Being in relative isolation over here from world news and what not, and especially news from back home, my picture of what is happening is very vague and ambigious. From what I gather, however, there's some tragic stuff going on right now around New Orleans. I can't even really put it into words, but having just been there last April, I cannot begin to imagine the devastation that people are going through over here. To those reading this who are geographically closer to it, can you give me a sense of what is happening, what people are talking about, what you're generally going through because of it... I have read that there are thousands feared dead, can that be true? Some one fill me in please...
Also, I read that gas might top $4/gallon? Is that really true? How much is it right now. And then that stampede in Baghdad that killed close to 1,000 people? Unimaginable. Plus all these airplane crashes recently, and flooding, and what not? Ladies and gentlement, boys and girls, is this the second coming? Is the world doomed? Rhetorical yet perhaps thought-provoking. Or not. Someone please let me know...
In my news, met the kids today, the elementaries...they are cute. More later..
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new orleans is pretty much nonexistent. looting, snakes, aligators all over the place. crazy shit man. gas is climbing. i filled up for 3.30 today.
check out msnvideo.com
New Orleans
80% of the city is flooded. The mayor doesn't want to indicate a fatality figure but it is assumed to be in the thousands. He has called for the complete evacuation of the entire city. It will take two months to drain the water out of the city as the usual method of sandbags is not going to cut it. Around 25,000 people were relocated to the New Orleans Superdome temporarily as the less fortunate who could not escape Katrina were forced to stay and watch their homes and possessions destroyed. The conditions at the Superdome deteriorated to the point of a full evacuation there and now they are shuttling the 25,000 to the Houston Astrodome for temporary housing. Over 80% of the city evacuated before the storm hit, but the true impact of this catastrophe is being felt by the poor as their possessions are all gone, they are homeless, jobless and in many cases have lost loved ones. Overall, Katrina is estimated to have caused $30 billion of damage. Over 110 casualties in Mississippi, 11 in Florida and a few in Georgia, Tennessee and other SE states. All in all, because of the city's geographic status of being below sea-level, would it really be worth re-building the city just to have another hurricane destroy it again. Ma, please flush it all away...
Gas Prices -
Gas prices are undoubtedly going to hit $4.00 a gallon and presumably higher than that. It is supposed to stabilize at this high rate for a few months and then revert back to the mid $2 range after the full impact of katrina has been absorbed. There is a proposed tax to increase gas to over $5 a gallon and use the tax money ($1-$2) to fully develop alternative fuel sources so this won't happen in the next decade as it has in the 70s, 80s and now.
Baghdad -
As part of a religious ceremony, thousands of Sunnis were marching from one holy site to another when news was spread of a suicide bomber amongst the crowd. Panic ensued as the thousands of people were crossing a certain bridge. People were jumping 30 feet into the water below and many of the people were said to have perished from asphyxiation. The majority of the deceased (presumed to be over 1,000) are women and children as they were trampled or merely thrown from the bridge. After some investigation, there were no credible threats of a suicide bombing attack in the crowd and the whole incident can be blamed on fear and paranoia.
The 40 Year Old Virgin is #1 in the box office. I think that's the overall sign of our downfall from civilization.
on a brighter note...
http://www.youtube.com/?v=k4GY20RHX9E
hey p, can you reveal your identity please? i have some guesses but i'm not sure; ginza, thank you for the details; my reaction to all of this - i just can't believe it. i wonder what its like to see the $3.30/gl at the gas station. So it must cost like over $50 to fill up, especially for the bigger cars and with premium gasoline, unbelievable. and the new orleans stuff, wow. can it ever recover? so are there pictures out there of bourbon street as it looks now? i know that some of the bars' websites had 24hour webcams before, i'll go check them out now...keep up the faith, its worth living still...
For those interested in these sorts of things, this website shows you prices for gas around the country
www.gaspricewatch.com
Also, with this gas thing. I think its important to remember that though gas prices are high, they are by no means at historical peak level when adjusted for inflation
bull, they gotta be real high, even adjusted for inflation, but then again, you're the MMSSist...
Shlomo, I am looking at the link you posted and the second graph in the article supports exactly what I said. Adjusted for inflation, retail gas price is at $2.61 today whereas it was over $3.00 in the early 80's.
Second, where are you getting the $3.59 Chicago price from? I checked two zip codes (60606 downtown and five miles from it and 60657) and the highest price for regular gas was $3.36. And that's the high. Most gas stations were around the $3 mark
Hey guys - it's Jason's wife (?!) Sarah. More info on N.O. for you Roman...
Superdome continues to deteriorate, I read today (9/7) on CNN that it now will need to be demolished altogether. The church where we got married very likely was flooded, based on its location and where the levees broke. French Qtr stayed pretty dry through all of this, it's one of the highest points of downtown New Orleans. That means Jackson Sq. and the cathedral are probably ok. But general mayhem has been going on for the last week. Police had a terrible time keeping order, looters were out of control. Some were simply taking basic survival needs and police just had to look the other way because there was nothing they could do to stop it. Others were looting stupid stuff like TVs and beer, carrying guns around threatening people. There was absolutely no order in the days immediately after the flooding. Police couldn't arrest anybody b/c there was nowhere to put them. 2 police officers even committed suicide because they couldn't take it anymore. Dead bodies were floating in the flood waters, and more are going to be revealed in the days and weeks to come as the flood waters get pumped down. But the water is completely contaminated with human and industrial waste due to sewers bursting, landfills being flooded. Disease is becoming more and more of a problem for anyone who is still there.
Supposedly, the situation is getting better. National guard and others are on the ground to keep the peace, and FEMA is issuing $2000 debit cards to evacuees so they can get some basic needs covered. But it's still a huge mess.
Hard to digest all of this, especially with the strong ties Jason and I have down there.
Maria,
I believe 3.59, although it looks to me like prices went down a little since the weekend. On the way to work today I saw 3.09. It costs more than 50 bucks for me to fill up a tank, and it doesn't help too much to know that it was more expensive in the 80's. :)
A couple of kids that got evacuated from NO and are staying with relatives in the area came to our school yesterday. One teacher was telling me that the kid came in with nothing, no backpack, no pencil, no paper, and when he told the other kids that he was from New Orleans everbody gave him all their new school supplies.
Also, our friend who's in the Coast Guard got sent over there. There is some intelligence concern that since it's pretty much anarchy and chaos down there, Mexicans are trying to illegally enter the country.
i was supposed to be in N.O. at this time. I guess I got lucky. Mancow has some really interesting things to say about the whole thing every day, including how Mrs.Bush Sr. believes that the poor people of N.O. are Better off!
there's looting of all kinds of stuff, electronics even. What the hell does one need a DVD player for if there are no power lines?
Gas prices suck.
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