The French Quarter may not be as fraught with felonies as other neighborhoods, but it’s certainly not crime-free. In fact, it’s seen more than its usual share of activity in recent months–typically nothing too “front page”, but given the fact that the Quarter is the hub for tourists, everything that happens there gets magnified.

In response, author Joshua Clark has started an amped-up, higher-tech version of Neighborhood Watch called QuarterSafe. In a nutshell, he’s encouraging Quarter residents to purchase inexpensive video cams and create their own closed-circuit TV systems to monitor street activity.

Now, on the one hand, I think Clark’s plan is kinda laudable and forward-thinking and potentially very useful, especially given New Orleans’ under-funded police department. On the other hand–the Dear goddess, it’s Big Brother hand–it’s a little creepy. (Though it would be creepier if participants were giving NOPD full access to their computers.) Also of concern: Tuesday’s report in The Guardian that CCTVs don’t have much of an impact on crime. And on a practical note: how big of a hard drive do you need to store all that data anyway? Read the email release I got this morning and discuss below:

For ten bucks and a few minutes of work, you can help drastically curb the daily robberies and assaults on our French Quarter streets. QuarterSafe.com is working alongside the NOPD to build a reliable network of citizen-owned security cameras to deter and catch criminals. There is nothing as efficient and effective as well-placed video cameras to capture criminals. It’s as easy as…

1) Order a camera on eBay for $10 (w/shipping), so discrete [sic] it fits in the palm of your hand. Just search for “480K 6-LED Night Vision USB WebCam” or click here.

2) Install it. It runs off your PC. The driver disk comes with the camera.
Then download monitoring software free from SuperVisionCam.com. Make sure it faces the street as close to eye level as possible, and leave your computer running passively. Once you have the camera, please contact Detective Mike Carambat at 504 400 5214 or mcarambat@cityofno.com if you’d like him to come help you.

3) Send an e-mail to QuarterSafe@gmail.com and 8thDistrict@cityofno.com with the subject “Camera” with your name, phone number, and the exact address of the camera. Only when a crime occurs near you (God forbid you should be the
victim) may the police ask to obtain specific footage. Already have a camera? Let us know!

That’s it.

Please visit QuarterSafe.com or more information, options, extension cables, and easy links.

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Yippee! It’s New Orleans’ first-ever Ozone Action Day!

Oh, wait. That’s nothing to celebrate.

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I went into a bar today (as shocking as that is to so many) to have lunch. This place is within easy walking distance of our house and used to be a regular hangout — but it seemed to be evolving into a place a bit more negative so I’d been avoiding it except to use the ATM or make some other small purchase. Over the past six months, my total expenditures in the place wouldn’t buy enough gasoline to get to Slidell (though that’s no small feat anymore).

Anyway, I drive by and see the kitchen staff hanging around outside and it’s a veteran crew. I glance in the door and there’s virtually nobody there, so I figure now’s a good time to sit down and give the place another chance. Maybe I’m wrong, y’know? Local place, local dollars, we’re all in this together, yadda yadda.

So I sit down at the bar and order a sandwich and a Barq’s and I’m watching a little baseball and some guy walks in off the street and IMMEDIATELY (like, first glance) tells some guy at the end of the bar he “don’t wanna hear it” and these two yahoos get into a shouting and shoving match. In like, oh, 12 seconds. The barkeep says he doesn’t want this kinda crap in his bar so he tosses one of them and order is restored. About this time my food arrives and I really, REALLY don’t want to wait for Tossed Guy to show back up (and you know he will) to resume this argument. So I ask for a box and walk back to the house with my food and the remainder of the Barq’s.

I get back to the house and open the food and it is, in a word, horrible. And this from a place that’s been featured (deservedly, in the past) in some national publications for its food and atmosphere.

Our city these days has too many such places, events and, in so many cases, people — that we used to trust because they used to be solid and reliable. And they still are, at least to those who have been away or don’t get back as much as they’d like or who prefer to see things through yesterday’s eyes. But they’ve become weak facsimilies of their old selves — surviving on reputation instead of reality. I could list them, but that would only spur needless argument and it would be a subjective list anyway.

New Orleans is, thankfully, a sum of its traditions. It’s one of the main reasons I live here. But it bothers me when there’s too much looking back. In our case, too often, hindsight is far from 20/20. Simple physical myopia is correctible — but I fear our social and cultural near-sightedness could be deadly if we let it.

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Today I drove off on my way to run in the park but unbeknownst to me, a wild kitten was hiding out in my engine. I forgot my headphones and “made the block” and saw his lifeless body in the street. I had committed kitten manslaughter. I was overwhelmed with a feeling of wanting to throw-up.

We all deal with these wild cat and dog populations throughout the city again after a brief and noticeable respite after Katrina. It’s an inner battle; to feed or not to feed. Ignore? Capture? SPCA is overwhelmed too. Be humane is all we can do.

In addition to the larger issues of how we collectively deal with the feral animal population, I just have a hard time with dead animals. I can’t look at them or else I can’t get the image out of my mind and lose sleep, it traumatizes me.

The local neighborhood kids who know me came by for their usual check-in and I explained my dilemma to the kids about not feeling right about just ignoring it until the kitty became unrecognizable mush but also my inability to pick it up. I stood with them a block away pointing at the kitten corpse, asking for their honest evaluation of the situation. They are 10 and 12 yrs old but I knew they’d direct me on the right path.

Josh said, “What would Jesus Do?” I’m like yeah, bury the kitty.

A ‘rock’ of a neighbor did the dirty work for us. She rallied, along with the neighborhood kids, they ran down the street. Together, they picked up the kitty in a bag which they simply did fast. Like ripping a band-aid off a wound.

I felt bad putting this task on them, I just can’t do this myself.

Then after a little psyche talk amongst ourselves, the kids helped me to dig a hole with pitchforks and shovels. We discussed what the word ‘denomination’ means briefly and talked at length back-and-forth about the proper depth of the grave.

We were all absolute about the fact that this kitten was for sure going to heaven but couldn’t do so if the body was still in the plastic bag. We had to get it out of the bag and into the hole without looking at it. It deserved a proper burial.

We put the bag down and agreed to spill it without looking on the count of three, but Nick still couldn’t avoid a scary glimpse of the kitten as it went in but he seemed ok with it.

In the end, we felt better because we know, as hard as this is, we had to do the right thing. It was right by the kitten and right by the residents for not having to be traumatized too. I told them it really meant a lot to me for their help with this somber task.

After we did this difficult deed, the kids and I spent the afternoon printing coloring pages off the internet and I bought them a box of crayons and some colored pencils and they went off to their evening church service which is obviously giving them some fortitude of spirit which I am benefiting from.

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The other day the baby and I went way up St. Charles to Danneel Park. We had passed by the park a few times before on our way to other locations but this time we made a special trip just to go to the park. Danneel Park is at the corner of St. Charles and Octavia Streets. There are three different “Jungle Jims” in the park as well as a fire engine and a slide that I had heard used to be part of a jump into a sand pit? Behind all the play sets along Octavia the park opens up into a grassy field for running and playing. For those geocachers in the audience there is a cache in the park as well. Some of the park is fenced in and some is not so you have to be careful since the street is very close. It seems once they start walking it only takes a second for them to reach the edge of the road.

It was great having a play set just for really little ones, the baby could climb up there all by himself all he needed was a spotter and that is of course one of a Parent’s many hats. We also spent a good bit of time “driving” the fire truck, see driving the fire engine While we were at the park four or five families came and went, it is definitely a park that gets used but even so it is clean and the equipment is in good repair.

On the way out of the park I stopped to read the wood sign and stone marker near the front fence. The sign stated the usual park rules and list of officials that sit in plush chairs in big offices and signed the papers to help keep this spot a park under NORD (New Orleans Recreation Department). The stone marker is carved with two names and a date, Hermann Danneel, his wife Maria Louisa Grace and 1906. This I could not let lie I needed the story so when I arrived home I did a little searching and this is what I found.
Read more

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Hello, I’m Craig and I own a business that is boosted by Jazzfest. That is to say my emporium is one that folks from out of town come to enjoy and partronize. And when I say patronize, I truly mean it — in a “yew are jest the kahYEWTest thang in yer apron an’ with yer hat an’….” etc etc.

Please do not misunderstand. Those of us who live in New Orleans are grateful for every dollar brought to us. I’d estimate fully 85% of the folks who are in town this week are wonderful, helpful, tasteful and otherwise affable folks just here to enjoy the music, food and general ambiance that is New Orleans. Thankyouthankyouthankyou. Seriously.

To the other 15% — please put on normal clothing, shut up and go the hell home. Right now. Thank you.

Our place has been fortunate enough this week to host visitors from Hawaii, Sweden, Great Britain, Germany, several Asian nations and a long list of various US states and Canadian provinces. Happy words have been exchanged all around and business cards passed back and forth and laughter traded and all that. It’s great. It really is.

….but please spare me from the oversized, Hawaiian shirt, Jesus-sandal, floppy-hat-and-cargo-short-wearing Baby Huey type (why do their wives always dress in this thing that looks like a baby’s onesie without the crotch snaps? Maybe they DO have crotch snaps. I’m afraid to look). We had a table of them this morning — and I wisely offered to run some errands instead of hanging around and telling them what I REALLY thought….

When you order a “dressed” burger, baby, it includes “all that crap.” And when you order a higher-priced, special burger, it includes even more crap (which is listed on the menu). Sending it back to have us remove crap makes us want to put crap on it that you REALLY don’t want. Seriously.

I got a delivery of fresh produce this morning. I had some myself and it was very good. So, baby, don’t tell me this lettuce is “a little past its prime.” So are you. Big-time.

This is a made-to-order meal for five people. It took 14 minutes to come to your table. If that’s not fast enough, St. Charles Ave. has a McDonald’s, a Burger King and a Wendy’s. Taste the New Orleans food tradition up there. Or, better still, stand in line for 30 minutes at JazzFest to get flaccid facsimilies of what had (maybe) been good food four hours ago. And enjoy it with the real Louisiana flavor of a lukewarm Bud Light.

Okay. Rant over. It’s just been a long day.

We truly are thankful for our visitors over the past couple of weeks. And, even for that 15% who negatively stand out, we’re grateful for giving us something to talk about and stereotype until next year. Really.

But damn.

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House committee approves college firearms bill
Students could carry handguns to class

BATON ROUGE — All college students 21 or older who have qualified for concealed handgun permits would be able to carry firearms to class and other parts of campus under a bill approved 11-3 by a House committee Thursday.

The Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice sent to the House floor House Bill 199 by Rep. Ernest Wooton, R-Belle Chasse, its chairman. Wooton said he expects lengthy debate on the bill’s merits when it hits the floor.

The bill drew support from college students who say they feel unsafe and inadequately protected when leaving campus late at night. Student leaders from several campuses teamed with Joseph Savoie, commissioner of higher education for the State Board of Regents, the agency that coordinates higher education funding, policy and curriculum, in asking the panel to reject the measure….

Wooton said his bill is an attempt to make colleges safe by allowing students to protect themselves against a gunman who breaks into a classroom and starts shooting randomly….

Savoie said that similar bills were filed in 17 state legislatures this year and killed in 15 — including Mississippi and Alabama. The only two states still considering the issue are Indiana and Louisiana.

–complete idiotic story at NOLA.com

Now, I understand we have a Republican governor, and I understand the Republican Party’s allegiance to the NRA, and I understand that Charlton Heston’s craggy, homophobic ghost may be roaming the land, terrorizing legislators who don’t support handguns for toddlers. But seriously: Mississippi–the state that thought it was totally fine for me to own a 20-gauge shotgun before I’d learned to write in cursive–put the kabosh on this crap, and Louisiana’s gonna give it a shot (so to speak)?

In the bill’s favor, however, I suppose hiring competent campus police officers would be way more costly than having students just shoot the crap out of each other.

Residents of our great state might wanna drop a note to their legislator about this. And if they don’t know who their rep happens to be, there’s an easy way to find out.

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This could be really good for Senator Vitter. Or really bad. I’m rooting for really bad, but I’m kind of a dick:

A woman who police believe to be Deborah Jeane Palfrey, known as the “D.C. Madam,” was found dead in Florida Thursday, according to Tarpon Springs police.

Deborah Jeane Palfrey was convicted of running a high-powered prostitution ring.

The body has not been positively identified.

“Detectives are investigating an apparent suicide of a (white female) that appears to be in her early 50s,” Tarpon Springs police said in a news release.

Suicide notes were found near the body in a small storage shed next to a mobile home, police said.

Palfrey, 52, was reportedly staying at the home of her mother, who owns the property where the body was found, police said.

The Pinellas County Medical Examiner’s Office will determine the cause of death, police said.

The county sheriff’s office and the FBI are participating in the investigation.

Palfrey was convicted last month in connection with a high-end prostitution ring catering to Washington’s elite. She was found guilty of money laundering, racketeering and mail fraud. She was awaiting sentencing with a potential of 50 years in jail.

At least one lawmaker, Louisiana Sen. David Vitter, a Republican, turned up in the phone records of her business, Pamela Martin & Associates.

State Department official Randall Tobias resigned in May 2007 after confirming he patronized Palfrey’s business.

She argued it was a legitimate, legal escort service.

–via CNN.com

UPDATE: Joe.My.God. has a fascinating addendum to this story:

During several recent appearances on The Alex Jones Show, Palfrey also said that she was at risk of being killed and that authorities would make it look like suicide. She made it clear that she was not suicidal and if she was found dead it would be murder.

–more at Joe.My.God.

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A few weeks ago, there was a lot of hue-and-cry in New Orleans over the impending visit of a bunch of writers. The writers work for a website that pokes fun at street people–not only the homeless, but also panhandlers, buskers, and other folks who spend most of their lives on the street. The comments from locals generally went something like, “Oh, how awful–not only to ridicule the homeless, but to do so in New Orleans! That’s insensitive and insulting, kicking us all while we’re down.” Noble and totally laudable sentiments.

Today, the staff of the website in question sent us Metrobloggers a link to the New Orleans article. And I’m happy to report, it’s nothing like folks had feared. It’s basically a guided tour of French Quarter hustlers (the panhandling kind, not the Corner Pocket [nsfw] kind). And you know, I’m not a fan of that kind of thing myself, so I found it pretty inoffensive.

What was totally offensive, however, was the writing style. Seriously, it reads like something from a bunch of dull, A&F frat boys. Very “what I did for my summer vacation”. I could barely keep my eyes open. Total snooze.

And FYI: ordinarily, I wouldn’t have even bothered to mention the piece, since the only people it’s going to anger are those who enjoy well-written prose. But I thought since the visit was kind of a big deal recently, I’d do the honors. I won’t bother posting the link, though, ’cause seriously: screw their page view stats.

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Parents Unite! It sounds like I am rallying for a protest or something, I am not. When we moved here, Just after Katrina there were little to no services/groups for parents let alone anything really for kids. Hell there weren’t even schools yet, so anyway I was a little discouraged and after the baby came I was lonely. It happens to the best of us but NOLA is a big city I knew people were moving back (and still are) and I knew there had to be something out there. After much searching I have found a few playgroups that have been so helpful and fun for me. They have given me and the baby an opportunity to get out and meet new people. I have learned that the alone feeling is not just a depressed NOLA thing it is sort of a feeling you get after having a baby no matter what. There are new people joining our playgroup all the time. So if you are out there and you are a parent who is looking to get out and meet other parents and let the kids socialize and have fun then you should check out these area groups. I know there are a lot of other groups out there; you could even start your own group with friends or neighbors you just have to set the dates, get out of the house and actually do something. There are meet up groups for the three big areas of the city. The New Orleans group is geared more toward city dwellers most of the events are centered in the city, The Metairie group is a bigger group and that holds most of its events in the Metairie area, the Westbank group is centered on that bank and does most of it’s events in that area. There are more parent/child meetups close by too as well as other meet ups on the website for all kinds of other interests as well, check it out and get out and socialize.

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I am so….so….embarrassed. Really. I haven’t posted here in, well, forever because 1) I didn’t have time to do so, since the restaurant has opened and 2) once I actually got the time, I was too lazy to try to figure out how to get into this new system. But, thanks to advice from Laureen and others, here we are.

Oh, and it was good to meet Rayna & Co. the other day. Thanks for coming to see us. And my old college buddy Chris from Nacogdoches and a nice lady from Fort Walton Beach who introduced herself today — and a host of other bloggers from various sites. It is good to feel connected again, at least in an Internetty kinda way. Lord knows I’m overly connected in other ways to far too many people anymore.

One thing that begs writing about has been the ongoing (and, as yet, unended) quest for a beer and wine license. The City of New Orleans, in its infinite wisdom and lust for new revenue, has finally (after four months and much assistance from the office of Councilwoman Stacy Head) granted us our beer and wine licenses. But we are still waiting on folks in Baton Rouge to follow through — and this “two week” process has taken a month so far. Perhaps I have committed the ultimate Louisiana faux pas and forgotten to slip a little inducement in a package of paperwork. Silly me.

But the City of New Orleans, though it has approved the new licenses, has not wanted to be simply forgotten and cast aside like an old shoe. I received a call two weeks ago from some minion at City Hall, informing me my Occupational License was being denied. “Why?” said I, stifling a laugh.

“You need your ABO (alcohol) licenses.”
“I have them on my wall.”
“You need your conditional use permit from the City Council ”
“I have it in my file drawer.”
“Then you shall have to come down to City Hall and see Mr. (No, I will not post his name - the target would be far too unmistakable and slow-moving to resist).

So off I go to City Hall to see Mr. X — who informs me of the same issues. I respond in the same manner. He says, “Well, then, it appears all you need is your final inspection,” which was scheduled for the next day.

Mr. X appears two days later and pays virtually no attention to virtually anything in my place. After his 45-second visit, he tells me to go to City Hall the next day and I can “leave with the license in-hand.” So (Dr. Pavlov is laughing somewhere), I indeed answer this bell and appear again in his office the next morning. He turns to a co-worker and informs her I need to fill out the “final paperwork” for my occupational license (which I filled out nearly a year ago). She says, “you got ABO license, baby?” I say, “Why, yes, baby, I do.” She says, “then you already got your occupational license. You all good to go.”

For some reason, I felt as victorious as Sitting Bull at Little Big Horn. No, I don’t know why. But I really and truly did — but all the while knowing this is all going to somehow come back and bite me in my little gumbo-making ass at some point.

But, for now (except for the possibly mythical state alcohol license), all our paperwork is in place and on the board and proudly disaplayed for all to see, photograph, ponder over, admire, wonder at and, yes, even spindle and fondle as desired.

…and it all expires in 33 days, at the end of May. I am serious as freaking cholesterol.

Ain’t never dull, I tell ya.

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I opened my homepage today and saw that Bourbon Street made MSN’s World’s Worst Tourist Traps to be honest I question whether or not it is one of the worst in the whole WORLD but hey who am I to question after all I have not been everywhere in the world maybe it is one of the worst. Feel free to check it out for yourself right here

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I’m not what you’d call a political activist, but this crossed my inbox a couple of minutes ago, and I thought it was worth passing on. I hope you’ll consider signing the petition, whether you live in New Orleans or not.

Right-wing pastor John Hagee says Katrina was New Orleans’ fault. John McCain sought out, and embraces, Hagee’s support. MoveOn members are trying to deliver a petition to McCain in New Orleans just a few hours from now: will you sign?

Here’s the background: McCain wants America to see him as a compassionate, mainstream politician. So he’s going to New Orleans today for a photo-op in the 9th Ward.

But he’s still trying to shore up his right-wing base—so this past Sunday, he again welcomed the support of right-wing evangelist John Hagee, who said "Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans."¹

MoveOn members in New Orleans have organized an emergency rally outside McCain’s event today. With the media looking on, they’ll try to deliver our petition asking him to stop pandering to right-wing bigots like Hagee. They’ll announce an up-to-the-minute number of signatures, and we’ll have a real impact if we can say that hundreds of thousands have signed in only a few hours. Clicking here will add your name:

http://pol.moveon.org/mccain_pander/o.pl?id=12500-5148471-J6FuvA&t=3

The petition reads: "John Hagee continues to blame the people of New Orleans for the catastrophe of Katrina. Senator McCain: If you reject intolerance and bigotry, reject Hagee’s political support and stop courting hate-mongers like him."

This is not a gaffe or a "gotcha." Hagee has a history of bigoted comments and he stood by his New Orleans remarks just days ago.² And McCain’s strategy is intentional—he’s been working hard to court far-right leaders like Jerry Falwell and John Hagee, despite their hateful views.³ Even when he was pressed about Hagee’s hateful views, McCain said he was "glad to have his endorsement."⁴

Hagee’s words matter. Katrina was a terrible reminder of the consequences of bigotry and exclusion. People without resources, without political power, literally sank beneath the waves while our government did nothing.

John McCain is relying for political support on a man who preaches bigotry and exclusion, who spreads the kind of hate that allowed Katrina to become a man-made tragedy. While the media is focused on his New Orleans visit, we need to call him on it.

The more folks who sign the petition in the next few hours, the greater our impact. Clicking here will add your name right now:

http://pol.moveon.org/mccain_pander/o.pl?id=12500-5148471-J6FuvA&t=4

We need to let Senator McCain know that he can’t use New Orleans for a photo-op while still courting the political support of hate-mongers like Hagee. New Orleans deserves better and America does, too.

Thank you very much for all you do.

–Eli, Justin, Lenore, Patrick S., Anna, and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team, Thursday, April 24th, 2008

Sources:

1. "Will MSNBC devote as much coverage to McCain’s embrace of Hagee’s support as it did to Obama’s rejection of Farrakhan?" Media Matters, February 28th, 2008
http://mediamatters.org/items/200802280018

2. "Hagee Says Hurricane Katrina Struck New Orleans ‘Because it was ‘Planning a Sinful Homosexual Rally,’" Think Progress, April 23, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/23/hagee-katrina-mccain/

"Will MSNBC devote as much coverage to McCain’s embrace of Hagee’s support as it did to Obama’s rejection of Farrakhan?" Media Matters, February 28th, 2008
http://mediamatters.org/items/200802280018

3. "Hagee: McCain ’sought my endorsement,’" ThinkProgress, March 20th, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3603&id=12500-5148471-J6FuvA&t=5

"McCain Gets Into Bed with the Religious Right," People For the American Way, February 28th, 2008
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=25053

"McCain Woos the Right, Makes Peace With Falwell," ABC News, March 26th, 2006
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=1779141&page=1

4. "McCain Flip-Flops In 30 Seconds: Hagee Endorsement A ‘Mistake,’ But ‘I’m Glad To Have’ It," ThinkProgress, April 21st, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/21/hagee-flip-flop/

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Today a student at the Law Library came up to me to report that there was a tampon in the toilet of one of the women’s bathrooms that ‘didn’t go down’. Evidently, this problem was just so frightening that she wanted me to ‘call someone’. This was too much problem for budding attorney. I marched into the stall, stomped my foot on the lever, and the tampon was gone.

I felt particularly non-plussed by this after spending my morning listening to the acting chair of the new NCDC committee, Nelson Savoie, tell me how he’d like to hold the election for Chair in executive session just prior to the actual meeting on May 5th.

“Maybe we could all meet like, a half hour before the scheduled public meeting.”, he said. Mind you, the complete membership of this committee has yet to be ratified through the city council. I was just appointed as the representative for Dist. B and we are still waiting for some appointees to go through the process. This is exactly why we had to reform the committee. I broke out into immediate hives at this blatant attempt to skirt public/democratic processes. You’re supposed to, at the very least, start by placing a motion to have an election before the membership. Then you must nominate people.  We still have to write the functioning rules for our committee and those must go through the City Council as well.  Jesus Murphy. 

Then, I started running his New Business agenda items for the next meeting through Velocityhall.com, an online permit tracking system. It seems some of these items on the agenda have already been issued permits. I emailed him about this possible oversight in due process and am waiting to hear back from him. If you’ve been nominated to the NCDC for your district, please be sure to get your paperwork done! Ima need your help!

Getting this committee up and running is going to be a brute force kinda thing. If only I could just as easily move the current acting chair of the NCDC committee along the same route as the tampon.

(The above notepad was given to me by a friend this week, here’s the designer if you’re interested: Mary Phillips Designs)

*A.R. Ammons excerpt from the poem: Garbage

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Those who don’t live in the Mississippi River Basin might not know that the river is currently at or above flood stage along its lower route. To ease the pressure on the river levees–which, for the ten millionth time, were not the levees that failed during Katrina–the now-attentive Army Corps of Engineers has opened the gates to the Bonnet Carré Spillway, injecting Lake Pontchartrain with some of the Mississippi’s silty goodness.

I didn’t think much of it when the floodgates swung open a couple of weeks ago (although some people clearly think about it a lot). But then I drove over the spillway en route to Baton Rouge yesterday, and…well, it’s kinda cool. Water is rushing through little inlets and bayous, and a couple hundred yards into the lake, there’s all this mist–presumably where the warm-ish river water reaches the colder depths of the lake. I didn’t get so obsessed that I pulled over to take pics or anything, but, yeah, it was nifty. See it if you can.

YES, THERE IS VIDEO!
Unfortunately Metblogs makes it impossible to embed, so you’ll have to follow the link.

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