A list of intriguing things

One: Everyone is always banging on about the famous replicas of famous monuments in Las Vegas (hello, Eiffel Tower!). But Huawei’s Ox Horn campus makes those casinos look more like WonderLa. Built in 2018, the R&D headquarters features everything from the Palace of Versailles to Oxford University and Heidelberg Castle. The 1.4 million square metres property has 12 “towns”—each a doppelganger of a European city—connected by a train imported from Switzerland. These are Paris, Oxford, Bruges, Burgundy, Fribourg, Luxembourg, Windermere, Granada, Verona, Český Krumlov, Heidelberg, and Bologna. 

What’s impressive: The Chinese haven’t gone for the obvious candidates like the Eiffel Tower. Below is a comparison of Huawei’s version of the Torre dei Lamberti—the tallest building in Verona built in the Middle Ages:

This is the Budapest's Freedom Bridge:

The price of such corporate indulgence: 10 billion yuan ($1.45 billion). The Culture Tutor on X has a lovely thread of many such comparisons. As he says, “in a world where the vast majority of offices are identical skyscrapers” who wouldn’t want to work on the Huawei campus. Kitsch can be imaginative and delightful. You can also take a video tour of the campus below. (Yahoo News)

Two: Very soon you won’t have to be Jeff Bezos to cos-play an astronaut. In fact, you can skip the cramped confines of the space shuttle entirely—and opt for Space Perspective’s Spaceship Neptune capsule. The very fancy balloon will take you 100,000 feet up in space—and offer you and five of your besties the “first stratospheric dining experience.” 

The meal will be prepared by Rasmus Munk who runs the Alchemist in Copenhagen. A Michelin-starred khana with minor adjustments: “Some of the dishes and their components will need to be prepared before the spaceship launches, and they will be heated, finished, and garnished in the craft’s onboard ‘mini-kitchen.’”

The price of such decadence: $495,000 per person! Hey, you also get to eat in style—in bespoke outfits made by luxury French brand Ogier. Well, we’re more impressed by the space balloon. (Food and Wine)

Three: Del Monte has been wildly experimenting with the hapless pineapple—recreating it for the Instagram age. Gone are the days you had to settle for the boring green-and-yellow variety. We now have ‘Pinkglow’—specially created for Valentine’s Day. What says ‘true love’ than a Digene-coloured slice of this beauty:

Since Del Monte doesn’t want anyone to feel left out, it’s also created Rubyglow for the Chinese market—appropriately red for New Year celebrations.

The most recent rollout: the “personal-size” version called Honeyglow—which is half the weight of regular fruit. Aw, look: The portable pineapple!