Teenager defaces ancient Egyptian relic

I know that it seems to be a quality of most teenagers to be idiots who think they know more than they do, but how many of them can offend two  cultures at the same time? A Chinese teenager visiting Egypt with his parents scratched “Ding Jinhao visited here” in Chinese on the wall of a temple in the ancient city of Luxor. While most Egyptians wouldn’t recognize the writing, another Chinese tourist did and posted a picture of it on a blog along with the caption: “My saddest moment in Egypt. Ashamed and unable to show my face.” The photo went viral, which led to someone identifying the 15-year-old teenager. Understandably most of the comments about the teenager’s actions were negative. He had defaced an ancient relic of the Egyptian culture. It breaks my heart that the teenager who Read more…

King Louis' blood found in a gourd

While my first love is American history, there are times when world history can certainly woo me. I found this story today had visions of Monarch Park instead of Jurassic Park where the DNA of former kings are used to recreate them. French King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette were beheaded with a guillotine more than two centuries ago. That is something I remembered from history classes in school. However, I had never heard that someone sopped up the king’s blood with a handkerchief and stored it in a gourd. A wealthy Italian family owns the gourd, which has pictures of people from the French Revolution emblazoned on it. Text on the gourd reads: “On January 21, Maximilien Bourdaloue dipped his handkerchief in the blood of Louis XVI after his decapitation.” Inside the gourd is dried blood, but Read more…