"There's That Stupid Negative Sign"

Another landmark in the history of New Orleans' relationship with the US Army Corps of Engineers was reached today, according to Mark Schleifstein in the TImes-Picayune. The new gates and levee repairs by the Corps, which the agency announced with great fanfare had given between 4 and 5 feet of additional flood protection to the Lakeview and Old Metairie neighborhoods, both inundated when the floodwalls breached after Katrina, are, it now appears, giving almost no additional protection. The problem: a minus sign that should have been a plus sign. And still the Congress refuses to mandate independent peer review for the Corps' work in engineering and building structures upon which millions of people depend for their safety.

Comments

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

Re engineer Link...

Appropriate application of a negative sign:

Missing-, or Weakest-.

[libmatters]

The ACE has a long tradition but why is the Army involved in this at all anymore?

[zull2]

I did mechanical engineering in college for one year. The basic principles of drafting are the same. The school I went to, if you had made a mistake like that AS A FRESHMAN, you would have gotten yourself a pretty bad grade (as long as you didn't have the perpetually drunk professor or the guy with tenure...or a combination of both) as your professor. If he could see that your work would probably result in massive failure, he'd let you know in red handwriting and ask you to do it over. You just can't make mistakes when you do this stuff because it could cost people their lives. Ultimately, when I realized that, I wussed out and changed majors to a more forgiving field of engineering.

This sort of stuff HAS to go through a peer review process. This couldn't have been just one guy's mistake. If other guys missed that mistake...it really just looks like they need a whole lot better procedure there, and that starts from the top.

[truth101]

There is a saying 'KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE BALL'
which is true in numerous contexts, and this failure in NO by the Engineers joins a long list of scientific errors going back to attempts to explore MARS just a few years ago and beyond. Human beings know it is crucial to take care and it is these gross extraordinary MISTAKES which
seem beyond comprehension becasue the people who do them are supposed to be the most diligent people on the planet. When you stop and think about it the current crisis in Chinese toy imports is a perfect example -- it seems perfectly obvious to me that all such imports should be stopped from entering American ports until they are tested in American laboratories. What on earth is more important than the children? Is the Government in Washington doing its job which
is nothing if not TAKING CARE????

[AstralTechnician]

A friend of mine, who was involved in a block by block catalog of the damaged houses in NOLA brought up an interesting point.

Damaged trees by the thousands that could have been used as artificial reefs against storm surge, were instead turned into wood chips and carted off.

[poorotis]

Harry babe,
I live in the middle of the Sonora desert at 5000' in the Chiracaua range, and i make a pilgrimage every Sunday am. for Le Show, and KCRW isn't playing Le Show at 10am on Sundays anymore...when, pray tell, might i catch the event these days?
love,
iggy Ps-It's so lovely and quiet out here that "I'm jealous of me!"
HARRY ANSWERS: Yes, KCRW is running Le Show at 10 a.m. Sunday mornings, but if you're having trouble receiving it, try PublicRadioFan.com for other stations streaming Le Show throughout Sundays.

[Paul]

The entire project should be outsourced to the Dutch. They know something about protecting cities from flooding.

[WilliePilgrim]

When will Regent College and Oral Roberts Univ start producing engineers so the ACE can have the blessing of the DOJ? Faith based engineering? It's only a small step for god/mankind.

[LadyXoc]

What makes us think that Bernanke is any better at his job than Michael Brown was at his?
The devastation from financial fall-out will make Katrina look like a picnic.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

Math errors?

Just think what happens when Diebold counts votes.

[LoRiseAntlers]

And you still try to get people to move back there,Mr.Shearer?I just left New Orleans a couple months ago.I spent two years working construction in that sty,where a whole lot of nothing gets done.There's a big part of that town that looks just as bad as it did when I got there(and as bad as it did as soon as the water went down).

Shame on you.Instead of encouraging people to leave new lives and jobs to return to one of the most economically depressed cities in this country,you ought to be trying to make sure that New Orleans can first support them,and that they have some kind of real assurance that their lives won't be ripped apart in the future.

[realitytrumpsbull]

Well, how many atoms do you have to split to
retain a couple of water molecules? You wouldn't
think that piling up a bunch of dirt and rocks
would really require THAT much scientific
expertise, but apparently it's time to call
Holland and get someone that speaks fluent
geek to show em how to operate a steam shovel
or something...once upon a time they used to
build things called 'dams' that were like,
big, and stuff, and held back water, so,
since this isn't that big, and an 8-year-old
could probably construct a reasonable facsimile,
maybe they should HIRE an 8-year-old...?

[cognate]

What else did you expect from government-run engineering. An exploding space shuttle? Two?
HARRY RESPONDS: Maybe Hoover Dam.

[luziannagirl]

4 or 5 feet less water for much of the Katrina-flooded area would have resulted in no water in the house , since many of the homes are already raised up off the ground 2 or 3 feet or more.

Might not sound like much of an error to some, but in New Orleans even inches are crucial.

[Steve]

Sadly, this sort of stuff happens all too frequently in large projects.

Unit Two of Pacific Gas and Electric's Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant was built incorrectly because somehow the plans got flipped and things were installed essentially backwards. The error was discovered very late in the process and they spent *millions* rectifying that mistake.