Red faces over monk mayhem

Red faces over monk mayhem

This secretly shot footage shows supposedly abstemious Buddhist monks smoking, drinking and playing poker for big stakes at a luxury hotel.

via Red faces over monk mayhem — chicagotribune.com.

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Korea plans hashtag-inspired skyscraper

The hashtag or “#” symbol has taken on a lot more use in recent years, especially with the rise of social media tools like Twitter, where it’s used to highlight popular topics. So in a way, it’s a fitting model for an apartment building designed to act as a self-contained neighborhood, which is exactly the idea behind the Cross # Towers planned for South Korea. Dutch architectural firm, Bjarke Ingels Group BIG, is modeling the look of the proposed building after the familiar symbol, by placing two interlocking bridges between two skyscrapers, which will also support outdoor park areas to mimic the sort of spaces you’d normally find on the ground.

via Korea plans hashtag-inspired skyscraper.

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Re: How does salt affect water?

Number Two: Freezing Regular water froze and the salty water didn’t, and that is exactly right. You have just discovered the opposite side of the boiling point problem above. When you add an impurity to a substance, you tend to raise its boiling point, and lower its freezing point. Salt is an impurity to the water, and it prevents it from doing a phase change from liquid to solid as easily as when it is pure. Pure water freezes at 32 F or 0 C. Salt water freezes at a lower temperature though, about three or four degrees lower. The reason your salty water never froze in your freezer is your freezer never got below this temperature! It is kept at a temperature just below freezing for pure water. Not quite cold enough for your salty water.

via Re: How does salt affect water?.

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Olympics 2012: branding ‘police’ to protect sponsors’ exclusive rights

Locog insists the protections were essential to secure the contracts that have paid for the Olympics, but some fear the effect could be to limit the economic benefits to the capital’s economy – and set a precedent for major national celebrations in future.

via Olympics 2012: branding ‘police’ to protect sponsors’ exclusive rights | Sport | The Guardian.

Thank God Chicago lost its Olympics bid!

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NOW IT CAN BE TOLD: THE “STAR TREK” ATTRACTION THAT ALMOST CAME TO LIFE in 1992.

(The real winner of the 1992 downtown Las Vegas redevelopment competition was NOT the FREMONT EXPERIENCE – it was the STARSHIP ENTERPRISE from STAR TREK. But no one knows this – until now.)

via NOW IT CAN BE TOLD: THE “STAR TREK” ATTRACTION THAT ALMOST CAME TO LIFE in 1992. – GGE Blog.

This would have been so cool!

We learned everything we could about the Starship – its actually size and dimensions, how it would exist in “dry dock” on the planet if indeed such a situation had been possible.  We imagined what it could be, and how we might achieve it.  We got Ken Ball (former head of engineering at Disney’s MAPO) involved to figure out how to engineer and support it.  (Ultimately we realized we would need to add some supports on the outer edge of the “disc” section due to the extremely high wind conditions in Vegas.  For this we created a high tech “scaffolding structure” that gave the ship more of the appearance of being in an open-air dry dock.  I have not yet located that sketch, but I’ll try to find it.)

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