# Catastrophe of Historic Proportion? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 2, 2007, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105 "2007-08-02T09:54:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/1 "2007-08-02T09:54:16Z")
Sorry, gov, I know you are a politician, but a bridge collapse with nine dead doesn’t exactly rate even a mention in history. Jamestown Flood? Katrina? The Tsunami? 9/11? All catastrophes of historic proportion. Your bridge? Not so much. So turn off the smarm and start figuring out how the fuck you are going to get that road open again. The traffic is going to be more historic than the collapse. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/2 "2007-08-02T11:25:18Z")
[QUOTE=Happy Wanderer] Sorry, gov, I know you are a politician, but a bridge collapse with nine dead doesn’t exactly rate even a mention in history. Jamestown Flood? Katrina? The Tsunami? 9/11? All catastrophes of historic proportion. Your bridge? Not so much. So turn off the smarm and start figuring out how the fuck you are going to get that road open again. The traffic is going to be more historic than the collapse. [/QUOTE] You can start with dopers. OMG!! Are you OK? Please get back to us!!! Jesus, you need to be either fake, ignorant, or stupid to be saying that shit. Fake, because it’s some sort of “see how worried I am about you”. Ignorant, because AS IF a doper (or probably anyone they know) was injured when 10 people (or even 1000) got hurt in a metropolitan area of several million. Or just plain stupid for asking a doper to check in. Do you have a list of ALL Minnesota Dopers and if they don’t check in, well. . .then what? “Duh, I guess he done died in that bridgety co-lapse. He didn’t check in with me.” Sure, it’s very interesting to hear their anecdotes. . .if they drive on it, what they know about, etc. But, Jesus. . .let’s drop the “OMG, check in the SECOND you hear from her!!!” phoney baloney. ---
**Author:** ![usar\_jag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f0a364/32.png) [@usar\_jag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usar_jag)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/3 "2007-08-02T11:29:34Z")
Agreed. I have not seen Gov. Pawlenty’s remarks, however. Politicians of all stripes will be making hay out of this tragedy. While the bridge collapse may be historic in Minnesota, it pales to what has happened elsewhere. I have no cite for this, but I’m betting that more people in California died in accidents yesterday than on the 35W bridge collapse. ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/4 "2007-08-02T11:29:57Z")
[QUOTE=Trunk] You can start with dopers. OMG!! Are you OK? Please get back to us!!! Jesus, you need to be either fake, ignorant, or stupid to be saying that shit. Fake, because it’s some sort of “see how worried I am about you”. Ignorant, because AS IF a doper (or probably anyone they know) was injured when 10 people (or even 1000) got hurt in a metropolitan area of several million. Or just plain stupid for asking a doper to check in. Do you have a list of ALL Minnesota Dopers and if they don’t check in, well. . .then what? “Duh, I guess he done died in that bridgety co-lapse. He didn’t check in with me.” Sure, it’s very interesting to hear their anecdotes. . .if they drive on it, what they know about, etc. But, Jesus. . .let’s drop the “OMG, check in the SECOND you hear from her!!!” phoney baloney. [/QUOTE] Recreational grief and recreational hysteria are cousins of recreational outrage. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/5 "2007-08-02T11:34:16Z")
[QUOTE=Happy Wanderer] Sorry, gov, I know you are a politician, but a bridge collapse with nine dead doesn’t exactly rate even a mention in history. Jamestown Flood? Katrina? The Tsunami? 9/11? [/QUOTE] _Jamestown_ Flood? Never heard of it. - cochrane. Native of Johnstown, PA. ---
**Author:** ![DudleyGarrett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/6 "2007-08-02T11:37:51Z")
[QUOTE=Trunk] You can start with dopers. OMG!! Are you OK? Please get back to us!!! Jesus, you need to be either fake, ignorant, or stupid to be saying that shit. Fake, because it’s some sort of “see how worried I am about you”. Ignorant, because AS IF a doper (or probably anyone they know) was injured when 10 people (or even 1000) got hurt in a metropolitan area of several million. Or just plain stupid for asking a doper to check in. Do you have a list of ALL Minnesota Dopers and if they don’t check in, well. . .then what? “Duh, I guess he done died in that bridgety co-lapse. He didn’t check in with me.” Sure, it’s very interesting to hear their anecdotes. . .if they drive on it, what they know about, etc. But, Jesus. . .let’s drop the “OMG, check in the SECOND you hear from her!!!” phoney baloney. [/QUOTE] Then wait for the liberal know-it-alls to chime in on bridge construction (when in fact the only thing they’ve ever done in their lives with bridges is, you know, drive over them, but they’ve taken College Algebra and maybe a physics course) whining about how the government didn’t protect these poor, innocent commuters. It’s going to be a bloodbath, man. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/7 "2007-08-02T11:48:26Z")
[QUOTE=DudleyGarrett] Then wait for the liberal know-it-alls to chime in on bridge construction (when in fact the only thing they’ve ever done in their lives with bridges is, you know, drive over them, but they’ve taken College Algebra and maybe a physics course) whining about how the government didn’t protect these poor, innocent commuters. It’s going to be a bloodbath, man. [/QUOTE] IANASE (I am not a structural engineer), but bridges usually collapse for a good reason. Sometimes it’s an unlikely accident, like a ship crashing into a pylon, or a petrol tanker catching fire and weakening the steel. Sometimes it’s because it’s been weakened because of reconstruction work (and this may be partly involved in this case). But sometimes it may be just because the bridge has become weakened because it’s 40 years old, and in that case the government did indeed not “protect these poor, innocent commuters.” But I’m happy to wait for the experts already on the site to give their report, rather than pre-emptively blaming anyone – “liberal” or “conservative”. ---
**Author:** ![DudleyGarrett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/8 "2007-08-02T11:52:40Z")
[QUOTE=Giles] IANASE (I am not a structural engineer), but bridges usually collapse for a good reason. Sometimes it’s an unlikely accident, like a ship crashing into a pylon, or a petrol tanker catching fire and weakening the steel. Sometimes it’s because it’s been weakened because of reconstruction work (and this may be partly involved in this case). But sometimes it may be just because the bridge has become weakened because it’s 40 years old, and in that case the government did indeed not “protect these poor, innocent commuters.” But I’m happy to wait for the experts already on the site to give their report, rather than pre-emptively blaming anyone – “liberal” or “conservative”. [/QUOTE] Preach it! (and 40 years is not necessarily old for a bridge) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/9 "2007-08-02T11:58:21Z")
> [@](#): > > Jamestown Flood? Never heard of it. No survivors to talk about it. Unlike that wimpy Johnstown flood. ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/10 "2007-08-02T12:02:59Z")
Wasn’t that the one with kool-aid? ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/11 "2007-08-02T12:04:06Z")
[QUOTE=cochrane] _Jamestown_ Flood? Never heard of it. - cochrane. Native of Johnstown, PA. [/QUOTE] Sorry. I should know better! ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/12 "2007-08-02T12:09:58Z")
And a big healthy “Bite Me” to the news channels. I have heard variously “sent the school bus plunging into the river” and “oh that school bus was SOOOO close to the water”. Look guys, the school bus stayed on the bridge and the kids made it off the bus. Why are you making it sound worse than it is. Bite me. ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/13 "2007-08-02T12:10:02Z")
Oh for fuck’s sake, **Trunk**. Of course the politicians are wielding hyperbole, it’s what they do, it’s how they get money for fixing whatever. And those photographs ARE pretty shocking and memorable. I still remember the photographs from Northridge; I’ll bet others do, too. As to other Dopers, of course we care. How wonderful that a messageboard shrinks the world, six degrees of separation and all that. I’m sure I wasn’t the only Doper watching that thread, waiting for familiar names to “check in”. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/14 "2007-08-02T12:13:19Z")
Of course, this is not nearly the tragedy as 9/11 or Katrina. On the other hand, I’ll bet in Minneapolis they’ll be talking about it for a long, long time. ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/15 "2007-08-02T12:14:12Z")
And with the focus now on why, Mr. Governor type person, did you fund a stadium instead of fixing the bridge, perhaps the disaster of historic proportion you speak of is to your political career. The news conference should be interesting. Anyone wanna bet he uses the phrase “I was assured” at some point? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/16 "2007-08-02T12:21:23Z")
Is this some kind of board record? We’re at about what, 12 hours from event to backlash? Okay, so it’s Minnesota state history and a historic disaster for the state at best, not a world calamity. So what? [And in fact, that’s exactly what Pawley said - " a catastrophe of historic proportions for Minnesota."] People here go overboard with the worrying sometimes, but this is a stupid thing to complain about and a stupid time to do it. **Dudley** , however, is a genius. Pre-pre-emptively bashing liberals because you assume they’re going to bash conservatives? Brilliant! People should bow down at your feet, because you’re obviously orders of magnitude cleverer than any of those liberals. I’m so glad you’re using your talents for good instead of being a vulture-ish petty little political wannabe with nothing better to do. ---
**Author:** ![DudleyGarrett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/17 "2007-08-02T12:26:18Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] **Dudley** , however, is a genius. Pre-pre-emptively bashing liberals because you assume they’re going to bash conservatives? [/QUOTE] Where did I say anything about conservatives? What I precisely implied was that liberals are know-it-all whiners. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/18 "2007-08-02T12:31:28Z")
[QUOTE=DudleyGarrett] Where did I say anything about conservatives? What I precisely implied was that liberals are know-it-all whiners. [/QUOTE] I actually hear a lot more know-it-all whining from “conservatives”, but I suppose we all hear what we want to hear. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/19 "2007-08-02T12:33:56Z")
[QUOTE=DudleyGarrett] Where did I say anything about conservatives? What I precisely implied was that liberals are know-it-all whiners. [/QUOTE] Your brilliance shines through once again. Calling liberals whiners in no way implies that anybody else isn’t a whiner, and the Governor of Minnesota isn’t a Republican. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/20 "2007-08-02T12:54:58Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] … the Governor of Minnesota isn’t a Republican. :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] The Wikipedia says that [Governor Tim Pawlenty](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Pawlenty) is a Republican. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105.md?page=2)