domingo, outubro 27, 2013

Inside Facebookville

 

Inside Facebookville: Employees to get their own housing in $120m town Zuckerberg built

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The company already provides them with a hair salon, a laundry and bike shop.
But now Facebook employees will have even more perks and will effectively never leave the office - with an entire town built just for them.
The social network has unveiled plans for the community called Anton Menlo which will have student dorm style accommodation that will go next door to the company's campus.
Social network commute: Facebook is building an apartment community just for employees which will be located a quick five-minute bike ride away from headquarters
Social network commute: Facebook is building an apartment community just for employees which will be located a quick five-minute bike ride away from headquarters
Living the Facebook life: The apartment complex will be called Anton Menlo and will feature a pool, doggy day care, sports bar, and bike path to campus
Living the Facebook life: The apartment complex will be called Anton Menlo and will feature a pool, doggy day care, sports bar, and bike path to campus
Taking work home: The company decided to build the complex after employees started complaining about housing shortages in Menlo Park
Taking work home: The company decided to build the complex after employees started complaining about housing shortages in Menlo Park
There will also be a pool, doggy day care, a sports bar and a bike path straight to the office.
Comfortable company: Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has helped turn his company's base in Menlo Park into more of a college campus than stereotypical corporate headquarters
Comfortable company: Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has helped turn his company's base in Menlo Park into more of a college campus than stereotypical corporate headquarters
The move recalls the 'company towns' of the 1800s during the Industrial Revolution when steel and mineworkers were housed in cheap tenement homes so they could work at otherwise remote sites.
But Facebook hopes that it will remove the need for employees to think about mundane tasks and instead focus on being 'creative'.
Facebook already encourages employees to spend as much time as they can with each other and puts on movie nights in the evenings on an outdoor screen.
On company game day engineers and coders take part in a three-legged race that is supposed to be a team building exercise.
After some employees asked about accommodation close to the Menlo Park, California HQ of Facebook - and with rents skyrocketing - bosses decided to make its own student dorm.
The company worked with St Anton Partners, a San Francisco Bay area architecture company, with the aim of creating a Harvard-like campus building.
The result is a $120 million community with 394 housing united and 630,000 combined square feet of rental homes.
Company people: Anton Menlo is reminiscent of company towns during the industrial revolution where entire communities were built up around factories who housed employees close to work sites in remote locations. Above, steelmill houses in Alabama
Company people: Anton Menlo is reminiscent of company towns during the industrial revolution where entire communities were built up around factories who housed employees close to work sites in remote locations. Above, steelmill houses in Alabama
Living at work: 1950s company housing for Reynold's Metal Company in Mississippi
Living at work: 1950s company housing for Reynold's Metal Company in Mississippi
The apartments will be rented out at market rates which means Facebook employees will be paying at least around $2,000 to live there.
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, John Tenanes, Facebook's director of real estate, said that the 'beauty of this thing is that it's extremely close to our campus'.
 

He said: 'It's a five-minute bike ride. You don't even have to put on the brakes'.
Bonus: Other amenities available to Facebook employees include free food, company-organized movie nights and a hair salon
Bonus: Other amenities available to Facebook employees include free food, company-organized movie nights and a hair salon
Among those who are looking forward to moving in is Lauryn Hale, a Harvard Business School graduate who was hired by Facebook in 2010.
She said she loved eating frozen yoghurt at the shop on campus and that she thinks staying at Anton Menlo will allow her to have more 'walking meetings' with colleagues who she runs into on the way to the office.
A Facebook spokeswoman said: 'We're certainly excited to have more housing options closer to campus, but we believe that people work at Facebook because what they do is rewarding and they believe in our mission'.




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Live In Peace & Love.

Deepak Punjabi

Baguio City


Huge Cave In China

 
The cave so huge it has its own weather system: Explorers discover a lost world with thick cloud and fogs trapped inside
  • The cave system was discovered in the Chongquing province of China by a team of cavers and photographers
  • Caver Robbie Shone, from Manchester, said a few of the caves had previously been used by nitrate miners but had not been properly explored
  • The network, which includes 'cloud Ladder Hall' measuring around 51,000 metres squared, has water sources and vegetation of the floor
By SARAH GRIFFITHS
PUBLISHED: 11:08 GMT, 2 October 2013 UPDATED: 13:44 GMT, 2 October 2013
Adventurers have stumbled across a cave so enormous that it has its own weather system, complete with wispy clouds and lingering fog inside vast caverns.
A team of expert cavers and photographers have been exploring the vast cave system in the 
Chongquing province of China and have taken the first-ever photographs of the natural wonder.
They were amazed to discover the entrance to the hidden Er Wang Dong cave system and were stunned when they managed to climb inside to see a space so large that it can contain a cloud.

The view from a small window in the wall of the vast Niubizi Tian Keng in the Er Wang Dong cave system
The view from a small window in the wall of the vast Niubizi Tian Keng in the Er Wang Dong cave system, where clouds form inside the huge spaces. Three tiny explorers can be seen negotiating the heavily vegetated floor
An intrepid cave explorer ascends a rope hanging from the Niubizi Tian Keng. This photograph is one of the first-ever images taken of one of a cave so large it has its own weather system
An intrepid cave explorer ascends a rope hanging from the Niubizi Tian Keng. This photograph is one of the first-ever images taken of one of a cave so large it has its own weather system
Photographer and caver Robbie Shone, from Manchester, was part of a team of 15 explorers on a month-long expedition that discovered the hidden system.

American speleologist Erin Lynch struggles to pull her way across a raging torrent of white water, which is the main river in Quankou Dong
American speleologist Erin Lynch struggles to pull her way across a raging torrent of white water, which is the main river in Quankou Dong. One of the explorers said they had to be aware of high water levels inside the caves, especially when it rained heavily on the surface
'It is always very special, knowing that you are the first to step foot into a cave or somewhere where nobody had previously seen, not knowing what you might find and discover.
'Where else on Earth can still hold secrets and mysteries of discovery? That's what I love so much about exploring.
Mr Shones was particularly excited about the cave network's interior weather system.
The spectacular beddings in the roof of Quankou
The spectacular beddings in the roof of Quankou. Photographer and caver Robbie Shone, from Manchester, was part of a team of 15 explorers on a month-long expedition who stumbled across the natural wonder
The underground camp in Sang Wang Dong is cosy and warm, according to the cavers
The underground camp in Sang Wang Dong is cosy and warm, according to the cavers. Hot food and drink recharge weary and tired explorers who sleep in either suspended hammocks or on roll mats on the floor, before venturing out into the vast surroundings
American speleologist Erin Lynch peers down over her shoulder into a giant void of cloud
American speleologist Erin Lynch peers down over her shoulder into a giant void of cloud.The floor is over 240m below and although it cant be seen due to the thick cloud that lingers around her, the echo that reverberates several seconds later reminds her of the volume of empty space and her lofty location
'I had never seen anything quite like the inside cloud ladder before,' he said.
'Thick cloud and fogs hangs in the upper half of the cave, where it gets trapped and unable to escape through the small passage in the roof, 250m above the ground.
'It reminded me of being in an abandoned slate quarrying North Wales in bad weather.
The cave system discovered is not the only one with clouds inside, as humidity rises inside the caverns into colder air to form clouds inside the giant, enclosed spaces.
Large stalagmites at the foot of a giant ascending ramp to another level of development
Large stalagmites at the foot of a giant ascending ramp to another level of development in San Wang Dong create a spectacle mid-way through a section of cave called Crusty Duvets
A giant calcite stalactite boss, dwarfs team member Matt Ryan as he looks up at the giant geological feature
A giant calcite stalactite boss, dwarfs team member Matt Ryan as he looks up at the giant geological feature
The network, includes 'Cloud Ladder Hall' which itself  measures around 51,000 metres squared, while there are rivers and vegetation on the floor of some of its huge caverns.
'Most caves are either accessed by large walking entrance, some require a long deep swim, other may be very vertical in nature where you need ropes to abseil down the walls deep into the caves.
'We had to be aware of high water levels inside the caves, especially when it rained heavily on the surface. 
'The drainage catchment to these caves is massive and soon the caves can be extremely dangerous and impassable,' he added.
One team member said it reminded him of being in an abandoned slate quarrying North Wales in bad weather
Duncan Collis and Erin Lynch walk through a section of cave in San Wang Dong called The Sea of Tranquility. Here remains of old Nitrate mining cover the floor in forms of harths - pits and unwanted spoil. One team member said it reminded him of being in an abandoned slate quarrying North Wales in bad weather
An explorer scales the rope up a vertical section of cave known as a pit in Xinu Attic
An explorer scales the rope up a vertical section of cave known as a pit in Xinu Attic
Crystal clear pools and slow moving streams make it easier to explore Quankou Dongs
Crystal clear pools and slow moving streams make it easier to explore Quankou Dongs main river passage in the huge network of caves that have not welcomed visitors in years



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Live In Peace & Love.

Deepak Punjabi

Baguio City