This is my blood of frog you drink

"Mmmm, Wine" Department

"Mesta" 2007 Temparnillo-- damn good bottle of red for under $11.
(Posted for my reference, though someone else might find this of interest as well. Just don't drink up all of it without setting a few bottles aside for me, eh?)

"Frog Croaked for your Sins" Department

"An art museum in Italy said it will continue displaying a sculpture portraying a frog nailed to a cross that has angered Pope Benedict XVI"

Any Pope that can't get a kick out of a crucified frog is no Pope of mine.

"The frog, eyes popping and tongue sticking out, wears a loincloth and holds a mug of beer and an egg in its hands."

Mug of beer? The Holy Hops!

Rev Jim & I should have copyrighted this stuff, eh?

Gustav, be nice

H and I are contemplating it might be road trip time again, as Hurricane Gustav is forcasted to be heading to the central Gulf Coast.

I've never seen so much activity while a storm was this far out before. There were lines at gas stations in Chalmette 2 days ago and some buildings Uptown being boarded up yesterday. While I always keep an eye on storm threats, the early track projections heading straight towards us didn't worry me much, as one thing I don't recall any hurricane doing is continuing in a straight line for 6 days.

I'll be keeping an eye on the National Hurricane Center website, and the birds. The birds bugged out the Saturday before Katrina; if they go I'm not sticking around. Rumors have it that Da Mayor may issue an evacuation order way early and at lower hit possibility than Ivan etc.

Of course people here have their minds on the terrible scenes from this time 3 years ago







The horror... the horror...

Guardian article: Overcoming the Katrina myth

Three years after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans is still trying to get the US government to focus on the real cause of the disaster

( Text mirror )

Also: Related YouTube video

Evacucation, 2008 Edition

Barring a major change in the track of Gustav, Hollie and I will be bugging out Sunday morning.

I've seen no indication that Gustav is going to be a mega-storm like Katrina (Rita, Ivan, or Wilma), but no Hurricane is nice. And while forcasting technology keeps improving, Hurricanes are still pretty unpredicatable. We're able to take some time out of town so we'll do so.

The radio station is closing down and going off the air midnight tonight (!). Our post-K studio & offices are in a city owned building in the high ground of the French Quarter, which is apparently being commondeered for the storm.

Echoes of 2005: It looks like again I'm going to the Krewe of OAK parade the last Saturday in August then driving out of town early the next morning.