As an update to the last entry, concerning the excessive use of road salt in the modern age, please see the photos provided below. These were taken in the midst of the Great Blizzard of '08 on February 1, in the Distillery District of Toronto. Whilst strolling along, I noticed the salting boy pushing a large wheelbarrow filled to the brim with NaCl and its various toxic binding agents (this web-blog, supra). Were his orders to cover each square foot of sidewalk with the same in road salt? Apparently, because in the midst of the Great Blizzard, this sidewalk looks like a Palm Springs golfcart path.
