Cyber alert: Cornfliker virus #2

Important Message from the Cyber alert Squad

Wed Apr 1, 2009 23:57pm
169.228.15.137.56

Many of you have no doubt heard about the April Fools Day virus, aka the Cornfliker virus. Unfortunately, a lesser known virus Cornflicker #2 is also making the rounds, which results in electrons building up on the inside of computer monitors. Over time, this causes a significant loss in monitor color and contrast, and reduces the life expectancy of older monitors. Fortunately, a free screencleaner is available to remove this buildup, and, with proper maintenance, keep your monitor is tiptop shape. Click on the link below now to see the demo version.

Click here for Cornflicker #2 screen cleaner

LACFD: MCI Traffic accident - Two Dead, 12 injured - Semi-Truck into vehicles, building

Update: Victims of accident - 12-year-old girl and her father killed by the out of control big-rig have been identified as 58-year-old Angel Jorge Posca and his daughter, Angelina, of Palmdale.
The double-decker tractor trailer car hauler lost control at Foothill Boulevard and Angeles Crest Highway La Canada Flintridge, CA shortly before 6 p.m. and plowed into a bookstore whose patrons had fled. Momentum carried the truck -- loaded with several vehicles -- into a nail parlor, pinning the owner. (Google map - Link)
The intersection was the scene of a similar accident Sept. 5, when a truck from Idaho carrying 78,000 pounds of onions lost its brakes coming down the steep incline from the San Gabriel Mountains
Update: Trucker arrested in deadly crash - Marcos Costa, 43, was taken into custody on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, said Lt. Greg Sisneros of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Sisneros did not know where Costa lives but said he was a licensed Florida truck driver.
Update: Two Dead, 12 injured.
.
2 killed as truck collides with cars, slams into bookstore

A Palmdale man and his daughter, 12, are killed. The double-decker trailer hauling cars lost control at Foothill Boulevard and Angeles Crest Highway, slamming into a bookstore and salon.

A car-hauling truck collided with several vehicles Wednesday night before slamming into a bookstore in La Cañada Flintridge, authorities said.

Los Angeles County Fire Department officials said they have reports of two fatalities and several injuries.

The accident occurred just before 6 p.m. near the corner of Foothill Boulevard and Angeles Crest Highway.

Fire Department spokesman Art Marrujo said it was not immediately clear whether the victims were in the bookstore or in the cars involved in the accident.

Fire officials pulled victims out of cars, and television news footage showed the truck embedded in the front of the Flintridge Bookstore and Coffee House.

Updated, 6:36 p.m.: Officials said there are five injured people, including one who was in the bookstore.

Lynn Tran, manager of a nearby gourmet wine and spirit store, said she and other employees were stocking shelves when they heard a loud bang.

"We heard a noise that sounded like an earthquake," she said. "It shook a little bit."

Updated, 6:52 p.m.: Brandi Sjostrom, a waitress at Hill St. Cafe, a few doors away from the crash, provided this description: "I heard the bus braking really hard and everyone ran out. The bus almost came up on our curb. This really small red car was completely crushed. It was pretty awful. I've never seen anything like that. I was pretty shaken up." Sjostrom said a semi-tractor trailer lost its brakes and punched through the restaurant's back wall last year.

Sources:
Los Angeles Times - Link
LAT Blog - Link

Yosemite National Park: Rockfall creates 2.5 M earthquake

Officials say no one was injured in a giant rockfall near Yosemite National Park's iconic Half Dome, but it did close a trail.

The tumbling boulders unleashed so much fury before daybreak Saturday that the fall registered as a magnitude-2.5 earthquake. The debris fell into Tenaya Canyon and buried the southern portion of the Mirror Lake loop trail.

Park geologist Greg Stock said the avalanche at 5:26 a.m. from Ahwiyah Point was the largest in 10 years, surpassing the October event that forced the park to permanently close part of Curry Village.

View Yosemite rockslide earthquake in a larger map
Google earthquake - rockfall location map

Earthquake Details

Magnitude	2.4
Date-Time	Saturday, March 28, 2009 at 12:26:04 UTC Saturday, March 28, 2009 at 05:26:04 AM at epicenter Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location	37.752°N, 119.540°W
Depth	6.7 km (4.2 miles)
Region	CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
Distances	3 km (2 miles) ENE (72°) from Yosemite Valley, CA 5 km (3 miles) E (81°) from Yosemite Village, CA 31 km (19 miles) SE (135°) from Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, CA 51 km (32 miles) WNW (285°) from Mammoth Lakes, CA 191 km (119 miles) ESE (117°) from Sacramento, CA
Location Uncertainty	horizontal +/- 0.2 km (0.1 miles); depth +/- 3.9 km (2.4 miles)
Parameters	Nph= 65, Dmin=37 km, Rmss=0.15 sec, Gp= 47°, M-type=duration magnitude (Md), Version=2
Source	California Integrated Seismic Net: USGS Caltech CGS UCB UCSD UNR
Event ID	nc40233925

LBFD: Deckhand Chokes to Death during joke

California Deckhand Chokes to Death in Front of Kids on
Charter Boat -

A deckhand on a charter boat full of school children choked to death on a bait fish he had put in his mouth as a joke.

Captain Dan Salas of the boat Gale Force said Tuesday his employee Jeff Twaddle died during a fishing trip for the students last week along breakwater in Long Beach.

Salas called it a "tragic freak accident."

Fire Battalion Chief Battalion Chief Frank Hayes says the 54-year-old longtime fisherman was "trying to be lighthearted and make the students laugh when he put the fish in his mouth."

The fish lodged in his throat, Twaddle quickly lost consciousness and was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

The Los Angeles Unified School District sent a note to parents and was providing grief counselors for traumatized students.

Source: Fox News - Link

Blogsphere: Controlled training burn causes controversy

Found around the Blog sphere: Oxnard, California, Fire Department controlled training burn causes controversy
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Calif. City Burns Down 1883 Farmhouses

By Margaret Foster | Online Only | Mar. 31, 2009

The Frank Petit House, built in 1883 and owned by Oxnard, Calif., were destroyed in a controlled fire in February 2009.

Credit: Stephen Schafer

Every once in a while, firefighters actually create fires. The Oxnard, California, Fire Department has destroyed two 19th-century houses to make way for a 75-acre sports park. City officials' efforts to find someone to move the structures proved unsuccessful. Last month they authorized firefighters to clear a three-acre site in a controlled burn.

"This [destruction] was particularly disturbing because there seemed to be some significant historical value to these houses, but the city of Oxnard didn't make enough attempts to save them," says Gary Blum, chair of the Ventura County Cultural Heritage Board and a descendant of the Petit family, which built the two houses.

The city could have facilitated moving the farmhouses by offering compensation to potential owners, Blum says. "Why not just use that money to relocate?" It also could have issued press releases about its search for a new owner or posted signs on the buildings about their impending demolition.

Built in 1883, the houses stayed in the Petit family until 1981, when they were sold to Ventura County. The county, in turn, sold them to the city of Oxnard in 2000, and the city council approved the new sports park for the site in 2005.

Despite the recent demolition, Oxnard has a history of preserving historic places. In the city center stands a collection of 15 historic houses that were relocated and saved, including a Victorian owned by the Petit family. The city oversaw the six-year project, known as Heritage Square, completed in 1991. Blum paid to move the Justin Petit Ranch House to the park in 1986; it is now home to offices and the Petit Playhouse. "Unfortunately, preservation doesn't stop with one project," Blum says. "You need to keep going."

Source article: www.preservationnation.org - Link

Coast Guard: OAKLAND SAR - 12 people rescued

Coast Guard - SF Bay area SAR

ALAMEDA, Calif. - Twelve people were rescued from the water near Oakland Airport late after their canoes had been swamped by heavy swells.

The Coast Guard received a report of two overdue 45-foot canoes with six people on each boat during a canoe trip from the San Leandro Marina to the Oakland Airport. The Coast Guard received confirmation of twelve people in distress.

The Coast Guard launched a rescue boat from Station San Francisco and launched an MH-65 rescue helicopter from Air Station San Francisco and also issued an urgent marine information broadcast. The person reporting also responded with his 17-foot skiff. When the Coast Guard helicopter crew arrived on scene, they found twelve people clingling to pilings. All tweleve people in the water were wearing lifejackets.

The rescue swimmer from the helicopter was sent into the water to start rescue efforts. The man driving the 17-foot skiff was also on scene and he teamed with the rescue swimmer in pulling 11 people out of the water and transporting them to nearby land in the vicinity of the Oakland Airport. The helicopter rescue crew hoisted one person from the water and transported him to the airport where he was treated for hypothermia by Oakland Fire Department personnel.

The twelve canoers are from the Out-riggers Canoe Club based out of the San Leandro Marina.

The Coast Guard reminds boaters to file a float plan so that any deviance can be quickly reported and responded to, as demonstrated in this case. Wearing lifejackets also significantly contributed to the successful rescue of all twelve people.

WCATWC: West Coast and Alaska tsunami warning center

NOAA and the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program are conducting the first multi-state tsunami exercise for the U.S./Canadian Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands coasts on April 2, 2009.

The exercise is intended to provide a framework for emergency management agencies to test and review tsunami response plans. The Participant Handbook can be downloaded by clicking on LANTEX09HandbookV3.pdf

Related note: WCATWC Product Change Effective February 12, 2008

WCATWC product definitions have changed to better align with other National Weather Service products and to provide more specific information regarding tsunami threat. The main change is to the Tsunami Advisory. Previously, a Tsunami Advisory indicated that a Tsunami Warning or Watch had been issued for another section of the ocean coast. As of February 12 2008, WCATWC Tsunami Advisories will be considered a low-level tsunami threat and indicate that a moderate tsunami impact is possible. No significant inundation is expected for areas under advisory, but strong currents dangerous to those in or very near the ocean are possible.

Further information: on WCATWC products is provided at wcatwc.arh.noaa.gov/Products/msgdefs.htm. The NWS Service Change Notice explaining the change can be viewed at www.nws.noaa.gov/om/notification/scn07-51ccatsunami.txt.

West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center (WCATWC) product definitions will change to the definitions provided below on February 12, 2008. The products issued by the center are warning, watch, advisory, and information statement. Each has a distinct meaning relating to local emergency response. In summary:

Warning -> Inundating wave possible -> Full evacuation suggested

Watch -> Danger level not yet known -> Stay alert for more info

Advisory -> Strong currents likely -> Stay away from the shore

Information -> Minor waves at most -> No action suggested

Based on seismic data analysis or forecasted amplitude (dependent on whether the center has obtained sea level data), WCATWC will issue the appropriate product. Procedural criteria are summarized in the linked bar chart. Warnings and Advisories suggest that action be taken. Watches are issued to provide an early alert for areas that are distant from the wave front, but may have danger. Once the danger level is determined, the watch is upgraded to a warning or advisory, or canceled. The full definition of each message is given below. See Section 5.1 for examples and descriptions of all WCATWC products.

Tsunami Warning - a tsunami warning is issued when a potential tsunami with significant widespread inundation is imminent or expected. Warnings alert the public that widespread, dangerous coastal flooding accompanied by powerful currents is possible and may continue for several hours after arrival of the initial wave. Warnings also alert emergency management officials to take action for the entire tsunami hazard zone. Appropriate actions to be taken by local officials may include the evacuation of low-lying coastal areas, and the repositioning of ships to deep waters when there is time to safely do so. Warnings may be updated, adjusted geographically, downgraded, or canceled. To provide the earliest possible alert, initial warnings are normally based only on seismic information. For an example of the National Weather Service (NWS) format tsunami warning CLICK HERE. For a warning cancellation, CLICK HERE.

Tsunami Watch - a tsunami watch is issued to alert emergency management officials and the public of an event which may later impact the watch area. The watch area may be upgraded to a warning or advisory - or canceled - based on updated information and analysis. Therefore, emergency management officials and the public should prepare to take action. Watches are normally issued based on seismic information without confirmation that a destructive tsunami is underway. For an example of the NWS format tsunami watch CLICK HERE.

Tsunami Advisory - a tsunami advisory is issued due to the threat of a potential tsunami which may produce strong currents or waves dangerous to those in or near the water. Coastal regions historically prone to damage due to strong currents induced by tsunamis are at the greatest risk. The threat may continue for several hours after the arrival of the initial wave, but significant widespread inundation is not expected for areas under an advisory. Appropriate actions to be taken by local officials may include closing beaches, evacuating harbors and marinas, and the repositioning of ships to deep waters when there is time to safely do so. Advisories are normally updated to continue the advisory, expand/contract affected areas, upgrade to a warning, or cancel the advisory. For an example of the NWS format tsunami advisory CLICK HERE.

Tsunami Information Statement - a tsunami information statement is issued to inform emergency management officials and the public that an earthquake has occurred, or that a tsunami warning, watch or advisory has been issued for another section of the ocean. In most cases, information statements are issued to indicate there is no threat of a destructive tsunami and to prevent unnecessary evacuations as the earthquake may have been felt in coastal areas. An information statement may, in appropriate situations, caution about the possibility of destructive local tsunamis. Information statements may be re-issued with additional information, though normally these messages are not updated. However, a watch, advisory or warning may be issued for the area, if necessary, after analysis and/or updated information becomes available. For an example of the NWS format information statement CLICK HERE.