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Re: BOOM! there goes WorldCom

  • From: David Schiffrin
  • Date: Fri Jul 18 14:29:02 1997

Recently there was an article in Scientific American (in the last 6 months)
which covered the same ground. It had some really great illustrations of 
all the tunnels under Manhatten.

-dave 
> 
> 
>    From: "Perry E. Metzger" <[email protected]>
> 
>    Steam, rats, tunnel fires, steam system explosions, and water main
>    breaks take out lots of fiber in NYC -- probably more that backhoe
>    fade takes out elsewhere. However, backhoe fade itself (though not
>    unheard of) is much rarer, largely because the conduits are deep and
>    the streets are so jam packed that if you make a mistake about where
>    you are it will be obvious Very Very Quickly.
> 
> Smithsonian Magazine had a fascinating article a few years back about
> the infrastructure jockeys who plan and install new stuff under the
> streets of Manhattan.  "Jam-packed" might qualify for the
> understatement of the year award -- there is a lot of stuff down
> there, including lots (most?) which is incorrectly documented or not
> documented at all.  Worth taking the time to look up if you're the
> kind of person who geeks out over that sort of thing.
> 
>                                         ---Rob
> 
>