Crawfish
First crawfish boil of the year.
Hosted by Zack. If this is any indication, this is going to be a great year. Not only were the crawfish tasty, Zack uncovered an LP of Robert Palmer’s Some People Can Do What They Like. Been a while since I heard that one with just the right amount of pops and clicks. Carl and Matt were in town and got to enjoy a little of the Louisiana hospitality.
Took advantage of having friends in town to remind myself of life in New Orleans. Hung out at the Old Point bar and listened to Jack Fine and the Algiers Stompers before taking the ferry back across the river for some dinner in the French Quarter and catching Alex McMurray at the Circle Bar.
Also managed to sneek in Kermit Ruffins, Joe Krown’s Organ Combo, the Fessters, the New Orleans Jazz Vipers and scores of other shows, sets, and street musicians.
This truly is a unique and blessed city.
Another great mardi gras. Highlights included a fun party hosted by EditorB on Samedi Gras for the Endemyon Parade and the ever amazing collection of costumes at the St. Ann’s parade.
We went out as the Solid Gold Dancers.
But if you want to get a the full impact of Mardi Gras beyond the tourist zone, check out the great images captured by the bayou dog.
I guess nobody saw this one coming.
The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss. – January 30, 2005
Jan. 30–When the Louisiana Lottery began in 1991, the perception among residents was that the money would go toward improving education in the state.
While education did receive some funds from the lottery, it didn’t get money from the state’s general fund.
“When the lottery was put forth, it was a misconception that the money was going towards education,” said Gary Reed, who works in the Legislative Affairs office of the Louisiana Department of Education. “It was almost kind of a shell game.
“The money was earmarked for education, but it went into the general fund,” he said. “It’s hard to say if we were any better off or worse off.”
A smile like that. ‘nuf said.
I used to naively wonder how societies allowed themselves to be controlled by undemocratic regimes. In our case, it appears that it is simply that no one wants to bother with the uncomfortable details. We have gotten to the point where we don’t believe anything so how can we really know? He says, she says. At least the TV is good.
The statisticians go on to note that precincts with hand-counted paper ballots showed no statistical discrepancy between the exit polls and the official results, but for other voting technologies, the overall discrepancy was far larger than the polls’ margin of error.
The study, “Response to Edison/Mitofsky Election System 2004 Report”, was co-authored by a diverse group of academicians specializing in statistics and mathematics affiliated with University of Notre Dame, University of Pennsylvania, University of Utah, Cornell University, University of Wisconsin, Southern Methodist University, Case Western Reserve University and Temple University. Their study does not support claims made by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International that exit poll errors were to blame for the unprecedented 5.5% discrepancy between exit polls and official 2004 election results.