Building a magnetically levitated train from the imposing Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca on Morocco's
Atlantic coast to Cairo and then on to Jeddah on Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast would permit pilgrims
and goods to move back and forth. Besides the spiritual considerations, building such a rail link and its
accompanying supurbs would be of considerable financial and social benefit to the three terminus
countries as well as Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. Among other functions, HIROLA can be used to predict
the impact of such a project on education, medical care, infrastructure and economics. Since the region
has manageable linguistic diversity, low incidence of AIDS, an absence of intra-national and
international conflicts, and flourishing economies, there is a sound foundation. Complex engineering
projects seem to always be simpler when there is supportive or even inspirational political leadership.
Perhaps one day His Majesty King Muhammed VI ben Hassan of Morocco, commonly known as an
uncommonly capable leader, will one day soon give a stirring address about building a maglev and
supurbs, "not because it is easy, but because it is hard."
A little harder is a maglev connecting the fifteen nations of northwestern Africa.
The third hardest African maglev to build, according to Hirola, is one that parallels the Equator and
runs from Boma (Democratic Republic of the Congo) on the Atlantic Ocean to Dar es Salaam (Tanzania)
on the Indian Ocean. As John F. Kennedy pointed out in his historic speech at Rice University this
maglev "will not be not built by those who waited and rested and wished to look behind them." As
magical as maglevs may be, not even Hirola's ornate and non-linear equations can guarantee a slowing
of AIDS in Rwanda, peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, stability on Lake Kivu (a rather
complex problem in its own right) or quiet from Mount Nyiragongo.
HIROLA was mathematically very reluctant to encourage the build-out of the bottom (southern)
V-shape which would complete the long-sought Capetown to Cairo railroad.
In autumn of 2007 we did a presentation for some of then-Senator Obama's nomination campaign staff .
Among the predictions: (1) he would lose the California primary by 10% (2) with diligence, he could win
the nomination (3) and he would defeat Mitt Romney (then the Republican front-runner) (4) but the US
economy was, from our numbers, already in dire straits. In order to prevent a major economic downturn
lasting TEN years the United States needed to start maglev and supurb projects immediately. America
was not, at that time, as badly off as countries with too few doctors and teachers, too much AIDS and
malaria, and inadequate educational and economic infrastructures. But the clock was ticking.
Unfortunately, at the point in time, Sudan had been in considerable
disarray for many years. Reliable econometric data was hard to come by
- what information there was painted a bleak picture. This is reflected
in HIROLA's inclination to route maglevs around Sudan as much as
possible. By the way, HIROLA was predicting a takeover of Somalia by
Ethiopia - the eastern coastal route would then be easier to build.