# The Burj Dubai: Earthquake Generator? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 25, 2008, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burj-dubai-earthquake-generator/450518 "2008-05-25T01:30:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burj-dubai-earthquake-generator/450518/21 "2008-11-29T14:38:56Z")
I vote they should name the new tower Babel. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burj-dubai-earthquake-generator/450518/22 "2008-11-29T15:51:59Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I vote they should name the new tower Babel. Or maybe “Johnson”. ---
**Author:** ![Jaglavak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85f322/32.png) [@Jaglavak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaglavak)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burj-dubai-earthquake-generator/450518/23 "2008-11-29T23:26:29Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Or maybe “Johnson”. Yes! Gotta love it. So why does this thing exist? Ask the developer and he will say, so what if it’s expensive, it’s selling like hotcakes. To a tenant it’s a statement. Nothing screens out the riff raff like the brute power of money. And it might even make sense. If, say, a broker is able to rub shoulders with the right people down by the pool, the increased business might make the rent look like a good investment. The broker’s rich customers are trying to screen out posers and find people who effectively get things done. A broker who can afford a place like that must surely be effective at making money. You can only fake that for so long. This is how big money creates it’s own reality. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burj-dubai-earthquake-generator/450518/24 "2008-11-30T01:02:14Z")
> [@Jaglavak](#): > > Yes! Gotta love it. > > So why does this thing exist? Ask the developer and he will say, so what if it’s expensive, it’s selling like hotcakes. > > To a tenant it’s a statement. Nothing screens out the riff raff like the brute power of money. And it might even make sense. If, say, a broker is able to rub shoulders with the right people down by the pool, the increased business might make the rent look like a good investment. > > The broker’s rich customers are trying to screen out posers and find people who effectively get things done. A broker who can afford a place like that must surely be effective at making money. You can only fake that for so long. > > This is how big money creates it’s own reality. “Johnson Tower, Where All The Rich Pricks Hang Out” ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burj-dubai-earthquake-generator/450518/25 "2008-11-30T03:49:24Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > “Johnson Tower, Where All The Rich Pricks Hang Out” I’d say that “… who knows what opportunities might pop up” would better fit the, er, rather erect posture of the thing. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burj-dubai-earthquake-generator/450518/26 "2008-11-30T08:51:38Z")
> [@](#): > > The broker’s rich customers are trying to screen out posers and find people who effectively get things done. A broker who can afford a place like that must surely be effective at making money. You can only fake that for so long. Well, sure, but there’s a tipping point to that. There are only so many such people, and if you build the building bigger than will fit ALL of them, then your price point is compromised. You can’t be an exclusive building if you’re so big that the only way to recoup your construction costs is to lease to EVERYBODY. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burj-dubai-earthquake-generator/450518/27 "2009-01-21T05:33:43Z")
Lightning strikes the top of the Burj Dubai. See it [here](http://www.burjdubaiskyscraper.com/2009/01/burj1424.jpg), [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ73ivY6b7g), [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6-oLhQJRPw) and [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aie6qXTam3I). ---
**Author:** ![willthekittensurvive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burj-dubai-earthquake-generator/450518/28 "2009-01-21T08:48:41Z")
Wasn’t using Skyscrapers as giant acupuncture needles on global leylines the chief instrument of global domination for the old man of the mountain and his Hashshashin? Or are we not allowed to talk about it?I keep forgetting ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burj-dubai-earthquake-generator/450518/29 "2009-04-21T05:12:58Z")
And now, the Burj Dubai is attracting BASE jumpers intent on setting a world record. There have already been successes. Video [here](http://current.com/items/89546563_world-record-base-jump.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burj-dubai-earthquake-generator/450518/30 "2009-04-21T05:46:15Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > And really obsessive skyscraper geekiness and constant photo updates [here](http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=534013&page=374). 🆒 > > (Link currently points to last page of 374-page thread. And I think that’s the 28th thread or something stupid.) > > It really is just quite ridiculously, insanely, ludicrously [tall](http://img145.imageshack.us/my.php?image=burjdubaibymeldoux08052bm3.jpg), and there are still several hundred feet of spire to go. [It’s tall.](http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/2883/24052008js3.jpg) > > I have to see this thing in the flesh one day. I used to live 2km from it. It IS insanely tall. When it was only 60 floors or so it seemed like any other building, then at 100 or so it seemed well quite tall indeed, at 140 floors it was OMG tall. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burj-dubai-earthquake-generator/450518/31 "2009-04-21T13:29:14Z")
The Burj Dubai and this new planned 1km tower are what happens when you have too much money chasing too few goods…same thing with those manmade islands like the Palm Island and the giant world map. Dubai is insane with Spenditis. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Lance_Murdoch)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burj-dubai-earthquake-generator/450518/32 "2009-04-21T19:37:17Z")
> [@Jaglavak](#): > > Architects get all damp and fluttery over it, but from a money and utility angle it just doesn’t pencil out. Rather odd and very Freudian. Engineers maybe. Architects will likely treat it as an object of ridicule, like most of the stuff in Dubai. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burj-dubai-earthquake-generator/450518/33 "2009-04-21T20:16:27Z")
Is there any rationale for skyscrapers in Dubai? Is real estate at a premium? Looking at the skyline in the pictures, it doesn’t seem as though they’ve really been forced to expand upwards for previous buildings. Granted, they are building huge artificial islands, but that could just be a desire for more beachfront property. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burj-dubai-earthquake-generator/450518/34 "2009-04-21T20:33:11Z")
Well, land values are high, but not, like, Manhattan/The City/Otemachi high. Certainly not high enough to require 150-floor office buildings. There’s rarely a rationale for a skyscraper of this type anyway. Neither downtown Kuala Lumpur or the Chicago Loop area boast particularly high land values. You could have built two Sears half-towers for much, much less than the price of one full-size one, or four half-Petronas Towers. ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burj-dubai-earthquake-generator/450518/35 "2009-04-22T13:51:20Z")
I think I read about this in the Time/Life Science series of books in the 60’s, that Manhattan was actually “lighter” since the earth being excavated down to the bedrock exceeded the weight of the buildings being thrown up. On the other hand, the same series talked about all of the Chinese jumping off chairs and generating enormous tsunamis… which was literally the very first Straight Dope article I ever read and started me on Cecil’s enlighten path. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-burj-dubai-earthquake-generator/450518.md?page=1)