Thursday 13 September 2007

Tall Tale

Devastating news!
Overnight, the CN Tower in Toronto lost it's status as the world's tallest free standing structure. It has held the record at 553 metres (1,824.9 feet) for just over 30 years.

No, it didn't fall down.

It was surpassed by the Burj Dubai tower under construction in Dubai, which reached the height of 555 metres (1,831.5 feet) yesterday.


The Dubai skyscraper will eventually reach the mind boggling, gobsmacking height of around 800 metres. The actual finished height is being kept secret for now. It'll have 165 storeys of apartments, shops, hotel rooms and office space.
Get ready to update your Guinness Book of World Records.

Photo "borrowed" from the Toronto Star, Sept 13 2007.

17 comments:

  1. Love your school bus story. :-)

    I bet it was convenient to be able to see the bus coming and still get to the bus in time to catch it. PERFECT!

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  2. eek, i bet it gets pretty windy in Dubai. Not sure I'd wanna be in that tower during a storm.

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  3. There will be some fighting about records between the Arabic Gulf and some East Asiatic countries in the coming years! Good that the Guiness book is published frequently!

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  4. Both are superb buildings, Dubai is certainly a very 'happening' place.

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  5. I think I'll stay on the ground floor!!!

    Sorry if I made you homesick. We're going to do it all again (weather permitting) when we go for her next appointment on 11 October. Might even take the camera next time! Can you cope?

    Sue x

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  6. The CN tower is more visually appealing, the size of the Dubai is impressive but to me looks like a huge apartment building.

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  7. I've seen these before. I hope the secrecy helps them obtain the record for a while.

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  8. Dubai can have that building...have you read or seen on TV what they are doing to that area? Besides the building everywhere costing bazillions to own, that have ruined the beaches.

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  9. I wish you could have kept the record. Yours is much more appealing! And let's hope the Dubai tower does not become a target for anything other than records!

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  10. Oh no!!!!!! ;-) I know the feeling: the city where I grew up, Rotterdam, had for many decades the world's largest harbour, last year it lost that title. *snif*

    Want a hanky?

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  11. REPLY ALL:
    Thanks, everyone, for your comments.
    I don't think I will ever understand the need to build higher and higher. A recipe for eventual disaster IMHO. The CN Tower was built as a communications tower and had to be tall to be able to function among the skyscrapers of downtown Toronto. But in Dubai? Just a prestige thing. Big money.

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  12. Yolanda: thanks for the hanky, Torontonians are very upset about the loss of their world record, but it seems that the Rest Of Canada doesn't care!!

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  13. They will probably just add a disclaimer - "the world's tallest free-standing structure... in North America.."

    I didn't know the CN tower was so big.. No wonder it is such a big deal.
    Sorry for your loss!! :)

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  14. I get woozy just thinking about that height.

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  15. I lived in Toronto for 7 years and visit there frequently, but I have never been to the top of the CN Tower. One of my brothers has worked in Dubai the past 4 years and there are many things that top all else. He sent pictures of the indoor ski hill and the 7 star hotel. Someone will top the Dubai tower someday.

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  16. I mid-August I made another trip to the top of the CN tower ( the last time was 17 years prior) before it handed over its tallest status to Dubai. I just made it in time!! It's such an amazing view - the railway ties look like pencil lines. Nothing stays the same forever does it?

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