From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

I suppose future speculation documentary counts as SF.

I was watching tonight's episode "The Underground Rises" and I think
they got something wrong. They were talking about NYC's steam "tunnels"
and how after a while, a few weeks, or months, without maintenance,
they'd start to explode.

My problem with that is that that's not natural steam, it's made in
steam generation plants which would run out of fuel, or otherwise fail,
so that by the time the show's writers had the most of the pipes
exploding, they wouldn't have steam in them anymore.

Now, if they'd made that Reykjavik instead of New York, I'd have no problem.
--

Qualified immunity = virtual impunity.

Tim Merrigan


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From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

On 8/19/25 3:40 AM, Tim Merrigan wrote:

I suppose future speculation documentary counts as SF.

I was watching tonight's episode "The Underground Rises" and I think
they got something wrong.-a They were talking about NYC's steam "tunnels" and how after a while, a few weeks, or months, without maintenance,
they'd start to explode.

My problem with that is that that's not natural steam, it's made in
steam generation plants which would run out of fuel, or otherwise fail,
so that by the time the show's writers had the most of the pipes
exploding, they wouldn't have steam in them anymore.

Now, if they'd made that Reykjavik instead of New York, I'd have no
problem.

Thanks for alerting me to the fact that there were two more seasons of
"Life After People", which turn out to be available on the History
Channel website even if I don't get the History Channel. Alas, they used
up the best ideas in the original "movie", and then starting looking at
less interesting aspects in the first season. Obviously pretty soon they
are reduced to either repeating themselves or getting into minutiae. The
whole section on the mental institution in Connecticut was pretty useless.

Sort of like NESFA, who produced "The Best of James H. Schmitz", but
then had no way to follow up with more of Schmitz's work. "The Second
Best of James H. Schmitz"? I don't think so.

After that first foray into collections, they decided that they would
either produce the complete works (or at least short works) of an
author, even if it was multiple volumes, or not do them at all
--
Evelyn C. Leeper, http://leepers.us/evelyn
Don't ever save anything for a special occasion.
Every day you're alive is a special occasion. -Ann Wells
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From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

On 8/19/2025 3:40 AM, Tim Merrigan wrote:

I suppose future speculation documentary counts as SF.

I was watching tonight's episode "The Underground Rises" and I think
they got something wrong.-a They were talking about NYC's steam "tunnels" and how after a while, a few weeks, or months, without maintenance,
they'd start to explode.

My problem with that is that that's not natural steam, it's made in
steam generation plants which would run out of fuel, or otherwise fail,
so that by the time the show's writers had the most of the pipes
exploding, they wouldn't have steam in them anymore.

Now, if they'd made that Reykjavik instead of New York, I'd have no
problem.

As a New Yorker in exile, I'm familiar with the system, and the orange
and white smokestacks venting steam from manholes.

But I'd always assumed it was low pressure. This post caused me to
check, and to my surprise the pipes run at 200 psi, and yes, there
have been a few explosions.

pt
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