a new role for VOEvent packets

[Rob Seaman]

Catching up after the holidays - see appended RISKS article.

How about <VOEvent role="safety" ...> to issue an alert to be delivered
only if the rabid bats git you?  In any event (Oh! I kill even me!),  
this
could be a way to issue an alert triggering on the non-occurrence of  
some
phenomenon.

While I've got you all on the line, a non-VOEvent related request:
Please forward any reports of "issues" related to the recent leap  
second.
We're compiling these (should any arrive) in anticipation of renewed
hijinks from the precision timing community.

Rob
---

SafetyText
<Nick Brown <Nick.BROWN at coe.int>>
Mon, 28 Nov 2005 17:17:20 +0100
A new UK-based service called SafetyText (http://www.safetytext.com/)
enables you to send a text message which will be delivered after a  
certain
delay unless canceled.

The idea seems to be that, before exposing yourself to danger, you  
send a
text - say, "Help, I'm being attacked by rabid bats" before entering  
a cave
- and then it will be sent if you don't emerge from the cave in time to
cancel it.

The risks are left as an exercise to the reader, but here are some  
pointers
to get you started:

- SMS messaging delivery is inherently unreliable, so maybe your "help"
   text won't get through...

- ... or maybe your "cancel" text won't get through.

- Many people receiving such a text, regardless of how it's phrased,  
will
   tend to assume the worst (despite the "don't panic" instructions  
on the
   service's Web site) and will send in the emergency services on a  
possibly
   unnecessary search for someone who just happens to be out of GSM  
service
   range.

I'm also slightly worried that the same short number used for the  
SafetyText
service - 63344 - appears in the banner advert above the site's start  
page,
which at the present time invites me to send the name of Coldplay's lead
singer to win tickets to see them in concert.  I hope they don't  
launch a
particularly popular game while I'm being attacked by the rabid bats.