Metal Fatigue

This text comes from Wikipedia for Fatigue (metal):

In materials science, fatigue is the progressive and localized structural damage that occurs when a material is subjected to cyclic loading. The nominal maximum stress values are less than the ultimate tensile stress limit, and may be below the yield stress limit of the material.

Fatigue occurs when a material is subjected to repeated loading and unloading. If the loads are above a certain threshold, microscopic cracks will begin to form at the surface. Eventually a crack will reach a critical size, and the structure will suddenly fracture. The shape of the structure will significantly affect the fatigue life; square holes or sharp corners will lead to elevated local stresses where fatigue cracks can initiate. Round holes and smooth transitions or fillets are therefore important to increase the fatigue strength of the structure.

Q: What stands out for you in this text?
A: The shape of the structure will significantly affect the fatigue life.

Q: Why are you reading about metal fatigue?
A: I thought it a lovely play on words of a sort, mental fatigue, and I became curious about how closely metal and mental fatigue would coincide.

Q: Are you worried about metal fatigue?
A: Ah, no. I watched "The Princess Bride" with my family Friday night (it's our family movie night), and there's this scene where Westley is being tortured on this machine that suctions the life out of you. And sometimes this is what this process feels like, at times the process takes more then it returns; it fatigues.

Q: The shape of the structure will significantly affect the fatigue life. Are you worried about your shape?
A: Sometimes. "Round holes and smooth transitions or fillets are therefore important to increase the fatigue strength of the structure." What are my round holes and smooth transitions? Prayer, meditation, exercise...and what have I been neglecting...yeah, the things that strengthen.

Q: One last question. You talk sometimes about "the train arriving at the station," what does the landscape of your train look like?
A: Prairies and mountains, and it's summertime, with wide open blue skies and the smell of warm earth filling the air. The wind blows through my hair and my body is strong. There's a stool to sit on, and I can lean my head back when I meditate or pray. It's beautiful and I feel good.