Rodger Morrow reports that Bobby Levinson has been released to American officials in Iraqi Kurdistan. We’ll try to update later with references to Morrow’s sources.
Our thanks again to Morrow for being ahead of the ‘sphere on this story.
We won’t actually be entirely relieved until we hear direct confirmation that he’s back with his family, friends and admirers -Â who are sufficiently numerous to populate a medium-sized island.
If and when they find out that some of the planned “flood reception centers” are surrounded by non-functioning storm drains. Mere speculation on our part, of course.
Original post at Hemmings Blog here.
These and other models are manufactured by Gibbs Amphibian -Â either part of, or a collaboration with, Lockheed Martin.
For our household – we’re thinking pontoon boats.
Here’s a design for a solar heater built entirely from recycled materials
. Might be worth having in an emergency – seems to be easily made, and quite portable.
I remember saying this when, in school, I was trying to get the hang of adding and multiplying polynomials. (Full disclosure: I passed Calculus I, but apparently by virtue of lax standards and/or divine intervention). So when you hear government officials testifying about how difficult – how nearly impossible it is to make communications systems interoperable – be skeptical.
If you’re mystifed by how government agencies could manage voice/data wireless interoperability – take a look at Communications Applied Technology.
While the company is based in Virginia (for my nearby neighbors, Virginia is a state just south of Washington, D.C.; very scenic; for everyone else, just remember that New Yorkers are very provincial and ignorant of geography outside of the tri-state area), the intellectual engine behind this firm comes from the borough that brought you Jackie Robinson, Al Capone (yes, from Brooklyn, not Chicago), abolitionism, the Broooklyn Dodgers, Coney Island, Olmsted and Vaux’s masterpiece Prospect Park. and Stanley Kaplan – the man who put the lie to the notion that the SAT was a test of good breeding.
You don’t need to be a big gearhead to see that C-AT has already designed solutions that directly address comms interoperability problems. If we’d had this gear in the hands of the NYPD and NYFD on 9/11 our hearts might be a bit less broken.
This is just one model in a series of “Incident Commanders’ Radio Interface(s)” – it can connect one wireless telephone – and, according to C-AT, “provides a rugged, highly-portable, radio cross-band (VHF, UHF, 800MHz), cross platform (digital/analog, trunked/talk-around, AM/FM) capability for mutual aid operations.”
In lay terms, this means that, in an emergency in, say, a tunnel, an incident commander can get the EMS, NYPD, Red Cross, and one or two federal agencies working together in two “talk groups.” I suppose the phone interface is best used to relay messages to entities not on radio nets (elected officials arranging photo ops; utility contractors like Con Ed whose radio frequencies might not be immediately available).
The interoperability problem is – we’re repeating ourselves here – not a technical problem – and, given the scale of our economy, neither is it a problem of cost.
The model above measures 10″x3″x7″ – and weights 3.5 lbs. By way of comparison – a single hand-held radio (the Vertex 920) weighs 13.0 oz with battery, antenna and clip.
Seeour earlier post on the Justice Department’s IG report on interoperability between DOJ,DHS and Treasury law enforcement units here.
We’ve finished readng the IG’s report. As we’d expect, given the recent work of the DOJ IG under Glenn Fine – it’s well-written, and to the point. It’s redolent of pre-9/11 interagency sniping and foot-dragging, and a very crass joke, well-known in law enforcement circles, involving three dogs – each a search dog working for a different law enforcement agency. If you’re not familiar with this joke – and know someone in federal law enforcement or intelligence circles – ask them. If you’re really curious, e-mail me privately – with the understanding that’s it’s told for historical/allegorical purposes. I tell jokes badly in person – worse via e-mail.
Our GIS chops are what they’re going to be – so with a tip of the hat to the historian Daniel Soyer, here’s what we believe to be the relevant data about the behavior of storm drains local to ZIP 11218 during last weekend’s storm:
It certainly seemed as though a major flood-evacuation reception center might, given heavier rains, have been renderes less useful. According to the National Weather Service records, most of our area has gotten about ten inches of rain for the entire month – including last weekend’s storm.
By appearances – and to untrained eyes, to be sure – it seemed as though a larger amount of rain – say 24 inches – would have interfered with the operation of the reception center planned for the Caton School building – not least because of the difficulties of using motor vehicles in water.
There may be some other planning or mechanisms of which we’re not aware. We’re still on this.
For all of you who submitted data, and helped us test the form, we thank you. We hope in the near future to have a more sophisticated, easier to use interface – which might allow both long-term, planning-related and fast-and-dirty real-time data collection. We’re working on it.
JS
DefenseTech reports on a proposed set of robot rules of war.
Does this one look law-abiding? 
Neighbors – please help – we’re trying to collect data on storm drain performance in Brooklyn today during the flood alert.
Look for the tab marked “Submit Stormdrain Info” at the top of the page – it’ll take you to a simple form – tell us when and where – we’ll try to get it into a map later.
We hope, by the next time we have the opportunity to gather this or other similar data, to have a usable Google Maps (or other) GIS interface available. Please bear with us as we travel upwards on the learning curve.
JS
Robert Levinson, an American who is missing and last seen on Kish, an Iranian Island, is still missing. Apparently held by Iranian authorities.
Releasing him immediately would, of course, be the right thing to do, and we hope the Iranian authorities reach that conclusion sooner rather than later. It would go some distance in demonstrating Iran’s ability to conduct itself in a way that becomes a great civilization.
We’re reminded of Shakespeare’s admonition in war that soldiers behave with restraint towards civilians:
we give express charge, that in our marches through the
country, there be nothing compelled from the
villages, nothing taken but paid for, none of the
French upbraided or abused in disdainful language;for when lenity and cruelty play for a kingdom, the
gentler gamester is the soonest winner.
Henry V, Act 3, Scene 6
Thanks to Rodger Morrow for keeping on this story.
Robin Wright’s Washington Post April 4 piece here.
It’s our fervent hope that Bobby Levinson is released immediately, and that in the meantime, he knows that he’s in the thoughts of many good people. And me, too.
– JSÂ
T/ A new type of life-saving robot: PRE-HOSPITAL CARE ROBOT
This new prototype robot was developed specifically for the AICHI EXPO 2005 in collaboration with Kyushu University.
Visitors to the EXPO who felt ill, were able to utilize this robot to get medical assistance at the theme parks and public facilities that were hard to get to by ambulance. This experimental robot immediately relays information to hospitals and first-aid rooms as soon as someone sits it. Then it, automatically, takes readings of the vital signs like, taking the pulse, measuring blood pressure, heart beat rate and blood oxygen.In emergencies, doctors can administer first- aid by giving instructions directly to the robot or through a speaker and microphone system to bystanders.
We don’t have a decent photo of the pre-hospital care robot – but we do
have two of the T-52 Enryu Rescue Robot.
Our understanding of the state of robotics in use in the United States for emergency work is that they’re largely limited to EOD (explosive ordinance and demolition) work – as applied in the domestic context, evaluating, transporting, and disarming suspected explosive devices.
Via Toolmonger. Whom (who?) we thank not only for pointing this out to us, but for their superior journalism (superior to me , in any case) by being willing to point out that, function aside, these robots are, in their words, “just cool.” Which they are.
The non-pictured pre-hospital care robot transmits diagnostic data ahead to the hospital. Â
Here’s the limitation of this equipment: in the context of large, horrible, hard-to-solve incidents, they’ll save lives. And save the lives of first responders. But in mass incidents – and when circumstances make them hard to transport – their function is less limited.
I’m as prone to fall in love with shiny new technology as the next person. Or more so. But the policy question might be – given a choice between one million-dollar robot – or ten forward-cached containers of medical supplies – which would be the better first use of financial resources?
 
This is the international maritime signal flag “prepare.” From Wikipedia entry on maritime signal flags.
without hesitation – especially for people who want an excellent overview. Calm, intelligent, well-reasoned – and well-written. We wish we’d written it – Popular Logistics was envisioned for people who’d gotten as far along as Dr. Redlener will take you – the details of the logistics that support robust community preparedness.
We’re going to give you each of Redlener’s Eight Principles – and try to add some useful detail.
#1. Stay Healthy and Fit.Â
S.L.A. Marshall – in his seminal essay The Soldier’s Load (a primary inspiration for this blog), makes two principal arguments:
In other words, fear and physical exhaustion on the one hand, and physical conditioning and preparedness on the other, are antagonists, Be prepared mentally and physically – you’ll not only be able to help yourself, you’ll be in a position to help others – and need less help for others.
But – where to start? What particular goals should we be training for, and how to go about it?
Here are physical standards for firefighters
The International Association of Firefighters/IChief “Candidate Physical Assessment Test (excerpt)
During the entire test the candidate must wear a 50 lb. weighted vest (simulating the weight of a fire fighters protective clothing and equipment). The eight events are:
We’ll be coming back to this. In our neck of the woods – Brooklyn – we’re trying to construct a confidence course (obstacle course) that will be fun – and also help us build cooperative skills, increase fitness – and that will be fun enough that it’ll be an aid to recruitment.
Stay tuned for more from Dr. Redlener – his excellent advice – and we’ll provide as many recipes as we can.
More than eight months before September 11th, 2001. We trust othat our readers can judge the relevance, weight and implications of this document. Res ipsa loquitur
Thumbnail via Skyscraper Safety.
Document via The National Security Archive at The George Washington University
.
Daniel Pulliam piece in the daily briefing on www.govexec.com:
A partnership between the departments of Justice and Homeland Security to create an interoperable wireless communications network for police and first responders has fallen apart and the project is imperiled, according to an audit released Monday.
The report from the Justice Department’s inspector general office stated that despite more than six years of development and $195 million in funding, the Integrated Wireless Network project “does not appear to be on the path to providing the seamless interoperable communications system that was envisioned.”
We haven’t read the Justice IG’s report yet. Disappointing news – but no surprise. More to follow.
Update: I’ve gotten about halfway through the IG’s very clear report. No less disturbing – but the obsolescence they’re talking about is principally in encryption functionality of their two-way voice communications. Question: it’s clear that the Russians were good at cryptography and steganography – is there any reason to believe that Al-Qaeda has ever used anything as sophisticated as a book code? Are they transmitting number groups via satphone?
Of course the Bureau and Marshals Service, Secret Service, DEA should have interoperable encrypted systems. But it’s not clear that it should have taken this long, not clear that this isn’t at least in part the result of long-standing institutional rivalries and inertia, not clear that it should have cost this much. This, so far, is what I take to be the import of the Inspector General’s Report.
What remains clear is that 10,000 or 20,000 fully interoperable, image-handling, encryption-updatable-on-the-fly two way radios won’t do a whole lot for first responders.
I haven’t puzzled out yet – perhaps I’m being thick – how an interoperable trunked, encrypted radio system:
- lets two Special Agents of the FBI, or any two people from the same agency talk to each other in the same neighborhood;
- what happens with the same two agents don’t have repeaters nearby and are far from their home offices;
- how two federal employees from different agencies can communicate point-to-point in the same neighborhood (or same warehouse)
More coming when we finish reading the Inspector General’s report.
What are the implications of this? Especially in places like New York, where state and local governments are also struggling with interoperability and system design issues – the clear answers are
The ideal solution would be an integrated and redundant system which uses all three of those elements.
For those of you that like illustrations with your text, we now provide the graphic portion of this post: ARES and RACES logos. 
Seems a reasonable question – although in my case, it commits the error which people in my line refer to as “assuming a fact not yet in evidence.” Which is to say – I didn’t know that it took so long to evacuate on ocean liner until I read this nice piece by Michelle Tsai in Slate. Turns out an ocean liner sank of the coast of Greece last week. And I think I’m so well-informed. From Tsai’s piece:
, the Sea Diamond, ran into a reef off the coast of Santorini, Greece, on April 5, tearing a hole in the hull that sank the vessel 15 hours later. The nearly 1,600 passengers and crew didn’t get off the ship for three hours. Why does an emergency evacuation take hours?
Slower evacuations are safer. According to the International Maritime Organization’s Safety of Life at Sea guidelines, the crew of a ship must be able to lower all the passengers in lifeboats within half an hour, once everyone onboard has been “mustered,” or gathered from throughout the ship. But captains don’t always evacuate that quickly, because a hasty exit can be dangerous. Panicky passengers can injure themselves as they run, shove one another, and collide in the chaos of flight. Evacuees aren’t their normal selves; one study (click for PDF) found that 70 percent of passengers are bewildered with impaired reasoning after serious maritime incidents, 15 percent exhibit irrational behaviors like uncontrollable weeping, and only 15 percent remain calm and alert.
These dangers might be acceptable in a critical emergency; for example, if a ship were quickly taking on water and about to sink. But in less dire situations, the ship’s master will tend to use all the available time to ensure a safe evacuation. Even with the Sea Diamond‘s three-hour evacuation, though, some passengers suffered broken arms. The captain might also hold up the evacuation while he or she gathers more information about what’s happening. A captain won’t abandon a vessel unless it’s sure to sink, since even a damaged ship offers more protection than a life raft.
Tsai’s done a good job of explaining a complicated problem (it’s part of a series called The Explainer; we’re given to believe that in the Bush White House, the Explainer position has been eliminated, but we’re sort of sorry they did) and has clearly done her homework.
Let me recap – and draw an inference or two:
- speed is dangerous – especially in things you’ve not practiced
- It’s hard to drill things in places where the population changes every week or two – like a cruise ship
- which might mean that – with transient populations – the setting of standards perhaps ought to be different – than, say, for evacuating an aircraft carrier full of disciplined, good-physical-shape, high level of esprit de corps types
I’m not taking the position that the SOLAS standards are inadequate. Also – despite being a big Battlestar Galactica fan – the proportion of the world population in transit on cruise ships at any given time being relatively small – I’m a bit more worried about my own neighborhood, and others like it.
For instance,
– who like to check out underground spaces.
According to Treehugger, the Colorado Rockies have added a solar array to their stadium.
We’re reminded that “Colorado Rockies” is the name of a sports team (perhaps baseball) – and not, in this context, a reference to the mountain range which so moved John Denver that he wrote at least one song about it.
“Rocky Mountain High” is now one of the official songs of the State of Colorado.
See Denver Post article – Jennifer Brown, “‘Rocky Mountain High’ now 2nd state song/John Denver’s 1970s ballad gets OK as second state song”, Denver Post, March 13, 2007. Link here.
I’ll take this opportunity to note that I’ve always been partial to John Denver’s cover of “Please, Daddy, Don’t Get Drunk This Christmas, whose lyrics include the following:
Just last year when I was only seven
And now Im almost eight as you can see
You came home at a quarter past elevenFell down underneath our Christmas tree
(chorus)
Please Daddy, dont get drunk this Christmas
I dont wanna see my Mumma cry
Please Daddy, dont get drunk this Christmas
I dont wanna see my Mumma cry
Words and music by Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert. Lyrics here.Â