Identifying The Blind Spots

Gerin Oil

Richard Dawkins has an article in this month's Prospect magazine which is well worth reading, if nothing more than for its unique literary approach. In it he argues, that Gerin oil, a highly addictive drug, was responsible for many of the world's worst calamities, including September 11th, the Salem witchhunts, and many very bloody wars.

If you haven't heard of Gerin oil before, try reading the piece a second time. Make sure to "free your mind."

Collective Imagery of Katrina

One way to experience viscerally the devastation of Katrina is to watch this slideshow over at Flickr of tens of thousands of images collected over the last week and a half. You can adjust the speed in the top right to 1 second per image and minimize the window so it sits in the corner of you screen. After watching this for an hour or so, I think you can get a pretty good sense of the devastation inflected as well as the hardships people are going through.

Here are just a few images I found particularly striking:
Dead Man Watched On By a Dog
Crying Boy in A Shopping Basket
Woman In Curlers Recovering at the Astrodome
Bush Playing Guitar In Front of A Crying Mother
Last Of the Holdouts
Two Families Waiting For Help On a Roof
People Clammering To Get On Buses
SOS Sign on The Roof Of A Flooded House
Restaurant Gone But The Sign Remains
Girl Who Lost Her Parents

Multiply Your Donation

How to Become a Hero has compiled a list  of organizations that have matching programs for Hurricane Katrina disaster relief. Before you donate directly through organizations like the Red Cross, you should think about going through one of these matching programs since your donations will instantly be doubled.