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Instagram (front) interface til visuel /grafisk historie, 2017 https://www.instagram.com/whereis_home/

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Submarinechannel 2017

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About Poppy Interactive

The interactive documentary POPPY takes you on an eye-opening journey that reveals how drug money destabilizes entire countries, fuels global conflicts and allows a worldwide illegal economy to grow.

The implosion of Libya, Syria and Iraq has gone hand in hand with the rise of Islamic State and groups such as al Qaeda. Many of those rebel movements have spawned from Afghanistan during the Cold War.

Globalisation has allowed the very same forces driving the fragmentation of Afghanistan to replicate elsewhere in the world in ever more violent ways.

POPPY Interactive is a protracted investigation spanning over 20 years and covering the global nexus of drugs, war and organized crime using photo, video, radio reports and found footage.

Guided by POPPY 's interactive maps you will explore three interconnected routes across the world, covering countries and cities on opposite sides of the globe, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Dubai, London, Washington and Brussels.

During your journey you will discover that the connection between war, organized crime and chronic poverty is tight and complex.

You will meet opium farmers, war lords, drug traffickers, Tajiki border guards (living on a meagre salary of 20 dollars a month), a worried mom in streets of East London, and many more. All these people are part of a large, frayed fabric that is creating havoc in many parts of the world.

About the makers

Antoinette de Jong (Tilburg, 1964) and Robert Knoth (Rotterdam, 1963) are visual storytellers whose work has embraced photography, video, in-depth journalism, radio, installations and book projects. In their highly personal work they aim to show the layered complexity of various social, economic and political issues and the effects of those issues on ordinary people.

They have reported from some of the world's main conflict and post-conflict areas. Antoinette lived and worked in Afghanistan during the 1990s under the Taliban regime. Robert has covered Afghanistan, the war in the former Yugoslavia, and the civil wars in Angola, Somalia and Sierra Leone.

Following their prestigious book, POPPY: Trails of Afghan Heroin, and a renowned video installation, this new interactive documentary by de Jong and Knoth combines analysis and a fact-based global perspective with intimate personal stories. It took them more than 20 years to unravel an impressive and elusive global network of insurgents and terrorists, drug cartels, and other criminal organizations.

About Submarine Channel

Submarine Channel explores the narrative possibilities of new and emerging genres such as the interactive documentary, the interactive graphic novel, transmedia storytelling and virtual reality. Notable projects include the transmedia documentary Last Hijack Interactive (Emmy Award Best Digital Fiction, 2015), the multiple-award-winning interactive documentary Refugee Republic (2015) and the surreal tragicomedy in virtual reality Ashes to Ashes (Best immersive 360 video Dutch VR Awards & nominated for the Gouden Kalf "Dutch Oscar", 2017). Submarine Channel is part of the production company Submarine, founded by Femke Wolting and Bruno Felix.

Credits

POPPY Interactive: War and Organized Crime Gone Global is made possible with the support of Creative Industries Fund NL, the Netherlands Film Fund, Fonds 21, Mondriaan Fonds and the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts (AFK).

a Submarine Channel production

Directors
Antoinette de Jong & Robert Knoth

Producers
Bruno Felix & Femke Wolting

Creative producer
Michel Reilhac

Interactive producer
Corine Meijers

Interface design
Christiaan De Rooij

Web development
Aart Jan van der Linden

Editing
Peter Claassen

Sound design
Frank van der Weij,
Jelle van Osenbruggen

Impact Producer
Iván Garcia-Romero

Editing teasers & introduction
Maurik de Ridder

Production assistance
Davide Banis
Marlieke Hoepman

Development
Hans Dortmans, Menno Otten, Fabie Hulzebos, Yaniv Wolf, Dagan Cohen, Wieke Kapteijns

English corrections
Judith Kingston

Stills
AIR COCAINE: Serge Daniel / AFP / Getty Images
COCAINEVILLE: Copyright: © Francesca Tosarelli

POPPY Interactive: War and Organized Crime Gone Global is based on the book and video-installation POPPY: Trails of Afghan Heroin

POPPY: Trails of Afghan Heroin was made possible with the support of SNS REAAL Fund, VSB Fund, Mondriaan Fund, NCDO, AFEW, Foundation Sem Presser Archive, Foundation for Democracy and Media, Prince Bernhard Culture Fund, and was produced by Iris Sikking, Paradox.

With special thanks to
Paradox
International Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), Forum
Sheffield International Documentary Festival, MeetMarket

Many different people have cooperated in this project, and have supported and encouraged us. We cannot thank them enough and apologize that the list below is not complete. In our research we are indebted to many journalists and scholars who have published on Afghanistan, South and Central Asia, Russia and the Balkans. Over the years, scores of people agreed to meet us; they talked with us for hours, sharing information and often trusting us with painful details of their lives. During our travels we have been lucky to find companionship, friendship and heartwarming hospitality.

We would like to thank
Kummer&Herrman, Mark Glynne (Anthill Sound design), YdocPublishing and Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ans de Jong-ten Barge, Jannie Knoth-te Brake, Muslem Hayat, Tim Johnston, Ismail Khan, Amir Shah, Nadeem Ahmed, Mehboob Ali, Charlotte Althenhoner, Roberto Arbitrio, Muhammad Ayub, Klaas Jan Baas, Dini Bangma, Jules Banffer, Hans van Blommestein, Lars Boering, Chris de Bode, Harm Botje, Ilona van der Braak, Jan van den Brand, Christer Brannerud, Polly breur, William de Bruin, Heleen Bulthuis, Simon Burer, Jildou van der Bijl, Ian Clarke, Kate Clarke, Nick Coke, Rupert Colville, Liz Cotton, Rod Curtis, Ellen van Dalen, Anke van Dam, Rik Delhaas, Peter Delpeut, Fieneke Diamand, Richard Dion, Henk van den Dool, Richard Donk, Duguf, Guljan Ermekbaeva, Gijsbert van Es, Lianne Fincken, Galina Fomaidi, Steve Forrest, Bevis Fusha, Zamira Ganieva, Kathy Gannon, Frits Gierstberg, Phil Goodwin, Peter Greste, Marion Grobbee, Hanna van der Haar, Shahab Haider, Toon van Ham, Feruza Hamidova, Marjolein Hammink, Rebecca Harley, Markus Hartmann, Fatos Haziri, Hezbollah(driver), Leo van Hee, Ulrike Helmer, John Holland McCowan, Arthur Herrman, Gert Hindrix, Diederik van Hoogstraten, Lonneke van Hout, Siraj Islam, Maulana Taj-ul-Amin Jabal, Jamal, Ingeborg Jansen, Huub Jaspers, John Jennings, Alan Johnston, Arendo Joustra, Frits Kemperman, Behrooz Khan, Muzzamil Khan, Alfred Koster, Theo Kloppenburg, Yulia Kravchuk, Hans Kuitert, Jeroen Kummer, Mark Lavine, Marina Lisitsina, Frenk van der Linden, Victor Levie, Mike Lusmore, Robina Mahmoud, Blerina Marini, Jaqueline Maris, Jitka Markova, Joost van der Meer, HarunMiah, Arjan Muca,Syed Minhaj-ul-Hassan, Genci Mucollari, Odile Mullajanov, Munir, Ruslan Myatiyev, Fawzia Nabi, Loretta Napoleoni, General Rustam Nazarov, Hans Nijenhuis, Zarrina Nivozova, John Novis, Willem Offenberg, Olaf van Oudheusden, Warna Oosterbaan, Frank Ortmanns, Edlira Papavangjeli, Matthieu Peerlings, Lori Polena, Wieger Poutsma, Suzannah Price, Ahmet Prenci, Erik van Prooijen, Ahmed Rashid, Natalyia Ruda, Anna Sanginova, Evelien Schotsman, Suzanne Schanz, Danusia Schenke, Maarten Schilt, Carola Schoor, Michael Semple, Jotham Sietsma, Wim Spijkers, Laura Starink, Paul Steenhuis, Fred Stroobants, Devika Strooker, Evgenia Sveshinsky, Rasoul Rakhimov, Ahmed Rashid, William Reeve, Rene van Rijckevorsel, Fred Ritchin, Bart Rijs, Samo Rovan, Grid Rroji, Sarah Russell, Colonel Sadullo Rahmatulloev, Syed Salahuddin, Sokol Selfollari, Mukhtar Shah, Brigadier Mahmood Shah, Aijaz Shaikh, Kathy Sherriff, Iris Sikking, Gert Staal, Jan Willem Steenmeijer, Liz Spencer, Noel Spencer, Evgenia Sveshinsky, Guillaume Teerling, Herman van den Tempel, Ibrahim Tajiki, Peter Tinti, Gary Thomas, Katja Thomas, Elena Vaskrisjenska, Riccardo Venturi, Hans Verstraaten, Dirk-Jan Visser, Yulia Koba, Hans de Vreij, Matthea Vrij, Bas Vroege, Adam Wade, Sue Wade, Daoud Wahab, Ingrid Walschot, Maartje Wildeman, Andrew Wilder, Terrence White, Stuart Worsley, Alem Yacoobi, Rahimullah Yusufzai, Yussuf, Judith Zaal, Ehsan Zahine, Sikandar Zaman, Ahmad Zubair

In memory of
Abdi Farah, Sharon Herbaugh, Mirwais Jalil, Tom Little, Natasha Singh, Adri Verzijl

Sources

Documentary makers Antoinette de Jong and Robert Knoth have brought together their extensive research to create a website with a clear navigational structure. The user can unravel an impressive network of insurgents and terrorists, drug cartels and other criminal organizations. A journey through various locations and times shows how drug money destabilizes parts of the world, fuels conflict and allows a worldwide illegal economy to grow.

Antoinette de Jong is a writer, photographer and broadcaster, based in the Netherlands. Her work includes in depth reporting and documentaries for VPRO and Radio Netherlands World Service and the BBC World Service. She has worked in many conflict areas including Somalia, Iraq, Former Yugoslavia, and has covered developments in Afghanistan and Pakistan for almost two decades.

Robert Knoth is an internationally renowned documentary photographer. His work has been published in newspapers and magazines worldwide. His clients include The Guardian (UK); NRC Handelsblad (NL), New York Times (USA) and Greenpeace.

POPPY Interactive combines text, photos, moving images and sound bites from Antoinette and Roberts's archive, together with quotes originating from official reports, news and excerpts from YouTube and other online sources.

Links to online sources:

fablabamy aqaiq1993 JamesWalterJim excellence52 NBC کلیب های ناز unworthyservant and news-front.info Gyanvani Tube - ज्ञानवाणीrefsdalmedia xxTySmithxx vlonjati100 TURKlSHMEDIA and qeveria.eu Enlt Theil Sounds4Sleeping xhulio dida Besar Lohja MonoNews TV Mashable News Tamz541 littlebigbrain littlebigbrain Senator Elizabeth Warren Azat Yolcu abcnewsexclusive1 Birmingham Mail timvp.com Rostik Chornobay GABRIEL VALENTIN Majortec Jp N ArrowmaxMusic warleaker@gmx.net LiebknechtTB Xays Mays MurrayJ3 Underbara Videoklipp Från Sverige luke cook ISIS LCI Emli.sher0101 Ri jihadology.net Global News Al Qaida BLANKAIS An Ka Midnimo iyo Guul eNCA MrSaperski KuriVaiM Shine Ha ochasomalia La Sicilia kforkarachi NS Bukhari Mr-Creosote Akbar Ashkhel ezatullah1 Ziaf Hashmi Irfanullah Khan Ziaf Hashmi TariqAfridi Tomáš Hruš NetworkLive CanvasTV

Press

The press kit contains information about the work, the makers and has links to videos and Hi Res stills with their description.

POPPY interactive can shed new light on global conflicts and that can also be used for research and academic purposes.

In the press kit you can also find contact details should you have press, research or other outreach inquiries.

You can download the press kit here.

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The interactive documentary POPPY takes you on an eye-opening journey that reveals how drug money destabilizes entire countries, fuels global conflicts and allows a worldwide illegal economy to grow. The implosion of Libya, Syria and Iraq has gone hand in hand with the rise of Islamic State and groups such as al Qaeda.

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Mange eksempler på interaktive projekter

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An evolving collection of innovative, interactive stories exploring the world - and our place in it - from uniquely Canadian points of view.

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BBCs lab for interaktive projekter

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Taster is the home of new ideas from the BBC

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Fra BBD taster - AR 2018

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Nick Hanson, producer on the project talks us through the BBC's first dedicated augmented reality app
So what is Civilisations?
Civilisations is an epic new BBC Two series presented by Simon Schama, Mary Beard and David Olusoga, spanning 31 countries and covering 5000 works of art across human history.

Alongside the show the Civilisations Festival is bringing together museums and galleries from across the UK through digital products and events. As part of this we've created an augmented reality app that allows users to bring the treasures of these collections into their own homes. Put very simply, AR, or augmented reality overlays virtual objects in the world around us that can be seen through a smartphone, tablet or headsets.
Why have we built an app for you?
With Civilisations AR you can use the app to look at wonderful artefacts from around the world at home, at school, out on a walk...anywhere!

For some time the BBC had been talking to the UK's culture sector about making the art and culture of the UK more accessible. For example, what if you can't get to one of the big museums in London? Or, how can everyone see the hidden gems from the more remote locations?

This was really important to us. Not just working with the big museums but also with the smaller regional galleries to get access to the hidden treasures they hold.

So, we invited the museums to submit artefacts from their collections that fitted the themes of the BBC Two series. Over 280 artefacts were submitted from over 50 museums and galleries. Those that were selected were then scanned to create 3D models. The final app features about 40 artefacts in total.
Why does your feedback matter?
We want to know how people feel about AR being used in this context. Does it bring these artefacts to life? Does it encourage them to learn more about artefacts? Does deepen their engagement the BBC Two series or make them want to visit their local museum to see these treasures in real life? We certainly hope so.

We've already learned so much about creating augmented reality through the process of developing the App, curating, scanning and modelling the content. We hope to apply this and your feedback to future projects, so don't forget to leave a rating once you've had a go!
What were the challenges?
There are always challenges when bringing together so many people from all these organisations. This becomes even more challenging when you're doing so whilst exploring the potential of an emerging technology.

Editorially the biggest challenge was curating the content so that we had an even spread of artefacts tied back to the nine themed episodes of the BBC Two series. We also wanted to find a good spread of artefacts from cultures across the whole globe, organisations across all parts of the UK and throughout human history.
Who made it?
From a technical point of view, as augmented reality is still an emerging technology, we were learning every day about what makes a compelling augmented reality experience using these technologies.
How was the app made?
Civilisations AR is a collaboration between BBC Arts, BBC R&D, Nexus Studios and around 30 museums and galleries from across the UK.
Please do remember to read our terms of use for this app
The app was built by Nexus Studios; using the Unity middleware. Unity was initially created for multi-platform video game development but, more recently, has become a leader in AR & VR content creation. The App uses native marker-less Augmented Reality frameworks on both iOS (ARkit) and Android (ARCore) to allow us to place and render realistic looking objects (3D scans) that react to the real world on mass-market mobile phone handsets.

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Bring art and culture from across the world to you with this BBC Augmented Reality app. Explore beneath the surface of Renaissance masterpieces and discover the secrets of ancient Egypt. Augmented reality needs a modern smartphone to work. You'll find out if yours is compatible in the app stores.

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New York Times 2018, webdok

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I can be my real self. I can play from the bottom of my heart, whereas in men's concerts you have to be really careful your scarf doesn't fall off or something like that. And this is the right thing, because this is our society and I have no complaints about it. But I have the constant fear that "oh no, my scarf is about to fall off" even when it's not, and then believe me, I can't focus on my instrument.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

I'd really like to know a lot about ney-anbān and I'd like to be one of the best in ney-anbān.

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This is 18 Around the World - Through Girls' Eyes (Published 2018)

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I can be my real self. I can play from the bottom of my heart, whereas in men's concerts you have to be really careful your scarf doesn't fall off or something like that. And this is the right thing, because this is our society and I have no complaints about it.

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En fortælling distribueret via Whats App / Messenger - realtid/filmens tid

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A short mobile documentary takes you on a long bus trip to prison. To get on the bus, subscribe and you will receive messages through WhatsApp or Messenger.

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Se også The shadow peace, Neil Halloran follow up på WW2

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Neil Halloran is creating data-driven documentaries about war & peace | Patreon

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Become a patron of Neil Halloran today: Read 16 posts by Neil Halloran and get access to exclusive content and experiences on the world's largest membership platform for artists and creators.

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Partly interactive and  animated data-driven documentary, Neil Holloran 2016

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About the Project

The Fallen of World War II is an interactive documentary that examines the human cost of the second World War and the decline in battle deaths in the years since the war. The 15-minute data visualization uses cinematic storytelling techniques to provide viewers with a fresh and dramatic perspective of a pivotal moment in history.

The film follows a linear narration, but it allows viewers to pause during key moments to interact with the charts and dig deeper into the numbers.

Credits

The film was written, directed, coded, and narrated by Neil Halloran. Original music and sound design was created by Andy Dollerson. Editorial feedback and technical consulting by AlteredQualiea.

The soundtrack is now available on Bandcamp.

Recommended Book

Inspiration and sources for the final segment of the film came largely from Steven Pinker's The Better Angels of Our Nature.

Buy at Amazon

Viewing Issues & Options

Viewing the interactive version on fallen.io requires a relatively new computer and a modern web browser. Most mobile devices will not play the piece properly. If the frame rate is choppy or if you are having other technical problems, we recomend viewing the video version instead, which is hosted with Vimeo.

To view the video version on a television, you can use Vimeo to stream to your Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Fire TV, and any other devices that can play Vimeo videos. Just search for "fallen.io".

Data Sources

The data set that drives this visualization will continue to be updated, and we are always looking for volunteers.

Much of the underlying sources are similar to those listed in the World War 2 Casualties Wikipedia Article. For itemized list of data entries, you can view the Google Fusion table.

Post-WWII statistics were sourced from the The Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP).

About the Series

Depending on how much interest is generated from this pilot episode, we would like to continue this project as a series. Future episodes would explore other trends of war and peace - from drones and terrorism to democracy and peacekeeping.

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The Fallen of World War II - Data-driven documentary about war & peace

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Fallen.io, a short animated data-driven documentary about war and peace, explores the harrowing statistics of World War II and sizes up its numbers to other wars in history, including recent conflicts.

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Hollandsk selskab som har produceret flere interative projekter..

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Submarine Channel - Interactive Storytelling

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Interactive documentaries, motion comics, transmedia, virtual reality. Submarine Channel explores the future of storytelling.

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ARTE EXPERIENCE, berømmet VR projekt

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"Mesmerizing.. the best Virtual Reality experience at Tribeca Film Festival"-VICE "Notes on Blindness is one of the first great virtual reality experiences"-ALPHR.COM Arte Experience presents Notes On Blindness, a VR journey into a world beyond sight.

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New York Times lavede flere af disse portrætter af deres OL topatleter omkring OL 2016 Primært lavet for mobil

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New York Times Interactive 2016

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PRODUCED BYRodrigo De Benito Sanz, Alicia DeSantis, Alexandra Garcia, Mika Gröndahl, Evan Grothjan, Taige Jensen, Yuliya Parshina-Kottas, Bedel Saget and Joe Ward

INTERVIEWSLarry Buchanan, Leslye Davis, Juliet Macur and Bedel Saget

VIDEOEditing: Alexandra Garcia, Taige Jensen and Meghean Felling; Footage: Larry Buchanan, Leslye Davis, Bedel Saget and Joe Ward; Color: Taige Jensen and Ben Laffin; Graphics: Mika Gröndahl, Evan Grothjan, Yuliya Parshina-Kottas and Jeremy White

AUDIOTaige Jensen and Michael Cordero

PHOTOGRAPHYCover: Photograph by Leslye Davis; Illustration by Grant Gold

ADDITIONAL PRODUCTIONWilson Andrews, Danny DeBelius, Alexandra Eaton and Grant Gold

ADDITIONAL FOOTAGEUSA Gymnastics and Ron Biles

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The Fine Line: What Makes Simone Biles the World's Best Gymnast

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PRODUCED BYRodrigo De Benito Sanz, Alicia DeSantis, Alexandra Garcia, Mika Gröndahl, Evan Grothjan, Taige Jensen, Yuliya Parshina-Kottas, Bedel Saget and Joe Ward INTERVIEWSLarry Buchanan, Leslye Davis, Juliet Macur and Bedel Saget VIDEOEditing: Alexandra Garcia, Taige Jensen and Meghean Felling; Footage: Larry Buchanan, Leslye Davis, Bedel Saget and Joe Ward; Color: Taige Jensen and Ben Laffin; Graphics: Mika Gröndahl, Evan Grothjan, Yuliya Parshina-Kottas and Jeremy White AUDIOTaige Jensen and Michael Cordero PHOTOGRAPHYCover: Photograph by Leslye Davis; Illustration by Grant Gold ADDITIONAL PRODUCTIONWilson Andrews, Danny DeBelius, Alexandra Eaton and Grant Gold ADDITIONAL FOOTAGEUSA Gymnastics and Ron Biles

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TV2 2017

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Dansk løbe-teenager chokerer ekspert med ekstrem fysik

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TV 2 Sportslab har helt eksklusivt fået lov til at teste Danmarks måske største løbetalent Anna Møller. Vi underkaster hende et batteri af fysiske unde

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DR webdoc 2017

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Før EM i Danmark opdager Jens Petersen-Bach et livløst organ i sin krop

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Youtube har fjernet denne funktionalitet - blev ikkke brugt meget og fungere ikke på smarthphones. End cards/end screens er stadig i spil

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interaktion indenfor fortællingen - annotationer

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Like us on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BooneOakley View our work portfolio here: http://vault.booneoakley.com Please follow @booneoakley on Twitter: http://twitter.com/booneoakley

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Interaktiv story, hvor der ikke er en given rækkefølge men et frit grid... at vælge mellem indholdselementer og omkring hver af de 7 dødssyner

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The Guardian + nfb

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Thou shall not sin. But that does that include Googling yourself? In Seven Digital Deadly Sins, watch video confessions, read first person accounts & weigh in with your judgement. Participate in an interactive reflection of our digital selves.

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Fragtments of a Life: A Curbsite Mystery 

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Fragtments of a Life: A Curbsite Mystery 

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Ikke så meget et multimedie produkt - men mere processen som er multimedie......

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Fragments of af life: A Curbsite Mystery

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Fragments of af life: A Curbsite Mystery

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New York Times 2016

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A quest to solve the mystery behind an abandoned bag of photo slides found on a New York City street corner leads the reporter Deborah Acosta and her audience to uncover truths about life, love, and loss.

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Ældste forsøg ud i interaktivitet med tv/video

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scroll down for sekventiel afvikling af fortælling, primært tekst/over foto + video bidder interviews/statements. Ikke yderliger interaktivitet

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Er stadig et suverænt eksempel på, hvordan man transformer en dokumentar serie til en interaktiv web tjeneste - se den i firefox - loader ikke rigtig i chrome

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Arte 2008

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pov + grafik - scroll + map navigation

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National Geographic 2016

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What do bears eat? How far do they roam? Find out in this interactive journey through the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

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Brug af musen for at skabe visuelle effekter

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Hennussy reklame

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Hennessy V.S.O.P Privilège - Harmony. Mastered From Chaos.

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Experience the interactive story of Hennessy V.S.O.P Privilège-a smooth, harmonious blend recreated each year by the master of Hennessy.

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nfb interactive short for mobile

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...We want it all. Right away!

Very very short is a collection of ten web-based interactive projects for smartphones, exploring the theme of mobility through very, very short experiences. The creators were selected by an international jury following a call for submissions by the NFB and ARTE, in collaboration with the IDFA DocLab.

The creators are from Belgium, Canada, France, Nigeria, Taiwan, USA, the Netherlands, Israel, Argentina and Brazil. They will make you want to dance, others will make you laugh, and some will make you think again about the relationship you have with your smartphone, yourself and even the world around you.

From 30 November 2017, every Thursday, a new "very, very short" project will be put online.
Check it out, available on smartphones only!

Bias - Our inherent bias drives everything from our relationships with other people to the news sources we choose to consume. Find out how it drives you.

Revolve - This immersive dance experience merges ritualistic traditions with our technology-centered reality.

The Paper Sail - You're invited to fold a simple piece of paper, place it on the surface of your screen, and raise your anchor for unknown destinations.

Where is home? - An Instagram-based project that interrogates people's understanding and experiences of home. It's a chance to reflect on a fundamental concept that's often taken for granted.

Carrier Pigeon - A poetic interpretation of the simple acts you perform every day with your smartphone, such as sending an e-mail, liking a picture or sharing a post.

A Temporary Contact - A short mobile documentary takes you on a long bus trip to prison. To get on the bus, subscribe and you will receive messages through WhatsApp.

Sleep Together - In this VR group experience for people who are about to hit the sack, users go through a series of sleep rituals with other fellow sleepers.

Stir - A personalized wake-up service in which you can register to be either the awakener or the awakened.

FlipFly - An interactive web app that gives users the chance to play with that toy plane from their childhood.

Viral Advisor - Through the wonder of machine learning comes an app that selects the photo in your smartphone with the highest potential of going viral.

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We want it all. Right away! Very very short is a collection of ten web-based interactive projects for smartphones, exploring the theme of mobility through very, very short experiences. The creators were selected by an international jury following a call for submissions by the NFB and ARTE, in collaboration with the IDFA DocLab.

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Story flow driven (lineær) med parallel adgang til en masse supplerende materialer - encyklopædisk

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Brug af video og grafisk simulationer på foto/google maps

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klik videre tekst/video men også et lille forløb med hvor grafisk forløb styres af din scroll down af tekst

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En klik forward med brug af video og lyd, med en intrasant feature at du klikke/bladre dig gennem en fotoalbum mens sound kører videre.... + små insert af video i foto album

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PBS 2015

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After the Storm is a story about that emergence - a story of people encountering a new world, encountering loss, and then learning how to keep going.

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BBC 2014

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Footballers United is a unique, new telling of how football and friendship got people fighting. From top of the league to mired in the trenches - find out how Scotland's top footballers gave up an unassailable league lead to fight.

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The Guardian 2016

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The injustice system: one woman's journey to prove her innocence - and be set free after 21 years

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Tyra Patterson says she was an innocent teenage bystander who ran away from a murder. Prosecutors say she was party to a killing - read our special report part 1

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Washington Post Okt 2016

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Propublica 2016

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Return to Map

It is not if, but when Houston's perfect storm will hit...

They called Ike "the monster hurricane."

Hundreds of miles wide. Winds at more than 100 mph. And - deadliest of all - the power to push a massive wall of water into the upper Texas coast, killing thousands and shutting down a major international port and industrial hub.

That was what scientists, public officials, economists and weather forecasters thought they were dealing with on Sept. 11, 2008, as Hurricane Ike barreled toward Houston, the fourth-largest city in the United States and home to its largest refining and petrochemical complex. And so at 8:19 p.m., the National Weather Service issued an unusually dire warning.

"ALL NEIGHBORHOODS, AND POSSIBLY ENTIRE COASTAL COMMUNITIES, WILL BE INUNDATED," the alert read. "PERSONS NOT HEEDING EVACUATION ORDERS IN SINGLE FAMILY ONE OR TWO STORY HOMES WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH."

But in the wee hours of Sept. 13, just 50 miles offshore, Ike shifted course. The wall of water the storm was projected to push into the Houston area was far smaller than predicted - though still large enough to cause $30 billion in damage and kill at least 74 people in Texas. Ike remains the nation's third-costliest hurricane after Katrina and Superstorm Sandy.

Still, scientists say, Houston's perfect storm is coming - and it's not a matter of if but when. The city has dodged it for decades, but the likelihood it will happen in any given year is nothing to scoff at; it's much higher than your chance of dying in a car crash or in a firearm assault, and 2,400 times as high as your chance of being struck by lightning.

If a storm hits the region in the right spot, "it's going to kill America's economy," said Pete Olson, a Republican congressman from Sugar Land, a Houston suburb.

Such a storm would devastate the Houston Ship Channel, shuttering one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. Flanked by 10 major refineries - including the nation's largest - and dozens of chemical manufacturing plants, the Ship Channel is a crucial transportation route for crude oil and other key products, such as plastics and pesticides. A shutdown could lead to a spike in gasoline prices and many consumer goods - everything from car tires to cell phone parts to prescription pills.

Explore the Ship Channel "

"It would affect supply chains across the U.S., it would probably affect factories and plants in every major metropolitan area in the U.S.," said Patrick Jankowski, vice president for research at the Greater Houston Partnership, Houston's chamber of commerce.

Houston's perfect storm would virtually wipe out the Clear Lake area, home to some of the fastest-growing communities in the United States and to the Johnson Space Center, the headquarters for NASA's human spaceflight operation. Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses there would be severely flooded.

Many hoped Ike's near miss would spur action to protect the region. Scientists created elaborate computer models depicting what Ike could have been, as well as the damage that could be wrought by a variety of other potent hurricanes, showing - down to the specific neighborhood and industrial plant - how bad things could get.

They wanted the public to become better educated about the enormous danger they were facing; a discussion could be had about smarter, more sustainable growth in a region with a skyrocketing population. After decades of inaction, they hoped that a plan to build a storm surge protection system could finally move forward.

Several proposals have been discussed. One, dubbed the "Ike Dike," calls for massive floodgates at the entrance to Galveston Bay to block storm surge from entering the region. That has since evolved into a more expansive concept called the "coastal spine." Another proposal, called the "mid-bay" gate, would place a floodgate closer to Houston's industrial complex.

But none have gotten much past the talking stage.

Hopes for swift, decisive action have foundered as scientists, local officials and politicians have argued and pointed fingers at one another. Only in the past two years have studies launched to determine how best to proceed.

A devastating storm could hit the region long before any action is taken.

"That keeps me up at night," said George P. Bush, the grandson and nephew of two U.S. presidents and Texas' land commissioner. As head of an agency charged with protecting the state's coast, he kickstarted one of the studies that will determine the risk the area faces and how to protect it.

But the process will take years. Bush said, "You and me may not even see the completion of this project in our lifetime."

It's already been eight years since Ike and Houston gets hit by a major storm every 15 years on average.

"We're sitting ducks. We've done nothing." said Phil Bedient, an engineering professor at Rice University and co-director of the Storm Surge Prediction, Education, and Evacuation from Disasters (SSPEED) Center. "We've done nothing to shore up the coastline, to add resiliency ... to do anything."

To this day, some public officials seem content to play the odds and hope for the best. Houston's new mayor, former longtime state lawmaker Sylvester Turner, declined an interview request for this story. Turner's office released a statement from Dennis Storemski, the city's public safety and homeland security director.

"Only a small portion of the city of Houston is at risk for major storm surge," it said. In a second statement, Storemski placed the onus primarily on the federal government to safeguard the Houston region from a monster hurricane. He said the city "looks forward to working with the responsible federal agencies when a solution is identified and funded."

"Until then, we continue to inform our residents of their risk and the steps they should take when a significant tropical cyclone causes storm surge in the [Ship] Channel, and evacuations become necessary," the statement said.

The pressure to act has only grown since Ike, as the risks in and around Houston have increased.

The petrochemical complex has expanded by tens of billions of dollars. About a million more people have moved into the region, meaning there are more residents to protect and evacuate.

"People are rushing to the coast, and the seas are rising to meet them," said Bill Merrell, a marine scientist at Texas A&M University at Galveston.

"We're all at risk"

The Houston Ship Channel and the energy-related businesses that line it are widely described as irreplaceable. The 52-mile waterway connects Houston's massive refining and petrochemical complex to the Gulf of Mexico.

For all its economic importance, though, the Ship Channel also is the perfect conduit to transport massive storm surge into an industrial area that also is densely populated.

"We're all at risk, and we're seriously at risk," said Craig Beskid, executive director of the East Harris County Manufacturers Association, which represents ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and other major companies that operate 130 facilities in the area. "Not only are the people here in this region at risk, but significant statewide economic assets and national assets are also at risk."

Half of the Ship Channel, which is 45 feet at its deepest, cuts through Galveston Bay, while the other half is landlocked, snaking inland at about 400 feet wide. Its slim and shallow nature would intensify the height and impact of potential storm surge.

The effect would be similar with Clear Lake, another narrow channel jutting off the bay that is surrounded by affluent suburban communities.

The storm models that scientists have created show that Houston's perfect storm would push water up the Ship Channel, topping out at a height of more than 30 feet above sea level. The surge would be only slightly lower in Clear Lake.

That's higher than the highest storm surge ever recorded on the U.S. coast - 27.8 feet during Hurricane Katrina. And it would be almost entirely unabated. Unlike New Orleans, whose levee system failed during that 2005 storm and was rebuilt after, Houston has no major levee system to begin with. (A 15-foot earthen levee and flood wall surrounds one low-lying town on the Ship Channel, but that would be inadequate to protect against a worst-case storm.)

"You're talking about major, major damage," said state Sen. Sylvia Garcia, a Houston Democrat. "And it seems like every year they tell us that we're overdue for one."

Each monster hurricane model that scientists provided to The Texas Tribune and ProPublica is slightly different. One model, nicknamed "Mighty Ike" and developed by the SSPEED Center and the University of Texas at Austin, is based on Ike but increases its wind speeds to 125 mph. Researchers also refer to that as "p7+15."

Play Storm "P7+15," a.k.a. "Mighty Ike"

Another storm, modeled by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is physically smaller but has much higher wind speeds - 145 mph. Still, neither the FEMA model nor Mighty Ike is classified as a Category 5 storm, which would have wind speeds of at least 157 mph.

Play the FEMA 500-year Storm: Storm 36

Both would make landfall at a point near the western end of Galveston Island, where Ike was originally projected to come ashore.

For Houston, that's the worst place a hurricane could hit, positioning the counterclockwise-spinning storm to fling the most water into the Ship Channel and Clear Lake.

The scenarios are rare, scientists say, but by no means impossible. Mighty Ike is considered a 350-year event, according to the SSPEED Center, and the FEMA model is what is referred to as a 500-year storm.

Such events have a small, but measurable, chance of occurring in any given year. For example, there is a 1-in-500, or 0.2 percent, chance that a storm portrayed by the FEMA model will occur in the next hurricane season. Over the next 50 years, that translates to a likelihood of about 10 percent.

Scientists widely believe the method of calculating the probability of such storms may no longer be valid, in part because of climate change. "100-year" events might occur as often as every few years, while "500-year" events could every few decades, climate scientists say.

As scary as the models are, they are based on current sea levels. That means such storms will be even more damaging in the future as sea levels continue to rise in the wake of climate change.

Each model projects nothing short of catastrophe. Total damage could easily top $100 billion, scientists say. That is about how much damage Katrina inflicted on Louisiana, Florida and Mississippi a decade ago.

Galveston Island and low-lying communities in the Houston metro area would be completely underwater hours before the hurricane even hit.

Once the storm makes landfall, hurricane-force winds would meet rising waters to blow 25- to 35-foot storm surges up Clear Lake and the Houston Ship Channel.

The rushing water would be strong enough to knock homes and even sturdier commercial buildings off their foundations.

The models incorporate base land elevation and even some small levees or barrier systems, though not whether structures are elevated on slabs or stilts.

They show that many industrial areas along the Ship Channel would be inundated with enough water to cover a two- or even three-story building.
For more on how the models work, read our complete methodology.
The communities and industrial plants around the Ship Channel and Clear Lake are typically elevated to only 10 to 20 feet above sea level, said Bedient of Rice University.

That means for many who haven't evacuated, "you're seeing people scrambling for their lives off of that first floor into the second floor," Bedient said. "And then when it's 20 feet high, you're going to see water in the second floor as well."

Sam Brody, a marine scientist at Texas A&M who has studied the vulnerability of Clear Lake, says many people living there have no idea of the risk.

"It's a great place to be," he said of the region. "The last thing you think about is 20 feet of water coming up here."

An economic and national security issue

Beyond the pain a scenario like Mighty Ike would inflict locally, a storm that cripples the region could also deeply damage the U.S. economy and even national security.

The 10 refineries that line the Ship Channel produce about 27 percent of the nation's gasoline and about 60 percent of its aviation fuel, according to local elected and economic development officials. The production percentage is by most accounts even higher for U.S. Department of Defense jet fuel. (Official production figures are proprietary.)

In 2008, Ike caused widespread power outages that shuttered refineries for several weeks and forced operators to close a vast network of pipelines that delivers gasoline made in Houston to almost every major market east of the Rocky Mountains. Days after the storm hit, Houston Congressman Gene Green said concern over jet fuel was significant enough that a Continental Airlines executive and an Air Force general showed up to a local emergency response meeting to assess the situation.

"We can't stand it when they shut down," Green, a Democrat, recalls the general telling him. "We need to see what we can do to help."

The airline executive, meanwhile, told him that commercial planes that usually gassed up in Houston were flying out with partially empty tanks.

If Houston's refineries closed, some experts envision something like $7 per gallon gasoline across the country for an indefinite period of time - particularly in the southeast, which is "highly dependent" on two pipelines fed by Gulf refineries, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

"We would definitely see the price of gasoline, aviation and diesel fuel skyrocket," not only domestically but probably globally, said Jankowski, of the Greater Houston Partnership.

Other analysts are less concerned, saying that refineries elsewhere would meet demand.

"Price spikes influenced by major storms/hurricanes tend to be shorter lived than most think," said Denton Cinquegrana, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service, in an email.

Still, the Houston region's 150 or so chemical plants are even more central to U.S. and global manufacturing than its refineries are to fuel production. They make up about 40 percent of the nation's capacity to produce basic chemicals and are major makers of plastics, specialty chemicals and agrochemicals, including fertilizers and pesticides.

They export tens of billions of dollars' worth of materials every year to countries such as China, which turn them into consumer goods - toys, tires, Tupperware, pharmaceuticals, iPhone parts, carpet, plumbing pipe, polyester fabric and all manners of car parts.

A lot of those products are shipped back to U.S. ports, including the Port of Houston, the busiest container port on the Gulf and the sixth-busiest in the United States.

"The phone I'm holding in my hand is made of plastic, which probably came out of one of the plants on the Ship Channel, and it was shipped to someplace overseas and then came back in the form of a molded phone and was installed in my office," Jankowski said.

In 2014, during a climate change workshop held in Houston, staff from the White House and the Federal Emergency Management Agency outlined the potential implications of a monster hurricane shuttering Houston's refining and petrochemical complex.

"Any disruption lasting longer than several days will negatively affect U.S. energy supplies. Any disruption lasting longer than several weeks will negatively affect the food security of the United States and our trading partners," according to a workshop handbook, which envisioned a massive hurricane producing a 34-foot storm surge in the Ship Channel in 2044, when sea levels will be higher.

FEMA declined to make someone available to further discuss the risks.

An analysis of the FEMA 500-year storm model by the Institute for Regional Forecasting at the University of Houston shows that 52 facilities on the Houston Ship Channel, including two refineries, would flood by as much as 16 feet of water.

Flooding is the most disruptive type of damage an industrial plant can experience from a hurricane. Salty ocean water swiftly corrodes critical metal and electrical components and contaminates nearby freshwater sources used for operations. Even plants that aren't flooded would likely have to shut down because they depend on storm-vulnerable infrastructure - electric grids, pipelines, roads and rail lines.

After a storm like Mighty Ike, the Ship Channel itself - a crucial lifeline for crude imports and chemical exports - would probably be littered with debris and toxins, officials say. It would have to be cleaned up before ships and tankers could move safely again.

The U.S. Coast Guard briefly shutters all or parts of the Ship Channel dozens of times a year, often because of fog, but the costs of doing so are enormous: More than $300 million per day, as of 2014. (Experts say that number likely has fallen somewhat, along with the price of oil.)

Most plants keep about a month's worth of inventory on hand, said Douglas Hales, a professor of operations and supply chain management at the University of Rhode Island. "As goods and supplies run out after about 30 days, you're going to start feeling it."

Ascend Performance Materials would burn through its inventory in two weeks, said Carole Wendt, its chief procurement officer. It is one of only two companies in the world capable of fully producing Nylon 66, a strong, heat-resistant plastic that goes into products such as tennis balls, airbags and cable ties.

That's even after the company pads its inventory, which it does every hurricane season.

A worst-case scenario storm is "a really hard thing to plan for," Wendt said. "It's in our minds, it's important, but there's really there's no way to plan for it."

Houston's refineries and chemical plants have taken measures to protect themselves from hurricanes since Ike and Katrina, constructing floodwalls and relocating and elevating certain buildings and sensitive infrastructure.

These steps will likely protect them from a weaker hurricane, but not the worst-case storms depicted in the SSPEED Center or FEMA models.

Protecting against anything beyond a 100-year storm is uncommon in the United States but not in other parts of the world. Systems in the Netherlands that inspired the "Ike Dike" concept are built to protect against a 10,000-year storm.

Industry officials say building a system to guard against these types of events would be cost prohibitive, especially given their comparatively low likelihood. They say it's up to government to fund and execute such plans.

"That's really a political question and a question for the federal government and the state government to decide upon," said Beskid of the East Harris County Manufacturers Association.

Last year, his group endorsed the "coastal spine" concept. The Texas Chemical Council, which represents most of the chemical manufacturing plants in the Houston area, has not endorsed a particular project but says it supports studying the issue.

"Nothing's changed"

With so much at stake, many public officials readily agree not nearly enough has been done to protect the Houston region from hurricane damage. And if anything is ever approved for construction, it's at least a decade away from breaking ground.

"Here we are - what is this, eight years after Ike? - and nothing's changed," said Annise Parker, who stepped down as Houston's mayor in January. "I don't think we've done enough, and I don't think we made enough progress."

For years, scientists bickered over the cost and feasibility of the "Ike Dike," a Dutch-inspired concept Merrell proposed in the months after Ike that has evolved into the "coastal spine." With a pricetag of at least $8 billion, the coastal spine would extend Galveston's century-old, 17-foot seawall down the entire length of the island and along the peninsula to its north, Bolivar. It also would install floodgates at the entrance to Galveston Bay to block storm surge from entering.

Play "Mighty Ike" protected by the Coastal Spine

The SSPEED Center has warmed to the coastal spine concept, but it's also proposed a few alternatives, most recently, a $2.8 billion barrier dubbed the "mid-bay" gate that would stretch across Galveston Bay. As tall as 25 feet, the gate would be constructed closer to Houston than Merrell's proposal. The proposal also includes another levee to protect Galveston.

Play "Mighty Ike" storm protected by Rice's Mid-Bay Gate

Local officials have blamed scientists for not working together on a single plan. Congressional representatives for the area say they have been waiting on the state to give them a proposal to champion.

"These things come from our local government," said Green, the Houston congressman who represents part of the Port of Houston. "I don't have the capability to say, 'This is what we need to do.'"

At a 2014 hearing in Galveston, members of the state's Joint Interim Committee to Study a Coastal Barrier System blasted the SSPEED Center and Texas A&M for failing to agree on what to build.

"Hurricane Ike is now six years ago, and we're still talking about trying to come up with consensus," said state Sen. Larry Taylor, a Republican who represents Galveston and suburban Houston, at the meeting. "We've spun our wheels since 2008, and it's time to get moving."

It was the only time the committee, created by the Texas Legislature in 2013, has ever convened, although Taylor said he thinks that meeting was key to getting Merrell and the SSPEED Center to work together.

Today, many coastal communities and industry groups have embraced the "coastal spine" concept. Still, scientists and the business community fault state and federal elected officials for a lack of leadership in executing it or any other plan.

"I have begged some of our local officials to take this more seriously and take the lead," said Bob Mitchell, president of the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership, whose mission is to recruit businesses to the area and help them expand.

Six county executives formed a coalition in 2010 to study the issue, but for years it had no funding to do so.

Parker, the former Houston mayor, said the number of jurisdictions involved has complicated things but that "It's absolutely going to take state leaders stepping up. No question in my mind."

Taylor acknowledged that state lawmakers have dragged their feet on the issue, and said the congressional delegation isn't at fault because "we've given them nothing to work with." But he also said there have been legitimate organizational obstacles.

"Of course I'm frustrated it's taken this long," he said. "I think we all kind of picked it up a little late. It wasn't like we had a plan sitting on the books when Hurricane Ike hit. It's been a learning curve."

State leaders had known the specifics of a worst-case hurricane years before Ike.

In the mid-2000s, then-Gov. Rick Perry's office asked researchers at the University of Texas at Austin's Center for Space Research to imagine monster storms pummeling the Texas Coast. They predicted that such a storm hitting the Houston area could cause $73 billion in damage and harm hundreds of industrial and commercial structures.

"Very likely, hundreds, perhaps even thousands would die," the Houston Chronicle wrote in 2005, describing the scenario. The storm would also flood the homes of about 600,000 residents of Harris County, home to Houston, the newspaper said.

Around the same time, Harris County hired a local firm to do similar work and engineers there reached much the same conclusions, the article noted.

Officials presented the research all across the state's coast in 2005. Soon after, hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf Coast, prompting national discussions on storm preparedness and response. But all that work did not result in any concerted effort to build a storm surge barrier.

Inaction persisted even after Ike, some say.

"There was not a whole lot of support from the state as far as seeking - or even expressing the importance of seeking - funds" to study a solution, said Sharon Tirpak, project manager for the Army Corps' Galveston District.

A Perry spokesman insisted the state made strides to prepare for hurricanes under his leadership. "Over Governor Perry's 14-year tenure, Texas enhanced and expanded its ability to respond to disasters across the state, with an emphasis on planning ahead and moving swiftly to save lives and protect as much property as possible," said spokesman Stan Gerdes.

The office of Texas' current governor, Greg Abbott, did not make him available for an interview.

The slow path forward

After years of delay, officials say they're optimistic that a consensus plan to protect the region will emerge soon.

Since 2014, two studies have launched to determine how best to proceed, one led by the six-county coalition formed in 2010.

The local engineering firm the coalition hired with a $4 million state grant is examining the coastal spine, mid-bay gate and any other alternatives. The coalition is expected to make a final recommendation in June on how best to proceed.

It will then be up to someone else to do something with it.

"We were never chartered to build anything or to lobby for anything - only to study and to make recommendations," said Galveston County Judge Mark Henry, the district's chairman.

He said the final proposal likely will incorporate some aspects of the coastal spine.

But the multibillion-dollar idea will need approval from the Army Corps, which will borrow from the six-county district's work for its own study.

For years, the Army Corps didn't have the money to study protecting the Houston-Galveston region. But last year it finally found a willing state partner in the Texas General Land Office, which agreed to split the cost with the Army Corps for a $20 million study that will span the entire Texas coast.

"The Texas coast powers the nation," Bush, the Texas land commissioner, said in a statement announcing the partnership. "Its vulnerability should be considered a national security issue."

But the Army Corps has yet to secure its half of the funding for the study, which will take five and a half years. Every year, it will have to ask Congress for a portion of that $10 million, and if Congress says no, the study could take longer.

"It's a lot of money. It'll be competitive," said Olson, the Houston-area congressman. "It starts with the Corps doing their job."

The five-and-a-half year timeline is "disappointing," members of Texas' congressional delegation wrote in a November 2015 letter to the Army Corps and the White House.

"Progress on this study is long overdue," they wrote. "This effort is important, not just to our state but to the entire nation."

Even if the Army Corps study gets done, the agency will need a local partner to construct a project and pick up at least 35 percent of the tab under its normal rules.

Assuming everything goes perfectly, the Army Corps will identify a "tentatively selected plan" in the next two years. It then would embark on the arduous process of getting Congress to fund the plan. If that pans out, construction wouldn't begin until about 2025. There's a 1 in 50 chance that a 500-year storm will happen before then.

Those are a lot of ifs. Most projects carried out under the process that the Army Corps just started for Texas take years - even decades - to complete, if they get done at all, said Col. Leonard Waterworth, the former head of the Galveston District of the Army Corps.

"It's a system that doesn't work," said Waterworth, who now is coordinating storm surge protection research at Texas A&M. Bush, the land commissioner who kickstarted the Army Corps study, said he's trying to "manage expectations," noting that "we've got a long way to go."

When a project is approved, Texas will need a political heavyweight to fight for billions of dollars from Congress to build it - probably a high-ranking federal lawmaker. But no one seems willing to step up just yet.

Asked if he had anyone in mind, Bush responded, "Not at this time."

Congressman Randy Weber, a Republican whose coastal district spans Galveston and some Houston suburbs near the coast, said he's fully committed to securing funding for a project.

"I've been pushing as much as I can," Weber said. "Obviously, if we could get one of the senators to step up and champion it, it would go a great way." He specifically mentioned U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, the second-highest-ranking Republican in the Senate.

Cornyn's office declined to make him available for an interview. A staffer in the office of U.S. senator and presidential hopeful Ted Cruz said only that he supports the Army Corps' study.

The Texas Tribune contacted every member of Texas' 36-member U.S. House delegation. Only four made time for interviews: Two Republicans, Olson and Weber, and two Democrats, Green and Eddie Bernice Johnson of Dallas.

Asked if she thinks a storm surge barrier will be built, Johnson replied, "That's an interesting question, and much of it will depend on Mr. Weber's party."

Some local officials remain skeptical.

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, a former state lawmaker who was widely praised for his leadership during Ike, says he is not convinced that anything should be built at all and is waiting to hear what the six-county district recommends.

"What level of protection do we want? What level of risk is acceptable? That's going to be part of the decision," said Emmett, a Republican.

Most think the best hope of getting something done may be a devastating storm, bringing national attention to the issue and galvanizing politicians at every level of government.

"We will have a project six years after the next disaster," Waterworth predicted.

That is how long it took to rebuild the levees near New Orleans after Katrina. The devastation prompted Congress to abandon the normal rules and fast-track the project, with the federal government picking up the entire $14 billion tab.

Merrell, too, predicted something will be built four years after the next hurricane.

"People who lose their relatives, [their] property, and they're going to say, 'why did that have to happen?'"

Next, explore the Ship Channel "

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Houston is the fourth-largest city in the country. It's home to the nation's largest refining and petrochemical complex, where billions of gallons of oil and dangerous chemicals are stored. And it's a sitting duck for the next big hurricane. Learn why Texas isn't ready.

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CBS 1953

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Please visit my website blog for articles on cartoon programs we've all enjoyed: http://markmentzer.com/blog/. I'm an animator who was raised in the 1950s. I remember drawing directly on my TV as I didn't have the Winky Dink kit. I wonder how many other kids did the same thing.

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