Tunnels, Infrastructure, and Stupid Governors (like that of New Jersey)

Here in Switzerland people may have noticed the news last month about the new 57km (35 mile) Gotthard Tunnel having been broken through from both sides. The Swiss are to be congratulated on their achievement, which by the way, cost $13 billion, but will shift huge amounts of freight from trucks and roads to rail, reducing CO2 emissions and fuel costs.

Meanwhile in New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie has cancelled a new rail tunnel project across the Hudson because, he claimed, it was over budget. Having lived in New Jersey for many years, of course it was it was going to be over budget, to say the least. But by most reports it wasn’t really that over budget, and the governor seemed to ignore many facts that were placed in front of him, forgoing $3 billion in federal aid.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg knows a deal when he sees one, being a business man. And so now he has proposed extending the Number 7 subway line across the Hudson to Secaucus, according to the this article in the Wall Street Journal. From a commuter perspective this would be second best, because it would mean yet another transfer to get to where one is going. Furthermore, the implications to PATH will have to be carefully studied. One wonders what it would take to combine PATH with the subway. A whole lot of downtime comes to mind, of course. I don’t even know if they use the same gauge track.

Anyway, it’s nice to see someone in America looking at infrastructure in a serious way.

Recipe: Morroccan Lamb with Shiraz Honey Sauce

I was SO getting into a rut with food for the last few weeks, and so I got to thinking: how about Moroccan? After all, those of us who know the Bay Area probably have eaten at Marrakesh in San Francisco, and they (at least used to) have some wonderful dishes, like this one.

This is a recipe right off of allrecipes.com. I like that web site because many of the dishes are easy to prepare. I am no chef. I am barely a cook. It took me no more than 40 minutes start to finish to cook up this little gem. The catch is making sure you start with the right ingredients, and not to fuss about frenching the lamb rack. (Wow that sounds obscene, anyway. How do butchers come up with these terms?)

It’s a nice change of pace, and something easily made at home. Just brush your teeth afterward!

Like or Dislike: Foyles War

To blow off steam after what can be a very long day, Christine and I will occasionally watch TV, like most of the rest of the world. Most of what we watch is on DVD, and my current favorite is a show called Foyle’s War, created by Anthony Horowitz. It’s a combination of murder mystery and historical fiction, at the outset of World War II. Played by veteran Michael Kitchen, Chief Detective Inspector Foyle covers the beat of Hastings, an English coastal town. Kitchen depicts our hero as a stiff-upper-lipped classic English gentleman, with a stick so far up his posterior, you wonder how he walks.

What I like about the show is that it really gives you a feel for the sorts of hardships the British endured during the war, and how they endured them. Families were torn apart, there was very limited food to eat, there were prisoners of war, bombings, land confiscations by the government, the invasion of the American troops. And mixed into all of this, a murder or two.

While there’s occasional blood and guts, there are no DNA labs, no fancy police cars, or for that matter, fancy getaway cars. Just a game of wit to get you through.

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Free Range Chicken?

Every now and again in the U.S. you see “Free Range Chicken” on the menu, or “Range-fed” something-or-other. Just as a point of interest, I have never come across those terms in Europe. Probably because here in Switzerland it’s all “Free Range” and “Range-fed”. Just your local thought of the day. Happy Sunday.

Hurray Brazil!

It’s not a very big story on this side of the planet, and with an estimated population of 201 million people, that’s a bit sad on it’s own, but we should at least take note that in overseeing elections in Brazil, President Lula Da Silva is about to achieve what is the most important thing for a government in that part of the world: a peaceful transition of power. It’s not the first time for Brazil, either, as Lula himself succeeded Fernando Henrique Cardoso in 2003, who himself had succeeded Itamar Franco. Another sign of the health of Brazil is that neither Franco nor FHC are wanted men, and have not been shown to have been corrupt. This is not the way with many other countries. Good luck to the candidates vying to succeed Lula! They have both big shoes to fill and a great democracy to oversee.