THE MOTE IN GOD'S EYE

I knew that experiencing Katrina, even from far away, had altered me forever when I found myself saying, "oh, well, Rita's only a CAT 3 now, that's nothing."

Between cable news, the Internet, satellite imaging and new graphic imaging technology, experiencing Katrina was nothing like being there, but felt, eerily, as if I were experiencing it as a God or a demi-God, with uncanny supernatural powers of perception.

It began with enhanced-color satellite images of Katrina slamming into the coast, accompanied by streaming radio commentary from stations in the area, reached its peak with Shep Smith standing outside the Superdome for days, showing us dead bodies and the raw emotional despair of the evacuees, and concluded with blogs of those going around looking at what was left, and graphic images of the flooding and what was left, and what was gone.

And if I could figure out how to post a Powerpoint presentation online, I'd even show you a series of images of Plaquemines Parish that will astonish you. But I have no idea how to do that. Without Blogger doing the work for me, I couldn't even blog!