Katrina disaster satellite pics

I’m not the best about keeping up with current events. I get frustrated with news coverage that doesn’t answer my questions or just repeats the same sensationalized images over and over.

I did tune in for the news this week (how could I not?) and I ended up craving… maps. An overall layout of the city of New Orleans – what’s underwater, etc. So I went online.

Google Maps has images of flooded New Orleans, but it’s hard to know what you’re looking at without an expert’s help.

The best analysis I’ve seen so far is from Digital Globe, which I found through the NPR website. They’ve got before and after satellite comparisons of Biloxi and New Orleans.

And I just read (in an article at Wired.com) about a remarkable interactive that tracks the status of specific New Orleans locations. It uses Wiki coding to allow visitors to update it continuously. It’s hosted at www.Scipionus.com, but unfortunately the site was down when I tried it. Check it yourself, it may be up by now.

This whole tragedy became less anonymous for me when I discovered that B-movie critic “The Foywonder” had to leave his home in Biloxi last week. Scott Foy gives the most entertaining coverage of bad movies this side of Joe Bob Briggs. I wish him well and hope his life gets back to normal as soon as possible.