Monday, May 10, 2004
Concrete and Pot Lucks
Hello all! You could say that this post comes at the expense of my common sense. I have an insane amount of homework I should be doing for Physics, seeing as the final was moved up two days earlier than I had planned. But I hate to neglect my site, in fear that I will lose my few readers that I have managed to amass. So here we go!
I recently learned about a fascinating fact of applied science. It seems that concrete is amazingly resilient to forces of compression. But this comes at a price; it is also very weak when it comes to expansion. So cement would be a great choice for pillars and bricks, but isn't really a fantastic candidate for streets or bridges in areas where weather changes drastically (or there are a lot of earthquakes). And cement would make an awful material to make clothing out of. :)
However, man has found a way to use cement despite its weakness. We not lay networks of long metal wires in the cement that help it contract and expand. The problem is that the cement still will fracture under the right amount of force.
So smarter humans have come up with yet another solution (if using an inherently problematic substance can be considered smart at all). The wires are now stretched as far as their elasticity will allow, then the concrete is poured. Once the concrete is completely dry, the wires are released, putting the cement under forces of compression (which it can easily withstand). Now whenever you apply forces of expansion, the concrete is only finding itself less compressed, rather than expanded at all. Brilliant!
This is called pre-stressed concrete. Why do I bring this up (other than the fact I am fascinated by this sort of trivial scientific knowledge)? Well, it reminds me of a comment my friend Phuong said last week.
She mentioned how much she loves pot-luck dinners. The pot-luck is a modern day descendant of an ancient tradition called potlatch. Potlatch was a type of activity that tribes/villages (like the tribes that occupied southern Alaska, Washington state, British Columbia, and Vancouver Island) would take part in where many members are responsible to bring a great deal of goods together for a massive feast.
These potlatch feasts served many purposes. For one, it was a way to shame other invited tribes, and affix primacy of one chief/people's power over others. It was a sneak way to compete and measure a chief's influence and power against another. It also was a great way to redistribute resources. If there were poor among the tribe, they would get to share in the wealth of the potlatch. Those blessed with bounty then were forced to share, therefore undermining the social stratification problems we see between the very rich and the very poor today.
But the potlatch mirrors prestressed concrete in one very distinct way, as anthropologist Marvin Harris points out in his book "Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches." Because the upcoming feast was always held over the heads of the tribes-people, they were constantly busy with preparations. The chief was always directing energy and the people were constantly working to prepare. It could be said that the people were constantly under stress.
This stress was an ingenious tool to keep the workers productive. In times of bounty, it would have been easy to slack off and lower productivity to normalize output to a previous year's effort. But the chief would have none of this. His power, his influence, and the very pride of the people were at stake. A bountiful year meant an even more extravagant feast, and many villagers would be lured to his village (if they saw there own village as lacking in comparison).
The chief used this artificial stress to maintain productivity. There was no room for laziness or idleness. Much like the stress of compression that the rebar places on the concrete, the ever approaching potlatch placed the people under stress. Therefore, in years where resources became meager, the people were already prepared to work hard. The potlatch may not be as fabulous as the prior season's, but the people would be able to maintain the stamina and motivation to survive.
Humans sometimes need external aid in staying diligent. We can;t always put too much faith into how we think we will act, or how we think we will be able to perform. Every runner knows this. You can't just run the marathons, you have to train in between; usually at distances further than the actual races. Personal ethics work the same way. You cannot expect that you will act in a noble and moral way when the "decision time" comes if you do not hold yourself to a rigorous moral code in your daily life.
A great prinicpal to measure your morals is to compare how the "you" acts/thinks in private with the "you" at other way-points in your daily life (the "you" at church, "you" at school, "you" in front of your friends, "you" at work, and "you" around family). They should pretty much be the same "you."
For example, internet porn is wildly succesful due to its anonymity and accessability in private. Many people now view porn who in past days would have never bought so much as a swimsuit magazine at a store (let alone rent/buy pornography from a retailer). But it shouldn't be this way. It all boils down to personal ethics and honesty, two MAJOR factors to living a worthwhile life. As Gandhi put it (I paraphrase), live the change that you want to see in the world.
It is as if we need the added stress to prepare us for bad times. Our trials and hardships are probably great training for possible future disasters. Rather than be fatalists, and assuming that it is our lot in life to suffer, or whiners, and complain about how miserable our lives are... we should try to see our problems as "character building" exercises.
My friends and I are all under a great deal of stress right now, for various reasons. It is finals week, some of us are awaiting acceptance to pharmacy school, and we all have our personal dilemmas that life throws at everyone. But these stressors are making us stronger, preparing us, helping us find our limits, and keeping us productive.
So it is no wonder that a person as wonderful and intelligent as my friend Phuong is would love pot-lucks. She subliminally realizes that they represent ancient tribal rites, highway concrete pouring techniques, and pop psychology. Oh, and eating. Lots and lots of flavorful eating. :)
The feast will come, and it only is able to be thrown because of the stress we were under in preparation. If you are in preparation/stress mode (as I am), hang in there. The feast is coming; it will be worthwhile. And if you are at the feast/pot-luck already... well, enjoy it! And save some for the rest of us!
See ya!
I recently learned about a fascinating fact of applied science. It seems that concrete is amazingly resilient to forces of compression. But this comes at a price; it is also very weak when it comes to expansion. So cement would be a great choice for pillars and bricks, but isn't really a fantastic candidate for streets or bridges in areas where weather changes drastically (or there are a lot of earthquakes). And cement would make an awful material to make clothing out of. :)
However, man has found a way to use cement despite its weakness. We not lay networks of long metal wires in the cement that help it contract and expand. The problem is that the cement still will fracture under the right amount of force.
So smarter humans have come up with yet another solution (if using an inherently problematic substance can be considered smart at all). The wires are now stretched as far as their elasticity will allow, then the concrete is poured. Once the concrete is completely dry, the wires are released, putting the cement under forces of compression (which it can easily withstand). Now whenever you apply forces of expansion, the concrete is only finding itself less compressed, rather than expanded at all. Brilliant!
This is called pre-stressed concrete. Why do I bring this up (other than the fact I am fascinated by this sort of trivial scientific knowledge)? Well, it reminds me of a comment my friend Phuong said last week.
She mentioned how much she loves pot-luck dinners. The pot-luck is a modern day descendant of an ancient tradition called potlatch. Potlatch was a type of activity that tribes/villages (like the tribes that occupied southern Alaska, Washington state, British Columbia, and Vancouver Island) would take part in where many members are responsible to bring a great deal of goods together for a massive feast.
These potlatch feasts served many purposes. For one, it was a way to shame other invited tribes, and affix primacy of one chief/people's power over others. It was a sneak way to compete and measure a chief's influence and power against another. It also was a great way to redistribute resources. If there were poor among the tribe, they would get to share in the wealth of the potlatch. Those blessed with bounty then were forced to share, therefore undermining the social stratification problems we see between the very rich and the very poor today.
But the potlatch mirrors prestressed concrete in one very distinct way, as anthropologist Marvin Harris points out in his book "Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches." Because the upcoming feast was always held over the heads of the tribes-people, they were constantly busy with preparations. The chief was always directing energy and the people were constantly working to prepare. It could be said that the people were constantly under stress.
This stress was an ingenious tool to keep the workers productive. In times of bounty, it would have been easy to slack off and lower productivity to normalize output to a previous year's effort. But the chief would have none of this. His power, his influence, and the very pride of the people were at stake. A bountiful year meant an even more extravagant feast, and many villagers would be lured to his village (if they saw there own village as lacking in comparison).
The chief used this artificial stress to maintain productivity. There was no room for laziness or idleness. Much like the stress of compression that the rebar places on the concrete, the ever approaching potlatch placed the people under stress. Therefore, in years where resources became meager, the people were already prepared to work hard. The potlatch may not be as fabulous as the prior season's, but the people would be able to maintain the stamina and motivation to survive.
Humans sometimes need external aid in staying diligent. We can;t always put too much faith into how we think we will act, or how we think we will be able to perform. Every runner knows this. You can't just run the marathons, you have to train in between; usually at distances further than the actual races. Personal ethics work the same way. You cannot expect that you will act in a noble and moral way when the "decision time" comes if you do not hold yourself to a rigorous moral code in your daily life.
A great prinicpal to measure your morals is to compare how the "you" acts/thinks in private with the "you" at other way-points in your daily life (the "you" at church, "you" at school, "you" in front of your friends, "you" at work, and "you" around family). They should pretty much be the same "you."
For example, internet porn is wildly succesful due to its anonymity and accessability in private. Many people now view porn who in past days would have never bought so much as a swimsuit magazine at a store (let alone rent/buy pornography from a retailer). But it shouldn't be this way. It all boils down to personal ethics and honesty, two MAJOR factors to living a worthwhile life. As Gandhi put it (I paraphrase), live the change that you want to see in the world.
It is as if we need the added stress to prepare us for bad times. Our trials and hardships are probably great training for possible future disasters. Rather than be fatalists, and assuming that it is our lot in life to suffer, or whiners, and complain about how miserable our lives are... we should try to see our problems as "character building" exercises.
My friends and I are all under a great deal of stress right now, for various reasons. It is finals week, some of us are awaiting acceptance to pharmacy school, and we all have our personal dilemmas that life throws at everyone. But these stressors are making us stronger, preparing us, helping us find our limits, and keeping us productive.
So it is no wonder that a person as wonderful and intelligent as my friend Phuong is would love pot-lucks. She subliminally realizes that they represent ancient tribal rites, highway concrete pouring techniques, and pop psychology. Oh, and eating. Lots and lots of flavorful eating. :)
The feast will come, and it only is able to be thrown because of the stress we were under in preparation. If you are in preparation/stress mode (as I am), hang in there. The feast is coming; it will be worthwhile. And if you are at the feast/pot-luck already... well, enjoy it! And save some for the rest of us!
See ya!
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