Ivebeenfurthereven

Ivebeenfurthereven t1_j3vxic7 wrote

Reminder that Venus is an Earth-size planet in the habitable zone. (In fact, historically many people thought there could be a civilisation under the clouds, an idea that only really died when we started to take absurd temperature readings and the Soviets successfully deployed landers to the hellscape below)

Still, exciting thought.

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Ivebeenfurthereven t1_iuiy77i wrote

A big restoration project I'm working on has a 2.2 mile tunnel under a big hill. By far the most difficult civil engineering challenge is the layers of soft clay it passes through.

Canals inevitably leak a bit. This type of clay expands when wet. You can imagine the resultant chaos as the entire tunnel is slowly crushed by the earth around it.

With modern engineering, there must be a way, but hydraulic forces in the soil are not to be underestimated.

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