I do not know if many of you watch the British press, but todays news was priceless.

1) http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/architecture/walkie-talkie-city-skyscraper-renamed-walkie-scorchie-after-beam-of-light-melts-jaguar-car-parked-beneath-it-8794970.html
2) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2409710/Walkie-Talkie-building-melting-bicycles-Light-reflected-construction-City-skyscraper-scorches-seat.html
3) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG6NEpJ6FXw
4) http://www.building.co.uk/news/breaking-news/walkie-talkie-tower-is-melting-cars/5059956.article

There is an architect somewhere in the world who has for some unknown reason designed a concaved glass front to a skyscraper. Now I thought that everyone as they grew up learnt how to begin a fire using a magnifying glass and that most rational human beings know that glass has a reflective quality.
Obviously some architects are less well versed in the art of starting fires then a five year-old. Or this was specifically designed to cause damage to Londoners as they walk about.
Please watch the Youtube video as it really does show how dangerous this stupid building is.

You laugh now. You won't when the Zorglobt fleet attack London they will get a face full of heat ray gun disguised as a skyscraper.

Saw that and felt very sorry for the owner of the Jaguar.
And the building plans were also approved!

That's the interesting part for me, out of the at least dozens of people looking at the plans and the hundreds working on the building no one thought about it?
I would've been like "Alright this is probably a stupid question, but isn't that a bit.. lens shaped?".

They should've known. If I remember right, mirrored building developers have been successfully sued for the additional heat load experienced by adjacent buildings. They can be a pain in the ass. A building often features more window area on the north face to admit more daylight without the heat gain of direct sunlight. Also, HVAC systems are sized appropriate to the load a building is expected to experience. You can't simply turn a knob to accommodate an unexpected load. So when the twerp next door aims a great big mirror at your open north face, you're screwed. Upgrading the AC can involve larger ductwork, and there may not be space for it between floors. Even if there is room, replacing the ductwork in an inhabited building is a complete mess.

edit: Maybe it was designed by Archimedes.

I think they're disappointed it wasn't as effective as they expected a giant parabolic-mirror/death ray building to be. :)

That came from a country who used to made a plan to build an aircraft carrier made from giant ice blocks.

Aaaah, I'm laughing my ass of. The statement from the "Walkie-Talkie" developers:
"The phenomenon is caused by the current elevation of the sun in the sky."

I've seen all sorts of dumb excuses but trying to blame the sun is just epic. If they were at least subtle about it. They better hope the sun has terrible lawyers.

Don't even. He's already been fully compensated, might even get a new car.

Reminds me of the recent downpour in Toronto that flooded some parts and ruined a Ferrari in an underpass. Boohoo. The guy's insurance covered everything and Ferrari even provided him a newer model. Too bad if you're NOT a millionaire and had your house flooded, then get denied coverage because fuck you, that's why.

Before I click, was that that plan with the sawdust in ice?
Which has some fancy name I don't remember?
Because that was very neat.

Edit: It was! Pykrete! Ha!

It is! Tbh the idea was pretty awesome though. The ice and sawdust combo can absorb most of the hits from enemy's shells. They can also crash the ship to enemy ships without worrying about fixing it later. The problem is just it's not cost efficient and the only place they can operate it normally if the battle was done over the North Atlantic Ocean.

The only game that using this concept was the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Ops:_Warship_Gunner]Naval Ops: Warship Gunner.[/url] One of the boss fight we have to fight a giant ice block ship inspired from this project.

kinda surprised no UK folks have commented in here.

Anyway dunno about other people but when i saw about it in the news I just shock my head.

That would've been a good guess the game entry, I certainly hadn't heard of it before ;)

You never heard about this game before?

Ahem.

Let me sell it for you then!

So, this game is all about naval warfare (as you can see on the front cover) with the left analog stick to control the ship and the right analog stick for your targeting reticule for your cannons/machine guns/torpedoes/depth charges. But wait, there's more!

You start innocently enough as a Destroyer ship who accidentally enter a rift in space time continuum that appeared on a sea in front of you. You are transported into an alternate universe with similar WW2 event. As you try to survive the enemy's onslaught and trying to go home you start to deploy various hulls, engines and weapons you salvaged from your fallen enemies. But there's more!

The first half of the gameplay is your typical naval warfare stuff. You start using hulls of Destroyers, Cruisers, Battleships and even Carriers. You start sinking bigger and bigger ships. The the last half happened.

You think you get most of the equipments right? the weirdness started when you start fighting double hulled ships and acquire their hulls. Weird but awesome, you can put bigger engines and a lot more weapons on top of the hull. But then everything start to go completely, absolutely NUTS! (in a good way!)

You will start to face enemies like the Habakkuk (the one we're talking about) then giant submarines, then nazi flying saucer! and it's just the tip of the (Habakkuk) iceberg!

Then you start acquiring nuclear engines! then fission engines! then laser cannons! rail guns! homing laser cannons! force field shield! AND THERE'S MORE!

The war was completely went bonker now! It's madness! over the sea!

And.... you can get a Shark with laser on its head in Warship Gunner 2.

Go get it, it's for PS2. it's awesome. It's like Ace Combat..... on water!