Alaska Serves as Guinea Pig for Federal Program

...whether we want to, or not.

You'll remember, boys and girls, during the Clinton years that all radio and television stations were hard-wired into the Emergency Alert Network, whereby the POTUS can - by pushing a button - take over the airwaves, nation-wide. As I recall, there was some consternation expressed at the time, and few seemed to trust the gummint to do the right thing.

We're told now that the system was never tested ... until today. From today's paper:

Problems reported in test of U.S. alert system

Radio listeners and TV viewers in Alaska witnessed the first national emergency exercise of its kind this morning, but the test ran into distribution problems around the state.

Radio, television and some cable providers participated in a live statewide test of the nation's Emergency Alert System, which employed a never-used code that would be applied in a national crisis.

"A national emergency action notification has been issued for: District of Columbia, DC," ran a red message banner at the top of the television screen to stations not beset by several reported glitches.

Filling the rest of the screen was a scene of a snowy, wooded mountain, superimposed by a large red stop sign and the words, "Chill! It is just a drill."

The 10 a.m. Alaska Standard Time test will help officials prepare for a future national exercise not yet scheduled, according to state and federal officials.

The three-minute airing -- activated from Washington, D.C., by the Federal Emergency Management Agency -- was unlike regular periodic tests aired by broadcasters. It was the first official activation of the Emergency Action Notification code, which would give the president access to national airwaves during a real crisis.

Officials considered the test a success, even though some broadcasters did not receive the signal in time and others got a weak connection or only the audio portion of the exercise.

For example, statewide cable provider GCI -- with 130,000 subscribers -- didn't receive the initial launch signal, although it did get the disconnect signal, company spokesman David Morris said.

~~ snip ~~

Participants will spend the next weeks, or even months, working through the problems, said Bryan Fisher, chief of operations at the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. He said glitches could be blamed on various factors, such as old equipment or flaws with programming or audio levels.

~~ snip ~~

Alaska was chosen for the initial test run for several reasons, Fisher said. Alaska is well-versed in similar exercises conducted through the national public warning system to test tsunami warnings and Amber Alerts within the largest state in the country.

Alaska's extreme isolation also cuts down on the chance of the test reaching beyond state lines and potentially causing confusion, Fisher said.

Yay for us. "Extreme isolation", indeed. Not so isolated that a political appointee 4,000 miles away can't hijack our airwaves for any reason they deem important.

* * * * *

On a lighter note, it's after 4 p.m., and it's still light outside. w00t!

We now return you to your regularly-scheduled program, already in progress.

* * * * *

Y'all have a great day, and thanks for stopping by.

Just a Quick Note

The weather guesstimators at AccuHunch predicted "partly cloudy with a chance of sprinkles or light snow showers" this morning.

That was two hours and 4 inches of snow ago.

Accuracy has sure gone downhill since the Shogun stopped requiring ritual seppuku for being so consistently wrong!

Taking Your Life in Your Hands

The temps in Anchorage have been fairly steady for the last couple of days. Although it was supposed to reach near 29 yesterday, it stayed around 20. It's 19 here this morning.

But here's the problem: the humidity has gone up. Way up.

Anchorage has been described by at least one weather writer as a "sub-arctic desert" because we typically get little rain in the summers, and not that much snow in winter. Average snowfall is about 65". Wisconsin, upstate New York, Michigan (and places like those) all receive much more snow than we do.

But yesterday, our humidity was 81% at 7 p.m. It seems to have stayed high all night, and is at 90% this morning. Since the ground is frozen, the moisture condensed and froze on the main roads, which have been mostly cleared of snow.

This morning we have black ice. There are diagonal skid marks in that layer, visible only when headlights illuminate them. There were two vehicles in the median along my drive to work; emergency vehicles hadn't even responded to the second one yet.

So what to do? Most Anchorage drivers use studded tires, although some still scoff at the notion. One such fellow wrote in the local paper that if we knew how to drive, we wouldn't need studded tires at all.

I've driven on icy roads most of my life. Growing up in the Midwest, I was accustomed to seeing more ice than snow, and had long since learned to drive on ice, most of which is readily apparent. But Anchorage's roads are something else again, what with mostly black ice on very cold streets.

Our first winter here, I had good "mud & snow" rated tires ... and my 6,000 truck slid through the same major intersection twice. Yes, I have anti-lock brakes; yes, I began slowing a full block before the red light. It made no difference, as there was no traction whatsoever. All I could so was sit helpless behind the wheel, anti-lock brakes fluttering madly, as I slid at a barely-reduced speed right through the red light. That big rig had become a three-ton bobsled.

The second winter was worse; we had more ice, and the tires were more worn.

I have studded snow tires now, like most local drivers, and when combined with the weight of the truck, have little trouble. I typically only realize the roads are slippery when I notice others having problems.

This morning, I did notice the truck getting a little loose in one or two places. It's slick out there, wherever there's bare pavement. The streets with some snow still on them aren't so bad. But having the proper equipment for the conditions makes all the difference - the op-ed writer's piece notwithstanding. It just makes sense to be prepared.

* * * * *

It occurs to me that folks who opt to carry a firearm have the same mindset. There are varying types of predators and other critters - and some have more than two legs. We have some 800 moose living inside the city limits, and there are black, brown, and grizzly bears here, too. Last winter, there were apparently two packs of wolves roaming the northeastern parts of the city, where a couple of dogs were killed and eaten while on a morning walk with their owners. A wolf pack chased one jogger, but she got away & called for help.

Although I didn't see see any reports of maulings in 2009, there were three people injured by bears in city parks in 2008. There have been bears hanging around the dumpsters at the property I manage, although those are too tall for the bears to get into, now.

I carry two types of ammo when I go out; one for large animals, and another for the two-legged variety. Proper equipment for the conditions, you see.

It just makes sense to be prepared.

Unique Plane at Auction

This caught my eye:

Unique Canadian Plane Expected to Fetch $1M in Auction

For 20 years during the pioneering age of Canadian aviation, an aluminum-bodied bush plane soared over northern forests and remote lakes as part of a government mission to map and monitor the country's uncharted backwoods.

Now, 80 years after Canadian forestry officials purchased the U.S.-made Hamilton Metalplane from a Boeing plant in Wisconsin, the meticulously refurbished and flyable aircraft -- the only one of its kind in the world -- is expected to sell for at least $1-million later this month at a major Arizona auction of vintage cars and planes.

Described by the Barrett-Jackson auction house as "one of the rarest and most beautifully restored classic aircraft in the world," the award-winning antique is the lone intact survivor from an original production run of just 29 planes.

Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2401768#ixzz0bhMK2hQt

Apparently, there are only two of these planes still in existence; the other is in Anchorage's Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum.

I just love old planes.