Shanghai Tower: China’s Urban Jungle

This post is affiliate content. See bottom of article for details.

“Maybe you’re the runner up 
But the first one to lose the race 
Almost only really counts in 
Horseshoes and hand grenades”

– Green Day – “Horseshoes and Handgrenades”

Many people will tell you that second place is really just the first loser but the Shanghai Tower in the Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone of China hasn’t let that keep them down.

Taking out the metaphorical silver medal in the World’s Tallest Building Awards, Shanghai Tower is 632 meters tall and has 128 floors above ground and five more below.

It is beaten only by Dubai’s Burj Khalifa which stands 828 meters tall with 163 levels.

Haunting History: The Sordid Past of Mumbai’s Beloved Taj Hotel

This post is affiliate content. See bottom of article for details.

“Light is the left hand of darkness and darkness the right hand of light.
Two are one, life and death, lying together like lovers in kemmer,
like hands joined together, like the end and the way.”

― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness

While this may seem a strange quote to open with, it is surprisingly fitting for today’s topic.

The Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai is one of the most elegant structures in history and arguably holds its own as one of the most attractive hotels in India even in the present day.

In the early 80s the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel & Tower was ranked the fifth best hotel in the world for two years running and upgrades made in the 90s ensured that the hotel kept up with the times.

It’s past, however, is nowhere near as beautiful as its façade.

Super Blue Blood Moon

If you were outside tonight you may have noticed the moon doing some pretty interesting things. The occurrence, known as a Super Blue Blood Moon is revered by many as a once in a life time experience and it definitely didn’t disappoint. While Australia saw a total eclipse on a blue moon around thirty five years ago, the moon was exceptionally pretty tonight thanks to its status as a ‘super moon’. The moon reached partial eclipse around 11:50 and hit total about 12:30. Click through for some candid shots for your viewing pleasure.

Dear T8 Family Haters

I’ve followed the V8 Supercars my whole life, some families have footy, mine had racing. And for that time, I’ve been a dedicated Craig Lowndes fan, even when he decided to cross to the dark side and drive a Ford for a while.

Tonight Lowndsey sent out a tweet thanking his crew and fans, and while the majority of responses were positive, or at least polite, I came across a few that were horrible and truly straight up uncalled for. When I went digging further, I found that Gizzy and J Dub were receiving the same kind of treatment from so called fans of the sport.

The Triple Eight crew race hard, but they also race fair, when they step out of line they generally redress and they always strive to have a clean race.

What happened between Lowndes and McLaughlin today was unfortunate and yea it sucks that he lost the championship so close to holding the title for the first time in his career, but the way he put Craig out of the race would earn anyone a penalty, we can’t expect that he be let off just because of where he sat on the leader board.

I’d be saying this no matter what team the hate was aimed at but it happens that I’ve seen it directed at T8 fam more than anyone. Even the fans who run the accounts for the boys cars have copped flak which isn’t ok either.

If you feel the need to be disgusting, please keep it to yourself, none of the racers or teams deserve to receive it and no-one wants to see it.

K, thanks, bye.

The end of the V8 Supercars Championship

2017 has been a year of losses for Australian car enthusiasts. The country’s manufacturing industry officially shut it’s doors, leaving many unemployed and setting off a domino affect within our car related industries. That’s not what we’re here to talk about though, this weekend marks the end of another era. As of tomorrow, the V8 Supercars will be no more.

Q&A with Helen D.

Helen Dent is a special needs educator at a rural facility. I recently spoke with her for an article on special needs education, however, upon receiving her answers I felt that the interview should also be published in its entirety.

Read on to find out her favourite thing about her job, why she feels IEPs are so important and other interesting information.

Nanny dogs not nuisances

Bundy is a four year old mixed bully breed with a lot of love for his human friends. He attends obedience classes twice a week and easily wins over even the most cautious guests in his owner, Tyler’s, home.

Bundy is dog reactive and as such, one of the classes he attends is specifically tailored to help with this. It is his general obedience class, however, in which Bundy has run into issues.

Due to his reactivity, Bundy is kept muzzled both for his protection and for that of the other dogs present. Being a responsible owner, Tyler has no problem with this.

What she does take offence to, however, is that while there are two other reactive dogs present, Bundy is the only one who is actually required to wear a muzzle.

Tyler feels that Bundy has been singled out due to his appearance, as one of the trainers went out of their way to point out that dog reactivity is “very common” among Pit Bulls which is what they feel Bundy “obviously is”.

To add context, the other two dog reactive animals in the class are a Jack Russell type and a Cavalier type.

The 11th Hour: 23-05-17

Our final show 😦

The 11th Hour: 16-05-17

Public transport safety, vodka and NAPLAN reforms feature on this week’s show.

The 11th Hour: 09-05-17

This episode covers the French election, university funding cuts and fidget spinners.