#Structural Performance

[nnctales]

The Strength and Innovation of Prestressed Concrete

Introduction Prestressed concrete is a remarkable construction material that has revolutionized the way we build structures, offering exceptional strength and durability. This article will delve into the world of prestressed concrete, exploring its history, the science behind its strength, applications, advantages, and future prospects. Fig 1: Prestressed Concrete Courtesy: Civil Query  What is…

[faithisland]

now that transmascs are the fun exclusionist target I get to see every twenty posts something like "disgusting how trans men come on here and act like women oppress men, misandry isn't real! what a victim complex, men amiright" knowing full well what OP actually means is that is that they have an unnuanced understanding of feminism and oppression and believe that the identity "man" somehow completely overrides oppression and never adds to it.

but I have no way to know if Trusted Mutual believes that or just didn't understand the dogwhistles ...

[wardensantoineandevka]

it is really exhausting how much people are really digging their heels in on that you cannot criticize or critique the narrative choices or direction or structure of CritRole C3 on the basis that it is not strictly scripted. like, yes, there is an element of improv, a strong element even, but this isn't completely free-form improv. there's a degree of structure and intentionality. it being somewhat improv or unscripted doesn't mean that it does not or cannot have structure, intent, direction, purpose, control over the narrative choices.

stating "well, it doesn't cohere as strongly because it's unscripted" doesn't hold when there's dozens and dozens of strong ttrpg campaigns that are also unscripted and improv. ExU Calamity, Candela, TAZ, Dimension 20, DesiQuest, NADDPOD, Into the Motherlands, Rivals of Waterdeep, LA by Night, Transplanar, on and on — these are all improv and unscripted with really strong storytelling and structure. "it's unscripted" does not mean anything because other campaigns manage! this campaign is capable of cohering despite being unscripted because plenty of other campaigns have.

like, on top of that, if you cannot criticize its direction on the basis of being unscripted and thus lacking in motivated intent, it suggests that you cannot praise it for messaging, themeing, narrative, or anything that would suggest needing motivated intent. if it cannot fail on the basis that it's unscripted and improv, then it cannot succeed either because such argument suggests that unscripted improv robs it of having control of its direction. for any failure to be without merit because it is not by full choice and is just out of their control, then any success is similarly accidental and without merit.

frankly, if I were trying to defend the direction of the campaign, I simply would not be doing so by functionally invoking Monkeys With Typewriters

[virfujiwara]

Any The Book Of Life (2014) enjoyers here? Ramble in the tags lol Reminder that commissions are open and I'm making art for your donations and we are raising money for an AAPI charity through this zine, if you or someone you know likes Watcher, check it out!

[garadinervi]

Bruce Nauman: 'overzichtstentoonstelling 1962/72', Van Abbenmuseum, Eindhoven / Museum Associates of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, 1973 [Studio Bruno Tonini, Gussago (BS). Art: © Bruce Nauman / ARS, New York]

Texts: Jane Livingston, Marcia Tucker

Exhibitions: Kunsthalle, Bern, June 16 – August 12, 1973; County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, December 19, 1972 – February 18, 1973; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, March 29 - May 13, 1973; Städtische Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf, August 24 – September 23, 1973; Stedeliik van Abbenmuseum, Eindhoven, October 12 – November 25, 1973; Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX, (unspecified date); San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA, (unspecified date)

[epicqtefail]

i really love that throughout the game neither Hank nor Connor are in any immediate danger of getting fired by the police department. Fowler lets Hank get away with So Much and Connor doesn't technically answer to anyone at the DPD, he doesn't even work there. It's not like Hank is actually Connor's work superior he's just a glorified keycard/badge to allow Connor access to data. and i imagine if the department wanted him off the case they'd have to jump through hoops with the higher-ups; whoever launched the collaboration with cyberlife. (Cyberlife have the power to take him off the case but hilariously and unfortunately for them Connor is the only bridge allowing them to stay informed about and have some control over the deviancy situation in a legal capacity).

Both of them know this. so Connor acts on his own (often frustration-driven) whims as much as his mental gymnastics to justify it as a means for success allow him to, and Hank will kick up as much of a fuss and drink about it because they both have what are you gonna do, fire me? status.

and that's without taking into account the fact Hank does Not give a shit if he gets fired. That's another element of beautiful chaos to them. Connor has everything to lose, Hank feels as though he has nothing to lose, and the revolution offers them both something to gain :^]

[finelyagedlemons]

been thinking about protag jessica au again..............i wanna give lady JESSIE a proper witchy outfit one of these days for her game master look but here's her in a cool cape at least

[adhdo5]

any chances you wanna tell me all about your transfem wwx read? I am very curious 👁️👁️

This is not quite "all about" because I am trying to post Anything but a lightning round

Wei Wuxian being othered and twitter cancelled is not news but especially interesting is the juxtaposition of the opening, how we see the YLLZ discussed as this big evil threat as a justification for violence from all sides, and then the proper start of the story, how we see Mo Xuanyu -- explicitly queer, perceived as a man in makeup and pathologized for it -- discussed as crazy and weird and pathetic as a justification... for violence from all sides. The outcasting of WWX in her first life and of MXY is different sure but the function of it is the same

The YLLZ is also repeatedly a hypermasculinized figure -- we get told repeatedly about the rumors of the YLLZ's Wicked Harem and how he goes around Seducing Women as part of the mythology of how formidable and scary he is -- which of course needs to be built up bc the entire jianghu feared her explicitly and so it's necessary to create this image lest that fear be emasculating

And consider as another contrast that isn't contrast at all:

There is an explicitly gendered undercurrent to the violence MXY and WWX-as-MXY face and an only slightly less explicitly gendered one to the way people justify treating the YLLZ as threatening and predatory, and those ways are directly put against each other from the beginning as functioning extremely relatedly, and are distinctly resonant to the ways transfeminist theory has pointed out as the social function of transmisogyny

And even pre-YLLZ: WWX is repeatedly treated as a menace because, from jump, she is a threat to the status quo. One of the first scenes we see from Wei Wuxian's first life is her in Cloud Recesses proposing resentful cultivation at all! She's a threat to Traditional Cultivation Values even before she becomes this on a grand scale and unavoidably so!!

WWX's self denial also factors into this -- her lack of concern for her own physical safety is an often-noted character trait and it's one that drops off a lot when she's possessing an openly ~transfeminine body, as opposed to when she's in her first life's one

A lack of concern that she at one point explicitly connects to the fact that she's a man (Xuanwu cave conversation), while being much more concerned for the safety of those around her inc other* men

While she loses the ability to wield Suibian immediately after core transfer it's also notable that in the eyes of the jianghu it's after she comes back from the Burial Mounds that she stops carrying her sword. This is a little goofy esp bc the swords as phallic imagery is not that strong in MDZS (esp comparative to eg TGCF) but it's not nothing and even aside from "bottom surgery from ghosts" ~jokes it is a symbol of normative cultivator power -- which is a masculine power

Note also that yin energy -- which she relies on after losing her core, the energy of the dead, etc -- is feminine-associated

Postwar WWX returning to the Burial Mounds as doing what's right and knowing it's what's right and that she cannot go back and wouldn't want to anyway, it would be self betrayal -- but it loses her everything, even people who wouldn't reject her on a personal level but who can't stand by her because of social incentive .

I also want to namecheck this heartrending animatic of this era which obviously is fanmade but I think that there's a reason that this song association is made! I think it's a good one and namechecks actual feelings and the lyrics given to WWX here include "But there's no way to deny the crumbling of the lie/That has haunted me from birth!" Her denying orthodoxy is meaningfully denying the structures in which she's lived her whole life -- see also the single plank bridge conversation! -- and especially since she's now coreless, she couldn't fit back into those structures if she wanted to, which she can no longer want given both that and the atrocities she's seen are fundamental to that system. Aaaaaaaaah

[thereallyreallylatebird]

Something something... Finetimers not being able to properly walk without being told where to go as a critique on how many people don't form proper and informed opinions on their own and only parrot what they're told by influential political and social leaders

[thevoicefromthestars]

twisters (2024) is a rom com in disaster movie drag the way that the mummy (1999) is a rom com in horror movie drag and you can't change my mind

[nnctales]

Ultra-Low Carbon Concrete: Paving the Way to Sustainable Construction

Introduction In the face of mounting environmental concerns, the construction industry is embracing innovative solutions to reduce its carbon footprint and promote sustainable practices. Among these solutions, the concept of ultra-low carbon concrete has gained significant traction. This cutting-edge material not only addresses the environmental challenges posed by conventional concrete…

[weatherfey]

I think a lot about the way Dorian used to see Cyrus as the perfect older brother, the perfect prince; the way Dorian felt free to go and find himself because Cyrus was capable and dependable and ready to be a leader. That isn’t the Cyrus we see! But I think it’s a lot more interesting, for both Cyrus and Dorian, to take that seriously. They’re princes, and we don’t know what that means because we haven’t seen their home, but socially a court is an elaborately constructed farce. And of course it can be easier to be competent in any familiar environment, but I also think it’s easier to know how you fit within a court environment specifically because there is an overwhelming number of factors to define yourself against and they all have expectations of you, and if they aren’t suffocating you like some kind of spider’s web then it might be perfect, like being a star in a constellation, or just the right puzzle piece. I think it’s reasonable to think that Cyrus was something like who Dorian thought he was, at home; except that Cyrus, like Dorian, wanted to choose the things he’s defining himself against. And I think it’s meaningful that he got swindled in the immediate aftermath of discarding that constellation of puzzle pieces. He was a fool (beloved), but it happened in the first blush of freedom, when he was just starting to figure out who he was or wanted to be without all that defined expectation, which is also - not coincidentally - the state Dorian was in when the spider queen sunk her fingers into his heart and twisted his alignment. The ‘hello world! uh oh’ of it all is something they had in common.

(Something they both had in common with Opal, too.)

I do think it’s interesting to look at Dorian’s sense of responsibility in light of this. I almost think Orym was a kind of north star for Dorian through parts of EXU prime, and I ship them, but it really felt like one of the things that made him able to reject the spider queen is that Orym needed him to. I think he wanted to be someone Orym could rely on, but I think Orym’s regard mattered to him because they genuinely had that protective urge in common - the pathway the spider queen used to skitter in was Dorian’s desire to protect his friends. And that drive to protect added a lot of poignancy to the in-universe reason that Dorian couldn’t return to bell’s hells after Cyrus’s debts were repaid, not just because Cyrus was still getting his legs under him but also because Opal needed help. That’s responsibility, again - he’s finishing what they started. Duty, obligation, but this time he’s chosen who and what he’s beholden to. Like maybe he’s chosen a new version of a puzzle piece that he might have thought he was throwing out entirely when he chose freedom and walked away from home.

I loved that Fearne’s vision also haunted Dorian; he misses her, and it also feels like a solid way to illustrate the spider queen’s effect on Dorian, that the danger of his own corruption has rarely been something he had the luxury to think about. His friends have always needed him. I don’t know if he had time to process his aborted fall during his time in Zephrah, or if there’s still something underneath, but I think it’s telling that this fear doesn’t look like Opal, the one literally bleeding ichor from her forehead; it predates that, it started before Opal was the one to worry about.

And I think he knows he didn’t fail them - Cyrus, Opal, Fy’ra - accidental thunder damage notwithstanding - but, with the way he felt through that suggestion spell and its aftermath, I don’t really know what to make of his abandoning Dariax. It’s a little hard to look at that and not see a drive to isolate. Determined to leave him with a good memory, but most of all, to leave. He started that one-shot interlude having just admitted to himself that he was longing to be Somewhere Else, but I almost wonder if he still would have gone back to bell’s hells if Orym hadn’t asked.

(God, the suggestion spell. The way they processed it was hurtful to me personally. Dariax immediately shifting from ‘won’t leave Opal!’ to ‘let’s go! Opal has a plan’ kind of broke my heart, and I actually think that the spell could have worked on Dorian by just making what was really happening feel reasonable - the last shred of your friend is trying to save you, and you can’t save her from anything except becoming your murderer, so you should do that. But the spell can’t make sense out of abandoning Cyrus’s body, so Dorian just goes numb with grief and rage. Mass suggestion is 24 hours. That is 24 hours of numbness, and rage, and walking, and walking, and walking, and every once in awhile Dariax’s voice, friendly and steady and sure, ‘Opal has a plan.’ And at the end of it the ability to feel returns, but he’s so tired, and he hurts, and everything hurts too much to think about, and poor Dariax probably stops in his tracks, just ‘Dorian? What was Opal’s plan?’)

And he really was so angry. It’s interesting to wonder if that’s still under the surface. He immediately turned to levity - for their sake, and his own - but that moment where the group tells him who killed Will and Derrig, and Robbie instantly wrote down Otohan’s name, didn’t just read like a player taking notes, to me, it read like Dorian putting a name in a ledger. I think it’s easy to let that go because he learns that she’s dead in the very next moment, but I think Dorian felt a weird kind of relief for that half-second, because so much of his anger at what happened to Cyrus and Opal was from being forced to acknowledge that there wasn’t anyone easy to blame, except perhaps a god; and blaming a god is like blaming the universe. What a relief, however short lived, to be faced with a problem you can solve.

[garadinervi]

Daniel Spoerri (1930-2024)

♥

(image: Daniel Spoerri, Autotheater, 1959/2014. ZERO foundation, Düsseldorf. © Daniel Spoerri. Exhibition: On Air. The sound of material in art from the 1950s to 1970s, Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Kunstmuseum Krefeld, November 25, 2022 – March 26, 2023)

[milfygerard]

what do you think stops taylor from being conventionally "cool"? love your takes!

nice thing about not having a taylor URL or icon is that i can say its probably because she's noticeably autistic and wont get burned at the stake bc swifties dont care about me and only have to deal w me when a post goes viral once in a blue moon

[deathofthetext]

my conspiracy theory stringboard connecting osamu & chika & ninomiya & hatohara (& rinji) and in the middle there's a big sheet of paper with GENDER scrawled on it in huge letters and circled three times

[veerbles]

almost a year past finishing trk, I'm finally ready to make a confession: I do not understand gansey's how do I know I love her metaphors, and I refuse to be made ashamed of it.