Happy New Year from Dysfunctional Louisiana!

It's illegal to chase a fish in a city park; A guide to silly LA Laws from WAFB

Smiley Anders for December 30 - The Advocate

Edwin Edwards lands reality TV show - The Advocate
Entitled "The Governor's Wife," it will star EWE's third wife and - well, ya gotta read the article!

16 days...

from So Much Pun

From TheFW

A Thanksgiving Advent Calendar 2012

Election Day in America

The next 24+ hours ought to be a wild ride!  I voted this morning at about 7:00 am, then made my way to the brand new university bookstore for a celebratory croissant -- er, all-American muffin.  Just my luck, the cafe was closed for a water leak so I ended up in the library with better coffee but inferior baked goods.

Four years ago I was watching election returns from my tiny apartment in Austria -- after months of explaining the election process, dissecting candidate speeches, and debating the issues with my students.

My practical explanation of the electoral college was a stroke of genius.  Most of my students in the BAKIP Liezen (a high school that trained future kindergarten teachers) were girls.  So I divided them into two states, the Blondes and the Brunettes (the two redheads were our presidential candidates).  There were 7 Blondes and 5 Brunettes - based on population, the Blonde state would have more electoral votes and determine the next president.  All the Brunettes voted for Candidate 1 (I think her name was Sabrina) and three of the Blondes voted for Candidate 1.  The popular vote therefore was eight individuals for Candidate 1.  Four of the Blondes voted for Candidate 2, which meant that the majority of the Blonde state voted for Candidate 2. Because the Blonde state had the higher population, their majority vote counted more so Candidate 2 lost the popular vote but won the Electoral College.

After this brilliant demonstration of the drawbacks of electoral college voting, one of my students raised her hand and asked, totally serious: "But, how do they know in the United States whether you're blonde or brunette, and can't you just dye your hair before the election?" (If I may invoke the stereotype, she was surprisingly NOT a blonde!)

So it will be interesting to see what the next 24 hours will bring: what will happen in the swing states and how the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy will affect the voting.  It could be much more controversial than the 2000 election, with disenfranchised voters and the possibility that people in New York (with the highly coveted 29 electoral votes) could get an extra day of voting and knowledge of what's needed to make or break a candidate.  I have a feeling the election won't be decided today or tomorrow.  Any predictions?

UPDATE, Thursday 11/8:  Obama:  332  Romney:  206  -  Florida hasn't yet made their results official but it wouldn't affect the outcome.  The popular vote was much closer than in 2008, and about 10 million fewer people voted (interesting!).  The American people have spoken. Can we talk about something else now? :-)

My week - my semester

Only two of the first five weeks of the semester have been full five-day weeks.  First we had a hurricane (Week 2), then we had Labor Day (Week 3) - this week (Week 5) we had a bomb threat! I'm just going to link some interesting tweets from Heavy.com (note, supposedly Mike the Tiger was evacuated before the faculty and students were notified). The perpetrator is in jail, and I'm just assuming his motive was to spend the next 35 years there.  Because seriously, this crime is somewhere between yelling fire in a crowded movie house and domestic terrorism. You just don't do that!

Mike the Tiger (Wikipedia)

Last Friday I had my own excitement (see below). I've spent most of this week helping a friend and neighbor move. I'm giving an exam tomorrow, teaching, then I'm coming home to collapse!

Success?

Wednesday night - spring trap sprung - suspect possibly injured.
Thursday afternoon - entry holes filled with industrial foam; five sticky traps set. Maintenance on alert.
Thursday night - no nocturnal visitors. Yay!

I'm not wild about sticky traps, but I wasn't about to share my apartment with anything larger than an m-o-u-s-e with the leaping capabilities of Rocky the Flying Squirrel.

Friday night, 12:27 am (technically Saturday) - Scratching noises in the front room.

oh. no.  I'm going to have to deal with this alone.

Put on shoes and a long sleeved sweater for protection, pick up an old telescoping curtain rod. Turn on the light in the front room.

Eww.
It's a dirty, filthy [rodent that's larger than an m-o-u-s-e]  -- sorry, Dad!

Screw courage to the sticking point (pun intended)...

Set up paper sack (with handles!) on the porch. Stick curtain rod onto sticky trap.  Slide sticky trap to door.  Lift gently into sack. Consider leaving sack on porch til morning. Decide to take a little walk to the dumpster -- keys and pepper spray in one hand, sack in the other.

Compartmentalize... rationalize... justify... it's my apartment, damn it!

Moral of the story:  Sticky traps work.  I hope I only need one of them.

Guess that critter!

Hint: it's not Mickey!

Two nights ago I was awakened by a noise in the front room. I went out to investigate, but found nothing. Figuring someone had walked past the open window with heavy boots, I went back to bed. Imagine my surprise when the next afternoon I discovered that something had nibbled my $2.79 per pound Jazz (tm) apples in the fruit bowl on the table!

This has happened once before, in 2010 -- at the time, I accused my houseguest of importing a foreign mouse into my apartment. Immediately I went out and bought two kinds of traps: the traditional "I'll snap you in two" trap and the humane live trap. The critter could decide which one he'd rather nibble from. The spring trap was tripped one night but nothing was caught. Whatever it was got a little bolder and nibbled some Zotter Matcha drinking chocolate. But the disturbances didn't last, and I figured s/he just got bored with the offerings in my apartment.

 Last night I awoke to a crash -- dreading what I might find, I peered into what passes for a dining room in my third story 1-bedroom flat. A small glass bud vase had toppled from a shelf, and took a piece out of a larger flower vase below. Whatever it is is herbivorous, preferring apples and house plants to peanut butter in the spring trap. It also jumped onto the shelf, a distance of 2-3 feet. I'm not convinced it's a mouse... other suggestions are "that rodent bigger than a mouse" (I don't dare write it out, 'cos my murophobic dad reads my blog), a squirrel, a bunny, an escaped ferret or the ever popular "nootria" (the one that lives in the garbage disposal and eats leftover pizza).

 Any other suggestions? I'm going to have my camera ready tonight -- and a list of symptoms for bubonic plague and the hantavirus bookmarked on my computer!

Random thought of the day

SINCE WHEN did this come back in style?! The gym shorts that we abhorred in junior high (in Central Baby Hawklet red and white, of course) are now some sort of fashion statement. Everyone is wearing them - at least all the girls on campus. Oh sure, they call them "running shorts" and they have other colors (neon is hot these days). But you can't fool me... they're freakin' GYM SHORTS! How is that at all appropriate to wear out in public? I confess, I think I'm getting old. I don't understand pajama pants or sports bras or Crocs or flip flops as fashion statements. Anyone want to add to the list?

All clear

Arrived home a little after 4:00 pm and to my delight discovered that power had been restored (despite the sketchy looking cable dragged across the parking lot by a fallen tree limb). A big hand to the 10,000 Entergy workers from 26 states who are in the Gulf South to clean up after Isaac and get the air-conditioning back on!

LSU classes resume Friday, just in time for the Labor Day weekend.  More important, LSU's first home football game takes place Saturday.  Any connection between the two events is purely coincidental!

Thursday Noon

Hanging out at the University today where there's still electricity, air conditioning, and internet.  All of the above has been out at my place since about 9:00 Wednesday morning.  I spent the day watching the palm tree outside my window do its best imitation of Willow Smith's "I whip my hair back and forth" (sorry about the ad!). After about 12 hours of serious wind and rain, it all suddenly stopped last night at about 10:30.  There's currently a little bit of blue sky peeking through the clouds -- but don't forget, sunshine means higher temperatures and without electricity there's no air conditioning at the apartment!

Wednesday morning

Surprisingly, I've still got power here shortly before 6:00 am, but that's not going to last too long I suspect.  Waking up to sustained winds of 20 mph (32 km/h) with gusts up to 50 mph (80km/h).  The wind speeds are expect to increase. The reports I'm hearing say that the storm will linger over Baton Rouge for 24 hours (!) and bring lots and lots and lots and lots of rain (10-15 inches, 25-38 cm).  The center of circulation, or eye, will pass directly over Baton Rouge this afternoon. If that is the case we can expect most of the damage from downed trees. The same thing happened with Katrina: the ground got saturated with water, the winds blew from east to west on the north side of the storm, and from west to east when the south side of the storm passed over.  Trees just toppled and crushed houses.

Luckily the trees around my apartment probably won't do much damage to my place or car. I'll check in again when I can. Keep a good thought, everybody!

Cue Tom Petty...

... the waiting IS the hardest part!

Tropical Storm Isaac has just been upgraded to a hurricane. Landfall along the coast of Louisiana is expected sometime tonight.  Coincidentally, tomorrow is the 7th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and Isaac is following the same path.

Hurricane Katrina (Wikipedia)

There's not much to do now but sit and wait.  I was a little ahead of the curve, buying water, staples, and batteries on Sunday.  I hit the gas station yesterday morning before the rush - by afternoon people were having to drive all over town to find a station with gas to sell.  At around 4:00 pm, LSU announced that classes would be canceled Tuesday and Wednesday.

I made the decision to stay put, rather than evacuate. The dangers on the coast or in New Orleans are greater than in Baton Rouge.  Here there is little danger of flooding, the wind will have lost some velocity after traveling 100 miles inland, although wind damage and rain could cause the roof to leak. Besides, I weathered Hurricane Katrina in Baton Rouge in 2005 and a 12-hour power outage was the worst thing that happened.

The power outages are what worry me most.  Friends who were in BR for Gustav were without power for between 10 days and 3 weeks (!).  That means no refrigeration, no air conditioning, no hot water, no hot food, no coffee... and no internet! No contact with the outside world, no way of knowing what is happening in New Orleans, or down the block.

So until the power actually goes out, there's not much to do but sit in front of the still glowing computer screen, and click refresh on the various storm radars.  These are the most dramatic:


The Weather Channel loop (click the map to zoom in to the Gulf Coast)
The NOAA Rainbow loop


It is a helpless feeling to see this huge amorphous blob heading towards that little group of pixels that represents your neighborhood.  But it is also impossible to get any work done, as the wind picks up in the courtyard and you wonder just when this adventure will go from an unexpected school vacation to Survivor: Baton Rouge!

Here we go again!

LSU has canceled classes Tuesday and Wednesday.  I've got water, batteries, non-perishable food and a full tank of gas. The storm (and we hope that it remains a tropical storm and doesn't develop into a Category 1 or 2 hurricane!) will likely arrive on the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, in the wee hours of 8/29.

If anyone wants to drink a Hurricane cocktail in solidarity with me, here's the recipe:

I get all my news from WAFB.  Check out www.wafb.com for the latest information.

RIP Andy Griffith

Family legend says that I was born during an episode of The Andy Griffith Show. Whether or not that claim can be documented, I am proud to be a member of TAGS generation! How much influence has TAGS had in my life? The Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club was established in the same dormitory where I lived during my time at Vanderbilt University. And when the Andy Griffith Show trivia board game came out, either my father or I ran the categories, giving the other contestants no chance. To this day when reruns come on, we first determine whether the episode is in black and white or color. Then we compete to be the first to figure out which episode it is. Only a handful of color episodes are worth watching, usually the ones featuring the return of Don Knotts as Barney Fife -- although I am partial to the “Spaghetti Dinner” - the secret ingredient is... (whisper) oregano. 

The black and white episodes are far superior, with their life lessons and eccentric characters. Favorite episodes include the Pickle Story, The Loaded Goat, Three Wishes for Opie, and Dogs, Dogs, Dogs (featuring the classic line, "Boy, giraffes are selfish").  Who could forget the Darlings and Ernest T. Bass, Malcolm Merriweather, Otis the town drunk, and Cousin Virgil? So many stars appeared on TAGS before they were really famous, including Bill Bixby and Jack Nicholson.

Few entertainers today possess the moral character to be considered a national treasure. Andy Griffith was just such a performer -- a storyteller, musician, actor and homespun philosopher. His comedy routines, movies, television shows and specials were free (for the most part) from adult language and innuendo. TAGS was quietly successful, providing a generation with lessons about personal responsibility, acceptance, and genuine kindness towards one another. Mayberry has always exemplified ideal American values -- a utopia that exists in reruns, and in the hearts of those who were raised on The Andy Griffith Show.

Amaryllis

For more sketches, see my Photostream :-)

Decorah Eagles LIVE!

The Decorah Eagles are back for another season!  Egg #1 was laid 2/17, Egg #2 arrived 2/20. Can we hope for a third egg later this week?! Anticipated hatch time is about a week before last year, so the  excitement builds at the end of March. In the meantime, watch mom and dad as they battle the elements and tend the eggs and each other, surviving on take-out squirrel and trout!



Streaming live video by Ustream


P.S. HAPPY MARDI GRAS, y'all! ;-)

Vivat Wikipedia!

Crow gathering at Laxenburg, Austria, December 2006

I have a love/hate relationship with Wikipedia.  On the one hand, it makes my job as a college educator very difficult, because the current generation thinks that Wikipedia is a one-stop shop for all your research needs.  I found out the limitations of Wikipedia as a research tool in 2006, when I was writing a paper for a 4000-level German class.  Frederick the Great was one of the main characters in the book I had chosen to write about (Das Odfeld - Odin’s Field - by Wilhelm Raabe.  Fabulous read - just downloaded it for free in German on Kindle! here’s a slideshow of the plot by German high school students).  The English Wikipedia article at that time focused solely on his sexuality (this has now been reduced to a section). Despite my warnings, my students tend to rely too much on Wikipedia and internet sources in general. 

Another kind of piracy -
Byron's autograph on the temple of Poseidon at Sounion
From superfluidity.com

But Wikipedia and other shared websites have legitimate uses!  For example, if you happen to have been born on January 22, you share a birthday with Lord Byron, Rasputin, and Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (while we’re on the topic of German literature, make sure you read the “Three Ring Parable,”  one of my all-time favorite stories).  Telly Savalas and Heath Ledger both died on January 22, Roe vs. Wade was decided, and David Bowie came out as bisexual. 

Websites like YouTube and Vimeo can show you wonders such as the dangers of deep fat frying turkeys (a specialty in Louisiana),  "Sir" Oliver Mally (the greatest!! Austrian blues musician), or a murmuration of starlings, which still gives me chills - the kind I imagine Magister Buchius experienced when he saw the battle of ravens over Odin's Field.

"Sir" Oliver Mally - Buy his albums!

The internet is an information junkie’s Nirvana.  And if you’re reading this post, you’ve learned something today because the law allowed me to share it.  Vivat Wikipedia, Stop SOPA/PIPA and God bless America!