Telegraphs and Blizzards Don’t Mix

Due to the “potentially historic” blizzard due to hit the Northeast today and tomorrow, all classes at Fordham scheduled on Monday after 1:00 PM and on Tuesday are cancelled. We will have to wait until next week to discuss Tom Standage’s book The Victorian Internet.

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Incidentally, during the Blizzard of 1888, one of the most intense snow storms to ever hit New York City, telegraph lines that hung above the street posed one of the greatest dangers. Ice formed on the wires and threatened to bring down the lines with icicles acting as daggers. This particular blizzard is why power lines are now underground and why many cities moved to construct underground mass transit systems, such as the cities.

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