Atchafalaya

A very long, but most excellent article on the Mississippi River by John McPhee from the New Yorker a few years back. All about the river and its changing course and the things the US Army Corps of Engineers have done to prevent it. Fascinating stuff that I have somehow never heard of before. The article: Atchafalaya

US Flat Tax

I've always wondered about this. Seem most people in the US pay about 40% tax when its all added up. So our graduated income tax structure results in an actual flat tax after all. I wonder if this makes Steve Forbes happy.

US tax disparity may be flatter than it seems

Iraqi soldiers eat frogs, rabbit at handover ceremony

Almost too bizarre to believe. From the Reuters article: Iraqi soldiers eat frogs, rabbit at handover ceremony

NAJAF, Iraq, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Iraqi soldiers bit the heads off frogs and ate the heart of a rabbit as signs of courage on Wednesday at a ceremony to transfer Najaf province, home to one of Shi'ite Islam's holiest shrines, from U.S. to Iraqi control. ...

World's Oldest Person - but not for long I think.

Here's the story of the the current World's Oldest Person, 114-year old Emma Tillman of South Carolina. She assumed the throne when a 115-year old Puerto Rican guy passed away.

By the looks of Ms. Tillman (apparently in some kind of stupor over receiving the news of her achievement - or maybe she always looks like that) whoever's next in line should start getting sized for the championship belt pronto so there's a quick transfer of power.

You’re not responsible for what you do…

if things go wrong. So here we have a story about a woman who died while participating in a contest on a radio show. Her family now wants to sue the radio station. Where’s the mention of her responsibility in this? Was she forcibly made to participate? (no) It would be one thing if the contest involved her drinking an unknown substance that killed her, but she knew she was drinking water. Water, that’s it. It’s unfortunate she died, but she was a willing participant and in the end she was responsible for how much water she drank. Judgment: denied. No award.

The Weather Channel

Here's why I like the Weather Channel: weather babes!

Weather Channel “Scientist”?

It seems that the hostess of a weather channel show wants to yank the American Meterological Society’s (AMS) Seal of Approval from any meteorologist who doesn’t agree with her position that global warming is caused by humans. So much for scientific debate. A guest on her show actually advocated …”we should have war crimes trials for these bastards -- some sort of climate Nuremberg” for scientists who didn’t agree with the alarmist position of man-made global warming. I consider myself to be a “scientist” (I have BS and MS degrees), and one of the main themes that constantly runs through science is free and open debate. Apparently the global warming crowd aren’t really interested in science, or maybe they’re just afraid that if given the chance to look at the facts, people will realize that their claims are just a lot of hot air.

Brangelina, Post-Katrina, New Orleanians

Widely reported, but in case you missed it. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie moved into a big house on Esplanade, I believe near Port of Call. Now I'll never be able to get a table there.

GreatRazors.com

I have to put in a plug for these razors at GreatRazors.com. They 'cryogenically temper' standard commercial razor blade by dipping the whole box in liquid nitrogen (?). Sounded sort of bogus to me but I'm not a metallurgist. I bought a small pack anyway and have been sold ever since. Better shaves and the blades last a long, long time.

Search Me

I had the misfortune to fly again this weekend. Well, almost. The ice storms kept me at the airport for most of the day, then I gave up and went home. In the process the group of us on the same flight were shuffled around a bit, once back through security. On the way back in, everyone had to give up their bottled water they had bought past the checkpoint. Some folks complained (unsuccessfully). One guy managed to sneak his water bottle back in, which was no comfort to anyone.

All of this got me to thinking. Some Bad Guys try to get on a plane by sneaking things in water bottles, and security adjusts. God help us if some other Bad Guys try to do the same using, uh, body orifices. How will we deal with this new threat? Body cavity searches for all? I predict such an event would have a dramatic impact on the the airline industry. I know I will try to travel less frequently. But who knows, perhaps others will enjoy this process and travel more, making up the difference.

A perspective on Iraq

Sorry for the large post, but I couldn't find a hyperlink to this article. Interesting perspective from a fairly interesting guy, Joe Sobran, with whom I was not familiar until I read this via a forwarded e-mail. He has an archive of articles which may also prove interesting.


END OF A DREAM by Joe Sobran

"As I watched President Bush Tuesday night, for the first time I felt pity for him, in the same way you can't help feeling sorry for any man at the end of his rope, even if he has brought it on himself. It isn't a matter of desert; it's beyond that.

I felt a similar emotion when Saddam Hussein was hanged: A man was finally being crushed by the natural result of his own acts. He was cornered at last, with no way out. It was painful to witness.

For once Bush spoke without conviction. He was trying to salvage a desperate position. The message was no longer that we are winning in Iraq; it was that all is not quite lost.

Which way is the wind blowing? In controversies like the debate over this war, I have a simple rule of thumb:
I step back and ask which way the conversions are going. The war has been losing supporters; it has ceased acquiring them. You might expect the Democrats to solidify against it, but the really telling fact is that the Republicans who used to back it are scattering.

After the severe shock of the 9/11 attacks, our natural impulse was to strike back. But at what? At the killers who had killed themselves along with their thousands of victims?
That was obviously impossible, but we were so outraged that we were disposed, like a lynch mob, to take revenge on the first plausible suspect presented to us.

And while we were in that mood -- after all, the lynch mob may be sincerely indignant about a crime --
some men around Bush and in the media saw their opportunity. They had been waiting and planning for years for a new war on Iraq, one that would "finish the job" they felt Bush's father had left incomplete in
1991. All that remained was to connect Iraq, in the public mind, to 9/11.

Over the next few months, a concerted effort was made to shift public attention from Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda to Saddam Hussein and Iraq. For a while the War Party tried to find, or at least posit, ties between al-Qaeda and Iraq, as if the terrorism of the one had something to do with the tyranny of the latter. The hypothetical nexus was Saddam's supposed "weapons of mass destruction,"
which, we were told, he might hand off to al-Qaeda, which actually regarded him as an apostate, a traitor to Islam.

Many Americans, mostly Bush voters, couldn't distinguish clearly between bin Laden and Saddam; some thought the two were the same man. This made them receptive to the administration's warnings that an even greater shock than 9/11 might be forthcoming, in the form of "a mushroom cloud."

Bush made another false connection when he asserted an "axis of evil"
comprising not only Iraq and Iran --
which, in truth, were bitter enemies -- but also, absurdly, North Korea.
Far from being a working alliance, this was a mad miscellany. More recently Bush has been blaming the chaos in Iraq on Iran and Syria. Now Iran is said to be the great threat to American security.

Meanwhile, of course, the United States has become almost isolated in the world. Our traditional friends in Europe have resisted Bush's attempt to rope them into backing his war.
He has indeed spent the political capital he boasted of having after the
2004 election. His most reliable ally, Britain's Tony Blair, is finished, along with Bush's own Republican majority at home. Has any president ever gone so swiftly from seeming invincibility to near-disgrace?

And does anyone still think our freedom depends on military victory in Iraq? Bush got the "regime change" he coveted, but what has it gained us? Those who doggedly support the war are now reduced to vain recriminations against the liberal media who have been skeptical of it, though many conservatives are (at last!) just as skeptical.

Bush's dream of a peaceful, democratic Middle East now seems as insane a misreading of history as the old Marxist dream of a Workers' Paradise. He sounds like an arsonist trying to convince us that the blazing city can still be saved. Has he forgotten who lit the match?"

How 'bout dem Saints?

Duece McAllister Rules!!! Can they actually make it to the Super Bowl? I can't even think about it.

Lesson learned - hire professional varmint exterminators

Do-it-yourself mole extermination? Bad idea.

Jury awards damages in Katrina case

Ole' Broussard in Gulfport, MS won $2.5M from State Farm in a post-Katrina insurance dispute. He (along with 600+ other State Farm customers in the area) are being represented by Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, famous for winning billions in lawsuits against asbestos and tobacco companies.

Jury awards damages in Katrina case

Wedding guests cancel for Saints game

Looks like everyone will be watching this Saturday.

Wedding guests cancel for Saints game

Zagat Survey

The new Zagat restaurant survey for New Orleans has been getting some attention. Here's an ABC News article with the list. Pervious #1 ranked Commander's Palace was left off because it wasn't open in time to make the survey.

Zagat Survey Results

Katrina Insurance Lawsuits

I've heard some terrible stories about people in New Orleans 'settling' with insurance companies for a fraction of the cost of repairing their houses. I guess you could call a lawyer, if you could find one. I see Mississippi is looking to settle the cases involving State Farm. And let's not forget that 2005 was a very good year for the insurance industry, in spite of the hurricanes.

State Farm may settle Katrina cases in Mississippi

Duub's New Iraq Plan

I gotta pal here who thinks Bush's new plan involves some form of selective service. At first I thought he was nuts but we do need more troops! :)

Tricky Dick and E

The number 1 item requested from the National Archives is......(any guesses)...a picture of Elvis and Nixon. Who'd 'a thunk it?

$150 Laptop

Dr. Morphy-Godchaux, what's your take on this interesting experiment in mass computer distribution?

Brits like getting drunk? Stunning.

Happy New Year to all my fellow Morphies.

This story about a Labor Party Cabinet Minister saying Brits (or more specifically those of Anglo-Saxon heritage) "actually enjoy getting drunk" pops out at me for two reasons. First, I didn't know this was really news since pubs and drinking are such a part of British culture that the only comic strip from Britain that I'm familiar with (Andy Capp) features a Brit who is eternally stewed.

Second, I just wonder what would happen in this country if a government official made such a similar generalization about any ethnic (including whites) group. Thoughts?