l'automne ne se cache pas...

It's raining. il pleut depuis 4 heures maintenant. c'est déprimant. il fait gris. il fait hiver.

Next Great City: Philly, Really @ National Geographic Traveler

Viva Philly (for tourism or for living ??)...

Too bad that the article neglects to provide readers with the backdrop of the inefficient mayor and the limits of city politics. One example suffices: the article praises the South Philly Athenæum group which hosts 30 artists (mostly music). Its Juniper street location was raided by the ever-gracious L&I (City's official real estate monger) this past week.

Check out the enlarged behinds of the article's main photo - cars included... South Philly style.

Nora is over Bill

Nora Ephron on Bill in The New York Times (timed with the release of Bewitched in France, coincidentally): op-ed on 29 September 2005

Conversations

During the last three days, I have discussions with friends on the following subjects:
- the benefits of Polar watches for swimming/training;
- the beauty of Athens, Greece;
- Mongolian food;
- the disutility of doctorate degrees;
- liverpool v. chelsea;
- Greek panties;
- the philosophy of boredom.

George Bush doesn't care about black people!

The Legendary k.o. remixes a Kayne West song using his comments during an NBC telethon to raise money for Katrina victims. (See links at bottom of comment to download accompanying videos.) Excellent!

Interesting links about Houston

So it's déjà vu: local blogs are popping up, all major newspaper headlines are showing evacuation photos, traffic jams, closed stores, poor people stuck in the coastal towns, some areas looking like ghost towns, etc.

Here are a few links to keep you busy and informed:

Local Houston bloggers - http://houston.metblogs.com/

• Local newspapers - Houston Chronicle, Corpus Christi Caller (subscription only), Dallas morning news
• Dallas Live TV feed - WFAA.com - and Houston Live TV feed - http://www.click2houston.com/index.html

Updates:

Traffic appears to be slowly clearing out this morning in Houston and north of the city - buses are evacuated those stuck in traffic without gas.

The news states that the hurricane is changing path, veering slightly east of Houston, so that the city might be spared. Are people going to let their guard down? Will people turn around and go home, given the traffic jams? High winds gusts and heavy rains are likely even all the way up to Polk County (Livingston), TX. And the levees might still be compromised at the Galveston coastline surf is rising quickly there). Let's hope this is no Alicia for the area (brief note on Alicia - retired name!).

Ritita is not so small

Source: national hurricane centre.

I hope my family, friends and parents' friends located in TX will be safe during this storm. The worst case senario sounds horrendous.

Smiling in the Parisian métro

Ça n'arrive pas souvent. It doesn't happen often. People are not happy to be underground, moving fasting than traffic and at a reasonable cost to get to where they are going. It's one of the reasons I'd rather bike around this city than take public transport. But this weekend, G., Tracey and I experienced people smiling for one hour non-stop during the journées du patrimoine européenes. Regular métro riders waiting on the quais and who were not expecting the 1930s train to pull into the station ressemblaient à des enfants en voyant leurs cadeaux de noël. C'est quand même dingue de voir tout le monde dans le métro en train de sourire. Si seulement c'était comme ça tous les jours...


CMP Compagnie du Chemin de Fer Métropolitain de Paris

Second class

station combat - pas terrible comme nom pour le siège du parti communiste...

wooden seats

RATP candy given out in first class (sièges en acajou, revêtus de cuir)

Second best music trivia moment ever!

Happened last night. Everyone knows that G. will always know more than me about music. I don't even bother most of the time to remember the names of bands, albums, etc. It's pretty pathetic considering that in my yu-t (sic), I spent days making mixed tapes (started with my first stereo system way back in 1983 or 1984). Bref, G. is way too much competition.

But last night, I was listening to a sample song from the Safety Scissors' latest album on Other Music's new release updates and recognised the guest female vocals on L'Amour D'Cuisine as Françoise from Stereo Total. G. was there to verify this story. I was impressed - he said it was an anomaly.

My best moment of music trivia was about 10 years ago in a trivia bar night. In about 2 split seconds I was able to answer the question: "What 1980s European band had a name in Latin?" C'était assez gênant quand même.

Simple jobs become complex

I don't get it. I got a new wheel for my bike yesterday. I've waited patiently (as patient, as I am at least) 9 days to get it and have suffered from bike-withdrawal syndromes. I come home with the new shiny wheel, all excited and bam! There it is - something seemingly obvious becomes a stressful back-breaking multiday operation. The axle is about one centimetre too wide and while I can manage to put the wheel on, the gears are now so out of whack that I have lost two gears (the two extreme ones). The angle is all wrong, etc and I have no idea how to fix it (hints are appreciated!). So now I have to go back to the bike store, but their mechanic is not there right now (middle of the workday on Friday). So, 10 days after breaking the axle on my wheel, I still have no functioning bike. And no end in sight.

Yes, there are worse things in life. People are starving in the world. But why is a simple job so complicated to get right the first time round? Don't even get me started on my dishwasher.

Bébé attacks: 1-0

See - this is why I should not have told anyone that I have a blog. I like my friend Bebemoche, but this is not fair. Actually, to make matters worse, I hadn't even realised that I had to do this until Graham mentioned it. I read Bebemoche's post, but was thinking that Tex was someone else. That'll warn you against using a pseudonym.

("This" by the way if you are too lazy to read the hyperlink is listing the last 10 things I listened to. )

So pathetically, I have to get Graham to help me out because I can't be bothered to do it myself. I don't usually put music on myself - he does it. Dunno why, but I am lazy. I am a big fan of the shuffle function on the I-pod.

1) Cambodian cassette archives (actually a cd) - over dinner - thankfully, we turned it off to watch the brilliant movie I had rented (All or Nothing by Mike Leigh)
2) The Decemberists (Picaresque) - great for running, not that I actually went running recently
3) The Shins
4) Sufjan Stevens - this guy trying to make 50 albums (one for each US state - no La. in the works)
5) TV on the radio
6) The double - Rob from catsup plate sent this to Graham.
7) The Cure - 2.5 hours live at la route du rock 2005 (not an album... sue me)
8) !!!
9) The National - also at la route du rock
10) Bloc Party

Ooof! Passing it right along to my former colleague david. (let's see if he is reading this...)

un moment de silence svp...

People and pets

Pet saving is becoming a big subject in NO-related blogs and newspapers. Ok, yes, I believe that if people are being forced to leave NO, they should have the right to save their pets. I understand the potential danger and reduced efficiency of adding animals to the evacuation lot. So some people decided to stay. Yet, now the people of NO are now faced with a mandatory evacuation. This is a different story. Admittingly, the logistics of adding animals to the list while maintaining some sense of hygiene and limiting resources may prove difficult, but not impossible. Many animal rights organisations are already involved (see http://animaltheory.blogspot.com/ for summary).

Don't get me wrong. I am not a huge save the animals of the world type of person - I live in a city where I am constantly watching where I walk to avoid bringing dog shit home on my shoes; I wear leather shoes; I am not a vegetarian; I am afraid of dogs, any size, any shape. BUT, I would not want to make that choice between my life and Kosmo's - he's kind of like a kid - save the children first, you know? For those of us who have chosen to have pets and/or children, we should have the right to treat them equally.

To help the pets, you can sign the petition to have Mayor Nagin amend the city's emergency order to evacuate the city's residents and their pets (dated Sept. 6, 2005) and/or donate to the American Humane Association.

God outdoes terrorists

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/40305

Shocking Katrina - A vacuum of leadership

The world is upset or in shock at the impact of Katrina on New Orleans and the slow response system that has affected disproportionately the poor and minority communities of the devastated area.

I can't add much to the discussion. But I am not surprised of the horror unfolding since last Monday. (Last Wednesday, I estimated that the death toll could reach 20 000 when the press was still talking about a few thousand. I am afraid that it might come true.)

I was already telling friends on Friday that it is not acceptable for the US president only to fly over the scene and wait so many days before shaking hands and hugging Katrina survivors. The photo opps are symbolic, but representative of the country's united support. Even if you like the guy, it is difficult to deny that Bush's lack of leadership this week was unprecedented in his presidency.

A while ago, right after September 11, I worked on a consulting project examining the challenges of local governments in preparing for a bioterrorism emergency. One critical element we identified for a dynamic response was consequence management. "Perhaps sustained and successful attention to consequence management will provide a form of prevention, as the threat moves toward targets likely to yield more spectacular results." High-tech communication infrastructure, reliable resource and incident management systems and updated emergency response systems can reduce mortality and morbidity in emergency situations.

Of all the things I have read recently, I find these articles most interesting:

Excellent summary of the communication problems in today's Le Monde

How state governments have assisted displaced folks

Lines of authority (by Paul Krugman)

FEMA and budget shifting

International donors

Will donors face the same generosity ranking as for the tsunami response?