New at Rosetta Stones: The Geologic Headaches of Constructing Sochi’s Olympic Village

Are you kinda excited for the Winter Olympics, my darlings? I mean, despite the fact it’s in Russia, which enjoys persecuting gay people cheerily waving rainbow flags at the opening ceremonies when it’s not busy claiming they don’t exist. And yes, they destroyed some perfectly good wetlands and dumped construction waste all over a pretty resort town in order to create structures on dangerous ground.

But that’s the fascinating part! Lots of geological consideration went in to all that construction. I had a look at one of the papers written before the first hole was dug, and yikes, is this ever complex. You may or may not love this year’s Winter Olympics, but you’ll definitely find the geology behind it interesting. Go check it out.

Edited to add: I stumbled across a seismograph of what Seahawks fans do to the ground round here, and just couldn’t help myself. Behold, the seismic impact of Seahawks fans. I’m coining the term anthropogenic seismicity if it hasn’t already been done.

New at Rosetta Stones: The Geologic Headaches of Constructing Sochi’s Olympic Village
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All I Have to Say About the Super Bowl

Yes, my beloved city of Seattle is cheering on its own Seahawks today. Has been for the past several weeks, even the fabric store is sporting Seahawks colors. I have no bloody interest in football – horse racing, Quidditch and MMA are my great loves – but I do love one thing in particular about this Super Bowl:

Image shows the Broncos logo on top, Seahawks logo in the middle, and Dr. Evil doing air quotes at the bottom. The caption says, "The two states that legalized pot are getting together for a "Super Bowl."
No idea who created this, because there are ten million copies abounding, and I couldn’t find you. But I love you for it.

It’s too much to hope both teams stop playing while tied in the 4th quarter, and instead of finishing the game, sit down together to get baked, isn’t it? I mean, they could continue later for those fans who insist on a winner. But I think it would be an awesome if, just for a while, there were no winners or losers, just people having some happy fun times together.

Sigh.

But it’s not in Seattle or Denver, so I suppose the police tromping in to arrest everyone for possession would kinda put a damper on it. Not to mention some of the fans would become upset.

Yet still I dream…

All I Have to Say About the Super Bowl