saccharomyces

joined 1 year ago
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[–] saccharomyces 3 points 8 months ago

Surfside sticks in my mind so much because it happened in my first week on the job as an engineer. That was only two years ago, but it really feels like the pandora's box of deferred maintenance is just starting to swing open.

 

Four recent catastrophic building collapses and a near miss are raising concerns about the state of America’s aging buildings and questions about who, if anyone, is checking their safety.

Many cities have buildings showing signs of aging and in need of repair. In New York City, where a seven-story apartment building partially collapsed in December 2023, the median building age is about 90 years, and many neighborhoods were built before 1900. ...

[–] saccharomyces 2 points 10 months ago

Birdtray might be what you’re looking for. I’ve only used it on windows, but for me it gets thunderbird out of the way but able to be checked and used immediately.

https://github.com/gyunaev/birdtray

[–] saccharomyces 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I've only got a water resources/environmental practice exam that has been passed around a lot. There is a decent amount of rudimentary soil mechanics and foundations, that I actually think is getting removed for that specific exam in the new one. The new structure means it might be a choice of piecemealing old content based on the NCEES topics list, or buying brand new materials.

I'll probably be sitting the exam a little under one year from now, so I'm planning on doing the former until early next year, then hopefully my employer will buy some newer materials, or handle a bit of the cost, or maybe a review course at a local uni.

https://files.catbox.moe/q0lv28.pdf

https://files.catbox.moe/e7u6ap.pdf

[–] saccharomyces 2 points 11 months ago

Just yesterday I got a dell inspiron for this reason. It’s the “we have a laptop at home” macbook air IMO and I only logged into the OEM windows for the 5 min of checking out what’s new windows 11 before installing my OS of choice.

[–] saccharomyces 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

oh yeah, I forgot I watched about half of that video last week. He is really thoroughly knowledgeable and I enjoy his videos a lot, but it felt like a bit of a litany of arguments which is why I quit watching. However, the seismic argument is huge to me. Saying 'Masonry houses can kill you here' is a pretty strong argument in my book, especially when dealing with the realities of economics and what's actually affordable/what's cheapest.

[–] saccharomyces 8 points 11 months ago (3 children)

This does a really good job of explaining the benefits of "stick" construction, even if he does get a little wrapped up in his hamburger analogy. I'm particularly interested in sharing it because of how many people online denigrate wood houses in the US, and I think this will show some of the real advantages of it as a construction choice.

23
The Genius of 2x4 Framing (www.youtube.com)
submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by saccharomyces to c/civilengineering
 

"America is built on light wood framing. It is the most common construction method for the most common building type in the US. This video explores how and why light wood framing came to become such an American standard. By comparing it to the rise of the hamburger, we trace the parallels of convenience and ubiquity that hamburgers and wood framing share. The video also explores an exhibition called 'American Framing' at Wrightwood 659 to see models and 2x4 constructions up close and personal."

[–] saccharomyces 1 points 1 year ago

That’s just way too vague to tell one way or another, and I don’t want to fall for marketing. Most concrete is made of mostly local materials, since the sand and gravel is quarried locally, sometimes on the same site as the mixing plant

[–] saccharomyces 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

One thing definitely lacking in the article and my brief look on their website is just… wtf even is the binder? Anything to truly replace portland cement will have to be non-proprietary and really well researched if they ever want it to take off.

[–] saccharomyces 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Just find these types of scaled models amazing to see in real life.

And, of course, it's actually being built. https://www.asce.org/publications-and-news/civil-engineering-source/civil-engineering-magazine/issues/magazine-issue/article/2023/07/zigzagging-weir-helped-solve-safety-issues-at-2-california-dams

And here are some videos on other physical models like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i70wkxmumAw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtUDGSmPd04

Finally, if you're interested in the mathematics behind how we can do this and make comparable prototypes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3gT-MeJD-U

[–] saccharomyces 1 points 1 year ago

The opening was a bit hard to see where they were going, but overall a pretty good video that gives a good history of some difficult road engineering

[–] saccharomyces 2 points 1 year ago

I haven’t read it yet, but the journal article this blurb is about is currently open access. Sharing it because I absolutely love this type of thing. I knew someone in school who was doing similar research with accelerometers on vehicles to try and assess the stiffness of the whole span. I think I sounded weird when I told him this irl, but I literally like to go to sleep thinking about being able to make measurements so indirectly and passively.

 

A commercial building under construction I saw the other day. It caught my eye because of the shoring still being up

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