Internet 1, Backhoe 0

Fri Oct 9 15:08:21 UTC 1998

Unnamed Administration sources reported that Christopher X. Candreva said:
> 
> > [Atlantic County, NJ] While attempting to wreck 
> > havoc on the world's telecommunications infrastructure, 
> > a backhoe mistook a gas main as a fiber optic cable. 
> > The evil yellow beast was destroyed in the resulting 
> > fireball.
> 
> While this is funny, I really hope the backhoe driver was OK.

Having worked in the pipeline business, I can say he's likely
dead. When you break a Schedule 3000 pipe w/1000psi natural gas,
you don't have long to worry about things. You get nice 50+ foot
tall flares, usually hot enough to melt steel on the hoe. 

While fiber hits discussed here are very disruptive, they seldom
kill folks. That's (alas) far from true in general.

Running into things underground is a major problem, and it's
growing, the more we bury. Newark Airport was shut down when a
contractor's pile-driver shorted the main power feeds a few years
ago. In Venezuela, a GTE-related dig severed a gas line and wiped
up a small village.

If you are ever contracting for a dig, be sure the contractor knows
WTF they are doing, AND ask your attorneys early-on about this.

Let's be careful out there. 
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