#Seismic Proof

[kapilasteel]

Kapila Steel TMT Saria Revolutionizes Earthquake-Resistant Building Solutions

Imagine a building that can stand strong when the ground beneath it trembles. In regions prone to seismic activities, the choice of construction material goes beyond being a technical decision—it becomes a lifeline. TMT Saria from Kapila Steel is becoming a revolutionary option for homeowners, builders, and architects looking for unmatched durability and safety in seismically active areas.

The Importance of Building with Earthquake Resistance

One of nature's most erratic and destructive forces is still earthquakes. It is impossible to exaggerate the significance of earthquake-resistant construction in India, a nation with substantial seismic zones. Conventional building materials frequently fail during severe earth tremors, endangering both lives and financial investments.

Why TMT Saria Makes a Difference

TMT (Thermo Mechanically Treated) Saria represents a technological breakthrough in construction materials. Unlike conventional steel reinforcement bars, these advanced bars offer:

Exceptional strength-to-weight ratio

Superior ductility

Improved corrosion resistance

Greater concrete bonding

Maximum security from structural failure

Kapila Steel's TMT Saria: Engineering Quality in Each Rebar

Kapila Steel has developed a manufacturing technique that converts ordinary steel into fantastic building reinforcement material. This TMT Saria undergoes highly developed treatment processing that yields an exclusive microstructure.

Distinctive Production Process

Hardening: Instant water quenching of the outside layer hardens immediately.

Martensitic Outer Shell: Exhibits excellent tensile strength as well as abrasion resistance.

Softer Inner Core: Offers great ductility and energy absorption.

Quality Control: Testing at each step of production.

Earthquake Resistance: More Than Just a Technical Feature

The true worth of Kapila Steel's TMT Saria lies in the time of seismic activities. Here's how these bars provide unmatched protection:

Ductility: Deformation without breaking, absorbs seismic energy.

Strain Hardening: Maintains strength even when put under extreme stress.

Crack Resistance: Prevents structural failures of catastrophic proportions.

Fatigue Resistance: Resists multiple cycles of stress due to ground movements.

Technical Specifications That Make a Difference

Kapila Steel's TMT Saria complies and exceeds international specifications:

Tensile Strength: 585 N/mm² (Grade Fe 500D).

Elongation: Min. 16%.

Bend and Rebend Test: Meets rigorous quality testing.

Compliance with IS: 1786:2008 standards.

Real-Life Performance in Harsh Environments

Time and again, architects and structural engineers choose Kapila Steel's TMT Saria for critical infrastructure projects, including:

High-rise residential buildings.

Bridges and flyovers.

Construction in earthquake-prone areas.

Critical infrastructure developments.

Quality Certifications

Kapila Steel's commitment to excellence is validated by:

NABL accredited laboratory testing.

ISO 9001:2015 certification.

Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification.

Consistent performance in simulated seismic testing.

Economic Sense Meets Safety

Investing in Kapila Steel's TMT Saria is not just about safety—it’s a sound economic decision:

Reduced long-term maintenance costs.

Extended structural lifespan.

Lower insurance premiums.

Minimal repair requirements.

Enhanced property value.

Making the Right Choice for Your Construction

The difference between standing and falling may depend on choosing the right TMT Saria. Kapila Steel offers reassurance through:

Transparency in quality documentation.

Technical support for architects and engineers.

Guaranteed performance of material.

Wide distribution network in the nation.

Conclusion: Building Confidence, One Bar at a Time

Kapila Steel's TMT Saria is more than just a construction material. It is a promise of safety, durability, and technological innovation. For professionals who do not compromise on structural integrity, this TMT Saria is the ultimate solution for earthquake-resistant construction.

Protect your investments. Safeguard lives. Choose Kapila Steel's TMT Saria.

[anyataylorjoys]

taylor swift is her own boss she owns her own music production company and even if she was actually working under another company, no one would ever dare cut her loose cause they'd lose too much money in doing so but spinning back to the emphasis on the fact that she works under no one but herself that's how much money, power and influence she has and she hasn't spoken a peep about palestine. she could post a link in her bio on instagram and probably raise close to 2 million dollars in 3 days. I've seen the word "cowardly" thrown around a bunch, maybe she simply doesn't care, maybe she doesn't want the world to know that she does not stand for a ceasefire, maybe she thinks speaking will put her life in jeopardy and her entire PR team has advised her to never speak on it or she'll have to be carried around in a bejeweled bullet proof glass case for the next 5 years but if she's silent out of cowardice then she really must think her life is more important than 30 thousand lives maybe because she has 250m instagram followers. I can't imagine being holed up with my billions of dollars and wielding the kind of impact to generate the seismic activity of a 2.3 earthquake at a seattle concert but never speak on anything that matters. what a complete waste of mass scale influence.

[lenaperseveranceoxton]

We finally got a wave of new interactions for Tracer!... and they still don't have an interaction with Soldier: 76. Pain.

It kills me that when Jack got a wave of new interactions so many seasons ago, he got an interaction with Illari about her bringing her baggage onto the field, and now, Lena gets an interaction where we are once again reminded that Illari is sad. I don't hate Illari! I think she's a very interesting character, and there's especially a lot to expand on with her apparent ties with Talon, but most of her interactions are all the same! As a side note, I feel like the Illari interaction is just a duplicate of the one Lena has with Ashe. Yes, Lena tries to look on the bright side of life, we get it. They couldn't somehow show that Lena has faced a LOT of trauma and is absolutely a wreck beneath their cheerful exterior this time around?

Illari aside, I like the interactions Lena has with Juno. I love the mental picture of Lena and Winston canonically walking around Mexico and talking to the locals like "Excuse me, have you seen a purple-haired girl with a fishbowl on her head around here lately?"

Then, there's an interaction Lena got with Moira where they say "Overwatch is here to stay, and we're coming for you next."

(Whoa, like how Jack says "Tell Doomfist I'm coming for him," when he eliminates Talon members! Irrefutable proof that he is LITERALLY Lena's adoptive father! /j)

I love when the writers bring out Lena's angry side, like when they say "How dare you come back here!" upon eliminating Widowmaker in King's Row, and I also miss their interaction with Sombra where they say "It wouldn't be a problem if you just disappeared forever!"

However, they also got two interactions with Ramattra. I sense the director didn't tell Cara Theobold one was for PvP rather than PvE because of how little energy it has, but in the other one, they say "That's enough out of you." I get Ramattra has affected countless omnic lives, especially those back in London after the backlash of his uprising, and I know Lena is very naive and tends to think in black and white, but I just find it weird that they get that nasty of an interaction with Ramattra before they do with many of Talon's members.

With Talon, they say "Manners maketh the man!" when eliminating its male members, "I've been waiting for that!" when eliminating any of its members, "Au revoir!" or "Splat went the spider!" when eliminating Widowmaker, and "Hack your way out of that!" when eliminating Sombra. These are all fine, but my problem lies with them not getting any sort of nasty interaction with Doomfist. They only say "Not catching me this time!" upon eliminating him while he's using Seismic Slam. Where's your anger, Lena? Where's your fucking rage? RISE! RISE! RISE!

Lastly, in light of Reaper getting an interaction with Sojourn where he hints that he does have a soft spot for his old friends in Overwatch, I hoped he would get an interaction with Lena in this update. I still believe that he envied Lena because of how Jack treated them and found them unworthy of being an Overwatch agent, and I think it would've been interesting to have a sort of interaction where he's like "Back to trying to be the hero with Overwatch, huh? Because your first three years as an agent went so well..." and they respond like "At least I'm not a terrorist, Gabe! I mean, um. Commander Reyes, sir..."

TL;DR: Give Tracer an interaction with Soldier: 76 and let them get angry and have frivolous beef with the baddies more often. Please and thank you.

[wilcze-kudly]

What are your favorite Beifong family headcanons?

Oooh that's a great ask. I have a lot of headcanons and I'm pretty sure I've talked about them a lot at least a few times, but I've tried to condense them as best I could!

I've rambled about my headcanons surrounding seismic sense but here's some more. The twins and Huan learnt seismic sense very early on in their lives and were provably encouraged to lean into it. Huan particularly has very well developed seismic sense. To the point where it makes him uncomfortable and he tends to shy away from using it by wearing thick socks or shoes.

When Kuvira first arrived to Zaofu, she didn't really get along with Baatar Jr. I can see Baatar Jr being very protective of Opal, since they were the two nonbenders of the family. I can see him not looking too kindly at whom he saw as his mother's attempt at having a "better daughter".

Kuvira and the twins are permanent parts of Suyin's dance troupe. (Canon for Kuvira.)

Due to not having much interaction with people outside the family, the Beifong kids are/were super close. Which leads to even more pain as they slowly untangle and mature.

They were also very close with the staff that worked at the manor and other of their family friends, due to this being their only social interactions outside family. Aiwei and the Chef (he only calls himself chef and never reveals his real name cause he used to be a pirate and is wanted in all four nations) are basically surrogate uncles to the kids.

It having been just the six of them, i can see it being hard for them to fully interact with new people.

Huan wanted to be a doctor as a kid and pretended to do operations on his siblings. Their father, a renown architect, even built them a little play hospital. The other Beifongs... weren't fans.

Kuvira enjoys bubble baths. That's it.

Wei collects crystals and cool looking rocks, similairly to how Su collects meteors. He's a nerd about it too. He has several opals and whenever he's in an argument with Opal he will dramatically move them to the back of his collection.

One of my fave silly headcanons/theories is Baatar Sr being Suki and Sokka's kid. Like, I know it's very unlikely, but it is a lovely idea in my head and I could ramble about it all day. I don't see a lot of people talking about it. I see plenty of people using Suyin's sons looking like Sokka as proof that Su is a Tokka baby, however the Beifong boys actually resemble their father a lot. Also I have plenty headcanons around this idea and Suki would be an epic grandma. Kyoshi warrior Opal (and the twins). Living in my head rent free. Forever.

Wing and Opal formed a little book club and like reading together/talking about books they've read. Their siblings aren't allowed to join. One time Kuvira and Wei crashed the little meeting and Wing was so offended he pretended to run away and join the circus.

When they were children, Kuvira was the ringleader for sure. She'd take the much more well behaved Beifong kids on wild adventures, after which they'd come back to the house covered in mud.

Wing is hard if hearing. Comes from that one scene where he sent Lin and Su to their deaths after misshearing Mako.

Aiwei was the first one to encourage Huan to pursue his artistic talents and most of Huan's first works are still in Aiwei's house.

Wei is named after Aiwei, but they already had a Juniour in the family, so he was named an abbreviation of his namesake.

Aiwei ultimately regrets betraying the Beifongs, to teh point where his nightmares in the Fog of Lost souls are about the Beifongs.

Can't believe Zaheer sent the only confirmed gay man ever shown on screen to super hell. Homophobia at its finest

Ugh you don't know how happy getting asks about the Beifong family makes me. Sorry if these were more focused on the Zaofu crew, I know they're not as popular as Lin and Toph but they are my faves.

[hometoursandotherstuff]

This is interesting. It's The Earthquake House, a 1990 earthquake-safe construction via revolutionary, (at the time), technology that makes it resistant to seismic tremors. It's a landmark in Los Angeles, California. Looks like a factory, doesn't it? 3bds, 3.5ba, $2.8M.

The floor plan is easy to adapt to multiple uses, and can be a home/business, or just a business and even a restaurant. It was architect, artist & educator David Ming Li Lowe's own home.

Note the springs so it can absorb impact. I bet those cement stairs would crack during a strong quake, though.

Closeup of the springs. Looks like the cement has cracked already.

Here's the living room when it was featured in a magazine article.

The house is empty, so it's hard to figure out, but here's a door that looks like it's an entrance by the garage.

You can see the steel going to the corners of the wall. I wonder why he used glass, though. Maybe it's shatterproof.

He used a lot of steel. Look at the rods in the wood beamed ceiling.

Industrial style kitchen.

This looks like a primary bedroom.

Most of the rooms look alike with the yellow crisscross support beams on every wall.

One of the baths.

This looks like another bedroom and bath. Look at the flexible hose attached to the sink. There must be a reason for the deep pitches in the ceilings.

It was part workspace and part residence, so this looks like it may have been the office space.

Unless it's a bedroom, b/c it has a laundry closet.

Looking down from the top floor. It's 3 levels high.

This bath has some nice built-in cabinetry. Now, this sink has a regular pipe coming down, not a flexible hose. Are those light bulbs coming out of the ceiling?

I think that this is an entrance gate to the driveway and garage.

2 car garage has an industrial door.

This just looks like a little, non-earthquake-proof covered patio in the yard.

[nitewrighter]

Can we get some more teen titans interactions?

ajkfl;dsa Thank you.

So, as always, I've been thinking about Terra.

---

Nightwing: ...so you were never Geo-Force's sidekick?

Terra: Ew, no.

Nightwing: Partner, then? Never did the brother-sister duo thing?

Terra: Well the thing is, our powers aren't exactly the kind of powers you want to stack. Like, you really only want one geokinetic on a team at a time, otherwise you're worried the entire time about setting off seismic chain reactions, or you're just stuck doing damage control on each other.

Nightwing: ...but you were both given powers to defend Markovia.

Terra: Brion was given powers to defend Markovia. I was given powers as a guinea pig to make sure the meta-gene activation process wouldn't kill Brion.

Nightwing: ...damn...

Terra: Yeah, no they never meant for us to fight side by side. Because then it would be beloved Prince Brion and Walking-Proof-King-Viktor-Fucked-Around.

Nightwing: ...

Terra: I'm a bastard, Dick.

Terra: *pause*

Terra: *faux-enthusiastic* Hey we should be a duo! Dick and Bastard!

Nightwing: Yeah there's multiple reasons why we can't do that.

[zinjanthropusboisei]

The door in the meadow has been there for months. I enjoyed the enigma - I drew a little comic about it and now I have several thousand people in my notifications arguing about whether I should go through the possibly-magic-possibly-cursed doorway and embark on a heroic quest (For the record, having had a thorough education in, among other things, medieval Celtic literature and mythology and the perils of passage into otherworlds, I have not gone through the door).

The thing is, the door is still there. After my berry picking days of high summer, when I largely worked from home and walked that way every other day for an iced coffee and a break from the downstairs neighbor, I didn't go to the meadow until February. And it's still there. It's on university land, in one of the sprawling natural areas ancillary to campus, and I'd like to ask someone at the botanical gardens about it, but I'm worried that perhaps its continued presence is unsanctioned, and that drawing attention to it will run the clock out.

I'll be keeping a closer eye on the door these days though - that scrap of woods is also my calendar, the little brook usually surrounded by skunk cabbages poking up as the first sign of spring. The timing's all gone wrong the last few seasons, no snow then too much snow then floods. I last passed through on February 28th, and the cabbages were there - harder to spot without their blanket of snow. When a plant generates enough internal heat to melt a hole through a foot of snow, it tends to catch the eye. Less so when it's one spike of mottled burgundy-brown against a creek bed.

In my last visit, I was observed - several deer on the opposite side of the creek, separated by a small rill of water and a bank of reeds. I think I've failed to paint an adequate picture, from a topographic point of view. It's a place of nature, as dictated by the university's categorization scheme for its outer regions - a Natural Area, the So-and-So Woods Natural Area, a remnant of woodland that rises up and down around a small scrap of crick. In the middle is a meadow on top of the ridge, like a pause for sunlight, ringed by berry bushes. The ridge slopes down to the north to the stream, which is granted a brief reprieve between the severe constraints of an uphill golf course and the suburban neighborhood downhill where it is blinkered by culverts.

The door isn't the only human intrusion; there's a frisbee golf course on one end and a small seismic station on the edge of the meadow near the door (This at least will provide some truly unique scientific observations should there be a large-scale fairy invasion). It's the same kind of seismic monitoring set up that I used to rely on for research: a small solar panel and GPS unit at the surface, connected to the recording equipment in a big plastic tub weather-proofed as well as possible with duct tape and a tarp, all connected to the actual seismometer buried out of sight in the quiet earth, measuring its every twitch and rumble.

It's the GPS unit I'm thinking of; it doesn't only provide location, but also - more critically - time. To analyze seismic data - not just locating earthquakes but also things like identifying structures within the Earth - you need precise timing data. The calculations revolve around the time that it takes for seismic waves to travel through different rock layers, so you don't rely on local clocks in each individual recording unit; you use the GPS to synchronize. On one of the projects I worked on when I was a geology student, we were maintaining an array of seismometers across northern Tanzania, peering into the East African Rift. About a month after installation, the GPS units started to fail en masse across the array, and by the time we returned six months later to harvest all that lovely data that had been steadily filling up the SD cards, all but five of the clocks had failed. The timing was gone, and the data was useless - unmoored in time and therefore in space.

It's an apt metaphor, if it even counts as a metaphor given how literal the unmooring feels when it's over 60 degrees in upstate New York in February. My internal clock is set to berry time and skunk cabbages and when the lake water gets to be a swimmable temperature, and my clock is losing time. The door is a nice distraction, but it's not the most unnerving discontinuity in the woods.

[highfunctioningflailgirl]

Damage Control - 2x17 Heart

The echo of the shot reverberates through Dean’s bones like a seismic tremor. He flinches, surprised at the tear splashing down his cheek. He hadn’t felt it coming, his face numb while he’d held himself together for Sam. For Maddie.

Now, sorrow rolls over him in a suffocating wave. What his little brother just did, had to do, is inhuman. Dean doesn’t know how Sammy’s going to survive this - another loss, another gut punch of grief, and this time he’s been the executioner. What ruin is he going to find when he walks into the other room to pick up the pieces of his baby brother’s heart?

Under the sorrow, dread makes Dean’s heart pound. What if, down the line, they will end up just like this? With Dean pointing a gun at Sam’s head to put down the monster he’s become? If Dean can’t save him, if there’s ultimate, irrefutable proof that Sammy isn’t Sammy anymore, if Dean sees the monster in him with his own two eyes - will he be able to put him down? 

So far, he’s almost stood at that crossroad twice. When they thought Sam was infected with the Croatoan virus, Dean had refused to kill him. When it looked like Sam had killed a fellow hunter, blood still on his hands, begging Dean to shoot him, Dean hadn’t been able to even train the gun on him. Both times, there had been a margin of doubt. Both times, Dean had been able to prove that Sam was innocent, that he wasn’t Sam. He’d saved him. But what if there was truly, irrevocably nothing left to save? 

Dean doesn’t want to go there. He can’t go there. He’s just not going to let that happen. If he keeps his guard up, if he keeps watching out for Sammy, if they catch up to the yellow-eyed demon before whatever he’s planning comes to fruition, if he keeps Sammy safe… Dean hangs on to those ‘if’s’ and to his own strength that he pulls up from the very ground he’s standing on. Sam needs him to be strong now. 

Releasing a breath he’s held for far too long, Dean rolls his shoulders, wipes the tears off his face and straightens his back. Carefully rearranging his expression into a calm, composed mask, he sets his feet in motion and walks into the other room.

xxx

Sam is dimly aware that he’s slipping into shock as he stands over Maddie’s dead body. Weirdly detached, he’s staring at the bloody hole in the middle of her chest and at her wide open eyes, their far-away gaze fixed in death. Tear tracks are drying on Sam’s face, and they’re cold. Everything feels cold. Like his hand that’s still holding Dean’s gun at the end of his outstretched arm. Is that even his hand? It doesn’t feel like it belongs to him.

Sam recognizes this feeling of dissociation, of a wall separating him from himself, to hold off the storm of emotions that would otherwise consume him. He’s been here before, after Jess’ death, after Dad’s death. It’s shock. His body is protecting his mind from shattering. 

There should be guilt. There should be sadness. There should be fear that he, too, will become what Maddie became - an ungovernable beast that can only be stopped by a bullet through his heart. There should be the desperate hope that he, too, will be brave enough to choose death before the choice is taken from him. Before he kills and kills and kills and kills. 

But he feels nothing. A deceptive blankness has laid itself over the turmoil underneath. Sam can sense it, can feel the madness of it all clawing at his defenses. The earth is rippling underneath him like the unsteady ground over a sheet of lava. Any time now, the crater of what he just did will break open and swallow him whole. 

He cannot allow it. He cannot let himself burn. He chose this. Chose to be strong for Maddie, to be strong in front of Dean. He can’t fall apart now, even when his mind screams at him, behind that barrier of cracking glass.

You’re cursed. You are a monster. Everything you love, dies. 

Sam can’t tear his eyes away from Maddie. His arm starts to shake. The gun drops from his grip. He cannot feel his legs anymore. They give out underneath him, and he falls…

… into Dean’s bracing arms. He’d stepped into the room just to see Sam buckle. The kid’s heavy, too-long limbs everywhere when Dean catches him around the chest and guides him to the floor, his brother’s shaggy head sagging against his shoulder. 

“Sammy! Hey, you with me?”

Dean kneels, his brother’s six-and-a-half feet sprawled half on the carpet and half in his arms. Sam’s face is ashen, the claw marks on his cheek glaringly red. Half-lidded, pupils blown wide, Sam’s eyes don’t seem to see Dean but something far-off, in the distance. His skin is cold and Dean can see his carotid pulsing erratically in his neck.

Shock.

“Hey! Hey, hey, hey, stay with me, man! Come on!”

Dean cups his brother’s good cheek, his hand incongruously warm against Sam’s clammy skin, and his eyes frantically scan Sam’s body. He can’t see any additional injuries. Maddie didn’t attack him before he shot her; Dean would’ve heard it from next door, and the hole in her chest is neat and dead-center. She didn’t fight her execution. 

No, this is a different kind of shock. One he’d feared would happen if he let Sam do this. 

“It’s okay, Sammy,” he whispers into his brother’s ear, cradling him tighter to his chest. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”

In the end, it takes more than stubborn reassurance to bring Sam out of his stupor. Running through basic shock protocol, Dean gently lays his brother out on the floor, head on his folded jacket, feet propped up on a chair. From the bedroom, Dean fetches blankets. One goes over Maddie’s body, her face and bloody chest hidden from Sam’s sight now. The other is for Sam, and Dean has memories of tucking his baby brother in when they were both still children, as he wraps Sam in the all-too-cheerful quilt he pulled from Maddie’s closet.

“This is better, right?” Dean keeps up a string of one-sided conversation as he takes care of Sam, hoping it’ll ground him. “Nice and warm. Gonna get you toasty. There.”

Back on his knees beside Sam, Dean brushes his brother’s hair out of his face and cups his forehead. Dean’s not the touchy-feely type, but this is Sam. His baby brother who huddled up close to him after nightmares when they were little, who grabbed Dean’s hand and held on for dear life when he was scared, who hugged him fiercely when he came back from a hunt with Dad. No matter how much Sam always fought to get away from him and the life Dean had chosen, he needs his big brother close now.

“Come on, Sammy. Hang in there. Come back to me!”

Dean’s just beginning to wonder if it’s time to call 9-1-1 when Sam finally stirs back to life. He blinks and turns his head into Dean’s hand, eyes searching. 

“Dean…”

Thank God.

And then Dean sees it all rushing back in, sees the dam breaking. Sam gasps, his eyes turning wet. Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallows hard, he struggles to sit up and a noise comes from his throat that sounds far too young and far too small for such a big guy. 

One hand on his back, Dean tries to steady him. “It’s okay, Sammy. You’ll be okay.”

“Dean, I… I can’t–” Sam’s face contorts into a grimace of grief and pain. He bites down on his trembling lip, breathing hard.

Dean doesn’t break contact. His palm draws circles on his brother’s back. As much as he doesn’t want to see Sammy cry, he knows it’s the time for tears. Bottling them up will only tear him apart. 

“It’s okay,” Dean whispers again, his own chest constricting painfully. “Just let it go.”

And then the tears come and Sam’s an ugly sobbing mess in Dean’s arms. 

Dean lets him, just holding him firmly, the way he used to when they were still children, before Sam became too stand-offish and too stubborn to let Dean comfort him when he was sad or scared. There’s no judgment from Dean, no rough orders to be a man and pull himself together. Dean’s not their father - not when it comes to this. Sam’s always been the softer one, and it’s better if he lets his pain out instead of shoving it down and burying it, like Dean always does. It’s not weakness. Deep down, Dean thinks it makes Sam stronger - better at processing whatever life throws at him. More capable of living it.

The sobbing eventually quiets down to embarrassed sniffling, and Sam squirms out of Dean’s embrace, pushes away from Dean’s chest, where his shirt is now damp and blotchy. Sam wipes his face, hands still a little shaky, and clears his throat. “I’m fine, I’m…” He sounds stuffy. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be so… I-”

“I know.” 

Relieved, Dean gives Sam a firm pat on the back, and they both climb to their feet. Sam’s face loses a bit of color again when his eyes roam over Maddie’s body on the floor, and Dean grabs him by the elbow. 

“I’ll take care of her,” Dean says, steering Sam away. “Don’t worry about that now. Let’s get you out of here first. You need some air. And rest. I’ll come back later and clean up.”

When Sam hesitates, shoulders stiffening, legs refusing to move, Dean leans closer to his brother. “I’ve got her,” he says, with surety. “I promise.”

Sam’s head turns away from Maggie, his eyes finding Dean’s. The grief in them breaks Dean’s heart. Sam hesitates some more, then nods, barely perceptible. “Thank you.” 

Dean only breathes easier when he has Sam down the stairs, outside, and in the passenger seat of the Impala. A flashlight between his teeth, he takes care of the claw marks on Sam’s face, disinfecting them diligently, then pushes a water bottle into Sam’s hands. 

“Here. Hydrate.” 

Slowly, Sam uncaps the bottle and drinks. He’s still a bit zombie-like and sluggish in his reactions, but Dean chalks it up to sheer exhaustion. The sooner he’s got him tucked into a motel bed and sleeping, the better.

Dean starts the Impala, the rumble of its engine uncannily loud in the quiet neighborhood. There’s little traffic when he steers the car onto the main road, heading for the city limits to find a cheap place to stay. Beside him, Sam is clutching the half-empty water bottle. 

“Dean?” His voice sounds hollow.

“What is it?”

“What I did to Maddie… what I did for her…” Sam swallows. “Will you do this for me, too? If it comes to it?”

Dean clutches the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white. Then he looks over at Sam, eyes narrow and hard. “You’re not Maddie, Sam. You are not a monster. And you never will be.”

“But what if-”

“No!” Dean glares at him before he looks back on the street. “No. It won’t happen! I won’t let it happen. End of discussion.”

Sam opens his mouth again, but he doesn’t say anything, most likely sensing Dean’s mood shift from worry to anger. Or maybe he’s simply too worn out to argue. In any case, Dean is glad that his brother, for once, doesn’t put up a fight. They’re both exhausted after what happened, and Dean still has to go back and dispose of Maddie’s body, clean away blood and fingerprints and any other traces that may lead back to them. 

A flickering orange motel sign coming up on their left catches Dean’s attention. “The Fisherman”, although they’re nowhere near the bay. But there are vacancies, and when he finally herds Sam into a room on the first floor, it’s surprisingly modern and smelling of fresh paint. He pushes Sam onto one of the comfortable-looking beds. 

“Lay down,” he tells him, stooping to pull Sam’s boots off, but his brother pushes him away.

“I can do it.”

Dean eyes him skeptically. His little brother looks like crap. He moves in slow motion as he undresses, weariness radiating off him in leaden waves. The marks on his cheek are raised and glistening. Sam’s hair is tousled and sweaty, his whole body slumped as if faltering under a heavy weight. He’s going to need a shower and more wound cleaning, but for now, he desperately needs to rest.

When he’s stripped down to his t-shirt and boxers, he crawls underneath the sheets to lie on his back and stare at the ceiling, but from his lazy blinking Dean can tell it won’t be for long. Sleep is already reaching for Sam, and soon he’ll roll onto his belly and conk out, arms and legs akimbo as always.

“You okay here on your own for a while?” Dean asks, fighting the old urge to tuck the blanket tighter around his little brother.

“Yeah.” It’s a coarse whisper.

“Get some sleep, Sammy. I’ll be back soon.”

Still looking at the ceiling, Sam just nods. Dean pats his foot through the blanket, turns around and leaves.

In the Impala, he shoves a different tape into the Impala’s tape deck and turns the volume up. Metallica blasts from the speakers.

Nothing else matters.

Dean drives back into the city’s heart, bracing himself for the task at hand. It’s going to be a while until he, too, will find some sleep.

The Damage Control Series - Masterlist

Read the whole series on AO3 here:

[hacash]

Curious-Would you or your mom consider the joke abt Colin posting abt Welsh independence as them using his Welshness as a joking point?

Also- Do most or a large amount of Welsh people want independence or is that a minority opinion and thats what made that scene humorous?

I'm guessing this is from the same anon, so I'll answer both at the same time!

So I'll answer the second question first: to qualify, my mum's lived in England for around forty years and I've always been based in England, so I'm not necessarily the most qualified person to answer! (Welsh followers based in Wales, feel free to weigh in.) From what I've seen, the independence movement in Wales is less popular than the one in Scotland, which appears to be polling at 50/50 atm; and Plaid Cymru, the independence party in Wales, has 20% of the seats in the Welsh Parliament. Certainly there's plenty of call for it, but the idea of Welsh independence is not currently important enough to cause political headaches for the Tories in the way that Scottish independence is.

From my own experience, my mum has never been a big fan of the independence movement, not because she's not passionately, Welshly patriotic (she definitely is), but because she likes England as an adopted home as well and will feel sad about the two countries being separated, as well as worrying about whether independence would actually work - would there be a hard border? which country gives her official citizenship? what will happen to the Welsh economy? The rest of my mum's friends, who are largely in their 60s and 70s, also seem to tend towards either not wanting full independence, being largely apathetic towards the idea, or liking the idea but being fully and Welshy cynical that such a seismic change would go well.

(I should also note that as my mum is South Welsh and grew up at a time when the Welsh language was really not encouraged in the south, her Welsh is patchy at best and she's had one or two bad experiences going to North Wales - which did a far better job of keeping the language going - and being judged for not being able to speak it, so she hasn't always had the best experience with Welsh nationalism. Because this is tumblr, I should probably add at this point that the majority of our experiences in NW have been absolutely lovely :) but it does show that Wales isn't a monolith and there's definitely political diversity throughout.)

I imagine that supporters of Welsh independence will tend towards being more politically engaged, well educated, and possibly amongst the younger generation - although I imagine that if Scotland ever successfully declared independence and had a few good years of being an independent country without the economy tanking etc, the 'proof' that independence might work could strongly sway opinion in Wales.

Which brings me to your first point! 'Welshness as a joking point' may have been a poor way of putting it - there's plenty of jokes around Welshness which we'll be the first to make about ourselves! - I meant more 'Welshness as a reason to mock him', for example making sheep jokes or suggesting that the Welshman is the thick one in the group. Both my mum and I enjoyed that moment, and tbh I didn't really read 'Welsh independence is so unpopular' as the joke there. I would say it was more the idea that ditzy, daft Colin is nonetheless apparently so politically engaged that he's committed to Welsh independence to such an extent, when it's still a relatively lowkey movement.

(In the case of both Welsh and Scottish independence, I've also noticed that, regardless of age, many Welsh and Scots who come to settle in England are understandably less pro-independence than those who remain in their home country, even if they're very proudly Scots/Welsh. After all, independence means ramifications about where you live, how you’ll be returning to visit your family, your citizenship, etc. So there's another thing there: despite settling in London and being very committed to the flash, superficial footballer lifestyle, Colin has enough Hidden Depths to make his instagram the official social media campaign for Welsh independence.)

[kevin--of-desert-bluffs]

WTNV quick rundown - 111 - Summer 2017, Night Vale, USA

Read the others here!

A friendly desert community, where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful, and mysterious lights pass overhead, while we lay open eyed, watching it all. Welcome to Night Vale.

In many ways this episode is a mirror of the pilot/earlier episodes but with updates according to developments in the story. For example, Cecil is questioning why they aren't allowed in the dog park, the angels are legally acknowledged as angels and are throwing a memorial service for Josie, Cecil and Steve have a better relationship etc

The rips in reality left an ocean around the NV boardwalk which can only be viewed from said boardwalk.

Carlos, Luisa and Nilanjana are renewing their investigations into the House that Doesn't Exist with new understanding of it as a portal to another world. They also say that the 'seismic activity' that can be detected but not felt could be the different universes colliding.

Weather: "Andromeda" by Airospace

The tiny NV under Lane 5 had disappeared.

Carlos admits that he doesn't know what his box that makes a noise like baby birds waking up and tests for materials actually is, he just used it as an excuse to drop by and see Cecil.

Settling in to be another clear and pretty evening here in Night Vale, this weird, weird town. I hope all of you out there have someone to sleep through it with. I know I do. Good night, listeners. Good night.

Proverb: There is no proof you exist, only evidence.

[lividria]

Funny Story: Bad Video Game Endings (+ a game nobody's heard of before)

Not as in bad endings as in negative outcomes in the story, I mean video game endings that are of poor quality. I have some funny experiences with them. One of them is in a game I could probably convince you was a hoax if I tried hard enough. The other is from a recent Nintendo release. Strap yourself in, this'll be fun.

I'm back from writing this out, and HOLY SHIT, THIS MIGHT BE AS LONG AS THOSE TWO REALLY LONG METROID PRIME 4 POSTS I WROTE OUT. Abandon all hope, ye who enter in.

I Might Be One Of The First Actual People To Document Sparklite On Tumblr

Okay, Sparklite is a pixel-art 2D top-down roguelite that's on a couple consoles and I think Steam, but I played it on my stepdad's Switch (He found it in the eShop, I watched him play and wanted to try it myself). The game is seemingly often compared to 2D Legend of Zelda, but I personally don't really see the comparisons beyond comparisons you can make to dozens of other games and not just LoZ. It took me 2 or 3 days to beat, but if you have enough time and know what you're doing you might be able to beat it in 3 hours. This game has enthralled me ever since I played it like... It might've been months ago now, actually, because it is possibly one of the most obscure games I've ever played, and the way it handled it's plot fascinates me.

I looked on YouTube and only found a couple playthrough videos & specific segment guides and not much else besides the official soundtrack upload (By the way, huge shout out to the game's composer, Dale North, this game's ost is amazing go listen to it right fucking now it has under 2K views but is spectacular and deserves better), I found a Fandom wiki for the game that only has 16 barren pages and the main page was vandalized for some time because it wasn't fucking edit locked, and besides for like 1 or 2 people playing through the game on their own, all of the posts about it on here seem to be either automated reposts from other sites and/or like... Reviews and articles written by game journalists? Which puts me in an interesting spot here.

I just find that entire side tangent really interesting, but I'm now going to spoil the entire plot because it leads up to why this game's ending sucks. If you're playing through this game right now, don't read further but let me know and provide proof because I will not believe you but also really want to know if I am literally the only person who knows about this game.

Sparklite's Story, From Memory at 12:30 AM

You're a mechanic girl named Ada flying an airship with your robot pal Wingnut. You crash atop the continent of Geodia, and have to figure out where to go now. Woohoo.

You go through a weird building called a Founders' Vault that gives you a crossbow then replaces it with a blueprint in your inventory when you leave, and get your ass kicked by a robot that eats Wingnut and has a human piloting it that is uncommunicative and never elaborated on and entirely possible to miss.

You wake up in the Refuge, a fucking sky island base built by the people of Geodia because it is currently experiencing multiple seismic events constantly reshaping the land. Because it's a roguelite. There's this one character I forgot the name of, he's really cool looking and is said to be the one who built the Refuge but hasn't talked since he finished it, he'll come up again a bit, I'll refer to him as Hero because his design at first glance reminded me of a character named Hero from one of my friend's projects, ROYN, which I shall now shamelessly plug, go watch it. I dare you. I don't think the designs are actually comparable in hindsight.

You go down from the Refuge into Geodia, starting in the Vinelands which has a lot less vines than the name implies, and explore a bit, meeting a strange pirate gambler who makes you gamble at his game and resets all of the objects once you leave the room allowing for you to grind breaking plants eternally for infinite money, and eventually find that boss from before and kill him. Wingnut is saved, hooray!

Behind the boss (Because I guess it couldn't get in there but wanted to guard it) is a room leading to a giant chasm underneath Geodia revealing a big crystal. I don't remember if it was named. I'm going to call it the Philosophers' Stone because it's funny and technically a pun. You step on a symbol and a voice from who the fuck knows where speaks to you, telling you things. You're warped back to the Refuge, Hero speaks to you, and the next area is unlocked. This loop repeats for each major world, because that sequence unlocked the next one.

Between the mystery voice and Hero's monologues, you learn the following:

The main fuel source of this world is Sparklite, a usually green crystal that comes in other flavors and contains essentially infinite power. Basically anything drops it, and it's the currency of the game. Despite being set up as a power source, you're arbitrarily given a separate energy meter for the weapons that cost energy.

You can burn Sparklite to get a higher energy output but destroying the Sparklite, which fucks up the environment and turns things into monsters and is what's causing Geodia to fracture, and that's what the main antagonist, the Baron, and his soldiers, the bosses, are doing. Why? I dunno. Hero specifically mentions he was the one who invented burning Sparklite, but this never goes anywhere.

There was this ancient people that either came to this continent or planet and made it alive because they needed a place to stay. I forgot all of their names, but there were 5 important ones, but only 3 were actually important to the plot, and in fact I might be misremembering and only 2 are. one of them made the Philosophers' Stone as essentially the world's heart (It's one giant Sparklite crystal), one of them is Ada's ancestor and passed down the necklace thing you use as a key to get into more Founders' Vaults, and another tried to break the Philosophers' Stone and figured out how burning Sparklite works. No, I don't think this means Hero is thousands of years old, though I wish that was the twist.

I think Ada was prophesized to show up here, but I don't know how or why.

The Baron wants the Philosophers' Stone. You have to activate the seal things at the end of each world to protect the stone and stop him from getting it.

There are these musical creatures called Beats that keep getting lost. This one girl, Harmony, wants you to rescue them all. Saving all of them across the entire map gives you essentially the instant win button, as it's the max upgrade of each major equipable accessory thing I forgot the name of. If you've played Iconoclasts, they're essentially this game's more elaborate version of Tweaks... Iconoclasts is also another obscure indie game I've obsessed over a lot, and I only know one person outside of the game's Discord that knows about it.

Sparklite's Ending Has To Have Been Developed In Under An Hour

Okay, that's a bit of hyperbole, but still.

You're in the final world, Titan's Ridge, listening to one of the coolest tracks in the game, and you enter the final dungeon, seeing that the standard boss room is empty and the door to the Philosophers' Stone chamber is broken open. You walk in, the stone is gone, and the voice tells you you were too late and to go stop the Baron.

You're warped to the top of Titan's Ridge (it's a mountain), where the Baron is staring over the clouds at the Refuge. He has a generic villain monologue about how Ada is annoying and Sparklite is always more powerful when burned, snaps his fingers and the ENTIRE REFUGE CATCHES FIRE AND FALLS OUT OF THE SKY, and the final showdown commences.

You beat him up, and then he just absorbs the entire Philosophers' Stone out of nowhere, transforming into this horrid abomination that takes up almost the entire background as you fall into the stone chamber, and have to fight a swarm of buffed enemies to reactivate all of the seals. Alright, now I can fight him for rea- Wait, what the fuck, the game's over.

I'm not kidding. You have the first phase where you fight him in his normal form, then he turns into a kaiju, and you don't even fucking fight him, just his enemies. He doesn't even have a unique animation for when the seal lazers shoot at him and just... Disintegrate him offscreen, I guess, because the Philosophers' Stone is put back in place and the day is saved.

Hero's entire arc is never resolved, none of the other characters you meet have literally any relevance to the story, there's no further explanation given from the voices, the Refuge is somehow back to normal again, and the monsters all turn back to normal animals. The credits put you in a white void with nothing to do but pet a dog as the credits roll, and then you're booted to the title screen once the credits and their corresponding song (best track in the game and one of the best credits themes I've ever heard btw) finish.

You can imagine why my immediate reaction was frustrated, confused vocalizations of distress and despair, after having spent approximately 4 or 5 hours trying to beat the final boss (You had to restart at phase 1, and I had to leave to get better equipment twice which meant finding the dungeon in the newly randomized map all over again).

Hero's story never went anywhere and had no relevance to the plot, Baron's character was never explored, you don't even see what happened to him, his minions literally never got dialogue but were clearly people as Hero would talk about them individually each time you cleared a world, a lot of questions about the ancient people are left unanswered, Ada's relation to the ancients and Geodia is never explored, Wingnut is barely even a character if you remember them by the way they don't talk ever again after rescue besides when you get upgrades for them because they're a gameplay gimmick, and I don't know if Ada ever gets her ship back.

I don't know if this was a deadline issue, since the game was already pretty light on content and made by seemingly an indie studio idk I haven't looked into them, or if the devs just... Ran out of ideas on how to wrap the story up and just threw together something just to get it over with. Ultimately, it doesn't matter, you won't be playing the game for the plot, and it was my fault for expecting the game to have one when it was absolutely a gameplay-centered game. But still, as the ending to a narrative, that was dogshit. I still recommend the game, though. I don't even play roguelikes/lites and I still had a great time. I don't remember the price tag, and as you can tell I'm too lazy and tired to be googling things right now, but I'm pretty confident it was less than 30 dollars.

Princess Peach: Showtime, A Paradox Of Game Design

One of my friends didn't even know this game released when I started playing through it. I got it for my birthday, because I thought a modern Princess Peach platformer would be a decent time and I was running out of modern first-party Switch releases I was actually interested in. Like Sparklite, I see nobody talk about it, but obviously due to being a Nintendo game (Though made by some other company, I don't know what Goodfeel is in relation to Nintendo but they're to blame for this) there's much better documentation meanwhile Sparklite doesn't even have a Wikipedia page. I don't know what the standards are for that kind of thing, but you get the idea.

In case anyone missed that this game existed and don't know anything about it, Princess Peach is invited to the Sparkle Theatre, only for Madame Grape and the Sour Bunch to infiltrate and fuck up the plays happening in the Theatre, while locking everyone inside. The theatre's guardian, Stella, this game's stereotypical tiny floating exposition dump partner, asks Peach for help going through all of the plays and saving the day. You go through the plays, resolve the story conflicts the Sour Bunch are causing (Fun fact, they literally commit an act of terrorism in one of the levels), rescue the main actors called Sparklas, yadda yadda.

The game's story is as bland and generic as you can get, so you won't be playing the game for that. You could've swapped Peach out for a unique non-Mario character and nothing would've changed, literally nothing. Especially since most of the character designs don't feel like Mario characters to me. The game's soundtrack, to me, was nothing to write home about. The graphics are alright, but still pretty standard. The gameplay loop, in a vacuum, should be really annoying: You go through a linear level with a couple easy-to-miss side paths or side quests to get collectibles, do a couple minigames, maybe fight a boss every now and then, and if you want to retry literally any part of the level you have to restart the entire thing. At some point, you get a transformation into a costume matching the play, and a new gimmick is introduced, that usually sucks.

The game is easy as shit, unless you're trying to 100% it, then if so the developers hated you. I genuinely don't know why I even finished the game, I should by all accounts not have enjoyed it, but I somehow had fun with it and I still can't really figure out why. It was barely even a platformer. I gave up 100%ing it halfway through when I had to ask myself if constantly retrying a level if I actually cared enough that I wanted to be doing this, because I realized I was just acting on completionist instinct. Once I re-evaluated, I immediately dropped it and just went to finish the game, because I was just not into this game enough.

Princess Peach: Showtime's Ending Is Sonic Adventure 1's Final Boss But Done So Terribly Worse It's Actually Really, Really Funny

I have not, in fact, played Sonic Adventure 1.

I will preface this by saying that even with how lame the game was over all, it was ultimately inoffensive. Sure, it existed only to exist and make Nintendo some more money and nothing more, but you could at least have a good time with it. Up until this ending.

You've beaten every level, and rescued all of the Sparklas. The final boss door is waiting for you, where Madame Grape is waiting behind it. But... Stella can't get it open, even with her magic (By the way, Stella and the Sparklas are powered by Sparkle, Grape uses DARKLE). The cutscene makes it feel like all is lost, because now we can't stop Grape if we can't get to her, and she's just gonna rule the theatre forever.

The Sparklas, previously not in literally any part of the hub world even after being rescued unless I missed them, all surround Peach and offer up their Sparkle, and Peach absorbs it AND GETS A SUPER FORM. Like, literally, through the power of friendship she gets a Super Sonic form.

She floats now, too, and can shoot magic projectiles. So Peach goes through the door, Grape is waiting, somehow three times the size she was in previous cutscenes, and challenges you to a fight, saying she'll create the perfect tragedy by defeating you, her foil. The fight is flying around a ring-shaped arena and shooting projectiles at her around obstacles blocking you from shooting her as you occasionally have to dodge rocks and lazers. That is the ENTIRE FIRST PHASE OF THE FIGHT.

Some of the major bosses of the game actually had interesting gimmicks, like Light Fang was a snake in a clocktower-like environment who you had to avoid being spotted by or else they'd REWIND TIME until you got high enough to hit their fuse and stun them, and Spotlion who would turn the arena to glass and shoot projectiles that now bounce around and you'd have to reflect them back at the boss to stun them. But not the FINAL BOSS.

Peach powers down, and she and Stella go to leave, satisfied Grape is dead as only her mask is left on the floor, only for her to reform and the entire room explodes.

Peach and Stella wake up in the rubble of the Sparkle Theatre, which is now completely destroyed. Grape, now instead of basically being invisible under her clothes besides for a purple smog orb is now whatever this is, and the size of a fucking kaiju.

All seems lost AGAIN, until the residents of the island offer up their Sparkle to Peach, who powers up AGAIN with technically a different form but functionally the same except shooting a beam instead of an orb, and flies off to fight Grape... IT'S THE SAME FIGHT AGAIN, BUT WITH A SMALLER, RECTANGLE ARENA, SHOOTING A BEAM, AND EVEN EASIER TO DODGE ATTACKS.

AND THEN GRAPE IS BLOWN UP AND THROUGH THE POWER OF BULLSHIT THE THEATRE IS RECONSTRUCTED AND PEACH GOES HOME. THAT'S THE ENDING. THAT'S THE FUCKING ENDING. But then, on one of the random credits slides you can see Grape's mask floating in the ocean, implying she might come back in the future. That wasn't a post-credits scene, not one of the last 5 slides of the credits, they put the sequel bait only like 3/4ths into the credits.

I can't be the only one who feels like this is basically just thrift store Perfect Chaos, right? Just when it seems the villain is going to succeed, the main character assumes a floating super form with the help of their friends and goes in for the final showdown. The final boss is the main antagonist which is some esoteric being with shapeshifting capabilities thousands of times bigger, more monstrous, and made of some kind of viscous fluid, and is fought in the remains of the hub world. It even looked like the island was being flooded in that final sequence right before the second phase of the Grape fight.

Obviously, Perfect Chaos is much better than Grape in basically every aspect, especially because that form is actually earned by Chaos meanwhile Grape just... Turns into it.

Oh, also, get this, I didn't look much into the post-game content just because I was so fucking done with the game by this point, but those collectibles you can find in the levels if you hate yourself can actually be spent on something besides unlocking boss doors now. You can decorate the hub world. There's only like 15 decorations, and you can't choose where they go. They're in specific spots. And you can only get one of each. And there's only like 3 per floor.

Don't play this game. You can take the triple A price tag and split the money up to buy like 5 indie games so much more worth your time than this fucking garbage. I beat it a few hours ago and I'm still fuming about how dumb the ending was.

Conclusion

I hope at least one more person buys Sparklite or at least looks into it/listens to it's soundtrack because of this post, and one less person buys Princess Peach: Showtime because of this post.

Also, Bonus Funny Story: Me joking with one of my friends about Grape devolved at breakneck speeds to PP:S 2's antagonist being named Pineapple, having the evil plan of opening a portal to Hell, being fought in the Greed layer of Dante's Inferno except it's basically El Dorado, burnt to death by being dropped into molten gold, replaced by a corrupt businessman as the main antagonist only to come back for the final boss as Golden Pineapple. And then Reality Pineapple.

Would you believe me if I told you all of that was references to the ROYN series I mentioned earlier and the inside jokes we have related to it? Because that's what happened. No, you are not getting an explanation. Unless you watch ROYN. There's a running gag where me and that same friend from the Pineapple joke advertise the series like we're paid shills, and it's really tempting to lean into that right now, but then I'd just actually look like a shill. Especially since I'm friends with the guy making it.

[worldofwardcraft]

It's never good news for Joe.

June 27, 2024

To hear the mainstream media tell it, Joe Biden is universally disliked and a terrible president. Check out these headlines. From the National Review: "The only problem Joe Biden has is that people think he’s a bad president." New York Magazine: "Why do so many Americans think Biden is doing a bad job?" The Hill: "Biden’s worst-case economic scenario is unfolding at the worst possible time." And the ever-reliable Washington Post: "The 10 worst things President Biden did in 2023."

Maybe the reason many Americans think Biden is doing a bad job is because the media keep telling them that many Americans think Biden is doing a bad job. The reality, however, is quite a bit different.

From all-time highs in the stock market to record job growth (more people are working than at any time in American history) to the lowest inflation rate in years (around 3%) and the lowest unemployment rate (including for minorities) in half a century, America is stronger and more prosperous under Biden’s presidency.

And following the massive spike in crime under Donald Trump's maladministration, the data now show that, with crime rates near 50-year lows, President Biden has restored law and order. Here's a recent comment from MSNBC's Chris Hayes: "One of the most seismic stories of the past few years is the rise and fall of what you might call the 'Trump Crime Wave.'"

In addition, President Biden has made investments to rebuild our infrastructure, passed legislation to curb climate change, and brought about historic expansions of benefits for veterans. He's also repaired America's standing in the world after years of Trump snuggling up to dictators and destroying our alliances, while foreign leaders laughed at his fecklessness.

Still, the media continue to ignore these successes, insisting instead that Biden is old and unpopular. Plus, as Marvin Kalb of the Brookings Institute observes,

What we have all noticed is that as Biden’s poll numbers collapsed, negative coverage of him rose, leading in turn to still lower poll numbers, which have only further darkened his political prospects.

In a misguided compulsion to “balance” their justifiably negative coverage of Trump with unjustifiably negative stories about Biden, the media persistently paint anything Biden does in the worst possible light. When Biden made a slip-up in reading the teleprompter during a speech at a trade union conference, USA Today found this a "personally embarrassing incident" and proof that Americans should be concerned about his fitness for office. Why was it bad for Biden? Because everything always is.

[jasonhouck]

Understanding the Core Services of a Newport Beach Plumbing Company

When people think about Newport Beach, the stunning coastline and surfing spots may immediately come to mind. However, behind those attractions lies an intricate network of water and sewage systems that make everyday life seamless and comfortable. At the heart of ensuring efficiency and functionality of these systems are the professionals from a Newport Beach plumbing company.

The Essential Role of Plumbers

In a region as populous and dynamic as Newport Beach, reliable plumbing services play a critical part in maintaining comfort, hygiene, health, and even safety. Experienced plumbers can address complex concerns related to water heating systems, pipelines, drains, septic tanks and more – tasks that would otherwise be risky or challenging for ordinary people.

Broad Range of Services

A seasoned Newport Beach plumbing company won't just specialize in mending leaking sinks or unclogging toilets. The breadth of their services is usually wide-ranging - from preventative maintenance to extensive repair or large-scale installation projects.

For instance, homeowners who find deleterious substances in their tap water can reach out to these companies for water quality solutions. They assist clients with installing water softeners or filtration systems to ensure safe and clean drinking water.

Similarly, homes experiencing issues with their hot water supply can rely on them for efficient fixes. These experts discern whether your heating system entails repairs or replacements by thoroughly diagnosing it before suggesting required solutions.

They're also well-versed in mitigating concerns directly tied to California's climatic features like installing sewer lines safer against seismic activities.

Emergency Plumbing Solutions

When critical plumbing issues arise at inappropriate times – such as late-night pipe bursts or blocked drains causing flooding – it is crucial to have immediate access to professional help. A responsible Newport Beach plumbing company understands that swift response to emergency situations determines mitigation success. With round-the-clock service availability, they ensure relief from urgent plumbing complications without a stressful wait.

Work Ethic and Business Approach

Experienced Newport Beach plumbers not only offer technical expertise but are committed to delivering quality customer service. Valuing transparency, they provide clients with clear, comprehensible estimates before starting any work to prevent surprise costs at the end of a job. They respect customers’ properties by leaving it clean after service. 

Trustworthy plumbers in Newport Beach also prioritize safety by strictly adhering to professional standards and local codes during operations. This adherence ensures the longevity of their work while keeping residents safe – an essential factor to consider when choosing your plumbing partner.  

Wrapping Up: The Hampton Bay Plumbing Company Impact

The utility and versatility of services from a reliable Newport Beach plumbing company cannot be over-emphasized. These businesses help preserve the integrity of both residential and commercial buildings in the area, ensuring comfortable and efficient living for inhabitants.

From providing scheduled repairs and maintenance, handling large-scale installations, offering disaster-proof solutions according to local dynamics to being available during emergencies - these professionals make significant contributions in keeping Newport Beach flowing smoothly every day.

All said, when picking a Newport Beach plumbing company, remember that their range of services ought to cover your specific needs alongside servicing with integrity driven by industry standards for more sustainable results.

ePIPE - Pipe Restoration Inc. Address: 2926 W Pendleton Ave, Santa Ana, California, 92704 Phone: (714) 888-7758

[idlescience]

Cool shit under the earth's crust post

In general, I'm not much of a geologist, but I've just discovered that there's a bunch of research focused on the water contained in the earth's crust. Research on this topic seems to have started back in the 90s (a lot of which involved a guy called Steven Jacobson). At the time they knew that the two main components of the transition zone between the earth's upper and lower mantle (Wadsleyite and ringwoodite) could likely contain water, but had no idea how much. Their crystal structure has oxygen and hydrogen-attracting properties that let them act like a sponge, trapping water within.

The problem was that these guys don't exist on the surface, so Steven and his team had to simulate the intense temperature and pressure conditions in the lab to grow samples, and then test how much water they could contain. But his estimates were crazy high, like way higher than previously thought possible, so he didn't want to publish without solid proof.

But then, the twist. They found a diamond (and as we all know diamonds are formed under pressure, specifically in a similar part of the earth's mantle), which contained a tiny amount of Ringwoodite. And the best part is that when he tested it, the water content lined up with what he'd been predicting.

More recently they've been using earthquake activity to get estimates of the actual water density in the crust based on how the seismic waves pass through the rock. And in just the transition phase alone there is likely the equivalent of THREE oceans worth of water. But there's probably water in the other layers as well, possibly up to five oceans' worth.

And one of the coolest parts of all of this? The water isn't just there, it's vital to the function of the crust and our tectonic plates, allowing the earth to cycle its water and control its temperature.

[bimoutsourcing]

What is Earthquake Proofing?

Earthquake proofing refers to the process of making buildings and structures resistant to the damaging effects of earthquakes. This involves designing and constructing buildings with features such as reinforced foundations, flexible joints, and shock-absorbing materials to reduce the likelihood of structural damage or collapse during an earthquake.

Other earthquake-proofing measures may include securing objects that could fall and cause injury, such as furniture and appliances, and implementing emergency procedures and evacuation plans.

What is Earthquake Proofing of your house?

Earthquake proofing, also known as seismic retrofitting, is the process of strengthening a building or structure to make it more resistant to damage from earthquakes.

The main reason for earthquake proofing is to improve the building's ability to withstand the ground shaking and other seismic forces that can occur during an earthquake.

[maanshaktitmt]

Building Resilience: How Earthquake-Resistant TMT Bars Enhance Structural Safety

The Role of Earthquake-Resistant TMT Bars in Modern Constructions

Building resilient structures is essential to protect lives, properties and the country's economy, especially in earthquake-prone regions. One key innovation that enhances structural safety during seismic events is the use of earthquake-resistant TMT bars.

Reinforced steel TMT bars are designed to offer superior strength, ductility, and flexibility— in short, all the qualities essential in withstanding the dynamic forces generated by earthquakes.

TMT bars are produced with steel that undergoes rapid cooling from a red-hot stage, creating a strong surface over a soft, ductile core. Its unique structure allows the bars to absorb and dissipate energy efficiently during an earthquake, preventing catastrophic structural failure. 

On one hand, the TMT bars' high tensile strength of resist the concrete structures from cracking under stress, while on the other, their flexibility enables them to bend without breaking the structure.

In addition to their seismal benefits, TMT bars are greatly resistant to corrosion, bringing an extraordinary durability to structures. Coastal or humid environments with or without high salt content in the air This is a problem particularly crucial inwhere traditional reinforcement materials may deteriorate over time. By incorporating earthquake-resistant TMT bars into construction, buildings can achieve enhanced safety and longevity, offering better protection against natural disasters while contributing to overall sustainability in civil engineering practices.

Strengthening Foundations: Why TMT Bars Are Essential for Earthquake-Proof Buildings

Constructing any structure out of concrete or iron must withstand natural disasters (earthquakes, storms, floods and landslides). To bear the load of the civilisation alongside, they need strong foundations. Reinforced concrete forms the backbone of these modern structures. TMT rebars fortify the materials further for extended and bettered flexibility and weather/disaster resistance. Thermo-Mechanically Treated (TMT) bars are an essential component for building structures at earthquake-prone areas.

Superior Strength and Durability

TMT bars got superior tensile strength. This offers the high resistance to the forces at play during earthquakes. It's the unique treatment the super-hot steel bars receive - they are made to cool off rapidly - that imparts a tough external layer formed around a soft core. This process ensures that TMT bars can withstand high stress, providing additional support to a building's structure during seismic events.

Enhanced Flexibility

A lack of which is another primary reason why many structures collapse during earthquakes. An inability to absorb and adapt to the forces and directions of the tremors bring them down. The TMT bars' exceptional ductility (the ability to bend without breaking), allows the structure to flex, absorbing the impacts from seismic forces. Unlike traditional steel bars that might snap or fracture under stress, TMT bars can bend, allowing the building to maintain its integrity during intense shaking.

Resistance to Corrosion

Regions that face high humidity, salty environments, or fluctuating weather conditions cause ordinary steel reinforcements to corrode over time. TMT bars and their resistance to corrosion prolongs the life of concrete structures by many times.

High Yield Strength

TMT bars have a high yield strength, which means they can carry heavy loads for long without failing. This characteristic makes them particularly important in areas where a lot of natural and man-made ground shaking goes on. The foundation and the structure are subjected to fluctuating stresses which TMT bars ensure to distribute evenly and efficiently throughout the structure. This prevents a structural damage or a collapse.

Better Bonding with Concrete

The outer surface of TMT bars has a rough texture, which ensures excellent bonding with concrete, improving the overall strength of the concrete mix. The seismic forces pass through the concrete to the TMT bars; tighter the grip, the better. A loose bonding doesn't transfer the forces too well and might not stay intact during or following an earthquake or a landslide; even floods. All will form cracks that weaken concrete structures. Only the TMT shall hold things together.

The Other Face of TMT Bars

Adaptability to Modern Building Designs

TMT bars are also lightweight and easy to handle. Their bending powers make them adaptable to modern architecture and designs; newer structural forms and building techniques. They can be used in various forms, such as rebars, wires, and rods, and are essential for reinforcing intricate architectural designs that aim for both aesthetics and safety. This is the kind of versatility you need if you want to utilise the TMT bar fully.