Far South of I-10

Scott Adams is not only funny but makes a good point when he predicts that Hamas' policies will change now that they are in power: I have to think it will be difficult for Hamas to reconcile the whole “destroy Israel” platform with “We’ll all be at the Parliament building at noon talking about how to do it.”

I live near the gulf coast, so the idea of rising sea levels and hurricanes of increasing in intensity makes me think I should maybe be moving to Missouri or someplace. from PJM "Natural systems are resilient and bounce back," said Susan Cutter, a geographer with the University of South Carolina. "The problem is when we try to control nature, rather than letting her do what she does." The seas are rising, the planet is getting hotter and commercial and residential development is snowballing. Add those factors to a predicted increase in nasty hurricanes and what results is a recipe for potentially serious natural degradation, some say. "It may bring about a situation (in which) the change is so rapid, it's something that's very different from what the ecosystem experienced over the last three, four thousand years," said Kam-biu Liu, a Louisiana State University professor and hurricane paleoscientist. "We may be losing part of our beaches, we ma...

Doesn't it suck when you're super busy at work, but feeling so depressed that all I really feel like doing is sliding across the street to Big John's Icehouse across the street and tipping back about 15 beers. Instead I'll sit here trying to keep various balls juggled in the air, if too many fall and crash I'll ease on out with the walkin blues. Walking Blues I woke up this mornin' feelin' round for my shoes Know 'bout 'at I got these old walkin' blues, woke Up this mornin' feelin' round oh, for my shoes But you knoe 'bout 'at I got these old walkin; blues Lord I, feel like blowin' my woh-old lonesome home Got up this mornin', my little Ber- nice was gone, Lord I feel like blow-oon' my lonesome home Well, I got up this mornin' woh-all I had was gone Well-ah leave this morn' if I have to woh, ride the blind, ah, I've feel mistreated and I dont' mind dyin' Leavin' this morn', ah...

"It's time for us to rebuild a New Orleans, the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans. And I don't care what people are saying in Uptown or wherever they are. This city will be chocolate at the end of the day. This city will be a majority African-American city. It's the way God wants it to be. You can't have it no other way." New Orleans Mayor - C. Ray Nagin

Here in Alaska the governor is discussing a PR campaign would attempt to tell the rest of the US that Alaska is not just a consumer of Federal money, and it would "tell Alaska's story": (from a column by Beth Bragg) The governor wants to "tell Alaska's story" to the Lower 48 so folks down there have a better idea of what it's like up here. The goal is to end the ridicule we've been so good at inspiring lately, what with our bridges to you-know-where and our desire to drill for oil in a wildlife refuge. The thinking goes like this: If we can educate the critics with pictures of a desolate ANWR and defuse the comedians with pictures of a serene and congenial Ted Stevens, then we can move on to our ultimate goal, which is building bridges to you-know-where and drilling for oil in a wildlife refuge. Or as the Governor actually said: "Alaska does not just take. We give, and we have the capacity to give much, much more -- if permitted to do so,...

It seems like everywhere I've gone in the past six months has had a disaster of some kind. Hurricanes in New Olreans, Houston, barbados and mexico. Bombs in London. Now I'm in Alaska and there is a volcano erupting. The Augustine volcano is down at the southern end of the Cook Inlet. I'm up at the northeastern end of the cook inlet in anchorage. Plenty far away. The best coverage seems to be at the alaska volcano observatory , with maps and a webcam. Here in Anchorage the sun is just coming up (9:40 am local time), so if any ash is visible I should be able to see it soon. Luckily the ash is moving East, and not Northeast towards anchorage, because the safety equipment our office is issuing is a dusk mask and a plastic bag. The bag goes on your computer, the mask is for your face. Or vice versa. Ashfall is the only real risk, unless the volcano collapses and makes a tsunamit that will wash away Homer (doh!).

Well. I tried my best. I really did. I attempted to drink a beer in every bar that is open on Bourbon Street. I only made it from Canal to about St. Peter, before I staggered back and put down roots and stayed in the Green Door lounge. Apparently New Orleans is coming back to life, because right now I feel like I was shot at and missed, shit at and hit. There were several really good bands playing, one at the green door, and one at a new place, formerly a nudie bar that wasn't good enough to remember the name of. The Green Door had maybe ten people in it, when pre-Katrina it was hard to get in the door, and they were running 3 for one beer specials, before they would have sold a cup of beer for 6 dollars. Really great band playing covers. The former nudie bar had a four man blues group with a fantastic lead guitarist playing BB King style blues. So the city is coming back. The suburbs are swinging busy as everyone rebuilds, all that is needed is some leadership from the C...

An economist article makes some good points about climate change, and it sounds very even handed as you'd expect from one of the few good news magazines in the world, but one troubling aspect was the chart of temperatures: It has the typical hockey stick aspect, but I knew I'd seen it before at numberwatch.co.uk, which is a fantastic site and should be required reading of anyone that discusses statistics. I saw this same graph here in numberwatch's discussion of chartmanship , (go read the whole thing) Let us take some raw data that you wish to present to the lay public, say a plot of temperature against time: Now, it is fairly clear that the graph shows two flattish periods and two rising periods. Let us also suppose, for the sake of argument, that in order to satisfy your paymasters you need to emphasise the importance of the second rise, while diminishing that of the first. There are three techniques that help. The first is to put in a base line at the most helpful leve...

One of the books I've been reading this week is "Days of Infamy" by Harry Turtledove. Harry is the "Master of If", almost all of his novels are alternate histories and he cranks out about 1000 pages of quality writing per year. "Days of Infamy" posits what would have happened if the Japanese had followed up the pearl harbor strike with an invasion. A really good book, very believable history that shows how close we came to losing our ass in the pacific, and also how brutal the Japanese were to civilians and soldiers who surrendered. While I was reading this book, I also happened to catch a show on PBS about the railroad that crossed the bridge over the river kwai, and how it was constructed by POW's, many of whom were worked to death. It really drove home that the brutality portrayed in the "Days of Infamy" was probably understated. The show also interviewed a japanese engineer who wouldn't admit that he did anything wrong, and kep...