popular logistics

This suggests an exceptional organizational agility. Ellen Perlman of Governing.com has this piece, “Crazy Cool in L.A./A fire department taps into microblogging to keep itself on top of situations,” published in the November 2006 issues of Governing magazine.

Last May, Los Angeles firefighters had their hands full. A blaze was spreading through 800 acres of Griffith Park but they only knew what was happening from the side of the fire where their trucks were parked. To get a sense of the extent of the conflagration, firefighter Brian Humphrey sent messages to strangers on the other side of the fire — explaining who he was and asking them to call him right away.

How did he know whom to contact? Humphrey twitters.  

Testimony before the NJ Governor’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Offshore Wind
April 14, 2005, Cape May Courthouse, 4 Moore Road, Cape May, NJ

Wind Power - 1976 and 2005 - More Questions Than Answers

Thank you for this opportunity today to share my observations regarding electricity generation technologies. I am a consultant with an academic background that includes utility economics and energy systems. I have provided consulting services to Public Service Enterprise Group at the Salem nuclear facility and at their corporate data center in Newark, NJ. I have also provided IT consulting services to Exelon / Amergen, to systems administrators of the Oyster Creek facility in an off-site location.

The first time I spoke before a body such as this was 1976, in Albany, NY, before a committee of the New York State Legislature on Energy, the Economy, and the Environment. The gist of my statement back then was “It is theoretically possible to power the New York City Subway System with wind driven turbines located in New York Harbor and off of Long Island.”

Shaila Dewan has a good piece in this morning’s Times, describing difficulties less-affluent communities are having upgrading the 911 systems - and the attendant consequences.

The piece includes an excellent description of the various flavors and vintages of 911 systems. One particularly useful feature in the newer systems

At the next level is Enhanced 911 Phase I, as it is called, which provides the call-back number of wireless callers and the location of the cellular tower their signal has reached. Phase II provides a more precise location, accurate within 50 to 300 meters depending on the technology the carrier has chosen.

[Kevin J. Martin, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said in Washington this week that he would propose new rules to improve accuracy.] [in orig.]

Experts are laying the groundwork for what they call Next Generation 911, which will better handle Internet-based calls, text messages, cellphone photos and other forms of communication already in common use.

“Deaf people are using text messaging,” Rick Jones, the operations director for the national association, said by way of example. “They can’t talk to 911.”

For now, though, many counties are focused on Phase II, which shows a caller’s location on a computer map, allowing emergency responders to find people who either do not know where they are or cannot say. Beyond saving lives, it promises to put a stop to chronic prank callers or tell dispatchers when many calls are coming from the same area, which happens when multiple cellphone users try to report the same car accident or heart attack, threatening to overload the system.

Link to the Times article.