AN ENGINEERING MASTER PIECE - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Brewmaniac · 02-22-2006, 01:59 PM

During the construction phase...

Dubai , United Arab Emirates

All finished. Notice the palm trees outside..........

Remember, this is in the middle of the desert.... The very HOT desert where temperatures get up to 120 degrees.....

Unbelievable!

But true.....

The INSIDE view:

Quite amazing don't you think! With lots of money, almost anything can be achieved!

Glory's Sun · 02-22-2006, 02:08 PM

that's pretty fricken sweet! Dubai has everything.. great golf courses.. a ski resort and ..
...

well they have some awesome things!

MageB420666 · 02-22-2006, 02:08 PM

Its an amazing accomplishment.... but don't you think it would get boring go down the same slope over and over again?

Carno · 02-22-2006, 02:08 PM

Damn, that is awesome!

It's even got short lines

rainheart · 02-22-2006, 02:18 PM

Very neat, looks like a stepping stone to creating even more complicated artificial environments. In that sense, a very positive project, no?

Sweetpea · 02-22-2006, 02:20 PM

Dubai is a facinating place and one of the fastest rising tourist destinations in the world. All thanks to the vision of the crowned prince! It's amazing how the vision of one person can bring forth such success and turn a country that was known for oil into one that is synonymous with service/luxury. And it is pushing the evelope with things like the above attraction that make it so popular.

Quote:

" Ruler who has clear vision for Dubai
By Manal Alafrangi, Staff Reporter
Dubai: Many people say His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai, inherited his father Shaikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum's vision of dreaming large and achieving big.
Shaikh Mohammad was born in 1949. He is one amongst Shaikh Rashid's four sons. Early on, Shaikh Rashid began serious preparations for his sons' future in government. From 1958 onwards, Shaikh Rashid exposed his sons to the most talented individuals in the community. This included bankers, builders, merchants and intellectuals.
In 1988, Shaikh Mohammad took over the administration of Dubai International Airport (DIA), heading a committee to attract passenger and cargo transport to the emirate, similar to the approach that was adopted for the seaports. Dubai under the leadership of Shaikh Mohammad adopted an open-skies policy as a means to fast track development, aiming to make the emirate the region's aviation and tourism hub.
Tourism plans
In the 1990s Shaikh Mohammad was given responsibility for Dubai's oil sector. Realising the risks of relying too heavily on a single source of income, Dubai Rulers encouraged the diversification of their economy by investing in infrastructure and providing options for outside investors.
In January 1995, Shaikh Mohammad was appointed Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Minister of Defence, while his elder brother, Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, became the Deputy Ruler of Dubai and the UAE Minister of Finance and Industry..
Later that year, Shaikh Mohammad announced the creation of the Dubai Shopping Festival under the tourism banner 'Destination Dubai'.
This annual event is intended to bring together all aspects of the emirate's economy and make it a part of a promotion that would reach all corners of the world. This was one of Shaikh Mohammad's first initiatives after becoming Crown Prince and has grown to be one of the biggest tourism events in Dubai's annual calendar. The festival incorporates a variety of tourism activities with entertainment events and funfairs, as well as sales at various shopping venues.
"Vision
In March 2000, Shaikh Mohammad told London's Sunday Telegraph newspaper: "I have a vision. I look to the future, 20, 30 years. I learnt that from my father, Shaikh Rashid. He is the true father of modern Dubai. I follow his example. He would rise early and go alone to watch what was happening on each of his projects. I do the same. I watch. I read faces. I take decisions and I move fast. Full throttle."
Within the same month, Shaikh Mohammad launched the Information Technology Education Project for secondary schools, emphasising the importance of education as well as IT skills in this day and age. "
Shaikh Maktoum
Nation|Government
Published: 01/05/2006 12:00 AM (UAE)

http://www.gulfnews.com/profile/shai.../10009479.html

sweetpea

maleficent · 02-22-2006, 02:21 PM

It'd be way cooler if that pipe where the ski slope is could be raised and lowered based on time of day or something- like morning for the ski bunnies and kids it'd be low - then as the day progresses the slope gets steeper and steeper...

*Nikki* · 02-22-2006, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MageB420666

Its an amazing accomplishment.... but don't you think it would get boring go down the same slope over and over again?

I dont think it would be because before they had no slopes to go down at all!

spectre · 02-22-2006, 02:39 PM

That is so cool. I'm just in awe of this project.

Brewmaniac · 02-22-2006, 02:58 PM

sweetpea, thanks for the the insight on the royal family!

hunnychile · 02-22-2006, 05:42 PM

...so that's the new loading dock design for the Port of New York, eh?

Gabbyness · 02-22-2006, 06:12 PM

This is totally kick-ass.

Zeraph · 02-22-2006, 06:17 PM

It's a penis.

And an insane waste of resources.

cyrnel · 02-22-2006, 06:20 PM

Very cool.

Does anyone else think they should have installed big skyscreens, like in Vegas? Even if it only worked at night it could really expand the experience.

Carno · 02-22-2006, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zeraph

It's a penis.

And an insane waste of resources.

How is it a waste of resources?

billege · 02-22-2006, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carn

How is it a waste of resources?

FWIF: I'm not taking a side on if it is, or is not, a waste of resources.

I think it's fairly obvious that creating a snow filled environment in the middle of a desert region is going to use a lot of water and energy. Surely, I don't want to pay thier electricity bill.

As a note on if it's to be considered extraordinarily wasteful:
We (TFP members) could go back and forth on that for a whole thread, and not decide for sure.

The numerous theme parks in the US (Disney, Six Flags) are also large (very large) amusements that consume resources. No one needs them to survive, and it could be argued they're a huge waste of resources.

It wouldn't be hard to name off a hundred large scale projects that would fit into someone's idea of "a waste of resources" for the same reasons this one snow hill could. If I remember correctly, there's at least one structure of this artificial snow hill-nature in Great Britain also. I think they spray down some sort of artifical turf with frozen water to maintain a "snow" covered hill effect.

The only person that could be considered logical, while condemming this snow filled building in the desert, would be the person who condemns all large scale amusement structures.

Sage · 02-22-2006, 11:58 PM

Man... I love Dubai... I *so* wanna go sometime.

I mean, to me, Dubai represents where the US could go (or any country for that matter) if we had a leader with a vision driving his decisions instead of money.

I can hope....

stevie667 · 02-23-2006, 07:53 AM

I saw the documentary on the building of that, interesting stuff.

The_Jazz · 02-23-2006, 08:43 AM

If you're rich enough to go to Dubai to ski, why aren't you rich enough to go to Iran, which has actual mountains and ski hills. That's assuming that you're local to the Middle East. The Iranians also have different rules for men and women mingling on the ski slopes than they do in the rest of society, so the fact that the UAE is pretty liberal by local standards shouldn't cause a big rush of tourists.

Having been to Pigeon Forge, TN more times than I can possibly count, I just see this as another elaborate tourist trap albeit a very neat one. It's sort of like the World's Largest Maze or Dollywood or Archie Campbell Land - just another way to separate you from your money.

Bagezio2 · 02-24-2006, 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carn

How is it a waste of resources?

all that wasted snow....

highthief · 02-25-2006, 03:33 AM

I think I'll stick with Whistler, Aspen and Stowe, thanks.

Magpie0001 · 02-25-2006, 04:49 AM

Ive been to one of these here in Madrid. Great fun.

Blackthorn · 02-26-2006, 05:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zeraph

...

And an insane waste of resources.

That's the point. They have the resources to do it.

This is pretty amazing!

djtestudo · 02-26-2006, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sage

Man... I love Dubai... I *so* wanna go sometime.

I mean, to me, Dubai represents where the US could go (or any country for that matter) if we had a leader with a vision driving his decisions instead of money.

I can hope....

I would argue that money IS driving many of these decisions, as much as their desire to not go broke whenever they run out of oil. They are diversifying as much as they can.

The fact that they are managing to build some cool stuff is a bonus.

saut · 02-26-2006, 10:28 PM

That's the coolest thing I've seen all day, holy shit.

Rodney · 02-26-2006, 10:38 PM

Well, Dubai may be a wonder and the sheik may have vision, but according to this article he is building his masterpiece with the equivalent of indentured servants.

http://motherjones.org/commentary/co..._paradise.html

Quote:

On the other hand, Dubai, together with its emirate neighbors, has achieved the state of the art in the disenfranchisement of labor. Trade unions, strikes, and agitators are illegal, and 99% of the private-sector workforce are easily deportable non-citizens.....

...At the top of the social pyramid, of course, are the al-Maktoums and their cousins who own every lucrative grain of sand in the sheikhdom. Next, the native 15% percent of the population -- whose uniform of privilege is the traditional white dishdash -- constitutes a leisure class whose obedience to the dynasty is subsidized by income transfers, free education, and government jobs. A step below, are the pampered mercenaries: 150,000-or-so British ex-pats, along with other European, Lebanese, and Indian managers and professionals, who take full advantage of their air-conditioned affluence and two-months of overseas leave every summer.

However, South Asian contract laborers, legally bound to a single employer and subject to totalitarian social controls, make up the great mass of the population. Dubai lifestyles are attended by vast numbers of Filipina, Sri Lankan, and Indian maids, while the building boom is carried on the shoulders of an army of poorly paid Pakistanis and Indians working twelve-hour shifts, six and half days a week, in the blast-furnace desert heat.

Dubai, like its neighbors, flouts ILO labor regulations and refuses to adopt the international Migrant Workers Convention. Human Rights Watch in 2003 accused the Emirates of building prosperity on "forced labor." Indeed, as the British Independent recently emphasized in an exposé on Dubai, "The labour market closely resembles the old indentured labour system brought to Dubai by its former colonial master, the British."

"Like their impoverished forefathers," the paper continued, "today's Asian workers are forced to sign themselves into virtual slavery for years when they arrive in the United Arab Emirates. Their rights disappear at the airport where recruitment agents confiscate their passports and visas to control them"

In addition to being super-exploited, Dubai's helots are also expected to be generally invisible. The bleak work camps on the city's outskirts, where laborers are crowded six, eight, even twelve to a room, are not part of the official tourist image of a city of luxury without slums or poverty. In a recent visit, even the United Arab Emirate's Minister of Labor was reported to be profoundly shocked by the squalid, almost unbearable conditions in a remote work camp maintained by a large construction contractor. Yet when the laborers attempted to form a union to win back pay and improve living conditions, they were promptly arrested.

Paradise, however, has even darker corners than the indentured-labor camps. The Russian girls at the elegant hotel bar are but the glamorous facade of a sinister sex trade built on kidnapping, slavery, and sadistic violence. Dubai -- any of the hipper guidebooks will advise -- is the "Bangkok of the Middle East," populated with thousands of Russian, Armenian, Indian, and Iranian prostitutes controlled by various transnational gangs and mafias. (The city, conveniently, is also a world center for money laundering, with an estimated 10% of real estate changing hands in cash-only transactions.)

Sheikh Mo and his thoroughly modern regime, of course, disavow any connection to this burgeoning red-light industry, although insiders know that the whores are essential to keeping all those five-star hotels full of European and Arab businessmen.

biznatch · 02-28-2006, 08:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maleficent

It'd be way cooler if that pipe where the ski slope is could be raised and lowered based on time of day or something- like morning for the ski bunnies and kids it'd be low - then as the day progresses the slope gets steeper and steeper...

I think that they do that by using that red pole, to prop it up and down.

..yes, i know, stupid joke

noodle · 03-01-2006, 03:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zeraph

It's a penis...

I thought I was the only one that instantly had that thought!!

shalafi · 03-01-2006, 03:38 PM

no I think that makes three of us

02-22-2006, 01:59 PM	#1 (permalink)
Brewmaniac Searching for the perfect brew!	AN ENGINEERING MASTER PIECE During the construction phase... Dubai , United Arab Emirates All finished. Notice the palm trees outside.......... Remember, this is in the middle of the desert.... The very HOT desert where temperatures get up to 120 degrees..... Unbelievable! But true..... The INSIDE view: Quite amazing don't you think! With lots of money, almost anything can be achieved! __________________ "That's a joke... I say, that's a joke, son"

02-22-2006, 02:08 PM	#3 (permalink)
MageB420666 <Insert wise statement here> Location: Hell if I know	Its an amazing accomplishment.... but don't you think it would get boring go down the same slope over and over again? __________________ Apathy: The best outlook this side of I don't give a damn.

02-22-2006, 02:08 PM	#4 (permalink)
Carno Junkie	Damn, that is awesome! It's even got short lines __________________ http://how-to-spell-ridiculous.com/

02-22-2006, 02:21 PM	#7 (permalink)
maleficent Junkie Moderator Emeritus Location: Chicago	It'd be way cooler if that pipe where the ski slope is could be raised and lowered based on time of day or something- like morning for the ski bunnies and kids it'd be low - then as the day progresses the slope gets steeper and steeper... __________________ Free your heart from hatred. Free your mind from worries. Live simply. Give more. Expect less.

02-22-2006, 02:39 PM	#9 (permalink)
spectre Junkie	That is so cool. I'm just in awe of this project. __________________ "Fuck these chains No goddamn slave I will be different" ~ Machine Head

02-22-2006, 02:08 PM	#2 (permalink)
Glory's Sun Registered User	that's pretty fricken sweet! Dubai has everything.. great golf courses.. a ski resort and .. ... well they have some awesome things!

02-22-2006, 02:18 PM	#5 (permalink)
rainheart Psycho	Very neat, looks like a stepping stone to creating even more complicated artificial environments. In that sense, a very positive project, no?

02-22-2006, 02:58 PM	#10 (permalink)
Brewmaniac Searching for the perfect brew!	sweetpea, thanks for the the insight on the royal family! __________________ "That's a joke... I say, that's a joke, son"

02-22-2006, 05:42 PM	#11 (permalink)
hunnychile Alien Anthropologist Location: Between Boredom and Nirvana	...so that's the new loading dock design for the Port of New York, eh? __________________ "I need compassion, understanding and chocolate." - NJB

02-22-2006, 06:12 PM	#12 (permalink)
Gabbyness Chicken scratch. Location: Japan!!!	This is totally kick-ass. __________________ One, two, three, four, fiiiiiiiifth.

02-22-2006, 06:17 PM	#13 (permalink)
Zeraph Banned Location: The Cosmos	It's a penis. And an insane waste of resources.

02-22-2006, 06:20 PM	#14 (permalink)
cyrnel Adequate Location: In my angry-dome.	Very cool. Does anyone else think they should have installed big skyscreens, like in Vegas? Even if it only worked at night it could really expand the experience. __________________ There are a vast number of people who are uninformed and heavily propagandized, but fundamentally decent. The propaganda that inundates them is effective when unchallenged, but much of it goes only skin deep. If they can be brought to raise questions and apply their decent instincts and basic intelligence, many people quickly escape the confines of the doctrinal system and are willing to do something to help others who are really suffering and oppressed." -Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, p. 195

02-22-2006, 11:58 PM	#17 (permalink)
Sage hoarding all the big girl panties since 2005 Location: North side	Man... I love Dubai... I so wanna go sometime. I mean, to me, Dubai represents where the US could go (or any country for that matter) if we had a leader with a vision driving his decisions instead of money. I can hope.... __________________ Sage knows our mythic history, King Arthur's and Sir Caradoc's She answers hard acrostics, has a pretty taste for paradox She quotes in elegiacs all the crimes of Heliogabalus In conics she can floor peculiarities parabolous -C'hi

02-23-2006, 07:53 AM	#18 (permalink)
stevie667 Too Awesome for Aardvarks Location: Angloland	I saw the documentary on the building of that, interesting stuff. __________________ Office hours have changed. Please call during office hours for more information.

02-23-2006, 08:43 AM	#19 (permalink)
The_Jazz Asshole Administrator Location: Chicago	If you're rich enough to go to Dubai to ski, why aren't you rich enough to go to Iran, which has actual mountains and ski hills. That's assuming that you're local to the Middle East. The Iranians also have different rules for men and women mingling on the ski slopes than they do in the rest of society, so the fact that the UAE is pretty liberal by local standards shouldn't cause a big rush of tourists. Having been to Pigeon Forge, TN more times than I can possibly count, I just see this as another elaborate tourist trap albeit a very neat one. It's sort of like the World's Largest Maze or Dollywood or Archie Campbell Land - just another way to separate you from your money. __________________ "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - B. Franklin "There ought to be limits to freedom." - George W. Bush "We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo

02-25-2006, 03:33 AM	#21 (permalink)
highthief Junkie Location: Ontario, Canada	I think I'll stick with Whistler, Aspen and Stowe, thanks. __________________ Si vis pacem parabellum.

02-25-2006, 04:49 AM	#22 (permalink)
Magpie0001 Nobody Loves Me Location: Irish In Madrid	Ive been to one of these here in Madrid. Great fun. __________________ Music is my first love & It will be my last.

02-26-2006, 10:28 PM	#25 (permalink)
saut Registered User Location: Pittsburgh	That's the coolest thing I've seen all day, holy shit.

03-01-2006, 03:38 PM	#29 (permalink)
shalafi ARRRRRRRRRR Location: Stuart, Florida	no I think that makes three of us