Friday, November 21, 2008

Base Jumping World Record

These guys set a world record for jumping off the highest building. They jumped off the Burj Dubai in Dubai while it was still under construction in May of 2008. The most amazing thing is they got away with it.


Dubai has been the city built on nothing for the past while. It has virtually risen from the desert from a small trading post in the last 75 years. That means that it has no real culture, architecturally or otherwise. I originally thought it would be an impressive place to go but the more I read about it and hear stories from people who have been there I really don't feel the need to go there. There is so many cooler places to check out and experience (like Spain).
Dubai is just an attempt to create an economy in the country that is not based entirely on oil production. As such it has no real history and therefore no culture. It is just overt opulence for the purpose of impressing. Every large international company now has to have a some headquarters there just to remain impressive. It is kind of in the same vein of McMansions and Escalades.

2 comments:

Tim said...

It's got more square feet of shopping mall per capita than any other city in the world!

Hooray.

Reuben said...

exactly my point