Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

All hail the time of the bunny!

Fight them, without becoming them!

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

So fucking stupid, and still doing a tremendous amount of damage.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

“Alexa, change the president.”

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.

A tremendous foreign policy asset… to all of our adversaries.

Let there be snark.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

You are here: Home / Science & Technology / The Future of Architecture

The Future of Architecture

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I watched this video yesterday that shows the difference between a category one and category five hurricane:

It made me wonder how our new weather apocalypse is going to shape architecture. I firmly believe that these powerful storms are here to stay, along with flash flooding and tornadoes and earthquakes in the interior of the country, and it is only going to get worse. Of course, because we’re Americans we’ll let out a defiant yell that “We’ll rebuild!,” and because we as a nation are stupid as fuck, we will. And then next year, or the year after that, another storm will come through and knock our shit down again.

I’ve given up hope at any political willpower when it comes to climate change, and I’d give the same odds that we’ll actually have political solutions to flood plains, rebuilding on the coast, building on fault lines, etc., so we’ll probably keep doing this (and you know changes in building codes are out of the question because FREEDUMB) for a little while. Because it is our god given right as Americans to never fucking learn anything.

This will go on until the people who actually count, the underwriters and the insurance agencies and the bankers say “The fuck you’ll rebuild there because I am sick and tired of paying out massive claims and it is cramping how many hookers and how much blow I can do.” At that point, because our government is made up of the people, and we agree the people are fucking stupid (see Trump, Donald J., President), we’ll probably set up some sort of government insurance beyond what we already have. And that will go on for a while until we realize we will not have enough money to bomb brown people somewhere and pay social security and rebuild our coastline every few years.

After that, maybe we’ll adapt. And I wonder what future houses will look like. In the video above, it’s pretty clear that angles are the big problem- anything that is not aerodynamic in all directions is just going to have the roof ripped off, and when that happens, so go the walls. And the people.

In my mind’s eye, I see lots of domed structure and concrete or similar materials. Sort of a geodesic brutalism.

After I thought this, I realized- “hey, jackass- you could google this!” And so I did, and lo, I guess I’m not as dumb as my cat thinks I am. There are still lots of angular buildings in this, but they rely on structural changes and materials which might become scarce and really expensive, so I think the future is going to look like this:

Or this:

Or maybe we will science our way out of this and still be able to live in a colonial or ranch or beach cottage while continuing to ravage the planet while it bites us back. Any ideas or thoughts? And while we’re at it, since I have trees on my mind, what about vegetation and trees and landscaping? How might that change? And roads and bridges? Buried powerlines? Water and sewage.

It’s a mess and a lot to think about.

Reader Interactions

130Comments

  1. 1.

    TenguPhule

    Of course, because we’re Americans we’ll let out a defiant yell that “We’ll rebuild!,” and because we as a nation are stupid as fuck, we will. And then next year, or the year after that, another storm will come through and knock our shit down again.

    I’ve given up hope at any political willpower when it comes to climate change, and I’d give the same odds that we’ll actually have political solutions to flood plains, rebuilding on the coast, building on fault lines, etc., so we’ll probably keep doing this (and you know changes in building codes are out of the question because FREEDUMB) for a little while. Because it is our god given right as Americans to never fucking learn anything.

    Whelp, now I’m really depressed.

  5. 5.

    Baud

    (and you know changes in building codes are out of the question because FREEDUMB)

    One of the metrologists on MSNBC today said that Florida has the strictest building codes in the nation because of the hurricane risk.

    Maybe we begin to solve the problem by putting aside our negativity. Since the election, I’ve seen several articles that said that a large number of people who claim to be environmentalists do not vote. Maybe it will help if we don’t act so hopeless.

  9. 9.

    Elmo

    In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an evil smell; nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole, with nothing in it to sit down upon or to eat. It was a hobbit hole, and that means comfort.

    I can do more, from memory, but that’s the idea.

  12. 12.

    Villago Delenda Est

    We won’t be able to science our way out, because President Eric Trump will have banned science in 2033.

  14. 14.

    mai naem mobile

    One way out is to have the insurance companies push for global warming legislation . It’s literally good for their business. A few years ago I read something about insurance cos. suing Ilinois for not preparing for global warming. Never heard anything since.

  15. 15.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Pretty sure you said Northern Japan would be uninhabitable after Fukushima with an option on poisoning our fish on the West Coast, and that the BP oil spill would render the Gulf of Mexico a dead zone. Large portions of the commentariat supported both positions. Environmental problems are real, and it is tragic and disgusting how Republicans are determined to burn down not just the country but the world if they can’t have it, but rumors of the end of the world remain greatly exaggerated. We will get through this.

    I may be prejudiced by remembering the freakouts about acid rain, the hole in the ozone, and chopping down all the trees in the 80s.

  16. 16.

    scav

    ‘meckans, real ‘merkans won’t object to disposable houses in the least — all that rebuilding means jobs and is a benefit to the GD GDP. Heck yeah, who’d wanna live in last year’s model anyway?

  17. 17.

    Starfish

    I remember there was a house in south Mississippi that survived Katrina. Here is that house. The owner of the property is a structural engineer. He looked at Florida building codes and FEMA recommendations and built a concrete house. While looking for this house, I found another one that survived Hurricane Ike.

  19. 19.

    Roger Moore

    and you know changes in building codes are out of the question because FREEDUMB

    Speak for your own neck of the woods. Here on the left coast, we’ve been more than happy to change our building codes every time an earthquake has shown us the old code isn’t good enough. Of course the problem there is that the updated code generally applies only to new construction and substantial renovations, so buildings from before the code update are rarely updated. We’ve made an exception for hospitals, which have mostly been replaced for the post-Loma Prieta/Northridge code. Some places have also forced retrofitting on older unreinforced masonry buildings and soft story structures, both of which are considered prime candidates for collapse in the event of a big quake.

  21. 21.

    mainmata

    @Baud: I’m a lifelong environmentalist – it’s my professional career and I know nobody of my peers that doesn’t vote in every election. This is either fake news or the people you are referring to are not at all serious environmental people.

  23. 23.

    The Dangerman

    Buried powerlines?

    Trenching for powerlines is hyper-fucking-expensive but should be done (not will, should; see comment about cost) in some places.

  25. 25.

    TenguPhule

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Yes. But it DID get better.

    Yes, in large part to a very drastic response and lots of publicity thanks to the justified freakout. I remember photos from the time of the dead streams and acid eaten trees. Scenes from a dead world.

  26. 26.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Roger Moore: You got to admit, those people who literally build their houses on the Hayward fault are beyond stupid. No code is going to help when 1/2 of the building moves six feet north suddenly. But they do have nice views from the hills.

  27. 27.

    The Lodger

    @Frankensteinbeck: It was pretty bad in parts of Quebec, too. I remember driving for hours through stands of dead trees in the Laurentides Park about 30 years ago. I’m not sure if the area ever recovered.

  28. 28.

    Justa FlPE

    Current building codes call for 175 mph wind resistant and impact resistant construction in Dade County. Wind isn’t the big challenge. Flooding (esp in S FL) is the challenge. That requires zoning and massive earthmoving projects and sustained effort to maintain.

  29. 29.

    Davebo

    I can’t find a link now but there was a hilarious map circulating after Katrina showing no where in the US that’s safe to live. Hurricanes, earthquakes, wild fires, MORMONS!!!

    Calm down John.

  33. 33.

    RoonieRoo

    I was four when I lived through the May 11, 1970 tornado that his Lubbock, Tx. Even only being 4, I have very stark memories of that tornado, our house and all our neighbors being in our basement with half the neighorhood dogs. One of the few buildings to come through it without a lot of damage was a round house.

  36. 36.

    magurakurin

    @Frankensteinbeck: Freakouts? Have you ever been to Sudbury, Ontario? Acid rain was/is a real threat and regulations on emissions were put in place to help. Likewise for ozone destruction. Fukushima is a nightmare shit show that will plague Japan for generations (I know, I’m here) This shit is real, has been for a long time. But I am childless by choice, and getting old. Do whatever you think is best…I just don’t have it in me to give a fuck anymore. Waiting to return to the void…

  37. 37.

    Roger Moore

    @The Dangerman:

    Trenching for powerlines is hyper-fucking-expensive but should be done (not will, should; see comment about cost) in some places.

    Any place that’s regularly subjected to really severe winds, including hurricanes. This is a great example of a case of paying dearly now for being too cheap in the past. Putting in buried power lines isn’t that expensive if you put them in when you’re first building the neighborhood. It’s still more expensive than overhead power lines, but it’s much, much cheaper than doing it after the neighborhood is built.

  38. 38.

    ThresherK

    @RoonieRoo: Jeez. I don’t know what scared me most, face to face, at four. But it certainly wasn’t like that.

    Hurricanes would reach coastal CT yet much more seldom and also weaker than hurricanes to Florida.

  40. 40.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    God, Chris Hayes is doing his show live from Miami. GTFO. At least he’s not wearing one of those “serious foreign correspondent” safari jackets.

  46. 46.

    raven

    My homeboy and his entourage made it from Ft Meyers to Ocala and are on 301 as Adam advised. They were just able to fill up so they are going to keep on pushing.

  47. 47.

    Mike J

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    I may be prejudiced by remembering the freakouts about acid rain, the hole in the ozone,

    Those problems were largely solved by legislation. Think you could get a restriction on the use of CFCs through congress today?

  49. 49.

    TenguPhule

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Every other thread here seems to devolve into wallowing in despair and negativity.

    If John Cole wants to rant about how fucking stupid our country is, you let him rant about how fucking stupid our country is.

  50. 50.

    TaMara (HFG)

    I can’t find the photos or articles, but in the mid-2000s an entire neighborhood survived one of the Southern Cal wildfires because the entire development was built to be resistant – tile roofs, fireproof stucco, etc, etc.

    And Florida has taken strides since Andrew to make homes and neighborhoods stand up to some of the worst hurricanes.

    One of the issues in Texas and Houston in particular was ignoring all the warnings about flooding – over building, tons of concrete and asphalt instead of permeable paving and elevations.

    $$ will be the game changer – when it gets too expensive to be stupid. I won’t hold my breath.

  51. 51.

    Roger Moore

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    You got to admit, those people who literally build their houses on the Hayward fault are beyond stupid.

    Yeah. I’m just thinking that the only reason people in my neighborhood don’t build on the Sierra Madre fault is because that’s the place the land gets too steep to build on. The fault runs through people’s back yards, but not under their houses.

  53. 53.

    TenguPhule

    @Davebo:

    You’ve gotta admit.

    Mitt Romney is looking pretty damned good right now.

    Sorry, not enough booze in the world can accomplish that trick.

  54. 54.

    Karen

    I am partial to Earth ships, know some one that got their degree in architecture from University AZ at the time there were a couple of semesters on environmental friendly housing as well as homes that were completely or partially underground. But that was back when people were passing laws about clean air, clean water and recyling

  55. 55.

    Chet Murthy

    @TaMara (HFG):

    One of the issues in Texas and Houston in particular was ignoring all the warnings about flooding – over building, tons of concrete and asphalt instead of permeable paving and elevations.

    Coming back to TX after grad school in upstate NY, it was the -big- thing that struck me: the “footprint of man” is so much bigger in Texas. They just love their massive highways and parking lots. Just loooove ’em. Was a shocker, esp. when compared to the density of even small towns in the Northeast.

  57. 57.

    Karen

    @Roger Moore: the whole town of Hayward is nuts; I spent a summer there, there would be an earthquake and people were betting on how close they were to be correct at how strong it was and how long it lasted and what kind of quake it was.

  59. 59.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @ThresherK:

    I’ve been reading that. The takedown of Atlas Shrugged a few years ago was brilliant; I like how Adam is disembowelling The Fountainhead.

  60. 60.

    Gvg

    Meh, it’s not that drastic and concrete actually costs money and not all concrete designs are that great.
    Several key things in Florida building. Tie the walls to the floor slab with really solid embedded ties, especially at the corners. I am going to comment that a lot of the problems with the older houses falling down, turned out to be doing a terrible job of building them in the first place. They looked ok with no challenge but when the winds came and went and the inspectors analyzed what needed improvement, it turned out it was almost as bad as being the first lazy pig building a house of straw. The houses were barely attached to the slabs and were mostly held in place by the weight of the house itself. Give enough wind or flood water and the whole thing moved and shook.
    Next strap the roof to the walls. Surprisingly they didn’t used to do this. It’s hard to retro fit this too but if you need a new roof anyway I think you can.
    Next use at least 5 nails long enough to go deep in the plywood for every single 3 tab shingle. This was always required but many builders weren’t doing it and is still a problem. Thousands of nails per roof even at a few cents each add up and it’s hard to catch unless you watch every row of shingles on. Some builders had almost every roof they did come apart, while others had almost all survive. Inspectors tried harder and builders and roofers saw that it mattered. Have I mentioned Florida had a period of almost 30 years with almost no hurricanes which was a historical anomaly? It caused even trying to be good roofers and others to,get lax until Andrew. Some are still trying to slip this through though. Most people don’t watch the roofer close enough to catch it. My dad had a new roof done a few years back. He found he had to watch carefully whenever the owner went to another job, the workers started cutting corners when the boss wasn’t there. Most people wouldn’t have known or been sure enough they knew to face down the workers.
    Roofs have changed some. Now the preferred style has the corners cut off in what is called a gabled style. I don’t like the look as well but I found out it makes about a thousand a year difference in the insurance. It’s not required but if you know what the costs are you choose. In addition the attics aren’t good extra space to be converted anymore because they do this kind of cross bracing that fills up the whole attic with x’s of beams every 18 inches.
    The outside can look like any style. Everyone is tending to move towards hardboard instead of wood because it doesn’t rot. Rot also would weaken the strength. Plywood and wood siding can also be stronger than that video sounds if it has enough nails going deep enough into studs. Sounds obvious, but people weren’t doing before.
    Lots of nails…..don’t fall apart.
    Windows are getting better. Still a weak point. Impact resistance is still expensive but people want it and demand is increasing.
    At the coast, garage doors with extra bracing are needed and now they make them. They didn’t used to. They look the same outside.

  67. 67.

    Karen

    I always have thought that people should have left Florida as it was, it was mostly one giant swamp with sand bars

  68. 68.

    jl

    I was thinking that weather person in the clip has really mastered the knack of standing still, tall, proud and unruffled in high winds.
    Does he give seminars on how to do it?

  69. 69.

    eclare

    So weird, in Memphis, and the lows at night are in the 50’s, and the highs around 80. Not complaining.

  74. 74.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @hilts:

    Actually, having now watched it (I was a little bit behind on the DVR buffer), I think he had this vibe like he drew the short straw.

    “Come on, Chris! No way is Matthews dragging his fat ass out of the studio, and Rachel is our crown jewel. Face it, you’re expendable.”

  75. 75.

    TenguPhule

    Sorry SC, this is fucking depressing.

    New Hampshire’s secretary of state said today he will remain on an advisory commission to President Donald Trump though he disagrees with voter fraud allegations made by the panel’s vice chairman about his state.

    All four members of New Hampshire’s congressional delegation called on fellow Democrat and Secretary of State Bill Gardner to step down from the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity in response to a Breitbart column by Republican Kris Kobach published Thursday.

    But he has good intentions.

    “Secretary Gardner’s association with this partisan commission risks tarnishing his long legacy of fighting for the New Hampshire Primary and promoting voter participation, and it would be in keeping with his distinguished record to immediately relinquish any role with this commission,” Hassan and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen said in a statement.

    Gardner, the nation’s longest-serving secretary of state, countered by questioning whether the senators quit committees they’re assigned to in Congress because they disagree with other members.

    “Are they going to refuse to participate in anything? Don’t they try to deal with it? Don’t they try to have a dialogue,” he said.

    Gardner said he doesn’t condone Kobach’s claims but will remain on the commission because it’s important to figure out why Americans are losing trust in the election process. Nothing less than the fate of American democracy is at stake, he said.

    “Democracies go away when people no longer trust the very basic part of democracy, which is the ability to cast a vote for the people you want to represent you,” he said. “If they lose faith in that process, it goes away. That’s how democracies die.”

  78. 78.

    trollhattan

    @TenguPhule:
    George Romney looks good in retrospect, not his neer-do-well son. He serially turned down raises as AMC CEO because he believed the boss shouldn’t make too much in comparison to line workers. He never embraced Republican radicalism in the Goldwater era. He wasn’t his kid, that’s for sure.

  79. 79.

    Davebo

    @Karen: When you get out west of Houston to the suburbs like Katy it’s basically old rice fields.

    Bottom line, it doesn’t matter when you get 40″ of rain over a few days.

  84. 84.

    efgoldman

    @Baud:

    Florida has the strictest building codes in the nation because of the hurricane risk.

    My understanding is: only after the costs and consequences of Andrew became apparent. Many dwellings were found not to conform to the old code.

  89. 89.

    rikyrah

    So, with Dolt45 and Irma….

    Are they going to ship him off to Camp David like they did with Harvey, so that he’ll have another one of those idiot photos, while leaving the ‘ Presidential, taking care of stuff surrounded by everyone working’ picture to Pence?

    Or, will he refuse to leave, thus denying Pence the opportunity to play President.

  91. 91.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    We had a trnsformer blow here about 45 minutes ago. Boom sound and lights flickered while there was the sound of electronical arcing. Still no power.

  100. 100.

    rikyrah

    Rico 81
    ✊‏ @reesetheone1

    There is a concerted effort to try to wrestle Clinton’s grip of her base away from her.

    1. Why is that?

    2. Who’s behind it?
    12:53 PM – 7 Sep 2017

  101. 101.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @TenguPhule:

    “Are they going to refuse to participate in anything? Don’t they try to deal with it? Don’t they try to have a dialogue,” he said.

    Gardner said he doesn’t condone Kobach’s claims but will remain on the commission because it’s important to figure out why Americans are losing trust in the election process. Nothing less than the fate of American democracy is at stake, he said.

    “Democracies go away when people no longer trust the very basic part of democracy, which is the ability to cast a vote for the people you want to represent you,” he said. “If they lose faith in that process, it goes away. That’s how democracies die.”

    How retarded. There is no dialogue beyond disenfranchising minorities and potentially white liberals. Gardner is a useful idiot. The problem with his comparison of committees is that this commission was explicitly founded on false claims of voter fraud. Kobach has no interest in finding out the answers to Gardner’s questions insofar as making those issues worse so the the GOP dominates elections forever.

    By being on that commission he’s giving it false legitimacy and is an accessory to killing American democracy. Gardner is a fool.

  107. 107.

    Bago

    Heh. I just gave away my old geodesic dome. You have to vent them to spoil the lift effect in high winds.

  110. 110.

    rikyrah

    Thread

    GothamGirlBlue‏ @GothamGirlBlue

    I’ve been seething all day about the response to Hillary’s book, and I feel like I’ve finally channeled it into a coherent thread.
    9:25 PM – 7 Sep 2017

    2/ Every last thing we’re experiencing now was predicted by Hillary during the campaign. And like Cassandra, we refused to believe her.

    3/ I shouldn’t use the word “we” because I was a member of her coalition. I believed her and I believed in her.

    4/ She represented her coalition ably, if not perfectly. She talked about issues that mattered to us. She made sure to express empathy.

    5/ For that, she was heckled, harassed, attacked, dismissed, ignored and mocked by the very people who were supposed to inform us.

    6/ And every time someone wrote about how unlikeable she was, or how she didn’t talk about what really mattered, or how it’s her fault…

    7/ They were really saying it about our coalition. *We* were unlikeable. *We* didn’t really matter. It’s *our* fault that Trump won

    8/ This backlash is really about the idea that neither Hillary as a person nor the coalition she represented has any right to public life.

    9/ She was supposed to stan for white supremacy and patriarchy. She was supposed to put the priorities of white rural voters above all.

    10/ She was supposed to back down when shouted at. She was supposed to mold herself into something likeable.

    11/ It goes without saying that white men determine what is likeable. They say it’s voters, but they mean white male voters.

    12/ And we are seeing the backlash of not placating those who want our silence, our submission, our obeisance in their presence.

    13/ Y’all get distracted when a GOP presidential candidate retweets white supremacists, but you can find all the time to harass Hillary.

    14/ Trump is out here weaponizing the ICE into the goddamn Gestapo, but you can find time to tell Hillary her voice isn’t wanted.

    16/ And us, those who shared in her warnings and now feel the brunt of the brutality, we’re told that we had our shot and we wasted it.

    18/ But POC, women, urban voters who are responsible for 2/3 of the American economy? We should shut up and go home. No one wants us here.

    19/ It’s very clear that the storytellers of this age are interested in protecting the narrative of white-dominated Americana.

    24/ And she’s reminding us that likeability is a damn lie. You never would have liked her no matter what she did because she challenged you.

    26/ You want us to go away. You want us to internalize her loss as our inferiority. You want our silence, our return to the back.

  113. 113.

    Karen

    @Davebo: I agree on amount of rain, when lived in WI had one spring where everything was flooded; I don’t remember how much rain we got but every low spot became a lake. That was also the year that a couple of cities had enough; they told people in low lying areas with newer buildings that they would not be receiving permits for rebuilding. It was one of those 500 years floods but new zoning had allowed building on flood plans. Whole neighborhoods weren’t allowed to rebuild on anything that was considered flood plane; WI has or had wetland laws so you couldn’t build on marshland. Houston has problems with flooding every year, but still they build and rebuild.

  116. 116.

    Tracy Ratcliff

    @efgoldman: How soon we forget. When the Voting Rights Act was passed in the mid-60s, NH was under as strict a scrutiny as AL or MS, because of the way NH treated French speakers — lots of legal and illegal Quebecois immigration up until the 60s.

  117. 117.

    Mnemosyne

    @Karen:

    @Roger Moore: the whole town of Hayward is nuts; I spent a summer there, there would be an earthquake and people were betting on how close they were to be correct at how strong it was and how long it lasted and what kind of quake it was.

    That’s not a Hayward thing. We all do it out here.

  120. 120.

    Tehanu

    @Mnemosyne:

    What you said. Also matches a lot of what Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote in his article “The First White President.” (Sorry, don’t have link).

  121. 121.

    Karen

    @Mnemosyne:I know, i lived in CA for years the only place didn’t feel daily quakes was up at Lake Shasta. But I still think that Hayward was a little more nuts about that summer; the quakes were happening about the same time every day that summer and people who were home would stand out in yard and yell bets at each other.

  123. 123.

    Smitty

    In the 70’s alternative structures were pretty widely examined. The idea of an inflatable form which would be sprayed w/ alternating layers of polyisocyanurate foam and concrete looked promising. Perhaps this technique might prove to have some merit today. Sorry if someone else has proposed this but I didn’t have time tonight to peruse comments.

  124. 124.

    PersistentIllusion

    @Starfish: I’ve seen that house, as my daughter rode out Katrina up Bayou Portage. The house was literally the only standing mostly undamaged structure in Pass.

  126. 126.

    David Evans

    @Frankensteinbeck: the hole in the ozone layer went away because we took sensible measures to heal it. But not entirely. My Australian family takes great care with sun blockers because of skin cancer.

  128. 128.

    lowtechcyclist

    Or maybe we will science our way out of this and still be able to live in a colonial or ranch or beach cottage while continuing to ravage the planet while it bites us back. Any ideas or thoughts?

    Modest Mouse:

    The air’s on fire so we’re movin’ on
    Better find another one ‘cause this one’s done
    Waitin’ for the magic when the scientists glow
    To push, push, push, push, pull us up

  129. 129.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    Seems like the dome structures would handle the hurricane force winds better, but what do they do about flooding? It’s storm surge and a foot of rain with nowhere to go that cause a lot of the destruction. Wind proof helps, marginally, but if we can’t do anything about the flooding the losses are still ginormous.

  130. 130.

    Mobile

    @ThresherK: I’m not entirely sure of the year or the name of the hurricane, nor am I inclined to look it up, but I do recall a hurricane in 54/56? which pretty much wiped out downtown Norwalk, CT, took out my father’s business, and destroyed my grandparent’s home in Litchfield County. So New England is certainly not immune.

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