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A glass-bottom Skydeck for Sears Tower

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Mari333 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 06:03 PM
Original message
A glass-bottom Skydeck for Sears Tower

Visitors won't have to crane their necks to see straight down from the Sears Tower Skydeck when the building adds four glass-bottomed balconies, nicknamed "The Ledge," to its 50-mile views come June.

The Skydeck on the 103rd floor of the building that is changing its name to Willis Tower, opened in 1974, and has--weather permitting--always provided a view of four states. But to see what's directly beneath them, visitors always had to get as close to the building's windows as possible. The Ledge is scheduled to open next month, according to a spokeswoman for the Skydeck.












http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/05/a-glass-bottom-skydeck-for-sears-tower.html


NO WAY would I go out on that! uh uh uh oh nonononono.
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fishwax Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 06:05 PM
Response to Original message
1. oh my! I would really like to do that
:wow:
:bounce:
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lunatica Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 06:07 PM
Response to Original message
2. I'll never go there. never.... never..... never
never... :scared:
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Mari333 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 06:08 PM
Response to Reply #2
5. no kidding!!! I cant even stand on a chair without wanting to
cling to the nearest wall as I eerily swoon. They would have to pump valium into me via a major artery before I would do this.
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anigbrowl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 06:46 PM
Response to Reply #5
18. It freaks me out too...but I'd like to try it seeing as I can't actually fall.
You can train yourself out of the vertigo reaction. when I worked in construction I was uber-nevous at first, but that's not so unusual - they gave me a sling and I went up one level of scaffolding each day. After 2 weeks I was up and down like a money. You just need to give your body time to get used to the idea that nothing bad is actually happening.
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eppur_se_muova Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 07:16 PM
Response to Reply #18
32. Up and down like a money?
Well, the financial sector has been volatile ... :D

I have a book on the Middle Ages in which one of the figures shows an annotated plan for a medieval market ... one of the stalls is marked "monkey changers", which tells me there's a lot about medieval commerce of which I am still ignorant.
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anigbrowl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 08:35 PM
Response to Reply #32
37. Ha, good catch :-)
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NV Whino Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 06:08 PM
Response to Original message
3. I think I could resist that.
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Deja Q Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 06:09 PM
Response to Reply #3
6. Resistance is useless.
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Faygo Kid Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 06:33 PM
Response to Reply #6
17. Futile! It's futile!
Fascinating.
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NV Whino Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 06:50 PM
Response to Reply #17
21. You beat me to it.
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Deja Q Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 06:08 PM
Response to Original message
4. Two questions:
1. How many birds will fly *whap* into the thing; break their birdie necks?

2. Wouldn't it be fun to unzip the fly, take a leak, then wonder why it's not falling?
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Posteritatis Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 06:11 PM
Response to Reply #4
8. re: #1
It's a horizontal surface, so I'd figure not many. In any case the building as a whole would probably cause rather more of them.
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Tangerine LaBamba Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 07:42 PM
Response to Reply #4
35. The same number, probably........
Given how tall it is, not many birds fly up there.

I remember that the Hancock Tower in Chicago turned its trademark lights out twice a year, during bird migration season, so as not to confuse the birds.

My only visit to the Sears Tower, when it first opened, was the first time I felt like I was in a plane without being in a plane. Amazing sensation.

We watched them build that thing. What a show it was ....................
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merh Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 06:11 PM
Response to Original message
7. just looking at the photo gives me the willies
GMA covered this story this morning - they said the building "powers that be" got the idea for the glassed floored balconies because window cleaners had to clean the windows of the forehead marks caused by people straining to see down and pressing their foreheads to the windows.
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Mari333 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 06:12 PM
Response to Reply #7
9. I will NEVER call it the Willis Tower
Its the Sears Tower to me. Willy Tower, maybe, just for fun. a HUGE Willy.
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Drunken Irishman Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 06:14 PM
Response to Original message
10. That looks awesome!
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47of74 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 06:15 PM
Response to Original message
11. That looks like fun
I think next time I go to Chicago I'll have to pay a visit to the ledge.
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konnichi wa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 06:18 PM
Response to Reply #11
13. Yeah it does look fun! I went out on the one that hangs over the grand canyon
it's kewl. :D
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fishwax Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 08:49 PM
Response to Reply #13
40. The Grand Canyon one looks pretty amazing
the price seems a bit steep for what you get, though. But I'd do it if I had the chance.

Welcome to DU, konnichi wa :hi:
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SoCalDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 06:16 PM
Response to Original message
12. Women with skirts, beware!
:rofl:

When the Stratosphere opened we wcouldn;t eait to ride their roller coaster..It was tres' cool .
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BlooInBloo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 06:19 PM
Response to Original message
14. Coooool.
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eleny Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 06:26 PM
Response to Original message
15. like the grand canyon sky walk - where the walls aren't all that tall, either
and the walkway floor is clear.
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Blue Diadem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 07:02 PM
Response to Reply #15
26. my granddaughter thought that was cool.
She told us her Dad didn't think so though.
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Faygo Kid Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 06:31 PM
Response to Original message
16. Well, there goes my pants.
Didn't used to be afraid of heights. Am now. Not sure what happened, but I think those people dropping from the World Trade Center on 9/11 may have done it, because that's about the time it started.

I'll pass on that, although at one time I would have thought it cool.
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suede1 Donating Member (770 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 06:48 PM
Response to Original message
19. Too cool!
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cherish44 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 06:50 PM
Response to Original message
20. There's a glass bottom floor at the CN tower in Toronto
It was some scary shit!
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Goblinmonger Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 07:14 PM
Response to Reply #20
31. Yep, it is.
Lost my stomach a couple times walking over that.
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Kansas Wyatt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 06:56 PM
Response to Original message
22. Asshole Pucker Scale: 11
On a 1 - 10 scale.
:yoiks:
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Alexander Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 06:56 PM
Response to Original message
23. Um, no thank you. I'll stay here down on planet Earth.
The possibility of a long plummet to my death is not my idea of a good time.

I'll leave that stuff to other people.
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uncle ray Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 07:28 PM
Response to Reply #23
34. very slim chance of falling.
the side glass in the pic appears to be several layers of very thick laminated glass. no doubt the floor glass is even thicker. the lamination includes layers of plastic similar to the windshield in your car, so even if it did break, you would be suspended by the plastic rather than plummet to the ground.
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Alexander Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 07:47 PM
Response to Reply #34
36. Doesn't stop me from being terrified.
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Forkboy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 06:58 PM
Response to Original message
24. Can you say "Fuck that"?
I knew you could.
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Alexander Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 07:06 PM
Response to Reply #24
27. Not only "fuck that", but "fuck that.com"
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Blue Diadem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 07:00 PM
Response to Original message
25. I wouldn't go out on that either.
My granddaughter recently went on the grand Canyon Sky walk and thought it was pretty cool, she'd probably love that glass balcony. :scared:

http://www.destinationgrandcanyon.com/skywalk.html
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pepperbear Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 07:09 PM
Response to Original message
28. is a fear of falling different from a fear of heights? n/t
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Mari333 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 07:11 PM
Response to Reply #28
30. fear of loss of control is more like it I think
in both cases. It would probably be good for me to walk out on that thing, to conquer my fear. but unless someone paid me money to do it, I wouldnt. I have my price tho . :P
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eppur_se_muova Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 07:11 PM
Response to Original message
29. Whatchoo talkin' about Willis?
Someone had to say it. :)
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eppur_se_muova Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 07:18 PM
Response to Original message
33. Please please PLEASE invite Rush Limbaugh up for a look! nt
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MilesColtrane Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 08:36 PM
Response to Original message
38. Oh, HELL NO!
Do Not Want!
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Political Heretic Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 08:37 PM
Response to Original message
39. No. Freakin. Way.
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cagesoulman Donating Member (648 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 09:25 PM
Response to Original message
41. Rad. I'm out there!
:headbang:
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alarimer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-02-09 09:40 PM
Response to Original message
42. Umm, no thanks.
I am not terribly fond of heights as it is.
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