by steelie -

The Seven New Wonders of the World…

Okay… I have to admit that when I first read about this, I took a bit of the “Who cares” stance. But, apparently, there is an international initiative to select Seven New Wonders of the World. Not new as in recently constructed, but new as in newly deemed “wonder-worthy”. This is where my ignorance comes into play… I didn’t realise that most the original ancient seven wonders of the world no longer exist. They were…

  • the Temple of Artemis;
  • the Hanging Gardens of Babylon;
  • the Colossus of Rhodes;
  • the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus;
  • the Lighthouse at Alexandria;
  • the Pyramids at Giza; and
  • the Statue of Zeus.

Of these, only the ancient Pyramids at Giza are still in the game.

According to documentation on the official vote-for-the-new-seven website, www.new7wonders.com, the original seven were all man-made monuments, selected by one man, Philon of Byzantium in 200 BC, and therefore all from the pre 200 BC eras. All seven wonders were apparently within travelling distance of the Mediterranean Sea covering, literally, the whole world as the people of his place and time knew it.

Now, instead of one man determining what the worlds seven wonder should be, a team of people (primarily historians and architects, I think) origianlly considered over 200 possible new man-made wonders that they have managed to widdle down to a fierce 21 potential candidates. Any and all structures/monuments pre-2000 AD were considered, including our dear ol’ pyramids.

The potential candidates for the New Seven Wonders of the World are…

  • The Acropolis;
  • Alhambra;
  • Angkor;
  • Chichen Itzá;
  • Christ Redeemer;
  • The Colosseum;
  • Easter Island;
  • Eiffel Tower;
  • Great Wall of China;
  • Hagia Sophia;
  • Kiyomizu Temple;
  • Kremlin;
  • Machu Picchu;
  • Neuschwanstein Castle;
  • Petra;
  • Pyramids of Giza;
  • Statue of Liberty;
  • Stonehenge;
  • Sydney Opera House;
  • Taj Mahal; and
  • Timbuktu.

Now, I’m not going to pretend to think I’m the right person to be deciding something of this magnitude (semicolon) however (comma) in the spirit of the reality TV shows of the world… we the viewers get to vote. That’s right we can all go to www.new7wonders.com and vote for seven that we feel ought to be honoured. I’m not sure why the Pyramids are included included in the selection process… this whole thing should be called “Okay, So We Have One of the Original Seven Wonders Still in Existence… Help Us Pick the Other Six. Thanks.”

So, after all that, for what it’s worth, here are steelie’s picks for the Seven New Wonders of the World:

  • Pyramids of Giza (big surprise);
  • Easter Island;
  • the Great Wall of China;
  • the Acropolis of Greece;
  • the Roman Colosseum;
  • Petra, Jordan; and
  • Stonehenge.

The final New Seven, will be revealed on the seventh day, of the seventh month, of the seventh year, of second millenium (wait a sec… seventh… seventh… seventh… second… AH CRAP). Okay never mind… they will be announced on July 7, 2007. Which, also happens to be the day (Muggles rejoice) that next installment of the Harry Potter movies comes out… which, oddly, has a storyline closely tied to… THE NUMBER SEVEN!

Okay… new seven:

  • Pyramids of Giza (big surprise); Hogwarts;
  • Easter Island;
  • the Great Wall of China;
  • the Acropolis of Greece;
  • the Roman Colosseum;
  • Petra, Jordan; and
  • Stonehenge.

There. That’s better.
—
steelie

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by steelie -

I turned thirty years old today (AKA Birthday Rant)…

<rant>
As the title says… today, I turned thirty years old… and I’m actually very excited about it.

I’ve been very lucky in my life — luckier than many, I continue to discover… I come from a great family that has never been well-off but has always been supportive of everything I do and dream. I have a decent job that has afforded my family a house and car — the house is old and needs work and the car is used but I have a home and a means to get from there to most places I need to. I am in overall excellent health, and today, I have been granted the privilege of making it to my thirtieth birthday, still breathing with blood pumping strong.

I wanted to emphasize the word “privilege” because I feel that this is exactly what being alive is… a privilege.

I have heard/observed a number of people in the last little while complaining about life and how it sucks and how getting old sucks and how “thirty” is a good time to “check-out” because thirty is old and remember getting old sucks and blah fuckin’ blah blah…

Yeah… I’m a bit irritated by this type of talk… I know everyone is entitled to their opinion and I rarely force my opinion, thoughts or beliefs on anyone semicolon however comma “it’s my party and I’ll rant if I want to”.

There are so many people that die everyday, way before what seems like should be “their time”. Whether it be from terminal illness, war, unfortunate accidents or any number of other things their privileged life was taken from them. Again, I say privileged because at any given point someone who decides that they are having an especially shitty day/life could choose to end yours. The almighty Cancer could pay you a visit and make your last days miserable for you and your family. Someone could drop their coffee in their lap and react by jerking the steering wheel and redirecting their vehicle into a head-on with yours. I could go on but I’m starting to depress myself…

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to live more than one hundred years… Over ten years ago I was having severe chest pains and doctors found a spot on my lung… I thought I would never make it to twenty, let alone thirty. Forget three-digits. Turns out it was nothing. I’m fine. And you know what? Until I got the news that I was fine, not once did I think, “Oh, thank God… I was afraid I was going to have to endure ‘thirty’. Man that would have sucked!” And I’m willing to bet that if you got hit by a car on the eve of your thirtieth birthday and the doctors told you that there was nothing they could do for you, you’d smirk and breathe that sigh of relief, “Whew! Thanks Docs. That was cutting it close, wasn’t it.”

I realize that there are people in the world who are so much worse-off than I am that I’m not going to pretend to be able to fathom an inkling of what their personal hell lives must be like. I am quite sure that many victims of war, grave sickness, abuse, poverty, etc… might whole-heartedly disagree with me but this is partially my point… The life you have right now is a privilege and any one of a number of people/illnesses/things can take it from you in a heartbeat.

SOOO… the next time you get all angsty about your life and getting old, take a good long hard look at the cards you’ve been dealt… and if you really want to complain about turning thirty or getting old, go to the palliative care wing of your local childrens’ hospital and tell them all about it — I’m sure some of them would give anything to trade spaces with you to have the chance to live to see their tenth birthday. Or even go to your local senior citizens' home and tell them all about it — I’m sure some of them would give anything to add a few more years to see the birth of their first great-grandchild.

Fuckin’ live, dammit!
Keep breathing and live.
</rant>
—
steelie

PS: Thanks to Julé, Jared and Jen for the warm birthday wishes. Thirty is awesome.

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