I read an article somewhere about the memeory arts and the tricks peopel use to memorize lists of things. One was to imagine a familiar street and to put visual clues along to street to remind you of each item.

I love that this technique is still used. Bascially it is a variation on the classic Roman "memory room", used by classical Romans. You build an imaginary house, furnish with it images that remind you of what you want to remember. For example if someone owe you money, due May 1, you would visualize a statue of them dancing around a maypole decked with the amount of money they owe , as one of the statues in your house. (Come to think of it, that would be an even more appropriate reminder if you owed them money.)

It was called method of loci or Ars memoriae according to Wikipedai

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Ah, and the orignal trick was to use an actual room and objects know to you, and tie chunks of what you wanted to remember to that. But by the middle ages it was well known you could use an imaginary room or building just as well.

The Army Corps of Engineers, rushing to meet President Bush's promise to protect New Orleans by the start of the 2006 hurricane season, installed defective flood-control pumps last year despite warnings from its own expert that the equipment would fail during a storm, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

...

Col. Jeffrey Bedey, who is overseeing levee reconstruction, insisted the pumps would have worked last year and the city was never in danger. Bedey gave assurances that the pumps should be ready for the coming hurricane season, which begins June 1.

The Corps said it decided to press ahead with installation, and then fix the machinery while it was in place, on the theory that some pumping capacity was better than none. And it defended the manufacturer, which was under time pressure.

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Oh, you've got to be kidding me, Dana. They're killing me.

Between this and the Walter Reed thing, the army is not looking so good these days.

There's also a bit in the article about the company that won the project, and their ties to Jeb Bush and their donations to the Republican party. And how they're in the middle of being sued by the Justice Department.

I'm pretty sure the Army Corps of Engineers was the villains in this ridiculous boring hippy board game I inexplicably loved as a child, so I'm never really surprised to hear bad things about them.

(I'm scared to try to track down the board game via google from work, because it was about beavers.)

Monkey! [link]

Baby monkey!

eta: Link doesn't work well - go to the Chicago Tribune and click on the monkey there.

Baby monkey!

"All I want is a finger monkey!" - Emmett, ages 3-10.

See Also: Joe, Age 15-36

I don't understand how Gonzales hasn't resigned.

Can someone explain? bon? Lee? Anyone?

Crap, that didn't work right. Go to the Chicago Tribue and scroll down a little and click on the monkey on the left - the picture there is much better.

Stupid Tribune - can never link directly to their slidshows.