Questia's reference page on Wright]
  •  I'll be attending the Advocacy Unlimited Course Graduation Ceremony [the 25th] at CVH [that's where I work] in a couple of hours. The MH client self-advocacy movement has grown considerably since I worked at Connecticut Self-Advocates in 1991. AU being somewhat of a spiritual descendant of that effort. Proud to be a guest at the celebrations. Next on the agenda in client rights is the annual NARPA conference, Reclaiming Freedom in November 2005, to be held in East Hartford, CT. The event with be held at the Hartford Sheraton.
  •  East Haddam Town Fair [scroll down the page for info] will be held at the East Haddam Town Hall and green, Friday 16th Sept thru Sunday 18th. That's the Town Hall and the old Grange building in the photo on your right. And you can click here to see a map from the East Haddam swing bridge to the fairgrounds. Please do not bring your dogs. there will be lots of animals about as fair participants.
     The Fair area is small, and some exhibits and activities will take place in other parts of town but nearby. The Horse Show Grounds, for example, will be at the Stables at East Haddam, 232 Town Street, Route 82. This is approximately 3 miles south of the Fairgrounds, on Town Street. [You can contact any of the East Haddam businesses or town officals by phone using this handy business directory, a pdf file]
  •  Connecticut's Department of Environmental Protection has, according to survey co-ordinator Min Huang, completed the annual goose census. Min sent the following note to Bob Crook at Connecticut Coalition of Sportsmen.

Thanks to everyone who was able to get out and assist us in our population estimate work. Overall, we observed 9,083 geese in 172 separate groups. We read 368 individual collar codes, and saw 151 unique collar codes from the 2005 summer banding. The population estimate for 2005 is 29,433 +/- 3,926. Geese were scarce in NL/Windham counties, and ever so abundant in Fairfield and New Haven counties during our counts.
     The overall estimate is a decrease from the previous 3 years, although it is not statistically different from last year's estimate of 35,686. This year's estimate is statistically lower than that of 2003, and, I think, is indicative of the slight decline in the overall statewide population that we think has occurred.

And that's the news for today.  ¶ 10:59 2 comments  

  links about Katrina Others are welcome to provide me links to add but for now I have put up the following page News about Katrina |      There are different sections to the Katrina Links webpage including: Message Boards | "Out of Order" reports | Damage Reports | Repair & Restoration Tips | Towns/Parishes | People | Places | Life Before Katrina | Picture Links | Online Resources | Analysis |
     Amdist all the grim news, it is becoming fast apparent that local libraries are getting behind in providing useful info to those who might be able to go online |

quote: "...articles in the New Orleans Times-Picayune and public statements by emergency management chiefs in New Orleans make it clear that the Bush administration slashed the funding for the Corp of Engineers' projects to strengthen and raise the New Orleans levees and diverted the money to the Iraq war..."

Make of this what you will. Is part of the disaster in the South the price we must pay to accomodate a handful of people who are power-lust perverts? Or should they be forced to compensate the citizenry of the nation for not providing leadership when it was needed ~ prior to disaster striking not afterwards.  ¶ 02:59 1 comments  

  katrina: finding people I don't live anywhere near Covington, LA | It has been my cyber acquaintencship with John Strain that had me personally interested in what was happening with people in the New Orleans area |
     So I found myself a bit, well, whelmed, when people started asking me about their families | I wrote people back explaining the circumstances, but also recognize that the needs are so great right now that, having started on this track [reporting on the storm's aftermath] I can't just let it go | Not right now | Two of you have already written back | I still don't know what has happened to Lincoln Wilkins of 309 Dove Park Covington | If someone out there knows his whereabouts please contact Scott Paxton [skid_94@hotmail.com], one of his family members in West Virgina |
     The BBC has begun a posting board for people looking for loved ones at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/4202042.stm, so go there if you are looking for someone |
     One reader, Melissa Wagemakers, has already heard from her relatives | She told me about this posting board and some sketchy details about Covington | Here's her message of hope:

Good news! Family has been seen and located AND spoken to!!!! We will have word in the morning whether they will be able to get out of the city, and when, so we can go pick them up and bring them to Kansas!
     If anyone else should ask, Covington has flooding and trees down. There is damage to houses, properties, etc. Of course there's no power. There have been volunteers going to Tennessee to get generators and will be back with them in the morning. There's also no phones. However, some people can get text messages on cell phones (not MMS messages) even though they cannot get phone calls. My daughters friend has Cingular, and he is able to retrieve text messages AND reply, but cannot make or receive phone calls. I'm sure this probably doesn't work in all areas, but it's worth a try for someone trying to get a hold of their loved ones.

I welcome others with brief "found" notices to send them & I'll put up a separate page if it will help |   ¶ 01:08 1 comments  

  katrina More bad news | "...as is so often the case with natural disasters, those most affected, and least able to recover, are the poor..."  ¶ 08:30 0 comments  

  hurricane katrina John Strain gives an audiopost | His house is okay, but the hospital where he works is discharging patients to their families since they have run out of food and while the hospital still has generator produced electricity and water, the city of Covington does not | The release of patients is not a simple task | The folks he works with live at a psychiatric facility, which is normally a home of last resourt for many |
     John reports that devastation in city of Covington, LA was "beyond belief" | He noted he might wind up being a disaster relief worker | He plans on audio posting when the phones come back up | He's of the impression that it'll take weeks to get back to some sembalance of ordinariness, and years to rebuild what has been lost |
     Now is the time to rebuild, repair, and life goes on, he is thankful to be alive |  ¶ 20:27 2 comments  

  distractions Dorothy's Ruby Slippers Stolen! | Not that it's earth shattering news, but yesterday, according to the Associated Press, someone stole a pair of Dorothy's slippers from the Grand Rapids, Minnesota Children's Discovery Museum |
     Why Grand Rapids? Well, because that was Judy Garland's birthplace | The Children's Museum is adjacent to Ms. Garland's childhood home |
     The slippers are owned by a Los Angeles man and insured for more than $1 million | Four pairs of slippers worn by Garland in the movie are known to exist. One pair sold at auction in 2000 for $666,000 | I would venture to guess that whomever stole them is certainly not a friend of Dorothy's |
     My question now is, if she couldn't take them off in OZ, how'd they get into the museum in the first place?  ¶ 08:45 0 comments  

  blips + updates      Joel visits a mental hospital~   "Many shun psychiatric wards. People who do not share my illness fear attack. I have seen people agitated on a ward, but I do not see them as a threat. Others of this variety believe that the patients are fakers and deadbeats. I know better. So many of the mentally ill want to lead normal lives but their disease gets in the way. If allowed to recover, they often can — provided the correct diagnosis has been made." | Read the whole experience
     The Washington Post on Hurricane Katrina | Thus far, no word since yesterday from John Strain | I hope he's alright | Nothing on Covington, LA either that I was able to pull up at any rate | One account of a phone caller who said that if Covington is bad, Slidell is worse | Slidell is the parish to the east of Covington |
     While on the subject, I read this review of a book of essays by John McPhee | It helps to take a look at Mississippi River History and of past efforts to contain the massive waterway |
       ¶ 08:01 0 comments  

  combatting prejudice


Cincinnati Reds Player Sean Casey gives support to Labels Are For Jars Project, a non-profit organization based in Lawrence, Massachusetts dedicated to making certain people don't go hungry | Playing on the all too often too real fact that society pre-judges the less fortunate amongst us, with labels intended to be perjorative | This can be as much a way to distancing oneself from poverty as it does from debasing and devaluing others who are poor, so as to keep and then maintain that social distance |
     Anyway, the group, based in Lawrence, MA, itself a town with very high poverty rates, was started by Father Paul O'Brien, to address the unmet needs of the largely working poor who do not have enough to eat or feed their families |
     Sean Casey, once living in the area, and formerly sharing an apartment with Fr. O'Brien, lent his encouragement and support of this noble and valuable cause | You can help, too...  ¶ 01:42 0 comments  

  weather      This is to give you an idea where John Strain and his family live | He has gone to stay at the hospital where he works | His dog and family have left and gone to Baton Rouge, farther inland, and presumably safer ground | Oh, the rectangle area that I've highlighted in the accompanying .gif image above is approximately where Covington, LA is situated | BTW, click on the second box from the left for a pleasant sound and image trip to Covington before Katrina | The two pix below are taken from the Covington website |
  ¶ 00:49 0 comments  

  preserving the wilderness A terrifying experience with a bear strengthened Kalin Grigg and Jennifer Stark's resolve that the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge has to remain pristine | Their story is told by Thomas Curwen and David Petersen |
     They were paddling easily in the endless Arctic sunlight when they spotted the bear, its blond-brown fur blending into the surrounding tundra. Perhaps 500 pounds, they guessed, but at close range all grizzlies look big, and they were spectacularly close to this one.
     Kalin Grigg and Jennifer Stark were thrilled. They paddled slowly, so their oars would not splash or flash in the sun. They wanted to photograph the animal and hoped not to spook him, but as they reached for their binoculars and camera, they noticed something else.
     The river they were rafting, the Hulahula, bent left. On the far bank, just beyond the bear, a tumble of brightly colored camping gear was scattered across the beach. Their guide, Robert Thompson, first spotted the strange disarray.
     This doesn't look good, he said quietly, almost to himself. It looked as if a small tornado had razed someone's bivouac.
     Robert was Inupiat. He had grown up in Alaska, and he knew what he was seeing.
     This doesn't look good at all, he said again.

---

     Robert was right | Their adventure became more harrowing after this** |

---

     For Kalin and Jennifer, encountering a killer grizzly only strengthened their feelings for protecting the refuge.
     "What that bear did for us was shatter the idyllic, romantic image of wilderness and bring home the pragmatic reality of what a huge privilege and responsibility it is to actively participate in the day-to-day workings of natural wildness," Jennifer said, weeks later. "Once, all the world was wild. That was the world the human animal evolved in, and for. And that fact alone makes the final few fragments of original wildness worth saving."
     "Whether we 'need' wild places in some utilitarian way or not, they have intrinsic value and deserve to exist apart from our experience of them," added Kalin. "But we do need wild natural places, because we need wild natural experiences to help define and structure our overly civilized lives. And we need to be willing to enter such places on their terms, not ours."  ¶ 23:19 0 comments  

  hurricane katrina UPDATE | 2235 hrs/Time Zone 5 | 28 July 05 | John has shut down the webcam until further notice | He's tryingt to waterproof his computer and some other stuff until after the hurricane | I'll keep the link active so we'll all see when it is he's back up at home |
ORIGINAL POST | My online cyber acquaintence John Strain is, for better or worse, living right in the path of Katrina |
     I'm certain I don't have to draw to his attention what is headed his way | I have posted a link to his webcam page in the right hand column of this blog and intend to keep it up until the storm passes or the power goes out |      Hopefully, you'll see his webcam reportage at least some of the time during the next few days | I pray that he, his family at the folks where he works are safe and remain so for the whole ordeal | For that matter... I pray for everyone in New Orleans and the entire area now targeted by the hurricane [a trajectory known only to the elements and the Creator, to be sure]  ¶ 16:22 1 comments