A new desktop computer arrived with the UPS man Friday evening. It's fast with great capacity and included a nice large monitor as the special come-on of the Dell week. Of course, with the arrival of the new machine I have been absolutely unproductive for days. The shelpping out of the old, unworking desktop to the garage was simple. Getting the new model to display the "Welcome to Windows" greeting to me took only minutes. It's the days of feeding CDs into the hungry maw of the new beast that's taken the time. Rejiggering the application settings, entering license codes, [...]

Once again Andy Borowitz is the first to get the facts to the public... In the wake of the former First Lady's sensitive remarks on the hurricane refugees we now know how Ms. Bush is being, mmm..., protected. Get the details:  Barbara Bush Relocated

From Capital City Squares yesterday at 8:30 am I'm saddened to report that Stan Boyden passed away Tuesday night, Sept 6, at about 11:30 pm PST.  His partner of more than 55 years, Bill St John, is doing well this morning in his usual stoic way.  I will publish more information in the next few days as arrangements are finalized.  Please do not try to contact Bill St John directly at this time...  -- James Ozanich From PACE based on email sent yesterday at 10 am by Bonnie Abramson. I got a call about 11:45 p.m. last night and was asked to [...]

Relayed by PACE from Michael Foft dated September 6... As you may have known, Stan was taken to the hospital last week; he has returned to the (same) convalescent hospital as of today; however; Folks, there is no way to sugar coat this: the prognosis is not good. Basically, Stan was returned to the facility because nothing further can be done. It is only a matter of time, and not a great deal of that, until Stan Boyden dies; the decision was made that no intravenous feeding, no feeding tubes, etc., would be used; there would be little point to [...]

The Reverend William G. Sinkford, President of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (my church), writes on the Katrina response.I am so angry. I've had to stop watching coverage of the disaster along our Gulf Coast. The statements from our political and military leaders that we have "turned the corner," that we have a unified disaster command with "perfect coordination," in response to this "natural disaster" are more than I can bear. I cannot watch one more press conference with congratulations for the "heck of a job" FEMA and the military have done. Natural disaster? Katrina was certainly a force [...]

Geoff signed up for a free account today.  I hope it wasn't pure peer group pressure that tipped him over the edge. Now we can be true geeks and communicate with each other via blog.  Being verbal is so 1990's. Welcome, redozdachs!

Google has posted post-Katrina satellite maps of New Orleans at Google maps. The free service lets you toggle between maps, pre-storm satellite, and post-storm satellite views. It's captivating real information. I felt hopeful looking at the pictures of the French Quarter that maybe the news media was focusing on the few bad spots as they did during the 1989 Marina fires.  There's no water on the streets in the Quarter. But, then I looked at east... There's more on Google's subscription Key Hole service.  Geoff is researching at Key Hole and is amazed at the amount of information about specific places and [...]

As of 6:15 this morning. As billeyler posted earlier, the Amazon.com system makes it very quick, especially if you've used Amazon.com before.  I think it took me four clicks (go to page, click on donate, select credit card on file, confirm) and a few key strokes (to type in the donation amount). Click to give

Dear Friend, The wrath of Hurricane Katrina has destroyed lives and livelihoods along America's Gulf Coast. This loss is shared by all of us, and today we all grieve as one American family. Even as we grieve, we must take quick action to stem the crisis and help those in desperate need. I am pleased Speaker Hastert agreed to my request for a special session of  Congress to get to work immediately and bring relief to the victims of this horrific disaster. This is a clear and unmistakable bipartisan signal to the people of the Gulf Coast region that we [...]

How easy is it to donate for hurricane relief? Darn easy. And convenient. First there's the Red Cross' site .  It gets bogged down (and, that's a good thing, Martha), but it works. Amazon.com has it's own Red Cross donation page.  It's fast, after-all, Amazon is used to collecting money, eh?  You can also enjoy watching the total amount increase every time you refresh your browser. Daddy's Bar/440 Castro will be doing a benefit Sunday from 4 -8 pm.  Geoff and I will be there. Craig's List is pitching in with a Katrina resource page.  Craig's List also has pages for [...]