OT: Blowin in the wind......

Post by **MovieStuff** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 9:07 pm

I did make some calls to see if I could get a rental on an Arri to go up and shoot 35mm or S16 footage of the traffic jam that, literally, stretched from Houston to Dallas. The same thing was on I-10 from Houston to San Antonio. Unbelievable and would have cost a fortune to orchestrate for a film. Just wild.

On a related note, a lot of angry people have been calling into talk shows and posting on logs about how the officials messed this up by not opening the inbound lanes soon enough. Having seen it up close and personal (twice!), I think the Civil Defense and City officials did everything just fine and that opening the lanes a day earlier would not have made a difference. After all, the cars that were backed up from Dallas to Houston only represented a fraction of all the cars that could have been out there. Most people stayed home because they saw 4 lanes backed up to infinity. Had the other 4 lanes been opened, then there would simply have been 8 lanes backed up to infinity instead of 4. The bottom line is that when city officials call for an evacuation, they do so secretly hoping the everyone won't because the government knows that the roads really can not handle a mass evacuation if everyone actually cooperates. Had Katrina not just happened a few weeks earlier, most people would have simply stayed put and ignored the evacuation call, like they have historically done. This was a wake up call that Civil Defense simply does not work and that, if they're gonna drop the "Big One", you might as well stay at home, shop on QVC and max out your credit card because it's either that or die in your car in the middle of a traffic jam.

Roger

Alex · Post by **Alex** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 9:20 pm

Very well and realistically put.

Maybe instead of bomb shelters we should all have entombment shelters that we go into, and if we survive, we come out, if not, we help prevent the spread of disease as a corpse.

Post by **MovieStuff** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 9:36 pm

Alex wrote: Maybe instead of bomb shelters we should all have entombment shelters that we go into, and if we survive, we come out, if not, we help prevent the spread of disease as a corpse.

What an immensely horrible yet practical notion.

Good idea, uh, I think....... 8O

Roger

Alex · Post by **Alex** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 9:48 pm

MovieStuff wrote:
Alex wrote: Maybe instead of bomb shelters we should all have entombment shelters that we go into, and if we survive, we come out, if not, we help prevent the spread of disease as a corpse.
What an immensely horrible yet practical notion.

Good idea, uh, I think....... 8O

Roger

In the context of getting in one's car, moving a mile an hour until one runs out of gas, than being stranded in ones car on a freeway druing a hurricane, versus staying home...then it's practical, in a garish sort of way.

Post by **audadvnc** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 5:41 am

Reminds me of the "duck and cover" drills in my youth -

If at school when the air raid sirens sound alerting the populance of imminent nuclear attack, all students should get under their desks for protection from flying glass shards.

When you spot the bright nuclear flash, pull your arms tightly around your legs and kiss your ass goodbye. 8O

Alex · Post by **Alex** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 6:15 am

audadvnc wrote:Reminds me of the "duck and cover" drills in my youth -

If at school when the air raid sirens sound alerting the populance of imminent nuclear attack, all students should get under their desks for protection from flying glass shards.

When you spot the bright nuclear flash, pull your arms tightly around your legs and kiss your ass goodbye. 8O

From what I read a while ago, the flash is bright enough to blind one even before feeling a blast.