René O'Deay gBlog

"First Edition of my novel Sun Child, Prince of Egypt, will be out soon available online.
Sun Child, Prince of Egypt First Edition Book Cover Image-->

I designed a new book cover with my own graphics, photos and design (click on image to go to my blog for lightbox popup with the full size image):

Here's the link to our online eStore .

Hope you all like the new cover.

Can’t tell you just how thrilled we are to finally make it to print."
Tales of King Tut’s Blog : First Edition Sun Child, Prince of Egypt

René O’Deay, Tutankhamen and Paaten
Spread the Word!

“These errors make us look either incompetent at credit analysis or like we sold our soul to the devil for revenue, or a little bit of both.”

A Moody’s managing director responding anonymously to an internal management survey, September 2007.

The housing mania was in full swing in 2005 when analysts at Moody’s Investors Service, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious credit-rating agency, were pressured to go back to the drawing board.

Moody’s, which judges the quality of debt that corporations and banks issue to raise money, had just graded a pool of securities underwritten by Countrywide Financial, the nation’s largest mortgage lender. But Countrywide complained that the assessment was too tough.

The next day, Moody’s changed its rating, even though no new and significant information had come to light, The Reckoning - Debt Watchdogs - Tamed or Caught Napping? - Series - NYTimes.com

All this, years after nationwide realtors, assessors and tax assessors began a campaign to consisently overvalue housing, for their own and tax base benefits.

Or haven't you noticed?

After reading the whole article, seems to me these guys at Moody's did sell their soul to the devil.

What's your take?

"Less than a month after a fireball meteor tore through Canadian skies, astronomer Christ Peterson of Cloudbait Observatory photographed a fireball near Colorado Springs, Colorado.

In a posting to an astronomy discussion group, Peterson said:

Early this morning (2008.12.06 01:06 MST, 08:06 UT) I recorded what I believe is my brightest fireball ever. I'm currently estimating a magnitude of -18, some 100 times brighter than a full Moon. There appear to have been
some thin clouds, so it was probably even brighter. I don't yet know if it's on other cameras. The terminal explosion appears to be fairly close to Colorado Springs.

Peterson also posted a video of the fireball."

Space News Examiner: Fireball '100 times brighter than a full moon' explodes over Colorado courtesy of Patricia Phillips, Space News Examiner

Everyone concentrates on the problems we're having in this country lately: illegal immigration, hurricane recovery, alligators attacking people in Florida .

Not me.. I concentrate on solutions for the problems. It's a win-win situation.

+ Dig a moat the length of the Mexican border.

+ Send the dirt to New Orleans to raise the level of the levies.

+ Put the Florida alligators in the moat along the Mexican border.

Any other problems you would like for me to solve today ? Yes!
Think about this one:

1. Cows
2. The Constitution
3. The Ten Commandments

C O W S

Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that during the mad cow epidemic our government could track a single cow, born in Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall where she slept in the state of Washington?

And, they tracked her calves to their stalls. But they are unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should give each of them a cow.

T H E C O N S T I T U T I O N

They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq .... Why don't we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it has worked for over 200 years, and we're not using it anymore.

T H E 1 0 C O M M A N D M E N T S

The real reason that we can't have the Ten Commandments posted in a courthouse is this:

You cannot post 'Thou Shalt Not Steal,' 'Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery,' and 'Thou Shall Not Lie' in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians...It creates a hostile work environment.

PART OF THE PROBLEM

Also, Think about this:

If you don't want to forward this for fear of offending someone-- YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM!

It is Time for America to Speak up !

Yep, I passed it on!

(Oopsy, which blog am I on? Oh ya, kill those mother f'n terrorists...ed.)

The Jawa Report: Maxine: Funny E-Mail From Friends

(Trackback: http://haloscan.com/tb/mypetjawa/194967 )

The fruit of their forum was sweet indeed as a two-door, full-sized production car was able to drive off with the prize by achieving 376.59 miles in normal driving conditions using a single gallon of fuel. A more heavily modified vehicle was able to achieve over 1140 miles on a single gallon of fuel.

Results like these are truly astounding and beg the question: Are we really getting all we can in efficiency from auto makers?

Images of the test cars in question: Shell Oil 1973 - 376 MPG!

A PDF on these test cars.

Anybody wonder why the tech used on these old cars can't be implemented now?

Tags: Cars | stock | Oil | fuel | auto | vehicle | gas | Production | Shell Oil | LABORATORY | Efficiency | GALLON | MILES | modified | using | Conditions | makers | achieve | Money & Stuff | Tech & Biz

Gray Ghost busted for mural coverup - Breaking News from New Orleans - Times-Picayune - NOLA.com: "The Gray Ghost finally went too far.

Fred Radtke, who has fought a zealous battle against graffiti in the Crescent City since 1997, was issued a summons for criminal damage to property Thursday night, according to New Orleans Police Department spokesman Bob Young, after Radtke and fellow activists painted over a mural that had been placed on a wall with the property owners' permission.

Police initially reported Thursday evening that an unnamed person had been detained and released without charge in the incident.

Radtke, known as the Gray Ghost for the color of paint he uses, was arrested Wednesday afternoon by Military Police as he and anti-graffiti activists slathered a thick layer of gray paint over a newly finished mural near the corner of Burgundy and Press streets."
This is the man who covered up some of the highly rated Banksy work in New Orleans.

More photos on the art covered up by the Gray Ghost from Doug McCash, Times Picayune

"Unfortunately, WD-40 won't help you here.

Your broadband connection screams compared with the dial-up days of yore, but it could be faster. These days, your internet connection can't be fast enough. That is why we're here — to show you the way to a faster internet connection by tweaking the hardware and software you're using.

There are a potentially infinite number of switches and gateways between you and the web. The trick to speeding up your connection is finding the shortcuts and only downloading the data you want, leaving behind the tacked-on cruft that's gumming up your web experience.

1. Use a Router
2. OpenDNS
3. Turn Media Off
   • Add-Ons and Plug-Ins
4. Basic HTML Will Always be Faster
5. Turn Off Virus Protection and Firewalls (Only if 100% certain you can handle the evils of the internet single-handedly)

Optimize Your Web Connection - Wired How-To Wiki:"

Suppose that major suppliers in the oil industry are the manipulative speculators.

Two Stanford students explained how in the article 'Are Oil Prices Rigged?' in Time Magazine, last August 22, 2008, (Ari J. Officer studies financial mathematics at Stanford University. Garrett J. Hayes studies materials science and engineering at Stanford University.)

All about the Futures Market, the 'driving force in the pricing oil.'

What if the oil suppliers, instead of selling oil futures, were buying oil futures?

Thanks to margin in the futures market, you can trade ten times more oil than you could otherwise afford. For only $9,000, you could control more than $140,000 of oil at recent highs.

The futures market is much smaller than the real oil market. When you consider margin, the amount of money actually invested is even smaller. Indeed, one dollar invested in a long-term position in the futures market carries the leveraged weight of more than $300 in the physical oil market.
The point is, it would only take about $9 billion to control the entire long position in oil.

Major players in oil with the swag to do this (just a few):

• Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Muizzaddin, of Brunei Shell Petroleum, is worth about $23 billion;


• Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud is worth about $21 billion;


• Russian Vagit Alekperov of LUKoil is worth about $13 billion.

But who is actually playing the oil futures market to drive the price up is hidden, behind the hedge funds.

The futures market that serves as a price discovery mechanism for the physical oil market is open only to the elite. We trust these elites to determine the prices, but who are they? Who are the so-called experts? Hedge funds, oil companies, OPEC — the very people who profit from massive, consistent increases in prices. Notice a conflict of interest?

All an oil supplier would have to do to raise prices is buy up futures contracts.
It's not even that risky.

They use other people's money to control these markets.

Prices in the futures market — and, indeed, any real-life market on a standardized good — do not form where actual supply meets actual demand; they form where perceived supply meets perceived demand. Participants in the futures market merely represent the world around them. A veil has been placed over the public's eyes, and they accept this illusion of a fair price.

The black gold standard.

Market needs to have more transparency, not just the price of futures but the names of participants. Hiding behind the hedge funds these manipulators profit and are attempting to bring down America.

Notice that oil price on the market are not reflected in the price of gas at the station?

Oil Prices Rigged? You betcha.

Tags: USA | Markets | Oil | prices | economy | World | gas | MIDEAST | speculation | Stanford | futures | Suppliers | hedge funds

By Tim Butcher in Bethlehem

Last Updated: 8:18PM BST 24 Sep 2008

Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney visits the Church of Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem

During a lightning visit to the Church of the Nativity in Manger Square, believed to be the birthplace of Jesus, Sir Paul got a mixed reaction.

Among local Palestinians there was mostly bafflement at his status. Mohammed Itmaizi, a 26-year-old policeman guarding the ancient Byzantine basilica, said he had never heard of the Beatles or Sir Paul.

But among Western tourists visiting the church, Sir Paul's visit was welcomed with gusto. -----

When asked his attitude to those Palestinian leaders who have criticised him for agreeing to perform in Israel, breaking their call for a cultural boycott of Israel, he said he respected their view but disagreed.

"I have come here to Bethlehem deliberately to see Palestine with my own eyes," he said.

"Anyone who knows me knows I support peace for all people.

"This visit is meant to counter those that criticise me for going to Israel."

The visit to Bethlehem, which lies in the occupied West Bank, had to be arranged at the last moment as plans to visit Ramallah, the de facto capital of the occupied territories, had to be cancelled for security reasons.

Diplomats feared Sir Paul could get caught up in a protest rally in Ramallah by Palestinian opponents of his Israeli concert.

See the rest of the article:

Tags: Culture | Israel | Concert | peace | Jesus | Palestinian | lightning | Palestine | church | Site | message | ancient | Mohammed | bethlehem | reaction | McCartney | PAUL | carrying | Sir | AVIV | policeman | basilica | Beatle | BIRTHPLACE | mostly | STATUS | planned | Byzantine | ahead | believed | guarding | Nativity | toured | manger | bafflement | Itmaizi

SIR Paul McCartney has been threatened that he will be the target of suicide bombers unless he abandons plans to play his first concert in Israel.

Self-styled preacher of hate Omar Bakri claimed the former Beatle’s decision to take part in the Jewish state’s 60th anniversary celebrations had made him an enemy of all Muslims.

Sources said Sir Paul was shocked but refused to be intimidated.

In an interview with Israeli media yesterday he said: “I was approached by different groups and political bodies who asked me not to come here. I refused. I do what I think and I have many friends who support Israel.”

Mary, Stella, James and step-daughter Heather are all extremely concerned about the former Beatle's upcoming concert in Israel after he received murderous warnings from Islamic extremist Omar Bakri Muhammad.

Tags: Entertainment | Israel | Concert | Hate | anniversary | World | suicide | target | OMAR | decision | Muslims | BOMBERS | Jewish | celebrations | McCartney | PAUL | express | PREACHER | abandons | plans | refused | claimed | threatened | self-styled | Bakri

Last July, the wetlands flyover tour was co-sponsored by the state, the America's Wetland Foundation and the National Guard. The intention? To give lawmakers from other states a glimpse of Louisiana's crumbling "energy coast."

Lawmakers from as far away as Puerto Rico, New Hampshire and Alaska climb aboard for a bird's-eye view of the watery coastline. In many places, it's more water than coast.

From the air, they tour a portion of the 1,900 square miles of submerged coastal Louisiana. They learn that 1.7 miles of marshland will reduce the elevation of storm surge by about a foot. Cypress and tupelo forests also have huge buffering effects:the trees capture energy and hold floodwaters. Over the years, man-made changes to the natural hydrology of the Mississippi River and the coastal region have destroyed once-extensive coastal forests, prairies and marshes. To date, Louisiana's land loss equals an area the size of Delaware — and it's growing.

"This makes me more sympathetic to my friends in Louisiana," says Rep. John Grange a Republican from Kansas. "During Katrina, you saw human suffering, but you didn't see the ecological impact like we did today."

Back on the ground, it's evident that the effects of oil and gas pipelines and transportation canals — watery highways of saltwater intrusion into now-devastated fresh-water ecosystems — have made an impact on the group.� Source: The Gambit

And for those of you who think New Orleans needs to quit living and stop asking
for 'handouts':

Guarding the Coast The oil and gas industry's front organizations, including America's Wetland Foundation run by Big Oil front man, R. King Milling ("Coast Guarding," Aug. 26, 2008, The Gambit), is nothing more than an attempt to have taxpayers foot the bill for Big Oil's destruction of our wetlands in its oil-and-gas operations along the coast over the last 50 years, which returned billions in profits to its already gloated coffers.

While Milling and the other oil and gas henchmen on the Coastal Restoration and Protection Authority ponder ways to avoid responsibility for Big Oil's destruction of our wetlands, we lose more miles of coastline.

What will it take for the citizens of Louisiana, the Gulf Coast and our elected leaders to wake up and finally hold the oil companies responsible for their destructive behavior? Evidently, $4 per gallon of gas and destruction of our homes, property and loved ones is not enough. Vincent L. Bowers: letter to Editor The Gambit

So, it isn't just the government and Army Corps of Engineers who are responsible for the destruction in New Orleans and Louisiana and Mississippi, from Katrina, the oil companies themselves have caused a major portion of the problem.
And if you bought gas and oil and natural gas from Louisiana....

The Chief of Houma Nation of Louisiana in Isle de Jean Charles on the aftermath of Ike and Gustav:

Brenda Robichaux, the principal chief of the United Houma Nation, says it broke her heart when she saw what Gustav did.

“I was in tears as I was walking because this is our community. You know, and it's very, very important that we can maintain our life here,” she said.

She says about 100 people live on the island, most of them members of her tribal nation. “We’ve lived here for generation after generation. And so it's family.”

Chief Robichaux says she gets angry thinking about how much this area has lost. The grassy fields with oak trees where kids played, cattle grazed and the barrier islands that offered storm protection.

“You know, why hasn’t the coastal erosion issue been addressed sooner? Why hasn’t those barrier islands been restored? Why hasn’t the oil and gas industry had to repair the location canals that they built that made this community so fragile and so vulnerable?”

People here say what happened to Isle de Jean Charles during Gustav should be a message to the rest of Louisiana. Coastal erosion has destroyed their protection. And now the way of life they have known for generations is in jeopardy.

“This community is a tale of what we can expect for other communities along our coast,” said Natalie Snider from the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana.

Isle de Jean Charles destruction

Broad Strokes- NOLA.com: "--- Clandestine celebrity ---

E-mail blasts, blog notes and a New York Times blurb trumpeted that the British graffiti artist known as Banksy visited New Orleans in the waning days of August, applying illusionistic stencils to scattered sites. Banksy's works address the threats of Hurricane Gustav (a child swinging on a life saver as if it were a tire, for instance) and graffiti eradicator Fred Radtke (a gray workman blotting out sunflowers).

Banksy might be somewhat conflicted by his dual craving for attention (one e-mailer implied that he has a 'representative') and anonymity, but it must be said that his realistic, relevant, trompe l'oeil stencils are a vast improvement over the unimaginative doodling favored by most Crescent City sprayers.
British street artist Banksy has raised the bar far above the usual wall scribbling seen in New Orleans.
Arts writer Doug MacCash can be reached at dmaccash@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3481. Read him online at www.nola.com/arts."

Photos of Banksy work in New Orleans on his website and on flickr.com, one photostream.
Unfortunately the Gray Ghost has already painted over at least one of them.

Wow, Banksy managed about a dozen before Gustav hit, and a few photos and comments made the scene.

I've been begging everyone to ask Banksy to come to New Orleans. Now if we can just stop the Gray Ghost, Fred Radtke.



René O'Deay

Elysian Fields at Decatur

Expectations are as high as they've ever been in New Orleans, with new additions Jeremy Shockey, Jonathan Vilma and Sedrick Ellis joining old favorites such as Drew Brees, Marques Colston and Deuce McAllister. The Saints are opening their season at home for the first time in four years, and they are playing perhaps the most important opponent on the schedule, the division-rival Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

It's hard to imagine anything could have intensified today's game, but Gustav did just that, forcing the city to evacuate last weekend before mercifully avoiding the type of devastating blow Hurricane Katrina dealt this region three years ago.

Now, with the populace returning home, this game will serve as New Orleans' loudest sigh of relief -- a "post-hurricane party in the Dome, now that everyone's back together," according to Saints owner/executive Rita Benson LeBlanc.

"I think being back in the Dome, I think it could be electric," said Saints linebacker Scott Fujita,

Tickets still available!

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Superdome will be operating Sunday afternoon as if it's any other game day or at least that's the goal, according to Doug Thornton, the regional vice president of SMG, the company that manages the Superdome.

Thornton said fans won't notice any difference in the traffic or the parking or inside the stadium, with the only possible exception being some specialty food items like carving stations and po-boys and pastas that require a little extra prep time.

"Our goal is to have absolutely no change in the way this operation is run on game day," Thornton said. "We're going to be in great shape. And we're going to play a football game. That's the main thing."

Tags: Sports | Football | New Orleans | president | stadium | Fans | Staff | goal | Dome | extra | carving | parking | items | INDIANAPOLIS | prep | going | SAINTS | according | regional | difference | doug | operating | expected | exception | absolutely | manages | specialty | pastas | po-boys

John Dane III has spent years in the shipbuilding industry, where he has carved out a niche as a maker of top-of-the line sailing vessels.
Later this month, he is expected to step aboard one in a sports competition that will be as big as any he has faced in business.

Dane, the president and CEO of Trinity Yachts Inc., will be competing on the U.S. Olympic Sailing Team. It is the culmination of a lifelong dream for Dane, who has spent more than 40 years trying to land a spot on the team.

At 58, Dane will be the oldest member of this year's Olympic Team, as well as the oldest competing sailor. He will join sailing partner and son-in-law Austin Perry, 30, in the men's keelboat event. New Orleanian John Lovell, who has competed in three previous Olympics, will also compete in sailing at the Beijing games.
Times-Picayune

Another sailor on the US Olympic sailing Team has been named the Cosmopolitan Sexiest 2008 Olympian, Andrew Campbell. as well as the U.S. Olympic Committee's male athlete of the year.

You can send your support and Best Wishes to the US Olympic Sailing Team or individual members.

I'm wishing them all the luck, and know from their website that they are just going to have a blast! Hope you like the video of Dane and Sperry's Practice Sail.

René O'Deay

Combine an enjoyable visit to New Orleans with some 'Fact-Finding' of your own: all about the Middle East direct from each country.

"Unless Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is making a visit, the Middle East gets scant coverage in the nightly news. Here's your chance to explore the many nations, cultures and conflicts of the region in more than one- and two-minute segments. Zeitgeist Multi-disciplinary Arts Center presents the New Orleans Middle East Film Festival with 60 films screening over 10 days. The movies offer fresh perspectives on countries that are often overshadowed by conflict, and the goal, says Zeitgeist director Rene Broussard, is to provide people with a new understanding of the cultures. The festival includes films from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Israel, including the Oscar-nominated Israeli film Beaufort."Gambit Weekly : Middle East Film Festival : July 29, 2008:

Rene Broussard and the Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center presents New Orleans Middle East film Festival, with ticket information, festival and film schedule, and each film's description, country of origin and preview photos.

Broussard provides an eclectic experience at the center, with an unusual, exotic collection of snacks and beverages, including Ben & Jerry treats.

Looks like fun, just to explore the website is fun.
Check it out.

René O'Deay

Satchmo SummerFest 2008 | WWOZ 90.7 FM: "WWOZ will be broadcasting live from the Satchmo SummerFest, a free two-day music festival at the Old U.S. Mint that also includes a world-reknown music symposium, an art show and the Satchmo Club Strut, all in honor of New Orleans' favorite son, the great Louis Armstrong.

The Mint will host live performances on four stages all day on Saturday and Sunday with some of New Orleans' finest traditional jazz, brass band and contemporary jazz music, along with hands-on workshops and performances for children. Check back soon for the full Satchmo live broadcast schedule."

Listen Live Online on WWOZ-FM Radio the Best Jazz Radio in the World!

My Love to You: Enjoy!

René O'Deay

"Manatee area . . . proceed with caution."

by Kia Hall Hayes, The Times-Picayune
Thursday July 17, 2008, 9:37 PM

Confirming reports of manatees in and around Lake Pontchartrain, local scientists are spreading the word to boaters who might catch sight of the endangered mammal: Consider yourself lucky, and then leave it alone.

About a dozen sightings have been confirmed near the North Shore in recent weeks, and scientists are urging the public to appreciate the manatees from a distance.

"People like to swim with them, but that makes them not afraid of boats, and then they swim up to them and get hit, " said Fred Stouder, a biologist at Southeastern Louisiana University's Turtle Cove Environmental Research Station in Manchac.

Human interaction is one of the biggest killers of the slow-moving animal, which grows up to 10 or 12 feet and can weigh 350 to 450 pounds.

About 3,100 live in U.S. waters.

Manatees, also known as "sea cows, " make their way over from Florida in the late spring when Louisiana waters have warmed to their liking. Experts say the animals also travel up the east coast and to other Gulf Coast states in search of warm water and vegetation. Times-Picayune

Manatees coming to an area near you!

Be careful, these slow moving animals, described by a Wildlife coordinator as 'a very large potato with a flipper on the end of it' are easily hurt by fast-moving boats.

Correction, a reader on my gBlog brought to my attention that some of the above info was wrong.

Florida Wildlife and Fish: The average Florida manatee is about 10 feet long and weighs close to 1,200 pounds. Manatees can reach up to 13 feet in length and weigh 3,500 pounds. Female manatees tend to be larger than the males. Their calves weigh around 66 pounds and are 4 feet long.

Tuesday, July 22, Oil prices fall again to $127.95 Yahoo AP news, fluctuating up and down, as fear drives the market.

UPDATE: Oil prices rebound slightly by noon. How convenient that Nigeria had an oil  pipeline explosion! Just too convenient in my view.

Latest news on AP and CNN, oil futures fall again, down to $129.

But who is actually making the major profits?

"The six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman) earned $364 billion in 2007, but they are projected to earn $639 billion in 2008 and $657 billion in 2009. Saudi Arabia alone is projected to earn about $700 billion in 2008-09, following earnings of $194 billion in 2007. [3]"
MiddleEast Media Research Institute

And this despite the Saudi King and his ministers all claiming that it was the speculators driving the price up.

Kinda makes you wonder just who exactly were behind those speculators, doesn't it?

Tags: Saudi Arabia | prices | World | US | Natural Gas | crude Oil | SPECULATORS | futures | stock exchanges

Apparently the only female competitor to come out of Afghanistan for the Beijing Olympics has gone missing in Italy where she was training with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

According to the report on CBC, Mahbooba Ahadgar called home and told her mother she does not intend to return to Afghanistan.

"...far from being an Olympic favorite, the head of the Afghan Olympic Federation has threatened to throw her family in jail, or worse, if Ahadgar doesn't return." CBC Olympics

According to CBC, her father had already been thrown in jail once, after neighbors had accused her of being a prostitute.

No wonder she doesn't want to return. And if she didn't have to wear so many clothes she might also be faster and a real contender. Doesn't look like she will be going to Beijing.

Tags: Sports | Olympics | Italy | Woman | Asylum | Afganistan | runner

...in the information age, citizens must learn the tools of traditional journalism. It’s called news literacy, and it means that you learn to be your own reporter or editor. If you practice some of the skills that are the foundation of journalism, you can cut through much of the chatter and chaff and obtain useful, solid information. News literacy for the public is a concept developed by Dean Howard Schneider at the State University of New York’s journalism school at Stony Brook.

Differentiate among news, opinion and advertising. As Stony Brook professor Jim Klurfeld says, “Evaluate sources. Evaluate sources. Evaluate sources.”

There’s a difference between evidence and inference, between solid information and junk. ..... But as a responsible citizen in the information age, your task is more difficult—and more important.

So. Are you a responsible reporter? ... here on NowPublic?

Tags: NowPublic | internet | journalist | Media | Newspaper | World | reporter | information age

The Running of the Big Easy Roller Girls! Watch out! Here they come!

Big Easy Rollergirls ready to take on the NOLABull Run July, 2007.
As the Times-Picayune's Chris Rose puts it:

"It would take a New Orleans state of mind to attend the famed Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain, and conclude: We need to do that here."

Saturday morning, 8 AM, over 30 Big Easy Rollergirls (a real professional team) armed with whifflebats and sporting a set of bullhorns will pursue the foolhardy through the French Quarter, whacking any and all.

I don't think I can get up early enough to get photos. but it promises to be a most unusual event.

...event coordinator Tracey Bellina, who skates under the pseudonym of "Archbishop Pummel," (says): "Sure, I've got a bunch of bad-ass chicks on wheels who probably wouldn't mind beating up on a bunch of guys."

Archbishop Pummel points out: "For any late risers, the Rollergirls will be available to hurt you at the Gazebo." (at the French Market. There's also a pre-party tonight at the Rio-Mar restaurant on St. Peter Street in the Warehouse District; the long-term goal for nolabulls.com is to make this a full-fledged three-day festival celebrating Spanish culture. And I'm not making that up.)

says Chris.

Times-Picayune, July 11, 2008
The Official event website: Nolabulls.com

They have more photos posted from last year's event on Flickr. Looks like a rollicking good time was had by all.

And tomorrow the Running of the Bulls in New Orleans!

RACELAND -- In nine years as groundskeeper at St. Charles Borromeo Church, Kyle Schexnaydre has seen coyotes, deer and lots of other wildlife lurking nearby.

A week ago Friday was the first time he ever saw a bear, near the church cemetery.

Garield Billiot Sr. recounts the experience of seeing a black bear last week outside of his home in Raceland.

"At first when I saw it walking out in the cane field I thought what the hell is that? It was too big to be a coyote and I thought that’s a damn bear,’" the 43-year-old Schexnaydre said. "I think he caught wind of me and then he headed down the rows of cane." Schexnaydre wasn’t the only person in the St. Charles community just outside of Raceland to see the critter.

---

Billiot and his neighbors said they kind of like the idea that a bear came to visit.

"Now when I take my walk they tease me, they call him my pet," Billiot said. "I am very glad to tell you the truth. In a way if them black bears could keep the coyotes away I’d rather have the bears."

Tags: Environment | Running | hell | Wildlife | man | church | Deer | houma | friday | CEMETERY | Coyote | sees | Headed | lots | seen | kyle | St. Charles | rows | nearby | LURKING | Cane | Raceland | Borromeo | Schexnaydre | Garield | Billiot | Southeast Louisiana

Got non-reponsive representatives? Take a lesson from Louisiana voters.

The Louisiana State Legislature passed a bill giving themselves a better than 100 percent pay raise. Gov. Bobby Jindal, despite campaign promises, refused to veto this controversial bill because he wanted the legislators cooperation in approving his own programs, including the $10 million voucher plan that will pay the private or religious school tuition for up to 1,500 kindergarten through fourth graders in New Orleans.The teachers aren't happy with the voucher bill or the $20 million merit pay for teachers: No criteria for awarding these merit awards and the voucher system will undermine the public education system.

Louisiana citizens were outraged and objected strenuously, with recall petitions, email and phone contacts, and demonstrations.

BATON ROUGE -- Rep. John LaBruzzo, R-Metairie, ...the sixth legislator targeted with a recall petition for voting in favor of doubling lawmakers salaries at the recently ended legislative session, according to records filed with Secretary of State Jay Dardenne's office. The five other lawmakers to be hit with recall petitions for their votes in favor of the legislative pay raise -- which was vetoed Monday by Gov. Bobby Jindal -- include House Speaker Jim Tucker, R-Algiers; and Reps. Steve Pugh, R-Ponchatoula; Franklin Foil and Hunter Greene, both R-Baton Rouge; and Joe Lopinto, R-Metairie. Gov. Bobby Jindal also faced a recall petition from a Baton Rouge man. Times-Picayune

But Jindal refused to veto the bill , just making statements that the Legislators need to undo it. Not until CNN and other National media got into the act, questioning him on National TV, and a recall petition for the governor was filed, did he finally act and veto the bill on June 30.

"His honeymoon is not just over, thousands want a divorce." Jindal fiddles while Louisiana Burns

"Why are vouchers so darn important to Jindal? Why is he willing to cut backroom deals, break promises, enrage his former supporters, and hurt his veep chances... over school vouchers?" Find some answers on Your Right Hand Thief blog.

The two recalls on Jindal have now been withdrawn, the demonstration for July 7 cancelled, but many here in Louisiana feel betrayed and no longer trust the governor nor many of the legislators to act in the best interest of Louisiana.
Many of the legislators who supported the pay raise are whining. "We presented this in the wrong way to the voters." "Jindal went back on his word to us." They forget that Jindal went back on his word to the voters first by refusing to veto the pay raise bill.

But questions remain: Did Bobby Jindal respond to his constituents' wishes or to the outing of this debacle in the New York Times or on CNN that may have messed up his National agenda? As one commentator put it: "...there is no time to rest on our laurels and I'm concerned that so many have been quick to drop their recall efforts. With the exception of the governor these people are still guilty of voting for their own outrageous pay increase. It's kinda like being convicted of a crime and then having your sentenced pardoned - you are still guilty! "

The 'sleeping giant' has been awoken. Voters flexed their muscle and discovered their strength. 'We can make these guys do what we want!

Politics may never be the same.

References:

• Louisiana Federation of Teachers on school vouchers and merit pay
• Bayou Buzz on After the Veto
  • Sleeping giant woken?
• Hard Truths in New Orleans
• Jindal: Worse than Katrina?
• The Library Chronicles
• Tide Turned in Louisiana?

René O'Deay

He means bugs. To be more precise: the genetic alteration of bugs – very, very small ones – so that when they feed on agricultural waste such as woodchips or wheat straw, they do something extraordinary. They excrete crude oil.

Unbelievably, this is not science fiction.

Tags: Business | Technology | agriculture | Straw | Bugs | SCIENTISTS | wheat | Genetic | waste | CRUDE | afternoon | PETROL | Fiction | CALIFORNIAN | something | extraordinary | altered | coming | wants | ones | essentially | precise | Tech & Biz | unbelievably | woodchips | excrete | squints

I have to share this video with NowPublic to put paid to all those conspiracy theories:

9/11 Conspiracy Theories 'Ridiculous,' Al Qaeda Says

but I will confess it's from The Onion.

Tags: Culture | Entertainment | Conspiracy | theories | QAEDA | AL | ridiculous | says

Image via Wikipedia
Rising water tables and birds and bats attracted by water seeping up into stone, threaten the Great Sphinx and other monuments of Ancient Egypt.

Water seeping into the stone creates calcium deposits that attract more and more birds.

El Shammaa says rising humidity levels threaten the Sphinx.

CAIRO: The crowds of pigeons, doves and sparrows that have been landing regularly on several parts of the Sphinx indicate that the level of humidity is dangerously increasing within the stone structure of the statue, senior tour guide Bassam El Shammaa warned.

Visitors to the site have noticed birds settling on the statue’s head and the shaded northern part of the structure. Other birds sit in the shaded gaps that make up the Sphinx’s eyes and ears.

Besides leaving behind acidic droppings, the birds also slowly eat into the fragile stone as they pick the tiny grains of sand.

El Shammaa launched an on-line campaign last year called “Save the Sphinx!”
Daily News Egypt - Full Article: By Ahmed Maged

Will bird repellent solve the problems? Other temples throughout Egypt are also suffering damages from birds and bats. But it will not solve the problems of water damage.

Glass Jar - New Kingdom
via Wikipedia

Daily News Egypt - Full Article: "Dying for that ancient treasure By Emad El-Sayed, June 6, 2008

Although prospecting for antiquities has been going on for several decades, recently monument trafficking in Egypt has been spreading like wildfire, with several big families in Upper Egypt in particular implicated in the illegal practice.

Dreams of striking gold and finding that long-lost treasure have made those who prospect for monuments ready to sacrifice their lives for it. That distant dream has, however, claimed the lives of thousands of youth who die in tunnels they believe will lead them to a yet undiscovered Pharaonic era tomb."

Fortunetellers, sheikhs, dreams and metal-detectors fuel the dreams of Egyptians seeking relief from the deteriorating economy.
But many have lost their lives, in tunnels, and some even under their own homes.
In the past, mostly metal was taken, now any pharaonic artifact is fair game. Over 15.000 antiquities were stolen in the last 7 years.
The Department of Retrieving Stolen Artifacts was established in 2003, and one judge called for the death penalty to deter this growing crime.

René O'Deay

The Pope also accused the Arab tribes living in the area of stealing LE 1 million worth of precious belongings from the monastery, adding that the cause of the clashes was not a land dispute.

“It was a criminal act perpetrated by criminals,” he said.

The Pope also condemned the kidnap and torture of two monks, who, the Pope alleged were asked to renounce their faith.

“The attacks began 150 meters away from the monastery, and they got closer and closer until they were next to the monastery where the monks were kidnapped and violently tortured. They were pressured to renounce their religion by spitting on the cross. When they refused, they were beaten.

They were then asked to declare the Islamic shahada [There is no God but Allah and Mohamed is his Prophet] and when they refused, they beat them again,” said the Pope.

Tags: Tech & Biz

As Oil Prices Soar, Restaurant Grease Thefts Rise - NYTimes.com: "By SUSAN SAUL, NYTimes, May 30, 2008

The bandit pulled his truck to the back of a Burger King in Northern California one afternoon last month armed with a hose and a tank. After rummaging around assorted restaurant rubbish, he dunked a tube into a smelly storage bin and, the police said, vacuumed out about 300 gallons of grease.

Nick Damianidis, an owner of Olympia Pizza and Pasta in Arlington, Wash., has had oil stolen.

The man was caught before he could slip away. In his truck, the police found 2,500 gallons of used fryer grease, indicating that the Burger King had not been his first fast-food craving of the day.

Outside Seattle, cooking oil rustling has become such a problem that the owners of the Olympia Pizza and Pasta Restaurant in Arlington, Wash., are considering using a surveillance camera to keep watch on its 50-gallon grease barrel. Nick Damianidis, an owner, said the barrel had been hit seven or eight times since last summer by siphoners who strike in the night.

“Fryer grease has become gold,” Mr. Damianidis said. “And just over a year ago, I had to pay someone to take it away.”


Much to the surprise of Mr. Damianidis and many other people, processed fryer oil, which is called yellow grease, is actually not trash. The grease is traded on the booming commodities market. Its value has increased in recent months to historic highs, driven by the even higher prices of gas and ethanol, making it an ever more popular form of biodiesel to fuel cars and trucks.

In 2000, yellow grease was trading for 7.6 cents per pound. On Thursday, its price was about 33 cents a pound, or almost $2.50 a gallon. (That would make the 2,500-gallon haul in the Burger King case worth more than $6,000.)

Biodiesel is derived by processing vegetable oil or animal fat with alcohol. It is increasingly available around the country, but it is expensive. With the right kind of conversion kit (easily found on the Internet) anyone can turn discarded cooking oil into a usable engine fuel that can burn on its own, or as a cheap additive to regular diesel.

“The last time kids broke in here they went for the alcohol,” said Mr. Damianidis, who fries chicken wings and cheese sticks. “Obviously they’re stealing oil because it’s worth something.”


“Once you put something in the trash, it’s abandoned property,” said Jon A. Jaworski, a lawyer in Houston who represents accused grease thieves. “A lot of times, it’s not theft.”


Healy Biodiesel, a company in Sedgwick, Kan., says it offers a top-quality fuel made from local cooking oils.

Ben Healy, the owner, has contracts to collect the raw grease from several franchises around town.

“One particular night not too long ago, 9 out of 15 were stolen,” he said of the grease bins. “That’s a majority of the oil and it was a big kick in the stomach.” "

The competition is fierce now that the price of diesel is skyrocketing daily.

Wow! Who'd've thought?

René

by The Times-Picayune, Monday June 02, 2008, 8:02 AM

For the second time this year a winning Powerball ticket has been purchased in the New Orleans area.

The latest, worth $34.1 million, was sold in Gretna. The ticket matched all the numbers in the Saturday drawing, state lottery officials said.

A second ticket sold in Belle Chasse is worth $800,000. It matched the first five numbers, but missed the Powerball. The ticket included the multiplier of four.

In January, a Powerball ticket worth $97 million was purchased at a Metairie gas station. The winner, Carl Hunter of Metairie, claimed his winnings in May. It was the largest lottery payout ever recorded in Louisiana.

Source: nola.com

Tags: matched | Powerball | PURCHASED | sold | Tech & Biz | Ticket | winning