Mi Zeh? Mi Zeh?

Rabbi Robert Loewy with his Saints jersey (Photo by Judy Bottoni/AP)

Leave it to a rabbi to come up with a Hebrew translation of "Who Dat? Who Dat? Who Dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints? Who Dat?" Rabbi Robert Loewy of Gates of Prayer Synagogue in Metairie came up with the full expression "Mi Zeh? Mi Zeh? Mi Zeh Omer Yach-vosh et Ha-tsa-dikim? Mi Zeh?" sometime before the NFC Championship game against the Minnesota Vikings. I take an advanced adult Jewish education course from Loewy on a weekly basis, so I learned of his translation just after the last game the Saints played. He said he worked to try to come up with the right words that would suffice. One of the major stumbling blocks is that the concept of a "saint" is foreign to Hebrew. There is a term for being righteous, which is translated variously as tzadik or in the plural tzadikim and the rabbi determined that was probably the best word choice. The major problem in getting the phrase out to others is that the Hebrew fonts have to be installed on computers before they'll understand the characters and, as most gradeschoolers know, Hebrew reads from right to left, has no punctuation and, oftentimes, lacks vowels. The English transliteration works well enough and it has established Loewy as a local Saints enthusiast. LIke every other segment in the greater New Orleans community, the Jewish community is very fired up about the Super Bowl game on Sunday. But that won't stop the first of the major parades from rolling tonight. Even the Sunday parade schedule has been bumped up an hour so that fans will be off the streets and inside their homes or favorite lounges by kickoff. Saints fans believe they can win. They know their history and look back only a few years ago when Peyton Manning's little brother Eli and his team, the New York Giants, swept the heavily-favored and undefeated New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. That wasn't supposed to happen, but it did. If you can conceive, you can achieve. Down here everybody is waiting with abated breath for the start of the game. Even moreso they are hoping that the end of the game will have the Saints on the winning side of the score. The game plans are done. The players are ready. It's time for some football, Shabbat and Mardi Gras, although not necessarily in that order. Mi Zeh?

Recovery, digital forensics and Hippo

Ever watch an episode of NCIS and marvel how Abby Sciutto (played so expertly by New Orleanian native Pauley Perrette) can recover data off a hard drive that's been shot, set ablaze or otherwise damaged in a way only a Hollywood scriptwriter could devise? It must be fiction, you will undoubtedly assure yourself, otherwise why couldn't the computer technician recover data off the hard drive that died with a simple whimper last week? Aren't they the same thing? After all, if it happens on TV, it must be steeped in fact and reality. So what gives? Has my computer technician been misleading me? Why did I have to buy a new computer workstation or reinstall my operating system and lose all of my data? First of all, we need to make two distinctions. There is data recovery or digital forensics and then there is a recovery of the operating system, meaning the Windows, Mac, Linux or other operating system along with attendant applications like Word or Quickbooks. I think most of us will recognize that the computer drive that's been used for target practice is not likely to come back to life. However, if there were critical data needed on that drive, it might be able to be recovered and then copied to a healthy system. The ability to return a crashed drive back to healthy status requires a great deal of knowledge and forethought. Doing something silly like keeping an extra hard drive plugged into a new operating system install can have dire consequences later. Tuesday night I learned quite a bit more about about both data recovery and digital forensics when the Louisiana Technology Council invited their members and interested parties to learn from two experts who have been movers and shakers in these two areas of computing technology. The first was Chris Read from Carrollton Technology, one of the lead partners with the LTC in the project which resulted in restoring thousands of what the LTC and Carrollton jointly concluded were deliberately deleted e-mails from the New Orleans mayor's server. These e-mails were the subject of a public records request made by several local reporters including WWL's Lee Zurik at the time (Zurik now works for crosstown rival WVUE-TV) and the Times-Picayune. Also included in the forum was Golden Richard, III, a professor at the University of New Orleans, considered one of the foremost local digital forensics experts. He talked about how data is like an unwelcome visitor; it never truly goes away when you'd like it to do so. So-called registry "scrubbers" or rewriting programs intended to "wipe" hard drives of data are no match for Richard or any of his peers and students. Richard has been used by several federal groups to assist authorities in determining criminal activity by suspected purveyors of child pornography, for example. As Richard explained, sometimes a simple dumb act like not securing one's wireless access could have disastrous consequences. Richard gave an example of a person wrongly accused in hosting child pornography over the Internet, when it turned out it was his pedophile neighbor "stealing" his wireless access. By the time the facts were sorted out, the unlucky person who was accused had lost his computers, had his good name sullied and had endured a great deal of aggravation and unnecessary stress. If this doesn't scare you into placing security on your wireless access, I guess nothing ever will.

Maurice "Hippo" Katz, a well-known and attuned political confidante of major players on both a city and statewide level, passed away on Tuesday morning. Katz, 75, a local character earned his nickname for his wide girth when he was still a very young man. A successful insurance executive, Katz was noted for his political insight and he counseled many candidates for public office over the course of five decades. He was often seen holding court at Ruth's Chris Steak House with such powerhouse politicians as Edwin Edwards, Harry Lee and Aaron Broussard. Although he was accused of being a bit too close to some politicians who had influence and sway, Katz was never convicted of any offense and carried on business with several local governments and entities. That fact seems to have been ignored in the Times-Picayune obituary, which ran today. Much of the article addressed charges that were never proven and Katz's survivors and friends were left scratching their heads over why the newspaper felt it necessary to trot out information that was salacious at worst and misleading at the very least.

The rollercoaster ride to redemption

Throughout the past week the feeling among the residents has been a mixture of elation and nervous anticipation. Several sports memorabilia and T-shirt shops were served with cease and desist letters a week ago by lawyers representing the National Football League. The recipients of the letters included several mom and pop shops that protested the action along with outraged fans. The lawyers claimed that the NFL and the New Orleans Saints organization had trademarked the term "Who dat?" and fans who had been using that cry to rally the team for decades took umbrage and offense over the suggestion that their phrase could be laid claim to like a caveman might take a wife. The term "who dat?" has had a rich history, having been traced back to minstrel shows of the latter half of the Nineteenth Century. Various individuals have claimed to have been at the onset of the popularity of the phrase, some stating it was used traditionally by Cajuns, while others suggested it began outside of the state in nearby Mississippi. More recently the cheer, if we can call it that, was used as a taunt in the mid-1980s by a local high school football team that had racked up some impressive wins. That corresponded to the rise of the Saints organization as a contender in the NFL rather than the Aints of earlier days when embarrassed fans wore paper bags on their heads, espying the games through cutout holes. Several fans began to use the cry "Who dat? Who dat? Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints? Who dat?" at games, but then it began to snowball after local sportscaster and New York Mets legend Ron Swoboda oversaw a recording session with several New Orleans Saints football players and local legend Aaron Neville one evening. The songwriters incorporated the "who dat?" cheer into the traditional Dixieland favorite "When the Saints Go Marching In" with a catchy New Orleans "second line" backbeat. The record took off like a rocket and was heard over the local airwaves for much of the last two decades and more. For the NFL to claim ownership of the term as an intellectual property was a bit of a reach and the fan reaction was overwhelmingly negative. Even high profile politicians like Republican U.S. Senator David Vitter invited the football league to challenge him, promising he would be printing up T-shirts for his electorate with the "who dat?" phrase emblazoned on them. "Sue me," he reportedly shot back to the NFL amid the obvious delight of his electorate. The backlash was so great that the NFL, accustomed to strong arm tactics in other cities, was put in the curious situation where they had to rethink their position. Before the beginning of the Pro Bowl weekend they clarified their claim. Only where the term "who dat?' is used with the obvious New Orleans Saints black and gold color scheme and their name would there be grounds for legal action by the Saints and the league, they contended. It still went down loyal Saints fans' throats like day old warm beer. Their outcry was unmistakably opposed to the league and to a lesser attempt at Tom Benson's Saints organization. Even the staid Times-Picayune decried the NFL's action in an editorial. It is curious that the fleur-de-lis, the symbol of New Orleans, Louisiana, the Saints and Scouting cannot be trademarked or copyrighted. It has existed as a symbol for centuries and the Saints are the only NFL organization that cannot lay claim to it as their exclusive symbol. The dust has settled on that hot topic now that the team members have journeyed to Miami and begun to work on their game plan for Sunday's game. Coach Sean Payton has been tight-lipped about what he plans on doing in Supebowl XLIV, but today is Media Day, the first major day of coverage by sportswriters and reporters from across the globe. Like ravenous piranha fish they will descend on the players and coaches and start the turnstiles of endless coverage that will pervade all media up to and including the kickoff. Local fans are starting and ending conversations with the "Who dat?" phrase, but the anxiety levels are definitely building. The two best teams in the NFL are getting ready for a shootout. Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, who grew up in New Orleans, would be the local favorite were he not playing against his dad's former team. The trash talk on the local radio talk shows have dealt with how to get to Manning and keep him off his game. Sunday afternoon well over one thousand men donned dresses, slipped on high heeled shoes, applied makeup and bandied boas as they marched in memory of local sportscaster Buddy "D" Diliberto, who had made a promise to his faithful that should the Saints ever get into the Superbowl, he would wear a dress. Sadly, he passed away prior to Hurricane Katrina's devastation and the horrible damage done to the Saints playing facility at the Louisiana Superdome. WWL radio sports reporter and former New Orleans Saints quarterback Bobby Hebert led the rally in a special black and gold sequined number designed by his daughter, who works in the fashion industry in New York City. I liken this period of time to the veritable calm before the storm or the period on the rollercoaster when it is making its slow and steady climb to the top just before all hell breaks loose as it plummets toward the ground. All I can advise to everyone concerned is hold on tight. It's going to be a bumpy ride.

A Busy Month

For being the shortest month, February promises to offer more than its share of excitement. Indeed, the month will end with my birthday (as it does three out of every four years), but this is not about me. First of all, unless you've been sleeping or in a coma (and if you have been, prepare yourself now), the New Orleans Saints are in the Superbowl! That means the next week will be the culmination of 43 years of wishing and hoping for diehard fans. Whether the boys in black and gold take home the coveted Vince Lombardi Trophy has yet to be decided, but the fact there is a team from New Orleans playing in the big game does give all of us pause and a reason for impromptu partying and cavorting. Oh, yes, there's also a mayoral election in New Orleans that will be decided outright or the field of characters narrowed by next weekend. All the while that all of that is going on, the steady progress towards Fat Tuesday and the schedule of Carnival parades continues to loom large. The first parades of consequence have been held this past week and the major parading organizations get started this coming weekend, the Superbowl notwithstanding. For the past three weeks I have been announcing several Carnival balls, serving as the narrator and scriptwriter for several krewes, as the organizations are known. As the krewes get their respective floats prepared, the anticipation rises and the size of the crowds along the parade routes will increase exponentially too. As the Superbowl excitement begins to pitch higher, so too does the Mardi Gras fervor and as soon as the nation's best NFL team is determined, it will be time for the biggest and bawdiest of the parades to make their way onto the streets of the city. Hand in hand with the parading on the weekend following the Superbowl will be the appearance of the Adventure Base 100, a huge 18-wheeler that has already been to Sacramento, California and is making its way towards Austin, Texas. Adventure Base 100 is a Boy Scout experience intended to capitalize on the anniversary of the BSA, which will be in one week on February 8. The interactive exhibit includes all kinds of activities for youth and adults and will be in the Krewe of Hermes parade on Friday night, February 12 and then housed at the Audubon Zoological Institute on Saturday and Sunday, February 13 and 14. Thousands of youngsters and parents will have an opportunity to see for themselves what will be several thousand square feet of exhibit space, made possible by the BSA with the support of the Southeast Louisiana Council. After Mardi Gras ends, there will be several other local events that will keep me busy including the Scout Shabbat being held February 20 at Congregation Beth Israel in their present quarters in the Bart Room of Gates of Prayer Synagogue in Metairie. This will be the first time a Scout Shabbat has been held at Beth Israel since 1999 and the first one assisted by Beth Israel Rabbi Uri Topolosky, an Eagle Scout from Troop 613 out of Silver Spring, Maryland. The very last of the month brings the holiday of Purim, probably the most fun of all Jewish holidays. So, as you can see, there is a lot to be had this month. Wish me luck because I know I'll need it.

Raise High the Moonbeam, Salinger

When John Hughes died last year, I thought a great voice in cinema that spoke to teens and understood much of their collective psyche had been stilled. Somehow I knew there would never be another filmmaker with as much to say in as short a span as him. For someone who lived to be less than 60, he was prolific for less than a decade beginning in 1985 with such incredible films as "16 Candles," "The Breakfast Club," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Pretty in Pink," "Weird Science" and "Home Alone" to name but a few. Hughes was less productive in his later years, becoming a veritable recluse in 1991. The last production attached to his name was in 2001. The idea of becoming famous virtually overnight and then, nearly as sudden, turning the spotlight off to wallow in the emptiness of solitude seems odd to most of us who have yet to leave a mark in this world. For Hughes it was worth the effort to have his own happy existence beyond the infringement of cameras and recorders. Perhaps he was depressed. Perhaps he was disillusioned with life. It was his choice to run away and people respected that choice no matter how much they wished he still made films. Sudden fame has been thrust on several artists, but for writers there was probably no greater impact made in as short a period of time in the last half century than that of J. D. Salinger. Salinger, who died yesterday at the age of 91, was a recluse's recluse. He lived in obscurity for decades after he was acclaimed as one of the greatest American authors of the 20th Century. It may surprise many to learn that his most regarded work, "The Catcher in the Rye," published in 1951, was the last novel he allowed to be published. There is no doubt that the 65 million copies it has sold to date puts it in the stratosphere of bestsellers in the company of only one other contemporary work, Dan Brown's 2003 novel "The DaVinci Code." But more than its popularity is the importance of his first person narrative to detail the angst, alienation and rebellion of the young generation. Perhaps that is why Holden Caulfield will always remain as a living, breathing creature to millions of readers the world over and why his words have always spoken as genuine and authentic. Infamously, Mark David Chapman held a copy of Salinger's most famous work when he assassinated John Lennon and when asked by police why he had done it, replied that the answer was inside the book. If multitudes thought they knew Caulfield, hardly anyone knew Salinger. Practically from the time of his meteoric rise, he shunned publicity. He hated attention and the press in particular whom he labeled as panderers of gossip. To understand his aversion to fame, one might delve into his philosophy expressed through Caulfield's own sentiments. In Chapter 12 he watches Ernie, a nightclub owner and piano player, perform with great precision and to the obvious delight of the crowd. Caulfield is impressed with his play, but repulsed by the adulation Ernie receives from the audience. "I swear to God, if I were a piano player or an actor or something and all those dopes thought I was terrific, I'd hate it," Salinger's character quotes. "I wouldn't even want them to clap for me. People always clap for the wrong things....If I were a piano player, I'd play it in the goddam closet." It may surprise some of the lovers of Salinger's works, which also include the novellas "Raise High the Roofbeam, Carpenters" and "Seymour" as well as "Franny and Zooey" and the short story collection "Nine Stories," that he continued to write for most of the past four decades of isolation. He so highly prized his privacy that he cut himself off from much of civilization and outside influences and only allowed a few chosen family members and very select friends to be a part of his world. Like Ernie, he locked himself inside his own closet, writing to please his greatest critic, himself. There are books waiting to be published that have already been cleared by Salinger for release through his estate and others that he has written in spiral notebooks that will need some further editing. There will be a treasure trove of Salinger books available at book stores in the near future and I, for one, can't wait to see what that sly fox of an author has in store for those of us who only wanted to stand outside the closet and hear him play.

Louisiana Technology Council

The logo of "the tech capital of the South"®

I don't think I've ever spoken before about the Louisiana Technology Council and the incredible job they are doing to bring all members of the burgeoning information technology and business sectors together. Located originally in New Orleans, the LTC has branched out to Baton Rouge, but has members and sponsors headquartered in Shreveport, Monroe and smaller metropolitan markets like Lafayette. Last night I attended the annual business meeting of the small, but determined group led by the charismatic Mark Lewis. Lewis, who formerly worked with IBM, has been at the helm of the LTC for eight years. He is the spark that makes the engine run. This past summer he fan afoul of the Mayor's office when he and some of his partners ended up restoring thousands of "missing" e-mails from Mayor Ray Nagin's e-mail account that they claimed had been mistakenly erased and therefore not accessible to public record requests from the media. Lewis had been operating under the behest of the mayor, but when he held a press conference to announce that the e-mails had been deliberately erased, the contract under which he was performing the service for the city was scrapped. Later, he revealed the entire data drives were turned over to the F.B.I. So, I will admit there are some bad feelings there, but with the exception of Mayor Ray Nagin and several City Hall workers, he is almost universally hailed as a one-man dynamo and diehard promoter of technology in the state. Lewis ,whose expressed vision is to see Louisiana achieve status as "the tech capital of the South, " actually registered that phrase as part of his strategy. Last night representatives from area member firms (including me) heard of Lewis's ambitious plans for 2010 and one after another gushed praise upon him for all of his efforts. Lewis previewed a soon-to-be unveiled website that will update his present site and he has encouraged several partners to develop social networking tools and training opportunities for businesses and members that will make the site even more impressive. I am proud to be a member of the LTC and hope to contribute in a meaningful way to its newsletter. Unfortunately, I write too much for little or no pay and have even less time, so I will have to offer my services cautiously and on a limited basis. Nevertheless, there is much to hear about from the LTC and I encourage anyone in the area to consider becoming a member and deriving a number of benefits by doing so. I find the advantages of meeting with other like-minded IT individuals and firms to be of prime interest to me and invariably it creates an environment for expansion of business and informs them about better security and efficiency of networking and computing in the process. Lewis raises his entire staff's salary from the private sector, so he is not a public servant. They receive no public funding for which he is beholden and can operate with virtual impunity in promoting the organization's cause. My hat is off to Lewis and the fabulous staff he maintains at LTC. Despite the controversy of 2009 from which he is distancing himself and the LTC, we can all expect very good things from Mark Lewis and the Louisiana Technology Council.

It wasn't just another game

I've been fairly quiet over the course of the last week. I was trying to write something that would do justice to the swelling of fanaticism with respect to the upcoming NFC Championship Game that had the New Orleans Saints pitted against the Minnesota Vikings. Words seemed hollow as the radio waves filled with the taunts of rabid fans determined to bring home a championship to the city for the first time in the franchise's 43 year-0ld history. The Superdome was going to be a major factor in the game and the noise level was predicted to be at all-time high levels. All of the hoopla proved to be horribly understated. The game was thrilling, but not especially well-played by both sides. Brett Favre, who admitted being a New Orleans Saint fan when he was growing up as a boy in nearby Kiln, Mississippi, was determined to defeat the Who Dat Nation, but in the end his tremendous effort was upended by turnovers committed by his teammates and one ill-advised errant toss that proved to be the difference in the game. Led by the incredible Drew Brees, who led the nation in offense, the Saints had terrible offensive production in the second half, but they managed to stay in the game, eventually taking the lead for the first time in the third quarter. The pitched battle continued into sudden death overtime and the largest crowd in the Superdome since 1979 erupted when the Saints won the coin toss that determined who would get possession of the ball first. A huge runback by Pierre Thomas put the Saints in excellent field position and it wasn't long before 23-year-old Garrett Hartley kicked the game winning field goal that put the Saints ahead for good 31-28 and punched their ticket for Miami in early February. As soon as the Saints had won the game, there was a huge noise out in the streets. I opened the door to hear screams throughout the entire neighborhood. Cars were blowing their horns. Fireworks, illegal in Orleans Parish, were going off all over the city. The noise didn't abate for nearly a half hour as Bourbon Street filled up with huge numbers of partying fans. It was as big a crowd as any had ever seen there for a Sugar Bowl, Superbowl or a Mardi Gras gathering. The difference was that most people on Mardi Gras or any other previous sports event being celebrated there were not local. Practically everyone on the street tonight is a resident of the city. So what does this mean to New Orleans? Following the heartbreak of Hurricane Katrina's devastation in 2005, the Saints were forced to move their season to other venues. The Superdome was in shambles and team owner Tom Benson was seriously mulling an offer to move the team away from the city of his birth to San Antonio, the place where much of his business dealings was now centered. Diehard Saints fans were apalled. Arnie Fielkow, the general manager and a relative newcomer to the city, had a well-publicized argument with Benson over the proposed move. He lost his job, but made his point. Fielkow became such a great folk hero that he was elected to the city council almost immediately thereafter and has become a major political force in the post-Katrina recovery. This city has always had a special place in its heart for pro football. LSU has captured three national championships and even Tulane University posted a perfect season a few years ago. However, despite an almost unhealthy loyal fan base, the Saints always seemed to find a way to lose. It took them 21 years before they had their first winning season. Imagine that. There were children born in the first year of the franchise who grew up and were ready to graduate from college before the Saints would win more than half the games on their schedule. That was 1987 when the team went 12-3. It took until 2000 before the team went to the playoffs and registered their first win. They actually played for the NFC Championship once before in Chicago, a debacle of a game played in snowy and frigid conditions in 2006 at Soldier Field during Coach Sean Payton's first year of rebuilding which they lost 39-14. This was more than just a game. The hopes of the city, the demeanor of its people and the culmination of recovery from the horrors of Katrina made this victory all the more sweet. This was a team many years ago that had a brilliant quarterback, who with a better offensive front line and one or two receivers and running backs might have taken the club to the Super Bowl. Try as he might in front of his adoring fans, it wasn't to be. Instead, he married and made New Orleans his home. He raised three strapping boys, passed his raw talent to each and instilled in them a love of the game. Growing up, their team was the Saints. Archie Manning was the color commentator for the radio broadcasts for decades, but it was only in recent years with the success of his two youngest sons, Peyton and Eli, that he felt he had to distance himself somewhat from calling the games. Now, there is the question: who will Archie be pulling for? And like Bret Favre, who lost the championship to his favorite team, will Peyton be up to the task of defeating the team with whom his dad was so closely associated and his own hometown heroes? It will be one heckuva game and I am intrigued. It will be the game of Payton versus Peyton and one more interesting twist on a name. Of all the years for the NFL to pick the halftime act to perform, what made them pick the storied British rock band that stars Pete Townsend and Roger Daltry? Is there any doubt the sportswriters of the world will proclaim the Who as the Who Dat?