. . . well, at least if you live in Cicago’s Marina City or the recently completed Aqua (pictured above). According to this report, producers of a radio segment and podcast set for November are interested in hearing stories from the residents. Their purpose? “‘One Nation, Under Construction’ is studying high-rise communities, why they look the way they do, and how their design creates a framework for the lives of residents.” This sounds like an important study for anyone involved in servicing or building residential towers, so don’t miss it!
Sure, we still have problems with hoisting equipment (like in this picture), but we’d probably have a lot more (and more serious ones) if Elisha Graves Otis hadn’t invented the elevator brake in 1851. So today, let’s tip our hats to Otis, who was born on this date in 1811. I wonder if he ever imagined the heights to which his technology would lead!
Google’s “Liquid Galaxy” is engineer Jason Holt’s 20% time project, a wraparound view of 8 LCD screens providing a truly immersive experience of Google Earth and Street View as if you were in an elevator. Read more about it here including a few photos.
So, what is this photo of? Well, it represents just another day in the life of parenting. Check out this link for the Frugal Family Fun Blog to see more photos and a video on how a simple egg carton, masking tape and a little imagination turned this family’s stairway into an elevator.
A colleague was just in my office and asked what I was doing. I replied “I’m about to blog about the trailer for Devil, a new movie produced by M. Night Shyamalan about some people trapped in an elevator and one of them is the devil.” His response? “Is this a joke?” Well folks, Devil is no joke. This weekend I went to the movie theater to watch Inception (which was great by the way) and before the main movie began there was a preview of this new movie. You can watch the trailer below. My guess is Nicholas White, the guy who was trapped in a New York City elevator for 41 hours in 2008, is probably gonna skip this one. So, let us know your thoughts and if you will go and see this movie by posting a comment!
Just a few weeks back I posted this blog about the proper side to stand on an escalator in order to let the public pass safely. This has now been taken to a whole new level. This article explains that, in an effort to curb escalator related accidents and injuries, Japan is considering banning walking on them. This is certainly an interesting concept and one that seems to have varying opinions.
For more information just click here to view a Google search on this subject then take your choice of the many sites who are talking about it.
What are our readers thoughts on this subject? Is this a good idea to promote escalator safety and reduce injuries or will this just cause other problems (how do you stop/enforce 10 million people from walking on escalators?!). We would love to hear from our readers in Japan as well.
This is a very interesting question and one that is posed over at this website. There are just a few responses but maybe you can add to the discussion by giving your thoughts.
One person posts:
Without the gearless elevator (circa 1903), 100 story buildings would not have been possible. Electromagnet technology replaced manual rope-driven switching and braking and safety was improved. Today, there are intricate switching schemes to carefully control cab speeds in any situation. Virtually all commercial elevators operate automatically and the computer age has brought the microchip-based capability to operate vast banks of elevators with precise scheduling, maximized efficiency and extreme safety.
