This article is from the October, 2001 issue of "Scientific American"
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This article is from the October, 2001 issue of "Scientific American"
article_link
I want to respond to this SO BADLY...PUHLEAZE bring Politcal Poo back...must...resist...
Okay. I'll just respond with: "I thought so. It's a same nothing was done,".
Please...this disaster was a long time coming, irrespective of how much investment was made in levees or floodcontrols. Louisana has lost 2 million acres of wetlands in the last fifty years due to the very management issues outlined in that article and others.
This is why rebuilding NOLA is a terrible idea.
Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality, the costs become prohibitive.
William F. Buckley, Jr.
Aja... especially given the pending shift in the location of the mouth of the Mississippi River - an eventuality even the COE's best efforts will be unable to forestall for too much longer. In much the same way as we've long-since known the current disaster was coming, we've known since at least 1973 - when the Old River Control Structure north of Baton Rouge came so close to giving way that it scared the COE enough to not only strengthen the Hell out of it as soon as the crisis had passed but, in the hopes it could actually defeat Mother Nature for awhile longer, to also build what's now known as the New River Control Structure immediately behind it.Originally Posted by Casual Observer
In sum, the Mississippi River has changed its course for the last few hundred miles every 400 years or so, like "clockwork," and the last change was due in the 1960's. And, but for the Old River Control Structure, a dam which holds the River back from shifting the majority of its flow down the Atchafalaya River where the two rivers meander to within less than a few miles of each other, the Mississippi River would, in fact have changed its course right on schedule during the 1973 floods. As it currently stands, the COE allows almost a full 1/3 of the flow of the Mississippi River to pass through the control structures and flow down the Atchafalaya... but even the COE, arrogant as they are re their abilities to control nature, will admit it's just a matter of time before the Mississippi manages to knock down the control structures and start flowing down the Atchafalaya for good. When that happens, the lower part of the existing Mississippi will rapidly silt up - rendering the port facilities in NOLA unreachable and leaving the city without a source of drinking water due to saltwater intrusion from the Gulf. And, as was the case with the Chandileur Islands - the former location of the mouth of the River prior to its last shift - the Gulf will start the inevitable process of taking the mud the River deposited (and upon which NOLA is built), back.
As "un-PC" as it may be, we really ought to deal with the reality of the situation before we start throwing money into what will sooner, rather than later, turn out to be a losing effort.
"That's your answer Old Man? I guess you're a Hard Case too...."
- Luke
"Some men, you just can't reach...."
- Boss, re Luke
If there's one thing in my life these years have taught me,
it's that you can always see it coming, but you can never stop it.
-Cowboy Junkies
I didn't want to start another hurricane thread, but I thought this was interesting. Yea, the cops shouldn't be doing this... but that preppy-ass newscaster really pisses me off for some reason. Grr!! http://205.138.199.81/videos/7/101346_62c6c.wmv
If you think school is hard, try being stupid.
here is a FactCheck article
Yeah, we shouldn't rebuild NOLA. Same goes for Miami, should it be hit by a category 5 Hurricane. Similarly, if "the big one" hits the West Coast, San Francisco and LA should be abandoned, immediately. Tokyo - who needs it? Brisbane can be moved to Sydney, too.![]()





Another related article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9118570
"He will come in one of the pre-chosen forms. During the rectification of the Vuldrini, the traveler came as a large and moving Torg! Then, during the third reconciliation of the last of the McKetrick supplicants, they chose a new form for him: that of a giant Slor! Many Shuvs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Slor that day, I can tell you!"





FactCheck is the most wrongly named organization ever. They aren't about checking facts, they are about making excuses for the facts. Take this article for example. They do mention " that Bush indeed cut funding for projects specifically designed to strengthen levees. Indeed, local officials had been complaining about that for years" but the whole rest of the article is devoted not to fact-checking but to trying to excuse his imcompetence and poor decisions.
Then take this unmitigated bullshit:
WHAT CRAP! Bush didn't say anything about the 'Corps'. So how could he be technically correct that the Corps didn't anticipate it when it wasn't even what he said.In an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on September 1, President Bush said:
Bush is technically correct that a "breach" wasn't anticipated by the Corps,Bush: I don’t think anyone anticipated breach of the levees …Now we’re having to deal with it, and will.
FactCheck is a Republican spin organization funded by the right-wing Annenberg family.
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