State of the Revolution in Egypt -- from Arabist.net

FIVE JANUARY 25 GAINS THAT HAVE (SO FAR) SURVIVED THE COUNTER-REVOLUTION By Steve Negus September 30, 2011 at 12:12 PM Share As quite a few commentators have gloomily noted, an Egyptian counter-revolution appears to be in full swing. The Supreme Council for the Armed Forces has vowed to step up its use of Emergency Law and demonstrating a willingness to crack down on street...

Where did the money go?

From NPR:The amount the U.S. military spends annually on air conditioning in Iraq and Afghanistan: $20.2 billion, according to a former Pentagon official. That's more than NASA's budget. It's more than BP has paid so far for damage from the Gulf oil spill....

For the proud daughters

Speak to me of summer, Long winters longerThan time can remember,Setting up of other roads,Travel on in old accustomed ways.I still remember the talks by the water,The proud sons and daughtersThat knew the knowledge of the land,And spoke to me in sweet accustomed wa...

Clash of civilizations time?

Since I am teaching both  Islamic Civilization and Crusade and Jihad this term, you can see how this piece, summarized from an Arabic source  in Syria Comment, could not help but draw my attention.Why don’t the Christians in both Lebanon and Syria immigrate to Europe is allegedly what Sarkozy asked the Maronite religious leader on his recent visit to France.  According...

Observation Post Mustang, Afghanistan

From The Big Picture.  Click to expand -- it is worth ...

Kunar province, Afghanistan

From The Big Pictu...

Another impressive re-enactment I missed: WMAW

That's "Western Martial Arts Workshop" to you, and it took place in Chicago this past weekend.  Get a gander at that gorgeous arm...

About that Overview of Late Antiquity

Back  when I came to Nipissing University in the late 80s and early 90s, I was finishing up my first book, on fifth-century Latin ecclesiastical chronicles, and casting around for a new project.  One idea that occured to me was a zippy textbook on Late Antiquity, with lots...

Students in HIST 4505

There seems to be a problem accessing the Overview Of Late Antiquity. Try this direct link to chapter 1 section 1. http://www.nipissingu.ca/department/history/muhlberger/orb/ovc1s1....

And a book manuscript wings its way to a publisher

Doesn't happen every day!Wish me lu...

Scandal at Marathon

A free Greek hoplite lounging around with his wife in publ...

Time and a word

This evening  I listened to the second album by Yes, Time and a Word, from about 1971.  Did it take me back?  Perhaps, but maybe not to the actual 1971, but to the alternate world they created with their music in 1971.I feel the same way about the Beatles, heard most...

Not to be missed: conjuring up Rome in AD 600

Dr. Beachcombing imagines the near-ghost town it must have been:Let’s take the lowest sensible estimate for classical Rome – half a million – and the highest for Rome c. 600, about 50,000. That means that the population has not only been decimated, but that it had been decimated...

Unexpectedly well

Why have things gone better in Libya than in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein?  Veteran observer Rory Stewart has his theories but admits he doesn't know.  But this time it is different:Libya did not look as shabby or dangerous as Iraq. Despite six months of fighting...

Marathon re-enactment

The Montreal Gazette has a great collection of photos  of this summer's eve...

Phil Paine in Crete

A long-time and well-read fan of Minoan archaeology gets to see the real thing up close:On the Road AgainThere ain’t no justice on the AeriopagusAthens ReduxThe Prince of the LiliesMinoan ExilesPlateau of Lost SoulsPhaestos and Aghia TriadaSleeping in Graveyards Before the gates of Excellence.…       &nb...

Imagine my surprise

In the first class meeting of my Crusade and Jihad course this morning, I said something like this: You don't have to want to be a Christian crusader in the present, or even be a Christian, to have a vague positive feeling about those old holy wars.  For example, the recent...

Course materials for my students

I have posted course outlines: HIST 3116; HIST 3805;  HIST 4505.Apologies for the ugliness due to the loss of formatting.  HTML is so complicated these days that I am going to need expert help just to find the proble...

A taste of revolution

Football fans taunt the police in Cairo: Discussed in detail  and translated at Arabist.net. Update:  Chanting, voting, and ancient church councils....

Nothing to say but it's ok...

Good morning, good morni...

Egyptian revolutionaries attack Cairo's Israeli embassy

I've called Cairo "Paris, 1791." It may be progressing to Paris, 1792, or even Tehran, 1980--the attack on the US embassy comes to mind, an attack on the hated foreign ally of the Old Regi...

What other people were doing on Labor Day weekend

The Temple of Transition blazes at Burning Man (the 25th).Thanks to the Big Pictu...

Fighting in the woods

I am there dodging swords.  Thanks again to Kyle Andre...

Jack Vance's hadaul, done SCA style as "Mordain's Rings"

A little medievalesque fun on my back field.  Thanks to Kyle Andre...

Phil Paine visits Knossos, at last

His reflections after fulfilling a life-long dream:I have my owned pref­er­ences about inter­pret­ing Knos­sos, but until now they’ve been based on pho­tographs, writ­ten descrip­tions, and site plans. These second-hand things give lit­tle feel­ing for the three-dimensional...

More ominously from Syria

Again from Anthony Shadid: Abdullah represents what the government insists it is fighting. He is a Salafist, an adherent to a puritanical Islam, though he disavows the term. To him, Salafists bear arms, and he understands that the moment he and others fire a bullet in Homs or anywhere else, the regime will have the justification it covets to crush them with even more force. But...