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posted by martyb on Monday November 28 2016, @03:58PM   Printer-friendly
from the what-goes-up-must-come-down dept.

The ESA's web report discusses subsidence and (more rarely?) elevation of the earth's surface. It works especially well in cities, “down to millimetres. The technique works well with buildings because they better reflect the radar beam” They're studying the phenomenon worldwide.

The Sentinel-1 satellites have shown that the Millennium Tower skyscraper in the centre of San Francisco is sinking by a few centimetres a year. [...] Completed in 2009, the 58-storey Millennium Tower has recently been showing signs of sinking and tilting. Although the cause has not been pinpointed, it is believed that the movements are connected to the supporting piles not firmly resting on bedrock.

The Register succinctly summarizes the whole situation in this report:

It was expected to sink less than 10 inches during its lifetime. It's already slumped 16 inches, is listing a few inches to the northwest, and it could sink a further 31 inches. The European Space Agency today said its Sentinel-1 satellites, having scanned the city's surface, have found that the building is disappearing into the ground at a rate of a few centimetres a year.

The problem appears to be that it was not built all the way down to the bedrock, and instead is sitting on a concrete slab with piles that go down just 60 to 80-feet into an underlying layer of landfill. Lawsuits against the developers are, as expected, in flight.

It's alleged that the city's building inspectors knew back in 2009 that the tower was sinking but did nothing about it – not even alerting the public nor the apartments' owners. San Francisco magazine's Lauren Smiley and Joe Eskenazi have detailed this ongoing clusterfsck at length here; it's worth the read.

The Register article also provides a copy of the ESA's displacement map for San Francisco with the tower's location marked and provides a link to a higher-res map.


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday November 29 2016, @11:41AM

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Tuesday November 29 2016, @11:41AM (#434419) Homepage Journal

    Oh now I call serious butthurt there. I make a lameass joke, you go absurdly over the top with rage. This is yet another reason why everyone else is disgusted with Millennials.

    You need two things to stop this happening in the future:

    1. A sense of humor.
    2. A sense of perspective.

     

    Get both of those and you will cease being hate-filled little twats. People might even start to enjoy your company.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
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  • (Score: 2) by Zz9zZ on Wednesday November 30 2016, @09:38PM

    by Zz9zZ (1348) on Wednesday November 30 2016, @09:38PM (#435133)

    The gripes aren't about your millenial joke, if it had come from another user or at least include something like (j/k you millenials are all right) THEN it would be a lame joke people could laugh at. However, you are very vocal about your opinions and they are often very negative about the younger crowd and more liberal crowd. With the election over it seems the more conservative user base feels that it is suddenly ok to be serious jerks and spew nasty shit everywhere just as the new president elect does. It is not OK, and its been recently ramped up to a degree that has been hurting discussions here.

    The hallmark of insecure people is they lash out when called out for their own bad behavior and they put on the macho attitude and pretend like everything is OK. Walter from The Big Lebowski is probably the best pop culture reference I can provide, with his "calmer than you are" phrase when the Dude finally unloads his frustrations.

    The extreme reactions you get are from people who have tried to be level headed (I think) yet all they get is serious crap back from you that derides them. Now, I will agree that the post you replied to was over the top on the rage aspect but that should clue you in that your behavior has some serious flaws. If that has zero effect on you then you should consider that you may have some sociopath/psychopath (I forget which is the one where people lose all empathy etc.) tendencies or are just repressing a lot of stuff.

    I normally wouldn't have commented on your lame joke in the first place, but the constant bashing during the election and more so after has been getting out of hand. Sore winners are the absolute worst, so stop taking every little shot at people younger and more liberal than yourself before the site devolves further into shouting matches.

    PS: the last while I've noticed better discussion so that has been a nice change of pace, lets keep it up.

    --
    ~Tilting at windmills~
    • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday November 30 2016, @10:19PM

      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Wednesday November 30 2016, @10:19PM (#435157) Homepage Journal

      With the election over it seems the more conservative user base feels that it is suddenly ok to be serious jerks and spew nasty shit everywhere just as the new president elect does.

      You mean just like every barely old enough to vote douchebag has been doing the past ten years or so? Cry me a river. The little fucktards decided this was the tone they'd prefer to argue in, so it's the tone they're getting.

      And, no, you have no seen me explode all over anyone who was trying to have a civil conversation lately. If you think you have, you need to check your definition of civil for severe bias.

      And, no yet again, I am not a sore winner. I voted for Johnson. This in no way precludes me from thinking Hillary supporters should take a long walk off a short pier though. The regressive left today is far, far worse than anything the right has going for it. Up to and including the bible thumpers and even the KKK.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
      • (Score: 2) by Zz9zZ on Thursday December 01 2016, @06:41PM

        by Zz9zZ (1348) on Thursday December 01 2016, @06:41PM (#435586)

        I shouldn't say you raged out on people, I don't often see that level but I do see my points validated in your response here. There is plenty to dislike on both sides of the isle, but your approach to discussion is combative and rude. As shown here, being called out only makes you ratchet up. The mature thing to do would have been to call out the rage and address the actual points. I don't think you're about to let go of your stereotyping prejudice, and if you think Hillary supporters should drown themselves then you should equally apply that to Trump supporters. Anything less is hypocrisy pure and simple.

        --
        ~Tilting at windmills~
        • (Score: 2) by urza9814 on Thursday December 01 2016, @11:24PM

          by urza9814 (3954) on Thursday December 01 2016, @11:24PM (#435733) Journal

          Dude...just foe him, apply a downmod to that, and move on. Soylent has PLENTY of settings to better control which comments you see. It's far easier than feeding the trolls in an attempt to train them ;)