Indoor Tropical Island 356
fons writes "The huge construction dome of the now bankrupt zeppelin maker CargoLifter, has been turned into an indoor tropical island. For about 20euro a day you can swim in the sea, take a walk in the rainforest or go to a beachparty. While it is snowing outside, it's a always a pleasant 25C on the island. And there are no tsunami's. It's bigger than Biosphere2 (it fits the Eiffeltower) but there's less sunlight. Would you spend your vacation in there? The Germans don't seem to be very eager."
No culture (Score:3, Interesting)
Meh (Score:5, Interesting)
In Japan... (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.gluckman.com/IndoorBeach.html
what i'd like to see (Score:5, Interesting)
It seems like it could be a lot simpler than what Biosphere 2 tried to do, and a lot more likely to be successful. It would also be beneficial in helping us figure out what we'll need for long-term space missions.
so sad (Score:1, Interesting)
Hide the roof! (Score:2, Interesting)
Would be a bit tricky to match the projection with the roof geometry, but can think of some cool thinks to do.
I live in Germany. (Score:5, Interesting)
Germans ain't got no beach. So what if they've now 'got one' in a bubble, it still ain't no beach. That said, its still frickin' cool
And
[If it weren't for my perfect German job, I'd be back home on the beaches tomorrow, sheesh..]
Ah, the joy! (Score:2, Interesting)
You think THIS is bad? (Score:3, Interesting)
What happened at Kalkar was FAR worse - far more money was invested (i.e. wasted) by various governments. Read all about it here [askoxford.com]. My parents paid the extra "Kalkar tax" (to pay for the reactor) for years and years, and now it, too, is a theme park. And not even a nuclear theme park, it is simply a health spa. I know, I visited while you could still see most of the reactor and equipment...
Oddly enough, this is in Germany as well. Makes you wonder...
If it's anything like Mall of America... (Score:3, Interesting)
I suspect this is a case where it's going to take some time to work out the kinks, and hope the owners took that into account when doing their business plan.
I wouldn't be surprised to see this become successful - eventually. I also wouldn't be surprised if that didn't happen until the debt had been restructured, and possibly through transfer to new ownership.
Just my .02 worth...
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For my other .98, check here [blogspot.com] :-)
Been there, done that.... (Score:4, Interesting)
i've been there last thursday for about four hours. At that time, about 5.000 other people did the same. On some days between the holidays, the dome had to be closed due to overcrowding (max. 7.500 people at the same time). The visit was the birthday present for my girlfriend (together with a musical visit later that day).
The dome is extremely impressive. The size dwarves everything i ever seen before. I'm familier with large halls (productions sites) due to my connections to AIRBUS, but those are much smaller. The Statue of Liberty would fit inside the dome upright. The mentioned Eiffel tower would fit only if laid down. The tropical feeling suffers from the size. Only lower 10m (30feet) contain some tropical stuff (houses, plants, pools), the remaining dome looks still industrial. It seemed a little dark to me, i would have prefered more and warmer light.
The temperature inside is as warm as advertised. Both pools were overcrowded and queuing up was required for nearly everything (food, toilett, entry, cashier, changing cubicle, etc.). Prices are very fair. Overall rating would be a "B". There a quite a lot places to improve, but i hope the "Tropical Island" will survive.
For geeks: Every person entering the dome receives a card with a RFID chip. This card is used to pay food, drinks, etc. The RFID chip even operates the lockers (instead of a key). On exiting the dome, you pay according to the bill for your RFID card. Unluckily they had some trouble with this process. So it was up to "What did you have?" and paying what you told them.
The dome is open round the clock; i would recommend to visit it during the night, when there are less visitors (there were too many small children for my taste). You can even rent a tent for inside camping ;-).
If anyone is interested, i can add links to images and a short video later.
Regards, Martin
Re:The dark side (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:The dark side (Score:2, Interesting)
Let's for the moment assume pure quarter-by-quarter profit motive, with respect to the asteroid issue. In that setting, it will NEVER be worth it for ANY company to solve the problem of detecting and deflecting asteroids or comets. ANY such work comes right off the bottom line, and becomes a competitive disadvantage. Besides, in any given year, or any given decade, or any given century, the probability of an asteroid/comet impact is vanishingly small. So without SOMEONE to say, "Spend at least a little resource on this societal problem," it just won't get done. Period. At the same time, geological history suggests that over some *long* period the Earth does get hit with big rocks, any big hit will end the free market, as we know it, and there's not way to use statistics to say, "It positively won't happen in the next decade or century."
I believe that there's a balance needed between socialism and capitalism, and too far toward *either* is both wrong and in the long run, detrimental. Isn't raw capitalism simply law-of-the-jungle played out with economic instead of physical force? It took thousands of years of socialization to progress beyond might-makes-right to the rule of Law, and substantial parts of the globe haven't really even gotten there, yet. IMHO the US is currently sliding towards an economic might-makes-right savagery.