Category Archives: AWESOME

AKASHI KAIKYO BRIDGE ; AKASHI STRAIT

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WORLD’S LONGEST SUSPENSION BRIDGE
10 YEARS OF CONSTRUCTION
3 DECADES OF PLANNING
4 BILLION DOLLAR INVESTMENT

Vital Statistics:
Location: Kobe and Awaji-shima, Japan
Completion Date: 1998
Cost: $4.3 billion
Length: 12,828 feetType: Suspension
Purpose: Roadway
Materials: Steel
Longest Single Span: 6,527 feet
Engineer(s): Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Authority


In 1998, Japanese engineers stretched the limits of bridge engineering with the completion of the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge. Currently the longest spanning suspension bridge in the world, the Akashi Kaiko Bridge stretches 12,828 feet across the Akashi Strait to link the city of Kobe with Awaji-shima Island. It would take four Brooklyn Bridges to span the same distance! The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge isn’t just long — it’s also extremely tall. Its two towers, at 928 feet, soar higher than any other bridge towers in the world.

The Akashi Strait is a busy shipping port, so engineers had to design a bridge that would not block shipping traffic. They also had to consider the weather. Japan experiences some of the worst weather on the planet. Gale winds whip through the Strait. Rain pours down at a rate of 57 inches per year. Hurricanes, tsunamis, and earthquakes rattle and thrash the island almost annually.

How did the Japanese engineers get around these problems? They supported their bridge with a truss, or complex network of triangular braces, beneath the roadway. The open network of triangles makes the bridge very rigid, but it also allows the wind to blow right through the structure. In addition, engineers placed 20 tuned mass dampers (TMDs) in each tower. The TMDs swing in the opposite direction of the wind sway. So when the wind blows the bridge in one direction, the TMDs sway in the opposite direction, effectively “balancing” the bridge and canceling out the sway. With this design, the Akashi Kaikyo can handle 180-mile-per-hour winds, and it can withstand an earthquake with a magnitude of up to 8.5 on the Richter scale!

Fast Facts:

The bridge is so long, it would take eight Sears Towers laid end to end to span the same distance. The length of the cables used in the bridge totals 300,000 kilometers.
That’s enough to circle the earth 7.5 times!
The bridge was originally designed to be 12,825 feet.
But on January 17, 1995, the Great Hanshin Earthquake stretched the bridge an additional three feet.
The bridge holds three records: it is the longest, tallest, and most expensive suspension bridge ever built.

AKASHI KAIKYO BRIDGE ; AKASHI STRAIT

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WORLD’S LONGEST SUSPENSION BRIDGE
10 YEARS OF CONSTRUCTION
3 DECADES OF PLANNING
4 BILLION DOLLAR INVESTMENT

Vital Statistics:
Location: Kobe and Awaji-shima, Japan
Completion Date: 1998
Cost: $4.3 billion
Length: 12,828 feetType: Suspension
Purpose: Roadway
Materials: Steel
Longest Single Span: 6,527 feet
Engineer(s): Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Authority


In 1998, Japanese engineers stretched the limits of bridge engineering with the completion of the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge. Currently the longest spanning suspension bridge in the world, the Akashi Kaiko Bridge stretches 12,828 feet across the Akashi Strait to link the city of Kobe with Awaji-shima Island. It would take four Brooklyn Bridges to span the same distance! The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge isn’t just long — it’s also extremely tall. Its two towers, at 928 feet, soar higher than any other bridge towers in the world.

The Akashi Strait is a busy shipping port, so engineers had to design a bridge that would not block shipping traffic. They also had to consider the weather. Japan experiences some of the worst weather on the planet. Gale winds whip through the Strait. Rain pours down at a rate of 57 inches per year. Hurricanes, tsunamis, and earthquakes rattle and thrash the island almost annually.

How did the Japanese engineers get around these problems? They supported their bridge with a truss, or complex network of triangular braces, beneath the roadway. The open network of triangles makes the bridge very rigid, but it also allows the wind to blow right through the structure. In addition, engineers placed 20 tuned mass dampers (TMDs) in each tower. The TMDs swing in the opposite direction of the wind sway. So when the wind blows the bridge in one direction, the TMDs sway in the opposite direction, effectively “balancing” the bridge and canceling out the sway. With this design, the Akashi Kaikyo can handle 180-mile-per-hour winds, and it can withstand an earthquake with a magnitude of up to 8.5 on the Richter scale!

Fast Facts:

The bridge is so long, it would take eight Sears Towers laid end to end to span the same distance. The length of the cables used in the bridge totals 300,000 kilometers.
That’s enough to circle the earth 7.5 times!
The bridge was originally designed to be 12,825 feet.
But on January 17, 1995, the Great Hanshin Earthquake stretched the bridge an additional three feet.
The bridge holds three records: it is the longest, tallest, and most expensive suspension bridge ever built.

SEXIEST MAN ALIVE – HUGH JACKMAN

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Biography forHugh Jackman
Date of Birth12 October 1968, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Birth Name : Hugh Michael Jackman
Height6′ 2½” (1.89 m)



Mini Biography : Born in Sydney of English parentage, and the youngest of 5 children, Jackman has a Communications degree with a journalism major from the University of Technology Sydney. After graduating, he pursued drama at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, immediately after which he was offered a starring role in the ABC TV prison drama “Correlli” (1995), opposite his future wife Deborra-Lee Furness. Several TV guest roles followed, as an actor and variety compere. An accomplished singer, Jackman has starred as Gaston in the Australian production of Beauty and the Beast. He appeared as Joe Gillis in the Australian production of Sunset Boulevard. In 1998, he was cast as Curly in the Royal National Theatre’s production of Trevor Nunn’s Oklahoma. Jackman has made two feature films, the second of which, Erskineville Kings (1999), garnered him an Australian Film Institute nomination for Best Actor in 1999. Recently, he won the part of Logan/Wolverine in the Bryan Singer- directed comic book movie X-Men (2000). In his spare time, Hugh plays piano, golf and guitar and likes to windsurf.

Favorite curse word is “bullshit”.

SpouseDeborra-Lee Furness (11 April 1996 – present) 2 children

SEXIEST MAN ALIVE – HUGH JACKMAN

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Biography forHugh Jackman
Date of Birth12 October 1968, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Birth Name : Hugh Michael Jackman
Height6′ 2½” (1.89 m)



Mini Biography : Born in Sydney of English parentage, and the youngest of 5 children, Jackman has a Communications degree with a journalism major from the University of Technology Sydney. After graduating, he pursued drama at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, immediately after which he was offered a starring role in the ABC TV prison drama “Correlli” (1995), opposite his future wife Deborra-Lee Furness. Several TV guest roles followed, as an actor and variety compere. An accomplished singer, Jackman has starred as Gaston in the Australian production of Beauty and the Beast. He appeared as Joe Gillis in the Australian production of Sunset Boulevard. In 1998, he was cast as Curly in the Royal National Theatre’s production of Trevor Nunn’s Oklahoma. Jackman has made two feature films, the second of which, Erskineville Kings (1999), garnered him an Australian Film Institute nomination for Best Actor in 1999. Recently, he won the part of Logan/Wolverine in the Bryan Singer- directed comic book movie X-Men (2000). In his spare time, Hugh plays piano, golf and guitar and likes to windsurf.

Favorite curse word is “bullshit”.

SpouseDeborra-Lee Furness (11 April 1996 – present) 2 children