I love this map of middle-east history converted into blots spilling out along a timeline. It’s like a bunch of different flavors of Hawaiian Punch getting spilled on a rug of the Middle East by drunk ten-year-olds who spiked the birthday party dixie cups with dad’s Old Crow. Of course the biggest and best spill is the Mongols, who took so much of Eurasia they have to pan back from Saladin’s puny lime-green stain to show it starting way over in the Baikal. Too bad they made the Mongol stain pink. That isn’t right. But just watch it pouring into Syria and remind yourself, “If it hadn’t been for Ain Jalut, and those dumb Crusaders siding with the Muslims over the ultra-cool Mongols, that pink stain wouldn’t have stopped until the goddamn Algonquins were paying tribute to the Khans.