Added by Chris Bennett on September 1, 2010 at 8:00am —
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What is that goofy-looking barcode to your right, you ask? It's called a QR (Quick Response) Code and it can store over 4,000 alphanumeric characters in this two dimensional black and white image. Think of it as a cryptogram or cipher readable by mobile devices. The one displayed here for instance ac
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Added by Chris Bennett on August 25, 2010 at 2:49pm —
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Last week Twitter announced Fast Follow, a way for citizens to subscribe to your Tweets via S…
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Added by Chris Bennett on August 18, 2010 at 12:51pm —
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Today's CB2 is by far the least uplifting to date with at least three major active crises in the eastern hemisphere:
1. Heat, Smog, and Death in Moscow
7,000 are estimated dead so far from record temperatures in Moscow and may climb as high as 15,000 in the weeks ahead, putting it in competition for the deadliest heat wave in recorded history. This figure comes from a mo
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Added by Chris Bennett on August 11, 2010 at 8:00am —
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Le Président Jean?

I, like many of you, read t
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Added by Chris Bennett on August 4, 2010 at 11:03am —
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Mobile emergency notifications can save lives by getting important messages out to (or soliciting them from) the public quickly. Whether it's a phone call delivering a tornado warning minutes before touchdown or a text message alerting students of a shooter on campus, there's no doubt that it's an invaluable service when done right.
But what do I mean, "
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Added by Chris Bennett on July 28, 2010 at 1:50pm —
3 Comments
It hasn't hit the mainstream yet, but Florida residents need to keep an eye on what could become Tropical Storm Bonnie heading their way this weekend. Keep an eye out for a special edition CB2 should Bonnie pose a serious threat.
Forecast track
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Added by Chris Bennett on July 21, 2010 at 12:01pm —
4 Comments
Where to begin? How does someone who has dedicated the better part of the past 5 years to family disaster preparedness come to terms with the conclusion that people who prepare will always represent such a tiny minority? In this week's CB2, I'll break from the oil spill temporarily to present an issue that's been weighing heavily on my mind.
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Added by Chris Bennett on July 14, 2010 at 12:54pm —
16 Comments
It's day 77 and we as a whole are losing interest in the oil spill. The top two CNN.com headlines right now are about Bobby Fischer and the heat wave, what caught my attention this morning is, "Oh cool. LiLo is going to jail," and if you prefer numbers, Google search traffic for "oil spill" is down 63% since late May.
This shouldn't come as a surprise, as our collective attention spans for disasters
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Added by Chris Bennett on July 7, 2010 at 1:11pm —
2 Comments

With the strengthening of
Hurricane Alex, today marks the first hurricane of the 2010 season, and the 70th day since the Deepwater Horizon explosion. The question on everyone's mind is without a doubt,
"What impact will a hurricane have on the oil spill…
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Added by Chris Bennett on June 30, 2010 at 12:30pm —
13 Comments
A Shout-out to Heroes
With all the talk of heroes on GovLoop, I thought it would be cool to highlight some of the real heroes in this oil spill: the National Guard and Coast Guard. Over 2,000 of these men and women have dropped everything to work around the clock protecting our coast and wildlife from the threat of oil.
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Added by Chris Bennett on June 23, 2010 at 8:00am —
7 Comments

I just arrived back in New Orleans to begin planning the next phase of the nearshore oil vacuuming process for BP and
US Flood Control. Just as it sounds, we'll be vacuuming oil that has accumulated in waters too shallow for larger barges or skimming. It's a huge job, but
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Added by Chris Bennett on June 16, 2010 at 8:00am —
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The oil spill is the largest ecological catastrophe of my lifetime, yet it's very different than most other disasters. We all care about it some, but it's hard to care about it as much as other crises on this scale. In this post I will explain why I believe so, then provide my Top 3 Needs (after "cap the damn well" of course).
- The oil spill presents no immediate threat to the
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Added by Chris Bennett on June 9, 2010 at 8:00am —
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Hey GovLoopers! I’m happy to announce that I’ll be contributing
Chris Bennett’s Crisis Blog (or CB2, not to be confused with Chris Rock’s “rockumentary”
CB4) each Wednesday, highlighting cool and important things going on in emergency technology. Please share the comment love to kick this off!
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Added by Chris Bennett on June 2, 2010 at 9:23am —
8 Comments
The opening keynotes at the Gov2.0 Expo were overall very impressive. With slides advancing automatically every 15 seconds amounting to 5 minutes per speaker, the presentations were well-rehearsed nuggets highlighting projects run by bright people that everyone should be paying attention to.
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Added by Chris Bennett on May 26, 2010 at 8:41am —
1 Comment
Fellow GovLoopers, today I'm happy to announce the launch of Hero Day - a new organization focused on granting wishes for children of soldiers who have given their lives in service of our country.
My colleague Peter Loui and I started working on this back in November after seeing this photo of five year old MacAidan at his father's funeral:
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Added by Chris Bennett on April 12, 2010 at 4:59pm —
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"...only 18% of Apps.gov services enable agencies to comply with public records laws"
If you're viewing your town's Facebook or Twitter account, chances are the city attorney is still recovering from a social media migraine. And you may think I'm joking, but somewhere in your state
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Added by Chris Bennett on March 26, 2010 at 11:30am —
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