A welcomed post: Jackson, Miss., blogger Shawn Lea — one of the most prolific bloggers I know who has become a friend of mine via the blogosphere — has been alarmingly quiet for two days, since making a post about Katrina approaching Jackson and a tree falling on her house. I haven’t heard from her via e-mail or blog post, so this is very welcomed news. No power or phone at her home so her family is in a hotel (with Internet access and air conditioning). As her job involves coordinating with hospitals responding to the disaster, she’ll be blogging lightly in the coming weeks. However, she’s already made a few posts regarding response efforts. Glad you’re safe, Shawn.
Also, on a personal note: Thanks to those who have asked about my brothers and mother, all whom live in the Mobile, Ala., area. Everyone is safe, high and dry.
Neither snow nor rain*, except for these zipcodes: Hammock Publishing’s postal maven says the Postal Service is updating this page with information about specific Katrina-hit zipcode areas that do not have service.
Quote:
Effective immediately, the Postal Service is not accepting any Standard Mail or Periodicals Mail – from any source – addressed for delivery within the following three-digit ZIP Code ranges: Mississippi – 369, 393, 394, 395, 396 Louisiana – 700, 701
*Trivia: There is no official USPS motto despite the famous inscription on the New York General Post Office at 8th & 33rd: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”
Technorati Tags: katrina, usps
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(via: 43 Folders)
Athlete blogs? In the previous post, I pointed to Steve McNair’s first-person entry on NFLPlayers.com and now, here is a WSJ story (free) about Justin Gimelstob’s first-person account of the U.S. Open that appears on SI.com.
Such participant-athlete first-person accounts have always been standard-fare on the sports page. I think it’s interesting that, in the case of Gimelstob, that “blog” is being used to describe what he’s doing.
(Trivia: A Nashville connection: In 1993, Justin Gimelstob won the USTA national boy’s, 16-and-under clay court championship which used to be played each year in Nashville.)
Steve McNair is blogging: Or journaling, or whatever they call it on NFLPlayers.com.
Google repping print ad space: As I’ve said on many occasions, with Adsense, the role Google plays for traditional publishers is that of advertising sales representative — not competitor. The majority of the revenues head straight to the bottom line of the “publisher.” If one recognizes this, then a logical extension of this service is to rep advertising that appears in print, as well. I don’t think this is “evil,” but I haven’t seen what others have said (I’m still off line). This is an old business model — revolutionary only in that Google is doing it. I’m sure I’ll be saying more on this topic later.
Help is on the way: I’m off line until the afternoon, but couldn’t stand the thought of my last post being one of despair. There are so many people who want to help, who will do whatever they (we) can to reach out. I have no doubt the response to Katrina will be historic. (I’ll add that I find it reassuring to see that on the Times Picayune news weblog, they’re keeping folks up to date on college and pro football plans.)
