ForbesOnTech

FCC Lays Foundation for National Emergency Texting

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A program to create a nationwide alert system using cell phones and other mobile devices was approved Thursday by the Federal Communications Commission.
An emergency text message would be sent in the event of a widespread disaster, severe weather or child abduction.
The system would send text messages to Americans when an emergency occurs.
The FCC said cell phone companies that voluntarily opt into the system would send text-based alert messages to subscribers in response to three types of events:
A disaster that could jeopardize the health and safety of Americans, such as a terrorist attack; these would trigger a national alert from the president of the United States
Imminent or ongoing threats such as hurricanes, tornadoes or earthquakes
Child abductions or Amber alerts.
T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint Nextel and AT&T all stated that they would be likely to opt into the alert system if it is passed by the FCC.
"While we obviously need to review the details of the FCC's decision, we look forward to offering mobile emergency alerts to our customers," AT&T said in a written statement.

A national emergency alert system based on mobile phone texting? It’s about time. But it’s only part of a solution. How about cities, counties and states take a big step further and adopt reverse 911 emergency notification systems.
That’s what we have in San Diego County where I live and it was put to work quickly last fall during the 2007 firestorm season. While there were some minor glitches in the notification system (a couple of neighborhoods were told to evacuate earlier than was necessary) the use of Reverse 911 during the 2007 Fire season is a text book example of how useful some technologies can be in disasters.
I was directly effected by the Witch Creek Fire.  We lost several homes on my street when the fire came roaring through the nearby adjoining city of Ramona, CA. Rather than wait for the “official evacuation notification.” I started collecting my gear as soon as I could see flames cresting the hill that separates my place from Ramona.
The “evacuate now” order came late in the afternoon the next day. By phone.
I loaded my two useless cats in their cages, hooked up my dog and installed him on my front passenger seat and drove by my two elderly neighbors to make sure they were packed and ready to go and had transportation.
Adding emergency text message notification to the system  is the next logical step. But before that happens nationwide cell networks are going to need to become a lot smarter. A whole lot smarter.
One of the problems I foresee is with yahoos like me. My cell phone is a 650 area code number, but I live 400 miles south of Silicon Valley in the 760 area code. Now that cell networks support GPS, it doesn’t seem like too much of a technological stretch to assume that me cell network knows I’m in the 760 area code and any emergency information relative to the specific area is something I need to be aware of.
There are some other baby steps that can be taken to cover the ground needed to keep the citizenry informed.  While I personally don’t like the social media messaging application Teitter.  I believe regional emergency Twitter URL’s could be an important information dissemination channel.
Observationally, the one thing local electronic and print media and local government could have done much better here in North San Diego County during the Witch Creek Fire, was provide better communications to local residents including electronic maps of road closures. More than 500,000 people in my county were told to leave their homes in the last Fire storm. Most of us ended up in emergency shelters. And the one thing that was in real short supply was real time information.
National emergency text messaging is a great first step. The next logical move for it is at the regional, county and city-level.--Jim Forbes 04/09/2008

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WiFi Phones For Skype--A Peripheral That Adds Value

Applications that have had the greatest impact on my life all share a single trait: they have gradually become an everyday part of my computing routine.

I moved to Powerpoint from  Living Videotext’s More Outliner. I started using it occasionally, grew to dislike it immeasurably, and then changed my mind. Today, PowerPoint is an intrinsic part of how I use a personal computer, and its performance is part of how I judge an underlying hardware platform. I moved to Microsoft Word the same way.  I used other programs and gradually moved to Word.

This helps to explain why I’m a Skype loyalist. I started using it to save money and because I didn’t want to tie up my house landline. Today, I can’t imagine not using Skype for domestic or international business and personal phone calls. And Skype has just kept getting better as more people switch to computer-based VOIP for whatever reason.

I’ve reached the point with Skype that I judge a computer or peripheral partly by it’s Skype experience. This applies to notebooks, web cams, headsets and more recently WiFi Skype phones. And that brings me to a new piece of hardware—Belkin’s WiFi phone for Skype. I like this peripheral so much, I honestly wish I had access to it before I retired.

This diminutive WiFi phone automatically connects to the Skype network as soon as it detects an open 802.11 network, downloading your phone numbers to make Skype network and off network calls whether or not you’re in front of, or even in the general vicinity of your primary computer.  I’ve used the Belkin WiFi phone for Skype about three months and it’s so reliable that I’ve come to use it almost as much my Verizon cell phone.

I like this phone’s usefulness, it’s rock solid reliability and the fact that it’s battery lets me go  two days or more between charges. My one and only complaint with this, and phones from other companies built to the same reference specification, has to do with the phone’s charger cable receptacle. It took me three tries before I learned to mate the phone with its charger cable successfully. But, once it’s hooked up, it stays connected and charges rapidly. I do recommend that you make sure you have adequate lighting the first couple of times you connect the phone to its charger cable.

The keys are easy on your fingers and you navigate through your phone number lists using a track stick.  It uses keys to place and end calls, just like most cell phones. And just like many cell phones, you power the phone on and off by holding down the red “end” key.

I really like the audio quality of my Belkin WiFi Skype phone. It’s on a par with and often better than the audio of my Verizon cell phone.  Volume is easily adjusted by its user, a feature I think is critical to its usability.

This purpose built peripheral is something I use nearly everyday. When I’m working outside around my house it rests comfortably in my shirt pocket.  When I leave for a trip, it’s one of two pieces of equipment I make sure is loaded in my back pack, along with it’s charger.

It’s value to me was reinforced late in October when I was forced to evacuate my house in Escondido, CA, because of the approaching Witch Creek Fire, which burned six houses on my block but didn’t touch my home. At the evacuation center legions of people sat in their cars talking on their cell phones. Predictably, the outgoing traffic nearly subsumed the cell networks and many mobile phone users ran out of battery power or simply were unable to make calls.

But not me.  I was parked next to the school/evacuation center’s computer room where I stayed connected to Skype and kept in touch with my relatives up in  Los Angeles County.

Priced around $180.00 and available at numerous online and brick and mortar retailers, portable WiFi phones designed specifically for Skype or other networks make what already is a very good experience even better.

Belkin’s WiFi phone for Skype makes an excellent stocking stuffer, and is an incredibly useful peripheral for Skype’s VOIP network.  The fact that I was able to rely on it at a time when local cell networks were at peak demand because 250,000 of my fellow San Diego County residents were streaming to evacuation centers reinforces my belief that this WiFi phone is nearly as important as my cell phone.

In addition to Belkin, Phillips and Logitech market phones built to a similar reference specification

--Jim Forbes, 11/08/2007

Fire Blogging Part V-- Wildthings Parading Through My Yard

Now that life has settled down after nearly one solid week of fire storms in San Diego County, life is beginning to settle down.

            And so this evening I was out in my neatly fenced back yard rearranging my 40 orchid planters when I began to feel slightly uneasy after I heard My dog Mr. Perro take a mighty sniff of night time air and then heard him galloping to his door into the house.

            I turned around and looked at the fence expecting to see an adult coyote giving us the once over before it leaped into the yard to enjoy a bounteous repast of tasty domestic Chihuahua.

            No coyote, but there was a young pointy snouted kit fox with a plump mouse in its mouth, looking at us and acting a bit submissive. So I did the only thing that made sense: “”Nice mousy there, Kit. Aren’t you quite the hunter?”

            The kit cocked its head; turned and trotted away into the underbrush, mouse in its teeth.

            Kit foxes aren’t particularly inclined to hang around humans, much less share their kills or look for approval from local residents.  So, I can only assume from its size and behavior that the young fox had been separated from its mom in the fire, completed its first successful solo hunt and was looking for a little praise.

            Other wild things that are beginning to show up regularly include: numerous reptiles such as gopher and rattle snakes, herds of lizards and one immense horned toad that I saw sitting in the remains of my lower garden on Monday morning. This reptile is a touchstone of Southern California life for me.   Growing up, they were so common you didn’t even pay them much attention unless you saw one that was six inches or larger.

            Like my youth, horned toads are just a find memory today. But every time I see one, sunning on rocks or the dirt floor of my garden, I smile just a little and file another image that maks me smile as the days get a little colder.

            The bird day spa in my rose garden is booked near capacity because of the fire. In addition to hundreds of sparrows stopping at the walk-up window of my bird feeder., my bird bath is attracting large numbers of mountain blue birds an juvenile robbins. And this is in addition to flocks of finches, a couple of scrub blue jays and a pair of kestrels that are getting bold enough to come down to the bird bath late in the afternoon

            The other sign that wild things are coming down to local homes to forage after the fire include piles of deer poop around my peach trees and distinct evidence of browsing four feet up in the trees.

            I have a small life today that’s brightened considerably by clear evidence that my little home on a mountaintop in Rural northern San Diego County is part of a natural habitat for a variety of wild things passing through and looking for their piece of a bucolic life—Jim Forbes, 10/30/2007.

Fresh Guacamole and Orange Juice-- Post Firestorm Comfort Food

Fire Blogging Comfort Food, Escondido Style    

A couple of minutes before noon I was struck with a compelling for something I rarely eat. Guacamole.

     Guac and a glass of fresh squozed orange juice sounds particularly yummy today as smoke from the Witch Creek fire gets dispersed out over the sunny Oceanside coast.

     So off I went to my favorite abandoned grove, ruck held in place casually by a single strap. Senor Perro leading, stopping to spy a couple of fat and (and to his discerning eyes, "tasty") yellow belly ground squirrels darting in and out of their fire proof dens on the edge of the grove. I sorted through a dozen Haas avocados blown to th floor of the grove by the recent Santa Anas and the winds of the Witch Creek fire before settling on two plump specimens, ripe enough to strain their hard skins. I dropped them into my ruck, and started trudging home, Sr. Perro sneezing ahead at the end of his 12 foot leash.

     Our next-to last stop was a heavily burdened Valencia orange tree down on the street at the base of my hill. I yanked six big oranges, dropping them carefully in with the 'cados. We had one more stop to make, in the remains of my garden which has two evilly ripe peppers still attached to the bush.

     Then onward to  the house where I  mushed up the two avocados, minced some onion and a slice of fresh chili pepper, and drizzled the juice of about one half of a Mexican lime from my neighbor's tree. then smash it all up it all up in a Mexican Terracotta soup bowl with a fork and season it with two generous pinches of garlic salt and white pepper and  I let it age while I juice the six oranges and then pour 12 ounces of fresh squozed goodness into my iced mug, and start my Sunday film fest of  Late For Dinner, Amazing Grace and Eurotrip.

     Damn, this is some great guacamole and there's nothing better than fresh orange juice from oranges that someone else grew.

     Life is pretty fine, here on my little mountain top in rural Northern San Diego County. Firestorm smoked Haas avocados. Yum yum--Jim Forbes--10/28/2007

Fire blog Part IV--Images, Embers and Thanks

Fire Blog, Part IV

Lasting Embers of the 2007 Witch Creek Fire

The Witch Creek Fire came very close to my retirement home on a little mountaintop on the outskirts of Escondido, and although it's almost fully contained there are a few embers that are still red hot in my memory:

The efforts and attitude of the volunteers at Calvan Christian School, the over flow evacuation center here in town where we were eventually sent. The whole experience of being an evacuee in an urban setting made me thankful for my neighbors and the emergency services employees of the state, of California, the City of Escondido, and the County of San Diego. The volunteers at Calvan were not part of the giant Red Cross efforts here in San Diego. They were "just" faculty, staff and students of Calvan, who stepped up to and met tactically critical challenge. By the time the evacuation order came in via the reverse 911 notification system, there was no room at the primary evacuation center serving my area--Escondido High School.

    So the crowd of several thousand residents were directed north three blocks to Calvan where the volunteers welcomed everyone with cold bottled water, snacks, cots, chairs, tables, a selection of board games, television sets tuned to local news channels and a bulletin board displaying what little new information was available. As importantly to an old news guy, like me, Calvan's computer room was open and its WiFi network was up and running.   I really appreciated that my evacuation center was well run, clean and as safe for young kids-- who were gallivanting out in a fenced PE field-- as it was for senior citizens with special health needs. I also thought it was nice that all common domestic pets were well taken care down to a well ventilated room for birds (which are very susceptible to respiratory conditions common to areas hit by wild fires.)  For a while, north San Diego County became a veritable ark-- horse flesh peacefully grazed quietly in unused football practice fields along side goats and the occasional north American cameloid (llamas). The only thing missing from the scene were tame big cats from the animal park in Ramona and pairs of high circling buzzards, riding afternoon thermals.

    "Thermals" is much to gentle a word to describe Santa Ana winds. Dry dusty Santa Anas can set your hair on end. Particularly when its a contributing force to a roaring wild fire that's coming at freight train speeds towards your neighborhood or town. Local newscasters reported peak wind velocities of  105 mph, which freaked out a lot of green thumbers (a term used in my family to describe newcomers and real estate developers).

    In reality the winds were no where near that strong, since peak velocities are measured in geological gaps at the peaks of mountains and in the passes that guard the entrances to the several valleys that make up what is known as "southern California."  For a couple of hours the winds on my mountaintop clocked just under 40 mph, which causes me to really think about the 70-plus foot palm tree in front of my house, which is no about 9 degrees off plumb and creaking loudly with every new gust of wind.

    Back to being a latter day Joad. i was incredibly impressed by the overwhelming generosity display by other evacuees. If you ran out of dog food, the person in the parking stall next to you gave freely and volunteered to watch your dog or useless cats while you went up to a briefing in Calvan's gymnasium. Cell phone battery "dead" but need to call your family up in LA?, "Aqui (Here), senora, use mine, and I'll be happy to keep an eye on  "su ninos" while you talk to mamacita."

     It's been years since I've seen a visible reminder of the southern California of my youth, but for one warm unforgettable night in late October of 2007 that tranquil scene reappeared, framed by fiery light from the hills that frame Escondido.

     By late Monday I had become worried about whether the fire would reach my little mountaintop. I knew that five houses had been lost not far mine and I knew that if any of the five palm trees that skylight my hill looking back towards southeast Escondido went up, my house would probably suffer fire or serious smoke damage. The palms still stand and everything is fine at my house and I realize now that I really don't have much in the way of possessions that can't be replaced.

     My personal bottom line is this: when it's time to go, you better CSMO, "collect shit and Move Out."

Furthermore those faded pictures of great grandfather Sven and his rascal brother "Lars" isn't worth my life.Besides I think the mental pictures I have of Sven the Norse sea captain, howling back at the wind from a clipper's quarterdeck and his brother, Lars, losing a glass eye to a china man in a poker game is much clearer and more realistic than my faded photos.

The Joad Clan circa 2007

     With 250,000 people housed in or near evacuation centers throughout San Diego County, it's hard for me not to recall images penned by John Steinbeck in Grapes of Wrath ( a book I got with mother's milk as a child).  In 2007 we have many Joad clan members. At the top end are those with 45-foot land yachts, anchored in parking lots of upscale shopping centers, pop-outs fully extended, interior lights on till late at night, as family, old and new friends sit in front 9of wide screen televisions shaded by wind screens watching World Series baseball, sipping glasses of two-buck Chuck red wine or chardonnay as a tritip roasts on the BBQ over in the corner.

     Then we have the Joads at the shelters, listening to baseball on their car radios after having thankfully partaken of a bountiful spaghetti feed prepared by volunteers at the volunteer.

    And now we come to the car camping Joads, shielded from the winds by tarps held in place by bungee cords connected to parking lot shade trees, the car's bumpers and enjoying a full blown Canned Dinty Moore Beef Stew meal followed by some milk and cookies from th Von's market across the parking lot.

    And finally we have the livestock belonging  to the upscale Joad cousins.  It's grazing in the balmy breeze at Shelter Island in Mission bay next to its goat stable mate. Or, it's stretching its forelocks in a quick run across a high school's fenced baseball field, as sundry dogs being walked by their owners look on and wonder" Why is Bucephalus running like that when he should be napping."  And the cats, curled up on th rear decks of cars, yawn, close their eyes and snuggle a little tighter as they drift into another five-hour nap.

Friday Morning and Evening Images

I woke Friday morning to a chorus of noises; the bass notes of Caterpillar D5's and much larger D6's clanking onto their low-boy trailers and then the hum of diesel 18 wheelers taking the cats and crews to an assembly area down the road at San Pasqual High School, not far from where the fire burned a huge swath through upscale homes on the edges of Lake Hodges. The high notes to the symphony were off key chainsaws used by homeowners to buck and section blown down citrus, avocados and pines uprooted by the Santa Anas and firer storm winds.

     On a run to a local large store that serves every possibly need of local homeowners i was struck by the fact that the store had completely sold out of chainsaws, sharpening kits, and new chains. Novice chainsaw users are sometimes quite funny. Two neighbors complained that their new replacement chains, "just aren't cutting."

     "Well D'oh," I laughed, "you put the chain on backwards and your bar is at the wrong angle."

      the vacant looks I get from a new chain saw owner when I asked them for their "scrench" always makes me smile.  ""A scrench is the odd too with a screwdriver running through a spark plug socket. It came with your saw."

    "Is that what the thing is?"

    "'Yup. And a scrench is just about all you need to keep your chain alive and running until you take it into the shop to get it serviced."  So I spent about one hour showing my neighbors how to put a new chain on their saw, keep its bar properly oiled and how to let a saw do the work."

         "Oh and never ever cut anything you think may have a nail in it, unless you want to end up with a new nickname like, 'Bloody Stump Lefty'."

My last two images come from Friday night. Kit Carson Park is daylight bright from portable lights all over Ruthe fire camp.  A huge herd of about 75 shiny red California Division of Forestry crew trucks glisten at the edge of the lights next to duller green USDA Forest Service Hot Shot crew trucks as steam rises from shower trucks and smoke pours off the BBQ's prior to traditional end of fire meals.

     Seated inside the Macaroni Grill, we stopped to tell a long table of city fire fighters from Long Beach, Ventura and Fresno "Thanks guys, you're real champs and heroes." Towards the end of my meal the restaurant erupted in spontaneous applause and hoots as the fire fighters quietly walked out to their rigs.

     On the way home I  slowed down at San Pasqual High School and laughed at a pair of bewildered operators scratching their heads with a "Where the hell is my dozer?" look. The parking lot was completely filled with parked cats on low boy trailers.

     Well, with any luck, that's my last post for the year as a "fire blogger."

     Thanks to all the fire fighters, volunteers and emergency workers who pulled us out of another fire season here on the wild side of metropolitan Escondido and the Cleveland National Forest. I came out of this fire season with enough blown ash to help next year's gardens develop great root structures, new friends at the base of my little mountain top, and the happy feeling that most of the wild things that live here survived and returned. And special thank to my former coworkers at IDG who linked to my site, to Ree at www.thepioneerwoman.com, and Dave Winer at www.Scripting.com, both of whom drove a lot of traffic my way too. We need more fruitcakes in this world, and at times I qualify. And in moments of crisis we fruitcakes stay calm and try hard not to run around like crazies.  A gritty and smokey Jim Forbes from Escondido, CA, on 10/27/2007.

Part III Wild Land Fire Safety-- It Begins At Home

San Diego Fire Blog Part III

Thoughts On the Edge of the Fire Pit

Like a lot of retiring boomers, I looked forward to selling my over priced house near where I worked (Silicon Valley) and getting a place in the country with a large oak tree for my hammock, and maybe a view out my breakfast nook of a spotted fawn hidden behind green leaves and red brown bark. And while I was at it, maybe I’d plant a tangy Eucalyptus or two for shade and grow my own grapes for artisan crafted big red wines.

Sounds idyllic, right?

What I’ve just described is literally the plans for an organic crematorium.

            Sorry for the contrived lead but after five days of fires on all four sides I wanted to write about something that I was taught back in elementary school in Azusa, CA;

Fire Safety When you live on the Edge of Wild Lands

            When I moved to this house I noticed a previous owner had used indigenous California plants to accentuate his house and lawn. Using native plants for landscaping was quite the trend in the early Seventies, when my house was built.

            The problem with that when you live on the edge of wild lands is that native drought resistant brush = chaparral. Chaparral is made up of three distinct plants that grow wild i what we jokingly call “national forests.” in California  Those plants are mesquite, ornamental madrone (which is actually a type of mesquite), scrub oak and poison oak. Each of those plants has two interesting characteristics: while very much able to survive droughts, their branches and leaves dry up; And, they burn hot enough to melt metal and destroy concrete.

            Don’t believe me, ask the 2,000 or so residents of Oakland Hills who returned after being evacuated to find homes –including the concrete slabs they were built on—completely and utterly burned.

            I have a simple rule about chaparral anywhere near my house.  I use a tractor to pull it out by its roots. A Wind driven, chaparral fueled, fire generates enormous amounts of burning embers that can travel a mile or so to start new spot fires.  Although my house was not damaged in the Witch Creek fire here in Escondido, five houses up the street at the base of my hill burned to their foundations.

            And on early Tuesday I got a lttle freaked when I thought I smelled hot plastic. As soon as I recognized the smell I jumped up, yelled “Holy Shit,. The boat!” I jogged out to the boat port, the oor got stronger and I looked closely at its deck. Right there where it’s gas tank normally sits but which I removed earlier, was a small melted depression with a  black piece of charcoal in the middle. I don’t have a degree in fire science, but I recognized the piece of charcoal as being manzanita. The closest surviving stand of which is two blocks away.

            As I kid, growing up in Azusa, I learned about the dangers of chaparral fires in the fourth and fifth grades. At about the same time they warned us never to play with blasting caps or railroad torpedo signaling devices. I’ve never forgotten those lessons, but judging from the damage I’ve seen on the news here in San Diego, basic wild land fire safety is no longer taught in public or private schools.

            It should be.

            Two of my best friends live today in the Gold Country in El Dorado County near Sacramento. Both have untended chaparral near their houses. I suspect that the next time I go up to visit, I’ll rent a tractor, bull doze and remove their stands of crematory fuel.

            I believe that the best approach to fire safety around my house is a nice lawn and water filled succulents, I don’t mind mowing my lawn but I do mind losing my house to a fire. When I realized that the nearby hills could burn this week— I raked, bagged up and removed my compost pile and took a long hard look at the properties that adjoin my mountaintop. I began saturating the citrus and avocado trees and got rid of the flammable detritus nesting against the fence that separates my neighbor’s untended five-acre field from my lot.

            The whole process took only abot four hours and afterwards I was pretty satisfied that my place, and I, was safe.

            I try to respect my neighbors. But their idea of a picturesque view that includes manzanita hedges and light tan, dried wild wheat, makes me think of me as a charcoaled curled up hot dog sizzling on a BBQ.

            Prior to the fire season last year, I took my tractor to my neighbor’s field and cleared a 200-foot fire break on her side of the property. She didn’t like it and said that she probably had “liability issues” with my using the tractor to clear the field to bare mineral earth.

            I mentioned that if I burned because of her untended fire trap field, my heirs and assignees could probably “turn her field into a nice 15-home development, yielding a couple of million in profits!”

            She took my point and I’ve since cut her field twice, for free. The neighbor and I are on very good terms today. I drop of an occasional bag of yellowtail or halibut steaks and try to give her strawberries from my patch. We laugh about my cutting her field the first time and she’s come around on fire safety.

            I love living on the edge of wild lands a great deal. But living here involves stewardship of the land and an understanding of basic fire safety.

            My final thought is about something that you see down here in upscale communities that I really don’t get. Shake shingle roofing.

Good God, why not just douse your house in nitro methane and throw a road flare on it. That anyone would have a shake roof after the 2003 fire is beyond my comprehension. And that the county building and fire departments have not cited home owners with flammable shake roofs is a condition I just don’t understand.

            Fire takes three things: fuel, air and heat.  Reduce the impact of any one of its three components and you live another day.  Enhance key elements of the fire triangle like fuel or heat and you can lose your home, your life, and really hurt your loved ones.

I have to mention my respect and admiration for the wild lands firefighters of the State of California and the USDA’s Forestry Service hotshot crews. Houses and lives have been lost but without their gritty efforts this fire season could have been much worse.

            And, to the volunteers of the Calvan Christian High School who volunteered to set up an emergency overflow evacuation center here in Escondido you reinforced my respect for all people of faith. You also made a big difference for several thousand of your fellow residents here in town.

Jim “Joad”  Forbes from smoky Escondido on 10/26/2007. Now back to blogging about portable computing, organic gardening, technology and fishing at the same bat channel and the same bat time.