Monday, June 05, 2017

Super-slender

Introduction

In June 2016, New York's Skyscraper Museum released an online tool that tracks the growing number of ‘super-slender’ towers in the city.

The interactive chart compares the heights and silhouettes of 18 'skinny' towers now complete or under construction in New York.

What is ‘super-slender’?

A new form of skyscraper has evolved in New York over the past decade: the super-slim, ultra-luxury residential tower. These pencil-thin buildings of 50-90+ storeys use a development and design strategy of slenderness to pile their city-regulated maximum square feet of floor area (FAR) as high as possible to create luxury apartments with spectacular views.

The defining characteristic of these new towers is not height, but slenderness. A tower can be very tall, but not slender, and it can be slender without being very tall.

New York Horizon

On 23 March 2016, 'New York Horizon' was announced as the winner of the eVolo Skyscraper Competition, an annual competition that invites architects and designers to imagine futuristic structures.

On 1 June 2017, Google submitted an application for planning permission to Camden council for its proposed King’s Cross Campus. This building will be the first, wholly-owned and designed Google building outside the United States.

Construction of the purpose-built 11-storey 'groundscraper' building, providing 1 million sq. ft, of accommodation will commence in 2018. The building will be longer than The Shard is tall.

Designed by Heatherwick Studio and Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the building will feature a natural theme, with all materials sourced through Google’s healthy materials programme. The new building, combined with the current building at 6 Pancras Square and an additional third building, will create a Google campus with the potential to house 7,000 employees.

A Glimpse Into 22-year-old Conjoined Twins ‘One-Body’ World!

These extraordinary conjoined twins are making major headway in their lives as they enter early-adulthood. They are learning to tolerate one another, work together as two individuals, but as one body. They share the same world spending all their days together—living a unique life as conjoined twins.

Abigail and Brittany Hensel are conjoined twins with a medical condition called, Dicephalic Parapagus. They are fused together at the torso, and share one body. At birth, doctors told their parents they wouldn’t live for more than a few hours—miraculously they are now full-grown adults today. For their entire lives—from the time they were infants, through childhood, through the difficult teen years, and through to today—the twins have had to struggle to overcome many challenges.

Now at the age of 22, Abby and Brittany are sharing the next chapter of their lives with the whole world in a new TV reality series. Their lives will be aired as they make the leap from being students to young professionals, and share an adventure touring across Europe with their friends.

£25,000 Debt As Wife-to-be Dumped Groom For Another Woman

A groom is facing a bill of £25,000 after his wife-to-be left him for another WOMAN just six weeks before their wedding.

Heartbroken Adam Vickers, 24, had planned to marry childhood sweetheart Laura O’Callaghan, 24, in a beautiful rural venue and they had already sent out invites, hired a photographer, DJ and Bentley for the bride.

The couple of 10 years had even booked their honeymoon to Thailand, bringing the total cost up to £25,000.

However, just weeks before the big day, plumber Adam discovered his partner had been having an affair with Sinead Keziah.

A racist Airbnb host denied Dyne Suh (pictured) lodging because of her race. (Photo: NBC4)

Dyne Suh was looking forward to a Presidents’ Day weekend stay at a mountain cabin in California with her fiancé and friends, but her Airbnb host swiftly canceled the reservation. Suh explained that the host, in a racially insensitive exchange, praised President Trump and denied the stay because Suh was Asian.

Suh, a law student studying race relations, hails from Riverside, Calif., and was looking to get away with a pair of friends and her dogs back in February. In a report by Los Angeles-based NBC affiliate KNBC, Suh claims that the owner of the home denied the stay because of Suh’s race just as she was on her way to Running Springs, Calif., in snowy weather.

FILE - In this March 15, 2017 file photo, U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson approaches to participate in the annual joint military exercise called Foal Eagle between South Korea and the United States, at Busan port in Busan, South Korea. The Pentagon says A U.S. Navy aircraft carrier strike group is departing the South China Sea to provide a physical presence near the Korean Peninsula. Its activities in the disputed waterway were considered a message to Beijing about Washington’s determination to maintain its forward presence in the disputed waterway amid challenges from China. Beijing said it was well aware of the activities of the Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and its support ships. (Jo Jung-ho/Yonhap via AP, File)

BEIJING (AP) — A look at recent developments in the South China Sea, where China is pitted against smaller neighbors in multiple disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons in waters crucial for global commerce and rich in fish and potential oil and gas reserves:

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a weekly look at the latest developments in the South China Sea, home to several territorial conflicts that have raised tensions in the region.___

The Pentagon says A U.S. Navy aircraft carrier strike group is departing the South China Sea to provide a physical presence near the Korean Peninsula.

The U.S. Pacific Command directed the carrier group to sail north to the western Pacific after departing Singapore on Saturday, according to a Navy news release. The strike group includes the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, with support from several missile destroyers and missile cruisers.

The story of the "Mowgli girl" in India received a twist when two men claiming to be her uncles approached a care home for the mentally ill where she is currently being cared for.

The girl, initially reported to be about 8 years of age but now believed to be 11 years, was rescued from a forest in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh in late January. Media reports had suggested she was being taken care of by a troop of monkeys in the forest. The girl walked mostly on all fours and could not speak any human language.

But authorities and doctors have denied these reports and suggested that she could be mentally ill and could have been in the forest for only a few days before she was rescued.

Tahj Oliver knew he wanted to ask his close friend to go with him as soon as his heard about the special needs prom at East Oswego High School in Illinois.

Oliver, 18, befriended fellow senior Evelyn Araujo, who has cerebral palsy, when they were sophomores and the pair hit it off.

“It just started one day. I just said hi to her and that one day she could not stop smiling,” Oliver told InsideEdition.com.

They eventually began texting and became close. So when Oliver heard about the prom, he quickly started planning his “prom-posal” for Araujo.

The 18-year-old held up a giant pink poster bearing the words: 'Can I have a pass to prom?' as Araujo entered one of the school’s classrooms last month.

Natashia Corrigan of Melbourne, Australia, broke records by giving birth to a son weighing in at twice the national average.

Fourteen-pound Brian Jr. was born in January at Mercy Hospital in Victoria. “I’ve always wanted a little fat baby and I’ve got a big one!” Corrigan told 7News after the delivery.

Almost more astounding than the baby’s size is the fact his mother delivered him without an epidural. “I think I was in a bit of shock because the birth was natural,” said Corrigan, “I only had gas so I was still in a bit of shock just from that.”

A woman aboard a Turkish Airlines flight from Conakry, Guinea, to Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso went into labor yesterday and had her child before the plane could land.

Nafi Diaby gave birth to a girl named Kadiju with the help of the flight crew; photos of them have been shared on social media by the airline with the caption “Welcome on board Princess! Applause goes to our cabin crew!”

Mother and child were both taken to a local hospital once the plane had landed. They’re both reportedly in good health.

A Hero Dog Stopped Boko Haram Suicide Bomber At A Wedding, With Its Own Life

A dog is being hailed as a hero after stopping a suicide bomber from killing wedding guests.

The guests were in the Nigerian village of Belbelo, near the north-eastern city of Maiduguri, when the teenage bomber tried to detonate her explosives.

Police spokesman Victor Isuku said the bomber, believed to be from Boko Haram, had been making her way into the wedding party on Sunday morning when the dog attacked her.

Jan Polanik, a Dunkin' Donuts customer based in Worcester, MA, went to a local shop and asked for a bagel with butter. It turned out he was given a butter substitute - and so he sued. And locals might get free food because of him.

The The New York Times reports that Polanik sued 23 Dunkin' Donuts franchises in Massachusetts, because he paid 25 cents for butter and nobody told him he was getting a substitute. He has reportedly settled with Dunkin' Donuts, though the paperwork has yet to be approved, and the settlement is pretty great if you live in his area.

If the deal goes through, as many as 1,400 people can get up to three buttered muffins, bagels, or baked goods - with the real stuff, no substitute. Those people have to go to the 23 specific Dunkin' Donuts locations in Grafton, Leominster, Lowell, Millbury, Shrewsbury, Westborough, and Worcester. And all those stores will be required to use only butter for a year, and after that, they have to disclose whether they're using a substitute.

President Adama Barrow

The party of Gambia's new president won a majority of seats in parliament after two decades of domination by the party of former leader Yahya Jammeh, the Independent Electoral Commission announced Friday.

President Adama Barrow's United Democratic Party won 31 seats in the 53-seat National Assembly. The results mean Barrow can move ahead with promised transitions toward greater freedoms.

Electricity From Lightening-- “24 Hours Electricity Guaranteed”

A Nigerian engineer, Obayagbona Emmanuel Imafidon, has revealed that he has invented a power-generating device that can solve the problem power outage in the country.

In an interview with Guardian, the graduate of Electrical Engineering from the Institute of Management and Technology in Enugu said he could generate power from thunder lightning and that he has been working on it since 2006. He said: “I have been researching on generating constant power from thunder lightning.

That is using a strike of thunder lightning to generate power that can serve Nigeria and Africa for five years and 30 days. That means that whenever thunder strike for once, we are sure of uninterrupted power for five years and thirty days.

“One may think it is not possible and if it is possible why the western world has not converted lightning to electricity, but what I have developed so far is a prototype. There are five chambers including the trapping zone which is made of lightning arrestor. There is the storage zone and the conversion zone, which convert static energy into current electricity and transmit the energy into transmission zone.

Archaeologists Find Pyramid-shaped Tomb In China

A strange pyramid-shaped tomb has been uncovered under a construction site in central China.

The coffin chamber was discovered in Zhengzhou, Henan Province.

Archaeologists were left scratching their heads after discovering it, along with another cylinder shaped tomb in what they believe is a burial site.

It’s possible that the chamber, stretching almost 100 feet long and 26 feet across, could hail from Han Dynasty (from 202 BC-220 AD), which is widely regarded as China’s golden age.

MTN Announces First Full-Year Loss — $200m Gone In 2016

MTN Group has announced that it lost $200m in 2016 – the first full-year loss of the company in its 22 years of existence.

TheCable had earlier reported that the South African telecommunications company was expecting a full-year loss as a result of the N330bn regulatory fine imposed on it by the federal government.

In 2016, the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) imposed the fine on the telecommunication giant over its failure to disconnect 5.1 million unregistered SIM cards.

In its report, the company said the action of NCC contributed to its loss.

Itse Sagay, chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee (PACAC), has accused the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) of being reckless with funds meant for development.

Sagay alleged that the commission recently bought 70 cars, including eight Super Lexus Jeeps at N78 million each and 10 Landcruisers, each costing N63 million.

He said the vehicles were acquired with funds meant for the provision of water, housing, hospital, schools and infrastructure development in the Niger Delta region.

Sagay spoke at the opening of a two-day national dialogue on corruption organised by PACAC in collaboration with the Office of the vice-president.

“The cars were bought with money from funds meant for infrastructure, water, housing, hospital, schools, without conscience and without a thought for the wretched people of the Niger Delta,” he said.

Equality In French-run Cameroon:English Speakers Fights Back; And The Government Responses With Brutality

PAUL BIYA

YAOUNDÉ,

Cameroon -Tamanjong Stella is upset because her children's school is closed, a victim of a bitter dispute between English-speaking protesters and the government of this largely French-speaking central African nation.

“The teachers say they cannot start classes until the government has removed the security forces that are posted everywhere,” said Stella, who lives in Bamenda, the capital of one of two English-speaking regions of Cameroon. “I do not know what is going to become of my children without school.”

Months of protests and clashes with government troops have not only forced schools to close, but the Internet also has been shutdown and dissidents have been jailed as English-speaking citizens demand equal rights.

Competition Interlocking Brick VS Normal Brick - MyIB

Friday, December 30, 2016

Why Japanese People Are Wrapping Themselves Up In Cloth

If you don't like tight spaces, you might want to look away now.

All wrapped up

Otonamaki, which directly translates to "adult wrapping", is a Japanese therapeutic method meant to alleviate posture problems and stiffness and it is gaining traction around the country.

The idea for Otonamaki comes from the practice of Ohinamaki, which sees babies wrapped up in cloth in a similar fashion. This is meant to help with their physical development.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ruled out a tit-for-tat response after the US expelled 35 Russian diplomats amid a row over hacking.

He said Russia would not "stoop" to the level of "irresponsible diplomacy" but would work to restore ties with the US under President-elect Donald Trump.

Russia's foreign ministry had formally asked Mr Putin to expel 35 US envoys.

The country denies involvement in hacking related to the US election, calling US sanctions "ungrounded".

Dec 1, 2016 - The Federal Government plans to embrace the mortgage system to drive the on-going National Housing Programme when it finally comes on stream, Minister of Power Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola SAN, said in Abuja at the weekend.

Fashola, who spoke after the inspection of sites and building materials production facilities of some of the Private Sector partners in Housing Development in the Federal Capital Territory, assured that when the scheme takes off, government would issue mortgages which would be tied to the incomes of prospective beneficiaries.

What is PS, and What is it Used For?

Polystyrene (PS) plastic is a naturally transparent thermoplastic that is available as both a typical solid plastic as well in the form of a rigid foam material. PS plastic is commonly used in a variety of consumer product applications and is also particularly useful for commercial packaging. Dow Chemical Company invented a proprietary process to make their trademarked and well-known polystyrene foam product “styrofoam” in 1941. The material is somewhat controversial amongst environmental groups because it is slow to biodegrade and is increasingly present as outdoor litter (particularly in the form of foam floating in waterways and the ocean).

The solid plastic form of polystyrene is commonly used in medical device applications like test tubes or petri dishes, or in day-to-day items like the housing on your smoke detectors, the case you used to buy your CDs in, and frequently as a container for foods like yogurt or the red “solo” cup you drink from at a tailgate and/or when you’re losing in a game of beer-pong.

New York City is joining a growing group of cities in banning Expandable Polystyrene Foam (EPS). Adam Harris explains what makes this material so worrisome to environmentalists - and appealing to businesses.

Starting today, single-use EPS products including cups, bowls, plates, takeout containers and trays and packing peanuts are not allowed to be possessed, sold, or offered in New York City. Companies have six months to comply or face a fine.

"These products cause real environmental harm and have no place in New York City. We have better options," said New York Mayor Bill de Blasio in a release about the ban.

So why has EPS come under fire? And what is it, exactly? Here's a quick guide to this long-lasting material.