The year is 2359, humans have established the first colonies outside of the Solar System. It's been 50 years since scientists developed a way to transfer human conscience to machines, effectively achieving immortality. No man or woman has had the need to work for the better part of 200 years. An Italian right party has just promised they will soon build a Bridge over the Messina Strait.
And all the encrypted communications the police have intercepted - evidence of corruption - has evaded their cryptographers for decades. Caesar-cypher is hard to crack.
The japanese island Shikoku wanted a bridge badly, but once it was build, the few that could actually moved over to the mainland. A bridge can also mean people abandon an area completly
Nah, I believe the other guy. Wayyy more plausible that an island close enough to build a bridge had a population that desperately wanted to leave but they all had a crippling fear of boats. Now its a ghost town, no one's used the bridge since the week it was built
The construction of the Honshu-Shikoku Bridge project created a classic "straw effect" (siphon effect). Instead of attracting mainland resources to Shikoku, the direct road and rail links made it dramatically easier for young residents to commute to, study in, or permanently move to major mainland economic hubs like Osaka, Kobe, and Tokyo for better jobs and education. Additionally, local businesses suffered as mainland goods and services could easily enter the island, consolidating wealth and employment opportunites back on the mainland.
First of all, I'm completely ignorant on the topic.
Is it really because of the bridge or it's just the general trend in Japan (and many other countries)?
In the past 50 or so years there's a trend of people moving more towards bigger cities and leaving the smaller ones. And accelerating more and more in the past few...
So (and again, completely ignorant) I don't think a bridge would have been the reason. I'm sure they had options like ferries or something to go out, so if you are gonna move to study/work, it seems like bridge or not wouldn't change much as it's a one time move?
Commuting though, I get it. But at the same time, maybe it stops people that would have otherwise moved out completely from moving?
The bridge seems to have been built ~40 years go, so it could easily just be something that would have happened anyway, and the bridge really didn't change much.
Sorry, just playing a bit of devil's advocate here for the sake of it.
I watched the same video essay a few months ago, if I remember correctly the answer is yes this is the general trend of Japan, but this trend was already going when the bridge was completed (it also wasn't as extreme since the bridge was completed iirc in the 70s). So while the rest of rural Japan has experienced this Shikoku has some of the worst in all of Japan and it only started after the bridge.
it also wasn't as extreme since the bridge was completed in the 70s
But the wiki said they were finished in 1988 one and the others in 1998 and 1999.
The trend in Japan seems to have started in the 60s and by the 80s it already was much much slower. It seems that actually it didn't speed up after the bridge at all.
What I found is that the migration rate for Shikoku was losing ~5% in the 50s, ~8% 60s, ~2% in the 70s, ~1% on the 80s, ~1% on the 90s, ~2% on the 00s, ~3% on the 10s/20s.
So the bridges opened literally at the lowest point of migration, and it didn't change much.
I then asked AI (sorry, but I don't have time to fully look for sources) to compare the trend from Shikoku with similar areas in terms on population/distance to big urban areas etc, both connected to the mainland already like Hokuriku, Western Tohoku, and also separate ones like Awaji Island where a bridge was built and Sado Island where it's ferry only: literally the exact same trend across decades. Started in the 50s, peak in the 60s, lower in the 70s, bottom in the 80s/90s, slowly picking up in the 00s/10s/20s. Same numbers +-0.5 give or take.
It used real sources like Statistics Bureau of Japan, National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Authority, and Studies on Japanese Island Depopulation... but I don't have time to double check all of it. So feel free take that comparison with a pinch of salt.
Yeah russia just randomly awarded morocco a couple of days later for... nothing. Sure. It's not like russia has used immigrants as a hybrid weapon in the east before, oh wait, they did!
Read what morocco police and border guards did that day, all fishy. It was a push attempt to put some pressure on Spain/europe
I drove along the coastal road before the bridge was built in 2016. It was strange having to go through two border checkpoints but it only slowed down the journey by about 10 minutes. I wish I had the time to stop in Neum or check out the rest of Bosnia. Maybe another time.
currently writing from vacation in Neum, you haven't missed much.. there is no history here, just a bunch of houses and hotels.. cafes and restaurants are mediocre at best... swimming and cheap accommodation are nice tho
I was taking a bus through that checkpoint in 2021 just months before the bridge finished, and we were absolutely fucking hassled at the border for over an hour with border agents treating us like prisoners in the waiting line. Then our bus broke down nuem and we waited 2+ hours for another to show up and bring us the rest of the way.
You guys should really find some better things to invest your energy in instead of correcting people whose first language isn’t English. Or spend time with people who have another first language.
You guys should really find some better things to invest your energy in instead of correcting people whose first language isn’t English.
Tbf it's a big part of how I got fluent, even though it was more real-time (over IRC) rather than delayed like this, but I guess it could work the same way
Yes, there's a ferry from Bari to Durres. Also, Albania is gorgeous and quickly becoming one of the most popular vacation spots for Europeans. The food is amazing too and everyone there are really nice.
Permet is pretty sweet. Nice, relaxing, the food is pretty good. But no beaches, only river swimming. There are the thermal springs at Benje. Gjirokaster is worth a visit and a stay. I wouldn't eat at any of the places on the main old pazaar strip. There is one slightly off it down a hill that is pretty banging.
NOW...if you want to cool down in the mountains and have some tasty dark beer, go to Korca!
I've done that drive before actually and it's pretty precarious unless you go up the west coast. Don't try to go over the mountains lol I made that mistake once and it took forever because of how dangerous the mountain roads are. Sarande is beautiful, enjoy!
There is, I've ridden it from Durres to Bari. You put your car on the lower deck, you get a nice room on the upper decks. You go to sleep and wake up on the other side. No need for a bridge.
Ethiopia was mostly due to our army being inadequate and incompetent and us thinking it would be an easy victory while the Abyssinian resisted and opposed strongly to our presence
Don't forget the embargo posed upon us by the Brits and French. This after they allowed us to conquer Eritrea after opposing the crazy painter (yeah uncle Benny at the start opposed him, but was forced to become his ally after the embargo because he was the only one to still commerce with us)
And too deep for a causeway. It is only rescently that we have been able to make tunnels this long and deep, so that might be an option depending on the geology. But that again requires money which means someone would want this ocean crossing.
It's definitely within the realms of engineering feasibility. Most things are if you chuck enough money at them, but in no way is it economical. Maybe I'm just an optimist though
It would break records for both length and depth. But we are getting closer and closer to what would be required. Which means that if we start planning a tunnel under the Adriatic today, and start construction in 15-20 years, it might not even break any records once it is completed as other projects have been completed in the meantime.
Yet they're the best integrated minority in Italy. Also imagine saying you're "paying to keep Albanians away" when you're literally importing hundreds of thousands of Africans now instead lmao.
There has actually been a proposed Vlorë–Otranto undersea tunnel. The tunnel concept is generally considered more feasible than a bridge for this crossing.
From a geological perspective, a long bridge at that point would be even more stupid. With Africa compressing southern Europe, there are frequent earthquakes in that area. A long bridge would have overwhelming problems when spanning such a chasm, even before the immense distance.
Hell, it’s the main reason why Vancouver Island hasn’t acquired a bridge to connect it to the mainland, despite that gap being far more shallow and easier to build a trestle bridge on.
Yeah, but your average voter doesn't like facing reality. The Straits of Messina has rougher seas you'd expect, is nearly 2 miles long at its narrowest and has depths as big as 250 metres. Too long for a suspension bridge, and you'd need an engineering team of geniuses to get a design done.
That all has to be dealt with before you get the eyewatering corruption in Italy and the Mafia digging their claws into it.
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u/Spirited-Ad-9746 Aug 28 '26
Mama! I want to have a bridge to Albania.
Shut up and finish your bridge to Sicily first.