Let's begin by meeting the Taipei 101 skyscraper:
From its completion in 2004 until July 2007, the Taipai 101 was the world's tallest building. It was only recently surpassed in height by the Glass Cock of the Middle East, the Burj Dubai, last year. Despite this, the Taipei 101 is still a firm 1,670 ft tall at its spire - certainly nothing to scoff at. And as all world leaders know, the height of one's national skyscrapers is of utmost importance when posturing on the global stage. Eliminating the need to whip out one's skyscrapers for comparison during, say, an important international meeting, there is a handy chart available:
"Great," you say. "It's a really tall building. But there are lots of those, especially as evidenced by that handy chart above! Is there anything else the Taipei 101 can offer me, in terms of huge awesome things?" Luckily for you, reader, there is!
Nestled between the building's 87th and 89th floor lies the world's biggest tuned mass damper: a 730 ton concrete ball designed to "stabilize against violent motion caused by harmonic vibration" by "moving in opposition to the resonance frequency oscillations of the structure." Here are some sexy pictures:
You may think that a giant ball would be a liability, not a boon, and most definitely not attractive to other skyscraper-stabilizing mechanisms like those those sassy I-beams. Alas, you would be wrong. Watch the drama below! This tuned mass damper prevents the Taipei 101 from collapsing into a pile of broken, flaccid and incredibly expensive dreams:
Also, it's in a huge dick-shaped building. Penises!
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