From time to time I get writer's block, especially when writing on a blog. Sometimes there's just nothing that leaps out at you - nothing that begs to be written about. I had that problem today, that is, until I read this BBC News headline:
Dutch return head of Ghana king
Tribal elders led a ceremony in The Hague to hand over the head of Badu Bonsu II, stored in formaldehyde in a Dutch museum for 170 years.
Arthur Japin, a Dutch author who researched King Bonsu, says the head was brought to the Netherlands, possibly by mistake, shortly after the king was killed.Right, a little creepy, especially since the Dutch appear to have some sort of infatuation with formaldehyde:
A Dutch general had been asked to bring back "heads" from Ghana to be studied by a famous phrenologist..........During the voyage home the general died, and he too was preserved in formaldehyde.What on earth? According to the article, the Dutch and the Ghanaians disagree on how the King was killed. I think the Dutch don't really have much room to argue considering they stole his head!
1 Comment
futurama pic!
how do you accidentally take a head in formaldehyde abroad? Can you imagine the scene at customs?
"Anything to declare?" "Nothing... er.... that, yeah - um... that's King Bonsu II... must have dropped into the bag when I wasn't looking..."