Time for Octoberfest!
Friday, September 28, 2007
Bengals: Let us cut the poop
Operators of Paul Brown Stadium want permission from the city to kill birds that have been pooping on Bengals fans.
Pigeon droppings have been falling on patrons and into their food and beverages, according to a letter to the city from Eric Brown, managing director of Paul Brown Stadium Ltd., which runs the stadium for Hamilton County, which owns it.
He asked in his letter that stadium employees who are familiar with firearms be allowed to shoot birds a few days prior to an event, adding that company officials believe the shooting to be a “cost-effective way to get this problem under control.”
City officials are working with stadium officials on both the legalities of killing the birds as well as the means by which they might be killed, said city spokeswoman Meg Olberding.
The bird issue becomes public just as Cincinnati is preparing to again be center stage as the home of a Monday Night Football game. Mayor Mark Mallory is touting the game as a way to highlight the positives of Cincinnati, asking employers to encourage their workers to wear orange and black Monday. Downtown office buildings will be lit up, and 17 downtown restaurants promise food and drink specials.
The bird problem solved itself initially, with fan noise on game days driving the birds away, said Bob Bedinghaus, the Bengals’ director of development. But the birds apparently have adapted. In fact, pigeon poop has become such a big problem around the National Football League, he said, that officials have discussed it at league meetings and stadium management meetings.
"Like every other big building in the city, pigeons make their way to our building,” Bedinghaus said Thursday. “In three of the four corners of the club level, they land and are an irritant during the week. We have to clean up a lot of bird poop. We’re looking for options to rid ourselves of these little critters.”
Brown, in his letter, wrote that any shooting “would be done discreetly during times when there is little activity in the stadium.”
Cincinnati’s municipal code, Sec. 701-15, says no person shall kill, wound, maim or injure any bird. But that doesn’t apply to any city employee or officer acting in accordance with another statute, Sec. 701-17, which says when birds and animals create a nuisance, the city manager is authorized “to use all necessary means” to destroy the nuisance-creators.
Brown’s letter said the bird carcasses would be placed in black plastic bags and deposited into the stadium’s trash compactor.
Several fans who sit in the club (middle) level have complained to the Bengals about getting hit with poop, Bedinghaus said. The birds land on “innumerable” pipes and beams in the stadium canopy - and in the corners of the stadium, the canopy hangs over the seating bowl of the club level.
Other solutions being investigated, he said, include strobe lights, noise makers (which can’t be used during games) prickly coverings for horizontal surfaces, fake owls and netting.
Top 10 Architecture Web sites
- archguide - excellent, attractive site catalogs many websites related to architecture. Categories include organizations, jobs, law, services and materials
- Sapling.org - UK-based architecture, planning. landscape information gateway
- ARCAT - tons of links. Great place to find anybody who is anybody in the AEC World.
- Built in America - Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) and the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) document achievements in architecture, engineering, and design in the US and its territories
- American Institute of Architects - professional organization
- Great Buildings Online - architecture from Stonehenge to Fallingwater, around the world and across history, with images, drawings and 3D models
- architecture.com - London-based site includes the searchable Royal Institute of British Architects library catalog containing more than 150,000 articles
- Googie Architecture Online - stylish site with news, articles and a gallery of images that capture the ultra-modern era of giant tailfins, tiki gods, boomerang shapes and the promise of Tomorrowland
- architectureasia.com - includes links to over 800 architecture, design and construction Websites from 21 South, North and East Asian countries, plus Australia and New Zealand
- building environments - a visual delight, abounds with interiors of offices, homes, museums, schools and more, with furnishings and details, many inspirational projects
Recommended
- e-interiors.net - catalog of of the main international furnishing companies, a valuable reference for architects, designers and those interested in interior design
- Architecture Studies Library - UNLV School of Architecture. Lots of links
- Death by Architecture - news, a listing of international competitions and many links to resources for architects and designers
- Architecture as Dynamic System - explores architecture history and theory and global culture, with articles and lecture materials
- Architects USA - directory of over 30,000 architects
Beyond TV - very cool
Record and watch TV with your PC
Gain control over your entertainment experience. With Beyond TV, you determine what you want to watch and when you want to watch it. With incredible features and extensive setting options, TV is under your control.
More than a DVR, Beyond TV gives you...
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- Search for shows on actor, director, or title
- Burn DVDs of your TV recordings*
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- Intelligent Program Guide resolves conflicts
- Record HDTV from free, over-the-air or Clear QAM digital TV signals
32 Amazing Bridges
not posting the pics here, to many just click the link above, amazing
Thursday, September 27, 2007
La Tomatina - tomato fight
La Tomatina - Tomato Fight Festival in Bunol
click to see more of this annual crazy event in Bunol, Spain, a ton of pics and videos
Webcams
Web cam Dashboard
this was a request, very simply Webcams form around the world, very cool stuff
If every man is an island, why not your house
Chismillionare likes this spot in Greece. Variaam monastery
MIT's latest prank on Harvard pays tribute to "Halo Day"
MIT's known for pranks, or hacks, against rival school Harvard (and sometimes even on their own campus). Their latest hack today enhances the John P. Harvard statue with a battle-ready Master Chief Spartan helmet and assault rifle (with a bullet count of 2E) in honor of Halo day. Other notable, and perhaps more difficult, hacks include assembling a painted MIT Campus Police car on top of their great dome, assembling a MIT Fire Department truck on their great dome, and a gigantic Triforce on top of the great dome. If they somehow got the Harvard Master Chief statue on top of their great dome, we'd declare this the best hack ever.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
There are no ugly women
This photo was taken at a competition in June 2006. The
competition was between 9 women for best makeover. They had every
possible beauty treatment available to them over a period of 12 hours
before the contest.
Look at the before and after photos.
Conclusion - There are no ugly women,
only those who can't afford a makeover.
More...
(The woman 2nd from the
left won the contest.)
where vehicles are left to die
25Sep07
here are some examples of vehicle cemeteries around the world, areas on earth that have unwittingly become the home to rusting, unused machines - remember, this is just a selection of the many boneyards on earth and while they often look stunning and make for a great photo, the environmental costs far outweigh the view.
(photos found on flickr link to source)
- ships
bay of nouadhibou, mauritania
welcome to the bay of nouadhibou, mauritania, an area containing over 300 ships which have been abandoned during the last 20 years.
until recently the attraction of this particular area for frustrated boat owners was, unsurprisingly, money. in order to avoid the high costs needed to discard a ship properly, people from all around the globe slowly realised that the harbour authority in this particular bay was corrupt and would turn a blind eye to any decaying vessel in return for a cheeky backhander.
the result can be seen below. it’s a surreal, haunting image. there’s an unembeddable clip of some of the dead ships here.
have a look on google maps here.
- mining vehicles
consolidated diamond mine, oranjemund, namibia
i found this brilliant photo on flickr (click pic to go source) and, according to the description, once a piece of mining equipment or a mining vehicle enters the consolidated diamond mine in oranjemund, namibia, it’s never allowed to leave. for that reason there’s a huge vehicle graveyard near the mine. considering the mine apparently owns the largest private earthmoving fleet in the world, that must be a huge boneyard.
i’ve had a look on google maps for the boneyard but the area is massive. the picture below is of a collection of machinery i found - whether it’s the correct collection i don’t know. take a look on google maps here.
- planes
amarc/the boneyard, tuscon, arizona
home to over 4000 aircraft, amarc (aerospace maintenance and regeneration center) is managed by the us airforce material command who claim to carry out ‘a continual process of anti-corrosion and re-preservation work’ in order to stop the unused aircraft damaging the surrounding environment. whether that’s the case or not, i don’t know.
either way, it’s an immense amount of aircraft in such a relatively small area.
take a look on google maps here.
a drive through the area…
- trains
train cemetery, uyuni, bolivia
a kilometre outside the town of uyuni in bolivia is the train cemetery, a resting place for dozens of old steam engines along a short length of unused track. pretty much all of the trains are comlpetely covered in rust and way beyond any kind of repair, the eerie sight attracting a large number of tourists each year who have come to the area to see the world’s largest salt flats (salar de uyuni) and a few locals on the hunt for scrap metal.
the area on google maps can be found here.
- nuclear-propelled submarines
various harbours, far east russia
frightening but true.
following the cold war, russia is now home to the largest fleet of nuclear-propelled submarines in the world, a large percentage of these currently out of service and residing in harbours on the eastern coast of russia in various states of decay, the main reason for the neglect apparently being lack of funds. these areas have become known as the ’submarine cemeteries’.
here are some photos from just a couple of these harbours.
above: 2 unused submarines at zvezda shipyard.
below: a similar scene on google maps. direct link here.
above: submarine reactor compartment units floating in chazma bay.
below: a simliar view on google maps. link here.
sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Deputy Dog blog source
Y ellow Card on boy survives on Wing at 500mph for two hours
Sorry, not possible. Ahh hypoxia ring a bell?
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
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