TGIF: Deadly Airports, Active Shooter Response, Right Address, Wrong Town, Cellphones Key to Investigations, and 70 Years Ago

Hang on, here we go......

Deadly Airports: MIT recently ran a series of simulations to determine which U.S. airports were the most likely candidates to facilitate the worldwide spread of an epidemic. Because of the interplay of three factors - connectivity, traffic and geography - results were not necessarily what some seasoned air travelers might expect:  

Kennedy Airport is ranked first by the model, followed by airports in Los Angeles, Honolulu, San Francisco, Newark, Chicago (O'Hare) and Washington (Dulles). Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, which is first in number of flights, ranks eighth in contagion influence.

To learn more, use the links below:

• New Model of Disease Contagion Ranks U.S. Airports in Terms of Their Spreading Influence (MIT News, July 23, 2012)
• The Role of U.S. Airports in Disease Epidemics Video (MIT Video, 1:02)
• A Metric of Influential Spreading during Contagion Dynamics through the Air Transportation Network (PLoS ONE, July 19, 2012)

Active Shooter Response: For some time now the Emergency Management Institute (EMI) has made available an online course that teaches strategies for dealing with an active shooter incident (the Aurora incident of last week).  It only takes about 45 minutes to complete, you'll get CEU credits from FEMA, it's FREE, and it very well could save your life.  Use the link below to access the course:

IS-907 - Active Shooter: What You Can Do

Right Address, Wrong Town: A Georgia man has died after a dispatcher sent the response to the correct address, but in the wrong town.  Sound familiar?  If not, see: The 9-1-1 Carnage Continues....  Otherwise, you can find details of this incident below:

911 Dispatcher Sends Paramedics to Wrong Address: Diabetic Man Dies (WBCRadio.com, July 19, 2012)

Cellphones Key to Investigations: Here's the lead-in:

In the first public accounting of its kind, cellphone carriers reported that they responded to a startling 1.3 million demands for subscriber information last year from law enforcement agencies seeking text messages, caller locations and other information in the course of investigations.

If you would like to read more on this one, use the link below:

More Demands on Cell Carriers in Surveillance (New York Times, July 8, 2012)

70 Years Ago: Courtsey of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers effort at the Lockheed Burbank Aircraft Plant during World War II - here's proof that just because you have a photo from above, you don't necessarily know for sure, what's below: 

Details about this story are available at:

Can You Spot the Airbase? The Elaborate Disguise Painted Over a California Airplane Plant During WWII to Hide It From Japanese (Mail Online. July 19, 2012)

Comment: As always, have a great weekend!

Lead graphic: MIT