Friday, November 19, 2010

LSU Professor Overton, who downplayed oil spill, has federal government contracts
~Brad Jacobson, Raw Story


Coastal Heritage Society of Louisiana
~Buy Toys~Help us make sure that each and every child in Coastal Louisiana gets a holiday gift! Our Kids of the Gulf toy drive has started! Click the BUY TOYS button to go to our wish list and choose something! Items start at 5.00. It will be delivered directly to us for delivery to the kids of affected families! DEADLINE to buy toys via our Amazon wish list is December 7. A HUGE thank you to those who have already sent items.

Shell Shuts Houma-to-Houston Oil Pipeline After Leak

BP Deep-Cleaning Beaches Amid New Worries~Jay Reeves

BP Fuckless Limey Lawless Bastards Fight Court Bid To Lift Oil Spill Damages Limit

Oh Snap! Experts disagree whether Gulf seafood safe to eat

Ho'z by any other name are still... Ho'z Job Title: Public Affairs Specialist:
Dept Of The Army, DOA
Agency: Army Corps of Engineers

~Also~SDVOSB MATOC - Remediation of Floodwalls on the 17th Street Canal

Engineers offer report card on the nation's infrastructure and suggestions to fix it~Green Heritage News

Senator Landrieu blogs during recent trip to the Netherlands about Gulf protection, restoration and integrated water management~Watershed NOLA

Citizens urge task force to approve third phase of Bayou Dupont wetlands restoration project~Mark Schleifstein
~Also~Efforts to assess local effects of global warming discussed at computer conference

Flood-insurance mandate will have 'disastrous' economic effect, Louisiana lawmaker warns
~Alexandria Town Talk


Three metro-east St. Louis counties suing government after FEMA forces property owners to purchase flood insurance~The Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, is demanding insurance for property in a massive flood plain because it believes the levees on the Mississippi are “functionally useless,” even though the levees haven’t failed yet.

Old Maps Flooding Homeowners With Problems in South Florida

Lethal palm disease found in NOLA

Blight-fighting program has growing pains, City Hall official says
~Michelle Krupa


Mortgage data crisis in Civil District Court leads to plea for 'immediate action'~Bruce Eggler

“got it” – the MSSC decision in Lisanby v USAA~slabbed

Friday Night Festivities!!!
~Dakinikat, Sky Dancing


Bridge over troubled waters
~Gary Rosenblatt

~One of the enduring images of Hurricane Katrina for the Jewish community of New Orleans, and well beyond, was of a kipa-wearing rescue worker, in waist-high water, carrying one of seven Torahs out of the sanctuary of the century-old Orthodox congregation, Beth Israel. The Torahs did not make it; water-logged beyond repair, they ultimately were buried in the synagogue’s cemetery, along with 3,000 prayer books. But the congregation survived, and five years later is about to build a new home in the most unlikely of spots — on the grounds of nearby Reform temple Gates of Prayer.

ReX Announces: Toys For Tots / It’s Yours, Take It~NOLAFemmes


Review: To Moscow, You Betcha!
~Kevin Allman, Gambit


When Cities Made Sense
~Odd Bits of Life in New Orleans


Weekend Breakfast at Huevos
~Blackened Out


"Cook Me Somethin' Mister" Introduces a New Brand of NOLA Food Products in Gulf Coast Region

Fringe Festival parade, Harrah's Miracle on Fulton Street and more in New Orleans

Caledonian Society to hold tea

Richard Thompson on performing his 'Cabaret of Souls' (featuring Harry Shearer: 'keeper of the underworld')

90 Musicians Sound the Call for the Gulf Coast ~Humid Beings

Jaime Michaels Releases New Single to Benefit Gulf Residents

NINE TIMES SOCIAL & PLEASURE CLUB 12TH ANNUAL PARADE SUNDAY, NOV. 21, 2010 12-4pm
~Red Cotton, Gambit

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Life on the bayou seemed simpler then: Storycorps New Orleans~Bruce Nolan
~Dying Cypress Swamp, Falgout, Terrebonne Basin~Quinta Scott

Levee authority votes not to raise property tax rate for New Orleans residents~Sheila Grissett

Making Waves~Kim Holden, WVUE

Thanks, Katrina
~Street Prophets

Uptown bar to see 30-day license suspension after underage-drinking raid ~Uptown Messenger

Policies on electronic public records assessed by legislative committee

Archives matter~L'Archivista

Glenn Frey Is An Asshole: Tranny Edition ~moosedenied

Business a little slow at Butler Snow? ~slabbed

Houma firm pitches rock-barrier idea
~Kathrine Schmidt


Hurricane recovery loans go to Baton Rouge refinery
~Ariella Cohen, The Lens


Now, BP wants claimant’s legal rights to sue other companies
~Disenfranchised Citizen


~There are more active oil & gas drill rigs working in US right now than in all other countries in the world combined

Shrimper: They’re killing everybody real slow — No bycatch; Big yellowfin tuna swimming near shore
~Florida Oil Spill Law


Louisiana Seafood Board Boosts Brand Image in the Big Apple
~Louisiana Seafood News


Gulf oysters for Thanksgiving? They're available, but pricey~Judy Walker

Food trucks beginning to find a place to call home in New Orleans~Todd Price

The New Yorker profiles Mosca's in its annual Food Issue~Brett Anderson

Thanksgiving is Coming: Turkey v. Sides~Blackened Out

GoNOLA Presents: Christmas New Orleans Style Family Friendly Fun

Postcards From the Fringe (Festival)
~Will Coviello


Just like Billy Sunday in a shotgun ragtime band~Adrastos, First Draft

The Radiators: On the Road from New Orleans ~NolaFunk NYC

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

New Orleans Saints license plate agreement near~Ed Anderson

Guilbeau: Defense has Saints poised to make run at repeat title
~Special thanks Hard Knocks Sports for XLIV Lombardi Trophy Photo --and their solid prediction of Possible Greatness Again for Our New Orleans Saints!

Louisiana isn't charging manufacturers enough for air-pollution inspections, environmentalists say
~Mark Schleifstein


TEDxNOLA - Harry Shearer - Water and Creativity


~BTW~Richard Thompson Taps Harry Shearer for Tour of the Underworld

Sewerage alternatives outlined by the Corps~Daily Iberian

CWPPRA 20th Priority Project List (PPL) Public Meetings

Water Resources/Coastal Project Manager - New Orleans, LA

Plans to Hike Ethanol in Gasoline Irk Some Gulf Residents~Susan Buchanan

BP would never sacrifice safety for profit: a metaphor
~Disenfranchised Citizen


Oil industry pushes panic button over Gulf of Mexico environmental review
~Facing South


Oystermen fear rush to spend BP dollars~John Snell, WVUE

Louisiana Oyster Processor AmeriPure Back in Operation

Groups studying jail size may continue work past deadline
~Matt Davis, The Lens

~Ariella Cohen from The Lens talks budget:

Probing the death of New Orleans
police Officer Lawrence Celestine
~Times-Picayune editorial

~Hat Tweet~

People Movers~Alex Woodward

Fifty Years Ago
~Adrastos, First Draft


Quantitative Easing explained by cute little bears~Library Chronicles

A little home cookin’ – FBI Agent on trial in (where else but) north Mississippi! ~slabbed

Wednesday Reads
~Dakinikat, Sky Dancing

~ American Pie Party~Good Mornin' America & Happy Hump Day! Today's Humping Pie Party Adopt-A-Blog-rrr: @

Deadly late-season Atlantic hurricanes growing more frequent
~Jeff Masters, Wunderblog


Weeklong supercomputing conference opens in New Orleans ~Xinhua

Microsoft flexes muscles at Supercomputing 2010 conference in New Orleans

Wine Dinner at a Mano, Beajolais Nouveau, and a SAVvy Affair
~Blackened Out


New documentary revisits 'New Orleans Restaurants With a Past'
~Dave Walker


Signposts in a Strange Land
~Matt Robison, Morning News

~“The luck of New Orleans,” Walker Percy said, “is that its troubles usually have their saving graces.”
Matt Robison
gathers seven authors and scholars to discuss writing in the Big Easy, from Early Times to Katrina clichés.
~Hat Tip~ fwriction

Words and Music Festival
~Jamie Carroll, Gambit


Enough Is Enough: A Rally/Candlelight Vigil tribute for Messy Mya this Friday at 4pm~Red Cotton

Henry Butler profiled in documentary about blind photographers
~Defend New Orleans


~New Orleans, 1860s

Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew honored at Rock n'Roll Hall of Fame's American Music Masters event
~Alison Fensterstock

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Con-Profit status moves to Severe ~American Zombie

Financial troubles for Byron Lee go beyond audit ~WWL

Council asked to give public a chance to review budget~The Lens
~Also~“Unacceptably large” number of hotels skip taxes, IG says~Matt Davis
~La. Endowment for the Humanities panel TOMORROW features The Lens -

Glenn Frey Is An Asshole: iPhone Edition ~moosedenied

Uneasy over Army Corps of Engineers' idea for armoring New Orleans' levees ~Times-Picayune editorial
~Contracts~Remediation of Floodwalls on the 17th Street Canal
17th Street bid package details: Job is all soil mixing between Vets and Hammond Hwy (east side) and between Georgia St and Hammond Hwy (west side). All work might or might not be done from homeowners' side, since plans include provision for contractor to build "temporary production pad" (i.e. build up levee from toe up to flattened area from degrading) on protected side.
Page 1 of the specs says work is between $5 million & $10 million Bid due date: Nov. 29th (just 14 days after solicitation issuance) Work duration: 150 days.
Work is a small business set-aside for which the lead contractor has to perform 20% of the work (or less, if the Corps agrees).
~Remediation of Floodwalls on The london Ave Canal
London Avenue bid package details: This work consists of driving a bunch of sheet pile along both sides of the canal, most of it with a concrete cap placed on top in front of the wall (though some does not have the cap). The sheet pile acts as a seepage cutoff, while the concrete cap helps against uplift. All the new sheet pile is going in on the protected side, and the top of the concrete cap will be at elevation +4 feet (top of wall is around 12 to 13 feet). The areas with the cap will also have 6 feet of scour protection. Only the top 10 feet of the sheet piling are to be coated with coal tar epoxy, at least as far as the section between Mirabeau and Filmore. I've gone through the other drawing package and can't find any notes on painting the sheet pile. I'm sure this will be of interest to many on this email. By the way, that scour protection is an interesting addition, because the calculations for the safety of the walls along London Avenue are only good up to 10 feet, not to the tops of the walls (one to 4 feet higher). It's good they are looking forward to possible failure of the gates, but it would have been better if they had designed for a canal completely full of water. Also note that the first drawing package (the one for the section between Mirabeau and Filmore) is dated September, 2010, or the same month they had the incredibly vague IER27 out for public comment, claiming they couldn't release engineering details. Page 1 of the specs says work is between $15 million & $25 million. Bid due date: Nov. 22nd (just ten days after solicitation issuance) Work duration: 150 days. Work is a small business set-aside for which the lead contractor has to perform 20% (or less, if the Corps agrees).
~Special thanks~
Fix the Pumps
~Also in Corps Shitcannery~Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois Joins Lawsuit Against FEMA to Block Faulty Flood Insurance Maps

Supercomputing advances assessed at New Orleans conference
~Mark Schleifstein


Most of New Orleans slated to receive recycling pickup next year ~WVUE

"There is a war brewing in the Gulf", BP Oil Disaster Victims Vow Never to Forget~Rocky Kistner

Forensic Testing of Blowout Preventer Begins

Allstate’s “nanny nanny boo-boo, you can’t catch me” defense of Louisiana qui tam cases ~slabbed

Feinberg Process is Breeding Insecurity ~Ewell Smith

Work to begin on National Mall levee: new barrier will protect downtown DC from massive flood
~Editilla Ironellas~"The new system will add stone walls on both sides of 17th Street, as well as a removable section of posts and metal panels, to the earth barrier that parallels the Lincoln Memorial's reflecting pool."

Tonight: Bryan Batt at Tulane
~Lauren LaBorde, Gambit


He Does It Again~Blackened Out

A cornucopia of all things relative to music in the Crescent City
~Geraldine Wyckoff


Tom Waits Sings Mardi Gras Music
Patrick Jarenwattananon, NPR

Monday, November 15, 2010

50 years later, schools still effectively segregated~Ariella Cohen, The Lens
Top LSU/BP-Funded Scientist: "Dispersants Are the ‘Soap’ That Saved Louisiana’s Coast"
~“Dispersants saved our coast. You can quote me on that!” says Dr. Edward Overton of the Department of Environmental Sciences School of the Coast and Environment at Louisiana State University.
~Editilla Rotellas~You will not find one single person from LSU on this list of esteemed scientists who have stepped up to get the truth straight. We wonder why. Could it be the funding that LSU receives from BP? Oh Snap! We wondered where they got all those robot submarines: SERPENT (Scientific and Environmental ROV Partnership using Existing iNdustrial Technology) is a unique collaboration between the oil industry and the world of science. Since inception in 2002 by founding partners National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, Subsea 7, BP, and Transocean the working partnership has grown steadily to include a number of worldwide organisations including a large number of academic institutes. The latest being LSU (Louisiana State University) School of the Coast and Environment.
~
Funding for ethanol research at Audubon Sugar Institute has come from several sources. This year, the U.S. Department of Energy provided a grant of $980,000, and BP has given an additional $400,000.

Now we start to see why scientists like Ivor van Heerden make Industry Think Tanks like LSU such a nervous dull boy. ~But lest we allow this particular LSU shill to get away with humping 'definitions' of "publicly available information" in the news --and how that relates to capital investments in the petro-chemical industry-- let's start with the definition of 'Proprietary'.
~MATERIAL SAFETY DATA SHEET: COREXIT® 9500
Hazardous Substance(s) CAS NO % (w/w)
-Distillates, petroleum, hydrotreated light
64742-47-8 10.0 - 30.0
-Propylene Glycol 57-55-6 1.0 - 5.0
-Organic sulfonic acid salt Proprietary 10.0 - 30.0
~SAFETY DATA SHEET: COREXIT® EC9527A
Hazardous Substance(s) CAS NO % (w/w)
-2-Butoxyethanol 111-76-2 30.0 - 60.0
-Organic sulfonic acid salt Proprietary 10.0 - 30.0
-Propylene Glycol 57-55-6 1.0 - 5.0

People are sick and dying on the Gulf Coast ~Bayougirl

BP-paid school 'spill lesson' draws criticism in Houma~Daily Comet

BP Spits Over Rand Paul’s Shoulder
~Disenfranchised Citizen


What’s the deal with Spanish Lake and Alligator Bayou? ~LaCoastPost
~Nov. 14th Scuttlebutt

Landrieu group visits Europe, Obama taps Garret Graves to Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force
~Landrieu, CODEL conclude study of Dutch water management, flood protection

Is Groundwater Depletion Causing Sea-level Rise?~Lakis Polycarpou
~Hat Tip~ Watershed NOLA

Cliff's Crib on Messy Mya's Murder

Audit finds widespread accounting problems at nonprofit linked to Jefferson Parish councilman
~Editilla Crowtellas~Pay no attention to that Godzillian pound Zombie --Slabbed in the living room!

Bobby Jindal: Indian Giver
(subtitled: Where’s the leadership?)
~Louisiana Voice


Obama Team: Attacks In Bobby Jindal's Book Are Baseless~Sam Stein

Monday Reads~Dakinikat, Skydancing

One of World’s Fastest Networks Goes Live in New Orleans

Why public transit matters
~Stephen Crim, The Lens


"My Pit Bull is a Saint" t-shirts now available via mail order

Aung San Suu Kyi's Release "Just the Beginning"~Mac McClelland

Buffalo Fried Turkey~Serious Eats

What You Can Get Us For Christmas: Part 1~Blackened Out

Prospect New Orleans Art Auction & Throwdown NYC

New Orleans Ladies of Jazz Holiday Concert~Jazz News

New Orleans Now with Chicago Jazz Ensemble, Stanton Moore, Henry Butler, and Donald Harrison on Nov. 18 at Chicago's Harris Theater


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