Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 89 (February 2016)

Sacred Treasure

• Scotty Smith has written a rather wonderful prayer for those who are weary and overwhelmed.
• Michael Kruger has a good overview of the question of whether or not Jesus’ divinity was invented by the Council of Nicaea.
• Ian Paul speaks sense about the recent CofE stats dipping below 1million for the first time
• And all the time, global persecution of Christians is worsening
• Mark Barry’s Visual Unit is a great site for diagrams, maps and charts on biblical themes. He’s recently produced a great series of simplified ancient empire maps: ASSYRIAN in C8th-7thBC; BABYLONIAN in C7th-6thBC; MEDO-PERSIAN in C6th-4thBC; GREEK in C4th BC; ROMAN in C1st-2ndAD; Definitely worth exploring his site (though I wish he didn’t always use THAT yellow, and (very tiny quibble) that BC dates were in the correct order!).

Topical Treasure

• The horrors of the Syrian civil war are compounded by the complexity – this gruesome map goes some way to clarifying things a little
• Even if you haven’t followed Scottish politics closely (even after all the hoo-ha about the independence referendum), this is a fascinating artlcle Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish First Minister and the nature of modern politics
• While on the political greasy pole, William Hague offers some 6 top tips for doing cabinet reshuffles
• The objectification of women in advertising – this is a powerful and important statement

Quirky Treasure

• Made From History is a perfect site – full of all kinds of surprises and interesting diversions – I especially loved this collection of WW1 paintings
• I’m always fascinated by artists’ working environments – here are 100 famous creators’ studios.
• These pioneering portraits of Native Americans are simply stunning
• Then a Chinese photographer has taken a whole load of fashion shoots with his 85 year old grandfather – quite a lot of fun.
• Patagonia has always exerted a romantic enchantment on my imagination even though I’ve never been and I’m not generally a huge outdoorsman. These photos perfectly illustrate why.
• Check out this updated Isochronic Map (see right) which shows how the world has shrunk over the last century by measuring journey times from London.
  • 1914 journey times: red =  under 5 days and teal = over 40 days
  • 2016 journey times: red = within 12 hours and teal = over 36 hours
• Finally, this is marvellously bonkers: google streetview takes us to the world’s largest model railway.