Arney,
Don't feel that bad about trying to get news and not being able to get it on 9/11

At that time, I worked for one of the "Big 3" televsion networks in IT support for the news - aka I was about as wired into the information flow as ANYONE in the world - The news wires came RAW across my desk, I had access to ALL our video feeds, and the broadcasts of everyone

Guess what? WE were desperate for info - not rumors, but REAL info, but there was very little coming out of the ground zero area, except for what we could actually SEE, and there was a LOT of misinformation flowing - it was the same 10-20 pieces of info being repeated over and over, with video, some looped (BTW, the worst videos - which mostly were shuttled uptown on tape - were never aired, out of respect for the families, and I think out of the fact we really didn't want to be responsible for that many people throwing up at once)

This quote is from this news article.

I just mention this as a thought exercise or discussion point. I really wonder how I would've reacted had I been in her shoes? Rationally, in hindsight, I'd say that she should've stayed away, especially with her child in the back seat. I'm assuming that she would've seen this huge fire roaring high into the sky from the ruptured gas line, too--another reason to stay away. Then again, her husband was at home, which would be a powerful reason for wanting to get to the house to see if he's all right.

Or turn the scenario around--what if she were driving to her daughter's ballet class and saw the fireball in her rearview mirror. Would I have kept going, away from the fire, or turned around to head back home as fast as possible? I have to admit that I think my instinct would be to turn around and go back home. Not necessarily to get anything in particular--it's just my gut reaction upon thinking about the scenario.

Arney -- depends. . . pets at home? other children? Was that my house or just nearby? Can I get in, get "stuff" (animals, valuables) and get out before the whole area is locked down? Lots of unknowns. . . Did her house escape serious damage?

They were saying water access was a major problem due to a ruptured water main. Could these types of gas line failures be common in the aftermath of a major earthquake?

My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims.



That sounds good.

Also, I'm a big fan of using EXTERNAL Internet backup for my computer systems. I backup every night. If my house and belongings vanish all of a sudden, I can recover the irreplaceable stuff.

I've got a residential gas line in my front yard, and old frame home..my important documents are packed in a waterproof grab and go box for hurricane season...so guess I had better back them up
to a thumb drive...what do you guys use as a vault for your thumb drive?

Let me tell you about "zero notice" situations - and I've been in a few of them. You don't grab anything that's not alive. You RUN. That's it. You just RUN. No kits. No packs. Nothing. Just you and what you're carrying at the moment.

Let me show you some actual "zero notice" scenarios.

#1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O4kH10eOhA
#2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrwdza2MxPY
#3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RUwsh592Hc

I use dropbox.com for all of my important docs. synchs multiple local devices to a cloud server. i put files in my dropbox at work, they synch to three computers instantly (home laptop, work laptop (primary), home desktop) Home desktop is backed up to a NAS that's in the shed and connected to the house via Ethernet. Overkill? Not really. I lost a disk drive of photos from 2003, the year my daughter was born, and while I was able to recover some of them, I lost forever about 100 of them. I know they are just photos....but...but....

Few non-living things are more important than my pics. I would even put my pics above identification because passports, etc., can be replaced. If my house and belongings suddenly vanished, the value of my pics would increase tenfold.

I'll have to check out dropbox. I'm a fan of redundant back-up in multiple locations.

I keep an external usb drive at work of all my photos; those of my daughter, my trip to Europe and all my concert photos. Photos are irreplaceable. I could lose 10 cameras and not care (too much) but yeah, photos ....

I'm pretty confident of my office buildings ability to withstand a quake and / or a fire incident.