Friday 16 March 2012
Monday 20 February 2012
Saturday 18 February 2012
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Friday 17 February 2012
3 Tallest Buildings And Structures In The World
Burj Khalifa
Burj Khalifa (Arabic: برج خليفة "Khalifa Tower"),known as Burj Dubai prior to its inauguration, is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and is currently the talle manmade structure in the world, at 829.84 m (2,723 ft). Construction began on 21 September 2004, with the exterior of the structure completed on 1 October 2009. The building officially opened on 4 January 2010,and is part of the new 2 km2 (490-acre) flagship development called Downtown Dubai at the 'First Interchange' along Sheikh Zayed Road, near Dubai's main business district. The tower's architecture and engineering were performed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill of Chicago, with Adrian Smith as chief architect, and Bill Baker as chief structural engineer. The primary contractor was Samsung C&T of South Korea.
The total cost for the project was about US$1.5 billion; and for the entire "Downtown Dubai" development, US$20 billion. In March 2009, Mohamed Ali Alabbar, chairman of the project's developer, Emaar Properties, said office space pricing at Burj Khalifa reached US$4,000 per sq ft (over US$43,000 per m²) and the Armani Residences, also in Burj Khalifa, sold for US$3,500 per sq ft (over US$37,500 per m²).
The project's completion coincided with the global financial crisis of 2007–2010, and with vast overbuilding in the country, led to high vacancies and foreclosures. With Dubai mired in debt from its huge ambitions, the government was forced to seek multibillion dollar bailouts from its oil rich neighbor Abu Dhabi. Subsequently, in a surprise move at its opening ceremony, the tower was renamed Burj Khalifa, said to honour the UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan for his crucial support.
Due to the slumping demand in Dubai's property market, the rents in the Burj Khalifa plummeted 40% some ten months after its opening. Out of 900 apartments in the tower, around 825 were still empty at that time
Tokyo Sky Tree
The Tokyo Sky Tree, formerly known as New Tokyo Tower, is a broadcasting, restaurant and observation tower under construction in Sumida, Tokyo, Japan. It has been the tallest artificial structure in Japan since 2010. The tower reached its full height of 634.0 metres (2,080 ft) in March 2011 but will not be finished until at least February 2012.
The project is being led by Tobu Railway and a group of six terrestrial broadcasters (headed by public broadcaster NHK). Construction of the tower is scheduled to be completed by February 2012, with the public opening on 22 May 2012. The completed structure will be the centrepiece of a massive commercial development located equidistant from Narihirabashi Station and Oshiage Station.
One of Tokyo Sky Tree's main purposes is as a television and radio broadcasting tower. Tokyo's current broadcasting tower, Tokyo Tower, is at 333 m (1,093 ft), and is no longer tall enough to give complete digital terrestrial television broadcasting coverage because it is surrounded by many high-rise buildings.
The Tokyo Sky Tree is currently the tallest tower in the world. It is taller than Canton Tower (600 m (1,969 ft)); the tallest structure on an island, taller than Taipei 101; and the second tallest structure in the world, after the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
KVLY-TV mast
The KVLY-TV mast (formerly the KTHI-TV mast) is a 628.8 m (2,063 ft) tall television-transmitting mast in Blanchard, Traill County, North Dakota, United States, used by Fargo station KVLY-TV channel 11. Completed in 1963, it was the tallest structure ever built until succeeded by the Warsaw radio mast in 1974; that mast collapsed in 1991, making the KVLY-TV mast again the tallest structure in the world until the Burj Khalifa overtook it in 2008. It remains the third tallest structure in the world, and the tallest structure in the United States. It is a guyed mast, not a self-supporting structure, and is therefore not included in lists of tallest buildings. The height of the transmitting antenna itself is 113 feet (34 m) and is included in the height of the tower as the lattice tower itself ends around 1,950 feet (590 m).The tower weighs 864,500 pounds (392.1 t) altogether and takes up 160 acres (0.65 km2) of land with its guy anchors.The 113' antenna alone weighs 9,000 pounds.In 1989, daredevils climbed the tower and BASE jumped from it.
Monday 30 January 2012
Arfa Karim, the Little Pakistani Genius
Born in Faisalabad, Pakistan, the little Arfa Karim was only 5 when she first came across these strange white “boxes” in her school which later she knew were computers. “When you push a button, something magically appears on the box” said Arfa.
In 2005, the people at the institute amazed with her unique aptitude, informed her father that Arfa might actually be in a position to seek Microsoft certification; and after only four months of hard work and dedicated study –over summer- the little girl genius passed the exam for developing Windows applications! A process that would’ve normally taken a year to accomplish.
Being the youngest person to ever obtain this certification –Arfa was certified at only 9 years of age- she got the chance to fly to the USA and meet Mr. Gates himself.
During her one-on-one with Bill Gates, she talked about lots of things, asked him many questions, such as why there weren’t much women working at the company, she thought the number of male and female employees should be equaled , she also asked him why they wouldn’t hire someone her age. She also made no secret she was surprised with the dress code there as she thought they’d all be in suits, and dropped the bare truth that meeting Gates fallen only second to Disneyland on her list of the things she wanted to see in America
Following that encounter, Arfa was regarded as a celebrity in Pakistan and was held as an icon and a role model! Pakistanis celebrated her everywhere, and took pride of her.
Arfa expressed her dream of going to Harvard University or MIT to complete her studies in order to become a developer or a satellite engineer.
Unfortunately, the little genius won’t be able to fulfill her dream, for Arfa Karim, Pakistan’s pride, died at the tender age of 16 after an epileptic seizure that left her in a coma back in December, and eventually led to a cardiac arrest in early January that sent her soul to heavens.
Arfa karim may be gone, but never forgotten. May god rest her soul!
Wednesday 18 January 2012
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