Personal Blog #8: They Know Everything Which Could Help Save Lives Maybe

Majority of us in college have a cell phone and most likely it is a smart phone with apps on it.  Whether you are carrying around a BlackBerry, iPhone, or a phone will Google’s Android platform.  Since I believe that BlackBerry is being pushed out by the competition, I will be focusing this paper more on the Android and iPhone.  I was using the Droid X for a while but since it was giving me all sorts of problems I decided to buy the iPhone 4S, and all my friends gave me hell because I said I would never make the switch. 

            However, what I want to bring to everyone’s attention is that “many people have no idea how much data their cellphones collect about them” (NYT).  These types of phones come with many apps and there are other apps that can be downloaded on the phone’s respective “Market” (Android) or “App Store” (Apple’s iPhone) that can obtain information about the phone user.  These phones are getting personal information about users without their knowledge and not just getting the location, but the person’s name and birthday. 

            So far we have seen that these apps and tracking companies have imposed our customer privacy by sending out a large amount of our data at any given time.  This could get pretty personal to some people because now these app developers and tracking companies have access to our personal information that most of us want to hold private. 

            In a New York Times article they discuss how smart phones have helped make lives of everyone easier by making information accessible at the touch of a button or just screen.  However, the law is not keeping up with the new technologies being produced.  There was a case in the federal appeals court; it is a battle about “how much protection to assign to the information that phones gather about where their users have been and when” (NYT).  The government wants to be able to access location information, when others do not want their locations to be known because of privacy and security issues.   I believe that our locations while using our cellular devices should not be known to these tracking companies.  However, with the court case in the appeals court, they are stating that the government could acquire location information by obtaining a search warrant per the Fourth Amendment.   I just do not think that third party and tracking companies should be allowed to have some very sensitive information just by people using their cell phones.

The groups who are taking this to the courts “contend the Justice Department should be required to first obtain the equivalent of search warrants from federal judges in which they would have to establish "probable cause" that the records will actually yield evidence of a federal crime” (The Daily Beast, 2010).  This is a vital push in the legal system in the United States to help establish a privacy protection for cell phone user’s information and especially locations. 

            Why am I writing about this in my blog well all this stuff about the location of people being found in the Phone’s ID information can help locate people easily.  They just need to get access to the wireless provider’s information in the area.  This could be a new way to locate people and all you would have to do is get people on the ground with a system that they can see a map with the locations of all these people on it.  They can see where the crowds are and they can see where the people who are hurt are.  Yes, sometimes the accuracy of some of the locating tools on cell phones put it in the middle of a city because of cell tower usage but it is a start sometimes when a disaster strikes.

I feel that there could be so much more done for the people in need of help during a disaster and that the current system is good to an extent.  There seems to be no order between NGOs and I feel that they slow the process down sometimes.  I believe that the United States Military is one of the best response teams in the world, yes it is government organized and funded but it is structured and they have the resources and the capabilities to get the job done when saving lives. 

Personal Blog #7: Recent Earthquakes in last 24 Hours

This video below is awesome it reminds me of the extreme events lab a little bit because of how the guy’s screen looked and was displaying the information about the last 12 hours.  It is a cool way to show where the earthquakes are happening in the world.  There was an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 in the South Sandwich Islands which is off the southeastern coast of South America.  There was also an earthquake of a 6.5 magnitude about 100 miles away from Mexico City which I wrote about below this paragraph.  There were also two more earthquakes that were in the Pacific region a 3.7 in Hawaii and a 5.8 in Japan.  This was all within the last 24 hours, there might be more to come but so far no tsunami warning.  At least our Tsunami warning technology centers are well equipped and can warn areas of the world in a matter of seconds. 

When I woke up this morning I turned my TV on, I saw that there was an earthquake that rattled Mexico on Saturday.  The earthquake was a 6.5 magnitude which killed two people and knocking out lights in parts of the capital and sent people running into the streets to see what was damaged and who might need to be saved.  The two individuals who were reportedly killed were killed by something falling on top of them.  The one a roof collapsed on him and the other a rock fell on a small van on the Mexico City-Acapulco highway. 

Residents of the port city of Acapulco felt the earthquake and telephone services were down, there were no reports of major damage.  To me this is a rare occurrence kind of like the earthquake that hit the United States a few months back, not much damage was caused just a few places shook pretty good but not a lot of destruction.  There was an earthquake in 1985 that killed tens of thousands of people with a magnitude of 8.1 which makes the one that happened on Saturday look like nothing especially when you look at the death tolls, Saturday’s quake took 3 lives as a FoxNews report says and the 1985 had 10,000 plus. 

I believe that our detection system for tsunamis is superb, it saves many lives and is probably why there are fewer deaths due to tsunamis in the last 15 years than the previous 15 years because of the kinds of technology that the weather guessers use to monitor the oceans and seas.  This helps keep people safe by having a warning system, like Hawaii has a bunch of sirens that go off to warn people to get away from the ocean and beaches. 

Personal Blog #6: Navy SEALs to the Rescue

United States Navy SEALs are the most elite special operation forces in the world and in the history of mankind.  They go through training that some people would refer to as hell with no end, but after the training and the preparation the men who endure the training become SEALs.  These men are not just trained in killing their targets or gathering intelligence they are used in humanitarian efforts across the globe.  They are deployed on a moment’s notice with the world’s most powerful Navy. 

The United States Navy SEALs have been used for humanitarian efforts by taking out some of the world’s biggest dictators.  The SEALs were the ones who pulled the bastard, Saddam Hussein out of his hole in the group where he hid like a coward.  This is a weird look at how Navy SEALs are a humanitarian group but they are. 

There is a book that I am currently reading called The Heart and The Fist by Eric Greitens, which looks at how our military and our humanitarian efforts work and talks about starvation, suffering, tyranny, oppression, and genocide.  These are topics that make someone who cares about people and wants to help the people who are living everyday life in fear of starvation, suffering because of tyranny and oppression, and even genocide.   

I know not many people would agree that a special operations group would be a group of individuals who would carry out missions to protect people of a foreign nation.  I have a strong opinion and believe that the US Navy SEALs and other Special Operation groups play a vital role in combating tyrants and oppressive governments that just kill their people just because they speak out against the government or just kill them because they are not the right religion. 

It sounds a little bit ironic to say it but kill a few assholes that are killing people to save a whole country from oppression and tyrants killing their people because of unjust reasons. 

The video is of a group of Navy SEALs and what they do on a daily basis. 

Personal Blog #5: US Navy as Humanitarian Responders

Currently I am watching the Army-Navy Football game!  Both my parents are United States Naval Academy Graduates (’86 and ’90), and my dad is still on Active Duty and step-mom is on Active Duty Reserves.  So GO NAVY BEAT ARMY!  Anyway, this made me think about my blogs and if there was any possibility I could write a personal blog about the United States Navy and their way of helping with the humanitarian effort across the globe.  I called my dad to ask him some questions about the Navy and humanitarian response, since I have only been on Active Duty for a little less than 2 years and he has 20+ years of experience and knowledge.   First, he asked me why I was calling during the game and if this can wait til after the game?  I told him just a few questions after I said GO NAVY!

He said that USNS Hospital Ships Comfort and Mercy.  Just a brief terminology lesson, USNS stands for United States Navy Ship which are non commissioned ships that are property of the US Navy.  They are usually auxiliary support vessels and operated by Military Sealift Command.  These ships are commanded and crewed by civilians.  Commissioned ships have the prefix USS and are crewed by Navy personnel and officers.

The USNS Comfort is not the first ship of her class and ability to be part of the United States Navy.  If anyone would fire at the medical ships would be committing an act of war and the ship does carry weapons for self-defense.  This ship was once a oil tanker but was rebuilt into the hospital ship it is known as today. 

It is used to provide emergency, on-site care for the US combatant forces deployed in war zones or operations.  They are also used as a mobile surgical hospital service for U.S. government agencies in disaster or humanitarian relief or limited humanitarian care incident to these missions or peacetime military operations.

Although this hospital ship may be far from land or in an area that does not have the ability to supply first class medical attention, this ship has that ability.  Just to give you some numbers about this ship it has over 1000 beds (varying from intensive care, recovery wards, light care, and limited care wards).  The ship has many departments like, casualty reception, intensive care, radiological services, medical supply/pharmacy, dental, optometry, morgue, laundry, and many others.  It also has a flight deck that can handle the world’s largest military helicopters. 

This ship has been deployed to many different operations and to respond to different emergencies.  It was deployed for Operation Iraqi Freedom, for Joint Task Force Katrina, and Haiti, and even responding to the NYC Harbor to help with the victims from the World Trade Center.  The USNS hospital ships might be protected by other ships and aircraft carrier.  The video I am posting shows some of the obstacles even the United States Navy and other Military units faced in Haiti but was able to overcome those obstacles. 

Personal Blog #4

I was reading a bunch of articles online at FoxNews’ website about current events. I was reading about the different issues with the earthquakes that were shaking Oklahoma. Then I stumbled upon a link about the Chinese Government having spent 1/3 of their National Capital Investment from 1967 to 1979 on a tunnel system throughout the country that houses nuclear warheads. The Chinese Government mobilized 300,000 citizens to dig the tunnels. The tunnels have the capability to roll a missile out of the tunnels then launch them off.

This can raise concerns for a war with the Chinese in the future. The Chinese have been developing and buying military assets from many countries. They are also building up a large number of military personnel. You might be wondering how this has to do with our class but it does in to an extent. If the United States or any other country gets into a dispute with China it could send the number one and number two world’s best Navy’s and militaries to war. I have learned that in history dating back to the BCE time, that the number one and number two Navy’s end up going to war at some point in time. This can happen if relations between the two countries go south. This could put a strain on the NGO world and Humanitarian world because of the destruction that these two countries could cause. It might be far fetched but it is possible especially with the fact that the top 2 navies end up fighting each other at some point in history. So because of this technology of tunnels for the Chinese to deploy missiles to all ends of their reach. This would cause lots of need for a humanitarian effort.

Thinking about the Chinese and their long system of tunnels has made me think about Iran’s Ambassador of Death (an unmanned drone bomber). Iran has been on the United States watch list for a crazy ass leader who recently in the past few months told the United Nations General Assembly that 9/11 Didn’t happen and a lot of other crazy stuff, which call shows how crazy and out of touch with the truth that the President of Iran is. He has threatened many lives in the past and continues to do so and does not seem to be developing weapons to show its might but to possibly use them in the future. If so I believe that the Iranian Government and their weapons could cause great destruction to the country they strike if they obtain the nuclear weapon.

The links below are the sites I used to obtain my information and some of the information I used I learned in my International Relations course (PL SC 014).

http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/happening-now/index.html#/v/1304832331001/students-uncover-china-nuke-tunnels/?playlist_id=86919?test=faces

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/08/22/ahmadinejad-inaugurates-irans-unmanned-bomber/
 

Personal Blog 3

After doing a little bit more probing about our semester project, one of my teammates and I traveled to the Center Country Emergency Dispatch Center.  I have to say that it was a really cool experience to see everything that we got to see in the center.  We got to talk to the head supervisor about what happens step by step as a call comes in to be processed. 

When a call comes in you can see all the information about the caller on one screen (number, name, address, wireless provider).  The second screen was awesome too because it was a CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch) that could have multiple overlays (rivers, counties, lakes, roads, jurisdiction zones, etc.) via GIS.  The third screen is a very details map that the county takes of the whole county with aerial photography.  The fourth screen displayed the pagers the dispatcher could set off with the message of the new call that came in. 

We also found out that if you call an 800 hotline and there is a large volume of calls all 9-1-1 calls will jump right above the 800 calls and that 800 call may never be answered. 

I also like the way the supervisor said within the 30+ years he has worked in the center the protocols and policies have not changed all that much.  The only thing that has changed is the technology used to view the incoming calls. 

In the video link I have posted below you can see some of the systems and screens dispatchers are using on a day to day basis.

http://www.youtube.com/user/911EComm?blend=22&ob=5

Personal Blog 2

After the Japanese earthquake and tsunami tons of debris from both events ended up in the Pacific Ocean.  On the link that I found it states that 20 million tons of debris from Japan’s tsunami is moving toward Hawaii.  I believe that most of the debris will most likely sink to the bottom of the ocean due to aging and exposure to the water. 

The article also states that crew members from the Russian training ship the STS Pallada spotted debris a few thousand miles from Japan.  People could see all kinds of debris passing Midway islands, like appliances and furniture. 

This is another issue that could happen from all kinds of disasters.  It leads me to think about Hurricane Katrina or the BP oil spill.  Could follow in one of my next few blogs as a I think about these things randomly. 

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/envoy/20-million-tons-debris-japan-tsunami-moving-toward-143640503.html