Thanks to all of you who have sent your notes of concern and your prayers. I am writing this note on Tuesday at 2 p.m.. I wanted to update all of you as to the situation here. I don’t know how much information you are getting but I am certain it is more than we are getting. Be advised that almost everything I am telling you is from direct observation or rumor from reasonable sources. They are allowing limited internet access, so I hope to send this dispatch today.
Personally, my family and I are fine. My family is safe in Jackson, Miss., and I am now a temporary resident of the Ritz Carleton Hotel in New Orleans. I figured if it was my time to go, I wanted to go in a place with a good wine list. In addition, this hotel is in a very old building on Canal Street that could and did sustain little damage. Many of the other hotels sustained significant loss of windows, and we expect that many of the guests may be evacuated here.

Things were obviously bad yesterday, but they are much worse today. Overnight the water arrived. Now Canal Street (true to its origins) is indeed a canal. The first floor of all downtown buildings is underwater. I have heard that Charity Hospital and Tulane are limited in their ability to care for patients because of water. Ochsner is the only hospital that remains fully functional. However, I spoke with them today and they too are on generator and losing food and water fast.

The city now has no clean water, no sewerage system, no electricity, and no real communications. Bodies are still being recovered floating in the floods. We are worried about a cholera epidemic. Even the police are without effective communications. We have a group of armed police here with us at the hotel that is admirably trying to exert some local law enforcement. This is tough because looting is now rampant. Most of it is not malicious looting. These are poor and desperate people with no housing and no medical care and no food or water trying to take care of themselves and their families.

Unfortunately, the people are armed and dangerous. We hear gunshots frequently. Most of Canal street is occupied by armed looters who have a low threshold for discharging their weapons. We hear gunshots frequently. The looters are using makeshift boats made of pieces of styrofoam to access. We are still waiting for a significant national guard presence.

The health care situation here has dramatically worsened overnight. Many people in the hotel are elderly and small children. Many other guests have unusual diseases. … There are (Infectious Disease) physicians in at this hotel attending an HIV confection. We have commandered the world famous French Quarter Bar to turn
into an makeshift clinic. There is a team of about seven doctors and PAs and pharmacists. We anticipate that this will be the major medical facility in the central business district and French Quarter.

Our biggest adventure today was raiding the Walgreens on Canal under police escort. The pharmacy was dark and full of water. We basically scooped the entire drug sets into garbage bags and removed them. All under police excort. The looters had to be held back at gunpoint. After a dose of prophylactic Cipro I hope to be fine.

In all we are faring well. We have set up a hospital in the the French Qarter bar in the hotel, and will start admitting patients today. Many will be from the hotel, but many will not. We are anticipating dealing with multiple medical problems, medications and and acute injuries. Infection and perhaps even cholera are anticipated major problems. Food and water shortages are imminent.

The biggest question to all of us is where is the National Guard. We hear jet fignters and helicopters, but no real armed presence, and hence the rampant looting. There is no Red Cross and no Salvation Army.

In a sort of cliché way, this is an edifying experience. One is rapidly focused away from the transient and material to the bare necessities of life. It has been challenging to me to learn how to be a primary care phyisican. We are under martial law so return to our homes is impossible. I don’t know how long it will be and this is my greatest fear. Despite it all, this is a soul-edifying experience. The greatest pain is to think about the loss. And how long the rebuid will take. And the horror of so many dead people .

PLEASE SEND THIS DISPATCH TO ALL YOU THING MAY BE INTERSTED IN A DISPATCH from the front. I will send more according to your interest. Hopefully their collective prayers will be answered. By the way, suture packs, sterile gloves and stethoscopes will be needed as the Ritz turns into a MASH.

Taken from Michele.

Interesting line heard on Fox: This looks a bit like the fall of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War.

Speaking of which a National Guardsmen has been shot; three Blackhawks full of soldiers have just deposited their cargo to secure the Superdome.

Rosemary Behan thinks that British Muslims should follow the example of Irish immigrants to the UK. It is an interesting article that might provide a good break from dire news from New Orleans and Baghdad.

This blog will be participating in the Katrina relief effort. We encourage you to donate whatever you can, including blood, to the American Red Cross.

i haven’t slept a single night in over a month
and not even once did you start to make sense to me
well maybe i’m a little bit slow, or just consistently inconsistent
she said, unpredictability’s my responsibility, baby

hot hot heat

Victoria, B.C. is at least in appearance the most “British” of Canadian cities in its architecture and manners. Such as most of the hotels and bed-and-breakfasts featuring High Tea, though you might have to tippy-toe through the serried ranks of crystal-meth junkies for your fix of scones and clotted cream. Whatever that is.

As it happens, it’s also the home of Hot Hot Heat, looking like refugees from some 1968 Carnaby Street thrift-shop. But boy, do they carry it off: not just because the lead singer dresses like some neo-Edwardian dandy, but because they bring impeccable pop smarts and Ray Davies/Elvis Costello-class wordplay to the mix.

“Middle of Nowhere” I’ve heard maybe a couple of times on the radio, and it got minimal rotation on MuchMusic (Canada’s MTV), but I think it’s one of the best videos that I’ve seen in the last year. A very smart, very good band.

Go here and scroll down a bit to click on it. If you let the video run, you’ll also get the equally excellent “Goodnight, Goodnight”; then some interesting studio clips; then some not-so-interesting backstage stuff.

the blog québécois

Dolphin Foundry now has a site so that you might be able inspect your potential purchases.

The latest SNN is up for your listening pleasure. Course if you were using iTunes and their podcast feature you would already know that. Britbloggers have their round-up posted. Bonfire is burning nicely at Don Surber’s and COTV is up at Incite.

Alan has chosen his annual prize for advancement of liberty.

Bestof Symphony is available for this week.

Those of you who enjoy a bit of short fiction can find it at the Storyblogging Carnival.

Baldilocks has joined the Pajamasmedia team

Not a chance. Guess who the Kraut left is blaming for the hurricane?

Voivod have lost a major force in the band. The metal world has lost of its creative greats. More news at Balbbermouth.

Voivod, which now feature Jason Newsted have been a major influence on a great deal of the metal world. Rather likes KingsX in the fact they are musician’s musicians they never really got the popular support they deserved. The Quebequers stretched the metal genre as far as it would go and beyond. I hope the loss of Piggy will not prevent the band from continuing.

Am I reading too much into it?

Friend this blog and supporter of my scribbling efforts Bill Quick has a new e-book out for purchase. Our blog-host Kathy has already bought a copy. Bill is a very good writer and I urge you to support his efforts.

Has George Bush gone wobbly on the protection of Israel? Its not only Lawrence Simon who thinks so.

On the subject of Israel and how it is covered, Solomonia has posted an interesting interview with Boston University Professor Richard Landes who has launched a media watchdog organisation. Kudos to Solomania for securing such an interviewee and doing some great original blog content.

Some of you might have seen this:

British tourists have left the residents of one charming Austrian village effing and blinding by constantly stealing the signs for their oddly-named village.

While British visitors are finding it hilarious, the residents of F—ing are failing to see the funny side, The Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported.

Only one kind of crimimal ever stalks the sleepy 32-house village near Salzburg on the German border — cheeky British tourists armed with a sense of humour and a screwdriver.

But the local authorities are hitting back and with the signs now set in concrete, police chief Kommandant Schmidtberger is on the lookout.

“We will not stand for the F—ing signs being removed,” the officer told the broadsheet.

“It may be very amusing for you British, but F—ing is simply F—ing to us. What is this big F—ing joke? It is puerile.”

Exactly. We have avoided linking to this story until now, because, as you know, we are above sniggering schoolboy humor such as that.

We much prefer sniggering schoolboy humor such as this.

the blog québécois

Have you bouught Mitch’s new single yet?

Are you surprised it comes Michele?

And yes I agree with the entire gist of the post.

Update: My good mate Mike Bayham (who has had things posted here) did the wise thing and went to Phoenix to ride out the storm. His property is another matter. But at least he is safe.

You’ve seen those clips on TV where people have set up hundreds of thousands of dominoes and then send them toppling in a spectacular display? I’ve always thought that something like that would make a good computer game. You could incorporate effects and Rube Goldberg devices that wouldn’t be possible in the real world, with the aim of solving puzzles, or “combat” against another player (trying to disrupt his arrangements while blocking him from doing the same to you), or just building big, artistic patterns. Sure, it’s kind of pointless, but so’s Tetris when you think about it.

Maybe somebody’s already done it — if not, some game developer can run with the idea. No charge. In the meantime, I’ll have to make do with this.

Note: it might just be my computer, but the game takes awhile to load, just presenting a blank screen for 30-40 seconds. It’s on a Japanese page, but the controls are displayed in English. And if you’re at work, you might want to turn down your speakers, because it sho’ don’t sound like no spreadsheet.

Chapter 6

There was a hushed silence in the room as the evening’s moderator ushered in the two speakers and showed them to their seats at the table facing the audience. The mostly elderly crowd came to attention as the moderator, also quite elderly, started speaking.
“Ladies and Gentleman, although neither of our guests this evening requires an introduction, politeness dictates that I say a few words to present our honored guests to you.
Each of our guests sits on the side of podium that befits his previous position within his party. On my right, sits the man who led the Conservative Party and Unionist Party to their biggest defeat for well over a century. He introduced major reforms to the Labour Party. He and his trusted advisor, Peter Mandelson, swept aside the party’s “old” socialist dogma and turned the party into a modern social democratic party. The British public believed that the old left was finally buried gave him a 175 seat majority. It was not to last.”
Not far away, another audience sat in anticipation of nostalgia for a time gone past. The quartet tuned their instruments. The audience finished off their tea and coffee and sweets. Waiters rushed around collecting the remains and offering an aperitif. David opted for a vintage port. Michaela ordered a Grand Marnier. She knew that this would be her last drink for quite a while so she felt that she deserved the best. Fortunately, Michaela enjoyed her own little extravagance. As she lacked appreciation of a venerable port, she was spared the knowledge of its cost when David ordered his own aperitif.
The pianist turned to the audience and spoke tersely into his microphone. “We shall begin the evening with a selection from Gotterdamerung by Wagner.” As the first notes filled the crypt, the flicker of matches sparkled in the soft darkness, followed by a the gentle scent of curls of cigar and cigarette smoke. As David began to puff on his large cigar, Michaela grabbed his free hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. He smiled and took a sip from his second port.

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This week we have a trio revolving around those perennial favorites, sex and violence.

Which will prevail in a battle between a machine gun and an authentic samurai sword?

The machine gun, fool. (It wasn’t exactly a fair fight, as the sword was fixed in place and didn’t get any whacks at the gun.) This video shows the blade fracturing almost instantly; when you see it replayed in super slow-motion, though, it survives numerous hits before breaking.

This is a well-acted and filmed comic piece about an unfortunate mixup in birth-control pills.

The comedian Andy Dick was last seen in Canada in April of this year, when his contract to do two nights at an Edmonton comedy club was cancelled after the first night when some patrons complained about his act. Well, color us surprised — Dick (hee!), one of the comics featured in the movie The Aristocrats, is notoriously raunchy, and likes to play with his penis onstage, among other things.

Here he is in action at a celebrity roast for Pamela Anderson. Very funny. No nudity, but it’s probably not safe for work.

the blog québécois

I checked my referral logs this morning to see who’d dropped by overnight. It isn’t usually a lengthy read — about 15 or 20 hits. One name jumped out at me, though. Could it be that Foundation? I clicked through on it. It was. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

This could mean only one thing — that I was soon going to be the wealthiest bl0gger in the world! I phoned up my boss and told him exactly what I thought about him and then I started pricing out private jets.

While waiting for quotes, I decided to see what had piqued Bill ‘n’ Mel (as I now call her)’s interest in yours truly, and looked at the page they’d landed on.

Cancel the jets. I never pegged Bill as a Garfield kinda guy, but if he is, this sort of insensitive treatment isn’t going to make him my new rich friend.

In some serendipitous fashion, however, it ties in nicely with the post I was working on last night, the Bl0g Of The Week:

Formerly named I Read The Comics So You Don’t Have To; now it’s called The Comics Curmudgeon:

My personal curmudgeonly opinion is that the less said about the 75th anniversary Blondie mutual wank-a-thon, the better, but I feel compelled to drag Saturday’s Garfield out to help illustrate why comics characters drawn by different artists shouldn’t be put in close proximity to one another. Because I’ve been reading Garfield pretty much since I achieved rudimentary literacy, but it wasn’t until I saw Jon next to Dagwood that I realized that OH MY GOD HE HAS NO NOSE! I MEAN, LOOK AT HIM! HIS ENORMOUS, BULBOUS EYES ARE JUST SITTING DIRECTLY ABOVE HIS UPPER LIP! SWEET JESUS CHRIST THAT’S CREEPY! I’m sure the architects of this huge crossoverfest were looking to instill a sense of “warm and fuzzy” in their readers; for me, anyway, they got “aesthetically unsettled” instead.

A very worthwhile (and time-saving: remember — he reads the comics so you don’t have to) bl0g. You’ll get more genuine laughs from his (and his commenters) commentary than you will from a month’s worth of Sally Forth and For Better Or For Worse.

the blog québécois

Mitch Benn, GoD guitarist and damn funny guy is releassing his first single. Below are details of both the single and the album. Do us a favour and buy his single. I have already ordered mine.

THE SINGLE

Ever since we premiered Everything Sounds Like Coldplay Now on the last series of Mitch Benn’s Crimes Against Music back in April it’s been clear that this is a song which strikes a chord with people; Word magazine included it on their freebie CD a couple of months ago, there have been newspaper articles about it, critics mentioning it in their reviews of X&Y and so forth.

So we’ve decided to put it out as a single ahead of the release of the new album (of which more in a minute); we’re going out on a bit of a limb here as we have no experience of the single market at all, but nothing ventured etc.etc.

And yes we HAVE made a video for it. We’re very happy with it; whether it’ll ever be shown anywhere I don’t know, but you can help, and here’s how…

The single comes out on Monday September 5th. What I need as many as possible of you to do, is on or about Monday 5th, go to your local branch of HMV or Virgin or whatever and buy the damn thing, or, (as is likely to be the case) if they haven’t got it in, order it from them (its catalogue number is LSM001). If nothing else this’ll shake up the distributors and get it into some more stores, and frankly, given the state of singles sales right now if we can sell about two thousand copies it’ll actually CHART, for God’s sake. That’s got to be worth a shot, hasn’t it?

Come on, it’s four quid. What’s that between friends. Crumbs, I’d offer to refund you but that’s called hyping and THAT’S WRONG.

So go on, buy it. You like me, and if you don’t like me, what are you doing on this mailing list?

Okay then, at least phone your local radio DJs and request it. They probably won’t know what you’re talking about; feel free to tell them.

Sorry if this all seems a little whorish even by my standards but due to, er, stuff, we don’t have anybody employed to do PR for this single release so I am forced to turn to you, MY PEOPLE, to help us out. Thank you for your time, and on with the newsletter thingy:

THE ALBUM

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The parents of a marine biologist killed by a shark have been urged not to try to track down the fish. Seems pretty smart advice to me.

Google words competition found via Emily’s

The so-called babe Paris Hilton was caught stalking Brad Pitt, naked in stormy weather, after a ball at a ranch in California. The theme of the ball was Scottish being hosted by the Highland Society of California; there was naturally lots of tartan about. When asked about her stalking arrest the hotel heiress claimed the police were engaged in a jihad against her. The actor was not available for comment.

Update: The stormy weather was called Hurricane Katrina.

There is a petition to get Stringfellow a Sir and Guido has all the details. And yes I have signed it.

Technically, it’s crochet, not macrame, but I couldn’t resist the alliteration. It’s the work of German artist Patricia Waller; more of which here. What does it all Mean, you ask? This guy knows:

The artist’s crochet sculptures are initially disturbing. However, they usually play a double role and are hidden. They are a background system of signs and charades that cannot always be interpreted satisfactorily. But Patricia Waller always ensures that her audience is given visual experiences full of relish and ambition. “With all of my work, I try to create new and different forms of perception and levels of association for the beholder by interventions and altered forms of presentation…” she states.”

So there. These are rather playful — others have a darker edge.

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Tim’s round-up is ready for your reading pleasure.

BestofMe is up for your nostalgic readings.

Norm has celebrated his 100 th profile with a bit of a study of the 99 other profiles.

Liberty has its own Carnival as well doncha know.

The Carnival of the Vanities is up for the week, thankfully free of the rating system that so blighted last week’s round-up. The Bonfire host this week doesn’t agree with my assesment with last week’s clusterfuck. Since last week I have heard that at least one anti-ratings comment was deleted by Will. How truly pathetic.

The First Post has a new issue out for your reading pleasure.

We recorded Cry Freedom properly on Saturday, but I just wanted to give you lot a general idea of what the chorus sounds like.

Cry Freedom

I always get asked for clips of our tracks. This clip was recorded on my phone in the loo of my local Whetherspoon’s toilet (after a bottle of cider). I think I got it sounding as good as possible considering the location. Hey, Weird Al was signed based on stuff he recorded in the loo of his college radio station.

Do to a quirky of the format (thanks Nokia) it seems to only play in Quicktime.

I have had an interesting email chat with Paul Stead of Sacred Heart (who contributed his impressive vocals to ‘Searching’) about songwriting. He described by style as songs that tell stories. I tend to agree. Not surprising as I come to songwriting from a prose background. One of the cool things about the session on Saturday was that neither one of the tunes’ lyrics were altered in any way. I seem to be getting slightly better at writing lyrics that are actually sung rather than spoken in tune. Of course, I have just started another song today…one inspired by someone I met on Sunday. Good to see I have not finished the song keg…

what god has to say about growing old

There is nobody you would rather crouch with on the banks of the Massa Lagoon in the hope of spotting a bald ibis, no better companion for sinking a pint of Theakston’s Old Peculiar, no one whose Hush Puppy you would rather see tapping beside you at Ronnie Scott’s

I wholeheartedly agree with this assesment; the trouble with Kenneth Clarke is that his politics are rubbish. His recent coversion against the Euro is laughable; as is his third attempt for leader. You also judge a man by those who support him and Clarke’s supporters are nothing to write home about either now are they: John Major, Hezza and Ann “Sound on nothing” Widdecombe?

Its time for Clarke to gracefully exit the stage. He is a hang-over from what turned the Tories into the waste of space they are right now. He needs to let them rise again.

Jon P has posted on Clarke’s conversion over at Liberty Cadre.

Neil Pillock Kinnock on Clarke as leader:

As to today’s biggest political question - the Tory leadership - Kinnock wants to see Ken Clarke elected. And why? “Because it would cause such a deep schism within the Tory party that it would ensure Labour would be in power for another generation.”

I have to agree with his latter assesment. Probably the first time I have ever agreed with anything the Ginger Euroweenie has had to say.

Update: David reports that Galloway has endorsed Clarke.

He thought that Kenneth Clarke would be the best choice for Tory leader as none of the others would adequately oppose Blair, but this was without any mention of the EU.

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the claim is on you
the sights are on me
so what do you do
that’s guaranteed?

ac/dc

Steve Maich last week in Macleans:

Will blogs fundamentally change the media business, or any business for that matter? Well, did do-it-yourself wine kits change the wine industry? Think about all the homemade plonk you’ve had to drink over the years. Sure, everybody thinks the merlot they stirred up in a plastic bucket in their basement tastes fantastic. But try selling it.

An interesting piece, throwing a bit of cold water on the bl0guphoria (if I may coin a word: I googled it and turned up one reference, which appears to be a dead link. So I claim it for my own.) that seems to be ramping up again. No, bl0gs are not going to displace the MSM, not for a very long time, if ever. That doesn’t mean that things aren’t changing.

Perhaps tellingly, Maich’s tagline:

Read Steve Maich’s weblog, All Business

Hedging our bets, are we?

Following the money is always instructive, and serious amounts of it are being sloshed around.

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There is a program on the BBC (natch) that involves a woman training men using dog techniques. Can you say sexist crap? A bit?

Well there are certain dogs traits I pride myself on like loyalty and a sense of protecting loved ones but there are some I resemble…I seem to shed as much as any of my dogs, then there is the drooling…but we shan’t go there..oh and someone I know claims I can scratchy my ears with my feet…my ears stand up as well….I would prefer to eat raw meat. Wait dogs nah…more like a wolves. They are loyal, into monogamy…

So guess who they are bashing? Not their opponents in Germany that is for sure.