N.O. Road Trip IV

One last comment. The thing that surprised me most about New Orleans post-Storm was the people. Everyone seemed to have a sad story that they were tired of telling. But they seemed keen to getting on with their lives, in spite of the cruelty of nature, the government and the insurance companies. The mood wasn't so much upbeat as unified. I even detected better race relations than I have ever noticed, but perhaps this is just time passing. All the same, the people who are in New Orleans today seem to really want to be there and are willing to work to improve things. And let's be frank: New Orleans was not going anywhere before the Storm. Today it has a chance to (eventually) prosper, and on its own terms. The only rough spot seems to be political leadership, or a lack thereof. Perhaps some things won't change so easily.

Ave Rangia

I found this interesting discussion about the Rangia clams in Lake Pontchartrain on an equally interesting website with lots of information about the Lake. I’m sure my fellow Morphites will appreciate this resource. One amazing fact, there are enough clams in the Lake to filter the entire volume of water there every four days.

Free Speech 2007

High School students can't advocate the use of illegal drugs, even in an attempt to change existing laws ( US student loses free speech case ) but now they can take out 'issue ads' at any time in an election cycle ( Justices Loosen Restrictions on Campaign Ads ). So now I guess it is now ok for the students spent a few thousand bucks to buy a political 'issue' TV ad for "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" but will get in trouble for scrawling their message on a banner. Money does indeed seem to talk these days.

New Orleans deaths up 47%

I was just talking to a friend in New Orleans who happens to be going to a funeral tomorrow, when I saw this headline in the USA Today: New Orleans deaths up 47% The article focuses on the hospitals and healthcare infrastructure, but most of what I have been hearing is that the stress level combined with the (physical) work of rebuilding has been hard on many folks, especially the elderly.

Most Overrated Albums

Think Sgt Pepper's is the greatest album ever? Maybe Dark Side of the Moon? Pet Sounds? The Guradian's article tells you why - in some artists' opinions, you're wrong.

He sure loved those pants

Lawyer gone loco files multimillion dollar suit over lost pants. Now I don't know if the pants went with a suit, but if he wins he can buy more suits...WITH pants.

N.O. Road Trip: Lakeview (III)

I wasn't particularly keen on driving to New Orleans East or the Gulf Coast, but since Lakeview was on the way out to Metairie, I decided to skip I-10 and take Canal Blvd. I also wanted to see the first house I lived in as a child over in Bucktown. I drove down Fleur de Lis, since I used to know someone who lived on that street. Alas, it was impossible to recognize anything from pre-Storm. Lots of vacant lots, a few wrecked houses and a fair amount of rebuilding. Of course, these folks are relatively prosperous and this is probably as good as it gets, although they probably got the worst of the flooding.

What also surprised me crossing the 17th street canal was the number of FEMA trailers in Metairie. There hasn't been much talk of this. But the old neighborhood where I grew up still had many, including one in the yard of the house I grew up in. As far as the old house in Bucktown, it has been bulldozed down to the slab. They seem to have had some flooding, but there were also many newer looking houses. Perhaps that neighborhood was slowly changing before the Storm.

It was well past lunch, so we went to Drago's in Fat City (does anyone still use that name?), which was doing a thriving business, even in the mid-afternoon. And no wonder, the grilled oysters and the soft shell crab lunch special made for one of the best meals I've had in a long time. Rumor was that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie had been by for dinner recently.

Fake Disneyland in China

I keep meaning to finish the postings on the New Orleans trip, but it has been busy here. I did run into this fascinating bit. It seems there is a fake Disneyland in Beijing, China (!). Of course, they do seem to have different ideas about IP over there, but this one is pretty bizarre. Many photos from Japanese tourists are at: Disneyland in China?

AT&T 'Spy Room' Documents Unsealed; You've Already Seen Them

An interesting case about some things people in the telecom business have known for a while. US domestic communications have been tapped on a massive scale for several years.

AT&T 'Spy Room' Documents Unsealed; You've Already Seen Them

Mississippi sues State Farm over Katrina settlement

Mississippi sues State Farm over Katrina settlement

N.O. Trip: The Road In (II)

From Lafayette I dedided to take the old Highway 90 in to New Orleans. I was expecting a two-lane blacktop with lots of potholes, and lots of storm wreckage. In fact, I was completely wrong. HWY 90 was a very nice road, perhaps nicer and with less traffic than I-10. There were occasional slowdowns, and even stoplights. But if I had it to do again, I'd take 90 over I-10 just for the convenience. I also saw little or no storm damage. But this was west of Katrina and east of Rita landfall, so maybe I should not have expected much damage. I also got to take the pretty new bridge over the Mississippi that connects in to the west side of New Orleans pretty conveniently. I know it's been there a long time; I've just never had occasion to use it.

Getting in to the French Quarter was easy and the hotel (Maison Dupuy) was very nice looking, well staffed and absurdly cheap ($75 a night). Strolling around the French Quarter, everything seemed 'normal'.

One thing struck me as I was at the pool. There was no long list of rules posted. No "No Diving" signs. No visible safety equipment. The waitress strolled over and asked two older European women in the overheated hot tub if they would like a drink. They asked if it was safe to drink in the hot tub (something that also occurred to me). The waitress just shrugged and the ladies ordered two Margaritas.

Then I realized that we had walked around Avery Island with alligators all over the place with no particular warning signs, and certainly no fence. It was a bit refreshing to see that at least some of America's lawsuit culture seems to end at the Louisiana border. Perhaps I would have sued if an Avery Island croc had taken off my leg, but I suppose it wasn't worth worrying about. Surely no one there seemed worried about it.

No Wild Oats for Whole Foods?

Well, Exxon and Mobil can merge. ATT can buy Cingular without anyone batting an eye. The only two satellite radio providers, XM and Sirius, wed with no objections. Haliburton can move offshore, while still remaining one of the biggest government contractors. And waves of private equity buyouts shift the corporate landscape daily.

But it seems regulators are worried about the impact on the consumer on the Whole Foods / Wild Oats merger. Really. Are they worried about Whole Foods raising their prices? (if you didn't laugh at this one, you haven't shopped at Whole Foods). Are they worried about them cornering the granola and wheat juice markets? I'm glad to see the FTC watching out for the pocketbooks of old hippies everywhere.

No Wild Oats for Whole Foods?

N.O. Trip: The ride in (I)

The ride in to New Orleans from Texas was rainy and we stopped in Houston at a very good place called Denis' Seafood on I-10. It was picked by a friend we were meeting there, and turned out the be a very New Orleans place. I thought I'd get an early start on raising my cholesterol and had the oyster po-boy. I highly recommend Denis' if you are in the Houston area.

The waiter was very professional and seemed like a New Orleanian, but many people from Houston strike me that way, probably due to some co-mingled accents. But when I heard him say 'wahdta' for 'water', it was a dead giveaway. So we ended up talking to Charles (our waiter) for quite a while. He worked at the Monteleone in the French Quarter for almost 20 years and had been in Houston since Da Stahm. He seemed very stoic about it all and didn't appear to have any near term plans for going back.

It was pouring down rain when we got back to the car and I put on Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris' "Beachcoming" from "All the Roadrunning" and wondered if things in New Orleans were going to be even worse than I expected.

Two Storms

Well, I'm back in Texas after a week in New Orleans. My first time back since The Storm (I learned that only tourists mention the name 'Katrina'. The locals seem to only refer to 'The Storm').

A few minutes ago I had just finished typing in a somewhat long posting about my first impressions when (literally) lightening struck, rebooting all of my machines. Sadly, the post was lost.

I did expect to post a few things while I was still in the city, perhaps in the evenings. Ha! This shows how long I've been away. The evenings were even busier than the days. But I'll post a few things here as they occur to me about what I saw last week in New Orleans, with the perspective of having been away since The Storm.

"Freezer" Bill Jefferson Indicted

He finally got served papers for keeping (allegedly) Nigerian payola in his Frigidaire. Well, it was cold, hard cash, eh?