I think the driver's license is considered to be the identity card used here in the US. The passport is mainly used for international travel. If you don't travel, then you don't need to have one. Plus it costs $25 to get or renew a license (in California) versus $67 to renew a passport and $97 for a new application.
yeah i know in US your DL is very imp .. like an ID card
but like in India .. and russia for sure ... passport is the ID
i know in russia u always carry your passport with you.
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Posts: 3125 Location: S.F. Bay Area Country:
Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 4:49 am Post subject: Tsunami Warning
Were any of the other Americans living on the West Coast bothered by this?
Last night there was a 7.4 earthquake just off the coast of Northern California.
With a quake that big it automatically set off the Tsunami Warning System.
Crawls went by on TV sets, starting around 7pm, saying there was a Tsunami Warning in effect for the whole coast, and that if a Tsunami was going to hit, it would hit the coast between 9:23pm and 11:03 pm.
Cool so far, don't you think? I mean, that's pretty specific. These guys must know what they're doing.
And even cooler... no Tsunami was generated. So later on in the evening the Tsunami warning was lifted.
But here's the thing... No information was given in terms of which areas were in most danger. With the exception of a few isolated small towns up north, no sirens went off. Noone was told to head for the hills. No one was evacuated.
There was, in short... no plan.
Don't get me wrong. I like that the Tsunami didn't happen. And I was probably as complacent about the warning as anyone who saw it on TV.
But after giving it a little thought, it occurs to me that what happened last night was a very bright red flag.
If you wait until you see a Tsunami coming, you've waited too freakin' long. You're probably not gonna be able to get away.
But aside from the scroll on the bottom of the TV screen, local news did nothing. They didn't break into their precious programming to tell people what to do... where to go to wait it out. What services were in place to help deal with any problems.
And local government... at least, my local government... did nothing.
I was just kind of bothered by this, and I was wondering if anyone else was. _________________
Joined: 30 Jan 2004 Posts: 2247 Location: SF Bay Area Country:
Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 6:42 am Post subject: Re: Tsunami Warning
Geezer wrote:
Were any of the other Americans living on the West Coast bothered by this?
Last night there was a 7.4 earthquake just off the coast of Northern California.
With a quake that big it automatically set off the Tsunami Warning System.
Crawls went by on TV sets, starting around 7pm, saying there was a Tsunami Warning in effect for the whole coast, and that if a Tsunami was going to hit, it would hit the coast between 9:23pm and 11:03 pm.
Cool so far, don't you think? I mean, that's pretty specific. These guys must know what they're doing.
And even cooler... no Tsunami was generated. So later on in the evening the Tsunami warning was lifted.
But here's the thing... No information was given in terms of which areas were in most danger. With the exception of a few isolated small towns up north, no sirens went off. Noone was told to head for the hills. No one was evacuated.
There was, in short... no plan.
Don't get me wrong. I like that the Tsunami didn't happen. And I was probably as complacent about the warning as anyone who saw it on TV.
But after giving it a little thought, it occurs to me that what happened last night was a very bright red flag.
If you wait until you see a Tsunami coming, you've waited too freakin' long. You're probably not gonna be able to get away.
But aside from the scroll on the bottom of the TV screen, local news did nothing. They didn't break into their precious programming to tell people what to do... where to go to wait it out. What services were in place to help deal with any problems.
And local government... at least, my local government... did nothing.
I was just kind of bothered by this, and I was wondering if anyone else was.
Yeah, I drove along Ocean Beach each of the last few days and I didn't see any signs posted. Nor was anyone telling people to evacuate... the beach parking lot and beach had people on it as if nothing was wrong.
-PCM
Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 6:55 am Post subject: Re: Tsunami Warning
Geezer wrote:
Were any of the other Americans living on the West Coast bothered by this?
Last night there was a 7.4 earthquake just off the coast of Northern California.
With a quake that big it automatically set off the Tsunami Warning System.
Crawls went by on TV sets, starting around 7pm, saying there was a Tsunami Warning in effect for the whole coast, and that if a Tsunami was going to hit, it would hit the coast between 9:23pm and 11:03 pm.
Cool so far, don't you think? I mean, that's pretty specific. These guys must know what they're doing.
And even cooler... no Tsunami was generated. So later on in the evening the Tsunami warning was lifted.
But here's the thing... No information was given in terms of which areas were in most danger. With the exception of a few isolated small towns up north, no sirens went off. Noone was told to head for the hills. No one was evacuated.
There was, in short... no plan.
Don't get me wrong. I like that the Tsunami didn't happen. And I was probably as complacent about the warning as anyone who saw it on TV.
But after giving it a little thought, it occurs to me that what happened last night was a very bright red flag.
If you wait until you see a Tsunami coming, you've waited too freakin' long. You're probably not gonna be able to get away.
But aside from the scroll on the bottom of the TV screen, local news did nothing. They didn't break into their precious programming to tell people what to do... where to go to wait it out. What services were in place to help deal with any problems.
And local government... at least, my local government... did nothing.
I was just kind of bothered by this, and I was wondering if anyone else was.
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Posts: 3125 Location: S.F. Bay Area Country:
Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 7:39 am Post subject:
BMW
I didn't feel the earthquake either. I think it was up near Humbolt. Too far away for the Bay Area to feel the shock.
But the thing is... with the magnitude that high, and the fact that the main quake was centered just off the coast, the tsunami warning was for the whole freakin' coast from Canada to Mexico.
It didn't happen, and I"m happy.
And they'd cancelled the alert by 9pm. Cool.
But the numbers and the history say that a quake that big, just off the coast, makes the probability of a Tsunami great enough to issue an official warning.
Basically an hour and a half.
That's not much time when you consider having to evacuate the coast.
Not much time at all when people read the TV scroll, or hear it on the radio and have to ask themselves... does this effect me? What am I supposed to do? Who do I call to find out what I'm supposed to do?
This isn't a question of getting under a doorway or a table during an earthquake. Or ducking into a storm cellar during a twister.
This is a tsunami, and the response to that is... get the hell out of there!
But the warning was ignored by just about everyone I've talked to... and certainly by everyone involved in government and social services up here.
Who konws? Maybe noone was impressed with those TV pictures of the Tsunami a fe weeks ago. Gee, that didn't look dangerous, did it? _________________
Joined: 13 Oct 2004 Posts: 8550 Location: California Country:
Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 8:00 am Post subject:
Geezer, I didn't find out about the tsunami warning until the late newscast. I'm guessing having the TV off didn't help. Which begs the question: since I didn't feel the earthquake, how am I supposed to know about a tsunami warning if my TV and radio are off?
Geezer, I didn't find out about the tsunami warning until the late newscast. I'm guessing having the TV off didn't help. Which begs the question: since I didn't feel the earthquake, how am I supposed to know about a tsunami warning if my TV and radio are off?
Right.
Without a TV or radio turned on, you'd be oblivious... And possibly dead.
Back when I was a kid, at my parents old home the local fire department had a civil defense siren that would get tested every Friday afternoon. No such thing anymore, I guess.
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Posts: 3125 Location: S.F. Bay Area Country:
Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 8:40 am Post subject:
Eve,
Not so much a tree falling in the forest making no sound as there's noone there to hear it as, a tree falling on your head and crushing you into pulp because nobody around bothered to say... "ah... heads up!"
Dochira,
As BMW said, Civil defense sirens. Social services.
Before Americans became immortal, impervious to harm, too important to screw with... they practised things like earthquake drills. Every firehouse had alert sirens. Cops had well practised zones they'd patrol using their bull horns to alert those wierdos who weren't watching TV to get off their butts because the big bad was on its way.
And back to the TV thing again.
I wonder if the fact that TV stations wouldn't do anything more than run a scroll that made it seem unimportant.
I mean, after all, if it was something earth shattering, like the MJ trial, or the Peterson trial, or the OJ trial, they would have broken into programming to have a special live broadcast. _________________
I mean, after all, if it was something earth shattering, like the MJ trial, or the Peterson trial, or the OJ trial, they would have broken into programming to have a special live broadcast.
I was thinking the same thing: stuff that absolutely doesn't affect 99% of the populace always merits non-stop, incessant, nauseating coverage.
Joined: 13 Oct 2004 Posts: 8550 Location: California Country:
Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 8:44 am Post subject:
I suspect that if a tsunami was sighted, there would be news breaks with helicopters (ala car chases). And the sirens?? I would almost expect people to say they would be disturbing the peace. A sort of NIMBY-ish reason.
But as you said, in the absence of a solid warning system, the only one that would be dead on is the rushing water into the room.
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Posts: 3125 Location: S.F. Bay Area Country:
Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 8:54 am Post subject:
As I said earlier... if the tsunami is sighted... it's too late.
The tsunami warning system is based on geologic sensors, the level of the earthquake, and tsunami bouys out in the ocean that measure the increase or decrease in the size of waves. (Yeah, I was suprised to find out that we've got those.) _________________
Joined: 14 Dec 2001 Posts: 1837 Location: United States Country:
Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 12:04 pm Post subject:
My neighbor above me moved out! Although I should be afraid of who may take her place. Long story short, she irritated me the few times she was home.
My landline is broken as of Sunday and Verizon has no hours after work time So I have to wait till Saturday for them to come out. In other news, the pipe on my water meter is broken and leaking like crazy. Oops. I don't pay for water, lol. Oh well, it's supposed to be fixed very soon.
Does anyone know about professional extermination of pests in front lawns? I know how indoor goes, but not outdoor. I wanna find someone to dig in the dirt and bury some poison or something. I dunno, whatever kills all pests, anything short of an atomic bomb. Price is no issue, my landlord would be paying. Does anything like that exist? (It's nothing serious, just to prevent the f*ckers from coming into the house...due to the weather we have an overpopulation of something icky ).
Joined: 01 Apr 2004 Posts: 1170 Location: New York City Country:
Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 12:24 pm Post subject:
i slept with the window open last nite.....
big mistake , u was bitten like 5 times bcs while i was asleep my gay ass little sister turned on tha light!
now im itching like crazy!
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So I have to wait till Saturday for them to come out. In other news, the pipe on my water meter is broken and leaking like crazy. Oops. I don't pay for water, lol. Oh well, it's supposed to be fixed very soon.
(It's nothing serious, just to prevent the f*ckers from coming into the house...due to the weather we have an overpopulation of something icky 
). 
