Building Melts Car

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Posted by Unknown on Monday September 2, 2013 @04:47PM from the when-buildings-attack dept.

eionmac writes "A new London skyscraper dubbed the 'Walkie Talkie' has been blamed for reflecting light which melted parts of a car parked on a nearby street."

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I'm melting! I'm melting! by kervin · 2013-09-02 16:51 · Score: 5, Funny

What a world... what a world...
1. Re:I'm melting! I'm melting! by Cryacin · 2013-09-02 22:29 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Eat that mythbusters! Archimedes was right! (Now all we need is to sail a trireme in to Fenchurch St somehow...)
  
  --
  Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
2. Re:I'm melting! I'm melting! by K.+S.+Kyosuke · 2013-09-03 00:30 · Score: 2
  
  Eat that mythbusters! Archimedes was right! (Now all we need is to sail a trireme in to Fenchurch St somehow...)
  Just don't forget to pick a trireme with wing mirrors.
  
  --
  Ezekiel 23:20
Happened in L.A., too... by sconeu · 2013-09-02 16:54 · Score: 5, Interesting

The Disney Concert Hall actually had to be "brushed". It was originally too shiny, and focused the sunlight in places. They had to give it a brushed finish after the fact to avoid this.
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-02-24-concert-hall_x.htm

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General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
1. Re:Happened in L.A., too... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-02 23:00 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  The Captcha probably referred to your spelling. ;-)
2. Re:Happened in L.A., too... by RabidReindeer · 2013-09-02 23:18 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Locally, I worked in a building that had an IBM mainframe on the 9th floor. A large building erected across the river had an an angled base and reflective sides and about 4 in the afternoon, the focal point was right on us. Had to install solar film to keep from overheating.
Talk about a sensationalist headline by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-02 16:57 · Score: 4, Informative

If you say "Building melts car," I expect to see a photo of an entire car melted. Seriously.
1. Re:Talk about a sensationalist headline by oursland · 2013-09-02 23:36 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Next time someone says they were "burned" by something, I expect to a photo of the entire person converted to ashes. Seriously.
Re:if your car is made of plastic... by BLKMGK · 2013-09-02 16:58 · Score: 3, Interesting

The car isn't made of plastic, it was sail trim and not the entire car. Not the first building to do this and even residential homes have been accused of doing the same to neighbors siding when low E windows are installed...

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Build it, Drive it, Improve it! Hybridz.org
Firies will tell you by mynamestolen · 2013-09-02 16:59 · Score: 3, Informative

that it's not uncommon for plastic bottles of water to cause fires when the sun's rays are focussed through them. Don't leave your bottles in the sun.

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work in progress
1. Re:Firies will tell you by bill_mcgonigle · 2013-09-02 17:12 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  yep - for the same reason, always pick up any glass bottles you find in the woods. It may be wet and rainy today, but they last a *long* time.
  
  --
  My God, it's Full of Source!
  OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
No! by puddingebola · 2013-09-02 17:04 · Score: 4, Funny

Dammit, I told them to angle the mirrored glass like I said! Parliament should be in flames and now the authorities have been alerted. They've failed me for the last time!
1. Re:No! by Tarlus · 2013-09-02 17:38 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Remember, remember
  The Second of September
  The Walkie-Talkie Building Parabolic Reflection
  And plot
  
  --
  /* No Comment */
Re:Don't build big convex glass buildings by Zontar+The+Mindless · 2013-09-02 17:12 · Score: 4, Informative

I'm pretty sure you meant "big concave glass buildings".

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Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
This is what happens by Noah69 · 2013-09-02 17:13 · Score: 2

This is what happens when someone takes the concept of an Ice Cream Truck too literally.
Prior art in Las Vegas by danceswithtrees · 2013-09-02 17:22 · Score: 5, Interesting

Reminded me of this article a couple years back:
http://idle.slashdot.org/story/10/09/29/1622250/las-vegas-hotel-vdara-an-accidental-death-ray
1. Re:Prior art in Las Vegas by ab8ten · 2013-09-02 19:01 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Same architect as the London tower :-D
  
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  I have no .sig
Cringe! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-02 17:39 · Score: 2, Insightful

This building looks exactly like the facetted mirrors for solar power plants. Some idiot probably considered it cute to evoke that image. What's next? Evoking the toppling tower of Pisa in Kyoto?
How can one be an architect and not recognize the cases where optical similarities imply physical ones?
1. Re: Cringe! by mrbester · 2013-09-02 18:09 · Score: 2
  
  Because they are so up their own arse that they think the derisory nicknames given to these monstrosities of glass and steel, such as Gherkin, Shard, Walkie Talkie, etc., are actually affectionate and we want London to look like Dubai, seeing as most of the prime estate is owned by sheiks.
  So far this bullshit hasn't spread across the pond, but they're trying and what is worse, US councilmen are wowed by the opportunity to have a new building designed by dickheads such as Lord Foster (knighted for services to big business alongside desecration of skyline) that it is only a matter of time.
  
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  "Wait. Something's happening. It's opening up! My God, it's full of apricots!"
Must be a hoax by scsirob · 2013-09-02 17:59 · Score: 5, Funny

Can't be. This is supposed to have happened in the UK, where there are only vague rumours that there's such an entity as the sun.
In the UK, the Sun is flat, made of paper and ink, and would definitely melt people's character if it gets a chance.

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To Terminate, or not to Terminate, that's the question - SCSIROB
Re:if your car is made of plastic... by Mashiki · 2013-09-02 18:13 · Score: 3, Interesting

That's pretty funny, hey did you know that there was an entire line of cars and vans made using poly-composite plastic body panels? Funny enough, switching from steel to plastic or even fiberglass can cut the weight of a vehicle by 30% and give you massive savings on fuel. The downside is, 20 years later as long as you take care of the car it still looks new.

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Om, nomnomnom...
Re:The developers are gonna melt, too - or get bli by Muros · 2013-09-02 18:59 · Score: 2

Stop making masturbation jokes, and stay focused.
Re:Don't build big *concave* glass buildings by ab8ten · 2013-09-02 19:00 · Score: 5, Informative

Yep. That hotel in Vegas, The Vdara, was designed by Rafael Vinoly. The London building was designed by..... Yep. Rafael Vinoly. No joke.

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I have no .sig
Re:Don't build big *concave* glass buildings by cc_pirate · 2013-09-02 19:42 · Score: 2

I actually stayed at this place and happened to be sitting in the wrong spot on the pool deck soon after it opened. I quickly found another spot. Hard to believe the same guy would screw up the SAME WAY again.

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"There are laws that enslave men, and laws that set them free. " - Sean Connery as King Arthur
Hyperbole by srussia · 2013-09-02 19:48 · Score: 2

Worst headline ever.
It's OK to use it sometimes. Parabole on the other hand...

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Set your phasers on "funky"!
Hello by CuteSteveJobs · 2013-09-02 20:19 · Score: 2

I am the architect of that building. Sorry, but I really hated that car.
Crikey by gsslay · 2013-09-02 21:07 · Score: 2

You have to admire the owner's restraint on finding his car's been melted.
"'I am the owner. Crikey, that's awful."
1. Re:Crikey by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-02 22:26 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Decades ago, my parents were on a trip with us children in England. It was a seminal drive where my sister terminally established "I get a window seat because I'm getting sick otherwise": we brothers just managed to hand her through to the next window before she exploded barf all over the side of the car and the outside. A few hundred yards onwards my father stopped the car and we started cleaning it up, reverting to sage and other grasses and herbs on the side.
  That's when a pair of British pedestrians strolled past us, greeting us with a friendly smile. Which was kind of really embarrassing since the gentleman had barf all over his side. I don't think that there are many countries where you can get that kind of reaction: you are almost certain to get a lot of rage and yelling. Never mind that there rarely is a lot of deliberation involved when children happen to vomit.
  "Crikey, that's awful" reminded me of that.
Re:Las Vegas too by Goaway · 2013-09-02 21:28 · Score: 2

What kinds of idiots are designing these things?
Rafael Vinoly, apparently.
Re:Walkie Talkie? by xaxa · 2013-09-02 21:29 · Score: 2

Is this some new super villain with heat vision, the ability to morph into giant skyscrapers, and telepathy?
When 30 St Mary Axe (that's the street address) was under construction there were several proposed nicknames. Things like the Dildo. Fortunately "Gherkin" stuck, and since then several of developers / architects have tried to choose their building's nickname, but journalists have been more successful.
See also: the Shard, the Cheesegrater, and the Pinnacle / Helter Skelter.
Re:Walkie Talkie? by oobayly · 2013-09-02 21:50 · Score: 2

It should be an automatic rejection if the nickname is chosen by the developers or architects.
Re:Don't build big *concave* glass buildings by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-02 22:28 · Score: 2, Funny

Seriously? Oh my.
This guy just wants to watch the world burn. Literally.
Re:The developers are gonna melt, too - or get bli by michelcolman · 2013-09-02 23:07 · Score: 2

Don't look at building with remaining eye!
A variant of...... by PaulJames · 2013-09-02 23:30 · Score: 3, Funny

(London) Shards with frickin lazors
Re:The developers are gonna melt, too - or get bli by Joining+Yet+Again · 2013-09-03 00:21 · Score: 2

...on the masturbation?
Re:Don't build big *concave* glass buildings by GameboyRMH · 2013-09-03 00:40 · Score: 2

Maybe he's the world's most sophisticated and patient pyromaniac?

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"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Re:Balance by Dunbal · 2013-09-03 03:17 · Score: 2

Anthropic theory states that of course Earth has to be habitable, otherwise we simply couldn't be here to observe it.

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Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Re:Balance by bensyverson · 2013-09-03 04:16 · Score: 2

No, Dog loves these solar systems—he needs somewhere to store all those half-chewed slippers.
Re:Don't build big *concave* glass buildings by mdielmann · 2013-09-03 09:25 · Score: 2

The first time is NOT understandable. This isn't exactly a new phenomenon. Does the "Archimedes death ray" ring a bell?
No, it was designed to burn ships. Sheesh, rays ringing a bell, how ridiculous.

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Sure I'm paranoid, but am I paranoid enough?