We burned through an inordinate amount of computing time looking for alternatives
to maglevs and supurbs. It was clear [to us] in summer of 2008 that the window of
opportunity in America was closing fast. HIROLA was adamant that Sudan could not
survive as a country. In fact, HIROLA saw no hope for Darfur and close to no hope for
northern Sudan once southern Sudan split off. Even then, it was at best a coin toss
whether southern Sudan would be stable. However, even if the State of California's
worsening financial situation was going to dramatically reduce any chance of getting
loans to build maglevs, HIROLA was busily determining that by adding other US states
(Alaska, Oregon and Washington) and eventually other countries (Mexico, Russia,
China, Japan and Canada - free ride for North Korea and Belize) the project, by then
known as 3B [Busan at the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula to Belize via the
Bering Strait] could be cost-justified.
Eventually, we had to spin off portions of HIROLA into another application, NILGAI.
While NILGAI rated California's medical and educational and agricultural productivity
as higher than Sudan's, three conclusions about California were becoming impossible
to wish away: the state was in serious trouble, maglevs take a lot more electricity than
was available AND the only remaining remedy for schools and the government was to
use loans to install lots of solar panels. This would save money previously spent on
imported coal and oil and actually generate more revenue. It turned out a large solar
build-out was very good for Sudan for much the same reasons. We rather laboriously
calculated how much solar was needed down to the county level for the United States.
While worrying about the solvency of key American states such
as New York, Texas and California, we were also very concerned
about the elections in Kenya. HIROLA was most insistent that
serious troubles in Kenya would cause all sorts of problems up
and down eastern Africa. To see our comments on
and 5 year old predictions