Blogosphere: July 10, 2007

Seven wonders
Finally, we will find out if Petra has been chosen to be one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. Jordanians have been inundated with bill boards, print ads, songs, internet and radio advertisements appealing to their nationalism to vote for Petra for the last few months. Will is work? More importantly, does it matter?

We will find out if it works soon enough. The question of whether it will matter is another story. It depends on how much the media will react with the list and how long this new list will be considered credible. I am more inclined to believe that this whole story is a flash in a pan and will not be in the news for more than three days. Tourism promoters might use it for a longer time, so there might be some benefit in that.

The New Seven Wonders programme has been disavowed by the Unesco, who faults its objectives and methodology. The seemingly democratic vote really is not methodologically sound. Of the millions of people who voted, I would hazard a guess to say that fewer than 100 have actually seen all 21 candidate sites. And even if one has been to all of these sites, what criteria can be used to choose the top seven? How can one compare a 20th century building like the Sydney Opera House with a Stone Age site like Stonehenge? How can these be compared with giant statues like Christ the Redeemer or the Statue of Liberty. These comparisons are beyond apples and oranges.
http://ajloun.blogspot.com/2007/07/new-seven-wonders.html

Mabrooktulations
Yes, we rock with that rock city, regardless of what killjoy would say and regardless of how this would change tourism income or not (and I think it will).
Mabrook to Petra, Mabrook to Jordan.
http://jadmadi.net/blog/2007/07/08/mabrookulations-petra/

Lucky seven
I happened to be just leaving the engagement party taking place at the Orthodox Club by Abdoun Circle when the winners of the New Seven Wonders of the World were announced. It also happened that another public "party" in anticipation of the ballot reading of the New Wonders was also taking place on Abdoun Circle at that exact same time. Needless to stay, I was stuck in traffic for too long a while.
Then, just as I heard the microphones at the public party announce the [Great] Wall of China as one of the winning contenders, I magically got out of the traffic jam, which makes me realise that unlike everyone else, 08/07/07 must be my lucky day, because Petra was announced as a winner a split second later and I could see the whole world turning into chaos on my rearview mirror.
Alas though, thanks to the rare (only?) national example of complete and total unity, Petra has made it into the New Seven Wonders of the World, which Unesco says reflects "only the opinions of those with access to the internet". I disagree with Unesco's claim, at least on a local level, but Petra is already on Unesco's World Heritage Site list, along with Quseir Amra and Um er-Rasas, so now we just have to see whether or not Petra being on the heavily mediatised New Seven Wonders of the World will affect tourism to the city any more than Unesco's list.
http://andfaraway.net/blog/2007/07/08/engineering-protection/

Good for them
Don't normally post about this sort of thing but had to celebrate the fantastic news that Alan Johnston, the BBC Gaza correspondent who was kidnapped 114 days ago and has been held captive ever since, has been released. There is something about the way that the BBC have stuck by him, championed his cause, and didn't let people forget about him even when it was looking at its bleakest, that was a real inspiration. Gives a whole new meaning to corporate responsibility. Good for them and good for him.
http://neilperkin.typepad.com/only_dead_fish/2007/07/alan-johnston.html