Quoting Foo: "This is the Peak birthday season". Happy Birthday to Philip Siow!!! May your red hair bring you lots of good luck this week. Philip is looking for his leprechaun that ran away with a pot of gold. Anyway who capture an extra leprechaun please return the endangered species to him. Many thanks.
More than 45 million people have voted so far in an Internet campaign to choose the seven "new" wonders of the world out of 21 shortlisted historical buildings or monuments, the organisers said Monday.
The contest, aimed at raising global awareness about the world's shared cultural heritage, was set up by a Swiss filmmaker, curator and traveller Bernard Weber, following the destruction of Afghanistan's giant Buddha statues at Bamyan by the Taliban in 2001.
In the most recent count published on May 7, the top 10 were the Acropolis in Greece, the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza in Mexico, the Coliseum in Rome, the Eiffel tower in Paris, the Great Wall of China, the Incan ruins of Machu Picchu, Petra in Jordan, the statues on Easter Island, Britain's Stonehenge and the Taj Mahal in India.
The organisers say they are trying to get ordinary people to follow the spirit behind the ancient seven wonders selected by intellectuals in the Mediterranean and Middle East around 200 BC. Only one of them, the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, still survives.
"This is something that is supposed to create global memory, really for the first time: Seven symbols of global unity, seven symbols of shared global heritage," said New7Wonders spokeswoman Tia Viering.
"If you appreciate someone else's culture it's a lot harder to go to war with them," she told AFP.
Viering said votes were coming in from all over the world.
"We get a really incredible amount of enthusiasm from places where people are not used to voting and deciding things on their own," she added. The competition closes on July 7 when the result is due to be announced in Lisbon.
Much of the intenet and phone text message voting so far has also avoided national preferences, according to Viering.
Egypt's pyramids were granted the status of "honorary" New7Wonders candidate -- and removed from voting -- after Egyptian authorities protested that their historical value could not be called into question.
Egyptian antiquities supremo Zahi Hawass dismissed the contest as a "publicity stunt" even after the change earlier this year.
"I am against this subject totally. I cannot accept a Greek historian choosing the seven wonders of antiquity and have a tourist company choosing the new ones," he said.
But Viering defended the popular vote.
"It's a different concept to what the Egyptians are saying. We think that culture is a supremely bottom up concept," she explained.
The other shortlisted sites are the Angkor Wat temples in Cambodia, the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, the Kiyomizu Temple in Japan, the Kremlin and Red Square, Neuschwanstein Castle in southern Germany, New York's Statue of Liberty, the statue of Christ the Redeemer overlooking Rio de Janeiro, Sydney Opera House and the ancient city of Timbuktu in Mali.
Originally, the venture was also aiming to raise funds for a project to reconstruct the larger, 55 metre-tall Bamyan Buddha, which is expected to cost up to 50 million dollars.
However, only small donations have come through, forcing the organisers to focus on helping to preserve the 21 sites.
UNESCO chief Federico Mayor, in January 2006, out of 77 public nominations.
In a similar vein, the UN Education, Science and Cultural Organisation oversees the growing list of World Heritage sites, which now embraces 830 places of cultural or natural importance.
"The UNESCO world heritage is a very important list but I would challenge you to name say 20 of them. It's simply too many. It's not very alive in the hearts of people around the world," Viering commented.
A Scottish church which featured in the best-selling novel "The Da Vinci Code" has revealed another mystery hidden in secret code for almost 600 years.
A father and son who became fascinated by symbols carved into the chapel's arches say they have deciphered a musical score encrypted in them.
Thomas Mitchell, a 75-year-old musician and ex-Royal Air Force code breaker, and his composer and pianist son Stuart, described the piece as "frozen music."
"The music has been frozen in time by symbolism," Mitchell said on his Web site (www.tjmitchell.com/stuart/rosslyn.html), which details the 27-year project to crack the chapel's code.
"It was only a matter of time before the symbolism began to thaw out and begin to make sense to scientific and musical perception."
The 15th Century Rosslyn Chapel, about seven miles south of the Scottish capital Edinburgh, featured in the last part of Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code," the bestselling novel that was turned into a Hollywood film.
Stuart Mitchell said he and his father were intrigued by 13 intricately carved angel musicians on the arches of the chapel and by 213 carved cubes depicting geometric-type patterns.
"They are of such exquisite detail and so beautiful that we thought there must be a message here," he told Reuters.
Years of research led the Mitchells to an ancient musical system called cymatics, or Chladni patterns, which are formed by sound waves at specific pitches.
The two men matched each of the patterns on the carved cubes to a Chladni pitch, and were able finally to unlock the melody.
The Mitchells have called the piece The Rosslyn Motet and added words from a contemporary hymn to complete it.
They have also scheduled a world premiere at a concert in the chapel on May 18, when four singers will be accompanied by eight musicians playing the piece on mediaeval instruments.
Simon Beattie of the Rosslyn Chapel Trust said he was delighted to have the mystery finally solved, and was intrigued by the music itself.
"It's not something you would want to put on in the car and listen to, but it's certainly an interesting piece of music," he said. "It's got a good mediaeval sound to it."
Want to know what's the secret behind the movement of a mouse pointer in your computer? Try playing around with various mouse clicks and movement & have fun!
On April 10, 2006, Bausch & Lomb announced suspension of shipments of its contact solution ReNu with MoistureLoc. Reports of fungal keratitis infections in users of the solution are surfacing in contact lens wearers who use ReNu with MoistureLoc.
Just before Bausch & Lomb announced it was suspending shipments, the FDA warned of increasing numbers of the fungal infections in those who wear contact lenses. There were 109 cases of Fusarium keratitis under investigation by public health authorities. CDC data of 30 cases of the infections revealed that 28 wore contact lenses and that most used the ReNu saline.
Fungal keratitis is a serious eye infection that can develop through the whole depth of the cornea. The infection can require prolonged drug therapy with antifungals such as natamycin, nystatin, and amphotericin B. Other antifungals that may be administered include various Azoles and Fluorinated pyrimidines. If drugs do not work and the eye is damaged, surgery may be necessary to remove fungal ulcers/lesions. Symptoms of fungal keratitis include eye pain, eye discomfort, decrease in vision and light hypersensitivity. [link: More on Fungal keratitis]
On May 15, 2006, Bausch & Lomb recalled its contact solution ReNu with MoistureLoc. The FDA and CDC have been investigating an increase in cases of fungal keratitis, an eye infection that affects the cornea and can cause permanent blindness.
If you, a family member, or friend has suffered Fusarium Keratitis while using ReNu, there is a chance you qualify for monetary compensation from the manufacturer. Don't hesitate to seek justice for the damages you or your loved ones have suffered!
