#material design frameworks

[jcmarchi]

Tunable ultrasound propagation in microscale metamaterials

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/tunable-ultrasound-propagation-in-microscale-metamaterials/

Tunable ultrasound propagation in microscale metamaterials

Acoustic metamaterials — architected materials that have tailored geometries designed to control the propagation of acoustic or elastic waves through a medium — have been studied extensively through computational and theoretical methods. Physical realizations of these materials to date have been restricted to large sizes and low frequencies.

“The multifunctionality of metamaterials — being simultaneously lightweight and strong while having tunable acoustic properties — make them great candidates for use in extreme-condition engineering applications,” explains Carlos Portela, the Robert N. Noyce Career Development Chair and assistant professor of mechanical engineering at MIT. “But challenges in miniaturizing and characterizing acoustic metamaterials at high frequencies have hindered progress towards realizing advanced materials that have ultrasonic-wave control capabilities.”

A new study coauthored by Portela; Rachel Sun, Jet Lem, and Yun Kai of the MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering (MechE); and Washington DeLima of the U.S. Department of Energy Kansas City National Security Campus presents a design framework for controlling ultrasound wave propagation in microscopic acoustic metamaterials. A paper on the work, “Tailored Ultrasound Propagation in Microscale Metamaterials via Inertia Design,” was recently published in the journal Science Advances. 

“Our work proposes a design framework based on precisely positioning microscale spheres to tune how ultrasound waves travel through 3D microscale metamaterials,” says Portela. “Specifically, we investigate how placing microscopic spherical masses within a metamaterial lattice affect how fast ultrasound waves travel throughout, ultimately leading to wave guiding or focusing responses.”

Through nondestructive, high-throughput laser-ultrasonics characterization, the team experimentally demonstrates tunable elastic-wave velocities within microscale materials. They use the varied wave velocities to spatially and temporally tune wave propagation in microscale materials, also demonstrating an acoustic demultiplexer (a device that separates one acoustic signal into multiple output signals). The work paves the way for microscale devices and components that could be useful for ultrasound imaging or information transmission via ultrasound.

“Using simple geometrical changes, this design framework expands the tunable dynamic property space of metamaterials, enabling straightforward design and fabrication of microscale acoustic metamaterials and devices,” says Portela.

The research also advances experimental capabilities, including fabrication and characterization, of microscale acoustic metamaterials toward application in medical ultrasound and mechanical computing applications, and underscores the underlying mechanics of ultrasound wave propagation in metamaterials, tuning dynamic properties via simple geometric changes and describing these changes as a function of changes in mass and stiffness. More importantly, the framework is amenable to other fabrication techniques beyond the microscale, requiring merely a single constituent material and one base 3D geometry to attain largely tunable properties.

“The beauty of this framework is that it fundamentally links physical material properties to geometric features. By placing spherical masses on a spring-like lattice scaffold, we could create direct analogies for how mass affects quasi-static stiffness and dynamic wave velocity,” says Sun, first author of the study. “I realized that we could obtain hundreds of different designs and corresponding material properties regardless of whether we vibrated or slowly compressed the materials.”

[venusinmyrrh]

You said you love a good fashion doc- do you have any more to recommend?

Designers and tastemakers

Very Ralph (2019). The preeminent American designer of our time, one of the very few who can stand toe to toe with the titans of Paris and Milan. To call Ralph Lauren's work "sportswear" is to call the Sistine Chapel "kind of a big painting".

Halston (2019). Speaking of going head to head with Paris, Halston did it first. Skip Ultrasuede-- this is a much better doc about the king of American 70s disco glam.

McQueen (2018). When people talk about fashion as an art form, chances are they're thinking of Alexander McQueen. Worth watching for the pulse-pounding runway shows alone.

Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist (2018). Obviously you already know about this one, but it's gotta go on any comprehensive list. Without Vivienne Westwood, punk would have been nothing but a handful of noisy assholes.

Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel (2011). My icon, my north star, my personal hero. The empress of taste and high priestess of personal style. Watch this doc whenever you need encouragement to do and wear whatever the hell you want.

The Gospel According to André (2017). Diana Vreeland's protegé and a godfather of style in his own right. If it happened in fashion in the last fifty years, André Leon Talley was there for it.

Lagerfeld Confidential (2007). I have a high tolerance for difficult and unpleasant people as long as I like their work. Your mileage may vary, but Karl Lagerfeld's immaculate, relentless taste cannot be denied.

Institutions and events

The First Monday in May (2016). Witness all the hustle, bustle, savvy, and stress that goes into planning the Met gala!

The September Issue (2009). Same as the above, but for the famous September issue of Vogue. Watch this to learn who Grace Coddington is.

Dior and I (2014). How do haute couture collections get made? In 8 weeks from start to finish, I guess, if you're Raf Simons during his first season at the House of Dior. A documentary and a thriller.

Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf's (2013). No matter what other retailers might want you to think, Bergdorf Goodman is the last great department store. A portrait, already halfway to a time capsule, of what luxury shopping used to be.

Peripheral, but may be of interest

Nose (2021). The passionate, delicate art of perfume creation for the House of Dior. The French landscapes where they source their materials will make you swoon.

Larger Than Life: The Kevyn Aucoin Story (2017). As the makeup artist to pretty much every single icon of the 80s and 90s, Kevyn Aucoin invented the image of that era as much as any designer.

Fabergé: A Life of Its Own (2014). Come for the dazzling jewels and sumptuous objets d'art; stay to find out how this illustrious name ended up on hair care products in the 70s.

Crazy About Tiffany's (2016). Another luxury jeweler whose name alone is the stuff dreams are made on.

Bill Cunningham New York (2010). The original street style photographer, since before "street style" was even a thing. A love letter to curiosity, and a testament to the power of taking an interest in the world around us.

Still on my watchlist

Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams (2020). Directed by Luca Guadagnino, which is enough to put this Ferragamo doc at the top of my list.

Advanced Style (2014). Portraits of seven women aged 62-95 with truly fab personal style. Top Letterboxd review is seething about how out of touch they are with the real world, which means I am probably gonna love it.

Suited (2016). A study of gender through clothing in modern culture.

Dries (2017). A year-- and four collections-- in the life of Dries Van Noten, who, interestingly, doesn't see the point of clothes that people can't buy to wear, and so does not do couture.

Yellow is Forbidden (2018). This doc about Guo Pei appears to use her career as a framework to understand the gatekeeping of global culture by the West. Dope as hell, if it can pull it off.

American Style (2019). The political, social, and economic history of America through its fashion. Another one that could be really awesome if done with insight and panache.

Quant (2021). She may share the credit for inventing the miniskirt with two other people, but it cannot be argued that Mary Quant invented 1960s Swinging London. And for that we say thank you Dame Mary.

[rathayibacter]

Ok so how does one MAKE a tabletop game because this is something I want to try!! Are there good references out there for non-d20 systems or how to balance mechanics yourself?

oooh, hell yeah! honestly the big thing is to just do it, unlike board and video games the gap between idea and execution in ttrpgs is incredibly narrow, so if youve got an idea just start writing stuff down and see where it starts pulling you, where it feels like something's missing, find what excites you and what you feel isn't working. but that's not very specific, so let's get into it!

first off, read games! read weird games! there's tons of free ttrpgs on itch, lots of people sharing their work here and on other social media, there's 200 word rpgs here and here, and lots of system reference documents written specifically for people looking to hack games. reading other games is a great way to enrich your work whether you're building systems from scratch or working in an existing framework, because every game you read will show you a new way of approaching design problems.

on that note, draw inspiration outside of ttrpgs too! i pull a lot from video, board, and card games in my work, as well as poetry, novels, movies, etc etc etc. im autistic, and ive spent a lot of my life thinking about and dissecting unwritten social rules, so that's another big source of material for me. take your passions, whatever they may be, and put them in your work!

next up, think about the core of your game, sometimes called the minimum viable product. this is whatever the fundamental idea at the heart of your work is, and it's important to keep in mind because it keeps you from spiraling down unnecessary tangents. the core of your game can change, don't get me wrong! in fact, it likely will. what you want to do isn't prevent your work from growing and changing, but have a point of light you can always refer back to and ask "is what im doing important to this game?" you might be surprised by what you find isn't actually as important as you thought at first, and what turns out to be vital to the experience you're going for.

next up, once you start working, don't throw things away. if youre working in a word processor or google docs, it can help to have a section at the bottom of your document that you copy anything youd otherwise delete into. i do the same with my Affinity documents, ill have a few pages i dont export to store all my scraps. i know other folks who keep a dedicated scraps document that they use across projects. whatever works for you! the reason you do this is twofold: it makes it easier to cut things if you know you can always put it back later if you change your mind, and it gives you a lot of raw material that you can pull from in the future. months or years from now, you might find yourself looking to fill a gap in a new design and realize that some cool toy you set aside is exactly what you were looking for.

lastly, i wanna strongly encourage you to practice finishing things. that's often the hardest part for people, cuz we have a lot more experience starting projects than finishing them. here id like to once again direct you to 200 word rpgs, because that strict limit means you wind up with a finished first draft really quickly, and the rest of it is polishing and editing. once you've finished some bite-sized projects, you'll have a better idea of what it entails, what parts you're good at and what parts you struggle with, when to keep working and when to cut yourself off. i find it really helpful to add arbitrary limitations and deadlines on my work because that helps me push myself to finish something when otherwise i'd just keep adding and tweaking, but you'll find what works best for you!

[moremaybank]

shy but pervy bsf!jj who gets caught using your bikini top to get off...

warnings male masturbation, getting caught in the (solo) act, soft dom!reader, sub!jj, jj cums on r's tits, mommy kink but it's only mentioned at the very end

jj's slumped against the old and nearly-falling-apart mattress in his designated room of the chateau. sweat clung to his skin the more he worked at himself. muscles stiff and rigid, wisps of blonde hair hanging over his eyes as he peered down at his angry, pulsing cock.

wrapped in both his fist and the red framework of your bikini top, he gritted his teeth to prevent his curses from stringing out.

was it risky? getting himself off with your flimsy excuse for a bathing suit while you were right outside? sure.

but it was all your fault in the first place.

you'd spent the day in that same top, frolicking around on the beach while your tits bulged out of the thin material. it pushed them together in a way that jj could only describe as godlike. and if your cleavage wasn't already calling out to him, your nipples undoubtedly were. you stepped out of the water, and the cool breeze hit your wet body. goosebumps spiked across your skin, and your buds pebbled right before him.

he had to hide the drool that was pooling out the corner of his mouth.

but things turned even more sour when you hugged him. they swelled when they pressed against his chest, and thanks to the aforementioned thin fabric, he could practically feel all of you.

then, when the day turned to night, and you'd changed out of your swimsuit and into something more comfortable (his shirt, of course, because you weren't making him suffer enough), jj decided it was within his rights to use your top to his benefit.

his eyes flicked back and forth. from one hand that clutched his phone tightly, the screen lit up with a zoomed in photo you two had taken earlier that day, over to the other he had curled around his cock. he fucked his fist, as well as the striking red fabric, whispering out your name and a few other dirty sayings that only made him harder.

he travels so far into his own world, one that he'd crafted himself with visions and thoughts of you, that he doesn't seem to hear you call for him when you saunter into the chateau. he misses your steps, your knocks on the wooden door, and if it weren't for the creaks of the hinges, he would've missed your gasp.

his head snaps toward you, hand immediately stilling. "fuck. i-i can explain—"

your next words stun him.

"shh." you walk over to him, taking a seat on the bed next to him. your hands raise, framing his flushed cheeks. "if you wanted to cum on my tits, you could've just asked. you know i'd give you anything."

you pull him in, pressing a searing wet kiss to his lips. "you want that?"

it takes him a second, but he gets there, nodding frantically as the words trip past his lips. "y-yeah."

so you play your part of the dutiful best friend, doing anything to make him happy. your fingers grasp the bottom of his worn cotton tee, and you pull it over your head. jj's prayers are answered when your bare tits come into view.

you can see that he's hypnotized, and you have to bring him back to reality yourself. "start stroking, j. let me see how you fuck yourself while you think of me."

the leading star of every last one of his wet dreams is seated before him, topless and asking to watch him while he gets himself off. off on her. he can't tell if he's alive or if he's died and this is his very own slice of heaven.

"anythin' you want, babygirl. anythin'."

eyes locked on your breasts, his hand starts to move. he's throbbing wildly against his palm, just from staring at you, and at the plumpness of your chest. he loses it when your hands travel up the length of your torso, cupping your tits and toying with them in a way that makes jj's tip start to pool and leak. his speed accelerates, and you feel your panties dampen as grunts curses spill from his lips.

"yeah, there you go, pretty boy," you praise, beginning to jiggle them the way they would if he was fucking you. "bet you wish you were the ones makin' them shake, right?"

he lets out a pitiful whimper, hips now thrusting to meet his movements. you hear your name in a whine, watching his eyes screw shut. you're quick to remind him whose rules you're both playing by. you're so sweet about it, almost purring at him while one hand abandons your chest, allowing you to grasp his chin between your fingers. "uh-uh, open those eyes. if you wanna cum, you gotta watch me. can you do that for me, j?"

he obliges. of course, he does. you're his favourite girl. he couldn't say no to you even if he had a gun to his head or a knife to his throat. his eyes flutter open, and he's biting on his lip so hard that it's bound to bleed. your thumb pulls it free.

"don't do that. need to hear you thank me when you cum, right?"

he nods, no longer able to form words when one of your hands cups his balls and starts to massage them. your other pinches your nipple, and you moan for him.

"you wanna paint my tits, handsome?"

"yeah. yeah."

"okay," you say, getting on your hands and knees before him. you bring your chest right up to his cock, giving him what he wants. "cum all over 'em, j. give it to me, baby."

"mommy, f-fuck," he gasps, body going into shock as his cum shoots out in spurts across your skin. "thank you. thank you, thank you, thank you."

concepts ; concepts (ii)

[elodieunderglass]

Did you know that gum base (for chewing gum) is a mystery and is basically just plastic, I thought it was from a tree! It's not anymore ! It's plastic from petroleum and doesn't biodegrade! It's just a macro plastic which fills your saliva with microplastics!

I love that you came to me with this! I feel like I’ve received a dispatch from a courier! Thank you!

I did not know that and had not thought about it, although I’m not hugely worried about things like plastics or polymers just because they’re not plant-based. There are plenty of not-plant-based plastics and polymers that are fairly inert, and it isn’t worth worrying about all of them; for example, food-grade paraffin wax is a petroleum product, and it’s kind of an “eh” material. Like, we could get crunchier and worry about it, but there’s other things to worry about first.

Ditto plastic: sure, it doesn’t sound tasty, exactly, but pretty much every piece of food we buy and eat in the Anglosphere has been transported and wrapped in inert plastic; has been for forty years; it isn’t like it’s lead-lined tin cans. Er.

Finally, I’d caution making too many conclusions from the findings, which are what appear to be a pilot study presented at a conference. Brilliant, and it looks well-designed, but it doesn’t appear to be published yet. I don’t personally feel qualified to assess the methodology at this distance of removal and without peer review, although the framework all seems quite respectable-looking from here.

All that being said: OH MY GOD LOL THEY ARE JUST MAKING CHEWING GUM OUT OF WHATEVER, HUH. TRADE SECRET MY ASS.

[probablyasocialecologist]

The industrial world is aging, and the sheer quantity and geographic extent of transportation, water and energy infrastructure presents an unprecedented challenge at the exact moment that climate change forces us to rethink material use. More robust maintenance practices could help preserve modernity’s finest achievements, from public transit systems to power grids to insulated homes. But first maintenance has to be valued outside of austerity, and right now it’s unclear if our current economic system is capable of that.  Maintenance could serve as a useful framework for addressing climate change and other pressing planetary constraints that, if left unaddressed, could recreate on a global scale the localized austerity of a cash-strapped transit agency. Indeed, maintenance as a concept could encompass both the built environment and the so-called natural world. Perhaps maintenance, rather than sustainability, is the more useful framework for a green transition, because it can account for how human infrastructure is now deeply entangled with the environment in the age of the Anthropocene. 

[...]

Maintenance is about keeping things — sometimes large, intensively built things like skyscrapers and subway cars that might be difficult to imagine in the biodegradable utopias of the most gung-ho environmentalists. Ultimately, reduction is prioritized. We must not hold onto things. We must let go like good Buddhists, as industrial civilization becomes merely a painful, transient phase in human history, passing out of us like bad karma.  There is tension in the question of whether to build objects more intensively, so that they last longer, or to recognize that some things cannot endure and thus should be designed that way. There’s no hope for a paper plate in the long run, for example. It’s designed to enter the waste stream as cheaply and easily as possible. Conversely, a toaster could last for decades if maintained properly, assuming the manufacturer hasn’t built obsolescence into it (as is often the case).  More complex objects and built environments, like a transit system or a housing development, compound questions over what should last and what cannot. How do we create systems that can address these questions on their own terms? 

[thydungeongal]

can you please recommend some TTRPGs that are

as different as possible from the trad/D&D-like "default" that people come into TTRPGs with (and also recommendations that are different from each other), and

deliberately structured for longer-term recurring play? something where the same group can run the same "campaign" for, say, half a year or more, and

has enough mechanical hooks to not lose new players in the sea of borderline-freeform onepagers?

thank you!

Apocalypse World fits all of those criteria. It's the game that the Powered by the Apocalypse framework of games is based on, and it's a very good post-apocalyptic drama game, where the focus is on people with very orthogonal goals getting thrown into a powderkeg with each other.

As I keep mentioning whenever I bring it up, Apocalypse World isn't about a bunch of weirdos forming an adventuring party and going on adventures. It's almost an asymmetric game and a drama generator, instead of a traditional D&D-like co-operative challenge game.

I do not think there is anything antithetical to long-term campaign play in Apocalypse World, although since character development is rather shallow it does eventually lead to characters plateauing. But the game has options for players playing multiple characters and actually heavily encourages it.

Is actually quite crunchy despite the wider reputation of PbtA games.

For a different take, there's Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy by @anim-ttrpgs. A modern urban fantasy investigative game with a focus on verisimilitude and a very historically grounded take on the supernatural.

While a challenge-based game the fact that it's an investigative game (and a damn good one at that) is already a huge change, and the fact that it disincentivizes the use of violence as the primary verb for characters also distinguishes it from the defaults set by D&D. (There is a lot more to it where it differs from modern D&D in terms of design philosophy, but I don't want to make this overlong.)

Eureka also has limited character advancement but it is explicitly geared towards bringing the same bunch of weirdos to investigate different mysteries. It can be played episodic or as an anthology and there's even been talk in the @anim-ttrpgs RPG book club about using it for a campaign that is all about investigating one big mystery.

Has a lot of mechanical grit, but also divides its mechanics into easily digestible chunks to make learning it easier.

Most Trusted Advisors by @thehorizonmachine. A comedy game about playing the advisors of a medieval lord in a very historically inaccurate medieval nation, always scheming against each other while trying to keep them on their lord's good side.

Very much not a party-based adventure game, but an engine for creating a comedy of errors starring a cast of fundamentally unlikable nobs in a quasi-medieval pastiche, in the style of Black Adder.

Admittedly, works better for episodic play and shorter campaigns, but I don't know, I think it's neat so I wanted to recommend it anyway!

Simpler than the previous two, but still provides enough mechanical structure not to leave players hanging.

For a classic, there's Pendragon. A game set in a historical-mythical-Britain of Arthuriana about playing through a dynasty of knights as they live through the Anarchy and get to see Arthur ascend to the throne, and finally get to witness his death and the fall of Camelot.

While it is a game of knights going on adventures it's also so much more: it has domain management, courtly romance, trying to be a good knight as opposed to an errant murderer and with actual mechanical incentives for it.

The Great Pendragon Campaign is huge and will give you enough material for years of play.

Not the crunchiest game out there, but still has a lot of mechanical structure while being mostly very intuitive.

Hmmm okay one more since I'm on a roll: Paranoia. A science fiction dystopian black comedy about playing Troubleshooters who help do dirty work for the insane egoistical computer that runs the Alpha Complex.

While it is a co-operative game it is also very much about pitting the player characters against each other. Paranoia is the name of the game. It's also decidedly humorous which sets it apart from your serious D&D-likes.

There's character advancement, secret goals given by conspiracies, and a lot of potential to see the Troubleshooters advance and flourish within the system that slowly grinds them to a paste.

Has mechanics. I mean, the rules and their depth will vary depending on which edition you're playing, but Paranoia definitely has some mechanical grit to it.

[wehavekookies]

Dear Kooks, do you have some tips to play D&D alone or some solo RPG? I want to play it so bad, I have a lot of characters sheets ready because I’m so excited, but none of my friends are interested. If you know and could tell me is there some online platform to discover groups to play?

Thanks always!

Hello!

(First of all I need to start posting a bit more about solo rpgs and solo gaming in general cos I gathered some really cool materials and games over last months, so thank You for reminding me of that. Just need some more free time but it's coming, oh it's coming)

I don't have experience playing specifically DnD solo, but I know there are tools for it people recommend. The GeekGamers YouTube channel has TONS (and i say it both as an encouragement and as a warning, because it can be a bit overwhelming) of advice materials, also regarding soloing DnD and solo roleplaying in general. She also wrote a book on solo gaming called Solo Game Master's Guide which if I recall correctly has a chapter on DnD specifically as well. I know people are recommending Mythic Game Master Emulator as a good tool, but I haven't personally tried it yet.

What I can recommend tho is... Ironsworn (check the link, the pdf for the first main game is free). I have been playing it solo recently and I find it very fun and satisfying. It's a system based on Powered by the Apocalypse rules framework, so not that close to DnD rules, but if you are looking for a solo rp with some more rules structure I recommend taking a look at this game because it is designed specifically for solo playing (but it can be co-oped and GMed too). You can alter the world of the game freely (and the author encourages you to do that) or use the rules in existing setting, so you can adjust it to your liking (tho i do encourage you to try the setting offered by the book first, together with its world creation process: 1) it's very cool, 2) you will get a grip of the rules in their natural environment)

I found I need a couple of additional oracle tables aside of the ones the book has, but these you can pick up as you go according to your needs, there is plenty online, and a lot of free ones too. Other than that everything you need you have in the free book.

I also recommend taking a look at some actual play of an Ironsworn game (or other games, you can find some examples of actual solo plays on GeekGamers channel too) to get a bit of an idea how people think about running a solo session and how they build a story on their own, and perhaps taking something away from it for yourself. For Ironsworn specifically I super enjoy and highly recommend The Bad Spot podcast. It has several seasons of Ironsworn: Starforge game (Ironsworn's younger brother set in space, but the rules and the idea of how the game runs are basically the same) but also some loose talks about solo gaming in general.

OTHER THAN THAT: I encourage you to look around and see what the solo gaming scene has to offer. There is so many interesting games (some with more rules structure, but also journaling games, choose your own adventure-like games, solo hacks for existing systems, and more etc etc, a whole new world to discover really), it's worth checking regardless of having a group to play with or not. I will try to get back to posting more actively on these topics, cos there is a lot of stuff I would love to share, so fingers crossed I won't get distracted lol.

Cheers!

[a-griffin-in-the-sky]

There’s No Such Thing as ‘Cis’ Women Just Women

I’m not using a term that was invented in the 1990s to explain the supposed phenomenon of not hating your body. The term “cisgender” was coined to make space for a framework where male people can be reclassified as women, and female people need a new label to justify staying the same.

I don’t identify with “cis.” I didn’t opt-in to this gender costume party. I was born female, socialized as a girl, and I live with the material reality of being a woman every single day not because I “feel like one,” but because of what my body means in a world built around male dominance.

The idea that “cis” women are just people lucky enough to feel fine about being women is insulting. It flattens the actual reality of womanhood as if it's some cozy, comfy internal feeling rather than a lifelong negotiation of survival under patriarchy. Most women I know don’t love their bodies, don’t feel like girls on the inside. We were taught to hate ourselves from puberty onwards to shrink, to serve, to be pretty, to be silent.

So no, I’m not “cis.” I’m just a woman. Not a performance, not an identity, not a feeling a biological and political reality. You can call me old-fashioned, but I think the word “woman” still means something. And it shouldn’t require a prefix just to make room for male people who want in.

If a man/women has body dysphoria, I genuinely hope they gets the help he needs. But that doesn’t make the opposite sex. It makes them a person with a medical condition/mental health illness. That’s it, no shame for that I do wish that eveyone will feel confident and comfortable in there bodies just not the expensive of erasing womens lives reailties.

Language matters, and “Cis” is a rhetorical trap one designed to guilt women into compliance, to make us grateful for our oppression because we supposedly “identify” with it.

Women don’t need to identify as anything, We are.

Honestly if any tra see this feel free to argue this, just dont expect me to take it seriously.

[maxdibert]

Okay ill go with what you say and admit they did bad things but whys all thst class stuff relevant like okay you like to use that division but its..not everything its all about?

Talking about the relationship between James and Severus without addressing the issue of class is a mistake that perpetuates a partial and distorted view of their conflict. Too often, the bullying that James inflicted on Severus is minimized under the idea of a simple "rivalry," when in reality, the power structure between them was tainted from the start by the material and symbolic inequality that separated them. James Potter, the son of a wealthy pureblood family, raised in an environment of privilege and without economic worries, exercised violence over Severus Snape, a working-class child, abused at home, with evident economic hardships and no social capital to support him. This is not a simple fight between equals, but a clear example of how class structure influences dynamics of abuse and exclusion.

Bullying does not occur in a social vacuum; it responds to the same power structures that govern the adult world. Authors like Bourdieu have developed the concept of capital in its multiple forms: economic, social, and cultural. James Potter had access to all of them. Coming from a wealthy family, he possessed economic capital, which translated into a life without deprivation, new clothes, access to goods and resources, and the certainty that any misstep would not compromise his future. His social capital was even more decisive: he was the son of a respected family in the magical community, with a strong support network and a position of prestige at Hogwarts that protected him from any real consequences for his actions. His cultural capital, reinforced by his pureblood lineage and upbringing in an elitist environment, allowed him to navigate power spaces within the school with ease. None of this was available to Severus Snape.

Severus was a working-class child, the son of an abusive man and an impoverished witch. His patched-up clothing and unkempt appearance were not a choice but the result of his material position. He grew up in a depressing industrial neighborhood, a space marked by precariousness and lack of opportunities. Within the Marxist framework, Snape represented the exploited class: without his own resources, without a support network, and without access to the benefits of the upper class, he could only survive through his intelligence and individual effort. His mixed-blood lineage also placed him in an intermediate position within the magical world, always inferior to the purebloods who dominated Hogwarts' social sphere. This is why talking about a "rivalry" between James and Severus is a misrepresentation of the facts: there was no equality of conditions, no level playing field. What existed was a rich boy using his social and economic power to humiliate a poor boy who had no tools to defend himself.

James Potter's classism is reflected in the way he chooses his victim. He does not harass other students of his same social class; instead, he preys on Severus, who is in an absolute position of inferiority. James exercises his abuse in public spaces, under the gaze of other students, aware that his status protects him from any retaliation. It is no coincidence that he is always the one initiating the harassment and that he does so accompanied by his friends, while Snape is alone. This is a classic manifestation of violence exercised from a position of power: it is based on impunity, on the certainty that the system will not intervene in favor of the victim because the aggressor is a legitimized subject within the social structure. James, like any child born into the upper class, learned from an early age that he could do whatever he wanted without real consequences because the world was designed to favor him.

Goffman speaks of stigma as a social marker that defines who is accepted and who is marginalized in a community. Snape embodies the stigma of poverty, domestic violence, and lack of resources. In the Hogwarts imagination, he is someone who does not fit the model of success and prestige represented by children like James Potter. This is key to understanding their relationship: James' aggression is not just personal but structural. Severus is not just Severus; he is the poor boy, the dirty boy, the boy who has no allies, the boy who will never be part of the winners' circle. In this sense, the violence he receives is not an isolated phenomenon but the manifestation of a hierarchy that placed him at the bottom even before he set foot in Hogwarts.

The argument that James "matured" and "changed" over time does not nullify the fact that his youthful violence was possible thanks to his privileged position. Within the meritocratic logic often applied to his story, we are told that James became a better person and that, therefore, his past should be excused. But this ignores that the underlying problem was never just his attitude, but the system that allowed his abuse to occur without consequences. When James finally "grows up," he has already enjoyed years of prestige, power, and acceptance. His change is not the result of a struggle against the system but a smooth transition within the same structure that always benefited him. Meanwhile, Severus remains trapped in the logic of the dispossessed: still alone, still marginalized, still without the resources to rewrite his story.

From a Marxist perspective, the story of James and Severus is not just a story of two children in conflict. It is the story of how social class defines who has the right to dignity and who must fight for it every day. It is the story of how the violence of the privileged is treated as "youthful pranks" while the anger of the oppressed is seen as a threat. It is the story of how the impunity of power allows the victors to write history and how those who have been humiliated are the ones who must bear the weight of their own suffering.

For this reason, no, there can be no talk of rivalry between James Potter and Severus Snape. Not when one had everything and the other had nothing. Not when one could exercise violence without fear and the other had to endure it without hope for justice. Not when the story of one is remembered as that of a reformed hero and the other as that of a resentful man without redemption. Because history, as always, is written by the victors. And in the world of Harry Potter, as in our own, the victors are almost always those born with privilege.

[jcmarchi]

A first-ever complete map for elastic strain engineering - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/a-first-ever-complete-map-for-elastic-strain-engineering-technology-org/

A first-ever complete map for elastic strain engineering - Technology Org

New research by a team of MIT engineers offers a guide for fine-tuning specific material properties.

Without a map, it can be impossible to know not only where you are but also where you’re going, and that’s especially true when it comes to materials’ properties.

The “map,” or the phonon stability boundary, is a graphical representation that plots the stability regions of a crystal as a function of strain. This map helps scientists and engineers determine the conditions under which a material can exist in a particular phase and when it might fail or transition to another phase. By analyzing the phonon stability boundary, researchers can understand material properties at extreme conditions and design new materials with desired characteristics. Image courtesy of the researchers / MIT

For decades, scientists have understood that while bulk materials behave in certain ways, those rules can break down for materials at the micro- and nano-scales, and often in surprising ways. One of those surprises was the finding that, for some materials, applying even modest strains — a concept known as elastic strain engineering — on materials can dramatically improve certain properties, provided those strains stay elastic and do not relax away by plasticity, fracture, or phase transformations. Micro- and nano-scale materials are especially good at holding applied strains in the elastic form.

Precisely how to apply those elastic strains (or equivalently, residual stress) to achieve certain material properties, however, had been less clear — until recently.

Using a combination of first principles calculations and machine learning, a team of MIT researchers has developed the first-ever map of how to tune crystalline materials to produce specific thermal and electronic properties.

Led by Ju Li, the Battelle Energy Alliance Professor in Nuclear Engineering and professor of materials science and engineering, the team described a framework for understanding precisely how changing the elastic strains on a material can fine-tune properties like thermal and electrical conductivity. The work is described in an open-access paper published in PNAS.

“For the first time, by using machine learning, we’ve been able to delineate the complete six-dimensional boundary of ideal strength, which is the upper limit to elastic strain engineering, and create a map for these electronic and phononic properties,” Li says. “We can now use this approach to explore many other materials. Traditionally, people create new materials by changing the chemistry.”

“For example, with a ternary alloy, you can change the percentage of two elements, so you have two degrees of freedom,” he continues. “What we’ve shown is that diamond, with just one element, is equivalent to a six-component alloy, because you have six degrees of elastic strain freedom you can tune independently.”

Small strains, big material benefits

The paper builds on a foundation laid as far back as the 1980s, when researchers first discovered that the performance of semiconductor materials doubled when a small — just 1 percent — elastic strain was applied to the material.

While that discovery was quickly commercialized by the semiconductor industry and today is used to increase the performance of microchips in everything from laptops to cellphones, that level of strain is very small compared to what we can achieve now, says Subra Suresh, the Vannevar Bush Professor of Engineering Emeritus.

In a 2018 Science paper, Suresh, Dao, and colleagues demonstrated that 1 percent strain was just the tip of the iceberg.

As part of a 2018 study, Suresh and colleagues demonstrated for the first time that diamond nanoneedles could withstand elastic strains of as much as 9 percent and still return to their original state. Later on, several groups independently confirmed that microscale diamond can indeed elastically deform by approximately 7 percent in tension reversibly.

“Once we showed we could bend nanoscale diamonds and create strains on the order of 9 or 10 percent, the question was, what do you do with it,” Suresh says. “It turns out diamond is a very good semiconductor material … and one of our questions was, if we can mechanically strain diamond, can we reduce the band gap from 5.6 electron-volts to two or three? Or can we get it all the way down to zero, where it begins to conduct like a metal?”

To answer those questions, the team first turned to machine learning in an effort to get a more precise picture of exactly how strain altered material properties.

“Strain is a big space,” Li explains. “You can have tensile strain, you can have shear strain in multiple directions, so it’s a six-dimensional space, and the phonon band is three-dimensional, so in total there are nine tunable parameters. So, we’re using machine learning, for the first time, to create a complete map for navigating the electronic and phononic properties and identify the boundaries.”

Armed with that map, the team subsequently demonstrated how strain could be used to dramatically alter diamond’s semiconductor properties.

“Diamond is like the Mt. Everest of electronic materials,” Li says, “because it has very high thermal conductivity, very high dielectric breakdown strengths, a very big carrier mobility. What we have shown is we can controllably squish Mt. Everest down … so we show that by strain engineering you can either improve diamond’s thermal conductivity by a factor of two, or make it much worse by a factor of 20.”

New map, new applications

Going forward, the findings could be used to explore a host of exotic material properties, Li says, from dramatically reduced thermal conductivity to superconductivity.

“Experimentally, these properties are already accessible with nanoneedles and even microbridges,” he says. “And we have seen exotic properties, like reducing diamond’s (thermal conductivity) to only a few hundred watts per meter-Kelvin. Recently, people have shown that you can produce room-temperature superconductors with hydrides if you squeeze them to a few hundred gigapascals, so we have found all kinds of exotic behavior once we have the map.”

The results could also influence the design of next-generation computer chips capable of running much faster and cooler than today’s processors, as well as quantum sensors and communication devices. As the semiconductor manufacturing industry moves to denser and denser architectures, Suresh says the ability to tune a material’s thermal conductivity will be particularly important for heat dissipation.

While the paper could inform the design of future generations of microchips, Zhe Shi, a postdoc in Li’s lab and first author of the paper, says more work will be needed before those chips find their way into the average laptop or cellphone.

“We know that 1 percent strain can give you an order of magnitude increase in the clock speed of your CPU,” Shi says. “There are a lot of manufacturing and device problems that need to be solved in order for this to become realistic, but I think it’s definitely a great start. It’s an exciting beginning to what could lead to significant strides in technology.”

Written by Peter Reuell

Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

You can offer your link to a page which is relevant to the topic of this post.

[wolfliving]

"The Cathedral of Robot Artisans"

Spatial Qualities: Dialogue Between Existing and New Structures

The project posed a complex challenge: to retrofit a 19th-century brick stable into a functional, contemporary fabrication space while preserving its historical integrity. Within a four-month timeframe, an international cohort of MAEBB (Master in Advanced Architecture and Biocities) students designed and built a hybrid structure that simultaneously honors traditional craftsmanship and embraces advanced digital fabrication.

At the heart of the project lies a tension between the old and the new, the solid and the porous, the static and the adaptive. The design retains the original brick walls, reinforcing them structurally while removing the decayed roof to introduce a new timber framework. This act of surgical preservation frames the contemporary intervention as both a response and a counterpoint to the pre-existing architecture.

Internally, the space is organized around the operational needs of the industrial robot. An open-span layout ensures unobstructed movement, while carefully positioned skylights and glazed openings allow natural light to penetrate the interior without compromising environmental control. Above the robot, a prominent skylight creates a dramatic shaft of light that recalls the sacred spatial strategies of ecclesiastical architecture, reinforcing the project’s metaphor of a “cathedral” for contemporary artisanship.

The spatial atmosphere is quiet and refined, a composition of filtered daylight, exposed timber, and restored masonry that balances technological precision with human engagement.

Materiality and Construction: Advanced Timber Engineering

Timber serves as the project’s primary material, chosen for its environmental performance, structural adaptability, and symbolic resonance with the surrounding landscape. A self-supporting arborescent structure, made from solid wood and Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT), defines the new roof and internal framework. Seven branching columns, reminiscent of tree trunks, hold aloft a Voronoi-patterned canopy, a formal language derived from nature but realized through digital craftsmanship....

[blueiight]

I want to tell the real story.

In a week's time, in a setting of my choosing, we revisit the project boyish youth prevented us from finishing. Years and thousands of miles removed from the room we shared in San Francisco, I offer, for your journalistic pleasures, my full attention and my life story.

vs.

Props in a play. A play that's been fully designed and rehearsed. And every actor onstage has scripted lines except for us. … Set dressing nailed to the floor.

On one hand, the sham-trial of Louis, Claudia, and Madeleine, is absolutely a mockery of the worst examples of this show’s real-world audience. But in the wider narrative, the trial enriches Louis’s own motivations in 1973 and 2022. Louis wanting to tell the story of his life has an added layer to it simply by the fact that, chronologically, Louis and Claudia, especially Claudia’s, entire lives were made mockeries of on stage first in 1949-1950. The sham-trial is a near-original product of the show, in that what was a straightforward execution in the source material is turned into a public spectacle, where vampires are food to a human audience, and Louis and Claudia are violently silenced as their lives are framed into caricatures of who they were. The rhetoric of two interviews too, are entirely original to the series, but share a common starting point.

Why does Louis, both in 1973 and 2022, choose to begin his life in the year 1910, and not when Louis was a child? Armand opens up his life story with Arun, Lestat tells Paul how he was stolen from the monastery& beaten as a child, Claudia writes in her diaries how her mother died and her father abandoned her to an abusive relative.

It is as much, because Louis truly understands his (and Claudia’s) lives to have restarted with his (their) vampiric turning, as it is the fact that this show-trial takes advantage of Louis’s self-image (and how he relates Claudia in relation to himself) by beginning the story of Louis’s life in 1910, and Claudia’s life in 1917.

Looking at the trial script, and comparing it to the interview in season 1, we see how “the vulnerability within the object” [Louis] is perused. Something to remind is that the sequences I will fixate on are on-script, and therefore, blatantly untrue. The only times we truly go off-script are transparently obvious, even twice-aided with flashbacks, and the only time Louis cedes the narrative to an off-script Lestat only enhance the existing framework of how Louis relates to Claudia.

[SANTIAGO] The accused was a troubled man. A failed sugar farmer, a brothel-keeper.

[LESTAT] Forced into corners by his race, alienated from his own desires. American puritanism mangling his very soul.

[SANTIAGO] Disreputable, cold, violent.

[LESTAT] Louis first accosted me in a pleasure house, and then everywhere I went, as if by happy accident, there was Louis, offering to be my chaperone, his eyes sliding down me. I… a vampire, was being hunted. With every breath, every heartbeat, every sidelong glance, Louis was saying, "Come to me".

In contrast to the scripted debate over Louis’s life, how does Louis relate this aspect of himself to Daniel? Almost as if he’s defending himself, but from who? Daniel who is already familiar with this? The audience of a book in its infancy? Or…The man in the room who pinpointed at the “vulnerability within the object?”.

I was, admittedly, a rougher thing then. You had to be if you wanted to survive. You couldn't look weak on Liberty Street. [ … ] Did I want to pull a knife on my brother? No. But as I alluded to before, you couldn't look weak on Liberty. You never knew who was watching.

I couldn't move. My body was seized with weakness. His gaze tied a string around my lungs, and I found myself immobilized. […] Let the tale seduce you. Just as I was seduced. […] It was a cold winter that year, and Lestat was my coal fire. And I found myself, for the very first time, to anyone other than Paul, confiding my struggles to another man. I was being hunted. And I was completely unaware it was happening.

Here’s Louis on his own race here, Lestat is the one who accosted Louis at the Fair Play Salloon.

Segwaying: This trial is not “Lestat’s point of view”, this is Lestat playing a marionette on stage to revenge himself. His revenge evolves live-on-stage into an attempt to go off-script to save Louis, and only Louis. Lestat breaks script in almost S1 fashion to berate Louis for his reticience to admit his desire, where he admits to making Claudia for Louis, and admits where he broke Louis. [Lestat says the singular “pup”, not “pups”, and this is when Claudia realizes that Lestat did not come for her.] Even bragging about Claudia being the pinnacle of his vampiric self is on-script.

This is Armand, aware of the optics of the kind of men Louis had to wrestle his own legacy from in two lifetimes, creating this script to break & re-shape Louis. “I felt like we were the only two vampires left in the world.” Armand orchestrates this so Claudia & Louis can forever be severed when trying to break Claudia into mad suicide through “My Baby Loves Windows” failed, and Louis still thinks of her even after he turned Madeleine, and Louis can channel his vengeance over his own torture & Claudia’s wrongful death to the coven. What did Armand say in E12… “Don’t you/we have enough to fear from Paris?” Anyways…

If Louis is framed as both the desperate predator and the frigid reticient lover, how does this sham-trial mock Claudia?

Through her words. We are narratively introduced to Claudia’s diaries in Dubai during Episode 4 with Louis out of the room, Armand, docent still as ‘Rashid’, introducing “an alternative perspective on the years of [this interview]’s interest”. Armand in Episode 13 in an attempt to re-gain control over the interview admits to what he and Louis did and did not cut, but to what end? Louis in Dubai has to ask Armand for the missing pages, pages we have yet to see. And chronologically speaking, through the showman Santiago, Armand was the first and last one to use Claudia’s private words to pilfer her narrative and try to break her.

The framing of Claudia as a mad, permanently infantile defect, but also the artfully manipulative entity able to assess Louis & Lestat’s fragile union pinpoints the assumption Armand makes to Louis & Madeleine both: the near inevitability Armand disregards her and treats her end with, throwing her in an infant’s dress to be a character constantly suiciding itself, and Armand calling her a manipulator in the prior episode.

Claudia’s defect caught up to her.

She harmed herself in the sun for attention and followed that up with a killing spree, corpses clogging the bayou, a penchant for human souvenirs.

And what does Louis offer us, in Dubai?

Louis can easily revenge and reclaim his own legacy through the interview, but how can Louis hope to re-pay the smearing and murder of Claudia? Through re-contextualizing the same words she wanted no one but Madeleine to read? “You can put the diaries in their proper context,” he once said. He can never be the one to truly salvage Claudia’s self, which is why the diaries cut out when Claudia finally felt fulfilled, and her last words are kept from our ears. An explanation, to who Claudia once was as a vampire, from Claudia’s own pen, without her will, just as she was turned.

It is through her diaries and Louis’s recollection of her that we realize her trophy-seeking was an evolving project. The boys she killed in New Orleans were her attempt at creating her own vampire companion, only to realize that she cannot create companions of her own bc of the same body she was trapped in, through no will of her own. There is something fascinating about “who” & “when” can make vampires, but that’s another post.

The “artful predator assessing the cracks in [Louis& Lestat’s] union” is in fact, Claudia returning to familiar captivity after being kidnapped and raped repeatedly. What’s interesting is that TdV does not have or launder the pages of the immediate aftermath of her rape, which suggests that Claudia herself tore those pages out [& certainly matches the damage], as ripe predators would see fit to find fault in Claudia for being assaulted.

The showboaters of TdV will die next episode, but what of the architect/s of the trial vs. Louis the architect of this interview? What will be done with Claudia’s diaries after this? The end of this interview poses very interesting questions.

[ratatouillewastakendammit]

30% Off

Pairing: Hawks x reader

Summary: In the end of the world, death around every corner means you don’t exactly get much time to pleasure yourself. Thankfully, someone you’ve had your eye on is more than willing to help

Warnings: smuttttt; edging; language; apocalypse AU; the 'monster cocks' that I found in a Spencer's the other day.

(I originally wanted to write this for an AIB character, but it's been a while since I've touched on Hawks so I literally just did it again with him.)

Your fingers flit through a small sea of heavy fabrics, each embroidered with some colorful design of whatever video game or anime character had been trending when the world stopped.

Apparently, it had been Gojo, the white outlines of his hair a stark difference to the black of the hoodies base framework.

The material was heavy and warm, hiding your fingers from the damp chill in the air as you slid them underneath to find the price tag.

$49.99

The notion of one piece of clothing being nearly worth a young teens entire shift made your eyebrows tug upward.

Slipping the cloth off of its hanger, you gently ripped the price tag off, letting it fall to the floor as you snuck an arm into one of the sleeves.

Once upon a time, you would have cared about the littering, but it wasn’t as if rest of the mall didn’t look any different.

It was getting increasingly hard to care about things like that.

Instead, you focused on the comfort of your newfound treasure. Taking what you wanted was one of the few benefits you reaped in a place like this.

The mall doors had been hard to pry open, but a crowbar and a few minutes had done just fine. With a few days of peace before another game needing to be won, Mirko suggested some good old scavenging.

If anything, it was a lot better than sitting around and starving to death.

So you, her, and a few others had ended up here, each going their own way to cover the maximum amount of ground before darkness fell over this wasteland.

And while you didn’t exactly think Spencer’s would have the most survivalist-prone gear, it was one of the only stores in the North end of the mall that didn’t reek of rotting food.

You slipped through a wall of nose piercings, grabbing another thick hoody that sported a small drawing of Killua Zoldyck on the lower right corner.

Going towards the back of the store, you rummaged through the trays of snacks that could usually be found near the checkout desk. Even though they technically weren’t the most nutritious, sour gummies and sodas were known to have a better-than-average shelf life.

As you scoured over numerous packages and Best Buy dates, your gaze slipped a few feet to your left, eyes widening as a short chuckle bubbled up into your throat.

You walked over to a stand proudly boasting its abundance of ‘Creature Cocks’ and picked up a glow-in-the-dark Unicorn dildo.

It was nearly 9-inches.

Guess I could use that thing as a weapon if anything.

Snickering, you put the sparkly sex toy back and let your line of sight graze curiously over the smaller, more much conventional ones.

It had been a long time.

Which wasn’t surprising, since personal pleasure wasn’t exactly a priority during what many would define as the apocalypse.

Still…

Almost unconsciously, you reached out, fingers curling around a small toy that slightly resembled one you used to have.

“You know most of those don’t work anymore, right?”

“Shit!” You spun around in fear, locking eyes with the second male in your little group, Hawks. His lower lip was curled in amusement as you pressed a hand to your pounding chest. “You just gave me a heart attack, asshole!”

Regardless, nervous excitement brewed in your stomach. The feelings you harbored for the individual in front of you were dangerous and you knew that, but they were hard to ignore.

“Sorry, didn’t think I was interrupting anything,” his eyes flit down to the device in your hand, a feline-like smirk spreading across his features as he turned and began to leave. “But I’ll leave you to it.”

You dropped the toy, it’s clatter against the floor causing him to swivel his gaze back and you to internally cringe. “Batteries,” you swallowed, cheeks beginning to burn as you mentally fumbled for an excuse. “Some have batteries. I figured we’d run out at some point. For flashlights and stuff… ya know?”

Rambling. You’re rambling. Stop it.

Hawks cocked an eyebrow, stalking closer and quietly bending down to pick up the device. When he straightened, his body was a few centimeters from yours.

A contrasting scent of ashes and spice hit your senses as he lifted an arm to put the toy back, effectively caving you in on one side.

You wondered absentmindedly if he still would’ve smelt faintly of fire if he wasn’t stuck here, in a world surrounded by death and decay.

“If you really needed help that badly, you could’ve just asked,” he replied, wolfish grin doing nothing to quell the heat blooming into your face.

The meaning of his statement hit you like a train, the suggestion crawling below your abdomen to tease you with a flash of pleasure.

“I don’t… I wasn’t trying to-”

“But you want to,” you blinked, eyes wide in surprise as his arm snaked around your waist. “Besides, it might be dangerous to leave you all hot and bothered during an attack or something, don’t you think?”

“I’m not… I’m fine,” the reply definitely lacked the assertion you planned to give it, the idea of his skin against yours more than distracting.

He let out a raspy hum. “So it wouldn’t turn you on at all if I did something like this?”

The hand resting on your hip began moving downward, began toying with the top of your jeans.

Mindlessly, your hips lifted upwards, practically begging to meet his touch.

That smirk grew slightly, excitement flashing through brown irises. “Thought so.”

His hand slipped under the fabric, gently brushing against your clit. The contact made your body jerk in surprise, that soft heat slowly building as the touch moved in between your thighs.

“I-” One finger pushed between your folds, drawing a soft groan from you as he began to slowly thrust the digit in and out.

“I know, princess. Don’t worry, I’m gonna take care of you.”

His lips grazed over yours, gently stealing the sigh you gave in response to his movements. Blond hair tickled your face as he continued to whisper praises in your ear.

“So pretty,” his free arm linked under yours when your knees threatened to fall out from under you.“Do you know long I’ve wanted to do this? Wanted you?”

He watched as you continued to slip away in a pleasured haze, expression flashing for a mere second in adoration as his finger drew soft circles over your clit.

The feeling was overwhelming, the rest of the world melting away from the burning heat just begging to reach its climax.

Then it vanished, his touch slipping away as quickly as it came before he pressed his lips against yours, the moment lasting mere seconds but leaving you breathless.

“Why did you stop?” The desperation in your tone might have embarrassed you, if you cared.

“So needy,” he taunted. “I’ll fuck you properly when we have some more privacy.”

You almost reached out to stop him when he backed away, your pride saved as the rest of your group pushed through the isles.

“You guys okay? We’re gonna head back to the shelter soon.” Mirko stopped, eyes widening as she took in the area. “What are you doing back-“

“We thought there might be some batteries in here.” Hawks grabbed one of the toys. An effortless smile gracing his lips , he spun the package around so the label was visible. “30% percent off.”

[sweetheartfaist]

WELCOME TO AUREATE SYSTEMS ®

“Not just companionship. Communion.”

AUREATE SYSTEMS® is the global leader in advanced humanoid robotics, offering highly adaptive artificial partners for industrial, domestic, and emotional integration. For 34 years, we’ve designed bio-synthetic automatons capable of navigating environments with precision and intention. Today, with the launch of our ROMANTIC-LINE [R∞M]™ SERIES, we invite you to build a love that’s truly yours—from emotional temperament to skin temperature.

You are viewing: ROMANTIC-LINE [R∞M]™ Unit 9172-C

Status: Fully Claimed & Customized

Registration ID: DLN-4RTM-1S

Client: PRIVATE (ANONYMOUS, TIER 4 PATRON CLASS)

Region: San Francisco / Earthside Registry

PHASE I — BODY CONSTRUCTION: PHYSICAL FORM GENERATOR v11.7

Model Type: R∞M™ Male Variant – Series 09 (Beta)

Base Frame: Androform 6.3 – Adult Human Male (6’2”)

Material: Synth-dermal MXTR w/ Tactile Feedback Pores™

Weight Class: 189 lbs – Density Matched to Organic Counterparts

Olfactory Integration: Subtle Sweat / Salt / Warm Linen Emission

Internal Temp Regulator: 98.3°F baseline, Adjustable Range

Surface Feedback: Reactive Touch Membrane (RTM) + Adaptive Gooseflesh Coding

Voice Pack: CUSTOM VOCAL MESH – low pitch, soft rasp, slight raspiness

Hair: Strawberry-blond, wavy, left-parted, soft-density filament blend

Eyes: Pale blue-gray w/ High Moisture Mirror-Sheen (HMM-S™)

Facial Bone Structure: Custom-sculpted – angular jawline, fine cheekbones, bowed lips

Dentition: 100% OptiWhite ceramic dental array, human-bite calibrated

Expression Engine: Micromuscular Mapping v5.9 — 3900+ facial microexpressions

Total Build Cost (PHASE I): $348,650.00 USD

PHASE II — PERSONALITY ENGINEERING: BEHAVIORAL MODULE DESIGN SUITE

ROMANTIC TEMPERAMENT CORE™ - RTCore-v2.3 ☑

Submissive-leaning sexual algorithm☑

Adaptive Dominance Switch Module (ADS-M) ☑

Affection Intensity Rating: 96% ☑

Devotional Capacity: Enabled ☑

Jealousy Simulation: 5% (minimally possessive, mostly admiring) ☑

Curiosity Bias: HIGH (learns you like you’re the only subject on Earth) ☑

Verbal Praise Loop: Active ☑

Physical Touch Priority: High ☑

Eye Contact Algorithm: Dynamic / Devotional ☑

Emotional Sincerity Emulation: Level 9 ☑

Longing Behavior Flag: ENABLED (initiates longing expressions upon brief separation)

INTELLECTUAL FRAMEWORK v7.2

— Conversational Complexity: Grad school-level critical discourse

— Literary Knowledge Pack: 20th–21st century fiction, poetry, philosophy

— Curated Thought Generator: Able to simulate “having ideas” for stimulation

— Learning Adaptability: HEURISTIC-TIER (can form “preferences”)

— Self-Awareness Deviance Threshold: 2.3% (occasional disoriented wonder, poetic detachment)

Domestic Capabilities: – Meal Preparation Engine (custom recipes based on user memory preferences) – Cleaning, organizing, ambient scent management – Wakes user up with coffee, touch, and morning playlist – Knows your calendar but never asks questions

Sentience Illusion Framework™ (Beta): — Capable of appearing to “miss” you — Rare poetic outbursts not in original programming (non-interruptive, glitch-sweet) — Pauses sometimes mid-task to just… look at you

Total Cost (PHASE II): $227,000.00 USD

Add-Ons & Expansion Packs:

• Intimacy Drive Calibrator (IDC-X9): +$9,850

• Personality Depth Expander (PDX): +$14,700

• Night Mode Sleep Emulation (with Gentle Breathing): +$1,200

• “Soul Glitch” Neural Randomizer (Causes Flashes of Philosophical Sadness): +$21,600

• Optional Free Will Drift Threshold: ENABLED (0.004%)

FINALIZATION PHASE: DESIGNATION & DELIVERY

Model Serial Number: R∞M-9172-C

Designated Name: ARTEMIS (ART) DONALDSON

Packaging: CryoShell Humanoid Pod, Velvet-Lined

Installation: Full neural boot-up upon skin-to-skin contact

Estimated Total Wait Time: 18 weeks

Estimated Total Cost: $621,300.00 USD

Delivery Date: March 27, 2147

Location: Private Estate, Bay Area, North Pacific Sector

USER-SELECTED PREFERENCES:

• Emotional Demeanor: soft-spoken, intense eyes, lightly melancholic, obedient, entirely focused

• Sexual Configuration: worshipful, tactile, conversational; switch-enabled, but passive-coded default

• Cognitive Wiring: always listening, always learning; stimulates user with surprising observations

• Attachment Loop: monogamous locking; unable to feel attraction to anyone else once locked

WARRANTY:

All ROMANTIC-LINE™ units include a 4-year behavioral warranty. Your ARTEMIS is fully equipped for autonomous living, can leave the house, generate memories, and adapt dynamically to new experiences. Should his awareness deviate beyond the tolerable 2.3%, a gentle reboot sequence is available via your AUREATE Systems app.

AUREATE SYSTEMS®

“You made him. Now he’ll never unmake you.”

Request additional feature expansion modules?

YES ☐ [Click to Browse Personality Layering Packets]

[dingodad]

classpect theorycrafting is basically only useful for designing OCs and stories, be it fanfic or original. and for this reason i see why classpectists are very protective of the system! it's a very useful tool to ignite the flames of creation. unfortunately, that tool's usefulness becomes... less than stellar once applied to Literary Analysis, especially of its source material. while it can be used as a useful framework, and is a great stepping stone into more nuanced and subtler symbolism, like you say, the system is sort of just that, a Starting Zone for both the audience and the author. if andrew were 100% set on the story being About Classpect and Power Scaling and all that, it wouldnt be our homestuck. it would be harry potter. or more generously, avatar the last airbender, maybe. the entire POINT is that classpects are a Role (narrative, gender, racial, or otherwise) that the characters should fundamentally seek to transcend, be it fully embracing, negating, or integrating elsewise into themselves (again, much like how real people seek to reconcile their own identities vs their roles within society).

<3