Copenhagen pictures

I've finally got my Copenhagen pictures up:
Copenhagen 1
Copenhagen 2

Norway to come.

emeril's

I have, in the past, maligned Emeril Lagasse for his cooking show. I find his act tiresome, at times bordering on insane, and pandering as well. That said, the meal I just had a Emeril's NOLA ranks among the best I've ever had. Four courses, including a grouper with caviar creme fraiche, spinach, yukon gold potato and a champaign beurre blanc was epic. He may act like a hack, but the man clearly knows how to run a restaurant.

Related to this, every time I come back to New Orleans, I like it more and more. I understand more fully why people describe this as a unique city, as it is one for which I can think of no apt comparison. A shame that I never had the joy of coming here before the devastation.

keep it clean

Let's try and keep the comments clean folks. While I don't claim this to be a family blog, gratuatous profanity isn't fucking necessary. Also, let's not encourage the trolls.

some thoughts on NOLA

The President visited New Orleans again this week, his first trip since standing in Jackson Square promising to rebuild. This week, he highlighted tax credit legislation to encourage the private sector to rebuild, and modest levee funding. While this will help a little, it continues to ignore the magnitude of the disaster. The solutions put forward are larger versions of typical economic development strategies. They rely on small amounts of public dollars to leverage large private sector investment and additional tax credits to sustain growth. This strategy can work in areas suffering from economic disasters like the shuttering of a large employer. But the complexity of the challenges facing New Orleans faces challenges demand innovative ideas, not retreads of existing strategies.

Plans to reconstruct the city acknowledge that some areas of the city will be lost, and many residents will not return. At this point, that is likely true. But why?

After the water receeded and the magnitude of the damage to New Orleans was clear to officials, estimates of the recovery cost approached $200 billion. To date, Congress has appropriated $85 billion. The failure of the President to lead Congress to rapidly commit large sums of money both for levee repair and reconstruction has undermined the confidence of New Orleans' former residents. This has exacerbated problems from Katrina, created new ones, and undermined the effectiveness of the solutions put forward by the President.

Last weekend I went out with some friends in the Garden District. Many businesses there have reopened. But shuttered businesses remain so because they lack for workers. Workers can't return because they have nowhere to live, and the city can't provide essential services like schools. With its tax base destroyed, New Orleans needed a major commitment of federal funds to reopen its schools and rebuilt critical infrastructure. Instead, it's received loans and vaguely worded promises about rebuilding. So the city has been slow to rebuild. And every day more families decide never to return.

While it's not too late to improve upon this outcome, I've seen nothing to indicate a comprehensive effort from the federal government. Instead the reconstruction effort will proceed at the minimum politically acceptable level. And with most Americans unaware and focusing on the next made up controversy, like whether an Oprah-endorsed book was true, the Crescent City will not rise again.

a sad day

I'll get to the pictures soon, I'm still getting settled in Baton Rouge again, but I did want to note some sad news in today's Post:
Marion Barry tested positive for cocaine use.

It is possible Barry will go to jail for this violation of his probation agreement, greatly diminishing the likelihood he will return to the mayor's office for a fifth term.

the end of the vacation

To return to work today, yesterday I traveled from BGO -> CPH -> IAD -> ATL -> BTR.

• 13 hours on airplanes
  
• 8 hours in airports
  
• 7 time zones crossed
  
• 5,471 miles flown

Photos and more assorted nonsense when I get back from New Orleans tomorrow.

warning, adult content

Back in Copenhagen, I visited the Erotic Museum. I was disappointed, rather than examining our changing mores about sex, or the evolution of pornography, it presented a bunch of pornography, with occasional exhibits discussing prostitution in Copenhagen. Not much point to the whole thing, though as my mother pointed out, not much point to sex either. Some of the displays were amusing, though.



Note the available sizes, as well as the man on the left.

sweden

Weather today in Sweden was pretty bad, so we spent the afternoon driving around the coast, looking at all the pretty houses. Last night, we had a lovely meal, followed by fireworks at the New Year. They take New Year fireworks pretty seriously here, including some of professional quality being shot from backyards.

Last night we also had an extensive discussion of the welfare state in Sweden. Parents are provided with approximately $150 per month for each child in the house. Until the child turns 18. That's $32,400 per child. From the government. On top of that, the mother gets 18 months of paid maternity leave, which she can spread out over a longer period of time by working part time.

Plus they all have health insurance. Sure, their taxes are high, but it's still a really sweet deal. Nice country, overall.