Monday, January 4, 2010
Food as Medicine
Sunday, January 3, 2010
No tall tale: Dubai to open world's highest tower
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Dubai is set to open the world's tallest building amid tight security on Monday, celebrating the tower as a bold feat on the world stage despite the city state's shaky financial footing.But the final height of the Burj Dubai — Arabic for Dubai Tower — remained a closely guarded secret on the eve of its opening. At a reported height of 2,684 feet (818 meters), it long ago vanquished its nearest rival, the Taipei 101 in Taiwan.
The Burj's record-seeking developers didn't stop there.
The building boasts the most stories and highest occupied floor of any building in the world, and ranks as the world's tallest structure, beating out a television mast in North Dakota. Its observation deck — on floor 124 — also sets a record.
"We weren't sure how high we could go," said Bill Baker, the building's structural engineer, who is in Dubai for the inauguration. "It was kind of an exploration. ... A learning experience"
Baker, of Chicago-based architecture and engineering firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, said early designs for the Burj had it edging out the world's previous record-holder, the Taipei 101, by about 33 feet (10 meters). The Taiwan tower rises 1,667 feet (508 meters).
The Burj's developer, Emaar Properties, kept pushing the design higher even after construction began, eventually putting it about 984 feet (300 meters) taller than its nearest competitor, Baker said. He is keeping quiet about the exact height.
Dubai's ruler will open the tapering metal-and-glass spire with a fireworks display Monday evening.
Security is expected to be tight. Local newspapers quoted Maj. Gen. Mohammed Eid al-Mansouri, head of the protective security and emergency unit for Dubai Police, saying more than 1,000 security personnel, including plainclothes police and sharpshooters, will be deployed to secure the site for the opening.
Work on the Burj Dubai began in 2004 and continued rapidly. At times, new floors were being added almost every three days, reflecting Dubai's raging push to reshape itself over a few years from a small-time desert outpost into a cosmopolitan urban giant packed with skyscrapers.
By January 2007, thousands of laborers, many of them brought in on temporary contracts from India, had completed 100 stories.
The finished product contains more than 160 floors. That is over 50 stories more than Chicago's Willis Tower, the tallest record-holder in the U.S. formerly known as the Sears Tower.
At their peak, some apartments in the Burj were selling for more than $1,900 per square foot, though they now can go for less than half that, said Heather Wipperman Amiji, chief executive of Dubai real estate consultancy Investment Boutique.
Besides luxury apartments and offices, the Burj will be home to a hotel designed by Giorgio Armani.
It's also the centerpiece of a 500-acre development that officials hope will become a new central residential and commercial district in this sprawling and often disconnected city. It is flanked by dozens of smaller but brand-new skyscrapers and the Middle East's largest shopping mall.
That layout — as the core of a lower-rise skyline — lets the Burj stand out prominently against the horizon. It is visible across dozens of miles of rolling sand dunes outside Dubai. From the air, the spire appears as an almost solitary, slender needle reaching high into the sky.
The Burj's opening comes at a tough time for Dubai's economy. Property prices in newer parts of the sheikdom have collapsed by nearly half over the past year.
The city-state turned to its richer neighbor Abu Dhabi for a series of bailouts totaling $25 billion in 2009 to help cover debts amassed by a network of state-linked companies. Burj developer Emaar is itself partly owned by the government, but is not among the companies known to have received emergency cash.
Emaar has said the entire Downtown Burj Dubai development, which includes the tower, will cost $20 billion to build. Sales of properties around the Burj are meant to help pay for the tower itself, which analysts say is unlikely to be profitable on its own.
Jan Klerks, research and communications manager for the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, which tracks world's tallest claims, said the building's real value might be that it is the "biggest city marketing campaign" Dubai could have come up with.
"Put your name and that of the Burj Dubai on an envelope, and no postal service in the world will have problems delivering the mail," he said.
Passengers on US-bound flights face more screening
WASHINGTON – Passengers flying into the United States from Nigeria, Yemen and other "countries of interest" will be subject to enhanced screening techniques, such as body scans and pat-downs, the Transportation Security Administration said Sunday.Starting Monday, all passengers on U.S.-bound international flights will be subject to random screening. Airports are also directed to increase "threat-based" screening of passengers who may be acting in a suspicious manner.
In addition, anyone traveling from or though nations regarded as state sponsors of terrorism — as well as "other countries of interest" — will be required to go through enhanced screening. The TSA said those techniques include full-body pat-downs, carry-on bag searches, full-body scanning and explosive detection technology.
The State Department lists Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria as state sponsors of terrorism. The other countries whose passengers will face enhanced screening include Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man who allegedly tried to set off an explosive device aboard a Northwest airliner on Christmas Day, has told U.S. investigators he received training and instructions from al-Qaida operatives in Yemen.
The TSA said the ability to enforce the new security measures is the "result of extraordinary cooperation from our global aviation partners."
Google Mapping Party, Lahore and Me
Many of my readers and friends have told me that my blog posts have become event based now, and those who did not sad that must have noticed it. However I can only say that yes for a while I am attending and blogging about events mostly, all thanks to face book which let me know about events, but I am still AZLAN, the same Azlan who claim that he can talk about anything. Now if I can talk than it's not that hard to write about anything.Now let me share another experience of mine which I had at an event this past Saturday at Fast- National University, Lahore Campus. It was “Lahore Mapping Party” organized by Google. As I said before all the events I am attending are because of Face Book which gives me the information of all these events and sometimes twitter helps me too. This event came into my information through tweet of Haris Nadeem, I guess, and the whole info I got from Face Book.
I reached the campus without forgetting and missing the way because I was accompanied by my Lala (younger Brother), as he was also going in the same location but not FAST. After fulfilling all the requirements for getting into the hall where it all was going to happen I got my Participant Card after waiting for I guess 15 minuets, but its not a problem as I get used to these little things.
Event was supposed to start at 12:30 PM but it seemed as the whole atmosphere was proving that this event was taking place in Pakistan. I met a friend of mine; ABAIDULLLAH from Hailey College of Commerce, University of Punjab; who is now doing his MBA at FAST. As soon as the event started he left the auditorium saying that he do not fit in such places.It was for the third time I met Syed Hassan Talal, and after all those meetings I have stared considering him as a friend, by the way we have never been enemy :P. The event started and I don't remember the time when it started but I swear that it started somehow but after the time which was started. Mr. Khuram, Assistant Professor FAST; kicked start the event and gave a brief introduction of what we were going to experience in a while and also described the whole roadmap of the party.
Mr. Baddar Khushnood, Country Consultant of Google.com, came next it was bit hard for me to recognize Baddar bhai as I have only seen his picture on face book, he himself re
vealed the reason of his new look and it was Hajj, I forgot to congratulate him for achieving this landmark and now I am taking the opportunity to do what I forgot, Baddar Bhai if you are reading this; “many congratulations on performing Hajj and May Allah bless you in every field of life.” Baddar Bhai revealed some real amazing news as he said that Lahore is the fastest Mapped city on the Google Map Maker and Islamabad is the cleanest Mapped City, cleanest means mapped without a single error. He also described the past, present and future of this very tool. He also involved Mr. Monis Rehman, CEO of rozee.pk and he let us all know what his prospective is about this tool as he is also running a website called naqsha.pk which is almost the same thing which Google map is but it is being used more by the teleco than others. Mr. Imran Hussain also got chance to present his point.
In this session I also came to know that Faraz and Jahanzib are one of the Best Mappers in the world and Faraz did 48,000+ points on the map manually which make him, if I am not wrong, leading mapper in the world. Another interesting fact was that the first thing ever mapped on Google map maker in Lahore was the Khoka (a small shop of cigarettes and PAN) which is in front of FAST campus.
The three main advantages of Google Maps are:
1. The are fresh maps
2. They help the commerce and tourism of a place
3. And a few people/mappers are helping almost 170 million people.
Omer Sheikh and Faraz were the two mappers on the spot to demonstrate how it actually works and to share their experiences, that why they started it and how they do mapping work. During this presentation some questions were raised and one of the questions was quite valid that why cant we involve the government in this work as they have a huge data which it can share and eventually government is one of the user of this tool and this question was by Hassan Talal.
Dr. Anees, Punjab University Architect Department, raised the point that what is the gain to the mapper who is putting his efforts and time to do this job and on the other hand Google is enjoying the benefits. And he also said that the information we put on maps can also be used to attack anywhere even a man who is sitting in his drawing room. This question took the whole discussion to another end and a debate was started. Now I don't want to narrate that what actually happened during the debate, but I liked a comment as one guy said why we only think about Drone attacks why we can't catch a government officer, who enjoys bribery, on the spot.
After the discussion there was a presentation by Mr. Khurram, Assistant Professor FAST and Miss. Sarah Ahmad, Lecturer Beconhouse National University. Both of them presented the importance of such tool and how it can be helpful in Urban Development and they also described, the future prospects of such tool and the positive aspects which it can drop on Pakistan.
After that there was a lab session for everyone who wanted to try the mapping. I did not attend the lab as I was busy in taking reviews of the attendants (video will be here soon), and networking with the people present there. The high tea was nice as I was not having lunch that time so I really enjoyed it.
It was nice meeting Rafail (sorry if I am spelling the name wrong), Adnan Bhai, Iftikhar, Monis Rehman, Baddar Bhai, Aftab Arif, Hassan Talal and Rohan (the green and white fame). We all kept talking and networking till the University literally asked us to leave the place. As a whole it was nice event and I really enjoyed it and it was great meeting so many good people and if I forgot to mention name of any one I am sorry, please forgive me for that.
Picures Courtesy:Syed Hassan Talal
Indian Raw involved in Karachi Ashura Day Terrorism
Zaid Hamid Lecture in Faisalabad
Place: National. Textile University, Sheikhupura Rd. Faisalabad
Topic: The Present situation of Pakistan and the role of students in nation building.
Date and Time: 2:30PM Tuesday, January 5th, 2010.
Everyone is Invited Specially Students.
Photos of Indian Weapons & money caught by Pakistani Taliban in Wazirstan
