Vacuum

Michigan vs Virginia Tech (Hoke vs Hokies) in Sugar Bowl, January 3, 2012 in New Orleans; also, sandwiches

Follow the coverage from all sides.

National coverage: ESPN's WolverineNation coverage from beat writer Michael Rothstein. Michigan Wolverines Land Sugar Bowl.

It almost didn't happen, however. After finishing the regular season 10-2, the Wolverines needed help from other teams around the country on Saturday and from the pollsters on Sunday morning in order to be in this position -- and they received it.

On Virginia Tech, the Washington Post writes "one of the most surprising Bowl Championship Series at-large picks ever".

Virginia Tech’s BCS at-large hopes appeared to evaporate after its 38-10 loss to Clemson in the ACC championship game Saturday. While the Hokies have been ranked all season, they have not defeated a team currently in the Associated Press top 25 poll.

The game is in New Orleans, and Michigan's ever-efficient alumni association has an official bowl tour package complete with chartered flights.

New Orleans is a great place to eat a sandwich. Chowhound has a best sandwiches thread that's got a lot of great suggestions; I'd pick a banh mi (in its role as a Vietnamese po'boy). In Ann Arbor the blog "Meg Goes Nom Nom" has a glowing review of the banh mi from Zingerman's:

And a few months after this occurred, I discovered that the featured sandwich at local favorite Zingerman’s Delicatessen was the Banh Mi. It was time! And not only get to try the sandwich, I got to meet the talented creator of this legit sandwich while I was there. Awesome!

The Zing sandwich was done by San Street, a food cart which alas I have not checked out myself yet.

The Viet World Kitchen blog has a master banh mi recipe which pretty much sums up what you'd need to put together your own.

There is essentially one sandwich in Vietnamese cooking and it is quite a tour de force. It started out very simply, with baguette smeared with liver pate and that was it. That's how my mom knew it in the 1940s when she was growing up in Northern Vietnam. What we know today as banh mi is a light, crispy small baguette that is split and hollowed before it is invariably filled with homemade mayonnaise or butter (which I don't like), sliced chili pepper, cilantro leaves, cucumber, a tangy-sweet daikon and carrot pickle (do chua), and a drizzle of soy sauce. The variation comes in when you choose what protein component(s) will be center stage.

More recipe action gets you a do chua recipe from the blog Sticky Gooey Creamy Chewy, which sounds easy enough to do.

Do chua is so incredibly easy to make. Since it is a “fresh” pickle, there is no boiling or cooking involved. All you do is julienne the carrots and daikon, and soak them in a brine made with white vinegar, rice wine vinegar, a little water, sugar and a pinch of salt. That’s it! Plus, the pickles only need to marinate in their brine for about an hour before they’re ready to devour.

Now, you are ready for some football.

Obituary: Jeff Lamb, photographer of New Orleans, Detroit, Ann Arbor and the Leelenau Peninsula

Jeff Lamb (January 16, 1949 - March 22, 2011) was a photographer of New Orleans, Detroit, Ann Arbor and the Leelenau Peninsula. He is survived by his wife, Leyla Lau-Lamb, his dog, Sonny, and other relations and many friends. There will be a celebration of Jeff's life at Hathaway's Hideaway, 310 S. Ashley, Ann Arbor, on Saturday, April 9th beginning at 4:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations to The Advocacy Department of the Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans.

Elsewhere

Mark O'Brien: Remembering Jeff Lamb.

Michigan in Pictures: Remembering Jeff Lamb, and sharing Jeff's Leelenau slideshow.

NOLAFemmes: Jeff Lamb.

Flickr: Jeff Lamb's photostream.

Obituary

Lamb, Robert Jeffrey "Jeff", "Ffej", "Honey Bunny"

January 16, 1949 - March 22, 2011

Jeff was born in Oberlin, Ohio, and shortly afterward his family moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan. He attended public schools in Ann Arbor and earned a Master of Landscape Architecture degree from the University of Michigan. In 1978, Jeff moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, a city he loved dearly until the day he died. It was there that he met his loving wife, Leyla, who was visiting New Orleans from Hannover, Germany. Jeff and Leyla were married in Ann Arbor in 1986 and lived there happily until his death.

Jeff was a professional photographer whose extraordinary photographs of New Orleans, Detroit, Ann Arbor and the Leelanau Peninsula will stand the test of time. He showed his love for New Orleans by documenting the architecture of the city and worked closely with the Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans. After Jeff moved back to Ann Arbor, he continued his photography career and established many professional contacts throughout the world. His work has been influential, especially after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and destroyed many of the homes of which Jeff had taken photographs. He established deep connections with other photographers in New Orleans and made many close friends there through Facebook. Jeff also photographed historic homes in Ann Arbor and was instrumental in trying to save the Ann Arbor Seven.

Jeff was preceded in death by his parents, Jane and Robert Lamb; and sister, Susan. He is survived by his wife, Leyla Lau-Lamb; his dog, Sonny; a cousin, David (Susan) Emmett of Howell, Michigan; nephew, Bryan Emmett (Shawnee); niece, Kelin Emmett; and many friends around the world who miss him terribly. He was one of a kind. There will be a celebration of Jeff's life at Hathaway's Hideaway, 310 S. Ashley, Ann Arbor, on April 9th beginning at 4:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Jeff's name to The Advocacy Department of the Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans, 923 Tchoupitoulas St., New Orleans, LA 70130.

 

 

Gustav: social media lessons being learned

While it's still fresh, here are some lessons being learned in the middle of watching (and being a small part of) the net's response to Hurricane Gustav.  I'm not putting a lot of links in this post.

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Decision to evacuate: It was clear while following Twitter - both directly from the handful of NOLA folks I follow and generally from looking at the net - that people went through a huge amount of decision-making about when and whether to leave.   Twitter looked like an actual help here for the folks I knew, both to help let others know where they were going (or whether they were staying) and to help make the evacuation process somewhat less isolating.   

Evacuation path: Those who left relatively early had relatively easier driving; by the time evacuation was underway in earnest the traffic jams were huge, some gas stations were temporarily out of gas, and the contraflow caused a lot of congestion when it ended.  Twitter again seemed to be useful to help people figure out which non-Interstate highways looked like reasonable exit paths, or at least if it wasn't useful at that moment it was something to file away for next time.

Lodging and companionship when you arrive: Here the contrasts associated with poverty and access to resources are the starkest.  Those with means to leave early and drive far arrived to empty shelters, and people eager to help; those who went somewhat off the beaten path, and knew where they were going, found their choice of hotel rooms; those who evacuated late and didn't go very far found themselves in crowded shelters right in the hurricane's path.  There were stories of Labor Day reunions with family that had left during Katrina for another city and never came back, and more than one account of people who evacuated to their previous Katrina evac destination.

Keeping track of things back home: New Orleans was out of the worst of the storm, and a cadre of well connected people stayed behind, and as a result there's been detailed reporting on status down to which bars are open and who has power (even though the Entergy site is only reporting aggregate numbers at the parish level).  Other places had it much worse, with Baton Rouge the biggest loser, getting a substantial storm hit and a lot of NOLA refugees in shelters and really bad power and telephone recovery.  I don't (personally) have as connected a Baton Rouge network as I do a New Orleans network, so it feels second hand and isolated.

Decision to return:  This is a complicated set of decisions as of yet not completely played out, and really the next question.  If I return home, will there be flooding on the way?  Will the power be on?  Will I have phone service, will the toilets work, will there be good drinking water, will I get stopped on my way home and then stuck?  If I don't go home, can I afford the hotel stay? 

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The other question you have to ask, of course, is whether the Internet has been helpful for 2 million people, or just for 200 who are super well connected.

The OnStar service announced how much health and welfare traffic it took during Gustav, and how helpful it was to have trained professional staff on the other end of the phone line to help people during an evacuation - to find hotel rooms, to give driving directions, to be calm. 

Various "social media projects" sprung up to coordinate information, but the real winner in the wild appears to be radio (in particular Mississippi Public Radio), which can reach people right close by even if their phone is out of battery or out of service.

CNN was broadcasting live (!1!1!) using Twitter to get real time feedback from people - how much of that is just the nature of broadcast news to seize on new technology, and how much is it some fundamental change in how reporting is done in the middle of a disaster.

The test, I'm sure, happens not this week or next but months or years from now as Houma, LA is rebuilt or when Pineville, LA and Alexandria, LA once again have clean running water.  There's some disappointment in that the reaction has been "it missed New Orleans, no problems", when that's so clearly not the case.

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Some reactions:

Andrew Turner shares a lesson: iterate. He points to this Etech 2008 Disaster Tech preso from Jesse Robins and Mikel Maron.

Gustav evacuation map

People have started to evacuate New Orleans and the Gulf coast.

Here's a map I've been keeping over the course of the afternoon with some information about destinations where people are ending up at.

It's incomplete (of course) but gives you some idea of scope.  Nancy White has a good list of other web based Gustav resources.   Grace has some details specific to hurricane evacuation planning.

View Larger Map

Warren Easton HS marching band, New Orleans LA

Here's a video of the Warren Easton HS marching band in New Orleans, LA:

This is a band that was basically wiped out by Hurricane Katrina, and Bart notes their restart in 2006 after Katrina.

Like a lot of people we are watching from afar for the projected path through the Gulf of Gustav to hope it isn't a repeat.  Unlike Katrina, this time around there's twitter; see the twitter stream of people talking about Gustav.

Building Mississippi cottages, tearing down New Orleans houses

The Christian Science Monitor has a good story with pictures of the current state of the "Mississippi Cottage" design of manufactured housing.

Hurricane Katrina downsized his domain to nothing. Today, his new castle is about one-seventh the size of his old one, measuring 450 square feet. But surveying the familiar view from the dollhouse porch of his "Mississippi cottage," Mr. Voorhies is one of many storm survivors who have reassessed their coastal existence.

"Small works for me right now," Voorhies says of his cottage, one of nearly 2,400 the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) has given to state residents to replace the FEMA trailer. "There's less to lose."

Not everyone is an enthusiast of the Mississippi cottage – a wheeled version of the now famous Katrina Cottage – despite its compact cuteness. Most communities along the now-rebuilding Gulf Coast have demanded that MEMA haul them out by next March, citing concerns about their storm-worthiness, low assessed values, and aesthetics. That is leading some cottage-dwellers to vow to fight for their abodes, promising a showdown ahead.

New Orleans is grappling with post-hurricane demolitions, including teardowns of houses the owners have been planning to renovate. See the Squandered Heritage blog for details, and note that a team from New Orleans will be at the NetSquared conference coming in May 27-28 2008. Here's some small measure of the problem they are up against:

My house was a 1945 Gentilly bungalow with double parlor, original floors, the Gentilly tile, and deco molding. It was in no danger of falling down. My contractor drove by, called, and asked why there were bulldozers on the property the morning they tore it down. Before he could reach us, the house was gone.

I cannot return to the city now. I feel such pure fury when I think of my house being torn down. City bulldozers trespassed on my property and tore down my lovely Gentilly bungalow. New Orleans has nothing to do with America anymore. New Orleans is dead to me, and I will not lift a finger to help or give back to it again.

Helen Hill tribute at Ann Arbor Film Festival

The Ann Arbor Film Festival honored slain New Orleans filmmaker Helen Hill this week:

“I could never be bored in life because there are so many films yet to be made.”

She has been called the brightest light, a tireless saint, and a compassionate soul. Others have named her a loving wife, dedicated teacher, and caring mother. Inspiring every person around her, she was the playful artist, ambitious rebel, and a sparkling, subversive Southern Belle.

On January 4, 2007, Helen Hill was tragically murdered in New Orleans, Louisiana; and the loss of this innovative, inquisitive and joyful friend has affected us all. Helen celebrated life with a genuine sunny disposition and was a compassionate soul who would always go out of her way to help someone in need. Always generous with her love, support and inspiration, Helen touched the lives of every person who knew her, making her passing unbelievably painful.

She had screened several films at the Ann Arbor Film Festival (including The World’s Smallest Fair, Scratch & Crow, Tunnel of Love and Mouseholes), and was an honored juror at the 42nd Ann Arbor Film Festival. We consider her one of our own, and a member of the AAFF family.

Her animated films reflect her playful, innovative and inquisitive way of living life, and her caring and dedication to teaching show her value for the world around her. This wonderful person spent her brief time on earth joyfully and creatively. Helen leaves behind her husband Paul Gailiunas and their two-year old son, Francis Pop, her pet pig Rosie, and two cats.

In honor of the inspiration and memory that Helen has given all of us, we dedicate the 45th Ann Arbor Film Festival to her beloved memory. We will never forget you, Helen, and will continue to love and be inspired by you.

There's an ongoing record of Helen Hill's work and tributes in her name being kept on her blog. Please read Billy Sothern's In Lieu of Flowers from The Nation.

Technorati Tags: annarbor, aaff, film, movies, neworleans, sad, tragedy

Recently asked questions (with answers) from march 2, 2007

Jim Benson reminded me about the questions feed from 103bees. Here's some recent search query traffic and some hint at the answers that might go with them. I have edited and punctuated a little bit. My list does not include anything about peanut butter (salmonella, allergies, or Yahoo) or Ubik (but it might include Rubik at some point).

How late can you vacuum?

I usually don't vacuum when Jonathan is asleep, because I don't want to wake him up and sometimes the vacuum makes him cry. He's supposed to be in bed by 8, though that seems to be the exception, not the rule.

How to differentiate spider bite from insect bite?

Consult a physician. The Hardin Library at the U of Iowa has a thorough directory of resources on spider bites.

How to make greek lemon potatoes

I posted a greek lemon roasted potatoes recipe three years ago. We made it just the other night, and it was delicious. It's a winter dish to be sure, to take advantage of winter citrus.

What happened to mile.coop michigan?

The MiLE inter-library loan system was damaged by hackers in 2005. The Ann Arbor District Library switched its automated interlibrary loan to MeLCaT, and I couldn't be happier about it - the system is easier to use, has a wider range of libraries covered, and runs on a modern catalog.

how to fold paper for peerflix

Peerflix is a DVD swapping service; think "peer to peer netflix". Techcrunch is skeptical. If you want to mail CDs or DVDs and don't want to buy mailers, you can do origami mailers using the MESH paper cd case design based on work by Tom Hull.

how many miles from from michigan to new orleans

Michigan is a big state; the answer and the route will differ a lot if you pick Houghton vs. Ann Arbor as your starting point. The Ann Arbor route is 1055 miles via Cincinnati and Birmingham Alabama; the Houghton route is 1353 miles via Madison, Memphis and St. Louis.

What to say to incoming kindergarten parents

Welcome! We're glad to see you! The bathroom is down the hall.

what do pelicans eat?

Pelicans eat fish. Pelicans eat oystercatchers, oystercatchers eat blue crabs, blue crabs eat spartina. White pelicans eat 212.4 to 265.5 lbs of fish. each year. American White Pelicans eat mainly small 'rough' fish with little commercial value. Throughout their range pelicans eat mainly “rough” fish of low economic value that occur in shallow wetlands but they may also take deep-water fish such as the tui chub (Gila bicolor) when they are spawning in shallow water or sunning themselves near the surface.

What businesses closed in ann arbor from july to d...

The best ongoing source for business closings and openings in Ann Arbor is the Ann Arbor Observer, available free to residents but only on paper.

Customer who need clean his office in ann arbor mi...

I don't have a good answer to the question of a good reference for downtown Ann Arbor office cleaning.

How to charge block heater from portable source?

We don't have an engine block heater in our car, so I don't know the answer from experience. A first guess at the ability to do a block heater from a portable battery looks bad - too much juice needed. Most people run extension cords. Use a timer to avoid consuming too much power, you only need 3-4 hours to warm up an engine.

i was pfired

T-shirts at Elmo's on Main St. in Ann Arbor, or via Cafepress.

what is in the bag of useful things

43 Folders wiki has an in your bag list with many suggestions. Elizabeth Fry, an English Quaker, gave a bag of useful things to women being transported on convict ships to Botany Bay, Australia to give them tools to make a patchwork quilt. I carry a laptop, charger, mini earphone, A to mini B USB cable, and a couple of quadrille notebooks in my bag.

michigan power outage on thursday march 1st, 2007?

High winds took out power briefly to a part of Huntington Woods today (March 2 2007) - I know this only because the person I had a scheduled phone call with this afternoon was in the dark at 3pm. The CMS Energy Palisades reactor in South Haven, MI went down Feb 26 for maintenance to prepare it for the peak summer season.

how to unfilter things

I have no idea.

Technorati Tags: faq, questions

Lowe's Home Improvement: The Katrina Cottage

This page was hard to find on the Lowe's site, so I thought I'd surface it here.

To help address permanent-housing issues caused by Gulf Coast storms, designer Marianne Cusato created the Katrina Cottage. Designed to be functional, efficient and affordable, the cottage is a permanent residence constructed of quality materials.

Additional uses—as a vacation retreat, campground cabin, or guesthouse, the Katrina Cottage's quality materials and quick assembly make it a perfect permanent solution.

The Katrina Cottage Home Page has a model gallery with cottage floor plans, a list of stores in Louisiana and Mississippi that will be the first to sell these kits, and an FAQ (pdf).

You can see how these plans and kits compare to actual soon to be demolished New Orleans architecture by looking at the Squandered Heritage blog, part of the Think New Orleans project.

Katrina Cottage Plans

Steven Mouzon has a thin 79p book on Katrina cottages available at Amazon ($3.95) - that would be where I would start if you're looking to build your own from plans.

From the Katrina Cottages site and The Guild Foundation:

Katrina Cottages aren't just great ideas anymore; many of them also include working drawings from which you can build your very own Katrina Cottage. You can find many of the Katrina Cottage designs for which there are working drawing on this site, but Katrina Cottage Plan Portfolios are now beginning to be released that contain some designs not currently carried here. And their variety is growing all the time. Katrina Cottage Types keeps track of all the variations.

The USA WEEKEND Katrina Cottage is a 523-square-foot "Kernel Cottage" designed to grow to 1,303-square-feet with the addition of two wings. Designed by New Urban Guild founder Steve Mouzon, the cottage was produced in a South Louisiana factory by Housing International Inc. and trucked to Maryland for USA WEEKEND's celebration of Make a Difference Day.

There's more in the October/November issue of New Urban News:

“It is unprecedented, to my knowledge, that a building type would be conceived, designed, and executed in four out of five planned delivery methods by such a diverse group of designers, builders, and manufacturers in one year’s time,” Mouzon told members of the Gulf-Urb listserve.

More at DCist: Darling Affordable Housing in Silver Spring

For the next several weekends in Silver Spring, you can get a close-up look at a different solution to the affordable housing dilemma, one that’s received tons of press coverage in the Gulf Coast in the last year: the Katrina Cottage. Conceived in response to the poorly planned, terribly designed, and often permanent trailer encampments erected by FEMA, several versions of the Katrina Cottage have been designed by New Urbanist architects. All have the same goal: to provide decent, inexpensive, easily constructed housing that complements a community rather than blight it. Sponsored by USA Weekend magazine, and supported by many of their Make a Difference Day volunteers, Silver Spring’s cottage is being constructed in the parking lot of a community center to maximize exposure. Upon completion, it will be moved to a nearby neighborhood for a local family to move in.

Wet Bank Guide's article on Katrina Cottages has NOLA photos.

Technorati Tags: cottage, dcist, katrina