Oysters, French Quarter.

City Park sculpture garden and Lake Pontchartrain.

Might be time to add Category 6 and 7 Hurricanes to the Saffir-Simpson Scale.  From Scientific American:

Hurricane Dorian Was Worthy of a Category 6 Rating

The Category-1-to-5 Saffir-Simpson scale for rating hurricanes is inadequate

From the Collaborative Fund blog:

Three Big Things: The Most Important Forces Shaping the World

This blog is my attempt to separate myself from the abuses of modern commercial Social Media.  Many people seem to take a “cold turkey” approach and ditch all social media all together.  These people seem to see it as a personal addiction problem.  For me it was just a bit  ofa time waster with a big downside (privacy).  A good article by someone who was a bit more involved, but makes some good points.

Well, Freeport McMoRan is admitting damage done to south Louisiana coastline from decades of breaking state laws in their oil drilling operations.  The penalty? $100 million over several years.  Wow.  Pretty light for land loss of about 2,000 square miles (about the size of Delaware).  To say nothing of the pollution, record cancer rates and poverty, in spite of the vast amount of oil and gas removed from the site.   I have always said Louisiana isn’t a state, it is a co!ony.  Again, $100 million.  Sounds like a lot but I bet the houses of the top 5 or so Freeport execs are worth more than that.  An outrage on top of an outrage.

In first for energy industry, Freeport-McMoRan to settle Louisiana lawsuits aimed at restoring coast

Growing up in New Orleans makes a person an amateur meteorologist when it comes to hurricanes.  Things seem to be getting ugly out there.  A recent Twitter post by professional meteorologist John Morales sums it up:

Lorenzo ’19 is a record setter

Dorian’19 was a record setter

Michael’18 was a record setter

Ophelia ‘17 was a record setter

Irma’17 was a record setter

Harvey’17 was a record setter

There’s something happening here. What it is, is exactly clear.

Still crazy hot here in Austin, even at the end of September.  The info below from KXAN tells the story.

6 things to know about this September’s heat

1. This has been the hottest September on record, with hourly temperatures averaging 88°
2. This September has been hotter than July (July 2019 average: 86.5°)
3. Daily high temperatures this month have averaged 100.3°
4. We have seen more 100° days this September than ever before (18 days. The previous record was 14 in 2011)
5. We have recorded 56 100° days this year, the 5th most on record
6. Typically, the first strong cold front of the season comes September 20-21. We will have to wait much longer this year.

Went out west of here to spend an afternoon at Hamilton Pool.  Been out here maybe twice over the years, but this is the first time I have ever swam.   Again was surprised at the growth of Austin in this direction, as well as the development going on closer to the preserve.

Reading a fairly uninteresting article in the New Yorker (may require login) about Facebook and the downside / dark side of unfettered free speech.  The most interesting part was about the later writings of Martin Luther.

The Dark Side of Techno-Utopianism

Big technological shifts have always empowered reformers. They have also empowered bigots, hucksters, and propagandists.

From Wikipedia:

Martin Luther and antisemitism