Voder-Vocoder

graphic and
article

Cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good,
Now, cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good,
When the levee breaks, mama, you got to move.

At 11 p.m. of August 29, Mayor Ray Nagin conducted an interview with WWL [23] discussing the damage to New Orleans. He described New Orleans as "totally dark" with no clear way in or out, with eighty percent of the city flooded with some areas with water depths of 20 feet. Both airports are underwater, "three, huge boats" are run aground, along with an oil tanker which is leaking oil. The yacht club was destroyed by a fire, and that gas leaks are reported throughout the city. The Pontchartrain Expressway (referring to Interstate 10 east of the city, not the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway) is "full of water" and the Twin Spans are "totally destroyed." He described the loss of life as "significant" with reports of bodies floating on the water throughout the city, though primarily in the eastern portions. There is no clean water or electricity in the city, and some hotels and hospitals reporting diesel fuel shortages. The estimate of restoration of power is at least 4-6 weeks for the city. The breach in the levy at the 17th street canal is causing further trouble, as the pumps which are pumping water out of the city are pumping it into Lake Pontchartrain, which would be held off by the levy that is now broken, negating the effectiveness of those systems. The I-10 pumps were on for days and overheated, causing valve damage, also negating their effectiveness during the flooding. A representative from St. Bernard reported "total devastation" with 40,000 homes flooded. The National Guard has begun setting up temporary morgues in select locations. He also said houses have been picked up and moved. In summary, he described the devastation as a "nightmare." He also said that 20,000 people were currently in the Superdome.

As of 11:30 p.m. CDT, WDSU-TV reported at least part of the I-10 Twin Span has completely collapsed. On WWL-TV, Mayor Nagin stated that, according to a FEMA official, the entire length of the Twin Span had been destroyed. [24] There is also a large fire involving several large building complexes.

On August 30 at 1:30 a.m. CDT CNN (via the vice president of Tulane University Medical Center) reported that a levee on the 17th Street Canal, which connects into Lake Pontchartrain has suffered a two city-block wide breach in it. This is allowing the water of Lake Pontchartrain, which lies some six feet above sea level, to flow downward into northern New Orleans proper, which lies between two and ten feet below sea level. The administrator reported that the water level had been rising at a rate of one inch every five minutes, and that the water had already flooded the first floor of Tulane University Medical Center and was approaching the second floor where the emergency generators for the hospital are located. The Vice President reported that the hospital needed immediate evacuation and with surface roads inundated, airlift via the heliport at the hospital will be the only way to rescue the some one thousand patients and staff still at the hospital. Charity Hospital, located east of Tulane, is also preparing to evacuate. A 200 ft breach was confirmed by New Orleans Fire Department officials to CNN at 3:16 a.m. CDT. [25].

(source)

could be worse...

I keep thinking that now would be the time to bulldoze the city and rebuild it... 20 to 30 feet higher.

"In late 2001, President Bush declared total war on Planet Earth and all nation states and ecosystems harboring life..."

Somebody translated something I wrote into another language. An asian one, to boot. Crazy.

To: Scott MacGaw
Re: Where are you?

The email I just sent to your cambridgeassociates.com email address failed to make it. "DELIVERY FAILURE."

Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 15:03:42 -0500

Hello,

Effective immediately, I will be using h3 at halcanary dot org as my
primary email address. Please update your address books accordingly.
Thank you.

On a personal note to those I haven't talked to in a while, my life is
as boring as ever. There are many of you I have not heard from in
some time. You know how to find me.

--
Hal Canary
608-347-5844

http://halcanary.org/

How to find me on the five big instant messaging protocols:

jabber: halcanary@jabber.org

aim: halwcanary

icq: 19505175

yahoo: halcanary

msn: halhalhalhalhalhal@hotmail.com

I wrote the first draft of that paper four years ago and submitted it
almost two years ago. Yes, I know it's crap, Just go ahead and tell me.

From: Brendan McKay <xxx@xx.xxx.edu.au>
Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 12:05:16 +1000
To: Hal Canary <xxx@xxx.xxxxxxx.xxxx.xxx>
Cc: xxxxxxxx@xxxxx.edu, xxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxxx.edu, xxxxx@xxxx.xxxx.edu
Subject: The status of your Baxter diamonds paper with E-JC

Dear Dr. Canary,

We are sorry that your paper is taking so long to process.
It is now with its 4th referee, who has had it since July 27
this year. The other referees failed to deliver; in particular
referee #2 kept promising for a year until I gave up on him.
I'm hopeful that the current referee will break the pattern,
but in any case I won't be so patient this time.

Sincerely,
Brendan McKay (Editor-in-Chief) [Electronic Journal of Combinatorics]

I got into an argument with a certain unnamed environmentalist the other day. I was arguing that when we (humanity) start to run low on petroleum and natural gas over the next thirty years, we will have to become more reliant of nuclear fission as a source of energy.

The only other options are:

1) Reliance on coal. Unfortunately, coal releases more CO2 into the environment per unit of energy than natural gas, so the more that we rely on coal, the more we accelerate global warming. Burning sulfur-​containing coal also contributes to acid rain. If you don't think that acid rain is a bigger problem than radioactive waste, go visit Appalachia.

That said, we will have to use more coal whether we like it or not.

2) Reliance on wind and solar. These will have to be a big part of our plans, but the infrastructure will be expensive and take a long time to build. Kunstler argues that these things can not be built without cheap energy and so will never be built. I am less pessimistic than he. In an ideal world, the feds would be creating a TVA-like organization to issue bonds and start building, even it they won't turn a profit for fifty years.

3) Using a lot less energy. We can save a lot of energy just by doing two things: outlawing pizza delivery and forcing everyone to take the bus to work. (TWAJS.) But in the end, we need a lot of energy to fix nitrogen to fertilize crops to feed the six+ billion people on the planet. The only other option is to allow a few billion to starve to death. Is that what you want?

Organic farming will never feed six billion people. (Dear organic farmers, please prove me wrong.)

4) Wait for fusion. Good plan. Santa Clause will put it in you stocking next Christmas. With the Toothfairy's help. (Dear plasma physicists, please prove me wrong.)

5) The hydrogen economy. That Was A Joke Son.

No, I am not stuck in 1950. Nuclear energy is not cheap and does produce toxic byproducts. But we can deal with those byproducts. It's just radioactivity. Stay away and keep it out of the atmosphere, groundwater, and the hands of terrorists.

No, I'm not an environmentalist any more. I am a realist. We should do what we have to do to keep billions of people from starving.

"For all these years I thought we lived in paradise"