First Post!

Burnout Revenge & Legends are due out soon, which for some reason I didn't realize until recently. I hope Revenge has enough new stuff in it to make it a worthwhile pickup for the Xbox. Legends or any other PSP game coming out soon for that matter isn't really all that important to me seeing how I probably won't be flying anywhere the rest of the year. It sure would be nice to have something new to play for when I do travel though.

Movie: Some people are just born with tragedy in their blood.

From The Chatty
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    September 7, 2005 5:43 AM

    Hey we have a FP today.

    Why would NO destroy the superdome though?

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      September 7, 2005 5:44 AM

      Its structural integrity is probably suspect due to the unexpected damage from Katrina. That and they've wanted a new stadium for a while.

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        September 7, 2005 6:08 AM

        I wonder how they could determine the structural integrity was bad so quickly though.

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          September 7, 2005 6:22 AM

          kicking the tires



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          September 7, 2005 8:49 AM

          big fucking cracks in the superstructure? All I know is that there are government and private engineers from all over the country down there assessing damage. Our office sent a few thousand flood and wind damage field guides out to them.

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      September 7, 2005 5:45 AM

      Structural damage + rotting corpses = wrecking ball

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      September 7, 2005 5:46 AM

      [deleted]

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      September 7, 2005 5:47 AM

      [deleted]

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      September 7, 2005 5:47 AM

      They wanted a new arena for a long time but couldnt get the tax initiative passed.

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      September 7, 2005 6:49 AM

      Marketing. The Superdome != teh win anymoar.

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      September 7, 2005 6:54 AM

      you dont understand how overflowing those toilets got

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        September 7, 2005 10:20 AM

        but they'll still have to clean that part up... you can't just demolish a building with waste water everywhere...

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      September 7, 2005 6:56 AM

      But is there even ANY usable infrastructure left in New Orleans? Electricity is hosed, the water mains are contaminated and damaged, and the whole city is a biohazard.

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        September 7, 2005 7:05 AM

        I really hope NO doesn't try and rebuild

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          September 7, 2005 7:06 AM

          They've got to rebuild so GW can enjoy a beer on his rich buddy's porch!

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          September 7, 2005 7:11 AM

          I hope that the public sector doesn't try and rebuild NO. I hope all the "rebuilding" money is sent to the people of NO, so they see what they want to do with it. It's rightfully theirs anyway, it was stolen through taxes..

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          September 7, 2005 8:30 AM

          I agree. I'm not trying to be a dick (pls don't ban) but the city is obviously in a really bad location and this will only happen again. Lets instead salvage what we can and move on. Turn it into a huge paintball course or military training ground.

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            September 7, 2005 8:39 AM

            And lets piss away 300 years of history there as well.

            You don't have to throw the baby out with the bath water even if the bath water is all over your floor.

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              September 7, 2005 9:49 AM

              IT'S IN A FLOOD PLAIN.

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                September 7, 2005 9:51 AM

                My point exactly.

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                  September 7, 2005 10:11 AM

                  Yeah, it isn't going to cost even more money to move the port of NO to an area that doesn't fllod, along with all of that infrastructure such as rail lines (which is more expensive than barging stuff down the Mississippi, and all of the industrial plants and refineries (which need places for the workers to live), especially since the industrial areas and port suffered minor damage compared to the rest of the city. Heck, some refineries are already fully back online.

                  But since it makes more sense in the long run to relocate an entire population and build everything from the ground up, we might as well relocate the majority of Florida, because they get nailed by hurricanes all the time and they don't even have time to finish rebuilding before they get damaged again. And everyone in the midwest...well, there is a lot of flooding along those rivers, not to mention tornadoes. Oh, and you guys up in the northeast get blizzards and ice storms every once in a while that cost us billions. And the entire mid/eastern part of the US is extremely vulnerable to a major earthquake on the New Madrid and other fault lines, even more so due to the nature of the geology there and the general lack of preparedness. (Which we know WILL happen, it is just a matter of time.) And don't even get me started on California and the rest of the West. I guess we need to relocate everything to the moon. Or to Hawaii, we have a pretty good handle on the volcanoes there...just don't build down flow of the ones on the Big Island.

                  Or maybe we can do the right thing for once and actually be proactive instead of reactive...like FEMA was under the previous administration. It's the same idea as going to the doctor for regular checkups, which helps prevent and mitigate diseases.

                  We can easily mitigate future damage by actually doing smart things like not cutting funding for flood protection. I say we take several hundred million from that Alaska bridge we are building which is a complete waste of money. If we add that to the couple of million Bush authorized for levee repair and improvements we might actually get somewhere. But that would require government to be responsible and not blame the other side or the gays or the terorist or whatever the fuck the new bogeyman is this week. And if we know one thing, that sure isn't going to happen under this current leadership.

                  Probably won't ever happen, unless people get tired of being led around the nose by the people that bring you those wonderful talking point memos that tell certain media outlets what to report and how to spin it. That goes for both sides, although one side is much better at doing this sort of thing than the other side is.

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                September 7, 2005 9:57 AM

                I live on a flood plain. The entirety of London and huge chunks of the south of England is built on a flood plain. Flood plains are where you build houses - because they're flat and hills/mountains aren't.

                Obviously we don't have hurricanes bearing down on us the whole damn time, but that doesn't mean, but it isn't really as simple as saying "omg flood plain". Humans have populated all sorts of places in this world that by simple logic shouldn't be populated.

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                  September 7, 2005 9:58 AM

                  Hell, Holland is below sea level. The engineers who designed those levees should be brought over to Lousiana to fix them up.

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                    September 7, 2005 10:01 AM

                    They are being brought over and a lot of those systems are being looked at. This is not an impossible situation.

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                      September 7, 2005 10:10 AM

                      European Engineering kicks ass.

                      \m/

                      Im thinking about choosing it for my engineering branch instead of Gnomish or Goblin :D

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                    September 7, 2005 10:12 AM

                    not all of the netherlands are, just parts

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                    September 7, 2005 10:19 AM

                    though Holland isn't constantly assaulted with Hurricanes.

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                      September 7, 2005 10:23 AM

                      the channel floods too every once in a while

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                September 7, 2005 9:58 AM

                Lots of populated america is. Fuck, I think I am in one. Anywhere that has any really fertile ground is! So I guess we need to get rid of the millions of farm houses out there too...

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                  September 7, 2005 10:16 AM

                  I didn't know central Kansas was below sea level and required pumps to keep the waters back...

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                    September 7, 2005 10:18 AM

                    True, that's a big difference. There are "flood plains" around here but the overall level of the city is well above sea, so even if there's a heavy flood it drains off naturally. I still wouldn't live in a flood plain because you have to get flood insurance and that can be hundreds per month.

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                    September 7, 2005 10:22 AM

                    there are still flood planes in kansas.. and quite a few of them are around wichita

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                    September 7, 2005 10:22 AM

                    No, we're not below sea level. The lowest point is 679 above.

                    http://www.netstate.com/states/geography/ks_geography.htm

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              September 7, 2005 9:49 AM

              Babies are waterproof

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              September 7, 2005 9:55 AM

              no, but we can learn from history and move on.

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              September 7, 2005 10:00 AM

              [deleted]

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        September 7, 2005 8:58 AM

        It'll be rebuilt, because it has to.
        Sure, you may have less of a regular civilian population, but it's a really important industrial area. Especially the port.

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      September 7, 2005 8:01 AM

      For Halliburton and teh oil

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      September 7, 2005 9:46 AM

      The biggest problem is the way it is designed. The roof is resposible for handling most of the stress in keeping the walls up. So if there is damge to the roof, the building is no longer able to really support itself.

      They probably took a look at it, saw the damage, and ran the figures for a clean-up/repair and upgrade job vs. a new stadium that would be capable of withstanding a category 5 for certain, and figured that it made more sense to do this.

      Also, this is NO and LA. Someone along the line probably figured there was mucho pocket lining money to be had in doing this. That might just be my cynicism coming out though.

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      September 7, 2005 10:21 AM

      [deleted]

Hello, Meet Lola