Reprocutions on FIRST teams from New York events

[Leon Machado IV]

I don't know how many people have seen this but FIRST has posted consolances on their webpage.

In case you mind isn't working right now or this is your first time visiting FIRST, their webpage is at http://www.usfirst.org. See ya.

[Carolyn Duncan]

Originally posted by Jessica Boucher
Im sorry if this opinion is recoiled with great dissention, but I think Carolyn was literally misinterpreted, due to the great amount of snap judgements made concerning the disaster yesterday (which isn't wrong to have happened, it is a normal reaction to crisis situations).

Anger isn't going to help us right now, it makes us no better than them. What can be found out, is how the American people, in connection with supporting nations, can help repairing the damage done and making sure it won't happen again.

I think the question now is how we as a community, within FIRST and within the world, can help eachother begin the repair process. Personally, if I had started a thread like this, I would not want to start it off with "Ok, so who do you know was directly affected by this?"...we do not know everyone here on such a personal level. Sponsorship is something that everyone within FIRST can relate to, which I think is why it was chosen as a topic of discussion.

In any case, the question remains in my head: How can I help? How can we help?

Thanks Jess,
That was what I was going for. I realize the country is experiencing a great loss right now, I myself am waiting to hear from friends in NYC. Right now the loss of life is on everyone's minds. In my opinion that is not the only thing we should be thinking about. We also have to prepare ourselves for the financial hole we are about to find ourselves in. The WTC was the, I dare say, financial center of the country. There is much to worry about from every angle. I recieved an email that I will post tomorrow. It is an editorial from a Canada newspaper. Anyway, I would like to share something that I was reminded of by Joe Ross. "In the city of God there will be a great thunder, two brothers torn apart by chaos, while the fortress endures, the great leader will succomb. The third big war will begin when the city is burning." ~ Nostrodamus 1654 [thanx for reminding me Joe] I think that speaks for itself. I also know, from friends in Euope, that this has many counrties ready to help us retaliate. They are scared too and want to help. I think this will be a great change in the world and all the people who served in WWI and II will no longer be able to say we don't understand what they fought for.

[patrickrd]

The loss of life in New York City, DC, and Pennsylvania truly is horrendous. However, as has been mentioned, we must accept what has happened and our country will go on -- as strong (if not stronger) than ever.

In my economics class today, we discussed the economic implications of this disaster, and I will share some of the key points my professor mentioned:

• The world trade center was targeted, representing an attack sn the symbol of trade and the American economy
• The New York Stock Exchange closes for three or more days -- the most since World War I
• NASDAQ has no physical location and operationally is untouched
• The value of american dollar in other countries immediately dropped following the attack, but has since recovered
• Stocks will likely open on Friday or Monday at a much lower price than they opened, but it is unlikely to see many americans selling stocks, given the increased moral and patriotism following the attacks.
• Responses to this attack can and will effect the economy, should they happen
• Wars historically are very good for economy short-term, bad long-term
• Public level of confidence directly effects spending and economy. no signs that consumer confidence will drop

In the words of Franklin Roosevelt, especially with regards to the economy, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

I'd post more thoughts, but have to go to class.

Patrick

[Kyle Fenton]

NASDAQ has no physical location and operationally is untouched

NASDAQ does have a physical building. That is the tower with the TV screen all on one side of the building in Times Square. Where the actual trading takes place is in a server in Connecticut in a rural affluent town. However no one from the public has ever seen these servers before.

The stock market is primary being closed because it is really difficult to get down to Wal Street, they have to prove that Wal Street is safe for investors (probably the Army is going to be there for a couple of days), and many finical documents were lost during the WTC collapse. However I think that a good number of those finical records were kept on computer and backed up on servers all throughout the world.

The biggest thing that is lost, besides the lost of life, is the insurance pollicies. Most of them are kept on computer disks, but many before the 1970s were kept on paper, and stored in the WTC. Some of those insurance plans may have lost coverage, and people are force to live with no insurance.

[Leon Machado IV]

All those records had an exact duplicate that was kept across the river. We're a little bit smarter than that (I think).