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Born April 13, 2005

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^{2005 August 31}
Katrina: One of the better sources of information out of New Orleans is the Times-Picayune weblog. Perhaps the battle against new media by old media will simply vanish as the strength of synergy makes it a moot point.

Of all the stories I have heard so far out of New Orleans was an interview on a cable channel with a representative of Harrah's Casinos made me angriest. Asked about the looting reported from the casinos (it was said that looters were breaking into slot machines looking for coins) he replied that this was not a concern because the casinos got all the money our of town as soon as they knew the storm was threatening. Why did this make me angry? Because he did not suggest that the casinos had made any provisions to get their people out, only their money! Of all the thousands of stranded, injured, and dead, I can't help wondering how many are employees of the casinos. Presumably the same thing is true of banks and many other large cash intensive businesses, but it breaks my heart anyway.

Only today am I seeing children among the people dragging themselves out of the water. I hope this is because most children were evacuated early, but I fear it means many are trapped in attics.

Becky |

^{2005 August 20}
Kelo Gets the Shaft Again: This follow-up to the June Kelo v New London takings decision would seem to be spitting in the face not only of the dispossessed owners, but in that of the the Supreme Court as well. At least I hope this is not the outcome they intended. I've tried to watch both sides on this one and make some sense out of it that actually preserves private property rights, but this does not bode well for the future in my view.

Now the New London property owners are going to be "punished" by New London for having defended their rights. If they are compensated at Y2K property values, and charged "rent" on their property for the past 5 years, the period during which they dared to stand up for themselves and take it to court, they could lose a lot more than their homes. I just hope they can fight this too, and maybe get another bite at the Supreme Court apple. If this is allowed to stand then we all lose not only our property rights, but our right to defend ourselves!

...now New London is claiming that the affected homeowners were living on city land for the duration of the lawsuit and owe back rent. It's a new definition of chutzpah: Confiscate land and charge back rent for the years the owners fought confiscation.

In some cases, their debt could amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Moreover, the homeowners are being offered buyouts based on the market rate as it was in 2000 .

I hated the Kelo decision, but this is potentially much worse. Read the whole article for the full effect.

Becky |

^{2005 August 10}
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition: Eric Berlin writes a general interest blog that I visit regularly. In reference to ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition he has hit on the major factor of this show that makes it compelling:

...I'm always interested to see how the architects and designers will take into account the over-the-top special needs of the family they aim to help. A couple of weeks ago, they dealt with a family with a blind, autistic boy... being raised by two deaf parents, if you can get your mind around that. The resulting home was a wonder of applied technology. The son was prone to sneaking out of the house, and so the designers built an alarm system that literally shook the parents' bed like a frying pan full of popcorn if the son's bedroom door opened in the middle of the night. Ingenious.

...Who is researching what items should go in a playroom for a blind, autistic boy? How do you begin planning a house that must be, when finished, absolutely germ free? ... Somebody on the staff of that show is, I would imagine, the real unsung hero -- the organizational mastermind a production like this needs. It'd be nice to meet him, or her, one of these days.

Allowing the audience to see the research for these episodes would help thousands of special needs families to learn about the options available, many of which would not necessitate the "extreme" measures undertaken by Ty Pennington and his crew. If they showed more of that I would go back to watching the show. The artificial gimmicks (send the family to Disney; offer phony options to Mom by cellphone; stage a concert in the driveway), however, are just tiresome.

Becky |

^{2005 August}
Sidewalk Art: Julian Beever is a British sidewalk artist whose ephemeral 3D work must be seen io be believed. Kurt Wenner is an American artist whose work sometimes seems to be credited to Beever. While equally eyecatching, the styles are quite different. Imagine your work disappears any time it rains!

Becky |

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