NODE 75a3d029Re: y2k/gary north delusions
"Trei, Peter" <ptrei@securitydynamics.com>Tue, 8 Dec 1998 00:47:22 +0800
As a former New Yorker, I find this whole
thread majorly uninformed.
Most of New York's water moves from the
Catskills to the tap (or toilet) via
gravity, without encountering a pump
at any point during the way. Even if
all power and automated controls
failed, most of the city would continue
to get water (remember - the system was
designed long before computers, or even
widespread electricity).
The only areas with major problems would
be the high spots - Washington Heights/
Spanish Harlem, some parts of the Bronx,
and the upper floors of some highrises.
Even assuming that somehow every toilet
in the city became unusable, the decidedly
lowtech solid waste disposal system (trucks
to landfills in Staten Island and New Jersey,
or barges to the Atlantic), would still operate.
The solid volume of people's excrement is
miniscule compared to the volume of material
already handled. (If you think no crap goes
into the system, you clearly have not spent
time near in infant in the age of Pampers).
I suspect that Los Angeles, and other cities
which have grown recently in arid areas, would
have a lot more trouble.
Peter Trei
NODE a01a1ec8Re: y2k/gary north delusions
Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com>Tue, 8 Dec 1998 04:06:45 +0800
At 11:07 AM -0500 on 12/7/98, Trei, Peter wrote:
> I suspect that Los Angeles, and other cities
> which have grown recently in arid areas, would
> have a lot more trouble.
Actually, Mulholland knew what gravity was, as well. :-).
Cheers,
Robert Hettinga
-----------------
Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@philodox.com>
Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'