From the blog. How the water damage works...

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I think it was Nightline that had an expert on last night talking about secondary flood damage. He said that after about 24 hours standing in water, a wooden structure's walls, roof, and insulation become completely soaked due to the wicking action of wood. That can cause the building to quickly become structurally unsound.

Like msbelle said, I am just so happy that I don't have to own a car.

me too. Well, we own one, but drive it sparingly and could go without if necessary.

Anyway, has this been posted? [link]

As the Associated Press reported last year, the suicide bombing was a "phenomenon unknown" in Iraq until after the U.S. invasion. The first recorded suicide bombing in Iraq came nine days after the war started. By the end of the first year of the war, at least 660 people had died in suicide bomb attacks.

There wasn't a suicide bombing in Baghdad today, at least as far as we know, but there didn't have to be. Fear of such an attack is so ingrained in Iraqis now that a rumor about a suicide bombing led to panic in a Shiite religious procession. The panic led to a stampede across a bridge. At least 648 Iraqis are confirmed dead, and the Iraqi Health Ministry says the death toll may climb to 1,000.

My god.

While Mayor Nagin has said in press conferences that St. Charles Avenue would be under 9 feet of water after all is said and done, this is simply not the case.

What apparently happened is that the mayor said "Water to 3 feet above MSL or 9 feet in 12 to 15 hours," but it got munged into "12 to 15 feet of water" when it was released. The mayor's office corrected the statement about an hour later, but "12 to 15 feet" is what stuck, and it hasn't been corrected in the print media.

I am just so happy that I don't have to own a car.

Me too.

I like to think I am conservation-minded, but I know that I do what's convenient for me to do, and damn the rest.

An interesting poll: Most in poll want creationism taught. [link]

Ack. I'm not against the idea of a comparative religion class in school, but I don't think creationism should be taught as science.

I don't believe there's no price at which behavior starts to change on gas consumption. IMHO, we haven't reached that point yet, and prices need to rise further. Yeah, it sucks, but so does unchecked sprawl and no funding for public transportation.

I am reminded over and over again of how lucky I am in everything.

I've given some thought to trading in our minivan for something smaller. Having extra seats and massive cargo space comes in handy, but we already use our little Honda when I'm not at work.

Public transportation is not really an option for my commute. I think there is a possible bus route, but it take my commute from twenty minutes to over two hours and the pick-up times would be difficult.

Ack. I'm not against the idea of a comparative religion class in school, but I don't think creationism should be taught as science.

You know, I'm a religious Jesus-freak sort, but creationism != science, and teaching creationism or intellegent design as science makes as much sense as demanding that Christian churches preach from biology textbooks as well as from the Bible on Sunday.

I'm tired of this fuzzy-brain crap coming out of the Religious Right. I mean, even the Intellegent Design people don't want their stuff taught in schools.