Something to be proud of. At least we have some world heritages here. Phew. The first 2 are Mulu Caves and Kinabalu Park. Those were obtained in 2000 as natural sites.
To be honest, I would love to visit all UNESCO sites if possible. So far, I have been to quite a few. I know I went to a cemetry in Stockholm, Sweden. You never know, Bukit Cina in Melaka might be in the list soon. :)
The historic Malaysian trading towns of Georgetown and Malacca are among eight new cultural sites that have been added to Unesco's World Heritage List today.
According to Unesco, both sites have been imbued with a multicultural heritage after more than five centuries of trading and cultural exchanges between East and West.
Georgetown and Malacca joined two other World Heritage Sites in Malaysia which won listing in 2000 - the Gunung Mulu National Park in Sarawak and the Kinabalu Park in Sabah.
Also included on the coveted list are a controversial Hindu temple in Cambodia and an early agricultural site from Papua New Guinea.
Honoured were the 11th century Preah Vihear temple site, perched on a mountaintop on the Thai-Cambodia border; the cities of the Straits of Malacca - Georgetown and Malacca in Malaysia - and the Kuk Early Agricultural Site in Papua New Guinea, marking the country's first entry on the list.
One of the 7 wonders in the world. I always wanted to visit this great all and all I know it's just great. It's one of the few man-made buildings in the old age which can been seen from space.
Stretching 6,400 km spanning from Shanhaiguan in the east to Lop Nur in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia. It is also the largest human-made structure ever built in therms of surface area and mass. Well, with its shear length, it's definitely the longest human-made structure in the world too. The wall is 10 metres tall, 3 metres wide and is cost about 550,000 tonnes of silver - the biggest funded structure at that time.
So, shall we go into the history of this great feat made by man? To be honest, I don't think I want to bore you with too much history so I will cut to the chase. Basically, the idea of the wall started with a small line of defense which began around the 8th century BC in smaller states of Qi, Yan and Zhao.
Then we had Qin Shi Huang conquering all opposing states and unifying China in 221 BC establishing the Qin Dynasty. He too constructed new wall to connect the remaining fortifications along the empire's new northern frontier.
The Great Wall concept was revived again during the Ming Dynasty following the Ming army's defeat by the Mongols in the Battle of Tumu in 1449. The grand wall was to have 3,000 towers and spanned up to 2,000 km. The Ming had failed to gain a clear upper-hand over the Mongols after successive battles, and the long-drawn conflict was taking a toll on the empire.
Unlike the earlier Qin fortifications, the Ming construction was stronger and more elaborate due to the use of bricks and stone instead of rammed earth. Transporting the large quantity of materials required for construction was difficult, so builders always tried to use local resources. Stones from the mountains were used over mountain ranges, while rammed earth was used for construction in the plains.
As Mongol raids continued periodically over the years, the Ming devoted considerable resources to repair and reinforce the walls. Sections near the Ming capital of Beijing were especially strengthened.
Towards the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Great Wall helped defend the empire against the Manchu invasions that began around 1600. The Manchus were finally able to cross the Great Wall in 1644 due to a corrupt Ming border general, Wu Sangui. The Manchus quickly seized Beijing, and defeated the newly founded Shun Dynasty and remaining Ming resistance, to establish the Qing Dynasty.
Under Qing rule, China's borders extended beyond the walls and Mongolia was annexed into the empire, so construction and repairs on the Great Wall were discontinued.
So, there some history lesson for you guys. A bit long I know but it's part of our Chinese history. My wish now is to go to Beijing for the Olympics. I can't wait for it. I'm sure they will put a grand show for the world.
Well, I made a post about it in my Top 10 Bridges and there was this picture which I really like was taken. You have the biggest plane in the world with the tallest bridge in the world. What a sight.
The marvel of extreme engineering of our times.
Here are some recent pictures taken. The bridge seems to be in the sky. So elegant and beautiful.
Some stats about this bridge:
2,460 m: total length of the roadway
7: number of piers
77 m: height of Pier 7, the shortest
343 m: height of Pier 2, the tallest (245 m at the roadway's level)
89 m: height of a mast
154: number of shrouds
270 m: average height of the roadway
4.20 m: thickness of the roadway
32.05 m: width of the roadway
85,000 m³: total volume of concrete used
290,000 tonnes: total weight of the bridge
10,000–25,000 vehicles: estimated daily traffic
€5.40–7.00: typical automobile toll, as of July 2007
20 km: horizontal radius of curvature of the road deck
I'm not too sure whether you guys heard of these but seriously when I saw this on National Geographic, it's just mind boggling. How can anyone build 300 over islands in the middle of the sea. This is the biggest reclamation project undertaken in the world. Even much more than Singapore since Singapore always LOVE to reclaim their land.
The World
So, what is the The World? The World represents the world of course where people can but plots of island in each continent and build a private residence on it. But, it seems that corporations are buying it and converting the place to resorts. The only way you can go to your island is by boat compared to The Palms.
The Palms
Talking about the The Palms, they were the first project in Dubai to do such a reclamation project. 30 million tonnes of sand and 18 million tonnes of rocks needed to be placed accurately to prevent erosion from the element of the sea.
There are 3 Palms in Dubai now and these can be seen from space. Dubai is currently pushing for this icons and large projects. Although, they have oil but that will be running out shortly in 2016. So, they need another plan to replace that. Tourism. Let's see what they have.
Al-Burj Arab Hotel
The first 7-star hotel in the world. The tallest hotel in the world too. The first hotel to be on a man-made island which apparently, sinking. Hmmmmmm. You can also eat gold here. To enter, you have to pay $25. No kidding man. Oh well, definitely on my list to visit. Oh yea, we are talking about $2000 a night yes. Worth it huh. :D
Ski Dubai Resort
Talking about a ski resort in a desert. Now, can you imagine the amount of water and cooling system needed to make this. Yes, Malaysia has a snow resort but not at this scale.
Wild Wadi Waterpark
Another feat to have so much water in a desert. Dubai seems to be the land of the impossibles these days. This is next to the Al-Burj Arab Hotel.
Burj Dubai
And not to mention home to the tallest building in the world. This is going to be over 800 metres and it is definitely going to be an icon. The building is still being constructed and when it is finished, it would be able to withstand the sandstorms in Arab able to be bend about 3 feet of centre. I will try to find out more about this building.
And for tourism to be successful, you need shopping!!! Well, can't really say much about them because they say it all. But they certainly have tonnes of shopping centres though not as big as ours back home. But I won't be surprised that they would build the biggest in the world soon enough. For your information, the biggest mall in the world is in China, South China Mall in Dongguan.
Freedom Tower will replace the 2 towers of the collapsed World Trade Centre. This building will be the tallest building in America. Unfortunately, I would say that it would be the tallest in the world proposed at the moment but the Burj Dubai(still no details on its height yet. It is top secret!) is supposely to stand at 800 metres. This is a sign of recovery, strength and freedom against all adversities and freedom shall always win and prevail.
Freedom Tower on the far left. With 3 other Trade Centres next to it.
Freedom Tower is to stand at 1776 feet (541m) featuring the year when the United States of America gained independence from the British. I wonder who knows why the Americans are not in the Commonwealth since they were under the British rule. Could it be that the British didn't entirely colonised America. Hmmmmmmmmmmm.
Anyway, I will create another post on the tallest buildings in the world later on. I always have been fascinated with them.
Let's talk about bridges this time. Something I have always been fascinated with. Engineering. So, here's a list of bridge listed. Let's see whether you agree.
Number 10 - London Bridge, Arizona, USA
This is a shocker. Yes, this is the original bridge from London. In 1962, London Bridge was falling down. The bridge couldn't handle the ever-increasing flow of traffic across the Thames River. So, the British government decided to put the bridge up for sale, and this dude, Robert McCulloch, Founder of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, and Chairman of McCulloch Oil Corporation submitted the winning bid of $2.46 million. It was said this is the largest antique to be bought.
Number 9 - Leonard P. Zakim Bridge, Boston, USA
Home to the widest suspension bridge in the world. The bridge was built as part of the Big Dig, the largest overall highway construction project in the United States. The Big Dig is also one of the most challenging engineering project taken in the USA creating highways below the city which lasted for 15 years and costing an initial of $2.8 billion but it ended up to be $14.6 billion. So much for project management.
Number 8 - Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney, AUSTRALIA
This weighs more than 234 Statue of Liberty weighing at 80,000 tonnes and costing about $3.5 million dollars. It takes 72,000 gallon of grey paint to protect from corrosion and it took 6 million rivets to hold this bridge together. This is the highest steel arch bridge with the top of the bridge standing 134 metres above the harbour. This is also the fourth longest spanning-arch bridge in the world.
Number 7 - Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, Maryland, USA
The bridge.
The tunnel. To prevent the passage was to be destroyed by war just in case since war bases are around the corner.
One of the longest bridge in the world. Connecting 3 states, Maryland, Virginia and Delaware, it is also one of the few constructions in the world to be spotted from space. We all know that the Great Wall of China can be since from up there but this can be to. That's a new fact. The bridge was so busy that a second bridge was constructed next to it.
Number 6 - Brooklyn Bridge, New York, USA
This famous landmark of New York took more than 13 years to build starting its construction in 1870. It is named 'The bridge of First'. The bridge cost $15.1 million to build and approximately 27 people died during its construction. There is about 14,000 miles of steel cable enough to go from Los Angeles to Australia and back. Now that's quite a lot of steel.
Number 5 - Firth of Forth Bridge, Scotland, UK
54,000 tonnes of steel needed to make this bridge. Much more than steel than the Empire State. This bridge costed 2.5 million pounds in 1890 but would cost 200 million pounds today, the costliest bridge ever made. This bridge can withstand 130 miles an hour winds which is a category 2 hurricane level.
Number 4 - Tower Bridge, London, UK
What can I say. It has become an iconic symbol of London and is sometimes mistakenly called London Bridge, though the real old London Bridge is in fact the next bridge upstream and sent to Arizona, USA. This bridge cost 1 million pounds and weighs 14,000 tonnes with stones and bricks. It took 31 million bricks, enough to build 600 homes for this good old bridge. The bascule bridge could be lifted using hydraulics(the first of its kind at that time) lifting about 1,000 tonnes each. Extreme engineering from the British!
Number 3 - Sunshine Skyway Bridge, Florida, USA
The Sunshine Skyway Bridge spanning in Florida's Tampa Bay is the world's longest bridge with a cable-stayed main span, with a lenth of 29,040 feet about 8.85 km. The old one kaput due to a storm. So, they made a new improved one and magic. This yellow bridge stands tall and the towers of the bridge is hollow.
Number 2 - Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, Kobe, JAPAN
The $3.6 billion bridge is 2.5 miles long having 2 towers standing 192 feet. 4 Brooklyn bridge can be fitted in this bridge. To put it in perspective you can put 9 Sears Towers in one line. Steel cables are enough to go 7.5 times around the world. Indestructible as they said and able to flex 18 feet of centre. Now, for a bridge to do that, that's some extreme engineering.
Number 1 - Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, USA
The most famous bridge in the world is in San Francisco. You can lay 40 jumbo jets from end to end and there is still space. This is the 7th largest suspension bridge in the world costing $26 million but it was underbudget by $1 million. An engineering marvel. Soaring 220 feet above the harbour and weighing in at 1.75 billion pounds equivalent to 65 million gold bars. It's about 2 1/2 taller than Capitol Hill building and there is enough orange paint to colour the White House 117 times.
To be honest, I thought this would be the ultimate bridge among them all.
My Top Bridge currently is the:-
Millau Bridge, Millau, FRANCE
Viva la Francais. The Millau Bridge official name Le Viaduc de Millau, over the River Tarn in the Massif Central mountains is more than 300m high - taller than the Eiffel Tower. The view is stunning and Top Gear(a BBC T.V series about motor vehicles) made a good short documentry on it. But the best part, this design was done by an English engineer. Hehehe. Here's a clip of it commented by Jeremy Clarkson.
But one thing about bridges is that they connects us one step, one cable at a time.
As mentioned here are some of the specs for the A380. This is going to be very technical so please bare with me. :)
The wing is made of a new material(composite) called GLARE. Let me see if I remember this from my materials' lectures. It is 30% lighter than Aluminium and is fatigue resistant. Not bad. At least I did learn something in Imperial. :P Anyway, the downside to this is that it cost more and it doesn't seem to perform well in hot temperatures especially in deserts.
The flushing system. They used F1 technology. Ah ha. Cool eh. It only takes 8 seconds for the sewage to travel from the front toilet to the tail where the refuse storage is. Sounds long but traveling nearly 80m down with immense pressure losses and all it is definitely something to shout about.
The engine. Made by Roll-Royce. The Trent 900. It provides less noise and less pollution but with more power. This also in general makes the flight more quiet. So yay! I can sleep more peacefully now.
The vertical tail plane is as tall as a 7-storey building. And the horizontal tail is as long as a small plane. So, you can imagine the size of the plane. It's just big!
Control system. Everything went digital. Looks cool and it seems very easy to fly. Well, most of the time it will be on auto-pilot. But now, the screens are all digital. So okay la. We need some EE engineers out there. :) Don't worry, they have a lot of satefy measurely if these were to fail.
Landing gear. It is one of the most important part. It requires to withstand tonnes of load and especially absorbing the impact during landing. So, they have to be really really strong.
Cabin bins where you put your overweight hand carry bags. I know you all definitely hit the 5kg limit. Heh. So, it seems that they have motor to open up the bins and can withstand about 70kgs. So, no worries.
Seating configuration could go up to 800 seats. Now, that's carrying about 8 full double-decker buses.
All the main parts of the plane; wing, fuselage(body), tail, engine and all are built in different European countries. And all are brought to Toulouse, France for assembly. Airbus said that it would produce that plane every week.
Wires. About 500km in length and about 300,000 joints. The is also one of the major setback to the first delivery of the plane. Hmmmmmmm. Now, talking about that much cable. :)
The seats are also designed to be more comfortable. I know the present seatings on-board are hard and stiff but it is because they are made of fireproof materials. Hehehe. More materials come to play here.
Due to its size, most airports in the world have to resize their gates and runways. By an extra 30-40%. KLIA can fit 3 planes at the same time for now. The furtherest gates at the satellite building has been resized and the runways are bigger now. An additional 3 more gates will be added when the second satellite building is completed.
And here is a picture of the plane flying into KLIA. I'm sure you know what those 2 buildings are framing the plane. :P I can't wait to ride in it.
Talking about super planes. Now, this IS the real deal. The A380 is the biggest commercial plane to ever fly. Singapore Airlines is supposed to be the first to fly but sadly, it has been delayed for nearly 1 1/2 years. Hmmmm. However, a part of me says 'Ah ha serves you right Airbus. That's for rejecting me within 24 hours of my application.' Hehe. Okay I'm not being a sour grape here but they mostly accept EU citizens and it is very rare for a non-Eu citizen to get a place in the European sector. Aihhhhhhhh. On the other hand, the aero side of me wants this bird to fly asap.
Anyhow, here is a glimpse of the plane. Actually, the interior was a reason for this bird to be delayed for so long. Airbus promised that each airliner could have any configuration/style. However, that seemed to prove difficult as customising over 60 requests with different specs is a nightmare. Definitely in my opinion, a recipe for disaster.
Ahem ahem First Class la. Can always dream. :)
Even a shopping boutique. Cool.
A bar too.
I could go on with some of the specs of the plane but that's going to be long. Hehehe. I will save that for the next post. :)
p/s: Kai, does this post make my blog a boy's blog now? You ah. :D
Since I'm going to be busy with work soon, I decided to chill a bit by watching some Discovery Channels programmes. What caught my eyes was this 1 hour show on the Top 10 Greatest Discovery. And since I'm in the science field why not take a look? So geeky I know but something intellectual for the first time. :D
So here is countdown! Number 10 - Newton's Laws of Motion
Don't we all know it. First thing we learned in Form 4 Physics.
First Law An object at rest will remain at rest unless acted upon by an external and unbalanced force. An object in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by an external and unbalanced force.
Second Law The rate of change of momentum of a body is proportional to the resultant force acting on the body and is in the same direction.
Third Law All forces occur in pairs, and these two forces are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. Number 9 - Microorganism
The microscope used by Anton van Leeuwenhoek.
Anton van Leeuwenhoek discovered microorganisms in 1676. His famous discovery was the protozoa, bacteria and sperms. Using his first simple microscope, a magnifying glass mounted on a small stand used by textile merchants capable of magnifying to a power of 3, he was able to see all these that our eyes can't see. Number 8 -Penicillin
The discovery of penicillin is usually attributed to British scientist Sir Alexander Fleming in 1928. He grew a pure culture of the mold and discovered that it was a Penicillium mold, now known to be Penicillium Chrysogenum. Without it, many would have died. Guys and girls, do you still remember your biology? ;)
Number 7 - Germ Theory
I had no idea this theory existed.
The germ theory of disease, also called the pathogenic theory of medicine, is a theory that proposes that microorganisms are the cause of many diseases. Although highly controversial when first proposed, it is now a cornerstone of modern medicine and clinical microbiology, leading to such important innovations as antibiotics and hygienic practices. Number 6 - Law of Inheritance
The laws of inheritance were derived by Gregor Mendel, a 19th century Moravian monk conducting plant hybridity experiments. He cultivated and tested some 28,000 pea plants. His experiments brought forth two generalizations. Mendel's findings allowed other scientists to simplify the emergence of traits to mathematical probability. So, don't worry Mathematicians.
Number 5 - Earth Moves
Ah yes. Very simple. But it changed everything. I still can't believe I did this for A Levels.
The Copernicus Universe.
Copernicus was a mathematician, jurist, physician, classical scholar, Catholic cleric, governor, administrator, diplomat, economist and military leader(Gssssssssh! How many things can one person be!). He was an avid astronomer. So, he gave the idea that the Earth revolves around the Sun not the other way. The Church weren't happy about that since they believed that Earth was the centre of the universe. Oh well, they were proven wrong.
Number 4 -Periodic Table of Elements
Ah ha. Feast yourself on this Chemist.
Do you carry this table with you all the time?
The periodic table of the chemical elements is a tabular method of displaying the chemical elements, devised by the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev in 1869. Mendeleev intended the table to illustrate recurring ("periodic") trends in the properties of the elements. He arranged them like solitaire cards and found that there were trends, 7 to be precised(at that time). He predicted other elements too like boron and aluminium. There is an element named after him. Which one? Number 3 - E = mc²
Aiya. This equation. Who doesn't know it. In physics, mass-energy equivalence is the concept that all mass has an energy equivalence and all energy has a mass equivalence. Who else thought of it other than the genius Albert Einstein. Number 2 - General Relativity
Another one by Einstein. Till today, I still don't know what it is about so I will quote it from Wiki. I know I cheated.
General relativity is the geometrical theory of gravitation. It unifies special relativity and Sir Isaac Newton's law of universal gravitation with the insight that gravitation is not due to a force but rather is a manifestation of curved space and time, with this curvature being produced by the mass-energy and momentum content of the space-time. General relativity is distinguished from other metric theories of gravitation by its use of the Einstein field equations to relate space-time content and space-time curvature.
And finally, Number 1 - Natural Selection
Quite bizarre. Biology stuff at number 1. I thought it would be the Big Bang, DNA or something. :)
An observation Darwin did during his trip to the Galapogos.
Natural selection is one of the cornerstones of modern biology. The term was introduced by Charles Darwin in his groundbreaking 1859 book The Origin of Species in which natural selection was described by analogy to artificial selection, a process by which individuals with traits considered desirable by human breeders are systematically favored for reproduction. Natural selection is the evolutionary process by which favorable traits that are heritable become more common in successive generations of a population of reproducing organisms, and unfavorable traits that are heritable become less common.
Well, I hope this wasn't boring. Well, hope there is more out there to be discovered.
I'm an Aeronautical graduate from Imperial College and in London. I just finished a 4 month project and solved an experiment which was impossible to do! I AM A GENIUS! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
