Hurricane Ike, Galveston and Public Service

A hurricane destroyed Galveston, Texas, and I’m amazed and shocked of how little coverage the issue is having on TV. I have people I care for in that part of the world and I’ve been keeping a close eye on things the best I can, but it’s not easy… It seems the most important thing today besides the Lehman Brother’s collapse is the supposed fact that John McCain helped develop the Blackberry. It’s strange and leaves me with a eerie feeling.

Today Galveston’s mayor Lyda Ann Thomas ordered all city workers not to talk with the media. Claims this is not a media blackout. Reporters are also being escorted out of the city. No, it’s not a media blackout.

Google however is giving everyone a hand.

If you use google earth you can download a layer with recent images of the Galveston area after Ike’s impact. 

I feel obligated to mention that it can be quite devastating to look at.

If you are reading this post a few days after it’s been published you might want to browse google’s LatLong Blog for the most recent kmz file.

It does not substitute real news, but I hope that if at all possible it will help spread the service google provided. As I’m pretty sure that anyone who evacuated from Galveston and are prohibited of returning to their city for who knows how long need the piece of mind.

Also, KHOU keeps a twitter account that you can follow. They are pretty new at this twitter thing as they insist on reposting “news”, but it’s way better then nothing.

And here are some traffic cameras, that are slowly but surely getting online. 

Hope it helps.

facts, the avoidance of.

epic description of wardriving:

The technique is called wardriving, and it allows hackers to detect vulnerabilities in a retailer’s wireless network in order to lift credit and debit card information.

as seen on cnet’s “news”

Seriously, there’s this new thing called “wikipedia”, try using it before leading your readers towards ignorance and FUD. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardriving

on a less sad note:

This blog has been pretty slow, I know, and I apologize to my readership (all 4 of you), I’ve been extra busy for some strange and obscure reason and I’m rather uninspired to write anything decent.

I keep updating my twitter account though, so if you are so inclined add me, and I’ll obviously add you back: http://twitter.com/fsamurai. it’s still pretty techie I suppose since i don’t use it as a time line of my bowel movements. Looking forward to seeing some new faces there.

when all you have is a hammer…

How to effectively kill the online music business.

A reminder to Apple on how not to do things

Forcing churn.

How to clearly tell your customers you’re not trust worthy

How some things never change.

How to tell your paying customers they are suckers.

How to hammer a big nail on the DRM coffin

 

All possible titles to an article on Ars Technica (and in al honestly, all better then the one chosen)

linky: http://smallr.net/1354

oh noes, no more lemmings!

okay, Microsoft seems to be getting social and keen on interoperability. Now if Apple releases a new MacBook Pro, I swear to God that I will refuse to read RSS feeds for two weeks, I will not click on blogs and I’ll keep away from any social networks…

… with the obvious exception of Adult Friend Finder.

(mental note on Microsoft: buy very warm coat and leave very specific instructions for it to be in the casket when I go.)