Las Vegas Hotel Vdara an Accidental Death Ray 218
evanism writes "A hotel in Las Vegas is accidentally designed to be a massive parabolic dish that focuses the suns rays into a death ray! Burns hair, plastic and causes pain." It apparently lasts for several minutes during afternoons of bright sunlight, but if you need to perform science on it, you better hurry since they plan to ruin/fix it.
Too much money to fix, thing outside the box (Score:5, Funny)
you better hurry since they plan to ruin/fix it.
Rather than paying the incredible expense of re-engineering the hotel's windows they should just rename. Simply change the stationary and signage to "L'Hotel du Auschwitz".
Hey, they could offer free tatoos, too. Tell people that they're lucky numbers.
Or rent it out (Score:5, Funny)
After all, your beginners science class taught that "focus" is where the sons raise meat.
One pun over the edge (Score:5, Funny)
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That was a very mature pun, I can tell because it was fully groan.
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Since when do puns get modded insightful? Are /. mods such poor spellers that they don't know the difference between groan and grown?
Re:Too much money to fix, thing outside the box (Score:5, Interesting)
They should call out the Mythbusters. It looks like Archimede's death ray may have been vindicated.
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I'm not sure causing pain and burning hair is exactly the same Archimede's death ray. At least not from the fables I remember reading. And melting plastic, well, I'm also not sure they had much plastic back then, let alone built boats out of it.
Perhaps you could tell me more about this.
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1) The windows had already been coated with a material to reduce the glare by 70%.
2) The boats weren't covered in plastic, but did use pitch, which was probably more volatile (I have not data to back that assumption).
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Well, this is something of an accidental discomfort ray. If they wanted death ray power levels, I'm sure they could have done it.
--
That's not a burning smell... That's the smell of freedom!
Your signature is oddly appropriate.
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An elegant weapon, from a more civilized age
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They also had some help from a bunch of MIT students.
Of course Adam is no Archimedes and neither is Jamie. This is true of many of the things they try to replicate.
Re:Too much money to fix, thing outside the box (Score:4, Funny)
They did exactly that!! (Score:2)
Read the whole article - the "solution" is to put in a small forest of very thick umbrellas! No joke, they are not touching the windows at all!
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Read the whole article - the "solution" is to put in a small forest of very thick umbrellas! No joke, they are not touching the windows at all!
Well, this certainly isn't the first time someone has tried to fix architectural flaws in windows with a patch that's nothing more than a coverup.
It's a feature (Score:2, Funny)
They just haven't gotten around to installing the Sterling motors and generators yet.
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'They just haven't gotten around to installing the Sterling motors and generators yet.'
However, other applications of the technology can already be tested in this technically accurate simulation:
http://www.bossmonster.com/games/antcity.html [bossmonster.com]
Post a warning? (Score:3, Funny)
Wouldn't the simplest solution be to post a warning? They could set up an infrared camera to monitor where the hot spot is, and have a monitor displaying it, so people could avoid it.
Re:Post a warning? (Score:5, Funny)
They could set up an infrared camera...
Damn engineers and their overcomplicated solutions. Why can't people just look for where the smoke and smell of charred human flesh is coming from?
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Or have a spotting laser slaved to the hot spot so folks could see where it was.
Re:Post a warning? (Score:5, Funny)
"Do not look into hotel with remaining eye."
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The simplest thing is to dull the reflective surfaces of the offending parts of the building. This problem isn't unique, it's happened before [wikipedia.org] elsewhere.
Re:Post a warning? (Score:4, Informative)
The simplest thing is to dull the reflective surfaces of the offending parts of the building. This problem isn't unique, it's happened before [wikipedia.org] elsewhere.
They did that. When they designed it, they thought of this and added a film over the windows that reduces reflected energy by 70%, according to TFA.
It still manages to raise temperatures by 20-30 degrees in the affected zone, and on a 110 degree day thats enough to melt plastics and people.
-Taylor
Make focus point a moving sidewalk (Score:2)
If you're stupid enough to want to be there, you're going to have to put some effort into it.
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They could set up an infrared camera to monitor where the hot spot is, and have a monitor displaying it, so people could avoid it.
Exactly, that way everyone in the hotel will know where it is. That doesn't help the girl who's sunbathing very much, though.
Re:Post a warning? (Score:4, Informative)
Since the building is basically parabolic, won't the spot stay mostly stationary? I mean, isn't that the whole point of parabolic focusers?
Try it some time and be surprised. Moving the sun with respect to the parabola is equivalent to moving the parabola with respect to the sun. And there is a strong microwave analogy. So, if the spot never moved, that would make radar systems rather hard to build (you'd have to use 80s era phased arrays instead of 40s era rotating dishes)
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The hotel is both a solar oven and a sundial. They should redevelop the field of fire (so to speak) to show the date and time when the focus will be on certain areas. Should be quite educational.
Re:Post a warning? (Score:5, Insightful)
Obviously neither you nor the mod who gave you insightful read the article because had either of you done so, you would have read the following:
One doesn't even need a parabolic reflector to experience this. Go to any city during a clear, sunny day and you will find hot spots being created from the nice, shiny windows on the flat (non-curved) buildings. While not focused like the rays from this building, you will feel substantially warmer.
However, stand still for a few minutes, and as the Earth rotates and moves about the sun, the hot spot will move with it.
I'm not the most brilliant person when it comes to science, but even I know what you said is wrong!
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GP is actually partly correct though, the spot is staying relatively still side-to-side, so with respect to the direction that the building is parabolically shaped it's stationary; the article is just saying the spot is moving back and forth because the building is vertically flat.
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He's closer to being right than you might think.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parabolic_reflector
It's mostly because the building isn't angled at the sun and isn't a perfect parabolic curve that the hotspot moves around.
Guess I didn't think about it not being a perfect curve and how it would effect the focus from a ways away.
Thanks for being informative. =)
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It's mostly because the building isn't angled at the sun and isn't a perfect parabolic curve that the hotspot moves around.
Sorry, the building is stationary and the Sun moves, hence, the hotspot moves around. It's irrelevant whether the building is a perfect parabolic surface or not.
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Sounds like hell.
(I hate heat.) (And I've been to Vegas in June - felt like I was in a giant concrete oven.)
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P.S.
However the TV show that's attached to the The Article looks pretty darn good. Can't complain about beautiful men and women, dancing around almost naked...... so long as I'm watching it from an air conditioned spot
.
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Depends on your definition of beauty.
That thread's 'bout three articles over.
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No, Ive been to that party and it was nothing like Vegas.
It's not a bug, it's a feature (Score:2)
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This isn't a tiny pool or hotel, this is Vegas pool party territory, where there are thousands of people at each massive pool. The pools cost over $60m each, just to gain entrance is $50/person. It's basically a big, very loud, drunken party in the midday sun.
They missed a fantastic opportunity here, they could have used the ray to heat the pool !
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Death ray? More like a thermal discouragement beam!
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And the video I got, all 20m of it, was about Las Vegas pool parties being the new trend. It didn't even mention the Death Ray.
Images (Score:5, Interesting)
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This looks like a good one:
http://www.cherlasvegas.net/images/las-vegas-hotels-vdara.jpg [cherlasvegas.net]
Shows the curvature of the hotel along with the location of the pool.
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Don't even have to do that... just paste it instead of click on it. Or click on it and then go up to the address bar and hit enter.
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go to the main page then paste the image URL so your referrer is their site instead of slashdot
Actually, its a blank referrer.
Usually sites don’t block requests that have blank referrers, though. Only third-party referrers...
Re:Images (Score:5, Informative)
The article they probably got this story from is a bit more informative - complete with diagram!:
http://www.lvrj.com/news/vdara-visitor---death-ray--scorched-hair-103777559.html [lvrj.com]
Re:Images (Score:4, Insightful)
Nice job. Now Slashdot is going to get sued by Righthaven media for linking to the LVRJ.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100928/16212911200/eff-comes-out-guns-blazing-in-countersuit-against-righthaven-stepens-media.shtml [techdirt.com]
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Damn you, now I am going to have to read the article.
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Map view (Score:3, Informative)
http://goo.gl/maps/ZpTd [goo.gl]
So it looks like if the sun is high up in the sky, from probably a S or SSE angle, you'd get some good ant burning action..
So how would they fix that? Put up one of those porous billboard/shade deals that Flamingo does?
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The easiest way would be to dull the surfaces so they don't reflect as much light.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't that energy have to go some place? They mentioned using low-e glass in the building, I would think that would increase the reflection on the pool. And dulling the surface or using a darker color would transfer more heat into the building. Something you really don't want in Vegas.
Other than moving the pool or changing the shape of the building, it seems that their only real option is putt
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Paint of a different color, perhaps some sort of UV screen shade, perhaps some sort of POV panel film and of course texturing the surface
You know, I'm not sure if painting or texturing the windows is going to have the effect this luxury hotel desires. They already have a film that absorbs or scatters 70% of the light, so they need something better than that. Maybe they could angle all of the window panes a couple degrees to different directions. I'm sure that would be cheap, right? .. right?
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A textured surface would somewhat scatter the reflecting light and not bring it to as sharp of a focus as it is currently.
As for painting, it would need to be a dark color to absorb most of the light.
How many luxury hotels have you stayed in that had sandblasted or blacked-out windows? This is a hotel we're talking about, you still need to be able to see out of the glass. It's your window. Onto the world, as it were.
The fix is (Score:2)
The fix is to rotate the windows a few degrees to remove any convergence. The possible damage from this phenomenon is significant: increased chance of skin cancer; burned retinas; severe skin burns; fire; etc.
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You forgot what is the most important thing from the hotel's POV.
Significantly increased chance of lawsuit.
Fix it? That's not what I read... (Score:2)
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Sounds like a good fix to me. Plants have been absorbing the sun's rays for millennium, and they take up sufficient space that a patron won't be able to displace the plant. Of course, you might need to plant quite a few plants to handle migration of the focal point, but that's a lot cheaper than attempting to redesign / retrofit the building.
Same thing in the old Lucent building at Chicago (Score:3, Interesting)
The architect thought it would be cool to have a massive dish-like glass structure on the side of the building, shaped like an enormous microwave antenna. Unfortunately, the thing focused the suns rays like a magnifying glass. The insides got really hot, especially near the security desk! Dont' know if anyone got burned, though.
Same thing happened at Walt Disney Concert Hall (Score:5, Insightful)
This is hardly a unique event [wikipedia.org]. If you let an architect go nuts trying to make a "modern" and "unique" building, he will inevitably build a magnifying glass.
Architects are rarely versed in function, and are almost always about the form.
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Architects are rarely versed in function, and are almost always about the form.
My sample size is small, but all three architects I know were required to take a statics class and do load calculations before they got their degrees. This wasn't sufficient for doing engineering for building design, and wasn't intended as such, but they were required to know enough to not hand engineers unbuildable designs.
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but they were required to know enough to not hand engineers a raft of shit for kicking back their unbuildable designs.
i made that better for you.
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they were required to know enough to not hand engineers unbuildable designs.
Unbuildable designs and designs that sacrifice function for form are two entirely different problems. The former will get you fired, while the latter can be spun as "art," depending on who you are and what you're building.
Architects make all these buildings with strange forms without taking into consideration things like solar effects, the climate around the building, and cost of maintenance. Cities flock to these idiots because t
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And it's not limited to buildings. Along a nearby highway, glass screens were placed as a sound barrier. The angle of the screens is such that at certain times of day, the sun is reflected right into the motorists' eyes.
Re:Same thing happened at Walt Disney Concert Hall (Score:5, Informative)
I am a practicing architect, so please, let me fill you in. Architects take classes on sun angles and reflected light. Understanding how to make use of and control natural sunlight is a major part of modern architecture. I counter your example with a modern building designed by Steven Holl [stevenholl.com] (a much more impressive architect IMHO). If you note on one of the diagrams, the building has been designed to strategicly filter light into different areas of the school based on certain landmark days. No death rays here.
This happened in CA (Score:2)
The focal area would get hot enough to melt traffic cones an the free way.
I drove through it once, and temperature in my car became uncomfortable. I don't know what would happen had I beens stopped in traffic.
They eventualy brushed the surface.
I've heard of this before. (Score:5, Interesting)
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This has happened in the Atlanta, GA. area. Apparently a builder of cluster homes had oriented a few just the right way so that the sun would reflect and focus off the windows of one house and melt the vinyl siding on the adjacent one. There were about 4-5 homes like this in the subdivision IIRC. Big debate with the stupid builder doing many warranty repairs on the siding of house B but refusing to do anything with the windows on house A. What a maroon.
why do you think the builder is a maroon? (sic) (Score:2)
I'm curious why you think the builder should be doing anything to the windows? Arguably this is either a problem with the manufacturer of the windows (deforming and causing a focussing effect) or else with the vinyl siding (being unable to handle reflections).
The only real solutions are to replace the windows with ones that don't cause the focussing effect, or else to use siding that's more durable (but more expensive) than vinyl.
What Happens In Vegas (Score:2, Funny)
This is not the first time.. (Score:2)
Actually the Walt Disney Concert hall had a similar issue when they built it. It would direct the heat into cars at the stop lights and cause the people to get way too hot. Of course, it didnt melt plastic, but still!
They needed to scuff the finish a bit to kill the effect .
Similarly (Score:2)
Fish bowls or glass vases placed next to windows can spontaneously start fires.
Double fail (Score:2)
Hooray! (Score:3, Funny)
S'mores for everyone!
The Bacon Bakin' Beacon (Score:2)
Sounds like they found an environmentally friendly way to cook bacon. Just stick it on the pool deck and wait! Side effects may include cooking the chef.
Seriously though, this was probably done deliberately by some architect, who is now cackling with glee over the massive parabolic dish. This would be rather difficult to call an accidental design flaw.
You expect me to talk? (Score:2)
Rejected marketing slogan... (Score:3, Funny)
What lies in Vegas, fries in Vegas.
Mythbusters (Score:2)
Someone tell the Mythbusters, they tried to build something like that once.
My House (Score:2)
Yeah, I have melted vinyl siding on my own house from the sliding glass door.
it turns out that two panes of glass with a "vacuum" between makes a kind of curved mirror.
Architects should know this stuff.
Hotels in Space (Score:3, Funny)
In order to circumvent the treaty to not weaponize space, the USA plans to build "Hotels" in space.
not really fixing it (Score:2)
According to the last paragraph of TFA, the "fix" is to put additional umbrellas and plants in the area to provide shade. So the effect should still be demonstrable, but executive's toupes will be less likely to burst into flames.
Related, possibly a solution (Score:2)
At a bank, they put in gold-tinted reflective panels as exterior decoration. Shortly afterward they realized that the reflection was roasting their vehicles. So they called in a contractor and they lightly blasted the panels, making them opaque. I forgot what material they used, probably something soft to keep from knocking too much of the gold coating off, just to soften the mirror finish.
Mr Obvious (Score:2)
FTA: "It was as bright as outside," said Pintas, a Chicago lawyer
Does that count as a thing that make you go "hmmm?"
Pool side BBQ? (Score:2)
"Come and enjoy our aged kobe beef, seared to perfection by the deadly rays of our parabolic hotel in a pool side setting."
afternoons of bright sunlight (Score:2)
This was the subject of an old sci fi short story (Score:4, Interesting)
I remember reading a story many years ago which was probably published in the late 1950s or 1960s. It was about an architect who murdered a rival by designing and having built a skyscraper with reflective widows controlled by a computer, ostensibly to maintain the interior environment of the building, but in reality as a way to focus the light of the sun on the rival's house, some miles away. The rival and his house were destroyed by a "mysterious" fire.
I wish I could remember the name of the author and the the story title.
video (Score:2)
Am I the only one who clicked the video and realized that it wasn't about the death ray two minutes into it?
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Because it's just soooo hard to scroll past it without clicking on it. Right?
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Take “idle.” out of the URL and reload the page. It’s a pain in the ass but it works.
I also occasionally use that trick on other subsections of Slashdot whose colour schemes I don’t like (too hard to tell the difference between read and unread posts).
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Really? It still works for me.
http://slashdot.org/story/10/09/29/1622250/Las-Vegas-Hotel-Vdara-an-Accidental-Death-Ray [slashdot.org]
If that still doesn’t work, try reloading with ctrl-F5 or clearing your cache.
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Re:Death ray (Score:4, Informative)
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It is not Orwellian. It in no way implies the opposite effect. It is the more correct term. It in no way is destructive to the welfare of anyone. If it was killing dozens of people, you might have a point.well, you wouldn't then either. Unless they where removing all references to the deaths of others from all media.
That said, the Hotel is missing a golden opportunity.
Every knows it's no actually a death ray, but they could hype it up and do a tongue and cheek promotion.
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The article says the windows have some film to reduce the effect by 70%, but that wasn't enough. Perhaps they should just remove the film and make a real death ray. Or put a barbecue pit where the pool is and have environmentally friendly barbecues.
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The BBQ idea is awesome. Unfortunately it would need to be move a little every day. Still doable.
OR a mini portable steam generator all kind of chrome and Brass parts moving from the power of the sun. You could put it on a track and have it move lightly under it's own power.
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Have Adam Savage deliver those lines and I think you would have an awesome viral video...
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Why would they design a parabolic concave building? This is a huge architecture fail.
Well, convex ones are invariably going to be compared to female body parts, which probably embarrasses architects, so...
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(Emphasis added.)
Heh. Almost as bad as your tautology fail.
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He did indeed fail at tautologies, because he neglected to include one.
A parabola is a just a mathematical curve. Whether it's concave or not largely depends on where you're standing.
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Yeah, I realized that shortly after hitting 'submit
Re:Runs to Vegas (Score:4, Interesting)
with large jar of mutant ants. Ooh crap. The jar is broken. The mutant ants are free! And I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords
I TOLD you that ant farm keyboard idea wouldn't work!
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The hotel seems to still be under construction:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DeathStar2.jpg [wikipedia.org]