Wednesday, October 31, 2012

A Second Perfect Storm?

If we are to realistically look at Hurricane Sandy we must also look at Hurricane Irene last year around this time. Both were Frankenstorms in their own way. However, Hurricane Irene harmed more people inland by washing away mountain towns and villages through flooding. Whereas Hurricane Sandy sort of is doing both in it's own way and this time including Snow storms with 3 feet of snow or more in West Virginia which is it's own kind of nightmare for that area. So, even though it relieved droughts in some of the 23 to 25 states hit it also caused billions of different kinds of damage.

But then, the question needs to be asked, "If Irene came in as an anomoly and Sandy was a more nightmarish anomaly then what can we expect the next year and the year after that on Halloween? If we take these two storms as a geometric new progression of a "new normal" then an even worse storm like these two could occur basically every year around Halloween. This isn't necessarily true but it could be given what we have seen the last two years.

However, what is true is that people all around the world are watching what happened in this storm because most places are a lot less prepared for this than we are if something like this happened unexpectedly there and many more people would die than died here at the very least.

Later Note: As I was thinking about what I wrote here I realized that if you take Hurricane  Irene last year and then take Hurricane Sandy to be a progression this year the next storm "Hurricane Unknown" (next year or some year after) might be something that half the people who were affected this time might never recover from even if they were still alive when it was all over!

So, this is something to think about if I happen to be right about this for anyone in the path next year (or some year later) of the next Halloween Superstorm that hits the Northeast.

So, if people saw "Hurricane Unknown" coming maybe they would literally head for the hills next time if they wanted to live through it next year or the year after.

And, unfortunately if I Am right this is still a progression that Hurricane Unknown is NOT the end to either but only the beginning of things to come.

Amazing photos and videos of Hurricane Sandy's Aftermath


Every Breath I take every move I make

Over the years I have become conscious of the fact that, "Every breath I take and every move I make helps mankind survive on into the future." The point of writing this is that likely this is true for you too.

Each of us are a part of the fabric of the universe. If you were to imagine the universe as a sweater that has been woven like many wool sweaters you or I have owned when one thread begins to unravel the whole sweater goes into distress and it might be time to darn it or to get a new one.

Likewise, each one of us is key to the survival of the entire human race.

When I was suicidal and felt I had nothing more to live for at age 21, two beings from around 7000 AD came to me and said, "You cannot kill yourself. You are very important to the survival of the human race on earth." So I said to them, "Okay. I will live on for the human race but no longer for myself."

That was in 1969. A whole lot has happened since then.

Though you may or may not believe this story I'm telling you, still it is my personal experience. And, after all, I'm still alive because of this experience. So, however you want to look at it I find it useful to be alive for myself and for everyone I know here on earth. Surviving is the first part of the rest of each of our lives. There has to be a way that allows us to stay alive at certain points in all our lives. So, finding a way forward is the whole thing in the end.

Two of subway tunnels have 47 million gallons of water each in them

I was just listening to the head of the New York Subway system and he was saying how there is 47 million gallons of water each in two of the subway tunnels now. He said that first they need to get the 47 million gallons of water each out and then they need to search for structural integrity of the tunnels and tracks before they can reopen those subway lines through those tunnels. This likely will take some time to get 47 million gallons of water each out no matter what kind of pumps they use.

25% of Cell phone towers down in Sandy's path

For people who only use cellphones this likely is a nightmare. So, anywhere you are in Sandy's path you have a 25% chance at ANY location to not be able to get a phone call out at all or to get a phone call in to someone who is in an area hit by Sandy. So, if you cannot get through on a cell phone if you have a land line try that one because you just might get lucky if you are calling from anywhere on earth into the path of Hurricane Sandy where it hit this week.

All power south of 34th Street is out in New York so Subways south of 34th cannot reopen because they don't have power either until power is restored after the flooding. So, no one even businesses without generators have power south of 34th street in New York.

NYC Hospitals Evacuate

'Things went downhill quickly': NYC hospitals evacuate

The Journal News | LoHud.com-22 hours ago
'Things went downhill quickly': NYC hospitals evacuate ... hospitals in New York City to scramble and evacuate patients Tuesday, and two ... Several hospitals had evacuated prior to the storm and remain closed Tuesday.
Sandy prompts harrowing NYC hospital evacuation
In-Depth
-CBS News-7 hours ago
 end quote from Google.

'Things went downhill quickly': NYC hospitals evacuate

4:59 PM, Oct 30, 2012   |  
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Medical workers assist a patient into an ambulance during an evacuation of New York University's Hospital Monday. / John Minchillo AP
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Unprecedented flooding and power outages from superstorm Sandy forced more hospitals in New York City to scramble and evacuate patients Tuesday, and two facilities for the elderly to relocate patients to safe areas.
No storm-related fatalities have been reported at any of the hospitals, according to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, adding the one thing "they had not counted on" was the failure of the backup system at New York University Langone Hospital.
Monday evening as the record-setting storm surge began to hit low-lying areas in the city power failures started in critical areas of the NYU Langone Hospital, including the emergency room, the transplant unit and labor and delivery. The emergency system did not respond, hospital officials said.
The hospital, which did evacuate prior to Hurricane Irene last year, then launched into emergency mode to move about 260 patients. Officials are still sorting out what caused the failure of the backup power, but the generator might have been located in the basement and was stalled by rising waters. The scene was a reminder of the chaos in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
"Things went downhill very, very rapidly and very unexpectedly," Andrew Brotman, senior vice president and vice dean for clinical affairs and strategy of NYU, told CNN. "The flooding was just unprecedented."
When the elevators shut down, the hospital staff was forced to carry patients down several flights of darkened stairs, according to the Associated Press. Evacuations continued into Tuesday morning. Ambulances escorted them to nearby hospitals.
Hospital trustee Gary Cohn told Bloomberg Television on Tuesday that the backup generators at Tisch are not "state of the art and not in the most state-of-the-art location."
"That's all very well-known by the board of directors of NYU," Cohn said.
Kenneth Langone, the billionaire chairman of New York University Hospital, told Bloomberg News he was a patient at the NYU Langone Medical Center when it lost power during Hurricane Sandy and had to be evacuated.
"The backup generators failed, it's that simple, but the story here is the magnificence of the effort of all of our people and what they did," Langone, 77, said Tuesday in a telephone interview from his Fifth Avenue apartment.
Several hospitals had evacuated prior to the storm and remain closed Tuesday. Troubled hospitals continue to coordinate with government agencies to find openings for patients in other hospitals. Coney Island Hospital was also making plans for possible evacuations Tuesday.
"We've taken in some of the patients from NYU and the latest I heard they're doing fine,'' said Kathy Robinson, spokesperson at New York Presbyterian Hospitals.
Montefiore Medical Center took six babies into its neonatal unit at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday from NYU Tisch, according to spokesperson Susan Green Lorenzen: "Monday night we got on the phone to offer our support when we heard what was going on.'' Montefiore had taken five babies from another hospital that evacuated before the storm hit.
A report from The New York Times said backup generators at a nursing home and adult home had also failed: "Administrators at Horizon Care Center and Seaview Manor said they had repeatedly sought instructions and advice from the city's emergency management authorities but did not receive directions to evacuate before the surge hit between 8 p.m. and midnight Monday.
"At Horizon, all 269 patients had been moved to the second floor when the surge came. But there was very rapid flooding within five minutes and the generator was knocked out within 10 minutes," said Nicole Markowitz, an administrator. By Tuesday morning, residents were cold and scared."
end quote from:

Things went downhill quickly': NYC hospitals evacuate

While I'm writing this Belleview Hospital is being evacuated. Sanjay Gupta and Anderson Cooper are both concerned because this is two main hospitals closed now in downtown New York City so this could be a real problem. I could hear the real distress in Sanjay Gupta's voice as a doctor as he would know what this really means to New Yorkers. 

 

Here are some of the problems causing this. First, the generators in the basements at these hospitals are all flooded out and unusable. Second, there is not any power frm regular sources available in the city at present because of exploding transformers and substations from flooding the past few days. 3rd even when back up generators are on higher floors there is a problem with the fuel pumps pumping up fuel to back up generators on higher floors. 4th there is a problem of getting fuel to these locations. So, as a result 700 patients are presently being evacuated from Belleview Hospital to other Hospitals better able to care for patients at this time. 

 

Another problem affecting all people without power even with their own generators. People trying to heat wherever they are with propane and gasoline and white gas camp stoves are in danger of carbon monoxide poisoning because these devices are not properly vented unless they are outside. People who are building fires in trash cans outside or inside to stay warm are also in danger of accidental fires. 3rd when power comes on there could also be problems if homes or businesses had power on in various heating appliances or other electrical devices because these devices will be unmanned so this could be dangerous as well. So, there are many inherent dangers for everyone without power in this situation. Also, flooding compromised many sewage treatment areas and pets could bring in diseases and contaminants from this sewage in the floodwaters that came onshore and into homes, businesses, offices, etc. so wherever this happened might also be contaminated as well. So, being aware of this will help prevent further illnesses in people and their pets.



LaGuardia Airport in NY still underwater

  1. News for Laguardia still under water

    1. LaGuardia Airport runway under water
      Today's THV‎ - 5 hours ago
      The runways look more like waterways at LaGuardia and the Port Authority still has no timetable for when it will be fully operational. They must ...
  2. Airlines resume flights after hurricane - Oct. 31, 2012

    money.cnn.com/2012/10/31/news/.../airline-cancellation-hurricane/
    3 hours ago – LaGuardia is still underwater, and cancellations exceed 19000 as airlines start to shake off Hurricane Sandy.
  3. Sky Talk: LaGuardia runways underwater (photo)

    blogs.star-telegram.com/.../laguardia-runways-underwater-photo.htm...
    1 day ago – ... share this photo of LaGuardia Airport's runway underwater from the ... that its flights from Dallas/Fort Worth airport to LGA are still on-time.
  4. Hurricane Sandy: 15,000 flights are cancelled as LaGuardia is ...

    www.dailymail.co.uk/.../Hurricane-Sandy-15-000-flights-cancelled-...
    1 day ago – Under water: The problems at LaGuardia Airport have contributed to the cancellation of 15,000 flights after the post-tropical storm ...
    end quote from Google.

    LaGuardia Airport runway under water

    9:20 AM, Oct 31, 2012   |   0  comments
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    QUEENS, NY (CBS/WCBS) - The pictures are incredible. LaGuardia Airport will remain closed until this mess can be cleaned up.
    The runways look more like waterways at LaGuardia and the Port Authority still has no timetable for when it will be fully operational.
    They must inspect damage to facilities and runways before they can make that call. Stranded travelers may have to wait several days to get out.
    Airline carries aren't able to fly full schedules for several days. American Airlines and US Airways said they were aiming for Thursday to resume full service to and from New York, while Delta said they hoped to resume all flights to JFK today.

    end quote from:
    LaGuardia Airport runway under water

    If you click on "LaGuardia Airoport runway underwater" button one above this you can watch a news video with video footage of the flooded airport. They hope to have the water all pumped off by Thursday but if you look at these photos even that is questionable. Even if you get the water off is the runway safe? Was it undermined so it might collapse in places when the weight of a large plane goes over it? Time will tell.

Hurricane Katrina 2?

Though the death toll wasn't there (63 dead found so far ) the rest of the damage to the Northeast reads even worse than Hurricane Katrina as far as damage to the infrastructure and businesses and homes in the area. And the area with problems stretches from the Carolinas to Maine to Wisconsin so far. There are at least 23 to 25 states that have serious damage of one kind or another from this storm which likely will take over 50 billion dollars to fix over days, weeks and even years. So, like I said even though the death toll is not as great, I think the physical damage to the infrastructure of the U.S.  is much greater to the nation than even Hurricane Katrina was at this point from Hurricane Sandy.

Airports and Stock Exchange Reopen


Airports and stock exchange reopen; NJ devastated

Must Read?Yes     549
NEW YORK — Two major airports reopened and the New York Stock Exchange got back to business Wednesday, while across the river in New Jersey, National Guardsmen rushed to feed and rescue flood victims two days after Superstorm Sandy struck.
For the first time since the storm slammed the Northeast, killing at least 62 people and inflicting billions of dollars in damage, brilliant sunshine washed over the nation's largest city — a striking sight after days of gray skies, rain and wind.
At the stock exchange, running on generator power, Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave a thumbs-up and rang the opening bell to whoops from traders on the floor. Trading resumed after the first two-day weather shutdown since the Blizzard of 1888.
New York's subway system was still down, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo said parts of it will begin running again on Thursday. And he said some commuter rail service between the city and its suburbs would resume on Wednesday afternoon.
Kennedy and Newark Liberty airports began handling flights again just after 7 a.m. New York's LaGuardia Airport, which suffered far worse damage and still had water on its runways, remained closed.
It was clear that restoring the region to its ordinarily frenetic pace could take days — and that rebuilding the hardest-hit communities and the transportation networks that link them could take considerably longer.
About 6 million homes and businesses were still without power, mostly in New York and New Jersey. Electricity was out as far west as Wisconsin and as far south as the Carolinas.
The scale of the challenge could be seen across the Hudson River in New Jersey, where National Guard trucks rolled into heavily flooded Hoboken to deliver ready-to-eat meals and other supplies and to evacuate people from their condo high-rises, brownstones and other homes.
The mayor of the city of 50,000 issued an appeal for people to bring boats to City Hall to help with the evacuation.
Natural gas fires raged Wednesday in a section of Brick Township, N.J., where dozens of houses were devastated by the storm's surge. No injuries were reported.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie issued an order postponing Halloween trick-or-treating until Monday, saying floodwaters, downed electrical wires, power outages and fallen trees made it too dangerous for children to go out.
President Barack Obama planned to visit Atlantic City, N.J., which was directly in the storm's path Monday night and saw part of its historic boardwalk washed away.
Outages in the state's two largest cities, Newark and Jersey City, left traffic signals dark, resulting in fender-benders at intersections where police were not directing traffic. At one Jersey City supermarket, there were long lines to get bread and use an electrical outlet to charge cellphones.
Amid the despair, talk of recovery was already beginning.
"It's heartbreaking after being here 37 years," Barry Prezioso of Point Pleasant, N.J., said as he returned to his house in the beachfront community. "You see your home demolished like this, it's tough. But nobody got hurt and the upstairs is still livable, so we can still live upstairs and clean this out. I'm sure there's people that had worse. I feel kind of lucky."
As New York began its second day after the megastorm, morning rush-hour traffic was heavy as people started returning to work. There was even a sign of normalcy: commuters waiting at bus stops. School was out for a third day.
The Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, connecting Brooklyn to Manhattan, and the Holland Tunnel, between New York and New Jersey, remained closed. But bridges into the city were open, and city buses were running, free of charge.
On the Brooklyn Bridge, closed earlier because of high winds, joggers and bikers made their way across before sunrise. One cyclist carried a flashlight. Car traffic on the bridge was busy.
The subway system suffered the worst damage in its 108-year history, with floodwaters swamping tunnels and stations and threatening the electrical wiring. Experts said the cost of the repairs could be staggering.
Amtrak trains were still not running in or out of New York's Penn Station because of tunnel flooding.
Power company Consolidated Edison said it could also be the weekend before power is restored to Manhattan and Brooklyn, perhaps longer for other New York boroughs and the suburbs. Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers lost power.
The recovery and rebuilding will take far longer.
When New Jersey's governor stopped in Belmar, N.J., during a tour of the devastation, one woman wept, and 42-year-old Walter Patrickis told him, "Governor, I lost everything."
Christie, who called the shore damage "unthinkable," said a full recovery would take months, at least, and it would probably be a week or more before power is restored to everyone who lost it.
"Now we've got a big task ahead of us that we have to do together. This is the kind of thing New Jerseyans are built for," he said.
Forecasting firm IHS Global Insight predicted it would cause $20 billion in damage and $10 billion to $30 billion in lost business. Another firm, AIR Worldwide, estimated losses up to $15 billion.
In Connecticut, some residents of Fairfield returned home in kayaks and canoes to inspect the flood damage.
"The uncertainty is the worst," said Jessica Levitt, who was told it could be a week before she can enter her house. "Even if we had damage, you just want to be able to do something. We can't even get started."
In New York, residents of the flooded beachfront neighborhood of Breezy Point in returned home to find fire had taken everything the water had not. A huge blaze destroyed perhaps 100 homes in the close-knit community where many had stayed behind despite being told to evacuate.
John Frawley acknowledged the mistake. Frawley, who lived about five houses from the fire's edge, said he spent the night terrified "not knowing if the fire was going to jump the boulevard and come up to my house."
"I stayed up all night," he said. "The screams. The fire. It was horrifying."
___
Contributors to this report included Associated Press writers Angela Delli Santi in Belmar, N.J.; Geoff Mulvihill and Larry Rosenthal in Trenton, N.J.; Katie Zezima in Atlantic City, N.J.; Samantha Henry in Jersey City, N.J.; Pat Eaton-Robb and Michael Melia in Hartford, Conn.; Susan Haigh in New London, Conn.; John Christoffersen in Bridgeport, Conn.; Alicia Caldwell and Martin Crutsinger in Washington; David Klepper in South Kingstown, R.I.; David B. Caruso, Colleen Long, Jennifer Peltz, Tom Hays, Larry Neumeister, Ralph Russo and Scott Mayerowitz in New York.

end quote from:
http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20121029/US.Superstorm.Sandy/?cid=hero_media

We Are What We Think

We are what we think
All that we are arises with our thoughts
With our thoughts we make the world

Buddha

Here in the western world our psychology is based upon subservience to Kings and Queens in the past. Everything is geared around that including the way we deal with our lives. However, that is contradictory to what we are as humans. We even see God and that we are subservient to him whether or not he would actually want us to be that way or not. What if God wanted us to be his children and to actually think and make decisions for ourselves and that Kings and Queens of Earth subverted that in us to make us their slaves psychologically and physically for thousands of years and we haven't entirely thrown that submissiveness off yet as a culture? I think at least psychologically this is true. The Queen of England exists partly as this nostalgia for having someone to look up to in emergencies like we do our parents for security. And I think this can be helpful for many people to do this still.

However, those of us who actually can think for ourselves and imagine a God that wants each of us to think completely for ourselves as long as we don't harm ourselves or anyone else, can actually think and know that the above statement by Buddha (who was after all raised to become the King of Lumbini as a Prince) and who would know all this inherently.

So, We are what we think!

All definitions of self and others and things we provide.

How will we create ourselves and all life into the future?

That may be entirely up to us.

Hudson River Flowed into Subways

 

witter / adamlisberg: Entire Hudson River is flowing ...

twitter.com/adamlisberg/statuses/263083255438393346
1 day ago – Entire Hudson River is flowing into Ground Zero, Carey Tunnel and subways. It sounds like Niagara Falls. Too dark for pic. Reply; Retweeted ...
 end quote.

I was watching Governor Cuomo of New York Speak about this on CNN TV while in the background there was this picture that sort of looked like Niagra Falls as the Hudson River flowed into the Subways through the work being done at Ground Zero putting in a new section of Subway there. It was and unbelievable picture. I'll see if I can find it online somewhere. Because in this one section and many others the salt water mixed with fresh water went into the subways there and other places it is questionable how electrically or structurally sound the Subways will be now. They were not electrically or structurally designed for the whole Hudson River to come in like this. So, I think the biggest problem  is: "Are the tunnels safe for humans down there now because of potential structural collapse?" 2nd, "Are the electrical systems and tracks permanently compromised?" In other words "can wet and water eroded soil under the tracks be stable enough for the weight of the trains without derailing or worse at speed?" 3rd regarding the electrical systems, "Can they work? Can they be replaced? How much is all this going to cost and still be possible for electrical, structural, and rail bearing weights to all be safe for humans?" And 4th, the last problem is, "Even if you get all or most of this water out what is the chance of serious black mold forming there underground because even if you pump all the water out moisture will remain embeded in everything. Also, since there is never any sun down there to dry things out all you have is lights and the wind from moving subway trains to dry everything out over time.

I put photo of water from Hudson Flowing into Ground Zero subway station at top. if you click on it with a laptop or desktop computer it should enlarge. (with IPad or other use your fingers to enlarge)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7ZSk1_K6rk

NYC Flooded Subway Raw Video - Hurricane Sandy Aftermath


1,408
Published on Oct 30, 2012 by
NYC Flooded Subway Raw Video - Hurricane Sandy Aftermath

New York City's transit system suffered unprecedented damage, from the underground subway tunnels to commuter rails to bus garages, remaining closed on Tuesday.

The storm damage has left commuters wondering when it could reopen after Sandy flooded tunnels, brought trees down over tracks and ripped out power lines.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said Tuesday it was too soon to say how long the problems would take to fix.

MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota said the 108-year-old subway system "has never faced a disaster as devastating as what we experienced last night."

The agency said all 10 subway tunnels between Manhattan and Brooklyn were underwater during the storm. It said it will be pumping water Tuesday, but workers ultimately will have to walk hundreds of miles of track to inspect it. It's not clear how long that will take.

Trains, however, were moved to safety before the storm.

MTA chairman Joseph J. Lhota said in a statement: "The New York City subway system is 108 years old, but it has never faced a disaster as devastating as what we experienced last night."

Lhota said Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on in the entire transportation system, in every borough and county of the region.

As of Monday night, seven subway tunnels under the East River were flooded.

Metro-North Railroad lost power from 59th Street to Croton-Harmon on the Hudson Line and to New Haven on the New Haven Line.

The Long Island Rail Road evacuated its West Side Yards and suffered flooding in one East River tunnel.

Six bus garages were disabled by high water.

The MTA was still in the process of assessing the damage and had no timeline for putting the system back on-line.

Lhota said that the system might be brought back part-by-part as they could get things running.

He said, "Our employees have shown remarkable dedication over the past few days, and I thank them on behalf of every New Yorker. In 108 years, our employees have never faced a challenge like the one that confronts us now. All of us at the MTA are committed to restoring the system as quickly as we can to help bring New York back to normal."




NYC Flooded subway sandy devistation shut down Natural Disasters, Atlantic City, Sandy Path, Hurricane Sandy 2012, Hurricane Sandy Jersey, Hurricane Sandy New Jersey, Hurricane Sandy Path, Hurricane Sandy Weather, Sandy, Sandy Damage, Sandy Live, Sandy New Jersey, Sandy Weather, Green News
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Extraordinary: This CCTV photo shows flood waters from Hurricane Sandy rushing in to the Hoboken PATH
Rising water from the Hudson River overtakes a bank drive-through as Superstorm Sandy pushed ashore.

 

The Day After We Attack Iran

Minority of One blog

The day after we attack Iran

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Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are agreed on one thing: If Iran refuses to give up its apparent pursuit of nuclear weapons, at some point we will have no choice but to intervene with military force. The discussion, to the extent there has been one, is just about where that point lies. But an attack on Iran would not be the end of matter. It would just be the start.
So says retired Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni, who stopped by the Tribune last week to talk about what might happen after U.S. and/or Israeli planes carry out a preemptive attack on Iranian nuclear sites. The question he wants to ask those in charge, he says, is: "Do you understand what you're getting into?" As head of Central Command, which covers the Middle East, he gave questions of that kind a lot of thought.
An American president might have in mind a brief campaign that would cripple the Iranians. But the Iranians have the option to strike back in all sorts of ways. "What if they lob a missile into Fifth Fleet headquarters?" he asks. "Or we have another 9/11?" He advises, "Don't think it's necessarily limited."
Zinni notes that Iran has mobile missiles -- which it could use to hit Israel, Europe or U.S. bases in the region. It could send suicide boats to fire cruise missiles at our Navy ships. They could lay mines in the Persian Gulf, which would disrupt shipping and send oil prices through the roof.
If Iran escalates, he says, the president needs to know he will respond. In an expanded war, we might find ourselves forced to try to bring down the Iranian regime. For that, ground forces may be unavoidable. Can he envision using 100,000 troops to march on Tehran? "You'd have to plan for it," he warns -- not assume it will happen, but be ready for the possibility.
There's always the chance that an attack on Iran would be quick, successful and conclusive, as our politicians seem to believe. But if history suggests anything, it's that we shouldn't go to war unless we've considered the worst that can happen. Because it may. 

end quote from:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chapman/chi-after-the-attack-on-iran-20121029,0,6163790.column

I think I agree with retired Marine Corps General Zinni. The day after we attack Iran won't be the end it will only be the beginning of something. Also, Russia and China's relationship with Iran might come into play as well. And that is another unknown.  So, even though it is an expedient thing to say for a president to be (either one) it may not in the end be a practical decision or even a useful one in any way in the end.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Con Ed: 10 days to restore NYC's full electricity

One of the substations that will have to be rebuilt had a flood barrier that reached 12 1/2 feet tall which was much higher than any flood had come before in recorded history. However, since the seawater that came was over 13 1/2 feet it breached the substation and the substation exploded which could be seen all over New York City. What happens in a situation like that when salt water is involved is that all components in that substation would have either exploded or melted together like a giant out of control Arc Welder. So literally all electrical components might need to be replaced. And worse than that the likelihood that wires melted in multiple directions underground during that explosion is also likely so many streets nearby will have to be dug up to replace those underground electrical lines. Underground wiring prevents fires from winds but does not prevent problems during flooding unless the substation is turned off and then meticulously cleaned and dried off after the flooding. Otherwise everything winds up being a melted ball or balls of metal that was once hundreds or thousands of components. Also when something like that explodes it send shards of molten metal in all directions like spattering from an arc welder.

Huffington on the Barn Raising Spirit after Sandy


GET UPDATES FROM Arianna Huffington

How Hurricane Sandy Downgraded the Election and Upgraded Our Barn-Raising Spirit

Posted: 10/30/2012 1:04 pm

Hurricane Sandy may have been downgraded from Category 2 after it barreled through the Caribbean, but it sure didn't feel like it. What was unmistakable, though, was how quickly and completely Sandy downgraded our election. What had been a Category 5 story was suddenly a mere Topical Disturbance. As Sandy moved in, the election was almost literally moved off the map, as both candidates canceled appearances. Instead of huddling with David Axelrod and David Plouffe, Obama was huddled with disaster preparedness and relief officials in the Situation Room -- the one in the White House, not the one on CNN.
People went from checking the New York Times' Nate Silver every five minutes to hanging on to every word of Weather Underground's Dr. Jeff Masters or Louis Uccellini, director of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction, whose predictive models carried much more immediate weight than who was going to win the Wal-Mart moms vote. And early voting was canceled in Maryland.
But Sandy didn't just knock the campaign off the front pages; it transformed it, as well. At a moment of extreme polarization, Mother Nature brought us together. Suddenly, the artificial walls that our political process erects to separate us into little demographic micro-groups to make us believe we have no mutual interests got blown away by the massive hurricane. As if to emphasize how interconnected we all are, it turns out that the full moon -- the one we'd have seen last night if the clouds would have let us -- was in league with the hurricane to amplify its effects.
Hurricane Sandy brought about the true bipartisanship our leaders only give lip service to. Suddenly, in a campaign in which the biggest issue, broadly defined, has been the role of government, nobody is saying: Why is government involved? Governors in the affected states aren't asking the "job creators" for help -- they're asking the federal government. And the government -- that is, the American people -- has been thankfully responding. Suddenly it's much easier to see the purpose of government -- to make our collective power more effective.
In New Jersey Chris Christie, the same governor who gave the keynote speech on the night of the RNC devoted to slamming Obama's statement that government has a role to play in helping people build businesses, praised President Obama for his readiness to send aid to New Jersey and wisely chose not to limit New Jersey's options for help to resources within the state. "I appreciated the president's outreach today in making sure that we know he's watching this and is concerned about the health and welfare and safety of the people of the state of New Jersey," said Governor Christie.
"[President Obama] called me last night around midnight... to ask what else could be done [and] offered any other assets that we need," said Christie. "I have to say the administration, the president himself and FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate have been outstanding with us so far. We have a great partnership with them, and I want to thank the president personally for his personal attention to this." Earlier Christie had asked the president to give the state Federal Disaster Designation in advance of the storm so aid could begin to flow -- a request the president granted.
And it wasn't just the federal government, but state and local governments that were responding to protect the lives and property of their citizens. In New York, nearly 400,000 people were evacuated from flood zones, and the subways were shut down (a laborious process that can take up to ten hours) for only the second time ever. The Department of Homeless Services stepped up their efforts to encourage those living in the streets to come into the shelters. The Virginia National Guard got the go-ahead to bring up 500 troops to help clear roads. And state and local utilities along the East Coast readied thousands of repair crews to help the millions who have lost power.
Then there were the warnings that reminded us that government deployed real human beings who made a life-and-death difference, and that our responsibilities flow both ways. "If you don't evacuate, you are not only endangering your life, you are also endangering the lives of the first responders who are going in to rescue you," said New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Even more blunt, or "poignant," as Dr. Jeff Masters rightly put it, was this warning by the National Weather Service in New Jersey:
"If you are reluctant [to evacuate], think about your loved ones, think about the emergency responders who will be unable to reach you when you make the panicked phone call to be rescued, think about the rescue/recovery teams who will rescue you if you are injured or recover your remains if you do not survive."
We can no longer summon the bipartisanship needed to rebuild our infrastructure, or even adequately repair what we have, but at least we can come together to protect it from the worst -- if we're absolutely forced to by a calamity like Hurricane Sandy. But why can't we have this same responsiveness in times other than natural disasters? It was only in February of last year that the Republicans proposed a bill to cut $1.2 billion from President Obama's budget proposal for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which operates the satellites that allow us to track hurricanes like Sandy and give accurate and timely warnings. And in a debate during the primaries, Mitt Romney was asked if FEMA should be shut down and disaster responsibility given to the states. His reply:
"Absolutely. Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that's the right direction. And if you can go even further, and send it back to the private sector, that's even better. Instead of thinking, in the federal budget, what we should cut, we should ask the opposite question, what should we keep?"
Does that include disaster relief? asked moderator John King.
"We cannot -- we cannot afford to do those things without jeopardizing the future for our kids. It is simply immoral, in my view, for us to continue to rack up larger and larger debts and pass them on to our kids, knowing full well that we'll all be dead and gone before it's paid off. It makes no sense at all."
The Romney campaign responded Monday that Romney wants to "ensure states... have the resources and assistance they need to cope with natural disasters." Maybe Hurricane Sandy reset the Etch-A-Sketch (it doesn't take much of a storm to do that, after all). In any case, as Matt Yglesias points out, Romney's budget in fact has steep cuts in everything that's not defense. And if you exempt Medicare from Romney's across the board cuts, the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that would mean cuts of around 53 percent in things like FEMA.
But for the moment, we're having a period of bipartisan agreement -- forced on us by something truly bigger than ourselves -- that government is useful. Whether or not "you built that," if a hurricane knocks it down, it's nice to have FEMA help you rebuild that.
Unfortunately, this spirit of bipartisanship is projected to last only for about 72 more hours or so, before burning itself out and dissipating somewhere over Canada.
Which is too bad, because we badly need bipartisanship and collective effort not just to rebuild our infrastructure and solve problems like the jobs crisis but to address the root causes of what makes storms like this one so increasingly powerful and increasingly common.
But our election season is drawing to a close without any serious discussion about climate change. "The irony is that the two presidential candidates decided not to speak about climate change, and now they are seeing the climate speak to them," said Mike Tidwell, director of Maryland's Chesapeake Climate Action Network and author of the 2006 climate change book, The Ravaging Tide. "That's really what's happening here. The climate is now speaking to them -- and to everyone else."
Michael Mann, physicist and director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State says that, while we can't conclusively blame any one storm on climate change, "we can see that climate change is playing a role in setting the context for these storms, in particular the record levels of North Atlantic ocean warmth that is available to feed these storms with energy and moisture." And according to research by the German reinsurance company Munich Re, there's been "a nearly quintupled number of weather-related loss events in North America for the past three decades." Last month, a report issued by Yale and George Mason universities found that 74 percent of American people believe that "global warming is affecting weather in the United States." And that was before Hurricane Sandy.
The collective effort, the we're-all-in-this-together spirit, has been great to see. We know that spirit is there, even if we hadn't seen in much in the weeks leading up to this disaster. But it shouldn't take a natural disaster to make us tap into our natural humanity. Let's hope that spirit can linger, even as Sandy moves on.
And in the meantime, here is a page we've put up for anybody who wants to lend a helping hand.

end quote from:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/hurricane-sandy-downgraded-election_b_2044095.html

Like right after Hurricane Katrina rebuilding the east coast will be a team effort just like the rebuilding of New Orleans in 2005. If the subway isn't up for weeks or months because of pumping the water out or electrical problems, New Yorkers can deal with this somehow. If 3 cities have been completely flooded out and literally everyone had to be rescued from those 3 New Jersey towns, the people in New Jersey can deal with that. If 80 to 110 homes have been burnt down in Queens, the citizens of Queens and New York can deal with that. It's the CAN-DO attitude of Americans that has always amazed the rest of the world. Now is the time!

Surviving

A storm like this teaches us all survival skills more than anything else. I think people who have been through and survived incredible experiences and who have been amazed by the fact that they survived something difficult or terrible become better at surviving whatever comes next. There is a saying, "Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger". To some degree this is true. It isn't worrying about a problem that is the most difficult, it is actually surviving the problem no matter what we might think or say about it or even do about it. My father used to say, "a miss is as good as a mile". What this meant was if you were walking along a street and a car almost hit you and missed you by even 1/4 inch you were okay and the attitude was, 'A miss is as good as a mile'. In other words if you survived "don't sweat the small stuff". Things can be replaced but not your life or the lives of your loved ones. If you have each other and no one died things can be replaced but losing a loved one you cannot replace that ever. So, be grateful for everyone that survived this. Next time, we might not be as lucky. So, be grateful while we can. "Life is for the Living!"

Hurricane Sandy: Global Warming?

If you were to ask me personally whether Hurricane Sandy is a result of Global Warming or Global Climate Change I would answer: "Yes". However, since some of the people wouldn't agree with this on earth saying it might not be as useful as many of you might think to actually say this. But, unequivocally I think we might all agree that more Hurricane Sandy's are on the way to countries all around the globe during the next 20 years or so. The unthinkable is more thinkable now that it has actually happened and likely worse storms will come in the future than this one. The whole thing likely is: "Will we be prepared for the next one?" And the likely answer is "No!" But will we be more likely to drive away from the storm next time than this one? I think the answer might be "Yes!" if people can afford to.

The other important thing to think about might be that more people likely would die from a storm like this in other parts of earth than died in the U.S. on the East Coast. This also likely would be true. The more educated and informed and the better infrastructures around the world would better withstand this than others who were less prepared.

I think the most frustrating time last night was watching those 50 homes in Queens burn down for the Fire Departments there last night. They couldn't pump water because of flooding and all they could actually do was to rescue the residents of the apartment buildings on fire and watch everything else burn down.

If you multiply this experience times 1000 or even 1,000,000 you can understand what happened to the entire northeast in regard to Hurricane Sandy and all the flooding, winds and snow that have resulted. So, most of the true frustration now likely will be actually trying to come up with the money to fix everything that is now changed or broken. And a lot of things in these days just won't be fixed because there won't be enough money to fix everything. And places where the coastline has changed likely will remain that way until people get upset enough to vote money to put it back where they want it to be once again. And unfortunately, the eroding and eroded beaches from this storm will continue to erode in coming winter storms and damage many east coast areas and homes and businesses even more. Because now likely isn't the time to rebuild beaches. That is best done during the summer when weather is better. So, the likelihood that things will get much worse for coastal beach residents of the East Coast  in  the coming winter storms is very likely.

 later Note: The 50 homes has now become from 80 to 110 homes completely destroyed in the fire in Queens. I was watching footage on CNN TV and the whole area was burned down and many cars were there burned up as well. The irony was the sandbags the people had there preparing for the floods which did save them at first from flooding but then the electric lines hit the water and started the fire and no one could do anything but rescue people in the flooding and winds so all these structures burned down very quickly because of this as well as many cars and trucks in the area. Luckily, everyone was rescued and it is believed that no one died which is also a miracle in this kind of situation.