Under anesthetic, subdivided and synthetic

This morning, crows. Dozens if not hundreds. Cawwing. Neighbor: "It's like Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds -- is this normal for Kansas?" Ma'am, you're assuming there is a normal for Kansas. Our daily weather patterns are straight out of a D20 roleplaying random weather generator table, our people range the gamut from the mindbogglingly brilliant to the most cretinous mouthbreathers who schlorped their way from the primordial soup -- there is no normal here.

I love how, amid the Katrina calamity, the N'Awlins Saints could've become the new "America's Team," but despite the newfound goodwill toward the team, the owner seems hell-bent on moving them to San Antonio (managing to stay quiet to avoid breaking league rules that forbid discussing moving a team mid-season) and also has taken to beating up the media. Just die.

New SCOTUS nominee. This one's actually a judge. Already a quantum leap.

Yes, I rooted for the Bolts, to keep them in the running, and yes, I felt a little guilty. Get better, Priest. The Vikings need you.

Dude, Brett Favre is a class act, even -- no, especially in defeat. You are not. Die.

Hallomeme third most popular blog link yesterday, behind Technocrati and How Much is Your Blog Worth? At one point yesterday 26,265 people had taken it. This is me agog. =:O Storage space: 187.04 MB used, 112.96 free. Traffic: 1433 MB used, 8567.08 MB free. Looks like I just might make it after all....

Edit: One of the instructors stopped by and talked to me for a second, and after talking to me immediately afterwards charged into her classroom and announced "I think the quote of the day is 'I'd feel better if I had more cough syrup,'" to which one of the girls in the class announced enthusiastically "I would!"

Dolphin assassins menace Gulf of Mexico | The Register

Heavily-armed, frightened, and confused. No, we don't mean the Bush Administration, but a group of killer dolphins trained by the US Navy and lately washed into the Gulf of Mexico by Hurricane Katrina, if The Guardian is to be believed.

I know it's late, but it merits mentioning, perhaps even several times, if only for the subhed: Rogue cetacean death squad may be armed. Yes, a made-for-Sci-Fi-channel movie plays itself out in real life. And once more, the Onion has seen it coming.

Stupid Quotes About Hurricane Katrina - Stupidest Hurricane Katrina Quotes: Yeah, I know, just 25?

5) "Considering the dire circumstances that we have in New Orleans, virtually a city that has been destroyed, things are going relatively well." —FEMA Director Michael Brown, Sept. 1, 2005

Astrodome - a photoset on Flickr

Pictures from Technology for All's installation of computers in the Astrodome. Wow.

Edit: IM transcript from a blogger hiding out in the dome. Warning: unsubstantiated rumors, allegations and pretty depressing stuff herein. Sorry, missmiah.

Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said it all, starting his news briefing Saturday afternoon: "Louisiana is a city that is largely underwater..."

Well there's your problem right there.

If ever a slip-of-the-tongue defined a government's response to a crisis, this was it....

He goes on, and it's worth reading, but no more details for those on the edge of burnout. Aren't we all?

Oh, and FEMA says don't take pictures of the bodies. Nice for them to finally be in a position to request such, unlikef last week....

Via mightygodking, Barbara Bush the Elder channels Marie Antoinette, referring to evacuees now living in the Astrodome:

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she chuckles slightly) is working very well for them."

Xeni notes: An article on the Army Times web page is referring to American citizens in New Orleans as "the insurgency". Does this mean the United States is now in an undeclared state of civil war?