MICHELLE MALKIN HAS A ROUNDUP ON LOOTING: I agree with Jonah Goldberg that it’s one thing for desperate people to help themselves to bottled water, food, or diapers from abandoned stores, and another to just sack those places for valuables. People doing the latter should be shot.

IT’S LIKE A BIG RX-8: The Ford Iosis Concept Car. (Via Autoblog). Hey, Ford could do worse — and has!

THE MUDVILLE GAZETTE has a massive roundup on the military response to Katrina, which is quite extensive.

THE DEMOCRATIC SURGE continues.

RON BAILEY ON BIOTECHNOLOGY: “How Europe starves the world’s poor.”

GAS RATIONING AT THE WHOLESALE LEVEL, due to Katrina-related shortages.

LEGAL AFFAIRS has a number of interesting items on national security law.

DISASTER KITS: Reader Brian Cook emails: “Prof. Reynolds, you mentioned that everyone should have a battery-operated radio in his emergency kit. I submit that one of these is an even better idea.”

Actually, I have one. So does reader Andrew Centofani, who writes: “For emergencies I like the Grundig FR200. I just bought one a couple of months ago and thankfully haven’t had to use it for anything emergency wise, but it works great — about an hour with two minutes of cranking — and has an emergency light built in. If I could add anything to it I would have some sort of DC out plug as so I could power/charge other small electronics and add Weather / Emergency frequencies.” I agree.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Brian King emails:

have that same Grundig dynamo-powered radio, and I love it.

My wife has this one in her car: it’s got a “mobile phone charger” outlet. Her phone cord doesn’t fit the jack, but it is a DC out.

The Grundig FR-300 has a similar mobile phone charging jack.

Cool.

LEGAL PROBLEMS WITH SPACE ELEVATORS: My TechCentralStation column is up.

UPDATE: In the comments to that piece, reader J.T. Wenting observes:

Message: Space elevators most likely will be built from space down towards earth rather than from the surface up.

Would they still be an extension of the country they’re anchored to or would they be space structures reaching the surface?

I’d say the latter, similar to a ship mooring in a harbour not being real estate of the country that harbour is located in, as technically the space elevator would be moored to the ground rather than being built on it.

Interesting argument.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Rand Simberg has more thoughts:

The problems associated with anchoring such a beast in an unstable and/or corrupt equatorial country has caused many of those planning such things to put them instead on floating ocean platforms, in international waters. This raises some new issues, because now, instead of (as Glenn notes) the structure simply being a very high tower, it would now be a tall ship that would put to shame all of the previous false claimants to that designation, with their puny little sticks for masts.

Indeed.

FEDERAL RELIEF EFFORTS, including a Naval flotilla and 125,000 National Guardsmen, are on the way to afflicted areas, reports CNN.

UPDATE: A reader emails:

What most of these poor folks need right now is information on where they can go to seek shelter. I’m in Tuscaloosa right now and you wouldn’t believe the overflow of people seeking hotel rooms. Maybe the blogosphere can help get the word out to the relief agencies they need to get the word out to the victims. The University recreation center is offering shelter for now, but what happens when that overflows? How are these people going to continue to pay for hotel rooms weeks after this disaster?

I don’t know how to handle this problem, but I hope that somebody does. Ideas?

ANOTHER UPDATE: Kathy Childre emails:

I was thinking that there should be a way to set up a fund just for that. An hotel fund. I know in Baton Rouge some apartment managers are offering month to month leases for displaced persons and trying to find free furnture for them. Donating used furniture for the apartments would be nice to. If there were some way to set up a fund to pay for those leases as well it would be great. I’m just not sure of the logistics of it.

It’s a thought.

KAYE TRAMMELL has an open comment thread for people looking for news and information about survivors.

Also, here’s the Hurricane Katrina help Wiki.

Craigslist is running a lost and found list for friends and relatives. It also includes posts from people who want to help.

I’m not sure why, exactly, but more than anything else, reading the entries brought tears to my eyes.

Read this, too.

UPDATE: Here’s another Katrina missing persons board.

THE SLIDELL HURRICANE BLOG is gathering information about conditions in and around Slidell.

MICHAEL SILENCE HAS A ROUNDUP on misconduct by the ATF.

VARIOUS PEOPLE ARE CLAIMING THAT GLOBAL WARMING CAUSED KATRINA: EU Rota looks at the historical record and finds this argument wanting.

Here’s more from The New York Times:

Because hurricanes form over warm ocean water, it is easy to assume that the recent rise in their number and ferocity is because of global warming.

But that is not the case, scientists say. Instead, the severity of hurricane seasons changes with cycles of temperatures of several decades in the Atlantic Ocean. The recent onslaught “is very much natural,” said William M. Gray, a professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University who issues forecasts for the hurricane season.

From 1970 to 1994, the Atlantic was relatively quiet, with no more than three major hurricanes in any year and none at all in three of those years. Cooler water in the North Atlantic strengthened wind shear, which tends to tear storms apart before they turn into hurricanes.

In 1995, hurricane patterns reverted to the active mode of the 1950’s and 60’s.

It’s sad to see such lame political opportunism at a time like this.

UPDATE: Another response to lame, opportunistic, politically motivated claims.

THINGS SEEM TO BE GETTING WORSE IN NEW ORLEANS:

New Orleans resembled a war zone more than a modern American metropolis on Tuesday, as Gulf Coast communities struggled to deal with the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Deteriorating conditions in New Orleans will force authorities to evacuate the tens of thousands of people at city shelters, including the Superdome, where a policeman told CNN unrest was escalating.

The officer expressed concern that the situation could worsen overnight after three shootings, looting and a number of attempted carjackings during the afternoon.

They need to get these people out of the city as soon as possible.

NEW REPORTS FROM COASTAL ALABAMA look bad, too.

IAN SCHWARTZ has video from Biloxi, and it doesn’t look good.

SLATE WRITES ON DELL’S PROBLEMS, and Jeff Jarvis is mentioned.

My experiences with Dell, I note, have been good.

HERE’S A COAST GUARD BLOGGER, Tidewater Musings, who’s reporting on the Coast Guard’s rescue and recovery efforts.