World's largest telescope by China and India

China and India have catapulted to the forefront of astronomy research with their decision to join as partners in building a Hawaii telescope, which will be the world's largest. 


China and India will pay a share of the construction cost, expected to top USD 1 billion, for the telescope at the summit of Mauna Kea volcano. They will also have a share of the observation time. 


"This will represent a quantum leap for the Chinese community," Shude Mao, professor of astrophysics at National Astronomical Observatories of China, said in a telephone interview yesterday from Waikoloa on the Big Island, where he was attending a meeting of the telescope's scientific advisory committee. 

The Thirty Meter Telescope's segmented primary mirror, which will be nearly 100 feet or 30 meters long, will give it nine times the light-collecting area of the largest optical telescopes in use today. Its images will also be three times sharper. 


G C Anupama, professor at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, said the largest telescope in India has a 2-meter (6.5-feet) mirror, though India is currently building one that will be 4 meters (13 feet). 


"So it's a huge jump for us from 4-meter to 30-meter," Anupama said in a telephone interview on the sidelines of the advisory committee's meeting. "It definitely will take Indian astronomy to greater heights." 


The telescope, known as TMT, will be able to observe planets that orbit stars other than the sun and enable astronomers to watch new planets and stars being formed. 


The University of California system, the California Institute of Technology and the Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy founded the telescope, which is expected to be finished by 2018. 


China joined as an observer in 2009, followed by India the next year. Both are now partners, with representatives on the TMT board. Japan, which has its own large telescope at Mauna Kea, the 8.3-meter Subaru, is also a partner. 


TMT may not hold the title of world's largest for long, however, as a partnership of European countries plans to build the European Extremely Large Telescope, which would have a 42-meter, or 138-foot, mirror.

invisible man hides in supermarket -art pics

An artist best-known as the real-life invisible man has painted himself again for a new photograph collection – this time against a supermarket shelf.

Chinese-born Liu Bolin has mastered the art of camouflaging himself against a variety of backdrops and taking photos of the impressive results.

The talented 38-year-old has travelled far and wide disguising himself across many surroundings, including a London phone box, a pile of bricks, the Beijing Olympic stadium, a Venetian canal and a graffiti-covered wall.


A supermarket shelf may have been an odd choice of installation for the fine arts graduate, but he appears to blend naturally into the colourful stocked-up shelf of soda bottles and Pepsi cans.


The artwork entitled ‘Plasticizer’ was created to express his speechlessness at use of plasticizer in food additives.

According to the artist, each photograph can take months of planning and the actual paint job can take up to ten hours.

The new photographs are part of Bolin’s ‘Hiding in the City’ collection and are being exhibited at the Eli Klein Fine Art Gallery in NYC until 28 August.

world’s tallest building Kingdom Tower images info

Dezeen Wire: here’s the first image of the Kingdom Tower, about to begin

construction in Jeddah and set to be the world’s tallest building at over 1000 metres.

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of the Saudi Royal Family unveiled last Tuesday plans to construct the world’s tallest building. Kingdom Tower will be built in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah.  The design was made by American architecture firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill.  It has been revealed Bin Laden Group will own around 16% of the project.

The Kingdom Tower will be built by the Bin Laden Group, the construction company formed by Osama’s father Mohammad in the 1930s, which grew into a megarich conglomerate constructing palaces and expanding religious holy sites for the Saudi Royal family over the past 80 years.

Most of Osama’s 53 brothers and sisters cut ties with the al Qaida leader (officially, anyway) in 1994 when he was stripped of his Saudi citizenship for criticizing the royal family and — oh, yeah — plotting terrorist activities.

The Kingdom Tower, which will take more than five years to build,  will be so big it’s hard to grasp the scale. To help, here’s a bit of what Chicago-based Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture had to say in their news release about the project:

At over 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) and a total construction area of 530,000 square meters (5.7 million square feet), Kingdom Tower will be the centerpiece and first construction phase of the Kingdom City development on a 5.3 million-square-meter site in north Jeddah. The tower’s height will be at least 173 meters (568 feet) taller than the world’s current tallest building, Dubai’s 828-meter-tall Burj Khalifa, which was designed by Adrian Smith while at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Kingdom Tower will feature a Four Seasons hotel, Four Seasons serviced apartments, Class A office space, luxury condominiums and the world’s highest observatory.

Design development of the tower is under way, with construction to begin imminently. Foundation drawings are complete and the piling for the tower is currently being tendered. Kingdom Tower will cost approximately $1.2 billion to construct, while the cost of the entire Kingdom City project is anticipated to be $20 billion.

AS+GG is leading an interdisciplinary design team that also includes building services engineering consultants Environmental Systems Design, Inc. (ESD) and structural engineering consultants Thornton Tomasetti. The developer of Kingdom City, Jeddah Economic Company (JEC), selected the AS+GG scheme after a lengthy competition process in which SOM, Pickard Chilton, Kohn Pedersen Fox, Pelli Clarke Pelli and Foster + Partners also participated.

“Our vision for Kingdom Tower is one that represents the new spirit of Saudi Arabia,” said Smith, whose experience in supertall tower design at SOM also includes Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai, Nanjing Greenland Financial Center in Nanjing, China, the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago and Pearl River Tower, now in the late stages of construction in Guangzhou, China. “This tower symbolizes the Kingdom as an important global business and cultural leader, and demonstrates the strength and creative vision of its people. It represents new growth and high-performance technology fused into one powerful iconic form. ”
The project was announced today by His Royal Highness Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, nephew of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah and chairman of Kingdom Holding Company, which is a partner in Jeddah Economic Company along with prominent Jeddah businessmen Samaual Bakhsh and Abdulrahman Hassan Sharbatly and Saudi Binladin Group (SBG). SBG is also the contractor for Kingdom Tower.

“Prince Alwaleed, Mr. Bakhsh, Mr. Sharbatly and I were impressed by the boldness and simplicity of the AS+GG design,” said Talal Al Maiman, Executive Director, Development and Domestic Investments, a Board member of Kingdom Holding Company and a board member of JEC. “Kingdom Tower’s height is remarkable, obviously, but the building’s iconic status will not depend solely on that aspect. Its form is brilliantly sculpted, making it quite simply one of the most beautiful buildings in the world of any height.”

In addition to its status as an architectural landmark and economic symbol, Kingdom Tower will enjoy great cultural significance. “We envision Kingdom Tower as an iconic new marker of Jeddah’s historic importance as the traditional gateway to the holy city of Mecca,” Al Maiman said. He noted that the southeast leg of Kingdom Tower’s tripedal base is on a direct line with the Ka’ba in Mecca, Islam’s holiest site.

AS+GG’s design for Kingdom Tower is both highly technological and distinctly organic. “With its slender, subtly asymmetrical massing, the tower evokes a bundle of leaves shooting up from the ground—a burst of new life that heralds more growth all around it,” Smith said.

The sleek, streamlined form of the tower was inspired by the folded fronds of young desert plant growth, Gordon Gill added. “The way the fronds sprout upward from the ground as a single form, then start separating from each other at the top, is an analogy of new growth fused with technology,” he said. “We’re thrilled to be working with His Highness and Jeddah Economic Company to help define this path for the Kingdom.”

While the design is contextual to Saudi Arabia, it also represents an evolution and a refinement of an architectural continuum of skyscraper design. The three-petal footprint is ideal for residential units, and the tapering wings produce an aerodynamic shape that helps reduce structural loading due to wind vortex shedding. The Kingdom Tower design embraces its architectural pedigree, taking full advantage of the proven design strategies and technological strategies of its lineage, refining and advancing them to achieve new heights.

The result is an elegant, cost-efficient and highly constructible design that is at once grounded in built tradition and aggressively forward-looking, taking advantage of new and innovative thinking about technology, building materials, life-cycle considerations and energy conservation. For example, the project will feature a high-performance exterior wall system that will minimize energy consumption by reducing thermal loads. In addition, each of Kingdom Tower’s three sides features a series of notches that create pockets of shadow that shield areas of the building from the sun and provide outdoor terraces with stunning views of Jeddah and the Red Sea.

The great height of Kingdom Tower necessitates one of the world’s most sophisticated elevator systems. The Kingdom Tower complex will contain 59 elevators, including 54 single-deck and five double-deck elevators, along with 12 escalators. Elevators serving the observatory will travel at a rate of 10 meters per second in both directions.

Another unique feature of the design is a sky terrace, roughly 30 meters (98 feet) in diameter, at level 157. It is an outdoor amenity space intended for use by the penthouse floor.

AS+GG also designed the master plan for the 23-hectare Kingdom Tower Waterfront District, which surrounds the tower and which will include residential and commercial buildings, a shopping mall, high-quality outdoor spaces and other amenities. The Waterfront District provides a cohesive and pedestrian-friendly setting for Kingdom Tower while creating a pleasant neighborhood experience along the Kingdom City lakefront.

The district encompasses a high-end shopping mall designed by AS+GG, plus additional development parcels that accommodate commercial and high-density residential uses, offices, two luxury hotels and high-quality open spaces, including the central Tower Plaza. A serene waterfront promenade connects Kingdom Tower, the various development parcels, the open space areas and the mall together. The result is an exciting mixed-use area that offers a concentrated and comprehensive experience including vibrant shopping, entertainment and open-space amenities. The Waterfront District also provides an array of connections to other areas within Kingdom City’s overall master plan, designed by HOK Architects.

2050 Airbus see through transparent plane

Airline passengers in 2050 will be able to read their children a bedtime story at home or attend virtual business meetings at 35,000 feet thanks to the creation of an “intelligent cabin interior”.

Airbus, who unveiled its vision of the future ahead of next week’s Paris Air show, painted a picture in which everyone on board would be pampered irrespective of how much they paid for a ticket.

In fact cabin classes will be consigned to history. Instead there will be personalised zones, tailored to individual passengers.

No longer will they feel trapped in a darkened tube, instead they will enjoy panoramic views of the skies above and the world below.

Flying fatigue will be a thing of the past, instead a “vitalising zone” will enable people to recharge their batteries so they arrive refreshed rather than exhausted at their destination.

The sense of well being will be enhanced by the use of aromatherapy, with stale cabin air being replaced by aromatherapy scents complete with antioxidants and vitamins being wafted across the plane.

Mood lighting will be used to make passengers feel better and instead of being squeezed into a one-size fits all seat, they will be enveloped in one which moulds to their body.

The seat will not only apply acupuncture but use the heat generated by the passenger to provide some of the power needed to fly the aircraft.

Airbus also believes that the plane of the future will no longer be isolated from the ground below, instead an interactive zone will use holograms to make it possible to play a game of virtual golf or even try on clothes in a virtual changing room.

The plane will, thanks to the use of new materials, be lighter, consume less fuel and have a far lower carbon footprint than aircraft in the skies today.

“Our research shows that passengers of 2050 will expect a seamless travel experience while also caring for the environment,” said Charles Champion, Airbus Executive Vice President Engineering,

“The Airbus Concept Cabin is designed with that in mind, and shows that the journey can be as much a voyage of discovery as the destination.”

How U.S. killed Osama bin Laden

 The mission that killed one of the world's most notorious terrorist leaders was carried out by U.S. forces with the cooperation of Pakistan, U.S. President Barack Obama said Sunday night.


Osama bin Laden -- the longtime leader of al Qaeda -- was killed by U.S. forces in a mansion about 100 kilometers, or 62 miles, north of the Pakistani capital of Islamabad along with other family members, a senior U.S. official told.

Members of Pakistan's intelligence service, the ISI, were on site in Abbottabad during the operation, a senior Pakistani intelligence official said.


Bin Laden resisted the assault and was killed in a firefight, senior administration officials said.
The Pakistani intelligence official said he did not know who fired the shot that actually killed the terror mastermind.


Three other men were also killed in raid, as was a woman who was being used as a human shield, senior administration officials said.


The U.S. team was at the compound for about 40 minutes, the officials said. There were no casualties on the American side, although a U.S. helicopter crashed during the raid due to mechanical problems. The helicopter was then destroyed for security reasons, senior administration officials said.


A senior administration official told reporters that Obama's administration did not share intelligence gathered beforehand with any other country -- including Pakistan -- for security reasons.
The official said only a small group of people inside the U.S. government knew about this operation ahead of time. Another official said a "small U.S. team" was involved in the operation; but the official would not confirm any U.S. military involvement.


However, a senior defense official said U.S. Navy SEALs were involved.

worlds RICHEST PERSONS OF 2011

No.1 Carlos Slim Helu

• Networth :�74�Billion $
• Age: 71
• Title: Chairman
• Organization: Telmex
• Source: telecom, self-made
• Residence: Mexico City, Mexico
• Country of citizenship: Mexico
• Education: BA/BS, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
• Marital Status: Widow
• Children: 6

No.2 Bill Gates

• Networth :�56�Billion $
• Age: 55
• Title: Co-Chair
• Organization: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• Source: Microsoft, self-made
• Residence: Medina, WA
• Country of citizenship: United States
• Education: Dropout, Harvard University
• Marital Status: Married
• Children: 3

No.3 Warren Buffett

• Networth:50�Billion $
• Age: 80
• Title: CEO
• Organization: Berkshire Hathaway
• Source: Berkshire Hathaway, self-made
• Residence: Omaha, NE
• Country of citizenship: United States
• Education: MS, Columbia University; BA/BS, University of Nebraska Lincoln
• Marital Status: Widowed, Remarried
• Children: 3

No.4 Bernard Arnault

• Networth:41�Billion $
• Age: 62
• Title: Chairman
• Organization: Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH)
• Source: LVMH, inherited and growing
• Residence: Paris, France
• Country of citizenship: France
• Education: BA/BS, Ecole Polytechnique de Lausanne
• Marital Status: Married
• Children: 5

No.5 Lawrence Ellison

• Networth:�39.5�Billion $
• Age: 66
• Source: Oracle, self-made
• Residence: Woodside, CA
• Country of citizenship: United States
• Education: Dropout, University of Chicago; Dropout, University of Illinois at Urbana
• Marital Status: Married
• Children: 2

No.6 Lakshmi Mittal

• Networth:�31.1�Billion $
• Age: 60
• Title: Chairman
• Organization: ArcelorMittal ADS
• Source: Steel, inherited and growing
• Residence: London, United Kingdom
• Country of citizenship: India
• Education: BA/BS, St Xavier�s College Calcutta
• Marital Status: Married
• Children: 2

No.7 Amancio Ortega

• Networth:�31�Billion $
• Age: 74
• Source: Zara, self-made
• Residence: La Coruna, Spain
• Country of citizenship: Spain
• Marital Status: Married
• Children: 3

No.8 Eike Batista

• Networth:�30�Billion $
• Age: 54
• Title: CEO
• Organization: EBX Group
• Source: mining, oil, self-made
• Residence: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Country of citizenship: Brazil
• Education: Dropout, RWTH Aachen University
• Marital Status: Divorced
• Children: 2

No.9 Mukesh Ambani

• Networth:�27�Billion $
• Age: 53
• Title: Chairman
• Organization: Reliance Industries
• Source: petrochemicals, oil & gas, inherited and growing
• Residence: Mumbai, India
• Country of citizenship: India
• Education: Dropout, Stanford University; BA/BS, University of Bombay
• Marital Status: Married
• Children: 3

No.10 Christy Walton�

• Networth:�26.5�Billion $
• Age: 56
• Source: Walmart, inherited
• Residence: Jackson, WY
• Country of citizenship: United States
• Marital Status: Widow
• Children: 1

Akon performing in india demands list

Not one to disappoint in the quirky requests department, international singer Akon who will be performing in Pune, Gurgaon and Bangalore this weekend, has quite a laundry list of bizarre demands.


 When Bryan Adams toured India in February, the crew had asked for 100 white towels. Akon now has requested for 100 black ones. Political statement or otherwise, we’re left wondering what is it about fluffy towels that make them such a standard demand with international celebrities. 

 The Senegalese singer has asked for his hotel room to be far away from elevators, ice machines, high traffic areas and the housekeeping room since he wants his environment to be as noise-free as possible

 A licensed massage therapist, massage table, massage chair and essential oils will also be made available to the singer to help him beat stress in between concerts 

 Food for the singer would required to be served in chaffing dishes and covered with clear plastic wrap

 Akon has also requested for a juicer and blender to make himself his own smoothies!

 Strict instructions have been doled out that the crew, consisting of 22 people and three personal bodyguards, will not be served pork, Chinese or junk food 

 The singer's attire will be entirely custom-made apparel in white

 Even though the singer won't be performing in Mumbai, he and his wife Rosina hope to take some time out to visit the city, go to the Gateway of India and even do a small darshan in a open-top, double-decker bus 

 The singer says that apart from Brazil, India is his favourite holiday destination

 Vendors at the famous Mangaldas cloth market in Mumbai have written to the singer's manager in the hopes of striking a deal since the singer is launching a new clothing line 

 Akon will try and play some football in between concerts. His own cousin plays for the Blackburn Rovers that is owned by Venky's, the title sponsor for the concerts in Gurgaon and Bangalore

 The singer will be performing in Gurgaon on his birthday and announced on Twitter that he has something special planned for his fans 

 According to reports, Akon will bring in his birthday with several B-town biggies including Shah Rukh Khan. The singer has also worked with Khan on a single for the movie Ra.One

Supermoon on March 19th '-natural disasters

On March 19^th 2011, the moon will make its closest approach to Earth in almost 20 years, possibly triggering earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other disasters, claims astrologer Richard Nolle.

The phenomenon, called lunar perigee or Supermoon, happens when the moon reaches its absolute closest point to Earth. On March 19, the natural satellite will be only 221,567 miles away from our planet.

There were Supermoons in 1955, 1974, 1992 and 2005, and these years had their share of extreme weather conditions, too. Although there are scientific laws that say the moon affects the Earth, it's still ambiguous whether the lunar perigee and natural disasters is coincidence or not.

Two days after online warnings that the Supermoon might trigger disasters, the devastating Japanese tsunami forced everyone to think - could the movement of the moon cause natural calamities?

"Supermoons have a historical association with strong storms, very high tides, extreme tides and also earthquakes," the Daily Mail quoted astrologer Richard Nolle, who first coined the term in 1979, as saying in an interview with ABC radio.

However, scientists dismiss this as utter nonsense.

Dr David Harland, space historian and author, said, "It's possible that the moon may be a kilometre or two closer to Earth than normal at a perigee, but it's an utterly insignificant event."

Professor George Helffrich, a seismologist at the University of Bristol was equally dismissive.

"Complete nonsense. The moon has no significant effect on earthquake triggering. If the moon triggers "big" earthquakes, it would trigger the many of millions of times more "small" earthquakes that happen daily. There is no time dependence of those; hence no moon effect," he said.

According to Dr Roger Musson, of the British Geological Survey (BGS), the devastating earthquake occurred because the Pacific Plate is plunging underneath Japan.

However, while hoping for a non-disastrous ‘moon giant’, point your eyes and camera lenses toward the night sky on 19th. If the sky is clear, you’re gonna get an exceptional celestial treat.

Egypt goes to the first free vote

Forty million Egyptians get their first taste of a free vote in decades when a package of constitutional amendments sponsored by Egypt's ruling military goes to a nationwide vote on Saturday.

The referendum is the first major test of the country's transition to democracy after a popular uprising overthrew President Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian rule.

The amendments drawn up by a panel of military-appointed legal scholars are intended to bring just enough change to the current constitution which the military suspended after coming to power to ensure that upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections are free and fair.

They would open the elections to independent and opposition candidates and restore full judicial supervision of votes, a measure seen as key to preventing fraud.

They would also limit presidents to two four-year terms, and curtail 30-year-old emergency laws that give police near-unlimited powers.

A "yes" vote would allow parliamentary and presidential elections to be held before the end of the year.

Critics are using social networks and full-page ads in newspapers to argue that the entire constitution must be scrapped and a new one drawn up to guarantee that Egypt is spared future dictators. Egypt has been ruled by men of military backgrounds since 1952 and the current constitution outlines a system that puts overwhelming power in the hands of the president.

The critics also say elections this year will overwhelm the dozens of new political parties born out of the January 25 - February 11 uprising and give unfair advantage to Mubarak's National Democratic Party and the Muslim Brotherhood, the two largest and best organized political forces in the country.

Voters in Saturday's referendum will be asked to cast ballots to say 'yes' or 'no' to the entire package of nine changes, something that critics describe as out of tune with the country's new democratic climate.

Advocates of the amendments say that rejecting them will prolong the rule of the generals who took over from Mubarak when he stepped down February 11 in the face of the 18-day popular uprising.

"We want the new constitution to be born in a democratic environment and drafted by people chosen by elected lawmakers," said Tarek al-Bishry, the head of the committee that drafted the changes.