Not to be outdone by the Nintendo press conference earlier today, Sony announced that it was making its portable console, the PSP, more girl-friendly. The company introduced a new Tybee Island Hannah Montana-branded version of the portable device.

The company also touched on a number of’ family friendly games for the device, including Petz and Rock Band Unplugged.

(Via http://feeds.ziffdavis.com/ziffdavis/gearlog-ziffdavis.)

“Our USA is known around the world as the most creative and productive of the 20th Century.  I am convinced that it has been our heritage of individual liberty that has made it possible for us to show the world how to provide abundant prosperity for all.

If each of us can just see the future as positive and act accordingly, we’ll be fine.  It is not helpful to dwell on the dire aspects of today’s “Hard Times”.

Think about how much better things are now compared to the way they were described by Charles Dickens in the 19th Century.”

God Bless,

Keith Burk
AKA: ‘AncientFool’
Website: keithburk.com

Tybee Island continues to work at the forefront of emergency planning by cooperating with Chatham County’s Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) to replace their old, single site, warning siren with a multi-site system comprised of four Whelen Model 2910 omnidirectional speaker systems. This new system includes both old-style tone warnings, as well as eight pre-recorded messages that spell out in detail the nature of the warning being given.

When needed, live announcements can also be made with the system. With older sirens, which are purely tone-based, the coding system, used to distinguish one warning signal type from the next, might not be known by everyone, and people from other locations may be used to a completely different set of codes.

The system installation will be completed the week of September 15th, and each of the eight messages will be tested before the installation can be signed off. During this week, such tests will be preceded by the message, ‘This is a test. This is a test of the emergency warning system. This is only a test.’ One of the eight recorded announcements will then follow until all sites and all messages have been checked. After acceptance, the warning system will be tested at noon on the first Wednesday of each month, just like the old system.

Mayor Jason Buelterman notes, ”This new, state-of-the-art system will be a significant upgrade in the City’s public warning system. Not only does it provide coverage for the entire Island, including Spanish Hammock and Lazaretto Creek, it will give us the capability of communicating to folks the nature of the emergency.’

‘Tybee is such an outdoor recreation destination, many of our visitors and residents may be out on the beaches or over kayaking in the marshes,’ adds City Manager Diane Schleicher. The Lazaretto Creek loudspeakers will reach across much of the back river marshes and most of the national park at Fort Pulaski.

Because of these large numbers of people outdoors, particularly during the summer season, the City Council wanted to do something to ensure the safety of everyone on the Island in inclement weather, so Jimmy Brown, Tybee’s Emergency Management Director, working with staff from CEMA, first tried to get a grant from the State or Federal governments. Had Tybee recently suffered a disaster, such funding might have been more forthcoming, but the application was denied, so Council decided to move ahead with a new alarm system immediately. Even at $123,000 for the system and $36,000 for installation, it seemed like a wise investment on behalf of the citizens and visitors on the Island!

The system will be tied into CEMA, allowing them to initiate warnings that may affect areas throughout the Savannah-Chatham area. The on-going maintenance of the system will be under CEMA’s direction. Warnings which are specific to Tybee Island can still be initiated locally. Day trippers or visitors with nowhere to go if severe weather strikes suddenly can take advantage of one of the three Safe Sites set up on Tybee: Battery Brumby, located across from the Tybee Island Lighthouse near North Beach; the Tybee Island Gymnasium, in the middle of the Island; or, in the conference rooms at the Ocean Plaza Hotel near the South Beach.

This system is designed to be effective outdoors, although even inside with activity going on, one is likely to hear the initial warning tones that precede each verbal announcement, even if the announcement itself may be unclear. For this reason, people who are indoors when the weather seems to be looking dour should continue to listen to NOAA Weather Radios or tune to local television and radio broadcasts for emergency updates.

Pre-recorded messages for the Tybee Island warning system:

Tone Alert*: discontinuous air horn

TW4 – Tornado warning: ‘Warning! A tornado warning has been issued for our location. Please take shelter immediately.’

EW1 – Evacuation warning: ‘An emergency evacuation of this area is required. Follow evacuation route instructions. Listen to radio and TV for details.’

HW1 – Hurricane warning: ‘Hurricane Warning! A hurricane warning has been issued for this area. Hurricane Warning!’

STW2 – Severe thunderstorm warning: ‘Thunderstorm Warning! A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for this area. Seek shelter away from this area immediately!’

T1 – Test: ‘This is a test. This is a test of the emergency warning system. This is a test.’

CRW1 – 1 – Chemical release: ‘Chemical release! Stay inside buildings and close windows and doors unless advised by authorities to evacuate area. Chemical release! Stay inside buildings and close windows and doors unless advised by authorities to evacuate area. Chemical release!’

Voluntary evacuation: ‘A voluntary evacuation of this area is required. Listen to radio and TV for details.’

Swimmers advisory: ‘A Swimmers Advisory has been issued. Rip tide currents are present. Swim with caution!’

”

(Via The Creative Coast Alliance.)

Films, Food and Fun at Tybee’s North Beach!

Load up the entire family for an old fashioned, ‘summertime experience’ in the comfort of your vehicle! (or just walk or bicycle over to North Beach with your lawn chair, bug spray and radio!)

SHOWING THURSDAY, JULY 31st:

PETER BENCHLEY’S BEACHSIDE THRILLER – ‘JAWS’

Admission: $10 per vehicle, or $5 per individual

Main parking lot gate opens for movie going vehicles at 7:00 PM. Walkers and bikers may enter at North Beach Grill gate, at beach crossovers, or main parking lot gate.

Come early to grab a good spot, take a walk on the beach or get a bite to eat at North Beach Grill. (Optional movie concession sales will also be provided by North Beach Grill including popcorn, snacks & soft drinks.)

(Via The Creative Coast Alliance.)

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Whether you’ve known it as Tybee Island or Savannah Beach, whether you love its history, beautiful beaches, dolphins and turtles, or salt water marshes, whether you come to sit in the sun, swim in the surf, or indulge in some great seafood, it’s TYBEE TIME come October 20th and 21st of 2007.

Tybee Island will celebrate its 120th anniversary with a two-day event starting on October 20.

“Everyone knows about the beach, but what we’re trying to do is highlight the other things Tybee has to offer,” explained Vernon. The celebration will center around Tybee’s history and cultural heritage, with period costumes, music and games from 1887.

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“The whole celebration came about from a grant from the Georgia Council for the Arts and the goal of that grant, which was also matched by the City of Tybee Island [was]…to have more cultural-heritage-type events,” Vernon told us. “And the timing worked out perfectly too, being that we liked the sound of, ‘a dozen decades’ of cultural heritage.”

But that’s not all this anniversary has to offer. Food will be a main event next weekend with the Georgia Shrimpers Association providing locally caught shrimp for everyone to enjoy. The Marine Rescue Squadron will be having a Low Country boil and many local restaurants will be featuring special dishes.

View TYBEE ISLAND Postcard Gallery

Having local food in the festival helps support a local industry, something she wants to see more of on Tybee.And there’ll be lots to learn next weekend as well, with plenty of marine and wildlife exhibits on display. “I think a lot of the activities are geared towards families and children, a lot of educational activities, they’ll be a touch tank called the Sea Circus in Memorial Park,” said Vernon. “The DNR has something called an Ark and that’s a whole exhibit about the coast.”

The research vessel from the Georgia Marine Extension Service will also be docked at Lazaretto Creek on Saturday offering free tours of the ship.

And as part of the anniversary, 120 trees given to the island by the Savannah Tree Foundation will be planted on Tybee over the next two weekends. “The Savannah Tree Foundation received a grant, one of 12 in the nation,” said Vernon. “On Saturday in Memorial Park at 4:30, we’re going to have the planting of the memorial trees, a little cluster of live oak trees.”

The remaining trees will be planted on October 27 between 9am and noon. For information about the Tybee Island tree planting, visit, http://www.savannahtreefoundation.com/.

Vernon says the two-day Tybee celebration will have four main hubs:

“Memorial Park being the central location, then around the pier and on the beach, Lazaretto Creek and then the lighthouse is having a free jazz concert, courtesy of the historical society, and that’s the Skylight Jazz Band from the Savannah Arts Academy,” she said.

A shuttle will run between Memorial Park and the other locations throughout the day, and parking will be free island-wide all weekend long.

“This is about music, history, art, local cuisine, things we should really be proud of,” said Vernon.

The 120 years of Tybee celebration kicks off Saturday, October 20 at 9am with a pancake breakfast at St. Michael’s. For more information and a full schedule of events, visit http://www.celebratetybee.org/index.html.

Tybee’s Mayor has taken to the cyber airways in his fight to gain federal funding for replenishing the roughly 2.5 miles of beachfront on the island.

The town has posted a 10-minute video on YouTube.com, the enormously popular video-sharing site, starring Mayor Jason Buelterman.

"I’ve been surprised at the amount of response, particularly from the media," Buelterman said.

This YouTube lobbying effort was recently featured in the Washington, D.C. publication, The Hill, who’s readership consists of primarily political insiders.

Buelterman said he was inspired to try this approach by 1st District Republican Congressman Jack Kingston’s use of the Internet to get his message out.

Buelterman said that the YouTube spot was primarily an educational tool. "Unlike states with more extensive coastlines, there’s a learning curve about this issue," he said.

Currently, Tybee must request funding from the federal and state government for beach re-nourishment. The video features the top five reasons to fund this project.

To view the video, go to http://youtube.com/watch?v=5MTydJVT5mM.

Bosses everywhere are going to love The Weather Channel. With maps being the number one draw for weather.com visitors, they have teamed up with Microsoft’s Virtual Earth to offer users the ability to see real time weather reports for streets in the U.S.

The Interactive Weather Map can be viewed in either a "road view", or a much cooler satellite view, with different color blobs from greens to grays denoting the weather conditions. Want to see the directional path of the weather condition in your area? Check out the animation feature in the lower right corner, this plays a cycle of animated satellite imagery data, perfect for scrubbing through time while you watch storms and weather systems progress [ via DownloadSquad ]