Showing posts with label many. Show all posts
Showing posts with label many. Show all posts
Thursday, June 8, 2017
Many Iran firefighters feared trapped in building collapse
Many Iran firefighters feared trapped in building collapse

TEHRAN, Jan 19, 2017 (AFP) - Rescue workers in Tehran were desperately hunting for firefighters trapped under the rubble after a fire Thursday led to the collapse of Irans oldest high-rise, the 15-storey Plasco building.
Officials had yet to confirm if anyone had been killed, but Tehran mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf told state television that between 20 and 25 firefighters were thought to be inside when the building fell. Three people were pulled alive from the rubble and taken to hospital, the head of Tehrans emergency services said, according to the ISNA news agency.
At least 70 firefighters were injured and 23 hospitalised as they rushed to evacuate the building, which had been on fire for around four hours before it crumbled, the head of emergency services told state television.
Some 200 firefighters had been tackling the blaze at the Plasco building, which dated from the 1960s and included a shopping centre and clothing workshops.
Dramatic images showed flames pouring out of the top floors just before it came down live on television.
"I was inside and suddenly I felt the building is shaking and is about to collapse. As we gathered colleagues and got out, a minute later the building collapsed," said Ali, a firefighter at the scene.
Local media said the workshops were especially full of clothes in the build-up to Nowruz, the Iranian new year, which falls in March.
President Hassan Rouhani called for an immediate investigation into the causes of the incident, calling it "unfortunate and sorrowful".
"More than 30 times we warned the buildings owners that it was not safe, but unfortunately they did not pay attention," said Shahram Gilabadi, spokesman for the municipality.
Fire brigade spokesman Jalal Malekias said the building was known to breach safety standards.
"Even in the stairwells, a lot of clothing is stored and this is against safety standards. The managers didnt pay attention to the warnings," he told state television, adding that it lacked sufficient fire extinguishers.
- Thousands ruined -
The steel skeleton of the building could be seen bending down to the ground as around 100 fire engines and dozens of ambulances surrounded the area.
Smoke was still pouring from the street hours later.
Firefighters caked in soot wept outside the building as the hunt for their colleagues continued, and local media showed Tehranis queueing to donate blood.
"Ive lost my entire stock. Thousands of families have been ruined," said Ahmad, the owner of one of the 400 shops and business units.
The Plasco building was the first high-rise and shopping centre in Tehran and was the citys tallest building when it was finished in 1962, before being dwarfed by the construction boom of later years.
It was built by Habibollah Elghanian, a prominent Iranian-Jewish businessman who was arrested for ties to Israel and sentenced to death and executed after the 1979 Islamic revolution.
The fire is thought to have begun on the ninth floor and spread quickly to workshops above.
Firefighters were initially able to bring it under control but it quickly flared up and the building fell four hours after the fire had started, at around 11:30 am (0800 GMT).
A crisis meeting was held at the scene with Tehrans governor, police chiefs and officials from the Red Crescent. The army was also deployed to assist with the rescue effort.
"There were a number of people inside but we dont know how many and the fire brigade organisation is going to announce how many were there," Tehran police chief Hossein Sajedinia told AFP.
"Even one would be too many," he added.
Available link for download
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Many Gods One Logic Animated Hindu Concepts
Many Gods One Logic Animated Hindu Concepts
Here are two terrific animated clips that explain two concepts in Hinduism--the idea of many gods and the idea of Brahman or oneness. One runs less than two minutes and the other less than four.
Both come from a YouTube channel called Epified. I found them on another blog about Hinduism.
Available link for download
Friday, March 3, 2017
Many Thoughts On Skyrim
Many Thoughts On Skyrim

With about fifty hours in, Ive completed about as much of Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (on the 360) as Im likely to. Its been a great break from fixing bugs in our upcoming games. Skyrim is more fun that iOS development. You heard it here first.
Ive done the main quest plus whatever side quests were interesting or insane enough to attract my interest. I dont want to write a full review because it would be entirely redundant. Everyone already knows its an excellent game.
Instead, I wanted to say a few quick things about what worked (or sometimes didnt) in Skyrim.
The Quest Writing
For a game this size, with multiple quest chains long and involved enough to feel like full games in themselves, uneven writing is to be expected. Some of the major quests were, indeed, better than others in this regard.
I thought the best writing, going away, was in the Dark Brotherhood (assassins guild) quest. It was over the top, deranged, and entirely fun. Alas, since players tend to shy away from the evil and deranged, most people wont get to enjoy this bit of concentrated insanity. Its a pity. In Skyrim, having a voice in your head telling you to kill people isnt a handicap. Its a career choice.
Sadly, I thought the least involving writing was in the main game quest, which was just another retelling of, "See that guy over there? Hes evil. Kill that guy." Except, in this case, "that guy" is a dragon without much dialogue or presence in the story. The storyline would have been much more involving if the player were able to have more interaction with the main villain.
On the bright side, while the Empire and Rebel quest lines get a tad repetitive (with all those fort assaults), they also do a great job of depicting an epic struggle, full of sacrifices, risks, and hard choices. The bit where the Jarl of Whiterun tries to decide which side to support was really suspenseful and nicely done.
Selling Items
All fantasy RPGs have tedious inventory management and selling of stuff. Its just part of the genre. In recent years, designers have looked for ways to make the economic side of things go faster and eat up less precious play-time. The best example of this is in Torchlight you can have your pet dog take all your junk back to town and sell it for you.
Thank you! More killing, less realism!
But in Skyrim ... Look. If you want to have each shop only buy a limited range of items, fine. And if you want to have shops have a limited amount of gold, fine. And if you want to have stolen items only bought by one character, who doesnt have much money on hand and is well out of the way, fine. But having all three of these means that you hate me.
You might say, Hey, they want a more realistic feeling world. Fine. I get that. Just bear in mind that when someone says he played Skyrim for 60 hours, at least 20 of those were spent trying to find someone who will buy eleven pairs of elven boots.
(Yes, I know you can buy feats to change how this works. I prefer to spend my feats on the sort of combat skills that keep me from getting slaughtered the moment I try to ride to the next town, thank you.)
Killing Elves
You spend a lot of time in Skyrim killing elves. In this world, elves are obnoxious and ugly, and you kill them.
This is awesome.
The World Map
The roads in Skyrim are really nicely laid out. I spent just the right amount of time wandering around lost. In a big world like this, you want the player to get lost sometimes. Its a rare pleasure to have a game you can actually get lost in.
On the other hand, Ive looked at a lot of maps in my life, and Ive never seen one where the cartographer drew in the clouds. Having the in-game world map be a depiction of Skyrim as seen from space, clouds and all, is malicious. It really obscures where you can and cant go.
(Also, the printed map that comes with the game has inaccurate and incomplete roads, and the roads are the most important part of the map. Paper maps are awesome, but the developers should give them a once-over to make sure theyre accurate. This is just the sort of extra that gets people to buy instead of rent.)
Arrow In the Knee
I know Im supposed to think the whole "Arrow in the knee" meme is overplayed. Sorry. Still cracks me up every time. Especially whenever a guard passive-aggressively says it to me as I run by.
Awesome Evilness
If you are ever in Markarth and some guy asks you to help investigate an abandoned house, do that quest. Its really, really, really evil and deranged. Its audacity should be rewarded with play. In fact, play through it in front of your loved ones. My wife watched me play it and, a few weeks later, she can almost make eye contact with me again.
Its a Great Game
OK. Done nitpicking. Its buggy, sprawling, uneven, and an entirely brilliant game experience. It overwhelms you with sheer size. You cant go for a horsey ride for five minutes without the game trying to distract you with some new cool thing. You can simply get lost in it.
After what seems like an endless parade of games where you mindlessly shoot/slash your way down a corridor, see a cutscene, and then are funneled down another corridor, Skyrim is a delight.
Available link for download
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