Posts from — September 2005

Preliminary Report

Victim is a female brown rat [rattus norvegicus] estimated to be 3 months of age, weight: 6 ounces, overall length: 14 inches.

Based on the state of rigor mortis, lividity and body temperature the victim died at approximately 6:00 AM, plus or minus 30 minutes.

While there are puncture wounds on both sides of the neck at the base of the skull, the probable proximate cause of death is assumed to be the fracture of a cervical vertebra.

None of those lived in the area had any knowledge of the individual or the incident.

The remains were removed for further processing.

While I drove a Lambretta for a while, they are out of production, as are the Cushmans that were once the American counterpart. Today there are a range of choices from around the world: Kymco [Taiwan], Piaggio [Italy], Vespa [Italy], Honda [Japan], Yamaha [Japan], and Bajaj [India]. Except for Honda, which jumps from 80cc to over 200cc, these are in the 150cc range, which will get you up to about 60mph.

Closer to home the Mayan god Huracan would appear to have made time for the possibility of another visit according to Tropical Weather Outlook:

A vigorous tropical wave centered a couple hundred miles southeast of Jamaica is producing cloudiness and thunderstorms over much of the central Caribbean Sea. This system has become better organized today… and upper-level winds have also become more favorable for a tropical depression to develop during the next day or so. An Air Force Reserve unit reconnaissance aircraft is scheduled to investigate the system tomorrow… if necessary. Interests in Jamaica… the Cayman Islands… and in the northwestern Caribbean Sea should closely monitor the progress of this system over the next few days as it moves west-northwestward at about 10 mph.

At this point we know the drill.

Today they dealt with the many reports about what was happening as people waited for help. The fact that the link ends with “2005_09_26.html#bs” and the variation on Mark Twain’s quote shows the effect of blogging: Rumors of deaths greatly exaggerated.

During the period of “rampant lawlessness” there have been four murders confirmed, which is normal for New Orleans without floods or hurricanes. The widely reported attacks are shown to be false or are still unsubstantiated. There were 6 bodies retrieved from the SuperDome and 4 at the Convention Center, all but three are considered “natural causes”. The three are listed as a drug overdose, a suicide, and one possible homicide.

People outside the city were reporting rumors of violence, but the proof isn’t there. No one can find a pilot who reported being fired upon while flying over the city.

I’ve been in a few hurricanes and the electrical arcs caused by rain blowing onto transformers are explosive sounding. When water floods a major building there is apt to be arcing from electrical equipment, which can cause fires. It can sound like gun fire or explosions.

He has a few observations and questions about the manner in which the authorities conducted the operations.

Who would push their lawnmower into their living room and start it? Carbon monoxide poisoning is a leading cause of death following hurricanes. Is lighting important enough to die for, because most of the generators sold are not big enough to power a refrigerator or air conditioner?

I have a generator. It is big enough to power both a refrigerator and an 8,000 btu air conditioner. I’m building a pad to put it on and running wiring to separate sockets inside to be used in an emergency.

The booklet that comes with generators details all of the places you shouldn’t put the generator. During the run-up to hurricanes in Florida at every press conference there is a run down on places you shouldn’t put a generator. Nothing seems to work, because people are continuing to die. It’s senseless.

You have to wonder how long the individual who came up with TimesSelect is going to last when the ad buyers want their rates reduced because of the decrease in traffic on the site.

Having just announced the lay off of 500 employees, I can’t see the quality of the product improving, unless the 500 are all coming from upper management. If you are trying to cut costs, those are the people who make the real money.

Finally I caught this article at MSNBC: Military to Bush: U.S. needs search-rescue plan. The military wants to streamline and coordinate the search and rescue operations, not take over the responsibility for the catastrophe.

Bush wants Congress to change the “Posse Comitatus” law to fix a problem caused by the President not acting in a timely matter to allow the military to help, and the Department of Homeland Security not coordinating rescue operations with local governments.

After September 11^th, it was determined that a large number of first responders died because of communications failures. The biggest problem in New Orleans was the loss of communications at all levels of government. Search and rescue operations were not being carried out in an efficient manner because of communications problems that prevented the effective coordination of effort.

Gee, I seem to detect a pattern, an item common to all of these situations. The Department of Homeland Security is supposed to coordinate in National disasters. It says that in its National Response Plan. You can’t coordinate if you can’t communicate.

Where is the emergency communication plan and equipment?

Why has nothing been done about the problem in New York City?

What does the “Posse Comitatus” law have to do with search and rescue or the lack of emergency communications?

If law enforcement was a real concern, any problems could be solved by the Pentagon expanding the regular military and sending the National Guard and its equipment back to the states that need them. If Congress wants to get involved, it could ban the deployment of the Guard overseas during the hurricane season.

Remember: Iraq is nothing like Vietnam.

If you were a cynic you might compare it to AP’s Huge rally against Iraq war and note that the two would seem to share several paragraphs.

The newest version is worth a read for Vietnam era people as it features the re-birth of one of Nixon’s favorite memes:

“It’s the silent majority,” said 22-year-old Stephanie Grgurich of Leesburg, Virginia, who has a brother serving in Iraq.

My emphasis because Stephanie isn’t old enough to understand that she’s become a Nixon Republican. Oh, I’m sorry, Iraq is nothing like Vietnam.

The link is the same as in the post below, but at that time the AP post mentioned only “thousands” for the anti-war demonstration, and “hundreds” for the pro-war group. This report replaces the earlier one.