Day: April 15, 2010

The Price (Cost?) of A Vesuvius Eruption?

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

They don’t seem to take into account spinoff damage to tourism that would no doubt follow another destruction of Pompeii and the like …

A major eruption of Italy’s Mount Vesuvius could result in 8,000 fatalities, 13,000 serious injuries and total economic losses of more than $24 billion, according to a new study supported by the Willis Research Network (WRN) that puts Vesuvius at the top of the list of Europe’s 10 most dangerous volcanoes.

[…]

Vesuvius poses the greatest risk to life and property, the study found, because it has the highest exposed population (1.7 million people), the highest exposed residential property value (US $66.1 billion), and the greatest potential for a seriously damaging eruption among the top 10 volcanoes. The study noted that more than 87 percent of the aggregated exposed property value for the 10 volcanoes is concentrated in the Neapolitan region near Vesuvius and Campi Flegrei.

via Mount Vesuvius Eruption Could Cause 21,000 Casualties, Economic Losses of $24 Billion – MarketWatch.

A Somewhat Scary Poll

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ 2 Comments

A recent poll found that young travellers often do not distinguish between real and fictional places or simply have geographical locations all mixed up. The poll, conducted by the sunshine.co.uk website, surveyed 2,865 people between the ages of 18 and 30, to somewhat disparaging results.

[…]

>The opposite trend – considering fictitious places as real, was also observed: about a third of the respondents thought that Atlantis – the legendary island that, according to myths, housed a lost prehistoric civilisation before sinking into the ocean, was a real place they could visit in Greece.

via Balkan Travellers – Young Travellers Think “Atlantis is a Real Place in Greece”.

hmmm … maybe we should send them there …

This Day in Ancient History: ante diem xvii kalendas maias

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

ante diem xvii kalendas maias

  • ludi Cereri continue (day 4)– games in honour of the grain goddess Ceres, instituted by/before 202 B.C.
  • Fordicidia — an obvious fertility ritual in which a pregnant cow would be sacrificed to the earth goddess Tellus
  • 421 B.C. — Peace of Nikias brings the first phase of the Peloponnesian war (a.k.a. the Archidamian War) to an end (by one reckoning)
  • 69 A.D. — the forces of emperor wannabe Vitellius defeat the forces of emperor wannabe Otho
  • 251 A.D. — Martyrdom of Maximus and Olympiades in Persia