"Tuesday afternoon, after my family returned from the mandatory evacuation, I set about compiling a list of items reportedly required at various local evacuee shelters. Evacuation centers required bedding for seniors taken in from nursing homes, others needed bedding and clothing; others were cold and asked for blankets or sleeping bags. The places where evacuees could take large animals were filling up and owners had to stay with their animals. Qualcomm Stadium reportedly needed just about everything – food, paper products, chairs, clothing, bedding, etc.

"After gathering bags of clothing, bedding, eight sleeping bags, and cash, I set out like Santa on my rounds. What I found: Some centers were accepting money donations, but most said they had everything they could use. Not just the minimum or just the basics, but everything. At Qualcomm stadium I found an army of volunteers sorting a mountain of donations and an hour-long line of people waiting to contribute. The excess was going straight to the Salvation Army for redistribution.

"I returned home with an incredible sense of awe and a renewed faith in my neighbors. Where else besides America’s Finest City could 300,000 people be evacuated and then be supplied through donations with everything the evacuation centers required within 24 to 48 hours? I have been smiling and thinking of other ways to help ever since."

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Chet Namboodri [cnambood@cisco.com] of CISCO commented on my views of CISCO involvement in the "wireless wars":

"We at Cisco read your 'Industrial Wireless Wars' article and your eNews item on 'The CISCO factor'. We appreciate the recognition of our influence. Here are some comments:

• Your statement: 'Cisco - Alliances with Everyone' may be a bit overstated, when citing only two such instances in your article, Rockwell Automation and Emerson. CISCO will and does collaborate with all major Industrial Automation providers who are recognizing IT/controls convergence benefits for end-users and are actively promoting open IP standards for control and plant networking. Both Rockwell and Emerson fit this category. Essentially, we are partnering with Automation suppliers where there is clear alignment and momentum that benefits end users, and of course, Cisco. Would you expect otherwise?
• On wireless standards for controls and sensor networks, we do recognize the 'battle lines' - even some of the subtleties - and are essentially seeking to maximize the relevance of 802.11 Wi-Fi for industrial environments.
• Regarding Cisco-related April-07 news releases with Rockwell, followed by "radio silence", then Sep-07 with Emerson, we are truly at fault for lacking rhythm in keeping the press updated on very substantive activities with Rockwell since announcing our collaboration.

More to come very soon! You'll see in our investment choices that we are committed to the Industrial Ethernet space as a significant revenue growth opportunity for Cisco, improving production visibility/productivity/safety/ROA/ regulatory compliance by using the network as the platform to solve these business concerns.

"Even though CISCO may not fully understand the fragmented, tribal, even religious nature of the Industrial Automation market, we see Industrial Ethernet as a market transition in which we intend to participate, accelerate, and share in the benefits that Manufacturers realize with more open IP networking standards for HMI/SCADA, control, I/O and device layers."

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Margaret Lowery [marget1927@yahoo.com] comments on recent eNews topics:

"I really enjoyed Tom Friedman on the Quiet generation. There were a bunch of UCSD students here to escape smoke. Nice kids, but that's what they are - just kids. I keep remembering my sister's grand nephew coming from Israel and commenting on how immature our young people are.

"Why doesn't anybody suggest raising the salary limit for Social Security taxes to infinity? Surely somebody has figures on how much money that would bring each day. Are we so afraid of those whose take-home pay is astronomical? Of course, they're the big donors to political campaigns and that must be at least part of the reason why they're immune. As Warren Buffett said somewhere, his secretary pays more taxes than he does."

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