Skyscraper construction booming in Middle East, Asia

CNN ^ | December 22, 2006 | Steve Hargreaves

[rickdylan]

Theres an opening in the world for somebody to become the Andrew Carnegie of carbonfibre. Nobody should be making buildings or bridges out of steel any more.

[MinorityRepublican]

Elaborate more on carbonfibre please?

[peyton randolph]

scanning list of the world's tallest buildings clearly shows the Near and Far East have taken the lead.

---

Hmmm. Maybe they don't have to worry about a bunch of towel heads flying planes into the buildings either.

[Westlander]

Never reside/work in anything taller than 5 stories. The FD ladders won't reach beyond that point.

[FDNYRHEROES]

Never reside/work in anything taller than 5 stories. The FD ladders won't reach beyond that point.

Ironically, even the rubble of the WTC was about 6 stories high...

[FDNYRHEROES]

Nobody should be making buildings or bridges out of steel any more...he said ironically...

[SkyPilot]

Never reside/work in anything taller than 5 stories. The FD ladders won't reach beyond that point.

You know, it is kind of sad. I talked to people after 9-11 who thought the Fire Department should have been able to rescue people from the 80th, 90th, or 100th storie of the WTC with their "thing." What thing, I asked.

"You know, doesn't the Fire Dept have this 'thing' that they can use to get to people? Why didn't they use the 'thing?'"

[operation clinton cleanup]

Why didn't they use the 'thing?'"

I smell a conspiracy. Better put together a commission to uncover why "the thing" was not deployed.

[SkyPilot]

Definitely.

The "thing" was supposed to be delivered by Black Helicopters with no markings.

:^>

[EQAndyBuzz]

If it isn't made from stone, it shouldn't be built that high.

You fly a plane into a stone building and the building laughs and says, "that all you got sucka?"

[rickdylan]

Stronger than steel and vastly lighter, many times. The idea would be to prefab layers of buildings including plumbing and wiring connections, lift them into place with Chinook type helicopters or derigibles or whatever, and snap the layers into place. Youd be able to put huge buildings together in days or weeks that way.

Yeah, carbonfibre is expensive now, but aluminum was more expensive than gold at first, and the basic ingredient is carbon, which is not rare.

[Phsstpok]

Hmmm. Maybe they don't have to worry about a bunch of towel heads flying planes into the buildings either.

Actually, the first thing that came into my mind on reading this piece was the phrase "target rich environment." 

[Phsstpok]

You know, it is kind of sad. I talked to people after 9-11 who thought the Fire Department should have been able to rescue people from the 80th, 90th, or 100th storie of the WTC with their "thing." What thing, I asked.

"You know, doesn't the Fire Dept have this 'thing' that they can use to get to people? Why didn't they use the 'thing?'"

It's not some "thing" the fire department has, but this article discusses a few such "things" that people can get themselves. 

[durasell]

Why not just buy a mask, so you can negotiate a smokey stairway?

[Phsstpok]

Why not just buy a mask, so you can negotiate a smokey stairway?

A mask won't protect you from the poisonous combustion gases in a big fire, particularly if there's insufficient oxygen in the atmosphere to sustain life, which is likely in most high rise fires, particularly in a fire stairwell that has been breached.  Those things become chimneys sucking the smoke into them.  You'd have to have an oxygen supply (which is something you can buy as well).

Of course, that assumes that the stairwells are intact, which wasn't the case in the higher floors of the WTC on 9/11. 

A long time ago I drove ambulances in the area around New York City and we had to go through courses on things like high rise fires.  We weren't expected to be going in and doing rescues, but they figured what could it hurt if we knew what was going on?  We might not make stupid mistakes if they taught us enough.  Of course, that's been 30 years and the thinking (and technology) might have changed, but if there's no oxygen in a smoke filled room or stairwell I don't see how a mask is going to help, no matter how much stuff it filters out. 

Then, of course, there's this guys equipment. 

 

Swiss daredevil cruises the friendly skies with winged jetpack 

Opens up all sorts of (frightening) possibilities.  There's a video at the linked article.

[Liberty1970]

Stronger than steel and vastly lighter, many times.

I imagine that is so for tensile strength, but what about compression and shear strength? A bridge is very different from a skyscraper in these respects.

[rickdylan]

Best read on the thing there is might be to call up High Country on the phone and buy one of their 5.5 gr/inch arrow shafts. Those are light to the point of non-existance and ungodly strong.

[durasell]

The whole parachute thing really bugs me. In the event of an ordinary fire, some moron would panic, jump and kill himself. New York City isn't an open field. There are all kinds of weird currents between the buildings -- see: 23 skidoo, the Hawk, etc.

Building codes in NYC are pretty strict regarding doors, stairwells, etc. If someone is that worried about working or living in a highrise, then they'd just as well avoid tall buildings.

[MinorityRepublican]

Bump!