Louisiana, They're Just Trying To Wash Us Away

There is wisdom in the belief that "what goes around , comes around. It's true that the old does become the new again, and I noticed this recently in the form of a song by songwriter/singer Randy Newman (he is a native of my state). The song is called "Louisiana" and it was written about 15 years ago, at the time getting modest play on radio stations and sales in stores. "Louisiana" is a song about the great flood of 1927, before Hurricane Katrina, the greatest natural disaster in my state.
"Louisiana, Louisiana, Louisiana They're just try to wash us away They're just trying to wash us away" That chilling refrain from the song telling the listener that the U.S. government doesn't care about my area and is not so sad it is being washed away is the feeling we have here now after Hurricane Katrina. In the song it's President Coolidge who is indifferent and says "too bad for those crackers" (A derisive term for people who live in the south) as he brushes aside the thousands of deaths and total destruction of the same area that flooded in August.
But one could place George Bush in Coolidge's place and not miss a beat of the song. In fact, every detail is the same as the disaster we had with this hurricane, apart from the fact that the 1927 flood was of the Mississippi River (It runs through New Orleans), not flood waters from the Gulf of Mexico, rivers, lakes, canals and other water sources here that pushed over and through inadequately built levees.
I have heard the song played often here and on two documentaries shown on network TV. It is as I wrote "chilling" because it is too close to what happened in August to not be. It makes us wonder if they will wash us away. One "expert" has already said that New Orleans should be abandoned as un livable, that resident should be relocated. Of course not one of those who wants to see us washed away wants also to wash away the oil . gas, seafood, sulfur etc. that make my state one of the richest natural treasures in the U.S. It seems they just want us to go away so we don't make them spend money to protect us- just like in 1927. If you get a chance, listen to the song. You can find the author's version with commentary at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/storyphp?storyld=4838741 or hear Billy Idol sing it with a free download at http://www.gotbrandy.com/industry/music
Lovely, but cold and dull Singapore is at it again. In the land where smiling is considered rude, and emotion takes second to finances comes a new technology that's a good fit for the lifestyle there. Forget about hugging your child or honey. In Singapore there is news of "cyberhugs". It's a new a way to transmit the sense of touch over the Internet using a vibration jacket the hugged person wears. Bizarre as it seems, research scientists at Nanyang Technological University have devised a wireless jacket for chickens or other pets that can be controlled with a computer to give the animal the feeling of being touched by its owner.
The next step, the Singapore group says is to use the same concept to transmit hugs over the internet. "These days, parents go on a lot of business trips, but with children, hugging and touching are very important, said one of the researchers, Adrian Cheok. NTU plans to make a pajama suit for kids, which would use the Internet to adjust changes in pressure and temperature to simulate the feeling of being hugged. Parents could wear a similar suit to be "hugged back by their kids. Haha Only in Singapore could emotion be transformed into electronics. But...sad to say...that may be an improvement for Singaporeans.