Tag: disasters

Come gather ’round people / Wherever you roam

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

I keep a large collection of books in my office on computer related subjects. Some are new. Some are old.I even read some of them occasionally. Yesterday, I happened to grab the book The Whole Internet (1st Edition, 1992) by Ed Krol.

The focus of this book is how to use the Internet. But this is not the Internet as we think of it today, that we access effectively only via a browser. Nah. Browsers get a scant 10 pages, and there are no familiar names. No, the focus of the book is protocols such as Telnet, FTP, Gopher, Wais, Archie, fred, NNTP, finger. There are sections on FTP to VMS, IBM/VM, and MSDOS systems. This is the internet I grew up with. It is not what people think of today. In fact, I think many of these protocols have gone by the wayside or been buried. Use Gopher lately? Wais? Archie? When was the last time you needed to gateway between BITNET and the Internet? You know, these “kids” today don’t realize how good they have it. I used to carry packets by hand 10 miles through the snow… oh right.

The times, indeed, have changed.*

*: Read More …

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The Extent of Damage in the Big Easy

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

This morning, in a comment on interdictor‘s blog, tjjohn12 posted this image as a “road map”. Take a close look at it, realizing that the dark green you see are the portions of the city that are underwater; light grey (concrete) is above water. rjlippincott also pointed out that there is some great comparison satellite imagery here.

Wow. Images do speak 1K words.

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(meme) Katrina Meme

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

underpope put this meme in his journal, and I think it is just great:

I challenge everyone reading this – if they haven’t already – to donate at least $25 (more is good!) to the Red Cross to help in their disaster relief effort.

Click here or visit https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation-form.asp to make a credit card contribution:

Then, cut and paste this in your journal and pass it on.

I’m also likely to be making a donation to the Union for Reform Judaism Hurricane Relief Fund, so as to provide some help to congregations that lost everything and need to rebuild.

I’d also like to point out again interdictor‘s blog. Interdictor is an employee at a Tier 1 datacenter in the CBD of New Orleans. He’s been doing regular postings from the datacenter, which still has power (under its own generator) and an internet connection (thanks to fiberoptics). He has put up a live webcam looking down the street at the flooding and the looting.

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The Last Days of the Late Great City of New Orleans

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

As I read more and more about Katrina and New Orleans, one of my favorite books keeps coming to mind: The Last Days of the Late, Great State of California by Curt Gentry (and my copy is missing: ixixlix? ellipticcurve?). This book is mostly an analysis of the 1966 race for Governor, examining the fates and foibles of such luminaries as Pat Brown, Sam Yorty, and some guy named Ron Reagan. Actors… they’ll never make it in politics, especially as Governor.

Anyway, the book ends with a twist: A massive earthquake on the San Andreas Fault, that starts in the Imperial Valley, and ripples all the way up the coast with syphathetic quakes, until all of California west of the Fault falls into the ocean. No more Los Angeles, no more Santa Barbara, no more Hollywood, no more San Francisco. Governor Reagan is killed sitting on the john in the capitol.

The end of the book has a whole litany of things we would miss if this happened, from the Hollywood sign to agriculture to the Venice Boardwalk to… I think you get it.

Why am I thinking of this? I think, after Katrina, that New Orleans will never be the same. Historic structures will be gone. The French Quarter, as we knew and remembered it, may be trashed. No more “Inn of the Seventh Sister”. No more “Preservation Hall”. Think of the numerous historical artifacts that have been lost. Think of the trolley cars that have been damaged beyond repair. Numerous old and historical houses will have been destroyed. The history of a city lost in the blink of an eye. The city may never be the same.

So here’s to you, old Big Easy.

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Katrina: The Power of the Human Spirit

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Like many others, I’ve been fascinated with the coverage of Hurricane Katrina. Perhaps it is because I know New Orleans: I’ve been to the city many times, and find it a very nice (albeit bizarre) place. Perhaps it is because I have friends from the area. Perhaps it is because I’ve been through disasters out here, such as the 1971 and 1994 earthquakes. But for whatever reason, I’ve been following the coverage. In particular, I’ve been following the friends list forkatrinacane (which was set up to allow folks in New Orleans to communicate); the neworleans community, NOLA.com is providing good coverage, as well as traditional outlets such as CNN.

It is times like this that show the power of the human spirit. This is the spirit that drives us to save others, drives us to help others, and is (in general) a force for good in the world.

I’m noting the following so I can find them later when I get home, but if you want to help, they are a good place to start:

Those affected by this disaster have my hopes that all family members are safe, and there there will be a speedy resumption of a normal life.

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Various Musings and Observations

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

  • As ellipticcurve has already noted, today our company is conducting emergency preparedness exercises in our building. This means we have humanoid dummies in various stages of injury (e.g., with bookcases toppled onto them with feet sticking out), employees acting wounded in various stages of makeup with signs indicating their injuries, signs on various parts of the building indicating damage, and a whole triage setup outside. I do commend the company for this preparedness; I will feel safer for the day this building collapses :-).

    The triage setup outside is what really caught my attention. There are four tarps: black (morgue), green (minor), yellow (delayed), and red (immediate). The first thought that came to mind upon seeing it was: Clean Sweep. I mapped the piles to: keep, donate, toss. Sigh. I guess I watch too much TLC!

  • I’m on the way to sinus surgery. I did receive email back from Dr. Persky, my ENT, instructing me to call the surgery scheduler. She’s out today, but I have left a message. I’m going to try to schedule it for Monday, 5/2 (I would have preferred Friday, but the doctor will be out that day). Hopefully, recovery will be quick, as I’m scheduled to fly cross-country on 5/16.
  • Working with the trainer last night was hard. I think she’s making the exercise harder. Still, I did get 80 crunches and 30 pushups done, which is good for me. I’m slowly getting back into shape.
  • gf_guruilla found a pretty-good deal on a climate-controlled storage area not that far from our house. I think the price was $139 for a 7’x9′ unit. This will allow us to start decluttering and prepare our current house for either rental or showing, depending on what we decide.
  • I’m much more awake today, only dealing with a slight headache. This is a good thing.
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Wheeeee….

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

There just was a 5.9 earthquake 9 mi S of Parkfield. It was 9mi NW of Shandon, roughly near where Route 41 meets Route 46. From the USGS:

2.8  2004/09/28 10:23:49 35.855N 120.396W  5.1    6 km ( 4 mi) SSE of Parkfield, CA
2.8  2004/09/28 10:22:55 35.994N 120.566W  4.9  16 km (10 mi) NW  of Parkfield, CA
2.9  2004/09/28 10:22:22 35.910N 120.457W  6.7    3 km ( 2 mi) WNW of Parkfield, CA
3.6  2004/09/28 10:22:18 35.840N 120.388W  5.6    8 km ( 5 mi) SSE of Parkfield, CA
1.9  2004/09/28 10:22:02 35.853N 120.402W  5.5    6 km ( 4 mi) SSE of Parkfield, CA
5.0  2004/09/28 10:19:07 35.826N 120.453W  2.5    8 km ( 5 mi) SSW of Parkfield, CA
5.9  2004/09/28 10:15:24 35.775N 120.445W  1.1  14 km ( 9 mi) S  of Parkfield, CA
1.9  2004/09/28 04:47:46 35.612N 120.950W  0.2  13 km ( 8 mi) ENE of Cambria, CA
0.9  2004/09/27 22:49:32 36.001N 120.562W  4.8  16 km (10 mi) NW  of Parkfield, CA

Our building swayed down here in El Segundo. I’ll check with my wife to see how it was felt in the valley. I hope everyone is OK in the affected areas.

News reports indicate no damge.

Milk shakes anyone? It was near Kettleman City. Of course, most of the news media is reporting this solely as something that delayed the Scott Peterson trial.

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Vertical Evacuation? If I Was In One, I’d Evacuate

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

According to CNN, the mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, has said:

“The city basically sits like a bowl and most of the city is under sea level … so if we get a storm like Ivan to hit us directly” there could be 12 to 18 feet of water in the city. If people can’t get out of New Orleans, the mayor said, they should do a “vertical evacuation.”

By this, he means that residents that can’t get out of the city should “Basically, go to hotels and high-rise buildings in the city”

Now, I’ve been to New Orleans. I’ve been in the Sheraton New Orleans. Yeah, I’d really want to ride out a Cat 4 Hurricane on the 44th floor of a high-rise, likely with no power and no way to get out when the French Quarter floods.

That would certainly cause me to evacuate. As ellipticcurve said when I told her about this, “hurq”.

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