Who Dat?

This week was probably the busiest week in the US as the Super Bowl was kicked off last night in the Sun Life Stadium, Miami. Super Bowl XLIV, the 44th, is a Super Bowl currently being played and pitting the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Indianapolis Colts against the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New Orleans Saints to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2009 season. The game's kickoff took place at 6:28 p.m. EST (23:28 UTC) last night on February 7, 2010 features the Saints' first Super Bowl appearance since their founding in 1967, while it is the fourth time a Colts franchise team has appeared, since their founding in 1953 as the Baltimore Colts. In their three previous Super Bowl appearances, all also in Miami, the Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts have lost once in 1969 and won twice in 1971 and 2007.
The Saints enter the game with a 13-3 record for the 2009 regular season, compared to the Colts' 14-2 record. In the playoff games, both teams had a 1st round bye. The Colts entered the Super Bowl off of 20–3 and 30–17 victories, while the Saints advanced with scores of 45–14 and 31–28 (in overtime), defeating last year's runners up the Arizona Cardinals in their first game. The Pittsburgh Steelers, as defending champions, failed to make the playoffs based on tiebreakers. It is the first time since Super Bowl XXVIII (16 years previously) that both number one seeds have reached the Super Bowl. The Saints' head coach is Sean Payton, having joined from the Dallas Cowboys in 2006, while his opposing head coach Jim Caldwell was appointed the Colts head coach in 2009 having joined them in 2002 as assistant head coach.
It is the tenth time the Super Bowl has been held in Miami at the home stadium of the Miami Dolphins, the fifth time being held in the Sun Life Stadium, and five more before those in the Dolphins' now demolished former home, the Miami Orange Bowl. Per convention as an even numbered Super Bowl, the Colts as the AFC representatives have the home team designation, wearing blue jerseys with white pants, while the Saints (who wore their white jerseys in several home games this year) will wear white jerseys with gold pants. The game was broadcast live on CBS, and the half-time show was feature the English rock band The Who.Carrie Underwood sang the National Anthem and Queen Latifah sang "America the Beautiful." Underwood's selection marks the third straight year that an alumnus of American Idol has been chosen to perform the Star Spangled Banner, joining Jordin Sparks at Super Bowl XLII and Jennifer Hudson a year later. Translation of both songs into American Sign Language will be provided by Kinesha Battles, a student at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2010, led by Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith, participated in the pre-game coin toss. The rest of the class - Rickey Jackson, Dick LeBeau, Floyd Little, Russ Grimm and John Randle - were named the day before.
American football, known in the United States simply as football and often as gridiron or tackle football outside the United States, is a competitive team sport known for combining strategy with physical play. The objective of the game is to score points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. The ball can be advanced by carrying it (a running play) or by throwing it to a teammate (a passing play). Points can be scored in a variety of ways, including carrying the ball over the opponent's goal line, catching a pass thrown over that goal line, kicking the ball through the goal posts at the opponent's end zone, or tackling an opposing ball carrier within his end zone. The winner is the team with the most points when the time expires. American football is closely related to Canadian football, but with significant differences.
In the United States, the major forms are high school football, college football and professional football, which are essentially similar but feature slightly different rules. High school football is governed in the U.S. by the National Federation of State High School Associations. College football is governed in the U.S. by two bodies; the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. The major league for professional football is the National Football League. Over the years, there have been other notable professional football leagues, including the All America Football Conference during the 1940s, the American Football League during the 1960s, the United States Football League during the 1980s, and the currently active United Football League.
Primitive forms of rugby, then all covered by the name "football", were being played in the USA as far back as 1830 at Georgetown University and the 1840s, at Harvard, Yale and Princeton, stemming partly from Americans who had been educated in English schools. The history of American football can be traced to early versions of rugby football and association football. Both games have their origins in varieties of football played in the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century, in which a ball is kicked at a goal and/or run over a line.
Now here is the thing, I was never in to American football what so ever. Seriously, I don't get the game at all. A bunch of big guys with padding everywhere running around chasing a ball and hit each other, what so fun about that? Don't get me wrong, but for me that game is not manly enough. Come on, men wearing padding? It's a sport, man...let yourself got cuts and injuries for God sake! You are not doing any extreme sport like jumping down the hills 200 miles an hour or anything! It's only collision between you and other guys! What would you get? Cuts? Brushes? Deal with it! But what can I say, am not American so I will never get to understand their game as much as most of my American friends said that football, or in this case 'soccer', is a stupid game. Yeah, different country, different game, different type of excitement, right?
Maybe American football is a collision sport.And to stop the offense from advancing the ball, the defense must tackle the player with the ball by knocking or pulling him down. As such, defensive players must use some form of physical contact to bring the ball-carrier to the ground, within certain rules and guidelines. Tacklers cannot kick or punch the runner. They also cannot grab the face mask of the runner's helmet or lead into a tackle with their own helmet. Despite these and other rules regarding unnecessary roughness, most other forms of tackling are legal. Blockers and defenders trying to evade them also have wide leeway in trying to force their opponents out of the way. Quarterbacks are regularly hit by defenders coming on full speed from outside the quarterback's field of vision. This is commonly known as a blindside.
To compensate for this, players must wear special protective equipment, such as a padded plastic helmet, shoulder pads, hip pads and knee pads. These protective pads were introduced decades ago and have improved ever since to help minimize lasting injury to players. An unintended consequence of all the safety equipment has resulted in increasing levels of violence in the game. Players may now hurl themselves at one another at high speeds without a significant chance of injury. The injuries that do result tend to be severe and often season or career-ending and sometimes fatal. In previous years with less padding, tackling more closely resembled tackles in Rugby football. Better helmets have allowed players to use their helmets as weapons. This form of tackling is particularly unwise, because of the great potential for brain or spinal injury. All this has caused the various leagues, especially the NFL, to implement a complicated series of penalties for various types of contact. Most recently, virtually any contact with the helmet of a defensive player on the quarterback, or any contact to the quarterback's head, is now a foul. During the late 1970s, the penalty in high school football for spearing included ejection from the game.
Despite protective equipment and rule changes to emphasize safety, injuries remain very common in football. It is increasingly rare, for example, for NFL quarterbacks or running backs (who take the most direct hits) to make it through an entire season without missing some time to injury. Additionally, 28 football players died from direct football injuries in the years 2000-05 and an additional 68 died indirectly from dehydration or other examples of "non-physical" dangers, according to the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research. Concussions are common, with about 41,000 suffered every year among high school players according to the Brain Injury Association of Arizona. In 1981, U.S. President Ronald Reagan, who played football in high school, commented on the contact of the sport: [Football] is the last thing left in civilization where men can literally fling themselves bodily at one another in combat and not be at war."
Extra and optional equipment such as neck rolls, spider pads, rib protectors (referred to as "flak jackets"), and elbow pads help against injury as well, though they do not tend to be used by the majority of players due to their lack of requirement.
The danger of football and the equipment required to reduce it make regulation football impractical for casual play. Flag football and touch football are less violent variants of the game popular among recreational players.
American football resulted from several major divergences from rugby football, most notably the rule changes instituted by Walter Camp, considered the "Father of American Football". Among these important changes were the introduction of the line of scrimmage and of down-and-distance rules. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, game play developments by college coaches such as Eddie Cochems, Amos Alonzo Stagg, Knute Rockne, and Glenn "Pop" Warner helped take advantage of the newly introduced forward pass.
The popularity of collegiate football grew as it became the dominant version of the sport for the first half of the twentieth century. Bowl games, a college football tradition, attracted a national audience for collegiate teams. Bolstered by fierce rivalries, college football still holds widespread appeal in the US. The origin of professional football can be traced back to 1892, with William "Pudge" Heffelfinger's $500 contract to play in a game for the Allegheny Athletic Association against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club. The first Professional "league" was the Ohio League, formed in 1903, and the first Professional Football championship game was between the Buffalo Prospects and the Canton Bulldogs in 1919. In 1920, the American Professional Football Association was formed. The first game was played in Dayton, Ohio on October 3, 1920 with the host Triangles defeating the Columbus Panhandles 14–0. The league changed its name to the National Football League (NFL) two years later, and eventually became the major league of American football. Initially a sport of Midwestern industrial towns in the United States, professional football eventually became a national phenomenon. Football's increasing popularity is usually traced to the 1958 NFL Championship Game, a contest that has been dubbed the "Greatest Game Ever Played". A rival league to the NFL, the American Football League (AFL), began play in 1960; the pressure it put on the senior league led to a merger between the two leagues and the creation of the Super Bowl, which has become the most watched television event in the United States on an annual basis.
As a sports fan, I can see where all of these things came from. The excitement when you watch your team playing was indescribable. The adrenaline was top range. So I can totally accepting all of those guys who wear silly costumes, painted themselves with their team's color paint, hey guys...am with you! WHO DAT???

^_^

Should He Stay Or Should He Go?

I was always love footballer, specially English, I can name almost all of them. One of those English footballers that I adore is John Terry. I think he is one of the best defender in the world, so that when he was chosen to became English National Team Captain after the resignation of David Beckham, it was nothing to surprised me.
But John Terry’s reign as England captain looked to be coming to an end last night as it emerged that he is considering resigning his position when he speaks to Fabio Capello on Friday. Sources close to the England captain said that he was mulling over whether he should quit when he meets his manager Capello at the end of the week following the revelations that Terry had an affair with Vanessa Perroncel, the ex-fiancée of his England team-mate Wayne Bridge.
As a manager for English National Team, Capello has assured his bosses at the Football Association that he will make a decision by the end of the week, at the very latest after the Euro 2012 draw in Warsaw, which he is due to attend on Sunday. Terry has spoken to Capello’s general manager, Franco Baldini, who is gathering information on behalf of the England manager.
Given the strength of public feeling against Terry, and the possibility of more damning revelations about his private life, he is thought to regard the possibility of resignation as a means of taking the sting out of the saga. It could well be the case that Capello will wish to sack Terry himself. Having come under more pressure yesterday to act, the Football Association finally broke its silence yesterday and released a statement, saying that Fabio Capello alone will make the decision about John Terry’s position. It was intended to convey the organization’s deference to Capello on all football matters, although it also underlined that there is a real quandary over Terry’s future.
Now, here is the thing, many people in England adore their footballers just like I do. In fact, they are their heroes and they are also become role models for kids and everyone else. Many children in England passionate themselves to become one of the National Team players. So to be a captain is not just something big but huge. You are not just under everyone's eyes but you are also carrying your country's image in front of million of people in the world on your shoulder.
As one of his admires, of course, I sometime blinded by how much I adore him. I was like, the girl is the ‘B’ one in this case. OMG, all of my girlfriends will kill me if they read this, but yeah, I will always blame her and hey, look at the bright side of this case...JT was actually helped Bridge to open up his eyes and sees the truth about his girlfriend. Hah! As for Terry, of course he did something wrong here and I, myself, am not supporting affair during marriage, but yeah, whether we like it or not, for many years now footballer's wives and girlfriends were became jokes in England. On how they were positioning themselves as celebrities or superstars. Seriously, in one of Top Gear show I watched last time, Jeremy Clarks even put one of those cool Mercedes car on their 'Super Uncool' wall just because of Rooney just bought one for his wife Coleen! That's how bad they were! And seriously, I think this just reminds us that the list of current England players – and in fact, footy players in general- that have had nasty extra-curricular activities reported, rumored and whispered about is a skanktastic kilometer long. So what? They sure can play football very well, but they are also human!
But yeah, it was bound to happen sooner or later. No matter what your stance on this issue, whether you think JT has behaved abhorrently or whether you think that having an extra marital affair has no bearing on someone’s ability to play the game of football, it is undoubtedly true that many are sickened by the Chelsea man’s behavior and it was always going to be hard for John Terry to keep the England captaincy in the face of such public scrutiny.
Question now is, who is morally transparent enough to take the post from the center back? Believe me there are not that many viable candidates! It appears Fabio has an eleven who all have their fair share of skeletons in the closet. Hey, nobody’s perfect, remember?

^_^

Sex Addiction?

Seriously guys, I was in shock a couple days ago when I tune in to telly for the morning news just to found out the headlines for that day sports news was “Tiger Woods check himself in to a rehab facility to cure his sex addiction”. I was like, give me a break! What so sporty about that, by the way? Why would you put something like that as a sports news headline?
For those who don’t understand or might not follow, let me introduce to you about what am I talking about. These past few weeks, everyone in “gossip industry” was spoiled by the news about some set of adulteries did by the number one sportsman in the world, Tiger Woods. Of course, everyone was in shock, just like me. All the girls from his infidelities histories (yup, it’s plural) suddenly came out and spoke out. And no, they didn’t come out empty handed, oh no…they didn’t. A bunch of evidence were on their hands such as pictures and phone conversations tape. I wonder how did they manage to get all of those? Hah!
The incidence was started with a car crash the golfer had when he hit the tree in front of his house. His wife for some reasons slammed the glass window with a golf club, she quoted that was to help him to get out of the car. Did I hear someone say, ‘yeah right!’? And as a normal day in American life, the neighbor who heard the noise and was ‘concerned’ about that, called 911. I mean…seriously, if this happened somewhere in England or other countries, I bet thing was different. I bet the neighbor might watched what happened behind their closed curtains but no one would came out or called the Police. Come on, obviously that was a domestic problem so it’s better if we just let them solve it behind closed door, right? Nope, this is America, you guys! You call 911 over everything! Hah! Shortly, the police came and the news spread. What a worst nightmare to be happened to such a brilliant sportsman. Not that am a big fan, but I do respect anyone who done such a good job in sports. And to be in the spotlight over something stupid like that, totally a worst of the worst.
And yeah, the media never been easy on anything like this. They were digging the hole even deeper and deeper. And suddenly, the pictures of all of those girls were everywhere. A sixty minutes of fame, an over night publicity came to those girls over a humiliation of a great man in golf. What a shame! And to make it worse, the headline on the sports news also mention all the details. I feel sorry for the golfer and thought that it was right move for him to just keep quite and didn’t make any statement what so ever. But as we all know, he wasn’t alone in this thing. He sure has got a management to deal with his images and stuffs. I don’t mean to blame anyone in this such a disastrous, but for a guy to admitted that he has an addiction for sex and agreed to check himself to a rehab facility then came forward and spoke out to the media, that was hurt! Even for a great golfer like Tiger! As I said, am not a big fan, but I think everyone had gone too far in this case. I think it took more than just cheated on your partner to make you a sex addict. You sure are an unfaithful guy, but a sex addict? Na-ah. Come on, give the guy a break, will you? He’s not just a number one sportsman in the world, but he was also a hot guy. And with all of those million dollars he made, of course, he was entitled to flirt once in while, don’t you think so?

^_^

Time For Miracle

Seven-times Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher has come out of retirement and signed for Mercedes. The German, who will be 41 on 3 January, was unveiled at the Mercedes factory in Brackley, Northamptonshire. Schumacher will partner compatriot Nico Rosberg in the team that won the drivers' and constructors' titles in 2009 in its former guise as Brawn.
Schumacher retired at the end of 2006 but will now return to the sport he dominated after signing a three-year deal with Mercedes. He will reportedly earn £6.2m after reuniting with Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn, who masterminded all seven of his titles, the first two with Benetton in 1994-5 and the subsequent five with Ferrari from 2000-4. Schumacher was forced to call off a planned temporary comeback as a stand-in for injured Ferrari driver Felipe Massa in the summer because of a neck injury sustained in a motorcycle accident last February. But Schumacher recently underwent medical checks and is confident he is back to full fitness.
This summer Schumacher signed a revised contract as a consultant for Ferrari, but the Italian team have had to release him from his contract to enable him to race for the "Silver Arrows". Schumacher revealed that it was Ferrari's request for him to fill in for Massa that sparked a desire to make a permanent return to the cockpit. Schumacher revealed he had spoken to Brawn in November about a potential return to F1 and that the return of the Mercedes name to F1 proved the final persuasion.
Mercedes have completely changed their driver line-up following world champion Jenson Button's departure to McLaren and Rubens Barrichello's move to Williams. The team are known to want German rising star Sebastian Vettel in the long term, but the 22-year-old is contracted to Red Bull until the end of 2012. Rosberg signed for Mercedes shortly after the season and, after weeks of speculation, Schumacher arrives as his high-profile team-mate.
Schumacher's comeback is the most high profile in F1 since Austrian Niki Lauda came out of a two-year retirement for the 1982 season to race for McLaren. Lauda, who was 33 at the time, went on to win a third world title in 1984. Juan Manuel Fangio is Formula 1's oldest world champion, the Argentine won a fifth world championship at the age of 46 before retiring. Nigel Mansell won the 1994 Australian Grand Prix at the age of 41, having stepped in as a substitute for Williams for four races following the death of Ayrton Senna. Now, Schumacher has said that he intends to make a glorious comeback by challenging for the 2010 world championship.
Schumacher's decision brings his career to a neat conclusion - Mercedes, for whom he was racing in sportscars at the time, paid for his F1 debut with Jordan in 1991 but he has never raced for them in F1. Mercedes pulled out of F1 in 1955 after winning back-to-back titles with Juan Manuel Fangio.
The impression gained is that the German wants to pick up where he left off with Ferrari when he retired in 2006. Those suggesting that he may see his role more as a mentor to Nico Rosberg, the 24-year-old who would be his team-mate, than a team-leading championship contender, are wide of the mark. He is said to be looking to add not only to his record 91 grand-prix wins, but also to his unparalleled haul of seven drivers’ titles and he has already spent many hours discussing his new car with the Mercedes team.
The last time we saw Michael Schumacher driving a Formula One car was at the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2006, when he stole the show on a day that was supposed to be dominated by Fernando Alonso winning his second successive world title.
Schumacher was imperious in São Paulo as he scythed through the field after dropping to twentieth with a puncture early in the race before finishing fourth, passing Kimi Raikkonen, his successor at Ferrari, with three laps to go for good measure. We thought then that we were watching the final drama of the most successful career in Formula One and that the man with seven world titles and 91 grand-prix victories would never race again.
The German legend was at the top of his game that day and was calling a halt to his career possibly prematurely, but few could have foreseen that he would return. Some judges wonder why Schumacher is prepared to risk his reputation again. How sad it would be, they argue, to see a champion trying to repeat his days of greatness at the age of 41 — as he will be at the start of next season — and make a fool of himself.
Some sportsmen try comebacks as part of a personal road to redemption or a mission to prove that they can recover after losing their way in the real world. Drugs, alcohol, marriage breakdown or depression are sometimes features in the background. This is not the case with Schumacher — his neck injury apart. Hard for me to admit this, but yeah...he is the man he always was and is ready to prove that even drivers in their forties can take on the best and win.
Some of the Ferrari fans were went ballistic though, knowing that their hero chose to drive to their bitter rival Mercedes. But the German already made his decision, so they have to eventually deal with their disappointment. Luckily, am not one of them. Nor that I will consider to become one of them now that the guy I hate wasn’t connected to the team any longer, NOPE. For me, the image of him and the Italian auto-maker is still there for some reasons. Hey, am a freak, so what?
Will he be as quick as he was? Eddie Irvine, his former team-mate at Ferrari, doubts it. So do I. But Schumacher is not the most successful driver of all time just because of his speed. As much as I don't like him in person, but everyone (yeah, including me even) knew that he has one of the most astute technical minds on the grid, he knows how to wring every ounce of performance out of a car and he is among the best tacticians in the sport. It may take him a few races to get up to speed, but get ready for a thrilling ride. Who knows? Miracle does happen sometime, don’t you think so?

^_^

Welcome To The Tallest Building In The World

Since the dawn of history man has been trying to build the 'tallest building', 'tallest tower' or 'tallest structure' in the world. There seems to be much prestige in being home to the worlds tallest. So much in fact that this is a major issue on the political agenda of many countries. Many towers claim the title, and many cities quarrel about who is the winner. During the first 90 years of this century, the USA dominated the race for the title of the tallest building in the world, and constructed a range of famous buildings that, sometimes only for a few months, and sometimes for many years, were widely recognized as being the 'tallest building' in the world. In 1974 Chicago's Sears Tower was completed, and generally seen as the 'tallest building' in the world. Sears held on to that title for over 20 years. But since the nineties the USA gets some stiff competition from Asia. In 1996 this resulted in the completion of the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur. From that moment on a sort of media clash was unleashed. All over the world people debated about the question which one was the tallest; Sears or Petronas. Now the answer to this question seems so easy. Just measure both buildings from bottom to top, and the tallest one gets the title. Question answered, case closed, no more debate needed? Forget it! As usual, life is not that simple. One could consider how to measure these buildings. For example, do we take in account spires and antennas? To end this discussion, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat made a compromise. They defined 4 categories for measuring tall buildings;

- Height to the structural or architectural top.
- Height to the highest occupied floor.
- Height to the top of the roof.
- Height to the top of antenna.

Burj Khalifa (Arabic: برج خليفة "Khalifa Tower"), formerly known as Burj Dubai, is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and is, at the moment, the tallest man-made structure ever built, at 828 m (2,717 ft). Construction began on 21 September 2004, with the exterior of the structure completed on 1 October 2009 and the building officially opened on 4 January 2010. The building is part of the 2 km2 (490-acre) flagship development called Downtown Burj Khalifa at the "First Interchange" along Sheikh Zayed Road, near Dubai's main business district. The tower's architect and engineer is Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, LLP (Chicago). Bill Baker, the Chief Structural Engineer for the project, invented the buttressed core structural system in order to enable the tower to achieve such heights economically. Adrian Smith, who worked with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) until 2006, was the Design Partner on the project.

The primary builder is South Korean Samsung C&T, who also built the Taipei 101 and Petronas Twin Towers, followed by Belgian group Besix and Arabtec from UAE. Turner Construction Company was chosen as the construction project manager. Under UAE law, the Contractor and the Engineer of Record are jointly and severally liable for the performance of Burj Khalifa. Therefore, by adoption of SOM's design and by being appointed as Architect and Engineer of Record, Hyder Consulting is legally the Design Consultant for the tower.

The total budget for the Burj Khalifa project is about US $ 1.5 billion; and for the entire new "Downtown Dubai", US $ 20 billion. Mohamed Ali Alabbar, the CEO of Emaar Properties, speaking at the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat 8th World Congress, said that the price of office space at Burj Khalifa had reached US $ 4,000 per sq ft (over US $ 43,000 per m2) and that the Armani Residences, also in Burj Khalifa, were selling for US $ 3,500 per sq ft (over US $ 37,500 per m2). The completion of the tower coincided with a worldwide economic slump and overbuilding, causing it to be described as "the latest...in string of monuments to architectural vacancy."

Though unconfirmed, Burj Khalifa has been rumored to have undergone several planned height increases since its inception. Originally proposed as a virtual clone of the 560 m (1,837 ft) Grollo Tower proposal for Melbourne, Australia's Docklands waterfront development, the tower was redesigned with an original design by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill discussed below. Marshall Strabala, an SOM architect who worked on the project until 2006, recently said that Burj Khalifa was designed to be 808 m (2,650 ft) tall.

The design architect, Adrian Smith, felt that the uppermost section of the building did not culminate elegantly with the rest of the structure, so he sought and received approval to increase it to the currently planned height. It has been explicitly stated that this change did not include any added floors, which is fitting with Smith's attempts to make the crown more slender. However, the top of the tower has a steel frame structure, unlike the lower portion's reinforced concrete.

Emaar Properties announced on 9 June 2008 that construction of Burj Khalifa was delayed by upgraded finishes and would be completed only in September 2009. An Emaar spokesperson said "The luxury finishes that were decided on in 2004, when the tower was initially conceptualized, is now being replaced by upgraded finishes. The design of the apartments has also been enhanced to make them more aesthetically attractive and functionally superior." A revised completion date of 2 December 2009 was then announced.

The tower is designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, which also designed the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois and 1 World Trade Center in New York City, among numerous other famous high-rises. The building resembles the bundled tube form of the Willis Tower, but is not a tube structure. Its design is reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright's vision for The Illinois, a mile-high skyscraper designed for Chicago.
According to Marshall Strabala, an SOM architect who worked on the building's design team, Burj Khalifa was designed based on the 73-floor Tower Palace Three, an all-residential building in Seoul, South Korea. In its early planning, Burj Khalifa was intended to be entirely residential.

Subsequent to the original design by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, Emaar Properties chose Hyder Consulting to be the Supervision Consultant, Engineer and Architect of Record, for its structural, facade and MEP engineering capability (MEP – mechanical, electrical and plumbing, and encompasses all fire and life safety systems within the building). In this role Hyder Consulting re-engineered structural, facades and MEP systems to suit the contractor's and local authority requirements. Hyder Consulting was also responsible for the geotechnical design of Burj Khalifa's foundations with Hyder's own geotechnical specialist, Grahame Bunce heading up a design team that included the world-renowned soil mechanics expert Harry Poulos in a peer-review role. Emaar Properties has also engaged GHD, an international multidisciplinary consulting firm, act as an independent verification and testing authority for concrete and steelwork.

The design of Burj Khalifa is derived from patterning systems embodied in Islamic architecture. The design architect Adrian Smith has said the triple-lobed footprint of the building was inspired by the flower Hymenocallis. The tower is composed of three elements arranged around a central core. As the tower rises from the flat desert base, setbacks occur at each element in an upward spiraling pattern, decreasing the cross section of the tower as it reaches toward the sky. There are 27 terraces in Burj Khalifa. At the top, the central core emerges and is sculpted to form a finishing spire. A Y-shaped floor plan maximizes views of the Persian Gulf. Viewed from above or from the base, the form also evokes the onion domes of Islamic architecture. During the design process, engineers rotated the building 120 degrees from its original layout to reduce stress from prevailing winds. At its tallest point, the tower sways a total of 1.5 m (4.9 ft).

The spire of Burj Khalifa is composed of more than 4,000 tones of structural steel. The central pinnacle pipe weighing 350 tones was constructed from inside the building and jacked to its full height of 143 meters using a strand jack system. The spire houses plant and facilitates for communications equipments.

More than 1,000 pieces of art will adorn the interiors of Burj Khalifa, while the residential lobby of Burj Khalifa will have the artwork of 196 bronze and brass alloy cymbals representing the 196 countries of the world. The visitors in this lobby will be able to hear a distinct timbre as the cymbals, plated with 18-carat gold, are struck by dripping water, intended to mimic the sound of water falling on leaves.
The exterior cladding of Burj Khalifa consists of 142,000 m2 (1,528,000 sq ft) of reflective glazing, and aluminum and textured stainless steel spandrels panels with vertical tubular fins. The cladding system is designed to withstand Dubai's extreme summer temperatures. Additionally, at its projected height the exterior temperature at the top of the building will be 6 °C (11 °F) cooler than at its base.

Over 26,000 glass panels were used in the exterior cladding of Burj Khalifa. Over 300 cladding specialists from China were brought in for the cladding work on the tower.

The hotel interior will be decorated by Giorgio Armani. An Armani Hotel, the first of four by Armani, will occupy 15 of the lower 39 floors. Floors through to 108 will have 900 private residential apartments (which, according to the developer, sold out within eight hours of being on the market). An outdoor zero-entry swimming pool will be located on the 76th floor of the tower. Corporate offices and suites will fill most of the remaining floors, except for a 123rd floor lobby and 124th floor (about 440 m (1,440 ft)) indoor and outdoor observation deck. Burj Khalifa is expected to hold up to 25,000 people at any one time. A total of 57 elevators and 8 escalators are installed, the fastest rising and descending at up to 10 m/s (33 ft/s). Engineers had considered installing the world's first triple-deck elevators, but the final design calls for double-deck elevators.

The graphic design identity work for Burj Khalifa is the responsibility of Brash Brands, who are based in Dubai. Design of the global launch events, communications, and visitors centers[44] for Burj Khalifa have also been created by Brash Brands as well as the road show exhibition for the Armani Residences, which are part of the Armani Hotel within Burj Khalifa, which toured Milan, London, Jeddah, Moscow and Delhi.

To wash the 24,348 windows, a horizontal track has been installed on the exterior of Burj Khalifa at levels 40, 73 and 109. Each track holds a 1.5 tone bucket machine which moves horizontally and then vertically using heavy cables. Above level 109, up to tier 27 traditional cradles from davits are used. The top of the spire, however, is reserved for specialist window cleaners, who brave the heights and high winds dangling by ropes to clean and inspect the top of the pinnacle. Under normal conditions, when all building maintenance units will be operational, it will take 36 workers three to four months to clean the entire exterior facade. Unmanned machines will clean the top 27 additional tiers and the glass spire. The cleaning system was developed in Australia at a cost of A$8 million.

Outside, and at a cost of Dh 800 million (US$217 million), a record-setting fountain system was designed by WET Design, the California-based company responsible for the fountains at the Bellagio Hotel Lake in Las Vegas. Illuminated by 6,600 lights and 50 colored projectors, it is 275 m (900 ft) long and shoots water 150 m (490 ft) into the air, accompanied by a range of classical to contemporary Arabic and world music. On 26 October 2008 Emaar announced that based on results of a naming contest the fountain would be called the Dubai Fountain.

The tower was constructed by a South Korean company, Samsung Engineering & Construction, which also did work on the Petronas Twin Towers and Taipei 101. Samsung Engineering & Construction is building the tower in a joint venture with Besix from Belgium and Arabtec from UAE. Turner is the Project Manager on the main construction contract.

The primary structural system of Burj Khalifa is reinforced concrete. Over 45,000 m3 (58,900 cu yd) of concrete, weighing more than 110,000 tones (120,000 ST; 110,000 LT) were used to construct the concrete and steel foundation, which features 192 piles, with each pile is 1.5 meter diameter x 43 meter long buried more than 50 m (164 ft) deep. Burj Khalifa's construction used 330,000 m3 (431,600 cu yd) of concrete and 55,000 tones of steel re-bar, and construction took 22 million man-hours. A high density, low permeability concrete was used in the foundations of Burj Khalifa. A cathodic protection system under the mat is used to minimize any detrimental effects from corrosive chemicals in local ground water.

The previous record for pumping concrete on any project was set during the extension of the Riva del Garda Hydroelectric Power Plant in Italy in 1994, when concrete was pumped to a height of 532 m (1,745 ft). Burj Khalifa exceeded this height on 19 August 2007, and as of May 2008 concrete was pumped to a delivery height of 606 m (1,988 ft), the 156th floor. The remaining structure above is built of lighter steel.

Burj Khalifa is highly compartmentalized. Pressurized, air-conditioned refuge floors are located approximately every 35 floors where people can shelter on their long walk down to safety in case of an emergency or fire.

Special mixes of concrete are made to withstand the extreme pressures of the massive building weight; as is typical with reinforced concrete construction, each batch of concrete used was tested to ensure it could withstand certain pressures.

The consistency of the concrete used in the project was essential. It was difficult to create a concrete that could withstand both the thousands of tones bearing down on it and Persian Gulf temperatures that can reach 50 °C (122 °F). To combat this problem, the concrete was not poured during the day. Instead, during the summer months ice was added to the mixture and it was poured at night when the air is cooler and the humidity is higher. A cooler concrete mixture cures evenly throughout and is therefore less likely to set too quickly and crack. Any significant cracks could have put the entire project in jeopardy.

The unique design and engineering challenges of building Burj Khalifa have been featured in a number of television documentaries, including the Big, Bigger, Biggest series on the National Geographic and Five channels, and the Mega Builders series on the Discovery Channel.

So, I don't know about you, guys...but for me, it was a definite next holiday destination. Can you imagine, not just we're at the tallest building in the world, but I was more excited about what kind of view would you get from it? Wow! It would be even more complete though, if we can do some extreme things up there...no, am not talking about making love, OMG...that's gross! I was thinking about bungee jump or sky walk, like the one they have on Macau Tower. What do you think? I said, superb! See you there, guys!

^_^
Sources : www.tallestbuildingintheworld.com, Wikipedia

Love And Lies

I hope I won’t get sue by my dear friend because the title of this blog is actually his new clothing line, but hey, I didn’t use the shorten mark for ‘and’ so it makes it a little bit different, right? Aha!

Here is the thing, another dear friend of mine was always has a difficulty to trust anyone. Every time I said something to him, he was like always accused me of lying. So, at the end I was like, “I know why do you have a doubt to every words I said. It was because of you were always lie to others so that you thought everyone did the same to you.” Surprisingly, he admitted it. Oh well, at least he said, ”Yeah, maybe you’re right.” Then I was like, “OMG, so these whole times, the whole things you said to me were all lies?” And guess what his answer to my accusation was? He was like, “Nope, I never lie to you, I lie to my girlfriend…yeah. But not to you.” What a big BS was that? Then he was like, “I don’t have to lie to you because I don’t have to hide anything from you. We’re not together. I only lie to my girlfriend.” Seriously, I still remember the mischievous smile on his face that night. Man!
Okay, call me a naïve or stupid or whatever, but, this thing was kind of confused me. These whole times I thought the opposite way. I thought we were not supposed to lie to our love ones as we were not supposed to hide anything from them. Not vice versa. I don’t know, maybe that was just me and my stupidity. Oh no, don’t get me wrong. I am not trying to say that I am a saint who was always say the truth to my partner, of course, I lie sometime. Oh well, I don’t mean to preach anyone here as for me everything was just about a matter of choice whether you want to lie or not. As long as you know what you’re doing, go for it. Only, of course you have to realized that everything has its own consequential. So if you think you can handle it, hands up! You’re the man!
Back to my dear friend, here is my question, was that just him or could it be a typical of men in general? Honestly, I feel sorry for his girl as am a girl too. I can not imagine if someone I love said something like that behind my back. But, in the other hand, this guy is a dear friend. A very dear one, if you know what I mean. We told each other everything. But yeah, as a friend, I think it’s my job to convince him to quit his lying habit. But no, I won’t ask him to always tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Because believe it or not, I do believe in white lies. If our intentions was to protect others’ feeling, then am sure God will understand. Hey, He’s the guy who knows everything, isn’t He? So, He sure do know our intentions every time we lie, right? In fact, He supposed to be the first one to know and to understand it. And for my own understanding, am sure my dear friend’s intention was to protect his girl’s feeling, so he wont hurt the girl he loves. Aaah, what a great guy he is! That is why I love him, hah! Speaking of love, one lesson I’ve got today was how thin the line between love and lies is. OMG, I think that is why my dear friend chose those words as his new label then. Because of the philosophy behind them! Aha!
^_^

Chain Letter

British are famous for having a sarcastic sense of humor. Unlike American, their sense of humor are more bitter and more cynical. Some people even think that British are sharp speaking people, but for me, I love British humor. So funny and this one that am going to tell you is no different.
Here is the thing, since this digital era started, with internet and mobile phones things, now we can easily connected with everyone around the globe. People are using those media to send anything nowadays. Letters, greeting cards, invitations, text messages, anything. And out of sudden this chain letter phenomenon came. Seriously guys, I receive at least ten chain letters a day in my e-mail and or mobile phones. But I have to admit it to you that none of those letters that I had forwarded. Yeah, am not so much for those (am sorry, this was a hundred percent according to my naïve opinion) stupid things, but, before I start my joke about it, let me talk about what is chain letter mean literally.
A typical chain letter consists of a message that attempts to induce the recipient to make a number of copies of the letter and then pass them on to as many recipients as possible. Common methods used in chain letters include emotionally manipulative stories, get-rich-quick pyramid schemes, and the exploitation of superstition to threaten the recipient with bad luck or even physical violence or death if he or she "breaks the chain" and refuses to adhere to the conditions set out in the letter.
In the United States, chain letters that request money or other items of value and promise a substantial return to the participants (like the infamous Make Money Fast scheme) are considered a form of gambling and therefore illegal. Other types of chain letters are viewed as a general nuisance in that frequently multiplying letters clog up the postal system and do not function as correspondence mail, but rather, a game. Some colleges and military bases have passed regulations stating that in the private mail of college students and military personnel, respectively, chain letters are not authorized and will be thrown out. However, it is often difficult to distinguish chain letters from genuine correspondence. So don’t blame me if am so not into this phenomenon whatsoever. It’s not that I don’t want to help anyone that they said needed help in those letters, I just can not trust it whether it was a real thing or not. So when someone sent me this e-mail which (I don’t know if it’s true) originally came from Billy Connolly, a British comedian, I was like, no way, I have to blog about this. It was so freaking funny! Read this e-mail bellow and don’t tell that you didn’t laugh your head off…Well, if you didn't, that means that you do not understand British humor!

Hello, my name is Billy and I suffer from guilt for not forwarding 50 billion fucking chain letters sent to me by people who actually believe, if you send them on, a poor six-year-old girl in Scotland with a breast on her forehead will be able to raise enough money to have it removed before her redneck parents sell her to a traveling freak show.

And, do you honestly believe that Bill Gates is going to give $1000 to you, and everyone to whom you send 'his' email?

How stupid are we?

Ooooh, looky here! If I scroll down this page and make a wish, I'll get laid by a super model I just happen to run into the next day!

What a bunch of utter bullshit.

Maybe the evil chain letter leprechauns will come into my house and sodomise me in my sleep for not continuing a chain letter that was started by St Peter in 5AD and brought to this country by midget pilgrim stowaways on the Endeavour.

Fuck 'em!!

If you're going to forward something, at least send me something mildly amusing. I've seen all the 'send this to 10 of your closest friends, and this poor, wretched excuse for a human being will somehow receive a nickel from some omniscient being' forwards about 90 times.

I don't fucking care.

Show a little intelligence and think about what you're actually contributing to by sending out these forwards. Chances are, it's our own unpopularity.

The point being?

If you get some chain letter that's threatening to leave you shagless or luckless for the rest of your life, delete it. If it's funny, send it on. Don't piss people off by making them feel guilty about a leper in Botswana with no teeth who has been tied to the arse of a dead elephant for 27 years and whose only salvation is the 5 cents per letter he'll receive if you forward this email. Now forward this to everyone you know.. Otherwise, tomorrow morning your underwear will turn carnivorous and will consume your genitals.

Have a nice day.

Billy Connolly
PS. Send me 15 bucks and then fuck off.

^_^

Inglorious Bastards

Oh no, don’t get me wrong…I am a very proud Indonesian. I was born and grew up in this beautiful place. But what am going to write now is about the fact of our beloved country that I can not just ignored like it was nothing wrong. Here is the thing, for the past eight and a half years, my sweet little dog had played on the street of my neighborhood once in a while and nothing was wrong with that. I felt so secure as it was a housing complex which was secluded and supposed to be very safe. Beside, my dog was a very famous in the neighborhood as every time I went for a walk with him, more people said ‘hello’ to him rather than to me, that how cute and lovable my dog was. So yeah, don’t blame me if I never put my dog on leash as he was only a small dog who was never a threat to anyone. And for those eight and a half years period, I was never got any complained from anyone whatsoever for my dog behaviors. So, what went wrong?

I know for the past two years, rabies was started became an issue in Bali as I read on the big billboard down the traffic lights of the road just before the airport turning. So yeah, as a dog owner I aware of that but it was never became a big thing to me as my dog was fully vaccinated. Then why, when I was doing my shopping trip in Singapore last week, someone just cold bloodedly murdered my lovely little baby with those poisons that normally used to kill street dogs who were rabies suspected? And no, this wasn’t happened far away from my house but right in front of it as my maid found my dog’s body laid underneath mango tree inside of our villa compound’s area with his mouth full of foams. Looked like he was trying to run back to the house to get help but it was too late. My poor little buddy died without me by his side, leaving me with such a huge regret to deal with. I was so devastating, I was like hysterical when I got the phone called from my maid telling me what happened. Seriously guys, how do you deal with such as situation? This thing was my best buddy for a very long time, a loyal one. He followed me everywhere I go, even slept with me at night, wait for me on my bathroom door while am having a shower, yeah…I don’t ever see the day where he wasn’t around me for these past eight and a half years. Ever! So go figure how it makes me feel?
Back to my point, I was like having so many questions in my head for the authority to answer. Like, who is responsible for a tragedy like this? Seriously, how could someone, in any excuse no matter what, mistaken my dog with any kind of rabies or dangerous dog? Just because he was unleashed? He was playing in front of his own house, for God sake! And he was wearing a collar with his name and my phone number tagged on it. Don’t you think that you guys, whoever you are, went too far on this rabies matter? I still see so many street dogs else where, but why started on a secure and secluded area where rabies was never been an issue yet? Or, if you think it was the right thing to do, don’t you think that at least people who lives in the area has a right to know that you were going to mass murder any dogs on the street? So that they are aware? My vet tried to talked to the authority once, and guess what answer that she got? They were like, oh yeah…of course you were objected, you’ve been paid by westerner! Come on, people…what kind of answer was that? So uneducated! This has got nothing to do with westerner whatsoever!
That night, after finished arranging my dog’s cremation at the clinic and went home, I found a cat laid on street in front of my house because of the same cause, poison. He was accompanied by other cat who was sat down there meow for a help, but it was too late. What a sad scene to watch, if I were you. What would you call that? Collateral damage? Why don’t you cleaned up the street from whatever you used to killed those innocent animals afterwards? And yeah, don’t we have another non barbaric way to deal with such as situation? I am totally aware how dangerous rabies is, but it doesn’t give us a right to kill every dogs that we’ve seen hang out on the street. Not all of street dogs are dangerous and have rabies, we can see the different…but of course, that was if we care enough to hire someone competent to do the job, not just any idiot who willing to do anything for a penny. I was just adopted a street dog, I named her Coco, who went missing at the same day with the day they murdered my dog. My guts telling me that the same thing was happened to her as they were playing outside together on that time. But my maid looked all over the place around my neighborhood and found nothing. She was like disappear, just like that. Some people told me that someone probably took her for food. Yeah, like eating her. I was like, what the…? How cruel are we as a human being to do such thing? And we were not even in any emergency situation, like if we were stranded in the middle of nowhere and have no other choice. NO, we’re not. So, what is wrong with you people? If this was true, then yeah…I was ashamed to be Indonesian! Get civilized you guys! If we were angry when other country said that we were under developed, then why are you act like one? Maybe you think you are a winner by killing all of those innocent animals, but what kind of winning was that if you got it ingloriously?
^_^

To my lovely baby, RIP...you will always be my number one as I always said and promised you...♥

To the 'Inglorious Bastards' who killed my babies, I pity you for done such cruelty like that, for having a heart to kill innocent pets, mine in particular!

Facebook Phenomenon

Here is the thing, if Facebook is a country then it will make it the fifth biggest nation in the world with more than 175 millions members and still counting. It has more population than Japan as a country. This site was actually started from a brilliant idea from a college student Mark Zuckerberg and his classmates at Harvard University Dustin Moskovitz, Eduardo Saverin, and Chris Hughes who were thought that it would be so much fun if you can get connected with anyone you want in the whole world. How fun it would be if you can exchange pictures and messages with your old mates that you haven’t seen for ages only with one click and only took like thirty second of your precious time. The good thing about this site is you, yourself, are the one who’s in control on your own profile. So yeah, am very sorry for anyone who’ve got done by this site over their own stupidity, that was not counted at all in what am going to said about this networking site. Seriously guys, this web is supposed to be a fun thing. Yeah, of course you can take it serious as some people do, but once again, you are the person who is in charge on your personal thing that you put in your profile and that was what I like about it.
In his interview with Oprah Winfrey on her show recently, Mark mention that every single day, almost half of a million people joining this so called social network and convinced her to open her own account. Come on guys, you have got to believe this thing if Oprah does, don’t you? After all, she’s Oprah…the Oprah Winfrey, hah! Even President Obama now has his own page on this web and used it properly during his campaigned to win the White House key. And believe it or not, the President is actually the person who has the most fans of them all, last counted was 175 thousands people. And maybe it was hard for some people to understand but this thing is addicted, badly.
Back to Mark Zuckerberg, this newest tech’s golden boy now became one of the youngest billionaire in the world after founded this addictive social networking site in 2004, according to Forbes. He left school later that year for Silicon Valley scored $500,000 investment from PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel. Venture firms soon swooned, among them Accel Partners and Greylock Partners. Hard to believe though that this young guy who was once a hacker who was dropped out from his Harvard University, just to became a CEO of one of the fastest growing online company in the world and he made it...Gosh, got to love those geeks now, don’t you? Hey, he is now said to make closed to $150 million annual sales, can you topped that? Expanding beyond being a college-only message system and photo album, now courting users to 55,000 different high school, business, and city networks. Last October, even Microsoft jumped in and bought 1.6% stake for $240 million, the deal that led many to suggest that the company is worth $15 billion, despite on how some analysts and even a few Facebook investor suggest that the company value is actually far lower, the boy is now worth closed to $1.5 billion, still according to Forbes.
Some people might questioning where did he get that idea from? Well, nobody knows actually where their brilliant idea is coming from. It can be from your daily routine that bored you so much that makes you kind of thinking about how could you change it and for some people who got lucky enough they then turn it to a money maker machine. Yup, as simple as that, and that was actually according to me, hah!
^_^

The Twilight Zone

When I was a little girl, my parents only allowed me to read books such as fairy tales ones like those books written by Hans Christian Andersen. Then in my teen, I was reading all of those Enid Blyton books and in my senior year I was allowed to read Alfred Hitchock. So yeah, that was pretty much effected my taste of stories. You can say that am a bitter but am not buying any nonsense, and am not so much in believing things like ghosts, spirits, or vampires. So don’t blame me if am not in to this Twilight Saga phenomenon at first place. When the movie first premiere last year, I wasn’t too keen or even interested to this thing, no matter how my friends were totally into it. Then came along the sequel New Moon, which was premiere a couple of weeks ago, I reckon. Still, I wasn’t interested. I watched people screaming and literally hysterical during the red carpet of the movie premiere on E! but that didn’t change me much.

Until last week when my man told me that I should’ve watched this movie because he thinks that it wasn’t a bad movie at all. And for him to tell that, it must be something about it. Here is the thing, my man was pretty much the same with me. In fact, he was normally sarcastic about almost everything. So yeah, that was caught my attention a little bit. Beside, the first Twilight movie was on telly already and was on that night, so no harmed, right?
OMG…that was all that I can say about the movie. Seriously, guys…for the first time ever I fell in love with a vampire! And yeah, you’ve got it right if you think it was all about Robert Pattinson. He’s definitely one hell of a hot vampire. I was totally don’t care anymore whether the story was make sense or not, I was really into the movie now. Honestly, I have never seen someone so loved by the camera since James Dean was dead. No matter from what angle, he looks so hot and mysterious. Not to mention his bad boy looking and messy hair that gravitated every girl toward him. Without any question, this morning I found myself locked my eyes in to the telly on the three hours special coverage of the movie, started from its Red Carpet Premiere, Fashion Police of New Moon Casts, and the Behind The Scenes of The Twilight Saga : New Moon. What a contradictory thing to happens to me! Well, now that am really in to the movie, I was thinking of getting the books myself. No, it’s not good enough to make me go to the cinema and take a queue to watch it like everyone else, my screen room at home will do just fine, but heck yeah…when the DVD come out, I will be the first one on the line to get it, hah!
^_^

Two Lovers

Nope, if you guys are asking me whether this blog was about Joaquin Phoenix and Gwyneth Paltrow’s new movie with a same title, whether am going to write down my critics toward the movie, then the answer is no. But, the inspiration actually did come from the film that I was just watched this morning on my car stereo on my way to work. Before I tell you the whole things, I would like to tell you a funny story first. When I just about write down my thoughts about this topic, I googled the words ‘two lovers’ first to get an image to complete my write, and guess what…every image that I could find was content an image of a guy with two girls. What did that tell you? Yeah, I guess when we start a conversation about an unfaithful relationship, everyone will assumed that it was about men. Or, maybe for some reasons that I don’t know, our community will tolerate it if it was doing by a man. Funny in sarcastic way, I think.
So yeah, of course am not going to talk about a man who cheat on his partner here, that was way too common. In the opposite way, yes of course, am going to talk about the thing that am good in it: women, hah! Here is the thing, at a pool party in my house last weekend, a dear friend of mine who is happily married asked me about polyandry thing. For sure, I was like shocked that she asked me that question but still managed explaining to her that it was against any religion and law. Then she was like telling me a story that shocked me even more, that she is in love with someone else outside her marriage. And am talking about a girl who is way from the description of cheating type of person, by far! Wow!
First I was like didn’t know what to say, but when my common sense started taking control, then I could think properly and looked at this situation from a different point of view. No, am not going to justify anything here just because she’s my friend, or because she is a woman, or whatever. NO. But what am going to tell you is that who are we to judge? So yeah, am not going to label her as a bad person for falling in love with another man, never. Even if I aware that the fact that she is a marriage woman, but does that erased her right to fall in love again? When you (women) made that decision to move a step forward by getting marriage, does that mean that your life ended there? Does that make you (women) a bad person if in the middle of your perfect marriage, you’ve got this doubt felling that your partner was maybe not the one for you? Was that wrong if your heart started questioning if the other guy might be the one? And was that wrong for you (women) if you want to keep both relationships as those make you feel fulfill at the moment? A dear friend of mine once said that there is no such a bad person and am totally agree with him, because every each individual has his or her own situation. And as an outsider, no one is capable to tell what is right and what is wrong for them apart from themselves. And yeah, sometime we probably mistaken love with passion, sometime we were probably only bored of our routine with our partners then see something out there was more tempting. Sometime we were just made a stupid mistake in decision and choose to be with someone else over a temptation, but hey…that was so human, right? You can call it temptation, or passion, or lust, or anything. But for me, I call it ‘mitigating circumstances’. And if we can tolerate it when it was doing by men, why don’t we started tolerating it for women too? It’s not that hard, is it?
^_^

Plastic Fantastic

Plastic is the general common term for a wide range of synthetic or semi synthetic organic amorphous solid materials used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce costs.

The word is derived from the Greek πλαστικός (plastikos) meaning fit for molding, and πλαστός (plastos) meaning molded. It refers to their malleability, or plasticity during manufacture, that allows them to be cast, pressed, or extruded into a variety of shapes—such as films, fibers, plates, tubes, bottles, boxes, and much more.

The common word plastic should not be confused with the technical adjective plastic, which is applied to any material which undergoes a permanent change of shape (plastic deformation) when strained beyond a certain point. Aluminum, for instance, is plastic in this sense, but not a plastic in the common sense; in contrast, in their finished forms, some plastics will break before deforming and therefore are not plastic in the technical sense.

There are two types of plastics: thermoplastics and thermosetting polymers. Thermoplastics will soften and melt if enough heat is applied; examples are polyethylene, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). Thermo sets can melt and take shape once; after they have solidified, they stay solid.

For the past few years, there has been rising international awareness regarding the damaging and dangerous impact on the environment of plastic bags. Governments all over the world have decided to get involved in that particular issue. Some governments have decided to ban them: Bangladesh, Bhutan and Zanzibar. Plastic bags should no more be given for free in China from June 1st. These bags are surcharged in Germany, South Africa, Ireland and Israel. Several countries try and promote, through major retailers, the use of cloth bags, paper bags or grocery bags: United Kingdom (with Tesco), France (with Carrefour), and New Zealand.

The thing is, the raw material of plastic bags is oil. Therefore, the more we use plastic bags, the more we waste oil - a non-renewable energy source. The petroleum-based plastic bags take decades to break down, so if they are not recycled they litter. It creates visual pollution: in the streets, on the beaches etc. Also, they can clog roadside drains, which could cause street flooding during heavy rainfall. Plastic bags can be recycled but it rarely happens: according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, only 1% of plastic bags were recycled in 2000, against twenty percent for paper bags. They endanger wildlife and particularly sea life such as sea turtles and dolphins which can die of entanglement, suffocation, and ingestion because they assume that these bags are jellyfish.

Bisphenol A, a common chemical used to make certain plastics has been linked to potentially deadly diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Studies have shown that 90% of American people have Bisphenol A in their bodies. Exposure to Bisphenol comes from many different sources such as the foods we eat, the water and beverages we drink, electronics, and even our dentists Even babies come in contact with Bisphenol at an early age, as many baby bottles are made from the plastic.

When San Francisco became the first U.S. city to prohibit large grocery stores and pharmacies from distributing disposable plastic bags in March 2007, it appeared to have sparked a trend. At least a dozen other cities, counties and states were soon considering proposals to ban or severely restrict distribution of what many environmentalists consider a wasteful and harmful product.

The plastics industry had no intention of allowing the San Francisco model to spread without a fight, though. It quickly and quietly joined with retailers and other business interests and launched a successful counterattack, using lobbying muscle to quash proposed bans. In the face of the onslaught, the cities have instituted voluntary recycling programs that proponents of the bans say are ineffective and likely to remain so. And in at least two instances, plastics interests have turned the tables on their green adversaries by filing lawsuits on environmental grounds in an effort to prevent bans from taking effect.

Plastic materials display properties that are unique when compared to other materials and have contributed greatly to quality of our everyday life. Plastics, properly applied, will perform functions at a cost that other materials cannot match. Many natural plastics exist, such as shellac, rubber, asphalt, and cellulose; however, it is man's ability to synthetically create a broad range of materials demonstrating various useful properties that have so enhanced our lives. Plastics are used in our clothing, housing, automobiles, aircraft, packaging, electronics, signs, recreation items, and medical implants to name but a few of their many applications.

The synthetic plastic industry started in 1909 with the development of a phenol formaldehyde plastic (Bakelite) by Dr. L. H. Baekeland. The phenolic materials are, even today, important engineering plastics. The development of additional materials continued and the industry really began to blossom in the late 1930's. The chemistry for nylons, urethanes, and fluorocarbon plastics were developed; the production of cellulose acetate, melamine, and styrene molding compounds began; and production of commercial equipment to perform the molding and vacuum forming processes began.

Acrylic sheet was widely used in aircraft windows and canopies during World War II. A transparent polyester resin (CR-39), vinylidene chloride film (Saran), polyethylene, and silicone resins were also developed. The first polyethylene bottles and cellulose acetate toothpaste tubes were manufactured during this time period.

The post war era saw the production of vinyl resins started, the use of vinyl films, molded automotive acrylic taillights and back-lighted signs introduced, and the first etched circuit boards developed. The injection molding process entered commercial production. Due to the newness of the materials, the properties and behavior of the plastic materials were not well understood. Many products were introduced that failed, creating a negative impression about plastics in the public's mind.

Chemists continued the development of materials, such as ABS, acetyls, polyvinyl fluoride, ionomers, and polycarbonate. The injection molding, thermoforming, extrusion, transfer molding, and casting processes were all improved. This allowed the industry to provide an even greater number of cost-effective products suitable for many, more demanding engineering applications.

In the early days, Bakelite (phenolic resin) is most often actually a product called Catalin. Both, along with Plaskon, are formaldehyde based plastics. Allow me to expand (with liberal borrowing from Dr. Stephen Z. Fadem - a true expert). Around the turn of the century, the Belgian born scientist Dr. Leo Baekeland, working as an independent chemist, came upon the compound quite by accident. He sold his rights to Velox to Eastman Kodak for three quarters of a million dollars and started developing a less flammable bowling alley floor shellac; bowling was becoming the latest rage in New York City. Dr. Baekeland soon realized that a resin that was both insoluble and infusible could have a much wider appeal when used as a molding compound. He obtained a patent and started the Bakelite Corporation around 1910.

Phenolic resin could be produced in a multitude of colors, commonly yellow, brown, butterscotch, green and red. Omitting the pigment could produce a transparent or translucent effect. The resin could be molded or cast, depending on variations in the formula. For molding, the formula was cooked until resinous, spread out in thin sheets to harden, then ground to a fine consistency. At this point, powdered fillers and pigment were added, to enable the resin to be molded and to add color. This mixture was then put through hot rollers which created large sheets of colored, hardened resin. These sheets were then ground into a very fine powder which was molded under high heat and pressure into the final product form. As a molded material the resin's drawback was the limited range of colors which could be created. For casting, the formula was modified slightly, enabling the resin to be poured into lead molds and then cured in ovens until it polymerized into a hard substance. The liquid resin could be tinted to any color or "marbleized" by mixing two colors together.

For the first ten years or so after its introduction, the resin was used primarily to make electrical and automobile insulators and heavy industrial products. Eventually, uses for the resin spread into the consumer market. Castings were made in the shape of cylinders or blocks, and then sold to novelty and jewelry makers. Industrial designers began experimenting with the new material. Fine craftsmen sculpted the molded products on fast wheels with razor-like tools to carve out designs that the world has not seen since; after World War II, most companies switched to creating designs through the use of patterned molds, instead of hand-carving. Bakelite replaced flammable celluloid, previously the most popular synthetic material for molded items, as a major substance for jewelry production.

The process to the collector of today may not be significant, as Bakelite is now treasured for its unique, irreproducible beauty. A deeply carved half inch bangle bracelet may sell for $225.00, and a two and one half inch bangle may command $900.00. Bakelite often acquires a patina within a few months to a few years of its date of production, and metamorphosizes into a completely different appearing color. The red, white and blue Bakelite designs of yesterday have mellowed into lovely yellows, reds and blacks, enhancing further the value of those rare pieces which have continued to maintain their original color and luster.

Bakelite's many uses allowed it to become a standard item in the family home of the 1930s and 1940s. It was frequently found in the kitchen, in the form of flatware handles, rabbit or chicken napkin holders, salt and pepper shakers, or serving trays. During the Depression Bakelite sold more than any other commercial product, and was loved by the public for its brilliant and cheerful colors and its affordability.

When the Bakelite patent expired in 1927, it was acquired by the Catalin Corporation that same year. They began mass production under the name "Catalin," using the cast resin formula which enabled Catalin to add 15 new colors to the original five produced by the Bakelite Corporation, which used the limited color range molded formula, as well as the now-famous marbleized effect. One of their most notable products was the Fada bullet radio. The Catalin Corporation was responsible for nearly 70% of all phenolic resins that exist today.

Bakelite-Catalin was sold mostly by Saks Fifth Avenue, B. Altman and Bonwit Teller, but was also on the shelves of F.W. Woolworth and Sears. To the wealthy socialites, whose husbands had fallen on tough times during the Depression, with Tiffany diamonds and Cartier jewelry now well beyond their means, the vibrantly colorful carved jewelry adorned with rhinestones became de rigueur for cocktail parties and formal dinners. Yet, Catalin and Bakelite were within everyone's reach with Depression prices ranging from twenty cents to three dollars. Diana Vreeland, editor of Vogue, often spoke of the versatility of Bakelite, as did Elsa Schiaparelli, who was constantly contracting with the Bakelite and Catalin Corporations for exclusive buttons for her dress designs.

But in 1942 Bakelite and Catalin suspended sales of their colorful cylinders to costume jewelry manufacturers in order to concentrate on the wartime needs of a nation which had totally shifted its focus. Defense phones and aviator goggles, as well as thousands of other Bakelite products, found their way to armed forces around the world. The scheme shifted from the 200 vibrant colors which brightened the dark days of the Depression to basic black, the no-nonsense symbol of a nation at war. By the end of the war, new technology had given birth to injection-molded plastics, and most manufacturers switched to less labor-intensive and more practical means of developing products. The next generation of plastics had been born - Acrylic, fiberglass, and vinyl - and they were molded into products commonplace in our everyday lives today. Occasionally plastics are still improperly used and draw negative comments. The thousands of successful applications that contribute to the quality of our life are seldom noticed and are taken for granted. Remember, MATERIALS DON'T FAIL, DESIGNS DO.

The number of variations or formulations possible by combining the many chemical elements is virtually endless. This variety also makes the job of selecting the best material for a given application a challenge. The plastics industry provides a dynamic and exciting opportunity.

Plastics encompass a large and varied group of materials consisting of different combinations or formulations of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and other organic and inorganic elements. Most plastics are a solid in finished form; however, at some stage of their existence, they are a liquid and may be formed into various shapes. The forming is usually done through the application, either singly or together, of heat and pressure. There are over fifty different, unique families of plastics in commercial use today and each family may have dozens of variations.

As eco awareness continues to expand and the availability of alternative options continues to increase and gain support, individuals and businesses seek ways to assess the sustainable aspects of various products. One recent result is the development of plastic ratings, like the new Plastics Scorecard. This scorecard, like other measures, will be a rating system for not only product manufactures to aspire to but a quick reference guide for consumers to make informed choices.
A similar pursuit is the International Resin Identification Coding system, which assigns an internationally accepted number from 1-7 to all plastics (resins). The number can be found on the bottom of plastic containers. This new scorecard will be another measure to increase eco awareness.

For manufacturing, plastic ratings are creating an immediate need for business sustainability improvements. According to Clean Production Action's Research Director, Mark Rossi, “The Scorecard is essentially a decision-making tool aimed at improving the design of plastic products.”

Aimed at helping manufacturers, purchasers and government agencies, this product transparency will hopefully move consumers away from the most hazardous types of plastics and switch to more-preferable options. Plastics will be given a grade of A+ to F rating based on their environmental and social impacts. This evaluation will take into account the full lifecycle of the product, from production to disposal.

Which materials were used in the development of the product?

Which manufacturing processes were used in the production of the product?

Does the product contain materials that could be detrimental to health?

Does the product contain materials that could be detrimental to the environment?

Is the product recyclable?

From the viewpoint of business, we believe that growing eco awareness and resulting pressure will dictate that best of the best products and services will continuously rise to the top. The key, like most improvement pursuits, will be engagement to reduce the production and use of undesirable plastics. I personally encourage everyone to be as much a part of the change as the business world. By increasing personal eco awareness and taking proactive steps to make changes in your daily life, individuals can create sustainable development in the market. Become aware of your plastic alternatives and drive change through informed choices.

^_^

Sources : Wikipedia, Google, Yahoo, MSNBC.

You Will Be Loved

A dear friend of mine just got engaged with his girlfriend who is with him for these last few months. I don’t really know her but from the story I’ve heard, she was a nice and honest girl who is very loyal and really in to my friend. So yeah, of course, I considered that my friend would be happy and love her back with all of his heart, right?
Wrong. A few days ago, I’ve got a phone call from my friend asked me to come over to his house because of he needed someone to talked to. As a good friend, of course, I made my time for him and gave him a visit. Then he told me that he was going to brake the engagement up sometime soon because he doesn’t feel happy with this relationship. I was like, what’s wrong? I thought she was a nice girl? My dear friend then were like, yeah, she is a nice girl and very honest too, not like some others, but I don’t feel the connection with her. I feel so bored whenever am with her, said my friend.
In a different kind of story, there’s a girl that I knew for a very long time, great friend of mine but not close who is happily married and loved by her husband like no other while in the other hand, I know for sure that she wasn’t that kind of honest nor a nice girl. She was always lies about so many things, sometime small and sometime big to covered up the lies that she created before, but, seems like she is some kind of a lovable person. Everyone loves her and wants to be close to her while she was never tried to hide the fact that she is not that nice type of girl who you will be proud to take home and introduce to your mum. Never.
So, my point is, now at this stage I realized that you don’t have to be nice just to be loved by someone, and of course, you don’t have to be bad as well just to be hated by someone. Because, believe me, love and hate are working in funny way. Maybe they were right when they said love is blind. But the thing is, I do believe that love unfolding so many things in life, including boundaries. When am in love with someone, I would easily justified his negative things and take them no matter what. And just because of you are a nice person, doesn’t mean that everyone will love you. You have to have that lovable factor in you. And vice versa, just because of you are not that nice and kind type of person, doesn’t mean that no one would love you. There is actually a very thin line that separate good and bad, so for me, there is no such a good guy nor a bad guy. Because I do believe that no one could define the standards of those things correctly. There’s a guy that I met sometime last year and became very close with me because I found a very good connection with him that makes me could care less when my friends said something bad about him. One thing that my friends didn’t understand is, I don’t decided to be close with him because of he’s a nice guy or whatever, but more because of I feel great around him and I don’t care if it’s for a good or a bad reason.
But NO, I don’t try to encourage anyone to be a bad person here, NO WAY! What am trying to say is just be yourselves, if you want to change yourselves for the sake of your own good then it is a very good of you, but you don’t have to change the ’you’ inside you just to win someone else’s love. Because, trust me, no matter how bad you are, you will be loved by someone eventually!
^_^

Love You Lately..(A Poem)

I know you're not the one for me
I know you're not my destiny
I know our love was only temporary
But honey, I love you lately
I know you and me are living in some kind of memory
I know you're only hold me in my fantasy
I know you were never be my Mr. McDreamy
But baby, I love you lately
I know your plans don't included me
I know we both never care for each other deeply
I know that was out of our capacities
But my dear, I love you lately
I know yesterday you said you love me
I know it was only your sweet remedy
I know you and me won't be in any harmony
But sweetheart, I love you lately
I know I never treat you the way I should be
I know I don't deserve the love you gave me
But I know for sure that you never mind of any
'Coz deep inside your heart darling, you do know that I love you lately
^_^

À mon Jour férié Dans Goa..je vous aime dernièrement ♥

Heartless (A Poem)

So what if I have no feeling?
So what if am a heartless type of girl?
I am who I am and am not gonna change myself just to make you happy
I may be your friend but am not the one to follow you
So what if I don't show you that I care?
I tried to tell you that am sorry and I didn't do it on purpose, I think you know
So what if I said something that hurt your feeling?
I was a human being like everyone else and I do make mistake, oh yes, I do
So what if I did something wrong?
I wasn't perfect and so do you
So what if I make you angry?
I can't be nice all the time as maybe you think you do?
So what if everything doesn't go well as what we want it?
But one thing for sure, am as innocence as you are in this thing
But if you don't thing so
Then yeah, why the heck should I do?
I can care less about everyone and even you
As I am a heartless one and maybe I went too far on this thing
But I really don't know how to fix it
Nor that I want to undo it
So I just let everything goes as it is
This is not what I want but I won't change anything for nothing
Call me a stone heart, but why should anyone fix something that not even brakes?
What's the point of fixing something that doesn't need to be fix?
^_^