Thw Great Pyramids of Egypt were built 46 centuries ago and are the only wonder of the world left standing.

June 2007 – We are closing in on the final selection date for the 7 wonders of the contem- porary world. The project has gained widespread publicity in all media around the world and I am here to question the legacy and validity of its selection process.

The New7Wonders foundation of the New Open World Corporation (NOWC) is a fantastic idea for a scam. I quite admire these people for trying but the historical community will hopefully scoff and toss aside the worldwide poll conducted by the Switzerland based organism. “Your vote counts! Help make history!” states their website. How is this impartially and objectively accomplished? 21 candidates can be voted for…as many times as you want. All you have to do is vote for the first free time and then pay each subsequent vote. Is the money is going to charity? Towards restoring historic landmarks? To help promote the new ones? No! I have no problem with this capitalist pursuit as a concept but when this corporation claims that it will “make history”, I start questioning myself as to how seriously these people take themselves. Surely, we must then also “make history” when we vote for the next passing “star” on American Idol.

The Corporation website also states impartial and objective terms and conditions such as: “NOWC reserves the right at its absolute discretion to exclude any votes that are cast”. This policy surely seems to strive to prevent fraud and massive bribery/vote-buying by individuals, companies or even governments. As an example, the Egyptian government complained and stated that the Great Pyramids of Gizeh’s nomination is a direct and voluntary insult toward the Egyptian Nation. The private corporation NOWC caved in to the demands and has since automatically elected the Pyramids as one of the new 7 wonders of the world.

Along with the Colossus of Rhodes, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Pharos of Alexandria, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus and the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Great Pyramids at Gizeh were revered as one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. The term “wonder” referred to the mystical aspect of these locations, the miraculous aura of such colossal man-made objects and the link with divinity that each one of them provided. It is true that a single man, Antipater of Sidon, chose this line up but at least he was a historian (and poet). Furthermore, the historian Herodotus that left us the texts elaborating these wonders had nothing to profit from choosing one monument over another since no tourist board existed to bribe him in order to push an agenda and most of these monuments would never have been seen by the common people in an age of such slow transportation.

This contest brings large sacks of money to NOWC, a nice plaque and potential tourism for the winning monuments and finally a top 7 that is meaningless due to a complete lack and disregard for methodology. These greedy people do not lack originality but they certainly lack subtlety. I invite you all to boycott or simply ignore this vote and watch the results fade into historical obscurity after the unveiling of the results on 7^th July 2007.

The Sydney Opera Hous is a new contender. (It eventually "lost" the competition)

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Something we don't necessarily want getting any realer.

1) After 20 months or so of enduring harassment with unwavering determination, the Danish newspaper that published the Mohammad cartoon has apologized. Fundamentalist censorship 1 – Freedom of expression 0. (Link)

2) For those who think Ancient Egypt no longer holds secrets of any significant size, archaeologists reveal an 8-foot bust of Pharaoh Amenhotep III. (Link)

3) New cinematic technology allows WW2 footage to be played in colour. We might want to stop the recreation once we reach interactive holograms of Goering and Goebbels. (Link)

4) Anti-abortion groups in Poland went arguably too far in activism and demagogy by simply saying that Abortion is Hitler. (Link)

5) While removing a statue of a famous British aristocrat, clerics in England discover hidden engravings that may be the very first examples of written English. (Link)

6) The suit worn by OJ Simpson during his 1993 trial has been donated to a museum. I’m not saying which; it’ll be a surprise one day as you wander between Roman sculpture and Renaissance masters. (Link)

7) For wanton paranoia or ambitious home renovation – eBay has a Cold War nuclear bunker up for auction. (Link)

8 ) The show “60 Minutes” takes a look at the 1917 Armenian ‘Genocide’ or ‘Incident’ depending on who tells the story. (Link)

9) Scientists solve the prickly question of “who is a Jew?” with a simple DNA test that can prove a person’s Hassidic lineage. (Link)

10) Follow-up on Monday’s blog about Canada’s successful Olympics and the pressure for Russia and the UK (Link) – Well, Putin just fired the organizer of the 2014 games. (Link)

THIS WEEK IN:

- 1962: On March 2nd, Wilt Chamberlain single-handedly posts the mind-boggling score of 100 points in a basketball game against the Knicks, an unapproachable record ever since. (Link)

- 1991: On March 3rd, black man Rodney King gets beaten without mercy by the Los Angeles Police Department and the whole thing is caught on tape. (Link)

THE LIGHTER SIDE: Cracked.com’s

-”5 Economic Collapses More Ridiculous Than This One” – A tulip bulb speculation bubble does sound like the Dutch were asking for it. (Link)

-”5 Real Buried Treasures That Can Make You Rich (Or Kill You)” – Gotta risk big to win big. (Link)

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The many faces of Canadian Olympics

Vancouver 2010 is almost over with a few weeks of Paralympic games to go that will close this new Canadian adventure. The organizing committee, after a few weeks of holding their breaths, have looked up at the medal standings and let go a great collective sigh of relief. You see, Canada has hosted the Olympics twice before and both endeavours were arguably complete disasters for the host nation. Indeed, before the staggering 26 medals, 14 of which are gold, that Canada has racked up this time around, it was the only nation to host the games and to win 0 gold medals. And they did this twice.

In 1976, the Eastern Canadian metropolis of Montreal welcomed the games after a frantic six years of construction and preparation. The first omens of doom came when the specially built “Olympic Stadium” was ripe with technical problems and wasn’t actually completed in time for the games. A decade of renovations and repairs later, it was finally finished and with many more massive design flaws and breakdowns, the tax money of Canadians in general and smokers in particular (a special tax on tobacco product was introduce to pay for the huge 1976 deficit), the stadium was finally paid for…by 2005. Many unforgettable sporting and political accomplishments accompanied these Games but specifically, Canada did not win a single gold medal, and only won 11 podium places in total. It is with a 27th place finish in the medal standings behind Trinidad and Tobago, a broken stadium and crippling debt that Montreal 1976 closed.

Canadians are not very fond of the Stadium and have renamed it the "Upside-down toilet bowl"

Further along in 1988, the Canadian Olympic Committee was much more confident that we could win a WINTER Olympic gold medal in a country where winter is almost a sport in itself. Calgary in the Western Prairies was chosen and ready in time to welcome the Olympic events (along with the truly astonishing exhibition sport of “Disabled Alpine Skiing”). The weather was perfect and the final audit revealed a profit from the endeavour. Unfortunately, absolutely no one was smiling. Hosting the games and having even created a few of the sports being practiced, Canada finished 13th in the standing with only 5 medals, none of them gold. Compounded by a fourth place finish in Hockey, Canada quickly wanted to forget these games and succeeding federal governments were weary of ever hosting the event again.

When it came time once more to consider the possibility, the provincial and federal governments in Canada had to weigh the benefits (economic fallout, worldwide publicity, tourism visibility and dollars, the prestige of it all) with the ominous possible disadvantages (deficit, security risks, dangers of live presentations, weather problems, disappointing medal count). Quebec City thus failed to convince the International Olympic Committee of its bid for 2002 but Vancouver eventually defeated South Korea and Austria for the 2010 Winter Olympiads. The Canadian Olympic Committee now had experience on how to throw an exciting Olympiad with minimal deficit but something had to be done to assure the nation a gold medal on home soil to end a string of humiliating no shows on the top step of the podium. This is how the federal government got involved as soon as Vancouver was confirmed and the last 6 years saw the Canadian “Own the Podium” programme that injected massive amounts of funds into sports funding, recruitment and training. The result as you can see is quite evident in Canada’s best Winter Olympic standing of all time and the most gold medals ever won by a participating nation in any Winter Olympic Games.

Jon Montgomery's win of Skeleton gold was only one of fourteen unforgettable Canadian wins

Canada has seemingly broken it’s unique curse that accompanied the Olympic nomination but it now passes on the torch and the stress of performing to London for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games (A single medal, gold, in Vancouver) and to Sochi, Russia for the 2014 Winter Games (Worst gold medal performance ever for 11th place in Vancouver including an earth shattering 6th place finish in Men’s Hockey). Good luck to the next organisers, Canada finally gets to sleep with its Olympic head held high (that is, until someone else in the country has the brilliant idea to bid for the games once again).

End.

(PS: I dedicate this post to Karine D, enthusiastic friend and peer that kept the Facebook community on the edge of its seat for the past two weeks.)

The solution to global recession? (4)

1) The FBI officially announced it has put an end to the 2001 anthrax mailing investigation. Turns out the man they apprehended 8 years ago acted alone and then the FBI spent 8 years checking… (Link)

2) An Austrian man agrees to a DNA test and is then told he is possibly the only living relative of Adolf Hitler… He understandably regrets consenting to the test. (Link)

3) How conspiracy theories, in themselves, have changed history over the past century. It all boils down to how many people believe a lie before it becomes “fact”. (Link)

4) Mexico announced it will build a replica of Tenochtitlan, the ancient Mayan capital, outside of Mexico City. Either Mexico was not touched by the recent recession or Mexican priorities are strange to me. (Link)

5) The Deputy Prime Minister of Greece randomly scolds Germany for their Nazi past…at a meeting to discuss Germany’s financial help towards Greece. (Link)

6) With reduced brain size and restricted agility, prehistoric man also had to face a newly discovered monstrosity they call a “giant horned crocodile”. (Link)

7) Republicans shun President Obama’s health care plan by looking to…Ronald Reagan on Youtube? (Link)

8 ) A mountain in California has been renamed “Ballard Mountain” after the pioneer who first set foot there. It’s certainly better than its former name: “Negrohead Mountain”. (Link)

9) Up for auction, the silk stockings of Queen Victoria. Ssssssexy. (Link)

10) John Babcock, the last remaining of Canada’s 650,000 soldiers to have fought in the First World War, has passed away. (Link)

THIS WEEK IN:

- 1965: On February 21st, Malcom X was shot at a public function. Much like Jim Morrison and Val Kilmer, Malcolm X is better known today as Denzel Washington. (Link)

- 1964: On February 25th, Muhammed Ali AKA Cassius Clay wins the heavyweight championship for the first time by defeating Sonny Liston. He would soon go to jail for dodging the Vietnam War draft. (Link)

THE LIGHTER SIDE: From Cracked.com,

- “6 Soldiers Who Survived S*** That Would Kill a Terminator” – No paid disability leave here. (Link)

-”5 Reasons The Founding Fathers Were Kind of Di**s” – I always new there was something I absolutely hated in Ben Franklin. (Link)

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It was recently revealed by an anonymous e-mail to the authorities that heroin sale and use at Oxford’s Christ Church College is “rampant”.  Analysts suggests that this is no surprise and that it is even part of a “decades-long drug culture” that has been running wild at Oxford and other high-level institutions of schooling since the 1960s. One would think, with a reputation as one of the most prestigious higher education institutions on earth, Oxford University would be the very last place where the large-scale use and sale of heroin would become a problem. Some further studying proves otherwise.

Oxford is composed of some 36 different colleges but none are more renowned than Christ Church. Certified during the reign of Henry VIII in 1546, it accepts few admissions yet has yielded over a dozen leaders of the UK and countless important politicians, economists and businessmen; this is more than all the other Oxford colleges combined. On another note, Christ Church was also the castle setting in both Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. It began it’s life as a cathedral of Henry VIII’s new and defiant Anglican Church and has apparently not lost its attraction to controversy in the twentieth century and beyond.

As for the illicit substance in question, Heroin, or its constituent parts anyway, it has been around for far longer than you might think. From the Opium poppy grown today in Afghanistan and in South-East Asia’s “Golden Triangle”, the sap has been harvested and smoked at least since the eighteenth century when it became known in the West. In the mid 1800s, scientists distilled the drug and concentrated its narcotic properties into an even more powerful sedative and anesthetizing drug, morphine. A miracle cure, it was used to treat headaches, ulcers, alcoholism and…opium addiction. Later on, a German company called Bayer (still the makers of the Aspirin), refined the drug further into its ultimate form, diacetylmorphine. It was not a very sexy brand name so they tested it on a few subjects who then suggested they felt immortal (before presumably falling in a drug-induced semi-coma/stupor); the substance was thus named “Heroin”, a name it still carries despite the fact that Bayer, incidentally, no longer sells the product. In the twentieth century, Heroin has become illegal, its production has been refined and thus prices are much lower now than they once were. That being said, it remains one of the most expensive street drugs.

Making its way from pharmacies, to the underground scene, to street dealers and finally in schools internationally, Heroin became a staple drug in the post Woodstock 1970s and 80s. From inner city schools in America where it was relatively little-used when compared to marijuana, LSD and cocaine which were the affordable and available drugs of choice, it was introduced and much more popular in ivy league universities and upper-class institutions such as Christ Church in an era where drugs opened the “doors of perception” and were a way to the hippie culture and the search for personal enlightenment. Thus with a heavier price tag, black tar heroin came with a certain level of sophistication and became a right of passage for some at Oxford where a beer could serve the same role in a Canadian college. The harmless use of heroin in the 70s gradually became the full-blown and devastating addiction in the 80s, 90s and 00s.

This relatively underground use at Christ Church exploded onto the public air waves in 1986 when Student Olivia Channon was found dead of a heroin overdose. Not only was she a promising young student that was seemingly on the fast track to a successful career, she was the daughter of Lord Paul Channon, Cabinet minister of Margaret Thatcher’s conservative government. Uproar at first asked how such a promising and seemingly responsible young adult studying at Oxford could use such a drug but investigators soon found that at Christ Church “There are quite a few people on drugs”.

Incidentally, Ms. Channon had been found in the bed of another Christ Church attendee and indeed another Heroin fiend. Count Gottfried von Bismarck (great-great-grandson of Germany’s founder and Iron Chancellor Otto von Bismarck) was expelled in 1986 for hosting the alcohol and heroin fuelled party but stayed around and became known for the extravagant and hedonistic functions he would hold. Another of aristocratic Europe’s best and brightest, he finally passed away in 2007 at the age of 44, leaving a corpse riddled with Hepatitis B, C, HIV and the hourly injections of cocaine that morning that led to a what looks like a voluntary overdose.

These are but two of the most tragic stories that seem to show that there is something amiss in Christ Church, Oxford College and prestigious higher education institutions in the Western World in general.  Whether it be due to the high level of stress that comes from the, media attention, family expectations and responsibility of studying at such an institution, these students of rich and dynastic families seem no different than other post-secondary schools in regards to drug traffic. If anything, they seem worse.

From the sexual revolution to the doors of perception to recreation and addiction, drugs are today as much a part of studying at Oxford and other such universities as the outrageous tuition fees and prestigious diplomas they dispense. The next time someone says they graduated from Harvard Cambridge or Yale, congratulate them on surviving without a $1000-a-week drug habit.

End.

A Google Images search for "Sad Nazi" gave this picture of Ralph Fiennes in Shindler's List (1)

1) The World “celebrates” 65 years since the Allied bombing of Dresden. Neo-Nazis flooded the streets to protest. Perhaps they know how we feel when they celebrate the holocaust. (Link)

2) France got the Atomic Bomb in the early 60s. Their first experiments? Irradiating their own soldiers to see what happens. Results: not good for the soldiers. (Link)

3) Surprisingly free of charge, the Vatican has selected some documents from their secret archives (1939-45) that will soon go online. (Link)

4) The murder of two Italian nobles remains unsolved but the Italian police have just announced it will reopen the case. Oh yeah, and it has been cold for 450 years. (Link)

5) In Greco-Roman mythology, the hero Aeneas used the golden bough of a tree to travel safely to and from the underworld. Ambitious archaeologists announced they have found where the bough was held… (Link)

6) New research shows that the boy Pharaoh Tutankhamun died of malaria and bone disease. This probably means we will not be able to reanimate him in the future, Frankenstein style. (Link)

7) Zimbabwe has just inaugurated a display of a perfect wooden replica of the Ark of the Covenant. Or, they are exposing an old wooden box for media attention. Who knows? (Link)

8 ) Over at the World History Blog, some may wonder if indeed, Alexander the Great fought and vanquished the Yeti. It would explain why we can’t find it anymore… (Link)

9) Walter Frederick Morrison died at the age of 90. Who you ask? Frisbee inventor Walter Frederick Morrison. (Link)

10) Historian Victor Davis Hanson reanalyzes the overdone subject of Roman Downfall. He then confirms why it is still a very relevant topic in the United States today. (Link)

THIS WEEK IN:

- 1633: On Feb. 13th, Galileo Galilei goes on trial for wantonly and deliberately suggesting that the earth revolves around the sun, in direct opposition to what is in the Bible. (Link)

- 1942: On Feb. 19th, President Roosevelt authorised the internment of all Japanese Americans. Somehow, German Americans were spared the same fate. (Link)

THE LIGHTER SIDE:

- “The 6 Most Badass Robot (Invented Before Electricity)” – Another decade and da Vinci would have ruled the world with a robot army. (Link)

- “7 Mind-Blowing Easter Eggs Hidden in Famous Works of Art” – Michaelangelo would have been a great stand-up comic…or maybe a terrible one.

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