[Cob] numbers

[Mary Lou McFarland]

I have gotten out of the habit of listening to domestic news other than the 
Lehrer report on PBS.  Most of what I saw on New Orleans was covered by BBC. 
  According to them the original estimate of the dead  would run around 
10,000 and twenty five thousand body bags were sent in.  Later I thought I 
had heard that the end count was eleven thousand.  If I was wrong than I 
apologize, but that being said, I would never count on our politically 
motivated news programs to correctly report that number.  For instance, BBC 
actually showed national guardsmen shooting "looters"  It was horrifying to 
see.
On to Habitat for Humanity....keep in mind who is building the houses.  They 
are regular folks with some assistance from local contractors who have only 
ever done conventional stick building.  You can only do what you know how to 
do, so to make a change than you have to change the knowledge available.  
It's not perfect, but it's far better than getting stuck in a FEMA camper 
until the next hurricane season rolls around.  I still believe that the 
final answer will be general knowledge of alternative building methods so 
that people know they have choices
I think I agree with Rob and I will just build a chicken coop and move in 
before the chickens get there.  People will wonder about it and ask 
questions and then the opportunity to educate them about other ways of doing 
things will present itself.