On Sat, 12 Sep 1998 04:57:21 +0100, Julian Bradley wrote:
>Guess there don't have to be seven - any other 20th century structure, both
>awe inspiring to see and significant?
The *new* Aswan (High) Dam in Egypt. It is not only architecturally
awesome, but had these effects:
1. Ended an Empire (nationalisation of the Suez Canal Company, Anthony
Eden sending the troops to Egypt then having to withdraw in
humiliation)
2. Created an artificial lake 500x300Km where the Nile perch grows to
about 10Kg a fish!
3. Ended the bounty of sardines spawning by the millions at the mouths
of the Nile!
4. Removed the all important silt from the Nile water, one factor in
Egypt now having to import 50% of its food needs!
5. Held together Czheckoslovakia for decades by subsidising its arms
trade
6. It led to some of the most impressive engineering feats of humans
when the Abu Simble Temple and others were moved to save them
7. Exposed the Temples of Philae to above ground level for the first
time in centuries
8. Put an end to kids earnings when they couldn't dive off of the old
dam for pennies
9. Put the culture and heritage of Nubia to the forefront by
dislocating them to new homes
10. When I was a child, I used to write in school homework books that
the price of a unit of electricity will be a penny. Hasn't happened
and what I didn't know is that there will be a baby born in Egypt every
45 seconds in the years to come and the female reproduction rate will
be 1:3.
That rate would swallow up anything and everything, including my
beloved Cairo, its elegant French colonial buildings, its greenery, its
skies full of big black kites soaring high and allow the great unwashed
masses through the gates of my first home and abode for many years: the
one and only, the exclusive Gezira Club!
If you really want to see and *feel* awsome, try leaning your back
against the Great Pyramid of Cheops at night when no one is around and
the 'sound and light show' not running. If you were to have a 'joint'
then, the ancients will speak to you and you'd hear music that is 5000
years old!
The only other 'structure' that had that effect on me was the great
Himalya (Annapurna III and Fishtail). For a brief and magical moment,
I could actually feel the great continents crashing into each other and
raising the range. I wish I was there.
Ahmad
________________________________________
Dr Ahmad Risk
http://mednetics.org
home: +44 1273 748198
work: +44 1737 240022
fax: +44 1737 244660
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