Devastating and Serious

Here's a couple notes of interest:

Devastating: A Louisiana scientist working on one of my committees at the Academies forwarded this unbelievable graph our way. As you can see, an absurdly indestructable buoy managed to weather the onslaught of Hurricane Katrina's eye and record the storm surge at the mouth of the Biloxi River, where it feeds into Mississippi Sound.The blurb on the master copy that doesn't show up on this image is the following: "One surviving gauge measured the whole storm, a little inland on the Biloxi River.....a 25-ft wall of water. This might be the first measurement of such a surge ever. “Incredible”." Although a crippling surge has been discussed exhaustively in the wake of the hurricane, for me, seeing this rare and horrific documentation kind of pounds the point home. They essentially dealt with a tsunami, on top of a hurricane.


So as not to make light of the situation along the Gulf Coast in any way, I'll label this second element as only 'Serious'. DCist just reported that Dr. Dremo's Bar in Arlington-that bastion of high culture and sophistication-will no longer host Beer Pong on their premises (Scroll down on that link and check-out some interesting reader input). Apparently, the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverages Control found Dremo's guilty of violating statutes under their purview. As you can see in DCist's post, some aren't totally convinced this is true. Anybody have any legal insight into this tragedy? Also, call me ignorant, but isn't that beer pong game pictured on DCist absolutely ridiculous. 36 cups?!

Say it like you mean it

DJEZI, a jockeyer o' disks originally from DC, concocted a tune with the help of Public Enemy, Grandmaster Flash, and the Furious 5 cuts that features an interview with New Olreans' Mayor Ray Nagin subsequent to hurricane katrina. it's pretty cool, have a listen from his website (press "MP3 download whole song, hi-fi" under the title "Sugar Ray Nagin"). This luscious find now based in Orlando just released his second album, Day-maybe my favorite listen at this very second....and this very second. To hear more tracks and an interview, PLACE CURSOR HERE AND CLICK OVER AND OVER AGAIN (if link annoys you like it did me, download from here by pressing "play" after Trampoline House Podcast #3 - djezi presents Day.

New Orleans, Recipe For Disaster

Seeing as how it's friday night, i'm in New Orleans, and i'm sitting in my hotel room, I thought I should write about ridiculous things for this ridiculous situation (you can only spend so much time wandering bourbon street on your own before you descend into a sordid spiral of filth; as cool as a bunch of statisticians, economists, and fisheries scientists can be...and they can...they certainly aren't cool at late hours).

So here goes:
It seems there was a chicken that got it's head cut off in the forties and lived without this usually vital appendage for 18 months. The creative folks in Colorado christened him Mike the Headless Chicken. After a change of heart, his owner decided that feasting on Mike after slaughtering him with an axe was a mean-spirited idea, so he dedicated himself to feeding and watering him with a syringe, allowing him to triple his weight and then some. Hmmmm, maybe a bit sketchy? Maybe not. The axe blade missed his jugular vein, and a blood clot ensured that the rooster retained enough blood to survive. Also, the axe landed high in his neck which left most of the brain stem intact. Mike received his due praise when Life and Time magazines both wrote stories about the phenom, and Guinness World Records later honored him as the "Longest Surving Headless Chicken". I mean, if Guinness says so...

Side note, i'm an idiot and didn't know that a rooster was an adult male chicken. Is this common knowledge? probably.

Also, it does rain more on weekends, atleast in the northeastern United States. Yet another reason to stop driving gas guzzling SUV's. Then again, I'm sure people are just doing it to temper the hurricanes.

Something good

After the brutal yet ,sadly, unsurprising attacks in London yesterday, it's a natural next step to search for uplifting signs. The tired black-and-white Bushian rhetoric, even Tony Blair's eloquent and oft impassioned messages, didn't do much to offer inspiration. Instead, I found the stories from the ground to be most moving. USA Today ran this article detailing how droves of bloggers recounted their personal experiences and used the blog as a vehicle to relay their status to friends and family. Again, i find myself exhilerated to see how so many different people have both access and motivation to voice their stories. I think this is just on more telling example of how powerful this medium, and others like it, can be.

On another note, a sense of anxiety hung over much of New Orleans today. They just released the public announcement at 4 pm today that the city will not be evacuated yet. if the storm takes a last minute western veer, we might be hangin' out in cajun' country another day or two. Luckily happy hour has arrived the quelm those fears and propel sensible people to nonsensical calm. Judging by the latest forecast, NO rests well to the west of the eye and should only experience peripheral effects. I talked to a few people at our meeting today who live on the islands along the Florida and Alabama gulf coast. They're still struggling to piece their lives together from Ivan last year and now look down the throat of another major hurricane that threatens to annhialate their communities once again. i feel bad for these people and really hope the trip over the Gulf doesn't allow enough time for the storm to maintain high 4 or even category 5 potential.

I'm off to be nonsensical in that work-related-dinner-yet-still-hanging-out-in-new-orleans type way.

the scariest thing is the grandfather clock in the lobby

i know everybody out there has been worried sick about my safety and security down here in the Big Easy, so let me just assure everyone it's okay. i cannot bear to hear another heart wrenching tale of friends gathered in commemoration, holding hands and singing gentle odes to my memory. i cannot stomach the thought of sobbing, lonely bodies...broken and battered as they sob with their heads hung dejectedly in between shaking knees. let the trumpets blow and the choirs of angels rejoice, and.....
....okay, i'll stop.
anyways, new orleans is completely fine. according to the cab driver, they received a little rain and a battering by the wind yesterday, but the tropical storm was long gone by the time we arrived. what's funny is that dc will probably get the remnants while I sip dollar brews on bourbon (ha, ha). the real worry is denis in the gulf. should be interesting.

also, my girlfriend, kristy, is famous because she was at the district court in dc taking care of the paperwork for this huge acquisition before rushing back to the justice department to help with press releases (although never trust her drink recommendations...mint juleps should be banished from the planet)

Tropical Storm, Tropical Shmorm...

"I've got an idea, let's fly to New Orleans!"
"Great idea, Phil. Tell you what, you fly first and we'll be right behind you [snicker, snicker...snort, snort]."
"That's cool, guys. I'll fly tomorrow and just meet you down there."
[Aside] "Oh my god. The idiot bought it. Let's get outta here." [To nimrod Long] "Uhhh, right on man. See you there."[Sounds of disappearing running shoes on gravel]