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Post by htmb on Jul 27, 2013 0:04:05 GMT
Perhaps this belongs here. It certainly reflects one of the technical advances put into operation in my community where we use a fairly sophisticated alert system to notify the public of emergency situations. Typically it's a weather alert, but during the past five minutes I have received one text to my cell phone; one call to my cell phone as well as my house phone; and one email. All say the same thing:
7/26/2013 7:42:25 PM EST - THE GAINESVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT NEEDS IS SEEKING YOUR ASSISTANCE IN LOCATING A MISSING 82 YEAR OLD BLACK MALE BY THE NAME OF EDDIE WOULARD WHO SUFFERS FROM DEMENTIA. MR WOULARD WAS LAST SEEN IN THE AREA OF 1312 NE 17TH AV IN GAINESVILLE AROUND 4 PM TODAY. HE WAS LAST SEEN WEARING A RED SHIRT AND BLUE JEANS. HE IS 5’7 AND 155 LBS. IF YOU SEE ANY ONE IN YOUR AREA MATCHING THIS DESCRIPTION PLEASE CALL 911. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE
For a smallish city, it is a very nice system to have and should make the location of Mr. Woulard that much easier, one hopes.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2013 6:25:19 GMT
As the years go by, I'm sure there will be more dementia alerts and hopefully fewer Amber alerts.
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Post by htmb on Jul 28, 2013 12:47:15 GMT
Last night we received "sewage spill, don't use the water," and "it's fixed now" alerts.
I haven't heard any more reports about the missing man. Hope he was found.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2013 15:10:45 GMT
In Corsica yesterday some three-year old twins wandered off... one of them was found, alive, at the end of the day. The second one was found, alive, this morning. They were fine, but the whole country was holding its breath, especially when one was found without the other.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2013 17:26:35 GMT
After my little report at #474, I am happy to say that Amina Sbouï was released from prison today. She refused to wear the white veil that women being judged are traditionally supposed to wear in Tunisia. More power to her!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2013 18:30:15 GMT
BRAVO!!!!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2013 17:37:14 GMT
Counting the days until Midsummer Mardi Gras ( oh, I know Kerouac, you hate the idea but deal with it please...) here in our neighborhood next weekend. We had a silent auction fundraiser last weekend to help us defer the costs that the city has imposed on us to cover insurance, permits, and police. We raised $4,000 to help us come up with the whooping $6,200 that it requires to put on this event. To be continued....
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2013 17:39:46 GMT
I'll approve of the concept of midsummer Mardi Gras when you tell me about the success of midsummer Christmas. ;D
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2013 17:56:00 GMT
I'll approve of the concept of midsummer Mardi Gras when you tell me about the success of midsummer Christmas. ;D How about we make you an honorary "demigod" of the Krewe in absentia?I swear to it, I'll make it happen. You would be "up there" with the ranks of the first anatomically correct Queen of O.A.K. , yours truly. Your ego could not deny such an honor....
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2013 18:17:24 GMT
Where the hell are HW and Jazz when I need them? ??
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2013 18:25:08 GMT
HW is looking down at us while savouring a celestial ice cold Tiger beer.
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Post by htmb on Aug 23, 2013 18:28:45 GMT
You're gonna be Queen, Casimira?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2013 18:57:09 GMT
You're gonna be Queen, Casimira? I was Queen of O.A.K. in 1989 HTMB. And, as noted, the first anatomically correct Queen at that. Kings and Queens become demigods and goddesses... The Krewe began in 1987, and, I was Queen III.
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Post by htmb on Aug 23, 2013 19:05:10 GMT
Royalty!!!!!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2013 19:09:02 GMT
Oh, I know it's such silliness but ever so much fun especially in the doldrums," dog days" of summer to have an excuse to get out and frolic!!!!!
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Post by htmb on Aug 23, 2013 19:12:28 GMT
It sounds like a whole lot of fun and last year's photos were proof!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2013 19:19:47 GMT
Here is me with my King, taken not the year we reigned but in 2010.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2013 20:21:54 GMT
Wonderful revelation!
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Post by htmb on Aug 24, 2013 0:45:56 GMT
You both look very official and leader-like!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2013 15:46:36 GMT
You ought to come some year HTMB. You're not that far away. I guarantee you'll have a blast!!
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Post by htmb on Aug 24, 2013 15:53:23 GMT
I'd love to, Casimira. I've had a bit of my share of past Krewe activities from the Tampa area, and am a bit of a "royal" myself.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2013 15:56:05 GMT
I'd love to, Casimira. I've had a bit of my share of past Krewe activities from the Tampa area, and am a bit of a "royal" myself. See?, I knew it!!!!
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Post by htmb on Aug 24, 2013 16:12:35 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2013 16:30:24 GMT
A few hours later, it was possible to get a better look at the damage. It made me realize what a huge difference there is between places with wooden buildings and those where everything is stone and masonry. Wooden buildings just disappear while the others are (usually) still standing but with all of the contents gone. I don't know which is more devastating psychologically. At the building entrance, residents were waiting to be escorted to collect some belongings...
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Post by htmb on Aug 24, 2013 16:53:40 GMT
Good for you to get photos, but sad to see people becoming misplaced and losing their personal items. Could you tell if most of the damage was due to smoke, or was the building actually on fire?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2013 17:01:09 GMT
By the time I arrived, there were no flames, but clearly there was a fire. It's very common with the precarious cooking equipment and the bad wiring in these poor buildings. The pile of stuff in front of the building in the next to last photo was charred rubble and from what I could see inside, there were blackened walls and nothing else.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 24, 2013 18:05:07 GMT
Wow, ladies ~~ maybe a palace or two needs to be added to the port! It is gladly graced by y'all's queenliness. As Htmb said, it's dreadful to see people losing everything in that way. I wonder how badly the nearby apartments were affected. You are so right about how much more dangerous fires in wooden buildings can be, with their hungry ability to spread. Great job on covering the disaster. (& at the risk of sounding frivolous under the circumstances, photo #3 is really excellent) It's very common with the precarious cooking equipment and the bad wiring in these poor buildings. When you say "poor buildings", do you mean the actual construction or that the buildings are full of low-rent, poorly maintained apartments? Also, is the neighborhood as near to a major business district as it appears to be in the photos?
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Post by mich64 on Aug 24, 2013 18:05:54 GMT
Hopefully these residents had some content insurance as it looks like there is a lot of smoke damage along with the charred items.
My husband is always sad when they talk with tenants after a fire and he finds that they never thought to get content insurance and are now in a panic of what to do. Often they are young people who do not have the knowledge that such policies are available for a small monthly fee. A difficult way to find out. I think it would be a good idea for landlords to educate each new tenants with this information, maybe a standard flyer when signing their lease explaining what is available and some estimated quotes from different insurance providers.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2013 18:10:25 GMT
Most of the tenants appeared to be African immigrants, so that pretty much answers any questions about building maintenance and content insurance.
However, I noticed that the building was not as bad as many of them in the area and clearly had benefitted from some renovation since it had double glazed windows.
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Post by htmb on Aug 24, 2013 18:51:54 GMT
Wow, ladies ~~ maybe a palace or two needs to be added to the port! Or you could just adorn us with proboards badges. ;D ;D
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