ellarien | Entries tagged with concern

The latest version of the official Station Fire perimeter (you can get them for Google Earth here, but it doesn't work right with Firefox) shows a new area of fire directly north of the Mount Wilson observatory -- touching the 100-inch telescope, in fact. I think that's the defensive backfire they were setting yesterday, and according to the director things are looking fairly good.

That hurricane isn't going to come anywhere near there, apparently. Last I heard, it was going to head out into the Pacific again instead of bringing us the rain we were hoping for here.

Current Mood: anxious

Well, the Mount Wilson Observatory doesn't seem to have burned down yet; I found a sort of mirror for the webcam and it still seems to be up, or was half an hour ago. Lots of smoke, but no flames in sight. The last news from the director didn't sound good, though; the firefighters had been pulled back from the staging area near the mountain, and plans were not to fight the fire on the ground if it came through. They did put in a lot of effort yesterday getting the place as buttoned down as possible.

I have selfish professional reasons for wanting the observatory to survive; I work with the data from both the solar towers, and I know the scientists. Those are both elderly instruments, not cutting-edge but unique, and valuable from sheer longevity. In the bigger picture, that's a small part of what stands to be lost and has already been lost. I don't feel comfortable asking firefighters to risk their lives for telescopes, however historic, any more than I was comfortable with the risk to the astronauts upgrading Hubble, but I do hope the telescopes will survive.

Current Mood: worried

Yesterday's BA flight from Phoenix to Heathrow was evacuated on the runway after the cabin filled with smoke.

I'm not using that flight this year -- the combination of BA and Heathrow had started to feel like too much doom to deal with, the last few years -- but I've used it several times in the past, as it's the nearest thing to a direct flight home I can get. Usually on a Friday in July, at that.

Current Mood: shocked

It's no good. I haven't posted anything to speak of about Katrina and New Orleans, because I haven't anything helpful to add, but I can't stand it any longer. So here are my personal, and not at all useful, reactions.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: sombre
Ambient sounds CNN

Security Alert Closes Birmingham

On a Saturday night, naturally, when the clubs are in full swing.

It sounds like a false alarm, maybe a fake device or a stray bit of luggage controlledly-exploded. I hope so. I do hope so. I spent a lot of years in Brum, and I still think of it as home in some ways and have good friends there.

This reminds me a lot of the 1996 IRA campaign -- a fairly small number of actual bombs and lots and lots of false warnings and precautionary evacuations wearing on everyone's already taut nerves. Central Birmingham had its share of bad things happening a couple of rounds before that, of course, so the awareness and preparedness will be there.

Time for another cup of tea.

Current Mood: sigh

Sigh.

I'm glad that

brisingamen and her

peake are safe, and

mrissa and her travelling companions. This morning I fired off e-mails to my old boss, whose wife and child are still in London, and my contact at the church I used to attend there, and everyone there is OK too. So, I'm fairly sure that I'm not personally touched by this morning's tragic and horrible events, even indirectly.

( personal blitherings )

Current Mood: blank

Intersection Logs

Flowers, beads, words, and other shiny things

(no subject)

(no subject)

Eeep!

Louisiana on my mind

Sigh, encore

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