"Rain Rage" in New York

[marmar]

from the NY Times:



New Yorkers Near a Saturation Point

By MICHAEL WILSON
Published: June 19, 2009


A 16th-century lawyer, Hippolytus de Marsiliis, noticed how water slowly dripping onto a rock eventually created a hollow in the stone. It got him thinking: What would happen if a human being’s forehead was subjected to the same treatment?

Legend claims it eventually drives the person crazy. For reasons unclear, the procedure came to be known as “Chinese water torture.” But in 21st-century New York City, the ordeal could simply be “daily life.”

We may be years away from a true understanding of the psychological effects of the rain that has fallen for 15 of the first 19 days of June. It is too soon to know whether humans will adapt to living, in effect, in an alternate universe in which water has replaced air. But for many New Yorkers, the drops on the forehead every day — Every! Single! Day! — have clearly taken the toll imagined by de Marsiliis. Routine, stipulated annoyance at inclement weather has become something darker.

Rain rage.

This week, subways smelled like sweaty locker rooms, and riders openly seethed. Dog runs were as quiet as dark alleys as their usual guests stayed home, urinating on rugs. Stinky brimstone steam rose from manholes. The spokes of millions of cheap umbrellas on crowded sidewalks lurched at passing eyeballs, as if seeking to skewer them. The Gregorian calendar itself seemed cruelly sarcastic, the words “Summer Begins” conjuring memories of Junes past. Warm and dry Junes; lost Junes. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/20/nyregion/20rain.html?em