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Controversial LRAD Boosts American Technology Sales
As for the effectiveness of LRAD on Somali pirates: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,515986,00.html "In November 2005, the cruise ship Seabourn Spirit in the western Indian Ocean fended off pirate speedboats, partly by blasting them with an long range acoustic device (LRAD), which is designed to cause painful level of sound up to 300 meters away. (The Seabourn Spirit also ran over one of the speedboats.) That, ahem, sounded great at the time, but a similar use of an LRAD three years later didn't stop a chemical tanker from being seized by more Somali pirates. The bad guys may have figured out that earplugs or blast muffs greatly reduce the LRAD's effectiveness as a weapon."— October 11, 2009 6:35 p.m.
San Diego One of Five Most Frugal Cities
Don, A little off topic, but the VofSD had an article today on the death of Ruth McKinnie Braun from a rare form of Lymphoma. The article said she was "education editor for San Diego News Network and a longtime reporter for the Union-Tribune" and one of your articles mentioned her camping out at the UT to get one of the golden handshakes last year that was refused to her husband, Gerry Braun. http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2009/09/2… I wonder if her illness had any bearing on his taking a high paying job with the mayor that presumably came with good medical.— September 22, 2009 9:05 p.m.
Utilities Commission Denies SDG&E's Power Cutoff Plan -- Leaving an Out
SurfPupsaid: "Public employees have for the most part not seen ANY pay cuts. San Diego may have given back more than some of the other muni's, but overall the public sector has seen very little, if any, of the economic pain that the private sector has seen." But we ARE talking about San Diego. San Diego HAS made substantial pay and benefit cuts, probably more than most private companies (for people who still have jobs). What the city has not done is restructure the pension, reduce the pension multiplier or have any meaningful layoffs. Those are legitimate for you to argue, as is whether pay rates are too high, retirement ages too young, etc. There is so much to argue, that you do yourself and your argument a huge disservice by continually making this false claim. It is flat out wrong, and it pisses off the employees who make less now in pay and benefits than they did 5 years ago.— September 17, 2009 8:23 a.m.
Convention Center Seeking "Specialist"to Ballyhoo Expansion
Fred, Add to that the pay-per-view policy speech given yesterday by Sanders ($50 bucks a head). Sanders pushed all the big building projects (convention center, city hall, library and even the stadium), while ripping people who are against those projects. The VoSD ripped him apart for that one, saying: "this was the most divisive, most insulting, most unenlightened speech I've ever heard him give. Whoever it was who thought it was a good idea to try to shame San Diegans into being great rather than inspire them should never work in the speechwriting business again." http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/opinion/slop/— September 16, 2009 11:32 a.m.
Utilities Commission Denies SDG&E's Power Cutoff Plan -- Leaving an Out
Response to #101: Back to the original topic, SDG&E should be made to maintain their lines, and they should have to do it out of their profit. It is ridiculous that they fail to maintain the lines while making a fat profit, and then they can charge ratepayers to settle the claims from the fires they caused. Where is the incentive for SDG&E to do anything right?— September 16, 2009 9:46 a.m.
Utilities Commission Denies SDG&E's Power Cutoff Plan -- Leaving an Out
JF said: "The additional 20 engines I referred to are needed for day-to-day usage." I have no problem with addressing the existing shortage of fire stations, equipment and crew. I would be ecstatic if fire officials would support an official plan for communities to man their own hydrants. Such a plan would definitely require basic instruction including escape routes adn when to use them. In my case I am mostly talking about the communities like Scripps Ranch and Rancho Bernardo where there is defensible space, big streets for escape, lots of fire hydrants (but not nearly enough crews to man them) and the primary cause of homes burning down was flying embers. I have no intention of defending a single home off of a rural, windy, overgrown road with chaparral on all sides.— September 16, 2009 9:42 a.m.
Utilities Commission Denies SDG&E's Power Cutoff Plan -- Leaving an Out
Reply to SurfPup: I have heard some companies are rolling back the 401K match, but it has never happened to me personally. I thought there were laws in place that made it beneficial for companies to match (though I admit I don't know what they are). The thing that I DO know is that MEA employees were given the choice of a 3% pay cut or a 3% reduction in their FSSP match. You can argue whether or not city workers are over paid and whether their benefits are too generous, but you can't argue that they have not been affected by the economy. MEA employees have seen their contribution for medical and other benefits raised substantially, their FSSP was cut, and most haven't received a pay raise (including no COLA) for about 5 years. I'm not crying for public workers, but you have to be fair in your criticism, or you lose credibility and are just crying wolf. In my mind many public workers are a little over paid (not a lot), but the retirement benefits are way too high. Pension multipliers are too high and the retirement age is too low. What I would like to see is a defined contribution retirement plan, because the city and unions have demonstrated that they can't be trusted with a defined benefit plan. Everyone should get out what they put in. No more, no less.— September 16, 2009 9:32 a.m.
Utilities Commission Denies SDG&E's Power Cutoff Plan -- Leaving an Out
JF said: "If investor saved 40 homes singlehandedly, what do you think an additional 20 engines could have accomplished?" That begs a whole different question. What is an appropriate standing force relative to the amount you need in the rare exceptional fire (the 100 year flood scenario)? To me you answered the question by citing investor. You pose the question that if investor saved 40 homes single handedly with a garden hose, what would 20 additional engines have accomplished. I would turn that around and ask that if investor could do that with a garden hose, what could a couple of thousand volunteers have done with fire hoses. The fire department may be understaffed, but it doesn't make sense to permanently staff to the level required to adequately fight the Cedar fire. What does make perfect sense is to train and equip volunteers to protect their own communities in areas like Rancho Bernardo and Scripps Ranch. The hydrants are already in the neighborhoods, there just weren't enough engines to get to them all. There are plenty of people, however, who would man them all in defense of their own homes and their neighbor's homes.— September 15, 2009 11:54 p.m.
Utilities Commission Denies SDG&E's Power Cutoff Plan -- Leaving an Out
Respone to #81: That was very commonly reported at the time. The hunter who started the fire was rescued by a helicopter. That helicopter saw the fire and called in (about the same time as the first phone call) for the other helicopter with the bucket. The helicopter with the bucket was minutes away when the Forest Service called them off because no drops are permitted after sunset. The fire was reported shortly before sunset and they were straddling the cutoff time. The helicopter pilot thought he could get in 2 or 3 drops. The Forest Service (unbiased?) investigation determined the helicopter wouldn't have mattered. The CDF pilots nearby in Ramona had already gone home for the day, so they weren't an option to respond. There was some controversy over exactly when the first call arrived and whether there was a delay and whether a drop could have been made before the cutoff. There was a lot frustration because it is still fairly light just after sunset, and the winds were very light. Overnight the winds kicked in, and the rest is history. The time cutoff was fairly conservative, because it is extremely dangerous to fly those missions in the dark, and I believe they had some accidents in the past. There was a fire in Penasquitos Canyon last year and we were lucky enough to get a couple of fixed wing aircraft immediately diverted from the LA fires to put it out. Before they arrived, a helicopter with a bucket seemed to barely make a dent with several drops. The fixed wing bombers knocked the fire out in two drops. The drops were very impressive in the way the pilots had to circle and dive down a side-canyon while avoiding huge power lines while flying sideways very low to the ground. I've got nothing but respect and gratitude for the job those guys did. It was also plainly evident that the fixed_wing drops were night and day more effective than the helicopter with the small bucket. I never did hear how that Penasquitos fire started....right below SDG&E power lines.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedar_Fire— September 15, 2009 1:23 p.m.
Utilities Commission Denies SDG&E's Power Cutoff Plan -- Leaving an Out
Response to #82: Absolutely. I think that there should be more steps between the entry level and the highest paid level, and I think it should take at least 20 years to get there, not 3-5.— September 15, 2009 12:51 p.m.