Magic Statistics

Henry VII's lost chapel was demolished in the 1660s along with the rest of the Palace of Placentia, and its exact location was eventually forgotten. The chapel has now been re-discovered underneath four feet of London clay.

The site is where he and a host of his Tudor successors - Henry VIII, Mary Tudor and Elizabeth I - worshipped.

The existence of the chapel, part of the Royal Palace of Placentia, a Tudor favourite but pulled down in the 17th century to be replaced by Greenwich Hospital - now the Old Naval College - has long been known from paintings and records.

But until a bulldozer's bucket scraped against brickwork a month ago, no physical evidence of the chapel had ever been discovered.
. . .
The archaeologists may also have unearthed the spot where Henry VIII stood during his marriages to Catherine of Aragon and Anne of Cleves.

Click here for a graphic with a period drawing, maps, and a photo of what has been uncovered thus far.

Now that Canadians have voted in Stephen Harper as Prime Minister, former US Vice President Al Gore pipes up to inform us that we all overlooked an important issue:

The election in Canada was partly about the tar sands projects in Alberta, Gore said Wednesday while attending the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.

Thanks a lot, Al, but your timing could be better: We held our election last Monday. Why did you wait until Wednesday to tell us? Couldn't you have mentioned this a month or so ago?

On second thought, maybe it's Al who missed the boat.

And the financial interests behind the tar sands project poured a lot of money and support behind an ultra-conservative leader in order to win the election . . . and to protect their interests.

Uh, Al, Canadian law places severe limits on the amount that corporations can donate to political campaigns.

The federal Elections Act limits how much money individuals, corporations and unions can donate to political parties. Individuals are allowed to give as much as $5,000 a year, while companies and unions are capped at $1,000 a year.

It would be rather difficult for big oil to pour a lot of money behind anyone's campaign. So, it may be possible that Stephen Harper is beholden to tiny oil, but not to big oil. Based on his party's platform, moreover, Mr Harper is not interested in receiving money even from tiny oil.

In their election platform, the Conservatives promised to further limit individual donations to a maximum of $1,000 and ban all donations from corporations, unions and organizations.

Al, next time you feel the urge to butt into Canada's internal affairs, maybe you should find out something about pertinent Canadian laws before you shoot your mouth off. Just a suggestion.

via smalldeadanimals.