Children of The Universe

New Orleans - Who is letting these people Die?

I don't know how to ask this question, really, but what do you say when you are the authority in a City that the question was not IF it would happen but WHEN - and you know that probably 20% of your population does not have private transportation and then you think it might happen and you issue an evacuation order that ignores the reality that 20% of your population has no way of obeying that order...

Was there a plan to let these people get on the city buses and help them to flee?  Was the plan to let the city buses get washed away and the people with them?

When People want to be elected to office - they ask for the responsibility. Katrina could not be prevented - a lot of what has happened could have been - how can a nation be so concerned about what is happening everywhere else in the world and not have a plan to help its own people? 

U.S. Coast Guard Rescue Number

This message was just forwarded to me - Just in case anyone gets an emergency call, even if you are not in the hurricane area - the Coast Guard wants to get the message immediately:

-----Original Message----- From: Enzminger, Cindy On Behalf Of Joseph, Ron Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 3:27 PM Subject: Message from the Director - U.S. Coast Guard Rescue Line

Whether we know someone who was directly impacted by the devastation caused by this week's hurricane in the gulf states, or we have been experiencing it via the pictures we see on tv and the newspapers, we have all been touched by the loss of life and property of our fellow citizens.  Many of us are wondering how we, who are so far away, can help.  One easy thing we can do is read the message sent by the Governor's Office of Emergency Services (below).  Though chances may be small that one of us will receive such a phone call, we now have been given the possibility of saving a life in Louisiana, Mississippi or Alabama.  You may want to print this message so you can have the phone number close at hand if you receive a call from a victim.

The State Office of  Emergency  Services has learned that trapped victims on the Gulf Coast are calling family, friends, loved-ones, or anyone they can get a call out to in California asking for someone to rescue them. These requests need to go immediately to the US Coast Guard's Rescue Line at 800-323-7233 and immediate assistance will be sent.

Please distribute this information as widely as possible.

Helpful Links for finding and Helping New Orleans Victims

Here's what we're finding -

Hurrican Katrina Help Wiki

Katrina Info Exchange Board

Craigs list  (unfortunately this is not alphabetized - seems to be listed in order that they come in)

We still need a way for individuals inside New Orleans, particularly in shelters such as the Superdome to be able to communicate out, at least to an alphbetized board to let their families and friends outside of New Orleans know that they are alive and where they are being evacuated to.

IF you have more information please let us know.

Unable to Contact Family in New Orleans

I've been unable to contact my Sister, Joy Wigfall, her daughter, Lynette Gough or mty sister's husband, James Bowers since the hurricane hit New Orleans.

I can't get a connection through the cel phone system and I think their place is probably underwater (near the intersection of Dante Street and Cohn Street, which is two blocks north west of South Carolina Avenue.)  They might have been at Lynette's place (near the corner of Hope Street and Allen Street, a few blocks east of  the intersection of  St. Bernard  Ave. and  North Broad Ave).

Is there any organized effort to track people through the Internet, or are there any ideas about how to organize such an effort?

How DRM Can Free Us From Big Label, Studio and Publisher Control

Mostly we hear Digital Rights Management argued/discussed/debated as – Big Business versus Pirates (that's code meaning you and me, the ugly little consumers) – stealing – not from Big Protective Daddy Business, but from the poor, poor Superstar artist that Big Daddy works so hard to protect.

I don't believe that argument and it doesn't seem like people like Courtney Love, Lester Chambers of the Chambers Brothers, Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Chris Anderson of The Long Tail, or Barry Ritholtz of the Big Picture really believe it either.

In fact, that whole argument is irrelevant with so many people making music, writing books and creating other works that can be digitized and presented through the Internet.  For all the millions of people who have something to say the only useful question about DRM is how it can free us from the domination and control of major labels, studios and publishers so we can freely get our work into the world wide Internet marketplace and let the public decide for itself what it likes and wants to buy.

Gold Seal of Excellence

I needed a pre embossed gold seal for an important document.  A diploma that is overdue.  I called everywhere local and looked on the internet.

One embossed gold seal was getting more and more dificult to find.

First I had to buy a package, but no one local had a package of anything that I wanted.

The packages that I would order  cost more to ship that than the package.  As usual, I kept looking.

Finally I  found Geographics.com

 

Don't ask me why it's called geographics.com, but they have all sorts of things that you're going to want sooner or later -

A2 Envelopes
Business Cards
Certificates
Design Paper
Document Covers
Educational
Envelopes
Gift Certificates
Greeting Cards
Inkjet Paper
Invitations
Letterhead
Mailers
Mailing Labels
Mini Cards
Notecards
Panel Cards
Party Kit
Photo Letter Cards
Place Cards
Postcards
Posterboard
Premium Letterhead
Printed Both Sides
Programs
RSVP Cards
Seals
Tear-Off Tickets
Tent Cards
Thank You Cards
Tri-Fold Brochures
Twice As Nice
Wedding Kit
Wedding Kits

Ok, you get the idea.

Why am I writing this?
Simple.
Jim listened to what I needed.  Asked me to wait a minute when he found out I only needed one gold seal.
Came back to the phone and asked for my address and told me not to worry about it.

The Gold Seals arrived today.  Free of Charge.

Thanks, Jim.

I should send one of these Gold Seals of Excellence back to You!

Courtroom Racism Dallas

Isn't it about time that all  public officials elected to protect the rights of and laws of U. S. Citizens started taking that responsibility seriously and stopped trying to subvert the Laws of the land?

I"ve stopped thinking that these kind of people would feel any kind of shame or remorse when caught, but don't they have any pride in upholding the laws that they have sworn to uphold?

It's time for this kind of legal terrorism to end in the United States.

Most Popular Anti Depressants in China

Rose Tang does it again.  Who would have guessed that depression was unnamed and "unknown" in China until recently.  And of course, the drugs -

On the same bandwagon are multi-national pharmaceutical companies and their mainland joint ventures, touting their wares to China's pill-popping millions. Official media report that sales revenues for antidepressants, mostly manufactured by foreign companies and their Chinese joint ventures, reached almost one billion yuan (HK$960 million) in 2004, up 40.6 percent from the previous year and more than double the 2002 figure. That figure is expected to skyrocket in 2005 to two billion yuan.

Pan sees at least 15 patients each morning. He counsels them for five minutes before prescribing anti-depressants. "I don't have time to chat with them. We're like physicians, prescribing drugs,'' he says, acknowledging that almost all the major international drug companies aggressively tout their products to mainland hospitals. The most popular anti-depressants are Seroxat, Sertralin, Cipramil, Luvox and Prozac.

Nothing like going Modern.

More RIAA Tales

Barry Ritholtz over at The Big Picture gets added to the list of people outing the RIAA over their various claims that You are stealing all the money and music from the poor artists who are starving because of it - or something like that.

I've been so busy working on my own audio projects that I haven't been posting very much.  Thanks, Barry, for making me post this.

There's new Rose Tang that I need to get written here - hopefully soon.