Byzantium strategic location trade siege

Byzantium was hard to besiege — and too valuable to abandon

Byzantium stood on the land route between Europe and Asia and the sea route between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Its location made it a prosperous trading city and unusually difficult to besiege, while also making it too valuable to abandon.

Flying is safer per kilometer than bus or rail

About 10×

Measured per passenger-kilometer—the distance traveled by one passenger—air travel is about 10 times safer than bus or rail travel. Measured per journey, flying is significantly more dangerous than traveling by car, rail, or bus.

Energy survives when hot and cold water mix — but becomes less useful

Mix hot water with cold water and the final mixture contains essentially the same total energy, assuming none escapes. Yet you can no longer extract as much useful work from the temperature difference. The energy has not vanished; it has spread out. This is one way to understand why entropy increases in everyday processes.

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Byzantium strategic location trade siege

Byzantium was hard to besiege — and too valuable to abandon

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