Kudzu: Nature Conservancy follows where Desirable Roasted Coffee leads!

More than two years ago, I enlightened Desirable Roasted Coffee readers of the dangers of kudzu. Not that it did a lot of good; last time I was in the South, the stuff was still growing. Maybe the Nature Conservancy's "Invasive Species: What You Can Do" article will wake people up, but that's not likely, since they soft-shoe the danger:

"Once established, kudzu grows at a rate of one foot per day; mature vines can be 100 feet long."

One foot per day? Kudzu grows fast enough to take down slow cows. Dozens of farm implements are lost every year in the South because Bubbas leave them out in the field while they go into town for a part. It is certifiable fact that at least one kudzu vine starts just south of Hattiesburg, Mississippi and, as of noon today, was snaking its way into a bean field four miles east of Emporia, Virginia (see map). Perhaps the Nature Conservancy wants to spare us the hard truth, but I say "take the truth... before the kudzu gits ya."

    Technorati : kudzu, nature conservancy, rapacious vegetation

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 11:25pm in Rapacious Vegetation, South | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0)

The real terrorist is that bag of Fritos...

Every time I return to the United States, I find myself asking "are people getting...bigger?" Sad confirmation from CNN's little map showing the rise of obesity since 1985 (the year I moved abroad, come to think of it). Unsurprisingly, the South seems most affected.

Many reasons, I'm sure, lie behind the trend. The enormous amount of processed foods on supermarket shelves never fails to shock me, and I would assume they are one of the chief culprits (but, then, I've been reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, enough to put you off processed foods for the rest of your life).

But when I ask Americans about what will be the biggest threat to the Republic over the next 50 years, the answer is always.. always... "terrorism." What poppycock. Terrorism is, at most, an irritant. What will hold America back is losing a growing share of its productive work force (and lots of cash and resources) to obesity. Damn, people, lay off the Fluffernutter already.

Hat tips to Anil Dash and John Dvorak.

Technorati : CNN, demographic map, fluffernutter, obesity, terrorism

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 10:05pm in Food and Drink, Healthcare, South | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (3) | TrackBack (0)

Hallett makes me jealous

Coming out of a month's self-imposed respite is never easy. And never, of course, when colleagues post photos that cause debilitating homesickness. Eeehhh.

Josh Hallett of hyku | blog is running around in my neck of the woods on vacation:  in the mountains of North Carolina. If you are from there, you know there's no finer sight.

Thanks, Josh.

I'm back.

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 12:00am in South | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (3) | TrackBack (1)

Man Kills Buck With Bare Hands in Bedroom

I watched a guy from Greenpeace on TV talking about  "having a dialogue" with nature. Whatever the validity of his basic argument, the idea of "dialogue" with nature is silly.

And here's my proof:

Man Kills Buck With Bare Hands In Bedroom

For 40 exhausting minutes, Wayne Goldsberry battled a buck with his bare hands in his daughter's bedroom.

Goldsberry finally subdued the five-point whitetail deer that crashed through a bedroom window at his daughter's home Friday. When it was over, blood splattered the walls and the deer lay dead on the bedroom floor, its neck broken...

Indeed. What's hilarious is Goldsberry broke off the fight to go ask his wife to call the police (and, who knows, maybe he had time for a beer) before rejoining the battle. I don't think conflict resolution training would have done much good, either.

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 04:24pm in Bizarre but Expected, Food, Humor, South | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (4) | TrackBack (0)

The New Orleans Diaspora

So where did everyone go in the wake of Hurricane Katrina? Here's a map, based on 40,000 entries to various "I'm safe!" Katrina websites. The map at the EPodunk website is interactive.

Via The Map Room.

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 11:57am in Cartography, Current Affairs, Katrina, South | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0)

Sad Days for the Blues: Gatemouth Brown and R. L. Burnside Hang It Up For Good

We blues fans are having a bad month.

Not only is one of the great blues cities devastated. Today comes news of the death of Gatemouth Brown, one of the truly great ones. I heard him a few years ago and was entranced because his music was such a sweet mashup of blues, country-blues, blues-rock, country-rock. He might as well as hung a sign over the stage: Abandon hope, sniveling purists!

Brown escaped New Orleans just before the storm. Dying of cancer, learning that his house and all of his career memorabilia were destroyed, he gave up the ghost.

That was bad enough. Then I open an email from friend Tom giving me his review of the Bull Durham Blues Festival, in which he obliquely mentions that R. L. Burnside has died.

I got turned on to R. L. Burnside last spring by friends Karoline and Peter. Sarcastic, never afraid to experiment, never afraid to offend -- what's not to like? It should be against the law to drive through northern Mississippi without his An Ass Pocket of Whisky in the CD player.

Technorati tags: gatemouth rlburnside blues

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 09:30am in Music, People of Note, South | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0)

Lesson for Communicators: Grassroots Tsunami Team Remobilizes For Katrina

What can ordinary people do in the face of catastrophe?

Jeremy Pepper and Richard Edelman believe natural disasters are events that leave bloggers and wiki-builders powerless.  Warren Bickford believes there's little that IABC can do. (Addendum: Jeff Jarvis is hard at work with a coterie to solve the next disaster -- Jeff, why don't you and your group help solve this one first: Keep reading for how you can volunteer.)

Nothing could be further from the truth: bloggers can make a difference. While I agree with Pepper that few bloggers seem to be doing more than complaining about government efforts,  I'd like to point out a huge exception.

I've written earlier about the incredible South East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami blog/wiki effort that went into action hours after the tsunami. Grassroots- organized using blogs, wikis, IM, and Skype. And effective at a time with most governments and relief organizations were in shock.

The same team has swung into action with the Katrina Help blog and wiki. The team, spanning three continents, including professional communicators, has used the blog, the wike, IM, and Skype to set up:

• A comprehensive blog, operating since August 29th.
• A wiki, updated seemingly hourly, with job offers, transportation offers, housing offers, updated emergency management information, info about conditions on the ground. Comunicators: PR-blogger Constantin Basturea is one of the moderators.
• A PeopleFinder effort to help locate missing persons and reunite them with families. They need volunteers, including communicators!
• A ShelterFinder effort: ditto above, you can volunteer.
• A KatrinaHelpLine, staffed 24/7 by volunteers. This is Skype-based, with a New Orleans area Skype-in number (+1 504 208 1564).

So what can IABC and its members, PRSA and its members, any communicator -- or any one of us, for that matter, do to help this effort?

• Well, we can donate your time. Plenty of information about that on the Wiki.
• We can also donate money or services to keep the effort going. It's a volunteer effort, and they are using free software (Blogger, Skype, etc) but there are some hosting costs. You can read more about their needs here. Microcontributions or contributions-in-kind appear welcome.

The lesson here for communicators? Bloggers and micro-media users -- real communicators -- can make a difference. It's a question of rapid organization and will. We don't have the tools is no longer an excuse for us.

Via Conversations with Dina and other sources.

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 11:32am in Blogging for the Sheer Hell of It, Citizen Journalism, Communication, Current Affairs, IABC, Katrina, PRSA, Social Tools, South, Tsunami | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (5) | TrackBack (2)

Following the Intelligent Design Debate? Here's Something to Snack On

Intelligent Design is the big thing in educationally-circumscribed circles, but what can you do? Belief is belief.

Now that the Pastarians Pastafarians have outed themselves, I suppose I will have to go back out on the Sweetbreads Are Grace in Beulah Land evangelical circuit.

Hat tip to friend Lisa.

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 07:48pm in Scams, Science, Society, South | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (3) | TrackBack (1)

Blogging Katrina

Most Southerners share an affinity for New Orleans: Depending on your point-of-view and your religious bent, she's either a deliciously wicked sister-in-law or the wicked aunt who should have been put in rehab ages ago.

So I watched CNN and the Beeb much of today, and kept checking in on the Times-Picayune website, esp their bunker blog. What I couldn't find were many on-the-spot bloggers (no surprise there; I sure has hell wouldn't have been blogging).

This site lists some who are.

Update: the Wikipedia article.

Update: A map

Update: A blog from the front lines.

Update: IABC's leadership gets out safely.

Update:  Tom Keefe reports communicator looking to go back in to help with crisis comms.

Update: a Slidell Blog.

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 07:27pm in Blogging, Current Affairs, History, South | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (2) | TrackBack (0)

Why I Left the South: Was Afraid the Kudzu Would Git Me

I'm often asked why I moved to Denmark. Kudzu is the real reason. I figure I'm far enough away to die of natural causes before it gets me.

You think I'm joking? Find the house in the photo below.

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 09:04pm in Expatriate Life, Rapacious Vegetation, South | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (3) | TrackBack (0)