I’ve been musing upon the ongoing problems in New Orleans. The stadium evacuation is being put on hold until the military can do it, because apparently the civilian rescuers weren’t up to the task of being mobbed and then SHOT AT by those they were there to rescue.

This, my friends, is what martial law is for. Civilization is never more than about three meals away from collapse, and when it collapses, even if only 10% of the population is making trouble, that’s about 100 times the number of troublemakers a “civilized” state is prepared to deal with. So let’s get un-civilized, declare martial law, and let the military handle it the way it needs to be handled.

Thinking about that is not what makes me a terrible person. Read on…

Well, WHILE I was thinking this, WHILE I was musing on the fact that people are starting to die from things a civilized state won’t let them die from — asthma, renal failure, diabetes, exposure — it occured to me that all this is happening in New Orleans.

Martial law. Bodies piling up. Armed gangs. All in NEW ORLEANS.

The only thing missing is ZOMBIES. In a city that embraces and glorifies the art and culture of the voudouin, there SHOULD be shambling, angry, hungry-for-living-flesh zombies, wading out of the depths towards those few places still above water…

Call Spielberg. No, wait… George A. Romero. He’s the expert. And if he thinks its too tasteless, maybe we can get Quentin Tarantino, Paul Verhoven, or Robert Rodriquez to direct.

–Howard

What if we rebuilt New Orleans like Venice, Italy? You know, make the water on the streets a FEATURE rather than a bug.

Discuss.

I’m sure it’s a stupid idea, but it’s so ROMANTIC.

The destruction in New Orleans is staggering. Simply staggering.

It was such a beautiful day here, I felt guilty enjoying it. I paid no attention to the news, email, or anything else until just a few minutes ago. This morning I was reading about how the French Quarter came out almost unscathed. Then the levees broke. Katrina was like a “flood grenade.” The storm surge mostly missed the city, but the city was below sea level to begin with.

Regardless of what people compare this catastrophe to, it’s certainly the worst any United States city has seen during any of our lifetimes. My prayers are with all those who need evacuation, and of course with the rescue workers and law enforcement types who need to get them out.

–Howard

The folks at Dragons Keep have a neat display area behind the register where a Heroclix model of Galactus resides. He’s 14 inches tall, and needs an impressive backdrop: you know, stars, and maybe some worlds for him to eat.

I offered to crank out a quick poster for them to fill the space behind him. It’s a 26×48-inch space, though. “Quick” does not describe the save time after my computer resized the massively multi-layered document to full resolution (26×48 inches, 300dpi). In retrospect, I should have flattened it before resizing. Oh well.

The picture is behind the cut