I knew before the first hour I had heard the name that somebody, some fool, was going to call this thing "Dennis The Menace", and sure enough, it took a whole day, but who else but Geraldo Riviera would refer to something as potentially devastating as a hurricane by a term that might otherwise be endearing. I wonder if there were any "Mr. Wilsons" that bore the brunt of this not so cute manifestation of nature's savagery. But more importantly, I wonder why local and state governments don't do the sensible thing, and turn off their power in advance of the storms arrival, any storm. I mean, when you know a hurricane is coming, it seems the sensible thing to do, while you're encouraging peoplke to get out of Dodge, that you might want to consider cutting the power, therefore negating the potential hazards of downed live power lines. Now, they might do this in some areas, but I know they dn't do it in Kentucky when there are severe thunderstorms, even when there have been tornadoes spotted. You would think that would be the first order of business. After all, a few ruined groceries couldn't be as bad as a live wire hanging down on the road, maybe being blown up on top of saomebody's roof and setting the whole damned house on fire.
For that matter, I don't understand why power lines, in this day and age, should have to be above ground to begin with. Why not have them undeground, in heavily insulated pipes, like sewers? can you imagine what it wouldbe like if sewer lines wee run above ground, with the pipes snaking through the air in the trees. Okay, maybe it would be worse.
Still though, it should be relatively easy. If there was a power problem in any one area, this could be found easily. Then, after setting up a temporary by-pass system, the affected area is shut off, and the, through use of a manhole, the entire affected wires are extracted, and all of them then replaced. The whole operation would take an hour or less, and in the long run the maintenance issues would probably not be as many as they currently are. There certianly would be no problems with the wind, or the rain (so long as, like I said, they were properly insulated).
There would be a smaller underground pipe going to each individual residence, which would then connect to the house at the base, perhaps at the foundation, going up, not from the rood, which would be far easier to catch fire in the event of an exposed wire, etc.
Why does this matter? Why do I even take the time to think of things like this? Who knows. I guess I'm just wanting to Blog about something.
