A Balloon Juice commenter discusses the role of science and engineering in yesterday’s plane crash.
However, what I can’t stand is the talking heads that call it a “miracle” that the plane stayed together and was able to float long enough to get everyone off. No, it wasn’t an f’ing miracle! It was at least 100,000 man-hours of research, design and testing that built a machine that supposed to do that, with another who-knows-how-many hours of science research backing up that design.
Everyone and everything did what they were supposed to do yesterday, from the pilot who moonlights as a safety expert to the ferry boat captains who drill for this stuff monthly. It’s not a miracle when you’re in the hands of professionals who take their jobs and their responsibilities seriously.
While speking in Missouri yesterday, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin called on residents of the Gulf Coast to get out of the way of Gustav.
“To the citizens of the Gulf Coast area, your lives and many others are in balance,” she said. “And success of law enforcement and emergency workers and our great National Guard depends on your cooperation.”
This was during a stump speech 700 miles away. To whom was she speaking exactly? Was she trying to look (Vice) Presidential? I realize this is really picking at nits, but still. The country is still in the “who in the hell is this lady?” stage. I don’t think we’re ready to start taking cues from her. The more she delivers lines like that, the more she looks Brownie-esque.
Just when we thought perhaps New Orleans might be saved, a floodwall along the Industrial Canal has been topped, sending water into the Upper Ninth Ward.
From NOLA.com:
The L & N railroad bridge across the Industrial Canal is in the down position, said Mark Lambert, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation and Development. That bridge is owned by the Port of New Orleans, but Lambert said DOTD has offered to send teams to the area to help raise the bridge.
Engineer Bob Turner, executive director of the East Bank Regional Levee Authority, said the bridge is causing a 3-foot backup of water in the canal. Turner has been in contact with the port and DOTD authorities about raising the bridge but it the controls are underwater.
Bonura said the bridge, built in 1919, is only able to handle winds up to 45 miles an hour, which means it cannot weather a hurricane in an upright position.
“Really, the public safety concern is that if it were raised during hurricane-force winds, the bridge could become unstable and fall on the floodwall or levee,” Bonura said.
He also said that at the moment, there is no way to raise the bridge because the controls are under water and equipment can’t be moved to the area.
It is the Port’s usual protocol to keep these old railroad bridges in the down position during a hurricane, Bonura said. The canal is designed with that factor in mind, he said.
Yikes!
