Empire State building
There, it’s been done. I’ve been to the 86th floor of the empire state building and looked down without getting fear of heights or anything.
Three lanes are always better than two but environmentalists are against expanding from two lanes to three lanes because they say that having three lanes will promote the use of the car. I believe that this is a flawed argument.
The A1 motorway between Geneva and Lausanne is often congested because when a slow vehicle wants to overtake a slower moving vehicle it blocks the motorway as can be seen in the video included within this post.
On a three-lane motorway you have the slow lane for slow vehicles, insecure drivers and stoned people with no rush to get anywhere. In the middle lane you have those who want to drive at the speed limit without having to slow down and accelerate all the time. In the left lane, you have all the cars that want to overtake everyone else.
In a system with three lanes, there are three options, and these three options usually ensure that all cars are going at the speed that they are restricted to, or feel comfortable with.
In a two-lane system, these three groups of drivers are stuck in two lanes, but in reality, you only have one lane, the fast lane. The problem with having just two lanes is that if you’re in the right lane you will need to move out and back in constantly as you are expected to do.
Frequently when you do this you find that you are constantly having to go from 100-120km/h burning a lot of fuel constantly accelerating and decelerating. The reason for this constant change of speed is that you’re constantly getting blocked by cars in the right lane either driving too fast or too close to each other. This is another behaviour you see in the two-minute clip.
This results in large stretches of the motorway being empty. As two slow vehicles overtake faster vehicles are unable to overtake and the density of traffic behind the slow vehicles increases. As soon as the slow vehicle has finished overtaking vehicles able to go at the speed limit accelerate and the accordion of traffic expands again.
In a three-lane system, the accordion has less chance to occur resulting in greater fuel economy as cars stick to a steady speed.
I filmed the motorway as a distraction during a walk, not expecting to get such a clear illustration of how easily congestion occurs on a two-lane motorway.
For several weeks now it has rained almost every day and almost every weekend. As a result of this rain acitivities have been cancelled. On Sunday we were meant to go outdoor climbing and when we got to the wall we found a rock climbing snail where, in dry weather we could have enjoyed some good climbs. The climbing site in St Triphon has about 150 climbing routes of differing climbing difficulties.
When the conditions are so wet outdoor climbing is not possible. It rained as we drove to the climbing site, it started to get brighter and then it started to rain hard again. As we drove away from the climbing wall where snails were climbing instead of humans we saw that the weather improved as we got to Lausanne.
Rocspot in Echandens was in the sun yesterday. It was quiet enough to make choosing which route to climb possible. The core of our group climbs every thursday night, as a result of which we are developing the right muscles to make climbing easier. Other group members climbed less frequently so we could prepare the top rope for them to attempt routes. The practice is good as we share skills and experiences with more people.
During this climbing day I was able to challenge myself to 5c, 5c+ and 6a routes. I found that there were moments when I struggled to make progress but overall I felt good. It was interesting to watch the less experienced climbers try routes and manage them. As they climb less frequently they allowed us to see where we would have struggled in the past.
A noticeable difference
Aside from rock climbing and bouldering there is a wall with various hand holds. A few weeks ago when I tried to pull myself up using finger strength I was barely able to hang on for more than a few seconds before letting go. Now I can climb up almost to the top. This is the clearest demonstration that I have made progress. It also shows why certain muscle groups ached so much after every session. The fatigue was worth it for this result.
Now that the weekend is over the sun is shining again and I do look forward to climbing and practicing more skills.
I went to watch Dirty Gold War at the Graduate Institute at lunch time today. The film is interesting because it makes you think about the environmental impact of gold mining. We’re familiar with the stories of gold mines in South Africa. We’re familiar with the stories of the gold rush. We don’t often think of the environmental impact of Gold mining in rain forests in Latin America. This documentary introduces the topic well.
It brings our attention to the fact that when people buy luxury products like gold watches, bracelets and other objects they are buying objects that have no environmental or ethical credentials. It leads us to question when the luxury industries will be accountable to such considerations.
Mobile Phones, laptops, televisions and other devices all contain traces of gold. If that gold is sourced from environmentally unfriendly sources then we are contributing to the destruction of the rainforests and the poisoning of ecosystems. Fairphone and other companies with such goals benefit from such documentaries because we are shown why their goals are so important. It contextualises their mission and their reason for being. It also helps to put pressure on all electronics manufacturers to do more to reduce their impact on the environment.
Dirty Gold is a topic that does not get much attention. As I reach the conclusion of this blog post I find that Dirty gold points to a music album rather than gold mining. We need to raise awareness of this topic. People are wearing wedding wings, luxury products and using electronic devices that are in part for the degradation of the environment. As awareness of these issues grows so companies like Apple, Sony and others should work to ensure a clean product line, from raw material in the ground to the finished product.
For the last 24 hours I have been L’âne de Buridan because I wanted to do two activities. I saw that a group was hiking in Annecy and I was hesitating due to the drive, the parking and the distance. I also saw that there were no spaces left. That’s why I signed up for a second activity while sitting in the waiting list. I didn’t expect to get a place.
The second activity is a via ferrata and I love that sport and I just got new kit so I should use it. The issue is that the group that is doing this activity meets irregularly and I prefer to find a group that meets regularly, to spend time with people more often.
The first activity then changed from Annecy to being at La Dôle so I thought that committing to the VF would be much easier., except that it isn’t because A) Via Ferrata are fun but you usually spend more time getting there and back than climbing, and because the group meets irregularly the group becomes less interesting.
I’d like to elaborate on this point. One of my character flaws is that I often want to try something new, rather than remain loyal to a group of people. The result is that I end up with solitude, rather than companionship. I’d like to meet the new group, and new people, but at the same time I feel that I should show “loyalty”, and I use the word loosely, for the group that I have done one thing with, so far.
I now have two groups that do things on alternate days so I can easily be a regular with both groups.
Annecy would have been a 50 minute drive, each way, Morez is a 40 minute drive. St Cergue is an 18 minute drive. It makes environmental sense to do the local walk, on a rare occasion when people do something that is so convenient for me. If I had known yesterday I would have kept the electric car.
Since I left Switzerland after doing some work on the 21st of February I haven’t had a proper night’s sleep for 85 days. That’s a long time.
I wish there was a soundproof chamber into which I could go.
What if I designed and built a soundproof bed? Wouldn’t be that complicated.