Jemsweb

Computers should always be like this.

Wynton Marsalis was on CNN last night, playing “St. James Infirmary” over pictures of the Katrina disaster, and it got me quite emotional. The scale of the human tragedy and the sadness of that beautiful city with such a vibrant culture is really overwhelming. Salon has some great articles:

Johnny White’s, located on the corner of Bourbon and Orleans, is still open and serving drinks. “We never closed,” the bartender tells me. It’s the only bar open in the city. They serve warm beer and shots. As it gets darker, they light candles on the countertops.
A city in ruins – Stephen Elliott

I can’t believe what he’s saying. These people were lying in shit two days ago. We passed hundreds of empty buses on the way to the airport. How could a well-staffed, clean, secure, working shelter with 150 open beds in Louisiana sit half full for two days while people are being turned away at the Astrodome in Houston and bussed to Utah?
Gimme shelter – Stephen Elliott

The continuing news coverage of the catastrophe remains rightly focused on the refugees. However, the rest of the city’s population, the evacuees, remain too scattered throughout the South to have a coherent voice in the media. While the New Orleans we know may be gone, I believe the city’s many evacuees will find a sense of righteous indignation over this natural assault, and with that anger will come a determination to replace the city they once knew with something just as unique and magical.
My New Orleans – Christopher Rice

Given that our government, the richest in the world, has failed to provide the basic tools for its citizens for generations, we should not now be surprised that the poor and stranded in New Orleans have no reasonable expectation that the government will do anything to serve them and have taken things into their own hands. Perhaps if the government had made adequate investment in our citizens and our city’s infrastructure in the first place, we could have avoided this mess.
Dreams unrealized – Billy Sothern

In some good news, it appears that the French Quarter and waterfront are by and large dry. Preservation Hall and Cafe du Monde are still standing, as is St. Charles Avenue. Fire is now the greatest risk.

Hey, check out this site, you can lose hours in there. Well I can. Am I weird? Via Chelsea Peretti.

Just one Archie pic today – his lovely ‘Prodigy’ hairstyle. He celebrated his one month birthday on Saturday – seems like he’s been here for a lifetime! The kitchen looks great and is all completed. New roof going on today! It never ends!

Here’s a handy new device for all you single gaydar-impaired people out there – artificial gaydar! Nice.

And from this week’s Popbitch – the scariest kitten in the world and someone who sounds exactly like Madonna sings “The Wheels Of The Bus Go Round and Round”.

A good angle on American ‘retaliation’ for the terrorist attacks by Rabbi Michael Lerner. And an even more interesting page from the excellent Urban Legends site that investigates rumours surrounding the attacks – which are true and which are a pile of bollocks!

A shocking article contributing by LJ about the $43 million dollars given to the Taliban by the Bush Administration 4 short months ago. I am really hoping that this tragedy causes some major shakeups in international politics and humanism. What is more important – ‘retribution’ or some measures that will actually prevent such horrific events recurring?

More attack-related info from the web:

• The Counterterrorist Myth: A former CIA operative explains why the terrorist Osama bin Ladin has little to fear from American intelligence – very interesting.
• Eerily prescient album cover: This album was apparently scheduled for release this week but has now been pulled while they desperately redesign it!
• Blowback: A 1996 article about how the CIA aided fundamentalist groups in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion.

In Jems news, today is Jan’s last day at work! Congratulations Jan.

The sense of shock in Sydney yesterday was quite amazing… walking down the streets surrounded by skyscrapers I felt scarily unsafe and caught myself with little nervous pangs every time I heard a plane. Have been glued to whatever coverage I can find over the net and tv.

Here are a few of the more interesting articles and points of view I have come across:

• Michael Moore posted this message on his website today. You can always count on Mike for a different perspective on the world and America’s place in it. “Will we ever get to the point that we realize we will be more secure when the rest of the world isn’t living in poverty so we can have nice running shoes?”
• A spooky Nostradamus verse that was doing the rounds of email intrays today has been revealed as a hoax! (thanks to Lynne) More information here.
• Great article on the Sydney Morning Herald site – Echoes of Rome in an empire that must, eventually, pass away

And for something to distract you from the world’s troubles – Direct your own Bardot music clip!

In boring mundane house news, many thanks to Jake who helped us lay the lino at Hugo St kitchen last night, well actually he pretty much did it while we shouted out panicked comments from the sidelines. Anyway it looks great and we are nearly at actual renting out stage!

Some fun with Flash for today:

Some links for today:

• Cursor Love Bunny – how steady are your hands today? Personally, I can’t get it at all!
• Windows simulator – an exercise in frustration
• George Bush likes money
• Scary video of Microsoft 2IC on stage (warning – not only is this disturbing but it is 3MB!)
• Easy Lover – it’s amazing what you can do with a midi, HTML and an animated gif of Geri Halliwell

Try running your favourite site through the Dialectizer… here is this site dialectized for Redneck. Hee hee ha ha, oh I love this one.

Just talked to our intrepid lawyer and he is very positive about the settlement happening tomorrow – “90%”. Could be good news!

And for all my fellow Buffy fans, Vidiot have some new promos for Season 6 that UPN are playing. Rather good they are too. But if you haven’t seen the Season 5 finale yet, they do contain *spoilers*