Comments on: Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East http://paulgazis.com/blog/2010/02/03/ancient-civilizations-of-the-middle-east/ News about the Flying Cloud and Interesting Things Fri, 09 Dec 2011 03:36:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Kona http://paulgazis.com/blog/2010/02/03/ancient-civilizations-of-the-middle-east/comment-page-1/#comment-137 Kona Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:42:46 +0000 http://paulgazis.com/blog/?p=357#comment-137 ROTFLMAO! You nailed it Paul. I haven’t traveled out of state for years, but when I did, that happened a few times. I was like :O :O :O ROTFLMAO! You nailed it Paul. I haven’t traveled out of state for years, but when I did, that happened a few times. I was like
:O
:O
:O

]]> By: Paul http://paulgazis.com/blog/2010/02/03/ancient-civilizations-of-the-middle-east/comment-page-1/#comment-136 Paul Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:13:36 +0000 http://paulgazis.com/blog/?p=357#comment-136 Folks up here are very much the same. I have friends in San Francisco who think that 'east' means Oakland, and who lump San Jose in with Sacramento... Denver... Chicago... New York... London... Prague... Tokyo... the moons of Neptune... the outer reaches of the galactic halo... I'm sure you've run into the reverse phenomenon while traveling out of state -- i.e. <em>"Gosh, if you're from California, you must know my friend D_?" "Why should I? California is an enormous state, ten percent bigger than Japan, with a hundreds of cities, thousands of towns, and a population of more than 36 million." "It is? Gosh, it doesn't look that big in the movies."</em> Folks up here are very much the same. I have friends in San Francisco who think that ‘east’ means Oakland, and who lump San Jose in with Sacramento… Denver… Chicago… New York… London… Prague… Tokyo… the moons of Neptune… the outer reaches of the galactic halo…

I’m sure you’ve run into the reverse phenomenon while traveling out of state — i.e. “Gosh, if you’re from California, you must know my friend D_?” “Why should I? California is an enormous state, ten percent bigger than Japan, with a hundreds of cities, thousands of towns, and a population of more than 36 million.” “It is? Gosh, it doesn’t look that big in the movies.”

]]> By: Kona http://paulgazis.com/blog/2010/02/03/ancient-civilizations-of-the-middle-east/comment-page-1/#comment-135 Kona Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:16:15 +0000 http://paulgazis.com/blog/?p=357#comment-135 Those of us with a rudimentary study in classical history remember vaguely that Babylon was in what is now Iraq, and the Medes and the Persians conquered it. Even now, with both countries in the nightly news, it's all kind of vaguely Over There, next to Afghanistan and Kubekistan or something. Kind of like for Southern Californians, we aren't sure where anything is east of the Colorado River or north of the San Fernando Valley. So for most of us, the "Persian" reference went right by without a second glance. Those of us with a rudimentary study in classical history remember vaguely that Babylon was in what is now Iraq, and the Medes and the Persians conquered it. Even now, with both countries in the nightly news, it’s all kind of vaguely Over There, next to Afghanistan and Kubekistan or something. Kind of like for Southern Californians, we aren’t sure where anything is east of the Colorado River or north of the San Fernando Valley. So for most of us, the “Persian” reference went right by without a second glance.

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