Random Thoughts From Marybeth

Yahoo! Site Explorer

Yahoo! launched a new search that shows all the subpages within a URL that is indexed by Yahoo! You can see how many pages of your site are indexed along with the number of inlinks.

The Brady Campaign Must Think Brits Are Fools

Florida tourists warned that locals could shoot them

The Brady Campaign to Control Gun Violence, based in Washington DC, has pledged to "educate" tourists by placing adverts in US cities, and in key overseas markets such as Britain.

"Warning: Florida residents can use deadly force," says one of the adverts. Another reads: "Thinking about a Florida vacation? Please ensure your family is safe. In Florida, avoid disputes. Use special caution in arguing with motorists on Florida roads."

The warning might be valid for anyone who was planning on going to Florida to commit a violent crime. Regular tourists, no.

ICANN'T.EU

The Internet began as a U.S. Pentagon project. Because of this, the control over domains and traffic routing has been handled by the U.S. Now the European Union wants shared control "because the Internet is a global resource."

If I understand correctly, they want to share control because they use it too. If this works for them, I'm asking for a share of the control the INAO because I drink wine.

My Music This Morning

From Google Video:

Dazed and Confused - Led Zeppelin, 1969
Live8 Performance (BBC) - Pink Floyd

Home Library

LibraryThing lets you keep a catalog of your books online. Tags can be added to each entry and users may choose to share their listings so if you're wondering what to read next, you can search for users with similar tastes in books and authors.

It's very easy to use...as long as I'm adding book titles by memory. The problem is that I have so many books (lots of them boxed up in storage) that I don't know if I'll ever get them all listed.

Cindy and the Other Woman (Rita)

Cindy Sheehan commenting on Daily Kos: i am watching cnn and it is 100 percent rita...even though it is a little wind and a little rain...it is bad, but there are other things going on in this country today...and in the world!!!! (Did she misunderstand when she heard someone say that capitalism is bad and think that they meant capital letters?)

So what do you do when you aren't getting the attention you think you deserve? Get arrested!

It's Not as Big as You Think

The GayPatriot posts, If Iraq is like Vietnam, how come the rallies keep getting smaller?

Good question. It's something I noticed yesterday when I was watching the C-SPAN coverage of the event. The camera panned out over the crowd clusters of people and I wondered where were the thousands of people I had read about?

Are more and more people really against the war (as the polls seem to indicate) or are they just tired of bad news?

How many people would watch the Olympics if all the news coverage for it was about who lost, was disqualified, or was injured instead of who won? Focus on the failures instead of the victories and then do a poll to see how many people think that international sports competition seemed like a good idea but it just isn't working.

School teachers and business managers know that while you have to confront problems you also have to recognize achievements. So, are journalists too stupid to understand the importance of covering what is going right in Iraq or do they just hope we're too stupid to notice that they seldom do it?

Listening Makes My Brain Melt

I was flipping through the channels tonight and caught part of Gloria La Riva's rant speech in Washington D.C. The main focus of the part I heard was about freeing the Cuban Five. (She gave out their organization's URL but I linked to the Wikipedia entry instead.) I must have missed the part where she told what this has to do with Iraq.

As she was finishing she was yelling about stopping Bush's War on Terrorism and then she suddenly veered off in another direction and said to let the people go back to New Orleans. I laughed. I shouldn't have, it is possible she has a plan here. I've read that people in China whose families have lived on boats for generations are now moving into homes so maybe she has a connection that can get her used junks at a good price.

Thanks For Sharing

Former President Jimmy Carter said that "[t]here is 'no doubt in my mind that Gore won the election,' the erstwhile President declared, saying the 2000 election process 'failed abysmally.'"

Marybeth says, "Jimmy Carter is an idiot but I do recognize his expertise on abysmal failure."

Note that both statements are opinions. I don't know about Jimmy, but I sure feel better now that I've shared my feelings, because, you know, how you feel about something is so much more important being able to support it with facts.

A Way With Words

Complaint letter of the year

Recipe Search

FoodieView is an easy way to search several sources for recipes. You can also browse by category. I tried a few searches and got several recipes for each one but most came from just a few main sites - Recipezaar, Food Network, Allrecipes.com, and a few others - so if these are among the sites you usually check, great. If you're looking for a recipe you saw on a blog, newspaper food column, or a smaller recipe site then you'll have more luck with a regular search engine.

The Conscience of the Holocaust

Simon Wiesenthal dead at 96

The only value of nearly five decades of my work is a warning to the murderers of tomorrow, that they will never rest. - Simon Wiesenthal

Biography, photos, and quotations from the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

Substance or Spin?

In an email from John Kerry about a speech at Brown University:

The Real Test of Katrina

This is the real test of Katrina. Will we be satisfied to only do the immediate: care for the victims and rebuild the city? Or will we be inspired to tackle the incompetence that left us so unprepared, and the societal injustice that left so many of the least fortunate waiting and praying on those rooftops?

I have a "Katrina Test" for speeches. Does it offer solutions or just politically motivated rhetoric? Does it tell the whole truth or just enough truth to lead listeners into false assumptions? You can read it, you decide if it passes the test.

The Right to Make Stupid Choices

There are reports that some people who have received FEMA or Red Cross debit cards are not making the wisest buying decisions.

Some Evacuees Spend Relief Money At Strip Clubs

I don't think that beer and strippers are what was meant by "relief".

Retailers take a swipe at Katrina card use

There are reports of people using the cards to buy $800 handbags, a PlayStation, jewelry, a TV, and a DVD player.

It is probably only a few people out of the thousands who received debit cards that are using them to buy non-essential items. (Unless lots of others had the sense to use the debit cards to get cash and then use the cash to make purchases that can't be tracked.) Some may also be people who were not victims of the hurricane and flooding but scammed the Red Cross. Even if the majority of people who got the debit cards use them wisely, news stories like this will only add to the opinion that many Katrina evacuees are less victims of the hurricane than they are victims of their own bad choices and squandered opportunities.

57th Carnival of Recipes

This week's collection of recipes is up at Trub.

Recipe List:

French Toast
Sorta S'mores
Summer Fruit Dip
Tempura-Fried Mushroom Thingies of Doom
Broiled Asparagus
Cranberry Liqueur Reduction
Sweetcorn Cakes w/avocado salsa
Red Potato Salad with Soy Bacon and Fresh Herbs
Mushroom Crostini
Gumbo with chicken, sausage and shrimp
BLT Dip
Shaker Applesauce
Balsamic Pot Roast
Pasta con Filetto alla Crema e Funghi
crepes with ham and endive
Petite Legumes et Crabe
I don't give a hoot wings
Frugal Emergency Supplies
Chow Mein
Moroccan Chicken-Apple Beanpot
Pizza with Hungarian sausages
Dragon Lasagna
fresh peach cobbler
Frozen Black Irish
Apple-Raspberry Crisp
Cocktail Concoction

Open Door Leads to Possumbilities

Last week I decided it was time to clean out the shed. I found something that I know I didn't put in there.

Neither of us was happy to see the other.

Googling Blogs

Google Blog Search

Indexing began in June, so most posts before then won't be indexed. More information here.

Disaster Survival

The Seattle Times has a printable disaster preparedness checklist and tip sheet (pdf).

The greater the disaster, the more you need to be able to care for yourself. Any event that is severe enough to destroy buildings will also damage routes into and out of your area. The government does not employ thousands of magical genies. It does not have transporters to beam in aid or whisk you away from danger. You will be on your own, so be prepared.

Half of My Searches Are Just to Check Spelling...

John Battelle has written a book called "The Search" about Google.

"The Search" tackles such prickly subjects as the serious privacy concerns raised by the reams of data collected by Google's 175,000 computers about the millions of people who use the company's services each day.

At one point, Battelle paints a disturbing picture, sketching out a scenario in which the federal government could demand that Google provide personal information about its users in the name of national security.

If that were to happen, Google would have to notify all the affected parties, right? Not under the U.S. Patriot Act, which specifically forbids companies from making disclosures about government requests for information.

Didn't know that? Don't feel bad. Neither did Brin when Battelle asked him earlier this year about the potential perils of Google becoming a secret tool for the U.S. government.

It's early morning (and I'm NOT a morning person) so excuse me if my thinking is a bit slow right now, but I'm not sure why I should be more alarmed about the government having this information than I would be about Google having it.

It's true that by using their toolbar and allowing cookies I have given Google permission to collect information about me. Any effort by the government to get the same information would be known only to the agency who wants it and the judge that approves their action without any permission from me.

Maybe my expectations are low. I figure once information about me is out there, whether collected by Google or another entitiy, I'm not going to assume it will be kept private. There are lots of sites that collect information that could be shared or sold and, considering what could be done with it, the government knowing what I'm searching for is way down the list of worries.

Elections and the Internet

Japan has silenced the internet, as far as election chatter goes. In a country thought of as a technology utopia, a law passed 55 years ago has muffled the heads of political parties and candidates.

Employing an inflexible interpretation of an old law devised to control the number of election posters, flyers and postcards, election officials have classified home pages, emails and other internet material as "documents", meaning that every download is counted the same as if it were a brochure thrust at a train commuter.

Those who defy the law and update their home pages risk being stripped of the votes cast in Sunday's poll and jailed for two years or fined up to 500,000 yen ($6000).

Meanwhile, back in the U.S....

Grimace For the Camera

As I wrote earlier, I don't believe that the media should be publishing/showing photos of the dead in New Orleans. Some bloggers have compared the current interest in showing such photos with the media reaction after 9/11 when it was decided that images of the dead would be too upsetting. They're asking, why the change in attitude?

Well, let's see what the main differences in the events are. 9/11 was caused by foreign terrorists and many of the victims were white collar professionals. Hurricane Katrina was a natural disaster where many of the victims were poor African-Americans.

I would hate to think that the desire not to inflame emotions after 9/11 meant that they didn't want to increase the anger of people in the U.S. against terrorists. The other reason that comes to mind, one based on the social class of the victims, isn't any better. It's not okay to show a photograph of a dead banker but if you're on welfare you don't deserve the same dignity?

No Plan is Foolproof

Real time crisis management involves finding answers when you aren't sure you have enough information on the specifics of the event(s) to know all of the questions. Preparation is vital but, even so, problems that weren't expected will occur. Everyone will think his or her problem/area of responsibility should get top priority.

Finding fault later is so much easier, more information without any of the pressure. You can look at the whole chain of events and point out what should have been done and when. The best part of hindsight is that you can never be proved wrong. No real world test means no chance of failure.

Could earlier intervention by the state's National Guard or by federal authorities made a difference?

On this week's This American Life radio broadcast a woman was talking about her experience in the New Orleans Convention Center. There were rumors among the evacuees that the National Guard was going to open the flood gates and drown them all.

In one news report I heard that people working under FEMA were hiding their ID badges under their shirts because of their concerns over how people in New Orleans would react. Their fears may be justified. There are people who blame FEMA for many of the problems. Of course by not letting the people they are helping know that the aid is coming via FEMA is just going to perpetuate the idea that FEMA isn't doing anything.

Distrust of authority, whether it's the federal government or state military, may have been made worse by extreme conditions but it existed before in varying degrees. So what would have happened if these or other official agencies had tried to force evacuations earlier? Would more people have been saved? Or just different people? Could there have been even greater resistance to leaving their homes resulting in even fewer people getting away from the flood?

How long would it have taken for rumors to start? People are wonderfully imaginative and would come up with all sorts of possible scenarios. The less imaginative ones would start comparing the National Guard to Nazis and claim that they were not there to rescue people but to send them to their deaths.

What do you do when someone you don't trust tells you that you must do something? Comply or resist? If it's something you were planning on doing already, do you reconsider your plan? If you do trust the authorities but your friends, family or neighbors don't, do you let them influence your decision?

There are some things, like the breakdown in communications among the police, that are obvious failures. There are other things that could have been handled differently, but different doesn't automatically mean better.

No Respect

Reters reports U.S. agency blocks photos of New Orleans dead as if this were a bad thing. I'm not really clear on why they think taking pictures of dead bodies would add any value to news reports or why they think that they deserve to take up space on the rescue boats.

An agency spokeswoman said space was needed on the rescue boats and that "the recovery of the victims is being treated with dignity and the utmost respect."

One would think that rational people would understand this. Many of the victims will be beyond recognition. For the ones that aren't, is a news report with pictures the best way for surviving family members to find out about the fate of a loved one?

The Bush administration also has prevented the news media from photographing flag-draped caskets of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq, which has sparked criticism that the government is trying to block images that put the war in a bad light.

This didn't start with the Bush administration, but, you know, facts aren't really a requirement for some bash Bush rants news reports.

New Vancouver

Now this is a plan!

State Emergency Management

FEMA has a page with contact details for state emergency management offices and agencies. I clicked the link for Kentucky Emergency Management and found the important information that "the installation of the Apache web server software on this system was successful."

Whoops.

Kentucky does have another Division of Emergency Mangement page but it tells you to visit the nonworking page for the Emergency Operations Plan, Administrative Regulations, and other internal, agency related information. The page with this link was last updated yesterday.

I'm not feeling very confident.

The Kentucky Homeland Security page has an announcement that September is National Preparedness Month. A secret (or at least unaccessible) plan isn't my idea of being prepared.

My own plans for emergencies (outside of the usual 911 types) don't depend much on what the government or its agencies do or don't do. Still, it would be nice to know what they have in mind.

I've emailed the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management and asked for the correct URL and will update this post if anything results from it.

Update: I didn't get a reply but the http://kyem.dma.ky.gov/ page is working now and has a link to Kentucky's EOP. It's all Word doc and PowerPoint files. Nice for downloading, perhaps, but not my first choice for reading online.

Update 2: I received an email from a public information officer of the Kentucky Department of Military Affairs on Friday afternoon. "A link to our old server was temporarily down, it is up again. Try; http://kyem.dma.ky.gov/ & clink (sic) on the internal link KyEOP."

The link to the server was down but I still got the Apache web server software message?

Interviewer Makes Ass of Self

The radio was on the local public station when I picked up Trevor from marching band practice yesterday evening. As we drove home they were airing an interview with a woman who had left New Orleans after the hurricane. I wasn't paying much attention at first. It was the typical interview - bad there, better here.

He started talking about whether her family planned on going back and repair/rebuild. Then he began questioning whether they had insurance and talked about the financial paperwork and red tape that returning would bring. He said something about how it would all be confusing, even to someone with an MBA.

This is when I began paying more attention. She told him that her sister has an MBA and she is just three hours away from earning hers. Trying to recover (but digging in deeper), he supposed that her neighbors weren't as fortunate to have well-educated people in their families.

She educated him. Her neighborhood (9th Ward), she told him, is one of black professionals. Well-educated. Business leaders.

I haven't yet decided if the interviewer assuming that since she is black and an evacuee that she must be poor and uneducated is racist, elitist, or just plain ignorant. I don't want to make assumptions like that about someone I don't know.

Most Disgusting Email Scam Yet

Another email pretending to be from Amazon.com but this is one of the worst I have ever seen. It is designed to prey on good-hearted people by claiming to ask for donations for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The email has a Red Cross banner across the top and the subject line is "Amazon.com & American Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Relief".

Amazon.com Online Donation

All of us at Amazon.com are deeply saddened by the loss and devastation resulting from Hurricane Katrina.By making a financial contribution to support Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, the Red Cross can provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to those who need help.

Victims of Hurricane Katrina are attempting to recover from the massive storm. American Red Cross volunteers have been deployed to the hardest hit areas of Katrina.s destruction, supplying hundreds of thousands of victims left homeless with critical necessities. By making a financial donation to support hurricane relief efforts, the Red Cross can provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to those affected by Hurricane Katrina. Privacy Notice: If your donation is $250 or more, Amazon.com will provide your name, credit card billing address, and donation amount to the American Red Cross, and the American Red Cross will provide you with a receipt for your donation. Other than this, Amazon.com will not share information about you with the American Red Cross. Amazon.com has waived all customary Honor System fees associated with your contributions to the Red Cross.

Click here to make a financial >contribution

We are grateful for the continued generosity of Amazon.com customers at this time of great need. Thank you in advance for your support.

Sincerely,
Amazon.com Customer Services

The second paragraph is the same as that shown on Amazon's site but the link actually goes to http://61.233.119.49/.www.amazon.com/amazon/amazon/.x/index.html

I've forwarded the email to Amazon and put the email properties in the extended entry.

Anyone who would send out this scam crap is on the same moral level as those who were looting corpses in New Orleans.

Return-Path:
Received: from pacificworld.com ([203.127.222.130])
by [deleted] with ESMTP id j871rPXe017625
for [deleted]Tue, 6 Sep 2005 21:53:32 -0400
Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1])
by pacificworld.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7755A219E3D
for [deleted]Wed, 7 Sep 2005 09:55:03 +0800 (SGT)
Received: from pacificworld.com ([127.0.0.1])
by localhost (travel.pacificworld.com [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024)
with ESMTP id 22756-06 for [deleted];
Wed, 7 Sep 2005 09:55:02 +0800 (SGT)
Received: by pacificworld.com (Postfix, from userid 2191)
id 0F79821342E; Wed, 7 Sep 2005 09:48:08 +0800 (SGT)
To: [deleted]
Subject: Amazon.com & American Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Relief
From: "Amazon.com"
Content-Type: text/html
Message-Id: <20050907014808.0F79821342E@pacificworld.com>
Date: Wed, 7 Sep 2005 09:48:08 +0800 (SGT)
X-Virus-Scanned: by amavisd-new at pacificworld.com
Status:

If You Only Buy Books for Dummies...

I get several emails that pretend to come from well-known companies but are really scams every day. Most just get deleted but this one was so bad it made me laugh, especially the part where they have Xs for the whole credit card number (for my security, of course). Who's the target here? People who buy books but don't have a basic grasp of language and grammar?

Dear Amazon member,

We regret to inform you that your Amazon account was been suspended for a period of 3-4 days,after that it will be terminated.
During our regularly schedule account maintenance and verification we have detected a slight error in your billing information on file with Amazon.
This might be due to either following reasons:

- A recent change in your personal information (i.e. change of address)
- Submitting invalid information during the initial sign up process.
- An inability to accurately verify your selected option of payment due an internal error within processors.

Your credit card on file with Amazon

Card number: XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX (Not shown for security purposes) Expiration date: XX/XX

Please sign in to your Amazon account and update your billing information:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/css/homepage.html (Ed. - actual link goes to - http://phaeton.webserversystems.com/~euro/amazon/amazon/index.html)

If your account information is not update, your account on Amazon will be terminated.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you for your time!
Amazon.com Security Departament

Information about email spoofing from Amazon.com.

The Creeping Storm

An article from the June 2003 issue of Civil Engineering Magazine provides information about the history of land and water management in the Mississippi Delta.

"In the late 1800s Corps engineers began constructing levees of a more permanent type along the river’s channel and cleared sunken ships, dead trees, and other detritus from its outlet to the gulf. With the levees in place, the lowlands beyond the river did not flood as often, and people began building homes in areas once reserved for alligators, mosquitoes, and yellow fever."

After massive flooding of the Mississippi in 1927 "Congress directed Corps engineers to straighten the river in places, add floodgates in others, and increase the height of its levees all the way from Vicksburg, Mississippi, to the gulf."

As the threat of flooding from the Mississippi River came under control, the danger from hurricanes increased. Less silt flowing into the delta area means a reduction in marsh and wetlands that would have worked to reduce the strength of incoming storms.

After Hurricane Betsy hit New Orleans in 1965 Congress decided to appropriate federal funds for a system of levees. The storm modeling that could be done in the 1960s is less accurate than what can be done now and the levees were designed to withstand a fast-moving Category 3 storm.

"In 1986 Congress authorized the Corps to build a system of levees around the southern half of the city, also forming a rough semicircle extending to and from the Mississippi River levees. In the mid-1990s Congress continued to expand the southern protection zone, requiring a total of about 65 mi (105 km) of levees and thereby protecting tens of thousands of homes." The estimated completion date was 2018.

"In 1999 the Corps was authorized by Congress to study the feasibility of various proposals for protecting the city against such devastating storms. An obvious possibility would be to raise the current levees to a height deemed acceptable by an AdCirc analysis. That, however, would also require widening the levees, which may not be possible in many areas because of the proximity of homes...[A]ny concerted effort to protect the city from a storm of category 4 or 5 will probably take 30 years to complete. And the feasibility study alone for such an effort will cost as much as $8 million. Even though Congress has authorized the feasibility study, funding has not yet been appropriated. When funds are made available, the study will take about six years to complete."

The article also makes predictions of what would happen if the city was hit by a category 4 or 5 hurricane and notes that the American Red Cross does not provide emergency shelters in the city because they cannot guarantee that the buildings could survive a storm of this strength.

There's a lot more and it's worth reading. If you think that the flooding was a result of funds being diverted to the Iraq War, that building on former wetlands is a recent development, or that it would have been simple just to build bigger levees, don't bother reading it. It would be a shame for facts to get in the way of your opinions.

Before Katrina

August 26, 2005

In anticipation of a possible landfall, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco declared states of emergency Friday.

Blanco said "very well-coordinated evacuations" were planned that will be enacted "if there's a direct threat."

New Orleans is of particular concern because much of that city lies below sea level.

"It's always a huge concern, because there's a very large lake, Lake Pontchartrain, that sits next to New Orleans, and if the hurricane winds blow from a certain direction there are dire predictions of what may happen in that city," Blanco said.

State of emergency proclamation issued on August 26. "
The state of Louisiana´s emergency response and recovery program is activated under the command of the director of the state office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness to prepare for and provide emergency support services and/or to minimize the effects of the storm´s damage."
August 27, 2005

President Bush declared a state of emergency in Louisiana on Saturday because of the approach of Hurricane Katrina and his spokesman urged residents along the coast to heed authorities' advice to evacuate.

...The president's emergency declaration authorizes the FEMA to coordinate all disaster relief efforts and to provide appropriate assistance in a number of Louisiana parishes, or counties.

August 28, 2005

Mayor Ray Nagin ordered an immediate evacuation Sunday for all of New Orleans...

...The mayor said Katrina's storm surge would likely top the levees that protect the city from the surrounding water of Lake Pontchartrain, the Mississippi River and marshes. The bowl-shaped city must pump water out even during normal times, and the hurricane threatened electricity that runs the pumps.

...The mayor said people who opted to go to the Superdome should take enough food and supplies to last three to five days. He said police and firefighters would fan out throughout the city telling residents to get out and that police would have the authority to commandeer any vehicle or building that could be used for evacuation or shelter. Hotels were exempted from the evacuation order because airlines had already canceled all flights out.

City of New Orleans Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan

Louisiana Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness with the Southeast Louisiana Hurricane Evacuation and Sheltering Plan (pdf)

Blame Brigade

It seems that everyone is pointing fingers of blame. Bush should have done more before/during/after the hurricane. Of course, if the federal government had come in to force evacuations beforehand and the hurricane had missed New Orleans completely the complaints would be even louder. Those rethuglicans going in and shipping out poor people for no reason.

The mayor of New Orleans and the governor of Louisiana have also been blamed for poor planning and being slow to react to the problems. While I think that they do deserve criticism, I don't think that this is the time for it. Could they and all the mayors and governors that came before them have prepared for a disaster like this? Maybe, but it's easy for someone trying to run a city or state to get caught up in taking care of the day-to-day business - things that need to be done now - and put off taking care of planning for an event that may or may not occur during their term in office.

It's not an excuse, just the way things are. How many of us have plans for taking care of ourselves and our families in an emergency? Does your family have fire drills? Does everyone know what to do to get out and where to meet? Do you have emergency supplies set aside in an area that would be easy to get to? Or do you just hope nothing will happen and if it does that everyone will instinctively know what to do?

If you don't have a plan, make one. Now.

I'm going to join the blame brigade too. I'm not blaming any people (there's been enough of that already), I'm blaming butterflies.

Fifty-Five

The 55th Carnival of the Recipes is up at The Glittering Eye. There are a bunch of tasty-sounding recipes...I think I'm gonna go revise my grocery list now....

Big Easy Beignets

I've only been to New Orleans once. My strongest memory is of the doughnuts that we got in the French Quarter. I was in elementary school at the time so other than sightseeing I wasn't old enough to take advantage of many of the other things the city offered. If I had been old enough to enjoy the nightlife I probably wouldn't remember it anyway.

So, in memory of what was and with hope for what will be again, here is a recipe for beignets. (From Southern Living, January 1998.) It's not a simple or quick recipe but it is worth the time and effort.

1 (1/4-ounce) envelope active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (105° to 115°)
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
4 to 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Vegetable oil
Sifted powdered sugar

Combine yeast and warm water in a 2-cup liquid measuring cup; let stand 5 minutes.

Combine yeast mixture, evaporated milk, and next 3 ingredients. Gradually stir in enough flour to make a soft dough. Cover and chill 8 hours.

Turn dough out onto a well-floured surface; knead 5 or 6 times. Roll dough into a 15- x 12 1/2-inch rectangle; cut into 2 1/2-inch squares.

Pour oil to depth of 3 to 4 inches into a Dutch oven; heat to 375°. Fry 3 or 4 beignets at a time, 1 minute on each side or until golden. Drain; sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Yield: Makes 2 1/2 dozen