How fast is T-1? 1 megabit/sec?

It's been a low time since I checked, but I think that's right.

My cable connection has managed 4-5 megabit/sec on download at times.

How fast is T-1? 1 megabit/sec?

1.536 Mbit/s

My cable connection has managed 4-5 megabit/sec on download at times.

That's about what my home cable modem is now. They keep on increasing the speed. It's now faster than what my 802.11b iBook can use.

Breaking news on CNN is that a convoy of military vehicles is moving into NO with food and water.

Five days.

A woman called into the radio show this morning, telling about her brother (an Indiana Guardsman) being mobilized for Mississippi/Louisiana, and when he reported last night, he was told to come back either today, or maybe tomorrow, because they have to "work on the trucks." Um, aren't those supposed to be ready to go at a moment's notice? WTF is up with this 24-48 hour delay to be prepared to hit the road?

I killed it.

no nursing jokes

Sorry!!

Nah, we were all blissed-out thinking about your breasts.

I think FEMA is running my parking garage.

Um, aren't those supposed to be ready to go at a moment's notice?

Well, a lot of the bigger trucks in Iraq are old and need lots of repairs. Maybe the ones here are even worse....

A woman called into the radio show this morning, telling about her brother (an Indiana Guardsman) being mobilized for Mississippi/Louisiana, and when he reported last night, he was told to come back either today, or maybe tomorrow, because they have to "work on the trucks.

Why can't they get a bunch of U-Hauls or something if some of the trucks are broken down? NO's mayor is dead on when he says they are thinking too small.

Oh, -t. On top of everything, that just seems vastly unfair.

Gah. Why does it not shock me that news reports got more depressing and rage-fueling overnight?

Professionals in the disaster handling business say it's been botched:

*************

The slow response to Katrina and poor federal leadership is a replay of 1992's mishandling of Hurricane Andrew, said former FEMA chief of staff Jane Bullock, a 22-year veteran of the agency.

Bullock blamed inexperienced federal leadership. She noted that Chertoff and FEMA Director Michael Brown had no disaster experience before they were appointed to their jobs.

The slowness is all too familiar to Kate Hale. As Miami's disaster chief during Hurricane Andrew, Hale asked: "Where the hell's the cavalry?"

"I'm looking at people who are begging for ice and water and (a) presence," Hale said Wednesday. "I'm seeing the same sort of thing that horrified us after Hurricane Andrew. ... I realize they've got a huge job. Nobody understands better than I do what they're trying to respond to, but ..."

Being prepared for a disaster is basic emergency management, disaster experts say.

For example, in the 1990s, in planning for a New Orleans nightmare scenario, the federal government figured it would pre-deploy nearby ships with pumps to remove water from the below-sea-level city and have hospital ships nearby, said James Lee Witt, who was FEMA director under President Clinton.

Federal officials said a hospital ship would leave from Baltimore on Friday.

"These things need to be planned and prepared for; it just doesn't look like it was," said Witt, a former Arkansas disaster chief who won bipartisan praise on Capitol Hill during his tenure.

FEMA said some of its response teams were prepared.

The agency had 18 search-and-rescue teams and 39 disaster medical teams positioned outside storm areas and moved them in when the hurricane died down.

Nonetheless, victims of this week's hurricane should have gotten more, said John Copenhaver, a former southeastern regional FEMA director.

"I would have difficulty explaining why there has not been a visible presence of ice, water, tarps - the kind of stuff that typically get delivered to hurricane areas," Copenhaver said.