Hurricane Katrina

[Steff]

In regards to the looting, I can kind of understand people taking food/water/supplies for their babies/kids (formula, diapers, etc.), but what are they going to do with water-logged electronics, clothes etc?

 

 

I honestly don't even think they are thinking about that. Just taking whatever they can. Who knows how the criminal mind works.

[LosMediasBlancas]

In regards to the looting, I can kind of understand people taking food/water/supplies for their babies/kids (formula, diapers, etc.), but what are they going to do with water-logged electronics, clothes etc?

 

...at least clothes can be washed an dried. Latptop? maybe not.

[Steff]

A thought... regarding anything left that's parishable.. they should just let people have it. The area is going to be ruled a total disaster area anyway and stores will be covered. Help as many as you can in terms of food and clean water is what I would do.

[Steff]

...at least clothes can be washed an dried.  Latptop?  maybe not.

 

 

They'll probably try to sell it when it dries out maybe..? Would it definitely still not work? I dropped a remote control in the sink once. After it dried out it worked again.

[Queen Prawn]

They'll probably try to sell it when it dries out maybe..? Would it definitely still not work? I dropped a remote control in the sink once. After it dried out it worked again. 

 

For as long as it was sitting in the water as well as the contaminates that are in the water, it would likely have to go through a serious cleaning to work and then some of the chips might be toast already.

[Queen Prawn]

A thought... regarding anything left that's parishable.. they should just let people have it. The area is going to be ruled a total disaster area anyway and stores will be covered. Help as many as you can in terms of food and clean water is what I would do.

 

I was thinking about that yesterday and I agree 100%. It would spoil before anyone got back to the store to clean up, so if it is still edible, let them have it.

[Steff]

For as long as it was sitting in the water as well as the contaminates that are in the water, it would likely have to go through a serious cleaning to work and then some of the chips might be toast already.

 

 

 

Didn't think that far ahead.

[Texsox]

For as long as it was sitting in the water as well as the contaminates that are in the water, it would likely have to go through a serious cleaning to work and then some of the chips might be toast already.

 

You are such an engineer I would think with more and more integrated chips some of these will work. Plus they could always return them to WalMart if and when WalMart reopens.

[Queen Prawn]

You are such an engineer  I would think with more and more integrated chips some of these will work. Plus they could always  return them to WalMart if and when WalMart reopens.

 

LOL at the last line.

 

I am sure some will as not everything is underwater. It's just a matter of whether any contaminates from the water is shorting pins together on any of these chips causing a potential short.

[Steff]

You are such an engineer  I would think with more and more integrated chips some of these will work. Plus they could always  return them to WalMart if and when WalMart reopens.

 

 

 

Sears, too. That place takes back anything. My grama bought a B&D mixer there back in ohh.. 1998 maybe. Last year it stopped working. She didn't have the receipt but had the POP upc code, took it back, and they replaced it. How they are still in business with those kind of return practices I'll never know

[Brian]

Just seeing all the pictures and video today, I can not even imagine what those people are going through. God bless em.

[LosMediasBlancas]

The picture I can't get out of my head is seeing that major road/bridge (I-10, maybe) that gets you in and out of N.O. is broken apart and a lot of it is totally submerged.

[Steff]

The picture I can't get out of my head is seeing that major road/bridge (I-10, maybe) that gets you in and out of N.O. is broken apart and a lot of it is totally submerged.

 

 

It's just submerged...?? I thought it was all gone with just the supports sticking out from the water..

[FlaSoxxJim]

It's just submerged...?? I thought it was all gone with just the supports sticking out from the water.. 

That large span across Pontchartrain has major sections of it that are gone with just the support trestles still standing.

 

re, getting electronic stuff to work again after submergence. I'm no engineer – that's QPrawn's job – but the salinity of the floodwaters has got to be at least a couple parts per thousand, and even when the components dry, the salt bridges left on all the circuitry will effectively short everything out unless it is all totally cleaned at major expense.

 

re, the looting versus giving up the perishable stuff. I think letting citizens at ground zero have what food they could have was probably the unspoken strategy – until the em-effers decided it was a free-for-all and started grabbing everything is sight. And I'm certain most of the people stranded and desperate right now are only looking for survival necessities. Then there's always a handful of people will turn the worst human tragedies to their selfish advgantage because they can.

 

I guess it's one of the less flattering aspects of human nature to smash and grab what you can when you can. Literally, in the case of those on the low rungs of the socioeconomic ladder, and more figuratively perhaps for the "higher class" corporate scumbags who loot in their own fashion to the detriment of society as surely as the people now running amok in new Orleans.

[Queen Prawn]

re, getting electronic stuff to work again after submergence.  I'm no engineer – that's QPrawn's job – but the salinity of the floodwaters has got to be at least a couple parts per thousand, and even when the components dry, the salt bridges left on all the circuitry will effectively short everything out unless it is all totally cleaned at major expense.

 

DING DING DING!

[FlaSoxxJim]

DING DING DING!

TAKE THAT, LONG AGO COLLEGE PHYSICS PROF WHO GAVE ME A "D" IN PHYSICS II!!

[WilliamTell]

It never will be again.  Anything they throw up to replace the living history of the old parts of the city will be essentially a pale, 'Disney-fied' imitation of what's been lost.  I'm trying to be optimistic about the outcome, but I've seen too much of the city's buildings and infrastructure up close to have much faith in its coming through total submergence in anything resembling an intact or salvagable form.

 

 

I gotta agree with you there. The old buildings in the French Quarter is what makes New Orleans a big tourist attraction. Replacing thes buildings will mean that fewer tourists will come.

[Steff]

It's just submerged...?? I thought it was all gone with just the supports sticking out from the water.. 

 

 

I was thinking of Highway 90 in Mississippi. That's the one that's totally gone.

[FlaSoxxJim]

Replacing thes buildings will mean that fewer tourists will come.

You'd think so, but I'm not entirely sure. And it's going to be sad.

 

The grime that is part of New Orleans, even creeping into the bigggest tourist corridors in the Quarter is palpable and is integral to what makes that city unique. The fact that you could go just a block over from Esplanade and be in a rather impoverished urban neighborhood with maybe avery fourth of fifth house borded up or condemned (and ditto just beyond Rampart for that matter) is what kept the place from becoming a completely sterile, whitebread, Disney-fied self-parody.

 

But bad neighborhoods are not good for the tourism industry. Hustlers and grifters and the occassional mugger are not qualities the Chamber of Commerce values too highly. So, if Katrina wiped out the Downriver and Lakeside areas that the tourist industry considers to be blight, you can bet your ass they will fight for those areas not to be rebuilt in favor of expanding and securing a bulls*** tourist-focused New Orleans city center that will have as much actual city feel as your average theme park.

 

I can similarly see them cleaning up the Upriver side of Bourbon where the strip clubs and sex shops are now for the sake of a more family-friendly experience. And all teh while they will fail to comprehend that that area is the friggin' Storyville District that is about as historic as it gets for jazz pilgrims. Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, Satch (natch) all lived large in the Storyville saloons and bordellos. They've already started the Disney-fication of that stretch, with someone from the Brennan family opening a big Storyville entertainment complex a couple of years back.

 

The human tragedy unfolding now is the current priority (and it is easily an order of magnitude worse than the worst that happened to us in Florida last year). But so much of the heart and soul of the city is being washed away as well, it's beyond sad.

[LosMediasBlancas]

Latest update by their mayor is that 'thousands' may be dead.

[Steff]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9063708/

 

 

In case anyone is interested in reading more..

[HighHeat45]

I saw a story on CNN this morning with this lady in new orleans crying with her kids saying that during the eye, her husband jumped on his bike to ride over to her moms house to see if she was ok, and now no one can find him.

 

Now that is very sad and all, but what was the guy thinking? Why didnt they get together with the mom to weather the storm with each others in the first place. Then he trys to ride across town to see if she is ok during the short break...how stupid.

[FlaSoxxJim]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9063708/

In case anyone is interested in reading more..

The intriguing bit that came out in that story and nas been bugging me for two days is, why don't they utilize the *%$#@! Mississippi River for transportation to evacuate people??

 

Everyone has been talking about how the evacuees are stranded, with no way out and no way in to them, how they'll only be able to truck a thousand or so out a day, etc. What about doing it like they did 150 years ago and put people on a barge and steam them up the river to some towns that are functioning and have transportation infrastructure intact?

[Texsox]

Close to what you were thinking

 

Carnival: Feds Ask About Using Ships

Aug 31 2:08 PM US/Eastern

 

 

MIAMI

 

Carnival Cruise Lines said Wednesday the federal government has asked whether its cruise ships could be used as emergency shelters or help Hurricane Katrina relief efforts in some other way.

 

The world's largest cruise line said that although "to undertake such an endeavor would involve many complicated issues, we are actively taking a look at it."

 

Carnival operates 21 ships, each of which holds anywhere from about 1,500 to 3,000 passengers.

 

"It is our intention to work with federal officials to determine the feasibility of moving a ship into the area if that is their desire," the company said.

 

Carnival is owned by Miami, Fla.-based Carnival Corp.

 

Think that Julie, Doc, Isaac, and all the gang could come do a show . . .

[Chisoxfn]

I saw a story on CNN this morning with this lady in new orleans crying with her kids saying that during the eye, her husband jumped on his bike to ride over to her moms house to see if she was ok, and now no one can find him.

 

Now that is very sad and all, but what was the guy thinking? Why didnt they get together with the mom to weather the storm with each others in the first place. Then he trys to ride across town to see if she is ok during the short break...how stupid.

I saw that too. I was like wow, that guy wasn't thinking. Sad story though and the women was crying her eyes out on tv. Really sad to see how many families have been torn up in this, how many people have lost jobs and just how many people are without a city to call home.