3000 years in 90 seconds

• 23 Oct, '06

Yep, thanks to my brother Hani, I have seen the past 3000 years of Middle Eastern history in 90 seconds. Makes you stop and think that we’re all just statistics at the end of the day, so we might as well make our lives count while we can, and remind those who think that they are infallible that it really is only a matter of time before they too turn to dust, regardless of position and status.

mapofwars.png

Enough morbidity for an Eid day though, especially that in Bahrain, Eid this time seems to be spread through the whole week, rather than a single day where the whole nation celebrates!

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  1. Isaac Schrödinger | 25 Oct, '06
  2. Global Voices Online » Blog Archive » The Week That Was in Bahrain | 28 Oct, '06
  1. Ibn says:
    23 Oct, '06 at 23:31

    I saw that too Mahmood.

    I think it shows that the only constant across all ages, is not Empires, but human stupitidy.

    -Ibn

  2. jasra jedi says:
    23 Oct, '06 at 23:55

    lol!

    or male aggression ..

  3. jayjerome says:
    24 Oct, '06 at 0:03

    Reminds me of this poem:

    I met a traveller from an antique land
    Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
    Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
    Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
    And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
    Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
    Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
    The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
    And on the pedestal these words appear:
    “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
    Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
    Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
    Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
    The lone and level sands stretch far away.

    First published in The Examiner, London, January 11, 1818
    Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

  4. F says:
    24 Oct, '06 at 2:37

    Fascinating!

  5. NomadicArab says:
    24 Oct, '06 at 5:12

    you’re on the GDN – i wanted to be the first person point this out 🙂

  6. Neil says:
    24 Oct, '06 at 9:15

    The first one I’ve seen on your blog yet. very well done! truly a fit contribution!

  7. Ash says:
    24 Oct, '06 at 13:18

    It’s very interesting. There was a British TV series a couple of years ago called “A Natural History of the British Isles” that took a very long view of history and pre-history and charted these isles through endless evolution, including periods as an archipelago of tiny islands in a lagoon, desertification, tropical and subtropical periods, various Ice Ages of Arctic inhospitality – billions of years before the first people set foot here. It really gave a sense of how brief and inconsequential not just individual human lives are but also humanity itself is in the unimaginably greater picture of this planet’s existence. I find it very reassuring, somehow: what a marvel this planet is, and how ephemeral and trivial are we in its long, long life.

  8. Ali Al Saeed says:
    24 Oct, '06 at 19:26

    **Enough morbidity for an Eid day though**

    I remember this today/tomorrow Eid debate between Suni and Shia ever since I could remember. And the latter group is even having debates within itself! Its sad.

    Well, the Just Bahraini campaign got some pretty good coverage in today’s GDN Mahmood. (including my promised column). Quiet timely isnt it… Have you seen it?

    EID MUBARAK TO EVERYONE!

  9. -_- says:
    24 Oct, '06 at 19:34

    So According to that flash animated history Ottoman Empire started around 1700! and ended around 1912! And there was an empire called Saladin! – Colors and graphics can teach history very easily but with many errors. Yes it’s true those are not constant they rise and fall, but their names are written in textbooks, full of their achievements or failures, in the end they are not forgotten.

  10. Ethan says:
    25 Oct, '06 at 0:14

    A very enlightening view of things – simplified, perhaps because they did not include the breakup of the different nation-states.

    One thing I found amusing, however, was the fact that you can see exactly how -small- Israel is in the greater scheme of things especially considering how large it once was.

    But then again, a sense of historical perspective is usually lost in the 24 hour news cycle. Compounded with the inability of certain groups to cope with criticism..

    But that’s off topic. Thanks for sharing this, Mahmood. I enjoyed it immensely!

  11. Ibn says:
    25 Oct, '06 at 6:37

    One thing I found amusing, however, was the fact that you can see exactly how -small- Israel is in the greater scheme of things especially considering how large it once was.

    Careful now.

    No need to tempt the Israelis for further expansion. Theyve done enough damage already.

    -Ibn

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