A St. Louis professor endeavors to invent a new name for the United States, a cabalistic affair, USONA, composed of the initial letters of the words United States of North America ; the people he would designate as Usonians.

The mournful train/ Echoed her grief, …/ With groans, and hands upheld, to move his mind, /Besought his pity to their helpless kind

Nuclear reprocessing is a highly-controversial issue; proponents point to the massive reduction in the amount of radioactive waste requiring secure disposal, the utilisation of the remaining uranium and plutonium in the used fuel rods which would otherwise go to waste, and the opportunity to recover valuable fission byproducts such as platinum-group metals and silver, while opponents of reprocessing argue that it delays the switch away from nuclear power and results in massive toxic and radioactive contamination of the reprocessing sites, and that the separation of useable fissile material presents an unjustifiable proliferation risk.

The Kleine Scheidegg is quite a colony, with its railway station, shared by the Wengernalp and Jungfrau Railways, its commodious station buffet and two large hotels.