The waters are rising: The scene in Minot is looking pretty bad at this stage, and the forecast is not heartening — flooding unprecedented for the region is prompting the government to issue evacuation notices, as officials will deliberately release more waters from the Lake Darling Dam to mitigate the crisis (the dam is near Minot as well as other towns). The expected drainage will be three times what Minot could handle, all but assuring the damage and destruction of countless homes. Our thoughts are with these victims, and we hope people will prioritize their own safety. source
Scenes from Joplin, and fears of further storms: The death toll in Joplin continued to grimly creep upwards today, with 117 now confirmed dead, and relief and rescue services still faced with such a job that you should probably brace for that number to change again. To make matters worse, the NOAA has issued warnings of severe storms the next few days across a broad swath of the American heartland, with Joplin lying in the highest risk zone. Please do everything possible to stay safe, everybody. source
The carnage in context: Obviously, it’s tough to quantify the costs in property damage, land damage, and the hideous trauma that has been thrust upon so many, and in the case of the trauma it’ll probably never be. That said, in terms of the most irreversible damage done, lives lost, we at least know this much — this was a big one by America’s standards. With the death-toll grimly ticking upwards as hours roll by, this will be at least the 7th largest loss of life by storm in American history, and that could easily change in the following days. Our thoughts are with them. (photo by Dusty Compton, from the Tuscaloosa News’ photo gallery)source
15uses of the word "must" in Lee's epic eco-manifesto
32uses of the word "human," the target of his ire
14uses of the word "stop"; he's very demanding in this thing
twouses of the word "need"; they come at the end of the manifesto source
» The brunt of his argument: Lee, who admits to being inspired by Daniel Quinn (whose bestseller “Ishmael” currently ranks number 317 on Amazon’s book listings) thinks that humans are causing many bad things in the world, and he wants them to stop their damage and destruction. So, he’s suggesting the network create a new game show that will encourage humans not to procreate. In general, he thinks that the world needs fewer humans, because they cause great damage to the planet. He’s a rare breed – he’s not pro-life or pro-choice. He’s anti-life. That’s rare.
This is freaking awesome. As part of the stimulus plan, the Savannah River Sites decided to knock off one of their massive cooling towers which was no longer in use and would cost money to secure every year otherwise. It’s pretty awesome to watch really freaking thick concrete fall to the ground like this, in a Roland Emmerich/Michael Bay way.
Google’s updated their satellite images for Port-au-Prince, Haiti, post-earthquake, and some of the new views are devastating and terrible. The images are also being given to relief organizations, who may be able to use it to assist others. source
on Amazon’s book listings) thinks that humans are causing many bad things in the world, and he wants them to stop their damage and destruction. So, he’s suggesting the network create a new game show that will encourage humans not to procreate. In general, he thinks that the world needs fewer humans, because they cause great damage to the planet. He’s a rare breed – he’s not pro-life or pro-choice. He’s anti-life. That’s rare.
