So sorry about the cancellation, Tom, but to echo what everyone else is saying, it's her loss. She'll be missing seeing your gorgeous smile, and she'll regret it sooner rather than later.

I know that we're steering clear of NOLA news, but I just saw on CNN that the Astrodome is full, and they're turning back the buses that are arriving. Where they're going to go next is unknown at this point.

Also, I caught the last few minutes of Ted Koppel's interview of the director of FEMA, and was delighted to see Ted kick Fed ass!! The suit tried to claim complete shock that all those people didn't leave the city before Katrina hit, and Ted wasn't buying it. To paraphrase, "You had to know that over 100,000 people in New Orleans are extremely poor, and have no cars or could afford private transport out of the city or hotels to stay in once they got out. Why didn't you have National Guardsmen bringing in flatbed trucks to get people out beforehand?" And it continued from there. He concluded the interview by thanking the man for appearing, since he is "the only representative of the federal government willing to talk to us."

He concluded the interview by thanking the man for appearing, since he is "the only representative of the federal government willing to talk to us."

Woah. Go Ted!

ION, who do I complain to to get speed bumps put in the alley behind my appartment building? My alderman?

I would think that's the best bet, tom. He/she could get on the horn with Streets and San (I think that's the road repair people in the city) and get the paperwork started.

and orcas rule! Screw you, dolphins!

Heh. This amuses me on the order of, "In your face, Jasper Johns!"

Also, I caught the last few minutes of Ted Koppel's interview of the director of FEMA, and was delighted to see Ted kick Fed ass!!

Go Ted!

Emmett spent the last nine days with his Mom, and he was all weirdly contrary (and buggin' me) tonight. Fortunately we've got a long weekend together to get into a groove. We'll play tennis and cards and shoot pool and read books and eat ice cream. He's reading a cool new book titled Al Capone Does My Laundry which is a historical kids book about Alcatraz (one of his many obsessions). He wants more novels about Alcatraz inhabitants now.

Rent him The Birdman of Alcatraz, Hec. As a big Burt Lancaster fan, I really like that movie.

Didn't Bugs Bunny end up in Alcatraz at some point?

"I knew I shoulda toined left at Albequerque..."

Don't you mean "Albekoikee"?

Did you see the National Geographic from... last month? Two months ago?... with the big article about them? And all the variations, where some eat only fish, and some prefer mammals, and there are crazy cultural differences even between pods that are in the same area, and -- similar to the bird-catching one -- there were some that would swim in formation at an angle toward an ice floe so that the resulting wave would knock seals into the water, and it was just fascinating and orcas rule! Screw you, dolphins!

No, but I have seen the David Attenborough special, which has a lot of that. But note that orcas are dolphins. Largest dolphin in the world, unsurprisingly. Incidentally, (other) dolphins are hella clever hunters too. There's a bunch in South America that swim in formation to generate a wave to dump fish onto the riverbank; they beach themselves at the same time, and all face in the same direction so there won't be any squabbles over one bunch of fish while another bunch goes unclaimed.

Rent him The Birdman of Alcatraz, Hec. As a big Burt Lancaster fan, I really like that movie.

He's already seen it. And Escape From Alcatraz. And he's toured Alcatraz. And he has the audiotour on CD which I am sometimes forced to listen to on the morning commute. He's got Alcatraz playing cards. He's got a postcard with Capone, Machine Gun Kelly and the Birdman on the front.