The X-Factor

We live in a life that seems to rob us of happiness at every turn. Very pessimistic view of reality, but somehow true. For example, why? Why did you have to cut off my Will and Grace, or Sex and the City? Porque? I mean, if that isn’t a direct stake to my heart then what is? Well…

Recently I was at this place, when I met my last ex, the one I had a relationship with, which was rather platonic on many levels. In anycase, I was there with my friends having a vodka martini, after god knows how many tequilas, and suddenly I see my ex. It’s like a something prompted me to raise my head up. As a reactive instinct I slid backwards behind my friends… and hid. I mean come on, it’s not something I would usually do. I was there, looking absolutely fabulous (I was, what can I say… ;) ) and I simply hid. It’s not a case of not being over someone. It’s more of ‘crap’... I mean even when you get over someone, the scars of your past relationships, the ones that meant something, are still visible and there so you know how I feel.
When you break up with someone, you mourn your loss and eventually move on. Moving on is the tricky bit. To prevent any relapse of pain, you do your best to avoid that other person who smashed your heart against the walls of life (dramatic but that’s how many people feel). Everywhere becomes filled with emotional landmines. You think thoroughly before going out asking questions of the type; Will my ex be there? Will he/she be with someone? Or else you end up crossing places off your list because you might associate them with memories of you two together. Geez, not only relationships are hard to maintain, but you also get a bloody aftermath most of the times.

A friend of mine once told me that to get over someone you must spend half the amount of time you were in that relationship mourning the loss. Then move on… does it work so easily? What I usually do after a break up is enter this high state of ‘perfection’. I mean Malta is a small country and you are bound to encounter your ex at some point in time. What I do is make sure I look my best everywhere I go. For starters it makes me feel better with myself since I’ll be goodlooking. Also if I run into my ex, god forbid, the last thing you want to do is show him/her you’re a mess. It would be better if you gave him/her the impression you’re doing great- you’re single, stunning and fabulously enjoying it, always hoping he/she feels the regret of what was lost… as much as you do.

Then there is the reverse affect. You meet your ex, and once again you look fabulous, and surprisingly enough he/she is happy to see you. They smile at you ask you how you are, what you been up to and so on. All of a sudden, a stranger comes up to the two of you and establishes his/her presence there. You’re “do you mind this is private”, like you’re trying to show your ex you’re kind of into him/her. Then this stranger, puts his/her arm around your ex. ‘Crap’…it’s your ex’s new partner! Nice work ding-bat you just made yourself the biggest looser/fool/desperado of the century, while that SOB/dumb b#@$ard/mo-fo of your ex enjoyed the whole charade. Compose yourself and leave-planning a distasteful revenge.

We are trying to survive a world where ‘all good things come to an end’. Pretty grim I know but somehow true. Then again it’s our life. So we should try to fill it with as much things that make us feel good – trash the things that you don’t like, including your ex, press the ‘next’ on your life remote controller and say ‘oh he/she is cute’, smile and don’t forget, being single is another fun part of life. Cheers ppl...


M@U

N7N

The seven wonders of the world is a list of seven remarkable constructions of classical antiquity. The structures were all man-made monuments and were selected by Philon of Byzantium in 200 B.C. His selection of wonders was essentially a travel guide for fellow Athenians, and the stunning sites were all located around the Mediterranean basin, the then-known Hellenic world.

The monuments chosen were all built between 2500 and 200BC and consist of:
· The Great Pyramid of Giza
· The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
· The Temple of Artemis
· The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
· The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus
· The Colossus of Rhodes
· The Lighthouse of Alexandria

Of all the original seven wonders, only the pyramids of Giza have survived and for this reason a Swiss-based, for-profit corporation called New Open World Corporation (NOWC) has decided to revive the seven wonders. The selection is being made by free and paid votes, through telephone or online. The first vote is free to registered members and additional votes may be purchased through a donation to NOWC. In addition to the sale of votes, NOWC relies on private donations, the sale of merchandise such as shirts and caps, and revenue from selling broadcasting rights.

In September 1999, the founder of the company, Bernard Weber launched the first New7Wonders website and nine months later, on the 26th June 2000 the official site was launched to facilitate a global vote via the internet. By September 20th, one million votes were cast proving that this campaign was to be a success. In February 2002 an e-mail chain letter campaign started by Turkish Internet surfers drove the Turks to surpass the US in voting participation. This began a whole race between countries until October when the Chinese started voting at a rate of 70,000 votes per day! Being the country with the largest population it was very hard to overtake and in fact China still retains the lead.

Nominations kept pouring in to the New7Wonders board till the very end of 2005 but on the 1st January 2006, 77 sites with the highest votes were selected out of a total of 177. Twenty-one finalists were then chosen by a panel of experts and voting was restarted to select 7 sites as the New Seven Wonders of the World. The seven winning sites will be announced in Lisbon on the 7th July 2007, i.e. 07/07/07.


One disappointing fact for us Maltese is that not one of our historical monuments were submitted or nominated. Ġgantija temples, in Gozo are the oldest free standing monuments in the world and therefore surely deserve some international recognition. They pre-date the pyramids of Egypt and cannot be compared to those of Stonehenge since the British temple was built many years after. The only problem there might have been would have been to surpass the criteria required to be nominated. All sites had to be man-made, completed before 2000AD and in an "acceptable" state of preservation in order to be nominated.

In my opinion the idea of reviving a list of seven wonders is a step forward for the preservation of each country’s cultural heritage. As soon as the idea was published many countries began restoring their old buildings and monuments in order to make it to the new list of seven wonders. 177 sites were nominated but many more historical artifacts exist and it is thus very hard to choose just seven sites. Eventually this new list will also become obsolete with the introduction of new sites, designs and ideas together with the possible destruction of ancient sites either naturally or by man, just like what happened to the ‘old’ but not forgotten original seven wonders of the world.

Zachary Engerer

We're Doomed!

“The earth’s rising temperature caused a large chunk of ice to break off from Antarctica and plunge into the sea. The resulting shockwaves generated huge waves that flooded low lying lands around the globe and even the tectonic plates were displaced. Failure of the ozone layer caused all equatorial regions to combust and the Amazon jungle quickly became a wasteland. Finally, the large displacement of water caused the Earth’s orbit to change slightly and sent the planet on a collision course with Venus.”

You’re probably thinking that this is a fictitious and overly exaggerated prophesy of the future; and you’d be right!! I just invented that on the spur of the moment! The truth is that global warming is a much publicised issue and it is very easy to confuse separate and unrelated issues. For example, the first paragraph mentions the failure of the ozone layer. This is indeed an environmental crisis but is not connected to global warming in any other way than it being caused by mankind.

Furthermore, the political agenda of nations also influences their stance on global warming. Consider, for example, the United States of America. The most powerful nation on Earth unsurprisingly has a huge appetite for energy. Consequently, their stance on global warming is one of general indifference. The problem is that other countries also have rising energy needs, in particular, India and China.

What, then, is the truth? A good question; for whilst the basics are agreed upon, the consequences are disputed. It all boils down to the green house effect. It has been described as a blanket covering the earth. Solar radiation passes through the atmosphere and warms the Earth’s surface. Reflected solar radiation in the Infra Red range is absorbed by green house gases (GHGs) like Methane, Carbon Dioxide and even water vapour. This further warms the earth by 33˚C. As a result of industrial processes and the burning of fossil fuels, tons of excess greenhouse gases are being pumped into the atmosphere every year.


What are the consequences and are rising global temperatures really a catastrophic result of increasing Carbon Dioxide concentrations?

It may be, for example, that the temperature increase is due to normal climate change. In fact up to 98% of greenhouse gas emissions have nothing to do with mankind. As television presenter Jeremy Clarkson put it, “That means, a Range Rover, doing 10,000 miles a year, produces less pollution a day then a cow farting.”

The problem is… he’s right, and the Methane gas from cows is a far more effective GHG than Carbon Dioxide. However, most of the GHGs produced are actually the products of heavy industry, produced in large volumes in countries like the US and China. Those are just the sceptics of global warming talking. Life exists in an equilibrium, change a factor at too fast a rate and, no matter how seemingly insignificant the change, the results may be disastrous. Consider also that this 98% natural global warming warms the earth just enough to sustain this climate. The extra 2% may tip the scales and also the added heat may produce more water vapour increasing global warming. Oh dear!!

In search of some concrete answers I hunted for some lecturers. I figured they could give me some straight answers. I finally managed to interrogate the “Science of the Earth” guy. Unfortunately, the answers I got do not allow me to make any predictions regarding the future of the Earth. What I can say is that GHGs can be found at higher concentrations over urban areas and this may give an indication as to their area of influence.

The fact of the matter is that nobody can be certain about what will happen. It is true that climates fluctuate over the millennia, but will ice ages really be triggered by global warming? All we can be certain about are the unnatural phenomena occurring around us, periods of drought and polar icecaps melting. We can be sure about one thing…global warming is indeed a problem and its consequences may have far reaching and destructive results.

Matthew "Jesus" Pace

http://www.globalwarming.org/article.php?uid=65
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jeremy_Clarkson