an interesting Pisa history, right?

[Wilmer Rivers]

>       But the one thing I wanna say is that the Leaning Tower of Pisa
> REALLY does lean like nobody's bizniz. I laughed out loud!!!! I can't
> imagine what's holding it up!
>
There's an article about just that subject in the issue of "Scientific
American" that came out yesterday.  (At least my subscription copy did,
but maybe the newstand copies aren't out yet.)

> I remember just enough of my civil engineering to think that the
> sheer-stress and torque forces on those stones for so MANY centuries
> should have made them suffer "catastrophic failure" long ago.
>
Currently there are several steel bands wrapped around the tower at
strategic places to hold it together.  Otherwise, the building stones
would fly away violently from the points of maximum shear stress.
The tower wouldn't fall over - it would explode!

> There have been tourists visiting interesting sights and spending
> money for thousands of years. I suspect medieval ancient hanky-panky.)
>
This might make for an interesting story if you decide to set one of
your historical epics in pre-Renaissance Italy.  There would be the
inevitable conflict between a Gyro-character wanting to fix it and a
Scrooge-character wanting to exploit it, a scheme which comes to light
in the 20th century when a group of Junior Woodchucks investigates,
etc., etc.

Wilmer Rivers