I saw this headline several times and finally had to click on it, just to find out what it was about:
“Boring machine rescue nearly triples in price, according to new city report”
It turns out that it’s a tunnel boring machine, not one that is so inert that it’s not possible to have an interesting discussion about it.
Short version:
residents in the Old Mill area of Toronto regularly complained of flooded basements;
Toronto city engineers concluded that a new drainage tunnel was needed;
because the new drain would run under the subway, the tunnel had to be built deep and remotely, via a ta-da! boring machine, worth about $3 million;
once in operation, the boring machine became entangled in metal cables / rebar associated with the subway construction;
poor thing is trapped and estimated cost for extrication (in pieces) has steadily expanded, from an original estimate of $9 million, now approaching $25 million;
Don Mills residents still have flooded basements.
Sounds like the poster child for an engineering project gone wrong?
When I was a kid, whenever I saw a sign posted in front of a machine shop saying “boring worker wanted” it always made me chuckle. Yes, I was an easily amused kid.
I have a horizontal boring machine. I’m going to give you a chance to consider a possible filthy interpretation of that before pointing out that it’s just a sideways drill press, which sounds faintly naughty as well. Once past those notions it is simply a boring boring machine.
fun fact about the Chunnel (under the English Channel):
After the tunnel was completed, and the boring machine used by the British was no longer needed, they got rid of it by…programming it to dig itself down into a patch of ground, and then remain buried.
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cite:
QI, so you know it has to be true.QI | Who Made Sure The Channel Tunnel Met In The Middle? - YouTube
A boring machine named “Hazel” is currently making her way under the Potomac from Alexandria, Va. The goal is a wastewater pipe to reach the treatment facility across the way.
I have wondered whether she might not hit similar difficulties when she gets to the DC side. DC is both over-built and built-over. It’s anybody’s guess what you’ll find once you dig more than ten feet down.
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Does anyone else find it odd that boring machines are always given feminine names?
I once went to a town in New Brunswick – was it Moncton? – which is famous for what are known as tidal bores – which are actually, just very sudden but regular tidal surges in the Bay of Fundy; I have no idea why they’re called “bores.” But in the middle of town was (is?) a sign that says “Next Bore Arrives At” followed by the time of the next one.