Adventures of a Discoverer

All the way back to the beginning of the XX century, the big novelty was electricity: all around the world cities were trying to make use of this new wonder, with public lights, electric street cars, and more. All that required the generation of electricity, and it was at that time that Seattle decided to create a massive new power plant for that. They chose a piece of land at the estuary of the Duwamish (where, unfortunately, they could dump all the waste from the plant) and built the Georgetown steam plant: using the brand new steam turbines and coal powered boilers, they could generate more than enough electricity. Eventually they switched the boilers to use oil and some time after World War II the plant was just kept in reserve until the 70's, when it was decommissioned. Differently than almost all plants from that time, though, this plant was miraculously kept in shape, and now Seattle City Light (the power company for the city) opens the location for the public on the second ...

Recently, the University of Washington opened a brand new building for Life Sciences, which included a new greenhouse as well. That greenhouse is as modern as it can be, and it has a number of plants that the researchers at UW are studying. The cool thing, though, is that on Thursdays, from noon to four in the afternoon, the greenhouse is open to the public: not all rooms are available, but the ones you can check out are very interesting. Today happened to be a typical winter day: cold, rainy and dark. So it seemed to me like the perfect time to be in a warm, dry and (very) bright place. I took a look at the greenhouse and it is really neat, it has a lot of very interesting plants from all over the world. It was nice to see some "fellow countryman" there too: they had a little papaya tree, some flowers and some cacti from Brazil. It was also quite curious to see some of the plants that we have in Washington State (especially in the artificial wetland in the greenhouse). So, i...

This is one of those things in which you're happy that I tried it so that you didn't have to: Nitro Pepsi. Pepsi, as in most sodas, is a carbonated drink, meaning that carbon dioxide gas is diluted in the beverage and provides the bubbles that people like. But, just recently, Pepsi had an idea: what if, and hear me out on this one, we used nitrogen gas instead? So, they just released "Nitro Pepsi", in two flavors: regular and vanilla. I just drank a can of it and, let me put it this way: imagine that you actually like soda that was left in the fridge in an open bottle for a week. As in, completely flat: then this drink is for you. The nitrogen bubbles are much smaller to the point of being impossible to notice, therefore it feels like you're drinking very flat Pepsi. Other than that, it's not too bad: perhaps some people will like it.

Many car sharing services have come and gone, especially in Seattle (I still remember the old "Car2Go" with their tiny little Smart cars). Almost all of them are no longer in the city, but there is a new one that seems to be doing well so far:  GIG (from "Get In and Go"). Today I tried one of their vehicles: a relatively new Toyota Prius. This was also the first time that I drove a Prius. As you may imagine, you need a smartphone to first register with the app and then you use the app to find a nearby car and unlock it. My impression is that there seem to be quite a lot of them in Seattle and I didn't have trouble finding one nearby. As in other similar services, you need to finish your trip in Seattle, but the service lets you park even in metered parking spots. Driving the Prius itself was very nice: the car was in great shape, it drove very smoothly and quietly, and it was pretty easy to drive around town. I can see myself taking advantage of this service ag...

Yesterday I had the privilege of watching a live concert by Seattle cellist  Lori Goldston : it was the first time that I attended a solo cello concert. Lori is a more "modern" cello player: instead of doing classical pieces, she composes music that feels more modern, with more improvisation and a much more striking sound. It was an hour and a half of music but honestly I didn't notice the time passing, it was really good, so much so that she received a standing ovation at the end. In addition, it was the first time that I went to the Chapel Performance Space, a venue in a historic building in Seattle: it was a lovely location with great acoustics and a very intimate feeling. Finally, it was a beautiful winter night in Seattle, and I'm including three pictures just for you guys to see.