Some novelties for me. Sharing, as they’re likely new for you too. About bulbous bows on ships, about how the body of water under the Paris Opera from “The Phantom of the Opera” actually exists, about how 70% of all global internet traffic passes by my house, and about how no one really knows how general anesthesia or paracetamol works.
= First Discovery =. Large ships may have this thing in front, called a bulbous bow. I didn’t understand what it was for, it seems to disrupt hydrodynamics. Turns out, it’s quite the opposite. It improves it. It creates a counter wave that partially offsets the main bow wave occurring when the ship is moving — especially at high speeds and for large vessels. Each ship’s bulb is designed individually.
= Second Discovery =. Remember “The Phantom of the Opera”? There was a body of water under the Paris Opera where Erik and Christine sailed. Well, it’s not fictional. There really is a body of water beneath the Paris Opera House.
The opera house required a much deeper basement space beneath the stage than other types of buildings, but the groundwater level turned out to be unexpectedly high. In February 1862, wells were drilled and in March eight steam pumps were installed, which operated around the clock, yet the site remained damp. To solve this problem, Garnier designed a double foundation to protect the structure from moisture. The design included waterways and a huge concrete tank (cuve), meant to reduce the pressure of the external groundwater on the basement walls and to serve as a reservoir in case of fire. The construction contract was signed on June 20. Soon, a persistent legend arose that the opera house was built over an underground lake, inspiring Gaston Leroux to include this idea in his novel “The Phantom of the Opera”.
= Third Discovery = Of course I knew it was a lot, but today I saw the number — 70% of internet traffic passes through a place just about 10 minutes from where I live. Around me, more than 130 data centers have been built covering an area of three million square meters. Quite a thrilling neighborhood. I hope no ill-wishers will mark this place on the map with a cross. This cluster specifically consumes about 150 TWh, which by my estimates is like ___THREE MOSCOWS___.
= Fourth Discovery = It turns out that no one really knows how general anesthesia works. There are theories in Wikipedia on how anesthesia functions. But though they exist, none of them is completely convincing. In 2019, it was found that human-like anesthesia even works on plants, like on a mimosa and on a venus flytrap—they stop responding to touch under it. Not to mention, as everyone knows, plants don’t have a central nervous system at all. Not a brain, not even neurons. There’s also xenon anesthesia. Meaning, it’s fundamentally an inert substance, doesn’t react with anything, but somehow works. They recently figured out how aspirin works, but there’s still no full understanding of paracetamol.
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 