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Monday, 25 January 2010

Buying an apartment in China?

Lesson one in buying an apartment in China : make sure the building has a foundation.

YES, IT IS A 13 STORY BUILDING LYING ON THE GROUND.

(1) An underground garage was being dug on the south side, to a depth of 4.6 meters

(2) The excavated dirt was being piled up on the north side, to a height of 10 meters

(3) The building experienced uneven lateral pressure from south and north

(4) This resulted in a lateral pressure of 3,000 tonnes, which was greater than what the pilings could tolerate.

Thus the building toppled over in the southerly direction.

First, the apartment building was constructed
Then the plan called for an underground garage to be dug out.

The excavated soil was piled up on the other side of the building.
Heavy rains resulted in water seeping into the ground..


The building began to shift and the concrete pilings were snapped
due to the uneven lateral pressures.

The building began to tilt.
And thus came the eighth wonder of the world.

If the buildings were closer together there would also have been a domino effect.











They built 13 stories on grade, with no basement, and tied it all down to hollow pilings with no re-bar.

Brought to you by the same folks that make your kids' toys, who want to build your car and are currently flooding our retail arena with extremely cheap produce...

Saturday, 23 January 2010

Haiti devastated by massive earthquake...


A massive 7.0-magnitude earthquake has struck the Caribbean nation of Haiti.
The extent of the devastation is still unclear but there are fears thousands of people may have died.

Saturday, 9 January 2010

Frozen Britain seen from above


WEATHER AND TRAVEL INFO
  • Get the latest on school closures and travel problems via your BBC Local website
  • Check if snow is forecast in your area at BBC Weather
  • Details of motorway and local road closures and public transport disruption are available at BBC Travel News
  • For advice on handling difficult driving conditions, see the Highways Agency website
  • For information about severe weather warnings, see the Met Office website
  • For information about staying healthy in the current cold snap, see the NHS Winter Health website

Thursday, 24 December 2009

BOB SAYS...

"A very merry Christmas and a happy new year to everybody and may next year bring joy and happiness to you"

Bob de Bilde (aka Bill de Dashe)

Saturday, 14 November 2009

BBC Pebble Mill demolished during 2005 in Birmingham

Above: Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham 1971 to 2005

GOING...

GOING...

GONE!!!

Falling down...

Friday, 2 June 2006

My own car crash...

Well mitigation? It was the day after my father-in-law's funeral and I was driving through Birmingham's Red light area. (I was travelling from DSS office at Camp Hill to home in Kings Heath, and as such was entitled to be there!)
In front of me was a Stoke on Trent private hire minicab, with no POB (passenger on board) and the driver was looking at the females who were selling themselves, he kept slowing down and then speeding up. All of a sudden he braked and I hit him.
I'm told by all concerned that it was my fault for driving too fast in a built up area (25mph in a 30mph zone?)...