your fortnightly boat

Archaeologist Barry Clifford believes he has discovered the remains of Christopher Columbus's ship, the Santa Maria, which was lost at sea more than 500 years ago, off the coast of Haiti. (via)

winter is coming

WARNING: if you live in the New York City area, you might not have long to live. Snowicane Sandy is coming and she is a real bitch and is going to pack a mean punch. Starting on Sunday and lasting two or three days, the worst hurricane/ thunderstorm/ snow cloud/ high tide is about to sit right on top of your neighborhood and take a weather dump. If you want details about your imminent demise, check here.

Snowicane Sandy has already claimed the precious lives of two Caribbean Islanders, including a Haitian lady who tried to cross a flooded stream and a Jamaican man who was crushed by a boulder that fell from up high. True story. NYC doesn't have a lot of boulders, but you know what we do have a lot of? STREAMS AND THINGS UP HIGH.

If I die, I just want you all to know that I love you and I'm sorry for that thing I did, you know what I'm talking about.

tweet power!

Twitter released a top ten list of the most "powerful" tweets of 2010 (click here). Included are tweets from @BPGlobalPR, @whitehouse, a woman who rescued herself when she tweeted her location when her phone wouldn't work, and various world governments.

But what was the most powerful tweet of 2010? That would be a tweet from @AnnCurry, host of the Today show that was credited with encouraging the US Air Force with clearing airspace so a plane full of doctors without borders could land in Haiti. All hail the great and powerful Ann Curry.

Good morning, good morning everybody, in the news this morning good morning. soup.

thanks for rescuing me!

rescue

did you see the one about the puppy rescued by helicopter from the raging floodwaters of the LA river?

my favorite comment : "...and we named the puppy haiti..."

beyonce : "h8-e I can see your halo"

if this doesnt make you want to turn your pockets inside out and empty your checking account, nothing will.

rescuers continue to pull survivors from the rubble in haiti

via

typical georgia fan.

Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez has once again accused the United States of playing God. But this time it's Haiti's disastrous earthquake that he thinks the U.S. was behind. Spanish newspaper ABC quotes Chavez as saying that the U.S. navy launched a weapon capable of inducing a powerful earthquake off the shore of Haiti. He adds that this time it was only a drill and the final target is ... destroying and taking over Iran. (via)

thx bun.

jicydak.

there was another pretty major second earthquake in h8-e this morning. 6.1 on the ol' richter. ;(

i don't think this will be good for anybody.

h8-e included:

Billboard reports that U2 and Jay-Z, two of the biggest musical entities on the planet, are teaming up to record a charity song for Haitian earthquake relief.
Speaking to the Irish radio station 2FM, U2's the Edge confirmed reports that Swizz Beatz was producing the collaboration: "Last night, we wrote a song... Bono got a call from a producer, Swizz. He and Jay-Z wanted to do something for Haiti. So Bono came up with the phrase on the phone, and last night we were here. We wrote a song-- finished, recorded, and sent it back to them. So that might be the next thing you hear from us!" Billboard reports that the collaboration will probably be sold on iTunes. (via)

anderson cooper, haiti

anderson cooper senses danger during some looting in P-a-P and swoops in like superman and rescues an injured h8-e-an. gives that injured boy the thrill of his life is what it looks like from here. swoon.

lady gaga, haiti

do you luv lady gaga, and feel just terrible about the mushed people in h8-e? then buy this $25 t shirt to wear around to the clurbs and feel satisfied. all proceeds go to h8-e-ans.

to: rush limbaugh, from: roger ebert

You should be ha-whipped for the insult you have paid to the highest office of our nation.

Having followed President Obama's suggestion and donated money to the Red Cross for relief in Haiti, I was offended to hear you suggest the President might be a thief capable of stealing money intended for the earthquake victims.

Here is a transcript from your program on Thursday:

Justin of Raleigh, North Carolina: "Why does Obama say if you want to donate some money, you could go to whitehouse.gov to direct you how to do so? If I wanted to donate to the Red Cross, why do I have to go to the White House page to donate?"

Limbaugh: "Exactly. Would you trust the money's gonna go to Haiti?"

Justin: "No."

Rush: "But would you trust that your name's gonna end up on a mailing list for the Obama people to start asking you for campaign donations for him and other causes?"

Justin: "Absolutely!"

Limbaugh: "Absolutely!"

That's what was said.

Unlike you and Justin of Raleigh, I went to Obama's web site, and discovered the link there leads directly to the Red Cross. I can think of a reason why anyone might want to go via the White House. That way they can be absolutely sure they're clicking on the Red Cross and not a fake site set up to exploit the tragedy.

But let me be sure I have this right. You and Justin agree that Obama might steal money intended for the Red Cross to help the wretched of Haiti.

This conversation came 48 hours after many of us had seen pitiful sights from Port au Prince. Tens of thousands are believed still alive beneath the rubble. You twisted their suffering into an opportunity to demean the character of the President of the United States.

This cannot have been an accident. A day earlier, in a sound bite from your show, you said "this will play right into Obama's hands. He's humanitarian, compassionate. They'll use this to burnish their, shall we say, 'credibility' with the black community -- in the both light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in this country. It's made-to-order for them."

Setting aside your riff on Harry Reid, consider what you imply. Obama will aid Haiti to please African-Americans. Haiti has lost untold thousands of lives. One third of the population has lost its homes. Countless people are still buried in the rubble. Every American president would act quickly to help our neighbor. You are so cynical and heartless as to explain Obama's action in a way that unpleasantly suggests how your mind works.

You have a sizable listening audience. You apparently know how to please them. Anybody given a $400 million contract must know what he is doing.

That's what offends me. You know exactly what you're doing.

and the devil said..."okay, it's a deal!"

i know lane kiffin just left the vols, and that's big news, but there was also a massive 7.0 earthquake in haiti yesterday. and wouldn't you know it, pat robertson says it happened because the haitian people made a deal with the devil to aid them in their struggle for independence from the french in the late 1790's and early 1800's.

when i heard this, i was naturally incredulous, but i was also confused. i know pat robertson is crazy, but this accusation seemed so much more vague and frivolous than his typical "____ happened because of homos, or legal abortion." so i went a looking, and it turns out there really are certain sects of fundamental christians who believe haiti made a deal with satan during their revolution from france, and is eternally cursed with poverty and disaster as a result. cute.

jicyww, 80% of haitians profess roman catholicism as their faith, 16% protestant, and hatian voodoo makes up and undetermined percentage of the population.

i also found this article on black and christian.com (double cute) about how that old missionary tale is not based in any fact. surprise!

joel's post below...

...reminds me of one of my favorite seinfeld moments.



i can hear it now:

"are you the ones sending those lane kiffin shirts to our country?"

"oh, so you just assume the haitians will wear them, they'll wear anything?"

"if the haitians don't like them, the haitians don't have to wear them."

"the haitians DON'T like them! we've never gotten so many complaints!"