Techies unite to brainstorm help for Haiti

(CNN) -- Call it Techies for Haiti.

On Saturday, groups of programmers, Web developers and other assorted technophiles will meet in Washington and other cities to brainstorm ways computer technology can help in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake.

CrisisCamp Haiti will bring together professionals from tech companies, universities and government agencies for a free-form session of firing out ideas, then turning those ideas into action.

(Read the rest on CNN.com)

Don't know how many Kage Baker fans are on my flist

But if you are a fan of Ms. Baker and/or her Company novels (which I've never reviewed, but I love to pieces), you will probably want to know that she is very ill with cancer. :(

I have this info courtesy of martha_wells another scifi/fantasy author that I love.

Singing and Praying at Night in Port-au-Prince

by David L. Wilson

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan. 13 -- Several hundred people had gathered to sing, clap, and pray in an intersection here by 9 o'clock last night, a little more than four hours after an earthquake had devastated much of the Haitian capital. Another group was singing a block away, on the other side of the Hotel Oloffson, where I was camping out.

I couldn't make out many of the words. "Alleluia" was the refrain for some of the hymns the group at the crossroads sang. A minister was preaching to the other group about Bondye ("God") and kretyen ("Christians"). The congregants replied with bursts of song.

There were frequent aftershocks. With each tremor, the singing stopped and the singers wailed; after several minutes the hymns would resume. Many of the people in the streets had lost their homes, but even those whose houses weren't affected sat outdoors for fear of what might happen if they were inside when the aftershocks came.

(Read the rest at mrzine)