Here's one bet on a casino that paid off huge!

Biloxi Insured By Lloyd's Of London For Casino Income Loss

JACKSON, Mississippi (AP)--The city of Biloxi, Mississippi, home to a dozen floating casinos smashed by Hurricane Katrina, took a gamble that paid off.

Two months before the storm struck Aug. 29, the coastal town of 50,000 secured an insurance policy against a catastrophic event like a hurricane disrupting its stream of gambling revenue.

At the mayor's suggestion, Biloxi spent $92,000 on a "business interruption" policy that pays out $10 million.

"He is going to be looked on as a genius for that," a city spokesman said.

Casino proceeds account for about a third of Biloxi's budget. The $10 million policy will cover about six months of lost revenue.

After Katrina's wrath, Biloxi needs the insurance money just to keep afloat.

"Right now, money is going out three times faster than on a normal day because we have so many people working so many hours and we have absolutely nothing coming in," Creel said.

The policy was underwritten by Lloyd's of London (LYL.YY), which has estimated its Katrina losses at $2.55 billion - its second-biggest loss ever.

Went and saw Serenity tonight.

I liked it, and the co-worker I took as my +1 liked it as well. However, we both found the cliched large spinning rotary chamber in/over which to have a climactic battle to be, well, a bit cliched.

Otherwise good fun, and the free Serenity T-Shirts were kind of spiffy.

Super valuable info here

The Show Desktop icon in the Quick Launch toolbar isn't a normal shortcut. If you accidentally delete it -- and our mail suggests people often do -- you can't recreate it the way you would a shortcut to a program. Instead, launch Notepad and type these lines:

Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop

Save the file with the name Show Desktop.scf in the folder C:\Documents and Settings\ username\Application Data\ Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ Quick Launch, where username is replaced by your actual user account name.

What is Serenity?

Joss Whedon, the Oscar® - and Emmy - nominated writer/director responsible for the worldwide television phenomena of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE, ANGEL and FIREFLY, now applies his trademark compassion and wit to a small band of galactic outcasts 500 years in the future in his feature film directorial debut, Serenity. The film centers around Captain Malcolm Reynolds, a hardened veteran (on the losing side) of a galactic civil war, who now ekes out a living pulling off small crimes and transport-for-hire aboard his ship, Serenity. He leads a small, eclectic crew who are the closest thing he has left to family –squabbling, insubordinate and undyingly loyal.

I had no reason to like Firefly when it first came out.

First, I'd been a big fan of Dark Angel, and I'd read that Firefly was responsible for Fox killing Dark Angel.

Second, at the time, I didn't even know that it was a Joss Whedon production, which was certainly evinces a big hole in my pop culture knowledge, given how much I loved Buffy.

But, I can be bought. Cheaply, it turns out, if all you want is some of my time to give something a first look.

Specifically, I am going to see the Serenity sneak preview next week, as an invited "Member Of The Media" under the production company's plan to saturate the blog-o-sphere with chatter about this movie that carries on the story of a mostly ignored TV show.

(FWIW - I saw the Serenity trailer a few weeks ago when I went to see Wedding Crashers, and at one point in the trailer, while a rather petite woman is kicking some bad guy ass, I thought "Looks like Buffy/Fray in outer space." I wonder how close that'll be to the truth?)

AG Jim Hood likely to make Gubernatorial bid. (In his case, maybe it should be Goobernatorial.)

The Property Casualty Insurers Association is "outraged" at a lawsuit filed by Mississippi's attorney general aimed at forcing insurance companies to pay for flood insurance losses for hurricane Katrina survivors, and warns that the suit could jeopardize the validity of insurance contracts across the country.

If successful, the suit will "destroy the viability of every insurance policy in the state and undermine the integrity of every legal contract in the nation," said Chief Executive Ernie Csiszar, in a statement Friday.

He said the country's economy is based on the "sanctity of legal contracts" and the flood loss exclusion in these particular insurance policies are clearly worded.

"We're outraged by this attempt to retroactively rewrite policies so that every risk will be covered, regardless of the cost to millions of American consumers," he said. "It threatens the validity of any contract now in effect."

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood sued five insurance companies Thursday, alleging the insurers are trying avoid paying claims by insisting the damage to homes was caused by flooding, which isn't covered under most of the homeowner policies.

The flood exclusion language isn't merely approved by the Mississippi Department of Insurance, it is required by it.

Want flood insurance, buy it.

Want the enforcability of all contracts destroyed to support a power mad politician, vote Jim Hood for Governor.

My cast.

On life in the city, from Mrs. Tubaboy:

Had a quintessential NYC moment on my commute this morning. Seriously, I really love this city! It helped develop my sense of humor, and keeps me humored.

I'm waiting for the walk signal at the Fifth Ave near the MOMA with a group of people. Among the group is a man loudly informing the rest of his party in a affected, sort of blue-bloodish tone that there are many galleries in which to appreciate art in the area. I turn to see who he is speaking with and see a well-dressed couple partially listening to him, but visibly distracted by the man standing next to them who is using water from a puddle at the intersection to wash his face and fix up his hair. What I like about living here is that I'm constantly reminded that I am part of a continuum - somewhere among both of these groups and their idiosyncrasies.

Broke my wrist a few days ago, only realized it in the middle of last night and today X-rays confirmed the diagnosis.

Blogging will be even lighter than normal for weeks to come.

Commenting on, I think this article, I heard a guest on NPR's morning edition use a phrase that I expect to never hear again.

civilian casualty in the sperm war