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Did We Really Need Seven New Wonders?
freakxx writes "Seven new 'wonders of the world' have been announced today in a ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal. People throughout the world have voted actively to elect the new 7 out of 21 finalists.
The final lineup is: Chichen Itza, Mexico; Christ Redeemer, Brazil; The Great Wall, China; Machu Picchu, Peru; Petra, Jordan; The Roman Colosseum, Italy; and The Taj Mahal, India. The Pyramids of Giza was the only candidate that used to be among the original seven wonders. Did we really need seven new wonders of the world? Why was this decided via a website poll (pdf) and SMS messages?"
I think the Pyramids came out the winner because they refused to participate.
No, "we" didn't need seven new wonders, but the company behind this poll took money in exchange for letting people vote multiple times.
With the increased tourism revenue that being on this list would provide, one can expect that many governments would have taken advantage of this offer.
This list was a scam, plain and simple. There are so many wonderful things in the world... what the hell is the point of identifying 7 "most popular" ones?
"A week in the lab saves an hour in the library"
(first, one hand -- er, foot -- to our USofAn friends)
Statue of Liberty 151' 1" (46.5 m) + pedestal 154 feet (46.9 m) = 305'1" (93.4 m)
Christ Redeemer 125 feet (38 m) + Corcovado 2,330 feet (710 m) = 2,455' (748 m)
Both standing on the Atlantic Ocean (the Corcovado is a mountain right on the shore (*), and that's what make it quite impressive...) I'm Brasilian, but not Carioca, so I have only been there twice, but the view is incredible.
(*) Ok, technically not. The Corcovado is right on top of the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, and the Lagoa is itself like 1km from the shore. take a look.
It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
Before we start adding some piddling monuments like Mt. Rushmore, I think we need to consider some more of our overlooked wonders:
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world's largest ball of string:
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/MNDARtwine
world's largest pecan:
http://www.worldslargestthings.com/missouri/pecan
world's largest buffalo:
http://www.wlra.us/wl/wlbuffalo.htm
world's largest pineapple:
http://www.wlra.us/wl/wlpineapple.htm
world's largest muskie:
http://www.wlra.us/wl/wlmuskie.htm
world's largest catsup bottle:
http://www.catsupbottle.com/
Not to mention including Christ the Redeemer and giving the Pyramids "honorary" status. What a joke. The whole "Wonders of the World" thing was just a way to interest the general (European) public in the amazing sights to be found in the far corners of what was then still a mysterious world, and there were seven of them because it dovetailed well with the romantic notion of "Seven Seas" and "Seven Continents". It was just basically all about publicity by and for the archaeologists and explorers. This "New Seven Wonders" shtick is about nothing more than publicity as well, because if I had to limit it to only seven, Christ the Redeemer would not be on it.
The case could easily be made for Angkor Wat, as well as many, many other sites of cultural, historical, and/or architectural significance, but AFAIK the "Forgotten Wonder" has never even been mentioned on any list of "World Wonders". I'm speaking about the Banaue Rice Terraces of the Philipine Cordilleras, which were named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995, and which have my vote as the most amazing civil engineering project in human history. The terraces certainly fit the "Wonder" criteria many times over: they're ancient, having been built between 6,000 and 2,000 years ago, predating any of the current or vanished wonders; they're colossal, covering almost 4,000 square miles of mountainside; they're a marvel of engineering, the entire vast system of walls, terraces, steps, not to mention the ancient irrigation system which brings water down from the rainforests above the terraces, were built by hand; and most incredibly of all, 2,000 years after completion they're still maintained and used by the descendants of the original builders.
Everything about the terraces is truly mind-boggling, including the idea of a people still pursuing the same cultural traditions for literally millennia, but I guess that a bunch of ancient mountain farmland in a remote part of Asia isn't as sexy as Jesus in Brazil.