Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev.

Two observations from the ground 🙂 About sleep and sports:

1. The first thing we encountered is that in the USA, for some reason, they do not sell a set of sheet+duvet cover+pillowcases.

Here a duvet cover (duvet cover) is usually sold separately, or with two pillowcases (Duvet set). A fitted sheet is purchased separately. There is also a Sheet set, where only sheets and two pillowcases are included.

Here, beds are typically made with two sheets, and they cover themselves with a duvet or comforter, with a duvet cover on top. There’s a difference between a duvet and a comforter, which can be quite confusing. Generally, a comforter is a soft decorative blanket, under which they often use a sheet (rather than a duvet cover, as we do). This roughly corresponds to our flannel or thin wool blanket without a duvet cover. It does not go into a duvet cover because it serves a decorative purpose. Additionally, there’s a mattress pad – an item that sits between the mattress and the sheet. The aforementioned fitted sheet is sewn like a box, covering the mattress, it is smoothly stretched over the top, adjusted vertically along the sides of the mattress and tucked under, where it is held by an elastic band gathered at the edge.

2. In the USA, in many states, including our Virginia, the game of “dodgeball” is banned. More accurately, they do not know what our version of dodgeball is, but the closest equivalent – dodgeball – is banned in schools. It is said to foster aggression and associated feelings. Yet, for adults, there are dodgeball competitions (for example, between Canada and the USA

).

New personal record on the McLean-Washington segment, 17.2km in 37.5min, average speed 27.5km/h. Traditional coffee and back

New record, average speed 27.69 km/h for an hour of pedaling, Reston-Ashburn-Leesburg with traffic lights. Heading back now

From the lives of female volleyball coaches!

Oh, through our places passes 70% of the global internet traffic. Here happens to be the largest aggregation of data centers, Data Center Alley. Due to the convenient geographical location, exceptional connectivity (here is MAE-East), cheap energy, calm weather, and last but not least the proximity to government clients from the capital.

I love this channel. It portrays mathematicians as ordinary people 🙂 This morning, while driving, I listened to a documentary about Perelman. They have one about him too

It’s come to this, thought the family, dad drove to the store just 150 meters away for milk

Excellent visualization of music (no wonder it got 60 million views) Doodle Chaos has a lot more like this

The Nutcracker is also excellently done here

And there are more views from the riders themselves

Ruby Falls, a massive 44-meter waterfall at a depth of 341 meters (the height of the Eiffel Tower is 300).

The story of its accidental discovery is interesting. There was a cave in the area, Lookout Mountain, accessible only to enthusiasts. A guy, Leo Lambert, bought the land on the mountain and hired a team of workers to dig a vertical tunnel, aiming to reach the most interesting part of the cave and open it to the public. However, during the digging, they encountered a narrow 45-centimeter passage, from which fresh air was blowing. Leo went in to explore, and after eight hours of crawling, they emerged by the waterfall. Leo immediately decided to name it after his beloved wife – Ruby. It took another eight hours to crawl back. They began to cut a proper passage and let in tourists. Until the Great Depression, it was an insanely popular place, but then the crisis hit, and the company went bankrupt. A new owner invested in marketing, and gradually they transformed it into this beauty.

Besides the waterfall, there is actually nothing else to see. The lower cave – actually, Leo’s main target – was closed in 1935 as it was not very popular when there was a waterfall. Near where I live, there are Luray Caverns, and they are interesting in their own right. But the beauties there are somewhat different 🙂

The “self-improvement” section in Amazon’s bookstore