On the Sunday night before TechEd started, I had dinner at K Pauls. I had a number of delicious deep fried oysters that were going around on trays, in the sort of absent-minded sure-I'll-try-one way we tend to take appetizers when they're offered to us at these things. It was sufficiently delicious that it got my attention and I kept an eye out for them as the trays came around. After that I ate an amazing dinner and put the oysters out of my mind. Just three days later, on Wednesday night, I had dinner at Mulates. I had the ribs, but someone else at the table ordered some sort of platter/sampler and Logan, our fantastic waiter, had to say "I'm sorry, but there are no oysters in that tonight; they've closed the beds". Closed the beds. There may not be oysters there again for a generation. And now the oldest oyster-shucking operation in New Orleans is closed until further notice. (New York Times; WWL radio).

So sad. Real people, real jobs gone, real losses. And at the moment, nothing we can do to help.

Kate