Weekend Rebel Science Excursion - 55

Fig. 1 Have you put plastic
and duct tape over your seaports yet?

I. Start Here

Remember when we were advised to put plastic and duct tape on our windows to avoid certain terrorist attacks?

It was a complete sham, yet the fear that the government had induced within the populace weakened the people's bullshit detectors.

Detectors that usually detected scams from high on a hill in Bullshitistan.

But the duct tape and plastic manufacturers fully supported the "patriotic endeavors" of the Jingoes on Steroids wing of the Jingoism Party.

Efforts to point out that we were far more likely to be killed by our own than by "furners" did no good (Terrorism We Can Believe In? - 3, Fighting Terrorism For 200 Years - 2, Etiology of Social Dementia - 14).

At least there were mixed reactions back in those duct and run daze:

"Despite such skepticism, the new Homeland Security Department stood by its suggestions, with a spokesman saying the agency hoped all Americans would follow them, including obtaining the duct tape.

For months critics of the administration's efforts on homeland security, particularly Democrats, have argued that while the president has said the right things about the importance of defending the homeland, he has failed to back up that talk with money.
...
Homeland Security officials earlier this week urged Americans to take a range of steps--including having radios with extra batteries on hand, storing food and supplies and creating safe rooms at home where families could wait out a chemical or biological attack. But critics said such measures as taping windows and doors could not protect against all poisonous gases, nor would they be a defense against radiation." 

(Critics Unglued By Government's Advice On Duct Tape). The media even blushed unconvincingly:

"You can't say that the media weren't concerned about how they were covering this confusing, scary and, most of the time, shadowy story--from the raising of the terror alert on February 7; to the water, batteries, duct tape and plastic sheeting advice on February 10; to all those reaction stories on fear and indifference, to tape or not to tape. Most news executives say they continually have conversations about how to cover alarming stories, how to inform people without inciting fear. They don't take these things lightly."

(AJAR). The media's self serving assertion that they "don't take [threats] lightly" comes from the clueless media itself, and besides, their religion is not to know "a threat" from "a daddy warbucks" (Global Warming / Climate Change Will Generate Dangerous Religion).

II. The Dredd Blog Seaport High Water Alert System

Regular readers know that I have dabbled a bit into sea level change (SLC) lately (Proxymetry³, 2; cf. Weekend Rebel Science Excursion - 44).

The software module to be finished next will give seaport authorities a color-coded warning about the dangers they face (Fig. 1).

That is because the Homeland Insecurity Duhpartment and the Military will not do so (Why The Military Can't Defend Against The Invasion).

Thus, it falls upon citizens to give color-coded warnings to them.

III. A Worthy Government Department

It is worthy to give credit where it is due, so let me say that the database I have recently incorporated into the Dredd Blog sea level software came from a government military intelligence agency.

An agency that is transparent enough to allow us to download it (National Geospatial Intelligence Agency).

I split the database into two SQL tables, because the data serves two themes IMO.

The first table has this schema:

"uid, id, region, name, country, lat, lon, zone"

(allowing me to link stations and ports together by latitude & longitude) while the second table has this schema:

"uid, INDEX_NO, LAT_DEG, LAT_MIN, LAT_HEMI, LONG_DEG, LONG_MIN, LONG_HEMI, PUB, CHART, HARBORSIZE, HARBORTYPE, SHELTER, ENTRY_TIDE, ENTRYSWELL, ENTRY_ICE, ENTRYOTHER, OVERHD_LIM, CHAN_DEPTH, ANCH_DEPTH, CARGODEPTH, OIL_DEPTH, TIDE_RANGE, MAX_VESSEL, HOLDGROUND, TURN_BASIN, PORTOFENTR, US_REP, ETAMESSAGE, PILOT_REQD, PILOTAVAIL, LOC_ASSIST, PILOTADVSD, TUGSALVAGE, TUG_ASSIST, PRATIQUE, SSCC_CERT, QUAR_OTHER, COMM_PHONE, COMM_FAX, COMM_RADIO, COMM_VHF, COMM_AIR, COMM_RAIL, CARGOWHARF, CARGO_ANCH, CARGMDMOOR, CARBCHMOOR, CARICEMOOR, MED_FACIL, GARBAGE, DEGAUSS, DRTYBALLST, CRANEFIXED, CRANEMOBIL, CRANEFLOAT, LIFT_100, LIFT50_100, LIFT_25_49, LIFT_0_24, LONGSHORE, ELECTRICAL, SERV_STEAM, NAV_EQUIP, ELECREPAIR, PROVISIONS, WATER, FUEL_OIL, DIESEL, DECKSUPPLY, ENG_SUPPLY, REPAIRCODE, DRYDOCK, RAILWAY"

which provides some useful info for determining which ports in a particular zone may be more susceptible to sea level rise (SLR) or sea level fall (SLF) as the case may be.

I used the first table in yesterday's post, because it has the latitude and longitude and other location related data with which to link by Dredd Blog groups and zones.

As I said, the latter table will help me discern which ports face the most danger from SLC whether in the form of SLR or SLF, however, the one thing missing is the date when the port's construction began (how much SLC since then is important for determining how close problems are).

IV. Conclusion

So, that data will be used to determine which ports will face red, orange, yellow, blue, and green color-codes (i.e. which ports will have to get out the plastic and duct tape).

I hope to have the warning module completed by next week sometime.

Have a good weekend.