Category: News

Questions that need to be asked about Lousiana’s response to Katrina

This is best statement I’ve seen yet on the ineptitude with which Hurricane Katrina evacuation and recovery were handled.

After things calm down, and the memory of all this begins to fade, I hope no one forgets to ask these questions:

Why were no means of evacuation other than the SuperDome provided for those too poor or infirm to leave? These were not people who were set on remaining in their homes no matter what. They all flocked to the SuperDome for lack of a better plan.

Even if we accept the lack of leadership in facilitating the evacuation, when it quickly became obvious that the SuperDome was no longer a viable facility for the thousands of people inside – why did it still take a WEEK to get them out? Even though people were actually dying inside.

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Google vs. AskJeeves

A 1-round search battle

I recently read that AskJeeves (now “ask.com”) would be making some changes to try to reclaim some market share from Google. I hadn’t used that site in a while, so I decided to test it against Google. I came up with one of those questions that rattle around in my head:

How do they train oil tanker captains?

Ask.com Results (click to enlarge)

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What Caused the Flu Vaccine Shortage?

I did a little research into why we now only have two (no, make that one!) suppliers of flu vaccine for the entire US, and why that supply is available only through the government. If the authors quoted below are correct, perhaps current policy needs to be revised.

I’ve heard various politicians and administrators lately (most recently Tommy Thompson) telling us how the flu vaccine shortage is not a public health problem, and people questioning how dangerous the flu can be. I have to disagree with them – for anyone who has asthma or respiratory diseases, or simply doesn’t have a lot of defense against the flu, ithe possibility of getting a bad case of the flu can be a pretty scary prospect.

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Cover the Uninsured Week

According to the site: Cover the Uninsured Week.Org, May 10-16 is “Cover the Uninsured Week,” a weeklong series of national and local activities that is part of a year-round, nonpartisan effort in support of securing health care coverage for every man, woman and child in the United States.

The site is devoted to organizing and distributing information related to the weeklong event, with Fact Sheets, data on the uninsured in America, suggestions for events you can plan, etc. It also has a lot of information for individuals who need insurance, including guides to finding insurance in your own state no matter what your situation, information on free or low-cost insurance for your kids, information on community health centers, guides to the legal protections you may have under the law in all 50 states, and more. I took a look at some of the guides, they are definitely worth a read if you need insurance.

One thing I’ve found that the site doesn’t seem to have is a list of companies that offer major medical coverage or primary care coverage for those that are not getting insurance through their jobs, but can afford some coverage if it is not too expensive.

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