sweet baboo

I just talked to my dad (before you all start crapping on his credentials, he was a former Civil Engineering professor at UB, founding member of MCEER (multidisciplinary center for earthquake engineering research, used to be called NCEER in the 90's), current chair of his school's civil engineering dept and former head of the national earthquake research center in taiwan) and he said that even if the levees had been bolstered ahead of time, this tragedy probably would still have happened...no engineering is strong enough to guarantee withstanding such a storm his professional opinion is yes, the water can be drained with hydraulic division, the city can be rebuilt and the levees can be made taller and stronger, but there is no guarantee that of withstanding huge storms if this is what other professional engineers will tell investors, who in their right mind is going to invest in that city? his exact words "i think the city is dead forever, but it gives new research topics for those in academics because FEMA has shown that it can not handle this kind of situation" interesting fact i never knew about that he fed me...did you know that new orleans wasn't always below sea level? it was the constant pumping of the water out and the use of groundwater that caused subsidence

that would be hilarious if i didn't have to pay for it

yeah...my wife drives me to work now and my work schedule has changed to fit hers (easy to do in graduate school)...i just can't stay in the lab as i used to

dont' forget the ones that joined in on the looting

wow...until now, i only knew of the existence of the male chav... female chavs! mindblowing!

can you describe what they are? i keep hearing how scary these guys are, but I can't quite get a good description of what they look like or what they stand for...supposedly they're not gangsters and are really weird looking?

whatever happened to personal responsibility?

aren't chavs becoming quite an issue?

that's not true...i'll take it if you're giving it away for free

I don't see why that is that big of a problem. Most people don't drive so much daily that they need to fill up right away...unless they drive hummers or excursions

i just went through this...it put gonzalez at #9 for me!?! joe horn rated a little too high also

I dunno why you're all feeling so bitter about this. We weren't happy with the Indonesians "expecting" help from us, so it doesn't look good for us to be expecting help in return just because we helped someone else. Personally, I don't mind that no one else has offered help. If we come out on top (which we will), it just makes them look bad.

http://www.nola.com/hurricane/t-p/katrina....underwater.html

I'd like to experience one more blizzard before I leave WNY next year unlike others who complain about the weather here all the time, I love snow

uh...what are you driving to work? a ford excursion?

there have been reports that all the guns have been looted from walmart...have groups of people running around armed to the teeth

Canada's sending in help I don't think we're really asking for foreign aid though...we're not a third world country

actually, i moved off to biomedical engineering in grad school...but my PhD will still be in CE

well, i dunno who else we would've started

hey chemE buddy!

thanks for the link edmunds forums are nice...people are more level headed there than on fanboy sites like NASIOC or bimmerforums

actually, i drive about 11k a year and average roughly 25mpg (not happy about it since it's far lower than the camry i used to own, but apparently 25 is fantastic for a wrx) but rather than drive my own car to work, i'll just adjust my schedule and ride with my wife also, checked a few WRX msg boards and people are getting blasted for even suggesting the possibility of 87 octane in the gas tank for a FI vehicle rated for 93...the owners manual calls for 93 and says 87 is ok under emergency situations (i.e. run out of gas and 87 is all that is available) so...guess i'll just put up and shut up and stick with 93

my turbocharged WRX requires premium though i might switch to 87 if these prices get too out of hand...hopefully i don't screw up my engine though this is interesting http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2003-0...remiumgas_x.htm

fine...you're right i forgot about the mater dei poster