Have You Ever Wondered?

One of the things I like, is to figure out and understand how and why things work the way they do. I ran across 3 articles this morning ... and while they are not things I've ever thought about ... they are interesting, and explain the "how and why" of everyday occurances - except for maybe quicksand!

Quicksand Myth Debunked: You Can Float Free
Sandcastle Physics Revealed
Cereal Science: Why Floating Objects Stick Together

Katrina ... who's to blame?

Once again, I haven't been too regular posting here ... especially considering all the recent events. Regarding the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, I've been mainly sitting back and observing everything that's been going on ... and seeing what a bumbling mess it turned out to be.

Working as a volunteer with our local Emergency Management office, I'm somewhat familiar with what the procedures are when there's an impending storm on the horizon. Seeing what I saw in New Orleans, I'm pretty certain a lot of those procedures weren't followed - or they just didn't have a plan!

In this kind of situation, things start on the local and state level ... and move up to the "Feds" from there. Even though it's hard to admit ... I can't see President Bush taking all the blame for what happened.

Sunday morning, I read the following bulletin from the New Orleans Weather office:

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA
1011 AM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005


DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED

HURRICANE KATRINA
A MOST POWERFUL HURRICANE WITH UNPRECEDENTED
STRENGTH...RIVALING THE INTENSITY OF HURRICANE 
CAMILLE OF 1969.

MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR 
WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT LEAST ONE HALF OF 
WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL
FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING 
THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.

THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL 
BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL. PARTIAL TO COMPLETE 
WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD
FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL 
BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE BLOCK LOW RISE 
APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...
INCLUDING SOME WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.

HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS 
WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A FEW TO THE POINT 
OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.

AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY 
INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH AS HOUSEHOLD 
APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT 
UTILITY VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE 
MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE
ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND 
LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL FACE 
CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.

POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST 
POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS 
DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN 
SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.

THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE 
SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY THE HEARTIEST 
WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY 
DEFOLIATED. FEW CROPS WILL REMAIN. 
LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL 
BE KILLED.

AN INLAND HURRICANE WIND WARNING IS ISSUED 
WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS NEAR HURRICANE FORCE...
OR FREQUENT GUSTS AT OR ABOVE HURRICANE 
FORCE...ARE CERTAIN WITHIN THE NEXT 12 TO 
24 HOURS.

ONCE TROPICAL STORM AND HURRICANE FORCE 
WINDS ONSET...DO NOT VENTURE OUTSIDE!

LAZ038-040-050-056>070-282100-
ASSUMPTION-LIVINGSTON-LOWER JEFFERSON-LOWER 
LAFOURCHE-LOWER PLAQUEMINES-LOWER ST. BERNARD
-LOWER TERREBONNE-ORLEANS-ST. CHARLES-
ST. JAMES-ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST-ST. TAMMANY-
TANGIPAHOA-UPPER JEFFERSON-UPPER LAFOURCHE-
UPPER PLAQUEMINES-UPPER ST. BERNARD-UPPER 
TERREBONNE-1011 AM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005 

Pretty scary stuff!

Here the National Weather Service was already predicting exactly how bad things would be.

Some other "problems" to wonder about ...

Why were people sent to the "Superdome" and the "Convention Center", when there were no arrangements made to have food and water supplied to those locations? From what I understand, neither one of those locations are official "shelters" ... so they were not prepared to handle evacuees. Who made that wrong decision?

I heard TV reporters saying local officials were advising people who stay behind, to make sure they have an ax so they can break through the roof when the water rises. What kind of rescues did we see? People having to be broken out of their attics! Seems to me, some folks already had a pretty good idea this was going to happen.

And once the floods hit ... how exactly did the folks who stayed behind, and started making 911 calls, expect to be rescued?

If local officials knew these folks had no means of transportation, why weren't there convoys of busses rolling in these neighborhoods to get people out? Why did an Amtrak train leave New Orleans with no passengers?

Why did the evacuation order come as late as 20 hours before Katrina made landfall? That's certainly not enough time to move all those people out.

And how can a person with no Emergency Management experience be in charge of FEMA?

Here's a nice timeline of events, from Factcheck.org . It spells out nicely what happened when ... and who did what and when.

Also, here are some interesting photos from Globalsecurity.org .