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Earthquake Prediction Just as Tantalizingly Close as Ever
There's an article in last Friday's issue of Nature describing some changes in the rocks near the San Andreas Fault that occurred in the hours before two small earthquakes. Here's the BBC's writeup; for those of you who can sneak behind the Nature paywall, the original article is here.
A similar study was published sixteen years ago, not in Nature but in Science. The first author on the 1992 Science paper, Paul Silver, was also the second author on this week's Nature paper. While the recent study measured stress changes along a fault using precise instrumentation installed in a pair of very fancypants boreholes, in 1992, Silver and his coauthor Nathalie Valette-Silver exploited a natural system that is also very sensitive to changes in the squeezing of surrounding rocks: California's Old Faithful, in the wine country town of Calistoga.
So before considering the evidence presented in Nature this week, I'd like to bring you all up to speed on the latest developments in geyser-based earthquake prediction. It'll be a short post.
The geyser in Calistoga is a commercial tourist attraction. At least part of its plumbing was man-made; it erupts through a well bore drilled in the late 1800s. Today, visitors pay $8 to see it erupt, and to spook the fainting goats and pet the llamas while they wait for the main event.
The geyser owners have been tracking the length of time between eruptions at Old Faithful for many years. Silver and Valette-Silver looked at this data, and found that while the eruption interval is usually regular enough to justify the nickname "Old Faithful", every now and then it does something weird. "Weird" is loosely defined – sometimes the geyser starts picking randomly between two possible wait times instead of one, and other times visitors get consistently more quality time with the fainting goats – but in any case, Silver and Valette-Silver found about 190 instances of weird behavior in the 28-year period of record, and 3 of them occurred shortly before moderate regional earthquakes. After each of those earthquakes the geyser went super ginormously haywire, dwarfing the irregularities observed in the one or two days prior. While there were 5 other biggish earthquakes during those 28 years, there was no signal at the geyser either before or after them.
That's pretty much where things stand today. The Calistoga geyser data set is still one of the longest records available for any proposed precursory signal; while weird behavior precedes earthquakes at a slightly higher rate than you'd expect purely by chance, it's not so much higher that you can't sniff at it, if you happen to be the sort of person who sniffs skeptically or disdainfully at things. The paper's accumulated citations are mostly from people thinking about geyser eruption dynamics. We still can't predict earthquakes.
I haven't read this new paper yet, but I'm willing to bet a case of good beer that in 12 years, it'll have made a non-splash, just like the Calistoga geyser.
- Silver, P.G., Valette-Silver, N.J. (1992). Detection of Hydrothermal Precursors to Large Northern California Earthquakes. Science, 257(5075), 1363-1368. DOI: 10.1126/science.257.5075.1363
- Niu, F., Silver, P.G., Daley, T.M., Cheng, X., Majer, E.L. (2008). Preseismic velocity changes observed from active source monitoring at the Parkfield SAFOD drill site. Nature, 454(7201), 204-208. DOI: 10.1038/nature07111


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|You are in: Business
Monday, 2 September, 2002, 16:34 GMT 17:34 UK
Oil prices slip on Opec rumours
Oil prices slipped on Monday amidst persistent whispers in the energy markets which suggest that the Opec cartel of oil producers is about to raise production levels to avoid a spike in prices this winter.
Many of the world's top people in oil production and processing are currently meeting in Rio de Janeiro, attending the 17th World Petroleum Congress.
If Opec, or the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, decides to raise output when it meets in Osaka on 19 September, it will be its first such move in two years.
Oil production levels have already risen in Venezuela, which is pumping out 20% more oil than its quota allows.
In fact, in all the 10 Opec members participating in the system of production quotas, production is about 10% above what the quotas allow.
And in August, Russia, which not a member of Opec, saw oil flows reach its highest level since the fall of the Soviet Union.
Not decided
But a further rise in output is far from a foregone conclusion at next month's Opec meeting.
On Sunday, Opec President Rilwanu Lukman warned against tipping the oil market into oversupply by producing too much.
And on Saturday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said a decision to raise output was unlikely at the cartel's next meeting.
Traders pinned their hopes on rumours that Saudi Arabia would press for a rise in order to utilise more of its spare production capacity and to mollify disgruntled Americans who want more cheap fuel.
"The Saudi's look to be in a minority in wanting an increase, but the Saudis usually get what they want in Opec," said Nauman Barakat of Fimat International Banque.
Playing it down
Saudi Arabia, which is the world's largest oil exporter, has responded by trying to quell such talk.
"Talking now about what decisions Opec will take during its next meeting is premature," said Saudi oil minister Ali al-Nuaimi.
"The process of amending the production ceiling and levels takes place at the meeting of the Opec ministers... based on the situation then," he said.
"The talk about a definite position by the kingdom [of Saudi Arabia] is not true."
Talk about oil prices, which have been pushed higher in recent weeks by the threat of a war against Iraq, is expected to hijack much of the informal agenda at this week's World Petroleum Congress.
Both Mr Lukman and Opec Secretary General Ali Rodriguez Araque are due to talk at the conference.
United Nations sanctions limit Iraq's oil exports, but more than 80,000 barrels of Iraqi crude oil are smuggled into Turkey each day.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Photography: Kate Miss
Textile design © Jennifer Parry Dodge 2012
I love these new dresses, hope they are available soon!
Beautiful colors and print -- love the closeup photo -- wonderful work!
ack it's looking so so lovely! the dress is stunning:) all of these are my favorites.
the colors are so great! amazing to see how you interpreted mexico! ; )
The dresses are nice but those photos are really not very good. Sorry to say it Jennifer - Kate has done a pretty bad job. They look very amateurish and do not do the collection justice. I'm sorry to have to say this, but I am sure I am not the only one who is thinking this and thought you should know.
Angela, they should be up next week! I'll announce the exact date and time here, and on my Instagram ( if it's up & working again) ;)
Hi Anon,
I'm glad you like the collection (thanks) but I disagree with you about the photographs -- I'm very happy with the job Kate did. I love the light, color, compositions. Maybe you could be more specific? Or leave your name? Do I know you? If so, I'd be happy to converse more in private.
Oh my gosh! Love love love these! X


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The Germantown Friends School Choir will launch its spring concert tour to Costa Rica with a performance at Christ Church, Second and Market Streets, in Old City, Philadelphia, on Friday, March 21, at 7:30 p.m. The concert is free and open to the public.
The concert program will feature Maurice Durufle's Requiem, newly re-scored for choir and string orchestra. It will also include Eric William Barnum's Afternoon on a Hill, folksongs from Bosnia, Ireland, Haiti and Costa Rica, and contemporary Gospel selections.
The Germantown Friends School Choir is an ensemble of 45 students selected by audition from grades 10-12. Directed by Stephen Kushner, the choir performs frequently throughout the year, often collaborating with many of Philadelphia's leading professional musicians. Recently, the group has performed with the Singing City Choir, with members of the Philadelphia Pops Orchestra, and with the Yale Glee Club, whose music director, Jeffrey Douma, praised them for singing "with an impressive sense of ensemble, beautiful voices and an obvious joy in what they do." The Choir has also sung the Philadelphia premiere of "somewhere I have never travelled, gladly beyond" by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon.
The GFS Choir has a long tradition of traveling nationally and internationally, including concert tours to China, England, Scotland, France, Scandinavia, Canada, Poland, Russia, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Puerto Rico. In 2008, the Choir toured the southern United States, culminating in an extended stay in New Orleans where, in addition to their concert, the students volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, helping to rebuild homes that were destroyed in hurricane Katrina. This will be the Choir's first tour to Costa Rica.


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Steveterry necessitava di un nuovo design di logo e ha lanciato un contest su 99designs.
È stato scelto un vincitore tra 22 design presentati da 8 designer.
Starwood Landscapes
Designing, installing, & weekly maintaining of landscaping for residential yards.
Starwood Landscapes is a new division of our company 'Starwood Pools'. We want to create a logo that has the same look and feel of our current logo for the swimming pool division. (I have uploaded the a few of our current pool division items showing our logo used in a few different ways to view). The would like to utilize most aspects of the pool logo with the following changes: Change the blue items to green. Utilize the character in a similar fashion but with landscaping in mind. My main objective is to recreate the character with a landscaping theme.
Maggiori informazioni su come funziona un contest di design o sui nostri servizi di design di logo.


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This amazing photograph was acquired in August 2012 by the Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center.
You can see how wide the city spans, expanding in the West over the bridge on the far left-hand side, past Avcılar to Beylikduzu, where vast apartment, office and shopping complexes have sprung up with immediate transport links to the centre. The feel of the place is as such, quite charmless, despite its proximity to the main city on one side, and the coast and city's (current) limits on the other.
The Asian side (right of the Bosphorus) is ripe to see this kind of expansion with the new bridge project, and it is there, to the North of Ümraniye where similar heavy development is underway, compromising Istanbul's green belt in scene's as evocative as the photograph on the right, which has been circulating around facebook. The rapid development of the city is causing furor, although this is promoting a long overdue interest in the environment and sustained economic development, evident in many areas, from Greenpeace's more overt and indigenous campaigning in the city, to the release of the movie Ekümenopolis, which I look forward to seeing in full at the end of this month when it comes out on release.
The image below, posted by Dutch astronaut Andrea Kuipas, has a more angled image showing the whole of the Asian side, and the East coast of the European, meeting in the glow of Beyoğlu and Eminönü, the touristic and historic parts.


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Committee details
Purpose of committee
The Cabinet is responsible for proposing the policy framework and budget to Full Council and for taking in-year decisions on resources and priorities. The Cabinet delivers and implements the budget and policies decided by Full Council.
The Cabinet consists of the Leader of the Council and nine other elected members. Each Cabinet Member has a portfolio of responsibilities although decisions are taken collectively at Cabinet meetings.
The Cabinet has a programme of work known as the forward plan. The forward plan helps the Cabinet plan its work and sets out the decisions the Cabinet will make over the next few months. It also gives residents of Medway the opportunity to comment on the issues that the Cabinet is tackling. The forward plan can be viewed here: http://democracy.medway.gov.uk/mgListPlans.aspx?RPId=115&RD=0
- Councillor Alan Jarrett Conservative
- Councillor Howard Doe Conservative
- Councillor David Brake Conservative
- Councillor Rodney Chambers, OBE Conservative
- Councillor Jane Chitty Conservative
- Councillor Phil Filmer Conservative
- Councillor Adrian Gulvin Conservative
- Councillor Andrew Mackness Conservative
- Councillor Martin Potter Conservative
- Councillor Rupert Turpin Conservative
Contact information
Support officer: Wayne Hemingway, Principal Democratic Services Officer/Jade Milnes, Democratic Services Officer/Teri Reynolds, Democratic Services Officer.
Postal address:
Democratic Services
Medway Council
Gun Wharf, Dock Road
Chatham, Kent
Phone: 01634 332509/332008
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Web site: http://www.medway.gov.uk
- Calendar
- Code of Conduct
- Constitution
- Council
- Council, Cabinet and Committees
- How to have your say
- Political groups
- Search documents
- Subscribe to updates
- Mayor
- What's new
- Your Councillors
- European Parliament
- Members of Parliament
- Forward plans
- Leader and cabinet
- Maps for council venues
- Meetings
- Members Allowances
- Outside Bodies
- Parish Councils
- Overview and Scrutiny
- Briefing Notes
- Completed indepth reviews
- Current scrutiny reviews
- Work Programmes


text:
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Attend the 2nd Congressional District Caucus at Shrewsbury Middle School! This MassGOP congressional delegate caucus will take place on April 30 at 10AM and is open to any voter in the 2nd District registered as a Republican by February 10, 2016. You can look up your congressional district and registration status at www.massgop.com/voterstatus (your congressional district number is listed next to your Congressman at the bottom of the page).
Check-in at the caucuses begins at 9AM. You are required to bring a Massachusetts government-issued photo ID.
Learn more about the delegate process at www.massgop.com/delegate.
This caucus will be electing two delegates bound to Donald Trump and one delegate bound to Marco Rubio.
- April 30, 2016 at 10am – 12pm
Shrewsbury Oak Middle School
45 Oak St
Shrewsbury, MA 01545
United States
Google map and directions


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3 Simple Tips for Buying Used Auto Parts
You may be dubious about buying after-market auto parts: you need to make sure, above all else, that any parts you use are safe, warrantied, professionally installed, etc. So here are quick tips to get you started on a cost saving journey. Read the whole article: 3 Shockingly Simple Tips for Buying Used Auto Parts.
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Taken on June 19, 2012


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I've been asked lately by some teachers to share with them a list of platforms that offer MOOCs. It is great to see that teachers are gaining interest and realizing that learning is a lifelong process that, with the help of technology, can happened anytime, anywhere. Some of the MOOCs I list below are offered by outstanding universities around the globe, other ,however, are not well known, but are worth the look.
- Coursera is the top MOOC platform offering hundreds of courses from top universities in the world. Courses encompass everything you can think of. However, teachers and educators might be interested in these courses. A typical course would include : short video lectures, discussion forums, weekly assignments and deadlines, and a final test. The courses vary in duration and requirements depending on the course type and the university offering it. Some courses that I have undertaken were outstanding, others however were a not so worth the effort and time, and I had to drop out because of the boring online lectures.
- Edx is another MOOC platform offered by Harvard, MIT and University of California Berkley, among others. Courses are worth taking as they are offered by Ivy league universities. However, the courses are limited in scope, mainly focusing on computer science, electronics, and sciences.
- Novoed MOOC platform is offered by Stanford university. The courses are great. I have taken two courses myself "Designing a New learning Environment" and " A Crash Course on Creativity". The course on Designing a new Learning Environment was outstanding as it followed a PBL approach and we had to assemble a team for the final project assignment. Novoed however is mainly geared towards Entrepreneurship and technology courses.
- Canvas.net is another MOOC platform with courses offered by great universities. I have taken a course "Learning Analytics" offered by George Siemens, the professor who offered the first MOOC in the world. His approach was a connectivist approach, dispersing knowledge among many social media platforms.
- Udemy is an other interesting MOOC platform ;however, many of its courses have a low fee. The courses are offered by either university professors or professionals.
- Future Learn is UK's earnest endeavor in entering MOOCs domain dominated by US terrain.
- Openlearn is offered by Open University
- Alison Courses is yet another not well known MOOC.Initiated in Ireland, this MOOC platform offers many online courses for free mainly for soft skills. All courses are for free, but if you wish to take out the ads you need to pay a small fee. There is also a group management account if you are intending to give courses to your employees or students so that you are able to manage their accounts and track their progress.
- Openlearning is great MOOC platform that connects teachers with students. Courses can be taught for free or can have a little as 10$ fee for every student. Courses are very varied but still limited in scope. Openlearning has a great potential but still is fledgling.
- DS106 Do you love digital storytelling? Do you want to know how to use it in real life and in the classroom? Then this unconventional MOOC might be worth the look.
Digital Storytelling (also affectionately known as ds106) is an open, online course that happens at various times throughout the year at the University of Mary Washington… but you can join in whenever you like and leave whenever you need. This course is free to anyone who wants to take it, and the only requirements are a real computer, a hardy internet connection, preferably a domain of your own and some commodity web hosting, and all the creativity you can muster.


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Toward the beginning of his latest work, Living in the End Times, Žižek briefly reprises Michéa's final argument in The Realm of Lesser Evil. While Žižek recognizes the book's inarguable merit in elucidating the indivisible unity of political and economic liberalism, he regrettably buys into Michéa's overly simplistic conclusion about liberalism's shifting historical self-representation. He thus retraces the path it ostensibly took from imagining itself as "the least worst society possible" to its eventual claim to be "the best of all possible worlds."[208] Thankfully, Žižek's own statements on the matter of liberal thought in history, scattered throughout his various texts and proclamations, at times reveal far greater acuity and insight than those of either Losurdo or Michéa. Despite his frequent criticisms of liberal multiculturalism's hyperbolic tolerance and endless, self-flagellating gestures at "political correctness," Žižek acknowledges the revolutionary contributions of early bourgeois liberalism:
[Historically], liberalism was quite a noble project if one looks at how it emerged. Today it is a quite fashionable criticism with feminists, anti-Eurocentric thinkers, etc., to dismiss liberalism in principle for preaching the equality of all people, but in reality privileging the white males of certain property, addressing automatic limitations. The next usual accusation is that liberalism is ultimately founded in what the American moral-majority religious Right likes to call secular humanism: the idea is that there is no Supreme Being or mystery in the universe. Their criticism is that this idea — that the ultimate prospect of humankind is to take over as master of his own destiny — is man's arrogance, criticizing that it always misfires and so on…
I don't think it is as simple as that…It is an historic fact that at the beginning, the idea of human rights and all of those liberal notions, effectively in a coded way implied the exclusion of certain people. Nonetheless, in this tension between appearance and reality (appearance: everyone has human rights; reality: many, through an implicit set of sub-rules, are excluded), a certain tension is set in motion where you cannot simply say that appearance is just a mask of the reality of oppression. Appearance acquired a social emancipatory power of its own…[A]t the beginning, women were excluded, but then very early on, women said, "Sorry, why not also us?" Then blacks said, "Why not us?" And workers, and so on. My point being that all of these groups that criticize liberalism emerged out of these early bourgeois liberal traditions. It set certain rules — this tradition of universality of human rights and so on — and in this way it opened up the space.[209]
Here Žižek almost seems to perfectly embody what Losurdo calls "vulgar historicism," in the derisory meaning sketched briefly above. Alberto Toscano has neatly encapsulated this phrase of Losurdo's as "the facile historicist thesis according to which liberalism simply and gradually grew in extension ([first] to the propertied middle classes, then to the lower classes, then to women, then to people of color…) while retaining an intact original inspiration."[210] But Žižek is correct to point out that the universalizing overtones in language of bourgeois right, whatever the scope of its intended sphere of application, became the grounds on which certain demands liberty and equality could subsequently be placed. Whatever excuses the radical bourgeois philosophers may have made for limiting the freedom and equality they proclaimed, even Losurdo must agree that "[t]he theorists and agents of the liberal revolutions…were moved by a powerful, convinced pathos of liberty."[211] Žižek's crucial insight is that the postcolonial and postmodern critiques of liberalism, under which Losurdo's own "counter-history" can also be subsumed, are all leveled from the standpoint of liberalism itself — and a tepid, eviscerated liberalism at that. They are thus never able to transcend the built-in contradictions that liberal notions of freedom and equality (what Žižek, employing Rancière's neologism, terms égaliberté) encounter in bourgeois society. "The 'radical' postcolonial critique of liberalism," Žižek writes, "thus remains at the standard Marxist level of denouncing false universality, of showing how a position that presents itself as neutral-universal effectively privileges a certain (heterosexual, male, Christian) culture. More precisely, such a stance is contained within the standard postmodern, anti-essentialist position."[212]
Against this superficial stance, Žižek correctly locates the unfreedom and inequality of bourgeois society in the alienated subjectivity represented by the commodity-form, in its peculiar position as estranged agency, equivalence, and universality (liberté, égalité,and fraternité, respectively). Losurdo, though neither a postmodernist nor a postcolonial theorist, repeats their same basic error in overlooking "the emergence of the very form of universality." Žižek is thus right to ask: "How and in what specific historical conditions does abstract universality itself become a 'fact of (social) life'? In what conditions do individuals experience themselves as subjects of universal human rights?" By interpreting this universality as purely the outcome of white European chauvinism, one sacrifices the historically specific character of modern bourgeois subjectivity. The importance of this point is nearly impossible to overestimate; indeed, the entire Marxist critique of capitalist society pivots around it. Or, as Žižek aptly puts it, "[t]his is the point of Marx's analysis of commodity fetishism: in a society in which commodity exchange predominates, individuals themselves, in their daily lives, relate to themselves, as well as to the objects they encounter, as to…embodiments of abstract-universal notions."[213] Liberal-bourgeois human right, with its lofty pretensions to universality, could thus be extended more or less unproblematically to the rest of society after it first appeared. Such extensions did not come without a fight, to be sure. The "struggles for recognition" Losurdo describes were often hotly contested, but the antagonisms associated with such struggles did not prove to be insoluble. Of course, these forms of discrimination — i.e., structural racism, sexism, and heteronormativity — have hardly disappeared. The point is that liberalism is more than capable of accommodating difference. Far from merely "tolerating" diversity, neoliberal capitalism positively thrives on it. Various marginalized identities appear as only so many niche markets and target audiences. "[T]he contemporary hypostatization of difference, heterogeneity, and hybridity doesn't necessarily point beyond capitalism," reminds Moishe Postone. "[B]ut [it] can serve to veil and legitimate a new global form that combines decentralization and heterogeneity of production and consumption with increasing centralization of control and underlying homogeneity."[214]
Truth be told, liberal society has for some time now managed to outlive the moment it first passed into fundamental self-contradiction. In the interim, it has incorporated quite a few groups that had formerly been denied rights under liberalism's "exclusion clauses." At what point, then, did this contradiction reveal itself? "For Marx," Žižek continues in another text, "the sobering 'day after' which follows the revolutionary intoxication marks the original limitation of the 'bourgeois' revolutionary project, the falsity of its promise of universal freedom: the 'truth' is that universal human rights are the rights of commerce and private property."[215] One point that remains underdeveloped in Žižek's account, however, is the duration that was required to arrive at this "day after." For this feeling of disillusionment was not revealed all at once. The liberal faith in bourgeois freedom did not die out in the aftermath of the Terror, the Thermidorian Reaction, Waterloo, or even the Restoration. The light from what Hegel referred to as "[the] sunburst which, in one flash, illuminate[d] the features of the new world" lingered for some time over the skies of Europe, until the black plumes funneling from the smokestacks of industrial society plunged it back into night.[216] And yet, even within the darkness of this night, a still more glorious dawn seemed destined to emerge. The decisive moment at which this latent contradiction within civil society first manifested itself can be pinpointed with a degree of accuracy uncommon in the interpretation of historical periods — down to the specific date and place. Such a date was June 22nd, 1848; and while similar conflicts would break out across Europe around this time, the place was the streets of Paris.
This can be bracketed for the time being, however. One final essay by Žižek on the topic of liberalism should be mentioned before moving on. His pointed declaration that "Only Communism can Save Liberal Democracy," published some months back, serves as a sobering reflection on the post-1989 fate of both liberal and leftist politics, as well as the new challenge of right-wing fundamentalism. Žižek thus underscores two primary forms of barbarism that have (re)emerged in the absence of a viable Left since this time: 1.) various fundamentalist ideologies sprouting up in some of the most exploited sections of the global economic system, and 2.) the recrudescence of regimes of austerity in the more developed countries of the West, as their welfare states swiftly unravel. To combat this twofold crisis of liberalism, he maintains, an alliance is needed: "In order for its key legacy to survive, liberalism needs the brotherly help of the radical Left."[217] Here, the way Žižek phrases it is rather naïve, but his basic point is correct.
Beginning with the former of these two, he argues that religious fundamentalism is a necessary byproduct of the unchallenged hegemony of political and economic liberalism. Fundamentalism, as Žižek sees it, is the mirror image of liberalism. "Fundamentalism is a reaction — a false, mystifying reaction, of course — against a real flaw of liberalism," he writes, "and this is why it is again and again generated by liberalism. Left to [its own devices], liberalism will slowly undermine itself — the only thing that can save its core is a renewed Left."[218] Though it may be implied by the tenor of his statement, Žižek forgets to mention that the threat to liberalism posed by fundamentalism — a threat arising from the Right — appears only after meaningful opposition from the Left has disappeared. On this point, Alberto Toscano has written a nice line vis-à-vis Islamic fundamentalism, noting: "The emergence of Islamism as a political subject does not necessarily represent an express reaction to emancipatory politics, but may rather constitute a capitalization on its absence, on the temporary incapacity of progressives to actually produce a present."[219] Another, related consequence should also be apparent from all this. This is that, despite liberalism's persistence, one cannot speak of an emancipatory politics today — first of all because the Left is dead andsecond of all because liberalism has long since ceased to be revolutionary. Even Losurdo, who tends to sympathize with Islamic fundamentalists in their various struggles against American imperialism,[220] is concerned by the fact that the most sustained militant movement against liberalism has arisen out of such a reactionary source. The reason for his concern here owes to his belief that the stimulus for liberal reforms has nearly always come from forces operating outside the ambit of liberalism,[221] and his fear that the latter tends to move in the political direction of these oppositional movements when making concessions. Losurdo's evidence for this claim is fairly solid: the emancipation of the slaves in the South was a concession to abolitionist currents, while the welfare state was a concession to socialist currents. Now that the leading force in the global struggle against liberalism is fundamentalism, however, the thought that the former might edge toward the latter is a frightening prospect indeed.
Religious fundamentalism, as an external challenge along the periphery of the most "advanced" bastions of liberalism, shaped the political landscape of the early 2000s. The dismantling of the welfare state, as an internal crisis in the core of the most "advanced" bastions of liberalism, has shaped the political landscape since 2008. Each can be seen as a legacy of the 1970s: radical Islam having come out of the Iranian Revolution of 1979, and deregulationist neoliberalism out of the Oil Crisis of 1973. But neither really of these posed an existential threat to liberalism until 1989, with the collapse of "actually-existing socialism" abroad and the final death of the Left at home.[222] Other commentators, such as Postone, have similarly remarked upon the pattern of "the weakening of national states as economically sovereign entities, the undermining of welfare states in the capitalist West, the collapse of bureaucratic party states in the Communist East, and the apparently triumphant reemergence of unchecked market capitalism."[223] Žižek's analysis of the interdependency of these phenomena goes further here than Postone's, however. Beyond simply noting that they took shape alongside one another, Žižek claims that it was the disappearance of the USSR from the world stage that opened up the floodgates for neoliberal hegemony and expansion. "1989," observes Žižek, "marked not only the defeat of the Communist State-Socialism, but also the defeat of the Western Social Democracy." The downfall of the Soviet Union in the East, he contends, simultaneously spelled doom for the welfare state in the West. Žižek diagnoses the second of these defeats, the defeat of the Western (European) Social-Democratic welfare state, as symptomatic of the first, the defeat of Eastern (Soviet) Communism. He describes this state of affairs in unreservedly grim terms:
Nowhere is the misery of today's Left more palpable than in its "principled" defense of the Social-Democratic Welfare State: the idea is that, in the absence of a feasible radical Leftist project, all that the Left can do is to bombard the state with demands for the expansion of the Welfare State, knowing well that the State will not be able to deliver…This necessary disappointment [will then presumably serve] as a reminder of the basic impotence of the social-democratic Left, and thus push the people towards a new radical revolutionary Left.
As Žižek points out, this line of reasoning is cynical. The breakdown of the welfare state by no means guarantees a shift to the Left; it could just as easily deliver the "people" unto "Rightist populism." While his analysis here is correct, Žižek's proposed alternative — i.e., that "the Left will have to propose its own positive project beyond the confines of the Social-Democratic Welfare State" — is not much better.[224] To be sure, the passing of the welfare state (a thoroughly conservative project from the start) ought not be lamented too much. Without any real hope for achieving revolution, the fight for reforms has also lost any meaning it once had. Losurdo, hitting a rare pessimistic note, makes this same point. "In the West…," he explains, "the disappearance of the challenge posed by a strong international Communist movement and the 'socialist camp' has led to a general process of involution. This [has resulted in] the deconstruction of the welfare state."[225]
Continue to Part IV: 1848


text: Luxurious villa for sale in Cabrera.This luxurious ocean view villa is a fusion of East meets West Asian luxury with style and exotic eastern design. Just steps away from the villa are the beaches of Orchid Bay and a short drive will get you to over half a dozen more equally magnificent nearby beaches. The villa is situated in a large private domain with 24/24 security only 5 minutes drive from the center where you find supermarkets, shops, restaurants, banks and schools. The international airport of Samana is just 30 miles (48km) or 50minuten drive from the domain. The capital city Santo Domingo is reached via the new highway constructed in just 1h30 drive.On entering the villa you'll immediately go into a large living room that you have a feeling of space and luxury with a nice modern lounge and spacious dining area and also a very well equipped kitchen with appliances. The living room gives access to a covered terrace overlooking the swimming pool with jacuzzi, tennis court and nice manicured exotic garden with numerous fruit trees. The villa has 5 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms, 2 bedrooms on the 1st floor and 3 on the 2ndfloor. Each bedroom in this villa has en suite bathroom and is fully air-conditioned with individual controls and offer patios/balconies overlooking the private pool and tennis court. The master bedroom has a romantic tub peeking out over the ocean vistas and also has a outdoor shower (one indoors as well). A modern open staircase in the lounge leads to the first floor where you'll find the master bedroom and 2 guest bedrooms. From the 2nd floor you have beautiful view over the spacious living area on the 1st floor. The private pool in this villa is a unique 360 degree infinity edge with a generously sized spa attached. The villa has a total living area of 7200ft2 and a plot of land of 64253ft2 and is fully fenced. There is also a maid quarter with individual laundry, carport for 2 cars and a building where the generator of 45 KVA and inverter of 8 KVA . For more information about this luxury property and real estate in the Dominican Republic in general, please fill out the application form.


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Kids LOVE to do apple stamping! I've done a lot of it with preschool kids in the past, but I think it's so cute how Busy Bee Kids Crafts incorporated a tree and leaves.
Look at this cute apple core from the blog Crunchy & Green.
Click here for a fun felt story board idea that incorporates simple math.
Click the video to hear "Ten Apples up on Top" being read by some adorable sounding children with an English accent.
"Apples, Apples, Apples" is such a cute book and I love the bonuses the author included at the end!
On a day perfect for apple picking, the bunny family heads to Long Hill Orchard. Mr. Miller takes them to the trees on his wobbly farm wagon and tells them all sorts of fun facts about fall's favorite fruit. Nancy Elizabeth Wallace has painstakingly glued in place simple cut-paper shapes to give her illustrations their bold colors and three-dimensional quality. Her story includes a recipe, an apple-print project, apple sayings, and an apple song for parents and children to share.
Apple Cars?! Some people are so creative! The kids will love this one.
Mmm... easy homemade applesauce!
Click here for lots of great songs and poems about apples.


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The Challenge
Moving from Yahoo Commerce to Magento
Did you know you can order ice cream online? Not only that, but eCreamery allows customers to design and create their own unique flavor online. They are a small ice cream shop located in Omaha, NE that sells 16 different flavors of ice cream, gelato and sorbet. They came to us ready for a new platform to help distribute their unique flavors to online shoppers. The first thing we did was move them from a Yahoo commerce website to a brand new Magento site. We improved their site security to keep their customer information secure. For order fulfillment, we integrated Veracore with a 3rd party vendor. Then we used Windsor Circle for product distribution. A dynamic block module allows them to make special blocks display full screen width and be used through the site. To improve site security and SEO we have transitioned their full site over to HTTPS.
How We Help
Connecting with the Customer
At eCreamery, they put their customers first. So we helped them created a full-featured blog as another way to connect with their customers. On their site, we made a custom label maker so each customer could customize the labels in their purchase. Through several custom components and configurations, they also have the ability to create custom flavors. The customers' favorites can be saved in a "Recipe Box" module and retrieved for a future order. We also thought it was important to modify eCreamery's checkout to include accommodations for special requests and requirements. Incorporating other things, liked a contest that integrated with Facebook for voting on customer-submitted flavors, establishes a stronger relationship with their customer base.
Have a question?
We enjoy helping out where ever we can.


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Best Practices For Your Medial Bill Collection
If you want to make sure that your medical bills are collected promptly and fully, you need to have a good medical billing service.
One of the biggest problems that faces most medical facilities is the fact that bill collection is quite a challenge. In order to address this challenge it takes a lot of commitment to having the right systems in place as well as the right procedures in order to ensure that the medical facility is well run. This means that every medical institution needs to carefully observe what their needs are and what processes will make the institution more efficient and effective at rendering the services that they have proficiency in. Once a medical institution is able to do this, growth will be inevitable and more so sustainable growth will take place because costs will be easily met and this will fuel even more efficiency and effectiveness. With this in mind, below are some of the things that every medical institution should have in place in order to ensure that billing is prioritized and done well and that the rest of the organization is more efficiently run.
The crux of the matter when it comes to medical billing systems is to make sure that there is a medical system that caters to the needs of the facility. What this assumes is that the needs of the medical institution need to be very clear in administrator's minds as well as in the minds of the medical professionals working there. If you want to make sure that there is a synergistic approach and implementation of the medical billing systems then all teams need to come together and talks about how they can best address their specific tasks for the overall good of the facility. In other words, if everyone is better able to do their part with respect to the whole organization and with respect to every other professionals needs then the organization will run a lot smoother. With regards to billing. If say your medical practice is based in Los Angeles, then you need to make sure that the medical billing services in Los Angeles that you seek will address everyone's needs. In other words, collection of payments should not get in the way of doctors or other medical professionals doing their job and the reverse is also true, that the medical professionals should not do their jobs at the expense of the administrative and finance departments as well.
More practically, when it comes to medical billing services, it is important to make sure that there is a procedure in place for how patients are welcomed and how they are taken from one step to another before they can meet the doctor. For example, patient details should first be taken, insurance or direct payments should be verified, the reason for the medical visit should also be taken into account and such details should all be considered as procedures are being created.


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Andy Gipson, the Mississippi state lawmaker who made his position on homosexuality very clear on a May 10th Facebook post, refuses to apologize for calling for the death of gays.
According to Huffington Post, on May 10th, Gipson cited Leviticus 20:13 in a Facebook post, which states:
"If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads."
Toweleroad reports that the state representative's post said:
"Been a lot of press on Obama's opinion on "homosexual marriage." The only opinion that counts is God's: see Romans 1:26-28 and Leviticus 20:13. Anyway you slice it, it is sin. Not to mention horrific social policy."
In response, thousands have signed a petition for Andy Gipson to apologize to the LGBT community. Instead, Huffington Post reports that he responded by saying:
"To be clear, I want the world to know that I do not, cannot, and will not apologize for the inspired truth of God's Word. It is one thing that will never 'change. Anyone who knows me knows I also believe that all people are created in God's image, and that all people are loved by God, so much so that He gave us the truth of His Word which convicts us of the reality and guilt of our sin, and He gave us His Son Jesus who paid the full penalty for all our sins, by His grace through our faith in Him as we repent of our sin. John 3:16. It is this message that I preach every Sunday. I sincerely pray God will reach someone through this message."
Many people on Facebook have supported his comment, as well as his refusal to apologize for it. One of his supporters, Ted W. Cole even wrote:
"I stand with you my friend. … GOD is in control … no place for Gays."
According to Huffington Post, UnityMS flagged the post, then responded by saying:
"Mr. Gipson needs to realize he represents all of his constituents. He should not cherry-pick which constituents he wants to work for. He should also realize his positions are neither popular nor Republican. LGBT individuals, couples, and families help pay Gipson's salary. It's important that he remember that."
Do you think Andy Gipson should apologize for his statement condoning killing gays?


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'Making The Most of a Maxim': Joanna Pettet and Severn Darden photo spread, 1963
Below, ▼ four black & white shots by award-winning photographer Dan Wynn put an off-kilter spin on four musty old adages in a 'Screen Test' feature that ran originally in the January, 1963 issue of
Show magazine.
The featured players were (then) up-and-coming actors Severn Darden and Joanna Pettet.
(Click on images to ENLARGE in a new window, and to make the most of those maxims)
(Click on images ▲ to ENLARGE in a new window, and to make the most of those maxims)
Here's the text that accompanied those images in 1963:
Miss Pettet was born in London 19 years ago and started taking acting lessons at the age of 14 to overcome shyness. That the treatment was a success is obvious now, five years later, in the spirit and insouciance she has brought before the camera.
More recently she studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, and her credits include theater and TV stints in Canada and a summer at the White Barn Theater in Irwin, Pennsylvania. She is currently playing the ingenue lead in the road company of 'Take Her, She's Mine.'
Mr. Darden hails from Chicago, where he attended the university of the same name and soon became distracted by the provocative activities of the local cabaret theater. He started with the 'Second City' troupe in 1959. He quickly became it's mainstay as well as a rising acting and writing talent in his own right: he is one of the few modern entertainers to do a record on pre-Socratic philosophers-and make it funny.
Lately he has been trying his hand in off-Broadway theater with The Writer's Stage, his most recent appearance as the star of 'P.S.193.'
To furnish the scenario for this month's screen test, Joanna and Severn have uncovered two rare manuscripts from the 1820's entitled 'The American Chesterfield, or 'Way to Wealth, Honour and Distinction' and 'Parlor Amusements and Social Etiquette.'
On these pages we see their own wry 20th Century comments.
Following this magazine appearance, Joanna Pettet would be seen on Broadway in a production of 'Poor Richard', playing opposite Alan Bates and Gene Hackman.
Pettet and Bates were close friends from then on.
Soon after that stage run she was 'discovered' by film director Sidney Lumet, who brought Ms. Pettet into the ensemble cast of 'The Group' in 1966, launching her film career.
Probably it's Joanna Pettet's appearance as Mata Bond in 1967's epic comedy romp/train wreck
'Casino Royale' for which she is most often remembered today, though for some it could be for the several horror films she made during the '70's and '80's, or perhaps her work as a television actress, especially in made-for-TV movies.
IMDb lists 115 film and TV appearances for Severn Darden, running from 1961 to 1989, though it would not be surprising to learn that there were more.
It might be true that Darden (1929 - 1995) is familiar to most people only as 'That Guy'.
- - As in "...Oh, it's that guy. I've seen him lots of times. Like in... oh, what was that thing...?"
Scores of sitcoms and TV dramas of all flavors. A wide variety of films, from most any genre you care to choose.
Often he was cast as a doctor, an academic, or some sort of intellectual, though overall his range of roles was surprisingly varied.
The text from the magazine article mentions Mr. Darden's affiliation with Second City, Chicago's groundbreaking improvisational theater group.
In fact, Darden had also been a member of The Compass Players, the original University of Chicago cabaret revue that ran from
1955 - 1958 and would 'morph' into
Second City in '59.
To read more about Severn Darden's career, click over to a 2007 posting at
Arbogast on Film: 'Too smart for the room'.
It's a glowing remembrance and biographical sketch about a wonderful but
under-appreciated performer.
The piece warranted a nice little follow-up, too.
For a bit more on Severn Darden, see also:
- A 1956 photo of The Compass Players, posted at Shelley Berman's web site. A young and clean shaven Severn sits among fellow cast members including Berman, Barbara Harris, and Mike Nichols and Elaine May.
- You can preview Janet Coleman's book, 'The Compass: The Improvisational Theatre that Revolutionized American Comedy' at Google Book Search
- A transcript of Darden's 1961 'Metaphysics Lecture' from his LP 'The Sound of My Own Voice
(and Other Noises)'.
(When I successfully manage to rescue my record collection from storage, maybe I'll remember to post some audio. Feel free to remind me.)
- A 'famous University of Chicago grads' Severn Darden page (still under construction as of this writing) collects together several other biographical bits & pieces.


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Sweet programs are coming this February at the Horn Lake Library. We begin with one of my favorite people - author Earnest Edward Lacey with his powerful book Free Joe, a Story of Faith, Love and Perseverance. Mr. Lacey weaves his family history of danger, racial intolerance and personal tragedy into a memorable tapestry of the long reaching effects of American slavery. His family's determination to survive, thrive and be independent gives an insight into modern day race relations in America. Please save the date: Friday, February 2 at 6:00 pm. Friends of the Horn Lake Library are sponsoring the event along with a book signing. Please bring your cameras for an opportunity to have your picture taken with Mr.Lacey. School extra credit forms are available for students attending the program - please check with teachers.
DCS is committed to providing a work environment that is free of discrimination. It is the policy of DCS that all applicants and employees are entitled to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, religion or creed, gender (includes pregnancy or related medical conditions), national origin, age, disability, veteran status or other protected characteristics as required by local, state and federal law.The DeSoto County School District is also committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of technology or ability. This website endeavors to comply with best practices and standards defined by Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act. For more information, please click here.
Copyright © 2019 Magnolia School


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On vacation.
See you next week.
I will persevere. I will keep moving forward. I will be the stream.
How do I describe this blog?
A line from the movie "Old School" with a small tweak.
"My friends, this is a safe place. A place where we can feel free sharing our feelings. Think of my blog as a nest in a tree of trust and understanding. We can say anything here."
Hope you're having fun.
Have a good one!
Have a great time.
Have fun. Enjoy yourself. Be the stream. Pics or it didn't happen ;)
Walley World?


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Download full video at Party Of 3
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wo were ironically hanging out in front of a hot dog cart. I found this to be very interesting... needless to say Mercedes used her swagger and snatched these broads up for an afternoon romp back at Blakes place. These 3 ladies were horny as all hell and super aggressive... biting and spanking each other. This is one hell of a lesbian threesome. We hope you enjoy and your welcome!...
Recognize a pornstar? Help make DansMovies better by telling us who's in this video. It will make it easier to find your favorite pornstars' videos!
Help make DansMovies better by tagging this video. It will make it easier to find your favorite videos!


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I admit I love Facebook…it is a source of cheer and joy and insight to me in my daily journey.
A long time ago, as a little boy, I like so many chose what I thought I would like from a very limited catalog of personal experience. Then the Sear's Christmas Catalog came once a year to my home and I would explore so many options I had not yet seen. New toys, new ways to play. Yes, it was consumerism, but I also discovered that I lived in a small part of a very large world. Over the years, I learned to broaden my tastes and likes and exploration became a core of my life. I am still in the life-long learning phase of my life six decades later. I remember thinking that was just a part of the school system of my childhood and would pass. It did not. Curiosity became a deep wish to fulfill. What next could I learn?
Food helped me apply this quite practically. Once I disliked white rice and most anything that went with it. Then I was given a trip to the Far East courtesy of the US Navy. I learned to love food from its sources. What a delight!
More importantly, I learned that diversity of flavor enriches my life – I found people of many nations bring so much to the richness of my life that I walk around with a big smile most of the time. I do not know your life nor have I the time to deeply investigate what makes you unique…I wish I did…maybe, that is what eternity is all about. But when you share a little of who you are, I become richer. Thank you for making me a wealthy man.
There is a video linked in the title above. Go there..
it shows how the unexpected can bring joys unimaginable in the daily of our lives. Look for these joys; they are all around.


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NLOM (Navy Layered Ocean Model)
Posted April 1, 2002,18:04
Institution: NRL
Contact: firstname.lastname@example.com
The NLOM has become the world's first scalable portable ocean model. It will run efficiently and interchangeably on massively parallel computers (distributed memory - CM5, CRAY T3D/T3E, IBM SP2, SGI Power Challenge Array, Convex Exemplar), multi-processor shared memory computers (CRAY YMP/C90/T90, SGI Power Challenge, Convex Exemplar), or scalar computers (single processor workstations).
Copyright ©2002-2007 Ocean-Modeling.org. All rights reserved. Webmaster


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We are not in a land where hindi is a spoken language, but before us, we see the advantages of hindi.!! Sometimes we think to get the language to speak, write and read.
Here is a cheering news to those who would like to learn hindi by spending a negligible amount (Rs. 50). You can study hindi to get a certificate in hindi that will be a boost to your CV and will help you learn our rashtra bhasha...
are you ready to apply..?
I wish you all the success....
if you have any clarification, pls write in the comment box or send a mail to email@example.com.
1. http://hindinideshalaya.nic.in/english/index.html
2. http://hindinideshalaya.nic.in/english/correspondencecourse/course.htmlContact Details
Central Hindi Directorate
Department of Correspondence Courses,
West Block – 7, R.K. Puram, New Delhi – 110 066
Central Hindi Directorate invites applications from Non-Hindi speaking Indians, Foreigners and NRIs for admission to the following Hindi Correspondence Courses:
1. Certificate Course in Hindi (Preliminary Course/Middle Level)
2. Diploma Course in Hindi (Subsequent to Certificate Course/ Secondary Level)
3. Advance Diploma Course in Hindi (Sr. Secondary Level)
Eligibility1. Certificate Course in Hindi -
(1) Indians whose mother tongue is not Hindi and who have attained the minimum age of 15 years as on 1.7.2011.
(2) Foreigners/Indian Nationals/Settlers residing abroad the minimum age of 10 as on 1/7/2011 irrespective of their mother tongue.
2. Diploma Course in Hindi - Subsequent to the Certificate Course is open to those who fulfill (I) above and have either passed Certificate Course conducted by Central Hindi Directorate or who possess sufficient background of Hindi or who have appeared in Certificate Course Examination in May 2011.
3. Advance Diploma Course in Hindi - It is open to all Indians and foreigners residing in India or abroad whose mother tongue is not Hindi. Minimum age limit for admission as on 1/7/2011 is 17 years.
How To Apply
Fee for Certificate / Diploma Course in Hindi.
A fee of Rs. 50/- from candidate residing in India and US Dollars $ 50 or Pound 30 or equivalent to Indian currency from candidate residing abroad is charged for each course.
Fee for Advance Diploma Course in Hindi
(1) Candidate residing in India - Rs. 200/-
(2) Candidate residing abroad - US$ Dollars 200 or Pound 120.
Where Dollar or Pound is not a currency then equivalent to the currency of the concerned country will be accepted. Fee can be remitted by crossed Postal Order or Bank Draft in favour of the Director, Central Hindi Directorate, payable at New Delhi.
Fee sent through Money Order or Chegue is not acceptable. Application without the prescribed fee will be summarily rejected.
In case an applicant residing abroad finds it difficult to remit fee in hard currency on account of local foreign exchange restrictions, he/she is advised to deposit the fee in equivalent local currency with Indian Mission / Embassy in the country where he/she is residing and send us the receipt in Original.
The receipt must bear the name of the candidate and the amount equivalent to Indian currency.
The closing date for submission of filled up application forms along with fee is 15/08/2011. However, the session will start from 1/7/2011 .The applications may also be submitted at E-mail address email@example.com
(Format of the application form is given in Paper. This format can be neatly written, typed/photocopied.
Application form should be neatly filled in English only.)
Applications must be sent to:
The Deputy Director,
Department of Correspondence Courses,
West Block – 7, R.K. Puram, New Delhi – 110 066
Last date for receipt of form: 15 August 2011


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Tuesday, 14 November, 2017 16:58 0 Comments
MN Septic System Specialists
A New Septic System is a big investment for many St Cloud area property owners. Its smart to do your homework when choosing a Septic System Installer. Make sure that the company that you choose is MPCA Certified. Finding a MN Septic System Specialist with outstanding knowledge in many different Septic Designs and Proper Installation Techniques can help to ensure


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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-154817862018-12-26T01:20:50.806-06:00GulfSailsLocated in New Orleans - I will be riding out Hurricane Katrina with a generator, some beer and the ability to post via cell phone after we lose hardlines. I will attempt at least hourly posts. Pictures will be available until land lines are lost... Um, now for Gustav.TAGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-15481786.post-16981515231329139872010-08-22T20:13:00.002-05:002011-01-24T21:21:45.686-06:00Kplus5

The link to my new website can be found by clicking HERE.
TAGhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-15481786.post-61559927919119212512010-08-03T12:42:00.003-05:002011-01-24T21:19:02.375-06:00A Howling in the Wires - Book ReleaseFive years after the storm, I'm proud that I was able to contribute some of my writing during those crazy, dark days after Katrina to this book project. The book releases August 26th and myself and several of the other writers will be reading excerpts at Mimi's in the Marigny that evening...

A Howling in the Wires: An Anthology of Writings from Postdiluvian New Orleans

Gallatin & Toulouse Press announces the publication of A Howling in the Wires: An Anthology of Writings from Postdiluvian New Orleans. This collection combines the vivid post-Katrina experiences captured by internet-based "bloggers" from New Orleans--individuals who don't think of themselves as writers but who were writing powerfully in the months after 8-29--with the work of traditional writers. Some of those, like novelist Dedra Johnson and poet Robin Kemp, share their most immediate reactions from their own blogs. The book deliberately blurs the line between formats and focuses on cataloging some of the best-written and most powerful reactions of the people who experienced Katrina.

Editors Sam Jasper and Mark Folse are writers who turned to the Internet to chronicle their own experiences and reactions to Katrina and found in the months after 8-29 they were part of a larger community sharing the public and very private events of the period.
The book will be published late August, 2010. A launch party and reading is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 26 at 8 p.m. upstairs at Mimi's in the Marigny,.

Contributors include cookbook author and travel-and-sailing writer Troy Gilbert, poet Valentine Pierce, Professor Jerry Ward of Dillard University and poet/playwright Raymond "Moose" Jackson together with the work of bloggers who are by day engineers, teachers, geologists, computer programmers, bankers, and social workers but in their spare time writers of talent whose only prior outlet has been their Internet-based blogs. These works were edited minimally for basic spelling and grammar, mistakes easily made writing first hand accounts created under great duress, in an attempt to preserve the original "howl" of people who experienced these events first hand.

Editor Sam Jasper's preface explains: "When we started this project, our goal was to find some of the best words that were howling in those wires once the wind stopped and the levees broke. We read through hundreds of thousands of words for weeks. Sometimes the pain in those words re-opened wounds we thought had healed. Sometimes the words gave us insight into another person's experience and we were astonished by the nakedness, the vulnerability, the ferocity and often the defiance being expressed so soon after the event. Naked and raw and very, very public."

"These voices, oblivious to each other and miles apart, sing in pitch perfect harmony—a phenomenon only possible where truth is absolute. Stunned courageous but always in motion, the Every Man and Every Woman of these Gulf Coast narrations and poems lean blindly towards recovery and redemption just as they struggle to comprehend the enormity of what has happened to them. Here you will find no analysis ad nauseum, no academic dissections, no punditry or pretension. Just ordinary folks caught up under extraordinary circumstances, telling their stories in real time, absolutely in the moment—in grief, in anger, and—most miraculously—in good humor. If you only ever read one post-Katrina related book, and if you think you can handle for that book to be an unapologetically unfiltered and dead honest journey back into those dark days and months after the storm, this thin volume is all you will need."

 * Louis Maistros, author of The Sound of Building Coffins

"A powerful and immediate look at post-Katrina New Orleans. Sam Jasper and Mark Folse have done a great service to America by compiling these early writings from the storm."

 * Stephen Elliot, editor of TheRumpus.Net and author of The Adderall Diaries and Happy Baby.

"There are no better guides to post flood New Orleans than the bloggers who emerged here during the immediate wake of the levee breaks. What's particularly remarkable about these writers is that none hew to the snarky, cynical, superficial style found on most blogs--instead there is an enormous passion for New Orleans, real anger at its injustices and much needed rebukes to the received wisdom surrounding this moment of man made disaster."

 * Ethan Brown, author of Shake the Devil Off and Fat Cat, 50 Cent, and the Rise of the Hip Hop Hustle
Further, copies of my released book - New Orleans Kitchens - can be purchased online as well as pre-orders for the upcoming release of the Cafe Degas Cookbook in March 0f 2011. Stay tuned for an announcement of another book release scheduled for the same month of next year.TAGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-15481786.post-6944143047347104642010-03-04T12:42:00.004-06:002010-08-03T12:33:04.884-05:00The 5 Year AnniversaryA lot has been accomplished five years out from the storm in New Orleans, but much more remains to be completed and even realized.

In the spring of 2009, I finally moved out of the FEMA trailer and back into my house in Lakeview. After wading through the perils of the Road Home program, I am pleased to say that my house which sat in ten feet of water for nearly six weeks is back and better than before. My neighborhood has seen the return of around 60% of its pre-Katrina residents and this is easily witnessed by the continued construction everywhere, but with my home now surrounded by three empty lots - the scars are also everywhere.

I have taken my energies and put them primarily into restoring Lakeview with a specific focus on West End. I am the Vice President for the Friends of West End organization and through this I've gotten the ear of several City Council members as well as a state Senator.

It's amazing that five years out and nearly every FEMA project worksheet for rebuilding public infrastructure for West End still is trapped in government bureaucracy - seriously not one iota of work has commenced. It made me laugh when media opined on how one year out from the federal stimulus package and most of the money had not been spent. Government moves like a toad - it's almost criminal.

Professionally I have become a full-time writer and journalist. I'm proud to say that my first book - a cookbook featuring recipes from the top New Orleans chefs and beautiful artwork from many established and up-and-coming artists - has finally been released.

Three other projects are in various states of production and the second cookbook of this four part series should be out in the fall.

I am also still actively covering the Gulf Coast's competitive sailing scene for Sailing World magazine - in fact, I'll be racing across the Gulf of Mexico in May from Pensacola to Isla Mujeres, Mexico - normally an incredible 5 day journey across a saltwater desert.

Cheers until next time.

TroyTAGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-15481786.post-73874763679755567482008-09-02T22:05:00.009-05:002008-09-02T23:39:35.474-05:00New Orleans Off the GRID
Word has it from a t-con just completed with Louisiana's power company, Entergy, is that it may be weeks before power is restored to southern Louisiana.

The Times-Pic has the following article posted regarding this.

This info below is taken from Entergy's own website and is pretty frightening. New Orleans is an electrical ISLAND:

- Entergy's transmission system has sustained extremely severe damage from Hurricane Gustav, damage that could make power restoration a difficult and slow process, especially in southeastern Louisiana.

- The transmission damage across the Entergy system includes 191 transmission lines and 210 substations out of service.

- Entergy's preparations made in advance of the storm to protect its system contributed directly to the power that is still on in New Orleans. Without the planning to isolate some generators there, this transmission damage would have interrupted power everywhere in the New Orleans area. Entergy's Waterford 1, Nine Mile Point and Little Gypsy plants are now supplying all the power available in this area.

- Thirteen of the 14 transmission lines serving the New Orleans metropolitan area are out of service due to the storm. This creates a situation where the New Orleans metropolitan area and a corridor along the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge have become essentially an island, no longer electrically connected to the rest of the Entergy system and the electricity grid for the eastern United States. This "island" is south of Lake Pontchartrain and includes Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Charles and upper Plaquemines parishes, which are sometimes referred to as the "river" parishes.

- Transmission lines in the Baton Rouge area that are needed to tie the "island" back to the system are out of service due to storm damage there, which was particularly severe.

- Entergy is therefore continuing to carefully manage the restoration process in the affected area because adding more load could create an imbalance and trip the system, putting all the lights out.

- Part of the difficulty is that there are no transmission lines to the south of New Orleans area because of the Gulf of Mexico. Transmission lines to the north, east and west are out of service.

- Entergy's first choice to relieve the islanding issue was to use its 500,000-volt transmission line, but that line is damaged at the substation and will take several days to repair. The alternate is to use several 230,000-volt lines to tie in the system. Several lines would be needed to assure the stability of the island and avoid an outage that would affect the entire region. Assessment continues and the time needed to repair the 230,000-volt lines could still take several days.

- Entergy has experienced extensive distribution system damage, as well. This damage will be repaired in parallel with the transmission repairs so distribution will be ready as soon as possible when the transmission system repairs are made.

- Entergy continues restoring service to emergency facilities in the affected area. Other restoration continue, but energizing of completed repairs will be delayed until the area can be tied back to the rest of the system. Continued bad weather also is preventing damage assessment by helicopter at this time.
I guess this means that the little two block area that I'm in is damn lucky to have power.

It also means that New Orleans is holding on by an electrical thread.TAGhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-15481786.post-51123856273507436502008-09-02T18:51:00.011-05:002008-09-02T19:11:57.401-05:00Post Gustav Flooding River RidgeA train of torrential rain slammed Jefferson Parish for about an hour and a half - about an hour ago. Normally something that the pumps should be able to keep up with. However, there are no residents here to clean out the culverts which rapidly filled with storm debris. Given one more hour of rain, this area would have been swamped. These photos are current. I've been going around and cleaning culverts, but it is a loosing battle. They clog back up in a few minutes.Keep the rain gods away.

This is what happens when you clean a culvert...

TAGhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-15481786.post-66238453168779962012008-09-02T10:26:00.004-05:002008-09-02T11:34:42.676-05:00Roadblocks for entering New OrleansThe map below lists the roadblocks for entering the New Orleans area until further notice. Source WVUE News, the LA State Police and NOYC.org.

View Larger MapTAGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-15481786.post-21071995846175615182008-09-01T15:15:00.001-05:002008-09-01T15:15:43.312-05:00Boater Rides out Hurricane Gustav
<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.podomatic.com/swf/mediaplayer.swf" width="320" height="340" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="thumbsinplaylist=true&width=320&height=340&file=http://gulfsails.podOmatic.com/xspf_stream.xml&autoscroll=false&displayheight=240&searchbar=false" > </embed>

TAGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-15481786.post-37588894009324683312008-09-01T15:00:00.000-05:002008-09-01T16:16:53.528-05:00LEVEES.org<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wln_iq5bc8k&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wln_iq5bc8k&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>TAGhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-15481786.post-90716453602266022522008-09-01T12:30:00.004-05:002008-09-01T12:42:45.517-05:00and... More StreetscapesBeen in a really nasty squall line training up from the South. Serious gusts moving through with sounds of trains and stuff coming up from behind you. Still remarkably have power and no street flooding. This storm, at least here, is way dryer than Katrina - and Katrina was really not that wet of a storm.

I've heard it doesn't look good further south of us and the surge has yet to work its way through our remaining vesitges of marsh.

Oh yeah, as far as those power lines you see in the video - I am definitely upwind of them. Still pretty freaky cruising the neighborhood though... I need a nap.

TAGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-15481786.post-12293245475956848892008-09-01T11:14:00.004-05:002008-09-01T11:28:04.847-05:00LAKEFRONT UPDATEAll boats in the Municipal harbor appear to be fine although there is some serious rubbing and a few roller furling issues. Water is coming through New Orleans Yacht Club's Dry Storage area into the street (This is all behind the floodwalls.)

Captain Mike who is riding out Gustav onboard his 53 foot workboat is stating that the water levels on the Southshore of Lake Pontchartrain are already dropping with the clocking of the wind to a more southerly direction. POTENTIALLY VERY GOOD NEWS FOR THE INDUSTRIAL CANAL. As long as the new angle of the wind doesn't force more water up the GOD DAMNED M.R.G.O., which the FEDS have been taking their time closing since it flooded half of New Orleans and all of St. Bernard Parish during Hurricane Katrina.

I have some info regarding an Army Corps of Engineers request that I am trying to get permission to post.

Below is another video from the neighborhood... A massive tree branch fell inches from my powerline. All still good regarding electricity and zero flooding here.

TAGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-15481786.post-4859636659326322082008-09-01T10:39:00.005-05:002008-09-01T10:49:37.966-05:00More Storm Footage/Industrial CanalVideo below of some fairly serious limbs that have crashed down. I recon-ed the neighborhood and there is still zero street flooding. No major trees down.

I'm kind of shitting my pants about that Industrial Canal footage I just saw on WWL TV. Here's the story from the Times-Picayune.TAGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-15481786.post-28957595253714556652008-09-01T09:59:00.001-05:002008-09-01T10:00:50.574-05:00Lakeview UpdateThis is from the Lakeview Civic Association.

I just heard from Sgt. Doug Eckert of LCPD and he said Lakeview is looking pretty good. He said there are branches and debris around the neighborhood, a few trees down, but no trees blocking streets that he could see. Power appears to be out. He has not had time to drive through the entire area but he did not see any significant damage to homes or businesses that he passed.

As usual, Doug, Greg Elder and LCPD are doing an excellent job of watching our neighborhood and keeping us informed of what's happening. He said NOPD patrols and the National Guard will be out protecting the area.

Al Petrie
Be Safe and Long Live Lakeview
TAGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-15481786.post-60891843365672344682008-09-01T09:25:00.004-05:002008-09-01T09:30:52.981-05:00Mother of ALL StormsThe Mother of all Storms!

TAGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-15481786.post-8403077653100586662008-09-01T08:42:00.005-05:002008-09-01T08:56:24.444-05:00Gustav Videos - Big GustsThe lights are definitely flickering. I've probably heard about eight transformers blow so far. Entergy only reports about 92,000 people without power. Looks like Gustav is hitting around Grand Isle.

Make sure you check out the wave action in the pool on this one. Still trying to catch some of the serious wind gusts. Going to do some recon and looks like we may have an issue with a pair of doors to the house weakening.

TAGhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-15481786.post-37118365064491967072008-09-01T07:40:00.006-05:002008-09-01T08:01:43.535-05:00More Early Gustav with VideoPower's still holding here - bizarrely.

Heard from Benz, one of my "correspondents" out at the Lakefront. He said, "It's pretty windy." I laughed and told him that's not very descriptive. He replied, "It's pretty fucking windy."

Buzzy, also on the Lakefront said it's not that bad, maybe 75 knot puffs, and she still has power.

Last spoke to Capt. Mike who's riding the storm out on his 53 foot workboat, Manana, out at Municipal Harbor last night - AOK at that point.

TAGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-15481786.post-53924277652432218902008-09-01T06:35:00.007-05:002008-09-01T07:26:21.312-05:00Early Gustav with VideoWell the first electrical transformers are blowing which means winds must be gusting to say 50 - 55 knots. The power here is still holding. When they blow they put off a crazy blue green arcing light. Doubt I can catch that on video. The rain has surprisingly been fairly light up to this point.

Most of these storms come through at night - so to have one during the day is a nice change.

As the light becomes better, I'm going to get a video of the wave action in the pool - pretty interesting. Also one of the dog trying to go pee out in the yard. She keeps trying to make a run for it, but then charges back from the wind and the rain.

While I'm uploading this video, the only thing that keeps running through my head is Mel Gibson in Braveheart screaming to his troops, "Hold. Hold. Hold! HOLD!" except I'm talking about the electricity.

I started my ice factory last night... maybe made about an extra bag. lol.

TAGhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-15481786.post-7038207274732777822008-09-01T02:09:00.006-05:002008-09-01T07:31:21.624-05:00Twitter GustavFYI - I'm mostly doing quick twitter updates (they can be found on the right hand side of the page) and will try and do some more in depth things normally.

As of now, nothing much exciting is going on weather wise. Most of the feeder bands have fizzled before reaching New Orleans other than the first one around 7pm Sunday. The neighborhood is nearly 90% deserted - basically exactly where it was for Katrina, until the onset of the levee failures. A couple of cop cars cruise up and down the street every now and then with their lights flashing.

As I stated in my earlier post, I still think this storm should only slightly effect New Orleans. However, it is astounding to watch the disconnect between the National and the local media. The local guys are all breathing a sigh of relief, yet the MSM is screaming hysterically simultaneously.

This will still be a serious storm down in Houma, Morgan City, Lafayette and cause flooding further to the northwest, but unless another catastrophic event happens - New Orleans should be fine, other than torrential tropical rain.

One final note for the night. I watched a local news video filmed yesterday of the head of the Army Corps of Engineers defending the incredibly slow progress on rebuilding Southeast Louisiana's levees. He stated, and I quote here, "You can't build a levee overnight."

Well, one lowly south Louisiana parish has and with no help from the Corps.TAGhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-15481786.post-5136152859458854772008-08-31T19:17:00.005-05:002008-08-31T19:57:10.412-05:00Gustav's First Wave
First feeder band is coming through now. Nice wall of gusts and then the rain. It's now pitch black outside where a minute ago it wasn't.

Realized right after that I left my window down in the jeep. Then I spoke to a good friend still in Lakeview, she thought it was beautiful. I explained that she hadn't really seen anything yet.

The bottom photo is from the Lakefront a few minutes ago and is courtesy of someone from Southern YC.

TAGhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-15481786.post-9779369688855221612008-08-31T17:48:00.006-05:002008-09-01T02:07:40.092-05:00GUSTAV THREATENS - I'm doing laundry.
Alright, so apparently this storm is coming for my fair state... but guess what, I'm non-plussed. After going through the last five days filled with violent post traumatic stressful flashbacks, group therapy consumption and actually considering not staying for the "Mother of All Storms" - I am back where I knew I would be the whole time and really not at all that concerned for a rehashing of events from three years ago. I think Gustav is fizzling out... probably hit only as a Cat-and-a-half. Maybe two.

However, I am prepared. Cell phone, camera, generator, twitter, coca-cola ham, guns, coffee, a couple of cases of MRE's left over from the last event, and most of a case of Havana Club Rum (Siete Anos) that I smuggled in from a sailboat race to Mexico. My one concern is again for internet connection. I'm on a DSL line now, which is good because cable goes out whenever a crow sneezes in China and DSL has its own power source - but it is still a weakness.

Have no fear though my texting skills are even now far superior to where they were those first nights of Katrina. I even use punctuation.

Now I'm not really being nonchalant about this storm who's name apparently means "Staff of the Gods". With only about a month left on the reconstruction of the house in Lakeview before I can move back in, I'm pretty sickened to think that something could happen to it. For instance my stupid FEMA trailer out in the front yard getting hustled into the air by a strong feeder band and then dropped right through the new drywalls. That would suck. Tornados are also problematic.

I'm fairly certain that this will be a serious rain event, so street flooding in the chronic areas and streets will happen, but the house is five feet off the ground. Flooding was never a monster problem until Katrina. I also think the new gates at the mouths of the outfall canals that breached and drowned New Orleans will hold. There really shouldn't be a new need to print up sixteen thousand bumper stickers that say, "Army Corps of Engineers - We Put the Lake in Lakeview." Notice I only said New Orleans... because if that happens again, I'm afraid my city may very well be roped off before Obama sets foot in the Oval Office.

Issues for catastrophic flooding lie in the other Federally forgotten people and areas of this state where the White House lingers over drawings for levees and rebuilt wetlands. Why does that even matter you may ask? I answer, check your gasoline prices a week from now. Port Fourchon, which may be ground zero for the eye of Gustav, is where nearly 40% of this nations fuel comes through. Oh yeah, and Louisiana refines like 30% of all that liquid that gets most everyone to work.

Ok, enough ranting. Today I boarded up the house in Lakeview and then went for a nice leisurely drive through the city. It was pretty much me, the NOPD and National Guardsmen. Very quiet, and it brought back too many memories. Houses and businesses boarded up, leaves blowing into the empty streets, humvees, soldiers with M-16s on a few corners, skies filled with Blackhawks, reporters interviewing reporters - I kept wondering where the buses the cops commandeered and spray painted NOPD on to identify them were, the broken out store windows, the de facto military base at Audubon Zoo. All of it. It really creeped me out.

It's not that a day doesn't go by that I don't have a quick memory about something on some random corner from Katrina. A smell, a dark stretch of road where the streetlights are still out. But then, oh yeah, all I need to do to understand that Katrina still ain't over is to look at my FEMA trailer, the water lines that still reside on houses down the street from me, the fact that all of my immediate neighbors houses have been bulldozed and are now idle and empty lots.

But then you realize how much has come back. The spirit and heart of all New Orleanians who have returned, the young minds who have migrated to my city to help her renew herself, the open businesses, the fact that 47% of my neighbors in Lakeview have returned and have re-planted their gardens - it all helps.

Maybe that's partly why I don't feel overly concerned for this storm.

I think these New Orleanians, these Americans, have fought far too hard and straight into the heart of gross odds to rebuild a way of life for it to be so simply snatched away from us...

Well, the first feeder bands should be coming through shortly. Until then.TAGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-15481786.post-92017877197467314002007-08-29T15:30:00.000-05:002007-08-29T13:13:11.124-05:00UpdateWe are still not OK.

I've spent some time today re-reading my blog which I've never really done... It wasn't strange to relive those events, they're with me all the time. But what got me was reading people's comments. That broke me down for hours. All I can say is thanks to the many people who either posted prayers or thanks, and I will be eternally grateful to those individuals who came to my rescue, physically or mentally, in some small or large way. Thanks.

As far as an update, the book has been picked up by Gibbs-Smith Publishing and will be released nationally in the Fall of '08. Obviously I'm excited about that, but man do you have to learn patience in the publishing world.

I'm still writing for the likes of Gambit, New Orleans CityBusiness, Sailing World, etc. Here's a few links to some recent stories.

- A New Frontier
- Economic Boom Fails
- MRGO's Dead Zone
- Set Sail
- Dining With a Few Reservations
- Katrina's Marinas
- Nearly Lost, Not Forgotton
- Zephyr!

I'm also on the radio these days. I have a small weekly show, Radio Diner, reviewing New Orleans restaurants. Radio Diner airs on WWNO during NPR news on Thursdays at 4:45pm. You can listen live on the internet and they have a few archived shows also.

I'm still living in my FEMA trailer and, big shock here, have yet to receive any of my Road Home grant. With my house having rested five feet off the ground, I did not have flood insurance. Well after nearly ten feet of water inundated the neighborhood... I still wait in a trailer sitting in front of a gutted house. I always have wanted to live aboard a boat, I've kind of gotten my wish, but it is getting trying.

My neighborhood, Lakeview, is actually coming back nicely. In my block alone nearly half of the houses are undergoing renovation... trust me, that's incredible.

I'm still actively working on some projects that you can check out below.

- Ryan Finn Ocean Racing
- New Basin Lighthouse Rescue
- Renew NOLA
- ReLeaf New Orleans

I also have two large new book projects that I am working on. One will be a novelized version of the Regatta Diaries and the other is top secret.

All the best and until next time.

___________TAGhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-15481786.post-75916254430431838022007-07-09T14:49:00.000-05:002007-07-09T15:00:54.814-05:00Must Read Josh Clark, a local literary fellow and friend of mine, has had his Hurricane Katrina memoirs published. Heart Like Water is a riotous and tragic accounting of the storm and the aftermath of the Federal levee failures told from the point of view of the French Quarter.

Definitely an interesting read.TAGhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-15481786.post-1163179662871886782006-11-10T10:50:00.000-06:002006-11-10T11:27:43.306-06:00Still KickingBecause of a few emails and comments asking whether or not I was dead by hunger strike while protesting our lack of Cat 5 or even Cat 3 levee protection in New Orleans, I've decided to go ahead and post explaining the closing of the blog...

I understand I ended the blog pretty abruptly - in fact, I actually had no intention of doing so. But after the anniversary, I decided to take a short break, but then one week turned to two and so on.

I certainly have not stopped writing about the event though. My book, Chefs in Exile, is still progressing and I have magazine articles published fairly regularly - my latest will be in Irish American Heritage Magazine and Sailing World.

I am actively fundraising for the New Basin Lighthouse and am working PR for Ryan Finn Ocean Racing. Also, interestingly my experiences during Katrina and the aftermath are currently being studied by school children in over 17 countries through the One World Youth Project, which is a serious honor. My blog also actually made it into Wikipedia -- which is pretty cool.

I'm heavily ensconced in the Road Home Plan with the Louisiana Recovery Authority and I thought about restarting the blog with that whole process... but trust me it ain't exactly action packed... lots of waiting and patience.

My Lakeview neighborhood is slowly on the road back. One of the more surreal developments is the amount of homes that are falling under the axe. I can now sit on the front porch and see a few blocks away... quite odd.

My FEMA trailer is fine, though the toilet is broken... however fear not - the one in the house still works.

Cheers and thanks everyone.TAGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-15481786.post-1156859416727787792006-08-29T12:01:00.000-05:002006-08-29T14:06:05.840-05:00

WE ARE NOT OK

8.29.05

Tags: We Are Not OK,New Orleans

TAGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-15481786.post-1156784123116417352006-08-28T23:59:00.000-05:002006-08-29T16:02:25.646-05:00Katrina +1 - WE ARE NOT OK
This past year has been the most difficult and unbelievably life changing times that will hopefully ever happen again to me and the hundreds of thousands of other residents of New Orleans. This city that I love - that is my true love - foundered and nearly died. An American city was almost entirely destroyed.

While we have fought to resurrect this most unique place in the world, we've had to endure an almost constant barrage of criticism from the federal government and fringe lunatics, while trying to get the rest of the country to understand we are now forced to rebuild a city from the ground up - schools, electrical networks, gas lines, streets, water, sewage, restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, dry cleaners, businesses, individual's homes - everything. As I've said many times now, the storm was nothing. The aftermath was everything…

It is widely misunderstood and thought that New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Unfortunately, those terrible images of New Orleans flooding and the human suffering that occurred almost a year ago were in reality caused by human error. Hurricane Katrina struck the Mississippi Gulf Coast while New Orleans was only brushed by the storm. It is quite obvious as to where the storm hit - virtually every structure along the Mississippi Gulf Coast no longer exists, whereas New Orleans' housing still stands, albeit in a ruinous state.

The flooding of this great city occurred because of years of neglect, wetlands loss and faulty levee construction done by the United States Federal Government.

Today, one year later, one must still drive through miles after miles of devastated neighborhoods to get anywhere and I have to only step outside of my FEMA trailer and look a few doors down to see a home where two of my neighbors and their dogs drowned.

I paddled right past that home a little less than a year ago wondering then how many people were trapped in those attics or floating in their bedrooms like the two floating and bloated golden retrievers that I saw that day. It isn't hard for the littlest thing to suddenly spark memories of that time, and I am glad we are able to finally move past this first anniversary.

This has oddly been the best and worst year of my life. It has also been the greatest adventure of my life… even with all the pain, heartbreak and anger. I've learned a heck of a lot over the course of this last year, but I think the most startling revelations for me are how common heroism and the generosity of strangers can be.

The nights are still hard, but in the daylight, there is a spirit here amongst the people of this city, a will and a demand to survive this. We could all be morons for thinking that this city can be saved - but damn if we're not going to attempt it. If we do succeed though, we as a people will probably father an odd strain of human who will re-populate this city far into the future - heroic and able to withstand anything.

We created Jazz here once… who knows what music we'll invent after this.

* Update: I woke this morning with an ironic smile wondering why the big days in New Orleans are always on Tuesdays... Yesterday felt like some kind of dark Lundi Gras... and I laughed at how on Ash Wednesdays I tend to say Mardi Gras should not happen every year. Maybe once every four years... I never get my wish.

__________

Tags: New Orleans,Katrina,Hurricane Katrina,Katrina Anniversary,Mississippi,Louisiana,FEMA,Bush,levees,Lakeview,jazz,We Are Not OK,
TAGhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-15481786.post-1156725944424401692006-08-27T18:41:00.000-05:002006-08-27T19:45:45.286-05:00Rising Tide/NPROne of the best takeaways I have from the Rising Tide Conference comes from listening to Shane Landry poingantly express his thoughts on Louisiana seceeding from the Union. Describing in no uncertain terms how the U.S. governemnt broke a trust with the people of this state and in his most powerful point, how no other place in America throughout our history has ever had to justify their existence to the rest of the nation, clearly reminds me of those early days post K where I was typing the same...

Maitri has the detailed breakdown on the whole conference.

Tomorrow I'm going to be interviewed by National Public Radio (NPR) from my trailer in Lakeview and will have a clear link to it here - but for now this is where I think it will reside.

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Tags: New Orleans,Rising Tide,Katrina,Hurricane Katrina,Katrina Anniversary,levees,FEMA,New Orleans Yacht Club,NPR,National Public Radio,lakeview,Louisiana,Mississippi
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