How sucky was yesterday? First thing I heard was that a Dallas fireman was killed while fighting a 6-alarm condo fire. DFD rescued 5 people from those burning units. I don't throw around the term "hero" as freely as most do these days, but I think that deceased firefighter deserves that title.
Then there was the absolute disaster in Oklahoma. OMG! From what I saw on TV this one was in a class by itself. I remember driving through Moore, OK about a month after their killer tornado in 1999 and seeing all the devastation yet to be cleaned up. It was soul crushing. Now this.
I woke up in the middle of the night, my mind mentally designing a retrofittable (did I just invent a new word?) steel shelter that could be bolted to a concrete foundation. I mean with J-bolts that would absolutely NOT pull out, and with steel walls that could withstand the flying projectiles that are the real killers of a tornado, and of course the debris that would come down on top of it.
Surely someone has already thought of this. My alma mater (Texas Tech) is the world leader in tornado research; I think I need to check out their website and see what they've come up with. If such a thing is possible and affordable (most of what's available now are expensive and difficult to install), it should IMO be mandated in tornado zones.
If my idea is better than whatever is out there now, I'll patent it (I actually know a patent attorney) and make the plans available free to the public. Honestly though, there are bound to be smarter people than me working in this same direction.
Here's an idea....why not dispense with foreign aid (to countries that hate us anyway) and spend the equivalent on American aid? Like storm shelters?
S
