Post · bonfire.cafe

Interesting, the Texas Department of State Health Services had put in a new requirement (post Camp Mystic) that all youth camps have fiber optic Internet service. (being challenged in court)

"...The Texas Department of State Health Services has reached an agreement with a group of youth camp operators regarding legal requirements that all camps licensed by DSHS maintain fiber optic internet service.

Under the agreement, camps that maintain a redundant, broadband internet service will not face potential license denial or revocation for not having fiber service during the 2026 camping season, as long as they meet all other safety requirements...."

https://www.dshs.texas.gov/news-alerts/dshs-reaches-agreement-fiber-optic-requirement-youth-camps

#TXwx #disasters #CampMystic

#campmystic #txwx #disasters

Matt Blaze

@mattblaze@federate.social · 3 hours ago

@ai6yr Is this for emergency alerting? That seems like a very specific requirement that doesn't correlate especially well with reliability. Why not satellite or terrestrial wireless? And is fiber service even available everywhere there are camps?

Jim Hubbell

@Dougfir@m.ai6yr.org · 2 hours ago

@mattblaze @ai6yr
Didn't the county in Texas turn down a $25 million grant for establishing a warning system?

Jim Hubbell

@Dougfir@m.ai6yr.org · 2 hours ago

@mattblaze @ai6yr
I'm old enough to remember when the NWS would send out alerts to radios that could set off alarms to wake people. You know, for tornadoes or flash floods.

Matt Blaze

@mattblaze@federate.social · 2 hours ago

@Dougfir @ai6yr They still do. But coverage is not uniform, and the stations are held together with chewing gum.

AI6YR Ben

@ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org · 3 hours ago

@mattblaze Yeah, this is because their cell phone towers failed at Camp Mystic. Seems like a problem with fiber distribution not being available in a lot of places.

tom jennings

@tomjennings@tldr.nettime.org · 2 hours ago

@ai6yr

I dont understand why the requirement is not for "fireproof and redundant means of communication" instead of such a specific thing, fiber, unless its a wink towards some favored provider c

@mattblaze

`Da Elf

@elfin@mstdn.social · 2 hours ago

@tomjennings @ai6yr @mattblaze At the risk of repeating myself ... Follow the Money. Soe vendor wants those contracts and a brown envelope or two has passed hands ... every fucking time.

And seriously, Fiber is NOT fireproof, unless it's deep underground and then you still have the endpoints (that melt).

And there's always this ...

Image of a Squirrel chewing on a cable (little bastard) with the caption reading:

"Squirrel blamed for entire government internet outage in Ohio." — Image of a Squirrel chewing on a cable (little bastard) with the caption reading: "Squirrel blamed for entire government internet outage in Ohio."

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Matt Blaze

@mattblaze@federate.social · 2 hours ago

@ai6yr Once again, it would be great if there were simple consumer/lite-commercial-grade multi-receiver EAS boxes available. But there are only specialized boxes aimed at broadcast stations. (That's how the cellphone companies are getting their alerts (in many cases)).

Matt Blaze

@mattblaze@federate.social · 2 hours ago

@ai6yr The cheapest broadcast-station boxes are north of $2K and require a lot of configuration.

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AI6YR Ben

@ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org · 2 hours ago

@mattblaze In theory, this is what a WEA capable weather receiver is, the distribution medium being the NWS radio frequencies.

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