A city within a building: Dubai’s latest “Pearl”

by Abha Malpani on

The latest soon-to-sprout architectural bewilderment in Dubai is the Dubai Pearl.

It’s hard not to be entertained by Dubai’s fetish for constructing (well, wanting to construct) rare-shaped buildings: a cube, a chess piece, a tulip, numbers (1 and 2), a wave, a sail and an iPod, are amongst some of the ‘only-fathomable-in-Dubai’ types. It was therefore a pleasant(?) surprise that this Pearl plan, isn’t in the shape of a pearl. I quite like its design — more of a sci-fi scape and less of a monstrosity, in my opinion.

Anyway, to be constructed at a Dubai-throw-away cost of $3 billion, the Pearl is special because not only will it have the usual luxury mall, hotel, spa, and residences, but it will also have a climate controlled pedestrian city — yes, an interior area built for people to walk!

In Dubai, if you are walking on the street (especially in the heat), don’t be surprised if you are the only soul using his feet to commute, or if someone stops to give you a ride because they see you as mad trying to walk anywhere in the city. But, build a space for people to walk, and people will drive there to go for a walk.
City Center — one of Dubai’s main shopping centers has something like “City Strolling” every Friday morning, where you go there especially for a morning walk. Yes, in a mall. Yes, many people go. So a climate controlled “pedestrian city” with sidewalk cafes will probably be a super hit in the city.

The Pearl will also boast a 21st century Covent garden (not sure if this will be inside or outside) and robot valet service! (*gasp*) I’m not sure what that means exactly, but I doubt people will be comfortable giving their Lamborghinis to some R2D2 to park.

It also says that the building will be the world’s first column-free structure (what does that mean!?), will have the capacity to cater to 20,000 people, and is due to open in 2010.

So this Great Wall thing’s the real deal, right?

by Brett Atkinson on

Forget bootleg iPhones and bogus DVDs. Just when you think China’s finally getting serious on the purveyors of dodgy counterfeits comes news that a Hamburg museum may have been duped with a touring exhibition of the Terracotta Army from Xian.

They thought the assorted statuary was the real deal, but apparently it’s not that simple.

(You would have thought the “Made In China” logos were a giveaway but obviously not).

But does it really matter, when scores of satisfied punters have been to the exhibition before this hub-bub of half-truth?

If the real thing was on display, would anyone have known the difference, and is it any different from the cosmetic surgery applied to historical sites like Angkor Wat or Knossos in Crete?

Your starter for ten: “Exactly what does authentic mean when it comes to travel?”

Thanks to mick y on Flickr for the pic (I’m pretty sure these ones are the real thing).

Eat amongst dead bodies in India, it’s lucky

by Abha Malpani on

“New Lucky Restaurant” may seem like the most inappropriate name for an over 50-year old restaurant in Ahmedabad (Gujarat) that is built in a cemetery. In fact, it’s probably the most appropriate.

Built over a centuries-old Muslim graveyard, the locals who go there consider eating there lucky, and the manager believes that their business rocks thanks to the presence of the dead that has led the once mere tea-stall to expand into a full-fledged restaurant.

Although every religion in India takes care of dead bodies differently (Hindus cremate, Muslims/Christians bury, Zoroastrians leave the body to be eaten by vultures), the whole concept of death is different because of the general belief of being reborn — the ‘your soul never dies’ analogy.

The dead and the their souls that become spirits are given a lot of importance in the subcontinent. They are listened to and respected under the pretext of them being “holy”, so to speak.

Digressing from the restaurant a bit, but here are a few examples of how spirits are interacted with in India: there are groups of people who go to common suicide spots and perform rituals to give the spirits looming around there salvation; they believe that unsatisfied souls are what encourage suicides. Also, my grand-mum used to leave a bowl of milk outside every full-moon night because she believed that my late grand-dad would come for it. It was never there in the morning and you dare not tell her that maybe the neighbor’s cat sapped it all up.

So, with that insight into an Indian belief, you can see how having a romantic candle-lit dinner at New Lucky Restaurant is anything but spooky.

Big in Japan: Spider silk socks warm the toes and sooth the soul

by Matthew Firestone on

In case you thought Japanese technology couldn’t get any cooler, wait until you hear about the latest and greatest invention from the land of the Rising Sun.

This week, the Reuters Life! division reported that Japanese researchers were successful in creating the first ever pair of socks made entirely from spider silk.

Yup. You read that correctly – spider silk socks!

Dr. Masao Nakagaki, a professor at Shinshu University in central Japan who developed the fiber after 10 years of research, gave the following press release:

“By genetically modifying silkworms, I thought it might be possible to create good spider silk. I [also] think it is better for the environment to replace artificial fibers that use up precious oil with natural recyclable fibers.”

Dr. Nakagaki went on to explain how his team succeeded in creating spider silk that was 10 percent spider proteins and 90 percent silk by injecting genes from a golden orb weaving spider into silkworms.

(For the non-scientists out there, I’ll explain what this means a little later on in the post).

Anyway, at this point, you’re probably thinking to yourself, “So why exactly are spider threads so damn strong?”

Good question! Allow me to explain…

Spiders can produce at least seven different types of silk, which are used for a variety of different purposes. For instance, extremely tough threads are used to attach the web to trees, while light and elastic fibers are use to build the web’s matrix.

In fact, some spider silk is molecularly stronger than steel, and lighter than all-known artificial fibers, such as the Kevlar found in bullet-proof vests.

Right now you’re probably thinking to yourself, “So why is that spider silk clothing isn’t available at my local Walmart?”

Another good question! Allow me to explain…

The problem with harvesting spider silk is that it’s difficult to near impossible to mass-produce due to the limited amount that spiders can make.

This of course is why the work of Dr. Nakagaki is so groundbreaking.

By injecting spider genes into a silkworm, you can take advantage of the strength of spider threads while capitalizing on the ability of silkworms to produce mass quantities of fibers.

(At this point, I’ll resist the temptation to throw in a good Spiderman joke here!)

The benefits of spider silk socks don’t just stop there!

In addition to warming your toes, the research team wants their line of spider silk socks to be as therapeutic as possible for the wearer.

Although they’re still keeping hush-hush about the project, their aim is to simultaneously revitalize the wearer’s feet while possibly inducing anti-ageing compounds.

Working alongside the research team is Yoshiyuki Ueda of the Okamoto Corp, who gave the following press release:

“The Japanese sock industry has been overwhelmed by Chinese manufacturers, which is why we want to distinguish ourselves with our unique efforts.”

In case you’re wondering, spider silk socks are expected to hit the consumer market as early as 2010, though you can expect that there will more clothing and accessories to follow in the years to come.

** All photos were sourced from the Wikipedia Commons project **

Big in Japan: Whale bacon and other Japanese delicacies

by Matthew Firestone on

Ever wonder why it is that the Japanese love to kill whales?

Well, you’ve come to the right place as today’s Big in Japan posting is all about the Japanese obsession for culinary oddities like whale bacon and blubber sashimi.

By the way, before I get dozens upon dozens of pointed comments from angry readers, let me be 100% crystal clear about the following point:

I do not condone the commercial killing of whales for either food or so-called scientific research. In fact, I too am horrified by Japan’s relentless campaign to step-up their commercial whaling efforts.

So, can I safely assume that we’re all on the same page now?

Good. Let’s continue.

Although it’s impossible to offer up a single explanation, one of the main reasons why the Japanese are determined to rid the world’s seas of these majestic animals is that whaling has long been an integral part of Japanese culture.

Even in the 8th century, accounts of whaling expeditions were described in the Kojiki or Furukotofumi (古事記), which is known in English as the Records of Ancient Matters, and is the oldest surviving book in Japan.

So you see, to attack whaling is to attack the very foundation of Japanese culture, which is something that conservative politicians over here in the Land of the Rising sun aren’t too happy about.

The story gets even more complex.

In Japan, whales have long been a vital source of food, oil and materials. To understand the importance of whales to traditional Japanese society, one need only hear the following proverb:

“There’s nothing to throw away from a whale except its voice.”

Following the near total devastation of Japan that ensued during World War II, whale meat became an integral part of the Japanese diet since it served as a cheap source of protein.

In fact, had it not been for a steady diet of whale meat, a good number of Japanese would have literally starved to death.

Of course, if we fast forward to today, modern Japanese people are certainly well-fed, and have access to the same abundant protein sources as do Westerners.

However, the memory of eating whale meat is still engrained in the minds of the baby boomer generation, and those in power are not so keen on seeing this memory wiped away by conservationists.

Thus, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that in 2006, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) gave into pressure from the Japanese government. Since then, the country’s fishing fleets have been permitted to kill an annually specified quota of whales from a variety of species including the emblematic humpback.

Although the explicit purpose of these hunts is supposedly for scientific purposes, it’s no secret where the meat is ending up, namely in high-class Tokyo restaurants and (gasp!) in school lunches.

So, how exactly do you serve whale?

I’m told that whale bacon is far superior to the swine equivalent, though true connoisseurs swear by the silken texture of raw slices of whale blubber served sashimi style.

Gross.

On that note, I think I’ll eat some tofu and vegetables for dinner…

** All photos were sourced from the Wikipedia Commons project **