Esri has rolled out another handy social news map, this time to monitor social media news and updates regarding wildfires and related activities, particularly with focus on the situation in Texas. Some details provided to us by Esri… th Esri Wildfires Map shows fire related information in and around the central Texas region. It is free to use and can be easily customized for news coverage. To change the center of the map simply zoom or pan to an area of interest. Turn layers on or off to adjust the display. Use the social button and the gear icon to change the search for social tags and date ranges. Upon completion of changes use the Share button to create a unique URL to your custom map or use the accompanying code to embed the map on your site.
Archives for September 6, 2011
2011 – Year Of The Billion $$ Disasters – Costliest Year Ever According to NOAA
The United States has so far this year experienced nine separate disasters, each with an economic loss of $1 billion or more — tying the record set in 2008 – Hurricane Irene was the tipping point which now set a record breaking year for the number of $billion disasters!
Economic damage costs to date in the US exceed $35 Billion. This damage amount does not yet take into account the losses from Hurricane Irene. Here is a preliminary summary of 10 U.S. Billion dollar disasters that have occurred so far in 2011:
- Hurricane Irene, August 20-29, 2011
- Upper Midwest Flooding, Summer, 2011
- Mississippi River flooding, Spring-Summer, 2011
- Southern Plains/Southwest Drought, Heatwave, & Wildfires, Spring-Summer, 2011
- Midwest/Southeast Tornadoes, May 22-27, 2011
- Southeast/Ohio Valley/Midwest Tornadoes, April 25-30, 2011
- Midwest/Southeast Tornadoes, April 14-16, 2011
- Southeast/Midwest Tornadoes, April 8-11, 2011
- Midwest/Southeast Tornadoes, April 4-5, 2011
- Groundhog Day Blizzard, Jan 29-Feb 3, 2011
All one needs to do is consult this State Frequency map to see that the US South and South-East is the most diaster prone are of the country, with much devastation see in Texas, Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky…
NOAA’s National Weather Service taking action to build a Weather-ready nation – In partnership with other government agencies, researchers, and the private sector, the National Weather Service is charting a path to a weather-ready nation. See more details HERE
Test Freaks – A Handy Consumer Reviews Mashup
Looking for new hardware or devices? Here’s a resource that could be quite useful for you – Test Freaks. The Test Freaks resource provides detailed product descriptions, reviews, consumer reviews, ratings, images, and more – all with no pressure from the Big brands . As an example, I was wanting to check out specs and details on the latest Samsung Android OS smartphone. Using the site I found the listing I wanted for the Samsung Galaxy S II. The cool product review mashup scrapes a number of web resources providing access to over 170 reviews, numerous user photos and hands-on videos, revealing a user score of 8.9 to me what I find quite interesting, an overall ranking of #3 in the cell phone category which has over 5400 devices – this relative ranking is quite innovative and pretty useful for camparison shopping also. Finally, if I so elect, I can also like this device using the fb like button and share with my friends. Additionally, Test Freaks enables me to +1 on Google so I can start a discussion over on that resource with my social contacts, perhaps asking people I know socially how they feel about it. Test Freaks also offers up the following info about products: Video reviews, news, opinions, specs, user forums, Q&A, and an overall freak score
Finally, I’m offered about 10 various options to purchase online via popular e-tailers like Amazon, Ebay and more, revealing about a $100 price swing depending on the retailer I elect to buy from… Indeed a handy consumer resource, particularly for info on electronic devices. See http://www.testfreaks.com or find Test Freak on Twotter @TestFreaks or on Facebook
