I hope this guy makes it:

In the French Quarter, on a balcony above Bourbon Street, Tony Peterson leaned out over a railing festooned with gold, purple and green wreathes as Katrina’s first rains pelted his shaved head.

“I was going to the Superdome and then I saw the two-mile line,” the 42-year-old musician said. “I figure if I’m going to die, I’m going to die with cold beer and my best buds.”

And in other news, I got my first joboffer downunder. When they said, "unconventional marketing" my worst thought was that it'd mean I'd be in a giant hamburger with beetroot costume handing out coupons in front of McDonalds. Actually, it's a door-to-door salesmen thing, solely paid on commission, and hawking stuff like paintball sessions. On my first trial day, I got to visit a wholesale chicken warehouse. Now, chickens start out just meandering around, pecking at feed and clucking. And they end up in neat pieces wrapped in plastic in the chilled section at the supermarket. The chickens that were brought through while I tried to explain to the 70 year old receptionist what paintball was, well, they were in between those two states. I think I might be a vegetarian now.

I'm glad I got to New Orleans a couple times, but I really wish the DH had been able to see it.

I'm just so pissed about this whole thing. On the global scale, we've got a Cat 5 hurricane hitting land (a rarity), drought in the Mediterranean, flooding in the rest of Europe, wildly fluctuating temperatures, no ozone over Oz, and the PTB are still denying that there's anything to the theory of global warming. Who knows, maybe they'll start teaching Intelligent EcoDestruction.

On a smaller scale, the damage to New Orleans would not be nearly so bad if the wetlands were still in place, or if they hadn't built levees to expand the city. But are the real estate developers and politicians going to suffer? No. The poor will, and the rich will claim against insurance so that the rest of us pay to bail them out.

deep breath

On a less ranty note:

like when it gets a dog, puts a cat mask on it and asks kids of varying ages whether it's a dog or a cat

You know they had to do the experiment this way, coz ain't no cat gonna stand for wearin' no dog mask, yo.

Don't buy a Volkswagen

My Passat's brakes need replacing after only two years. Discussing this I learned that VW is in desperate financial straits. Not only were there payoff scandals in Germany, but they are ranked lowest of any make for after-purchase service by Americans. Which is impressive. So I wouldn't buy a VW now in any case.

Hivemind, I'm looking for the licensing revenue for Buffy. Since 20th is publicly traded, I'm thinking that the info must be somewhere.

But you try googling for Buffy revenue. It's just, GAH!

Allyson, maybe searching for it by 20th rev by property or something?

It probably isn't exactly what you're looking for, but there seems to be some PDF reports with the following search terms:

Buffy "licensing revenue" "20th Century Fox"

On a smaller scale, the damage to New Orleans would not be nearly so bad if the wetlands were still in place, or if they hadn't built levees to expand the city. But are the real estate developers and politicians going to suffer? No. The poor will, and the rich will claim against insurance so that the rest of us pay to bail them out.

You should totally read Rising Tide. It's all about NO old money and politicians and the levee system.

I'm not sure I have a favorite thing. Or even a list of favorite things.

I have memories and stories, but they're not really things. Just random bits, like the guy who was playing steel drums in the square who had me watch his stuff so he could go pee. I sold one of his tapes for him, and he gave me a jangly anklet. I think I still have the portrait the artist next to him did for me. Hanging out at the hooka place with a table full of friends. Linz and I riding the bull. Walking down the steps at Laffite's...Dear lord, Laffites.

Good news: Katrina is now down to a high category 4 -- 155mph.

Unfortunately, with the current situation, a fact like this sounds like it should be coming out of the mouth of Prof. Farnsworth.

20th is a subsidiary of News Corp. The information you're looking for is probably here, if anywhere... assuming they report down to the per-show level.

Thanks all. Due to me being me, I have newscorp bookmarked. Those reports tend to have info on licensing the show out, but not on merchandise.

Part of market analysis for book sales.

I'm selling a book. Yep. I sure am.

No matter how many times I say it, it seems all very unreal.

My dad read it. He said, "I was telling someone at work, that's my daughter, she's funny and sarcastic and she explains things real good."