geography

Dumbing Down Is Not A New Thing

During our travels we have consorted with several kings, as different in their manners and their opinions as are the different geographical situations of their countries, yet little by little we have found among them the same accord in recognizing that all traces of science have vanished and that its splendour is spent; learning has become too general and has lost its depth; and one no longer sees any but people filled with vanity and ignorance, imperfect scholars who are content with superficial ideas and do not recognise the truth…
Masʿūdī (896-956 AD, historian, traveller, geographer and naturalist: “the Herodotus of the Arabs”).
“From The Meadows Of Gold”, Penguin Great Journeys No. 2 (2007).
Read the 1841 translation here.

Image: h.koppdelaney

Maps: How One Travels Far

Dec 15th, 2010

by Mikeachim.

15 comments

Come with me into my dream home. (more…)

10 Ways Cyprus Surprises (And Shocks) Us

Mar 21st, 2010

by Mikeachim.

33 comments

Just another sunkissed Mediterranean island, you say? Here’s ten reasons why I beg to differ.

FriedHalloumi

Cyprus is where cheese squeaks… If you’re bored with cheese being so cheesy, you need some Halloumi. It doesn’t taste like cheese. Imagine something salt-tangy with the mouth-feel of chicken, and you’ve a hint of its gastronomic magic. It doesn’t behave like cheese, having a melting-point high enough to allow it to be fried into crispy, chewy slabs of pure Wow. And it doesn’t sound like cheese. Wet your finger and rub it against a window: that’s what Halloumi sounds like. Eat some. You’ll see.

(more…)

York: Remembering I’m Always In The Middle

Jun 3rd, 2009

by Mikeachim.

4 comments

March 23rd 2006

The river Ouse was, for a long time, the bloodstream of mercantile York. In Roman times it provided the means to transport bulk goods for the military (grain, for example, as seen in the remnants of beetle-infested Roman grain cellars along Coney Street). It allowed cost-effective transportation of raw and worked materials in and out of the city, allowing the economy to thrive, thus aiding the development of the high-prestige specialised industries that made York such a focal-point in English medieval craftworking. It helped people into York, and it helped people stay here. It also, like any self-respecting bloodstream, carried away a lot of the filth generated in the process.

100_08311