The Onion makes me laugh out loud -- again:

Would someone tell me how this happened? We were the fucking vanguard of shaving in this country. The Gillette Mach3 was the razor to own. Then the other guy came out with a three-blade razor. Were we scared? Hell, no. Because we hit back with a little thing called the Mach3Turbo. That's three blades and an aloe strip. For moisture. But you know what happened next? Shut up, I'm telling you what happened—the bastards went to four blades. Now we're standing around with our cocks in our hands, selling three blades and a strip. Moisture or no, suddenly we're the chumps. Well, fuck it. We're going to five blades.

Sure, we could go to four blades next, like the competition. That seems like the logical thing to do. After all, three worked out pretty well, and four is the next number after three. So let's play it safe. Let's make a thicker aloe strip and call it the Mach3SuperTurbo. Why innovate when we can follow? Oh, I know why: Because we're a business, that's why!

You think it's crazy? It is crazy. But I don't give a shit. From now on, we're the ones who have the edge in the multi-blade game. Are they the best a man can get? Fuck, no. Gillette is the best a man can get.

Source:
Fuck Everything, We're Doing Five Blades
By James M. Kilts
CEO and President,
The Gillette Company, February 18, 2004 | Issue 40•07
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/33930

See also:
Gillette's Five-Blade Wonder
William C. Symonds
Business Week, SEPTEMBER 15, 2005 
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/sep2005/nf20050915_1654_db035.htm

Posted at 02:14 PM in Finance, Humor | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

"Not that good hamburgers can't be found in NYC, but it's just not a hamburger town."
-Jason Kottke

>
The K-man is wrong (hey, it happens occasionally).

Not only are there great burgers in NYC, this is a burger town. While Chicago is a hot dog town, and Cleveland/Detroit/Milwuakee are bratwurst/sausage towns, this is definitely a burger type of burgh. (That's the dichotomy: Burgers or Dogs).

Because there are so many great restaurants in this city, you don't think of it as a burger town -- but it is. Its also a great steak town, as well as a great Italian / French / Chinese / Sushi / nouvelle / wings / BBQ / Kosher town.  But between Dogs and Burgers, its a Burger town. 

Nuff said.

Here's my list of best Burgers in NYC:

Corner Bistro (My personal favorite)
331 W. Fourth St. (Jane St.)
Manhattan, NY
212-242-9502

Peter Luger Steak House (They use the tail of the porterhouse -- outstanding beef)
178 Broadway (Driggs Ave.)
Brooklyn, NY
718-387-7400

burger joint at Le Parker Meridien (ask the concierge -- its hidden in the back)
119 W. 56th St. (bet. 6th & 7th Aves.)
Manhattan, NY
212-708-7414

J.G. Melon (excellent!)
1291 Third Ave. (74th St.)
Manhattan, NY
212-744-0585

Spotted Pig (also excellent -- but no decor and tight quarters)
314 W. 11th St. (Greenwich St.)
Manhattan, NY
212-620-0393

McHales Burgers (cheap and huge)
750 Eighth Ave. (46th St.)
Manhattan, NY
212-997-8885

Island Burgers (This is a subgroup's favorite  -- but be aware: no fries)
766 Ninth Ave. (bet. 51st & 52nd Sts.)
Manhattan, NY
212-307-7934

Prime Grill (high end restaurant, with very good - and reasonably priced -- Burgers)
60 E. 49th St. (bet. Madison & Park Aves.)
Manhattan, NY
212-692-9292

Rare Bar & Grill (try the frickle!)
303 Lexington Ave. (37th St.)
Manhattan, NY
212-481-1999

Last, I've never been to the new spinout from Luger's -- Ben & Jack's -- but given Lugers great burgers, its gotta be good!

Ben & Jack's Steakhouse 
219 E. 44th St. (bet. 2nd & 3rd Aves.)
Manhattan, NY 10017
212-682-5678

Since Ben & Jack's is around the corner from my office (Chrysler Building), I'll check it out soon and report back.

But of this entire list, nothing beats the Corner Bistro . . .

>

UPDATE: September 30, 2005 7:56am
I've kept chains off of the list, hence, no Jackson Hole, Better Burger or Hamburger Heaven; But if I  missed any seriously great burgers, do let me know  and I'll check 'em out, and if found worthy, add them to the list.

Anyone who steers me to a terrific burger joint  I've never been to -- as good as the average on the above list -- gets a free meal there (on me).

>

UPDATE: October 14, 2005 1:16pm
Some have pointed to GoodBurger as a possible addition to the list. I had lunch at the aptly named GoodBurger today:

The Good:  Flame grilled, nice flavor, juicy.

The Bad: Smallish Burger left me somewhat hungry, the burger itself was undercooked (Rare was on the tartare side), and the french fries were non-descript

Bottom line:  A good, not great burger.

>

See also:

20 Hamburgers You Must Eat Before You Die 
http://men.style.com/gq/features/full?id=content_2526

Posted at 06:45 AM in Food and Drink | Permalink | Comments (77) | TrackBack

This is my friend Cody Willard:

This is the photo from an article he did for online mag. For some reason, he is reviewing Blue Jeans for some advertising rag.

He is heterosexual (all appearances to the contrary)

Check out his Blahhg

Posted at 11:38 AM in Design, Humor | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Very cool stuff from Tim Biskup:

click for larger graphic

Posted at 09:44 AM in Art & Design | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Common sense ain't all that common:

"First: Understand why you're writing

Before you type anything into a new message, have explicit answers for two questions:

Why am I writing this?

What exactly do I want the result of this message to be?

If you can't succinctly state these answers, you might want to hold off on sending your message until you can. People get dozens, hundreds, even thousands of emails each day, so it's only natural for them to gravitate toward the messages that are well thought-out and that clearly respect their time and attention. Careless emails do not invite careful responses.

Think through your email from the recipient's point of view, and make sure you've done everything you can to try and help yourself before contacting someone else. If it's a valuable message, treat it that way, and put in the time to making your words count.

Get what you need

Although the possible topics and content of messages are theoretically endless, I'd propose that there are really just three basic types of business email.

Providing information - “Larry Tate will be in the office Monday at 10.”
Requesting information - “Where did you put the 'Larry Tate' file?”
Requesting action - “Will you call Larry Tate's admin to confirm our meeting on Monday?”

Other sensible suggestions:

• Write a great Subject line

• Brevity is the soul of...getting a response

• What's the action here?

• Make it easy to quote

• Minimize noise

Writing sensible email messages via Kottke

Posted at 10:16 AM in Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The fastest way to economic destruction is the debasement of the engine of growth. In this country, that's Science and Technology.

The godless central planning communists in China must be laughing their arses off at the attempts here in the U.S. to introduce non-science into the scientific curricula in the United States. This is a sure path to economic ruin.

In the marketplace of ideas, the strongest arguments should (theoretically) triumph. Therefore, to help dispel the self destructive campaign of dumbing down our scientific future, here is the Index to Creationist Claims.

Its an incredibly detailed point by point refutation of all the failings, false statements and inaccuracies of the personal religous belief system of Creationism and Intelligent Design.

Source:
Index to Creationist Claims
http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/list.html

Posted at 09:39 AM in Current Affairs, Philosophy, Politics, Religion, Science | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Source:
Happy 15th Birthday, Hubble 
Amit Asaravala
Wired, 02:00 AM Apr. 25, 2005 PT
http://www.wired.com/news/space/0,2697,67304,00.html 

Posted at 05:29 PM in Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Tom Toles:

Tom Toles via Yahoo!

Posted at 08:36 AM in Current Affairs, Humor, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

There's an article in the Long Island section of the Sunday NYT about the way cool creations of Huntington artisan Joseph Jesselli of Jesselli Guitars, dubbed the Stradivari of Huntington.
 

According to the NYT, Jesselli "obsessively" handcreates a few guitars per year. Each of them take 5 to 6 months to make. He uses wood that he's had for at least 10 years, with incredible attention to detail and craftsmanship. The pieces are hand carved, crafted or tooled. 

They start at $20k or so per. The Stones Keith RIchards owns one. Alan Rogan, The Who's guitar technician, called them the "Best guitars ever made." 

The article is not on line, but here are some of Jesselli's work:

click for larger photo

Note how the case and tools (above) match the guitar (below)

The Nouveau model is carved "in the round." The lines of the instrument can be traced from front to back. This gives the impression that the guitar is one finely-crafted whole, rather than a series of constituant parts. The result is the organic look typified by the Art Nouveau style. Take note of the ported back plate; rimmed in gold and held in place by twenty-two micro bolts.

The Modernaire: cutting-edge appearance executed in a turn-of-the-century art style.

The Sound Lenz (below) walks the line between being an acoustic and electric:

The full gallery of his creations are on line here.

The
<spacer>

Sources:
Huntington's Stradivari
Brian Fidelman
NYT, Sunday, Spetember 25, 2005
Long Island section (not on line)

Jesselli Guitars
http://www.jesselliguitars.com/index.html

Posted at 12:51 PM in Art & Design, Music | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack

This is so Cool:

Mobulas gathering on the sea floor of the Sea of Cortez

Photographs by Michael Albert

Catching some air!

Photographs by Michael Albert

You can see the entire photo gallery here

Source:
The Flying Mobulas of the Sea of Cortez
Written and Researched by Paul Albert
Photographs and Story by Michael Albert
6.26.05
http://www.malbertphoto.com/mobulas1.html

Posted at 06:59 AM in Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

VC Adventure, via Infectious Greed

Posted at 10:00 AM in Humor, Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

via Finkbuilt

Posted at 12:17 PM in Humor | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The always fascinating annual BELOIT COLLEGE'S MINDSET LIST

CLASS OF 2009 (Most students entering college this fall were born in 1987).

1.     Andy Warhol, Liberace, Jackie Gleason, and Lee Marvin have always been dead.
2.     They don't remember when "cut and paste" involved scissors.
3.     Heart-lung transplants have always been possible.
4.     Wayne Gretzky never played for Edmonton.
5.      Boston has been working on the "The Big Dig" all their lives.
6.     With little need to practice, most of them do not know how to tie a tie.
7.     Pay-Per-View television has always been an option.
8.     They never had the fun of being thrown into the back of a station wagon with six others.
9.     Iran and Iraq have never been at war with each other.
10.     They are more familiar with Greg Gumbel than with Bryant Gumbel.
11.     Philip Morris has always owned Kraft Foods.
12.     Al-Qaida has always existed with Osama bin Laden at its head.
13.     They learned to count with Lotus 1-2-3.
14.     Car stereos have always rivaled home component systems.
15.     Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker have never preached on television.
16.     Voice mail has always been available.
17.     "Whatever" is not part of a question but an expression of sullen rebuke.
18.     The federal budget has always been more than a trillion dollars.
19.     Condoms have always been advertised on television.
20.    They may have fallen asleep playing with their Gameboys in the crib.
21.      They have always had the right to burn the flag.
22.     For daily caffeine emergencies, Starbucks has always been around the corner.
23.     Ferdinand Marcos has never been in charge of the Philippines.
24.     Money put in their savings account the year they were born earned almost 7% interest.
25.     Bill Gates has always been worth at least a billion dollars.
26.     Dirty dancing has always been acceptable.
27.     Southern fried chicken, prepared with a blend of 11 herbs and spices, has always been available in China.
28.     Michael Jackson has always been bad, and greed has always been good.
29.     The Starship Enterprise has always looked dated.
30.     Pixar has always existed.
31.    There has never been a "fairness doctrine" at the FCC.
32.     Judicial appointments routinely have been "Borked."
33.     Aretha Franklin has always been in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
34.     There have always been zebra mussels in the Great Lakes.
35.     Police have always been able to search garbage without a search warrant.
36.     It has always been possible to walk from England to mainland Europe on dry land.
37.     They have grown up in a single superpower world.
38.     They missed the oat bran diet craze.
39.     American Motors has never existed.
40.     Scientists have always been able to see supernovas.
41.     Les Miserables has always been on stage.
42.     Halogen lights have always been available at home, with a warning.
43.     "Baby M" may be a classmate, and contracts with surrogate mothers have always been legal.
44.     RU486 has always been on the market.
45.     There has always been a pyramid in front of the Louvre in Paris.
46.     British Airways has always been privately owned.
47.     Irradiated food has always been available but controversial.
48.     Snowboarding has always been a popular winter pastime.
49.     Libraries have always been the best centers for computer technology and access to good software.
50.     Biosphere 2 has always been trying to create a revolution in the life sciences.
51.     The Hubble Telescope has always been focused on new frontiers.
52.     Researchers have always been looking for stem cells.
53.     They do not remember "a kinder and gentler nation."
54.     They never saw the shuttle Challenger fly.
55.     The TV networks have always had cable partners.
56.     Airports have always had upscale shops and restaurants.
57.     Black Americans have always been known as African-Americans.
58.     They never saw Pat Sajak or Arsenio Hall host a late night television show.
59.     Matt Groening has always had a Life in Hell.
60.     Salman Rushdie has always been watching over his shoulder.
61.     Digital cameras have always existed.
62.     Tom Landry never coached the Cowboys.
63.     Time Life and Warner Communications have always been joined.
64.     CNBC has always been on the air.
65.     The Field of Dreams has always been drawing people to Iowa.
66.     They never saw a Howard Johnson's with 28 ice cream flavors.
67.     Reindeer at Christmas have always distinguished between secular and religious decorations.
68.     Entertainment Weekly has always been on the newsstand.
69.     Lyme Disease has always been a ticking concern in the woods.
70.     Jimmy Carter has always been an elder statesman.
71.     Miss Piggy and Kermit have always dwelt in Disneyland.
72.     America's Funniest Home Videos has always been on television.
73.     Their nervous new parents heard C. Everett Koop proclaim nicotine as addictive as heroin.
74.     Lever has always been looking for 2000 parts to clean.
75.     They have always been challenged to distinguish between news and entertainment on cable TV.

Fascinating . . .

Posted at 07:18 AM in Humor, Philosophy, Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The Art of Science via boingboing

Posted at 09:22 AM in Art & Design, Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Pretty cool piece in the NYT about these:

click for larger graphic

Here's the ubiq-cerpt™:

"You have to remember woodies were just the original station wagon," said Bob Solheim, a National Woodie Club director. "They were the original S.U.V., used at dude ranches, train stations, estates and so on, to haul people and luggage. In the 50's and 60's, they were just cheap used cars."

The wood bodies creaked, flexed and leaked, even when new. Held together by dowels, bolts and glue, an old woodie groaned so loudly going down the road it was difficult to hear the Beach Boys crooning surf tunes on the radio, Mr. Trulson said.

Wood has been an essential ingredient in cars, either as a structural material or for decorative purposes, since the early days of the industry. Indeed, the first cars were little more than wood carriages or coaches with engines attached. Wood was supplanted only as auto manufacturers learned how to better shape steel sheets into the complex contours of fenders, hoods and doors. Many vehicles were built entirely of steel by the 1930's but wagons retained their wood framing until 1948.

The next year, automakers started to simply bolt wood pieces onto steel bodies, a practice that lasted just a few years before man-made materials took over entirely.

The 1953 Buick Roadmaster and Super Estate wagons, with trim of white ash and insets of mahogany, were among the last vehicles to use real wood body panels. Other popular types were birch and maple.

"Hardwoods were necessary to give it structural integrity," Mr. Solheim said.

A popular misconception was that the wood was steamed to make it conform to the curves of car bodies. In fact, the curved swaths of wood over a wheel opening would usually be made of three or more separate boards stitched together with glued joints. This permitted a gentle arc in the finished piece while keeping the grain as parallel as possible to the body line.

Most wood car bodies were done by specialists who received bare chassis from carmakers. Manufacturers offering woodies with bodies by independent builders included all divisions of General Motors and Chrysler, Packard, Willys, Hupmobile, Graham, Hudson and Studebaker. A notable exception was Ford; in 1929, it started producing Model A woodie wagons manufactured entirely within its own factories - Ford even owned the forest. The 1953 Country Squire still featured birch exterior framing from Ford's own Iron Mountain, Mich., timber stands, but its fake woodgrain insets leave some collectors sneering that it is not a true woodie."

Coolio

Source:
From Surfer S.U.V. to Classic Treasure
By JERRY GARRETT
NYT, September 12, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/12/automobiles/12CARS.html

Posted at 09:48 AM in Automobiles | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

A graceful taunt is worth a thousand insults.
- - - Louis Nizer

A steaming pile of clichés and screaming unlikelihoods.
- - - Jessica Winters (about the movie Hostage)

As entertaining as watching a potato bake.
- - - Marc Savlov (about the movie, Taxi)

Don't look now, but there's one too many in this room and I think it's you.
- - - Groucho Marx

Every time I look at you I get a fierce desire to be lonesome.
- - - Oscar Levant

Everyone has his day and some days last longer than others.
- - - Winston Churchill

Fine words! I wonder where you stole them.
- - - Jonathan Swift

From the moment I picked your book up until I laid it down I was convulsed with laughter. Some day I intend reading it.
- - - Groucho Marx

Gee, what a terrific party. Later on we'll get some fluid and embalm each other.
- - - Neil Simon

He hasn't an enemy in the world - but all his friends hate him.
- - - Eddie Cantor

He looked as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food.
- - - Raymond Chandler

He's completely unspoiled by failure.
- - - Noel Coward

He's liked, but he's not well liked.
- - - Arthur Miller

Here's where we we get out the thesaurus and look up synonyms for "garbage."
- - - Mike LaSalle (about the movie, Shanghai Knights)

His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork.
- - - Mae West

I can't believe that out of 100,000 sperm, you were the quickest.
- - - Steven Pearl

I could dance with you until the cows come home. On second thought I'd rather dance with the cows until you come home.
- - - Groucho Marx

I could never learn to like her, except on a raft at sea with no other provisions in sight.
- - - Mark Twain

I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.
- - - Mark Twain

I feel so miserable without you, it's almost like having you here.
- - - Stephen Bishop

I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure.
- - - Clarence Darrow

I never liked him and I always will.
- - - Dave Clark

I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.
- - - Fred Allen

I regard you with an indifference bordering on aversion.
- - - Robert Louis Stevenson

I thought men like that shot themselves.
- - - King George V

I'll bet your father spent the first year of your life throwing rocks at the stork.
- - - Irving Brecher (Marx Bros. "At the Circus")

I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it.
- - - Groucho Marx

I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial.
- - - Irvin S. Cobb

If you ever become a mother, can I have one of the puppies?
- - - Charles Pierce

In her single person she managed to produce the effect of a majority.
- - - Ellen Glascow

I've had them both, and I don't think much of either.
- - - Beatrix Lehmann (watching a Hollywood wedding.)

Lacks thrills, narrative, emotion, believability, character development, and, frankly, watchability.
- - - Aaron Hillis (about the movie, Elektra)

Also ...
Devotees of awful filmmaking can't go wrong with this one.
- - - Michael Wilmington (about the movie, Elektra)

Pushing forty? She's hanging on for dear life.
- - - Ivy Compton-Burnett

She's good, being gone.
- - - William Shakespeare

Some people stay longer in an hour than others can in a week.
- - - William Dean Howells

Sometimes I need what only you can provide: your absence.
- - - Ashleigh Brilliant

The best part of you ran down your mother's legs.
- - - Jackie Gleason

The characters are so flat and the dialogue so dull you expect it to be one of those movies whose existence is justified by a big final twist. But it's three days after the screening, and still no twist. Maybe it's coming in the mail?
- - - Kyle Smith (about the movie, The Jacket)

The gods too are fond of a joke.
- - - Aristotle

The higher a monkey climbs, the more you see of its behind.
- - - Joseph Stilwell

There's nothing wrong with you that reincarnation won't cure.
- - - Jack E. Leonard

They don't hardly make 'em like him any more - but just to be on the safe side, he should be castrated anyway.
- - - Hunter S. Thompson

We've been through so much together, and most of it was your fault.
- - - Ashleigh Brilliant

Well, I think we ought to let him hang there. Let him twist slowly, slowly in the wind.
- - - John Ehrlichman

What you said hurt me very much. I cried all the way to the bank.
- - - Liberace

Why are we honoring this man? Have we run out of human beings?
- - - Milton Berle

Why don't you bore a hole in yourself and let the sap run out?
- - - Groucho Marx

You have delighted us long enough.
- - - Jane Austen

You're a good example of why some animals eat their young.
- - - Jim Samuels

You're a parasite for sore eyes.
- - - Gregory Ratoff

Posted at 08:41 AM in Humor | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Astonishing footage -- not what you might expect . . .

click for movie

via collision detection

Posted at 10:12 AM in Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

FEMA Budget was reduced; so was the Army Corps of Engineers budget for Levee maintenance. Meanwhile, Pork projects -- multi-million dollar bridges to near empty islands  -- continue unabated.

Nice speech last nite . . .

Posted at 06:51 AM in Current Affairs, Humor, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

click for larger toon

via Yahoo!

Posted at 10:53 AM in Finance, Humor, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

"The Press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of the
government and inform the people.  Only a free and unrestrained
press can effectively expose deception in government.  And
paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty
to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people."

- Hugo L. Black (1886-1971), U.S. Supreme Court Justice, from
   his opinion in New York Times v. United States (Pentagon
   Papers) 1971.

Posted at 08:28 PM in Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Way cool sculptures by Tony Sikorski, who works in Wood and Corrugated.

Note that these are all sculptures -- and not drawings

Corrugated
click for larger photos

Wood

via Hemmings Classic Car

Posted at 07:04 AM in Art & Design, Automobiles | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

click for larger graphic

Source:
NOAA National Climate Data Center

Posted at 09:39 AM in Current Affairs, Science | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Here's how it was done:

Posted at 06:59 AM in Humor | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

click for larger graph

Source:
In Reviving New Orleans, a Challenge of Many Tiers
JOHN SCHWARTZ, ANDREW C. REVKIN and MATTHEW L. WALD
NYT, September 12, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/12/national/nationalspecial/12rebuild.html

Posted at 11:21 AM in Current Affairs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

As a former NYC resident (Manahttan and Queens), I can tell you from first hand experience how true this is:

graphic courtesy of NYT

"It's damned if you do and damned if you don't."

Source:
At the Curb, an Exercise in Confusion
ANTHONY DEPALMA
NYT, September 12, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/12/nyregion/12recycle.html

Posted at 11:03 AM in Current Affairs, Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Its no contest:

click for enormous graphic

>

Source:
In City of Skyscrapers, Which Is the Mightiest of the High?
DAVID W. DUNLAP
NYT, September 1, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/01/nyregion/01skyscraper.html

Posted at 09:22 AM in Art & Design | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Uh-oh:

click for video

What makes this so amusing and ironic is that the Veep ran on the platform of restoring dignity to the White House. Then Cheney dropped the F-Bomb to a Senator -- in the actual Senate Building.

Its ironic to see that what goes around comes aound . . . It would be even more so if any time Cheney appears in public, the crowd returns the favor!

via Crooks & Liars

Posted at 11:45 AM in Humor, Politics | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

CNN put together a series of quotes from FEMA and Federal Officials, and then compares them to the reality on the ground:

The official version; then there's the in-the-trenches version

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Diverging views of a crumbling New Orleans emerged Thursday, with statements by some federal officials in contradiction with grittier, more desperate views from the streets. By late Friday response to those stranded in the city was more visible.

But the conflicting views on Thursday came within hours, sometimes minutes of each of each other, as reflected in CNN's transcripts. The speakers include Michael Brown, chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, evacuee Raymond Cooper, CNN correspondents and others. Here's what they had to say:

Conditions in the Convention Center

• FEMA chief Brown: We learned about that (Thursday), so I have directed that we have all available resources to get that convention center to make sure that they have the food and water and medical care that they need. (See video of Brown explaining how news reports alerted FEMA to convention center chaos. -- 2:11)

• Mayor Nagin: The convention center is unsanitary and unsafe, and we are running out of supplies for the 15,000 to 20,000 people. (Hear Nagin's angry demand for soldiers. 1:04)

• CNN Producer Kim Segal: It was chaos. There was nobody there, nobody in charge. And there was nobody giving even water. The children, you should see them, they're all just in tears. There are sick people. We saw... people who are dying in front of you.

• Evacuee Raymond Cooper: Sir, you've got about 3,000 people here in this -- in the Convention Center right now. They're hungry. Don't have any food. We were told two-and-a-half days ago to make our way to the Superdome or the Convention Center by our mayor. And which when we got here, was no one to tell us what to do, no one to direct us, no authority figure.

Uncollected corpses

• Brown: That's not been reported to me, so I'm not going to comment. Until I actually get a report from my teams that say, "We have bodies located here or there," I'm just not going to speculate.

• Segal: We saw one body. A person is in a wheelchair and someone had pushed (her) off to the side and draped just like a blanket over this person in the wheelchair. And then there is another body next to that. There were others they were willing to show us. (See CNN report, 'People are dying in front of us' -- 4:36)

• Evacuee Cooper: They had a couple of policemen out here, sir, about six or seven policemen told me directly, when I went to tell them, hey, man, you got bodies in there. You got two old ladies that just passed, just had died, people dragging the bodies into little corners. One guy -- that's how I found out. The guy had actually, hey, man, anybody sleeping over here? I'm like, no. He dragged two bodies in there. Now you just -- I just found out there was a lady and an old man, the lady went to nudge him. He's dead.

Hospital evacuations

• Brown: I've just learned today that we ... are in the process of completing the evacuations of the hospitals, that those are going very well.

• CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta: It's gruesome. I guess that is the best word for it. If you think about a hospital, for example, the morgue is in the basement, and the basement is completely flooded. So you can just imagine the scene down there. But when patients die in the hospital, there is no place to put them, so they're in the stairwells. It is one of the most unbelievable situations I've seen as a doctor, certainly as a journalist as well. There is no electricity. There is no water. There's over 200 patients still here remaining. ...We found our way in through a chopper and had to land at a landing strip and then take a boat. And it is exactly ... where the boat was traveling where the snipers opened fire yesterday, halting all the evacuations. (Watch the video report of corpses stacked in stairwells -- 4:45)

• Dr. Matthew Bellew, Charity Hospital: We still have 200 patients in this hospital, many of them needing care that they just can't get. The conditions are such that it's very dangerous for the patients. Just about all the patients in our services had fevers. Our toilets are overflowing. They are filled with stool and urine. And the smell, if you can imagine, is so bad, you know, many of us had gagging and some people even threw up. It's pretty rough. (Mayor's video: Armed addicts fighting for a fix -- 1:03)

Violence and civil unrest

• Brown: I've had no reports of unrest, if the connotation of the word unrest means that people are beginning to riot, or you know, they're banging on walls and screaming and hollering or burning tires or whatever. I've had no reports of that.

• CNN's Chris Lawrence: From here and from talking to the police officers, they're losing control of the city. We're now standing on the roof of one of the police stations. The police officers came by and told us in very, very strong terms it wasn't safe to be out on the street.(Watch the video report on explosions and gunfire -- 2:12)

The federal response:

• Brown: Considering the dire circumstances that we have in New Orleans, virtually a city that has been destroyed, things are going relatively well.

• Homeland Security Director Chertoff: Now, of course, a critical element of what we're doing is the process of evacuation and securing New Orleans and other areas that are afflicted. And here the Department of Defense has performed magnificently, as has the National Guard, in bringing enormous resources and capabilities to bear in the areas that are suffering.

• Crowd chanting outside the Convention Center: We want help.

• Nagin: They don't have a clue what's going on down there.

• Phyllis Petrich, a tourist stranded at the Ritz-Carlton: They are invisible. We have no idea where they are. We hear bits and pieces that the National Guard is around, but where? We have not seen them. We have not seen FEMA officials. We have seen no one.

Security

• Brown: I actually think the security is pretty darn good. There's some really bad people out there that are causing some problems, and it seems to me that every time a bad person wants to scream of cause a problem, there's somebody there with a camera to stick it in their face. (See Jack Cafferty's rant on the government's 'bungled' response -- 0:57)

• Chertoff: In addition to local law enforcement, we have 2,800 National Guard in New Orleans as we speak today. One thousand four hundred additional National Guard military police trained soldiers will be arriving every day: 1,400 today, 1,400 tomorrow and 1,400 the next day.

• Nagin: I continue to hear that troops are on the way, but we are still protecting the city with only 1,500 New Orleans police officers, an additional 300 law enforcement personnel, 250 National Guard troops, and other military personnel who are primarily focused on evacuation.

• Lawrence: The police are very, very tense right now. They're literally riding around, full assault weapons, full tactical gear, in pickup trucks. Five, six, seven, eight officers. It is a very tense situation here.

-- CNN, The big disconnect on New Orleans
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/02/katrina.response/index.html

Note that the situation was so bad that Andrew Sullivan -- apparently replaced recently by Pod people -- had to draw a parallel to Iraq:

THE DISCONNECT: CNN - which has just had one of its finest hours - puts together a string of quotes from officials compared with what their own reporting showed at the time. The gap between Bush rhetoric and reality in America is stunning. Now transpose that to Iraq. And worry.

-Daily Dish

Posted at 08:05 AM in Media | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The Flying Spaghetti Monster, the intelligent god of Pastafarianism:

NYT:

Is the super-intelligent, super-popular god known as the Flying Spaghetti Monster any match for the prophets of intelligent design?

This month, the Kansas State Board of Education gave preliminary approval to allow teaching alternatives to evolution like intelligent design (the theory that a smart being designed the universe). And President Bush and Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee both gave the thumbs up to teaching intelligent design.

Long before that, Bobby Henderson, a 25-year-old with a physics degree from Oregon State University, had a divine vision. An intelligent god, a Flying Spaghetti Monster, he said, "revealed himself to me in a dream."

He posted a sketch on his Web site, venganza.org, showing an airborne tangle of spaghetti and meatballs with two eyes looming over a mountain, trees and a stick man labeled "midgit." Prayers to the Flying Spaghetti Monster, his site says, end with "ramen," not "amen."

Then, Mr. Henderson, who says on his site that he is desperately trying to avoid taking a job programming slot machines in Las Vegas, posted an open letter to the Kansas board.

In perfect deadpan he wrote that although he agreed that science students should "hear multiple viewpoints" of how the universe came to be, he was worried that they would be hearing only one theory of intelligent design. After all, he noted, there are many such theories, including his own fervent belief that "the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster." He demanded equal time in the classroom and threatened a lawsuit.

Soon he was flooded with e-mail messages. Ninety-five percent of those who wrote to him, he said on his Web site, were "in favor of teaching Flying Spaghetti Monsterism in schools." Five percent suggested that he would be going to hell. Lawyers contacted him inquiring how serious he was about a lawsuit against the Kansas board. His answer: "Very."

Source:
But Is There Intelligent Spaghetti Out There?
By SARAH BOXER
Published: August 29, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/29/arts/design/29mons.html

Posted at 06:16 AM in Religion | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Music Industry insider Bob Lefsetz rants about the current state of Government:

"Driving in Santa Monica earlier today I heard George Bush on the radio.  He
said to send cash.  To the Red Cross and the Salvation Army.

I want to send cash.  But I want to send it to the government.

The head of FEMA took the right wing position yesterday.  He blamed the
predicament of those in New Orleans on themselves.  They just didn't follow
instructions.  They needed to LEAVE when warned.

But it's not easy to leave if you're dirt poor and have no transportation.  I
was just about ready for some Republican to tell those in New Orleans to HELP
themselves.  Isn't that their position?  Your life situation is of your own
doing?  And you should prepare for the inevitable disaster?  By saving?

That's not very Christian.

My understanding is Christianity is about being compassionate, helping your
brother.

Although I share those values, I don't happen to be a Christian.  So, I'm not
exactly happy with placing all charity in the hands of a religious
organization.  I'd rather place my faith in the government.

We need a government.  That's what the tragedy and lawlessness in New Orleans
evidences.  We need a police force.  And services.

Services.  They don't come free.  You've got to pay for them.  And you do
this through TAXES!

The Republicans have succeeded in making "tax" a dirty word.  To the point
where nobody can run for office on a platform of increasing individual financial
liability to the government.  What do they say?  It's YOUR MONEY?  We don't
want to take it from you?

Well, why don't they then say you now won't get services.  That's what taxes
give you, a government that renders services.

I'm gonna let you in on a secret.  You can't spend money without wasting it. 
It can be simple.  You can buy the wrong paper for your printer, one that
doesn't render the proper finished product.  But does that mean you should shut
your business down, stop printing, because you blew $3.50?

If the government begins a program, money will be wasted.  It's INHERENT in
the process.  But that doesn't mean we should eliminate all programs.  We
should do the best we can to eliminate waste, but we shouldn't throw the baby out
with the bathwater.

The individualist philosophy that has invaded out country has lowered our
quality of life.  Let's not pay for education in the inner city, we don't live
there.  Then again, who ends up doing the work in your neighborhood, the stuff
you don't want to do?

I've been paying insurance on my domicile for THIRTY YEARS!  I've never
collected once.  But I keep paying, fearful a disaster COULD take place.  That's
how reasonable people run their lives.  We think about consequences.  But we
can't protect against ALL disasters.  I don't have a stockpile of groceries in my
house, of medicines, if an earthquake occurs, I'm counting on the government
to take care of me, at least get me through.  That's why I'm paying income
taxes and taxes on a whole host of other things.

I'm happy to pay a percentage of my earnings for services, for protection
against disaster.  It's an insurance policy just like the one I have on my house.

I want to drive the streets knowing that potholes will be filled in a
reasonable time.

I want bridges inspected so they don't collapse when I'm on them.

I want education funded so people can get reasonable jobs and not become drug
addicts and a scourge on society.  Making me fearful every time I leave my
house.

I want to pay for not only law and order, but a better place for ALL of us to
live.  I want to know there's a safety net for those hit by misfortune that
is unforeseeable, whether it be a hurricane, earthquake or medical problem.

Contrary to what the rich believe, flying in private aircraft, vacationing in
private enclaves, living in spacious apartments with doormen, we're all in
this together.  And if the poor people weren't buying your product, you wouldn't
HAVE these creature comforts.

Screw collecting for charity.  Raise taxes tomorrow.  On ALL of us.  Because
we're all going to be affected by this tragedy.  Just watch the price of
gasoline.

Posted at 06:29 AM in Current Affairs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

People in Red Cross Shelters, by State
click for larger graphic

via NYT

Source:
Across Nation, Storm Victims Crowd Schools
SAM DILLON
NYT, September 7, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/07/national/nationalspecial/07child.html   

Posted at 10:11 AM in Current Affairs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

"On a cold winter night in 1953, the Netherlands suffered a terrifying blow as old dikes and seawalls gave way during a violent storm.

Flooding killed nearly 2,000 people and forced the evacuation of 70,000 others. Icy waters turned villages and farm districts into lakes dotted with dead cows.

Source:
In Europe, High-Tech Flood Control, With Nature's Help
WILLIAM J. BROAD
NYT September 6, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/06/science/06tech.html

Posted at 03:58 AM in Current Affairs, Design, Finance, Politics | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

"F*****g Eric Schmidt is a f*****g p***y. I'm going to f*****g bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to f*****g kill Google."

-- Mark Lucovsky, a Microsoft senior engineer who left for Google in November 2004, recounts Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's reaction to news of his departure.

via GMSV

Posted at 02:36 PM in Humor, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Bennett

Posted at 11:27 AM in Current Affairs, Humor | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

WSJ:   "Air travelers well beyond the Gulf Coast, where Hurricane Katrina hit land, should brace themselves for delays and cancellations well into the week.

Airports yesterday including Louis Armstrong New Orleans International and Jackson International in Mississippi were c