It’s not that I thought it wasn’t a good idea, I just thought it wouldn’t make a good reality. A few weeks ago, when we got socked with our blizzard, Aimee and I took a walk outside, and the sight of all of the piles of snow elicited a comment from Aimee suggesting that someone should invent a machine that would go around and heat the snow until it melted away, rather than trying to haul it away. I remarked that it seemed energy inefficient, that it would be a big pollutant, and that it would be more trouble that it was worth.

Flash forward to last Thursday, as I grabbed a copy of the recently re-designed Weekly Dig, and read an article titled “Snow Patrol,” about a solution almost exactly like Aimee had described. As I’m not one to hide the error of my ways, I’ll quote the article here: the idea is “safer than flamethrowers and more economically and environmentally friendly than trucking… [L]arge, futuristic, mobile snow-melting machines, which would be carted into commercial and residential neighborhoods and used to clear away troublesome snow piles.” Apparently they’re in use in New York City, they can melt sixty tons of snow an hour, and they’re cheaper than hauling. So I was wrong all over the place. Good idea, Aimee – I can’t wait to see them at work the next time we get a big storm.