The Information Super-Frog

Fox News had Bill Nye on to talk about volcanoes on the Moon. Host tries to connect story to some "climate change" spin. Big mistake -- Bill Nye "the Science Guy" has experience explaining basic science to small children and people of similar educational attainment.

Video

I doubt Fox News will have Bill Nye on again, but fun while it lasted.

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Meanwhile, "The Onion" headline again sums things up:

"Congress Continues Debate Over Whether Or Not Nation Should Be Economically Ruined"

"The Onion" also offers a reasonable solution:

"Emergency Team Of 8th-Grade Civics Teachers Dispatched To Washington"

"Faubourg Treme - The Untold Story of Black New Orleans", award winning documentary film, will be broadcast in New Orleans this Sunday, February 21 at 7pm on WYES, tv 12.

Documentary website

Vimeo video: Harry Shearer on confronting Brian Williams about the levee disaster. Big TV news: About sharing emotions, not facts.

Editor B: Four Years Post-Katrina

[edited to add]

New York Times: In New Orleans, Recovery Is Not Enough


( text mirror )

tv show "Cracking the Maya Code" schedualed to air on the PBS network tonight as part of the "NOVA" series. (Here in New Orleans, 7pm Central Time, rebroadcast at 1am)

A couple of good ones from yesterday's Times-Picayune editorials:

James Gill: Creationists are Vitter's latest hookup

John Maginnis about "K-Ville": State will pay to have its name trashed.

The second episode of "K-Ville" was worse than the first. Even the accents got worse. The scene with the local cop eating OATMEAL with hot sauce created a universal "WTF?!?" reaction locally -- word since is supposedly that was some sort of bet or inside joke among the cast and crew that got used in the show. Heck of a job, editors!

In other news, pentomino is visiting town. mshollie and I plan to visit the World War II museum with him later.

Plorkwort mentions the film "In the Shadow of the Moon" about the Apollo moon missions.

In my teens I was surprised to find out that I was the only one of my high school class to have memories of watching the moon landing on tv. Little Froggy evidentally thought it more attention worthy than his peers.

I recall feeling some disappointment while watching the returned astronauts' ticker-tape parade through Manhattan on t.v.; Walter Cronkite mentioned that it was the second largest turnout for such a parade in history, after Lindbergh's. Up to that point, I'd been feeling pride in having lived through a moment of history equal to those experienced by my grandfather, but that statistic gave me doubt.

Wikipedia has an article on ticker-tape parades, according to which the largest was actually that for General Douglas MacArthur in 1951. Apparently they still have "ticker-tape parades" on occasion, but as ticker-tape is no longer used, I don't see how that could be considered authentic. What would a good 21st century equivilent be?

Did AOL stop sending out those cds, or is that just one of the the things that the Post Office no longer gets to New Orleans post-K?

For the 4th day in a row, the Senator David Vitter prostitute scandal is on the front page above the fold of today's Times-Picayune. Alas, none of the headlines has read "Vitter Resigns" yet.

Additional revelations have appeared each day, confirming Vitter's involvement with prostitutes both in the D.C. area and Louisiana going back to the '90s, including stories which came out as allegations before elections years ago and which Vitter denied. Once the first story became significant news, reporters apparently started doing a bit of investigating on some of the older stories.

I haven't seen some of the more sorid details confirmed in the mainstream media yet, though Vitter's diaper fetish, a few days ago dismissed as a rumor on the blog-0-sphere, was referenced by Jay Leno on the Tonight Show last night.

Some of the local Republican Right have been defending Vitter. I'm all for the proposition that what adults do with their genitalia is nobody else's business, but that's exactly contrary to what Vitter and his supporters have been pushing for years. I think it would be on the whole better if prostitution were legalized and regulated, but the fact is that in pretty much all of the USA other than some counties in Nevada, it's illegal. Vitter pledged to uphold the law, but Vitter is a criminal.

Vitter's been absent on the Senate floor, and is said to be in an undisclosed location (hiding in the Cheneybunker?). One internet rumor I'm not putting any stock in at this point is that he's in the hospital after his wife really did follow through with her threat to his Senatorial Staff. Though of course Vitter's real problem is between his ears, not his legs.

Speaking of COX (Haw!) I'm supposed to get cable hooked up today. I thought I was done with ATT years ago, but they bought out my local phone company, so I'll shell out some more money and get high speed internet and transfer my phone to Cox Cable. While I'm at it, I'm finally stepping boldly into the 1980s and getting a cable tv hookup as part of the package. Broadcast tv already had more television than I cared to watch, but now Ms. Hollie and I will be able to watch "Countdown" or "The Daily Show" together rather than on YouTube.

In other news, City Council member Shelley Midura has called on District Attorney Eddie Jordan to resign. Give 'em hell, Shelley.

Television "news" show presenter Mika Brzezinski refused to read Par*s H*lton related stories, finally tearing up and setting fire to her script on air.

Story via BBC

"American Creole: New Orleans Reunion" is airing nationwide on PBS tonight. It was first shown last week here in New Orleans. It follows New Orleans musician Papa Don Vappie, his family, and musical colleages, making the best of life in post-Katrina New Orleans.

Froggy says check it out.

Yay, some important local reopenings yesterday.

In the morning I went to the grand reopening of the New Orleans Museum of Art. As I entered, Shades of Praise were singing "Study War No More" in fine style, then later jdquintette was playing wonderful jazz sax. Some local films were being shown as well; I caught "Hexing a Hurricane".

The bubble tea place that I thought for sure was gone (well, it had been cleared out and had an eviction notice posted) is back. Rosie Lea's is now known as Jay's Bubble Teas from a new partner, but Ms. Ruby and the same great bubble teas are still there (along with coffee and Wi-Fi, too long missing on the street which had 3 places back pre-K).

In other local news, the wackiness factor of local politics was BAM!ed up a notch as the Clerk of Courts, who'd been in hiding from contempt of court and arrest warrents, showed up at the courthouse and announced to the assembled media that she was running for Mayor. Kimberly Williamson Butler was one of the more colorful figures on the local scene even pre-K. Doc Brite commented: "Kimbo is pure comedy gold. If I didn't care about the future of the city, I'd vote for her in any office she decided to run for just to enjoy her continuing antics."

Also, they're in the process of cutting up Mr. Ingram's barge in the Lower 9th. One can no longer get within a block of it while they're doing it.

I still havn't gotten a new TV. I rather want to get one from a local place in the city. The other day I was tempted to buy one from a place on St. Claude in Marigny that was open despite having no electricity and I may wind up going back there; they seem to be the only place on the East Bank of Orleans with tvs larger than 13 inches.