🏗 Paddy's SECRET Card

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Hello Fellow Engineers!

Welcome to Real Civil Newsletter, the only newsletter where bridges get reviewed like fine wine, architects get roasted like Sunday dinner, and dogs with oversized sticks get more screen time than most influencers.

This week, we’re plumbing deserts, dodging upgrades, and admiring a bridge that towers like it’s compensating for something (spoiler: it’s not, it’s just that good). Whether you're here for giant pipes, questionable game choices, or a golden retriever with ambition, we’ve got you covered.

Let’s dive into it 👇

This week, we’re giving away FIVE copies of Islands & Trains! 🚂🏝️

If you’ve ever dreamed of building a tiny island railway empire, with bridges, logistics, and absolutely zero architectural nonsense, this one’s for you. It’s trains. It’s islands. It’s everything your civil engineering heart desires.

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for… 🥁

🏆ian.wheeling200710🏆
🏆paul🏆
🏆dominicveltkamp381🏆
🏆arieg2013🏆
🏆anniina.kuivalainen🏆

Check your inbox for your game key and prepare to lay down tracks like it’s your professional calling. Because let’s be honest... it probably is.

Missed out? More giveaways are steaming your way soon!
Want in on the next one? Vote for the next card reveal in the poll below!

👷‍♂️ Truss Me, I’m an Engineer…

Libya’s Great Man-Made River – Or How to Plumb the Sahara

Welcome back, steel-jawed problem-solvers and concrete connoisseurs. Today’s engineering marvel makes your average plumbing job look like LEGO. We're diving into Libya’s Great Man-Made River, a project so massive it made Mother Nature blink twice.

Let’s be honest, if this were left to architects, they’d have built a 200-meter-tall water bottle sculpture and called it a day. But no. Engineers got involved, and what happened?

Oh, just the world’s largest irrigation system.

💧 Stats that Make You Thirsty:

• Cost: $25 billion

• Pipes: Over 1,300 wells and 4,000 kilometers of underground pipelines

• Water Source: Ancient fossil water, up to 1 million years old, from deep beneath the Sahara

• Nickname: "The Eighth Wonder of the World" (probably by someone with a calculator and a hard hat)

And get this, this wasn’t even supposed to be a water project! Back in the '50s, engineers were drilling for oil when they hit a jackpot of prehistoric H2O. Fast forward a few decades and, voilà!, we’ve got water flowing to millions in one of the driest regions on Earth.

Why it’s brilliant (and yes, it's all engineering):

• It bypasses expensive desalination plants, which architects would have designed with glass roofs and impractical fountains.

• Delivers sustainable irrigation and drinking water to over 70% of Libya’s population.

• Entirely gravity-fed in many parts, proving again: physics > flair.

So next time someone tells you their shower install was tricky, ask them if they’ve rerouted an aquifer through 4,000 km of desert. Engineers: turning sand into sustenance without a single unnecessary spiral staircase.

⚡ Cool Links

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Scientists have pulled off quantum-info miracles by entangling multiple atomic traits. It's not sci‑fi, your future engineer overlords will appreciate this

👷‍♀️ UK female engineering participation hits 16.9%
Up from 10% in 2010, slow but trending upward. More engineers!

🤔 IEEE’s 9 Intriguing Feats for 2025
From robotaxis to “Anybody’s Airplane”, these projects are pushing boundaries, all whilst architects are busy drawing more rectangles

🎲 Hot picks at Next Fest & SGF
New demos like Big Hops (giggly platformer), Monument Valley 3, Big Walk co‑op puzzler, and more are turning heads this summer

🤮 I built a city that drinks their own sewage in Cities Skylines 2!
We're checking out Cities Skylines 2 (City Skyline 2) today, and what better way to do it than to make my citizens drink their own waste!?

🤫 CLASSIFIED SECTION

There’s been movement in the blueprints. Whispers in the spreadsheet margins. The RCE Trading Card Game is no longer just rumour, it’s spinning into reality.

And thanks to the results of last week’s extremely close poll (seriously, two votes, TWO!), it’s time to reveal what is obviously the greatest card in the set:

🐾 Paddy’s Rare Full Art Card.

That’s right. The floofy legend himself.

Steel specialist. Build stat: 2. Attack: 20.

Weapon of choice? Sheer rotational force.

🌀 Inspired by this YouTube short where Paddy spins like a caffeinated tornado, this card pays tribute to his most iconic move: Tail Chase. It’s been responsible for more flying mugs than any seismic event known to man.

Let’s talk design.
This card went through multiple stages of engineering precision (naturally). And thanks to the talented artist Pam, every detail from concept to final chaos has been lovingly rendered.

📌 The idea began here. A whirlwind of fur and chaos. Cones. Signs. Confusion. Classic Paddy.

📌 Then… the spin intensifies. You’ll spot details being tuned, more debris, more energy, and of course, the hat stays on.

📌 This version locked in key engineering elements, like the Truss Me poster and chaos-cone combo. There's even a flying beaver in the vortex, if you know, you know.

📌 The colour journey began here before we tuned the cone brightness and gave the signs the correct UK hues. It’s a cheeky little engineering easter egg for anyone who's ever been blinded by proper British site signage.

And then came the final product 👇

Just look at him. Glorious. Confident. Spinning at unsafe RPMs.

This is a Rare Engineer Card, which means yes, a holographic version is in the works. Expect shiny cones, glinting bolts, and Paddy with physics-defying tail velocity. It's pure collectible perfection.

Paddy might forgive for not voting for him, but don't forget: an engineer never forgets...

More cards coming soon... if the rumours continue to mysteriously come true…

Vote now for next week’s card 👇

🐕‍🦺 Paddy’s Corner

This stick is thicc

Meet Paddy, the determined doggo with a dream, and one thicc stick that’s hilariously too much to handle. It’s pure canine optimism vs. unmovable object, and honestly, Paddy might not win... but he sure steals the show.

👾 Indie Game of the Week:

Can I survive the worst upgrades? In this week's Indie Game of the Week, I ignore every shiny, powerful perk in Bounty of One and instead grab only the most tragic gray-tier upgrades... all for science.

Think of it as hard mode, but with added self-sabotage. Turns out, you can still win… if you mix a little skill, some reckless dashing, and enough stubbornness to terrify a game designer.

👉 Try Bounty of One yourself and see if you can do better - with or without the shiny stuff.

It’s time for a Bridge Review!

Right, get your tape measures and "wow faces" ready, because we’re looking at the Pingtang Bridge in China, the third-tallest bridge in the world and an absolute masterclass in why engineers should rule the world (and architects should stick to drawing triangles on napkins).

At 332 metres tall, this bridge is so high up it needs its own oxygen supply. And with a 7,000 ft (2,100 m) long span straddling the Caodu River valley, it's not just tall, it's massive. Cable-stayed, elegant, and practical. You know, like a good bridge should be. No spirals. No weird wings. No ceramic pigeon sculptures. Just raw structural clarity. And did we mention it’s 310 metres above the river? That’s “don’t drop your phone” high.

The main tower stands proud like it’s challenging the Millau Viaduct to a polite structural duel, it’s only 15 metres shorter than that French show-off, but it didn’t need a pompous tourist centre or moody lighting to impress.

Cost? 1.5 billion yuan (about $215 million USD), a bargain for something that looks this epic and doesn’t collapse under the weight of ego or excessive concrete curves.

Final Score: 9.3/10

🏗 r/realcivilengineer Spotlight

🤔 Thoughts from an Engineer