Month: September 2011

Texas wildfires: More evidence of climate change

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Six of the 10 largest wildfires in Texas history occurred in 2011. This year’s wildfire in Bastrop County set a somber state record for destruction: the highest number of homes lost in a single fire in Texas history.

Although it’s too soon to determine the total amount of insured property losses caused by Texas wildfires, 2011 is projected to be the worst in state history according to a spokesperson of the Insurance Council of Texas. The cost may exceed $150 million. The previous cost record was set in 2009, when fires caused more than $100 million in insured property damages statewide. In fact, Texas is currently dealing with its third yearlong wildfire season since 2005 — and its most severe. Others were in 2008 and 2009. Continue Reading →

Student interns get an inside view of the city of Houston

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This past summer, two Rice engineering undergraduate students, Robyn Moscowitz ’12 and Vivas Kumar ’14, worked for the City of Houston as inaugural members of a program with the City of Houston, Rice Center for Engineering Leadership (RECL) and the Baker Institute for Public Policy. Mentored by Rice alumnus and George R. Brown School of Engineering lecturer Tory Gattis, the students served as internal information technology consultants. The students’ observations follow after the jump. Continue Reading →

The threat to New York and Washington: What does it mean?

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Last night the news broke on a possible threat to New York and/or Washington involving vehicle bombs.

Understanding the significance of the threat is partly dependent on understanding the terminology. The alert cited “specific, credible, but unconfirmed“ information. Credible information was developed overseas, however independent corroborations of the information has not been possible. The credibility of the source is an assessment made by the intelligence community, and it involves not only the reliability of the source, but the likelihood the source would have been given or obtained accurate information. Continue Reading →

How did Sept. 11 affect U.S. foreign policy?

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Did the attacks of September 11, 2001, change U.S. foreign policy?

Yes. And much for the worse.

In retrospect, declaring a “war on terror” — however explicable in the panic of the period — was an error of vast consequences. It elevated Al Qaeda into a rival of the United States, rather than reducing it to a criminal conspiracy. From the outset, we should have attempted to lower, not raise, the status of Al Qaeda and similar groups. Continue Reading →