Unfortunately for Mr. The Giant, he was never officially sworn in as a wonder of the world. I am not sure if he died before an official vote could take place or what happened. Actually I have no clue about how all that works. In fact, I can’t even name the Wonders of the World.

I am surprised it has taken me this long to wonder about the wonders. Apparently I have been too busy wondering about more important things like carbo-loading and quicksand. But that all changes in today’s Wonder Why Wednesday:

What Are The Seven Wonders Of The World & How Were They Picked?

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient world are the following:

• Great Pyramid of Giza
• Hanging Gardens of Babylon
• Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
• Statue of Zeus at Olympia
• Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
• Colossus of Rhodes
• Lighthouse of Alexandria

There is much debate over whom compiled this list of wonders. Some say Callimachus of Cyrene drafted the list in the third century B.C. Others think it was Herodotus, who lived from around 484 to 425 B.C. Still other accounts attribute the list to Philo of Byzantium in 130 B.C.

Whomever it was, it happened along time ago and unfortunately, of the seven, only the Great Pyramid still exists. The others are in unrecognizable ruins, and scholars doubt that the Hanging Gardens existed at all.

This has led to new versions of the list. In 1994, the American Society of Civil Engineers created the following list of Seven Wonders of the Modern World, paying tribute to the “greatest civil engineering achievements of the 20th century”:

• Channel Tunnel
• CN Tower
• Empire State Building
• Golden Gate Bridge
• Itaipu Dam
• Delta Works/Zuiderzee Works
• Panama Canal

In 2001, New7Wonders Foundation, a Swiss corporation, decided to create the New7Wonders of the World from a selection of 200 existing monuments. Twenty-one finalists were announced January 1, 2006 and the results were announced on July 7, 2007, in Lisbon, Portugal: 

• Great Wall of China
• Petra
• Christ the Redeemer
• Machu Picchu
• Chichen Itza
• Colosseum
• Taj Mahal

Egyptians were not happy that the only surviving original wonder, the Great Pyramid of Giza did not make the cut, so New7Wonders decided to add it as the honorary 8th wonder.

And if that weren’t enough, Iin November 2006 USA Today and  Good Morning America revealed a new list of New Seven Wonders as chosen by six judges. Their list included:

• Potala Palace
• Old City of Jerusalem
• Polar ice caps
• Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument
• Internet
• Mayan ruins
• Great Migration of Serengeti and Masai Mara

And because 7 was just not enough for USA Today and Good Morning America, the Grand Canyon was selected as the viewer-chosen 8th wonder.

Sources: How Stuff Works, Wikipedia 

Photo credit: Wikipedia

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Thanks to the wonders of the internet, we were able to find out that approximately 60 million people were killed during that war. The number of deaths accounted for 3% of the world’s population.

That is a crazy number and it actually troubles me a little to think about it. Call me crazy, but I don’t like to spend too much time focusing on such a large number of deaths.

I’d rather talk about life. And that got me wondering…

How many people are born each day?

Before I get to the answer, take a guess. How many people do you think are born each day? I did not really know what to guess so I just went with a round number of 100,000.

According to Ask.com, approximately 350,000 to 400,000 people are born in the world on a daily basis. The U.S. Census Bureau shows that there is one birth every eight seconds in the United States, or about 10,800 births per day.

How close was your guess?

If you want to know more, worldometer.info is a cool site that has a ton of population information. Makes you really appreciate just how many people there are on this planet.

Photo credit: Wikipedia

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Okay, well technically that is not completely true. But for a short time I thought that was the case.

It is an ancient tradition in the Imperial House of Japan (IHOJ) for male children to don the flowing kimono trousers and receive a symbolic haircut when they turn five.

The ritual marks the first time the child wears those trousers in his life.

When I read this article detailing that experience for Prince Hisahito, I initially glanced over the word “those” in front of trousers. The ritual is when the male children wear the flowing kimono trousers for the first time.

But I didn’t see the word “those” so I thought it said that Japanese royals do not wear any pants until they turn five.

I was so ready to jump on that “fact” and use it as an anecdote for a post I was brainstorming. The topic was about how we often get stuck in practices of doing things the way they have always been, just because that is how they have always been.

I had prepared a joke about how wearing pants for the 1st time might have been a big deal 1000 years ago, but its nothing to brag about now. What if Price Hisahito was cold, would his parents not let him wear pants then?

I was going to compare that to how some companies cost themselves money and time by following instructions that are based simply on the strategy of “just they way they’ve always been.”

I was ready to write an amazing article but my facts were all wrong. I will just have to wait on that post until I can find another example to use to really drive home my point.

Instead, I guess the lesson I can learn from this post is the importance of every word in the sentence. As I showed in my misunderstanding of Japanese royalty traditions, glossing over one small word can completely alter the point of the story.

Speaking of the story…the story of Prince Hisahito is actually quite interesting (despite the fact that he didn’t have to wait five years to wear pants).

He is the third child and only son of Prince Fumihito. He is only 8-years-old but he is third in line to become Emperor of Japan. Until Hisahito came along, there was panic that there would not be a male heir to the throne.

Check out this cute kiddo.

Prince Hisahito may be young but he is already shaking things up. He became the first member of the Imperial House of Japan to receive his education at a school other than Gakushuin Primary School.

This is a big deal because the Gakushuin Primary School was an institution established to educate the children of Japan’s nobility. Basically it was a school set up in 1874 exclusively for kids like Hisahito. It was a school by kings for kings (no word on if their mascot is the Kings).

In 1947, Gakushuin became a private school, opening its doors to children who weren’t royalty (but still could afford the expensive tuition). Even though the school became public and there is no law that said a prince had to attend Gakushuin, but every member of the Imperial House of Japan still attended the school.

Until Hisahito, that is. In April 2013, the prince enrolled at Ochanomizu University Elementary School so he could be with many of his friends from kindergarten.

Japanese princes had been doing the same thing for over a hundred years and Hisahito (and his parents) decided a change was necessary.

Maybe there was a story about not just doing things because that is how they have always been done, after all.

Photo credit: Wikipedia

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At that time, his doctors told him that he would never be a functioning member of society.

Spencer didn’t listen to them. Instead he grew up and DID THIS! (<—- Read this story and then watch the video below)

Photo credit: Wikipedia

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I love ping pong, but I’ll be honest…if I lost my arms, I would probably give up playing ping pong.

Ibrahim Hamato has not only refused to give up, he is playing ping pong at a very high level. All without use of his arms.

Hamato has taught himself to hit the ball by holding the paddle in his mouth and the results are awesome. Check out the impressive spin he is able to add to his volleys. And that serve he has, where he tosses the ball up with his foot is incredible!

Overall, Hamato is a truly remarkable dude. And he has a great attitude.

“I hope this shows people that nothing is impossible as long as you work hard,” says Hamato.

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