The weekly weird
World’s first 3D-printed office!
Dubai has opened the world’s first functioning 3D-printed office building, part of a drive by the Gulf’s main tourism and business hub to develop technology that cuts costs and saves time.
The printers used a special mixture of cement, a Dubai government statement said, and reliability tests were done in Britain and China.
The one-storey prototype building, with floor space of about 250 square meters, used a 20-foot by 120-foot by 40-foot printer, the government said.
“This is the first 3D-printed building in the world, and it’s not just a building, it has fully functional offices and staff,” the United Arab Emirates Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Mohamed Al Gergawi, said.
“We believe this is just the beginning. The world will change,” he said.
The arc-shaped office, built in 17 days and costing about $140,000, will be the temporary headquarters of Dubai Future Foundation — the company behind the project — is in the centre of the city, near the Dubai International Financial Centre.
A pup named Potato?
Bella and Max are top dogs in New York City. The city Health Department announced that it registered 1,127 dogs named Bella and 1,073 named Max in 2015. Bella has been the city’s most popular dog name since 2008. That’s when the last of Stephenie Meyer’s vampire-themed Twilight novels featuring heroine Bella Swan was published.
But some dog owners took their inspiration from the pantry and the garden.
The Health Department says it licensed 27 dogs named Bean, 17 dogs named Raisin and 15 dogs named Potato last year. A total of 605 licensed dogs answered to Daisy, the most popular flower name. There were also 10 Tulips, four Primroses and two Daffodils. Names that were popular with certain breeds included Snoopy for beagles and Tyson for boxers.