#steel structures for factory buildings

[akmybuildcon]

Why Choose Steel Over Traditional Materials for Factory Building and Warehouse?

When constructing a factory or warehouse, durability, versatility, and longevity are essential factors to consider. While conventional materials such as wood or concrete have been reliable, steel stands out as the optimal choice for numerous reasons. Let’s explore why steel structure dominates the world of factory and warehouse construction:

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[factorybuildingcontractor]

Your Expert Company for Steel Manufacturing and Designing in Dubai

Do you want the best and most robust hangars for your upcoming project? Then why are you wandering here and there? Choose the best steel structure company Riyadh for the best solutions. A professional and reputed steel structure company provides the best design and robust steel structure, ensuring the entire client receives satisfactory solutions. If you want the best design and top-notch hangars for your upcoming project, choose the best steel structure company Riyadh for the best solutions.

[koohejicontractors]

9 Epic Benefits of Structural Steel Fabrication for Right Construction

Structural steelworks have been widely used to create design and construction projects to provide them the required strength to hold the structure. These fabrication steelworks are made and assembled in a mechanical factory in different stages and processes to comply with the project timeline and provide high quality structures in the construction industry.

Bahrain’s steel industry contributes to 4% of the GDP and it is on the rise due to rapid urbanization in the post covid times. Many steel fabrications and manufacturers have resumed their fabrication of vessels and tanks, structural steelworks like furnaces, silos, canopies, sheds, gates and doors. It is important to understand why steel plays a major role in the reinforcement of building structures in the construction industry.

High tensile strength: Structural steel has a high tensile strength of 400 megapascals (MPa). This makes it ideal for high rise apartment buildings and reinforcement making them earthquake resistant. If you would want to reinforce your construction building structure, there are several companies that specialize in customized steel structure manufacturing. One such fabrication and manufacturing company is Kooheji Contractors. Get started with your design of structural steelwork today with Kooheji Contractors.

Durable: Steel does not react to the moisture in the environment. This means it fails to expand or contract due to the moisture presence in the atmosphere. This makes it the best option for long term and durable structures. To increase the durability of steel, it is often plated with chromium to minimize the wear and tear.

Corrosion resistant: Due to the formation of a thin and invisible layer of oxides on the surface of steel, it has a corrosion resistance property. This makes chromium plated steel ideal to be used in different environment conditions and some acidic chemicals. Unlike wooden structures, steel is resistant to mold, rotting, warping, cracking and pests.

Easy to carry in prefabricated form: If you need a large scale steel structural design for a particular project, it is possible to prefabricate the parts of it and then assemble them together at the site. This helps increase the quality, accuracy of the dimensions and reduces the time and effort at the site to fix small parts together. Thus, it speeds up the project completion by manyfolds. Pre engineered construction not just helps trim down the costs of the project in the beginning but it reduces the overall costs of the building structure in the long run as it saves a lot of building maintenance costs.

Relatively cost effective: Pre-manufactured steel assembled at the site brings down the cost of the project significantly as the speed at which the project is completed is phenomenal. The wastage is minimum to zero with pre fabricated steelwork.

Fire resistant coating: To increase thermal resistivity, structural steels are often created as an alloy of Cr-Mo-V-Nb to make them fire-resistant up to 700° C. This helps steel retain its strength as well as gain an additional fire resistance to minimize any possible fire hazards in the premises.

Recyclable: All metals are recyclable. Even steel structures no longer in service fetch a high resale value in the long run and thus earning you a decent value even when the structure is tweaked, changed or demolished.

Flexibility to create modern design: Concrete structures are relatively heavier for the same amount of strength as their steel counterparts. Steel is 60% lighter than concrete. This makes steel an ideal choice for designers when it comes to innovative yet practical designs.

Save time and cost: In the long run, the construction costs with structural steel are low although the initial cost is higher than concrete and time of completion of the project is significantly lesser for steel structures. Because the foundations for concrete need digging and steel structures can also be erected without digging, the time needed to construct using steel is very less. Moreover, there is no turn around time for steel construction as the building can be used immediately after construction. The time for letting concrete to cure will take even more time. Thus, concrete construction is not preferred when the time frame for construction is less.

Conclusion: Structural steel fabrication has many benefits including high tensile strength, durability, corrosion resistance, easy to prefabricate and carry, relatively cost effective, fire resistance, recyclable, flexibility for modern designs, time and cost savings. Get in touch with Kooheji Contractors for customized structural steel construction works. Enquire now!

[kiss-me-cill-me]

It's Always the Quiet Ones

Pairing: Emmett x Reader

Word Count: 4.4k

Summary: After spending a few days holed up with a rugged stranger, you finally can't take the tension anymore. Things get a little more complicated when he walks in on you.

Warnings: Smut, masturbation (f), Emmett walking in on you, quiet sex, biting, begging, one fleeting thought about breeding, some fluff, light angst

A/N: Emmett was honestly the start of my whole descent into Cillian Murphy madness, so I'm really searching for my people with this one lol. He's my sad, scraggly boyfriend and I love him <3

***Please read the warnings before continuing. Minors DNI***

It’s strangely beautiful, in an overgrown way. Vines hang off of the chain-link fence as you push carefully through the jagged gap, just big enough for a person to pass through. The long grass reaches well above your ankles, and plants seem to spill out from the negative space of every structure littering the lawn.

The air has a cool, muted hue; it looks like rain later. Eyeing the building in front of you, you decide to stop here for the night. 

One step, and then a pause. Something feather-light brushes against your ankle. You look down to see a tripwire, and back away slowly in the direction you came. Interesting. It has been a long time since you’ve seen anyone else alive out here. Though the owner of the tripwire could be long gone.

You take a second look at your surroundings, this time scanning for any sign of a human presence. It’s quiet, but of course, everywhere is quiet now. Delicately stepping over the tripwire, you continue on your path toward the large building. Its looming, brick facade is featureless except for long stalks of ivy tumbling from broken windows, and as you advance you can’t help but feel that the building is watching. The sensation of eyes on you is made even more unnerving in the silence.

You pick your way across the lawn, careful to avoid shards of broken glass and open bear traps. This abandoned factory is quite the fortress, if anyone actually lives here. You reach the end of the grass, and step through a huge, weathered green door, left open on probably-ancient and squeaky hinges. The air here smells of cobwebs and must.

Inside, dripping water echoes faintly, somewhere from deeper inside the building. It’s cold by the open door, and it doesn’t get any warmer as you walk down the hallway, still keeping a careful eye out for anything waiting to meet you.

You turn a corner, and there he is, unexpected. Unexpected to you at least; the man in front of you seems quite prepared as he levels the sights of his rifle.

Instinctively, your hands fly up. The man’s face is covered, except for his eyes, which look to be the only part of him that’s still alive. Even his handling of the gun seems driven by muscle memory, as if he’s a sentry with no programming beyond, simply: “Defend.” You don’t breathe as he looks you over; relaxes a bit as he realizes you’re a lone woman, unarmed except for the hunting knife at your belt. He doesn’t look friendly, exactly - it’s hard to when you’re pointing a rifle in someone’s face. But he also doesn’t look like he really wants to hurt you. More that he just wishes you weren’t here in the first place.

As a show of good faith, you point to your knife, and then to the floor. You nod at him, questioning. He nods back. Slowly, you lower your hands to your belt and unclip the knife. The faintest click of steel against concrete is audible as you lower it to the ground. Straightening, you point to the man across from you; his gun.

Now you.

Just as slowly, the man lowers his weapon to his side. You point at your knife on the floor, expectantly.

Go on…

He’s reluctant, but after a moment of tense silence, his gun joins your knife on the ground.

You smile; hope that you look thankful and not threatening, like he’s just fallen squarely into a trap you’ve set for him.

Thank you, you mouth.

Beneath the bandana that covers his mouth and the hat that shadows his face, the man’s expression is impossible to read. His eyes, piercing blue even as they regard you more casually, move over your whole body once again. Checking you for weapons, though you don’t have anything else on you. When he’s done, you take a gentle step toward him.

Stop.

The man’s right hand flies out in front of him, fingers splayed. You freeze in your tracks. Desperately, you want to tell him that you mean no harm. You just want a place to stay for the night. There’s a cold fear soaking in the corners of his body; you can feel it all the way from here. You hold out your own hands, palms forward, telling him to stay calm. Nobody's going to get hurt. Keeping one hand in front of you, you reach around to your back pocket, intending to pull out the pad of paper you keep on you for the rare occasions you need it to communicate with someone.

Suddenly, your back is against the wall. There’s a strong hand clamped around your wrist; an arm pressed flat against your chest, restraining you. And the man’s face is inches away from your own, his eyes wild with panic.

The dust settles around you, and the echo of your body being slammed on the bricks fades away. You drop what’s in your hand and nudge your head to point at the pad and pencil, showing him. The man’s eyes roll into the back of his head when he realizes - maybe exasperation at you, or maybe frustration at himself for reacting so recklessly. He starts to move away from you-

Click.

A familiar sound comes from just outside the factory door. It’s one of them.

Shit.

The man mutters something, barely audible through the bandana, and then he’s running. Deeper and deeper into the building, his hand in a vice grip around your wrist, pulling you along after him. You feel like a mess of  awkward limbs and flapping skirts as you try to keep up. The thing behind you is in the building now, crashing carelessly through the hallways in its pursuit. Your weapons are both forgotten - not that they would be any more useful here than they are back on the ground where you left them. 

Ahead, the man has let go of your wrist and is now running at a dead sprint, trusting you to either keep up or be killed. He clearly has somewhere he’s going. You blindly follow him, out of any other options and brain too high on adrenaline to think about where he’s taking you. The hallway has opened out into a room, and now you’re weaving through huge pipes and tanks. Your lungs are about to explode. You can’t keep up with-

Suddenly, the man veers sharply to the left and smoothly jumps into a metal structure. Just like that, he’s gone. Nothing to do but follow. You breathe deep and hold it to stop from screaming as you jump in after him.

Dust. It’s in your throat and your eyes as you fall into whatever is piled at the bottom of the drop. You need to cough, but you fight hard not to. Before you can get your bearings, you’re yanked to your feet and thrust in a direction that seems random, until you reach the lip of the metal tank. The man all but throws you inside even as he’s climbing in after you, and then the heavy metal door is shut and the only sound is of two people breathing.

He tears off his hat and bandana. You watch, mesmerized, as the man’s chest rises and falls, struggling to push enough air into his lungs. Then, he utters the first word you’ve heard him say clearly.

“Fuck.”

The man’s name is Emmett. This you learn as you sit, huddled together but separate, in his makeshift bunker. 

You also learn that he doesn’t want you here.

“Please.” 

Your voice feels tight and painful; jagged around the edges from disuse. It catches sharply in your throat.

“No,” he replies.

The timer on his watch goes off, and Emmett opens the door. His chest is still heaving.

You both step out, listening carefully for any noise above you. The creature, thankfully, seems to have moved on. Emmett stands a little straighter as he turns to face you.

“I’m sorry, but you can’t stay here.” His voice is a whisper, and has the same rusty, unused quality as your own.

“I just need a place for one night.”

You beg with your eyes, and Emmett turns away. He won’t allow himself to be swayed by you.

Later, when it’s - almost- sure to be safe, the two of you go together to collect your discarded weapons. The sky outside has turned an awful gray, and sheets of rain pound into the earth. The sound is louder than anything you’ve heard in months, and the wind howls from all directions. 

Emmett sighs heavily, though he makes no sound. He looks up, seeming to question who would have the audacity to do this, and then turns to you.

One. Night. he mouths, holding up a finger for emphasis. 

He looks at you seriously, and you nod seriously in return. You follow him back down to the lower level, and settle in on opposite sides of the room.

One night, of course, turns into two, and then three. It’s nice to have company. Even Emmett seems to soften a little as the days go on. He doesn’t mention anything about you leaving after that first night, and you take care not to prompt him to. Emmett teaches you how to hide in the huge metal tank; explains the timer and watches you try it with your own alarm a few times to make sure you can do so safely. You busy yourself with mending a few things - broken backpack straps and holes in his old sweaters. He thanks you softly as you hand them back to him.

You catch Emmett looking at you a few times, barely getting a glimpse of the strange expression on his face before he turns away. You catch yourself looking at him too. It’s been so long since you’ve seen another person, but even if it hadn’t been, there’s something magnetic about him. His eyes are like spots of fresh ice against his weathered face. 

“I have something,” you say, over the meager dinner you’re sharing.

You go to your backpack and rustle around, moving slow so as not to make any noise. Finally, you pull out a bottle, its dark glass glowing faintly in the dim light.

“Cream soda,” you whisper, with all the thrill of a child showing off an ill-gotten prize from her mother’s cupboard.

The bottle hisses as you open it, and you both perk up, quickly alert for any sound of a threat above you. Safe. You pass the bottle to Emmett, offering him the first sip. It’s simple, but a rare treasure in this broken world.

“What’s the special occasion?” he asks, the barest hint of a smile drifting over his lips.

You watch as his mouth wraps around the bottle's opening, and as he gingerly tips it back to drink. He takes two quick swallows, his throat bobbing twice, then hands the bottle over to you. You take it, fingertips brushing against his for just a moment, and take a quick swig before you can think for too long about how his lips were just touching the rim.

“It’s just nice to have a treat sometimes,” you reply, shrugging. 

You hand the bottle back and Emmett takes it by the neck, letting the edge of his hand linger against yours for several seconds. You make no move to pull away. 

“It is,” he agrees. “Been a long time since I’ve had anything sweet.”

In the very back of your mind, you wonder if he’s still talking about the soda. No - stop that. You don’t need to go ruining the good thing you have going.

You had asked Emmett, on the morning of the second day, if he was alone. He’d paused for a moment before answering.

“Yes… Well, I mean… Yes.”

You'd decided not to prod any further. 

Now, as you look down at your hand ghosting against his, you notice again his wedding band, firmly wrapped around his finger. It's hard not to notice, and it's even harder to ignore the dozens of sketches that litter the room, pinned and draped on every surface. All of them show the same young boy. He could be a son, or a nephew, or just some random kid that something terrible happened to - you haven't wanted to ask. Everyone is beyond traumatized in this new world, and far be it from you to question whatever brings anyone comfort. Suddenly feeling guilty, you let go of the bottle and look away as Emmett takes another sip.

"Hey," he whispers. Your head snaps back up to look at him. "I have something too."

Emmett puts the soda down between you, methodically clears the table, and pulls out a very weathered deck of cards.

"You ever play Gin Rummy?"

The next morning, Emmett is up early. You stay in your sleeping bag, pretending that you haven't woken up yet, and watch him pull on his hat and boots. He slips on a pair of heavy leather gloves. You stir, "waking up," and Emmett walks over to you.

"Gonna go check the traps," he explains, kneeling down. "I'll be back."

You're struck by the way the moment feels almost domestic; as if he's promising you he'll be home for supper. Your eyes trail over him lazily, taking in the firm shape of his bare arms and the way his hands are abruptly covered by the work gloves. The thought of him roughly grabbing you by the waist flashes through your mind; the material rubbing your skin as his fingers sink into your sides. You swallow heavily; blink a few times.

"You should wear a jacket," you whisper.

Emmett has already started to walk off, but he turns around and smirks at your words. For a moment, it seems like he's about to say something. But it passes, and then he continues in the direction he was headed, grabbing his jacket off the back of a chair.

Once Emmett is gone, you have the place to yourself. Scant sunlight filters through the opening in the ceiling, giving you just enough light to read by. You pull out a well-worn book from your backpack, and settle into the chair Emmett's jacket was on to read it.

Quickly, the words start to swim on the page; falling forgotten into the margins. You can't get your mind off the image of Emmett leaving, blue eyes barely visible under the brim of his hat as he looked back over his shoulder. Had there been a teasing look to them, or was that just you imagining things again? Your mind flashes to an image of Emmett giving you his jacket, wrapping it around you, tight and safe. Pulling you close to him, and-

Okay, time to be honest. Emmett has been driving you crazy the past few days. And not in a bad way, but in an "imagining him tangled between your legs" kind of way. You know you shouldn't think like that. Your relationship with him is undefined and shaky at best; you shouldn't go risking it. But it's getting harder and harder to stop yourself from reaching out and snaking your fingers through his hair; against the tattoo peeking out from under his sleeve; sliding them down past his belt and-

Stop.

You practically have to bite your lip as you beg yourself. You listen for a moment to the silence. Emmett should be gone long enough. And under three feet of solid concrete, you feel safe to relax a little. You desperately need to let out some frustration.

But still, it feels too open out here. Too exposed. Even if you are alone, you just want some more privacy.

Your eyes drift to the steel bunker.

Okay, you can be quick. You have your watch and can time it and be careful. With how horny you are, this shouldn't take long at all. And in the worst case scenario, Emmett will be back soon and can let you out if you get stuck. This is a perfect idea.

You climb inside, set your watch, and close the door. Keeping your head by the entrance in case you need to rush the exit, you don't waste any time getting started.

You touch yourself, shocked at how wet you are already. Might as well take advantage of the sound-proof tank. You hiss as you slide a finger between your folds, finally not bothering to keep quiet.

"Oh, fuck, Emmett."

You desperately wish these were his fingers instead of your own. You plunge two inside yourself immediately; revel in the delicious sting. Legs squeezing together, trapping your own hand, rutting up against your palm. You imagine him hovering over you, blue eyes staring into yours as he watches you fall apart.

"Oh, fuck!"

Above your head, the door swings open. You freeze, hand still plunged sinfully down the front of your pants and hips bucking halfway off the steel floor. Next to you, your watch alarm beeps, calling more attention to your shame.

You look up, and suddenly Emmett staring back at you isn't a fantasy anymore.

"I'm… uh," you stammer in a hissed whisper, searching for any words. But the power of speech has left you. It seems to have left Emmett as well.

His mouth is practically hanging open, and after a moment of shocked panic, he quickly tears his eyes away. 

Taking the opportunity, you sit up and try to arrange yourself - although it's impossible to look presentable after you've just been caught fucking your own fingers to the thought of the man standing in front of you. 

"I'm sorry," Emmett whispers, frantic. He’s pacing; tears off his work gloves and throws them to the ground. Tosses his hat onto a table and runs a hand through his hair. "I thought something happened, and I wanted… well I didn't think - not that it's anything to be ashamed of. Everyone has urges."

"Do you?"

The sound of your voice shocks even you, despite the low volume you're speaking at. Your legs are dangling out the open door of the bunker, and you watch as Emmett stops in his tracks. 

“What?” he whispers.

“Everyone has urges,” you echo, placing your feet on the floor. “Do you?”

“I don’t know what you…”

You stand up, taking a bold step toward him. Emmett takes a half step back. His eyes are blown wide, fear and confusion, as you take another step. This time he stays.

You place a hand on Emmett’s chest. It’s crazy, but you can feel his heart pounding; the heavy rise and fall of his breath.

You’re only inches apart. One more step and your body would be pressed flush against his, just like you’ve been thinking of these past few days. From this distance, you can hear the shakiness in his breathing. 

“Tell me to stop.”

It’s a dare; a challenge; a bald-faced lie. You look up at him, pleading with your eyes for him to stay quiet. To not stop you. To keep going. 

“Tell me to stop.”

You’re on your tiptoes now, lips hovering right in front of his. Emmett swallows hard, and you can feel it reverberate through his whole chest. Looking you right in the eyes, he shakes his head.

No.

Emmett pulls you the rest of the distance. His lips scrape against yours, parting so you can slip your tongue inside. Your lungs have left your body, leaving a hollow space in your chest, making it impossible for you to breathe. You feel lightheaded. But oh, the way he’s biting at your lips; tangling a hand in your hair and pressing against you like you can stop him from drowning. His leg is between your thighs and you practically melt on it. Emmett has to hold you to keep you from falling to the floor. 

Gently, he eases you down. You’re desperate, pulling at him, trying to bring him to you faster. Your legs open to wrap around his waist. God, you’ve needed this. 

Emmett is scrambling to take off his jacket, and even though it only takes a few seconds, it is an eternity. To exist without his body pressed against yours. You hastily unbutton your pants, and Emmett tears them the rest of the way down.

There’s a pause, and you look up at him. Emmett is transfixed, but seems to quickly snap out of it when he notices you - embarrassed. You lean up on your elbows, but Emmett stops you, putting a gentle hand on your shoulder. He brings a finger to his lips; fixes you with a gaze that shows he’s serious. 

Be quiet.

You throw your head back and close your eyes. If you look at him for another second, you’re not going to be able to stop yourself from moaning. Even with the simplest gestures, he drives you crazy. You feel Emmett straddle you; reach his hand down between your legs. 

Oh, fuck.

His fingers are even better than you’d imagined. Two seconds in and he has you gasping for breath. If you were wet before, you’re positively dripping now. You dare to crack open your eyes. Emmett’s face is stoic with concentration, and you can’t believe how incredibly turned on it makes you. He bites his lip slightly, and you think you might pass out. Looking was a mistake, but you can’t tear your eyes off him. 

After teasing your entrance for a moment, Emmett slips a finger inside you. There’s that weightless feeling again; it’s like being drunk. You could ride his fingers until you forget your own name, and you already feel the coil tightening inside you.

Desperate, you scramble for something to hold onto. There’s nothing on the stone floor. Emmett is your only lifeline, and you grab at the hem of his shirt, pulling him to lean down over you. He kisses you. Rough and sloppy and frantic. You let out the smallest whimper into his mouth as you cum, hard, clamping your legs around his fingers. 

Panting. You’re actually panting as he pulls out of you, instantly missing the way his fingers curled up inside of you. You’re still holding onto his t-shirt for dear life, and he gently removes your hand. You can’t see straight, but there’s the unmistakable sound of a belt buckle being undone, and a zipper loosening. When you look up again, Emmett is hovering over you, his body planted between your legs.

He puts a hand on your waist to steady you, and you feel him line up with your entrance. It takes everything not to scream as he slides into you.

The stretch is intoxicating. You haven’t even recovered from your orgasm, but just the sight of him pausing after he’s plunged into you, needing to collect himself, breathing hard. It’s enough to make you ache.

“Please, Emmett.”

The fingers on your waist tighten, digging into your side. For a second, you worry you’ve upset him, but then he looks up at you, eyes blazing with lust. He looks like a man about to lose himself, and you smile as you move your hands up to his chest, gripping at his collar to pull him close as you whisper again. 

“Please.”

Emmett is pounding into you, careful at first to stay quiet, but getting sloppier every second. He can’t pull out all the way for fear of slapping too loudly against your thighs, but the result is an incredible friction that has you soaring. You don’t think you’ve ever been fucked this good. You grab at his shoulders, his neck, and Emmett lets you. When the pleasure has you tear open your eyes, you catch him watching you again. Enjoying the way you fall apart on his cock. It makes you clench around him even harder, and you catch the faintest whisper of a curse fall out of his lips as he leans forward, dropping his head to the crook of your neck. 

“Fuck, Emmett.” 

You whisper in his ear, breath brushing the strands of hair that fall around his face. Emmett brings his own lips right to the side of your cheek; his words tickle as he continues to fuck you.

“You know, you have a dirty mouth,” he tells you. “And here I thought you knew how to stay quiet.”

You whimper, and a hand is slapped over your mouth, the side of it slotting just under your teeth. Your heart pounds as Emmett leans in to whisper to you again, devilishly. 

“Bite down if you need to.”

Fuck, he’s going to be the death of you.

Emmett is grunting, softly, as he fucks into you just a little bit faster. The sound of him coming undone is enough to make you squeeze your eyes shut and bite down onto his hand, muffling the sound of your cries as you orgasm. 

If he’s hurt, he doesn’t show it. Emmett continues to rut into you as you bite the side of his hand, trying desperately to stay as quiet as you can. You want him to hold you down, breed you, spill everything into you with no care for the consequences. Emmett pulls his hand away and plants it on the ground, trying to balance himself.

“Where do you want me to cum?”

His words are breathless; you love hearing him like this. You bask in them, arching your back against the floor, not answering.

“Where do you want me to- Fuck!”

Emmett pulls out of you, trying and failing at the last second to cup a hand around himself. Cum gets everywhere, dripping from his fingers to the floor, coating the insides of your legs. He looks down at himself for a moment; shakes off his hand before wiping it on his pants, still halfway on in his rush to be inside you. 

“Now you decide to be quiet, huh?”

He’s leaning over you again, whispering teasingly in your ear. He pinches your waist and kisses your cheek before pulling away, showing you the mischief in his eyes.

Somewhere above you, there’s a crash followed by a loud screech. Maybe you weren’t as quiet as you’d thought.

“Shit.” Emmett yanks his pants up and pulls you both to your feet. The sounds of something getting closer are clearly audible. You should be scared, but instead you’re excited.

“Let’s go.”

You tug at Emmett’s wrist as you lead him toward the bunker. Two minutes and thirty seconds - that’s how long you have before the timer goes off. You tumble, pulling him in after you. The door closes behind you with a soft thud.

You want to hear him scream.

[probablyasocialecologist]

At a societal level, most people grasp the importance of plants to their lives and the ecosystems they inhabit. The success of humans as a species is inextricably interwoven with the success of plant life on Earth. Without the growth of ancient forests, the biosphere in which we live would not have enough oxygen-rich air for humans to have evolved. Without the cultivation of plants for food, humans could not have settled, built shelters and developed rich and diverse cultures. In practical terms, too, building with plants makes a lot of sense. They grow back and are relatively easy to cultivate, harvest and process into useful materials. Their inherent fibrous structures give our buildings integrity. Trees, processed into timber, work extremely well in both compression and tension. Hollow straws and grasses hold air within them, making them great insulators. The lignin in many different plants can act as a natural binder when heated, meaning that you can essentially squash them, heat them and they stick together into useful sheet materials. Mixed with different binders like clay and lime, they can be given resistance to fire, insects and mould. Bio-based materials are also hygroscopic – meaning that they hold and release moisture. The fact that they can absorb humidity from a room helps to regulate damp and prevent mould from growing. That they are moisture permeable means that water vapour trapped in walls, from rain ingress or generated through leaks, always has somewhere to go. Contemporary buildings, on the other hand, are essentially wrapped in plastic sheets, trapping in moisture and resulting in poor indoor air quality.

Some of the best examples of bio-based buildings are hiding in plain sight in villages, towns and cities across the globe, having withstood decades, sometimes centuries of wear and tear. Timber-framed barns, reinforced with hazel wattle and clay daub can be found dotted across the British countryside. The technique of cob building, using loadbearing clay and straw, was very commonly used in the south-west of England in the 19th century, and many of those cob buildings still stand in Devon and Cornwall today. They are finished in a lime render and look from the outside like any other stone or brick building.

That these techniques have not become more widespread is, at first glance, surprising. The local materials and skills used to build with them were relatively low cost, and when well maintained, extremely durable. The critical thing about these materials, however, is how they were intrinsically linked to land, and specific geographies or bioregions. Industrialisation brought with it a change in agricultural practices and land ownership. Bio-based materials were conventionally derived from agricultural waste; long wheat straw was for example used for thatching, until modern chemical fertilisers that help the wheat grow more quickly weakened the structure of the straw, making it too brittle. Water reed, also used in thatching and as a render substrate, was once abundant in wetlands, but these were drained over the course of the 19th century to develop more arable farmland, cutting by approximately 90 per cent the amount of land on which the reed could grow.

Industrialisation also brought about the development of contemporary insulations, designed initially to prevent energy loss from high-energy machinery and factory spaces. Materials such as concrete and steel, which enabled the quick assembly of spaces of production, ultimately sought markets in domestic construction too. These materials were produced at an unprecedented scale and advertised as technologically advanced, in need of little or no maintenance: symbols of a bright future in which being cold, damp and living with fire risk were a thing of the past. And as these materials became more and more popular, regulatory frameworks began to be designed around them, with lawmakers falling victim to aggressive lobbying and marketing campaigns. Today, testing and certification, mortgages and insurances in the UK and beyond are generally designed around contemporary building systems, and materials which have proven their efficacy over decades of service are considered risky, fringe and ultimately more costly.

The petrochemical and mineral materials we have been building with since the Industrial Revolution require an enormous amount of energy to be extracted and processed. The cement industry, for example, is responsible for about eight per cent of planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions – far more than global carbon emissions from aviation. We cannot continue to build using materials that generate enormous outflows of emissions and have to be shipped across great distances. We need to use materials that are lower in embodied carbon: bio-based materials, derived from plants which can regenerate sustainably and sequester carbon into our buildings.

[thearchmanofgreenfield]

As late evening fell upon Hatlynshire. Henry found himself both annoyed and exhausted. He hadn’t gone home since their ‘meeting’ with Mayor Del Mir. Instead he had gone to his work place, The Hatlynshire Steel Company, there he had spent hours in his office writing what seemed like endless letters and notes to every Circulion official under him while his brother David ran things around the factory while only ever visiting him in order to enquire about things that Henry often times did not know. And Henry often found these visits from his younger brother more annoying than genuinely helpful.

“Its fine, it will all be over soon” Henry told himself as he sat in the backseat of his car with his brother beside. “Just one more meeting. Then off to home”

The car sped through the now busy streets of Hatlynshire as people flocked to the roads in order to get home. Henry envied some of these ordinary people as he stared out the window, watching various men and women run around them like scurrying mice. The air was filed with obnoxious noises like the horns of the few cars that were on the road and the combined force of the chatter of people. Henry was quite bored since he knew his destination was still quite far away. And he could tell his brother David, a well-made man with a short beard and brown suit, felt the same.

“It appears that we’ll be trapped here for quite a while, no?” he asked while looking out the window.

“It appears so. But the driver will find a way” said Henry. David then turned to him.

“So, now that we’re moving at a snail’s pace. Would you please tell me why we’re going to this gathering? You’ve ignored my questions thus far”

“Yes, brother. And I will continue to ignore them” said Henry. Ulysses had told him not to tell many people about what they knew until the gathering. But David was his brother, he could trust him. Right?

David then grabbed Henry’s shoulder and gave him a guilt inducing gaze that he had perfected in their childhood. “Why are you hiding this from ME? I know you went to Great Borough this morning to talk to that pile of rotting scum they call their mayor. Did he say something to you? Are we in any sort of danger? Because if so I think I should know about such things!”

Henry tried to look away but he had never quite mastered the ability to ignore his younger brother. “I…The…There is no danger, David. Our…uh…interaction with the Mayor just went um…poorly”

David took his hand off of Henry’s shoulder and his gaze was replaced by a suspicious stare. Henry knew that David did not believe him in the slightest.

“Oh don’t worry brother!” he said enthusiastically, “All will be revealed when we get to the gathering”

“Hopefully” said David.

The car drove further and further away from the center of the city. Henry could already see the frequency of structures diminish the further they went. They had long agreed that it was best to hold official Circulion Gatherings as far away from Great Borough as possible. It was safer that way.

After another fifteen minutes they finally arrived at a four way roundabout. And on the other end of this roundabout, between two roads, was a large stone building shaped like rhombus. Its architectural style, for confidentiality purposes, was very similar to City Hall. But it was smaller and more…ordinary. No banners hung from its walls, no familiar statues guarded its door and there were no recognizable symbols carved into it. It had a large flat entrance with the familiar staircase leading up to a large almost medieval looking double door under a triangular overhanging roof held by four pillars. The roof was a reddish orange.  And it too had a domed roof, but it’s one made of glass accented by gold. It was only three stories tall on the outside but Henry knew not to judge it by outward appearances. For he knew he was about to step into his people’s sanctuary, their seat of power, their pantheon of might from which they held their part of this grim city.

He was about to enter the Great Hall of the Circle.

The car came and parked directly in front of the stairs in the designated lane. Henry immediately noticed that several other cars similar to him had already arrived. He and David did not wait for the diver to open their door for them. They instead got out themselves and made their way up the regal stairs. Henry managed to catch a glimpse of some of the license plates of the cars as they walked up the stairs. One read as STAR-001 while another read CROSS-001. Henry and David walked up to the pillars where he and David was immediately met with a small crowd of people. All neatly dressed and regal. Each wore a top hat with a small golden, feather like, pin sticking out of them. Henry immediately spotted Ulysses amongst the crowd since he was the oldest. The others were all in their thirties or forties. Henry smiled as he and David walked into the crowd in order to meet their peers.

“I see that we are the last to arrive” he said after tipping his hat to the crowd. The crowd responded by tipping their hats at him. Then a lady wearing a red dress over a black coat stepped forward from the crowd. Henry recognized her to be Mrs. Meredith Morning. She approached Henry and David with a smile.

“Well we can’t have a gathering without all our members, now can we?”

Henry then smiled and nodded politely and so did David. Then he heard another voice. “Morrow said you’d be late, Demon. And she insisted we wait out here in this damned wind!”

Henry looked past Meredith and saw the man who just said that. He was a thin but tall man in a navy blue suit. His name was Harold Venshire. Henry smiled at Harold and Harold smiled back as both men understood it was a mere joke.

“Well, Harold. The Ironworks is quite a distance from Hatles Borough!” he said is a cheerful voice.

Then another lady came forward and pointed to the door. Apparently impatient and fed up with how much time they had spent outside.

“I suggest we go in now. We have matters to discuss”

Henry recognized that lady, who wore a crimson dress over a black coat as Marilyn Morrow. And with her was another man who wore the same basic colors. He was her brother, Eustace Morrow. Henry knew that no one here was more eager to know what had happened between them and the Mayor more than the Morrows. Of course, that was only assuming that they hadn’t already foreseen the results beforehand as they often do.

Eustace pushed open the big wooden doors of the Great Hall and Henry followed the group as they walked inside. Inside the hall was quite the sight, something Henry never got tired of seeing. The Hall expanded beyond the walls of its exterior to form a space so large that it was impossible to capture it all from a single view point. Henry knew that the exterior building was just a mere shell, a façade to hide the true proportions of the Circle. He knew that door was portal, an old portal that led to a place far different from reality.

The first area of this near infinite expanse was the main square. Where the floor was decorated with an intricate mosaic of the Circle’s symbol. To his left, Henry knew lied the Court of Nobles. A large circular room where all the leaders of the Hamlets met. To his right, he knew was the Order of the Intellegencia. A rectangular room that housed the most complete collection of books and records in Hatlynshire. All studied by the most elite of the Scribes who then passed their knowledge off to the public in the form of the College, the institution of learning. Next to the door that led to the Order of the Intellegencia was the Court of Justice, the Institution of Law. And next to that was another door, and another and another. Henry often got confused at the sheer number of Orders and Councils there were. But what he knew was that it didn’t concern him all that much. He had but one council to answer to, and that council was called the Table of Great Houses.

Marilyn led the group to the end of Great Hall, to a door even bigger than the front door. This door was adorned with a gold accents. The door was also engraved with various scenes from the Circle’s history. One engraving at the bottom of the door showed their ancient ancestors fleeing from the humans. Another engraving above it showed them hiding among their enemies. Yet another showed a few Circulions rising above the others and another showed them creating the Circle as they knew it. The door also had eight flat, empty circular areas. Henry, approached the Circle in the corner while Eustace, Ulysses, Harold and all the other heads of the houses approached their Circles. Henry always felt nervous during this part. He reached into his head and took off his hat. He then grabbed the golden pin which turned out to be an inch long needle. The others did the same with their pins. Henry then took the needle and pricked in thumb with before letting it bleed. He then used that bleeding finger to paint the symbol of the House of Demon on the flat circular area. Doing so was slightly painful but Henry had learned not to mind it. After he painted their symbol of a trident surrounded by an eight toothed circle he tapped the door with his bloody hand. The blood on the wood then erupted into bright blue fire before disappearing completely. One by one the others tapped their circles and their symbols too disappeared. Eustace, who was in the center, then pushed open the door which had been closed earlier.

Henry put his hat back on. He and the rest of the group then walked into what Henry considered the most beautiful room in Hatlynshire. It was a massive circular room with a roof that went on to what looked like infinity. It was lit by floating chandeliers and decorated with Circulion banners and various other artworks that flew around in floated randomly. The floor too was made up of floating pieces and below it was an endless abyss. The only still part of the room was a rectangular table that floated in one place in the middle of the room like an island. Marilyn extended her hand out but before she could do anything David made it to the front of the group and held his hand out. He gestured to Marilyn and she willingly stepped aside as David waved in hands and flicked his wrist and all at once hundreds of floating pieces came together in front of him to form the floor of the roof. David waved his hand again and a large carpet also descended from the sky and fell on the floor in front of them. David then gestured to Marilyn again and with a smile she, followed by the rest of the group, made it across the floor and to the table. Henry raised his eyebrow at David before he crossed and David gave him a smug grin

The group each took their seats on the table. The seats were embroidered with gold and silver and even the cushions were of the highest quality. Henry sat next to David. In front of all their chairs were white wooden masks. Each with a completely smooth face and only two black holes to represent the eye sockets. Each mask had a set of branch like antlers. Henry knew this was a reference to the old ways of their woodland ancestors who, according to the Scribes, had worn the faces of the mystic creatures of the old Arylmoor. Henry and the rest of the members put on their masks. Henry always thought of how odd the Great House meetings looked. With all the members in their masks while sitting in this room. It almost felt surreal. But Henry had been coming to these meeting for years. After some time the initial wonder tended to fade away a bit.

Ulysses then stood up from his place at the front of the table. He hand and opened his palm. Henry saw a book float into his grip from a bookcase floating above them. With the book came a quill. Ulysses then let go of the book and made it float a foot away from him while the quill automatically wrote down everything he said. A feat Henry considered impressive.

“I must ask him how he concentrates like that” he told himself. He then sat straight and faced the table as Ulysses started the gathering.

“I, Baron Ulysses Everton, hereby proclaim that here, on the 282nd Day of the year 634 in the After Flight Era. In the presence of all the Barons of the Circle, meeting of the Great Houses has officially commenced”

The quill moved swiftly on the page of the floating book as Ulysses talked clearly out of his mask. He then placed both of his hands on the table and looked at all the members with stern glare.

“As you all know. Henry and I went to meet our old friend the Mayor earlier this morning. We tried our original plan of bribing that wretch” he said. He then stared at Henry. But henry wasn’t sure what he was feeling since he couldn’t see through his mask. “It failed” said Ulysses in a serious voice.

The sound of chatter went across the table along with a sense of tension. “What do you mean failed? That fool didn’t take the money?” asked Harold.

“We offered him one million Sorasy, as planned. But Mr. Del Mir thought he was more valuable than that. He said that he would require one million a year to keep his ravenous hunters where they belong” said Ulysses.

“Well then, what do you propose we do?” asked a man in the corner of the table. Henry knew him to be Leonard Bernstein. “Do we default to your original plan?”

“It appears so” said Ulysses. “I do not think that swine would take ten million if we offered it to him. It seems that Morrow’s earlier prediction was…misjudged. But now that peace is no longer an option we can move onto our original course of action”

“The original plan carries far too much of risk” argued David. And Henry agreed with him. “If it were to fail we could lose everything!”

“But if it were to succeed we could be rid of both the Mayor and Montgomery” argued Leonard. David looked Leonard. No appreciating his stance on the matter. Then Meredith chimed in.

“Well if we do not do something. The Mayor’s actions will only get more brazen. He will start torching entire Hamlets if we do not stop him!”

Henry sensed a whisper going around the room. “True…Yes indeed…”

The tension in the room continued. It was clear that the table was divided on which course of action it should take. Even Ulysses went silent and thought about. Then suddenly the man sitting next to David, Carlyle Hatly, stood up from his chair.

“Well, I do not understand why we’re bickering over this. We have a surefire of knowing the outcome of our plan. Just ask Morrow here!” he said while pointing at Eustace and Marilyn. Ulysses gestured to Eustace who then stood up and took a deep breath.

“Both Marilyn I have seen the same thing. If we were to continue with our original course of action we have a good chance of succeeding. Del Mir will be dead and Montgomery along with him. But like Mr. Demon said. If we were to fail. It would lead to great destruction. The certainty of this cannot stated at this point as it is too early for that”

Ulysses pointed his hand at Eustace and put it down again. “See my fellow barons? This plan can succeed if we play our cards right. And by the end of it we will be rid of our most annoying enemies!”

Henry frowned under his mask. He knew what Ulysses’ plan entailed. And he for one wasn’t very enthusiastic about. He could tell that some of the other members of the Circle felt the same. He saw the others glancing at each.

“What do you think? Has old Uly finally gone daft?” David whispered to Henry.

“I don’t know. Besides, you know we cannot object if the table votes in favor of him” Henry whispered back.

“I do know that. Hence why I suggest we have a safety precaution in case this plan goes off the rails”

“We already do. All the houses do. It was one of the first things we thought about”

Just then Harold turned to Ulysses. Apparently with doubts in his mind. “And what about the casualties? We cannot expect the common people to endure this such suffering. If the Hunters get the upper hand they will commit atrocities! Genocide! Is your revenge worth that much to you, Ulysses?”

Ulysses paused for a moment. It was clear that he didn’t like being confronted about his need for revenge. But still he remained firm. “If all goes well most of the suffering will be contained in my own Borough. We have already dispatched letters to the Nobles instructing them to prepare from what’s coming”

“What about the costs then?” asked Carlyle. Who Henry knew to be the man who ran the Hatlynshire Bank. “Can the Circulion Treasury sustain this conflict with the finances it already has?”

“Finance is not a problem, Hatly. For if need be, we can always dip into our private coffers. But I know the Treasurer Caleb. He is a smart one. Hence why he was elected. You should know that, since like most Treasurers he is from the Bankers Guild.”

Carlyle stayed silent. And the rest of Circle started nodding in agreement. But Henry knew there were still some doubts in the minds of the members. And Henry knew Ulysses knew that.

“It is futile to worry, my dear barons. For by the time this conflict begins your families will be safe and secure. The Mornings and I have arranged that. So do not worry”

The table went silent. Even Henry dared not speak. Then suddenly Marilyn stood up from her chair and all eyes turned to her.

“So, should we vote?” she asked. Ulysses nodded. “All in favor?”

Everyone in the table raised their hand. Including Henry and David. Henry still trusted Ulysses. He knew he was older and wiser than any other member of the Circle. He knew if Ulysses was confident then it was bound to succeed. At least, that’s what he told himself.

“It is unanimous!” said Ulysses cheerfully. “And so, with that decision. I call this meeting adjourned!”

The book and quill next to him disappeared back into the floating bookcase. Ulysses then made a bottle of wine as well as a bunch of glasses float down from above. Henry and David both filled their glasses before joining in the toast.

“To the Circle!” said Ulysses bringing his glass forward.

“To the Circle!” said everyone else as they brought their glasses forward to meet his.

After that, the group slowly made their way out of the room and out of the building. Henry felt the cold air on his face as he walked through the door of the building and appeared once again in reality and under their overhanging roof.

“Well, it appears that this will be the most dangerous ploy we’ve devised in some time” said David. But Henry wasn’t listening all that much. Rather he was looking at the Morrows. Wondering whether they were hiding something. He had long since known that they were often not completely honest with their foresight. He saw Eustace talking to Marilyn but he didn’t hear what they were saying. He then saw them turn back and go back into the Great Hall. Henry tried to stay optimistic. Maybe they were informing the Nobles, or the Boroughman. Maybe they were appealing to the Treasury about something. But while he was thinking both Meredith and Leonard came over to him.

“I see that you’re lost in thought” said Leonard. Henry took his attention away from the Morrows and turned to Leonard. “What? No! I was merely thinking about our safety precautions. The nervousness is getting to me!” he said with a smile.

“Well not to worry. Our trains will be at the station ready to leave at a moment’s notice” said Meredith before changing the subject. “And let me take this moment to congratulate you on your son’s initiation! Considering that I may not have the time to tell you there”

Her words seemed to awake what seemed like a distant memory in Henry’s mind. He realized he hadn’t had time to think about his son Lucian’s initiation ceremony. But while he was thing his gaze was taken away again as he saw Ulysses, who was the last one to exit the building, walk down the steps to his car while waving at the rest of the members.

“Well… I hope to you see you there” he told Meredith while fixating on Ulysses. David apparently sense that his attention was no longer in the conversation.

“We shall definitely see you there!” he said taking over the conversation. “Considering it would be near suicidal not to be there. I’m sure Lucian would love to see little Evelyn and Arthur again It has been an awfully long time. Same goes for your children, Leonard”

Both Leonard and Meredith laughed. Henry paid them no attention while he watched Ulysses get in his car. Something wasn’t right. He could feel it.

Just then, as Meredith and Leonard were about to say something they were completely taken aback by the sound of a sudden explosion. Ulysses’ car blew up just as he closed his car door. The explosion happened so fast that Henry didn’t have time to react. The light of the flames blinded him temporarily while sound made his ears ring. The force of the blast pushed him and the others down onto the ground as he was engulfed in smoke.

Henry opened his eyes with difficulty. He tried to stand up but couldn’t. All the other members of the Circle was scattered around. They were all alive but on the floor. Henry’s ear rung like a siren. His breath was filled with thick and foul smoke. All he could see was the destroyed remains of the cars at the bottom of the stairs as a bright fire roared out of the car Ulysses had been in. Henry’s mind was racing. He was in shock as tears rolled down his cheeks. He couldn’t believe his eyes.

Ulysses Everton was…dead.

To Contents- HERE

[warsofasoiaf]

I have some stupid/uneducated questions about modern aircraft and firepower, if you can help.

Following some of your previous posts and answers, i've looked into the F-35 and I found out that for stealth missions, it carries bombs only in its internal bays and that it can only carry two 2000 pound bombs or 8 250 pound bombs GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb. That seems like a small amount of explosives. I know that bombs today are far more accurate than the ones from World War 2, Korea and Vietnam, but how effective are the bombs? Plus, the bomb might weigh 2000 pounds (or 500 or 1000), but that is the total weight, not how much explosive it has in it.

What would you be able to destroy with a 2000 pound bomb? A 10 or 20 story office building, a 4-6 lane bridge, electric station, a large factory?

And what could you destroy with a 250 pound Small Diameter Bomb or a 500 or 1000 pound bomb?

I'm asking because I'm a civilian and it is hard to imagine and visualise how effective they might be. If you have any reading material that might help, some YouTube videos or documentaries, I would appreciate that.

It's not a bomber. If you were looking to accomplish a strategic bombing mission, you wouldn't use the F-35, you'd use the B-21 Raider.

A 2,000 pound bomb typically carries around 950 pounds of tritonal and will create a crater approximately 50 feet across and 16 feet deep. I'd hate to give you such an answer, but when it comes to the effect that air-launched munitions have against ground targets, the answer is a solid "it depends." Building damage depends on construction - some buildings are more susceptible to building collapse than others. A vulnerable skyscraper is far more likely to cause secondary damage than a hardened target. The GBU-39 is meant to penetrate 3 feet of steel-reinforced concrete for precision damage to fixed structures, or the B-variant meant more for hitting mobile targets like armored vehicles. They're meant for depots or shallow fighting positions.

I understand how difficult it is to accurately model destruction as a civilian. Even as a military member, if you're not familiar with the engineering concepts behind bomb design, it can be difficult, so no worries about that.

Thanks for the question, Anon.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

[greatwyrmgold]

Before I start the next stage of base-building, I need to plan.

No base screenshots this time. Just diagrams and rambling and ratios. But this post forces me to get my thoughts in order and turns them into something I can consult later, and hopefully someone else will find these ideas useful.

This chart, courtesy of Kirk McDonald's Factorio Calculator, shows most of the steps and ratios needed to get about a hundred SPM. That's what a single rocket silo with three productivity modules mark 3 can achieve, so it's a decent benchmark to aim for. (Mining, smelting, oil-cracking, and wire-assembling are over to the left of this part of the graph. But they're less important.

The lines are a mess, but the numbers are clear, especially if I switch back to the list. This requires something like 18 yellow belts of iron and copper, which is absurd. If I switch to red belts, we get a slightly less absurd nine belts of each (plus 3.6 of green circuits, 1.9 of plastic, and basically everything else <1).

Most of the copper and about a third of the iron are in green circuits. Nearly half of the iron goes into steel. Remove that, and I only need 1.2 belts of iron and 3.7 of copper, about half of which goes into low-density structure.

None of this accounts for non-science production, of course (e.g. automating those assembling machine 3's). But even so, that's a lot less resources than I was anticipating. I considered leaving a spot for trains to add more resources to the bus, but it looks like that's basically unnecessary—especially if I ship in green circuits and steel from elsewhere.

I'm still gonna do it, though.

Next, a diagram I made myself.

At the top are things I intend to put on the main bus. Maybe not coal and batteries, and stone bricks are only required for three things (furnaces for purple science, walls for gray, and miscellaneous furnaces/oil refineries) so they'll fall off the bus quickly enough, but the important thing is that they're excluded from the rest of the diagram.

Automation, logistic, and military science are simple enough. Automation is just bus ingredients, while logistic and military science are basic things, half of which I want to mass-produce anyway. At this stage of the bus, I can also build some basic factory stuff, like mining drills and assemblers Mk 2 and more red belts.

This probably sounds weird, but I think it makes sense to put production science next. (Red chips need to go somewhere earlier, but that's fine.) Its three products are disconnected from things made elsewhere, and it lets me get stone bricks off the bus early. Actually, I might just set up that stone unloading station here, to feed rails to purple science and bricks to wall/electric furnace/miscellaneous factory stuff production.

And chemical science is directly linked to utility science, because both use engines. Ideally I'd like one line of engine assemblers that gets split 2:1 between blue science and electric engines, with a few engines of each type getting stashed for making flame turrets and rocket silos and stuff.

Anyways, the rest of chemical science is straightforward, and utility science isn't much harder. The tricky bit will be setting up a circuit system that lets me set how many logistics and construction bots I want in the robot network, which is something I'll definitely do just to the side of the bus.

And then space science. But that's quite a way off.

All that in mind, let's get some figures.

We'll need almost four red belts of green chips, most of which are going into red and blue chip production. This will take something like four belts of iron and six of copper. Yeah, I should just make green chips off-site.

Green chips aside, phase 1 science requires less than a belt of copper and iron, plus coal for the grenades and stone bricks for the walls.

Phase 2 science requires those bricks, a couple belts of iron, half a belt of copper, and plastic. Also advanced circuits.

Phase 3 science requires like half a belt of copper and iron, plus plastic and sulfur.

Phase 4 requires a full belt of iron, a belt and a half of copper, and a bunch of miscellaneous stuff like batteries and plastic and oil.

Phase 5 (Space) requires most of a belt of iron, almost two belts of copper, two belts of green chips, a belt of plastic, and a bunch of other random stuff.

To keep this nice and expandable, I'd say that four belts each of iron and copper with refill stops between phases should be good. Excessive for one rocket, but when I want to run five rocket silos for infinite research I'll thank me.

Likewise, three belts of green chips (which get replaced by red and blue down the bus) sounds good. A belt of steel, one of gears, one or two belts of plastic, maybe a battery belt.

While I'm here, I'll throw together some thoughts about where to produce various factory buildings.

Electric miners, pumpjacks, red belts, chemical plants, power poles, inserters, and assembler 2's can all go in phase 1.

Furnaces and oil refineries need to go with the other stone brick stuff, at the phase 1/2 boundary.

Substations, roboports, and logistics chests can go in phase 2, after the red chips.

Blue belts can go in phase 3, alongside electric engines. They both need lubricant. Getting the red belts to the blue belts to lubricate them is gonna be interesting. Is that a low-volume train job or a long-distance bot job? Or an awkward belt job? Or maybe Renai Transportation has some silly solution?

Not much new in phase 4.

Assembler 3's share speed modules 1 with RCUs, so it makes sense to build them together. Shipping assembler 2's from one end of the bus to the other is like the belt thing, but more.

Explosives need coal, which if it's not on the bus are only going to grenades. But they also need sulfur from blue science. Hm.

Nuclear reactor stuff and rocket silos are best handled in temporary production setups. Or maybe even handcrafted.

Oh yeah, labs need to go somewhere too.

[factorybuildingcontractor]

Unleashing Steel Excellence: Pioneering Metal Facades

Riyadh skyline is transforming, and (metal facades)  واجهات معدنية are at the forefront of this revolution. These innovative architectural elements offer a captivating blend of aesthetics and durability. Imagine a steel structure company in Riyadh crafting sleek, modern facades that not only enhance a building’s visual appeal but also boast exceptional weather resistance and fire protection. Metal facades are lightweight yet incredibly strong, allowing for creative designs and expensive structures.

[randomwriteronline]

part of @cantankerouscanuck's Bionicle/LU AU

The whispers had already been... Peculiar enough.

After all, as Dusk had pointed out to her deeply puzzled when Midna had casually mentioned some up and coming Cucco magnate had established her company in an abandoned factory near the outskirts of the biggest Steltian city, who in the name of Karzhani bases an up-and-coming industrial empire solely on a species of mostly flightless and often temperamental bird-like Rahi?

The following investigation had then revealed that the base of operation of the misterious "Cucco Mistress" was no less bizarre than her franchising plan.

For starters most of the structure seemed completely untouched from its previous terrible condition, courtesy of a horrid accident involving volatile chemicals, twelve unsafe power cables, safety exits the doors of which were operated via electrical current, and a tendency to cut corners by using material that was barely above waste level for the building's construction.

Furthermore, the various half-hazarded patches in missing walkways or walls or pavements were also noticeably nest-like, implying the architects bethind such avantgarde maintenance were the Cuccos themselves - a hypothesis partially corroborated by the fact that no male Vortixx worked around, on or in the factory and that the place was positively overrun with endless swarms of the small apparently inoffensive Rahi, which no doubt functioned not only as renovation crew but also a well trained and bloodthirsty security corp.

They were certainly very thorough in their search when they stopped the two females before they could enter, gently pecking at Vortixx and Toa alike to sus out anything suspicious the two of them could have carried.

Dusk's presence had however seemed to put them at ease, and the pair had been allowed to advance safely.

Midna decided to just accept that without question.

As some Matoran say, you don't look a gift Ussal crab in the mouth.

Their journey up to the supposed office was an arduous one, more for the accidental environmental hazard than the surprisingly docile Rahi themselves, who mostly clucked around and minded their business while expanding their nests.

Their surprisingly mild-mannered behaviour was perhaps the thing that put the Vortixx most on edge: to tame such a large swarm of beasts known for being able to level a small town with the same fightening ease of a Mana-Ko, or even a Tahtorak, one had to be either formidable, deranged, or formidably deranged. And she had no idea which one of those was the worst to be up against.

Just in case, she grazed Dusk's arm in a silent heed to be cautious and ready for anything.

The Toa did not turn her violet eye to meet her gaze, but she did subtly strengthen her grip around the costum made Rhotuka Cannon hanging from her back, ready to fire at a moment's notice.

A Cucco with a subtle golden sheen to its body perked up as they approached what seemed to be the only door in the whole building: it craned its flexible neck left, then right, to get a good look at them, bubbling a few clucks as if interrogating the few of its brethren that had followed the two females up until this point.

At last it straightened and crowed so loudly that the sound shook the entire structure hard enough to make the walls wobble.

"Come in!" an imperious voice called.

Oh, this was no Vortixx. She was definitely trying to sound like one, imitating their confident tone, but there was a slightly trembling quality to it which betrayed a little anxiety that no serpentine being worth her salt would have allowed herself to display.

Midna and Dusk inhaled deeply, steeling their nerves.

Whether through diplomacy or violence, they'd both be getting out of there in one piece.

The Cucco pecked the door open for them, and the magnate turned.

She was trying to shove what seemed like a modified disk launcher under what could only be described as a desk carpet - since it very much was just a chunk of an old thick carpet slapped on top of a makeshift desk held together with... A few miracles, probably, seeing the lack of any screws or glue of any kind - in a poor attempt at hiding it while appearing perfectly relaxed and at ease. The failure was evident, as they'd clearly caught her by surprise: as Midna had predicted, this unprepared mess was the furthest thing from a Vortixx one could expect.

In fact, she was a Toa.

One of colors Midna had frankly yet to see.

She narrowed her twilight eyes and flashed the Kakama-wearing magnate a grin: "Good evening, fellow entrepreneuresse," she drawled amiably.

The Toa coughed to clear her throat: "Good evening! What, what brings you, uh, here? To my - humble, beginnings?"

"Curiosity," Midna replied - which was true. "Your venture is quite the... Unusual one. You offer services of Rahi taming, I understand, considering your entourage?"

"Uh, no, just - well, yes, but only - only Cuccos."

"An excellent choice. Small, incospicuous, known for coming in large numbers... A bonafide army at your lucky client's disposal. Ah," and she elegantly gestured over at Dusk, who stood perfectly still by her side, mismatched crimson eye gleaming softly in the penumbra: "You don't mind my bodyguard watching over my visit, do you now?"

The supposed magnate nodded a bit too quickly, sparing the Toa of Twilight a glance. Then she blinked, and turned to look at her sister better: she squinted behind her mask, bent her neck forward, tilted her head...

"Dusk?" she finally asked, baffled.

Dusk squinted back at her.

Reaching out with her Psionic powers, she rummaged briefly through her sister's memories and thoughts.

Then suddenly her eyes went wide with recognition: "Linkle?"

"Yeah?" the other Toa nodded: "What are you doing here?"

Midna coughed with a sound that was closer to a growl: "I'm sorry, you know each other?"

"We trained together a while, spent time in the same fortress - what are you doing here!" Dusk replied. "The last time I saw you, you were supposed to go to a mission on Zakaz!"

"I did!"

"Did you?"

"I mean - I did leave for Zakaz, I didn't really reach it-"

"What - Linkle, Zakaz is north-west of Stelt, several kio north-west. You mean to tell me that you've been here for seven hundred years and you had no idea?"

"I didn't just stay here!" Linkle replied, almost offended. "The road there was long!"

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that the road there was long! The map was a mess so I had to rely on the compass, and then there was this misty island that messed up my navigation at one point, too - but they did have a really pretty city and delicious food, it was great, they let me stay there a week or so before I went on - and then in the islands I ended up there was always some kind of problem so I stuck around to help, and then I heard there might be a need for Toa back in Hyrule, and my brother, Warriors, you remember him?, he might be there? I think? So I thought to go there, but I told you, the map was a mess, so I just, you know..."

Dusk pinched the portion of her mask between her eye sockets: "You based your navigation on nothing but your compass?"

"Of course! What's wrong with that?"

"You're a Toa of Magnetism--"

"Magnetism?" Midna tried to interrupt.

"--Your powers are almost designed to mess with it, of course you never got to Zakaz!"

"My powers don't do anything to my compass!"

"You got lost, didn't you?"

"Yes, but it's not for -- and what's with you anyways? With all the dark marks and the red eye and stuff? Also is that a cannon? Can I try it?"

"Magnetism?"

Caught between two fires, Dusk held out a hand to stop the slightly younger Toa from chewing her audio receptor off, grabbed Midna with the other, and dragged the Vortixx into a corner.

"She is a Toa of Magnetism?" said being continued to think extremely loudly, eyes blown wide. "You know a Toa of Magnetism? You knew one this whole time? Do you know how few of those there are out there? She's a collector's piece! That's how few there are! In the entire universe! I've seen fellow Xians engineer weapons to kill them with! I've been at those weapons' testings!"

"Maybe don't tell her right to her face," Dusk whispered through their telepathic link, hoping she could keep her calm.

That hope proved to be in vain when the Vortixx silently shook her by the shoulders: "Do you have any idea how dangerous it is for her to be here?! Even more than Xia?! How many beings would jump at the opportunity of killing her or incapacitating her to sell her to the highest bidder?! Oh, Mata Nui, of course she has all these Cuccos around her all the time, she'd never survive otherwise!"

"No, the Cuccos are just a thing she does."

"They're what?"

"It's a whole - she's always done this, it's not important right now. Midna, listen--"

"What do you mean she's always done this?!"

"It's like a hobby of hers. Midna--"

"A hobby?! She tames Cuccos as a hobby?!"

The Toa wrapped her hand around the befuddled Vortixx's long snout, using thin shadowy tendrils to hold it shut - despite the fact that, due to their conversation being completely telepathic, it was effectively completely useless to do so.

"Midna," she thought sternly into her head: "We need to go with her."

Midna blinked.

"Why?" she dared to ask.

"Because if we leave her to her sense of direction, she is going to get lost again. With her luck she might walk all the way into Karzhani. You said it yourself, she is endangered - here and everywhere else. Are you going to leave what is maybe the last Fa-Toa to die because she can't read a map?"

From Linkle's perspective, some wordless and incredibly sapphic thing was happening in a corner of her would-be office and she was awkwardly wondering if it would have been rude to shush her more curious Cuccos out of the room before they grew interested in the intense if perfectly quiet exchange going on right in front of her and tried to get a better read on the situation by pecking at the parties involved, who very likely would have not enjoyed being interrupted.

In short, she would have liked to be elsewhere.

She was as such very relieved when whatever that was ended and the two females turned back to her, perfectly composed.

"So you're not planning on staying, if I understand," Midna inquired.

"Uh... No, not really," Linkle nodded back at her. "As I said, Hyrule... My brother... You know..."

The Vortixx hummed: "Well, we won't be staying too long around here, either," she said in a casual tone. He bodyguard replied to her sideways glance with one of her own, complicity crackling between their thoughts. "Perhaps you could give us a lift to newer shores. Let's see - how would you like a cannon like Dusk's as payment?"

[warningsine]

The world's first full-scale timber wind turbine has started turning in Sweden, with a tower built by wood technology company Modvion.

The 105-metre-tall tower, located in the region of Skara, is Modvion's first commercial wind turbine tower, and follows on from a smaller 30-metre-high demonstration project the company completed in 2020.

While its rotor blades and generator hub are made of conventional materials, the tower is made of laminated veneer lumber (LVL), a type of engineered wood made of thin veneer strips glued together and often used for beams and load-bearing building structures.

forces of a turning turbine, it is much more environmentally sustainable to build with than the currently used steel.

While wind power plays an important role in providing the world with green renewable energy, there are still ample carbon emissions created during their construction — in part because of the steel towers.

Modvion describes its wood towers as reducing the carbon emissions from wind turbine construction by over 100 per cent, due to the combination of a less emissions-heavy production process and the carbon storage provided by trees.

"Our towers, just in the production of them, they emit 90 per cent less than a steel tower that will do carry the same work," Modvion chief financial officer Maria-Lina Hedlund told Dezeen. "And then if you add the carbon sequestration, then you actually end up with a minus — so a carbon sink. This is great if we want to reach net zero energy production, and we need to."

Hedlund, who is also an engineer, describes LVL as having a construction "similar to carbon fibre", with strips of veneer just three millimetres thick sandwiched and glued together, giving it a high strength-to-weight ratio.

This lightness is a benefit, reducing the amount of material needed overall. With a heavy material, there is a "bad design spiral", says Hedlund, as the weight of the tower itself adds to the load that it needs to carry.

And while some LVL has all their veneer strips facing in the same direction, Modvion uses its "own recipe" specifying the directions of the fibres, improving the material's performance even more.

The production process involves timber boards being made to order in a standard LVL plant and then delivered to Modvion's factory. There, they are glued together into larger modules and bent into a rounded form in a step called lamination, and then very precisely machined to fine-tune the shape.

"In the wood industry, you usually see centimetre tolerances, while we are in the sub-millimetre scale," said Hedlund.

The modular nature of LVL construction addresses another problem Modvion has observed with steel: that with turbines getting ever bigger to give more power, it's becoming impossible to transport steel towers to site.

They are built as essentially large cylinders and transported by truck, but the base diameter desired for the tallest towers is getting to be taller than some bridges and roads can allow.

"We're now reaching a point where they will not get through anymore," said Hedlund. "So we will see a transition in the wind power industry to modular construction, because this is the way to get them there. And one of the big advantages of building in the material we do is that it's naturally built modular."

While steel could also be built modular, it would require bolts rather than glue to join it together on site, which Hedlund says is a disadvantage.

"Bolts are not very nice when you have so much dynamic loading, because it will loosen over time," she said. "So first of all, you have to have to put them in place which is a lot of work, and then you have to also service them over the lifetime."

The Skara turbine has a capacity of two megawatts, which represents the maximum power output the turbine can achieve under ideal conditions. This is a bit lower than the average capacity for new turbines built in Europe.

On the outside, the tower has a thick white coating that makes it look similar to steel, and it's rotor blades and generator hub, which are not supplied by Modvion, are made of conventional materials like fibreglass. This may change in the future, however, with another company, Voodin Blades, working on the technology for wooden blades.

Modvion was founded in 2016 by university peers David Olivegren and Otto Lundman. While its current focus is wind turbines, it is dedicated to wooden technology more broadly, and Hedlund told Dezeen that the team believes it has "the world's strongest joint for timber construction", which could also be put to other uses.

Another recent milestone for wind power came in the form of a wind-powered cargo ship, which had been retrofitted with two 37.5-metre-tall sails.

[tradersfindb2bportal]

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[dreamworldd2]

One Example of Perfect Creation

We know that spiders are "engineers," making webs, those wonders of architecture and engineering. They are also killing machines, preparing mechanical traps, capable of building nests under water, hunting their prey with lassoos from their webs, capable of giving off chemical poisons, holding on to a thread and jumping from hundreds of times their own height, creating threads stronger than steel within their own bodies, and camouflaging themselves for hunting. We come across further miracles when we examine the structure of their bodies, alongside the properties they possess.

There are many features in all spiders' bodies bearing witness to their having been created, such as combs working like a weaving factory, laboratories making chemical products, organs producing very strong digestive properties, senses capable of perceiving the slightest vibration, strong fangs capable of injecting venom, and so on. Considering all of these properties, the spider gives the lie to the theory of evolution and once again destroys such a derisory hypothesis as coincidence.

Mükemmel Yaratılış Örneği Örümcek

Örümceklerin mekanik tuzaklar kuran, suyun dibine yuvalar yapabilen, ağdan yaptığı kementlerle avlanan, kimyasal zehirler püskürtebilen, kendi boyunun yüzlerce misli yükseklikten bir ipe tutunup atlayan, vücudunda çelikten sağlam ipler üreten, avlanmak için kamuflaj yapabilen birer ölüm makinesi, aynı zamanda mimarlık ve mühendislik harikası ağlar kuran birer "mühendis" olduklarını biliyoruz. Örümceklerin sahip oldukları bu gibi yeteneklerin yanısıra vücut yapıları incelendiğinde de birçok farklı mucizeyle karşılaşılır.

Bütün örümceklerin vücudunda, bir dokuma fabrikası gibi çalışan taraklar, kimyevi maddeler üreten laboratuvarlar, çok güçlü sindirim salgıları üreten organlar, en hassas titreşimleri hisseden algılayıcılar, zehir enjeksiyonu yapabilen güçlü kıskaçlar ve bunlar gibi yaratılışa delil teşkil eden birçok özellik vardır. Bütün bu özellikleriyle düşünüldüğünde, örümcek tek başına evrim teorisine meydan okuyan, tesadüf gibi komik bir varsayımı bir kez daha çürüten önemli bir delildir.