Dispatches from 1918

Dispatches from 1918

7/17/2020 by WNYC Studios

Web player: https://podplayer.net/?id=109827594
Episode: https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/audio.wnyc.org/radiolab_podcast/radiolab_podcast20dispatchesfrom1918.mp3

It’s hard to imagine what the world will look like when COVID-19 has passed. So in this episode, we look back to the years after 1918, at the political, artistic, and viral aftermath of the flu pandemic that killed between 50 and 100 million people and left our world permanently transformed.

It’s kind of shocking how much people who were and became world leaders were changed by the virus.

It looks like the Stratford section of Piseco Powley Road can and will be rebuilt.

It looks like the Stratford section of Piseco Powley Road can and will be rebuilt. 😍

I hiked along the closed section and the reason it hasn’t been rebuilt in Stratford is the lower bridge over the East Canada Creek had one of the retaining walls destroyed during the extreme rainfall last autumn, and until the retaining wall can be repoured and the rock and dirt refilled they can’t reopen the bridge or bring the bulldozer, the excavator and grader in to rebuild the remaining sections.

Most of the damage to the Fulton County section is wash outs and a few culverts are damaged. Most of the problems are ordinary, although some will require fill. The damage to the section where the road runs close to East Canada Creek may require the most fill as the creek ran through the road but its possible some can be leveled using the remaining materials.

But none of that can happen until the bridge ultimately reopens – I can’t see Stratford taking their heavy equipment on a thirty mile detour to fix a dirt road that only has campsites and hunting cabins. But with those taxpaying properties on the road and with many recreationalists shopping in Stratford for ice and supplies, and the need for access by emergency responders, I feel like the town will get the bridge repaired and then get the heavy equipment fix the relatively minor other problems to the road. Plus I can’t imagine that Arietta would have spent so much money rebuilding their 10 mile section of the road without plans for Stratford to rebuild the remaining 3 miles of road. The road is currently open and passable with snow for snow machines and in the summer with ATVs.

I took several pictures of the closed section of the road’s damage during my hike.

Con Ed Can’t Handle The Heat, Asks Over 100K Queens Customers To Please Turn Off AC – Gothamist

Con Ed Can’t Handle The Heat, Asks Over 100K Queens Customers To Please Turn Off AC – Gothamist

Some experts have warned about the heightened potential for brownouts or blackouts this summer, as more New Yorkers stay home due to COVID-19. While the city's commercial districts have power lines designed to carry a heavy summer load, the new remote work force cranking their at-home AC units could create a surge in demand that strains the city's grid.