THE DUMBING DOWN OF ALMOST EVERYTHING: I'm constantly amazed at the intellectual level of some of our lawmakers, TV "news" people -- and others -- just plain people who should know better. Below are some examples.

• 11 million people tweeted regarding the color of a dress. Some saw it as blue and black, others as white and gold. Could there be any better argument against the overuse of smart phones?
• And speaking of smart phones, I know it sounds counterintuitive, but I believe one of the reasons for the dumbing down of almost everything is the smart phone. Smart phone -- dumbing down, get it? I believe the smart phone has caused a dramatic drop in our ability to converse, exchange ideas and opinions and, in general, has stifled intelligent interaction among the younger generations we live with. Example: Bette and I were in a restaurant some time ago when a young couple came in and took a table near us. I watched as they ignored each other in favor of texting on their individual phones. Maybe they were texting each other?  That would be even worse.
• A recent survey posed the question: "In your opinion, which program is more effective, Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act?" The Affordable Care Act won handily. 
• In early March, the House of Representatives, fully aware of ISIS threats to malls and other venues in the United States, passed a bill funding the Department of Homeland Security for one week.

The continued overuse of "déjà vu all over again." It was funny once, when Yogi Berra (I think) said it a few decades ago. It no longer is.

At what point did everyone stop thinking? Channel 38 ran a commercial for Viagra, a sexy woman talking about the ability to get -- and keep -- an erection.  This was at 7:00 o'clock, well within the family hour when kids are watching TV. And by the way, what ever happened to the family hour?

I don't know if the Plymouth nuclear plant is safe or not. It looks like nobody does. Wouldn't it make sense to shut it down until a determination is made?

I wish I'd thought of this: "The Borowitz Report"  tells us that Iran is brokering a peace treaty between Congress and President Obama.

This columnist, on occasion, has criticized some aspects of the management of our community. Not this month. Given the winter we've had our ancestral potholes are well earned, and the snow removal effort throughout the winter was commendable, in fact, it was great.

THE RETURN OF MISS INFORMED

Dear Miss Informed:

My adopted kids have created havoc among my neighbors. As just one example, they spent a freezing cold day last winter pouring water on the neighbors' sidewalk, creating a dangerous, icy surface. When the neighbors came over to complain the kids told them that their dad said it was OK. Now the neighbors are facing a law suit from a man who slipped on their walk and suffered a fractured skull. My question is, how do I make sure the law suit doesn't include me and my husband?  

Q.S. in Mashpee

Dear Q.S.

Is the adoption final? If you have a chance, opt out, if not, I suggest you buy a copy of my book, "Raising Children for Fun and Profit" and read chapter four. It deals with adopted kids who pour water on neighbors' sidewalks on freezing cold days.

Miss Informed

FINAL THOUGHT All you really need to write a monthly column is a subscription to the Cape Cod Times. Example, March 11^th edition: "A Sandwich man pleaded not guilty to charges...after being accused of hitting a woman with a nip bottle and threatening to kill her twice..."  I can't help but be curious as to how he would go about killing her twice.

The Big Easy! There's no other city on earth quite like it. I've been there twice -- in April 2008 and November 2014. In 2008, the people I met were still raw from the effects of Hurricane Katrina, which struck the city in August 2005. We toured beautiful areas of the city, many of which had been under water after Katrina, as well as the Ninth Ward, a neighborhood that was almost completely devastated.  

At first, I didn't think the Ninth Ward looked as bad as I had been led to expect, until I realized that the very few new but inexpensive houses were spaced far apart and surrounded by green areas once crowded with homes. In the two plus years since the storm, very little had been rebuilt, and there were no grocery stores, drug stores or shopping centers.

Street musicians are everywhere in the Big Easy.

One sign of progress, however, was Musician's Village. This neighborhood of modest houses in the Upper Ninth Ward had been built by Habitat for Humanity so that displaced musicians, who fill the city with its trademark jazz, could return and have a place to live.Today, tour buses don't visit the Lower Ninth Ward because there's still not much reconstruction going on there; New Orleans wants to focus on its successes and not its failures.  

In 2008 my friend Debbie and I talked to many people from New Orleans and from other parts of Louisiana as well. Everyone had a story to tell -- whether they had suffered personally as a result of Katrina or had aided others who had been displaced. By 2014, the horror had faded and civic pride was bursting out. On both tours I stayed at conveniently located hotels in the French Quarter. My most recent hotel, the Hotel Provincial on Chartres Street, is historic and charming; its buildings surround a shaded courtyard where guests can eat breakfast or enjoy a cocktail.

New Orleans is a city of neighborhoods, the French Quarter being its most famous. Sited on slightly higher ground, it largely escaped Katrina's damage. Jackson Square (seen above), a large public green, is the heart of the Quarter and is dominated by St. Louis Cathedral, the most recognizable building in the city. Elegant historical buildings surround the square, art for sale hangs on the wrought iron fences and street performers and musicians abound. On my first trip, the French Quarter Music Festival was in full swing, featuring all kinds of music performances around the square and food booths with some unique offerings -- alligator cheesecake, anyone?  We were lucky enough to catch the opening parade down Royal Street. What a fun spectacle!

Bourbon Street is the most touristy street in the Quarter. No trip to New Orleans is complete without experiencing its sights and sounds: music spilling into the street from all the bars, tacky t-shirt and souvenir shops and crowds of people. Street musicians set up everywhere; it's one huge party! I wasn't there late at night and can only imagine how rowdy it gets. Royal Street, just one block away, is the complete opposite. Beautiful Creole architecture, flowers draping from second floor wrought iron balconies and art and antique shops at street level. It's the essence of sophistication and genteel charm.

The Court of the Two Sisters, on Royal Street, offers the best brunch in town, with a large buffet featuring Cajun and Creole selections, a picturesque courtyard and jazz musicians. Pat Obrien's Restaurant and Bar, home of the Hurricane cocktail and the less potent Cyclone, is around the corner. The food, including a good selections of sandwiches, is surprisingly inexpensive.        

Another "must do" in the Big Easy is a stop at either Cafe du Monde (seen above) on Decatur Street or Cafe Beignet on Royal Street for coffee and beignets (warm fried dough bites smothered in powdered sugar). If Cafe du Monde is too crowded, carry your treats up the nearby stairs to the little park that overlooks the Mississippi River and watch the boats go by.    

Preservation Hall, the iconic place to listen to New Orleans jazz, is on St. Peter Street next to Pat O'Brien's. It's old, small and crowded. There is limited seating, so if you want to sit, pay $40 for a reserved seat on a backless bench, or stand in line for about an hour to get a similar seat for $15. You can also join the crowded standees in the back of the room. It's definitely worth it! The French Market, a series of block-long buildings on Decatur Street between Jackson Square and the Hotel Provincial, is a great place to shop for souvenirs (or meat and produce).

This Garden District mansion belongs to  Hollywood star Sandra Bullock.

After the French Quarter, my favorite neighborhood is the Garden District. It, too, escaped the worst of Katrina's wrath. If you wander up and down a few of the streets, especially Prytania Street, you will see lovely white palatial mansions landscaped with tropical plants. Walk a little way into Lafayette Cemetery #1 and by then you'll be ready for lunch at Commander's Palace, one of the best restaurants in the country (Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Lagasse trained here). Dinner is expensive and formal, but Debbie and I enjoyed a wonderful lunch in the courtyard where, in 2008, the lunch special was a 25 cent martini! The St. Charles Ave. streetcar will take you there.        

The residents of New Orleans prefer jazz, not dirges,  at their funerals.

Funerals are an excuse to party in New Orleans. A jazz parade often follows the hearse and relatives and friends of the deceased march in it. Then a "second line," or impromptu crowd, usually joins in. Jazz parades aren't just for the rich and famous; they can be and often are arranged for ordinary people. 

Because of the high water table, burials are above ground in family crypts that contain two shelves. Bodies are not embalmed and they decompose within two years. When space is needed on one of the shelves, the decomposed remains are shoveled through an opening in the back of the crypt and drop down to mix with those of other departed family members. In this way, many generations are buried in the same tomb. On Memorial Day, families bring picnic lunches, lawn chairs and cleaning products to the cemetery. They wash down the tomb and remember their loved ones.

My favorite "off the beaten track" place is Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World, a huge warehouse where many of the best Mardi Gras Parade floats are built, repaired and stored. I'll probably never be in New Orleans for Mardi Gras but going here was a great substitute. Ellen Binda, my travel companion in 2014, and I donned costumes and posed, ready to join a "krewe" and ride on one of the floats!  

There's much more to see and do in and around New Orleans. Buy a good tour book such as Lonely Planet or Fodor's and read it before you go. Then customize your trip to include your own list of things you want to do and see.

Tempted by the above? Southport resident Norine Piscatelli is leading a tour to New Orleans for Southport residents only, May 11-15. Contact her (508-419-1152) or Karyn Wendell if you would like to visit the Big Easy.  

How do you measure rain?

Where is it?

Mainly on the plain?

One inch today

About 20 square inches and you have a glassful.

Browned grass turns green again in July.

A half inch in the desert

And the poppies bloom everywhere.

Eight inches today

A crop destroyed, a farmer ruined.

A river in flood.

Turbines spin electricity.

Silt carried to a delta,

Rich croplands.

The numberless drops on a puddle

Count the patter on your umbrella

On a metal roof

While lying on a bunk in summer.

Hold out your hand

It doesn't seem so much then.

The drops on your windshield

Turning into rivulets and sheets

How come so few when you stop?

In your face softly as a mist

Or in your eyes horizontally in a gale.

Blinding.

Cooling on a hot August day 

Chilling to the bone in December.

Rain, what is its measure?