#these and the 3-4 others are accumulated over a decade or more by the way

[isbergillustration]

Art essentials:

Cat, a few of my too many watercolour sets, caffeine, background garbage

Gotta remind myself how this medium works

[owlservice]

Four myths of smell

Because our grasp of smell is so poor, a number of myths and misunderstandings have accumulated around this sense. Clearing them up at the outset will help you on this journey to the centre of scent.

Myth 1: You smell with your nose. Although we can indeed smell by inhaling through our nostrils, we detect odours using neurons that are directly connected to the brain, which dangle down through the base of the skull, at about eye level [...] Really, you are smelling with your brain.

Myth 2: You smell molecules in the air. The molecules we smell are carried on the air, but we do not directly detect airborne odours. If your olfactory neurons were in contact with the air they would shrivel and die; instead, these neurons, which are found in a thin layer of skin called the olfactory epithelium, are protected by a layer of mucus. A similar thing happens with insects—their olfactory neurons bathe in liquid housed in their sensory hairs. For obvious reasons, aquatic organisms can only sense odours in water. (Yes, fish, crabs, lobsters, and so on all smell, too.) Any airborne molecule you want to smell has to get through that protective liquid barrier. For this to happen, there are special molecules called odorant binding proteins (OBPs) that are found in that mucus—effectively on the outside of your body. Their role seems to be to transport smell molecules through the mucus and deliver them to the receptors on the olfactory neurons.

Myth 3: We have a poor sense of smell. For a long time, scientists agreed with this claim, but in 2017, the neuroscientist John McGann of Rutgers University highlighted the real situation in an article entitled ‘Poor human olfaction is a 19th-century myth’. He summarized the key evidence and concluded that ‘human olfaction is excellent and impactful’. While it is generally the case that your sense of smell might be diminished if you are aged, or if you smoke, and you will generally be better at smelling if you are female (overall, women have a more acute sense of smell than men), in reality we all have an atomic nose [...] Your sense of smell can distinguish between molecules that differ in size by a single atom of carbon—people describe heptanol (an alcohol made of seven carbon atoms) as smelling ‘violet, sweet, woody’, while octanol (just one carbon atom more) smells ‘sweet, orange, rose’. Caraway—one of the components of curry—smells different from spearmint; the two smells have exactly the same atomic composition, but their structure is different. The molecules are mirror images of each other, like two gloves. The difference in our perception of those two odours is due to the way our olfactory neurons respond to the different molecular orientations.

So fine is our sense of smell that the number of odours we can distinguish may be near-infinite. For decades, researchers repeated that the average human could distinguish about 10,000 odours, but this figure had no scientific basis. In 2014 researchers in the laboratory of my good friend Leslie Vosshall at Rockefeller University tried to estimate how many smells we might be able to tell apart, based on mixtures of molecules. They came up with the astonishing figure of over a trillion. Although this mathematical model has been challenged, it seems probable that there is no real limit to the number of odours we can detect. The same will apply to many other animals.

Myth 4: We do not use smell much. Your sense of smell and your sense of taste are intimately connected. If you try eating something tasty while pinching your nose, making sure your mouth is shut, you will find that there is little flavour; but when you take your fingers away, you should get a sudden rush of sensation as volatile compounds from the food you are chewing whoosh up your nasal cavity and flow over your olfactory neurons, high in your head. [...] Our sense of taste is relatively rudimentary, divided into a small number of classes (the traditional salt, sour, bitter, and sweet, together with the more recently identified umami (meaty), fatty, hot/spicy, metallic, and the taste of carbon dioxide), while our perception of flavour is a mixture of the simple world of taste and the rich, multiple dimensions of smell. In many languages, flavour is colloquially called ‘taste’ even though smell may be the dominant sense giving flavour its subtlety. [...]

Smell has long been a powerful aspect of human culture. Fragrances have been used in rituals and ceremonies down the ages, while perfumes—often based on animal sources, such as musk from the scent glands of deer, or from plants—have been a significant part of many cultures. The modern perfume industry is perpetually creating new scents that promise glamour and excitement for both genders, in a way that other products cannot. Smell has even been used to tell the time—from the 11th century onwards, Chinese temples used aroma clocks, containing powdered incense that burned at a particular rate, to release different scents at different times. [...]

Smell is not just a mysterious biological phenomenon, with fascinating examples from across the animal kingdom, it is also a key part of our social existence that often goes unrecognized. 

Smell (AVSI) by Matthew Cobb

[katebishopofearth]

20 questions for 20 writers

tagged by @wheelsup-sevenup

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 69 (nice 😏)

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 317,923

3. What fandoms do you write for? Marvel (mostly ironwidow) and Our Flag Means Death. I have some Clexa fics from back in the day but haven't written for the fandom in years.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? i'm kinda surprised by these but i guess that older fics and multichapter fics have more time to accumulate kudos? - Something Worth Living For (2498 kudos) - A Night of Drunken Revelry (564 kudos) - iron masks and spider kisses (534 kudos) - Broken (485 kudos) - The Art of Taking a Blade (461 kudos)

5. Do you respond to comments? YES A THOUSAND TIMES YES. I try to reply to every comment because each one is literally the best part of my day.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Oof. The shit I've put Natasha through lol. Probably falling. which is Natasha reflecting on her life as she falls to her death on Vormir. dream. is also up there, it's about kid!Natasha learning to love Yelena as a sister.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? "happiest" is not quantifiable lmao. In the context of canon, maybe Something Worth Living For, it was cathartic and healing to give Clarke and Lexa their happy ending.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Yup it's happened a handful of times, luckily few and far between, but they always feel like getting a splinter stuck in my skin for days afterwards.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I've written light smut of the sapphic variety. I'm ace so smut is never about the sex for me, it's about character dynamics, power and intimacy. For example, the (non-explicit) sex scene in iron masks and spider kisses is about Toni baring her deepest secrets to Natasha and letting herself be vulnerable with her, and Natasha's acceptance of Toni's scars and past.

10. Do you write crossovers? Nope. My brain doesn't work that way.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? I think that some of my very early ironwidow fics have ended up on Wattpad :/

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Not that I know of

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yup I've written a few early ironwidow fics for a challenge waaaaaay back in 2014, with the talented @auripigmentum, @kuailongs and SatinSatire. They helped me find my footing with writing ironwidow: Chemical Reaction (Tony gets kidnapped, Nat comes to his rescue), Never Simple (Natasha finds out secrets about her own past, angst ensues), and Good Intentions (speakeasy era AU that still lives in my head rent-free)

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship? i'd be lying if i said anything other than ironwidow. It's the ship I keep coming back to for over a decade.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Oh god. The teen vigilante Avengers AU I was writing in 2014. Idk if it'll ever see the light of day but it was my all-consuming pride and joy for months.

16. What are your writing strengths? idk, you tell me. probably putting characters through angsty situations lmao. Also action scenes (thank u Warrior Cats).

17. What are your writing weaknesses? actually writing lmao. It's hard to get into the mood/mindest for writing. Also writing multichapter fics – my attention span isn't built for anything longer than a 5+1.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I rarely do this because I know that code-mixing (mixing two or more languages when speaking) is incredibly nuanced, varying depending on language, context, and individual speakers. I pretty much only do this when the character canonically code-mixes in speech, and I try to stick to how they would speak, in order to sound as natural as possible.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Warrior Cats when I was about 12 on deviantart. Good times.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? Oh MAN. It's hard to choose a favourite child. I don't think this is my most well-written fic, but the question is asking for a favourite fic not a well-written one, and it's probably iron masks and spider kisses. I loved exploring fem!Toni, and her relationship with her gender and femininity. It's a specific flavour of ironwidow that I haven't found in many other fics (tho there are a couple out there that definitely influenced how i wrote this fic). It's also truly a labour of love – I started writing this around the time Endgame was coming out, and wrote it over a time of enormous change, angst and upheaval in my life.

This was so much fun! I love talking about my writing haha and sharing older fics.

Tagging: @queeenpersephone @autumnwoodsdreamer @missmacfire also i'm realising that i don't remember which of my mutuals is a writer (it's 1 am u can't blame me for this) so if you're a writer – especially if you're on the OFMD fic server – consider yourself tagged!

[armitageshux]

4 types of college Professors

Chill - Never takes attendance. Syllabus doesn’t mean a thing. Doesn’t care if you come to class, but is so nice, you feel guilty if you don’t. Multiple people will stick their heads into the classroom during the lecture just to say hi. Goes over every question that will be on the exam in detail, then tells you they’ll let you retake it if you get less than 80%. Relates everything back to personal life in an absolutely hilarious, but always informative way. Can make the most boring subject absolutely fascinating. Knows everyone by name. Volunteers somewhere at some youth addiction treatment center. Facebook full of former students. Will answer you on Twitter before answering an email. Has multiple “favorite professor of the year” plaques. Knows all the slang. Everyone passes the class with 80% or better.

Passionate - Forgets to take the attendance more often than not. Hates giving exams - wants you to understand the material, not parrot back definitions. Will get in the fight with the college over exam requirements. Syllabus flexible and probably filled with grammatical errors. On top of current events and always armed with a dozen recent news articles relating to the course. Likely to drive something from the late ‘80s that looks to be held together with duct tape and a prayer. Gives most points for class discussions. Emails distracted but always have more information than you need. You’ll pass the class, but find yourself caring more about the stuff you learned than the grade. Writes killer recommendation letters.

Obsessive - Always takes attendance. Keeps the attendance sheet on the table until half-past starting time, just to pointedly mark off when you’ve arrived late. Syllabus has 10-12 pages and requires a doctorate degree in the subject you’re taking. If there's a mistake in it, will insist you're following instruction wrong, rather than admit to making the mistake. Mid-term contains six essay questions; the final exam is accumulative. Does not eat or drink in class, with the exception of one generic water bottle. Three research papers, each one five pages longer than the previous one. No phone in class, not even for emergencies. The textbook is God, you must memorize it. If you pass the class, you wear that as a badge of honor. You'll have no clue what their class was even about approximately 3-6 months after you’re done. You'll have nightmares about their class for years.

All Done - Always takes attendance. You aren’t there on time, don’t bother coming. Doesn’t have time for you. Teaches three other classes at the same college, a High School class, and five other classes at a different college. Just wants to retire. Never answers emails. Nods and tunes out when you’re speaking. Doesn’t get upset when you don’t do the work - seems to expect failure at every turn. Has a presidential election sticker on the car, but it’s couple of decades old, and you think this is the last time they cared about anything. The total grade consists of a few papers, a few presentations, and homework. Will collect the homework, but won’t read half of it. You never get your papers back, and probably won’t know what your grade is till 2 weeks after the class is done. You’ll pass, but a little part of your soul will die in the process.

[purplelegacymusic]

In an alternate timeline: Dream Factory

by Purple Legacy Music

Foreword

Dream Factory is one of Prince’s best known unreleased projects, a fan-favorite that has earned itself the status of a timeless classic over the past decades. It has been heavily bootlegged, and often tried to be reconstructed by fans that aimed to replicate a certain sequence as close as possible to what has been leaked, and to what is known about them. It is also considered one of Prince’s greatest myths, with some questioning that it has ever been an actual conceived album, but rather a constantly evolving work-in-progress which acted as a playground to assemble the accumulated material without any defined direction. The existence of the project has been also denied by members of The Revolution, which once noted that too much intention is being interpreted into the known configurations. Prince’s sound engineer from that time, Susan Rogers, also described that the songs had been recorded independently from each other, without a bigger picture in mind to form an album. However, it is clear that the assembled configurations curate the material in a way that makes for a stylistically cohesive album (especially the June 1986 configuration), with most of the songs featuring major input by The Revolution. The actual status of Dream Factory at the moment it has been moved on from is still and will probably also remain unknown, as only Prince himself knew of his true intentions with the material. What is certain, is that it did not reach the stage of submission to Warner Bros., and was therefore not planned for release yet. Unlike Dream Factory, the two following unreleased albums from that time, Camille and Crystal Ball, were both submitted, with Camille even receiving a catalog number and being slated for release.

Though Dream Factory can most likely be only considered a work-in-progress, and not the basis for an actual album, it is clearly the foundation of what would eventually become Sign O’ The Times, at least in its latest iteration. The material that has been recorded was intended to feature the closest collaboration between Prince and The Revolution, with the band initially contributing even more than to the previous Parade album.

The making of

Prince fully embarked on his recording-spree in March 1986 when he started to produce in his new Galpin Blvd home studio, tracking “The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker”, “Power Fantastic”, “And How”, “A Place In Heaven”, “Movie Star”, “Witness 4 The Prosecution”, “And That Says What?” (recorded at the Washington Avenue Warehouse), “Crystal Ball”, “Starfish And Coffee”, “Big Tall Wall” and “Visions” from mid-March to mid-April. The recorded material was sequenced for the first time in late-April with 11 tracks:

Prince would continue to record more songs in May, which led to another compilation which has been sequenced to make up an expanded 2LP configuration, compiled in June featuring 19 tracks:

This 19-track configuration has been also entirely mastered, most likely for Prince to have something that he could always come back to listen to as if it was a finished record, to maybe inspire him to find a creative direction for the next album.

When Prince started to play one-off shows with a new and expanded Revolution line-up from April throughout July (with the last show on August 3), tensions between Prince and the original Revolution members started to grow, and as a result, when Prince continued to record new songs after completing the second configuration from his work-in-progress in June, more solo recordings where added that eventually replaced several collaborations with The Revolution, resulting in a third compilation of the material which has been completed in July containing 18 tracks. Overall, 10 were Prince solo-affairs, with 8 tracks eventually ending up to be released on Sign O’ The Times later on:

Two days later, Prince slightly altered the sequence, which resulted in the fourth and final configuration of the work-in-progress compilation:

Sonically, both configurations from July are the most diverse ones, with the darker sound that can be found on Sign O’ The Times being more present than on the two previous configurations. The April and June configurations have a more playful and brighter sound however, which makes the album feel more cohesive overall, giving its own style that distinguishes it from what would eventually become the Sign O’ The Times album. It is notable, that this constantly evolving work-in-progress went from a continuation and further expansion of the collaboration between Prince and The Revolution, to a transition to Prince’s return as a solo artist, also moving from a brighter and more joyful sound to a darker tonality that was further emphasized on with Sign O’ The Times.

After tensions between Prince and the original Revolution members peaked at the end of the Parade Tour in early-September, Prince broke up The Revolution a month later on October 7, and discarded most of the recorded material for the moment. He moved on to record for a new solo project in October, which became the infamous unreleased album Camille, compiled in early-November. Camille then eventually morphed into the 3LP crossover project titled Crystal Ball, which combined it with the leftover solo tracks from the Dream Factory work-in-progress. This triple album was then submitted to Warner Bros. and later paired down to become Sign O’ The Times.

The vision

Our alternate version of Dream Factory imagines the work-in-progress becoming a cohesive and fully conceived album, which is mostly based on the April and June compilations from 1986. It emphasizes on the material that features contributions from The Revolution to maintain the same characteristics, while trying to further develop a creative direction into it. Most tracks are directly sourced from the Sign O’ The Times Super Deluxe Edition, with a large part of the rest taken from 1998’s Crystal Ball collection. “Power Fantastic” is taken from The Hits/The B-Sides, while the intro from “Dream Factory” has been lifted from a bootleg. All songs have been carefully retouched to give the album a cohesive sound.

The idea behind our reimagined versions of Dream Factory, Crystal Ball, and Sign O’ The Times was to create versions of them that could have theoretically co-existed, creating an alternate timeline in which all projects from 1986 would have found their release next to each other, while also separating the material from that era into 3 albums with each featuring a different project: The Revolution, Camille, and Prince’s solo recordings.

The alternate timeline

After completing the last sequence of his work-in-progress with the working title Dream Factory in July 1986, Prince continued to record new material independently from it until embarking on the Parade Tour in August. With tensions between him and the original members of The Revolution growing, Prince cancelled his plans for a possible release of the Dream Factory project, right after returning from the Parade Tour in early September. By the time he had returned, tapes from the last iteration of Dream Factory were leaked and bootlegs of them widely circulating, which eventually drew the attention and interest of Warner Bros’ executives to the project. After directly reaching out to Prince to clarify the status of the album and receive further information, the label was shocked by his decision to discard the material as they considered it to be a potential commercial success, but even more so about the dawning breakup of The Revolution. Warner Bros. immediately went into negotiations and tried to convince him to submit and release the album despite his fallout with The Revolution, to make use of the broad publicity that an announcement of the band’s breakup and a last album together would have. While Prince remained reluctant to Warner’s proposal, the label continued to pursue a release and continued to negotiate for an agreement which would ensure that Prince’s next project could follow-up Dream Factory less than half-a-year later, alongside a substantial financial bonus. Prince was in the midst of one of his most productive times in which he constantly created, so the possibility of gaining the freedom to release his following project in close succession was the reason why he eventually agreed to submit an overworked version of the album. He took the opportunity to clear the vault and give the recordings a proper home, as chances were high that he would not come back to them for future projects.

At the end of September, Prince finished an almost entirely new version of Dream Factory, which replaced 12 tracks from the latest configuration that was sequenced in July with 6 tracks from previous configurations, and 5 new tracks that have not been included on any other sequence before (4 being outtakes from the initial sessions, and one being recorded after the work-in-progress sessions), making up a 18-track double LP:

Though he didn’t intend to release a double album and include all of the tracks on the final configuration, Prince pulled together as much material as possible, to then narrow the album down and find its core that he could further refine and develop. Though including now more tracks that feature contributions from The Revolution, and even entire band performances, many of those that featured lead vocals or were solo performances by either Wendy, Lisa, or both, have been replaced with Prince’s original vocal versions, (“Wonderful Day”, “Eggplant”, “A Place In Heaven”) or were entirely removed (“Visions”, “Nevaeh Ni Ecalp A”, “Colors”), which could be understood as a clear reaction to the band’s fallout. “Dream Factory” and “Sexual Suicide” where replaced with updated mixes, with the first of both also being an extended version compared to the one included on previous configurations. Prince played around with giving the album a mirroring structure, with both records repeating the format of 5 songs on the first side, 4 songs on the flip side, and a full-band instrumental appearing at the end of the first side from each LP. Additionally, Side A and C have a roughly similar running time, as well as Side B and D. The instrumentals were meant to replace the solo interludes “Visions” and “Colors” by Wendy and Lisa, while Prince removed most of his solo tracks that were included on the previous July configuration to save them for future projects, instead of including them on an album he was convinced to finish, rather than working on it because of his own artistic motivation.

Although the sequencing has been entirely finished with new segues, crossfades, overdubs, and more, the first configuration was then further worked on and edited down to a single LP:

The new single LP configuration removed 6 tracks: “Big Tall Wall”, “Eggplant”, “Everybody Want What They Don’t Got”, “A Place In Heaven”, “Love And Sex (1986 Song)”, and “Last Heart”. “And That Says What?” and “It Ain’t Over ‘Til The Fat Lady Sings” were edited to almost the same length and simply retitled ��Interlude”, both being placed as the 4th track on each side to maintain a certain format within the album, as established on the previous configuration. The final 12-track configuration was then submitted to Warner Bros. and prepared for release, with the artwork featuring photos from Jeff Katz which were taken from the Parade photo sessions.

Prince broke up The Revolution on October 7, and informed the band that a last album which features recordings with their input is being prepared for release in November. While Brownmark and Dr. Fink were both invited to stay and continue to work with Prince, only Fink accepted and went on to play in Prince’s band until December 1990.

Dream Factory was publicly announced together with the breakup of Prince and The Revolution on October 10, and saw its release on November 5 in the US and a few days later across the rest of the world, all while Prince was already recording material for a new album that was to feature him in disguise as a new alter-ego named “Camille”. As part of the agreement between Warner Bros. and Prince, the album did not produce any commercially released singles. Instead, 4 promotional singles have been sent out to radio stations and DJ’s, with the airplay promotion being limited to the end of the year only. The release of Dream Factory itself was also limited, with the label agreeing on Prince’s condition to not manufacture future repressings of the album on any format without his consent.

Though it’s spare and strictly limited promotion, the album sold extremely fast and was certified multi-platinum by RIAA two months after its release, selling over 3,000,000 copies in the US. Warner Bros’ massive marketing campaign, which announced the bands breakup together with the release of a last album, proved just as effective as the label had predicted, and was the cornerstone for the album’s commercial success and its status as a fan-favorite.

______________________________________________________________

Listen to our alternate version of the unreleased Dream Factory now on Soundcloud:

Prince and The Revolution · Dream Factory | 1986 · rearranged and edited by Purple Legacy Music

[earaercircular]

Recycling: Raw materials from urban mines are becoming increasingly important

Vast amounts of steel, copper and numerous other metals are built into everyday objects - and after their original use they are an important source of raw materials.

When the smartphone has had its day, it often ends up in a drawer - "one can always use it again". According to the Bitkom[1] digital association[2], around 210 million old cell phones were stored in households in Germany last year. 87 percent of the citizens had at least one discarded mobile phone. That number has more than doubled since 2015.

The drawer cell phones belong to the so-called urban mine. In contrast to the classic raw material mine, it describes the man-made raw material deposits: "All goods that we humans have ever created," explains Britta Bookhagen from the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR)[3]. These so-called anthropogenic stock or urban mines[4] include bridges, cars, houses, washing machines - and also smartphones. Gold, copper and nickel can be extracted from mobile phones, for example, and steel in particular from cars and bridges.

When strategically considering the urban mine, it is initially irrelevant "whether the goods are still being actively used and will only be released in the foreseeable future or whether they have already reached the end of their useful life," writes the Federal Environment Agency (UBA)[5] on its website. Metals and construction minerals in particular often remain in infrastructure, buildings and everyday goods for a long time. "Over the decades, enormous stocks of material have accumulated in this way, which hold great potential as a future source of secondary raw materials."

Large dependence on import

According to the UBA, the German economy uses around 1.3 billion tons of materials domestically every year - this includes products such as cars as well as pure raw materials. The Federal Republic of Germany is heavily dependent on imports, especially for metal and energy raw materials, as can be seen from the latest BGR raw materials annual report from December[6]. Especially when it comes to newly mined metals, Germany is almost completely dependent on imports.

But: the raw materials in the world are finite, international competition is growing, costs are rising - as is the pressure on natural areas and their ecosystems. The recycling of metals or building materials, for example, can therefore help to conserve the earth's natural resources - and at the same time reduce greenhouse gas emissions, groundwater pollution and biodiversity loss, says Felix Müller, who is responsible for urban mining at the Federal Environment Agency.

And an expansion doesn't just help the environment: "The vision is to become less dependent on raw material imports, rather we should become real raw material producers with secondary extraction. In this way, we can also open up a new economic field,” says Müller. According to him, the anthropogenic stocks of Germany are enriched with around 550 million tons of material per year.

Far from sustainability

The expert says: "As long as the material stocks are growing so much, we are still far away from a sustainable circular economy. But the growing stock holds the immense potential to close material cycles much better in the future than we have been able to do so far. We now have to set the course and adapt the framework conditions.” The federal government is therefore currently working on a national urban mining strategy.

"Mining" in the urban mine is not done with a bucket wheel excavator and pickaxe, but through recycling - and thus to a certain extent it is also a task for society as a whole, says the geologist Bookhagen. But she makes it clear: "Urban mining refers to products at the end of their lives." Only when all other ways, such as repairing or reselling, have been exhausted, does recycling start - "please don't put it in the drawer," says Bookhagen.

There is currently a veritable pot of gold in the German drawers. In a study from 2020, Bookhagen and her colleagues came to the conclusion that the around 200 million smartphones in German drawers contain around 3.4 tons of gold, 1300 tons of copper and 520 tons of nickel.

Material for ten years of production

Researchers at the Institute of German Economics in Cologne[7] calculated in a report published on Monday[8] that the value of the metal in unused cell phones is around 240 million euros. With a view to the material value of the smartphones sold in 2021 of 23.5 million euros, the drawer phones could cover the material requirements for new smartphones for more than ten years. However, the authors limit the calculation themselves: the reality is different, "since not all drawer cell phones are recycled and are also completely recyclable".

That is exactly the greatest difficulty in urban mining, says the expert Bookhagen: "It is very difficult to estimate which raw materials will come back to us, and how and when." On the one hand, it is not at all clear how much steel or aluminum was used in a car or a washing machine 50 years ago, nor how it makes the most sense to recover and process it. Better data is needed here. "One thing is certain: the urban warehouse is growing and has a high recyclable content."

The extraction of raw materials from the urban mine has a lot of potential to become less dependent on raw material imports and rising costs, says Bookhagen. Germany and Europe are doing well compared to other parts of the world. "But one mustn't forget: even if we could get everything out of the urban mine, that wouldn't cover our raw material requirements," the expert continues. The hunger for raw materials is too great for that.

Source

Katharina Redanz, dpa, Recycling: Rohstoffe aus der urbanen Mine immer wichtiger, in: Süddeutsche Zeitung, 16-01-2023, https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/elektronik-recycling-rohstoffe-aus-der-urbanen-mine-immer-wichtiger-dpa.urn-newsml-dpa-com-20090101-230116-99-233391

[1] Founded in 1999, Bitkom now represents more than 2,000 member companies - including around 1,000 high-performance SMEs, over 500 innovative tech start-ups, almost half of the 40 DAX companies and many other global players.

[2] https://www.bitkom.org/Presse/Presseinformation/Smartphones-Tablets-Laptops-300-Mio-Alt-Geraete-deutschen-Haushalten

[3] The Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources) (BGR) is a technical and scientific authority within the portfolio of the Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz (Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection) (BMWK).

[4] Most of the goods in the anthropogenic stock or urban mines are in use, i.e. in used deposits. A registered car is just as much a used stock as a habitable residential building, furniture, large electrical appliances or a power plant... Unused anthropogenic stocks are to be distinguished from this. https://sns.uba.de/umthes/en/concepts/_f6c8d245.html

[5] "For people and the environment" is the motto of the Umweltbundesamt (Federal Environment Agency) - ⁠UBA⁠ for short - and sums up what its purpose. As Germany's central environmental authority, it ensures that Germany has a healthy environment in which people can live protected as far as possible from harmful environmental influences, such as pollutants in the air or water. Its range of topics is wide - from waste avoidance to ⁠climate protection⁠ to the approval of plant protection products. https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/das-uba

[6] https://www.bgr.bund.de/DE/Themen/Min_rohstoffe/Downloads/rohsit-2021.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=4

[7] The German Economic Institute (German: Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft Köln e.V.) (IW) is a private economic research institute in Germany, which promotes a liberal economic and social order. The German Economic Institute is based in Cologne, Germany, with additional offices in Berlin, Germany, and Brussels, Belgium. The IW compiles analyses on economic and social policy issues. As a think tank, it combines research, consultancy and communication services. The institute was founded in 1951 under the auspices of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA) and the Federation of German Industries (BDI). The German Economic Institute is a registered association (e.V.). Its membership consists of some 110 German business and employers' associations as well as a number of individual companies. Membership fees finance the regular scientific research and advocacy. Additionally, the institute conducts research projects and carries out numerous studies financed by third parties, such as public institutions, foundations and businesses.

[8] Sarah Fluchs, Adriana Neligan, Urban Mining für die Zirkuläre Wirtschaft: Wie hoch sind die Rohstoffpotenziale durch Urban Mining?, in: IW-Report 2, 16-1-2023,  https://www.iwkoeln.de/studien/sarah-fluchs-adriana-neligan-wie-hoch-sind-die-rohstoffpotenziale-durch-urban-mining.html

[modernconstructive]

A Beginner’s Guide to GFRP Rebar: Everything You Need to Know

Picture this. You are driving over a bridge. It is a structure that seems to stretch forever over the sea. The waves crash below relentlessly, salty. What you cannot see is the steel rebar inside the concrete accumulating rust. The corrosion creeps deeper with the formation of cracks. Repairs are needed. Then more repairs. Eventually, a full replacement.

But what if it didn’t have to be that way? What if the material reinforcing that bridge didn’t rust? What if it could stand up to salt, water, chemicals—even time itself?

That’s where Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) rebar comes in. This guide is here to give you everything you need to know about this incredible material that’s changing how we think about construction.

What Is GFRP Rebar?

Think of GFRP rebar as the upgrade steel has been waiting for. It’s made from glass fibers and polymer resin—two materials that don’t care about rust, saltwater, or chemicals. Together, they create a lightweight, tough material that reinforces concrete without the constant maintenance headaches steel brings.

Here’s how it works: manufacturers align glass fibers to maximize strength, then coat them in resin to hold it all together. What is the result? A rebar that is strong as well as immune to the elements.

It is not just for fancy projects. GFRP rebar is already being used in bridges, tunnels, seawalls, parking garages.

Why GFRP Rebar Is Changing the Game? 

1. Rust Is a Thing of the Past

Steel rebar rusts. Everyone knows it, and yet we’ve relied on it for decades, patching up the damage as we go. GFRP doesn’t rust. Ever. Not when it’s soaked in saltwater. Not when it’s doused with chemicals.

Imagine the impact of rebars battered by ocean spray. No rust means no cracks as well as no endless cycles of repair.

2. Lightweight and Labor-Friendly

Steel is a heavy metal. It is expensive to transport, hard to handle, and a pain to install. GFRP, on the other hand, is about a quarter the weight.

Construction crews notice the difference right away. It’s easier to carry, quicker to position, and doesn’t leave workers drained by the end of the day. Lighter materials also mean fewer transportation costs. It is not just the workers who benefit—your budget does too.

3. Strong Enough to Handle the Pressure

The answer is yes if you are wondering whether GFRP can hold its own. It might be lightweight. However, it is built to take serious loads. Its tensile strength is impressive. The strength matches or even exceeds steel.

This kind of reliability is a must for extensive projects. GFRP rebar does not just hold the line—it redefines it.

4. Non-Conductive as well as Non-Magnetic

Specific projects need materials that would not interfere with electrical or magnetic systems. Think power plants, MRI labs, or tunnels carrying sensitive wiring. Steel’s conductivity can cause big problems in these situations. GFRP, being non-conductive and non-magnetic, fits the bill perfectly.

It’s the kind of solution you don’t think about until you need it. But when you do, there’s nothing else like it.

Where You’ll Find GFRP Rebar Making a Difference? 

Coastal and Marine Construction

The ocean is beautiful, but it’s brutal on steel. Saltwater, constant moisture, and the wear-and-tear of waves break steel down faster than you’d think. GFRP rebar solves this.

It’s a natural choice for seawalls, docks, piers, and offshore platforms. Builders trust it to hold up in places where steel simply can’t compete. And the result? Structures that stay strong, year after year, without the endless upkeep.

Roads and Bridges

Roads as well as bridges face a barrage of de-icing salts in winter months. These salts may keep us safe from icy conditions. However, they are a death sentence for steel. The rusting begins. The maintenance bills start piling up.

GFRP rebar eliminates this problem. It doesn’t just survive in these conditions—it thrives. That means fewer cracks as well as safer infrastructure for everyone.

Underground Projects

Building underground is a challenge. You’re dealing with moisture, chemicals, and sometimes the need to avoid electrical interference. Steel struggles here, but GFRP excels.

From subway tunnels to utility corridors, GFRP rebar provides the strength and resilience these projects need without the complications steel can bring.

Industrial Facilities

Factories and chemical plants push materials to their limits. Steel, when exposed to aggressive chemicals, doesn’t stand a chance. GFRP rebar, on the other hand, is built for these environments.

It holds up against chemical exposure, ensuring that industrial facilities remain safe and operational. For engineers designing in extreme conditions, GFRP is a trusted partner.

How GFRP Stacks Up Against Steel? 

Rust and Corrosion: Steel rusts in wet or salty environments; GFRP doesn’t. It’s as simple as that.

Weight: GFRP is significantly lighter, making it easier to handle and transport.

Lifespan Costs: While GFRP costs more upfront, it saves money over time by reducing maintenance and repair needs.

Specialized Applications: GFRP’s non-conductive and corrosion-resistant properties make it perfect for unique projects that steel just can’t handle.

If your priority is long-term durability and minimal maintenance, GFRP wins every time.

Tips for Installing GFRP Rebar

Switching to GFRP isn’t complicated, but there are a few things to keep in mind:

Cutting Tools: Use diamond-blade saws for smooth, clean cuts. Regular tools for steel won’t work.

Tying: Stick with plastic or coated tie wires. Metal ties can damage GFRP or introduce issues over time.

Handle with Care: While GFRP is strong, it can be scratched if mishandled. Treat it gently during transport and installation.

Training: Make sure your crew understands how GFRP works. A little knowledge upfront can prevent big mistakes later.

With these tips, GFRP installation is straightforward and efficient.

Building for a Better Future

Every construction project leaves a legacy. GFRP rebar helps ensure that legacy lasts. By resisting rust, lowering maintenance needs, and standing strong in harsh conditions, it’s helping to create infrastructure that serves communities for generations.

It’s not just about saving money or building faster—it’s about peace of mind. When you choose GFRP, you’re choosing materials that work as hard as the people who build with them.

Conclusion

GFRP rebar isn’t just a replacement for steel—it’s an upgrade. Whether you’re building bridges, protecting coastlines, or reinforcing tunnels, it offers strength, durability, and a future free from rust and constant repairs.

In a world where infrastructure faces more challenges than ever, GFRP rebar stands out as a material built to last. If you want structures that endure, it’s time to make the switch. Because the only thing better than building strong is building smarter.

[aaron023]

How to Maintain Your Concrete Slab for Longevity

A concrete slab in Melbourne is the foundation of a strong, durable, and safe home. While it is known for its resilience, proper maintenance is essential to ensure it remains in top condition for decades. Melbourne’s unique weather patterns, including hot summers and wet winters, can take a toll on concrete over time. By following these practical tips, you can maintain your concrete slab and safeguard your investment.

1. Keep It Clean

Dirt, debris, and organic materials like leaves can accumulate on your concrete slab, leading to potential stains and damage over time. Regularly sweep or pressure wash your slab to remove grime and maintain its appearance.

2. Check for Cracks Regularly

Minor cracks can develop in any Concrete slab in Melbourne, but if left unattended, they can expand and compromise the structure. Inspect your slab regularly for cracks and address them immediately using a quality concrete filler or sealant.

3. Seal the Surface

Applying a protective sealant helps prevent water absorption, staining, and weather damage. In Melbourne, where rain can be frequent, sealing your concrete every 2–3 years is essential to keep it looking fresh and robust.

4. Protect Against Heavy Loads

Although concrete is strong, prolonged exposure to excessive weight can cause stress and cracks. Avoid placing heavy objects, such as machinery, on unsupported areas, and distribute weight evenly when possible.

5. Control Moisture Levels

Melbourne’s wet winters can increase moisture levels around your slab. Ensure proper drainage systems are in place to direct water away from the foundation, preventing erosion or pooling that could weaken the concrete.

6. Address Spills Immediately

Oil, chemicals, and other liquids can penetrate and stain your concrete. Clean up spills immediately to avoid permanent marks and prevent chemical damage. Use appropriate cleaning agents for tough stains.

7. Monitor Expansion Joints

Expansion joints in concrete allow for natural movement due to temperature changes. Regularly inspect these joints for wear or debris, and replace damaged fillers to prevent cracks from spreading.

8. Prevent Plant Growth

Weeds and plants growing near or through your concrete slab can cause cracks and damage. Remove vegetation promptly and use herbicides or physical barriers to prevent regrowth.

9. Avoid Using De-icing Chemicals

In Melbourne’s cooler months, you may be tempted to use de-icing salts on outdoor slabs. However, these chemicals can damage the surface over time. Instead, opt for sand or gravel for improved traction.

10. Conduct Annual Inspections

Hiring a professional to inspect your concrete slab annually ensures potential issues are identified and addressed before they escalate. This is especially important in areas prone to soil movement.

11. Maintain Surrounding Areas

The landscaping around your concrete slab plays a role in its longevity. Ensure trees, shrubs, and other vegetation are planted far enough away to prevent roots from damaging the foundation.

12. Repair Promptly

If you notice significant damage, such as large cracks or uneven settling, act quickly. Delaying repairs can lead to more extensive and costly issues. Always hire experienced professionals for major repairs.

13. Protect Against Melbourne’s Climate

Melbourne’s climate can be unpredictable, with high UV exposure and sudden rain. Protect your slab by installing shading structures or overhangs to reduce exposure to direct sunlight and rain.

14. Use Quality Materials from the Start

The best way to maintain your concrete slab is to ensure it is built using high-quality materials. If you’re in the planning stages, invest in a professionally poured slab designed for Melbourne’s unique conditions.

15. Stay Proactive

The key to extending the life of your concrete slab is proactive maintenance. Small, regular efforts can prevent large problems and help your foundation remain strong for years.

Conclusion

A Concrete Slabs Melbourne slab is a valuable investment that forms the backbone of your home. With Melbourne’s diverse weather conditions, regular care and maintenance are essential to protect its longevity. By cleaning, sealing, and addressing minor issues promptly, you can ensure your slab stays in excellent condition for decades. Remember, a little effort today can save significant time and expense down the road.

FAQs

1. How often should I reseal my concrete slab?Reseal your concrete slab every 2–3 years or as needed, depending on wear and environmental conditions.

2. What causes cracks in concrete slabs?Cracks can occur due to temperature changes, soil movement, heavy loads, or improper curing during installation.

3. Can I repair small cracks in my concrete slab myself?Yes, minor cracks can be filled with a high-quality concrete filler or sealant available at hardware stores.

4. How do I prevent water damage to my concrete slab?Ensure proper drainage systems are in place and consider applying a water-resistant sealant to the surface.

5. When should I call a professional for slab maintenance?If you notice large cracks, uneven settling, or significant wear, contact a professional for inspection and repair immediately.

[linesanddots123]

How to Preserve and Care for Your Acrylic Paintings at Home

Acrylic paintings are beloved for their vibrant colors, versatility, and quick-drying properties. Whether you’ve created a masterpiece or purchased an artwork, knowing how to preserve and care for your simple acrylic painting is essential to ensure their longevity. With proper care, your acrylic artwork can last for decades, retaining its beauty and vibrancy. Below are some practical tips on how to protect and maintain your acrylic paintings at home.

1. Protect from Direct Sunlight

Sunlight, while beautiful, is a major enemy of artwork. Ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun can cause acrylic paint to fade and degrade over time, reducing the vibrancy of colors and causing cracking or discoloration. To protect your acrylic paintings:

Avoid direct sunlight: Hang your painting away from windows or places that receive direct sunlight.

Use UV-protective glass: Consider framing your painting with UV-protective glass or acrylic to shield it from harmful light exposure.

2. Store Your Paintings in a Safe Environment

The environment in which your acrylic paintings are kept plays a significant role in their preservation. Humidity and extreme temperature fluctuations can damage the paint and canvas. Here’s how you can store your artwork safely:

Control the temperature and humidity: Keep the room temperature stable (ideally between 60–75°F or 15–24°C) and avoid humidity levels above 50%.

Avoid damp areas: Do not store acrylic paintings in damp places like basements or attics, as moisture can cause mold growth and weaken the paint layer.

Store upright: If you need to store paintings for an extended period, keep them upright, similar to how you would store books on a shelf, and make sure they are not leaning or stacked directly on top of one another.

3. Clean Regularly and Gently

Dust and dirt can accumulate on the surface of acrylic paintings over time, dulling their appearance. Here’s how you can clean your artwork without damaging it:

Use a soft brush: Gently dust the surface using a soft, lint-free brush (such as a paintbrush or a microfiber cloth). Avoid using harsh chemicals or abrasive materials.

Wipe with a damp cloth: For more stubborn dirt, slightly dampen a cloth with water (never soak it) and gently wipe the painting’s surface. Be careful not to allow water to seep into the edges of the canvas.

Avoid cleaning solvents: Acrylic paintings are water-based, and the use of solvents can break down the paint layer. Always avoid using alcohol, ammonia, or other strong cleaning agents.

4. Use a Protective Varnish

Applying a varnish over your acrylic painting is a great way to protect the surface and give it a glossy, matte, or satin finish. Varnish helps to:

Protect the painting from dust and dirt: Varnish provides an additional protective barrier that shields your artwork from dust, dirt, and environmental factors like pollution.

Enhance color vibrancy: Varnish can bring out the colors in your painting, making them appear more vivid and lustrous.

Prevent UV damage: Many varnishes contain UV-blocking agents that help preserve the colors of your painting from fading.

When applying varnish, make sure the painting is fully dry (ideally after 24 hours). Use a soft brush or spray varnish, and always follow the manufacturer's instructions for application.

5. Avoid Hanging in High-Traffic Areas

While it’s tempting to showcase your artwork in prominent places, high-traffic areas are not ideal for long-term display. Constant movement and air circulation can expose your painting to physical wear and tear, and accidents can happen. Consider these tips for safe placement:

Choose stable locations: Hang paintings in areas where they are less likely to be bumped or jostled, such as above furniture or in private rooms.

Use secure framing and hangers: Use strong frames, hanging wires, and wall hooks to ensure that the artwork stays securely in place.

6. Consider Professional Framing

For added protection, consider having your acrylic paintings professionally framed. A quality frame can provide several benefits:

Protection from physical damage: A frame provides a protective border that shields the painting from dust, dirt, and accidental touch.

Aesthetic enhancement: Framing not only protects but also elevates the look of your artwork.

Preserving edges: A frame can also help prevent the edges of the canvas from fraying or stretching over time.

Professional framers also offer custom solutions for UV-resistant glass, which can further preserve your artwork.

7. Handling with Care

When handling your acrylic paintings, always be mindful of how you touch and move them to avoid causing damage:

Wear gloves: When handling acrylic paintings, especially if you need to move them or clean the surface, wear cotton gloves to prevent oils from your fingers from transferring to the paint.

Lift carefully: Always lift the artwork by the frame or edges of the canvas, never by the painted surface. Never carry paintings by the edges of the canvas without a frame as it could cause the fabric to stretch or tear.

Use protective covering: If you need to move or transport a painting, protect the surface by covering it with acid-free paper or bubble wrap, then place it in a sturdy container.

8. Monitor for Signs of Damage

Regularly check your acrylic painting for signs of potential damage. Look for:

Cracking or peeling paint: Acrylic paint can sometimes crack or peel, especially if exposed to temperature changes. If you notice this, you may need to reapply a protective layer or repair the paint.

Fading or discoloration: Over time, acrylic paintings may begin to fade due to environmental exposure. Protecting them from sunlight and dust can slow this process.

Moisture or mold growth: If your painting has been exposed to excessive moisture, check for signs of mold or mildew. If this occurs, it’s important to address it promptly to avoid further damage.

Conclusion

Caring for your acrylic paintings installation art is crucial to ensuring they last for many years to come. By following these simple steps—protecting them from direct sunlight, controlling the environment, cleaning carefully, applying varnish, and using proper framing—you can preserve the integrity and beauty of your acrylic artwork. Regular monitoring and handling with care will also help prevent damage and keep your paintings looking fresh and vibrant for generations.

Whether you're an artist or a collector, taking these precautions will help your acrylic paintings maintain their charm and value, making them timeless treasures in your home.

FAQs

1. Can I clean my acrylic painting with soap and water? No, it’s best to avoid using soap and water, as they can damage the paint. A damp cloth and soft brush are safer options.

2. How long does it take for acrylic paint to fully dry before varnishing? Acrylic paint can dry within 30 minutes to an hour, but it's recommended to wait 24 hours before applying varnish to ensure it is fully cured.

3. How do I know if my acrylic painting needs varnishing? If your acrylic painting appears dull or if you want to add extra protection from dust and UV rays, varnishing is a good option.

4. Can acrylic paintings be exposed to high humidity? Excessive humidity can cause acrylic paintings to become soft, leading to potential damage. It’s important to maintain a stable, moderate level of humidity in the room.

5. What should I do if my acrylic painting gets damaged? If your acrylic painting suffers from damage like cracks or peeling, you may need to consult a professional for restoration. They can assess the damage and help restore the painting to its original state.

[95high]

"Why Paver Installations are the Secret to Boosting Your Home's Exterior Appeal."

When you think of a beautiful home, what’s one of the first things that come to mind? Chances are, it's the exterior. The look of your home’s entryway, driveway, or backyard patio plays a massive role in its overall aesthetic. If your outdoor areas are looking drab, upgrading with paver installations could be the key to transforming your home and boosting its curb appeal.

Pavers are a popular choice for homeowners who want more than just a functional outdoor space. They bring both style and durability to a wide range of landscaping projects. From creating stunning driveways and walkways to designing luxurious patios and pool decks, pavers offer versatility that is hard to beat. In this article, we’ll explore the top benefits of paver installations and how they can take your home’s exterior from average to extraordinary.

For an in-depth look at how pavers can enhance your home’s curb appeal, be sure to read a detailed article : Paving the Way: 10 Benefits of Paver Installations That Will Enhance Your Home’s Curb Appeal.

1. Achieve a Polished Look Without Breaking the Bank

When it comes to home improvement projects, curb appeal matters. It’s not just about impressing guests; a well-designed outdoor space can make your home stand out and even increase its market value. Installing pavers is a cost-effective way to give your property an upscale look without the hefty price tag of more expensive options like natural stone or intricate masonry work.

Unlike traditional concrete, which can look bland or crack over time, pavers come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors that allow you to create a design that’s unique to your home. Whether you're aiming for a rustic cobblestone look, a sleek modern appearance, or something in between, pavers offer the flexibility to suit your style preferences.

2. Exceptional Durability for Long-Lasting Results

One of the standout features of paver installations is their durability. Pavers are designed to last for decades, with little wear and tear, even in the harshest of weather conditions. Unlike poured concrete, which can crack under pressure or during freezing and thawing cycles, pavers interlock in a way that allows for movement. This makes them highly resistant to damage from shifts in the ground or severe weather.

For homeowners, this means fewer repairs and replacements, and an outdoor space that looks pristine year after year. Whether you're installing a driveway, walkway, or patio, pavers are made to handle heavy foot traffic, vehicle loads, and the stresses of outdoor living.

3. Maintenance-Free Beauty

One of the main attractions of paver installations is their low-maintenance nature. Unlike other surfaces that require frequent sealing, staining, or patching, pavers retain their beauty with minimal upkeep. For the most part, all they need is an occasional cleaning. Simple sweeping or power washing is usually sufficient to keep dirt and debris from accumulating.

Furthermore, pavers are incredibly easy to repair. If a paver becomes damaged due to heavy impacts, stains, or general wear, it can be replaced without disturbing the surrounding surface. This is a major advantage over asphalt or concrete, which require costly and labor-intensive repairs when damage occurs.

4. Customization for Your Unique Style

Every home is unique, and your outdoor space should reflect that individuality. Pavers come in a wide variety of colors, textures, and shapes, offering you endless possibilities for customization. Whether you prefer the natural beauty of stone or the sleek elegance of modern concrete, you can create a design that enhances the character of your home.

Unlike a one-size-fits-all material like concrete, pavers can be arranged in patterns that suit your taste. From classic herringbone and basket-weave designs to circular patterns and intricate mosaics, the design options are virtually limitless. Pavers also allow you to mix materials to create a dynamic, layered look that adds depth to your exterior.

5. Eco-Friendly and Sustainable

In today's world, environmental responsibility is more important than ever. If you're looking for an eco-friendly way to upgrade your outdoor spaces, pavers are a great option. Many pavers are made from natural materials such as clay, stone, or recycled concrete, all of which are durable and sustainable.

Additionally, permeable pavers—designed with spaces between each piece allow rainwater to naturally filter into the ground, reducing water runoff and helping with drainage. This feature is especially beneficial for regions that experience heavy rain or frequent flooding, as it prevents water from pooling and damaging your landscape.

By installing permeable pavers, you can have a stylish outdoor space that is also environmentally conscious.

6. A Strong Return on Investment

Paver installations are more than just an aesthetic upgrade; they’re also a smart financial investment. If you're planning to sell your home in the near future, a well-designed driveway, patio, or walkway can significantly increase the market value of your property.

Homes with thoughtfully designed outdoor spaces often have an edge over similar properties that lack curb appeal. Whether it’s a charming front walkway or a spacious backyard patio, buyers are increasingly drawn to homes that offer both beauty and functionality in their outdoor areas. With the proper paver installation, your home could see a substantial return on investment.

7. Safety Comes First with Pavers

When selecting materials for outdoor surfaces, safety should always be a priority. Pavers are designed with slip-resistant surfaces, which makes them an excellent option for areas that will be exposed to moisture, such as pool decks or walkways. The texture of pavers offers better traction than other materials, reducing the likelihood of slips and falls, particularly when it’s wet.

Additionally, pavers are great for creating clear boundaries for walkways and driveways, reducing the risk of accidents. Whether you’re creating an elegant path through your garden or installing a driveway, pavers can help keep your outdoor space both safe and stylish.

8. Cost-Effective and Easy to Maintain

Although pavers may cost a bit more upfront than other materials like gravel or asphalt, their long-term cost-effectiveness makes them a solid choice for homeowners. Pavers require little maintenance beyond cleaning, and they are built to last for decades. The money you save on repairs and replacements can easily outweigh the initial investment.

Furthermore, pavers add value to your home, making them an excellent choice if you plan to sell in the future. Homes with high-quality landscaping, including paver installations, often sell faster and at a higher price.

9. Versatility for Any Outdoor Space

One of the biggest advantages of pavers is their versatility. Pavers can be used in a wide range of outdoor applications, including:

Driveways: Pavers can support the weight of vehicles without cracking or shifting. They provide a durable, aesthetically pleasing surface that enhances your home’s entryway.

Walkways: Whether leading to your front door, through your garden, or around your yard, pavers create a stylish and functional path.

Patios: Pavers are perfect for creating inviting outdoor spaces where you can relax, entertain, or enjoy a meal outdoors. Their customizable nature allows you to design a patio that fits your needs.

Pool Decks: Pavers are ideal around pools, as they offer a non-slip surface and remain cool to the touch, even on hot summer days.

With so many applications, you can create a cohesive look throughout your property by using pavers in different areas.

10. Transform Your Home with Pavers

Pavers offer an easy, affordable way to transform your home’s exterior. With a vast array of materials, colors, and patterns, pavers allow you to design a space that’s uniquely yours while adding lasting value to your home. Whether you're looking to revamp your driveway, enhance your backyard, or create an elegant walkway, pavers provide a timeless solution that combines beauty, durability, and functionality.

For expert paver installations and stunning outdoor designs, visit a Trusted Paver and Services Contractor. Our team specializes in designing and installing high-quality paver features that elevate both the aesthetics and functionality of your property.

Want to learn more about the specific benefits of paver installations and how they can enhance your home's exterior? Check out my article on Medium: Paving the Way: 10 Benefits of Paver Installations That Will Enhance Your Home’s Curb Appeal.

If you’re considering transforming your driveway or outdoor spaces, feel free to reach out to a Trusted Paver and Services Contractor for expert advice and reliable service. We offer a variety of paver solutions that meet both your budget and design preferences.

For more information on how we can help improve your home’s exterior, please visit AJC Pavers your trusted partner for exceptional paver installations.

[atozbodyfitness]

Why Belly Fat Increases in Your 30s and How to Lose It

As men reach their 30s, many notice an unwanted change: belly fat. It’s one of the most common problems men face as they age, and it often seems like no matter what you do, that stubborn fat just won’t go away. But why does belly fat increase in your 30s, and more importantly, how can you lose it? In this blog, we’ll explore the causes of belly fat and the best ways to shed it once and for all.

Why Does Belly Fat Increase in Your 30s?

As men enter their 30s, several changes occur that make it easier to gain belly fat. Understanding why this happens is the first step in figuring out how to lose it. Here are the main reasons:

1. Slower Metabolism

As you age, your metabolism naturally slows down. This means your body burns fewer calories at rest, making it easier to gain weight even if your diet and exercise habits haven’t changed. This can vary per individual though as some males may find this harder than others. It really depends on the individual.

Key Points:

Your body burns fewer calories as you age.

Maintaining the same diet and lifestyle can result in gradual weight gain.

Metabolism decreases by about 2% per decade after your 20s.

2. Hormonal Changes

As you reach your 30s, your hormone levels, particularly testosterone, start to decline. Testosterone plays a key role in regulating fat distribution, especially around the belly. Lower testosterone levels can lead to increased fat storage.

Key Points:

Testosterone levels drop by about 1% per year after age 30.

Lower testosterone can lead to more fat accumulation, particularly in the abdominal area.

This makes it harder to maintain muscle mass, which helps burn calories.

3. Lifestyle Changes

By your 30s, many men experience major lifestyle changes—longer work hours, family responsibilities, and more sedentary behavior. Sitting for extended periods and a lack of physical activity can contribute to weight gain and belly fat.

Key Points:

Sedentary lifestyles, like sitting at a desk, contribute to fat accumulation.

Increased responsibilities often leave less time for exercise and self-care.

Stress from work or personal life can also lead to overeating and poor food choices.

4. Poor Diet

As metabolism slows and responsibilities increase, many men turn to convenient, processed foods. High-calorie diets, especially those filled with sugar and unhealthy fats, lead to belly fat. Over time, these poor eating habits can have a major impact on your waistline.

Key Points:

Processed foods, fast foods, and sugary drinks contribute to weight gain.

Excessive calorie intake without burning enough calories leads to fat storage.

Eating habits often get worse with age as life becomes busier.

How to Lose Belly Fat in Your 30s

Now that you know why belly fat increases in your 30s, let’s look at how to lose it. With the right combination of diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes, you can reverse this trend and get your belly back in shape.

1. Focus on Nutrition

The key to losing belly fat starts in the kitchen. Nutrition plays the most important role in fat loss. By changing your eating habits and making healthier choices, you can shed pounds and reduce belly fat.

Nutrition Tips for Losing Belly Fat:

Eat More Protein: Protein helps build muscle and boosts your metabolism. Include lean sources of protein like chicken, fish, eggs, and plant-based options in your diet.

Cut Out Sugar: Sugary drinks and snacks contribute to belly fat. Swap sodas and sweets for water, fruits, and whole foods.

Incorporate Healthy Fats: Not all fats are bad. Healthy fats from sources like avocados, nuts, and olive oil can help with fat loss and improve overall health.

Avoid Processed Foods: Stick to whole, nutrient-dense foods like vegetables, fruits, lean meats, and whole grains.

Control Portion Sizes: Eating smaller portions and avoiding second helpings can help prevent overeating and reduce fat accumulation.

2. Increase Physical Activity

Exercise is essential for burning calories and losing belly fat. Incorporating a mix of cardio, strength training, and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) can help you target belly fat effectively.

Best Exercises for Losing Belly Fat:

Cardio Workouts: Activities like running, biking, swimming, or brisk walking help burn calories and improve heart health.

Strength Training: Building muscle through weightlifting helps boost your metabolism and burn fat even when you're at rest. Focus on compound movements like squats, deadlifts, and bench presses.

HIIT: High-intensity interval training involves short bursts of intense exercise followed by brief rest periods. This type of training is highly effective at burning fat, including belly fat.

3. Stay Active Throughout the Day

Even outside of planned exercise sessions, staying active during the day can make a big difference. Little habits, like taking the stairs or walking during your lunch break, can add up and help you burn more calories.

Tips for Staying Active:

Take Frequent Walks: If you sit at a desk for long periods, try to take short walking breaks every hour.

Use a Standing Desk: If possible, use a standing desk to avoid prolonged sitting.

Move More at Home: Whether it’s cleaning, playing with your kids, or gardening, keep yourself moving throughout the day.

4. Manage Stress

Stress is one of the biggest hidden causes of belly fat. When you're stressed, your body releases cortisol, a hormone that increases fat storage, particularly around the belly. Managing stress is crucial for both your mental and physical health.

Effective Stress Management Techniques:

Meditation and Deep Breathing: Practicing mindfulness or meditation for a few minutes each day can help lower stress levels.

Exercise: Physical activity not only helps with weight loss but also reduces stress by releasing endorphins.

Adequate Sleep: Getting enough sleep helps regulate hormones like cortisol and keeps your metabolism functioning properly.

5. Prioritize Sleep

Sleep is often overlooked, but it plays a crucial role in fat loss. Poor sleep disrupts your metabolism, increases hunger hormones, and leads to poor food choices. Getting enough sleep is essential to losing belly fat and keeping it off.

Sleep Tips for Fat Loss:

Aim for 7-9 Hours of Sleep: Make sure you’re getting enough restful sleep each night to allow your body to recover and maintain proper metabolic function.

Create a Bedtime Routine: A consistent routine, like avoiding screens before bed and reading or meditating, can help improve sleep quality.

Reduce Caffeine: Limit your caffeine intake, especially in the afternoon and evening, as it can interfere with your sleep cycle.

6. Stay Consistent and Patient

Losing belly fat, especially as you age, doesn’t happen overnight. It requires consistency and patience. By sticking to a healthy diet, regular exercise, and lifestyle changes, you’ll begin to see results over time.

Remember:

Small Changes Add Up: Even small improvements in your diet or activity level can make a big difference over time.

Track Your Progress: Keeping a journal of your workouts and eating habits can help you stay accountable and motivated.

Celebrate Milestones: Don’t forget to celebrate small victories along the way, like losing a few pounds or sticking to your workout routine for a month.

Conclusion: Why Belly Fat Increases in Your 30s and How to Lose It

Belly fat increases in your 30s due to a combination of slower metabolism, hormonal changes, lifestyle factors, and poor diet choices. However, losing belly fat is possible with the right approach. By focusing on proper nutrition, increasing physical activity, managing stress, and prioritizing sleep, you can shed belly fat and maintain a healthier lifestyle.

Remember, why belly fat increases in your 30s has clear explanations, but with patience, consistency, and the right strategies, you can lose that stubborn fat and regain control of your health.

Disclaimer: Adam is not a doctor nor a nutritionist. Through his experience and education, Adam provides valuable advice and insights. However, consulting a physician before starting any fitness program is strongly recommended.

[thessalian]

Thess vs Accumulation

I got my new computer, Phineas, up and running on Monday.

It is now Thursday.

I am still downloading Steam games.

I mean, in all fairness to myself, this is a Steam library that I've been putting together for at least a decade. It's a lot. Like, a lot a lot. I'm not even downloading all of them, because some I just can't really play. Others I'm not sure I will - am not even sure that I should - but am willing to try again at some point. It's like with my books, you see. The day may well come when only one specific game will give me the required dopamine, and woe to me if it's not ready to play, because that level of requiring dopamine is a probably-ADHD thing and downloading the fucker will probably feel like too much effort come that day.

Especially, and I say this after four days of near-constant download, with the sheer size of games nowadays. I mean, take Skyrim for example. It's one of those ones that's considered this huge open-world experience. Well, it doesn't even crack 6GB of hard disc space. Fallout 4? Just a little over 25GB. Dragon Age: Inquisition? Around 26GB.

Now, Baldur's Gate 3 I get being as big as it is. It's ... well, it's fucking huge. But Veilguard's going to be pushing 100GB as well. Horizon Forbidden West is 122GB, when you add the Burning Shores DLC. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6? Over 300GB. Now, I don't play CoD, but what exactly is taking up all that space? Shiny graphics, probably. But, I mean, the graphics of the Silent Hill 2 remake are pretty spiffy but that one's only in the 50GB range - if you can call doubling the size of the average game from ten years ago "only". Then again, Assassin's Creed: Odyssey is from 2018, and it's a little over 108GB. (Hate to think what kind of size we're looking at for Valhalla, Mirage, and especially the upcoming Shadows - Ubisoft sandboxes tend to have the bloat.)

Thing is, all of those are big-developer games (because while Larian isn't exactly AAA, it is a big developer). Dredge is only about a year and a half old and it doesn't even take up a full GB of disc space, even with two DLCs. In fact, a lot of my games fall into the < 1GB-5GB range. So when I say I've been downloading games for four days, there have been a lot of games. It's just those relatively few that end up in the double or even triple digits in terms of hard disc space that are taking up the time.

And the stupid part is that those huge ones? The ones that are taking all the time, and will take more once I stick Neir: Automata and Total War III into the queue? Most of those are on my list of "least likely to actually play".

Baldur's Gate 3? Sure. Yes. That one's the big one, and it's definitely on the To Play list, forever and ever amen. Horizon Forbidden West? I either have to finish that one or start all over again from the perspective of knowing what the fuck I'm doing, but yes. But ... that's it, for the big ones. Odyssey, Total War III, Neir: Automata? They're "just in case" games. I'm probably not even going to bother with Jedi: Fallen Order - much as I'd like to play it, I can't hack anything that's in the same post code as a Souls-like. ...But I probably will install KOTOR and KOTOR 2. The graphics will be janky and I'll have to download mods that make things work better, especially in the case of KOTOR 2 where way too much plot-salient content got left on the cutting-room floor because something went badly wrong with budgets or something at Obsidian... But I'm more likely to replay them than I am the big budget hugeness.

And this is what I mean about why I accumulate games. One day I will be in the mood to poke at Odyssey again, probably. I will probably get the hang of Total War III eventually, even if I do find some of the UI kind of janky. So I will download and install them, while I play the ones that got prioritised either because I play them more often or because they're shorter and thus quicker to download. And if the smaller, less bombastic, less expensive indie titles get more of my time, attention, and overall love, and have done for years? Well, they deserve that love, and at least they're not that expensive.

And, thankfully, neither are external SSDs.

[skywebtechnologies]

Imporatance Of App Development

The Importance of App Development :                                            by skyweb design Technologies…

Introduction: 

   Wireless devices are now most commonly used in today’s society and have revolutionized the way people use technology and engage with one another as well as companies. The increased penetration of smart phones and tablets in the last decade has seen the use of mobile applications or apps as key enablers in communication, entertainment and productivity among others. 

     Currently, there are over 6. Only 5 billion people use smartphones around the world, which proves the high level of penetration of mobile devices into people’s lives. Mobile application development or the development of software -applications that are built to be operated on mobile devices has become one of the key features of this technological advancement. In this essay the author aims to discuss the relevance of app development based on the perspectives of the users, the development of businesses, the advancement in innovation and possibilities for future developments. Going through the analysis of different sectors and explaining how the existence of mobile apps can change the world this discussion will add insights on why app development is important in the current world that is rapidly going digital. 

 IMPORTANTS: 

 1. Ubiquity of Mobile Devices 

 2. Enhanced User Experience 

 3. Business expansion and customer interaction 

 4. Monetization Opportunities 

 5. Access to Device Features 

 6. Competitive Advantage 

 7. Innovation and Future Technologies 

 8. Scalability and Customization 

 9. Educational and Healthcare Applications 

 10. Social and Community Impact 

 11. Financial Services and E-Commerce 

 12. Entertainment and Media 

1. Ubiquity of Mobile Devices: 

  Wide Reach and Accessibility:The other reason that makes the development of an application important is the high usage of the mobile devise. Laptops, tabs, mobile phones and other portable gadgets are being used across the global without any limitation of country; economy or culture. This is where mobile application take advantage of this and present services, contents, entertainment, utilities, and the likes to a massive and looming populace. 

 Constant Connectivity:Mobile devices also enable the users to be connected to the internet and the other users at near to all times. This kind of connection makes apps capable of generating up-to-date information, services, updates for the user, therefore enhancing their satisfaction. Whether it is the notification from the e-mail, or from the social network, or while trying to locate through maps and to use other applications, the apps are required in order to maintain this continuous communication. 

 

 2. Enhanced User Experience 

 Personalization: That is why one form of Internet presence – mobile applications, has one overwhelming advantage over all other types of presence – the ability to offer services. Using the data accumulated from the users, the app can adapt the content, suggestions and sometimes even the interfaces to the user. Such a level of consumerisation improves user commitment and involvement and in general, develops the user’s relationship with the application. 

 Smooth Performance: Native applications built for a certain operating system, in this case iOS or Android, are capable of leveraging on the capability of the device, as well as the operating system. They are faster in terms of operations, take less time to load and are more ‘user friendly’ than web applications. This will assist in presenting a better performance that is much desirable in sectors such as gaming, financial operations and the productivity suites. 

3. Business expansion and customer relation. 

 Direct Marketing Channel: Mobile apps are also used as a direct marketing tool between business and their customers. The use of push notifications, in-app messages and promotional messages allow businesses to send messages to the users. Such a direct contact increases customer relations and can be used to sell products, introduce new products, and encourage customers to remain loyal to a particular brand. 

 Customer Loyalty: Mobile apps can be incredibly useful in engaging the customers and can be quite useful in keeping the customers loyal. Loyalty programs, bonuses, and content that can be accessed only through the application force the client to come back more often. Also, the availability of service delivery through mobile make the user more confined to the specific application that is used hence enhancing loyalty. 

 4. Monetization Opportunities 

 Revenue Streams: Mobile applications offer a vast number of ways to monetize the offerings and services that developers and business bring to the market. Some of the ways that they use to make revenue include – In-app purchases, subscriptions, advertisements, and premium version. The app stores have grown to become a multi-billion dollar industry with app economy as the main driver. This economic potential stimulates the creation of applications and the investment in the development of the apps. 

 App Stores: Mobile application stores such as Apple App Store and Google Play Store are an international market place for deploying and generating revenues from applications. These stores present a well-defined environment for developers to target many people, get exposure, and earn money. This model also helps to find new and exciting applications which are of great help to the development of the application market. 

 5. Access to Device Features 

 Hardware Integration: In this case, it is worth stating that the mobile apps can get and use the different hardware components of the device, for instance the camera, GPS, acceleration and sensors. This integration enables developers to build applications that cannot be developed on other means. For instance, fitness apps may monitor activity based on the accelerometer, while apps that offer navigation services may use GPS to offer current information. 

 Offline Access: Most of the current mobile applications have some offline capabilities, meaning that the users can still interact with the application and view some of the content even if the internet connection is unavailable. This capability is important for the users in the areas with weak or no internet connection or for those who have to use the app in the motion. Offline mode makes the app valuable and applicable to various situations, which increases the satisfaction with the application. 

6. Competitive Advantage : 

Brand Presence: In the current world of business, having an app for a business can go a long way in improving the brand image of the business. An app creates its own environment on the user’s device; thus, it makes the brand more recognizable and available. A well developed application that has positive user interface can help to strengthen the brand image and help to avoid confusion with competitors. 

 Customer Insights: Mobile applications can gather much significant information on users’ actions, inclinations, and relations. This information is invaluable to business entities because it gives them a basis on which they can understand customers’ requirements and behaviour. The detailed usage of the applications can be seen by the businesses and, in turn, business can predict the patterns, enhance their products, and services to meet customer satisfaction. 

 7. Innovation and Future Technologies 

 Integration with Emerging Technologies: AR, VR, and IoT are some of the technologies that are gradually being incorporated in mobile apps. These technologies mean new horizons for developing applications that can offer a solution and a different approach to a problem. For instance, AR applications can improve shopping by enabling the user to see the products in the environment or IoT applications exercising control over home appliances. 

 Adaptability: The ecosystem of app development is very much open to changes in the matter of technology and the user’s requirements. In the course of time, new technologies are being introduced and the users of the applications also change their expectations. This adaptability is still important to make sure that mobile apps are still significant and relevant in the present digital world. 

 8. Scalability and Customization 

 Scalable Solutions: Mobile apps can be developed in small scale and can have provisions for growth and development to cater the increasing number of users as well as the increasing needs of the business. Scalability is important in order to accommodate more traffic, more data and more functionalities in the app. This capability is particularly important for businesses in their efforts to expand as well as generate more traffic to their mobile applications. 

 Custom Features: Some of the opportunities for businesses include; Businesses can design and develop apps that will meet their needs and the need of their industries. Custom apps are different from the generic business solutions in the sense that they bring functions and capabilities that are not available in the generic business solutions. This customization enables organizations to deal with their unique circumstances and prospects better. 

9. Educational and Healthcare Applications 

 Educational Apps: A lot of mobile apps have appeared in the market and they have greatly impacted the educational sector through innovations in learning. There are numerous apps for learning and they are available for almost all subjects as well as skills for people of all ages. Elements like game, quizzes, and tracking encourage the learners and make learning more interesting and productive. 

 Healthcare Apps: The mobile application has therefore become an essential tool in the health care delivery in enhancing patient care and management. App can be used in health care sector to offer tele consultation, appointment booking, medication prescription and health monitoring. These apps enable patients to be more in charge of their health, as well as enhance the means and ways of communication. with healthcare workers, and the improvement of the delivery of health care services. 

 10.Social and Community Impact 

 Social Networking: Social networking apps have changed the way people relate and interact with other people. Social media applications such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and WhatsApp have become part and parcel of people’s lives as they use these applications to share experiences, information and relationship. These apps have formed virtual communities, which have helped in social interactions and sharing of culture. 

 Community Services: Community services and support are also delivered through mobile applications. Specifically, the applications focused on volunteering, events and community projects are useful for people in order to be informed and engaged into various activities. These apps may help in the organising and the mobilisation process and in enhancing social capital, all of which can benefit the whole society. 

 11. Financial Services and E-Commerce 

 Mobile Banking: The financial services have been on the receiving end when it comes to mobile app development. Mobile banking applications give clients a chance to use banking services with the help of their mobile devices: they can check accounts, make transfers, pay bills, and monitor transactions. These apps improve the status of financial services by offering banking services to people who cannot access banking facilities. 

 E-Commerce: The e-commerce applications for the retail sector have become a new trend in the shopping business since they are convenient and personal. Mobile applications are used by the customers to search products, shop, view orders and receive suggestions or recommendations. The emergence of mobile commerce or m-commerce has increased the volumes of online sales and has opened new opportunities for the generation of revenues to the business ventures. 

12. Entertainment and Media 

 Streaming Services: The entertainment industry has been transformed by the availability of mobile app that provide streaming services. Companies such as Netflix, Spotify, and YouTube allow the users to watch movies, listen to music, and watch videos whenever they want and from wherever they want, without having to compromise their tastes and preferences. These apps had altered the way many of them use media since they offer more flexibility and convenience. 

 Gaming: Games have turned out to be one of the most relevant segments of the app developing market, as millions of people play games on their mobile devices daily. Mobile games give people fun and leisure, including simple games and high-level games for multiplayers. Popular games such as Candy Crush, Pokémon GO, and Fortnite proves that mobile gaming is lucrative and has the market behind it. 

 Conclusion:Thus, the role of app development in today’s world is beyond a doubt significant. Mobile applications are already a regular part of people’s lives, which define how people interact, perform tasks, study, consume products, and have fun. They offer organisations effective means of development, customer outreach and creation. Thus, the position of app development will grow more and more critical as technology advances and becomes the leading force in the development of the digital environment. App development is not just a good business investment, but it is becoming more and more critical to engage in because of the increasing focus on mobile devices in society. 

Thank for visiting us……

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[boyfrillish]

I was tagged recently by @brainshock-alpha for twenty fic writers' questions — thanks! c: If anyone wants to answer them too, feel free to go ahead.

Alright, here we go!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

As of right now, 22. I had like, 80+ that I orphaned about a year and a half ago, but those shall be disregarded since they aren't linked to my account anymore and I did that for a reason, so...

2. What is your AO3 wordcount?

According to my statistics, it's 22,139. I never expect that high of a number with how short my fics tend to be, haha

3. What fandoms do you write for?

That would be Pokémon, and recenly also started writing for FE💍Engage, though I have yet to post the fic I wrote (as of sending this, it still sits only in the notepad I scribbled it in and I have yet to type it on the computer lol). It'll be interesting to see how the rotation will go, because I don't usually tend to be multifandom when it comes to writing.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Lost and Found (Red/Blue) — 309 kudos

Scale my Heart (Brendan/Wally) — 193

The hero's hero (Brendan/Wally) — 131

Candy Apple (Kieran/Florian) — 101

Apology (Kieran/Florian) — 97

Again I am only counting what's actually linked to my account. Since all of these are pkmn, I contextualised by ship lol the first three are from 2014/2015 so the kudos accumulated over time. I'm still amazed the latter two got so many in just a few months.

5. Do you respond to comments?

I always try to, but sometimes it may take time... Really wish sometimes there was a way for writer's to give a kudos or some other silent reaction on comments on our fics, just so I can silently express my appreciation even when I don't currently have the spoons to respond.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I wrote some angst in the past but I wouldn't remember about a sad ending because I really prefer happy (or at least good enough) endings. I mostly write silly fluff, so lol If I'm Your Boy may count since there's a toneshift between the two POVs and it ends on the pining.

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

My first instinct is to say "All of them" lmao when 99% of what I write is silly fluff, it's kind of tough to assign a "happiest"

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I know I've had at least some persons hate me/my fics, but that's in the past and I left that fandom behind so... in present times, not that I know of.

9. Do you write smut? If so, which kind?

I did before, but the last one was years ago. Dunno when I might give it a try again.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest crossover you’ve ever written?

If it's like a "AU set in the universe of x other fandom" then yes, I guess I've done it before? But not like. full-scale crossovers where the cast of two or more things meet. At least, I don't think I ever did that lol

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I was asked about it, some years ago, but back then I was rather anxious and declined 🥲

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yup, though the last time that I can actively remember was many years ago. I used to do that with friends back in high school where either we'd pass around the paper every other sentence or we talk it out loud and then one of us wrote it down. That's the ones I remember haha. I'd be open to doing it again, now digitally.

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

I'm really not good at nailing down ONE singular all-time favourite in general because intense emotions/feelings are intense emotions/feelings, you know? And I can have them for multiple things all at once and in the same way (but different flavours). But for the sake of it, I'm going to say Hugh/Nate, considering they've been a major comfort OTP for a decade now and are also one of the ships I've written the most. Then there's HopVic which is the same tier of comfort OTP as Hugh/Nate for me and I wrote about as much of them. And as of recent, Alcryst/Alear♂ while I'm literally still in the middle of playing that game haha. Though the fact that I already started writing fic about them says a lot, because I never did for my favourite Awakening ships.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Uhh... I'm drawing a blank here. Because while I have some WIPs since summer 2022 that I have yet to finish, I wouldn't say they aren't like, "impossible" for me to finish? At least I'm telling myself that I am going to finish them one day or another lol well, I guess there's some WIPs from 2014... I guess those aren't going to happen anymore, maybe in a totally revamped way, but will that happen? Not currently likely

16. What are your writing strengths?

One thing you have to know about me is that I am really not good at knowing my own strengths (like really), but if there's one thing that I know I'm good at, it's eliciting emotions & giving comfort. It's what my own fics do for me, and enough people have told me so after reading, to be more confident about it not just being A Me Thing (because I write for my own comfort & fun and all that)

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

...Everything else? :'D Jokes aside, I'm going to say just descriptions because I am not very poetic... Then there's that sometimes I struggle because of the fact that I'm writing in a foreign language, but I don't know if that quite counts here?

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

This is a really nuanced topic with multiple angles and such, and I don't currently have the spoons to try to translate my thoughts into words 😅

19. First fandom you wrote for?

I'm pretty sure it was Pokémon back when I was a kid lol I didn't always write things down (and to this day too, a lot of visions stay in my head), but I've been imagining things in my head pretty much my whole life, and that's one of the first fandoms I can remember actually writing. And it became the one that I would always come back to writing through the years, even if not at every point of my life.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Again, I am not good at saying Just One Favourite lol it's all of them at any particular point of time and I still get excited even about stuff I wrote years back, so there's that. It's all of them (as long as I didn't leave the fandom behind me, that is).

[larrydpage-blog]

50 Years of Gold Trends with Global Impact

The last 50 years have witnessed significant trends and transformations in the gold market, shaped by economic, geopolitical, and social factors. Gold, often considered a timeless store of value and a safe-haven asset, has experienced fluctuations in demand, prices, and usage over this period. Exploring the key trends in the gold market from the early 1970s to the present provides valuable insights into the metal's enduring relevance and its evolving role in the global economy.

1. The End of the Gold Standard (1971):

One of the most pivotal moments in the gold market occurred in 1971 when President Richard Nixon announced the end of the gold standard. Prior to this, the U.S. dollar was pegged to a specific quantity of gold, and other currencies were pegged to the dollar. The abandonment of the gold standard marked a shift towards a fiat currency system, allowing currencies to float freely. This move increased the volatility of currency values and contributed to a new era for gold as an investment and hedge against economic uncertainty.

2. Gold as a Safe-Haven Asset (1970s-1980s):

The 1970s and early 1980s witnessed a surge in gold prices driven by economic turmoil, high inflation, and geopolitical tensions. Investors sought the safety of gold during periods of uncertainty, leading to a significant increase in demand. The peak of this trend occurred in 1980 when gold prices reached an all-time high of around $850 per ounce.

3. Volatility and the 1980s-1990s Consolidation:

Following the peak in 1980, gold prices experienced a prolonged period of consolidation and decline throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. Economic stability, declining inflation, and rising interest rates contributed to reduced demand for gold as a safe-haven asset. Prices remained relatively subdued during this period.

4. The Asian Financial Crisis (Late 1990s):

The late 1990s saw a resurgence in gold demand, particularly during the Asian financial crisis of 1997. Economic uncertainties in Asia prompted investors to turn to gold as a safe-haven asset, leading to a moderate increase in prices.

5. The Global Financial Crisis (2008):

The global financial crisis of 2008 marked another significant turning point for gold. As financial markets crumbled and confidence in traditional assets waned, gold once again emerged as a safe-haven asset. Investors sought refuge in gold, driving prices to new highs. In 2011, gold prices reached a historic peak, exceeding $1,900 per ounce.

6. Post-Crisis Stability and Moderation (2011-2019):

Following the peak in 2011, gold prices experienced a period of moderation and stability. Economic recovery, reduced fears of a global recession, and increased confidence in traditional financial assets contributed to a decline in gold prices. During this period, gold remained an essential component of diversified investment portfolios but without the extreme volatility witnessed in previous decades.

7. Resurgence in the 2020s:

The early 2020s brought a renewed interest in gold as the world grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic. Economic uncertainties, unprecedented fiscal and monetary measures, and concerns about inflation reignited demand for gold. In 2020, gold prices surged, reaching levels not seen since 2011.

8. Shifts in Central Bank Reserves:

Over the last 50 years, central banks have played a crucial role in gold trends. While some periods witnessed central banks selling gold to diversify reserves, recent years have seen a reversal of this trend. Central banks, particularly in emerging economies, have been accumulating gold as a strategic reserve asset, contributing to increased demand.

9. Technological Innovations in Gold Trading:

Advancements in technology have transformed the way gold is traded. The rise of electronic trading platforms and the development of financial products, such as gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs), have made gold more accessible to a broader range of investors.

10. Environmental and Social Concerns:

In recent years, there has been a growing emphasis on responsible and sustainable mining practices in the gold industry. Environmental and social considerations, such as the impact of mining on local communities and ecosystems, have become important factors for both investors and consumers.

The last 50 years have been characterized by dynamic shifts in the gold market, reflecting changes in economic conditions, geopolitical landscapes, and investor preferences. Gold has consistently demonstrated its resilience as a safe-haven asset, with periods of volatility and stability. As the global economy continues to evolve, gold is likely to remain a key player in investment portfolios and a symbol of enduring value. Understanding the historical trends provides a valuable context for anticipating future developments in the ever-evolving world of gold. Follow Daily Gold rates in Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Chennai, Delhi & Mumbai on The Hans India.

[jcmarchi]

Persona 3 Reload Preview - A Final Hands-On Session - Game Informer

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/persona-3-reload-preview-a-final-hands-on-session-game-informer/

Persona 3 Reload Preview - A Final Hands-On Session - Game Informer

Ever since I got my hands on Persona 3 Reload over the summer, I’ve described it to folks as “Persona 3 redone in the form of Persona 5 Royal.” While that may be a gross oversimplification, it’s also pretty high praise. Longtime fans of the Persona series point towards Persona 3 as the entry that changed the course of the series, pointing it down the path it’s been on for nearly the last two decades. While Persona 3 may be the most important entry from a mechanical perspective, Persona 5 has the most mainstream relevance, particularly in 2024.

Back to Top

The mainline Persona series has since made the leap from being largely a PlayStation franchise to finding a home on multiple platforms, with Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4 Golden, and Persona 5 Royal available now on PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo consoles. That opened the series to massive new audiences, but though the newer Persona 4 Golden still feels remarkably playable by modern standards, Persona 3 Portable – by far, the oldest of the trio – sticks out like a sore thumb amidst that collection of classic RPGs as having aged the worst.

While Persona 3 Portable is the PSP version of the title, even the other versions of the influential RPG would feel outdated in several ways by today’s standards. “[Persona 3] came out 18 years ago; a lot has changed in 18 years in terms of how you make a game and how you make a game entertaining and increase its usability,” Persona 3 Reload producer Ryota Niitsuma says. “Obviously, we’ve learned a lot over the years from making our other games; we picked up a lot of know-how and information on how to make a game more entertaining to play. We put all of that, without hesitation, into the game.”

“Persona 3 Reload is a title that takes all of the elements and things we’ve learned from [Persona 4] Golden and onwards and puts them into an accumulation of all of our knowledge to the title,” Persona 3 Reload director Takuya Yamaguchi adds. “I think in terms of playability and fun, this is a great place to get into the series.”

Fans made it known that a remake was highly sought after, and when the team wrapped up work on Persona 5 Royal, it heard these requests from players and decided it would be the studio’s next project. It quickly began discussing what approach it should take. “There were people that said we should just make a one-to-one remake and there were some people who said we should make big changes and kind of redo everything,” Yamaguchi says. “After a lot of discussion, we decided to mainly go with a one-to-one approach to recreate the original game. However, that’s for the major core of what makes the game it, and for small kinds of changes and powering the game up for a modern audience, that’s what we decided to focus our efforts on for the remake.”

While those changes were necessary to make to appeal to modern players, Atlus took great care not to disrupt the core tenets of the game, characters, and story. The focus on death, grief, and contemplating how to proceed with your remaining time continues to permeate this remade experience. 

Hands-On

While my previous demo was a more guided tour of the game, with a section dedicated to exploring Tartarus followed by a section devoted to a boss battle, this final hands-on session feels more organic. I’m dropped into the game in the month of June and can choose what activities I want to pursue outside of one day when I’m required to go into Tartarus.

I spend my first day exploring two new social link activities, one with Junpei and one with Akihiko. First up, during the After School timeframe, Junpei asks if we could go to the arcade. While there, he talks about how he thinks we could learn some moves from some of the fighting games there, and then challenges me to a competitive game. Following some friendly banter, I raise the level of his Hermes Persona.

After parting ways with Junpei, I see a text from Akihiko, who asks me to go with him to get some food. Unfortunately, we’re interrupted by a group of girls who view him as a celebrity thanks to his boxing win streak. He turns them down and we continue our walk. We walk a bit more but stumble upon that same group of girls cornered by a group of guys. They’re aggressively hitting on the girls, but it’s clear the girls just want to leave. Akihiko intervenes, allowing the girls to run while he confronts the guys. Just as a fight is about to break out, the police arrive. In this interaction, we learn that there’s been gang activity in the area recently and to be careful with whom you start trouble. Akihiko and I jog back, increasing my max HP.

As my character lays in bed after the eventful evening, he’s visited by the Mysterious Boy. After a brief conversation, I form a bond with him and his Death Arcana. Then next day, I walk home with Chihiro, forming a bond with the Justice Arcana. However, the most monumental sequence of the day occurs in the evening, as Ikutsuki calls a meeting with the team.

In this meeting, Ikutsuki provides special SEES equipment that allows the use of Theurgy, a new combat ability in Persona 3 Reload. Using characters’ emotions, you can unleash super strong powers. The team enters Tartarus to test out the new equipment. After Fuuka scouts for a good floor to enter, she mentions it feels distorted for some reason. Still, we go in and proceed with the test. 

The turn-based combat present in the series feels as good as ever. Taking on Shadows, exploiting weaknesses to earn 1 More attacks, and then executing an All-Out Attack always delivers a strong sense of satisfaction. But once I complete the floor, I finally get a chance to see Theurgies in action. Each character has a Theurgy gauge. Once that gauge is charged, you can unleash a powerful attack that doesn’t cost HP or SP, and it often ignores resistances.

Each character charges thanks to different actions, while each character’s Theurgy move does different actions. For example, Yukari’s Theurgy meter charges when she heals herself or her teammate, and her Theurgy attack deals severe wind damage that ignores resistance. Other characters charge their meters differently like Junpei landing critical hits or the protagonist summoning his Persona. Or, as Junpei puts it, “If we’re fired up enough, we can really pop off!” You have to be careful, though, as the gauge stops increasing when you have a status ailment, and it drops by half when that character is KO’d.

I love how this meter encouraged me to perform different actions with each character, giving combat a fresher, more varied feeling. “For me, this fits the Persona 3 Reload vibe very well and also updates the battle system of the game,” Yamaguchi says. “We had the 1 More! system, but this is a really new evolution of that which I think works really well.”

I spend much of the rest of my hands-on session exploring social links, including shopping with Kenji, training on the track team with Kazushi, and walking home with track team manager Yuko. If you’ve played a Persona game, you have a great idea of what to expect as these social links continue to deepen, and I can’t wait to continue exploring these relationships further in the full game. I also spend a little bit of time in school, including answering a question to improve my Charm rating and studying to improve my Academics rating.

Before wrapping up my demo, I spend a bit more time exploring Tartarus. After fighting several Shadows, including a Rare Shadow, I learn about Fuuka’s Oracle Theurgy, which can analyze the entire battlefield, apply status ailments to enemies, or buff the entire team. I bet that’ll come in handy for boss battles, but in this scenario against standard Shadows, they don’t stand a chance. After continuing for a few more floors, I find a Valuable Treasure Chest, which holds a Dekunda Gem, and my demo ends.

After relinquishing my controller, I couldn’t wait to start the adventure earnestly. I love the updates made to this version of Persona 3, and it truly feels like it could replace Persona 5 Royal as the best jumping-on-point for the amazing role-playing series. Persona 3 Reload arrives on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on February 2.