Re: y2k/gary north delusions

[Michael Hohensee <mah248@nyu.edu>]

Soren wrote:
> 
> Michal Hohensee wrote:
> >
> >
> > Latrines aren't sufficient to the task.  In a city like NYC, latrines
> > might solve the problem for perhaps a week (assuming that we tear up all
> > the roads and sidewalks --something which we cannot do in time, even if
> > we wanted to), but then they'll be full, and there won't be any more
> > places the latrines can be rotated to.
> 
> One obvious advantage to living in the penthouse of a highrise.  Of
> course, the elevators may not be working. The elevator shaft may make an
> effective latrine though.

A temporary solution, at best.  You still have to go down to the ground
to shop, go to work, etc.  Besides, even if you don't get infected
directly from the offal on the ground, you can still be infected by
other people.  

> Current waste disposal conventions such as sewers and trash removal
> don't actually magically make this stuff disappear.  In NYC it all ends
> up in the Atlantic latrine, where it gets picked up by the gulf stream
> and ends up being deposited on Florida beaches after a long sea journey.
> There are so many plastic bags bearing logos in the sargasso sea, it
> looks like it has been sold off to corporate interests for advertizing
> purposes.

Yah, but they are pretty good at siphoning the stuff out of the city,
where people live, which is the point.  *Where* it's siphoned to may not
be the most intelligent place, but as long as it's not next to us, we
don't get sick and die nearly as often.  I'm not saying that existing
sewer systems are perfect, but they *are* keeping us alive. 

Michael Hohensee