Remembering

April 19, 2003

April 19th has come to be a day of remembering so many tragic events of years past. Eight years ago today was the then greatest act of terrorism on American soil. Today, a reminder of the beauty of human expression and the sharing of kindness in such times. The funerals have passed, the justice system has run it's course, the memories of those lost will remain with us and the words of caring shared by the world community will inspire us.

Google Buzz

April 19, 2003

There is a Google buzz in the house this morning. It started off with a mailing list I belong to getting a note entitled "Alarming Google Feature!". What is this alarming feature? It's the combination of reverse phone lookup and maps. It's not even a "Google" specific feature. There are at least dozens of ways to do reverse phone lookups and mapping online. Oh, by the way, there are even more ways if one goes down to the local library.

While doing some Googling this morning I came up with a few more questions. A few days ago I found some differences between how Link: seraches work and how it would seem they would.

Searching for Columbia - Day 3

April 19, 2003

Starting out later than usual we left for work at 7:45am to arrive at camp in time for the rain. It never did stop raining long enough for me to remember. We tromped through the mud and ate breakfast. We sat through a briefing of the Strike Team Leaders and Crew Bosses. It turned out to be pretty informative. It was the first time we got the big picture. We thought that we were going to start our training process thereafter, but we were told that were going to be new plans. We needed to have everyone move their tents out of the field because a strong windstorm (50 mph) was going to come through. After lunch we were told that the 2nd meeting was canceled and that the camp was going to be split into 3 sites because of the lack of space under shelter. We were released and came back to the motel to relax. Since we are all used to being active it was hard to sit and do nothing but we managed to pass the time. Kevin and I went out to grab a bite at a local diner. The conversation was good. I retired for the night after a welcome shower.

Briefing:

Search for Columbia - Day 2

April 16, 2003

An obnoxious rooster announced the prematurely. We departed at 4:40 a.m. heading to Nacogdoches ICP for breakfast and orientation. We were introduced to the search technique being taught and we orientated to the map system that was going to be used. Meeting with Tom Minor from Washington USAR was an enlightening step in determining what our true purpose was.

Grabbing a bag lunch and headed into the field to watch the teams in action. The terrain was mild and did not give us any clues to what was to come. We loaded up and headed off to our ICP in Palestine where we would make our home for the next several weeks. Texas roads are barely big enough for 2 cars but people feel the need to pass on every double yellow line there is.

Palestine ICP was located at a small livestock showing grounds. There were 2 indoor arenas and 1 outdoor arena. Not a traditional Type 1 Camp but then what is? Although there were sheltered places for tents no one was allowed to use them. There was a livestock show in a few days and we were not allowed to use the shelter. The person setting up camp seemed to think this was all right. However, having 600 people in tents when there was 2 inches of rainfall a day was not going to work for this mission.

Searching for Columbia - Day 1

April 15, 2003

With 2 days notice Dan and I were dispatched to Texas in late February to help lead legions of federal firefighters in the search for Columbia's remains in eastern Texas. Over the next days I'll post the story of that trip.

We got to the airport 2 hours before our flight. Flying with a one way ticket bought the day before does not allow you a speedy departure. We were put through every known screening the airport has. Searching every article we brought, taking a little more than 2 hours. Leaving the confiscated items (waterproof matches) from the checked bags with Josh to take home we headed off to the terminal. Again are carry-ons were searched as well as our shoes and our clothing. With 10 minutes to catch our plane hope was not my dominant feeling, but we got there just as the doors were getting ready to close. Having seen Kevin in line and knew that he was not going to make the flight but we met our team leader Kelly from Rocky Mountain Rescue Group when we got on the plane.

We began to prepare ourselves for the job that lay ahead. I went over some equations for POD and spacing that I took out of Managing a Lost Person Incident. One equation I found interesting was POD = 100 - (.5 x spacing). I am interested to see the studies behind this particular equation -- a topic for another time.

Report rasies more safety concerns at NASA

April 14, 2003

USA TODAY: NASA found a weakened wing panel on another shuttle almost a year ago. According to the article NASA said the Shuttle Discovery's safety "was not comprimised" when they found a 2-inch tear in a leading edge surface where four-hundredths of one inch is considered the maximum. This is EXACTLY the same type of things that Feynman writes about in his appendix to the Rogers Commission Report on the Challenger accident. How a surface can tear fifty times more than it was designed to withstand and be considered uncompromising of the safety of the craft and its crew. The situation should have been seen as the potentially near catastrophic situation it really was and treated with the seriousness it deserved.

Starting tomorrow I'll publish Sarah's account of participating in the recovery efforts for the Columbia.

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