Category Archives: Middle East

What’s Your Endonym

Posted on January 10, 2018 by Brian D. Butler

An endonym is the name of a country, region, or geographic area as it’s known by the people who live there. These names may legally designated by a government or just commonly used terms. The clever endonym map of the … Continue reading →

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London to Cairo in 7 Days by Train

Posted on January 3, 2018 by Brian D. Butler

Throughout the 20th century European railway companies often incorporated route maps on their advertising posters. Due to size and design limitations, the cartographers involved in the map production often created distorted and geographically confusing maps. Still, the posters were attractive … Continue reading →

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Choose Love

Posted on December 25, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

As many of you enjoy the festive season and celebrate the story of the birth of the world’s most famous refugee child, please take a moment to consider the plight of millions of displaced children around the world. Iranian animator … Continue reading →

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Christmas In Yemen

Posted on December 23, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

For his Christmas In Yemen project, the Berlin-based street artist Igor Dobrowolski combines cheery Christmas photos with images of the horrific humanitarian crisis in Yemen, to remind us that these children are living a real hell. One child dies every 10 minutes in Yemen, … Continue reading →

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Coffee Makes The World Go Round

Posted on December 8, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

Folks who know me will vouch for my life-long love of coffee. For the most part, I’m a coffee purist; I tend to stick with simple and direct caffeine delivery systems. Give me a doppio espresso, a Red-Eye, or just … Continue reading →

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Mother Tongues

Posted on August 9, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

The National Geographic’s senior graphics editor Alberto Lucas López created this wonderful pie chart to illustrate the proportional representation of the world’s twenty three most spoken languages. López based the graphic on native speakers, with each language marked by black … Continue reading →

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Really Big Books

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

Thanks to the British Library, bibliophiles and map geeks can now view the second largest atlas in the world online. The colossal book was a gift from Dutch merchant Johannes Klencke in 1660 to King Charles II of Great Britain. The massive … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Asia, Books, ebooks, Europe, History, Libraries, Maps, Middle East, Museums, Photography, Tech | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Unforgivable

Posted on May 5, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

I’m usually drawn to street art that is amusing, snarky, or lyrical, but I was blown away by Cuban artist Erik Ravelo’s series “Unforgivable”. These heartbreaking images use street art to challenge  the world’s complacency, and the inaction of our … Continue reading →

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Baghdad Books

Posted on April 22, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

Despite enormous obstacles—think bombs and bureaucracy—a 25 year-old Baghdad bibliophile has succeeded in launching both an indie bookshop and a bookmobile. Ali al-Moussawi has had a life-long passion for reading and books. With the help of friends and a like-minded … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Bookstore Tourism, Middle East | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Banksy Does Bethlehem

Posted on March 6, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

Banksy is at it again. England’s unmerry prankster has just opened a hotel that claims to have “the worst views in the world”. Bethlehem’s Walled Off Hotel, which was designed and financed by the street artist known as Banksy, overlooks the 10 … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Hotels, Middle East, Tourism | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments