I go to CNN.com this morning to see what's shakin', and I'm greeted by the usual:
"A bunch of people are dead in Minneapolis."
"A bunch of people are still dead in Minneapolis."
"Oh noes! Dead people in Minneapolis! The Fed.gov should spend zillions and create a new Department Of Preventing Dead People In Minneapolis!"
then we get some entertainment headlines:
"Steroid boy still hasn't tied Hank Aaron's home run record."
"Ving Rhames' dogs get a little frisky; eat caretaker."
and finally, buried in with the boring stuff, is what I'm looking for:
"Bathrooms in Capitol Building run out of toilet paper; Senators forced to use Fourth Amendment instead."
Ah well, at least it was bipartisan.
(You know, if we wanted to bump off Iran, we just missed a splendid opportunity. We could have carpet bombed Tehran and been in and out while every reporter in America was running around Minneapolis like chickens with their heads cut off...)
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My wife's a PE in Civil Engineering and Geotechnical Engineering. She specializes in foundations and building design and has been the lead engineer on big projects for the corps etc. Thus I trust her comments when she basically said "it could happen anywhere, the country has not invested seriously in the infrastructure since in the Eisenhower admin, so we now have to pay the piper. We can either fix the country infrastructure or be give aid and social services to the illegals or fight a war in Iraq, but we cannot do all 3 at once."
My opinion is that this is the old "guns and butter" routine. Go visit Russia and see what happens if you cannot balance the system.
Last week if you tried to get an interview on CNN and said that the infrastructure needs money you would have far less chance of air time then if you were saying its going to be a bad hurricane year. Its just the way the country is...
Since I used to live in an earthquake zone, I've always assumed any bridge I'm on can collapse at any moment, regardless of age.
Word Verification: desuro
I'm still a bit miffed Dick Cheney didn't give the order to, um, pacify Iran while the Decider was busy being probed.
It absolutely amazes me that we're now in an "Oh my GOD any bridge could collapse" mindset.
Do we know FOR SURE that it wasn't some form of terrorism? If it was, then it still can happen anywhere and there's little that can be done.
I refuse to believe this bridge just magically fell over due to being in a state of disrepair. Some witness commented on hearing a "blast".
Wait until we know what really happened before we start going willy nilly and sinking billions into bridges that in all likelihood are just fine.
The bridge tragedy will pass just as soon as something totally earthshaking, such as Paris pregnant with JFK's love child makes the headlines.
"I refuse to believe this bridge just magically fell over due to being in a state of disrepair. Some witness commented on hearing a "blast"."
Because after all, it's not like the structure had to support thousands of multi-ton weights moving across it every day, and we all know that structures NEVER have structural failures resulting from lack of care.
Not to mention the fact that the LAST thing that the media would want is a story about another major terrorist attack here in the states. Nope, no interest in that sort of thing at all. They'd much rather make up some silly story about a neglected structure failing after being used for longer, under more stress, and with less maintenance than was intended by the designers. Which as we all agree, is a ridiculous assertion. Bridges don't just fall over, no matter how poorly you maintain them. That's why we still have every one of the structures from ancient civilizations completely intact.
I'm so glad you had the courage to clear this up for us!
"I refuse to believe this bridge just magically fell over due to being in a state of disrepair. Some witness commented on hearing a "blast"."
Bridges don't "magically" collapse due to lack of maintainence any more than the body on a K-car "magically" disappears. As for the "blast" Have you ever heard large pieces of metal failing?
Back again as the spouse of a civil geo engineer.
To quote her "to a trained engineer, the signs of damage and failure are reasonably obvious".
The analogy I was given is take a thin bar of steel and start flexing it. As you flex it over and over you work harden it and eventually it will fail and break in half. It is very hard to predict exactly which bend breaks it, but a trained eye can guess it will break soon.
Blaming it on terrorism reminds me of "occam's razor". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam's_Razor
Why assume terrorism when simple human lack of maintenance will do.
By a similar corollary, can we start blaming a flat tire on my bike on Bin Laden or can we just attribute it to lack of pumping up the tire?
It really doesn't matter if it's terrorism or lack of maintenance. The main thing is that the people are sufficiently afraid and assured that nothing but action by the federal gov't funded by their own money can save them. So far I'm not buying it.
Blast? Pffffft. There's always a blast now. Some ol' boy could drive his tractor into a pond and the neighbor would hear a blast and see black helicopters. These are the same types that think space reptiles are kidnapping folks and sticking diddle sticks up their asses to....what, exactly? Look for maw-maw's pecan pie recipe? Find a new spice route? Devine a new and more accurate way to see how much the IRS is owed?
Blast, hell. Go fire up your Ronco pasta maker and shut the hell up.
The reason people hear "blasts" is that they've never heard the sound multiple hundreds of tons of steel beams make when they break.
Watch a destructive test documentary once in awhile, it'll clarify things.
TheSev
Well yeah, obviously. Bigger point being why does Fox and CNN bother to report it? I realize they've got to fill time, but damn.
Wonderful commentary.
Mike
Point one: That bridge was a state project. Not federal. Derrr!
Point two: What about that 5 cent gas tax hike that went into effect during the Reagan administration? You know, the big Highway Infrastructure Bill? The one they used to blackmail Idaho into raising its drinking age from 19 to 21, otherwise, we'd pay the tax and get none of the money.
Point three: We're taxed at a higher rate than when all these bridges were built in the first place, plus the economy is far larger. They're swimming, nay, drowning in cash. If they can't find a way to make all bridges three times as strong, last ten times as long, gold plate them and pave them with jewels using current revenues, then we need someone else to manage things. -- Lyle
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