{"id":253691,"date":"2023-01-10T14:53:08","date_gmt":"2023-01-10T14:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/?p=253691"},"modified":"2023-01-10T14:53:08","modified_gmt":"2023-01-10T14:53:08","slug":"cold-war-fears-led-helsinki-to-build-a-world-underground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/2023\/01\/10\/cold-war-fears-led-helsinki-to-build-a-world-underground\/","title":{"rendered":"Cold War fears led Helsinki to build a world underground"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Note<\/strong>: This is a version of my personal newsletter, which I send out via Ghost, the open-source publishing platform. You can\u00a0see other issues\u00a0and sign up here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearly 200 miles of tunnels snake beneath Helsinki, providing a weatherproof subterranean playground for the Finnish capital\u2019s residents and visitors. Yet hidden behind the bright lights of the underground attractions\u2014which include a museum, church, go-kart track, hockey rink<\/a>, and more\u2014are emergency shelters fitted with life-sustaining equipment: an air filtration system, an estimated two-week supply of food and water, and cots and other comforts. The shelters reflect a chilling geopolitical reality for a small country that shares an 833-mile border with Russia, its longtime nemesis. Helsinki began excavating tunnels through bedrock in the 1960s to house power lines and sewers and other utilities, then realized the space could also shelter the city\u2019s population of 630,000 in the event of another invasion from the East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The hit Italian song that sounds like English but is actually gibberish<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 1972, a popular Italian singer named Adriano Celentano released a single called \u201cPrisencolinensinainciusol,\u201d written by him amd performed with his wife Claudia Mori, a singer\/actress turned record producer. Both the title of the song and its lyrics are gibberish. Celentano said later that his intention was to explore communication barriers. \u201cEver since I started singing, I was very influenced by American music and everything Americans did,\u201d Celentano said in an interview with NPR<\/a>. \u201cSo at a certain point, because I like American slang\u2014which, for a singer, is much easier to sing than Italian\u2014I thought that I would write a song which would only have as its theme the inability to communicate. And to do this, I had to write a song where the lyrics didn\u2019t mean anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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