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There are about 24,000 windows in the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, and the contract to clean them has been won by an Australian company.

The company, named Cox Gomyl, designed and built a US$7.35 million window-washing system for the Dubai megatower. It will take about three months to clean the whole building. The cleaners will rely on three things to do the job: state-of-the-art, 16-tonne cages which travel along tracks fixed to the outside of the building; personal electrolyte packs and custom-made clothing which resembles a space suit; and, for the actual cleaning of the windows, a bucket, a sponge, soap and water.

Cox Gomyl spokesman Dale Harding described the 828-metre, 200-storey building as "wide".

"People focus on the height of the building ... but really the breadth and width of the building is just huge when you're standing next to it," he said, still counting windows.

The company will also wipe down the Hubble Telescope, the orbit of which passes close to the higher levels of the building, and provide a crew for the fly-through spaceship cleaning station on the roof.

abc.net.au, telegraph.co.uk; images: Bloomberg (top), AFP/Getty Images

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Posted By: Chris Champion - Category: Middle East, Dubai, Technology

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A shoe on the Bush is worth plenty

December 23rd 2008 20:55

I am getting tired of Muntadhar al-Zeidi being hailed as a hero of the Arab world for throwing his shoes at George Bush. This is a biased view. He should be hailed as a hero of the western world too.

Mr al-Zeidi, who also called the American president a ‘dog’, is a hero to opponents of the US-led invasion of Iraq.

Regrettably, but perhaps inevitably, people are now trying to use the incident for commercial gain, despite the exhortations of Durgham al-Zeidi, Muntadhar’s brother. He has criticised people for trying to exploit his brother's actions after being told a Turkish firm claimed it had manufactured the offending footwear.

"It's all nonsense,” he said. “These people want to exploit what my brother did. The Syrians claim the shoes were made in Syria and the Turks say they made them. Some say he bought them in Egypt. But, as far as I know, he bought them in Baghdad and they were made in Iraq."

Serkan Turk doesn’t think it’s nonsense. He is head of sales at Baydan Shoes in Istanbul. He says his firm made the shoes and that it has had to take on 100 extra staff to cope with demand for Model 271, the black polyurethane-soled footwear now renamed "Bush Shoes".

"Between the day of the incident and 1pm today we have received orders totalling 370,000 pairs," Mr Turk said.

Mr al-Zeidi goes on trial on 31 December charged with "aggression against a foreign head of state during an official visit". Under Iraqi law, he faces up to 15 years in gaol.

www.telegraph.co.uk, www.timesonline.co.uk, Agence France Presse

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Posted By: Chris Champion - Category: Middle East, Iraq

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Bless my sole - only in Dubai

December 15th 2008 12:27

They are planning to build a refrigerated beach in Dubai. How cool is that?

The beach will be part of the new Palazzo Versace hotel. The temperature in Dubai in summer averages 40 degrees C and can reach 50 degrees. In a travesty which has millionaires everywhere outraged, walking on sand in such temperatures is as uncomfortable for the super-wealthy as it is for anybody else.

So the Versace people are planning to build a beach with a network of pipes beneath the sand. Coolant will flow through the pipes, sucking the heat from the sand. There are also plans to install giant blowers to create gentle breezes.

“This is the kind of luxury that top people want,” said Soheil Abedian, founder and president of Palazzo Versace. "Top people" presumably being defined in this case as enormously rich people with soft feet and low pain thresholds who enjoy paying big bucks to go somewhere hot so they can get cool.

We are also unsure if the details of the scheme have reached the ears of the 11,000 politicians and environmentalists in Poland for talks on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Meanwhile Armani, Versace's rival in outrageous taste, is reportedly planning its own branded hotel extravaganza in Dubai. What on earth are they going to offer? Scented sea water?
www.timesonline.co.uk

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Posted By: Chris Champion - Category: Middle East, Dubai

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