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News Briefs 27-08-2010

“This hypnagogic condition…”

Thanks to GT and RPJ!

Quote of the Day:

“My major preoccupation is the question, ‘What is reality?’ Many of my stories and novels deal with psychotic states or drug-induced states by which I can present the concept of a multiverse rather than a universe.”

Philip K. Dick

  1. Apocalypse Then
    Was not sure which article to post this to (Apoca-lists Now – or – The city that keeps on keepin’ on!) but since the other was more about entertainment, I opted for this one…

    New Orleans, 2005 and hurricane Katrina was about as close to a genuine exercise in apocalyptic adventure as anyone could imagine… short of the real deal. It had all the right(?) ingredients for a sort of hell on Earth scenario.

    Apocalypse
    a·poc·a·lypse – noun

    5. any universal or widespread destruction or disaster: the apocalypse of nuclear war.
    http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/apocalypse

    The pictures and stories that were coming out of the newly created cesspool of New Orleans were horrific. Power was out, tap water – where it was still running – was contaminated, phone lines were down except for a few cell towers on battery back up, streets were either flooded or made impassible from fallen trees and other debris, gas lines were broken all over as homes floated off their foundations, rupturing the pipes, the airport was partially submerged and emergency services were in need of rescue themselves.

    The city was always notorious for its special brand of law enforcement. The liberal policies that were displayed in the French Quarter for the benefit of the tourist trade and party atmosphere, were not present in the outlying areas. And gang warfare was an old story before the storm so… that situation was almost entirely predictable.

    Afterwards, it was those street gangs that owned much of the city.

    Looters helped themselves, not just for survival, but for anything of value. And even law abiding residents were left to their own devices if they wanted to do more than live on their roofs in hope of rescue from the rising water level.

    Yeah, it smelled real bad too, even after the first day.

    The city is built on a river delta; or silt, not unlike a tidal sandbar, so once the water breached the levies, it was akin to a toilet basin with raw sewage, not to mention the standard petroleum and chemical pollution, mixed in to whatever else was swimming around.

    Why anyone would want to live there to begin with, has always been beyond me.

    Then people started to make their way towards city center in hopes of finding help. They basically waded or floated for miles all around, eventually to be herded into the Super Dome.

    It’s really a wonder that those folks survived their experience at all. The scene was a cross between and industrialized Auschwitz and a supersized septic tank.

    Much of this I still clearly remember from the news reports of the day. I also have a folder I saved with about a hundred images of the after events. And then there was/is this rather distant relative who, after Katrina, was a lot less distant.

    She had no where else to go so she and her brood moved here to my neck of th woods. She resettled and lives here still. We talk often and she is always ready to remember those horrible days…

    I think it helps her to bleed off the memories that still haunt her.

    In closing, Katrina did enough damage on its own. That cup was not going to pass. But the near-criminal negligence of government on every level from municipal to federal, did nothing but add to the misery and lengthen the suffering.

    And lest we forget the cheerleaders, the media did indeed feast upon this event, creating as much confusion as you would find under a circus tent on fire.

    So, God help us all if anything like a genuine, national or global apocalypse should occur.

  2. two comments
    The 3-D television story reminds me of the Dennis Miller joke: “When an unemployed steelworker living in Pittsburgh can spend the day drinking beer with Marilyn Monroe, its going to make heroin look like de-caffeinated Sanka.”

    The Star Wars remake reminds me of a William Gibson speech to the filmmakers on this type of thing from several years ago.

    Thanks for the link to the asteroid clip.

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