#substructure

[fieriframes]

[Substructures.]

[ronb0th4tj80]

Big Ass Teen Teryn Nurse Playing Scene Asian shemale pounded by her lover teen boy doing hand job soo hot Hardcore fucking with two shemales Redhead teen babysitter Devirginized For My Birthday Bengali bhabhi boobs press Hot German Teen Old Anal Bart Is Just Loving Some Quality Time In The Garden Loira deliciosa se exibindo Luscious Maid Julz Gotti Teases Her Horny Boss Hot babe teases with big tits

[the-fluffy-folio]

Gooze – Small ooze, chaotic evil

…and thus, a new horror was unleashed onto Falbheim’s already more than hazardous substructures. Tisdor Dwindleteeth III’s joy was immeasurable when he finally managed to merge magically condensed consciousness with one of his many specimen of ooze. Of course, even the slightest bit of joy for the infamous necromancer meant trouble for everyone else – great trouble to be precise. After a short period of pondering, the gooze – as this monstrous abomination was later named – instantly assumed the most destructive shape it was able to imagine…just to wreak havoc wherever it waddles.

🔮 If you like my work, kindly consider to support me on Patreon to gain access to monster pages, tokens & artwork of 200+ of quirky creatures, items and potions. Plus, I released my first Foundry VTT modules – 70 creatures, 5 huge ones and 20 potions are done already, many more are in the making!

[voidic3ntity]

chaos & concoctions, conjunction upon such vast opal:

reasonable loss, plaguing such a minded substructure,

vastness shall shine, splitting the primary beam apart,

ammonium white, shallow shades, shadows dancing,

attraction is an amalgamation of candid cadence;

boundlessly burning, such inner ionic formations.

[drathanasius]

The aqueduct was dry.

The reservoir... Uncertain.

Some channels had been stopped up.

I set out to trace them.

One of my usual waystations appeared to have been tampered with.

The city's humors had become unevenly distributed.

Surveying my surroundings, I sought a point of entry.

From down below...

I thought I spied a vein of it, tracing its way along.

The newer bridge showed likewise a worrying tract of deposition.

My friend the Old White Oak drank even now at the wellspring.

Here would be answers.

Nothing visible, but a suggestive scent within.

My keen beak led me along the strip of woods by the city's seam...

Until at last I found the point of coalescence.

The cause was clear, but how to cleanse it?

The old apothecary still stood.

I obtained the necessary simples.

Diverse routes of administration would be required.

The sign was of no consequence.

One dose of purgative for the new bridge.

One for the old.

Two for the substructures.

The excess to the sky.

And so, the ways unstopped, I went to bed.

[thefirstknife]

Kraken Mare

And ANOTHER thing, from TWAB:

And we’re not kidding when we say we’re going under the sea…here’s a glimpse of one of the places you’ll be headed in Season of the Deep:

There will be actual underwater sections! That makes me insane right away.

Also, this is a Golden Age facility. Why is it at the bottom of the ocean? Or in some sort of a cave? Well, we don't know, but we do know that they were investigating Titan's ocean(s) back in the Golden Age. Perfect time to talk about it!

I cannot recommend Last Days on Kraken Mare enough as a lore book, as it's not only relevant right now, but it's one of the only true and direct accounts of the Collapse starting and the devastation it brought. Last two pages deal with a scientist who was doing research on life in the ocean.

In The Water Sun, Part I, the scientist Maury Yamashita is diving to open a pen with creatures he calls swarmers in order to save them as the Collapse is starting. They were native to Titan and, from the way he talks, we know they weren't originally in the place where their cage is at.

Sorry, Mia, he thinks. It has to be worth my life, or I'm worth more than them, and I know I'm not. I put them there. It's my job to let them out.

He's always loved the stupid little swarmers.

When Titan gets pulled and released from the gravity attack, it causes a massive disturbance not just on the methane sea, but also in the ice shelf and subsurface ocean; yes, Titan has another, non-methane ocean under the surface:

"The tidal pull. The ghost mass. It just… left. The moon is collapsing back to spheroid shape. I'm detecting primary waves in the subsurface ocean—it's a quake. It's a quake! Maury, get away from the substructure! Get clear!"

Maury imagines 60-plus meters of bulging moon, Titan's mass hauled up into a teardrop pointed at the sky—suddenly released. Smashing and scraping and grinding back into equilibrium. Cracks in the ice spewing plumes of water and ammonia. Continent-sized shelves slamming and rebounding and calving like bergs. The whole vast inner ocean sloshing back into its shape.

Maury gets tossed and tumbled in the methane ocean and has a fear that, with the ice cracking, he will fall over "into the abyss," meaning through the ice shelf:

"The swarmers," he says, and he jettisons his buoyancy tanks. Without that lift he is so much denser than the bad water around him that he plunges like a skydiver toward the cross brace below, where the swarmer pen is anchored. Titan's gravity may be gentle, but even gentle acceleration adds up. He hits hard, and the spinmetal surface blasts the air out of his lungs. He gasps and gags. Scrabbles for purchase before he slides off and falls into the abyss. He's going over—no! No! He is not going over! He will not fall!

In Part II, Maury saves himself with his hi-tech suit and finally reaches his swarmers. He gives us a description!

The swarmers seethe and pulsate in the perforated plastic sac. Not Titan's highest life, nor its lowest, they hive across the icy sea-bottom in enormous braided patterns that speak to Maury of intelligence. Not individually—not even at the hive level—but some kind of vast concert, conducted, perhaps, by leviathans down beneath the ice shell, communicating across the barrier by magnetic whisper that the swarmers receive via organic SQUIDs. An ecology spanning methane life and water-ammonia life. Why? How?

This is so cool! Not only does he describe the creatures, he also tells us that there's also life under the ice shelf and he calls that life "leviathans." This also means that there are probably ways to go through the ice which allowed them to study those creatures beneath the ice shelf. Maybe caves? Maybe the Golden Age facility is beneath the ice shelf. Not entirely likely, but still! Maury's theory is that the swarmers are somehow connected to those leviathans beneath the ice and that all life on Titan is a connected ecology of lifeforms that live in wastly different biomes.

These creatures predate the Traveler's arrival, which we know from the writing of Clovis Bray who specified that Titan, Europa and Enceladus were never terraformed:

Did the Traveler bypass Europa and Titan and Enceladus out of respect for their native life?

Or was it afraid to touch the things pulsating below the ice?

This is interesting now in context of the information that an "enemy of the Witness" is on Titan. Did the Traveler bypass the life or has that life always been a part of the Traveler as enemies of the being that seeks to destroy it? Or is it something more specific, like the Leviathan from the Fundament? Vibrating to find out.

Maury thinks about how he brought the swarmers up from the bottom and that he can't bear to see them all die because he captured them so he hurries to open their pen. Once he does, they all skitter back to the bottom.

The polymer shreds and the swarmers scatter, their tiny bodies siphoning liquid methane as they pump down and away. Safe. Safe.

And then:

The quake hits.

A hundred and fifty meters below, the icy basis of Kraken Mare rolls like liquid. The arcologies answer the low geological wail with a cacophony of groans and shrieks, joints flexing, tethers snapping taut, substructures soaking up unthinkable mechanical energy, trying to keep anything from—

Breaking.

Maury falls to the bottom from the blast and gets told to move it back up because the wave is coming. An ice shelf completely collapsed into Kraken Mare and the wave is going to be catastrophic and he has to reach the surface. Which he does! He manages not only to reach the surface, but also to fly out of the water with really cool Golden Age tech suit:

He makes it to the surface. He's up there in plenty of time. He can even see Dome 1, still intact, though a lot of the surrounding rigging is damaged. One of the creepy Exo soldiers stands outside, beckoning to him with a laser dazzle, guiding him in.

Maury opens his suit wings to their full membranous span. A single mighty stroke of paramuscle cups the air and hauls him up out of the sea. He's aloft! Titan air is thick, and Titan gravity is light, and like a huge bat he can fly. He puts his head down and starts building altitude, headed towards the beckoning Exo.

Alas, it's not enough. What follows is one of the best descriptions of just how utterly cataclysmic the situation was:

First, he sees the supercarrier, tragically buoyant, tragically light, built for seas with gentle one-meter tides but now riding the greatest wave Titan has ever seen, directly into Dome 2's crippled understructure. In 152 kilopascals of air pressure, the pandemonium sound of the collision has the gut-mulching power of a rocket booster.

The entire arcology collapses down onto the ship, into the sea.

Then he blinks past the devastation and recognizes the sheer scale, the utter speed, the complete imminence of that unthinkable methane wave coming down at him.

"Oh, man," he says.

This is easily in my top 5 lore books in all of Destiny. Honestly read the whole Last Days on Kraken Mare. But this final bit is so good. It's incredibly good. It was the first direct description of the type of devastation brought on by the Collapse and how incredibly impossible it is to survive it. No weapons fired, no armies involved, nothing. The moon was just squashed and then released, and gravity did the rest. Nothing short of immediately leaving the planet can help you.

It was also the first unambiguous proof that what happened on the Fundament was because of the Darkness. Last Days on Kraken Mare released in Season of Undying which was the first season of Shadowkeep. We'll wait for The Witch Queen to see the Witness admitting that it caused the God Wave of the Fundament and blamed it on the Traveler to deceive the Hive siblings, but Last Days on Kraken Mare was our first direct indication about it, as well as insight into how it's done. Our own God Wave that started the Collapse.

It's very cool that two celestial bodies with some sort of underwater leviathans linked to the Traveler were hit by cataclysmic waves to destroy them. I guess, it's the easiest thing to do to a water planet like that, but still an interesting parallel, especially now that we're very specifically going to be looking for a creature that's apparently personally an "enemy of the Witness." This lore book also confirms that the existence of some massive creatures in Titan's oceans predates the arrival of the Traveler.

So much text about that one picture, but to see a Golden Age facility at the bottom of the ocean is such a sight. I'm hoping for more Golden Age information in the next season and more about the research that went down on Titan, especially research into its life forms.

Interestingly enough, there was another important research being done on Titan, though it wasn't about Titan. But this research was the subject of the rest of the lore book and has relevance to the Collapse, as well as Ishtar and Braytech. The scientist in question was Shanice Pell who fled to Titan to build an interstellar probe. She wanted to send it to explore the universe outside of the solar system.

Both Ishtar and Braytech were interfering with her work so she went to Titan which was independent. Did Ishtar and Braytech interfere because they were also doing research on interstellar space and travel? Did they want to stop someone independent from learning more, especially about the strange anomalies in space that seemed to be coming over?

Very likely, because Shanice's probe discovered the anomaly as well. Initial data from the probe made no sense, obviously because it's paracausal, the anomaly being the Black Fleet. She continued to research and figured something is off and when she figured it out (as much as she could, we aren't sure how close she came to understanding it), she decided that her data must get out. Unfortunately, this is where Last Days on Kraken Mare happen; Shanice was being evacuated, but her evacuation was intercepted by Braytech Exos who came to aprehend her and stop her from publicising her research. She boarded the evacuation shuttle which was then shot down by Rasputin's warsat to stop her escape.

Ultimately, she died in vain. This was literally at the start of the Collapse so even if she had escaped, her data wouldn't have done much. There was no way to stop or survive the Collapse at this point. Her data may have alerted the people at the end, but nothing could've been done with it.

But it's super interesting how many stories are converging on Titan, especially now that we know more about Ishtar and Braytech and their involvement with predictive AIs, exodus projects and all the other stuff they did which ultimately led to Neomuna.

It's also been brought to my attention that the author of Last Days on Kraken Mare, Seth Dickinson, previously said that he wrote three times as much content about Titan. Titan was apparently supposed to be relevant in Forsaken, but there was not enough time in the existing crunch to get it done so it never got implemented. But he wrote a lot about it, and a third of his writing got implemented as Last Days on Kraken Mare in Shadowkeep. I'm sincerely hoping we'll see the rest of his writing about Titan in Season of the Deep. His comment:

It was supposed to be Titan content back in Forsaken but there wasn't enough time during crunch to get it all localized and hooked up. Even the chapters available in Shadowkeep are only about a third of the whole thing.

I'm looking at Bungie with the biggest eyes and hoping the rest gets released.

ONE MORE thing before we go and it's just a nice little detail about Last Days on Kraken Mare as a lore book; its "chapters" are named after various eschatological beliefs of different cultures aka beliefs about various ends of the world. Namely, The Sixth Seal from the Biblical Revelation; Tenth Avatar and Kalki's Burning Sword are from Hindu beliefs of Kalki being the Tenth Avatar of Vishnu who will appear to end the world; and the name of the final two chapters, The Water Sun, is from the Aztec myth of the Five Suns, or eras, in which each era ends with some sort of a catastrophe. The Fourth Sun (also known as Water Sun) ends with a great flood.

[tigermike]

The Stadium of Aphrodisias, Asia Minor (Turkey) is considered the best preserved stadium in the Mediterranean. With a length of 262 meters, a width of 59 meters and a capacity of 30,000 spectators on 22 rows of seats, it is also one of the largest of its kind.

Unlike, for example, the construction of the Perge stadium (also one of the largest stadiums in Asia Minor), the substructure of the rows of seats was largely made up of mounds of earth. This is an indication that the original building of the stadium was already built in Hellenistic times. Another special feature of this stadium is that it is closed on both narrow sides. Thus it differs clearly from the mostly horseshoe-shaped stadiums of the Roman Empire.

The athletes entered the arena through a tunnel embedded in the narrow sides of the stadium. Above the western entrance tunnel was the emperor's box, from where he opened the games held in his honor.

The stadium was originally crowned by a circumferential portico (colonnade). Holes in the rows of seats and supporting stones on the outside of the portico testify to the existence of a sunscreen. The spectators reached their seats from the outside via staircases and were distributed over the portico.

In Hellenistic times, sports such as wrestling, boxing, discus and javelin throwing as well as running competitions found a wide audience.

[dreamingriven]

maintenance substructure gifs [1/3]

[queerofthedagger]

Still I Surface in Morning Light

[Merlin/Arthur | Explicit | 11,4k]

Tags: Season 4 AU (post A Servant of Two Masters), Bodyswap, Scar Reveal, Merlin's Magic Revealed, Arthur has Magic (for like, 3 weeks), Mutual Pining, Angst with a Happy Ending

Note: for @merthur-she-wrote because this is fic number 60 (!!) for this fandom, and every single one is to blame on her getting me into Merlin sometime in 2019. On top of that, it was also her prompt! <3

Summary:

“Merlin,” Arthur says, and his voice has calmed, but there is still steel in the substructure of it. “You asked me to conjure fire; tell me how you've got the burn scar on your chest.” It is everything Merlin can do not to laugh, hysteria gathering in the hollows of his teeth; of course, this is the scar that Arthur would ask about first. “No. Ask about another one.” --- An attack gone wrong leaves Merlin and Arthur stuck in each other's bodies. While Merlin thinks the most complicated part is that Arthur ends up with his magic, it does not take long until he is reminded that it can always, always get worse.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Student cleans up archival data and uncovers two stellar cocoons

While investigating 16 years of images of young stars from a retired astronomical camera, Leiden master's student Sam de Regt discovered that two of those stars were still enveloped in birth clouds that had not been seen at this level of detail before. He publishes his data-cleaning method and the new images of the two stars in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

When Sam de Regt (Leiden University, the Netherlands) attended lectures of Matthew Kenworthy (Leiden University) and Christian Ginski (now University of Galway, Ireland), he thought it would be interesting to research the so-called PDI method for his master's thesis. PDI stands for Polarimetric Differential Imaging.

This method allows astronomers to distinguish between the extremely bright, unpolarized light from a star and the faint, polarized light reflected from dust particles located in a disk around the star. In such dust disks, planets can be formed.

Ginski and Kenworthy suggested to De Regt to reanalyze archival images from the NACO instrument. That instrument was located on the Very Large Telescope in Chile from 2003 to 2019 and contains data from 57 young stars.

After cleaning up the images, De Regt saw dust disks around twenty known stars. To his surprise, in addition to those 20, two other stars were found to contain dust structures in these observations: YLW 16A and Elia 2-21. These protostars are located some 360 light years towards the constellation Ophiuchus (known as the serpent-bearer).

Openly accessible

"I find it super cool that we have made two new images of these stellar cocoons," says De Regt. "Furthermore, it is of course great that, thanks to the standard procedure we developed, the data have been reduced and are openly accessible via a Zenodo archive."

Thesis supervisor Matthew Kenworthy adds, "This allows other astronomers to carry out research with this data, breathing new life into it. It's a good example of the Open Science principle."

"The fact that Sam managed to achieve this in a few months is fantastic," says graduation supervisor Christian Ginski. "We don't often witness such productivity."

De Regt is now a Ph.D. student at Leiden University. He studies how the formation of exoplanets leaves imprints in their atmospheres.

IMAGE....The NACO archive contains data on 57 young stars. Twenty stars had known dust disks or substructures. Master's student Sam de Regt (Leiden University, the Netherlands) discovered two new images of YLW 16A and Elia 2-21 (bottom left and bottom center), while cleaning up the archive. Credit: ESO/VLT/NACO, De Regt et

[redditreceipts]

I don't agree that transmisogyny isn't real; it's not misogyny in the least, but it's existent as [ transmisogyny ]. I find the form of the term contentious, I find the idea that it's misogyny contentious, I find the idea that it's a trans- modification of misogyny contentious, I find the idea that it's an "axis of oppression" contentious, and I find the idea that it's worse than misogyny most contentious.

Transmisogyny can be seen clearly in employment discrimination, housing discrimination, medical discrimination, even shelter discrimination, such and so forth ad infinitum. It's a drastically softer form of discrimination based on sexism than the misogyny that TIFs undergo, and it isn't misogyny even if it's proximity to feminine aesthetics that TIMs are inviting discrimination for, but it very much exists.

It is not possible to form accurate sex class analysis without acknowledging that transmisogyny is another gender-oriented oppressive (not exploitative as is misogyny, only oppressive) substructure inherently required to maintain the exploitative system that is gender by attempting to corral TIMs in line and away from abolition, even as they still hold the benefits of positive bias for their being male.

Hey :) Yes, there is definetly discrimination towards gender-nonconforming males. But I wouldn't call it "transmisogyny" (as in misogynist oppression specific to trans women) for the following reasons:

it includes men who internally identify as women, but not show it on the outside. they just dress as men, maybe letting their hair grow out or microdosing estrogen. nobody knows that they identify as women and they are not oppressed

it excludes men who do not identify as women and are gender-nonconforming. a man who lets his hair grow out, wears make-up and dresses and paints his nails, but just identifies as a man, will face the same oppression a trans-idenfied male faces.

it is not misogyny. a woman is discriminated against if she dresses and behaves masculine, and rewarded if she dresses and behaves feminine. just the fact that males are discriminated against if they behave femininely proves that they are not women. if they were women, they would be rewarded for behaving femininely.

there is no form of oppression that only trans women face. here I made a post about that. every type of oppression against trans women is because people think that they are gay men, mentally ill, find their appearance off-putting or have prejudice against gender-nonconforming men.

I actually dislike the term "transmisogyny" the most because it positions the lame-ass "nonbinary transfemmes" who dress as men as super oppressed, and at the same time it positions very gender-nonconforming men (who oftentimes get attacked way more) as "cis-privileged". Of course, they still have male privilege, but they are far less advantaged than these gender-conforming "enby transbians"

[thunderstruck9]

Titus Schade (German, b. 1984), Modellhaus Typ: P Modernes Haus mit Fachwerk Unterbau [Model house type: P Modern house with half-timbered substructure], 2012. Oil, acrylic and India ink on paper, 40 x 30 cm.

[visit-new-york]

What are the main materials used in the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge?

The Brooklyn Bridge stands as an iconic symbol of engineering prowess and architectural marvel, connecting the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn in New York City. Its construction, which began in 1869 and was completed in 1883, marked a significant leap forward in bridge engineering during the 19th century. At the heart of this magnificent structure lie a variety of materials that were carefully selected to withstand the test of time and provide the strength and stability needed to support the bridge's massive weight and endure the forces of nature.

Foundations and Substructure:

The foundations of the Brooklyn Bridge are built upon a series of caissons—watertight chambers that were sunk to the bedrock below the East River. These caissons served as the base upon which the towers of the bridge would rise. Constructed using timber and brick, the caissons were then filled with compressed air to keep water out, allowing workers to excavate the riverbed and lay the bridge's foundations. Granite blocks were used to create the towers' outer layer, providing a sturdy and enduring base.

Superstructure:

The superstructure of the Brooklyn Bridge, including its towers and main span, is primarily composed of limestone, granite, and Rosendale cement. The limestone and granite provide the necessary strength and durability, while the Rosendale cement—a type of natural cement produced in Rosendale, New York—acted as the binding agent in the construction of the bridge's arches and towers.

Suspension Cables:

The most distinctive feature of the Brooklyn Bridge is its elegant web of suspension cables. These cables are made of high-tensile strength steel, a revolutionary material for the time. The steel cables were galvanized to protect against corrosion, ensuring the long-term stability of the bridge. The cables were meticulously woven and anchored into the bridge's towers and anchorages, distributing the load and supporting the immense weight of the bridge deck.

Decking and Walkways:

The decking and walkways of the Brooklyn Bridge were constructed using wooden planks. Originally made from longleaf yellow pine, the wooden decking has undergone various replacements and renovations over the years, adapting to the evolving demands of modern traffic. Today, the bridge features a reinforced concrete deck topped with asphalt, providing a smooth surface for vehicles and pedestrians alike.

Decorative Elements:

The Brooklyn Bridge's towers and other decorative elements showcase an array of materials, including granite, limestone, and limestone blocks. The neo-Gothic arches and intricate details that adorn the towers contribute to the bridge's aesthetic appeal and make it a true work of art.

Conclusion:

The construction of the Brooklyn Bridge stands as a testament to the innovation and engineering prowess of the 19th century. A careful selection of materials, combining strength, durability, and aesthetic appeal, was crucial to the success of this historic structure. Today, as the Brooklyn Bridge continues to serve as a vital link between two bustling boroughs, its enduring legacy serves as a reminder of the importance of thoughtful material selection in the world of civil engineering and architecture.

[herrlindemann]

Sonic Seducer - July 2015, interview with Till and Peter

Youth-threatening Teutonic Roc bogeyman for some, almost cult-like revered New German Hardship light figure for others: In the development of German-language music, no one has polarized the masses to an even remotely comparable extent as Rammstein singer Till Lindemann and his troupe. After firing on all cylinders at the boundaries of good taste with his infamous cult formation over the last two decades and, at the same time, mastering the rise to become the most successful local rock act, the notorious industrial metal oddball is now also catching up with his English-language solo project 'Skills In Pills' dirty grin for the next general attack on morals and customs.

He almost took part in the Olympic Games as a competitive swimmer in the early 1980s; After his apprenticeship as a basket maker, Till Lindemann has been one of the most controversial singers and lyricists in the German-speaking music landscape since the end of the 90s at the latest. Someone for whom nothing and no one is obviously sacred: a devious pyromaniac who sets himself on fire on stage while he loves to talk about taboo topics that grab headlines such as necrophilia, cannibalism, drug abuse or sex in all love and life situations. Hot iron in the truest sense, some of which can also be found on Lindemann's solo debut: On 'Skills In Pills' the Berliner has teamed up with his long-time friend and Hypocrisy/Pain mastermind Peter Tägtgren, who combines Lindemann's darkly erotic adult fairy tale with the corresponding atmospheric, hard industrial -Metal substructure supports. Till Lindemann and Peter Tägtgren in a not always entirely serious conversation about pill madness, bizarre fetishes and failed family planning.

The lyrics on 'Skills In Pills' are quite controversial and will definitely make headlines here and there. Will the record also be released in English-speaking countries and available there in a clean version?

Till: The record will be released worldwide. I don't know yet if some songs might need to be toned down. Maybe we need to change the word cunt to aunt. With Rammstein it's almost a kind of tradition that people are always indignant. I'm already used to it. This time it will certainly not be worse than with Rammstein.

With English-language texts throughout, this time there may even be worldwide scolding! Is it at least a little intentional to piss off the audience with such offensive lyrics?

Till: No, it just happens. The lyrics arise as they arise, not out of any need to stand out or piss off anyone. Even if I wanted to express it in a different way, it always only comes out the way people know it from me (laughs). I can't do anything about it. There's always a wink somewhere in my songs. If people don't understand the humor, there's nothing I can do about it. I'm not forcing anyone to buy the record.

Is it important to you today that your humor is understood?

Till: Until about ten years ago, it wasn't important to me that I was properly understood. It was important to me what people thought and how they perceived me. Today I'm more relaxed. Not to say: I don't care at all whether people understand me correctly.

Peter: If you don't understand the humor on this album, then you have a serious problem. Everything on this record can of course be understood with a grin. In my opinion there is a really brilliant artist behind it who can juggle words very well. There are also some serious songs like ‘Home Sweet Home’ which is about cancer. But the majority of them like ‘Cowboys’ or ‘Golden Shower’ are really not serious. Funny adult stories.

Can you identify 100 percent with the lyrics?

Peter: Absolutely. I think every man can do it. Maybe not necessarily complete with the lyrics of ‘Golden Shower’; Personal preferences tend to differ. But the rest has a really good sense of humor.

And maybe the transgender song 'Ladyboy' doesn't mean you?

Peter: I hope not!

Till: You have no idea...

Do you ever wonder what's going on in Till's head?

Peter: Sometimes, but if I'm honest, I don't really want to know. I see what he's singing about. Maybe some things shouldn't be said at all.

Till: It was such an intense time. Peter knows me extremely well now.

The album sounds like a lot of fun in the studio - like a real man's record.

Peter: Oh yes, I can only confirm that. We really had a good time while working on the songs.

How did the recordings go? You both are known as passionate party makers who like to have a blast!

Till: (laughs)

Peter: It wasn't that intense. Both of us can definitely handle a beer or two and a few whiskeys on top of that. Let's put it this way: first comes work, then comes pleasure. We can both be very disciplined when it counts. We share the attitude that you shouldn't waste time unnecessarily, but rather get things done as quickly as possible and then celebrate properly.

Which of you can tolerate more?

Peter: We haven't tried that yet, but we'll find out. We tried to drown our new record label. The result was that I was the first one down.

How would you describe Till? His strengths, his weaknesses?

Peter: A guy with a million ideas. So far I have always been the driving force in my projects - this time it was a very nice feeling that someone else took the reins. I think Till is more determined and ambitious than me. I think we complement each other quite well. We didn't have to fight each other in the studio to impose a certain opinion, but we could always agree on what was best for a song.

Till: Peter compensates for my weaknesses with his strengths. We are like plus and minus. And vice versa. But it works really, really well. Peter played all the instruments. All I had to do was finish my lyrics, travel up to his studio and sing everything. I would consider my use of words to be my greatest strength. Peter and I are the so-called perfect match.

What was the most difficult part of creating this album?

Peter: Everything except the lyrics and the music! The songs basically composed themselves. Then of course there is the ugly side, which no longer has anything to do with the music and is all about business. That's always the moment when it starts to get annoying. That was a real downer. Lindemann was originally planned as a purely leisure activity, as a kind of holiday hobby or perhaps as group therapy. We couldn't have known at the beginning that everything would degenerate like this and develop into a big thing. People caught wind of it and everything got bigger and bigger from then on. We are both artists, we prefer to have nothing to do with the business side.

Were there big discussions about the pieces?

Peter: Actually everything went pretty smoothly, but there were still some tracks that were pretty hard to crack and that neither of us were really happy with for a long time.

Till: Peter is this type of real metalhead who always has a guitar in his hands and is constantly strumming something to himself. Fortunately, he had no intention of including any solos in the songs. I hate solos. Right from the start he was really thundering on the guitar - I even had to rein him in a little at times. I'm more of a gothic person: atmospheric keyboards, slow bass and everything a little more atmospheric. Pianos, strings… Peter can arrange that very well too. Nevertheless, I sometimes had to cool down his metalhead spirit a little so that a song could develop in a relaxed manner.

No disagreements regarding content at Lindemann?

Peter: Few. Of course I have a different musical background than Till. But the more songs we wrote together, the easier it became. At some point something clicked and we understood what we wanted and how we needed to go about it.

Aren't you worried that your collaboration with Till will be held against you in tight-knit metal circles?

Peter: No, absolutely not. When you start making music young, you feel like you have to fight everyone and everything to prove yourself. Today I don't have to prove anything anymore, I just do what I want. If I get the idea to record a blues album, then I record a blues album. You should only listen to what you want to do yourself and not pay attention to what others might think or expect of you.

Till, did you ever feel like you had to prove yourself with Rammstein? Rammstein appeared so confident right from the start.

Till: Every young artist feels like they have to prove themselves. You're always under a certain amount of pressure to improve from time to time. Even today. We certainly exude a certain self-confidence. But this is not God-given, but is based on many different creative processes.

You recently explained in an interview that you would have liked to hide in the early days of Rammstein and found your role as frontman rather unpleasant. Seems like you've gotten used to being the center of attention.

Till: I'm actually not that concerned with being in the spotlight or the focus. With Lindemann I'm just fulfilling this agreement, which was filled with a lot of Jägermeister, to do a joint project with Peter at some point. Originally I just wanted to record a song and put it online. Peter said he would like to write a whole album together. Then we started working on the next track and after a short time we had five pieces finished. So we thought about an EP. But then we had so much fun that we worked on more pieces. It just bubbled out of us.

In your opinion, do you communicate different things in English today in a different way than you would in Rammstein or in German?

Till: I haven't thought about that yet.

Peter: For me it's easier to express myself in English than in Swedish. Even if I'm talking to a Swede! Sometimes you just use English terms because you can express things quicker and easier than in your native language.

Would you also sing these lyrics in German?

Till: No, definitely not. My message from the start was: If I ever started a side project, it would definitely not be in German. That would be too much competition and friction with Rammstein. Rammstein is Rammstein, Lindemann is in English and I feel extremely comfortable with that. At first I wasn't so sure whether I should actually do it because my English isn't very good and you can still hear the German in me.

Peter: I said from the beginning that I found his pronunciation very appropriate. The rawer and edgier, the better. It would sound very strange if Till Lindemann sang the lyrics in perfect, slurred American instead of his rolling pronunciation. That wouldn't be Till.

Instead of English, you learned Russian at school in the old GDR - would an album in Russian also be conceivable?

Till: It would definitely be a challenge. I probably couldn't do it off the cuff, but would need to brush up on some things and need someone to help me with the lyrics. But an album in Russian is conceivable. Maybe even very soon! It would also be worth considering making a record in many different languages such as French, Spanish, Italian etc. I speak a little Spanish. We've already done Spanish songs with Rammstein.

Your first attempts at non-German were with Rammstein. Have you already tested what it would sound like?

Till: The record company back then wanted us to do “Du hast” and “Engel” in English. Why we did ‘Pussy’ and ‘Amerika’ in English is a mystery to me today.

What did you discover about your artistic abilities while working on ‘Skills In Pills’?

Till: I was very surprised that everything worked out so well. Before our project, I listened to Richard's [Kruspe, Rammstein guitarist] album. We are both from the East. Richard fled before the Berlin Wall came down. We met in Berlin sometime after the fall of the Berlin Wall, before he moved to New York. Suddenly he spoke English fluently and also started making music in English. I really admired that. Above all, I admired his courage in taking this step. And it was a big step from a boy from a small town in East Germany to suddenly making English-language music in New York City. I was proud of him and wondered if I could do the same. But it was crystal clear to me that I would sing in German for the rest of my life. Because people like it. There were many voices who asked that Rammstein never sing anything in English.

People have always wondered about your texts, how much autobiography there is in them. This also applies to the new, sometimes quite revealing to coarse lyrics like 'Ladyboy', 'Golden Shower' or 'Fat'.

Till: A lot. I don't have anything more to say about it. I don't want to explain the lyrics too much.

Is writing a form of self-therapy for you?

Till: It's definitely a good thing. Sometimes it feels good to talk about certain things. Not always, but in certain situations. When someone very close to you dies, it can be very liberating to write about it. When you wrap it up in music as beautiful as Peter's, of course it's all the more beautiful.

What are the lyrics to the title track of ‘Skills In Pills’?

Peter: Of course it's about this society in which people pop a different pill for every occasion: one to sleep, one to stay awake, one for a headache, one to last longer. Pills, pills and more pills. At the same time, you condemn drugs, but you don't count all these pills, while they are almost as addictive and just as harmful. Of course, a headache pill isn't comparable to coke, heroin or marijuana, but at the end of the day they're just drugs.

What is your favorite pill?

Till: The blue one (laughs).

You've already caused a stir with your first outtake 'Praise Abort' - a single about the 'blessings of abortion'. You obviously like making enemies!

Peter: Definitely our families. But seriously: all people who feel offended by this text should get in line! But that's just the way it is: Some people don't really think about it before they start a family. You may have never heard of condoms or other forms of contraception, bang all day and end up sitting with a whole bunch of kids. Then the woman cheats and everything goes down the drain. You're kind of digging your own grave.

Till: Some people are really irresponsible with their children. They want children, but don't know how to raise them, how to teach them things and prepare them for life. And in the end there are only freaks running around outside, as you can often see.

[tropic-havens]

Ruins of Tulum, state of Quintana Roo, Mexico

Tulum is the site of a pre-Columbian Mayan walled city which served as a major port for Coba, in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The ruins are situated on 12-meter (39 ft) tall cliffs along the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula on the Caribbean Sea in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico. Tulum was one of the last cities built and inhabited by the Maya; it was at its height between the 13th and 15th centuries and managed to survive about 70 years after the Spanish began occupying Mexico. Old World diseases brought by the Spanish settlers appear to have resulted in very high fatalities, disrupting the society and eventually causing the city to be abandoned. One of the best-preserved coastal Maya sites, Tulum is today a popular site for tourists.

The site might have been called Zama, meaning City of Dawn, because it faces the sunrise. Tulum stands on a bluff facing east toward the Caribbean Sea. Tulúm is also the Yucatán Mayan word for fence, wall or trench. The walls surrounding the site allowed the Tulum fort to be defended against invasions. Tulum had access to both land and sea trade routes, making it an important trade hub, especially for obsidian. From numerous depictions in murals and other works around the site, Tulum appears to have been an important site for the worship of the Diving or Descending god.

Tulum was first mentioned by Juan Díaz, a member of Juan de Grijalva's Spanish expedition of 1518, the first Europeans to spot Tulum. The first detailed description of the ruins was published by John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood in 1843 in the book Incidents of Travel in Yucatan. As they arrived from the sea, Stephens and Catherwood first saw a tall building that impressed them greatly, most likely the great Castillo of the site. They made accurate maps of the site's walls, and Catherwood made sketches of the Castillo and several other buildings. Stephens and Catherwood also reported an early classic stele at the site, with an inscribed date of AD 564 (now in the British Museum's collection). This has been interpreted as meaning that the stele was likely built elsewhere and brought to Tulum to be reused.

Work conducted at Tulum continued with that of Sylvanus Morley and George P. Howe, beginning in 1913. They worked to restore and open the public beaches. The work was continued by the Carnegie Institution from 1916 to 1922, Samuel Lothrop in 1924 who also mapped the site, Miguel Ángel Fernández in the late 1930s and early 1940s, William Sanders in 1956, and then later in the 1970s by Arthur G. Miller. Through these later investigations done by Sanders and Miller, it has been determined that Tulum was occupied during the late Postclassic period around AD 1200. The site continued to be occupied until contact with the Spanish was made in the early 16th century. By the end of the 16th century, the site was abandoned completely.

Tulum has architecture typical of Maya sites on the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula. This architecture is recognized by a step running around the base of the building which sits on a low substructure. Doorways of this type are usually narrow with columns used as support if the building is big enough. As the walls flare out there are usually two sets of molding near the top. The room usually contains one or two small windows with an altar at the back wall, roofed by either a beam-and-rubble ceiling or being vaulted. This type of architecture resembles what can be found in the nearby Chichen Itza, just on a much smaller scale.

Tulum was protected on one side by steep sea cliffs and on the landward side by a wall that averaged about 3–5 meters (9.8–16.4 ft) in height. The wall also was about 8 m (26 ft) thick and 400 m (1,300 ft) long on the side parallel to the sea. The part of the wall that ran the width of the site was slightly shorter and only about 170 meters (560 ft) on both sides. Constructing this massive wall would have taken an enormous amount of energy and time, which shows how important defense was to the Maya when they chose this site. On the southwest and northwest corners there are small structures that have been identified as watch towers, showing again how well defended the city was. There are five narrow gateways in the wall with two each on the north and south sides and one on the west. Near the northern side of the wall a small cenote provided the city with fresh water. It is this impressive wall that makes Tulum one of the most well-known fortified sites of the Maya.

There are three major structures of interest at the Tulum archaeological site. El Castillo, the Temple of the Frescoes, and the Temple of the Descending God.

Among the more spectacular buildings here is the Temple of the Frescoes that included a lower gallery and a smaller second story gallery. The Temple of the Frescoes was used as an observatory for tracking the movements of the sun. Niched figurines of the Maya “diving god” or Venus deity decorate the facade of the temple. This “diving god” is also depicted in the Temple of the Diving God in the central precinct of the site. Above the entrance in the western wall a stucco figure of the “diving god” is still preserved, giving the temple its name. A mural can still be seen on the eastern wall that resembles that of a style that originated in highland Mexico, called the Mixteca-Puebla style, though visitors are no longer permitted to enter.

The Temple of the Descending God consists of a single room with a door to the west and a narrow staircase that was built on top of another temple that served as its base.

In the niche located at the top of the door stands a sculpture that’s found throughout Tulum. He has wings, a headdress and holds an object in his hands.

Also in the central precinct is the Castillo, which is 7.5 m (25 ft) tall. The Castillo was built on a previous building that was colonnaded and had a beam and mortar roof. The lintels in the upper rooms have serpent motifs carved into them. The construction of the Castillo appears to have taken place in stages. A small shrine appears to have been used as a beacon for incoming canoes. This shrine marks a break in the barrier reef that is opposite the site. Here there is a cove and landing beach in a break in the sea cliffs that would have been perfect for trading canoes coming in. This characteristic of the site may be one of the reasons the Maya founded the city of Tulum exactly here, as Tulum later became a prominent trading port during the late Postclassic.