Hurricane Katrina

This study was written in November 2004.  Scary stuff about the worst case scenario, which seems to be very close to the truth.  
In this hypothetical storm scenario, it is estimated that it would take nine weeks to pump the water out of the city, and only then could assessments begin to determine what buildings were habitable or salvageable. Sewer, water, and the extensive forced drainage pumping systems would be damaged. National authorities would be scrambling to build tent cities to house the hundreds of thousands of refugees unable to return to their homes and without other relocation options. In the aftermath of such a disaster, New Orleans would be dramatically different, and likely extremely diminished, from what it is today. Unlike the posthurricane development surges that have occurred in coastal beach communities, the cost of rebuilding the city of New Orleans’ dramatically damaged infrastructure would reduce the likelihood of a similar economic recovery. And, the unique culture of this American original that contributed jazz and so much more to the American culture would be lost.

Necessary Words

Interesting article about words, however, I still take comfort in saying ‘I love you’, even if it may not be necessary.

Dilbert and Programming

A quote from Dilbert
“Stupidity is like nuclear power: It can be used for good – or evil.  And you sure don’t want to get any on you”
This comes from an article about Lazy and Dumb programmers.

Haka

Oh wow! Check out this website that shows the history of the Haka and even a demonstration with an english translation.

Tis death, tis life. behold there stands the hairy man Who will cause the sun to shine. one step upwards, another step upwards. the sun shines!

The first Haka was supposedly performed by women, sent to revenge the death of a pet whale.

Happy Birthday Nancy

What a great time we had this weekend. As I sat in the church with Isaac curled in my lap, my arm around Denise, and my family sitting around me; I could not feel more at home.

Have a great day Nancy, onwards with the birthday parade.

New Blog Tool

Testing a new tool in Blogger where you can post a blog entry through a Word document. So in the time honored programming fashion, “Hello World”.

…And try a picture. Here’s one of NASA’s new rockets, Atlas V, it’s headed to Mars.

Faith and Ernie Racing

I thought it was dangerous letting Isaac ride his scooter without a helmet.

New Cheep Children's Entertainment

We went to a new pizza/game place this weekend. Lots of fun driving and other games of course. With all of the tickets we won, Isaac decided to buy 5 glow in the dark bouncy balls. What a great discovery. First we "energized" the balls against the kitchen florescent lamp, and them set them loose in the dark bathroom. We bounced for more than 30 minutes in the dark, in a very small room filled with laughter.

Word of the Day - Potemkin

Found an interesting new RSS feed which includes a word of the day. Today's word is Potemkin.

Grigori Aleksandrovich Potemkin was an 18th century Russian military officer and politician. Who was rumored to have built fake villages along the banks of the Dnieper river in order to impress Empress Catherine II. Potemkin, who had recently conquered the area, wanted to impress Catherine II by demonstrating the value of the area he had captured by showing off a wonderful village.

Today the term potemkin village or just potemkin is used to describe a staged, deceptive or hollow event. Particularly hollow or deceptive political maneuverings.

IsaacClown

Guess what we did this weekend. The Greatest Show on Earth has nothing on our little clown.