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The "Walkie Talkie" skyscraper in London - that near the "Gherkin" in the skyline, with characteristic fluid bulging shape -, is an ustorious mirror capable of
by mdp2021 4y ago
The "Walkie Talkie" skyscraper in London - that near the "Gherkin" in the skyline, with characteristic fluid bulging shape -, is an ustorious mirror capable of frying food (if you are lucky) in the exposed steets.
Note this impressive quote from the Architect, Rafael Viñoly:
> "When it was spotted on a second design iteration, we judged the temperature was going to be about 36 degrees," he said. "But it's turned out to be more like 72 degrees. They are calling it the 'death ray', because if you go there you might die. It is phenomenal, this thing."
- lelandfe 4y ago> ustorious This is such an obscure word that your comment is already in the Google results for it. Kudos: https://i.imgur.com/tGgrIaZ.png https://i.imgur.com/tGgrIaZ.png
- mdp2021 4y agoI would have gladly found a precise reference, but time presses: it may be resonant for some classic passage describing the engineering of Archimedes of war machines, especially during the Second Punic War (~212 BC) when Syracuse allied with Chartago against Rome, and had to defend from the siege led by Marcellus. Optical devices to set distant things on fire were part of the defence. So, a nuance intended was: that building would normally had been planned as a war machine...
- gopkarthik 4y agoFound it in page-4 https://imgur.com/a/9MiiZUJ https://imgur.com/a/9MiiZUJ. I'm curious if you saw it in page-1?
- OJFord 4y agoNot GP, but it's the sole entry on page 4 DDG for me; the first (and hence only) result of actual use, not definition or pronunciation guide.
- lelandfe 4y agohttps://books.google.com/books?id=7cIXAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA85&lpg=PA85&dq=%22ustorious%22#v=onepage&q=%22ustorious%22&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=7cIXAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA85&lpg=P... Another use! But yes, if you kill off the many, many dictionary results that HN comment is first page. E.g.: > "ustorious" -definition -dictionary -pronounce -spelling -rhyme
- OJFord 4y agoAnd wonderfully apt, not just any old obscure (Wiktionary says obsolete actually, but surely that only takes this single counter-example...) word thrown in on a whim.
- dkarl 4y agoHe had already made this mistake once before, and yet it had to be "spotted" by somebody on the "second design iteration?" What a clown. Any reasonable person, knowing they were designing a building with the same unusual feature that caused this problem before, would have put it on every list of technical risks from the beginning of the project.
- permo-w 4y agoI get the feeling that it may even have been deliberate. no one died or even got hurt, and none of us would have heard of the guy if it wasn’t for this
- dkarl 4y agoI don't think this kind of publicity is good for that kind of career, but I guess there are people who want fame for its own sake.