Spike: Taking up smoking, are you? Harmony: I am a villain, Spike. Hello!

Spike/Harm ,'Help'


Natter .38 Special  

Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.


Topic!Cindy - Aug 30, 2005 2:14:46 pm PDT #2784 of 10002
What is even happening?

People get sick from disease thanks to the water, but it's not the "toxic soup" the media is saying with much overblownness.
From what I've read, the media has been quoting van Heerden, who's a mucky muck at the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center and the Center for the Study of Public Health Impacts of Hurricanes. He was warning that the floods could carry toxic waste from the Industrial Canal, including stuff like benzene, hydrochloric acid, and chlorine.


Allyson - Aug 30, 2005 2:15:11 pm PDT #2785 of 10002
Wait, is this real-world child support, where the money goes to buy food for the kids, or MRA fantasyland child support where the women just buy Ferraris and cocaine? -Jessica

Go with a hammer.


DavidS - Aug 30, 2005 2:16:19 pm PDT #2786 of 10002
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

Careful with those. They aren't easy to use in self defense, and are dangerous to all around.

What's better for self defense? Baseball bat?


P.M. Marc - Aug 30, 2005 2:16:21 pm PDT #2787 of 10002
So come, my friends, be not afraid/We are so lightly here/It is in love that we are made; In love we disappear

What scares me is that I have seen the hearts of Seattleites, and they are blacker than black. Sure, they act all nice, but they're petty, arrogant, passive-aggressive thugs when pushed.

So don't push.

t passive aggressive polite smile of a native

We're not, exactly. We just come across that way when we feel our culture is threatened by outsiders.

Of course, as our culture effectively went plop and died in the mid-90s, it's kind of a pointless response, but old habits die hard when you can still see the ghosts in your mind.

(I'm a touch defensive about this, can you tell?)


DavidS - Aug 30, 2005 2:18:20 pm PDT #2788 of 10002
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

Here's project #1 in NOLA, and they're still sussing it out:

***********

Corps working to fix levee breaches

Tuesday, 5:57 p.m. (Central time)

The Army Corps of Engineers was focused Tuesday on finding a way to close the levee breaches in the Industrial Canal and 17th Street Canal that have let waters pour into New Orleans, state officials said.

Col. Jeff Smith with the Louisiana National Guard said the Corps has informed the state that they are beginning to plan how exactly to fill the holes in the levee, which observers described as several hundred feet long.

Smith said the Corps might fill large cargo containers with a heavy substance, such as sand, which would then be plugged into the gaps. "It would be better than just sandbags," he said, adding that Corps officials haven't figured out exactly what they will do. He expected that work could begin later this afternoon or in the morning.

After a flight over the devastated region, U.S. Sen. David Vitter said that he could see three breaches in the levees, including a 200 feet hole in the 17th Street Canal, as well as two separate gaps encompassing a total of about 500 feet in the Industrial Canal on the St. Bernard side.


§ ita § - Aug 30, 2005 2:18:39 pm PDT #2789 of 10002
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

What's better for self defense? Baseball bat?

Well, it does beat a hammer. As does a knife. But if you're worried about handling weapons in general, go with something less intrinsically effective (and therefore potentially dangerous to your untrained self).

Very few people can swing a baseball bat so badly they're more a danger to themselves.

I, however, have a gift.

Unrelated note: Please don't say "Like Girls Gone Wild?" in a hushed tone on your work phone. It's creepy.


beekaytee - Aug 30, 2005 2:19:22 pm PDT #2790 of 10002
Compassionately intolerant

Go with a hammer.

Absolutely.

Or a roll of quarters in a sock. The unexpected is always the best weapon.

Definitely don't try to use something you haven't practiced with. ita makes a very important point here.


Trudy Booth - Aug 30, 2005 2:21:01 pm PDT #2791 of 10002
Greece's financial crisis threatens to take down all of Western civilization - a civilization they themselves founded. A rather tragic irony - which is something they also invented. - Jon Stewart

Actually, Palisades Park's pool was salt water (it was advertised as the world's largest salt-water pool), so not directly from the Hudson. No idea where they got the water from, and don't really want to know, because I swam in it once.

They piped it up from the Hudson and salted it as needed (it's already pretty salty -- the river basically runs both ways with the tides).

(I've got two sources, a PBS documentary on Palisades Park and the "Make the Hudson Swimable" folks who are pretty darn cool.)


Maria - Aug 30, 2005 2:21:14 pm PDT #2792 of 10002
Not so nice is that I'm about to ruin a Friday morning for a bunch of people because of a series of unfortunate events and an upset foreign government. - shrift

Please don't say "Like Girls Gone Wild?" in a hushed tone on your work phone. It's creepy.

Is this the same cow-orker who considers his life an open book, and shares it with you on a daily basis?

I, also, have the same gift. The last time I swung a baseball bat I wrenched my back enough to necessitate 6 months of PT.


Atropa - Aug 30, 2005 2:24:03 pm PDT #2793 of 10002
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.

What scares me is that I have seen the hearts of Seattleites, and they are blacker than black. Sure, they act all nice, but they're petty, arrogant, passive-aggressive thugs when pushed.

Huh. You really think so?

Or, y'know, What Plei Said.