i'd like to talk to you about DUCTS

the thingy broke and something beeped and then we did a thing for a couple hours and the thingy must be okay now because nothing is beeping and i'm going to back to bed.

something about shared memory segments and heaps and pools and objects and anyway we needed more gig on our oracle because hole area nocked off

hi, internet.

The effect of Katrina on energy and the world economy

From that hysterical voice of apocalyptic leftist scaremongering, the Wall Street Journal:

Some highlights:

"The storm cut off about two million barrels a day of crude-oil refining capacity, resulting in the loss of one million barrels a day of gasoline production -- or 10% of U.S. demand. Four refineries that together represent about 5% of U.S. oil-refining capacity will be out of commission for at least a month, while another 5% of refinery capacity knocked out by Katrina appears likely to restart in coming days and weeks."

"The federal government's decision to release crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is helping some crude-choked refineries resume normal operations. But ultimately restoring sufficient gasoline production appears to rely most heavily on repairing the refineries, not adding more crude oil to the market."

"The huge blow to the Gulf of Mexico has led to long lines at filling stations in much of the U.S., and outright shortages in some places. Panic buying of gasoline was reported as far away as the Czech Republic. "

"...the world has now started running on its reserve fuel tanks -- oil and refined products stockpiled over the past two decades for use only in true emergencies. Western oil companies are already pumping at full capacity. Russia, the world's No. 2 producer, is producing all it can. Even Saudi Arabia, the top exporter, and its fellow members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries can do little to alleviate the emerging crisis. OPEC has spare capacity of some 1.5 million barrels a day -- which is just about equivalent to the production lost last week in the Gulf of Mexico because of Hurricane Katrina."

( full story here )

At long last they have no sense of decency

Let's test out our torture toys on hurricane victims!

In less serious news

This just in from the Hope Melon Fest in Arkansas: a new record has been set for the world's largest watermelon, courtesy of the insane Bright family.

Ladies.. and...Gentlemen!

From Montclair, California, in the heart of the Inland Empire, it's Valeron and his mistress Dominae! 909 vampire BDSM repre-fuckin'-sent!

Occupation: Accountant for a retirement home.

Here's a shot of him "Pondering the Cold Dark Wasteland of Eternity" (his phrase). Note the Shot Glass of Evil from Spencer's Gifts.

iconography for iconoclasts

The latest addition to my collection of too many icons: three I made from gcrumb's photo of an unusual warning sign.

The Raft of the Medusa

( Larger version here )

It's a famous painting, often parodied or quoted. Months ago I was talking to eyeteeth about it and we started looking up its history. The shipwreck and the painting have a story to tell that's pertinent today.

After Napoleon was deposed, the French got a new royal government, the Bourbons. Shortly after they took over they sent some ships to West Africa on a colonial adventure. The Medusa carried 400 passengers and 160 crew.

The captain was an inexperienced political employee who should not have been given charge of a ship. He was chosen for his loyalty to the new regime, and was disliked by his crew.

The Medusa ran aground, and Captain De Chaumereys proceeded to fuck everything up. Instead of trying to float the ship free, he abandoned her. Special important privileged people were put in lifeboats, and everyone else was dumped on a raft. The lifeboats were to tow the raft.

Pretty soon the aristocrats in the lifeboats found it tiresome to pull the lesser beings in the raft and cut it loose. Their shipmates were now floating helplessly.

When the raft was found two weeks later, there were 15 survivors out of the 149 who had been abandoned and set adrift. Suicide, murder, and starvation took them. Five more died after their rescue. The French government declined to help the survivors to return home, so the British navy repatriated them.

The attempt at a coverup of this failed; survivors made sure that newspapers heard about it and at least one survivor published a popular book. Géricault was inspired to create the classic you see above, which was praised or condemned according to the politics of the viewer. The government nearly fell, and the captain was found guilty at court martial.

It was clear that some people on the raft had behaved badly (murder, cannibalism, madness). The blame for their degradation was, however, also clear. An arrogant government had given charge of people's lives to an ignorant toady who had then shown incompetence and disregard for human life. The privileged had been saved and the others left to die.

In sum, the disaster and its aftermath showed the French people the true colors of their government.