Tsunami - Warnings could have saved thousands
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Richard Stringer wrote: Or are you suggesting that the US fund and develop this "global" warning system. Yes I am. Is there something wrong with that? A life is a life, no matter the color or religion. If some countries are too poor, then their also too poor to cope with the economic damage, yet we're all too happy to "send aid" after the fact. Is there something wrong with having "those who have" fund a project to help "those who do not have"? I mean, come on, it can't cost that bloody much! If it does, it's because there's several layers of beaurocrats. Richard Stringer wrote: Certainly not anyone I have read in the past few years. Hmm. I recall the Bush administration cutting funding to the astronomers looking for these things. Richard Stringer wrote: And even if we do detect the damn thing what are we gonna do about it if a big one is coming in ? Umm. Isn't that what Research and Development is good for? Coming up with answers to problems we don't have answers for right now? It seems like what your suggesting is, since we can't do anything about it now, there's not much point in trying. That's as bad as "it only happens every 700 years, so it probably won't happen in my political career". Well, as was said in another post, this is good SB material. Marc MyXaml Advanced Unit Testing
Yes I am. Is there something wrong with that? If we don't people complain; if we do people complain anyway because the US is budding in to everyone's business. It seems the US never gets a break from you. As it is right now, Britain also has a strong economy. Why not make them share the burden too? You're not getting upset with Britain -- just at the US. Looks like you're just fishing for reasons to hate the country you live in. And, that's a shame. If such a system is established, it should be a global effort anyway. That'll give a better impression of teamwork than one country doing it all. Jeremy Falcon
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Richard Stringer wrote: Or are you suggesting that the US fund and develop this "global" warning system. Yes I am. Is there something wrong with that? A life is a life, no matter the color or religion. If some countries are too poor, then their also too poor to cope with the economic damage, yet we're all too happy to "send aid" after the fact. Is there something wrong with having "those who have" fund a project to help "those who do not have"? I mean, come on, it can't cost that bloody much! If it does, it's because there's several layers of beaurocrats. Richard Stringer wrote: Certainly not anyone I have read in the past few years. Hmm. I recall the Bush administration cutting funding to the astronomers looking for these things. Richard Stringer wrote: And even if we do detect the damn thing what are we gonna do about it if a big one is coming in ? Umm. Isn't that what Research and Development is good for? Coming up with answers to problems we don't have answers for right now? It seems like what your suggesting is, since we can't do anything about it now, there's not much point in trying. That's as bad as "it only happens every 700 years, so it probably won't happen in my political career". Well, as was said in another post, this is good SB material. Marc MyXaml Advanced Unit Testing
Marc Clifton wrote: Yes I am. Is there something wrong with that? A life is a life, no matter the color or religion. If some countries are too poor, then their also too poor to cope with the economic damage, yet we're all too happy to "send aid" after the fact. Is there something wrong with having "those who have" fund a project to help "those who do not have"? They would also be to poor to maintain an early warning system - so Americans would have to do the whole job. And in a agarian society how are you gonna let everyone know even if you have the knowledge that such and such is gonna happen in 30 min. Even then there are no transportation systems in place to move the population. The list goes on and on. Think my man Think. It is good exercise. Marc Clifton wrote: Hmm. I recall the Bush administration cutting funding to the astronomers looking for these things. How many grants do we need to do something that really only requires one decent telecope and a computer ? Marc Clifton wrote: Umm. Isn't that what Research and Development is good for? Coming up with answers to problems we don't have answers for right now? It seems like what your suggesting is, since we can't do anything about it now, there's not much point in trying. That's as bad as "it only happens every 700 years, so it probably won't happen in my political career". No thats not what R&D is for - and Gov. doesn't do R&D - only business does it. Gov did develop nuclear weapons in a crash program of R&D but they had a end in sight - they were not operating in a "lest see what this will do" atmosphere. Thats why the space shuttle has such crappy computers . Besides that we don't have the problem yet - and peobably won't have very much warning if we do. I doubt that any of the cataloged bodies will be the problem. Probably a visitor from the Kuiper belt. And if something happens - on the average of every 700 years - I wouldn't worry about it either. Since recorded history really only goes back about 5000 years thats something that has happened only 7 times since we started writing things down. BFD. Richard "Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer --Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)
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Richard Stringer wrote: Or are you suggesting that the US fund and develop this "global" warning system. Yes I am. Is there something wrong with that? A life is a life, no matter the color or religion. If some countries are too poor, then their also too poor to cope with the economic damage, yet we're all too happy to "send aid" after the fact. Is there something wrong with having "those who have" fund a project to help "those who do not have"? I mean, come on, it can't cost that bloody much! If it does, it's because there's several layers of beaurocrats. Richard Stringer wrote: Certainly not anyone I have read in the past few years. Hmm. I recall the Bush administration cutting funding to the astronomers looking for these things. Richard Stringer wrote: And even if we do detect the damn thing what are we gonna do about it if a big one is coming in ? Umm. Isn't that what Research and Development is good for? Coming up with answers to problems we don't have answers for right now? It seems like what your suggesting is, since we can't do anything about it now, there's not much point in trying. That's as bad as "it only happens every 700 years, so it probably won't happen in my political career". Well, as was said in another post, this is good SB material. Marc MyXaml Advanced Unit Testing
Marc Clifton wrote: I mean, come on, it can't cost that bloody much! A properly functioning system could be very expensive. For example, in areas with poorly developed transportation systems a poorly designed warning system could easily send people crowding into chock points while trying to escape the areas in danger. This could increase casualty rates rather than decreasing them. Plus, if we did assume the repsonsbility of building such a system and did, in fact, reduce the death rate to hundreds rather than thousands. Are we not responsbile for those hundreds dead? If we had only made the system a little better, they would not have died. Right? So we have assumed legal culpability for those hundreds of people and will be hated, not loved, all the more for our efforts. Marc Clifton wrote: , it's because there's several layers of beaurocra How could you possibly avoid that? We are talking about government solutions here. Lastly (and this is a SB comment), the fact that anyone could possibly find a way to connect the US to this disaster is absurd, sad, and completely devoid of reason, logic or intelligence - yet altogether predictable. :sigh: "The Yahoos refused to be tamed."
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If someone said that they wanted to spend X amount of local dollars for a early warning system for something that only happens once every 700 years, people would kick them out of government. People are generally too short sighted. Tim Smith I'm going to patent thought. I have yet to see any prior art.
Tim Smith wrote: If someone said that they wanted to spend X amount of local dollars for a early warning system for something that only happens once every 700 years, people would kick them out of government. People are generally too short sighted. I would call that realistic - not short sighted. Richard "Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer --Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)
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Richard Stringer wrote: Or are you suggesting that the US fund and develop this "global" warning system. Yes I am. Is there something wrong with that? A life is a life, no matter the color or religion. If some countries are too poor, then their also too poor to cope with the economic damage, yet we're all too happy to "send aid" after the fact. Is there something wrong with having "those who have" fund a project to help "those who do not have"? I mean, come on, it can't cost that bloody much! If it does, it's because there's several layers of beaurocrats. Richard Stringer wrote: Certainly not anyone I have read in the past few years. Hmm. I recall the Bush administration cutting funding to the astronomers looking for these things. Richard Stringer wrote: And even if we do detect the damn thing what are we gonna do about it if a big one is coming in ? Umm. Isn't that what Research and Development is good for? Coming up with answers to problems we don't have answers for right now? It seems like what your suggesting is, since we can't do anything about it now, there's not much point in trying. That's as bad as "it only happens every 700 years, so it probably won't happen in my political career". Well, as was said in another post, this is good SB material. Marc MyXaml Advanced Unit Testing
I am from Madras. I lived there for 17 years. I can tell you that the difficulty with establishing a warning system is not so much determining that there is a disaster but getting the information out to people who live along the coastline at 4 in the morning. I really don't see how that can be done. I think this applies to developed nations as well. If you know that there's going to be a tidal wave in say New York in one hour and you find this out at 4 am I'm not so sure that everyone can be informed in that time. In places with poor communication like southern coastal Tamil Nadu this is downright impossible. "One of the Georges," said Psmith, "I forget which, once said that a certain number of hours' sleep a day--I cannot recall for the moment how many--made a man something, which for the time being has slipped my memory."
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Yes I am. Is there something wrong with that? If we don't people complain; if we do people complain anyway because the US is budding in to everyone's business. It seems the US never gets a break from you. As it is right now, Britain also has a strong economy. Why not make them share the burden too? You're not getting upset with Britain -- just at the US. Looks like you're just fishing for reasons to hate the country you live in. And, that's a shame. If such a system is established, it should be a global effort anyway. That'll give a better impression of teamwork than one country doing it all. Jeremy Falcon
Don't let your prejudices blind you, Marc never meant that, Richard did and you grabbed it. ...governments around the world ... can avert a lot of tragedy... ...where "those who have" fund a project to help "those who do not have" This thread has been turned into a yet-another-whine-about-non-existant-USA-USA-USA-bashing thread by the usual people taking reasonable comments out of all context. If it had been Britian that had detected this disaster unfolding, and Britian had been mentioned by Marc specifically instead of lumping it/us in with "those who have", this entire sub-thread would never have happened. [ edit ] In the time it took me to type out this message you have already had 3 votes. None of which where me before you ask, but if you could hurry up and give me mine that would be grand.
David Wulff The Royal Woofle Museum
Everybody is entitled to my opinion
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Tim Smith wrote: If someone said that they wanted to spend X amount of local dollars for a early warning system for something that only happens once every 700 years, people would kick them out of government. People are generally too short sighted. I would call that realistic - not short sighted. Richard "Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer --Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)
Depends on the Amount X, don't you think?
we are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is Vonnegut jr.
boost your code || Fold With Us! || sighist | doxygen -
I am from Madras. I lived there for 17 years. I can tell you that the difficulty with establishing a warning system is not so much determining that there is a disaster but getting the information out to people who live along the coastline at 4 in the morning. I really don't see how that can be done. I think this applies to developed nations as well. If you know that there's going to be a tidal wave in say New York in one hour and you find this out at 4 am I'm not so sure that everyone can be informed in that time. In places with poor communication like southern coastal Tamil Nadu this is downright impossible. "One of the Georges," said Psmith, "I forget which, once said that a certain number of hours' sleep a day--I cannot recall for the moment how many--made a man something, which for the time being has slipped my memory."
Exactly. As we have already seen, we knew what was happening. I don't think the US would have ANY problem acting as a monitor. After all, we are doing it already. It is getting the information to the people who need it which is the problem. Tim Smith I'm going to patent thought. I have yet to see any prior art.
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Don't let your prejudices blind you, Marc never meant that, Richard did and you grabbed it. ...governments around the world ... can avert a lot of tragedy... ...where "those who have" fund a project to help "those who do not have" This thread has been turned into a yet-another-whine-about-non-existant-USA-USA-USA-bashing thread by the usual people taking reasonable comments out of all context. If it had been Britian that had detected this disaster unfolding, and Britian had been mentioned by Marc specifically instead of lumping it/us in with "those who have", this entire sub-thread would never have happened. [ edit ] In the time it took me to type out this message you have already had 3 votes. None of which where me before you ask, but if you could hurry up and give me mine that would be grand.
David Wulff The Royal Woofle Museum
Everybody is entitled to my opinion
Have you ever thought the great David could be wrong? Let's take a look at one of Marc's lines shall we... "We can spend billions to send probes to Mars and Saturn, hundreds of billions fighting in Iraq, but we can't spend what, a couple hundred thousand a year??? a million??? installing and maintaining an early warning system? Pathetic." Here's clearly attributing this "patheticness" to the US. And yes, I take that as US bashing. Of course, you wouldn't simply because you just like to argue. BTW, I didn't vote you up or down either. Jeremy Falcon
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Marc Clifton wrote: I mean, come on, it can't cost that bloody much! A properly functioning system could be very expensive. For example, in areas with poorly developed transportation systems a poorly designed warning system could easily send people crowding into chock points while trying to escape the areas in danger. This could increase casualty rates rather than decreasing them. Plus, if we did assume the repsonsbility of building such a system and did, in fact, reduce the death rate to hundreds rather than thousands. Are we not responsbile for those hundreds dead? If we had only made the system a little better, they would not have died. Right? So we have assumed legal culpability for those hundreds of people and will be hated, not loved, all the more for our efforts. Marc Clifton wrote: , it's because there's several layers of beaurocra How could you possibly avoid that? We are talking about government solutions here. Lastly (and this is a SB comment), the fact that anyone could possibly find a way to connect the US to this disaster is absurd, sad, and completely devoid of reason, logic or intelligence - yet altogether predictable. :sigh: "The Yahoos refused to be tamed."
Lastly (and this is a SB comment), the fact that anyone could possibly find a way to connect the US to this disaster is absurd, sad, and completely devoid of reason, logic or intelligence - yet altogether predictable. Nevertheless, they pulled it off. :) Jeremy Falcon
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Have you ever thought the great David could be wrong? Let's take a look at one of Marc's lines shall we... "We can spend billions to send probes to Mars and Saturn, hundreds of billions fighting in Iraq, but we can't spend what, a couple hundred thousand a year??? a million??? installing and maintaining an early warning system? Pathetic." Here's clearly attributing this "patheticness" to the US. And yes, I take that as US bashing. Of course, you wouldn't simply because you just like to argue. BTW, I didn't vote you up or down either. Jeremy Falcon
Jeremy Falcon wrote: Have you ever thought the great David could be wrong? I've been hoping for a very, very long time, but until you actually tackle what I mentioned then I'm left guessing. Am I? Aren't I? How the hell can I know? However, end of conversation - my patience is short given my families involvement in these events and this is not the correct time.
David Wulff The Royal Woofle Museum
Everybody is entitled to my opinion
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U.S. researchers who detected a massive earthquake off Asia's coast on Saturday tried frantically to warn that the deadly wall of water was coming, the head of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said Sunday. But there was no official alert system in the region because such catastrophes only happen there about once every 700 years, said Charles McCreery, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's center in Honolulu. "We tried to do what we could," McCreery said. "We don't have contacts in our address book for anybody in that part of the world." It's too bad US know that it's coming but couldn't tell to those nations... Warnings could have saved thousands[^]
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This signature was created by "Code Project Quoter".i really wonder abt only one thing. Yes some coutries might not have a system like this. But how complicated would be for this is agency to release this news to Press to spread the news or inform external affairs of US to get the news to all the now affected countries.......