Switzerland-Italy Gotthard Rail Tunnel: Trucks, Trains and Trees

"Swiss complete world's longest tunnel"
UPI (October 15, 2010)

"Workers completed drilling Switzerland's 35-mile-long Gotthard rail tunnel -- the world's longest tunnel -- breaking through rock Friday under the Swiss Alps.

"Crews cheered as a 10-meter (33-foot) drillhead ripped through at 2:15 local time, the BBC reported. The landmark event was broadcast live on Swiss television.

"The tunnel, which has been under construction for 14 years, is not expected to open for service until at least the end of 2016. Trains are expected to rush through it at speeds of up to 155 mph and travel times between Zurich, Switzerland, and Milan, Italy, will be slashed by as much as an hour and a half...."

Saving the Alpine Trees?

Freight traffic overland between Switzerland and Italy runs to about 3,000 heavy vehicles a day. Some news services pointed out how bad this was for "the environment." Quite aside from exhaust fumes, the Lemming figures that many a tree has been cruelly crushed when a truck slid off the mountain roads.

My guess is that all that truck traffic was a little hard on the roads, too - and none to calming for the drivers during winter. Mountain roads and all that.

On the other hand, with high-speed underground train traffic picking up the cargo traffic: those drivers may be looking for new jobs soon.

Good for Trees, Good for People: In the Long Run

The Lemming could declaim about heartless technocrats dooming families of the helpless truck drivers to starvation or something: but why bother?

First, diverting traffic through that tunnel makes sense on several counts: safety; efficiency; and, of course, 'the environment.'

Second, it's there, and I don't see Switzerland and/or Italy plugging the thing up. Not after 14 years spent building the thing.

Of course, the Lemming could demand (there's a picture: some guy in Minnesota making demands of two European nations) that the oppressed truck drivers be given jobs, sitting in the new trains.

Sort of like railroad firemen rode on diesel locomotives for a while, here in America. They were there to shovel coal that wasn't there into boilers that diesel-electric locomotives don't have.

And that's another topic.

Seriously? The Gotthard rail tunnel is a big deal

• A little longer than the Chunnel
• Tunneled under mountains
  • Where some geologist experts said it couldn't be done
• Provides freight service between Switzerland and Italy that's
  • Faster
  • Safer
    • Probably
  • 'Better for the environment'

As for the people who drive trucks over the mountains? Finding new lines of work can be - challenging. But maybe they'll find jobs that are better than wrangling trucks over icy, steep mountain roads.

So That's Where Sudoku Came From!

"So you thought Sudoku came from the Land of the Rising Sun ..."
"The puzzle gripping the nation actually began at a small New York magazine"
The Observer (May 15, 2005)

"If the first week of May 2005 will be remembered for a general election, the second will go down as the week of Sudoku.

"National newspapers scrambled to advertise the puzzle on their front pages, while websites devoted to it sprang up and TV and radio stations caught the new global bug.

"Numerous articles have attributed the puzzle, which has a Japanese name, to the mysteries of the Land of the Rising Sun. But its true modern origins lie with a team of puzzle constructors in 1970s' New York, from where it set off on a 25-year journey to Tokyo, London - and back to New York.

"Scientists have identified Sudoku as a classic meme - a mental virus which spreads from person to person and sweeps across national boundaries. Dr Susan Blackmore, author of The Meme Machine, said: 'This puzzle is a fantastic study in memetics. It is using our brains to propagate itself across the world like an infectious virus.'

"Sudoku - pronounced soo-doe-koo - does not require general knowledge, linguistic ability or even mathematical skill. Dubbed the Rubik's Cube of the 21st century, it consists of a grid of 81 squares, divided into nine blocks of nine squares each. Some of the squares contain a figure. The goal is to fill in the empty squares so that the figures 1 to 9 appear just once in every row, column and individual block. The requirement is logic or, for those willing to engage in a fiendish game of trial and error, sheer patience.

"The Sudoku story began in 1783 when Leonhard Euler, a Swiss mathematician, devised 'Latin Squares', which he described as 'a new kind of magic squares'...."

I have to admit, "Sudoku" sounds a whole lot cooler than "Latin Squares" - which reminds me of a classroom on the south side of the high school I went to, back when blackboards were black, and used chalk. (Yeah: I'm that old.)

The rest of The Observer article follows Leonhard Euler's Latin Squares to Manhattan, where a savvy publisher realized that people would pay to get these puzzles, and then on to - yes, Sudoku did go through Japan on its way to world-wide fame.

It's a fairly quick read, and a pretty good introduction to the history of this global phenomenon.

By the way: I got curious about Sudoku after reading the Garfield comics. Jon, Garfield's hapless owner, has been having trouble with Sudoku this week. Lots of trouble.

More:

• "A Snapshot
  History Of Sudoku Puzzles"
  SudokuEssentials.com

Swine Flu / 2009 H1N1 Flu: Vaccine Ready for Testing

"Novartis says produces first batch of H1N1 vaccine"
The Associated Press (April 12, 2009)

"Swiss pharmaceuticals company Novartis AG said Friday it has successfully produced a first batch of swine flu vaccine weeks ahead of expectations.

"The vaccine was made in cells, rather than grown in eggs as is usually the case with vaccines, the company said...."

The article also says that this first batch is earmarked for "...for pre-clinical evaluation and testing. It is also being considered for clinical trials,..." so it won't be available right now. The company says its vaccine will be available in September.

Assuming that there aren't any hitches in testing, Novartis says that the plant in Marburg, Germany, where this batch was produced could (potentially) produce millions of doses a week. And, there's a plant being built in North Carolina.

Good news. I'm curious about the detail that this vaccine is grown in cells, rather than eggs. Maybe we'll be reading more, later, as Novartis releases more information.

More, at "SWINE FLU: NOVARTIS, VACCINE AVAILABLE BY FALL," AGI News On (June 12, 2009). List of posts relating to Swine flu 2009; and list of background resources:

• "Swine Flu 2009"
  • "Swine flu 2009 posts"
  • "Background and more information"
    Including links to
    • "1918 Influenza Timeline"
    • "The Influenza Pandemic of 1918"
  • "WHO Alert Phases"
  • " 'Public Health Emergency' - What's That Mean? "

Human Tetris - The Video

"The Original Human TETRIS Performance by Guillaume Reymond"

notsonoisy, YouTube (December 6, 2007)
video 2:38

"TETRIS played by real human-beings sitting in an auditorium: TETRIS is the 4th video performance of the GAME OVER Project, directed by the Swiss artist Guillaume REYMOND (NOTsoNOISY creative agency). This stop-motion video was shot and played for "LES URBAINES" festival http://www.urbaines.ch at the Palais de Rumine...."

Tetris music and sound effects were re-created by a small chorus of singers/vocalists. People in colored shirts were the Tetris blocks - and the game re-created in this video is quite plausible.

Also, fun to view.

Enjoy.

More about Tetris:

• "Tetris: Invented in Russia (This Time, Chekov's Right)"
  (June 6, 2009)

Very Organic-Looking Houses in Switzerland

"Earth Houses"
Vetsch Architektur

A photo-essay, showing 11 residences: all upscale, all with a very organic look all in Switzerland, and some actually buried. There's minimal descriptive text, in English: a pretty good resource.


(from Vetsch Architektur, used w/o permission)