Are you for or against the 'Three Gorges Dam'. and why?

[TCO]

Originally posted by Alinestra Covelia


LOL Yeah, I'd agree with you there. It's a big problem with academicians of all stripes that sometimes they get so bogged down in the details, that they can't see the forest for the trees. We had a research proposal about whether or not C-Span's coverage was balanced or not, and there was one (rather facetious) undergrad who goes "Dude, nobody watches C-Span anyway!"

Most of my news intake comes from online sources, and I'd say radio is a second place.

I read BBC news online and the NYTimes most often, as well as some UK newspapers (when I want some editorializing). Washingtonpost.com is good as well. If I read something about Chinese news, I generally try to take the Chinese Xinhua.org viewpoint on board too. It's government controlled, but at least it's an alternative viewpoint.

For radio I like NPR quite a lot. This probably owes more to their classical music than their news coverage but I like how they have a good number of global correspondents.

I find NPR rather pseudo-sophisticated. They don't really dig into issues in the way that I've seen others do. They do, do in-depth peices, but I'm generally not that impressed that they really tee up and attack both sides of the issue, hard. Also, I find the breathy voicing and phrasing annoying.

I think in some ways, the WSJ is the premier newspaper in the country. They give their reporters more time to look at stories and do analysis. And they pay the most. But they are obviously more slanted to finance stuff. And they are a bit right wing. Still they do their stuff pretty damn good.

[Sandman]

also Europe is building the worlds largest and longest bridges to connect Scandinavia to Central Europe and Spain across the sea to the top of south africa (sorry don't remember the name of the country). Gibralter?

I don't know about the Scandanavia Bridge, but the Gibraltar Bridge is still very much on the drawing board, there's no commitment to building it yet. Another mega-bridge, for which there's a firm commitment, but no actual work, is the Sicily Bridge from the Italian mainland.

[Dinner]

Does New Zealand have a bridge connecting the north and south island or do you have to take a ferry? Also why doesn't the UK top them all and finally connect Northern Ireland to Scotland?

[orange]

wasn't there talk of doing something like that from Korea to Japan?

[orange]

or was that a tunnel?

[TCO]

Originally posted by orange
or was that a tunnel?

You are thinking about N and S Korea.

[orange]

no...

[Sandman]

Does New Zealand have a bridge connecting the north and south island or do you have to take a ferry?

Don't think so.

Also why doesn't the UK top them all and finally connect Northern Ireland to Scotland?

The North Channel is about 30 miles wide and it's also pretty deep, that's why. Plus the economics probably don't add up... unless it doubled as a tidal harness.

Seems that the Scandanavia Bridge is already finished, although it's a bridge-tunnel combination.

Edited for North Channel width correction.

[Dinner]

The gap between Japan and Korea is much wider then the English channel. It would be extremely expensive (many times the cost of the Chunnel) to build a tunnel and I doubt a bridge would be feasable at all.

[Q Classic]

a bridge and/or a tunnel btw skorea and japan, at this time, would be infeasable.

a) there is a point that connects the two nations very closely; however, it's the tsushima islands, and they're so small that you'd need another big bridge to connect it with the rest of japan.
b) tunnel would have the same issue--much farther apart. i'm not so sure about the tectonics, but that in itself would make me a bit wary--esp. since skorea doesn't suffer from any of the tectonic problems japan does.
c) neither country is capable, imho, of squan-- spending that much money on such a project.

the three gorges dam, i don't like so much. too much of it, to me, sounds like the chinese wanting to show off to the world what a mighty nation they truly are.

[TCO]

Originally posted by orange
no...

Come on...it was cuter than that.

[Dinner]

30 miles isn't that much further then the 21 mile chunnel. It could be done and you might even get the Republic of Ireland and the EU to toss in some cash as well.

[Sandman]

Checking up, the narrowest point between Ireland and Scotland is only 12.5 miles, but this links Ireland to the remote Mull of Kintyre, meaning more tunnels and bridges for an efficient route, or a very long route.

A more efficient route would involve Belfast to Stranraer, but this would be a longer tunnel.

Finally, there's a plan to build a 56-mile tunnel between Wales and Ireland.

Actually, it would probably be a piece of piss to build. The short tunnel could have been done by the Victorians, for God's sake. Let's do it!