Sonic 'Lasers' to be Deployed in Hurricane Region 619
MacDork writes "Wired News is running an article about high powered acoustic technology to be deployed in the hurricane Katrina disaster recovery. Apparently, the technology will allow authorities to communicate with others up to a mile away along with providing a non-lethal means of crowd control. No word on additional busses and shelters..."
Longitudinal wave lasers? (Score:5, Informative)
Man, I wish people would get this right. Sonic laser doesn't make any sense. Can you really call longitudinal waves coherent? There's more to a laser than just high fluence and the ability to be focused. Sonic waves don't even have a particle nature, really, unless you wanted to count the vibrating atoms. Since you can't amplify atoms, you really can't get a sonic laser. Here, let's look at this:
"... like the sonic equivalent of a laser, or spotlight."
That's from the article. A spotlight and a laser really don't have much in common besides producing lots of light. A spotlight isn't coherent, or even monochromatic. It's just really, really "bright." Photons of laser light all have a fixed phase relationship--coherency, basically. This leads to lots of interesting properties like, oh, the entire science of interferometry. More importantly for the purposes of this discussion, lasers are _really really really_ "bright." I'm using "brightness" as a misnomer for fluence, or power through an area: you can get a much higher fluence from a decent laser by reducing area than from a spotlight by increasing power. I wish people wouldn't abuse the term laser so very much.
At the _very_ least, don't say "laser," because the "L" means light, and we're not talking about light here. Say "saser" or something, even though that's meaningless--stimulated emission of sound waves makes no sense under the traditional definition of stimulated emission, which really only applies to photons.
I realize that perhaps the functionality of the equipment makes the "beam" have laser-like properties, but I'm just irritated that "laser" is one of those fancy new buzzwords that the military and businesses like to toss around so much. They seriously degrade the good name of the device and, by doing so, cheapen science and help contribute to the scientific ignorance of the American population.
Re:obligatory (Score:5, Informative)
"Officials said a 3-foot (0.9-metre) shark had been spotted cruising the flooded streets"
Re:What a horrible mess... (Score:5, Informative)
Are you serious? Most of my (large) family live in New Orleans and the surrounding parishes, and I speak with them as often as possible (sometimes the phone lines are too jammed to get through). You should get some real information.
The police and authorities are not treating people all the same. There is no firing into crowds, and that sort of thing. No doubt the authorities are overwhelmed and need all the outside help they can get, but they are coping as best they can. If people are shooting, looting (not food - TV's, etc), causing violence and intimidation, they are being treated like the common criminals they are. If they are people in distress who need help, everyone is trying to get help to them.
As an aside, anyone trying to score poliltical points in either direction on the back of this disaster should be taken out back for summary execution. Sorry, I'm pretty close to this, and politics has no place until after this is sorted.
A question though: I am living outside the US, so I don't know if any offers of foreign aid have come in. Not just money, but doctors, freshwater, etc. With the level of support sent by the US to disasters around the world (like the Boxing Day Tsunami), I wonder if the rest of the world is trying to help the US now?
Re:What a horrible mess... (Score:3, Informative)
Canada, and specifically my province of alberta is willing to send staff and write a cheque for aid, however there is no organization directing this aid yet.
Re:What a horrible mess... (Score:5, Informative)
Well I have heard reports of aid being offered by many countries from sri lanka to israel, the uk and others.. some of that will no doubt be largely symbolic but still they were made..
What I haven't heard is if the US has accepted any of those offers or if any of it arrived in the area yet.
"Germany, France, Russia, Japan, Honduras and Sri Lanka are among countries that said they would send aid. A special United Nations task force is ready to help also, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a target of criticism by the U.S., offered $1 million to the Red Cross through Citgo, the U.S. subsidiary of the country's national oil company. Cuba's President Fidel Castro offered to send 1,100 doctors and 26 tons of medicine to the U.S. Gulf Coast areas stricken by Hurricane Katrina, CNN reported last night."i d=a3BvGso1ZFb4&refer=us [bloomberg.com]
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&s
First up, the mayor (Score:5, Informative)
Sorry, IMHO, any blame here goes from the bottom up.
Re:Buses? (Score:1, Informative)
Re:What a horrible mess... (Score:5, Informative)
Over 40 countries so far. Canada is sending its top notch DART team (experts in urban rescue, the team also comes with a portable water purification plant). Canadian Navy is sending ships with supplies, choppers and what not to assist. There have been massive fund raising operations here, the Governments both Federal and Provincial are chipping in, Air Canada is shuttling people between cities in the South using largest planes in its fleet, etc etc.
Re:Why not just machine gun the refugees? (Score:5, Informative)
You're kidding, right? Have you ever tried to move 100,000 people from a disaster area? These are the sick, the old, the very young, injured and, unfortunately, some are the criminal. It is not easy to move them, especially when large parts of the transportation infrastructure has been destroyed [kwtx.com]. Flat bottom boats are not going to do the job well.
We don't (or didn't) need high-tech toys to control the crowds. Simple, common-sense, things like on-going airdrops of food and water, combined with convoys of buses, and temporary shelters at schools, etc, would have prevented major losses of life in this fiasco.
They did try airdrops and were shot at. The Mayor of New Orleans had over 400 buses at his disposal after he was urged by President Bush to evacuate New Orleans ~48 hours [nola.com] before Katrina hit. He chose to leave those city and school buses in the motor pool. The buses that are in New Orleans had to come from outside the city. The buses that were used delivered the victims to locations without adequate resourses such as the Superdome and Convention Center. It is unfortunate that Nagin ignored his own disaster plan [cityofno.com].
Re:What a horrible mess... (Score:5, Informative)
That was all fine and good, but the next question was from another reporter who asked, "but isn't it true that none of these donations have actually been accepted yet?" Yup, you guessed it, that was correct - the offers are being recorded but not being accepted by the US. Don't ask me why (although seriously, I wouldn't be surprised if that is a process that might take some time).
Another question followed up on a comment from Rice that Sri Lanka, which is poor and still rebuilding from the tsunami, had made a pledge of an undislosed amount. The reporter asked whether this made any sense since this was basically giving back US foreign aid to Sri Lanka.
It's sort of interesting to watch these press conferences as you see they pretty much alternate puffball questions from shills with (often ridiculously accusatory) questions from the other side. Just another sign of the stupidly polarized political environment around here these days. Imagine trying to drive down the street if your only steering mechanism was full-lock left and full-lock right. Grrr...
Re:Why not just machine gun the refugees? (Score:3, Informative)
That's roughly 35040 hours.
Re:Because People Don't Matter (Score:2, Informative)
February 17, 1995
An Army Corps of Engineers "hit list" of recommended budget cuts would eliminate new flood-control programs in some of the nation's most flood-prone spots - where recent disasters have left thousands homeless and cost the federal government millions in emergency aid.
Clinton administration officials argue that the flood-control efforts are local projects, not national, and should be paid for by local taxes.
Nationwide, the administration proposes cutting 98 new projects in 35 states and Puerto Rico, for an estimated savings of $29 million in 1996.
June 23, 1995
A hurricane project, approved and financed since 1965, to protect more than 140,000 West Bank residents east of the Harvey Canal is in jeopardy.
The Clinton administration is holding back a Corps of Engineers report recommending that the $120 million project proceed. Unless that report is forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget, Congress cannot authorize money for the project, U.S. Rep. William Jefferson's office said Thursday.
The Bush admin isn't the only Presidental adminsitration to cut corners down in LA when it comes to levees
Re:What a horrible mess... (Score:1, Informative)
Shutup please (Score:2, Informative)
Using boats to rescue people? Where are you going to get the boats from? Boats are slow and they'd have to be brought in from far away. An area the size of a small country just got leveled after all.
We were expecting a hurricane but instead ended up with broken levees, massive anarachy, a total communications breakdown, etc. NO ONE knew the scope of this disaster until it was too late.
Re:Bus Report (Score:3, Informative)
In other news, america goes to war against its own population:
Troops begin combat operations in New Orleans
By Joseph R. Chenelly
Times staff writer
NEW ORLEANS -- Combat operations are underway on the streets "to take this city back" in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
"This place is going to look like Little Somalia," Brig. Gen. Gary Jones, commander of the Louisiana National Guard's Joint Task Force told Army Times Friday as hundreds of armed troops under his charge prepared to launch a massive citywide security mission from a staging area outside the Louisiana Superdome. "We're going to go out and take this city back. This will be a combat operation to get this city under control."
While some fight the insurgency in the city, other carry on with rescue and evacuation operations. Helicopters are still pulling hundreds of stranded people from rooftops of flooded homes.
http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-107
Lay Blame. (Score:5, Informative)
The assistance was dismal.
The citizens of the USA have just witnessed the complete failure of government on all levels, from local to federal. At every stage of this disaster there has not been a single competent person orchestrating the rescue efforts.
As a result of years of cronyism, privatization, classism, and racism, this has become an unmitigated disaster that one would expect to encounter only in the impoverished third world.
And here is the kicker: it will happen again and again if the public does not rise up and demand a clean sweep.
The entire system needs to be overhauled, from the very foundation of democracy -- secure, honest voting -- to the very notion of government's role in ensuring its citizens have access to shelter, food, and safety at all times and in all situations.
The time to act is now. You should be very angry and you should be demanding accountability and change. Do something before it happens again.
Re:What a horrible mess... (Score:5, Informative)
A quick Google News [google.com] reveals this article [chicagotribune.com]: "By Friday, offers had been received from Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Belgium, Britain, Canada, China, Colombia, Cuba, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Germany, Greece, Georgia, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, the Philippines, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Venezuela and the United Arab Emirates."
Some of the more interesting offers include:
Venezuela - "apart from the million dollars in monetary assistance, Venezuela is offering two mobile hospital units, each capable of assisting 150 people, 120 specialists in rescue operations, 10 water purifying plants, 18 electricity generators of 850 KW each, 20 tons of bottled water, and 50 tons of canned food."
Cuba - "1,100 doctors and 26 tons of medicine and equipment."
France - "a range of aircraft and two ships, with helicopters and planes capable of airlifting tons of supplies, a disaster unit with 20 soldiers, a civil defense detachment of 35 people and an airborne emergency unit"
Germany - "medical evacuation planes and airlift field hospitals, water purification systems and portable shelters"
Of course, one could criticise these offers as oppertunistic publicity-seeking, but then the same could be said of political photo-ops like Bush 'comforting survivors'.
Oddly enough, I found this quote in the washington post [washingtonpost.com]:
Bush told ABC-TV: "I'm not expecting much from foreign nations because we hadn't asked for it. I do expect a lot of sympathy and perhaps some will send cash dollars. But this country's going to rise up and take care of it."
Michael
Re:Why not just machine gun the refugees? (Score:4, Informative)
And well before that time, President Bush had signed disaster declarations for the area. FEMA stated it was ready to go. So what's your point again?
Anyone who was reasonably prudent expected the Hurricane to hit N.O. well before Sunday and cause significant damage. Probably not the current level with certainty but that is never going to happen with significant advanced warning. There was ample warning and expectation that something bad was going to happen.
Leadership failed at ALL levels. Mobilization of significant resources is not quick or easy. But if you are signing disaster declarations for the area before the storm hits, you had better be mobilizing resources. You can always tell people to go home.
The people responsible for making these hard decisions failed. At some point they should be fired. Some will have to be voted out. Because I have no confidence that these people are qualified to rebuild the region. And I don't want these people in charge of billions of dollars funds and levels of responsibility that they can't handle.
Re:Why not just machine gun the refugees? (Score:3, Informative)
One resident was saving peoples life with exactly that, days before any official help even bothered turning up. Journalists even got there to interview him and still there was no help from the authorities.
Journalists FROM THE UK flew over and were reporting on the disaster days before the bush adminsitration did anything (apart from flying over at 5000 feet in air force 1). People were asking journalists for help!
Re:even worse. (Score:1, Informative)
The Straight Dope... (Score:2, Informative)
This is what passes for 'leadership' in that city (which by all reports was barely under control in the best of times)?
Disgusting. I think Nagin's performance leading up to this is boarder line criminal. I bet in the aftermath we are going to find a lot of money that was supposed to be used for disaster preparedness went 'missing'.
It is very important that the country be able to distinguish Democratic blather from reality after this calms down. As far as I can see, Bush and the feds did everything by the book, as soon as danger was coming. The mayor of N.O. did absolutely NOTHING to prepare for this.
Drudge is currently showing a parking lot full of flooded school buses. Why weren't they sent through neighborhoods to pick people up? Why was the Superdome not stocked with at least minimal supplies? I have no answer, but I think when this is analyzed that the local government will be the culprit. But for now, the Dems are going to make every effort to make Bush look bad. Political posturing during a tradgedy is something I find simply disgusting.
All I have heard on the news is blaming the Feds for slow response to New Orleans.
But the preparation and execution of an evacuation of New Orleans in the event of such a disaster (which has ALWAYS been a possibility... a known issue) lies squarely on the municipal and state government... not the Feds.
It's so easy for the N.O. mayor and the LA governor to blame the Feds. It takes the spotlight off them and their incompetence. Just compare their preparation and response to other cities like NYC, SanFran and LA to their disasters.
But... eventually, a post mortem on all this will occur... and I think the N.O. mayor and the LA governor's incompetence will come into full view.
In the meantime, the Feds have basically taken over Louisiana and New Orleans... as they have no effective, competent government.
When Northridge earthquake took place; did everyone sit around waiting for the feds to come rescue them? Hell no, people pulled together and helped each other. In NOLA, people pulled together and... helped themselves to some new shoes and whatever else they could get their hands on. Now we're going to see endless news reels of these "poor helpless criminals" who "couldn't help themselves".
The RED CROSS has said that they were holding back on delivering food until they had adequate armed escorts to protect them going into this war zone.
Re:Reference to Cuba interesting for another reaso (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What a horrible mess... (Score:3, Informative)
In many places around the world, people are killed/raped without the need for a natural disaster. ---
If you want to look what the country is full of, look at Texas. In fact, people frequently say Texans are full of it... hehe.
Re:What a horrible mess... (Score:3, Informative)
And the US should be wise to accept the situation and do not play the tough man, this is not a time for political games, but to stick together to ease the desaster. The political debates will follow, for sure, as well as the search for a scapegoat (which is equally false in this situation) but this is not the time yet.
This is pretty much the whole way how the world will be able to handle the upcoming catastrophies (and they will come) the world has to grow and stick together...
Re:What a horrible mess... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Why not just machine gun the refugees? (Score:1, Informative)