The wizard had mostly retired by the time of the quakes.

And yeah, it reminded me of New Orleans too.

The day after the quake hit I was talking with some friends, and we were discussing the future of Christchurch. Some people left, some people felt there was no future, but most of us thought some good could come out of it. We could have a future city, built around sustainability; somewhere that would attract people to live in it.

Right now, I don't see that happening. In some ways, this needed a dictatorship, but instead everything has been buried in committees and insurance companies have tried to weasel out of everything and made peoples lives a misery.

I still hope we'll get something cool out of it, but I'm no longer as confident as I once was. Too much short term thinking and bitching about spending too much money.

How did the wizard fair? Was he still out there doing his thing when the quake hit? I had a great time with him in the late 80's. He was a fixture of the town at that time, I hope he's still there trying to sell his 'inside out universe' and 'upside down globe' theories, along with all the other insanity he spouted so gleefully.
It's so sad to see the damage still so bad 4 years later. Hints of New Orleans in that. It was such a beautiful place (and still is, but obviously in recovery).
One good thing though, this gives Christchurch the opportunity to become the most technologically advanced city in NZ, or even the entire southern hemisphere. Since the infrastructure needs to be rebuilt anyway, youall can do it right instead of just plastering over rust and broken concrete (like we do here in the US). Fingers crossed that it gets done the right way, and not just bandaged over with last century tech.
I SOOOO want to come back there and visit again. Most beautiful country and people (on the inside anyway) anywhere on earth. I miss it badly.

The issue is a concern for the southern part of Louisiana. It is said we lose one football field of protection (from hurricanes) each year - to erosion.

New Orleans does have a levy system along, Lake Pontchartrain, the Mississippi River and various canals. There has been maintenance on them since Katrina.

Your video, New Orleans Jazz Band Cover The 'Game Of Thrones' Theme, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

quite true. any notion of a child in imminent danger here?

while i realize there can be situations that justify entrance without a warrant...this power is extremely abused.
i'll note that i worked as an attorney representing victims of domestic violence in New Orleans under a federal grant for about 2 years.

i'll say this about the cops in these types of situations: in exigent situations, cops tend to be very, very light fingered. anything in "plain view" may be confiscated as evidence, and then it is good-fucking-bye.

I didn't hear any Louisiana accents in the video. The woman narrating speaks the way other people do in videos on how something is made.

I'm from New Orleans.

For correcting my confusion with regard to self-promotes on this video:

http://videosift.com/video/New-Orleans-Jazz-Band-Tuba-Skinny-live-in-Concert

And for the promote you did there - I wasn't sure if it was intentional, so.

Another New Orleans one:

http://videosift.com/video/Trash-Container-Swimming-Pool

Graffiti art has been big here since Katrina. It also has been controversial. There was a ANTI-graffiti vigilante, The Gray Ghost, who painted out graffiti around the city. He made the mistake of painting over a legitimate mural.

http://www.bestofneworleans.com/blogofneworleans/archives/2011/08/04/vigilante-vigilante-the-gray-ghost-speaks

He and Banksy got into it.

http://weburbanist.com/2010/09/11/banksy-vs-the-gray-ghost-in-new-orleans/

One from New Orleans, about an urban art project in a building that was about to be demolished.

http://videosift.com/video/Rosenwalds-Dying-Days

In total, 1000 guns were taken away over 12 days until the order was rescinded. The NRA wants to use this to demonstrate a huge violation of rights which is part of why I say they are nuts.
There were about 455k people in New Orleans at that time so based on estimates of 1 gun per every American (and average distribution of guns across the U.S. which is quite an assumption) that means 454 thousand guns were still there. That's 99.78% still there. But the NRA will promote the pro gun agenda as much as they can and have it reported on FOX all day. Personally, I'm sick of the gun culture in this country. It's disgusting and so many people want it to continue or are OK with it.

I don't care if you're pro or anti gun regulation. I don't care if you have hundreds of guns

I welcome ANY honest discussion over the roles of firearms in America, Which is precisely why you cannot invite the NRA to the discussion. They're obviously biased. They are a lobby organization. They profit when guns profit. You can't be objective when your livelihood is determined by gun sales.

It's another case where effective government is hampered by private money.

In any case, the problem with what happened during Katrina depicted in this video has nothing to do with gun confiscation, it has everything to do with shitty cops making bad decisions. The video conflates these idiot cops beating up grandma with gun confiscation. two completely separate issues.

I am pro gun regulation, but yeah unless someone can explain to me a really good reason WHY they were confiscated (which I'm obviously not going to get from THIS biased video), I would be against gun confiscation in this situation as well.

The problem isn't gun regulation, the problem is appropriate enforcement of said regulation. This was a failure of New Orleans Police Superintendent Eddie Compass for giving that order to confiscate weapons. This was a failure of enforcement, not of regulation.

Are we going to hear about that from this video? nah, it goes against the NRA's profit motive. The only message of this video is play off your fears, not to inform.

It's really funny that part of the title of this video is "The Untold Story" because it seems they're not telling the rest of the story.

NRA people are so freaking nuts. New Orleans after the storm was a disaster zone not normal America. Was it wrong to take the guns? Perhaps, but after the storm passed and life started to get back to normal, did they continue to take your guns? Of course not.

what this video does not mention is the huge contingent of blackwater mercenaries that were sent to new orleans during katrina.
*quality

Radio: My favorite discovery of 2012 is "Radio Lab", a story telling show reminiscent of another favorite, 'This American Life', but with a much more sophisticated sound design. All episodes are available for free in the podcast section of iTunes.

Music: I fell in love with the New Orleans second line scene after Issy and I paid a visit to the crescent city this year. We saw the 'Rebirth Brass Band' live and had a great time. We also had a mini-meetup at the show with @dotdude. New Orleans music culture is like no other.

Music: Louis Cole & Genevieve Artadi: Highly unique and energetic electro-acoustic music. Hard to explain.

Music: Austin Texas band 'The Black Angels' - Dark, bluesy rock obviously influenced by the Doors. To be honest, I'm not crazy about blues rock or the Doors, but 'The Black Angels' manage to meld these influences into something I really dig.

Music: UK band, 'Metronomy'. Their sound is eclectic, hooky and heavily influenced by all the cool British 80's bands I loved as a kid. Goes down easy. Works in the background as well as the fore.

Movies: Django and Looper were the two films that captivated me from start to finish. Both films by gifted auteurs, one at the top of his game, the other on the rise. Great writing. Great Directing. Great performances.

Horror movies: The Cabin in the Woods (A clever and absurd meta-horror mashup) and the The Lady in Black (A classic, classy ghost story) both satisfied. It's nice that there were a couple of diamonds in sea of Paranormal-Activity-esque-found-footage detritus.

TV: same stuff that everyone else likes - BB, GoT, DoAb and Sherlock. I also got into Always Sunny in Philadelphia this year - very dark, very funny.

Books: Started a bunch, finished very few. Nothing to recommend. "Checklist Manifesto" is pretty interesting so far - it's about how the brain functions (or fails to function) in the information-dense present.

Games: 'Xcom' was a worthy update of the original. Loved all the detailed micro/macro strategy. 'Journey' was beautiful and fairly moving for a videogame.