Short Takes – 2-23-23

Most young men are single. Most young women are not. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: “Social circles have been shrinking for men and women, especially since the pandemic, but men struggle more. Thirty years ago, 55 percent of men reported having six or more close friends. By 2021, that share had slipped to 27 percent.”

A Norfolk Southern Policy Lets Officials Order Crews to Ignore Safety Alerts. ProPublica.org article. Pull quote: “While some employees and outside experts say there are times in which such policies safely benefit business operations, union officials believe they are emblematic of Precision Scheduled Railroading, the most controversial — and profitable — innovation that’s come out of the country’s seven biggest railroads, the so-called Class 1s, in the last decade. It prioritizes keeping rail cars and locomotives in constant motion.”

Railroad pushback to safety regulations scrutinized amid East Palestine disaster. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: ““The NTSB’s independent investigators continue their work to identify the accident’s root cause and contributing factors,” Association of American Railroads CEO Ian Jefferies said in a statement. “That investigation must continue unimpeded by politics and speculation so NTSB’s findings can guide what additional measures may have prevented this accident.””

U-2 Spy Planes Snooped On Chinese Surveillance Balloon. TheDrive.com article. Interesting details. Pull quote: “On top of that, each U-2S can be configured to collect multiple types of intelligence simultaneously, as you can read more about here. One common sensor loadout for the Dragon Lady consists of the Senior Glass signals intelligence suite, components of which are spread between bays in the fuselage and two underwing 'Super Pods' when it is installed, together with either the Senior Year Electro Optical Reconnaissance System-2 (SYERS-2) or Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar System-2 (ASARS-2) in the nose. SYERS-2 is a multi-spectral camera system that can produce high-resolution imagery of a target, even at night. ASARS-2 also produces images, but by using a radar operating in a synthetic aperture mode, giving it an all-weather capability.”

Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) Documentation. Federal Register FEMA 30-day ICR Notice. Summary: “The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will submit the information collection abstracted below to the Office of Management and Budget for review and clearance in accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The submission will describe the nature of the information collection, the categories of the respondents, the estimated burden (i.e. the time, effort and resources used by respondents to respond) and cost, and the actual data collection instruments FEMA will use.” Comment deadline March 4^th, 2023.

Notice of Public Meetings in 2023 for International Standards on the Transport of Dangerous Goods. Federal Register PHMSA meeting notice. Summary: “This notice announces that PHMSA's Office of Hazardous Materials Safety will host four public meetings during 2023 in advance of certain international meetings. For each of these meetings, PHMSA will solicit public input on current proposals.” Dates will be available on PHMSA website.

Georgia on My Mind, Once More. StatusKuo.Substack.com article. Interesting take on recent GA grand-jury foreperson comments. Pull quote: “All that said, when and if indictments do come down from the regular grand jury, these recommendations and the forewoman’s behavior will likely be forgotten as Trump and his followers direct their ire at District Attorney Fani Willis. After all, she holds the ultimate decision making authority and responsibility. In all likelihood, we will remember only that the jury forewoman gave us a pretty good heads up.”

Our Best Look Yet At The Chinese Spy Balloon’s Massive Payload. TheDrive.com article. Pull quote: “Altogether, the detail visible in this picture is remarkable for just a selfie taken with a wide-angle camera. The U-2S pilots should have been able to collect far better imagery with more capable cameras with telephoto lenses, as well as potentially the aircraft's very powerful electro-optical suite. The planes could have been able to collect valuable signals intelligence on the balloon, as well — that is if it was radiating any electromagnetic emissions at all.”

Norfolk Southern Railway Train Derailment with Subsequent Hazardous Material Release and Fires. NTSB.gov report. Preliminary data report – no findings. Pull quote: “The NTSB’s investigation is ongoing. Future investigative activity will focus on the wheelset and bearing; tank car design and derailment damage; a review of the accident response, including the venting and burning of the vinyl chloride; railcar design and maintenance procedures and practices; NS use of wayside defect detectors; and NS railcar inspection practices.”