What do the Calvin & Hobbes comic strip and the Fight Club movie/book have in common? More than you think. The link is a really fun, and actually pretty intriguing read. (WARNING: If you haven’t seen or read Fight Club, then beware: this has spoilers. But then again, if you haven’t seen Fight Club you are woefully out of touch and perhaps beyond saving. No offense.)

“…demoralizing effect of reality.” Indeed.

John Gruber wrote something called, The iTunes 5 Announcement From the Perspective of an Anthropomorphized Brushed Metal User Interface Theme. Geek, well especially UI/HI geek, humor. Very funny.

Via Amber Mac:

Post this link to help Hurricane victims - MissingKatrina.com:My good friends at Textamerica just let me know that they’ve launched a site, Missing Katrina, to allow victims of Hurricane Katrina to post photos to try to find missing friends/family. If you have a website or blog, please take a few minutes to post a link to Missing Katrina.

“This site is here to help you try and find your missing friends and
relatives from hurricane Katrina. You can post their pictures here by
uploading them directly from your PC. You may also enter details like
your phone number and email address.”

They’ve also set up a toll-free number if you need help uploading photos and posting information - 1-800-774-0512.

(Donations can be made online at the American Red Cross website.)

Rocketbloom has a video of a helicopter flight over New Orleans. (I have mirrored it here.) It’s some of the best (for lack of a better word) footage I’ve seen demonstrating the destruction.

First of all:

• Donate via Apple
• Donate to Second Harvest
• Donate To Red Cross via Amazon
• Craig’s List Links for Katrina Aid
• FEMA’s list

There are tons of methods to donate money or volunteer. If the above don’t suit your fancy, Google is your friend.

The following is a sort of stream of consciousness rant…

Annette heard from a friend of hers that live(s/d) in New Orleans, finally. It’s good to know he’s safe. (The same cannot be said of his house.) He had some pretty disturbing eye witness reports of what’s going on down there, though. It’s no exaggeration to call it madness. While some of the harsher news reports give an idea of how bad it’s gotten, they only give a glimpse of how horrific the situation really is. The biggest problem now? People.

Looting is one thing. In some cases, it’s pure greed… in other cases it may be a desperate act commmited in the name of survival. Of course, the latter only applies to those who would be looting food or supplies. TVs, and the like, hardly count.

But it’s much worse than looting, of course. People are raping and killing each other. Shooting at search and rescue teams. Attacking police, National Guard and reporters.

It’s been said that Katrina is possibly the worst natural disaster to hit The United States ever. It’s no surprise that it has managed to fell a portion of human civilization. New Orleans, as a society, has effectively collapsed. What I find interesting, and incredibly sad, is that once society is stripped away and the incredible pressure of these extreme circumstances applied, one can truly see good and evil people in the world.

Now, don’t get me wrong… I don’t know everything going on down there. Circumstances are, as I said, extreme. Some reports say that some of the people shooting at police are trying to get them to come save their families (ok, that’s a fucking ludicrous thing to do, and I can’t imagine EVER being so desperate that I thought that opening fire on someone might get them to come help me…) but even if you drop that sort of thing from the equation… people are raping and killing each other. Other victims. How fucking evil do you have to be to, in the middle of this fucking disaster, rape somebody? I’m sorry, there’s no excuse in the world that’s going to play out as “I thought this might be the only way”. Acts such as that are beyond justification.

Anyways. At least there are good people in the world too. Hopefully we’ll be hearing stories about some of those people too. In the meantime, it’s things like Hurricane Housing that give me the slightest inkling of hope for humanity.

Current project should be lightening up soon, and maybe I’ll have time for a better update.