7 Wonders Modern World

 

1. Channel Tunnel

In 1802 a French mining engineer named Albert Mathieu had a wonderful idea. After years of war between France and England the two European powers were finally at peace. Suppose one took advantage of this reconciliation to forge a permanent tie involving the two nations? Not just an effort to create goodwill between the two, longtime rivals, but a project that would physically link the two countries together. Something that would give them a way to move people and goods across the 20 miles of water of the English Channel without relying on the small, erratic ferries that made passengers seasick as they were knocked about by the unpredictable waves.What if one connected the two great nations together using an underground tunnel?

Mathieu presented his idea to the then current ruler of France, Napoleon. Unfortunately for Mathieu the "Peace of Amiens" lasted only a year and his idea was soon forgotten, but only after being ridiculed by the British Press in a cartoon showing French troops invading England via balloons and a tunnel.

 

2.  CN Tower

In the 1960's the city of Toronto, Canada, was in a building boom. The town, which had consisted for many years as mostly smaller buildings, was erecting a number of new skyscrapers which rose towards the heavens. While this made the skyline of the city exciting to look at, it also caused some problems, too. The new, tall buildings blocked TV and radio communications as well as the microwave transmissions used to move data between many businesses. To resolve this problem the Canadian National Railway (CN) decided to build a communications tower tall enough so that any radio or TV communications from it would not be obstructed by other high-rise buildings in the city.

 The tower would also serve as a hub for microwave transmissions, allowing two businesses that were not visible to each other to exchange data by having the tower retransmit it. The project officially got underway in 1972. During the planning stage it was decided to add an observation deck. Engineers soon realized that with some fairly minor changes to the project, the structure could be turned into the tallest tower in the world.

 

3. The Empire State Building

The beginning of the 20th century was marked by a boom of building activity in the city of New York. Buildings were constructed and then demolished only a few years later to make room for larger buildings. Companies vied for the honor of having their name on the tallest building in not only the city, but the world. The skyline of the metropolis became its pride, crowned with an array of skyscrapers, each one different than the one before it.

In their race to have their name on the tallest building, developers would even resort to trickery. In 1930 the Bank of Manhattan skyscraper was completed. It stood 135 feet taller than the older Woolworth building and two feet higher than the planned height of a rival project, the Chrysler Building, which was still under construction. The architect of the Chrysler building, William Van Alen, however, had a 185 foot-long spire secretly assembled inside the building. At the end of construction on October 23, 1929, the spire was hoisted into place and in only 90 minutes the Chrysler building usurped the Bank of Manhattan for the title of tallest building in the world.

 

4.  The Golden Bridge

The strait that connects the Pacific Ocean with the San Francisco Bay is one of the most unforgiving stretches of water in the world. It is 6,700 ft (2,042 m) wide and in the center 500 ft (150 m) deep. Because of the tides moving in and out of the bay the water is subject to strong, swirling currents. Sometimes as the air is forced between the high hills on either side (which is called the "gate"), heavy, gusting winds result that can move as fast as 75 miles per hour. When the wind drops, the area is also often shrouded in heavy fog with near zero visibility. In 1916, because of these factors, San Francisco's city engineer, Michael M. O'Shaughnessy, estimated that a bridge to span the strait would cost $100 million to construct, an incredible amount of money for that period of time.

 

5. The Itaipu

In the 1960's the governments of Brazil and Paraguay saw a way of working together on a project that used one of their shared resources to support the expanding electrical needs of their countries. This resource was the Paraná River, the seventh largest in the world, which formed a natural border between the two nations. The project was a massive dam that would harness the river's energy and turn it into electrical power.

On July 22, 1966, the Brazilian and Paraguayan Ministers of Foreign Affairs signed a document agreeing to explore the possibility of building a dam and an associated hydroelectric plant. It wasn't until February 1971, however, that the work actually started. Once construction was underway, there were still legal considerations to be handled. In particular, the country of Argentina, only a few miles south of the dam site, was concerned that in times of conflict the dam could be used as a weapon. If all the gates were opened, a rush of water could be created that would flood the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires. To quell these concerns the three nations entered an agreement in October of 1979 on the amount of water that could be released at any time from the dam.

 

6.  Panama Canal

Charles the 5th, the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, had a problem. A few years before in 1532 Francisco Pizarro, a Spanish conquistador, had defeated and captured the Inca Empire in Peru. The mines of that country were now producing a wealth in silver to be sent back to Spain, but the trip required ships to travel thousands of miles all the way around the tip of South America before they could make their way eastward across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe. The king pondered if perhaps there wasn't a better way.

In 1513 Vasco Nuñez de Balboa had discovered that in Central America there was just a narrow strip of land, not much more than 50 miles (80km) wide, separating the Atlantic from the Pacific Ocean. Suppose a canal could be dug through that strip of land? It would not only shorten the trip from Peru for the Spanish vessels, it would give Spain a tactical military advantage against its rival in the new world, Portugal.

Though the distance was only fifty miles it was one of the most difficult landscapes imaginable to work in combining dense jungles with steep mountains. King Charles ordered the Panama regional governor to survey the area for a canal following the route of the Chagres River. The governor came to the conclusion, however, that building such a passageway through the rugged terrain would be impossible.

 

7.  Netherland North Sea Protection Works.

When people think of the Netherlands two things often come to mind: Tulips and windmills. Both of these have been symbols of this European country for centuries. The tulip was introduced from Asia in the 17th century and has been a source of income for Dutch farmers ever since. The windmills date from the 1400's and though they are picturesque, they are actually symbols of a serious life and death struggle that has raged in the Netherlands for years: The Dutch people and their land against the sea.

The most recent of these battles took place in the 20th century when the Dutch engaged in two massive projects to enlarge and secure their land against the ocean. The Zuiderzee Works and the Delta Works took most of the century to complete and together are considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.

Love, 

LadyBie

7 Wonders Ancient World

 

1. Pyramid , Egypt

It's 756 feet long on each side, 450 feet high and is composed of 2,300,000 blocks of stone, each averaging 2 1/2 tons in weight. Despite the makers' limited surveying tools, no side is more than 8 inches different in length than another, and the whole structure is perfectly oriented to the points of the compass. Even today it remains the most massive building on Earth. It is the Great Pyramid of Khufu, at Giza, Egypt.

2. Hanging Garden, Babylon

The city of Babylon, under King Nebuchadnezzar II, must have been a wonder to the ancient traveler's eyes. "In addition to its size," wrote Herodotus, a Greek historian in 450 BC, "Babylon surpasses in splendor any city in the known world."

Herodotus claimed the outer walls were 56 miles in length, 80 feet thick and 320 feet high. Wide enough, he said, to allow two four-horse chariots to pass each other. The city also had inner walls which were "not so thick as the first, but hardly less strong." Inside these double walls were fortresses and temples containing immense statues of solid gold. Rising above the city was the famous Tower of Babel, a temple to the god Marduk, that seemed to reach to the heavens.

 

3.  The Statue of Zeus, Olympia

In ancient times one of the Greeks most mportant festivals, the Olympic Games, was held every four years in honor of the King of their gods, Zeus. Like our modern Olympics, athletes traveled from distant lands, including Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt and Sicily, to compete. The Olympics were first started in 776 B.C. and held at a shrine to Zeus located on the western coast of Greece in a region called Peloponnesus. The games helped to unify the Greek city-states and a sacred truce was declared. Safe passage was given to all traveling to the site, called Olympia, for the season of the games.

 

4. Temple of Artemis, Emphesus

The first shrine to the Goddess Artemis was probably built around 800 B.C. on a marshy strip near the river at Ephesus. The Ephesus goddess Artemis, sometimes called Diana, is not quite the same figure as was worshiped in Greece. The Greek Artemis was the goddess of the hunt. The Ephesus Artemis was a goddess of fertility and was often pictured as draped with eggs or multiple breasts, symbols of fertility, from her waist to her shoulders.

 

5. The Mausoleum, Harlicarnassus

In 377 B.C., the city of Halicarnassus was the capitol of a small kingdom along the Mediterranean coast of Asia Minor. It was in that year the ruler of this land, Hecatomnus of Mylasa, died and left control of the kingdom to his son, Mausolus. Hecatomnus, a local satrap to the Persians, had been ambitious and had taken control of several of the neighboring cities and districts. Then Mausolus during his reign extended the territory even further so that it eventually included most of southwestern Asia Minor.

Mausolus, with his queen Artemisia, ruled over Halicarnassus and the surrounding territory for 24 years. Though he was descended from the local people, Mausolus spoke Greek and admired the Greek way of life and government. He founded many cities of Greek design along the coast and encouraged Greek democratic traditions.

6. The Collossus of Rhodes

Travelers to the New York City harbor see a marvelous sight. Standing on a small island in the harbor is an immense statue of a robed woman, holding a book and lifting a torch to the sky. The statue measures almost one-hundred and twenty feet from foot to crown. It is sometimes referred to as the "Modern Colossus," but more often called the Statue of Liberty.

This awe-inspiring statue was a gift from France to America and is easily recognized by people around the world. What many visitors to this shrine to freedom don't know is that the statue, the "Modern Colossus," is the echo of another statue, the original colossus, that stood over two thousand years ago at the entrance to another busy harbor on the Island of Rhodes. Like the Statue of Liberty, this colossus was also built as a celebration of freedom. 

7.  The Great Lighthouse, Alexandria

In the fall of 1994 a team of archaeological divers donned scuba equipment and entered the waters off of Alexandria, Egypt. Working beneath the surface, they searched the bottom of the sea for artifacts. Large underwater blocks of stone and remnants of sculpture were marked with floating masts so that an electronic distance measurement station on shore could obtain their exact positions. Global positioning satellites were then used to further fix the locations. The information was then fed into computers to create a detailed database of the sea floor.

Ironically, these scientists were using some of the most high-tech devices available at the end of the 20th century to try and sort out the ruins of one of the most advanced technological achievements of the 3rd century, B.C.

Love, 

LadyBie

Pulau Tercantik Di Dunia

xde keje..so saje je la baby dok usyar2 kat internet
tengok tengok gambar dan dapat maklumat sedikit pasal dunia kan..
kali nie.. baby fokus pada Pulau yang tercantik di Dunia.
kenapa??? saje je..
mana lah tahu kot2 nak berjalan2 satu hari nanti kan..

1. Pulau Bora-Bora

Pulau Bora-Bora merupakan satu diantara gugusan pulau yang terdapat di Polinesia. Perkataan Bora-Bora ini datangnya dari bahasa Haiti “pora-pora” yang bermaksud “anak pertama”. Pulau ini terletak 230 kilometer di barat laut Papetee dan dikelilingi lagun biru dan terumbu karang yang cantik. Di tengah pulau pula terdapat dua puncak gunung berapi yang tidak aktif bernama Gunung Pahia dan Gunung Otemanu.

 

2. Pulau Baros

Pulau Baros ini terletak di Maldives. Ia merupakan diantara pulau yang masih “dara” dan tidak diganggu. Pulau ini ditinggalkan oleh manusia ketika pemerintahan Maharaja Sultan Hassan Nooraddeen diatas sebab-sebab yang tidak diketahui. Keunikan pulau ini adalah pada kecantikannya dan keadaan pulau yang masih tidak diganggu oleh pembangunan pesat seperti pulau-pulau lain.

 

3. Pulau La Digue

Pulau La Digue merupakan pulau keempat terbesar yang didiami manusia di Seychelles. Pulau La Digue mendapat namanya sempena nama kapal seorang pengembara Perancis yang bernama Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne yang melawat Seychelles pada tahun 1768. Dipulau ini terdapat sejenis burung yang sangat unik dan terancam bernama Black Paradise Flycatcher. Cuma terdapat 100 ekor burung ini di dunia. Selain daripada pantainya, keindahan pulau ini juga dapat dilihat pada kawasan gunung dan payanya.

  

 4. Pulau Sipadan

Tidak lengkap jika tidak memasukkan pulau indah dari negara kita ini. Pulau Sipadan merupakan Pulau yang terletak di timur Sabah, Malaysia yang terkenal dengan habitat laut yang terkaya di dunia. Ia didiami oleh pelbagai haiwan marin yang cantik seperti penyu, batu karang dan ikan-ikan dari pelbagai spesis. Ia merupakan diantara tempat selam scuba yang paling terkenal di dunia.

 

Love, 

LadyBie