Friday...Game Day

Saints host the Chargers in the Dome tonite and I am waiting for a t-storm cell to push thru the area so we can get to it !!

Who Dat

stolen

i am entering day two since my trek was lifted, right from underneath me at the library...i was distracted by an argument at the front desk...and also looking for a dvd to watch...lock in my bag...reckless...and just having a hard time letting go.

thankfully...i found an alternative route to work...one that is much more peaceful and relaxing with virtually no variation in time...meanwhile back in the bat cave...robin and i are devising a strategy to catch a thief.

get dental

my trip to the dentist was not that bad...no drilling...no extractions...no pain

and the congregation rose and said...amen.

monetize !!

just finish playing around with my "blog face" and i must admit...the drive to create wealth from my comments is motivating.

where was this idea 20 yrs ago when i could have cornered the market?

anyway...buy me !!

thoughts on golf

last week...i found myself laughing out loud...as the analysis of ball loft off the putter face was discussed. it was the first time for me that "loft" and "putter" was analyzed to that degree of minutiae...and i think it is reflective as a whole on how we have come to over-analyze Tiger...i simply accept that the competition in the world has caught up and Tiger's ability win any tourney by 5 to 10 strokes is an era that has ended...blame it on whomever or whatever you wish...ball designers...course layouts...club design, particularly the driver...global warming...sun spots...or the gravitational pull of Halley's Comet.

time marches on...even for Tiger...

take...for instance...beisbol...one second my favorite pitcher Doc Haliday is dominating the National League his first year with the Phils...over from the Toronto Blue Jays...and viola...by Allstar Break...batters get some of stuff on tape...see him in game settings...and watch his ERA rise.

No doubt both Tiger and Haliday will continue to be force majeurs...Tiger will stalk his prey at every major till he passes Jack...the latter will be the World Series MVP if the Phillies get there because he was brought in to take the Yankees down.

But in the mean time....let us remember that both men are mortals...no need for kryptonite...or wild conspiracy theories...and much more importantly...the competition these guys face is forever planning, plotting and improving...it is not disorder...rather...it is the way of things in the sports world...dominance always...always...comes to an end.

Sprinkle in that element of luck which always brings a smile to our faces...and during the replay the announcer calls it magic...just like Tiger at Augusta...chipping in that ball...as the Nike logo rotated the last 90 degrees.


second...on the British Open...mega-dittos...links golf...the four-letter gimmicky coverage...throwing more bodies at the camera than one can keep track of as they now do in every sport...thank God radio still does it right...as the song used go..."It Takes Two to Make a Thing Go Right."

Picking winners this year has become an ugly business...golf metrics are no longer predictive measures we once had so much faith in...just like my putting stroke...it has become whimsical and subject to feel...i really thought the young lad, Rory, was going to launch himself to the win...but...at his age...there is plenty of time to take a the British or Senior British.

i get heckled for engaging in fantasy golf...it is an acquired, elite sport...for those with exquisite taste.

friday, july 16

i am anxiously awaiting the completion of the lafitte greenway, which will open up the center of the city to a sort of "highway" for cyclists.

The city is in the final stages of negotiating a design and construction contract for the greenway with Design Workshop of Austin, Texas, said Bart Everson, a board member of Friends of Lafitte Corridor, a nonprofit group that has been pushing for the greenway since 2006.

Last month, the state approved two pots of money for the project: nearly $400,000 in transportation and trails money and $2.6 million of federal Community Development Block Grant disaster-recovery money awarded through the Louisiana Recovery Authority.
(June 2006)times picayune

http://folc-nola.org/

The city has set aside $7.6 million of CDBG money for planning and developing the park but has not decided who will get the contract, said Ryan Berni, a mayoral spokesman. He said the city hopes to make that decision in a few months.

A previous contract with a design firm under the Ray Nagin administration fell apart when the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development began to look over all city projects using CDBG money.

While it wasn’t clear whether there were problems with the Lafitte Greenway contract, Nagin terminated it and asked companies to submit new proposals, but he did not award a new contract before leaving office last month.

The Landrieu administration will subject those proposals to new contract rules, Berni said. A panel of Landrieu aides and other city employees will review the proposals and recommend a winner.

Deputy Mayor Cedric Grant will oversee the project.

While the corridor in the most recent past saw railcars rumble through it, it was originally part of the Carondelet Canal, dug in the late 1700s to ship goods to the French Quarter. A turning basin at the end of the canal gave Basin Street its name.

the beauty of the french quarter

this morning...i was able to take in some of the amazing ambiance of the crescent city....a bike ride thru old algiers...a ferry ride to downtown that offers a full view of the cathedral and the riverfront...a ride down decatur...past jax brewery...past cafe du monde...a brief stop at a cafe by the joan of arc statue...then a brief conversation with an employee...who sermonized about saving our youth with education...which struck a cord in my mind for some time...then onto the french market...ending up at the old mint/museum.

my reaction to the first round of hearings on the oilspill

i took in some the c-span rewind this morning before work...the industry folks were well-prepard to answer and not answer all the key questions.

what emerged for me is the rhetoric of "best practices" has become worn out and meaningless.

everyone says it all the time now...without ever there ever being a need to define this in each instance.

okay....so we won't have guys who are dead on the emergency response team...and ensuring all our people are actually alive is now going to be a best practice.

one exec came clean (no pun intended, my fellow pelicans) and stated that the clean-up process is basically incidental, because the amount of oil escaped and escaping is so tremendous that there is no process known to man that can save our environment.

so...as long as we have to have big trucks and suvs...with big engines...and do not embrace mass transit...folks should stop crying.

if you want to pay less than five bucks a gallon at the pump...then just shut up and deal with it.

you cannot have it both ways...a shrimp poboy for less than $20 bucks...or a gallon of petro for less than three bucks.

i think we can effectively shut down our gulf coast to tourism and residents east of the river.

all the commercial fishermen should be compensated based on current earnings and life expectancy.

the great wall of louisiana should be built that would serve two purposes:

a. keep the oil from coming inland
b. serve as our new hurricane protection barrier.

install a gate so that shipping can continue...and work your way east to negotiate settlements with our neighboring states.

but louisiana first, because we do business here...this ain't about a bunch of folks sitting on the beach getting a tan.

we are where the drilling and processing of oil and gas happens.

we are the nation's third busiest port...and the key to trade with central and south america.

our tradition for good food will be fine...it just won't be gulf seafood-based anymore.

July is Really Nice

having been in higher education for nearly 25 years, summer is wonderful.

i have always been a 12 month man...no three month break...but the pace of summer and the awareness and urgency of summer students is really what i would prefer...however, the fall semester always brings a new level of intensity and a corresponding level of re-commitment to purpose....it is called first time freshmen...FTFs...if you want use U.S. Dept. of Educ. vernacular.

now that we, in the State of Louisiana have barely survived another round of crippling budget cuts, we must look forward towards the frosh who look forward to their first semester in college...both the highs and lows...my first year college experience was supreme...but thanks to the lack of vision, commitment and sense of purpose of our state leaders...my son's senior year will resemble something i recall being the state of affairs in 1981, when Ronald Reagan came to power and ushered in a new level of pessimism as commander in chief...this country and this country's gov't was now the enemy.

i pray for him...and just shake my head at all that he will not have the chance to enjoy as a college senior...thanks to Hurricane Katrina...he sacrificed so much as a high school junior and senior...it motivates me to stand by his side even more...it is God's will...and all one has to do is answer the call.

the work of the 1960s had been all for naught...people died...for nothing...according to the righteous right...slavery and discrimination never happened....and after 400 yrs..."negroes" needed to be content.

well...i have a differing view on the state of affairs now...a little less militant than 1985...but still angry because my boss today has a problem with me spending time at the center for elders in my neighborhood of origin for whatever reason...a black man...with more than 20 years of time in this State's higher education system.

well...she has another thing coming...if there will be ANY confusion where my loyalties lie.

perhaps i would be better off cutting grass and driving miss daisy...as much as i fight for the campaign of togetherness...it is apparent...that Malcom X was right...as long as you are south of the Canadian border...YOU ARE SOUTH!!

all of our state legislators have failed and should be fired...the governor has failed...and should be replaced...but these so called leaders have taken politics and law to a level where they are insulated from review, evaluation and most important of all...reprisal.

elective politics...is nothing more than a business.

shame on the governor...the state legislature...and me...most of all...for staying in Louisiana after Katrina...i did have my chance to escape.

Let's Party with a Purpose

and perhaps the folks at Essence could get the website up and running.

CP3 traded?

heard an awful rumor that the "King" wants him to steer his show...cannot blame him...pound for pound...i would take him anyday over any other NBA guard...Paul is a finished product...he would make any quality group of players an instant contender.

As much as I wish he would remain here...we should get "value" for him...and the Hornets should petition the NCAA for standing...and just join the SEC.

The King

I understand the excitement over LeBron...but what President Obama is dealing with and doing is much more important.

I, for one, plan to drop pay TV so that I can purge myself from that instrument of self-destruction.

I plan to purchase a boom box and listen to the local music station WWOZ.

Check it out on the web....WWOZ.ORG

Essence Fest eve

and all throughout the city...some look forward to the influx...others consider it an invasion.

many of us need to "free our minds, so that our asses will follow."

welcome the people...be thankful for the gifts they bring...and participate if you can.

but this is old new orleans...and african americans own so very little...tell them where to go.

many may be arrogant...intoxicated...and opinionated...so be it.

walk away.

nobody can party with a purpose better than new orleans.

if Essence could find a better place...they would not be here.

and remember...the BP oilspill clean up process has thrown confusion into what would normally be a quiet metro-region.

instead, there all sorts of people staying around here that will cause fest goers problems...particularly when it comes to hotel.

we need to open our doors and let them in.

serve up a bowl of gumbo, pour a dixie draft beer, sit back and relax for the BP show.

they have brought our homeboy, with his Masters degree in Geology from here at UNO (univ of new orleans) and hails from Ponchartrain Park, no less...as does Wendell Pierce

Wendell may have to get him into the second season of Treme...if he has any acting skills...problem is...what some would say...the lack of acting skills of the real musicians.

well...given how badly the CEO of BP acted like he really cares about the gulf coast or BP's culpability...i think we can cut Trombone Shorty a little slick...i mean slack...sorry...for his lack of thespian presence.

turns out the department chair for Geology here at UNO...once hosted a program to inspire minorities to purse the earth sciences...a program yours truly attended with a life long friend from Ponchartrain Park back in the 1970s during high school, that produced folks like Darryl Willis.

Dr. Lou Fernandez was brought up in NYC...having had to dodge bullies on the way to skool in the Bronx...felt the way to reach back was to develop a youth mentoring program.

fast forward 40 years....and a product of that program is now the face of BP and oilspill in the gulf...now that is what i call full circle.

I Am Back !! Season 6...Episode #1

As we approach August of 2010, we all must brace ourselves for a storm season that is projected to more active than the past year. All I need for this comparison is one simple outlook: projected number of major storms. Unfortunately it is not July yet, and the tropics are already very active.

One need not add to extensive amount of coverage and opinion already out there on the oil spill...but what is not clear yet...is what impact a major storm will have on the recovery effort and the spread of oil.

Time has come for the daily visit to the NOAA website for weather projections...we now live on our 7 - 14 day schedule...packed and prepared to go.

BHO's first Court Nominee

As expected, the first court nominee has drawn a hale of criticism. It is clear that the party system in this country is broken...people just oppose actions for partisan-sake.

I think I will begin to spend my time on Sunday mornings on better things. After CBS Sunday Morning goes off and before Face the Nation starts, I will begin a new process. Until a ballgame comes on, the jazz will be played with flavor and fever.

The new, emerging constitution for the summer 2009 is beginning to take form and shape.

Five Dimensional Optical Material

Data rainbow: These six patterns were written within the same area of a new data-storage medium using three different colors and two different polarizations of laser light. Credit: Nature Publishing Group

A new light-responsive material could lead to discs the size of today's DVDs that store four orders of magnitude more data. Traditional DVDs and CDs store data on their surface in two dimensions, and holographic discs can store it in three. Now researchers have for the first time demonstrated what they call a five-dimensional optical material. It can record data in three spatial dimensions and in response to different wavelengths and polarizations of laser light.

The material is being developed by researchers led by Min Gu, director of the Centre for Micro-Photonics at the Swinburne University of Technology in Victoria, Australia. The material is made up of layers of gold nanorods suspended in clear plastic spun flat on a glass substrate. Multiple data patterns can be written and read within the same area in the material without interfering with each other. Using three wavelengths and two polarizations of light, the Australian researchers have written six different patterns within the same area. They've further increased the storage density to 1.1 terabytes per cubic centimeter by writing data to stacks of as many as 10 nanorod layers. In a paper published online today in the journal Nature, Gu's group reports recording speeds of about a gigabit per second.

"You can record each bit by one laser pulse," says Gu. The writing laser melts and reshapes the gold particles, which are less than 100 nanometers long. The changes affect how the nanorods interact with light from a laser-imaging system, allowing the data to be read.

Big Papi Homers

Finally...clutch too as we chasing down the Blue Jays for first place and the Yankees are on an eight game winning streak.