A strange and busy day

[dewline]

A small collection of comments:

Robert B. Parker is dead. As mentioned to quest4success on his blog:

I remember the TV shows - Spenser and Hawk - and have several of the novels myself. I've not yet gotten hooked into it as I did with the Saint and V.I. and Atticus Kodiak...but there was a place in the heart for both of those guys and the man who brought their world into ours.

I am slightly frightened at certain statistics linking level of brain-usage to political leanings. This will be used to reinforce the "don't trust anyone who fails to hide the fact that they use their brain at all" meme in some social circles, I fear.

I note fajrdrako's return to land from the Caribbean Sea today. Glad to see you've been enjoying your travels.

Hoping to finally end the game of phone tag with Medicins Sans Frontieres re: my next planned donation tomorrow. I encourage anyone who hasn't already done so re: the Haïtian quake - or any other crisis we may be forgetting about in the wake of the overwhelming need to deal with this one - to do likewise, if not with MSF, then with another organization you are inclined to trust. Because, some day, gentlebeings, the wheel will turn again. And it'll be us who needs the help.

Let's pay it forward.

More as it occurs to each of us...

Comments

[coneycat.livejournal.com]

I've been lucky in that when I've made donations to Haitian relief, I haven't had any problem with the online forms. I applaud you for sticking with your phone tag. I'm pretty sure all those systems are wildly overloaded.

[mariness.livejournal.com]

Since the effort - even post the second earthquake this morning - will be moving into second stage response efforts soon (cleaning/rebuilding) can I recommend ? They were focused on combating deforestatation and on sustainable agriculture in Haiti before the quake, and they will be focusing efforts on rebuilding grain and sugar mills and rainwater cisterns, as well as getting people prepared for the upcoming hurricane season.

(Which, in further Bad News For Haiti, looks as if it may be an above average season, increasing the chances that they will get whacked.) (http://www.lambifund.org)

[mariness.livejournal.com]

That should have said Lambifund.org (http://www.lambifund.org)but my HTML skills are nonexistent today.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

You certainly can. You've also partly addressed an ongoing concern of mine that the likes of what Naomi Klein's called "disaster capitalists" in The Shock Doctrine may already be circling what's currently left of Haïti with plans drawn up and at the ready.

[mariness.livejournal.com]

Right. My main concern with Haiti right now is actually the upcoming hurricane seasons and the status of Haitian fisheries and agriculture, and the unfortunate reality that none of this will be a priority for some time. And the problem that the country only has a few months to build hurricane-resistant housing.

I mean, in something that seems minor, the earthquake and correlated damage, for instance, unquestionably damaged some of Haiti's coral reefs. Reefs can heal themselves naturally, but aside from shaking/damage to the reefs, the U.S. Coast Guard reported major oil spills from the harbor. Oil stays on the surface and usually doesn't directly kill reefs, but does keep sunshine from reaching reefs in desperate need of energy to rebuild. This in term has long term negative implications for fisheries, which Haiti is going to need to feed itself. But absolutely nobody is doing anything to clean the oil spills - other priorities are too critical and immediate. (Actually, that's not entirely true - biologically, some bacteria will already be attacking the oil, but that's a slow process.)

These are the sorts of seemingly minor things that will be adding up, and why I'm pushing to help out the second responders who are addressing less visually wrenching, but still critical, issues of this kind.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

Seeing the ongoing concerns about Australia's Great Barrier Reef, Newfoundland's Grand Banks region and so on, as well as the ongoing concern about the world's fish stocks in general...and our memories of the Exxon Valdez spillage(among too many others)...that's something else we do need to keep an eye on.

I keep remembering things that your post touches on and having to come back to edit accordingly... *rueful smile*