I Should Note

our dictator decided not to fritter around playing the guitar or eating a birthday cake or whatever he was doing during Katrina and went to Iowa to check out how big a mess it is because of the floods.

He said these are really tough times especially for the tiny towns affected by the floods, and he brought a bunch of federal officials who presumably were more qualified than Brownie to help in the rebuilding phase.

Since it is an AP article, I am not going to quote from it. :)

I should note since Blogger started allowing the tagging of posts, I have had only 53 mentions of our dictator so far, versus 661 of Barack Obama (not counting subcategories including his name), 123 of John McCain (not including subcategories), and 504 of Hillary Clinton (also not including subcategories). In other words, our dictator is fading into well-deserved obscurity.

Miscellaneous News.

Are pet weddings next on the horizon?
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Levees in eastern and southeastern Iowa held up through the night even as U.S. officials warn of more of them breaking as a result of the midwest floods.
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Firefox 3, which debuted yesterday, is a big improvement over the previous version.
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How much of a problem is the unwanted horse issue?
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Miscellaneous.

The Associated Press tries to jealously guard its stories pilfered from other sources by attempting to crack down on bloggers pilfering from THEIR reports.

The AP wants to create guidelines for bloggers to use their reports without them going overboard.

Of course, AP goes around and looks at blogs for content for their news stories, but the bloggers aren't asking AP to acknowledge them.

You have to read the article; I am not going to post excerpts.
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The latest on the Iowa floods is here.
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One of the pit bulls rescued in the Vick case is now helping cancer patients:


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Miscellaneous News.

There is a reason for those hillside letters adorning the hills surrounding the Truckee Meadows, and it has nothing to do with airplane navigation.



Here is more information about the hillside letters:

These monograms, usually of respectable antiquity, are part of community and landscape history. To some extent they reflect the spirit of the time when most were constructed, before environmental preservation and esthetics became concerns in our culture. Of the nearly 250 letters mapped, virtually all have been produced by student groups and represent their institutions. The letters remain a conspicuous and durable part of the identity of many communities, fortifying institutional allegiances and the sense of place. Occasionally they arouse antipathies among those who are offended by the intrusion of the human hand on often dramatic scenery. However, for travelers in the arid West the letters are "anchors to the eye," adding diversity and interest to the natural beauty of the landscape.

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As somebody has experienced what rats are like, this had to be unbearable.

Make sure you watch the video.
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The water is cresting in Iowa City.
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Doris Day's image might have been squeaky clean image, but her much of her own life was a mess:

She went to see Levy's business partners at Century Artists, Richard Dorso and Marty Melcher, and Levy was forced to relocate to New York to run the firm's office there to avoid her pressing charges.

But no sooner was Levy gone than Marty Melcher moved in on her - and she started sleeping with him, too, as well as teaching him about Christian Science.

So she was now seeing Marty Melcher, George Weidler, Jack Carson - and her handsome co- star in another film, Steve Cochran, boyfriend of none other than Joan Crawford, who would always hate Doris for stealing her man.

Cochran was a notorious womaniser, whose formidable vital statistics had earned him the Hollywood nickname 'Mr King Size'. As if this wasn't enough, Doris was also sleeping with one of the openly gay bit-part actors from the musical The West Point Story, and was involved with yet another star, a certain Ronald Reagan.

No wonder Oscar Levant said what he said about knowing her before she was a virgin.

Des Moines

has become the New Orleans of this year as it has been severely flooded.

The link is a special report section of the floods.

The University of Iowa has done all it can, but the flood waters aren't expected to crest until Tuesday:

University officials estimated that one-eighth of the campus already has been directly impacted by flood water, with an expected crest of the swollen Iowa River on Tuesday.

“We should be done by 5 this afternoon, and then all we can do is wait,” Mason said today. “We will have done all we can.”

The Iowa River had caused major damage by Saturday even though the crest was at least two days away. The river is expected to reach 33 feet to 34 feet late Monday or early Tuesday, far above the 25-foot flood stage.

Only one bridge connecting the east and west sides of downtown Iowa City remained open, and officials said it may have to be closed this weekend.

The Iowa River surged another 2 feet in just 12 hours into Friday, forcing the University of Iowa to shut down the power plant that provides service to the University of Iowa Hospitals and other university buildings.

Cedar Rapids has been a complete mess.
However, the Cedar River is said to be dropping rapidly.

This is what Cedar Rapids looked like two days ago:



This is a good video clip of the Des Moines flood uploaded yesterday: