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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Texas-Israeli_War:_1999
EDIT: This is what I get for commenting before reading the article. Of course, they call out the above book. Of course...
"...rich vein of speculative fiction that considers Texas as its own republic." Texas seems most self-satisfied when waxing secessionist.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's also the fact that there's only about six inches of dirt here, dig any deeper than that and you hit solid limestone. That's why none of the houses here have basements.
Uh you have that backwards. Limestone is rock, but it’s an easy one to carve through (unlike Manhattan Schist, for example). It also has an advantage over soil that the remaining bits don’t need much extra support for the load above. This doc talks about it: https://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2012/11/21/why-texas-doesn...
There's other issues, too, such as the lake that runs through the middle of the city, the underground rivers and cave networks in the area, and the unstable clay on the East side of town that expands and contracts with rain, causing all sorts of problems.
I have a whole shelf of Texas based sci-fi / apocolypta. My favorite is the slightly non-sensical Texas-Israeli War of 1999. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Texas-Israeli_War:_1999 EDIT: This is what I get for commenting before reading the article. Of course, they call out the above book. Of course...
Seriously, as a not-so-serious video game it could be a ton of fun!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's also the fact that there's only about six inches of dirt here, dig any deeper than that and you hit solid limestone. That's why none of the houses here have basements.
there is no one reason why we dont have basements, but it is more likely to do with the fact that up north they have to dig deep (3-4 ft) for the frost line. If you are digging that deep anyway, you might as well go an additional 4-5 ft and build a basement. Excavating limestone isnt that hard. Instead of one day to dig a basement in soil, it would take about 14 days to dig a typical basement in limestone (based on d…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's also the fact that there's only about six inches of dirt here, dig any deeper than that and you hit solid limestone. That's why none of the houses here have basements.
there is no one reason why we dont have basements, but it is more likely to do with the fact that up north they have to dig deep (3-4 ft) for the frost line. If you are digging that deep anyway, you might as well go an additional 4-5 ft and build a basement. Excavating limestone isnt that hard. Instead of one day to dig a basement in soil, it would take about 14 days to dig a typical basement in limestone (based on d…
In Minnesota, where I live, basements are definitely a byproduct of structural requirements. You have to dig 48 inches so that your foundation is under the frost line. But also consider that you don't want your front door to be at ground level, because then it might not open after a massive snowfall. So if you add up all that vertical space, you get about 7 feet, which is about the ceiling height of an unfinished basement.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Uh you have that backwards. Limestone is rock, but it’s an easy one to carve through (unlike Manhattan Schist, for example). It also has an advantage over soil that the remaining bits don’t need much extra support for the load above. This doc talks about it: https://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2012/11/21/why-texas-doesn...
It also has a disadvantage in that it's extremely porous and allows water to seep through it, which expands and contracts with temperature changes and causes the limestone to crack. There's areas around town where roads have been cut through hills, and if you drive through these after a big rainfall you can literally see water pouring out the side of the rock face. Chunks of limestone breaking off and falling onto th…
I don’t have sources myself but to me the porous nature of limestone seems like a benefit since water would easily flow to the water table instead of flooding in the tunnel.
Erosion seems like it would be a far bigger problem for tunnels in soil or sand than it would be for limestone.
"...rich vein of speculative fiction that considers Texas as its own republic." Texas seems most self-satisfied when waxing secessionist.
Being self-satisfied when telling others to leave you alone (get bent, get out, piss off, etc.) is quintessentially American. Texas is to America as America is to the world. It is a difference of magnitude, not direction, and Texas has this particular topic to conveniently funnel all that extra "screw you" energy into.
Don't tread on me/independence are broad American values. "Screw Federal overreach" is a common American sentiment in many US states.
Texas Monthly echoed appreciation for a broadly acknowledged Texas-as-nation-state fantasy. This is different in direction than any other US state and feels troubling.