According to Project on Government Oversight's Senior Investigator, Peter Stockton, this incident "is a new twist in the long history of screw-ups by Los Alamos." I can't really blame him for saying that when testing a gun results in several million dollars of structural damage, propels doors away from the building, and leaves pieces of the weapon spread out on the ground outside. Geez.

Let's look at the positive side of this though. The gun was a mess, but they discovered a heck of a bomb here, no? [Pogo via Wired]

Update: Wired reports that they've received an email from National Nuclear Security Administration spokesman Damien LaVera which implies that what we've first heard might not be the exact story:

Here are the facts: On December 16, Los Alamos conducted a standard proof test on a new design for a catch tank in the target chamber for one of our large bore powder guns (LBPG). These types of experiments are routine and responsible. The LBPG is used to conduct measurements of material properties at pressures needed for understanding nuclear weapons performance. During this particular test, unexpected explosive damage occurred and, because that damage could result in $1 million in damages, an investigation was automatically triggered. That investigation will seek to identify the cause of the incident and any changes in procedures that might be required. NNSA, Los Alamos, and all of our facilities take their commitment to safety very seriously. It is important to note that no personnel were injured from this event, no hazardous or radioactive materials were involved, and that lab's incident response mechanisms appear to have performed as intended.

Initially Legoland planned to buy the house, but that deal fell through because it was deemed too expensive to move. Now Top Gear is reaching out to fans via their website in the hopes that someone, somewhere will be willing to pony up the £50,000 or $81,000 it will take to dismantle and rebuild the structure. Unfortunately, their Monday deadline seems to have already passed, and there is no word on whether or not a buyer was found. Their only hope is that Jesus Diaz will call in at the 11th hour. [Top Gear via BBC News]

The inventor, going by the name Advanced Engineering, is selling 4- and 8-story kits that both support rebuild and re-implosion. He says he's run out of funding to ship the product, but before his site went down due probably to intense interest, he was still selling a few kits for around $60. We hope he gets enough cash money to keep making these toys, it's a great idea and we're sure he'd have a market for it. [Boing Boing Gadgets]

How do they do it? First they replace the support pillars at ground level with computer-controlled metal columns. Then, a crew carefully demolishes the entire floor by hand, leaving the structure resting on the mechanical pillars, which then go down slowly until the next floor is at ground level. They replace the support pillars again with the mechanical ones, destroy that floor, and repeat the operation until they get rid of all the floors. This makes it look as if the building is shrinking in front of you, or being swallowed by the street.

According to the company, this method greatly reduces the environmental impact of the demolition, as well as the time. Kajima says that it speeds up the task by 20%, while making it easier to separate materials for recycling, as well as reducing the amount of products released into the air.

The process is called daruma-otoshi after a Japanese game that makes players take the bottom parts of a column—using a hammer—without disturbing the rest of the parts above. This method doesn't disturb the columns above either, but it somehow disturbs my mind. [Kajima via Pink Tentacle]

By the way, this was the hotel where Elvis made his big Vegas debut back in '56. In the place of this pile of ashes, by 2011 a phoenix will rise in the form of the Plaza, an $8 billion luxo-palace complex on the Vegas strip that will specialize in fleecing those who don't understand the difference between possibility and probability. [Metacafe and LA Times]

Stanley FUBAR [Stanley]