If you’re a Jazz fan, and didn’t get a chance
to make it down to New Orleans this year for Jazz Fest, you can keep up to speed on everything happening by checking
out a new blog here at AOL. Bloggingneworleans is taking a long,
savory look at all the great things happening down in the Big Easy. They’re covering the bands and performances
(including lots of Bruce Springsteen stuff), as well as post-Katrina issues and lots lots more. They are, in their own
words, in full hootenanny mode.
Red Corner: Paying Respects to the Not-So-Recent Dead
Hurry up and get yourself to Moscow because one of the world’s most bizarre tourist sights may soon be dumped into the ground and buried.
When Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the Soviet Union, died in 1924, his cronies decided to embalm the remains and put them on display in Red Square for the public to worship. Top Soviet scientists devised a revolutionary embalming technique that would keep his body as fresh as the morning dew for future generations of faithful communists to revere. Unfortunately for Lenin, his corpse–which can still be seen today in Red Square–outlasted his empire.
These days, however, there is serious talk of planting Vladimir in the Russian soil (where, it might be remarked, he could join the countless victims he placed there during his bloody reign). Although controversy regarding this decision has raged since the fall of communism, each year it seems to pick up more supporters. One day, it will most certainly happen.
In the meantime, Lenin remains displayed in regal splendor. Visitors to his Red Square Mausoleum can quietly file past his glass sarcophagus and gawk at the waxy remains of one of the 20th century’s most notorious rulers. In the spirit of communism, this morbid curiosity remains one of the few tourist sites in Moscow absolutely free; making a ruble off of Lenin would simply be far too ironic for even the wacky world of post-communist Russia.
Spain Unearths lost Roman City — and Builds a Car Park In It
Archeologists found a lost Roman city
beneath the main plaza of Ecija, a small town in southern Spain. According to an article in the Sunday Times, they discovered "a
well-preserved Roman forum, bath house, gymnasium and temple as well as dozens of private homes and hundreds of mosaics
and statues — one of them considered to be among the finest found."
This, however, didn’t stop the
city from completely destroying the archeological site — all in the name of building an underground municipal car
park.
Dr Sonia Zakrzewski, a senior lecturer in archeology at Southampton University, said: “It
is a real shock when things like this happen. I am surprised it has gone ahead. There is no doubt this site is of
fundamental importance to archeology.”
Hmm. Guess I’ll have to scratch that archeology-dig
vacation in southern Spain off my list.
Killer Animals
Lions and
tigers and bears, oh my! Sharks and snakes and tarantulas, oh my!
Let’s face it, probably the most
frightening thing you can imagine happening to yourself is being somehow eaten, bit, torn apart by some raging, wild
animal. It is a fear the quivers there in the shadows within your deepest cortex. Despite the fact you are much more
likely to be hit by a car or fall down stairs and break your neck, your greatest fears of death usually have something
to do with scary beasts.
And to help you better understand your fears, and perhaps to make them worse, the
good folks at the Times Online (the UK
version) have got a piece about all the scary critters who mean you harm out there. From elephants who will stomp you
into pink mush, to sharks that will swallow you whole, to even little scorpions whose venom will paralyze you and kill
you in seconds, this is a finie list of all the fun stuff that can happen to the unwary (and tasty) traveler.
African Nation Swipes Photographer's Image?
This came in through email recently and I
confess I am totally intrigued. Photographer Kelly Fajack says that a photo
he took (no no not the one of the hot chick pulling you POV into bed) was
used without his permission by the government of Burundi. Was it published in some random Burundi newspaper, say The
Burundi National Ledger and Gazette? The Burundi Journal of Education? Nope. It looks as if it was used on the national
currency, the 10,000 franc note, to be exact. If you take a look at
both the image and the bill, it seems pretty damn clear that they are the same image…with the exception that on the
bill the kid in the front seat doesn’t wrench his mouth in a little sneer as he does in the photo. Fajack says that he
was notified the image was taken from him by an American diplomat, and that he believes the image was taken from his
Website. He’s failed a lawsuit against Burundi for copyright infringement.