RSS Feeds
Design
China Television HQ Done, Looks as Crazy as the Renderings
Posted by Jesus Diaz at 11:15 PM on August 7, 2008
The facade of China Central Television Headquarters is now complete, just in time to look pretty tomorrow, when the world turns its eyes on Beijing's Olympic Games. The 6.45 million-square-feet complex looks as amazing as the original renderings, defying gravity with its two leaning towers connected by two massive sections floating in midair. Still, the process of how they got connected is even more impressive:
Intended as an artistic statement by William Lamson from his collection Intervention, we can't help but to take note of the helium balloon as a clever, non-destructive way to defeat security cameras. Tethered at the right height and loaded with static electricity, a less honest man might use the technology to sneak into Nordstrom late at night to try on all the high heels. Wait, I meant, err, the gun store. To try out the guns. [
Here's some of the sweetest CCTV footage we've seen in a while: this guy was just sitting at a table by the window of a diner in North Carolina, minding his own business, when a car smashed through the wall, ramming him into the counter. His reaction? First things first, he put his hat back on. Damn. He escaped with only some minor cuts and bruises but didn't get to finish his lunch.
A mugger who stole jewelry from a teenager on a tram has dropped himself right in it, after he clocked himself in the on-board security cameras. The victim, a 16-year-old boy, was travelling with two friends on a tram in Bromley, a South London suburb, when he was approached by another kid who, after admiring the necklace and bracelet, snatched them. Rather than fleeing immediately, the dumbass tea-leaf sauntered up to the CCTV camera on board the tram, and struck a pose with the stolen items. The mugger, who claimed he was carrying a knife when the victim asked for his gear back, was described by a British Transport policeman, as "not the brightest spark. He was there for a long time and either didn't care or wasn't aware he was being filmed." [
If you wanted a sure sign that the Orwell-isation of Great Britain is underway, then look no further than this. Lollipop ladies, those kindly old women who man the main roads next to school, similar to the US crossing guard, have been issued with video cameras to record lollipop rage—as school-side road rage is known.
Over 100,000 construction workers on the 2012 Olympics venue in London will be subjected to biometric tests while they build the site. The two-tier system will scan hands and faces, and should be up and running by June this year, when work starts on the 50-acre site. And these measures, part of the $700 million security budget, will not just be for the building contractors, either.
Those nutty Brits, obsessed with their CCTV cameras, dirty hot water and blood pudding, have decided to mix it all into a single gadget: road cameras which can detect blood and water in the bodies inside the car using an infrared beam. The system will be able to spot who's abusing the carpool lanes, fining you in case you were trying to fool the police using Marge, your special "inflatable friend." Definitely, 
