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Steam pipe explosion

Well, I was right around Grand Central when the steam pipe mess was going on. Things are largely cleaned up now. I offer only two observations:

1) The hubbub about asbestos is ridiculous—the twenty inch pipe was insulated with a bit of the stuff—and shows you just how crazed the tort bar and the media made people over this maybe-deadly-if-you-suck-on-it-for-a-decade insulation material.

2) It became clear early on that the Fire and Police Departments were thrown into terrorism mode when the explosion was reported. Lockdown of the area; and almost every ladder and squad car in the City streamed to the area. Their response was marvelous. I had a dinner engagement at the Yale Club, which was in the frozen area. They didn’t let me get there, which was annoying but wholly proper.

Everyone cooled down a bit (such as was possible on a hot and humid Manhattan afternoon) when it became clear that it was a steam pipe, but for a while, with brown mist obscuring Lexington Avenue, you saw that look on people’s faces. And you saw guys who looked as though they were ready to hunt down and destroy the (thankfully absent) terrorists. That was nice.

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