“أهلاً” reader👋! and other new subscribers this week. welcome to the March edition of “tic”. if you’re new, you can catch up on our previous editions on our website right here.

_{(“أهلاً“(ahlaan): hi in Arabic)}

in this month’s issue of “tic”, we’re going to talk about the untold life of maps, a world-renowned fashion rebel and so much more so make sure to share this with your friends, so just like you, they too can enjoy and catch up with more interesting stuff!

secret life of maps 🧭

maps. we all rely on them. whether it's Google Maps telling us to take a U-turn on a highway (thanks a lot) or that wadded-up paper map your parents refuse to discard. but have you ever thought about who gets to decide what maps are like? why do some countries appear gigantic in relation to others? and how did humans make maps before satellites?

welcome to the fantastic, wild, and a little bit devious cartographic world.

ancient maps: guessed work and hopeful thinking

long before Google Earth, ancient civilizations had to rely on, well, their best guesses. ancient maps were a mix of observation, myth, and creative storytelling.

• the Babylonians (600 bc) made maps by inscribing them on clay tablets. they believed the world was a flat disk surrounded by an ocean. sounds reasonable until you try sailing off the edge.

  

  a close-up view of the Babylonian map of the world (source: Osama Amin/wikipedia)

• the Greeks (circa 200 bc) were inventive. Eratosthenes actually calculated the Earth's circumference incredibly accurately using only shadows and math. meanwhile, I still need a calculator to figure out a restaurant tip.

• medieval Europeans (1200s) took a different approach. they included sea monsters, dragons, and "Here Be Dragons" warnings. very helpful if you're a sailor.

  

  marine map of Scandinavia, drawn up at Venice in 1539. (source: public domain)

• Chinese (1100s) created some of the earliest printed maps, such as grid systems and directional markers, centuries before the Europeans. they also developed the magnetic compass, making navigation much easier.

  

  a Song dynasty territory map from the year 1177 (source: a view of china)

• Arab cartographers (800s–1400s) refined and expanded geographical knowledge, creating some of the most advanced and intricate maps of their time, with mathematical computations far beyond European cartography.

why your map is lying to you

ever looked at a world map and said, "wow, Greenland is HUGE!"? sorry to tell you, but your map is lying.

we all know the Mercator projection, the classroom and Google Maps style of map. it's wonderful for navigation but awful at showing country sizes accurately. Greenland appears as large as Africa when, in fact, Africa is 14 times bigger. oops.

next comes the Peters Projection, which tries to correct distortions of size but pulls things all out of whack. (think of squeezing the world onto a pizza-like shape.) there are advantages and disadvantages to all maps, but they are not perfect.

there are maps that deliberately warp reality for political reasons. other countries remove occupied lands from maps, and others stretch their borders to present themselves as the powerful force. official maps in North Korea make the country larger and more powerful than it actually is. maps are really propaganda.

digital maps: the secret war for accuracy

thanks to satellites and artificial intelligence, today's maps are updated in real-time. but did you know that map companies intentionally insert ghosted locations? yes.

• mapmakers add "trap streets" or phantom towns so they can catch copycats stealing their work. (if a competitor copies their map with the ghosted locations, it's proof of plagiarism.)

• even Google Maps hasn't been immune. entire towns have vanished overnight due to errors. in 2010, an entire neighbourhood in Florida was temporarily removed from the map. attempting to hail an Uber home from there would be a daunting challenge.

• there are still ghost islands on some maps, places that existed only on paper but not in fact. Sandy Island, which has been on maps for over a century, was "discovered" to be non-existent in 2012 when scientists sailed right through its supposed location.

  

  a view on Google Earth of the phantom Sandy Island. (source: Google Earth)

and don't overlook GPS failures like the instance when a Belgian woman blindly followed her GPS and wound up 900 miles away from home, in a foreign nation. (Always double-check your route, people.)

maps shape more than you think

maps are more than just navigating. they influence the way we see the world. where a country is placed, how big it is, and how visible it is on a map will influence how we see global power. some maps highlight political borders, while others show such things as population, climate change, or even where people say "soda" instead of "pop."

• maps can influence history. during World War II, misleading maps were employed to trick enemy soldiers about intended invasions.

• in politics these days, redrawing maps is all about shifting power, like gerrymandering, where political lines are redrawn to favour particular parties.

• maps sometimes give unexpected information, like the map of where pigeons live in cities, which coincidentally matches ancient trade routes.

the next time you unfurl a map, remember this: it's not just a tool, it's a human-written story, written by humans with their own biases, mistakes, and (sometimes) a little dishonesty.

final thought: always question your maps!

it may be an ancient scroll, a paper map, or your phone's GPS, every map contains stories and mistakes within it. so the next time Google Maps directs you through a shady alleyway or your world map assigns Greenland giant proportions, keep in mind that maps aren't as clear-cut as they seem.

and if you ever catch a glimpse of a spot marked "Trap Street" on your GPS? maybe don't go????

Jean Paul Gaultier. the fashion rebel

Jean Paul Gaultier, also known as JPG, is a French fashion designer born in Arcueil, France. his mom worked as a clerk, and his dad was an accountant. Gaultier had a weird addiction to playing with aluminum cans to pass the time while his parents were at work. he didn't really like school, but he liked his art class because of how calm it was. he used his art skills to colour his collection of cans and tried to sell them on the street for 2.25 euros.

already, as a kid, Gaultier had an innate fashion and creativity sense. instead of playing with usual toys, he spent time drawing fashion designs on paper, according to what he was seeing on television and in magazines. his main source of inspiration was his grandmother, who apprised him of corsets, a signature feature of his eventual designs.

after quitting college to pursue fashion, he worked on his first series of perfumes called Le Male. the young adult invested his savings into thousands of ingredients for his perfumes and spent plenty of nights experimenting, testing, and designing. finally, in 1995, Gaultier dropped his first perfume called Le Male Elixir. with hints of mint, lavender, and orange blossom, this eau de toilette (eau de Toilette meaning more smell but less efficiency) is known as the best in his collection. he has sold over 25 million bottles in just two years.

before he made it in the realm of perfumes, Gaultier made a name for himself in fashion. at 18, he was working as an assistant to Pierre Cardin and thus got major exposure. he launched his own fashion line in 1976, and in no time, in the 1980s, came to be known as the Enfant Terrible (French: literally "terrible child") of fashion for dressing in clothes few others did during that time in a more flamboyant way.

to continue, three years later, he wanted to go toward the female side of fashion and sell his second best seller, Classique RockStar. with main hints of vanilla and rose. he sold over 5 million bottles in just six months after selling his first bottle.

Gaultier's influence stretched far beyond the realm of perfumes. he created some of pop culture's most iconic styles, including Madonna's cone bra in 1990 for her Blonde Ambition tour. his collections merged lines of what is typical of males and females, thereby earning him the title of being a revolutionary game-changer.

Gaultier was a sweet-smell kind of person, so he focused on making sweet colognes. he also wanted to mix it up with fresh notes as well, such as lemon, orange, berry, etc. so he created Le Male In The Navy. with main hints of aromatic and marine, he sold just over 2 million bottles, and it was named the best men’s cologne in the Le Male series.

apart from fashion and perfumes, Gaultier's influence reached as far as the big screen and television. he designed costumes for movies such as The Fifth Element (1997) as well as sitting on the judges' panel on France's Got Talent. his openness to risking and embracing diversity made him an object of envy and love from the fashion world.

Jean never really wanted to retire or even stop doing fashion. he was invested in keeping going until his death. but at the age of 68, he had a mini heart attack and was advised by the doctor to stop doing what he was doing due to all the stress. so at the age of 70, he finally retired and is now happily living in Paris, France.

even in retirement, Gaultier's legacy never stops. his brand continues to thrive, collaborating with other designers but retaining his off-the-wall attitude. although no longer making headlines, Jean Paul Gaultier's impact on fashion, beauty, and self-expression will never be out of style.

by @antonio

🔡 wordle fun

here’s an exclusive wordle from us:

dans les coulisses: a battle against time. preserving priceless artifacts

museums are more than big buildings that contain old artifacts and beautiful works of art. they are the guardians of human history, keeping time and decay at bay so that future generations can have the opportunity to gaze upon the wealth of the past. have you ever paused to think about what it truly requires to preserve a 3,000-year-old mummy, a fragile Renaissance painting, or even an astronaut's suit from a lunar mission intact? the work is nothing short of phenomenal.

the invisible fight: light, humidity, and time

artifacts are fragile items. sure, they may have survived wars, floods, and centuries in the ground, but they're bombarded relentlessly even in the safest museum environment. light can whiten paintings, moisture can deteriorate paper, and shifting temperatures can annihilate delicate materials. that's why museum conservators are akin to time-travelling doctors, carefully monitoring each object's "health" to prevent degradation.

temperature and humidity control are essential. Have you ever noticed why museums are slightly chilly? that's intentional. Most of the artifacts are kept at a certain temperature (around 18-22°C or 64-72°F) and tightly regulated humidity so they won't crack, mould, or corrode. too dry and paper becomes brittle; too wet and metal rusts. it's a juggling act with mother nature.

handling with (literal) white gloves

you may have noticed that a museum professional is handling an artifact, and they are wearing gloves, usually white cotton or latex. it is not a fashion trend. our hands also naturally have oils and sweat on them that, over time, will break down such items as parchment, fabric, and metals. even handling a document from the 1800s would lead to invisible damage. gloves (or very clean hands in certain circumstances) prevent this.

restoration: a gentle touch, not a makeover

unlike what most people believe, museums do not "restore" artifacts as if fixing a broken chair. restoration is not so much a process of renovation but rather stabilization. a cracked Renaissance painting will not be repainted, but perhaps it may be gently cleaned and stabilized with undetectable layers to stop future damage. ancient cloth will not be sewn together, but it may be kept in a specially designed case with as little handling as possible. the aim is to stay authentic while preventing deterioration.

the secrets of storage

for every object you see in a museum, there are thousands more in temperature-controlled storage rooms. these storage rooms have nothing at all in common with Indiana Jones' old warehouse of forgotten artifacts. instead, they are highly controlled, and artifacts, for example, are housed in acid-free containers, wrapped in conservation-suitable material, or sealed in oxygen-controlled units to slow down the aging process. some are even frozen to kill bacteria or insects that might quietly gnaw away at history.

the human element

behind every stunningly preserved artifact lies a dedicated team of people who treat history as something that is alive. conservators take decades studying chemistry, art history, and material science in order to learn how to care for one artifact. they merge science with patience, art with engineering, and reason with intuition so that our collective human story will not be lost.

so next time you walk down a museum, spare a thought to realize the unseen efforts put behind every item. the artifacts have journeyed through the centuries, and thanks to the relentless work of the conservators, the history they have to tell will carry on doing the same for centuries to come.

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here’s a historical fun fact that might surprise you ⚜️

Napoleon Bonaparte was once surprised by a pack of bunnies. he had planned a rabbit hunt for himself and his troops, and his staff herded hundreds of rabbits to be used on that occasion. but when the rabbits were released, instead of running away, they turned and attacked Napoleon and his troops! it transpired that the staff had mistakenly rounded up tame rabbits and not wild ones, and they saw Napoleon as their food provider and not a hunter.

thank you for reading. wish you a wonderful month!

until next month,

“tic.” team