Could the explanation be simpler? Effects of gas pipeline and water main breaks tend to be localized because they supply commodity goods, and there is local storage (and, especially in case of water, local supplies) of those. Hence such breaks affect fewer people. The gas supply to my kitchen does not depend on maintenance of uniform pressure in all the gas pipelines from the well off the shore of Louisiana all the way to New Jersey; my supplier has enough gas stored around here to keep pumping for quite a while even if a pipeline in Kentucky is cut. On the other hand, when a fiber gets cut in Ohio, and I am trying to get some bits from California, it does not help me to know that somebody in Pennsylvania has terabits on her server that she is willing to ship to me. Andrew At 07:27 PM 10/5/99 -0400, Mike Heller wrote:
I find it interesting that we don't hear about more accidental gas explosions and water main breaks from backhoes. Are the blueprints and posted warnings more detailed or is there more fiber than utility pipe in the ground?
Michael Heller Sr. Systems Engineer Earthweb, Inc. 212.448.4175 mikeh@earthweb.com
followed by other contributions from Derek Balling, Charles Sprickman, and Nathan Stratton. ************************************************************************ Andrew Odlyzko amo@research.att.com AT&T Labs - Research voice: 973-360-8410 http://www.research.att.com/~amo fax: 973-360-8178 ************************************************************************