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Onward and Upward with the Arts: Future Reading: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker

Onward and Upward with the Arts: Future Reading: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker.

Onward and Upward with the Arts
Future Reading
Digitization and its discontents.
by Anthony Grafton, November 5, 2007

In 1938, Alfred Kazin began work on his first book, “On Native Grounds.” The child of poor Jewish immigrants in Brooklyn, he had studied at City College. Somehow, with little money or backing, he managed to write an extraordinary book, setting the great American intellectual and literary movements from the late nineteenth century to his own time in a richly evoked historical context. One institution made his work possible: the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue and Forty-second Street.

San Diego Fires 2007 - San Diego residents rip TV fire maps - Lost Remote TV Blog

San Diego Fires 2007 - San Diego residents rip TV fire maps - Lost Remote TV Blog.

San Diego residents rip TV fire maps
Cory Bergman     October 26th, 2007

Anyone who’s worked in local TV news knows that tracking a fire’s progress on a map is a very difficult proposition. First, fires are fickle. Second, the information is usually not readily available. Now multiply this by a bunch of fires with massive evacuations and 24/7 live coverage, and maintaining accurate fire maps is extremely difficult.

But San Diego is a great case study: how maps can be more important than live aerials, and how the web can help.  Here’s what one person had to say about the TV coverage there: “My home may be on fire. I cannot get through on 211 (fire information line). After trying several websites, not one of them would load…. I resorted to calling the newsroom of EACH TV outlet. I pleaded with them to put up a map. I saw a freeway map depicting little flames at several points….

I explained that while talking heads in front of ferocious flames made for great television, what the public needed was INFORMATION…. Where were the maps? Please tell me that you didn’t unload $750,000 for a graphics system that can’t do maps!… Finally, after two or three days, we saw newsreaders holding up Thomas Brothers guides, and pointing with their fingers to affected areas.”

San Diego Fires 2007 - California Wildfires - Links to resources on health hazards from fire and on recovery from wildfires

San Diego Fires 2007 - California Wildfires - Links to resources on health hazards from fire and on recovery from wildfires.

Enviro-Health Links - California Wildfires

• Government Resources
• Air Quality
• Wildfires
• First Responders
• Environmental Cleanup and Recovery
• Searches from the National Library of Medicine
• Información en Español
• Animals in Disasters
• Disclaimer

'CSI: NY''s Second Life Adventure Was Delightful -- But Not Revolutionary. At Least Not Yet. - Digital Life Blog - InformationWeek

'CSI: NY''s Second Life Adventure Was Delightful -- But Not Revolutionary. At Least Not Yet. - Digital Life Blog - InformationWeek.

'CSI: NY''s Second Life Adventure Was Delightful -- But Not Revolutionary. At Least Not Yet.
Posted by Mitch Wagner, Oct 25, 2007 03:59 PM

CSI: NY's episode in Second Life was a total blast. I went into it with pretty low expectations, and was delighted throughout. It was a heck of a lot of fun -- and it got Second Life right in spirit, even though the SL portrayed on the show was much faster, more stable, and had much better graphics than the real thing.

The TV show devoted its Wednesday night episode to a mystery in Second Life. The fabulous team of well-groomed detectives comes upon a body that looks like an avatar -- green hair, pearly skin, leather miniskirt, antigravity breasts. They learn that the victim -- or "vic," as we street-smart persons say -- was popular in Second Life. One character refers to her as a "cybercelebrity," dropping the word casually, as though it's something anybody has ever said in real life.

Another character refers to her as "the Paris Hilton of Second Life." Ever since I heard that line in a preview a couple of weeks ago, I've been telling women in Second Life, "I thought you were the Paris Hilton of Second Life." And then I grin and wink. The cyberchicks dig that.

San Diego Fires 2007 - Red tape hampered Calif. efforts - California Wildfires - MSNBC.com

San Diego Fires 2007 - Red tape hampered Calif. efforts - California Wildfires - MSNBC.com.

Bureaucracy hampered initial Calif. fire efforts
Rules kept firefighting aircraft on ground as devastating blazes took hold Updated: 3:37 p.m. PT Oct 25, 2007 (AP)

LOS ANGELES - As wildfires were charging across Southern California, nearly two dozen water-dropping helicopters and two massive cargo planes sat idly by, grounded by government rules and bureaucracy.

How much the aircraft would have helped will never be known, but their inability to provide quick assistance raises troubling questions about California’s preparations for a fire season that was widely expected to be among the worst on record.

It took as long as a day for Navy, Marine and California National Guard helicopters to get clearance early this week, in part because state rules require all firefighting choppers to be accompanied by state forestry “fire spotters” who coordinate water or retardant drops. By the time those spotters arrived, the powerful Santa Ana winds stoking the fires had made it too dangerous to fly.

This is one of the major snafus, and still a problem even after all the destruction and problems in this same boondoggle from the 2003 Cedar Fire.. this must be changed.. you cannot fight these kind of fires in this large an area without air support...

San Diego Fires 2007 - In San Diego, tourism at any price?- Travel - LATimes.com

San Diego Fires 2007 - In San Diego, tourism at any price?- Travel - LATimes.com.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | WILDFIRES
In San Diego, tourism at any price?
Three years ago, more than 61% of voters favored raising the room tariff to pay for fire services. But approval required a two-thirds majority.
By Christopher Reynolds, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer, October 25, 2007

What were they thinking?

What exactly did the voters of San Diego have in mind three years ago -- just four months after the catastrophic Cedar fire -- when they refused to increase taxes to pay for better firefighting?

Well, more than 61% of those who voted on that citywide measure did want to raise those taxes, but state law required a two-thirds majority.

Among those who voted no, many may have simply been backing away from a ballot heavy with spending proposals, including bonds and tax-hike pitches at the local and state levels, at a time when San Diego was already facing a growing controversy over payouts owed by its pension program.

San Diego Fires 2007 - California wildfires: Your e-mails - CNN.com

San Diego Fires 2007 - California wildfires: Your e-mails - CNN.com.

California wildfires: Your e-mails

(CNN) -- With nearly a million California residents evacuated from their homes, families and friends across the country are wondering if their loved ones are safe.

CNN.com asked readers to share their stories. The following e-mails are organized alphabetically by submitters' last names. Click here to read the M-Z submissions.

Courtney Adams of Costa Mesa, California
I'm downwind from the Irvine/Santiago Fire. The air quality is really bad! I'm grateful my home is not in danger. However, for those exposed to the smoke, I'm finding that some Tylenol helps with the headache, a saline nasal spray keeps the nose from drying out and Vicks inhaler is letting me breathe. Just my two cents. I'm trying to stay healthy and available to help out where needed. I'm at a public library about 7 miles from the fire. The A/C and wi-fi are great.

Reading these personal notes, posted on CNN.com, about the fires in San Diego...

San Diego Fires 2007 - Custom Google Search Engine

San Diego Fires 2007 - Custom Google Search Engine

I've developed a small custom Google(tm) search engine to scan the indexed content of the best Web content for the San Diego fires of 2007 - information, announcements, news, maps, and more. See the top search of the right-hand menu for this search feature. It will always be at the top of the search column, until the emergency has passed.

The results are returned to a custom page where you can see them, hosted by Google.

This announcement post also contains the searchbox, see below: 

   

San Diego Fires 2007 - Google Custom Search Engine

Please drop me a e-mail if there's a very targeted good site that is not indexed and covered.

San Diego Fires 2007 - San Diego Public Library | City of San Diego

San Diego Fires 2007 - San Diego Public Library | City of San Diego.

Fire Breaking News, San Diego Public Library

The following branches are closed Wednesday, October 24:

* Carmel Mountain Ranch - 12095 World Trade Drive
* Carmel Valley - 3919 Townsgate Drive    
* Mountain View/Beckwourth - 721 San Pasqual
* Otay Mesa-Nestor - 3003 Coronado Ave    
* Paradise Hills - 5922 Rancho Hills Drive (closed for recarpeting)
* Rancho Bernardo - 17110 Bernardo Center Drive
* Rancho Penasquitos - 13330 Salmon River Road    
* San Ysidro - 101 West San Ysidro Blvd
* Skyline Hills - 480 S. Meadowbrook Drive

Other Fire Related Service Impacts:
* The Library Catalog may be slow or unresponsive. We apologize for the inconvenience.
* All City library materials originally due Saturday, October 20 through Saturday, October 27 are now due by Saturday, November 3.

San Diego Fires 2007 - California State Library Blog : Fire impact on California libraries

San Diego Fires 2007 - California State Library Blog : Fire impact on California libraries.

Fire impact on California libraries

The California State Library is collecting information about fire impact on libraries in southern California.  Check the CSL blog for updates.

From Anna Tatar, Library Director, San Diego Public Library, October 23, 2007:
11 of our libraries are closed, none damaged by the fire (hopefully that will hold until all of this is contained.) This information is posted on our website and the city fire alert webpage. As you can imagine this has been very tough.  We sent hundreds of children's books to the main evacuation center here in the city at Qualcomm stadium.  We have decided that it is important to keep our libraries open so the only libraries closed are ones in areas where the community is being evacuated and those libraries that are impacted by very poor air quality.  The staff has been great--even with the existing staffing levels, 20 of our employees have volunteered to work with the Red Cross.  These fires are having a significantly higher impact than the fires of about 4 years ago. I hope the other cities in the state survived with no damage to their libraries although I guess it is still too soon to know how we come out of all of this.

From Ed Kieczykowski, County Librarian, San Bernardino County Library, October 23, 2007:
Parts of Lake Arrowhead and our Running Springs Community have been hard hit- I think they have lost about 250 homes.- not enough resources to fight the fire. They are making stand near the business district of Running Springs where our Library is.

From Jose Aponte, Library Director, San Diego County Library, October 23, 2007:

Seven libraries closed tomorrow: all branches closed today to regroup.

Closed tomorrow Portrero, Valley Center, Del Mar, Ramona, Fallbrook, Rancho Santa Fe, 4S Ranch. We are trying to establish contact with Julian staff.

We lost the Monument sign at Portero and while the building is covered in ashes staff report it is appears cosmetic no infrastructure damage.

We will know more as they let folks back into the evacuated areas.

Many staff effected by evacuations.

Published Wednesday, October 24, 2007 8:58 AM by CSL Info Filed under: CSL website, California public libraries

This blog will have further news on the state of libraries in California impacted by the fires...

San Diego Fires 2007 - Library Journal Call for Updates

San Diego Fires 2007 - Library Journal Call for Updates

Library Journal wants to hear from California librarians on what’s going on with their libraries, homes, who and what has been burned, closed, evacuated, etc. Even if you have information about a friend who was involved, please forward the info to MRogers@reedbusiness.com.

Michael Rogers
Editor InfoTech
Library Journal/LJXpress
360 Park Avenue South
New York, NY 10010
646-746-6801
646-746-6734 (FAX)
MRogers@reedbusiness.com

San Diego Fires 2007 - KPBS Google Maps Interactive of Fires

San Diego Fires 2007 - KPBS Google Maps Interactive of Fires

View Larger Map

This is a great Google Maps mashup for the San Diego Fires 2007.. may be slow to load...
 

 

San Diego Fires 2007 - Welcome to EM-DAT

San Diego Fires 2007 - Welcome to EM-DAT.

EM-DAT : the International Disaster Database

In recent years, natural and man-made disasters have been affecting increasing numbers of people throughout the world. Budgets for emergency and humanitarian aid have sky-rocketed.

Efforts to establish better preparedness for and prevention of disasters have been a priority concern of donor agencies, implementing agencies and affected countries. For this reason, demand for complete and verified data on disasters and their human and economic impact, by country and type of disaster has been growing. Planners, policymakers, field agencies engaged in preparedness have all expressed need for data for their work.

The OFDA/CRED initiative responds to this need by making available a specialised, validated database on disasters that facilitates preparedness, thereby reducing vulnerability to disasters and improving disaster management.

I came across this one today, in the midst of fire news and updates.. Source: Neat New Stuff I Found This Week...

San Diego Fires 2007 - Southern California Wildfires

San Diego Fires 2007 - Southern California Wildfires.

Southern California Wildfire Resources

California is again facing devastating wildfires  The total area burned, stretching from Ventura County to the Mexican border, is estimated to be nearly 300,000 acres.

The following links to your left and below will provide you with current information about the fires and will offer some ideas to keep your family safe.  I encourage you to check back often as we will be updating this information as long as the fires continue to rage.

Wildfire Evacuations, Shelters, and Road/School Closures

                                                                                                                         

Los Angeles County	Orange County	San Bernardino County	San Diego County

             

What to do Before a Wildfire

This just in from Senator Barbara Boxer's office.. many more good links in the menu panel and the site.. well-done effort...

San Diego Fires 2007 - List Of Destroyed, Damaged Homes (Unofficial) - Local News Story - KNSD | San Diego

San Diego Fires 2007 - List Of Destroyed, Damaged Homes (Unofficial) - Local News Story - KNSD | San Diego.

San Diego Fires 2007 - List Of Destroyed, Damaged Homes

List of Homes Destroyed in Rancho Bernardo
(Issued by San Diego City Councilman Brian Maienschein's office)

Chieftan
18185

Azucar
17808, 17816, 17824, 17849, address not visible house between 17849 and 17865, 17865, 17885, 17864 (Extensive Damage)

Aguamiel
18028, 17998, 17988, 17978, 17967, 17968, 17961, 17960, 17952, 17955, 17946, 17947, 17942, 17938, 17941, 17913, 17905, 17881, 17873, 17865, address not visible house across from 17850 and next to 17849, 17841, 17838, 17825, 17814, address not visible across from 17808 and next to 17803, 17794, 17786, 17778

Pajaro
11389

An unofficial list from a City of San Diego councilmember and office.. I don't know how long before we'll get official lists.. but, the page contains many, many more streets and the addresses of destroyed or damaged homes...