The Interdictor is a blog detailing first hand accounts of Katrina's devastation in New Orleans. It is real. From the beginning of the storm, a small group of Directnic.com employees set up camp in a data center located on about the 10th or 11th story of a downtown office building. The address is 650 Poydras if you wish to do a Google satellite search.
When linking to this blog, begin reading on Monday, August 29. The narrator is ex military. The combination of his genuine concern for humanity and his Special Ops background make this story-in-progress one of the most real portrayals of what is actually happening. The CEO of Directnic is one of this group and from what I can tell, is responsible for the photographs they are posting.
They also have a couple of live webcams going.
It is apparent that this group never set out to capture the tremendous audience they now have gained. It is inevitable in time to come; their story will permeate the entire nation. This is the power of blogging... in the hands of real Americans...for the benefits of others!
Here is an update (from the narrator) on the individuals this team is comprised of:
I want to make sure that everyone knows I am part of a team. I am not in this myself. I seem to be getting most of the attention for the success we've had here, but I don't think that's really fair to the other guys. I think because I'm the one keeping the blog people are getting the wrong impression. Here are the people who are up here and what their responsibilities are:
Sigmund Solares, CEO: Sigmund is one of the owners of Directnic. He is on site because Team SOTI needs a guy on the spot who can make command level decisions during an emergency.
Donny Simonton, Senior Vice President: Donny is Directnic's crisis tech guy. He's responsible for all of our servers and data transfers.
Brian Acosta, I-55.com: Brian is I-55's man on the spot and their chief tech guy. He's also the guy who makes sure we keep connectivity to the internet.
Crystal Coleman, Chef: Crystal is here with me and makes herself useful in a myriad of ways, mostly by keeping us well fed.
Michael Barnett, Crisis Manager: My responsibilities are physical security, creating standard operating procedures, implementing field sanitation and hygiene, and ensuring coordination of the team.
I want to make sure that especially the media are aware of this. Sig and Donny are as equally qualified as I am to answer questions and conduct interviews.
David, thank you for this link. I've just scanned through the days, and it is nothing less than incredible how he managed to record this story the way he has. I have actually printed out each day so I can sit and read all of it...it's heartwrenching and distrubing, but amazingly told. Thanks again. -Joy
Posted by: Joy Des Jardins | September 05, 2005 at 10:56 AM
Printing out this chronicle of events to read is a most excellent idea Joy. I tend to read faster off my puter screen. The words written in this blog need to be ingested and reflected upon in a less rushed atmosphere.
Posted by: Dave | September 05, 2005 at 02:56 PM
I wouldn't trust these people with anything. Sigmund Solares is the leading cybersquatter in the US.
He is the founder of NOLDC.com, which in November 2005 registered charlottewetzel.com and demanded $15,000 to give it back to its previous owner, a mother who created the website to honor her murdered daughter (http://www.komo4.com/stories/40223.htm). After the publication of this article, NOLDC returned the domain to Margot Wetzel but Solares and his companies remain involved in cybersquatting activities, hiding his illegal activities behind "Kenyatech."
Kenyatech has been snatching domain names (often recently expired) since its creation in 2004. It now offers thousands of domains – and demands hundreds or thousands of dollars to sell them back to their previous owners.
Kenyatech is allegedly based in Kenya, but:
Every single domain offered by Kenyatech has been registered through NOLDC, Intercosmos or Domain Contender (all of which are run by Sigmund Solares).
In order to buy a domain from Kenyatech, people are asked to pay NOLDC, one of Solares’s companies.
The IP address for "Kenyatech" is not in Kenya but in Lousiana, where Solares and all his companies are based.
The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (1999) banned the registration and sale of domain names that are trademarked (“including a personal name which is protected as a mark under this section”) and in 2000, one cybersquatter, John Zuccarini, was ordered to pay half a million dollars in damages for five domains he registered in violation of the Act.
Posted by: carrie99 | January 05, 2006 at 04:30 PM