Monday, June 05, 2017

Twisting Buildings

In August 2016, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) published a new study, Twisting Tall Buildings, examining the recent proliferation of spiralling towers being developed around the world.

The report defines a building as ‘twisting’ if it progressively rotates its floor plates or its façade as it gains height. It is usual that each plate will be similarly shaped in plan, and turned on a shared axis a consistent number of degrees from the preceding floor.

Not only are these ‘twisters’ often aerodynamic and energy-efficient as a result of their design, they are able to incorporate a wide variety of textures, view angles and ripple effects.

The origins of fabric structures

The origins of fabric structures can be traced back over 44,000 years to the ice age and the Siberian Steppe, where remains have been found of simple shelters constructed from animal skins draped between sticks. It is likely that structures of this type were the first dwellings actually constructed by humans, and it has even been suggested that simple textiles were used for spatial division and shelter before they were used as clothing.

Initially associated with nomadic peoples, one of the earliest and most successful types of fabric structure was the loosely woven black tent. The black tent spread throughout the civilised world during the Arab conquests of the eighth century, and its descendants are still in use today.

Black tent.

From these nomadic origins, more permanent urban shading systems evolved. These were initially used to provide cover over streets and domestic courtyards, but later, larger 'velum' or 'velarium' were developed, primarily to provide shelter at theatres. In more recent times, simple cable stayed, prestressed fabric structures were used to provide decorative shelter for special events. These 'toldos' or 'envelet' were particularly popular at the end of the nineteenth century in the Cataluna region of Spain.

In March 2017, architecture studio Oiio released designs for an ambitious skyscraper in New York City. The concept of The Big Bend grew from considering what would happen if New York substituted height with length, and what if buildings were long instead of tall?

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.