Memories of New Orleans

by philg



Here’s a snapshot taken in New Orleans in 1994. I was driving out to take a summer job at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Some additional potentially interesting photos:


My one friend down there is safe and sound: http://ernieattorney.typepad.com/


It is worrisome that the zoo and downtown Aquarium of the Americas have not updated their Web site with any news about the animals: http://www.auduboninstitute.org/aoa/index.php (this news story is hopeful, however).


Best wishes to any readers from New Orleans and good luck with the rebuilding.

13 thoughts on “Memories of New Orleans”

  1. It’s sad it happened, especialy with many victims. But it was inevitable, I hope that not only will the city be rebuilt to it’s original glory – I still hope to visit there one day – but this time more will be done to protect it.

    A couple of years ago I saw a documentary almost ridiculing the powers that be on their ignorance. Living below sea level doesn’t need to be a problem, but you do need Dutch style protection, as otherwise one day it will come back to haunt you, as the Dutch learned in ’53…

  2. Your Legoland funeral shot… I at first missed the “Lego” part and was taken aback as to why you would upload such a low res shot!! Doh!

  4. Your Lego funeral had me for a few seconds also. I looked at the “people” on the lower res image and for a few seconds they appeared to me to be in costume (poor taste at a funeral but a distinct possibility in New Orleans).
    Bad idea or not, New Orleans will be rebuilt. Bulldogs have nothing on people as far as stubbornness. But will having a Hurricane at Pat O’Briens ever be the same?

  5. Philip wrote: “It is worrisome that the zoo and downtown Aquarium of the Americas have not updated their Web site with any news about the animals…”

    Hundreds of people dead, tens of thousands homeless, corpses floating through the streets. But your one friend there is OK, so it’s time to (publicly) fret over the animals.

    Get a grip.

  6. George: I feel badly for the people in New Orleans but they are being looked after by federal and state authorities as well as the U.S. military. It is not clear what a private citizen can add in these circumstances. As for the dead, it is too late to worry for their welfare. By contrast, no Blackhawks are coming for the animals in the aquarium and the zoo. We took them out of their native environment, they didn’t choose to live below sea level in a hurricane-prone region, and I think we therefore carry some responsibility for them. I don’t think that it is a zero-sum game in which wondering what will become of the animals prevents one from feeling sorrow for the human losses.

  7. Apparently somebody cares:

    http://news.mongabay.com/2005/0830-new_orleans_aquarium.html

    New Orleans Aquarium, Zoo escape Hurricane Katrina September 1, 2005 (updated 6:58 pm Eastern)

    According to the story, this was largely due to the high ground that the French Quarter sits on, preparations made by the staff and the presence of a running generator at the aquarium.

    The five-p’s in action… Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance. Now if only the people in charge of human well-being could be held to the same standard.

  8. Phil, am surprised that you have not spoken about the obvious incompetence of NO Mayor and LA Governor in regards to what is essentially an “ignore the engineers” catastrophic failure. Not having backup generators around to keep the pumping stations going? Allowing the evacuation buses to get flooded under 6+ feet of water, thereby rendering them useless? And a myriad of other screwups small and large that added up to this. Amazingly, there are $3.99-a-month website providers that put more thought into planning for emergencies than apparently happened in a large-ish city of 213,000 buildings and hundreds of thousands of people. BTW the Mayor of NO is in Baton Rouge already, and sent his family out of the city well before issuing the evacuation order.

  9. PatrickG: The U.S. has nearly lost just about every war that we’ve entered, including, I suppose, this war against the elements. In World War II, for example, we were getting slaughtered by German forces whom we outnumbered substantially. After a few months or years we tend to develop improved tactics and overwhelm the enemy with material resources and manpower. Though I haven’t been following the news carefully or seen any TV coverage (just occasional text news reports on the Web), New Orleans seems to be playing out similarly. Eventually the U.S. authorities will prevail but it will take 2X longer and cost more than 10X as much as an optimal approach.

  10. looks like more than a few people have worried about this… there was a short blurb on it in the wall street journal today, and there’s a quick summary of it on wired magazine’s website. Looks like the zoo did a lot of planning (and is on high ground), so by and large, the animals are fine.

  11. Well,while the zoo may be OK, Knight Ridder is saying that a third of the fish have died at the aquarium. And two of the otters. Can’t understand why they’re operations weren’t set up like the zoo with backup power and such.

  12. Hi Keith<br/>I read that many of the fish that died were already ill (in the wsj), though I hadn’t read that a full third of them died – that’s a lot. Also hadn’t heard about the otters – where did you hear/read about that?

  13. Thank you Phillip,

    Been very busy and never got a chance to live behind anything. The last time I write to you, I’m in the hospital, today I’m still resting as I was just back from another treatment. I will spend this morning reading the rest of your message.

    Love, light and peace,
    NRDanielle

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