Texans?

Texans?, a photo by Noladishu on Flickr.

Times-Pick-Your-Nose makes an oopsie.

Must have had AT&T?

When you get it...

Coastal Restoration Heads Up - UPDATED

Louisiana just released it's 50-Year Master Plan (the latest in a series of Master Plans... let's see if this one turns some more shovels than their predecessors).

Also, PBS has been airing "Turning the Tide", which is about Louisiana coastal wetlands. It interviews most of the scientists whose abstracts I spent last semester reading. LSU failed at turning one Tide, let's see if Louisiana can turn the more important one.

UPDATE- Just finished watching it on my DVR. Watch it here (upper right corner). Some notes: Wax Lake was open in 1941, not 1942. Also, they hold out hope that the failed BP berms will wind up nourishing barrier islands. That's news to me.

"I'm an oceanographer in water up to my knees" - Dr. Paul Kemp

Think about how important the internal transportation system that the Mississippi river provides is to America's industrial background. No other industrialized country has something as large and as economical as America's barging system. The only country that comes close is China (the #2 global economy; coincidence? doubtful...).

The Repetitive Loss issue with NFIP is problem that just begs for some sort of intervention (buyouts?).

Upcoming airings of Turning the Tide:

• Turning The Tide (Lpb)
• Sunday, January 29, 08:00 pm on LPB2 - READ MORE
• Thursday, February 2, 11:00 am on LPB2 - READ MORE
• 
  ... Buy "Turning the Tide" here.

One note about the Louisiana coastal plan: there was plenty of data from studies of climate change, but no mention of Climate Change itself. Bobby Jindal isn't as dumb as Rick Perry, but is playing to his political base.

We cannot restore the entire coast, but we still do have a chance to save just enough if we act now. The most important thing now is to keep coastal restoration in the conversation. If we do that, funding will follow, and the engineers and scientists can take it from there.

"It's not enough"

It's Not Enough NOLA from Lula Fotis on Vimeo.

Put together by some current Tulane students.

Knee Down, no TD

H/T Scott Cody.

Also, thank you, Jabari Greer. You're never in the spotlight and that's a good thing. You're the best Saint ever at your position.

Tops of 2011

Here are some top lists for 2011:

• Top Science Stories of the Year, SciAm
• Top Science Stories of the Year, Wired
• Imgur's Top Images for the year

I like the Wired top scientific discoveries of the year more than the SciAm list. I'm going to go cook some cabbage and black eye peas and go set off some fireworks now.

Lines Plan

So, blogging has dropped off because I'm now in grad school. So far, I'm through with one semester (with several more to go). I'll have to take it relatively slowly, since I'm still working at the same time. That actually gives me some time to slowly consider what I want to take.

For one of my classes, I had to do a Lines Plan (sample below) by hand.

This meant lots of Saturdays spent meticulously measuring and drawing.

This is also where you get the phrase "ducks in a row"

The ducks are used to hold down a spline to draw a compound curve.

Here's the final result. It doesn't photograph too well, because it' s so big.

Most of the drafting-type classes have been eliminated from modern engineering curricula. That's something that MIT started in the 1940's under Vannevar Bush. It's funny, with some of the older engineers, they all have the exact same font to their print and that font exactly matches AUTOCAD.

Drew Dat

iProcreate, a photo by Noladishu on Flickr.

Yesterday's game was awesome. It was just so damned enjoyable. Not only watching the Drew beat Marino's record, but also doing it against the Falcons.



To the whiny Falcons fans, boo hoo.

What's also great is we have players that are just a joy to root for. Brees thanked the equipment managers ("for rubbing down his balls") instead of focusing on himself. Another great example is Jimmy Graham (as profiled in this earlier Times-Pic piece). That Times-Pic piece is actually a bit better than the "$98 Tight End" ESPN video that's been making the rounds.

One of the the Saints I'm the most thankful for is Jabari Greer. He's just about the least flashy Saint on the squad (he's a lot better at batting balls away than INT's), but he's so much of an improvement over anything on the old Saints. He, like Drew Brees, is the best Saint ever to play his position. Nothing is more frustrating to fans than watching bad CB play. When Jabari Greer is in the game, you don't hear Megatron, Steve Smith, TO, or Roddy White's name (except to make fun of the last for dropping the ball when he finally does get thrown to)
'
Just some thoughts.

Need to watch more NASCAR?

Hostilidays 2011

Happy Hostilidays!

Also, in time for the first day of Chanukah, Benny Grunch's "Twenty Foist Anniversary" edition of their 12 Yats of Christmas now features the "8 Yats of Hanukkah"

This is a drill

Jimmy Stewart in Thunder Bay (1953)

This is not a drill

Prosecuting Wall Street

Why hasn't anyone on Wall Street gone to jail?

I've been thinking this as Fuel Fix has been doing a retrospective on Ernon

Related?

Douglas Brinkley vs. Don Young

It starts at about the 31 minute mark.

Brinkley was testifying on the historical background to the ANWAR debate. The former-Tulanian book-factory has cranked out another one, The Quiet World.

H/T Fuel Fix