NYSERDA (the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority) and the federal government have been testing a remote sensing system on Bridge 1027260. Like Jean Valjean, this bridge has no name. [photopress:kerop.jpg,thumb,alignright] And you can tell that it’s not in New York City, because if it were here, the City Council, whose power is limited to the power to name public objects and thoroughfares – might have already named each lane and approach ramp.

Professor Kerop Janoyan and a team of graduate students from Clarkson University have been monitoring their equipment from a work barge near the bridge. (Since they seem to be working on an exposed, unheated barge, perhaps the bridge and its appurtenances should be named for them

. Popular Logistics will send a correspondent in person to any naming ceremony).

We learned about this from Matthew Wald’s piece in the Times: Continue reading →

Lydia Polgreen of the Timeswon the George Polk Award in 2006 for her reporting from Africa. The following passage is from an article filed from Port Harcourt, Nigeria, last November.

The violence that has rocked the Niger Delta in recent years has been aimed largely at foreign oil companies, their expatriate workers and the police officers and soldiers whose job it is to protect them. Hundreds of kidnappings, pipeline bombings and attacks on flow stations and army barracks have occurred in the past two years alone.

Toddlers seized for ransom or political compliance

But these days the guns have turned inward, and open battles have erupted with terrifying frequency on the pothole-riddled streets of this ramshackle city. The origins of the violence are as murky and convoluted as the mangrove swamps that snake across the delta, one of the poorest places on earth. But they lie principally in the rivalry among gangs, known locally as cults, that have ties to political leaders who used them as private militias during state and federal elections in April, according to human rights advocates, former gang members and aid workers in the region.

“What is happening now cannot be separated from politics,” said Anyakwee Nsirimovu of the Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in Port Harcourt. “The cults are part and parcel of our politics. They have become part of the system, and we are paying in blood for it.”

The cults go by names that veer from the chilling to the improbable – like the Black Axe, the Klansmen, the Icelanders, the Outlaws and the Niger Delta Vigilante. Separate but not entirely distinct from the militant groups that have attacked the oil industry in the past, they represent a new, worrisome phase in a region that has been convulsed by conflict since oil was discovered here in 1956.

Since democracy returned to Nigeria in 1999, politicians across the country have used cults to intimidate opponents and rig votes. A Human Rights Watch report published in October

concluded that the political system was so corroded by corruption and violence that, in some places, it resembled more a criminal enterprise than a system of government. The April elections were so brazenly rigged in some areas and so badly marred by violence that international observers said the results were not credible.

Nowhere is political violence more severe than here in the Niger Delta, where control over state government means access to billions of dollars in oil revenues and control of enough patronage for an army.

Lydia Polgreen, “Gangs Terrorize Nigeria’s Vital Oil Region,” The New York Times, 9 November 2007.

We see two clear implications:

First, the share of American oil-market dollars which find their way to Nigeria aren’t doing the Nigerians a bit of good;

Second, because oligarchy and instability are the norm in energy-resource rich countries, it’s unwise to rely on Nigeria as a contributor to global oil markets. Ready money won’t necessarily buy oil from a country in chaos, especially if someone blows up  the wells.

Adam Nossiter and Leslie Eaton reported last week in the Times that:

After protesters clashed violently with the police inside and outside the New Orleans City Council chambers on Thursday, the Council voted unanimously to allow the federal government to demolish 4,500 apartments in the four biggest public housing projects here.

Advocates for public housing residents contended that HUD plan would not provide housing for all of the 3,000 families who lived in the projects before Katrina, almost all of them black.

The Council also called on the Department of Housing and Urban Development to reopen some apartments in the closed projects immediately and to rebuild all of the public housing units that it bulldozes. The agency plans to replace barracks-style projects, known as “the bricks,” with mixed-income developments.

“We need affordable housing in this city,” said Shelley Stephenson Midura, a Council member who proposed the resolution that was adopted. But, she added, “public housing ought not to be the warehouse for the poor.”

Advocates for public housing residents contended that the agency’s plan would not provide enough housing for the 3,000 families who lived in the projects before Hurricane Katrina, almost all of them black. Many of them have not been able to return to the city, and some protesters said they were being deliberately excluded from New Orleans.

“The issue is and the question remains, who’s in the mix,” said the Rev. Torin T. Sanders, pastor of the Sixth Baptist Church, referring to the plan for mixed-income housing. He and other speakers at the four-hour hearing before the vote said past redevelopment efforts had shut out most public housing residents.

The city’s shortage of low-cost housing was only going to get worse in the coming months, as the federal government tried to move more than 30,000 people out of government-owned trailers, said Courtney Cowart, strategic director of disaster response for the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana.

Continue reading →

Good news from one of our local fire companies, Ladder 102:

From A.M N.Y. Newsday:

Nearly three years after two New York City firefighters jumped from a burning building and plunged to their deaths, a 24-year FDNY veteran Monday became the first to use a widely hailed safety device to escape from a Bro klyn house fire that almost engulfed him. Raymond Pollard, 50, of Brooklyn, rappelled away from searing flames that had trapped him near a fourth-floor window of an apartment building on Willoughby Avenue, fire officials said. The fire was reported at 3:41 a.m. Pollard drove the second unit to arrive at the scene, Ladder Company 102 from Bedford Avenue.

Within 10 minutes, officials said, Pollard broke three fourth-floor windows facing the street and entered the building to look for occupants.

When he moved to the hallway, fire surged up the stairway and over his head, blocking his exit. He moved to the next room, where the fire forced him to retreat to the window.

“Just as the fire was blowing over his head, he took the hook out and jammed it into the windowsill” said Stephen Raynis, safety command battalion chief.

Pollard rappelled two feet below the ledge and firefighters slid a bucket ladder towards him and lowered him to safety, Raynis said.

Around 5:50 a.m., the roof collapsed onto the fourth floor.

Pollard, who declined to be interviewed, was treated for second-degree burns on his left hand at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan, officials said. Three other firefighters suffered minor injuries.

The emergency device, called a personal safety system, was developed by FDNY members in the wake of the deaths of Lt. Curtis Meyran and firefighter John Bellew, who jumped from a window of a burning Bronx building in January 2005, when they could not find the fire escape. Four other firefighters who also leapt from that building were critically injured.

The lifesaving invention consists of a forged aluminum anchor hook that can penetrate brick, a 50-foot rope, a descending device operated by a trigger, a carabiner, and a waist belt with leg loops.

Since January 2006, it has been distributed to about 11,500 FDNY members, including all 8,500 firefighters, officials said.

Fire marshals deemed the fire suspicious and are investigating.

Laura Rivera, Newsday/A.M. N.Y. , “FDNY: Rope device saves firefighters life“

This is what the system looks like:

[photopress:exo_breakdown.jpg,full,centered]

Image via All Hands Safety.

If you’re in need of an explanation – Lindsay Beyerstein has already supplied it here

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Peach Bottom is a nuclear power installation about 90 miles from Philadelphia, less than 100 miles from Washington, D.C., and less than 200 miles from New York City:

[singlepic=163,320,240,,left] “Parts of York County are within the ten mile Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ) of two nuclear power plants-Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station and Three Mile Island (TMI) Nuclear Power Plant. ” ((From the York County Emergency Preparedness website. )) That’s a lot of risk for one community; let’s hope their evacuation planning and preparedness are in good shape. (Link to Acrobat/.pdf file on York County website).

The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) reported, on October 31: (updates to follow):

Washington, DC – Kerry Beal, a whistleblower who exposed overworked and exhausted guards at the Peach Bottom Nuclear Power Plant, was notified this week by owner Exelon Nuclear that he “did not meet the selection criteria” for continuing to work at the plant.

Beal filmed guards sleeping at the plant only after his efforts to notify Wackenhut (Exelon’s Peach Bottom security contractor) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) of the regular occurrence of sleeping guards were met with inaction. Wackenhut Corporation lost its contract to provide security to the Peach Bottom nuclear plant because of the resulting publicity surrounding the sleeping guards.

“This is the stupidest thing they could have done. Now, they’ll ensure no one else will be brave enough to come forward and try to fix problems” said Danielle Brian, Executive Director, Project On Government Oversight.
Mr. Beal’s whistle-blowing prompted USA Today to editorialize: “The Peach Bottom case is a stark example of what has to go right in the crucial effort to keep nuclear plants safe. In this case, the plant owner, the security company and the NRC all failed. It shouldn’t take a hidden camera to make them do their jobs.”

An internal Wackenhut email released by POGO today shows that up until a few weeks ago, guards were still being forced to work more than 60 hours per week. The October 16, 2007 email from Wackenhut manager David Draghi notes: “I have revised the shift schedule…If you can afford to start giving your team members a break from 60 hours please do so.”

A Nuclear Regulatory Commission Order from 2003 sought to reign in the problem of overworked guards. But industry efforts to weaken the Order prevailed, resulting in the current situation where security officers can work up to 72 hours per week. POGO issued a letter to NRC Chairman Klein today pointing out that pending efforts at the NRC to strengthen the rules are being dragged out for another two years. Continue reading →

“But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?”

“Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit,

sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur?

Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur?”

None

From PlaceboKatz

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“O Tiger-lily!” said Alice…”I wish you could talk!” “We can talk,” said the Tiger-lily, “when there’s anybody worth talking to.”

Continue reading →

The discussion of national health insurance during the current presidential campaign seems quite familiar. The public, in polls – for decades, in fact – support single-payer systems in one form or another – notwithstanding many disingenuous arguments that all single-payer systems are (1) ineffective (2) too expensive (3) immoral, as they are a form of “handout” which weakens family and individual resolve. The phrase “socialized medicine” – my initial research suggests that this term first gained currency as an epithet during the Johnson-Goldwater race of 1964 – has been re-introduced by former Mayor Giluiani. This phrase seems to be shorthand for points (1) – (3) above.

At least three of the leading Democratic candidates are for a system which will improve on the current system – and might be a bridge to single-payer, or a hybrid.

How we get from here to there is a political question beyond my sophistication. For one thing – it seems unlikely that private insurance companies – and their owners and shareholders – are going to be passive about such a transition.

We here propose a point of consensus: that the President be given the explicit power to declare public health emergencies – with the following terms of reference:

• Irrespective of apparent cause (terrorism, accident, other cause); like an arson investigation, determining whether a disease outbreak has an intentional or negligent causal origin is a matter for careful and slow investigation. This power should be without limitation as to preconditions;
• Having declared such an emergency, the President may, in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief, use any and all resources and funds, including but not limited to the Veteran’s Administration, Medicaid, Medicare, and active and reserve elements of the Department of Defense, to combat the declared emergency;
• the President may, in anticipation

of a public health emergency, or in planning for such a contingency, direct any and all elements of the government – notwithstanding the limitations of the posse comitatus and similar restrictions -to put in place infrastructure to prepare for emergencies. (In other words – have the infrastructure in place for a rapid expansion in an emergency; plan it, run the drills, be ready). Based on Paul Krugman’s columns on this subject – and recent reports about the excellence of the Veterans’ Administration’s infrastructure and its open-source patient management software – they’re a good candidate for this responsibility. But that’s a detail not necessary for this proposal.

The advocates of the “unitary executive” theory – that Presidential powers trump all restrictions, including the Geneva Conventions – must surely assume that the President already has these powers. Those opposed so socialized medicine are no less concerned about bioterrorism than its advocates.

So – I put it to the supporters and surrogates of each of the candidates – should or should not the President have the power to declare public health emergencies, and use federal resources to combat them?

[NB: This is not my idea – it’s Irwin Redlener’s rather elegant proposal; he had the good sense to come up with it, but apparently didn’t think much of it, because it’s nearly hidden in an appendix to his book Americans At Risk. There’s a lesson or two here: good books are worth re-reading (this one is); sometimes the best stuff is in the back of the book].

Thanks to Karina Ron for inspiring the conceptual frame.

You’ve put out a call for volunteers for your brand-new local emergency response organization. It’s so new that you don’t even have a name yet.Follow past the jump for more details and the prizes.

Continue reading →

this should produce a slide show of fire apparatus

[slideshow=7]

Nasser Karimi of the Associated Press reports that Iran

had refused a request by the Swiss Embassy to travel to the site where an American is believed to have disappeared earlier this year.

Robert Levinson was last seen March 8 on Kish Island, a resort off the southern coast of Iran, and Tehran has repeatedly said it has no information on his whereabouts.

Levinson is a former FBI agent who retired in 1998, and the FBI has said it has not had contact with him since then. He had reportedly gone to Kish Island to seek information on cigarette smuggling for a client of his security firm.

The Swiss Embassy in Iran represents U.S. interests in the country because Washington has no diplomatic ties with Tehran, but it was unclear whether the travel request was made on behalf of the U.S.

“They had asked to travel to Kish Island, but Iranian authorities demanded they explain the reasons and necessities for such a visit,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said Sunday during his weekly media briefing. “Iranian forces are still looking for a trace of him,” he added.

The State Department has made repeated requests for information on the missing American through Swiss intermediaries, and considers it likely that he is in Iranian custody.

The Swiss Embassy in Iran could not immediately be reached for comment Sunday and the Swiss Foreign Ministry refused to comment.

Christine Levinson, the missing man’s wife, said last month that she planned to travel to Iran to investigate his disappearance. Iran said at the time that it would consider allowing her to come even though the State Department advised against it because of the risk.

Link to AP report.    Via Noisy Room

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