Finish Doom
Generally speaking, tunnels are underground passageways at least twice as long as they are wide and at least 0.1miles or 0.16km in length or longer. Anything shorter than this is called underpass or chute. Tunnels are built beneath the mountains, seas and cities for transportation, communication and other purposes. Here’s a list of some of the most remarkable tunnels in the world.
Laerdal Tunnel: Norway
The Lærdal Tunnel in Norway is the most spectacular tunnel because it is the longest tunnel in the world. It is a 24.5 km or 15.2 miles long road tunnel. Its construction started in 1995 and was finished in 2000 and took the title from Gothard Road Tunnel as the world’s longest road tunnel.
The design of the tunnel takes into consideration the mental strain on drivers, so the tunnel is divided into four sections, separated by three large mountain caves. The caves break the routine, providing a refreshing view and allowing drivers to take a short rest.
North East MRT: Singapore
The 20 km long North East MRT Line (NEL) of Singapore is the most high-tech tunnels in the world. It is a Mass Rapid Transit line which is considered as the world’s first fully-underground, automated and driverless rapid transit line. The line has 16 stations and will take 30 minutes to travel from one end of this line to the other end. This line is the first in Singapore to be entirely underground.
Lotschberg Base Tunnel: Switzerland
The 34.577 km or 21.485 mile long Lotschberg Base Tunnel (LBT), a new railway tunnel cutting through the Alps of Switzerland some 400 m or 1,312 ft below the existing Lotschberg Tunnel. It is the longest land tunnel in the world that accommodates both passenger and freight trains. Construction started in 2005 and in full scale operation by December 2007.
Cu Chi Tunnels: Vietnam
Many wondered why the Americans were not victorious against the communists during the so-called Vietnam War. Well, the tunnels of Cu Chi is one of the factors why the Americans withdrawn their forces in the aforementioned war. These tunnels are an immense network of connecting underground tunnels located in the Cu Chi district of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam. These tunnels are part of a much larger network of tunnels that underlie much of the country.
The Cu Chi tunnels were the location of several military campaigns during the said war and were the Viet Cong’s base of operations for the Tet Offensive in 1968. The tunnels were used by Viet Cong guerillas as hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous guerrilla fighters.
Seikan Tunnel: Japan
The 53.85 kilometers or 33.5 mi long Seikan Tunnel of Japan is the world’s longest undersea tunnel. It is a railway tunnel with a 23.3 km or 14.5 mi portion under the seabed. It travels beneath the Tsugaru Strait connecting Aomori Prefecture on the Japanese island of Honshu and the island of Hokkaido. It is also the deepest rail tunnel in the world at 240 meters or 790 ft. This title will be taken by Gotthard base Tunnel upon its completion in 2018.
Channel Tunnel: UK/France
Another spectacular undersea rail tunnel is the 50.5 km or 31.4 mile long Channel Tunnel between France and United Kingdom. Its lowest point is 75 m or 250 ft deep. The Channel Tunnel has the longest undersea portion of any tunnel in the world.
The tunnel carries high-speed Eurostar passenger trains, Eurotunnel roll-on/roll-off vehicle transport – the largest in the world – and international rail freight trains. This tunnel is regarded as one of the “Seven Wonders of the Modern World” by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1996.
Fenghuoshan Tunnel: China
With a total length of 1, 338 meters long and stand at 4,905 meters above sea level, the Fenghuoshan Railway Tunnel in China is the highest railway tunnel in the world. It is part of the recently-completed Qingzang Railway that links China proper and Tibet. The Chinese word “Fenghuoshan” means “Wind Volcano”.
Moffat Tunnel: USA
The Moffat Tunnel is a unique tunnel. It is a 10 kilometer or 6.2 miles long railroad and a water tunnel that cuts through the Continental Divide in north-central Colorado. The railroad tunnel is 24 feet or 7.3 m high and 18 feet or 5.5 m wide. The apex of the tunnel is at 9,239 feet or 2,816 m above sea level. The water tunnel runs parallel south of the railroad tunnel and is part of the water supple system of Denver. The tunnel was named after Colorado railroad pioneer David Moffat.
Delaware Aqueduct: USA
At 137 km or 85 miles long and 4.11 meters or 13.5 ft wide, the Delaware Aqueduct is the world’s longest continuous underground tunnel. It is the newest of the New York City aqueducts. It carries approximately half of NYC’s 1.3 billion US gallons per day water demand. The Delaware Aqueduct leaks up to 35 million gallons per day.
Paijanne Water Tunnel: Finland
The 120 km or 75 miles long Paijanne Water Tunnel located in Finland is the world’s second longest continuous rock tunnel. It runs 30-100 meters under the surface in bedrock. It provides freshwater for the million people of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and others in Southern Finland. Since the constant low temperature in the deep tunnel ensures high quality during transport, only minimal processing is required before use.
Zhongnanshan Tunnel: China
The 18,040 meter or 11.21 miles long Zhongnanshan Tunnel or Qinling Zhongnanshan Tunnel in Shaanxi Province, China is the longest two-tube road tunnel in the world. It is also the second longest road tunnel overall in the world, after the Laerdal Tunnel of Norway. The tunnel opened in 2007 which is worth 3.2 billion Yuan or US$410 million. The tunnel will reduce the traveling times from Xi’an City to Zha Shui County Town from 3 hours to 40 minutes.
La Linea: Colombia
La Linea or The Line is a highway tunnel currently under construction in Colombia. It will cross beneath the locally famous “Alto de La Línea” in the Cordillera Central or central range of the Andes mountains. Upon completion, it will be the longest tunnel in Latin America. Its total length will be 8,580 meters and expected to be finished in 2013. Total economic benefits are estimated to be US$40 million per annum.
Eiksund Tunnel: Norway
At 7,765 meters or 25,476 ft long and 287 meters or 942 ft deep, the Eiksund Tunnel of Norway, an undersea tunnel between the municipalities of Volda and Ulstein is the deepest undersea tunnel of its kind in the world. The tunnel joins the island of Hareidlandet with more than 40,000 inhabitants to mainland Norway. The tunnel was opened for public traffic in February 2008.
Microsoft has canceled an upcoming June hearing with the European Commission, where the company was expected to defend itself against antitrust allegations.
The Redmond-based software behemoth was going to discuss its Internet Explorer Web browser after the European Commission charged that Microsoft’s inclusion of IE in Windows was breaking competition laws in Europe.
The EC brought the case against Microsoft after Opera Software ASA, the Norway-based company behind the Internet browser Opera, filed a complaint with the commission in December 2007, saying Microsoft was being anticompetitive.
Opera’s complaint alleged ongoing competitive harm from Microsoft’s practices. In addition to tying in Internet Explorer, other software inclusions, such as desktop search and Windows Live, have also been brought to the attention of the EC.
Microsoft, however, states that its integration of the IE browser into Windows is regulated by European law, and computer users can choose Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Google Chrome, or Opera as browsers that run on Windows.
Timing Not Perfect
The hearing, scheduled to begin June 3, 2009, was canceled after Microsoft realized that the commission’s senior regulators — who would weigh in heavily on the case — would not be present because the hearing coincided with an intergovernmental competition law meeting, the International Competition Network.
“As a result, it appears that many of the most influential commission and national competition officials with the greatest interest in our case will be in Zurich and so unable to attend our hearing in Brussels,” blogged Dave Heiner, Microsoft’s vice president and deputy general counsel.
Heiner said the company spoke out about the scheduling conflict with the commission and asked the commission to consider other dates.
“We pointed out that there’s no legal or other reason that the hearing needs to be held the first week of June,” he said. “We believe that holding the hearing at…
There are many abandoned territories in the modern world. Places that, for one reason or another, were left entirely intact, yet completely vacant for sometimes decades on end. From entire townships fading into obscurity, to rotting amusement parks closed from lack of interest – they’re as varied as they are manifold. Any man-made place seems a little unsettling once emptied of its people, but some places aren’t happy to be merely “unsettling;” some places aim a little bit higher – shooting for the bullseye that is full blown terror. And here are some that hit it dead on:
Gunkanjima, Japan
This is Gunkanjima, Japan, also known as “Battleship Island.” It once had the densest population in the entire world: 1.4 people per square meter. Do you realize how insane that is? Let me put it this way: If you were a fat guy on Battleship Island, there would technically be another person partially inside of you, like the aftermath of some horrifying teleporter accident.
Battleship Island was built during World War II (thus all the concrete reinforcements,) and still stands largely intact to this day. It’s strictly off limits to the public, though sometimes adventurous photographers do sneak into it to take pictures like these, at which point they’re presumably murdered by the world’s densest population of angry spirits and fused into their spectral Hive Mind.
Essex Mountain Sanitorium, United States
Listen, because this is important advice: If you ever start a sanatorium, you need to tear that shit down once you’re done with it. Not repurpose it or leave it empty or something; that is just begging – literally begging – for a group of stupid teenagers to sneak inside of it to have illicit sex, where they will inevitably get murdered by the ghosts of madmen. It’s like a Roach Motel for horny morons. You may as well put an “Idiots Fuck Here” sign out front and start up a mortuary next door; you’d make a killing.
Hey, that could be your tag line!
Anyway, this is the Essex Mountain Sanitorium in Verona, New Jersey. I could tell you all about how terrifying this place is, but I’ll just show you this:
That’s just the kitchen. All they did was make fries there and I still want to cry just looking at it.
Centralia, United States
Centralia, Pennsylvania was a coal mining town that was been almost completely evacuated several decades ago. Forty years ago, to be precise. That’s when somebody started a coalfire underground that’s still burning to this very day. The entire town is burning just inches beneath the surface, and noxious smoke churns up from every opening, every sewer grate, and every crack in the highway. The asphalt of the street forms giant misshapen bubbles from the heat below, and sink holes randomly open up from time to time – the ground simply dropping away to the eternal fires raging just beneath. Forty years ago the fire started, and forty years ago everybody left because they didn’t want to live balanced precariously on the precipice of hell.
Well, almost everybody. Centralia still has a population of nine.
Nine!
Which means that there are either at least nine people possessed by the devil right now, or else Clint Eastwood cloned himself nine times. Because he’s the only person I can possibly think of who’s got balls big enough to shrug off the potentiality of getting eaten by the fires of hell every time he mows his lawn.
Kaeson Youth Park, N. Korea
In Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, there are several abandoned amusement parks around, because hey – it’s hard to really relax and enjoy the simple pleasures of a merry-go-round when all of the other horses have cameras mounted in their eyes, and grabbing the gold ring is indicative of capitalist greed and therefore punishable by death.
This particular park, Kaeson Youth Park, is the largest of the lost parks, and is currently abandoned save for the Ghost of Blackbeard (who is clearly just Old Man Whithers trying to scare off tourists to keep his smuggling business a secret. Duh.)
San Zhi, Taiwan
This is the settlement of San Zhi, in Taiwan. It was originally supposed be a tourism-driven town, and the unique architecture of the place reflects that goal. A series of “mysterious accidents” plagued the settlement as soon as it was completed, so it was never actually used; just left abandoned to rot. Local religious beliefs held the complex to be the base of angry spirits, which is supposedly why it was never demolished.
By the looks of it, those “mysterious accidents” probably refer to the time George Jetson went crazy and murdered his entire family – his boy Elroy, daughter Judy, and Jane, his wife – with a Space Axe. They say that if you stand at the heart of the complex and say the words “Jane! Get me offa this crazy thing!” three times in a row, Astro will appear and tear out your throat.
Hellingly asylum, England
In the Sussex countryside stands possibly the most terrifying structure in existence: Hellingly Asylum. That’s its real name, by the way – not an ominous alias whispered in the darknened corners of the tavern by frightened locals.. They opened an asylum, and they named it Hellingly. Because fuck it, everybody knows that turn of the century asylums are pretty much guaranteed to be haunted by the ghosts of maniacs anyway, right? May as well be up front about it.
Look at that. Fuck you I’m going down that hallway. I would honestly be surprised if you weren’t grabbed by the multi-headed corpsebeast of the long-dead madmen whose identities (partially erased by electro-shock therapy) have merged over time into a writhing ball of madness and terror.
Andrew journeys to South Korea, where he samples soup filled with ginger, chilis, and mud fish that are cooked alive at the diner’s table. Tune in Tuesdays at 10 E/P on Travel Channel! www.travelchannel.com
Mozilla Labs has launched a new browser project that promises to give developers the ability to explore new ways to help Web-site visitors customize and personalize the surfing experience.
Featuring support for status bars, tabs, content scripts, and animations, Jetpack is an application programming interface (API) for enabling Web designers to write browser add-ons using technologies they already know, such as HTML, CSS and Javascript. The goal is to allow “anyone who can build a Web site to participate in making the Web a better place to work, communicate and play,” said members of the Jetpack development team in a blog.
From the user perspective, Jetpack should enable new features to be added to Firefox without requiring Web surfers to restart the browser or have to deal with add-on compatibility issues. “Like the rest of the Web, Jetpack features are just user apps, so they are immediately available in the browser window without restarting,” said Aza Raskin at Mozilla Labs.
Not a Browser Game Changer
Though Gartner Research Director Ray Valdes doesn’t think Jetpack is a browser game changer, he does see it as allowing Mozilla to build on its strengths. “It helps the Firefox browser leverage its community of developers and extend that because it makes it easier to customize the browser and create small focused solutions for very specific scenarios,” Valdes said.
For example, Jetpack will make it easier and quicker for developers to extend the Firefox browser’s utility over a wider range of uses, Valdes observed. “It remains to be seen what kind of creative things that developers will do with it, but it reduces the learning curve,” Valdes said.
Another likely attraction of Jetpack is the power it potentially has to disrupt the Web’s current status quo. For example, Raskin shows in an online video how easy it can…