Learn How To Build

Skyscrapers and other towering infrastructures are tangible indicators of a good industry and healthy economic atmosphere. Also, these symbols of progress are *major tourist attractions* of a city or state like the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur the Taipei 101 in Taipei City, and the Empire State Building in New York City. It is of great admiration and wonder for many how these skyscrapers were built and who made them. Most of the time, much of the credit are given to the owners, architects, and engineers. But unknown to most and unrecognized by many, the real forces behind the towering stature of these skyscrapers are the carpenters, electricians, and other utility men who dared to risk their lives in building every inch of these man-made wonders. These people are actually the ones who poured in most work, labor, and valuable contributions for all the skyscrapers in the world.

Actually, they are also the ones behind the strength of the pillars of our very own houses, the classrooms in our schools, and the offices where we work. They are behind every establishment, old and new alike, where we do most of our businesses and personal affairs. The carpenters, electricians, and plumbers behind every brick, wall, and roof are the basic elements of the towering heights mankind have achieved through the years. Yet, they are so underrated. Many people view these kinds of job as menial and nothing more than sweaty labor. Not knowing the indispensability of these jobs in our lives, many think of them with lesser value than say, an eight-hour job in an air-conditioned office. Many do not realize that carpentry, plumbing, and electrical construction are as complex, or even more complex, as accounting, law, or medicine. Not everyone can perform these jobs, for only those gifted with eyes and hands of competent precision and stamina can meet the job demands. Moreover, only those equipped and empowered with the right training (theoretical and practical) can be good builders of every society’s establishments.

Construction or the process of making or adding structure to *real property* is a very technical professional. Not everyone can do it. Even having a doctorate degree in whatever field cannot make one automatically adept to the rigors and demands of building construction. This field requires innate abilities and honed competencies, both of equal weight and importance. Building construction is both an art and a science. That is a given fact.

Albeit technical and demanding, certain aspects of building construction can be learned by common people, even women. Knowledge on basic carpentry, plumbing, and electrical construction are actually necessary for good housekeeping. Having knowledge on them can save a household a big amount of money — money for hiring professionals to handle a leaking faucet or a broken window. Housekeepers can have easy access to training materials on the basics of building construction through the internet. Yes, you read it right. There are online courses on construction.

The site, www.free-ed.net, an online education hub, does not only provide free computer course, language course, and other courses. It also has a free online course on building and construction. The Building and Construction online course covers the areas of building trades and construction trades. The topics in the building trades are the basic concepts of carpentry, concrete or masonry, electrical construction, and plumbing. The construction trades, on the other hand, deal with more complex topics like site analysis and land surveying. The building trades area is the one recommended for people who want to gain ample, basic know-how on building and construction, especially for those contemplating on having a career in carpentry.

For the carpentry section, the lessons range from building materials (screw, hinges, nail, drivers, etc.) to working drawings and bill of materials (BOM), floor construction, stairway construction, all the way to roof construction. The masonry part covers the matters of mortar materials, concrete walls, and construction of brick walls. The electrical construction parts deal with systems and circuits. Much of the contents from the course are modified versions of construction lessons in the U.S. Army manual so learners are assured of up-to-date techniques and reliable sources. The best thing about the course is that there is no required path or pace. A student can skip from one lesson to the other or just choose only those that are really needed to be learned.

The facts about the Empire State Building

*Introduction*

It’s always been there sitting in the corner of my subconscious. You know, the dream of going to America to see those iconic sights you’d seen a million times on TV. Well, OK, not America but New York to be more specific. Having made up my mind to finally go, one of the first things I did was to book tickets to go and see the Empire State Building. When you book your online holiday package with Expedia, you are given the option of adding in extras in advance. In our case, I booked the E-tickets for ESB and printed them off to take with us.

*Getting There*

The Empire State Building is at 350 5th Avenue at 34th Street just off Times Square and not far from Macys. Depending on where your hotel is, the most obvious ways to get there is NY yellow cab although we actually walked as our hotel was not too far away. Subway B, D, F, Q, N, R, V, W to 34th Street will also get you there. The ESB is open from 9.30am until Midnight and it’ll cost you $12 for adults, $11 seniors and $7 for children. Under 6 goes free.

*Iconic History*

It’s somewhat blas to say that the ESB and New York are synonymous but it is true. The ESB was completed in 1931 and for 40 years was the largest building in the world. The 1929 Wall Street Crash had called into question its completion but, nevertheless, 45 days ahead of schedule and at a mammoth 443m (1454 feet), the project was successfully concluded.

The 1933 movie King Kong catapulted the building to the top of Global attention with the famous finale involving King Kong fighting off planes at the top of the ESB. To be honest, this made just as big an impression with me as a kid when I saw the movie for the first time and many other movie projects such as “James and the Giant Peach” have gone onto to imprint the ESB into children’s’ psyches all around the world.

With the tragic destruction of the World Trade Centre in the September 11th atrocities, the ESB stands behind the Sears Tower in Chicago and the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in height but in many people’s eyes, it is still the tallest building in the world.

*Inside the building*

We arrived at midday on a cloudy day in March. We’d been told to try the ESB on a cloudy day as the queues wouldn’t be as bad although we could have chosen a better time. First thing is supposed to be the best time to visit i.e. 9.30am. Saying that, when pottering about Times Square later that evening, we were staggered by the massive queues snaking all around