More New Orleans Links: Lousy Gov’t Response, Heroes, Volunteers, and More

I apologize for all the Katrina links lately, but this is a massive story that is not going to stop developing any time soon (especially once we get official death numbers).

I do I wish I could make it down south right now — I’d love to help out with this in the best way I could, and this would be my cup of tea: A group of volunteers (with some help from some major corporations) is trying to wire up Houston and New Orleans so that they can get communication systems back up and going. Part of the community effort is getting documented here, and more on BoingBoing. So any of you with Wireless network, mesh network, VoIP, low-power FM radio, etc… , be sure to donate your time.

Note for geeks out there with Internet2 access (which means you’re probably in college), your traffic might be suffering a tad.

On a side note, I won’t get into my feelings about the government’s piss-poor response to all this (stories like this, this, this, this, this, this and this sicken me), but I do get very angry when I see stories like this of very valuable resources going mostly unused.

But on a brighter note, PayPal allows you to setup a fee-free donation page for Katrina victims, and there are a pile of colleges helping out students. Also, here’s a flickr photo collection from a volunteer who’s wiring up the Astrodome.

On a totally random note, here’s a nutjob that thinks Hurricane Katrina was a guided weapon (with more conspiracy theories here).

Thanks to Waxy and BoingBoing and many others for all these links.