re: "Same as in pre web days, eh? Only more so."
I lived in Mountain View during the '89 quake (I lived there for 8 years by the way, I was a senior software engineer for ESL (TRW) and GTE Gov Systems and I had friends calling me saying "San Francisco is Burning", do you need a place to stay?"
Still, when Farley went on his Laura Black shooting spree at ESL (I was working there when it happened) we had to watch TV to find out what was going on because our own authorities didn't have a clue. There was understandable confusion, and the gendarmerie were too busy to give interviews.
