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Oh, D, you've done it now...
V
Monday, September 5, 2005 02:12:39 AM
IP: 205.250.217.92

With any luck, this might be the last post for the cr gets wiped.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/editorial/outlook/3338558 <- interesting story

**Hurricane Katrina related/politics relating to it**

Where do I place the blame for not doing enough prevention? The above link suggests to me that the poly-tick-ians in Lousy Anna shoulder a lot of responsibility for lack of upgrades to make the city safer. Next, I place blame on administrations of the previous and current presidents. Clinton's administration could have got the work started. President Bush's advisors get a lot of blame for 1)not realizing the problem at the start of the administration, 2)after 9-11, failing to realize there was a looming crisis in New Orleans waiting to happen, and 3)not acting. That's the prevention problem.

I blame the local government of New Orleans for how they dealt with the incoming hurricane. Given their location, surely the city should have had an evacuation plan. Surely, they could have chartered buses out to get people, who couldn't afford to leave, out of New Orleans. Next, I blame the FEMA for not helping out with evacuations. In my state of Arkansas [just north of Lousiana for those who don't know geography], we have a base for giant C-130 transport planes. Those things are used for transporting heavy military equipment. We could have used those to help ferry out 100s more people. Sure, the ride would not have been ideal, but we could have gotten more people out of harm's way.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050903/ap_on_en_tv/katrina_nbc_telethon <- Sheesh, where are people's priorities? You're on tv to do a fundraiser to help out hurricane victims, and all you can think about is politics? There's a time and place for politics; during a fundraiser for disaster relief isn't that time.

**End Katrina & Politics**

I wonder what Lain's conspiracy about this hurricane will be. I enjoyed homemade Chicken Cordon Bleu this afternoon. My modified recipe turned out just right.

What were gas prices doing going up to $3.00/gallon and then coming right back down to $2.85/galloon?
dph
ar, usa
Monday, September 5, 2005 12:27:29 AM
IP: 63.232.250.215

This is a test, please ignore.
Anonymous
Monday, September 5, 2005 12:06:27 AM
IP: 207.177.11.252

Rightsider - <Didn't somebody recently invenst a way to turn organic waste into oil? I seem to remember something about a plant being set up next to a turkey farm, or something.> Yup, it's a plant in Missouri. Last I read, it was losing money and hoping to get government tax breaks to cut its costs. Sadly, I can't give you a link to an article, because it requires you to set up an account.
dph
ar, usa
Sunday, September 4, 2005 11:54:08 PM
IP: 63.232.250.215

"Didn't somebody recently invenst a way to turn organic waste into oil? I seem to remember something about a plant being set up next to a turkey farm, or something"

*drumroll*

Ask THAT guy. *points at DPH*
Jacob
Sunday, September 4, 2005 09:58:56 PM
IP: 205.250.217.92

Didn't somebody recently invenst a way to turn organic waste into oil? I seem to remember something about a plant being set up next to a turkey farm, or something.
Rightsider
Sunday, September 4, 2005 05:05:53 PM
IP: 24.111.99.126

Power + Stuff: Those tabletop fusion things are nice, they just don't generate a significant amount of power yet.
As for ethanol and all, it would cheap as gas if the government subsidized it like it was gas. And easier to distribute than the hydrogen we keep hearing about.
Then there's all the stuff that's kept under wraps by the Feds because it has military significance (re: Abrams tanks get 80 miles/gallon).
There's also being work done on a conventional nuclear power using another radioactive element that supposedly doesn't leave behind any radioactive waste.

CKayote@gmail.com
CKayote - [CKayote@gmail.com]
Orlando, fl
Sunday, September 4, 2005 12:10:25 PM
IP: 64.192.79.39

Ever have one of those nights when you can't spell your own name? blah.....
Archwolf
Saturday, September 3, 2005 11:27:48 PM
IP: 69.23.112.157

Spen>>Thankee

Revel>><< It may only look like the mid east refineries never have accidents but they also have state controled media so news flows about as well as it did in Soviet Russia>> I know. I just think it amusing that the only place that really gets protested as far as teh development of oil refining/production are US interests. Now, don't get me wrong, I agree that there _could_ be significant damage done to local ecological system in the event of some sort of massive failure. The thing is though, that can be said of nearly any human improvement going back as far as the dyke. The N'Orleans disaster is a perfect example of what happens when our attempts to control nature fail. HOWEVER - I think that _generally_ we do actually have significant control such that these things, under even exceptional circumstances, do not happen. It takes something very extreme to cause the type of damage that people seem to be afraid will happen nearly every day if we build nother nuke plant or another oil refinery. As for the draw backs of nuclear fission, believe me, I know. You are talking to someone who lived under the Chyrnoble cloud when it passed over East Germany (my family lived in West Berlin at the time). Now, for us the worry wasn't as great as it would have been near ground zero, but it was still a major stressor. Again though, this was an extreme situation. It's not the norm. The storage problem is the only _real_ problem generated by fission. The easiest solution would be to put it all in a rocket and shoot it into the sun. However, the risk of a disaster on launch is incredibly high, and the result would be worse than two or three Chyrnobles. So I propose the following sollution: **WARNING - POLITICAL INSENSITIVIY FOLLOWS** give it all to France. they could use some nice mutation...maybe grow a backbone. ** END POLITICAL INSENSITIVITY **
Net result, we need to dump more money into tabletop fusion devices...that big atom smasher the french campainged to have built in france aint gonna work work a damn.

As for ethanol, all I know is what I already said - that when oil reachers certain pricepoints, ethanol becomes an economically feasable replacement.

Time to go write, fiddle with a server *using up even MORE power* and..stuff...

Shade and Sweet Water

Archolf
KC, MO, USA
Saturday, September 3, 2005 11:26:02 PM
IP: 69.23.112.157

*waves to Murazor*
Lynati
Saturday, September 3, 2005 03:44:47 AM
IP: 69.148.199.106

Harvester : "I don't know if anyone else here gives a damn about astronomy" I certainly do. However, the debate is now over, and I wouldn't have enough time to talk in detail about it anyway.

Green Baron : Good to know you're all right.

Archwolf : Welcome back!
Spen
Friday, September 2, 2005 07:39:24 PM
IP: 207.177.11.252

Archwolf- It may only look like the mid east refineries never have accidents but they also have state controled media so news flows about as well as it did in Soviet Russia.
The problem with nuclear power is that current Nuclear Fission technology produces a lot of waste products. It's cleaner on the air than coal for sure, but the radioactive spent rods have to be burried or turned into bombs or something. The physical waste, we had once put in barrels and put under the salt flats and hoped they go away. They say those barrels are about all rusted through with nuclear material seeping into the ground.

I'm not entirely familar with the refinement of Ethanol other than you can get it from corn and it burns buch cleaner. As far as expense though...

Harvester- The Red cross benefits most from cash because they can turn it into food or water or blankets. Though donations of old clothing would also be a good idea since many had to leave all their possesions behind as well.


Revel
Friday, September 2, 2005 12:13:54 PM
IP: 24.182.112.92

My best wishes are with the poor people of New Orleans. Even from across the Atlantic, all this situation is scary. The news here report massive looting (including half the local PD), the mayor claiming that there might be thousands of deaths underwater, some nuts firing against the rescue helicopters near the big stadium, epidemic risks and assorted crap. That city and the general area have gone straight to hell. My best wishes.
Murazor - [critogar@yahoo.es]
SpainFriday, September 2, 2005 03:42:55 AM
IP: 193.144.176.17

I'd say this disaster has only confirmed what I've always believed to be true. Individual human beings are usually intelligent, but people collectively are a bunch of brainless, irrational sheep.

I'm mailing a donation into Red Cross, but I just wish there were some way to know where exactly it was going. I know it's going to the Hurricane Relief Effort, but I wish it were a little more specific than that. I'd hate to think it might be going to this guy in Alabama I spoke to earlier tonight who snapped at me when I tried to extend my sympathy.
Harvester of Eyes - [Minstrel75@gmail.com]
Friday, September 2, 2005 12:22:35 AM
IP: 69.174.1.148

Green Baron, <<Huggies>> I'm glad you and yours are OK. I was watching a show on the National Geographic channel and it was about natural disasters. They did a worst case senerio on New Orleans and it was just about as bad as what had really happened.

The sad thing about a disaster like this is it brings out both saints and sinners. Some of the SCA people are setting up a list for helping those who, while getting help of the mundane nature, will need help with getting their SCA life back.


Starsinger
Thursday, September 1, 2005 08:11:42 PM
IP: 209.240.205.61

ED>>Better yet, go Ethanol. as long as crude stays above 57$ per barrel, ethenol makes good economic sense as a fuel. As long as crude stays above 60$ per barrel, ethanol makes good sense as a base for platics too.

On the whole, I agree with DPH though. We need not only more refineries, but more nuke plants as well. And for all the environmental groups out there...you know, the mid-east has all those drills and refineries and has never suffered a massive accident (saddaam lighting off the wells doesn't count). Maybe we just need to look at how _they_ run things and copy them. Or you could just acknowledge that you are not really concerned about the environment...you just don't want people in the US to get by a little more easily. anyway.

Shade and Sweet Water
Archwolf
KC, MO, USA
Thursday, September 1, 2005 05:55:09 PM
IP: 69.23.112.157

DPH: Or it will convince people to buy more fuel-efficient cars. Just today, my dad's been boasting to me about his new car, which has one of these funky hybrid engine things. Apparently it's very comfortable and superbly fuel efficient -- naturally, since it only needs to consume petrol half the time. If they can optimise that technology, and even incorporate photovoltaic cells into cars so they take the maximum amount of solar energy, then the rising price of oil should be increasingly irrelevant to motoring.
Ed
Thursday, September 1, 2005 03:22:18 PM
IP: 213.187.38.37

Lynati: Thanks for the link. This guy has pretty much said all that needs to be said:

"Right now we're trying to show you all the looting. Guys pushing shopping carts with 40 Nike boxes in them. People breaking into cars. Assaulting ATM machines. It's hard just to sit by and do nothing. That's property that belongs to other people and these animals are just taking it.

You know, this crisis is going to end. One day it is going to be over, and people are going to have to live with themselves and the knowledge of how they behaved. The cowards, the thieves, the murderers. We're getting a guy on cam right now stealing tires from one car and putting them in his car. What a bunch of monkeys. No respect at all for their fellow man. Like I said, one day this is going to be over, and I hope the shame overwhelms these bastards."

Nothing like a crisis to expose the true measure of a man.
Harvester of Eyes - [Minstrel75@aol.com]
Thursday, September 1, 2005 11:49:15 AM
IP: 69.174.1.148

Green Baron>>> Glad to see that you and your family are safe.
Spacebabie
Thursday, September 1, 2005 11:17:41 AM
IP: 69.161.157.101

maybe this natural disaster and the raise in gasoline prices will convince certain idiots to support the idea of building new oil refineries.
dph
ar, usa
Thursday, September 1, 2005 10:54:55 AM
IP: 161.31.84.89

My best wishes to any and all who have been affected by Katrina.
Ed
Thursday, September 1, 2005 10:03:31 AM
IP: 213.187.38.37

Green Baron: From what I've read I'm glad you *are* displaced. Reports from at least one person still on location have described parts of the city as gone "Lord of the Flies".
http://www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/
Lynati
Thursday, September 1, 2005 03:38:48 AM
IP: 69.148.199.106

Green Baron> Glad to hear you're well, if displaced.

And after a bit of work tomorrow, it's off to the nice man with pliers to see if I can't get any less wise.

Na zdorov'ya.


Gside - [gside@comcast.net]
Fair Haven, NJ
Wednesday, August 31, 2005 10:41:44 PM
IP: 68.83.187.89

*steps from the shadows*
Guess it's time I stop lurking. Not much to say, just glad I'm not in N'orleans.

Shade and Sweet Water
Archwolf
KC, MO, USA
Wednesday, August 31, 2005 06:56:32 PM
IP: 69.23.112.157

Green Baron > Glad you're safe and well. Good luck to you and yours in the coming days and weeks ahead. ::hugs::
kathy
Wednesday, August 31, 2005 07:53:02 AM
IP: 66.82.9.55

Huzzah, the Baron is not dead!! :D

When we spoke the other day, I didn't realize the storm really existed, let alone have any idea about how bad it was going to be. Yikes!

Thanks for posting and letting us know you and yours are safe. :)
Jacob
Wednesday, August 31, 2005 01:24:20 AM
IP: 205.250.217.92

Greetings to all from Tupelo, Mississippi. My family evacuated on Sunday and we've been in Tupelo since early Monday morning, safe from Katrina.

I have no idea when I will see New Orleans again.
Green Baron
Wednesday, August 31, 2005 12:03:06 AM
IP: 12.151.198.66

Hi all.

Just letting everyone know we finaly got a start date for the gargoyle webcomic. First comic will be up in september.

http://www.ka-blamo.com/gargs



We would like to make a comic for holloween in october.

Does anyone in here know any good fan fiction with a spooky theme. Or a holloween theme. Doe'snt nessarily have to be about gargoyles on holloween.

Anyone if interested. Check out the link to see a desgin concept for one of the comics. More images like this inked and colored will be in the comics monthly.

http://www.ka-blamo.com/gargs/pencils/Goliath_sketch.jpg


Shara - [Jeanie54_2000@yahoo.com]
Tuesday, August 30, 2005 07:36:19 PM
IP: 209.179.196.16

What a Monday. After my schedule was rewritten on Friday, I took the time to buy books, and then re-evaluate the new schedule, and had to attend 1 class. I discovered I had to rewrite my schedule yet again to fix a problem meeting graduation requirements. Oh yea, on Friday, did I mention I calculated that I was 6 classes away from graduation? Just enough to throw me off from graduating in the spring, so I'll have to graduate in the summer. That leads me to a new dilemna when I work out my spring schedule. One of the 6 classes I have left has been described as ultra-hard and the best time to take it is durign the summer when you don't have too many classes to compete with your time. That class may be offered in May, definitely will be offered in Summer 2, or I could take it in the spring. My ideal choice is taking it in May, but taking it in Summer 2 is just stupid. When I make out my spring schedule, I really need the department head over that hard class to carve in stone a promise that said class will be offered in May. That, of course, leads to another decision: figuring out which other class to take in that same may session. [No point in taking 5 classes during spring and 1 class in May; I might as well take 4 classes during spring and 2 classes in May.] Also, I need to make sure that the 6 that I think I have left are indeed all that I have to have in order to graduate. My own college advisor is only an advisor because of department rules, so my advisor isn't exactly a good source for confirmation of what I believe.

Yes, that is what is weighing on my mind. Not my current fall semester, but my upcoming (at least) 2 semesters.

I probably should be asleep right now, considering I need to get up ~6:30 or so so I can get to an 8am class. Boy, is tomorrow going to be a long day.
dph
ar, usa
Tuesday, August 30, 2005 12:26:42 AM
IP: 63.232.223.156

What a week last week. Everybody was off for a division meeting in Arizona, and then two things blow up while they're gone.

Starsinger> <<we had Christmas fleece and fabric in at the end of June>>: That's not too bad, as there's a good bit of implied work after purchace before it's ready for a holiday application.

HoE> <<I believe things like planets and planetary moons must be named by committee>>: With a book of Roman mythology.

DPH> <<If you image the sun and the planets being in a plane, why not travel in a direction perpendicular to that plane?>>: Because all the space dust already had a good bit of rotational inertia, and the planets built up while going around in the same circle.

HoE> <<I doubt that man will ever create something capable of traveling faster than light>>: The trick isn't in going faster, it's going that far in that amount of time without going having to go that fast.
<<Can anyone here name a song cover they think is better than the original?>>: Anything by Dylan. He essentially made his career on being coverable.

Na zdorov'ya.
Gside - [gside@comcast.net]
Fair Haven, NJ
Monday, August 29, 2005 10:56:08 PM
IP: 68.83.187.89

Stephen: I didn't realize until after I'd posted that Harvester of Eyes would have fit the 15-character limit if I'd put no spaces between the words. So now I'm stuck with another Blue Oyster Cult song for that site. Still a good song (every track on "Secret Treaties" was), but not as menacing as the name I usually like.
Harvester of Eyes - [Minstrel75@gmail.com]
Monday, August 29, 2005 10:16:48 PM
IP: 69.174.1.148

Damn, missed the top ten... oh well.

Oh, just to pass along... my Monthly Gargoyles Caption Contest finished it's first cycle. The results are posted on my link -- and congrats to the winners! -- along with the next picture in the cycle. If you'd like to try it, please visit there and check it out!

Maintain and Check Six!

Stephen Sobotka Jr.
Tampa, FL, USA
Monday, August 29, 2005 03:11:50 PM
IP: 24.28.10.202

Fine, ten!
Greg Bishansky
Monday, August 29, 2005 01:39:20 PM
IP: 69.118.108.212

To again steal Josh's line, until he returns to reclaim it...

NEIN!
Greg Bishansky
Monday, August 29, 2005 01:38:19 PM
IP: 69.118.108.212

9.9
Mecord's Cat
Monday, August 29, 2005 01:38:00 PM
IP: 70.56.98.173

8 is great
Revel
Monday, August 29, 2005 12:00:35 PM
IP: 24.182.112.92

Lucky number Seven
Spacebabie
Monday, August 29, 2005 10:17:48 AM
IP: 69.161.157.101

#6 this time around
silvadel
Monday, August 29, 2005 09:34:48 AM
IP: 24.149.178.180

5th!!
dph
ar, usa
Monday, August 29, 2005 09:29:16 AM
IP: 63.232.249.153

4th!
Leo
Monday, August 29, 2005 08:41:42 AM
IP: 68.231.241.236

Three is me!!!
Starsinger
Monday, August 29, 2005 07:21:18 AM
IP: 209.240.205.61

Second!
Spen
Monday, August 29, 2005 01:58:13 AM
IP: 207.177.11.252

One. But I do hope I'm not THE one. I hate techno.
Harvester of Eyes - [Minstrel75@gmail.com]
Monday, August 29, 2005 01:17:37 AM
IP: 69.174.1.148