MELTING CARS, THE “WALKIE SCORCHIE” SKYSCRAPER 

The 525-foot skyscraper at 20 Fenchurch Street in London, England earned the nickname “Walkie Talkie” thanks to its unique design. Slim at the bottom and wider at the top, locals could not help noticing its similarities to a handheld, two-way radio. However the Walkie Talkie also has another nickname- Walkie Scorchie.

Construction began on the skyscraper in 2011 amidst controversy surrounding its appearance; it was complete enough for its first tenant to take up residence in May of 2014. Construction finished in August of that same year. However, long before completion, in September of 2013, the director of Moderna Contracts, Martin Lindsay, parked his car across the street from the south side of the Walkie Talkie building. His Jaguar XJ was in a parking space there for an hour or two before he returned to find the plastic mirror, Jaguar emblem, and other parts of his car had been melted by sunlight reflected from the Walkie Talkie.

Lindasy told the BBC about his experience returning to his car that day : “I was walking down the road and saw a photographer taking photos and asked, ‘what’s happening?’ The photographer asked me ‘have you seen that car? The owner won’t be happy.’ I said ‘I am the owner. Crikey, that’s awful.’”

Fortunately for Lindsay, the construction company owned up to the damage and left a note on his windshield asking for him to give them a call.  They paid for the repairs, costing £946, or about $1,400. But Lindsay’s luxury Jaguar was not the only casualty of the Walkie Talkie’s so-called ‘death ray.’ A van owned by heating and air conditioning engineer Eddie Cannon received similar treatment. He stated of the inside of his van“… every bit of plastic on the left hand side and everything on the dashboard has melted, including a bottle… that looks like it has been baked.”

Certain businesses on the southern side of the skyscraper also sustained heat damage, including cracked tiles and singed carpets. One business owner even fried an egg and toasted a baguette in the light from the building.

So what’s going on here? The south side of the Walkie Talkie curves into a concave shape, resulting in light reflected from a large area being concentrated into a small one.

Architect Rafael Viñoly designed the building, knowing that the concave on the south side would have this problem. (In fact, another building he designed in Las Vegas has a very similar problem scorching hotel guests, more on this in the Bonus Facts below.) But he and his team did not expect the building to produce nearly as much heat as it does at certain times on sunny days. Viñoly told the Guardian: “When it [the problem] was spotted on a second design iteration, we judged the temperature was going to be about 36 degrees [Celsius]… But it’s turned out to be more like 72 degrees [Celsius].” (That would be about 161 degrees Fahrenheit.)

After paying to fix the damages done by their building, the owners of the Walkie Talkie installed a temporary sunshade in early 2014. This device consisted of a dark screen that prevented the reflected sunlight from causing damage. The permanent fix consisted of installing horizontal aluminum fins throughout the offending south side, which diminished the view a bit from inside the building, but also killed the “death ray”.

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This year, we compiled a rather eclectic collection because that’s the mood we’re in. So here’s what we’re reading, offered to you in the hopes that you might find something in this list that sparks your curiosity.

London, You’re Beautiful: An Artist’s Year by David Gentleman

David Gentleman has been drawing London all his adult life. But can you look afresh at the place where you live? Over the past year he has immersed himself in his home city to try and find out. “London, You’re Beautiful”, the resulting book of sketches, drawings and watercolours, arranged month by month, shows a year in the life of London, and reveals the city that is hidden in plain view. David’s notes on his work offer us a privileged insight into how an artist sees and captures the ever-shifting light and colours, movement and figures of a teeming city as it moves through the seasons. He describes how he chooses techniques and materials to render the spellbound children at his grandchildren’s Camden primary school; the spectacular transformation of Hendon’s streets from brown to pink to green with April’s cherry blossom; the strange world evoked by the city under snow. Through David’s eyes we see London anew as he shows us how the sun turns rubbish-strewn ditches into enchanting waterside glades, or how just twenty-two lines on paper can deliver the dazzling complexity of Canary Wharf’s windows. This book is for everyone who would like to understand how an artist works, for lovers of the Olympic city that will be celebrated in London 2012, and for those who long to see a familiar world, transformed. David Gentleman, born in London in 1930, is a watercolourist and printmaker, working in many media and scales. He has designed British stamps and coins and the platform-length mural at Charing Cross tube station, well-known to Londoners, that is blown up from his wood engravings. His studio is at the top of an early Victorian house in Camden Town between the crowded, rackety Camden Lock and the green spaces of Regent’s Park and Primrose Hill.

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Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, Will Grayson crosses paths with… Will Grayson. Two guys with the same name, running in two very different circles, suddenly find their lives going in new and unexpected directions, and culminating in epic turns-of-heart and the most fabulous musical ever to grace the high-school stage.

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A Long Way Down (film tie-in) by Nick Hornby

New York Times-bestselling author Nick Hornby mines the hearts and psyches of four lost souls who connect just when they’ve reached the end of the line. A Long Way Down is now a major motion picture from Magnolia Pictures starring Pierce Brosnan, Toni Collette, Aaron Paul, and Imogen Poots.

Meet Martin, JJ, Jess, and Maureen. Four people who come together on New Year’s Eve: a former TV talk show host, a musician, a teenage girl, and a mother. Three are British, one is American. They encounter one another on the roof of Topper’s House, a London destination famous as the last stop for those ready to end their lives.

In four distinct and riveting first-person voices, Nick Hornby tells a story of four individuals confronting the limits of choice, circumstance, and their own mortality. This is a tale of connections made and missed, punishing regrets, and the grace of second chances.

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Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter by Adeline Yen Mah

A riveting memoir of a girl’s painful coming-of-age in a wealthy Chinese family during the 1940s.

A Chinese proverb says, “Falling leaves return to their roots.” In Chinese Cinderella, Adeline Yen Mah returns to her roots to tell the story of her painful childhood and her ultimate triumph and courage in the face of despair. Adeline’s affluent, powerful family considers her bad luck after her mother dies giving birth to her. Life does not get any easier when her father remarries. She and her siblings are subjected to the disdain of her stepmother, while her stepbrother and stepsister are spoiled. Although Adeline wins prizes at school, they are not enough to compensate for what she really yearns for — the love and understanding of her family.

Following the success of the critically acclaimed adult bestseller Falling Leaves, this memoir is a moving telling of the classic Cinderella story, with Adeline Yen Mah providing her own courageous voice. Includes 6-page photo insert.

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Remember, remember, the fifth of November

Gunpowder treason and plot

We see no reason

Why Gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot,…..

It is an annual celebration observed on November 5^th for more than 400 years following the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 when 13 conspirators planned to blow up Parliament and kill King James I.

Fawkes was arrested while guarding explosives the plotters had placed beneath the House of Lords.

People in London lit bonfires to celebrate the failure of the plot, and an act of Parliament was passed to appoint the date as a day of thanksgiving for the “joyful deliverance of James I”. This act remained in force for 254 years, until 1859.

To mark the occasion, here are some facts about Guy Fawkes, gunpowder and fireworks:

[box type=”shadow” align=”aligncenter” ]• Political protesters sometimes wear Guy Fawkes masks to protect their identity. You might recognize these masks if you’ve seen the film V for Vendetta, which is very loosely based on the story of Guy Fawkes.

• The only place in the UK that does not celebrate Guy Fawkes Night is St. Peter’s School in York. Guy Fawkes went there as a boy and they refuse to burn his image in respect for their former pupil.

• Guy Fawkes wasn’t the main conspirator in the Gunpowder Plot, but he had one of the most important roles. He guarded the gunpowder underneath the Houses of Parliament, and had he not been caught, he would have been charged with lighting it.

• Physicists from the Institute of Physics have calculated that the 2,500kg of gunpowder Fawkes hid would have wreaked damage almost 500 meters from the centre of the explosion.

• Fireworks were invented when a Chinese cook accidentally discovered how to make explosive black powder – the early origin of gunpowder – during the 10th century. The cook accidentally mixed three common kitchen ingredients – potassium nitrate or saltpeter (a salt substitute used in the curing of meat), sulfur and charcoal and set light to the concoction. The result was colorful flames. The cook also noticed that if the mixture was burned when enclosed in the hollow of a bamboo shoot, there was a tremendous explosion.

• Fireworks arrived in Europe in the 14th century and were first produced by the Italians. The first recorded display was in Florence. The first recorded fireworks in England were at the wedding of King Henry VII in 1486.

• Dummies have been burned on bonfires since as long ago as the 13th century, initially to drive away evil spirits. Following the gunpowder plot of 1605, the focus of the sacrifices switched to Guy Fawkes’ treason.

• It is said that the word ‘guy’ actually comes from the name Guy Fawkes. It originally meant “an ugly, repulsive person” but, throughout the years, simply became a synonym for “man”.

• One suggested origin for the word ‘bonfire’ is that derives from ‘bone-fire’, and comes from a time when the bodies of witches, heretics and other misfits were burned instead of being buried in holy ground.

• The Houses of Parliament are still searched by the Yeomen of the Guard before the state opening which has been held in November since 1928. The idea is to ensure no modern-day Guy Fawkes is concealed in the cellars. [/box]

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