Sep 11Member-onlyPlease honor and remember 9/11By Michael Prasad For me, I think about 9/11 often — and certainly more than just on 9/11. Would you be surprised that I notice “9:11” on digital clocks at least once a week, since then? I will make this short — I was in NYC (midtown, Park Avenue) on…9 11 Attacks2 min read9 11 Attacks2 min read
Aug 5Member-onlyBeyond the #indictment, changes in our laws are needed.Here’s our take on the August 2023 #indictment of former President Trump, effectively stemming from the January 6, 2021 attack at the U.S. Capitol, from an #EmergencyManagement perspective. Many different disasters occurred on that day, several of which were life threatening and unfortunately deadly. Emergency Management does not focus on…Emergency Management3 min readEmergency Management3 min read
Jul 28Member-onlyThe Buffalo Blizzard of 2022and why everyone needs to understand what Emergency Management can do for any type of disaster. In the beginning of June 2023, I got a chance to read the very detailed After-Action Report/Improvement Plan (AAR/IP) produced by the NYU Wagner’s Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management on the deadly…Disaster Response3 min readDisaster Response3 min read
Jul 20Member-only“Hot Letters” — Social Media Lessons from Abraham LincolnWe have unfortunately, as the New York Times described it in 2014, lost the “art of the unsent angry letter”, as President Lincoln had mastered himself more than 150 years ago. In 2021, Niklas Göke wrote a really good synopsis and analysis of Konnikova’s piece on Lincoln’s Hot Letters, for…Social Media3 min readSocial Media3 min read
Jul 20Member-onlyPrismaticDictionary.com has one definition for the word “Prismatic” as “highly varied or faceted. And through a Google search, I found that Hou De Sousa has an art project called “ Prismatic “ — which is described as “a kaleidoscopic experience of light, color, and space that frames a myriad of…Diversity5 min readDiversity5 min read
Jul 20Member-onlySolastalgiaThis is the word for the distress caused by environmental change. Disasters can be a big part of this. The term “Solastalgia” was first coined by Australian philosopher Glenn Albrecht in 2005. Similar in some ways to Nostalgia — the longing for home or place of comfort, which is no…Solastalgia5 min readSolastalgia5 min read
Jul 20Member-onlyLife by a Thousand BandagesUndoubtedly you may have heard of the phrase “Death by a Thousand Cuts” — meaning it’s the little, tiny problems that add together to make an insurmountable disaster. I believe there is an antithesis to this as well — there can be “life by a thousand bandages” — meaning it’s…Emergency Management3 min readEmergency Management3 min read
Jul 20Member-onlyThe Butterfly Effect on Emergency ManagementEdward Lorenz’s more than 50-year-old premise, which starts out that “if a single flap of a butterfly’s wings can be instrumental in generating a tornado” certainly sounds like it has a direct impact on disasters, but it was designed as a metaphor for chaos theory. There’s even a paper published…Emergency Management6 min readEmergency Management6 min read
Mar 22Member-onlyCommander-in-Chief — with one big asteriskThe U.S. President — as described by the White House and codified in the U.S. Constitution in Article 2, Section 2, Clause 1 — is also the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. armed forces. There were a number of reasons the founders of the country wanted an elected civilian in this…Politics4 min readPolitics4 min read
Published inPolitically Speaking·Mar 10Member-onlyDoes Congress Have the Political Will To Heal Its Own January 6th Wounds?Solutions can be found in Emergency Management principles, starting with “Unified Command” and “Unity of Effort” — Part 1 — So, here’s the bottom line up front: the current structure of command and control of the safety and security elements (i.e., the U.S. Capitol Police) at the U.S. Capitol Complex is a bureaucratic mess. The Capitol Police Board oversees the steady-state security and safety operations like a mythical Cerberus but…Jan5 min readJan5 min read