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Las Vegas Hotel Vdara an Accidental Death Ray

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the staying-there-next dept.

evanism writes "A hotel in Las Vegas is accidentally designed to be a massive parabolic dish that focuses the suns rays into a death ray! Burns hair, plastic and causes pain." It apparently lasts for several minutes during afternoons of bright sunlight, but if you need to perform science on it, you better hurry since they plan to ruin/fix it.

5 of 218 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Post a warning? by red_dragon · · Score: 5, Funny

    They could set up an infrared camera...

    Damn engineers and their overcomplicated solutions. Why can't people just look for where the smoke and smell of charred human flesh is coming from?

    --
    In Soviet Russia, Jesus asks: "What Would You Do?"
  2. Re:Post a warning? by krnpimpsta · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wouldn't the simplest solution be to post a warning?

    "Do not look into hotel with remaining eye."

    --

    New webcomic updated on Sundays: HERE

  3. I've heard of this before. by zero_out · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There was a news story several years ago about a fire that destroyed a family's patio, and damaged their house. The fire department couldn't figure out how it started, but then they discovered the dog's glass water bowl about ten feet from where the fire started. They tested their theory, and sure enough, the owners were filling the glass bowl with water at just the right time, and putting it in just the right place, that it magnified the afternoon sunlight into a spot that set fire to weather-treated wood boards.

  4. Re:Too much money to fix, thing outside the box by jedidiah · · Score: 5, Interesting

    They should call out the Mythbusters. It looks like Archimede's death ray may have been vindicated.

    --
    A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
  5. Re:Images by RDW · · Score: 5, Informative

    The article they probably got this story from is a bit more informative - complete with diagram!:

    http://www.lvrj.com/news/vdara-visitor---death-ray--scorched-hair-103777559.html