Largest of many cisterns under the city of Istanbul was built in the 6th century during the reign of Justinian, emperor of Byzantium. Before construction, this was the site of a large basilica (a Roman public building) which had been built around 300 AD. The cistern continued to provide water to the 1st hill of Constantinople and into the Ottoman era.
Restoration began in the 1980s with the removal of silt which uncovered the pillars with the head of Medusa. It is assumed those columns were from a demolished temple and reuse as support columns, some placed upside-down. The cistern was opened as a museum in the late 1980s. It is classified as a 1st-class World Heritage Site. The cistern measures 450ft x 215 ft, roughly the size of Hagia Sophia and capable of holding over 2.8 million cubic feet of water. There are 336 marble columns, each 30 ft high.
Soviet, now Russian, Consulate 41.029917304343606, 28.97553052274598 located across the Golden Horn from the Basilica Cistern
The Russian Embassy is located in Ankara, the capital of Turkey.
Diplomatic relations between Russia and Turkey date back to the late 1400s. Between the late 1500s and early 1900s, the relationship was mostly adversarial, with numerous wars between the two. However, by the 1920s, the relation ship warmed after the Russians gave assitance to the revolutionaries of the Turkish War of Independence. The relationship turned down again after WWII as the Soviet govt demanded concessions and territorial claims. Turkey joined NATO in 1952 at the low point of the relation but began to improve after renounceiation of territory claims upon Stalin's death.
The relationship warmed further after the collapse of the Soviet Union and both became among the other's largest trade partners. Russia provides much of Turkey's energy; Turkey is a top tourist destination for Russian citizens. Turkey is the only NATO country not on Russia's unfriendly country list.
Mrs DT is Turkish by birth. I was lucky enough to be able to visit western Turkey - Istanbul to Izmir - with locals over a 2-month period. Maybe never to be repeated, it was a fabulous visit. I'll have much more to show and talk of later on.
"Sorry Joe" caused too much dissension so I turned it back into a Draft copy. It still exists but is not visible. If y'all want it back, I'll repost it. But ... Wow! ... that wasn't the intent ... this should be a "friendly" site.
I didn't intend to stir up so much controversy here. I also didn't realize so many had trouble with making dead links live. I most certainly don't intend to start arguments among the readers here; as someone mentioned, we're supposed to all be friends here.
I'll look deeper into protecting the site when live links are posted (they can provide an entry for bad things to happen to the site; live in comments has a different path of destruction) and start putting live links in. I'm guessing I need to upgrade some of the background security material. Part of the fun ...
I enjoy seeing the back and forth between all; didn't intend it to get antagonistic - though not as much so as I've seen elsewhere. So far.
"Sorry Joe" is very close to having the most views of any post to date ... some would think that good.
9/11 happened. Whether or not the true story has come out, >we< will likely never be certain. The original post was suggested by Joe as interesting but the material appears to be copyrighted so I didn't post it.
It was NOT my article .... and not necessarily my opinions. I felt it was worthy of consideration though - and so did Joe or he wouldn't have suggested it. Myself? Given many things, spoken or not, I'm surprised it wasn't worse. What if the buildings had tipped sideways ...
As far as overall content goes, I'd really like it if everyone oohed and ahhed over every single post. Fat chance of that happening; I don't ooh and ahh over every post myself. I could post "current events" and provide commentary - just like most every other similar site. Boring. Why write it if I can find another site to read it? So I put up weird stuff as it comes to me. Some will like, some will not.
On the other hand, I've expressed my desire to post submissions from all of you - kind of a group effort.
ghost: "His house, his rules, I won’t complain too much." I'd still like to think of this site as "our" house with me the caretaker. Someone needs to make decisions and keep the lights on though. Complaints can lead to improvements; I'm flying blind here - so let me know.
"I foresee the day when the internet at large just won’t work for me any more" ghost - I for one would be sorry to realize you just faded into the aether of real life.
It is/was a long shot trying to keep some semblance of "American Digest" going.
Readership - "visitors" on the stats - seems to have settled between 75 and 100 per day; I don't know if that is based on unique IPs or just the number of times the site is accessed. There are between 150 and 200 views per day; multiple views per visitor. I suppose I should pay (not much) to get more detailed information but for the time being, the site continues along its merry way - sometimes good stuff, sometimes bad stuff, sometimes "what the hell was he thinking?" stuff.
I-68 passing through a road cut in Sideling Hill, just west of Hancock, Maryland. The interstate replaced US40 which crossed over the hill. An excellent exposure of a syncline formation.
340 feet deep, the 1984 cut exposes rocks formed during the early Carboniferous era (aka Mississipian) - marine rocks laid down roughly 330 million years ago; between the Devonian and late Carboniferous (aka Pennsylvanian) eras.
A rest area was built with a pedestrian bridge built across the interstate. There was once a museum located here but it closed in 2009.
Other than the rest area, there is no place to safely stop on the interstate to view the cut close-up. Barriers are in place to prevent an attempt.
Even for one used to the spectacular exposures of stratigraphy in the west, this exposure stands out as one of the more spectacular.
A sample of some obscure - and maybe not obscure - tunes from my strange and off-the-wall collection.
Today's selection: Josh Ritter - Harrisburg 2002
Josh Ritter was born in 1976 in Moscow, Idaho - "beautiful little town in the middle of wheat fields in the northern part of Idaho.". After graduating from high school, he entered an Ohio college to study neuroscience but ended up creating his own major in "American History Through Narrative Folk Music" and recorded his debut album on campus. After graduation, he moved to Scotland for 6 months, then back to the States, then to Ireland as an opening act for Irish band The Flames.
Josh Ritter - 2025
His father had grown up in Pennsylvania and on family trips as a child from a small town, the dome of the capital Harrisburg made an impression on him, eventually inspiring his song "Harrisburg" released in 2002. "The song of 'Harrisburg' was much longer, initially, and I thought of this person desperately trying to make their way to a place that they hope would be better, and Harrisburg was that place."
It's a long way to Heaven, it's closer to Harrisburg And that's still a long way from the place where we are And if evil exists, it's a pair of train tracks And the devil is a railroad car
He worked with Bob Weir on Weir's third solo album, Blue Mountain
Josh Ritter has now released 13 albums. About his latest, I Believe in You, My Honeydew (2025): “That's the best part about songs, is that what comes out is never what you think is going to come out and you can't ever run away from yourself. I'm so proud that you can hear Idaho in there because that's under there all the time. And I feel like I draw on it sometimes without even knowing.”
I became aware of this type of artwork known as "zentangles" at a local art supply store. Patterns are created on small tiles - often squares of only a few inches. There is a zentagle site which defines these as:
"You create tangles with combinations of dots, lines, simple curves, S-curves and orbs. These simple shapes are the "Elemental Strokes" in all Zentangle art. These patterns are drawn on small pieces of paper called "tiles." We call them tiles because you can assemble them into mosaics."
"As you use the Zentangle Method to create beautiful images, you likely will enjoy increased focus, creativity, self-confidence and an increased sense well-being."
OK ...
Of course, these people are selling something ... "project packs" (only $39.95 ea) and other such - but art being art for art's sake, I just happen to like some of the resulting patterns.
The patterns are interesting but I'm reminded of drink coasters ...
Reading the "news" may be bad for one's thinking ... and there's so very much of it that says nothing.
I have this weird idea that our next war isn't going to be against Russia, China. or Iran - it's going to be against the EU. But those monkeys seem to think their laws apply to us and that can't be allowed.
So much for NATO - it's time has come and gone anyway, same with the UN.
Walsenburg Camp (separate from Walsenburg) was formed as a coal mining company town by the Colorado Fuel & Iron Co in the 1870s. At its peak in the 1920s, Walsenburg Camp had a population of 1200. By the 1930s, the Walsen mine began to flood with water beyond what was feasible to pump and the mines closed. The town was razed in 1965.
However, the power plant, which had been built in 1898 to supply the mines and town, continued to function, providing power to Walsenburg. CF&I had sold the plant to the city of Walsenburg in 1955 but by 1972, deferred maintenance (isn't that always the case with governments?) and needed repairs led to the end of life for the plant
The remnants of this power plant is the last structure remaining of the Walsenburg Camp settlement. It is now on the Endangered Colorado preservation list but its location makes it susceptible to vandals and scavengers. This photo was taken in 2006; at the time, some of the machinery was still in place. I find something fascinating about that 1890s/1910s industrial equipment ...
To my knowledge, the structure may no longer exist.
I'm going to recommend a book. It's a religious book ... of a different sort. Tales of Ely, tracking elk across the mountains, digging for ore, sagebrush and the open desert, redemption.
So maybe it won't appeal to you; such a book wouldn't appeal to me either on the face of it but for some reason, I picked it up sometime, somewhere I no longer remember.
Redemption of a Hardrock Miner - John Gergen
What first drew me to this book was the cover photo, title, and blurb:
"John was [is] traditionally a hardrock miner, who was raised up in the back room of a central Nevada roadhouse secluded in the high desert mountains."
I used to stop at that "central Nevada roadhouse" back in the early 80s; a bar, a gas station, an old livery barn, and a nice hot springs: Warm Springs, NV at the intersection of US6 and NV375 (aka "The Extraterrestrial Highway").
Back in the day, it was the gathering place for miners working the mines in the area - Tonopah was the nearest anything and it was 50 miles away: the miners could bunk down on payday, run a tab at the bar and gas station (and probably the girls). They'd collect their pay once a week, pay off the tab, and repeat the following week.
Even after the mines closed down, the gas station closed down, and finally the bar closed down, one could park out behind the old stable and soak in the springs; hidden from any rarely passing cop car, not noticing, intentionally or not, that you were there.
Those were the days before "progress" and civilization happened.
As far as I can tell, the only reason Warm Springs shows up on Giggle Maps is to fill in a mighty large blank space .
A few of the buildings still stand; ruins now, not worth the cost of tearing down. The gas station is gone, the stable is gone and the springs fenced off. A few trees grow along the run-off, the stone corral for wild horses is still there; a wide spot in the road for truckers to stop and check their maps.
Tonopah to the left is the only "civilization" on this map in spite of the names shown One could get in trouble out here thinking there was a town nearby
The book speaks of places I've been and thoughts I've had out there in the high desert, of times when I was in the area - so of course I read it. And it spoke to me.
Interlude
Evey so often, I get together for breakfast with a friend of mine who lives about 40 miles away. We trade off places to go; sometimes we go to a town near him, sometimes we go to a town near me. I don't recall when I was living back east thinking of driving 40 miles or so to meet for breakfast - different world; need a passport to go east of Kearney.
We've been doing this for a year - come to think of it, two years now. As it so happened, the diner we went to closest to me shut down recently when the owners decided to retire after 40 years.
How dare they!!!
This is agriculture/ranch land; population isn't high, not enough business to support a lot of such places so we've been looking for a place on my side to replace the old place.
A relatively new place in the town. About 20-25 minutes away for me; longer for him.
"Let's meet at X's at 7AM" "OK - see you Saturday"
He'd been overseas since before Thanksgiving; we hadn't checked this place out before.
So I'm there about 7AM opening time, grab a seat at the counter and a cup of coffee ... and wait. And wait. And drink another cup. And wait. And drink another cup. This time though, I gave up on him showing and ordered. A kill-me special: biscuits, gravy, two eggs over easy, two sausage links. Large milk. More coffee.
The guys next to me are BS'ing when I hear one talk about a trip down to Warm Springs. I pop up and tell them I used to go to that bar when it was open in the early 80s. We get to talking and one of the guys happens to mention he had written a book.
This book.
Now I'm going to tell you, this was a guy like I imagine Jesus to have been - I believe Jesus existed, not so sure about the divinity but then not many have had the influence on the world he has, divine or not. This guy's a hard rock miner rather than carpenter but a down-to-earth long-haired redneck type. Works his hands for a living digging rock. Nothing special about him, just some guy - someone most wouldn't be comfortable around.
Now, I'm not a redneck. People that aren't rednecks think I am; the genuine article knows better. My brother's a redneck, my cousins are rednecks. I'm not a redneck but many of my friends are and I get along fine with them; more so than I get along with people in my professional work really.
So I met the author of this book quite by accident this morning. We seem to have a lot in common yet have very little in common. Maybe the most important part is our feeling for central Nevada, the smell of sagebrush, the wind through the trees, the vast openness of the country - closer to God than other people. I can stand in places and look over valleys where the entirety of NYC would fit with room to spare and probably have not as many a dozen people.
And because I went to breakfast this morning and met some guy, y'all get this rambling discourse and mention of a book I think worth reading - all because I had a chance meeting with the author, who just happens to live not far from me, who loves the same places I do for the same reasons, and works in a field I can relate to.
The voice in my head told me to write this post. Gets me thinking about heading down to the high desert country again.
Play it again, Sam ...
Tonopah
Across the mountains here Nevada sings Tellin' me it's time to hurry home Hot dry and wind blown country callin' me Out where those shadows run so tall
