Last night he tweeted that he was on his way to Alabama on a “recon mission.”

As you probably know, Alabama was hit particularly hard by a strong storm system that moved its way through the southeast last week. Videos of the massive tornadoes became viral sensations as they depict the absolutely terrifying extent of the damage mother nature can inflict. The tornadoes killed hundreds of people and left a trail of devastation unlike many other storms to ever hit the U.S. Here’s one such video of a giant tornado ripping through trees in Tuscaloosa:

4-27-11 Tornado Tuscaloosa, Al from Crimson Tide Productions on Vimeo.

A few hours ago Sheen tweeted that he had arrived in Tuscaloosa, and that more is forthcoming on how to help the cause.

He tweeted this pic of the devastation:

The New York Post confirms that the actor is indeed in Alabama and is pledging to help raise money for the recovery efforts. Today he has already met with aid center volunteers, Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox and FEMA workers. Sheen said that he was hopeful that he could do something to “provide some compassion,” as quoted in the Post.

Charlie Sheen became a sort of national pop culture phenomenon shortly after he was fired from his hit CBS show Two and a Half Men. He was fired amidst drug and alcohol problems for which he eventually entered rehab. After a string of bizarre interviews and videos where he coined some catchphrases like “winning” and “tiger blood,” he launched on Twitter and was soon the Guinness World Record holder for fastest to reach 1 million followers.

He also threw in his two cents about Osama Bin Laden’s death, joining the ranks of celebrities who tweeted about the breaking news.

If he can use his amazing Twitter popularity, whether unwarranted or not, to raise money for devastated communities in the south, he might actually be able to legitimately call himself an “unemployed winner.”

“The . . . tool will be used by first responders, county planners, and other officials to get detailed geographic views overlayed with critical information,” reports Frank Taylor on the Google Earth Blog.  “The department can use the tools to build 3D models of schools, bridges, and other critical structures; can model hazardous explosions and environmental factors; and can overlay this information with GIS information showing the location of fire hydrants, gas pipelines, and other important information to help emergency workers.”

It shouldn’t need to be said, but this implementation goes far beyond Google Earth’s original intended uses.  It’s also a bit of a step forward from what we’ve seen recently – mere responses to disasters like floods, fires, and oil spills (as opposed to this sort of planning and preparation).

So, in addition to Governor Riley and Alabama Homeland Security Director Jim Walker, Google Earth’s Chief Technology Officer, Michael T. Jones, was on hand at the release event.  Virtual Alabama is the sort of thing that we hope never needs to be used, but its launch was nonetheless an important moment for Google.

Check out answers.com for somme very decent results! USers start with a wi-ki style format where you can get very accurate definitions for almost any term. Then use the search utility for somme great leads! http://www.answers.com – As a testbed I search for “alabama gis data” and the utility returns pointers to the following top resources: GSA Geospatial Data Clearinghouse , Alabama Water Quality Information System - Geo-Spatial Data, GIS Data Sets Alabama

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Anything Geospatial: Tracking developments affecting GIS, geospatial technologies, location-based services, mapping, google earth and google maps. Published by the creator and editor of GISuser.com & LBSzone.com

Stephanie Yarber of Muscle Shoals has marked history by being the first woman to have a baby after an ovarian tissue transplant.

Though doctors say that infertility in twins has five-fold the frequency that the general population has, Yarber case is a unique one. Ms. Yarber reached menopause at age 14, following only a few menstrual cycles. Like all menopausal women, her ovaries and uterus shrank and became non-functioning. After several attempts at in vitro fertilization, they brought in Dr. Sherman J. Silber of St. Luke’s Hospital in St. Louis to perform the transplant.

Three months after receiving the transplant from her fertile twin sister, Melanie Morgan who was fertile and had three children, Stephanie began menstruating. Hormones caused her uterus to return to normal size. She became pregnant naturally and gave birth naturally to a 7lb 14-ounce girl.

Dr. Roger G. Gosden, professor of reproductive biology at Weill Medical College of Cornell University and transplant team member for the sisters is optimistic about the future of the procedure. “[T]he procedure could be used very widely, and will replace a lot of conventional egg donation,” he said, once organ rejection concerns are overcome. That the two women involved were twins with identical genetic makeup made rejection a non-issue.

The article will be published in the July 7th issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, delayed from last year pending a healthy birth result.

“Stephanie should be able to have many more babies this way,” Dr. Silber said.

Dr. Silber said the success of the ovarian tissue transplant had important implications for treating chemotherapy patients who have been left infertile.

Since the success of the operation, similar procedures have been done.

“We just did our third ovarian transplant between identical twins today,” Dr. Silber said. “We think there’ll be a lot more.”

Two men, Damon DeCrescenzo and David Burstyn, admitted to the operation while agreeing to a court order asking them to cease their campaign, while paying restitution to EarthLink. The size of the payment was not disclosed. These decisions bring closure to court proceedings that began in August 2003.

According to PCWorld.com,

Burstyn and DeCrescenzo were part of a large, multistate spam operation that EarthLink investigators dubbed the “Alabama Spam Ring,” after the group’s penchant for using phone lines in the Birmingham, Alabama, area to connect to dial-up EarthLink Internet accounts and send out spam.

In a lawsuit filed in August in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, EarthLink detailed a sophisticated spam operation that used phone lines, falsified names and addresses, and shell companies to send out more than 250 million spam messages advertising Viagra, herbal supplements, and adult dating services. The group used stolen or forged credit cards and engaged in identity theft to set up EarthLink accounts that were then used to send spam, EarthLink says.

EarthLink’s victory comes shortly after the announcement of the lawsuit against two Texas spammers; signifying the fight against spam is starting to see results.

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As with Alabama’s previous Web portal, the new Alabama.gov continues to offer easy-to-use electronic government services and information for all visitors.

“The primary focus of Governor Riley’s administration has been to increase state accountability,” said Rex McDowell, Acting Assistant Finance Director. “By offering government services online, Alabama is functioning more efficiently and cost effectively while providing Alabamians with direct access to customer service and support.”
The Alabama.gov portal was designed by Alabama Interactive, the state’s official eGovernment partner, to simplify and promote a visitor-friendly approach to state government. New and redesigned features include:

– Live Online Customer Service.

– State Government News

– Online Services

– Google Search Technology

These and many other features build upon Alabama.gov’s growing reputation as one of the nation’s premier state government Web sites.

“From purchasing hunting and fishing licenses to researching upcoming legislation, our goal is to ensure that Alabama.gov provides citizens quick and convenient access to state government,” said Winn McInnis, general manager of Alabama Interactive. “This new portal represents a significant step towards allowing citizens to be only a few clicks away from government information and services.”

Jeremy Muncy is a staff writer for WebProNews.com