Masyadong Magaling

SONAs are always tense situations. If you're an oppositionist and you applaud, you're an instant balimbing. If you're pro-administration, you've got to flaunt it. If you're a hardcore brown nose such as Yoda Venecia, you gotta give a shout-out

"From where I sit, I can tell you, the President is always as strong as she wants to be." This is the line that's supposed to save the insipid SONA she gave? I don't even know what the heck it means! Come on. Your speechwriters can do better than that. It was so blah that there's nothing much to debate about after that 60-minute spiel...I miss the Bangkang Papel and the Celebrity Roll Call SONAs of years past.

I only remembered to turn on the TV when the SONA was nearing its end. Too bad. I'd have given an annotation on congresswomen's attires. All I saw was Kabuki Arenas' unmistakable mask walking by PGMA's right on recession.


"Jolens!"

Save for JDV's shout-out at the end, I didn't even have reason to glance at the television screen while working on my PC. I thought it was a wrap when the "smattering of applause" turned a notch higher, but I was jolted out of my stupor when JDV suddenly shouted into the mike, "Masyadong magaling!!!" D'oh!

World's Tallest Building - Until When?

I've lost track of what exactly is the world's tallest building. Every couple of years or so, one country seems to jump on the bandwagon of upending the titleholder. This year, it's held by that tiny-but-trailblazing UAE city of Dubai. On July 21 of this year, the Burj Dubai has reportedly surpassed Taipei 101's pinnacle, finishing its 141st floor at a height of 512.1 m (1,680 ft).

The hotel/office/residential tower comes off as a fusion of the East and the West. Designed by Arch. Adrian Smith of skyscraper expert Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (the brains behind Chicago's Sears Tower and NY's Freedom Tower), it utilizes the so-called triple-lobed footprint pattern in Islamic architecture. Its cross section at the upper half would reveal a Y-shaped floor, maximizing views of the Persian Gulf.



What's interesting is Burj Dubai's interiors would be designed by Giorgio Armani, and the structure would be housing a 37-floor Armani Hotel. Apart from the hotel, it would be home to some 700 private apartments and several floors of suites and offices.

The 123rd floor will feature a second main lobby and the floor next to that opens up to an observation deck. There will also be a zero-entry swimming pool (one with a shallow sloping entrance rather than those so 15-minutes ago pool steps) at the 78th floor.



To make do with the limited water resources (it's still right smack in the middle of a desert, whichever way you look at it), the Burj Dubai boasts a "Condensate Collection System" wherein the condensate from a combination of Dubai's hot and humid outside air plus the building's cooling requirements is collected to produce 15 million gallons of supplemental water a year. This would be used to water the plants of Burj Dubai's innovative interior landscaping.

The Bizarre Thing About World Records

One of my "bestest" gifts as a kid was the latest Guinness Book of World Records. I marvelled at how strange human beings could be. I realized the power of the printed word (because that's all a record really boils down to – seeing your name in print). I feared for the life of those who constantly challenged each other to do more, to go higher, to go faster.

I was relieved when Guinness ruled that "no further entries in this category will be accepted," referring to M. Lotito's eating-a-bicycle world record.

But further entrants to the World's Tallest Building category cannot be stopped. Already, there are at least three threats to Burj Dubai's unclaimed-as-yet title. These are the Al Burj Tower, set to be constructed a mere 50 kms away; the Murjan Tower in Bahrain; and the Mubarak al-Kabir Tower in Kuwait.

Is it just a mere coincidence that these future skyscrapers will all be erected within largely the same continent? Is the U.S. still licking its wounds after 9/11 and staying away from the infrastructure race in the meantime? Do you want me to go into Nostradamus' visions of world domination by the Arab Empire?

I'm sure you don't. For now, I'm happy sitting back and watching events unfold from the stands. Back when the Petronas Towers were the world's tallest, I planned on going to Malaysia. They were unceremoniously unseated by Taipei 101 (but I was never motivated to visit Taiwan, anyway).



Now I have to visit Dubai just to be able to gawk at Burj Dubai (they say you can see its spire 50 kms away), and perhaps have a glimpse of Burj al-Arab, the world's tallest hotel. Notice I said "glimpse." I don't have any plans now or in the near future to spend USD$1000 a night (minimum) to stay there. But I've heard some local politicians have gotten rooms here. Make sure you're paying from your own pockets, guys. As a taxpayer, I wouldn't wanna be slaving just so you could pop your champagne.