Notre Dame Cathedral on fire

[villa4europe]

going OT here but personally i'd have turned the athletes village in to the government members 2nd homes post 2012 but maybe that's taking it a bit too far...

back OT it'll be interesting to see if they rebuild it exactly the same, 5 years and at a cost of north of 500m EUR, they could do it in half the time for half the cost and produce more or less the same façade if they used modern techniques and obviously a bit safer

[villa4europe]

1 minute ago, peterms said:

The building was designed to meet the needs of the architect, and to show off, not to meet the needs of the users.

you've just described every construction project I've ever worked on

[VILLAMARV]

Quote

A man has been arrested after walking into New York's St Patrick's Cathedral carrying two full petrol cans, lighter fluid and lighters, police say. They say guards confronted the 37-year-old as he entered the Manhattan church on Wednesday evening. He spilt gasoline on the ground and officers took him into custody.

Deputy police commissioner John Miller noted that the "suspicious" incident occurred just two days after a fire gutted Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris. St Patrick's is the seat of New York's Roman Catholic archdiocese.

"An individual walking into an iconic location like St Patrick's cathedral carrying over four gallons of gasoline, two bottles of lighter fluid and lighters, is something we would have grave concern over," Mr Miller told reporters.

The NYPD deputy commissioner of intelligence and counter-terrorism however said it was "too early to say" whether terrorism was a motive.When confronted outside the cathedral, the man told officers his vehicle had run out of fuel and he was cutting through the cathedral to get to it. He was arrested when police checked the van and saw it was not out of petrol.

"We don't know what his mindset was," Mr Miller said.

Investigators in Paris say renovation works at Notre-Dame could have accidentally sparked Monday's fire. The disaster has led to a surge in fundraising for black churches destroyed by an arsonist in the US earlier this year. A 21-year-old accused of burning down three African-American churches in Louisiana was on Tuesday charged with hate crimes.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-47973354

[Rugeley Villa]

3 hours ago, peterms said:

A large part of the reason for the cost was that 9/11 happened when construction was already under way, and at that point they decided to change the spec to make it bombproof.  

 

They should have made it idiot proof. 

[Rugeley Villa]

3 hours ago, peterms said:

A large part of the reason for the cost was that 9/11 happened when construction was already under way, and at that point they decided to change the spec to make it bombproof.  

 

They should have made it idiotproof.

[Rugeley Villa]

3 hours ago, peterms said:

A large part of the reason for the cost was that 9/11 happened when construction was already under way, and at that point they decided to change the spec to make it bombproof.  

 

They should have made it idiotproof.

[Rugeley Villa]

I can say that again.

Edited April 18, 2019 by Rugeley Villa

[chrisp65]

Now I'm thinking, was that the work of a comedy genius?

[VILLAMARV]

[mjmooney]

Practicing for the sponsored bungee jump in aid of Notre Dame. 

[chrisp65]

800,000,000 Euros would certainly buy a lot of rainforest.

[VILLAMARV]

2 hours ago, chrisp65 said:

800,000,000 Euros would certainly buy a lot of rainforest.

 

[Stevo985]

12 hours ago, VILLAMARV said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-47973354

I don’t know how he even made it that far. 

I was in New York in November and every tourist spot, including St Patrick’s, had airport style security at the door. 

I’d guess the story is slightly embellished and the guy never actually made it past that 

(not that that takes away from the point)

[chrisp65]

I'd seen a few things about the rainforest and the comparison with the outcry over Notre Dame.

It's a building, we lose some, we gain some. But it's a building. It has no soul and no life.

But perhaps it needs people to say that in a positive way, rather than always snipe at easy targets from the sidelines. We should be promoting causes that reduce consumption, preserve nature, clean up our mess.

I feel far more positive about a bunch of hippies having a dance on Oxford Street with a couple of police than I do about worrying about whether the catholic church will contribute funds to re creating a third iteration of a pointy roof.

Stick a simple roof back on the building, plant a million trees, invest in turbines.

 

[VILLAMARV]

While I wont be joining them, it doesn't really bother me if people want to throw a load of money at their church. That they are one of , if not THE, richest organisation(s) in the world I can obviously see the a huge amount of irony in that process (as I do with collection plates) - but live as you wanna live.

Point it proves though to me though, as most disasters usually do (because the vast majority of us are nice) is what we can do in a really short space of time when we unite behind a common cause and apply a little empathy.

Not so much I wish we would spend that money on X, Y, Z. But look how easy it is to collect an insane amount of money when people care enough about something.

[bickster]

1 hour ago, VILLAMARV said:

That they are one of , if not THE, richest organisation(s) in the world I can obviously see the a huge amount of irony in that process (as I do with collection plates) - but live as you wanna live.

£30 Billion is the current estimate of their wealth

[chrisp65]

The catholic church don't own the building.

 

 

 

[LondonLax]

Isn’t most of the catholic churches wealth tied up in the valuation put on their realestate assets? It’s not like they have a bank account with billions sitting in it doing nothing. 

[snowychap]

31 minutes ago, LondonLax said:

Isn’t most of the catholic churches wealth tied up in the valuation put on their realestate assets? It’s not like they have a bank account with billions sitting in it doing nothing. 

It's not doing nothing - it's paying off litigants.

[HanoiVillan]

Maybe this is an Unpopular Take but I don't see why 'replacing a church roof in Paris' and 'protecting rainforests in tropical zones' are linked, let alone mutually exclusive. Clearly both are possible, so why not do both.