Nobody was listening.

[Larry Caldwell]

Galveston was wiped out, but it was a small town by comparison.

[Goedjn]

I wouldn't. I'd build it on a barge.

[Goedjn]

You probably shouldn't discount the possibility of a major regional wildfire, and the EPA rules against clearing underbrush aren't calculated to make that less likely. Admittedly, it would take a significant drought first, so they're not likely to sneak up on you.

There's also ice-storms and blizards, co-incident or not with major flooding.

A good ice-storm followed by 10' of snow and a period of high winds could easily cut people off from government and municiple services for a couple weeks at a time.

[Goedjn]

THAT, I think is the root of the problem. That they don't (didn't) know any better. They didn't know how to get themselves moved, they didn't know how to prepare, and they weren't (and still aren't) in the habbit of being responsible for themselves and their neighbors. Like farm-raised chickens, they have become completely dependant on the support of the institution(s) that feed off them, and when that support goes away, they die.

whereas other people, put in the same situation with EXACTLY the same physical and financial resources would have done just fine.

It is well known that, given a choice between doing what they have always done, and surviving, many people will choose to do what they have always done.

--goedjn

--Goedjn

[Offbreed]

Trying to be sensible?

Goog Dod, man, what are you? Some sort of freak?

Expect to see demonstrators dressed as oil soaked geese in front of your house shortly.

(The nerve of some people. Harrumph.)

[Duane Bozarth]

Maybe, but not really. Prime reasons include-

1. High costs of investment in mandated environmental abatement programs.
2. Very low ROI over the period of time until the recent upsurge.
3. The NIMB syndrome and other difficulties in siting.

No, they're not dumb. They're in business just like any other. That they buy and sell contracts still doesn't the price, they simply respond as best they can to market forces. Their hedges are mostly on the cost of the raw material, of course.

They have insurance on the facilities, granted. That doesn't mean they still won't be out significant direct costs of rebuilding and cleanup and the lost revenue.

I know they were'nt losing money over the last couple of years. I do know that the ROI wasn't all that great during a long period of time until relatively recently.

I don't like the high cost of energy at present any more than you, I just understand the underlying problems are more complex than many would like to wish and that the policies of the country and world demand and supplies have more to do with it than simply blaming avarice on the part of "big oil".

[Duane Bozarth]

Neither of the pprevious were my suggestions--I simply pointed out it's hard to imagine not building docks and other facilities dependent upon large ocean-going freighters at least near a deep water port.

As for barges, they've been bandied around for years--in general, they appear to have been rejected by those in a better position to make the decision than a landlocked usenet positor... :)

[Dr. Hardcrab]

I was thinking of his cousin Benny Hannah.........

[Don Bruder]

"wiped out" he says... There's an understatement :)

According to all accounts I've ever heard, it wasn't just "wiped out" - It was, with only a *VERY* small number of exceptions, literally

*COMPLETELY GONE* - As in *NOTHING* but bare dirt and a few patches of concrete left to mark where a city used to stand. Nothing - not even rubble - The island was washed almost completely clean of any sign that humans had ever set foot on it.

[Linda Hungerford]

true, but...i would sure rather do winter in Baton Rouge in this situation, than in central Illinois, e.g.

Linda H.

[Goedjn]

Evacuating from the city was also rejected by many of them, but doesn't mean that it's not a good idea.

[Don Bruder]

Anyplace you can get to that puts more distance between you and "the problem", whatever it happens to be, than where you're standing right now. If that means you start hoofing for Alaska, then so be it, but the main point is *GET THE HELL OUT* by any means possible.

If you're relying on the government - ANY government, be it federal, state, county, city, or some other coutnry's government - for your survival, then quite frankly, you're too stupid to be allowed to continue drawing breath, and should be summarily shot as the worthless drain on society you are.

And no, I don't give a flying shit how ill you may think of me for saying so. Think of it as evolution in action.

[Larry Caldwell]

I hear that there are several small communities along the coast of Mississippi in that condition - towns that have been wiped off the face of the earth by Katrina.

[Duane Bozarth]

I doubt it was rejected by many of those in position to have actually made decisions regarding the building of major industrial facilities on barges as opposed to land...

I was quite aware of plans for building offshore nuclear islands back in the 60s and 70s...had some advantages, but the cost and disadvantages were just more than what could be justified by any engineering study.

[TURTLE]

This is Turtle.

there was some parts of New Orleans with 8 feet of water in them but how high the water would get had nothing to do with the rescue effort for there was NO effort going on at all. after all of this is over you will find out there was NO efford to get the people out of N.O. at all. till Saturday when Bush and FEMA got permission from Blanco and the Mayor to start the federal Aid to start coming , there was no efford to get anybody out of anywhere. Bush and FEMA ask the Governor Blanco and the Mayor of N.O. if they wanted federal Aide to move in and bush and FEMA was told stay out we will handle this. If the Governor and Mayor could have handled it theirself. the State and Governor would be getting the $14Billion check to do the job of cleaning up, but if FEMA and Federal Aid come in the money would be used by them to clean up and fix the city. The governor want that money to devid up and just do very little as possible and to keep the rest of it. the Governor and Mayor tried for a good retirement stab at the money and lost big time. In a few months you will see or hear about this stab at fame but failed.

TURTLE

[FDR]

We've been told over and over about how refiberies are working at their near maximum. Why haven't they built anymore? Maybe because they are greedy.

Uhm, who do you think sells the contracts for the gas? Refineries. And they sure as hell have market hedges in place, as well as insurance. You think they are dumb????? They are making money no matter what. Well, that would sure answer why they don't invest any capital into adding refinement capability.

But if you think these refineries are losing money, maybe you can start a collection for them. I'm sure they would take your charity, sucker.

[Duane Bozarth]

Yes, the MS river ran backwards for a couple of days while filling some newly created lakes. It actually was much more recent than that--in

1811-12(?) iirc. If the area had not been so unpopulated at the time it would have been as well known as the San Francisco quake. Another of that magnitude could be cataclysmic for Memphis.

[keith]

Maybe LA, but certainly not FL! Maybe somewhere in GA they're the same as NH. ;-)

[Steve Scott]

[e-mail] spewed forth yet more babble:

A picture is worth a thousand words.

[FDR]

Well, there's allready a ton of them there, it's not like another one is gonna do anything.