Life immitates art

It's probably my fault.

All summer at the day gig I've been.. sort of.. teaching Earth Sciences to children for free. Nothing serious, mind you, just a few short talks about fossils or soil or geology with a powerpoint and some homemade props. It's only as good or as bad as the children's books and general Googling from which it is sourced.  If I wanted to go into teaching with those qualifications, John White would hire me on the spot.

Anyway so it happened that today's activity involved vulcanism. And since I've never left the 4th grade that means making stuff blow up.



I'm still inclined to just take this as a coincidence but it sure is strange that just as I was prepping this controlled blow-out, another one was well underway not too far from me.

A water main break in the Carrollton area is causing street flooding, and low water pressure in the Uptown area. The break was reportedly in the area of Spruce and Burdette Sts. The Sewerage and Water Board called the incident a large break, and did not immediately release a timetable for cleanup.

I read about the water main break just as soon as I picked up my phone in the morning. So between that and the fact that we're pretty much due for another one anyway, I figured there would be a boil order coming.  Sure enough, four hours later, 

UPDATE (11:50 a.m.) BOIL WATER ALERT ISSUED
The City issued a boil water advisory for much of the Uptown area. The area affected by the boil water advisory is bounded by S. Carrollton Ave., Maple Street, Loyola St. Jackson Ave. and the Mississppi River.

Of course I had already gone ahead and showered and brushed and so forth and was well on to making the volcano explode by the time the boil order was issued. But, like I said, I was expecting one anyway so I'm probably the idiot here. Jarvis Deberry might disagree.

But go ahead and take whatever precautions you think are necessary.  The New York Post recommends you wear blue latex gloves when handling your boiled water.

In the meantime, I'll try not to inspire the universe to emulate my goofy science projects while we... oh dear....

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Federal authorities say an uncontrolled flow of gas at a rig off the Louisiana coast forced the evacuation of 47 workers.

No injuries have been reported.

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said it happened Tuesday morning about 55 miles offshore.

As of late Tuesday morning, the bureau statement said, gas continued to flow from the well, but no oil.

Not to worry, though. This is only the second such mishap this month so when you consider that it's no more or less unusual than a municipal boil water order it lends a reassuring sense of perspective.