> I was in mechanical engineering at UMass Amherst shortly after the 
> roof fell down the first time under the weight of a wet snow

A fellow that I know who got his share of a busineess bought out and so 
could do pretty much nothing if he wanted got bored and started 
tinkering with various business opportunities. He was promoting a system 
of laser monitors for big box structures that would tell you when the 
deflection from load (snow or whatever) was creating enough havoc in the 
roof structure to be concerned... like to evacuate the building before 
the roof came down sort of thing. Movement in the roof could be 
monitored from a remote computer. He said he was having a hell of a time 
selling property owners on the equipment because if they knew what their 
building was doing then it would make then liable for any consequences.

][<

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