Severe Storm Part 2 - Through a wet lens

Then the rain started to fall...and thus, the lens got wet. Even with a rain hood it still got wet. At times, the rain was nearly horizontal, so I can't really blame the gear. So, I call this set, "Through A Wet Lens". And, as you can see, the storm got MUCH closer!

Part One
Part Three

















Part One
Part Three

Severe Storm - August 24 2011

This is only the first set of photos out of this storm. After this set, the lens started to get wet, so the pictures unfortunately start to blur out a bit. I have to say, this was one of the most intense storms I have ever been in. It didn't reach the point of being scared, but there were a few moments when I questioned my sanity. Insanity, as always, won out, so here are the photos!

Part Two
Part Three
























Part Two - Through A Wet Lens

Jack Layton Memorial 2

Here are some more shots from the Layton Memorial Wall at City Hall in Toronto.
Entire set available here.
Click to Enlarge.

Jack Layton Memorial

I'm really not going to write anything here. These are a few of my favourite photos from the Jack Layton Memorial Wall.

As always, photos taken by me, click to embiggen. Ask to use them.













The rest of the set is available here.

Be Wary of Ontario's Red Alert System - 2

With everything else that has been going on in the world: Libya, the passing of Jack Layton, and today’s earthquake, I’m just now getting around to write this.

A few months ago, I wrote about the Ontario Emergency Management “RED ALERT” system. In it, I mentioned that I got an alert for a tornado in Hamilton 25 minutes after the warning had been issued by Environment Canada.

This week, there was a tornado in Goderich Ontario. From Environment Canada, they saw a line of storms on radar at 3:30pm, by 3:48pm they had issued a Tornado Warning. 12 minutes later, a tornado devastated the town of Goderich. Environment Canada strives for a 10 – 15 minute lead time for a tornado warning. Any more than that and you get people becoming complacent, that the warning was in error, or that the danger is over. Kind of akin to people thinking they’re safe in the eye of a hurricane. It also difficult to predict tornados before they form, the more warnings you give, the less likely people are to believe you. This would be the ‘boy who cried wolf’ syndrome.

The problem I see is that if people are relying on the SMS message, they’re being duped. I received the message at 4:15pm that a tornado warning had been issued at 3:48pm. This is also a full 15 minutes AFTER the tornado struck.

From their FAQ:
8. Q: How long does it take to issue a Red Alert?

The process of issuing a Red Alert is very quick. Every effort will be made to ensure the timely distribution of an Alert; however, accuracy of information must not be compromised.

27 minutes is way to long for this to be issued. Even a 5 minute delay would only allow 7 minutes to prepare, which would be just enough time for most people if they knew where they were, or what they are supposed to do. This really needs to be rectified soon before someone relying on this ends of injured or worse.

NOTE: I’m still waiting for an email from Ontario Emergency Management with regards to HOW the messages are processed. I will update when that becomes available.

FAQ is available here.

Simple Outrage Should Suffice

This should cause you to be outraged. Seriously seriously outraged.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/mobile/story.html?id=5281354


All quotes used are from this article.

Please read the article first, than return here for comment.


"I was left for five hours, still in my harness, still tied up, naked, lying under a comforter," Massicotte, 47, told the Ottawa Citizen in a telephone interview Friday. "Five hours, no medical attention. I was in total shock. I didn't know what the heck was going on."
So they thought she was a copycat VICTIM: that she did this to herself to either gain attention, or receive compensation. This is quite ridiculous. Even IF she did this to herself, how in the hell did it take 5 hours for someone to show up with a goddamned camera. I don’t care if it’s not the Crime Unit there, you have a victim, either of herself, or another, but you DO NOT EVER leave a victim in that circumstance until the crime unit arrives. That’s seriously wrong. If the victim is on the way to the hospital, do you tell a surgeon NOT to remove a binding so you can photograph it first? Of course not.


It only gets worse for the police from there if this is all to be believed. Here’s what the victim DID NOT know at the time of being attacked:
Massicotte will argue that the OPP also breached its "duty of care" by failing to warn her that a sexual assault had taken place in her neighbourhood less than two weeks before she was attacked.

So, how is it that the police believed she was copy-catting this, when, she didn’t even KNOW about it? The police don’t routinely release complete details about the crimes, and when they do release info, it’s basic. IE, if details had been released, it would have indicated ‘bound’ but not much more. But, it appears as though they waited 5 hours before determining that. Cellphone cameras were descent then, it would have been very easy to snap a pic and get it to the original investigating officer to determine whether this was a copy-catting ‘victim’ or an actual victim. That’s about 5 minutes of work, not 5 hours.

She went through a lengthy interrogation before an OPP officer "finally confessed to me that this similar situation happened 12 days ago and we didn't warn anybody about it."
Here you have the officer confessing that they didn’t warn her, therefore, the interrogating officer (assuming that was the one who confessed) knew ALL ALONG that she could NOT have done this herself, as she didn’t know that a PREVIOUS crime had been committed in this fashion. That is the part that bugs me. All the cops seemed to miss that very small little point. She couldn’t have known the situation.

So, all in all you have:
- a Police Force that did not warn an area about a sex offender
- a Police Force who did not believe a victim of a sexual offense
- a Police Force that kept a victim tied up for 5 hours
- a Police Force that ALSO kept her on scene for an additional 3 hours
- a Police Force that then INTERROGATED the victim
- a Police Force who basically treated the victim as a criminal

There ya go folks. These are the people who are supposed to PROTECT and SERVE us. Something that they’ve obviously forgotten about. This is NOT the Thin Blue Line… This is the DUMB BLUE LINE.