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Sonic 'Lasers' to be Deployed in Hurricane Region
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..."
But in all seriousness, take a look at what's going on down there. There is an insane amount of looting and anarchy, stores are being looted, people are hoarding anything they can find. Hell, even reports of horrible crimes such as rape have been going around, because there is no way to control a mob the size of a city...
The government *is* doing what it can, which isn't much really, the city is flooded, and we're trying to fly as many people out as we can, but in the meantime, we need some order, and a nonlethal method of maintaining order seems very appropriate.
br I'm quite content actually.
That is because you are not really American. Yes, you maybe do live in the US of A and have a house and a car or two and speak English and even have an American passport. Still, if your blood is not boiling at this you are not American. As in: you do not subscribe to the American values. That old, "quaint", Constitution of yours goes:
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America".
But don't listen to me, a foreigner that I am, Ben Franklin said it better: "We must all hang together, or, assuredly, we shall all hang separately."
And if what is going on in the South is to your "content", separately you will hang, indeed.
And I'm sure the pictures of police and soldiers dragging poor people from their homes and throwing them on buses in the forced evacuation would have gone over so well, especially if the hurricane had missed.
Yeah, the people who didn't want to leave for any reason would have made great photo-ops displaying the cruelty and racism of the Bush Administration, for displacing poor blacks from their homes.
The point is, the current administration can do nothing right, and will always be painted with evil motives, no matter what. Most Americans are sick of hearing it, but until the ClintonII administration takes office, that's all we will hear. That's why I've turned the news off.
By the taping of my glasses, something geeky this way passes
Theft is one of the simplest crimes, satisfying a need without physical harm to someone else. The reason that looting is being suppressed is that as the social order degrades, instances where violations of societal norms are seen to occur without punishment become more acceptable. This furthers the breakdown of order, and the level of the crimes will increase as time goes by and nothing is done. Desperation and fear feed the chaos, and eventually it becomes impossible to control without drastic measures.
Enforcing order in a situation such as this is critical in saving lives, because it provides a sense of returning structure to the lives of the affected people. Without that, further restoration efforts, including returning electricity to the area, become impossible, and more people suffer because food and water remain unavailable and hospitals cannot function.
You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
"...people are shooting, looting (not food - TV's, etc), causing violence and intimidation"
What kind of a F!-ed up society do you guys live in, anyway? In most places around the world (not all, admittedly), when a natural disaster hits, or even a power failure, people's natural instincts are to help one another, not steal things from stores, or beat and rape each other.
Is the USA really in such a state that law and order are maintained only by the presence of police? And if something happens to disrupt the power of the police, that the first things that come to people's minds is to break into the neighborhood shops and take the TV's? Is your country filled with people who are so ready to backstab their neighbors?
If this is true, it seems like a really, really sick (and scary!) society. You've got far bigger problems than worrying about the DMCA or the Patriot Act. Yes, those things are a danger to any society, but it sure sounds like you are way past the point where changing the laws or changing the administration will help very much. Wow!
Honestly, it disgusts me how much finger pointing has been going on while there are still people stranded in that hell hole. ALL of these politicians need to get their priorities in order. FIRST, make sure the people stuck there have some food and water to survive on and finish picking up the ones who are stranded (maybe some of those helicopters dropping sandbags on the friggin' levees could be rescuing people still stuck on their rooftops). SECOND, get everybody out of the city. THIRD, plug the levees and start figuring out what to do with this mess. THEN they can all start bickering about who didn't respond quickly enough and who didn't prepare well enough and who should've done something first and should we even bother rebuilding the place. Somebody needs to step up and show some leadership here. It looks like Gen. Honore is the only one who has so far.
Today's Sesame Street was brought to you by the number e.
Where in New Orleans are you going to land a C-17? Oh yeah, nowhere.
How many sorties does it take to evacuate 100,000 people with Chinooks? Let's see, if I remember correctly, they'll carry 50 troops with gear. So call that 70 people, assuming some are on stretchers. 70 into 100,000, that's...1400 sorties.
Where are you going to take them? Houston? Dallas? Birmingham? Each of those cities would be about five hours away by helicopter, give or take.
How do you handle the air traffic around the Superdome? That's not trivial.
We've got some transport helicopters, yes...but not nearly enough to solve this problem. And then, can you imagine the flak that would happen when one crashes?
Suffice it to say, the problem is a little bit more complex than "Well, just get some helicopters!"
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!