On Mar 10, 9:52=A0am, Space Cadet <kaw...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> On Mar 9, 11:09 pm, Mark_Reich...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
>
> > National Geographic takes a page out of the History Channel's book and
> > does a variant on Life after People. =A0They seem to have borrowed
some
> > of the special effects but it is different enough not to be a
> > retread. =A0It will run again on Wednesday.
>
> > Still, I am yet again disappointed but not surprised at the absence of
> > one of the longest lasting monuments. =A0They have special section
just
> > on monuments but only talk of the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of
> > Liberty, not even that tall stone obelisk in D.C. =A0And once again,
> > despite mentioning that a stainless steel sink will last for
> > centuries, completely forget the biggest use of stainless steel ever,
> > the Gateway Arch.
>
> Its been a while, but I remembers, years ago(more than I can remember)
> the PARADE magazine insert had an article on how long the Arch would
> last, I think it was on the order of 5000 years, Up to a point the
> legs of the are Arch are filled with cement and that would last the
> longest, the top part would collaspe from internal rust. =A0Of course
> this was before we realized that the area near the New Madrid Fault
> and mostly like would be toppled by that.
We had this discussion after Life After People.
It would have to be internal rust from humidity because neither flood
nor rainwater has any chance at getting at the internal steel. Any
flood that could possibly flow into the museum would drain into the
bottomlands across the river instead. The windows at the top are
tipped down and it would take a *serious* sustained wind to blow
enough rain through them to flow anywhere.
As for an earthquake, Walter Jon Williams had people being able to
ride out the 8.9 New Madrid quake in The Rift because the Arch is so
firmly anchored into solid bedrock that it isn't going to do anything
but act like a giant tuning fork. If a serious earthquake happens
AFTER the internal steel has rusted sufficiently, then yes the top
could tumble, but that ain't happening for a long while.
> My main complaint was the goofy setup at the beginning, with the
> Rapture like disappearance of all people and driverless cars &
> pilotless planes cra****ng. =A0Thought they didn't address what would
> happen to the crews boats in the ocean, how long would they stay a
> float?
>
> Life After People said that the Nukes would shut down and nothing on
> the Waste storage pools. =A0That was interesting relevation, also about
> the gas/chemical storage fa****ies.
LAP also had Hoover Dam running until the cooling intakes for the
generators got plugged up by quagga mussels. (If we could only find
the idiot who but his 'infected' boat into Lake Mead, we could hold a
public execution). Las Vegas was to be the last city to lose power.
> One question comes to mind, suppose some superplague, airborne with
> 100% fatality were to come about and the people new that there was
> little or no hope of recovery, what safe guards could be put inplace
> on all those fa****ies? =A0How about setting the Nuke Power plants not
> to shut down for as long as they can and keep the waste storage pools
> running as long as they can? How long would they last?
I couldn't figure out why having the control rods automatically
inserted into full lock down position wasn't the auto response. From
what little I know, a reactor with the control rods fully in can't
sustain any reaction. For that matter, I didn't think it was possible
for a U.S. reactor to undergo an explosion like Chernobyl,
particularly not one that can breach the containment building.
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