Best and worst parts of our trip to Ithaca

[da]

Worst:

The view from Buttermilk Falls, of the strip malls and Wal-Mart. Which used to be marshy fields and a stream. God, please make the flood-plain flood through there just like the Environmental Impact statement said it would. This Spring would be super.

Best:

Playing many hours of games with our friends. Physics experiments in Second Life. Easter dinner at Dan's parents' place, which was yummy, lively, and friendly. Having a two-night trip that felt full, but not too rushed.

Thank god, I can think of lots more to add to Best, but none to add to Worst (*). Good trip.

(*)OK, the drive home wasn't stellar.

Comments

[dr-tectonic.livejournal.com]

please make the flood-plain flood through there

Oh, it will. Maybe not right away, but it WILL flood. If there's anything I've learned from studying flood hazard, it's that.

[melted-snowball.livejournal.com]

But if it does so soon, we can all say not just "see, we told you so," but maybe convince TPTB not to "fix" it, but to un-develop it. Whereas if it waits 10 years, it'll be a surprising emergency, and there'll be zillions of levees and shit.

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

The question for me right now is whether they built up the parking-lot enough to prevent it from flooding INTO the big box stores, but rather, onto the lower-income housing that's sort of nearby.

*sigh*

[mynatt.livejournal.com]

There's a piece in the latest issue of Maisonneuve about natural disasters describing how previously stable flood plains have been growing rapidly as we cover more and more land area with water-impervious material like asphalt and WalMarts, making me think your odds are perhaps not too bad. Hopefully the residents nearby have the balance of probability on their side, too...

(It's not online, but the articles in that magazine are reading more and more like they were researched just using Google so you should be able to easily find some references. I probably won't renew.)