Re: Dear Incubus.
- From: Nemesis <nemesis@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 04 Sep 2005 23:32:14 GMT
On Sun, 4 Sep 2005 18:23:29 -0500, "D-Chance."
<dchance@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> with the help of a thousand monkeys banging
on keyboards, was finally able to type out the following:
>
>"ViNNY" <vinny@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>news:1125869918.61231.0@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Steve Dallas wrote:
>>> I'm sorry that your town got annihilated; granted, the federal government
>>> may have been a bit sluggish in its response.
>>>
>>> But that does not change the fact that New Orleans as it existed was a
>>> crime
>>> against nature. The cesspool New Orleans has become is a perfect symbol
>>> of
>>> the corruption of the human spirit it represented--of man trying to force
>>> nature to bend to his laws and rules, rather than living in harmony with
>>> it.
>>> You thought that with a few pumps and levees you could rest safe and
>>> sound
>>> in a city *below sea level* next to a lake. As the great poet and
>>> philosopher Buck Dharma said, history shows again and again how nature
>>> points up the folly of man. That's what New Orleans is to me--not the
>>> birthplace of Jazz, not a french colony, not the premier party
>>> destination
>>> west of the Rockies, but a monument to human arrogance; a memorial to the
>>> hubris of man, that a shovel, a dam, and a pump can stem back the
>>> irresistible will of nature.
>>
>> But you're right about the sea level thing - stupid. I say this having
>> lived in a town that was a few feet below sea level and got flooded every
>> October until someone built a 10 feet high, 5 mile long concrete wall
>> along the beach and a trench for the overspill. Of course, we're not in a
>> hurricane zone, so that's been more than enough for the last 25 years or
>> so.
>
>To be fair, New Orleans USED to be above sea level. It
>has simply sunk as it has grown due to the soft foundation
>its constructed on. What's the Bible School story about
>building houses on sand instead of rock?
>
>And while now is not the time, somewhere in the not-too-distant
>future, there will have to be a discussion about whether the city
>should be re-built, or abandoned with its residents moved inland
>several miles... allowing the Mississippi Delta to reclaim its natural
>territory.
>
That's an interesting point.
Here in NYC there are a couple of areas where large buildings were
built on landfill. Examples I can think of include Starrett City in
Brooklyn and Battery Park City in Manhattan. The landfill at BPC came
from the dirt and rock dug up when the foundations for the World Trade
Center were made.
An uncle of mine used to joke that he expected Starrett to one day
sink.
--
Nemesis
ICQ #4610826
http://www.tehawk.com
http://home.earthlink.net/~tehawk
"Doing My part for RSPW"
.
- References:
- Dear Incubus.
- From: Steve Dallas
- Re: Dear Incubus.
- From: ViNNY
- Re: Dear Incubus.
- From: D-Chance.
- Dear Incubus.
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