August 2005 Archives

The latest mail from my mother:

We are in an area referred to in the newspapers as "south of the tracks." I've always heard of being on the wrong side of the tracks--now we truly understand the meaning. Yesterday I heard a reporter talking about middle-class families instantly becoming refugees. That is us! Our house is (was) about 1-1/2 blocks from the beach at the Long Beach-Gulfport city lines, so photos of rubble may be ours. Sorry if this sounds lacking in optimism, but we will pick up and start over, if necessary. We keep reminding each other that it is just stuff. Just wish we had packed more of that stuff, but when we packed on Sat. Katrina was only at category 3, not so big and that huge storm surge wasn't on our minds.

Until they will let us return, we are now at the home of one of Maurice's nieces here in Brandon. The house doesn't have power, phone, etc., but I'm writing this at her office that does have power, phone, and even air conditioning! It is hot and steamy here today.

What news I'm getting from the Mississippi Coast continues to be extremely bad. My parents tried to make the trip back today, but couldn't get past Meridian, MS. I'm not sure exacly where I-59 is closed; US 49 is closed south of Jackson, MS. Not sure whther the roads south are being blocked by downed trees, National Guard, or both. They're currently looking for someplace in the Jackson area to wait things out.

My parents have lived in a house a block and a half off the beach in Long Beach, MS since before I was born. It is highly probable that their house, along with practically everything else located sout of the railroad, has been reduced to rubble.

I always said that after the next big storm hit, there would finally be land-based casinos in Mississippi. It seems I was right. I don't think I wanted to be.

It probably should not surprise me, at this point, that there is a wikipedia page up to cover the storm, but it does. [via Baylink, who's helping to maintain the page.]

Hurricane news sources (partly for my own reference):

• The Times-Picayune -- New Orleans newspaper
• The Sun Herald -- Mississippi Gulf Coast newspaper
• National Hurricane Center -- NOAA official advisories and maps
• Weather Channel -- Tropical Update
• Eyes on Katrina -- weblog from a couple of Sun-Herald Reporters

I'll add more as I find useful sites.

My parents evacuated to Tuscaloosa, Alabama Sunday morning, so they're safe. However, I'm following the Eyes on Katrina weblog, and boats have washed up onto the highway only a few miles from their house.

I really should post an entry about why I haven't been posting (hint), but in the meantime, a quick link: Some Browncoat with too much time (and too much injection-molded plastic) on his hands built a LEGO model of the Firefly-class cargo ship Serenity. [via Evil Stevie] I just hope the little LEGO compression coil is in good shape...

Not to spoil anything, but back when I saw the preview of the Serenity movie, one of my favorite early scenes was a travelling shot following Mal through the interior of the ship. There were lots of good scenes in the original series that gave a sense of how the ship was laid out, but this just blew me away. I love the design, both internal and external, of this ship.

P.S. Joss Whedon is a raving Veronica Mars fanboy, too. [via TeeVee]

About a decade ago, the Fox network ran a short-lived dark satire of corporate culture called Profit. Adrian Pasdar played the titular character, Jim Profit, as a suave sociopath determined to climb the corporate ladder all the way to the top, no matter how many corpses he left in his wake. Profit made for one of the most anti- of antiheroes I've ever seen on TV, and the show fascinated me. I was still young and naive enough to be disappointed when Fox dropped the series after only about six episodes (along with the Vampire RPG-based Kindred), but I would have to admit that it was pretty far out there by the standards of the day. It was a pleasant surprise to see the show available on DVD, and while I may not be able to pick it up right away, it's definitely going on my list. The only shows I can think of that I'd be even more excited to see available on disc would be Max Headroom and The Adventures of Brisco County, Junior. [via DVD Verdict]

Oh, joy. I live "within 300 miles of 400,000 NRA members". Now, even though I don't claim to like them, guns don't particularly scare me, nor do gun owners. Gun activists, on the other hand... Maybe I should plan a vacation far, far away for April 2007.

So, there's this Gizmo Project free net-telephony thing that all the geeks are talking about. Just for shits and grins, and despite the whole I-don't-know-anyone-to-talk-to-anymore thing, I figured I'd download it and sign up. Anybody wants to try giving me a call, by ID is bmokeefe (yeah, yeah, boring, but I might want to look respectable someday). I cant make any promises about how communicative I'll be feeling on a given evening, but it might be worth a shot.

It's been a month or so since I've played World of Warcraft, but maybe it's time to get back in. Scott Kurtz from PvP has thrown down to rival webcomic Penny Arcade, and Gabe and Tycho have accepted the challenge. It seems that the new server Dark Iron has been virtually overrun by players rushing to both banners. I'm both tempted and torn. My in-game tendency is for the Horde, which would put my on the side of Kurtz's Panda Attack, but my preferred comic is Penny Arcade, pushing me towards their Knights of Arcadia and Fancy Lads factions. I guess if I do throw my hat into the ring, I should seriously consider helping out the Horde underdogs, in the hope of balancing things out, however little my help might be.