The Longest Day

Do you know what happened 63 years ago today? Here's a hint.

Understatement of the Week

It seems Governor Blanco's (Long and Winding) Road Home Program needs more, um, oversight. Ya think??????

I don't know what is worse: that the Governor’s Office of Community Development is STILL not tracking the performance of ICF, or that someone had to do a "study" to figure this out.

A more sober analysis......

Stephen Green of Vodkapundit is, as is his tradition, "drunkblogging" tonight's Republican debate live at Pajamas Media. As always, inciteful - and more lucid than some of the candidate's responses. Catch it while you can.

Obama - 'Quiet Riot' in the Black Community

That's what he said. Funny, I didn't even know they were back together. (rimshot!)

(Yeah. Like you didn't think it when you heard Obama's comment! -Ed.)

What a lightweight.

UPDATE: Will Collier at Vodkapundit had a similar thought, and earlier than I did. Great minds.... get followed by mediocre ones.

Long Day

Back from New Orleans. Will post more about the day, including observations and pictures, later. Right now I'm gonna get a drink and look around the 'Net a bit.

Ugh.

It's late and I can't sleep - tomorrow (now, later today) is not going to be fun (see earlier post). So I'm trying to think about something else by surfing around and looking for mindless stuff to blog about. Checked Technorati, and saw this little site got noticed yesterday by Louisiana Conservative Dot Com. I have no idea they found it, but I'm always appreciative of the interest. And no, Jeff, I'm not the same guy you asked about. I don't play with fire - but being an architect I do mess about with fire codes. (Fire-code blogging. Yeah, that'll peg the 'ol excitement meter....)

Where's a circuit breaker when you need one?

Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs thinks he has seen what the Apocolypse will look like. 1,683 guitarists playing ANY 70's song would qualify in my book. (Pink Floyd and Talking Heads excluded, of course) I mean, dude; can you say...... "Freeeeeeebirrrrrrrrd"!?!

Tomorrow - the end of the beginning

Light blogging tomorrow, if at all. I have to be in New Orleans to observe the demolition of my parent's house in Lakeview, which was damaged by the Katrina flooding. This has been a long time coming, and is going to be very, very hard on all concerned.

Your prayers would be most appreciated.

Death or Glory

Michael Yon has a new post up: 'Death or Glory'.

According to his e-mail: "Glory is unlikely."

NOOOOOOOO!!........

Word is going round today that this may actually come to pass.

If the voters of this State do not know their ass from a hole in the ground, turn out the lights. We're doomed.

It's the ethics, stupid. No, wait......

I was in a meeting earlier, so this may be old news to some of you. Here is the actual indictment.

This comes none to soon as far as I'm concerned. "Dollar Bill" Jefferson is an embarrassment, and this State has too many of those holding public office right now. And it doesn't look good for he Democratic "Reform" Congress, either. Let's see how Nancy Pelosi spins it for the press. Should be interesting.

UPDATE: The spin begins. How to say nothing in two paragraphs.

"The Episcopal Church Welcomes You - Allah Akbar!"

Please tell me this is some kind of joke. (link is to a PDF, so scroll down a bit)

If it isn't, I'm sure 815 will be OK with it - until somebody lets Louie Crew know what Islam thinks about homosexuality. (Hint: They don't see it as a "gift", Louie.....)

UPDATE: I wonder how this fits in with her "What Islam has done for me is shed this light on Christianity and shown for me anew what a glorious way Christianity is” concept.

UPDATE II: Chris Johnson picks up a hammer and, well, nails it. As usual.

UPDATE III: Next thing you know, this guy will be hosting the 700 Club!

We Don't Need No Faith; We're Episcopalians!

The Episcopal Church is shrinking fast. No wonder, if one of your Bishops writes a book telling everyone that Jesus Christ was not the Son of God, there was no virgin birth, no miracles, and no resurrection. Such things, he says, are the realm of the:

"...hysterically religious, the chronically fearful, the insecure, and even the neurotic among us."

Yeah, that'll keep 'em in the pews.

A rising tide lifts all... houses?

An interesting idea to deal with storm flooding - houses that float, including retrofitting existing houses to float. There have been several hunting and fishing camps in Louisiana built like this in the past to deal with seasonal flooding, and I understand they do work. My concern with the concept would not be water rising inches per hour, as it does with seasonal flooding, but with water that rises inches per second and wind-driven waves measuring several feet between crest and trough. These are dynamic forces that a typical residential structure, and especially an existing structure, are not designed to resist. I also am very suspicious of the $20,000 cost for the retrofit, particularly after seeing recent cost numbers on our projects in the area. But, the proposal was put forward an associate professor at the LSU Hurricane Center, so I'm sure they have considered these issues.

12 O'Clock High!

There are still a few things I want to do before I die. This is one of 'em.

Yon's Latest

Michael Yon's latest dispatch is up. Friends are not always who you think they are.....

Comments

OK, comments have been enabled. I think.
Yep, they work. Fire away.

Be Prepared: It ain't just for Boy Scouts anymore!

November is a long way away this year. So be ready now, and avoid the rush.

UPDATE: I'm not the only one pointing this out right now. Instapundit has some thoughts on disaster preparedness, and some good links, too. I agree that preparation is not just for those of us in hurricane states, and that 72 hours of supplies is probably not enough. Also remember the other things besides supplies - planning how and when to evacuate, where to go, and having a point-of-contact outside of the disaster area in case you get separated or need help. Lessons learned from Katrina. Another lesson is to make sure you can text from your cell phone. Text messages take little bandwidth, and many people after Katrina were able to make contact via text message when cell calls wouldn't go through.

So THAT'S the reason...

Forwarded by a friend. Oh, how true.....

The real reason that we can't have the Ten Commandments in a Courthouse is that you cannot post "Thou Shalt Not Steal" , "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery " and "Thou Shall Not Lie" in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians.
It creates a hostile work environment.

Michael Graves and Humana

Michael Graves, one of the form-givers of 80's post-modernism, was honored at the 25th anniversary of his Humana Building. This was THE COOL BUILDING when I was in school, but 25 years on and it looks somewhat dated. I still love it's funky playfulness - something Graves' designs are known for.

I am glad to see Graves getting some recognition these days. He deserves it. He did his part to slay the dragon of pious modernism, which was a good thing in my opinion, and he did something that I think is even more important - he brought design to the masses. To the howls of many of his peers, Graves hooked up with Target to design everything from tea kettles to dog bowls, and helped reintroduce aesthetic thinking back into daily life. For that alone he should be honored.