City Dismisses Taxicab Bureau Director Malachi Hull ~Stephen Babcock, NOLA DEFENDER

New Orleans home and garden events, July 5-Aug. 4 ~Stephanie Bruno, New Orleans Advocate

Jimmy Graham ruled a tight end by arbitrator ~WWLTV

Plaquemines argues for state court jurisdiction of suit against oil companies ~Mark Schleifstein

Jaw-Dropping What Brad Pitt Is Doing To Native American Reservations

Arthur upgraded to hurricane, expected to soak Myrtle Beach today

Officials: Coralville Lake could top spillway next week~Josh O'Leary, Iowa City Press-Citizen 

Which Intensity Model Should You Trust for Tropical Storm Arthur? ~Dr. Jeff Masters, Weather Underground

This Crash-Proof Drone Can Fly Through Forests and Disaster Wreckage ~Motherboard

The Day Before the Day After
~Buggin'out with Editilla the Pun...Tuesday, September 1, 2009

The day before Katrina made landfall, almost 12 hrs exactly, the Math Shopper and I were walking dog Flora on the neutral ground (what we in New Orleans call the grassy median) between Elysian Fields, smoking a nice joint beneath the trees and kicking logic theorems around like they'z jail-house punks, when I spied a dozen fat trademark New Orleans Nightcrawler cock roaches lined up on a tree end to end, nose to tail, completely still but for their long antennae that wriggled about either side like fishing poles off a parade of longboats.
These legendary beasts usually stand about 3 1/2 inches long
by 2 inches wide. Though rarely seen in broad daylight, you can actually hear them walk across a street. When you do see them (and you will see them) at night, crawlin' across the banquette in the Quarters you must stop, look & listen. More often than not the roach will stop too, as if...considering you.
If you somehow find the need, gonads or ova to mount one when it charges, or even manage to Pop It under both feet, every person within a block will duck as from the sound of gunfire.
{Perhaps I embellish juuuust a bit:)
But there they were, lined up and down the side of a Live Oak tree. "What the fuck?!?", we wondered. What if they notice us? Should we run now or just back away slowly, no sudden movements? Can they even see in broad sunlight? Aren't they blind, like so many in this city who find themselves somehow awake in the middle of the day? And hey! Why that particular side of the tree anyway and why nearly six feet off the ground? Duuuuherah...it turned out.
In the aftermath, we realized from the various & sundry debris nailed into the tree's windward side that the roaches had aligned themselves aerodynamically on the tree's leeward side to ride out the storm's approach, exactly. Bugs know...or at least next time we see nature going so oddly with her own grain perchance we should, errra, pay more attention? Ya' t'ink?
~Editilla Sew'tellas~
For me there was freak-out in the 2 weeks leading up to this year's Anniversary. It is so every year. Bad weirdness.
But then I come home to the City for the Commemorations and Commiserations, and now everyt'ing is way'mo'betta. I did miss some hanging out da'Ladda, which makes Editilla a bit dinked.
But the weather was sublime and the locals lapped it up.
I really want everyone to know, there is no stopping Nola.
Hence, I may try to "post" some of the "other" "memories" of each day from the 29th until I excaped the city in a pick-up truck with dog Flora, guitar, backpack and bicycle. No lie, like in a long line of fleeing refugees in a frickin'damn Apocalypse NO movie, over the bridge with civilization burning to the ground behind.
Everyone will Note the Day Our Heart Stood Still.
But then the Levees Failed, and Life took on several new meanings in the valley of the shadow of Death.

And me, I think about this stuff every morning, all day, into the night, still in my dreams on the long road home the back hand path... just the way it is and will be until it ain't I suppose.
I'm in no hurry never was, as such, so thus began to realize harsh differences in Marking such an unending scenario as the flood of New Orleans, as if it has merely happened and is past, after the Deluge so to speak, since for me it will remain 2 separate stories, to wit: The Storm and The Flood. The Storm, Katrina, was a truly bad-ass extravaganza to be sure. It lifted me, literally and physically, to a new appreciation of my own place within the bosom of our Earth Mother. Suffice to say, had She taken me that day in August, I would have at least understood the passing.

However, what came after our levees failed is The Never Ending Story, to which I have devoted the past 4 years (and every day of Your New Orleans Ladder) to figuring out, with and without therapy and no proper endings. Frankly, what I saw then sorta freaked out my therapists. What I see now in New Orleans leaves me sufficiently breathless and never alone.

91L Growing More Organized; Will Bring Heavy Rains to Florida and the Bahamas ~Dr. Jeff Masters, Weather Underground

Mayors of Atlanta and New Orleans: Uber Will Beat the Taxi Industry ~Coner Friedersdorf, The Atlantic

Coastal Restoration Drives An Industry Boom ~Jesse Hardman, WWNO

Lake Ponchartrain Basin Foundation helps teach kids to fish ~Andrew Canulette, The Advocate

Hidden in plain sight ~Fix the Pumps

Climate Scientist: Manhattan Will Need “Venice-Like Canals” to Stop Flooding ~Claus Jacob, Next City
~Editilla Cotellas~1NONewsladder2 • 6 minutes ago

Mr. Jacobs, 80% of New Orleans flooded from 3 catastrophic engineering failures: 17th Street Canal flood wall, London Ave Canal flood wall and the Industrial Canal flood wall --NOT from hurricane Katrina storm surge. These flood walls breached at below design spec, due to a number of bad calls by the US Army Corps of Engineers, to wit: bad soil (in the case of the London Ave Canal: SAND), Inadequately driven sheet piles, Incorrect design of I-walls instead of T-walls. These are the facts, not the innuendo of media Katrina Shorthand. http://www.ce.berkeley.edu/pro...
I find it disingenuous at best for you to proffer that the devastation of New Orleans 8-29-05 was anything but a man-made disaster. To quote engineering professor Dr. Raymond Seed: "This was a man-made disaster 2nd only to Chernobyl." Hurricane Katrina devastated the MS Gulf Coast. The Corps of Engineers struck New Orleans.
Please educate yourself and adjust your view on this tragic case of criminal product liability.

Oil boom produces jobs bonanza for archaeologists ~Josh Wood

Protesters walk 150 miles carrying 'troubled waters' to Governor's Mansion ~Xerxes Wilson

Coastal lawsuit won't move back to state court ~Mark Schleifstein


Student: My New Orleans school district hires too many white teachers ~Glen Sullivan

A Salute to the James Beard Awards ~Poppy Tooker, It's New Orleans

A Salute To The James Beard Awards June 28, 2014

A Salute To The James Beard Awards June 28, 2014

Louisianans Trek 100 Miles To The Governor's Mansion to protest signing SB-469 ~WKNO

Protests follow school plans at Booker T. Washington site ~Dan Lawton, New Orleans Advocate

Social media mystery: Who’s behind social media campaigns promoting Sheriff Marlin Gusman? ~Charles Maldonado, The Lens

Steve Gleason seeks $500 million to find ALS cure ~WWLTV 

Woman with service dog runs into resistance at local restaurant ~WVUE

Worst Hotel in New Orleans Award Goes To ~Cajun Mama

Somebody End My Miserable Existence – Tony the Tiger, Gas Station Mascot ~Red Schtick

UNDP and IFRC warn of legal gaps in disaster risk management

Sheriff, city still miles apart on plans for jail ~Jim Mustian, New Orleans Advocate

Mayor Mitchmo: ‘New Orleans Robbed Of Its Fair Share’ ~The Hayride

Frenchmen St. businesses upset at lack of rules enforcement ~Eric Paulsen, WWLTV 

New hotels not likely in New Orleans near future

Premium Parking for Web ~Chris Boudy

The Spirit of City Park Photo Contest Winners

Trustees to approve $627 million of BP Phase III early restoration projects over Texas objections ~Mark Schleifstein

Couple suing to have same-sex marriage performed in Iowa recognized in Louisiana ~Katy Reckdahl, The Advocate

Live blog: Mayor Landrieu discusses how he plans to pay looming city expenses ~Charles Maldonado, The Lens

Future bright for sunglasses business launched by local ~Mike Hoss, WWLTV 

Grow Dat’s City Park farm yields an unexpected crop: good jobs for youth ~Johanna Gilligan

Hurricane recovery gave New Orleans reason to band together to offer more healthful food ~Della Hasselle, Washington Post

I think we’ll head on down to KFC today for lunch ~Slabbed 

50-Foot-Tall New Orleans Art Tree House Dismantled ~Sarah Cascone, Artnet News

Jindal the Koch Sucker signs bills to ban AG contracts, restricts states ability to sue corporations ~Mark Ballard, The Advocate

Popular fishing spot off Terrebonne gets a reprieve ~WWLTV

New La. law mandates life-support for pregnant women ~WVUE

Baby Boomers fall for New Orleans ~New Orleans Advocate

BP shuts down internal oil spill claims program ~David Hammer, WWLTV

Flood Into Baton Rouge!

Issues hover over Holy Cross condo towers despite rezoning ~Jaquetta White, New Orleans Advocate

Scientists Unearth Decade-Old Federal Levee Failures Damage Beneath New Orleans’ Streets ~Katy Reckdahl, Next City

ITF, International Food Technology, Expo kicks off in New Orleans ~WDSU

A Louisiana first: Poverty Point named World Heritage Site ~WVUE

Activists use pedal power to oppose fracking ~WDSU

Report: Louisiana ranks high in toxic releases into waterways ~Amy Wold, The Advocate

St. Bernard Sheriff: Three men arrested for stealing $1500 in crab traps ~WWLTV

Causeway Police practice water rescue training ~WVUE

Five years after Corps of Engineers rated Trinity River levees unacceptable, an inspection and an update ~Dallas Morning News

Playing the waiting game in flooded northwest Iowa ~Des Moines Register

St. Rose Stench Traced to Crude ~NOLA DEFENDER

Our Views: The decider is upstairs ~The Advocate

2014 IFT Annual Meeting

New Orleans Based Franchise Expands into Poland ~Digital Journal

Forgotten Bayou, life on the edge of the Bayou Corne Sinkhole

Bobby 'Big Oil' Jindal's political levee board appointees held at bay on their attempt to kill SLFPA-E Lawsuit --for now ~The Advocate

Ironton, LA residents fight to stop proposed 'borrow pit' in backyard ~WWLTV

Officials identify cause of mysterious odor, residents seek medical help in St. Charles Parish ~WVUE

2015 Capital Budget Requests Map ~Nola Report

Cellphone providers ready lines of communication for hurricane season ~WDSU

New architecture in an old city: Is resurgent New Orleans losing its soul? ~Nathan Robinson, The Lens

Landrieu, Cassidy on fracking, St. Tammany ~Stephanie Grace

Sediment diversion project on right path, scientists tell state officials ~Amy Wold, The Advocate

Frustrations mount as St. Rose plant struggles to identify odor ~WWLTV

Mississippi Phosphates ranks high in toxic releases, gets special CEO ~Karen Nelson, Sun Herald

N.O. Sewerage and Water Board makes investment in "green" projects ~WVUE

Judge OKs keeping jail drawings, blueprints secret after sheriff Gusman cites security worries ~AP, via The Republic

GRN Cheers to 20 Years with a Solstice Party in the Park

Gambit's FestivALES 2014