We dodged a bullet here in downtown Des Moines (by about 1 foot, from what I saw on the Court Ave. levee) but the only major casualties were Buzzard Billy’s, Shorty’s Speakeasy, and Sbrocco, due to the sewer overflow. The good news is that all will be returning; the re-opening (actually the first real Grand Opening) of Sbrocco is planned for Thursday evening; Shorty’s and Billy’s are not so lucky; Shorty’s took on a little over 5 feet of water (this includes the Sbrocco Wine Shop downstairs) so there will be a few weeks of cleaning and rebuilding involved.

Floods this week have kept Sbrocco from it’s public opening, although a few of us were lucky to have been there during a couple nights of its preview opening. Best of luck to those guys — and good luck to Shorty’s and staff — which has actually been underwater since Sunday.

It’s for a worthy cause. Josh Rosenau explains.

Biologist and atheist blogger PZ Myers has an excellent post regarding a liberal style of religious belief that many people regard as benign, but which PZ makes an good case as being as wholly pernicious as the more common type.