Originally posted by Jean on April 11, 2010
Seems timely for me ...

sometimes it flows,
other times I'm
pulling teeth.
I prefer the flow, of course,
but when it's done, I
look again to
make sure it's me.
When it's a struggle, I'm
disturbed at what I see.
Both sides speak true
and disagree. I am
the referee.

gonna do something unheard of before - you asked for it, a live link on the main page.
We'll see how this goes.

In English, the Basilica Cistern

In 1963, most of us probably saw James Bond and Kerim Bey taking a boat ride across this cistern.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_C4onQG3ViY

Supposedly underneath the Soviet Consulate in Istanbul. The movie plot adjusted some facts to fit the script.

Yerebatan Sarnıcı aka Basilica Cistern
41.00837185581115, 28.977889526764773

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.

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'm having fun with it anyway.

"Civil Rights Leader Rev. Jesse Jackson Dead At 84"

Once upon a very long time ago, I thought I respected this guy.

Then I paid attention to his actions.

I'll let St Peter decide which way he goes.

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 ...