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1948 Mayor To MIT: Use Flamethrowers To Melt Snow?
An anonymous reader writes "In 1948 Boston mayor James Curley freaked out because of the record amounts of snow. He wrote to MIT and begged for help, even suggested using flamethrowers to melt it. (Check out the original type-written letter.)"
When the snow melts, the contaminants are going to go into the river anyway, so why does it make sense to ban dumping the snow in the river?
Anyway, in my thermodynamics class back in college, one problem we were given was to calculate how much energy it would take to melt all the snow across the campus. The thermodynamics does not work to the advantage of economically getting rid of the snow using flamethrowers.
Tell him we need a giant version, STAT.
MG
Doesn't the Secret Service have a supply of flame throwers they've used in the past to clear out streets when the president is suddenly snowed in somewhere? I remember reading about that, but I don't remember which president it was for...
Many cities use snow melters to deal with snow; that's basically the same thing. I really wonder why environmentalists aren't up in arms about it; the snow melters can burn hundreds of gallons of fuel an hour, which is more fuel than it takes to a heat a house for a month.
Please help metamoderate.
The reason sun doesn't melt snow too fast is it's white. Sprinkle a little black ash on it and watch it just sink. Dirty snow always melts faster.
They could just be sprinkling ash around on the snowbanks and huge snowpiles to get things melting faster. Such a simple idea, I don't know why they're not doing it. Ash isn't too environmentally unfriendly... certainly better than all the salt they're using.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
CT Homes have 4-5ft deep piles.
I'm not sure what we will do if another 12" falls.
As someone who grew up in an area that managed not to call 2 feet of snow a national emergency (which is about all it takes to create 5' piles), you take the new snow and throw it on top of the pile. Or, if necessary, you make the base of the pile bigger. If really and absolutely necessary, you pile the new snow into a sled and pull the sled into the middle of the lawn and dump it there. Sometimes the answer to a difficult problem really is just to work a bit harder. Sad but true.
I first watched this film in German ... and then I watched it later in English ... some guy (with a brilliant Texan accent) traded some guns with flame throwers and nets to some creepy crawler alien folks for stones which they didn't have. It's a hoot and a half!
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Tell you what, I'll tell them to go ahead---- And send the bill to you.
Cute - you want a public service, but payment should be provided only by those who admit that it's necessary. Just pretending you don't need it - but happily benefiting from it - means you get to leach of other people who are more honest. Is that the idea?
And it clears up the pesky stray pet population.
So, they can't dump it into the river because of contaminants, but instead they'll wait for it to melt and wash into the river?
Am I missing something here?
the russians don't mess around when it comes to snow removal. they take a klimov vk-1 jet engine from a mig-15 and strap it on a truck, amongst other eyebrow raising configurations:
http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2009/08/jet-engines-on-trucks-for-fun-and.html
i think i would step a little livelier if i saw a snow plow like that coming at me down the street
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Something about letters from that era that are just so simply elegant. I love reading letters from that time.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
You could always use the Mythbusters adage. "When in doubt, C4."
The night before John F. Kennedy's inauguration in 1961, a snowstorm dumped 8 inches of snow on Washington DC. The Army Corps of Engineers worked franticly, using flamethrowers to clear the streets. Click here for the full story.
To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
--E.C. Stanton
This a new low, even for slashdot. I know stories are late here, but 1948???
Next on slashdot, an article about how scientists are developing this interesting electronic device called a "computer" and how it will revolutionize the world.
Similar to the upcoming US election results