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You never struck me as a webcomic kind of guy Lurker.

What else you read?
 
I don't understand women. Like, they see another woman, a complete stranger, and walk up to say, "Oh, I really like your blouse."

I mean, really??
 
Women tend to be more social and open to personal relationships than men.

There are many sociological and biological theories as to why this might be.
 
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article1680121.ece

April 20, 2007

Russia plans $65bn tunnel to America

Tony Halpin in Moscow

Russia has unveiled an ambitious plan to build the world’s longest tunnel under the Bering Strait as part of a transport corridor linking Europe and America via Siberia and Alaska.
The 64-mile (103km) tunnel would connect the far east of Russia with Alaska, opening up the prospect of the ultimate rail trip across three quarters of the globe from London to New York. The link would be twice as long as the Channel Tunnel connecting Britain and France.
The $65 billion (£33 billion) mega-project aims to transform trade links between Russia and its former Cold War enemies across some of the world’s most desolate terrain. It would create a high-speed railway line, energy links and a fibreoptic cable network.
Proposals for a tunnel under the Bering Strait were first advanced a century ago under Tsar Nicholas II but foundered with the outbreak of the First World War and the Russian Revolution. The idea was revived after the collapse of the Soviet Union but was shelved once again in Russia’s financial meltdown of 1998.
Russian officials insist that the tunnel is an economic idea whose time has now come and that it could be ready within ten years. They argue that it would repay construction costs by stimulating up to 100 million tons of freight traffic each year, as well as supplying oil, gas and electricity from Siberia to the US and Canada.
Maxim Bystrov, deputy head of Russia’s agency for special economic zones, said: “This will be a business project, not a political one.” The tunnel across the international date-line would be built in three sections through two islands in the Bering Strait and would link 6,000km (3,728 miles) of new railway lines. The tunnel alone would cost an estimated $10-12 billion to construct.
The scheme is being championed by Viktor Razbegin, deputy head of industrial research at Russia’s Economic and Trade Development Ministry. He has long advocated a tunnel under the Bering Strait to provide a land route between Russia and the US, and published a feasibility study in the 1990s.
He told journalists that state and commercial companies would form a public-private partnership to fund and run the project. A conference in Moscow next week will propose an inter-governmental agreement with the US to underwrite construction of the transport link in return for a stake in the business.
Russian Railways is said to be examining the construction of a 3,500km route from Pravaya Lena, south of Yakutsk, to Uelen on the Bering Strait. The tunnel would connect this to a 2,000km line from Cape Prince of Wales, in West Alaska, to Fort Nelson, in Canada.
The project could save Siberia and the US $20 billion a year in electricity costs, according to Vasily Zubakin, deputy chief executive of Hydro, a subsidiary of Russia’s main electricity producer, Unified Energy Systems. The company plans to build two giant tidal plants in the Far East to supply tengiga-watts of electricity by 2020.
However, some of those said to be involved in the project appeared sceptical. Sergei Grigoryev, vice-president of the state oil pipeline monopoly Transneft, said: “I’ve never heard of this plan. We need to first develop fields in East Siberia.”
Others also questioned whether it made economic sense, pointing out that Alaska has large oil reserves of its own and that China’s huge market was closer and more lucrative.
The tunnel on the Russian side would start in the Chukotka region, governed by Roman Abramovich, the billionaire owner of Chelsea FC, who appears unlikely to plough his fortune into such a risky venture.
 
Can't do it on the backs of Russia and US alone. Need to get China on board (and perhaps Canada... whatever little chunk they can put in...)
 
^^ Whats the point, I imagine that the Bering Sea side of Russia is also pretty desolate, so it would be a very long train ride to go from one major metro region to the next.
 
GW2500 said:
^^ Whats the point, I imagine that the Bering Sea side of Russia is also pretty desolate, so it would be a very long train ride to go from one major metro region to the next.
Click to expand...

Freight mostly. Probably bundle some oil pipelines into the project.
 
319578_566843840052_181100233_31751898_6132514_n.jpg


Typical August 31 in Boston.
 
Sox game + move-in week(end) + BU Bridge construction = Yeaaaah, I'll be staying away from that area tonight.
 
I swear there are no limits to the type of things that Wikipedia can teach us.

Bonus points to those who know why this suddenly relevant and extra bonus points to those who knew all about this prior to this week.
 
"potty-mouth"

Heh.

(And you, of course, get all the bonus points)
 
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I've willfully ignored the musical stylings of Messrs Violent J & Shaggy 2 Dope for the the entirety of their career. For my money, they're the worst thing to come out of Detroit since the Ford Pinto. I heard about their collaboration with Salzburg's favorite son on (of all places) sports-talk radio this morning. Maybe the blue hairs and the Juggalos can get down together if H&H decides to do another crossover concert.
 
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