New Orleans, Yadda Yadda
In the wake of the ass-pounding New Orleans is getting, and the wealth of prayers being winged down to the vicinity of Bourbon Street, all I can think of is what an amazing world we live in. Sure, there's the outside chance the city'll get wiped out (though not likely now that Katrina's been downgraded), but there's been this flurry of preparation. People have moved out of the path of the hurricane (including the illustrious docbrite), and the rest of the sane people seem to be cooped up in the big hotel or the Superdome.

But you know, if this had happened in the 1920s? Nobody would have had a clue that this was on the way - there would have been no satellite tracking, no way of predicting which way the big wind would have shifted, and precious few ways of getting the word out ahead of the storm even if they had known. If Katrina turns out even half as bad as people say, it would have erupted out of nowhere to lay the smackdown with no warning whatsoever. A lot of people probably would have died.

Instead, we've got people cooped up as safe as they can be, worried and fretting but most likely okay. The city will take a lot of damage, of course, but God willing most of its inhabitants will probably be okay.

As a Christian, I'd like to note that they had prayer and half-assed Christ-based "science" in the 1920s, just as they had for years, and it wouldn't have saved them. You can thank the real science, including the scientific method and the uncomfortable evidence-only thinking that seems to rankle so many religious folks, for performing this particular miracle.

We live in a wonderful time, folks. Take a moment to appreciate the things we can do, because it sure as hell would have seemed like a science fiction to people living even a century ago.

(EDIT: However, let's say a prayer that the Superdome survives this little wingding, as part of the roof has just opened up. Eep!)