Dana, I'm so glad you heard from them and they're okay.

And oh, Trudy, that's a remarkable post. Thank you for sharing it.

It's much appreciated. I think I needed to read that story to let my crankyness subside a bit. I'm angry at the news because it feels impersonal or something. I don't know. I don't want to hear friends and family referred to as "residents" or "people here" or whatever. It's totally irrational, but there you go. It's nice to hear, or read something that's about successful emotional survival, as I expect Krissy, Cyn, Matthew & family, Joel and Kristi and Beverly will get on without the stuff. No one's going to let them be homeless or without.

It's the less tangible stuff you were talking about up there that I couldn't seem to get past, and couldn't imagine how they'd be able to.

Anyway, it was cool. Thanks.

a group calling itself Columbia Christians for Life alerts us to the fact that a satellite image of Hurricane Katrina as it hit the Gulf Coast Monday looks just like a six-week old fetus.

There is a hurricaine legend I like much better. It goes that hurricanes start off the coast of Africa and finish in the Caribbean and the American South. And that is the same route as the slave ships. It says that the storms are the restless souls of the people who died in the middle passage.

I don't think its true, of course. And I doubt the people who died so horribly would want to see so many (including their own decendants) suffer. But I've always been touched by it.

It's totally irrational, but there you go.

See, this is proof of your sanity -- there IS no rational reaction to this.

It's going to be a hard and painful time regardless of how much anyone can do for them. Just acknoweldging that is, imho, very valuable.

We're pretty sure Cyn's didn't. I've heard conflicting reports about Joel and Krissy's area, and I'm not sure about Beverly's. I'm pretty sure Matthew's (actually, my aunt's but we don't really get along) is ok, and he mostly lives on the boat anyway.

ita, I can't get that LJ management thing to work. It hates me.

The pic site? What's it doing wrong?

I can upload the pictures fine, but I can't use it to link to a photo/icon. All that shows up is an ? icon.

Finally saw aerial video of Biloxi and Gulfport tonight.

Oh. My. Fucking. God.

The two towns are just gone; all that's left are piles of debris with an occasional house or building. And casino barges sitting inland. One barge landed on top of a hotel.

I know the mayor has been chided for comparing the destruction to the tsunami, but while the loss of life will be nowhere near the scale of the tsunami, the damage sure is comparable. I mean, the storm surge nearly erased the area from the map.

Perkins, this: <a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/serenada/pic/000a7kgd/"> links to this -- the page. And this: <img src="http://pics.livejournal.com/serenada/pic/000a7kgd"> links right to the picture.

The difference isn't large -- the forward slash, but it's key.