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Dracula Daily: July 18
Voyage of the Demeter
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Captain's Log
July 6: all of Dracula's boxes of dirt have been stowed on the ship Demeter, but the Count himself ia not listed as one of the passangers. Curious.
July 11: the Demeter leaves the Black Sea and enters Ottoman waters, passing by Constantinople (now Istanbul; don't ask why the old name got the works, it's nobody's business but the Turks) and through the Turkish straits
July 12: the ship leaves the straits and enters the Greek archipelago in the Aegean Sea
July 13: the ship rounds Greece and enters the Mediterranean proper
Throughout the journey, all the crew have been on edge. Something feels off, but nobody can put their finger on exactly what. A crewmate disappears and some deck hands say they saw a tall thin man lurking in the shadows, but when the captain orders a full sweep of the ship, the first mate says it's a ludicrous waste of time. They search everywhere except the boxes of dirt; why would anyone possibly want to hide in one of those?
Methinks something wicked is aboard the Demeter. You can "Count" on that.
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timesofocean · 2 years
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Turkey closes airspace to Russian aircraft to Syria
New Post has been published on https://www.timesofocean.com/turkey-closes-airspace-to-russian-aircraft-to-syria/
Turkey closes airspace to Russian aircraft to Syria
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Ankara (Times Of Ocean) – The Turkish government has closed its airspace to flights to Syria by the Russian military and civilian aircraft, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu informed on Saturday.
“We gave permission in three-month intervals. According to the minister, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan informed his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, of this decision in an interview with the press during his flight to Latin America. “Planes have stopped since then,” Çavuşoğlu said, adding that the process is being conducted through a dialogue on both the Montreux Convention and other topics.
Minister Çavuşoğlu said Turkey is not participating in sanctions against Russian oligarchs. “If a company wants to do business in Turkey, they must comply with our and international laws,” he added.
“We see there is a draft joint declaration in this process. The focus is on impartiality, security and guarantees,” he said, adding that the final decision lies with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Putin.
Turkey is one of the leading countries working to ensure a permanent cease-fire between Ukraine and Russia. Its delicately balanced role as a mediator by keeping communication channels open with both warring sides offers a glimmer of hope in diplomatic efforts to find a solution and achieve peace in the Ukraine crisis. Having friendly relations with both Russia and Ukraine, Turkey has won widespread praise for its efforts to bring an end to the war.
While Ankara opposes international sanctions designed to isolate Moscow, it has closed its straits to prevent Russian vessels from passing through them. Since the conflict began, Ankara has offered to mediate between the two sides and host peace talks.
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travelingare · 3 months
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📍Istanbul, Turkey.
Photography amazingly captures the vibrant energy and rich history of Istanbul, Turkey. This magnificent city, spread over two continents, is a tapestry of centuries of cultures, colors and heritage. Istanbul, where East meets West, is a city unlike any other. Its skyline is adorned by the majestic Hagia Sophia and the elegant Blue Mosque, symbols of the city's deep historical roots. Wander through the bustling Grand Bazaar, a maze of colors and scents. Here, every alley and shop is a treasure trove of handicrafts, spices and textiles.
The Bosphorus Strait, a vital waterway, not only separates Asia and Europe but also offers some of the most picturesque views of Istanbul. A ferry ride on the Bosphorus is a must-do experience. Immerse yourself in the charm of the different neighborhoods of Istanbul. From historic Sultanahmet to modern Beyoğlu, each area tells its own unique story. Istanbul's cuisine is as diverse as its heritage. Try traditional Turkish delights, savory kebabs and fresh seafood, a real feast for the senses.
As the sun sets, watch the city transform into a golden hue. The silhouette of minarets and domes against the evening sky is a sight to behold.📸@mstfatyfn
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turkeyblogblr · 23 days
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Maiden's Tower, Istanbul, Turkey: The Maiden's Tower, also known as Leander's Tower since the Byzantine period, is a tower on a small islet at the southern entrance of the Bosphorus strait, 200 m from the coast of Üsküdar in Istanbul, Turkey. The tower appeared on the reverse of the Turkish 10 lira banknote from 1966 to 1981. Wikipedia
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kephas-rolling · 9 months
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Choose Your Player
The 19th century European Classicist: German, Italian, Latin, French
The Charles-Quint: All Romance languages, German
The Orientalist: Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish, Sanskrit
The Mediterranean Trader: Ladino, Turkish, Greek
The Abyssinian Emissary: Ge'ez, Coptic, Somalian, Amharic
The European Diplomat: French, English, Russian, Italian
The Classical Philosopher: Greek, Latin, Arabic
The Renaissance Philosopher: Greek, Latin, Dutch, German, Italian
The Monk: Old Irish, Old English, Latin
The Ghanean Imperial Officer: Fula, Mande, Arabic
The Sicilian Berserker: Norse, Proto-Maltese, Sicilian
The South Arabian Rabbi: Yemenite Hebrew, Himyaritic, Arabic
The Spice Trader: Portuguese, Turkish, Bahasa, Malayalam
The Janissary: Turkish, Albanian, Serbo-Croatian
The Pontic Fisherman: Greek, Georgian, Armenian
The Chaldean Priest: Aramaic, Syriac, Greek
The Caucasus Elder: Ingush-Chechen, Adyghe, Avar
The Blue Mountains Warden: Gundungurra, Darug, Tharawal 
The Byzantine Missionary: Greek, Old Bulgarian, Dacian
The Cossack: Ukrainian, Crimean Tatar, Ruthenian, Polish
The Baltic Merchant: Swedish, Old Prussian, Polish, German
The Safavid Envoy: Farsi, Turkish, Arabic, Russian, French
The Omani Merchant: Arabic, Swahili, Farsi
The Torres Strait Sailor: Meriam Mìr, Kalaw Lagaw Ya, Nakanai
The Great Lakes Peacemaker: Ojibwa, Cherokee, French, Abenaki
The Far-Eastern Captain: Manchu, Korean, Mandarin, Mongol
The Caravaneer: Dari, Pashto, Uzbek
The Andean Postman: Quecha, Aymara, Puquina
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The Partitioning Agreements of the Ottoman Empire began 2-3 years BEFORE it fell.  France and Britain were at the forefront of the Land Grabs.   Initially, the Russian Empire was involved in the partitioning agreements and allocations were to be:  western Armenia, Constantinople, and the Turkish Straits (which had already been promised under the 1915 Constantinople Agreement).  Britain was supposed to get Iran, and France was to get Syria, Palestine, and Cilicia.  The Bolsheviks severed the Russian Empire’s claim, and Rothschild wanted Palestine under British rule for dispensation to him.
The Ottoman Empire had attempted an alliance with Britain to no avail, then with France, Russia and Germany – to no avail.   Why?  Because the Club wanted the Ottoman land for themselves. Syria remained a French colony until 1946.   Iran gained independence from the UK in 1979 – after the Shah was deported.   Palestine was given to Rothschild.  And Turkey became the mini-me Ottoman Empire.
Land Grabs were the mainstay after WWII by the same actors rearranging the monopoly board;   Britain, France, and the US.  It wasn’t their first dance in the park.   Global colonization was initiated by the Rothschilds as they viewed Africa an easy target of spears and ignorant tribesmen:
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ltwilliammowett · 1 year
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The Caravel
The caravel began as a fishing boat with Latin sails in Portugal in the 13th century. At the beginning of the 14th century, before the time of the great Portuguese discoveries, the same name was used for a two-masted, Latin-sailed merchant ship with forecastle and hut for Mediterranean and coastal voyages. After land links to India had been severed by Turkish occupations and the Mediterranean voyage had lost its importance, Portugal became the nation that intensively sought a southern sea route to India. Prince Henry, known as Henry the Navigator (1394 to 1460), was a far-sighted promoter of shipbuilding and shipping. He deserves credit not only for initiating the further development of the caravel, but also for founding a state-supported observatory and a navigation school at a very early stage.
From the two-masted caravels, the relatively slender three-masted Latin sail caravels (caravela latina) emerged, which were better suited for longer journeys and had exclusively Latin sails on all three masts. A typical feature, to which the name of the ship type is also attributed, was the Kraweel construction, in which the ship's planks butted together directly at their longitudinal seams, so that smooth surfaces were created on the outside and inside of the ship's side walls. The seams were caulked so that the ships took little water even in a swell. In addition, the smooth outer skin could be better protected against fouling and worm damage. Another feature of the caravel was the relatively high stern.
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A caravela latina, by Stephen Biesty (x)
Under the influence of and in continuation of Roman traditions with divided square sails, the development of the three-masted square-rigged caravel (caravela redonda) took place during the 15th century, with square sails on the bowsprit, foremast and mainmast. Above the mainsail on the mainmast was the topsail. Because of their favourable steering characteristics, square-rigged caravels always had lateen sails on the mizzen mast. From the 14th to the 16th century, caravels were among the most seaworthy sailing ships, including four-masted caravels. Some consider this a forerunner of the galleons.
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Reconstruction of a Caravel of Christopher Columbus. Drawing by Julio Guillen Y Tato (1897-1972), 1932 (x)
Vasco da Gama's ships were also caravels. Of the three ships with which Columbus sailed along Central America in 1492, the Pinta and the Nina were probably caravels, the Santa Maria was probably a Nao. He gave the speed in his diary as up to 15 Italian miles per hour, which is about 11 knots. So it was pretty fast, if you can call it that. The usual Portuguese caravels had a carrying capacity of 50 to 60 tonnes, and later a much higher capacity. Thus, the ships of the Magellan also included larger four-masted caravels.
Because of its advantages over Holland, the caravel construction method soon became the determining construction method for wooden ships throughout Europe. Thus, in 1460, the first "Karvielscheepen" were built in Holland in considerable sizes for 400 loads (800t) carrying capacity with a length of about 43 m and a width of 12 m. In the first half of the 16th century, Lübeck and Gdansk took a leading position in the construction of large Caravel ships.
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Square-rigged caravels (here caravela armada) fighting and escorting naos in India Armadas, in: Livro de Lisuarte de Abreu, c. 1565 (x)
A little later, however, the carrack and later the galleons took over and the caravels became less and less important. But not completely, because as a caravela armada - an armed caravel - it remained in service with the Portuguese until the 18th century and was nothing other than a larger cross sail caravel. The Portuguese used it as an escort on the Brazil and India routes as well as to protect shipping with the Atlantic islands, it was used to monitor the Straits of Gibraltar, but also for coastal protection and anti piracy.  
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mariacallous · 5 months
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Recent coverage of the war in Ukraine in the Western media has focused heavily on Kyiv’s land offensive, especially attempts to push toward the Black Sea coast. Much of the scrutiny, rightly or wrongly, has been on Kyiv’s lack of significant progress so far this year, with nothing comparable to last year’s breakthrough offensives in Kharkiv and Kherson.
While some of this criticism may be justified, the almost singular Western focus on territorial breakthroughs has distracted from the fact that Ukraine is fighting a medium- to long-term war on multiple fronts against a significantly larger and heavily entrenched foe. What’s more, the lack of a major Ukrainian land advance obscures the very real battlefield successes Ukraine has had in other theaters of the conflict—most notably in Russian-occupied Crimea and the Black Sea.
A crucial part of Kyiv’s long-term plan for the war is to push Russia out of the Crimean Peninsula and the rest of the Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine’s coastline. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, headquartered at the Crimean port of Sevastopol, has been a critical component of Moscow’s war effort. Russian warships operating out of Sevastopol have enforced a blockade of Ukraine’s coastline and launched cruise missiles to rain hell onto Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.
But over the last several months, Ukraine has achieved a series of startling victories in and around Crimea, including missile strikes against the Kerch Strait bridge and multiple daring attacks on the Black Sea Fleet itself—with major impacts on the Russians’ ability to operate on the peninsula and in the western Black Sea.
In September, the Ukrainians carried out a series of missile strikes against Russian naval assets in Sevastopol, including a landing ship, a submarine, and the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet itself—reportedly while several high-ranking commanders were inside. Some of these strikes were carried out using Storm Shadow cruise missiles recently supplied by Britain and France. The Ukrainians have also ratcheted up their strikes against Russian logistics, repair, and infrastructure hubs on the peninsula with the intent of degrading Russia’s ability to support its fleet. Earlier this month, Kyiv claimed responsibility for two further attacks on the Russian fleet, using a new type of sea drone to strike the Russian cruise missile carrier Buyan and carrying out a sabotage attack on the Pavel Derzhavin, a Russian patrol ship. These strikes came after the Ukrainians had methodically attrited Russian anti-missile defense structures in Crimea over the previous weeks.
These successes constitute a major breakthrough for Ukraine. Its strikes against Crimea have now made it all but impossible for the Russian Black Sea Fleet to continue to operate freely in the western Black Sea. The Russian Navy has responded by moving its warships farther east, to the naval base in Novorossiysk, a port city on the Russian mainland. The effect is to push the Russian fleet farther and farther into the eastern recesses of the Black Sea—a step toward Kyiv’s long-term objective of removing the Russians from the occupied peninsula by rendering it unfeasible for operations. This combination of attrition and displacement has had the effect of diminishing the Russian fleet’s capacity to patrol the waters near the Ukrainian ports, partially relieving pressure on the international shipping lanes in the Black Sea. This could allow Kyiv to achieve another goal of these operations: opening up Odesa’s three deep-water ports to international merchant shipping for grain and other goods.
The Russian blockade of the Ukrainian ports had been alleviated by a Turkish and U.N. deal brokered in the summer of 2022 that had allowed certain amounts of Ukrainian goods—especially grain—to be exported through civilian shipping corridors. Moscow had been offered limited sanctions relief in exchange. The Kremlin withdrew from the agreement in July 2023, reestablished a blockade of all commercial shipping flowing to Odesa, and began a series of drone and missile strikes against Ukrainian grain export facilities. The cumulative effect of the blockade was to make insurance prices for shipping in and out of Ukraine spike and allow Russian grain exports to start dominating the markets. In August, Kyiv’s response was to institute an alternative humanitarian sea corridor that ran closely along the Ukrainian coast and would be protected by the navies of NATO members Bulgaria and Romania. The gamble that Russian threats to interdict shipping were a bluff and that they would not fire on internationally flagged ships paid off. By now, 32 intrepid international vessels have left Ukraine’s ports for Africa and elsewhere with their holds full of grain.
Ukraine has also undertaken successful commando raids by small teams of elite naval infantry to achieve its objectives. In Crimea, Ukraine managed to destroy or disable Russian anti-air missile installations in preparation for bombardment of the peninsula. Among other objectives, these actions allowed Ukraine to retake strategically located oil and gas drilling rigs captured by the Russians at the start of the war, which they had used for maritime radar surveillance. The fact that Kyiv only has a limited arsenal of Western-provided precision long-range missiles means that the Ukrainians have had to be very resourceful with their deployment, including by eliminating as much of Russia’s air defense as possible before launching them.
At the same time, the Ukrainians have also been successful in developing a new generation of sophisticated, locally made sea drones capable of striking past the defenses of the Russian fleet. The Russian anti-missile and traditional ship defense systems have proved incapable of offering protection against this new generation of sea drones, including the Ukrainian “Sea Baby” series of partially submerged attack drones. Representing a tiny fraction of the cost of an advanced Russian battleship, landing ship, or submarine, these relatively inexpensive and quickly constructed drones have proved themselves to be a radical innovation.
By the end of the summer, the Ukrainians had proved not only capable of sinking or maiming serious Russian naval assets, but also of making the further use of Sevastopol unsustainable for the Black Sea Fleet. The British Ministry of Defense assessed that Russia had “relocated many of its prestige assets—including cruise missile capable ships and submarines—from Sevastopol to operating and basing areas further east, such as Novorossiysk.” Furthermore, on Oct. 5, the leader of the Russian-occupied Georgian region of Abkhazia, which is located even farther east than Novorossiysk, made public statements that his Moscow-backed region would soon host a “permanent point of deployment” for the Russian Navy. Such a base would be located almost at the very eastern end of the Black Sea, suggesting that the Russians have concluded that stationing naval assets anywhere near Ukraine and its now heavily mined shoreline is untenable.
These successes have had the effect of severely restricting Russia’s range of mobility in the Black Sea. British Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said, “The functional defeat of the Black Sea Fleet, and I would argue that is what it is, because it has been forced to disperse to ports from which it cannot have an effect on Ukraine, is an enormous credit.”
Given that the total liberation of Crimea is a key objective for Kyiv, these significant Ukrainian successes must be put into the same context as the other developments in this multifront conflict—something that much of the Western press and commentariat have failed to do. By effectively dislodging the Russian Black Sea Fleet from Sevastopol and unilaterally opening a grain shipment corridor, Kyiv has achieved stunning successes with only limited naval capabilities. While Ukraine is still a long way from hoisting its flag over Simferopol, the Crimean capital, this kind of progress would have been unthinkable last year.
The success of Ukrainian naval operations against the Russian fleet has been all the more remarkable as Ukraine functionally no longer has a navy. Since 2014, the Russians have sunk, captured, or incapacitated all major Ukrainian warships except the flagship frigate Hetman Sahaidachny, which the Ukrainians themselves scuttled in early 2022 to prevent it from falling into Russian hands. Ukrainians have begun to routinely crack jokes about the mighty Russian Black Sea Fleet being sunk by a nation with no navy, but Russian naval officers are unlikely to be smiling.
The Ukrainian military has proved itself capable of incorporating new equipment into its arsenal quickly and to devastating effect—whether that be homegrown sea drones or Anglo-French-supplied missiles. If Western governments want to see more successes on the battlefield, providing Ukraine with more and longer-range missiles to continue denying Russia the freedom to move in Crimea would be a good place to start. Either way, Western observers should stop focusing only on the land war and put these remarkable Ukrainian achievements into the context they deserve. Otherwise, arguing in favor of providing Kyiv with the tools it needs to liberate its territories will be harder than it needs to be.
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usafphantom2 · 6 months
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F-35 fighters leave the Middle East after deployment to deter Iran and Russia
Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 10/07/2023 - 14:44 in Military, War Zones
The U.S. Air Force F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters, sent to the Middle East to prevent Iranian aggression in the Persian Gulf and react to Russian intimidation in the Syrian skies, have left the region, according to service officials.
"What the F-35s did was give us additional capacity," said the commander of the Air Force Central (AFCENT), Lieutenant General Alexus G. Grynkewich, to reporters on October 4 at a Defense Writers Group event.
The deployment was completed in late September, according to the 388ª Fighter Wing at Hill Air Base, Utah. All aircraft have left the Middle East and are "in transit home," according to a spokesman for the 388th Fighter Wing.
Operating as the 421º Air Expeditionary Squadron, the F-35 were first deployed on July 26, when fifth-generation fighters were rushed to the region by the Pentagon after Iranian attacks on commercial ships around the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic bottleneck between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, through which 20% of the world's oil flows.
Additional U.S. Navy ships, led by the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group with thousands of Marines, followed the F-35. The amphibious assault ship USS Bataan brought more air power to the region with a squadron of short or vertical takeoff and landing Harriers (V/STOL).
The US still has the F-16 and A-10 in the region. However, the stealthy F-35 provided more advanced capabilities.
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The F-35 allowed the U.S. to “continue to carry out the missions we were carrying out in Iraq and Syria and elsewhere in the region, and to increase what we were doing in support of the Navy, basically doing air combat patrols over the Strait of Hormuz,” said Grynkewich, who added that the Navy's detachment was particularly important.
“This increase in surface ships combined with our air power has dissuaded Iran from taking any action against maritime transport,” he said.
In addition to their mission in the Gulf, the F-35 were useful in discouraging Russian warplanes from chasing American aircraft in Syria. The F-35 also joined the U.S. allies in Syria, including flying with French Rafale fighters.
Russia's aggressive tactics emerged as a major concern in July, when Russian fighters launched flags that damaged U.S. MQ-9 drones that were carrying out missions against Islamic State militants.
After the U.S. released the video of Russian harassment and deployed the F-35, Russia moderated its tactics and became less aggressive.
"They still fly in airspace, but not directly above our forces, so I welcome this change in behavior," Grynkewich said. "With the flags being released on our MQ-9, we no longer see this behavior."
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The U.S. military presence in the region is very modest compared to the years when Americans fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. But U.S. air operations over Syria were also reinforced by coalition partners, including the French and British.
“We are still at risk of terrorist attacks in our capitals or on our lands,” General Stéphane Mille, head of the French Air and Space Force, told journalists in September. "We are flying together."
Not all the challenges that the U.S. has faced come from opponents. Turkey, also a member of NATO, has been attacking Kurdish groups in northern Syria, which is responsible for a bomb attack in the capital Ankara on October 1, in operations that may put American troops at risk.
On the morning of October 5, a Turkish drone hit targets within a restrictive operating zone (ROZ) declared by the U.S. military, according to the Pentagon. The attacks reached one kilometer from U.S. forces, forcing them to protect themselves in bunkers.
When a Turkish drone returned to the area about four hours later and headed for U.S. forces, it was shot down by a U.S. F-16 half a kilometer away from U.S. personnel in an act of self-defense, according to U.S. authorities.
On October 6, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs minimized the episode in a statement, saying that its drone “was lost due to different technical evaluations in the conflict resolution mechanism with third parties”.
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The biggest concern, however, remains Iran. Despite the departure of the F-35, which Grynkewich observed has always been planned to be “temporary”, the U.S. is prepared to flex forces for the region.
“My opinion is that the deterrence is temporal,” Grynkewich said of Iran. “We have increased strength in response to a specific threat. This shows the American commitment to the region. This shows that our American strategy has been, with our posture being less than before, we demonstrate the commitment to bring strength to great exercises for guarantee purposes or when a threat required it. And we certainly did that in this case."
Source: Air Force & Space Magazine
Tags: Military AviationF-35 Lightning IIUSAF - United States Air Force / U.S. Air ForceWar Zones - Middle East
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Fernando Valduga
Fernando Valduga
Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Daytona Airshow and FIDAE. He has work published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. Uses Canon equipment during his photographic work throughout the world of aviation.
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tamurakafkaposts · 10 months
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The Maiden's Tower, also known as Kız Kulesi in Turkish, is a small tower located on a tiny islet at the southern entrance of the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul, Turkey. The tower has a history dating back to the Byzantine period, and it has been used for various purposes throughout history, including as a watchtower, lighthouse, customs station, and quarantine station.
Legend has it that a king was told by an oracle that his daughter would die of a snake bite on her 18th birthday. In an effort to protect her, the king built the tower on the islet and kept his daughter there. However, on her 18th birthday, a snake hidden in a basket of fruit brought as a gift bit and killed her. This legend has given rise to the tower's other name, the "Maiden's Tower."
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canary0 · 8 months
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July 18th - Dracula 2023
Captain’s Log of Small Container Ship “Demeter” – Varna to Whitby
Copying down the log and adding detail here. Strange things are afoot at the Circle K.
July 6th: Finished taking in cargo – silver, wine, leather, sunflower, top soil. Crew is nine total – five hands, two mates, a cook, and myself. Weather is predicted to be good on the way, so journey should be quick.
July 11th: Entered the Bosporus Strait and got stopped and boarded by Turkish customs in Istanbul. Had to open the earth shipment briefly for parasite test. All passed.
July 12th: Arrived at Dardanelles Strait. Another customs inspection. The customs officers worked fast; they seemed to want us out of there quick. Entered Aegean at dark.
July 13th: Muttering among the crew – they seem anxious. I asked, but they refused to talk.
July 14th: Now I’m getting anxious. This crew has sailed with me before – they’re not the type to blink at a storm or anything else normally. The mate couldn’t find out what was wrong either. They’re being vague, saying there’s something. The first mate lost his temper and hit one of them – I disciplined him. There’s no need for that when the only problem is that they think something’s wrong. (18th note: I told him my own logic – it could be just superstition, but I know these men wouldn’t balk at something lightly. He’s new to them and them to him, so I understand the doubt, but letting it get to violence is inexcusable.)
July 16th: First mate reported that one of the men has gone missing, Petrovsky. He took port watch for eight hours last night, Abramoff came to to relieve him and then… nothing. He never made it to his bunk. Men are even more anxious and now seem depressed (18th note: Naturally, their crewmate just died.) They said they expected something like this, and then added again that there was something they refused to name. Mate is getting very impatient with them. (18th note: That said, he was heading away from the side into the crew quarters. He wouldn’t have disappeared due to falling overboard. This vessel has a thousand 40 ft. cargo containers on it. What if customs missed something?)
July 17th: Olgaren, one of the hands, approached me. He admitted that he thought there was a stowaway aboard. There’d been a rain storm last night, so he’d been on the leeward side of the accommodation. He’d seen a tall, thin man who looked nothing like any of the crew heading down the desk and disappearing. He followed his path all the way to the stern, but he disappeared – he didn’t see anyone, and he didn’t hear the noises one of the containers opening would have had. He was on the verge of panic, so I did my best to calm him and promised to search the ship thoroughly as we could.
I gathered the crew and made good on my promise. The first mate was angry, as seems to be his wont, saying it would just demoralize them further. On the contrary, once we were done, they all seemed to be in a much better mood. He grumbled about it.
We searched thoroughly, but we didn’t get into the cargo containers – that would potentially invalidate our contract and render this whole voyage moot. That said… if there is someone aboard, they would be there, despite us not seeing any evidence of any tampering with the containers.
The other possibility as to the disappearance I don’t want to consider. The first mate has been prone to anger and violence and took it out on the crew once. He’s only been getting moreso. I don’t want to consider that he might’ve been responsible for Petrovsky’s fate, but we’ll have to wait and see.
(A/N: It was hard for me to imagine he just started keeping the log on the 18th because weird stuff was happening, so this is a copy. Lets him editorialize a little more rather than keeping it strictly facts. The original log will be what’s retrieved by the media later.
I thought the idea of suspecting the mate might be fun. His being pissed off at the crew this whole time does make him feel like a suspect, like the character in the movie telling people to stop being superstitious and looking into stuff because they want to hide their crimes. We all know what’s really going on here, but the captain has no idea, so I wanted to let him theorize a little.)
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lonestarbattleship · 1 year
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Russian Dreadnoughts: Novorossiysk, Part I
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"The Battleship Stalin had demanded from Italy came to fruition in 1949. Following WWII, the Allies had drawn 'lots' - groups of Italian ships - in 1948 to determine who got what. Either by design or extremely poor luck, the Soviets drew the lot that contained the aged, but rebuilt, dreadnought Giulio Cesare instead of a Littorio-class. Regardless, the Soviets stood poised to welcome a powerful addition to their Black Sea Fleet post-war.
Obstacles, however, remained. The Soviets wanted Italy to fund a complete refit of the battleship, which had been sitting in Taranto since June 1944. The Soviets also wanted a grandiose handover in Soviet waters. They would get neither. Italy refused to sail the ship to the Black Sea, and in December 1948 Turkey forbade it anyways by invoking a 1936 ban on non-Black Sea power warships greater than 15,000 tons in the Turkish Straits. Instead, Italy moved Cesare to Valona, Albania, in February 1949 after a hasty partial refit in Augusta. On February 6, 1949, the Italians handed her over in a tense exchange.
The Soviets steamed out of Albania on the 20th. The voyage to the Black Sea showed her flaws: none of the gauges had been translated, and many systems barely worked. Worse, the damage control post contained limited documentation, insufficient to actually keep the ship from sinking in case of disaster this last insult would come back to haunt the USSR six years later. The ship reached Sevastopol on the 26th, and in a ceremony on March 5 received the name Novorossiysk.
Novorossiysk's tribulations had just begun. It took the majority of the year to get the ship ready for service, and supply chains had to be built using reverse engineering. The ship had a recurring issue with mold, and no built-in mess space for meals, so habitability was abysmal. By the end of 1950, she was determined to be of more use as a training platform than as a primary combatant, and between exercises was constantly undergoing some sort of work; in six years, she would see the shipyard eight times, including a substantial and expensive modernization in 1953. The work done in 1953 was notable, as it installed radar, replaced the diesel generators, swapped the boilers out for domestic models, and replaced all Italian anti-aircraft guns with Soviet 37mm and 25mm types. That same year, Stalin died, and additional plans for the ship died with him - including a proposed domestic replacement of her main battery.
Two years later, on October 28, 1955, the battleship returned from gunnery exercises and moored at buoy no. 3 in Sevastopol. She had moored there ten times prior, beginning in 1954; the battleship Sevastopol had similarly dropped anchor and shackled to that same mooring buoy no fewer than 130 times in the past decade. But this time would be different."
Caption is exclusive to Haze Grey History Facebook page (link) and was shared with the permission of Evan Dwyer. Click this link to read more of his works. Photo is from the public domain, and depicts Novorossiysk ca. 1953.
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jakethesequel · 1 year
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Something I've really really really wanted to see for a while is something with all the genre trappings of a Western but set in the Russian colonial space instead of the American one. Show me a trauma-riddled veteran of the Napoleonic Wars flee across contested Siberia, sail across the Bering Strait, struggle to survive in the Alaskan winter, travel south to Fort Ross, try to establish a life, clash with the Spanish, then the Mexicans, then finally learn the Czar has sold the colony and your struggle was for nothing. Show me a band of terrible mercenary bounty hunters wreaking havok across the Kazakh steppe, boarding ships in the Crimean, torching mosques in the Russo-Turkish, before tearing each other apart from their own greed, tracking down and killing each other with violence their enemies could never muster. I want to see the Eastern!
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travelingare · 3 months
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📍Istanbul, Turkey.
Photography amazingly captures the vibrant energy and rich history of Istanbul, Turkey. This magnificent city, spread over two continents, is a tapestry of centuries of cultures, colors and heritage. Istanbul, where East meets West, is a city unlike any other. Its skyline is adorned by the majestic Hagia Sophia and the elegant Blue Mosque, symbols of the city's deep historical roots. Wander through the bustling Grand Bazaar, a maze of colors and scents. Here, every alley and shop is a treasure trove of handicrafts, spices and textiles.
The Bosphorus Strait, a vital waterway, not only separates Asia and Europe but also offers some of the most picturesque views of Istanbul. A ferry ride on the Bosphorus is a must-do experience. Immerse yourself in the charm of the different neighborhoods of Istanbul. From historic Sultanahmet to modern Beyoğlu, each area tells its own unique story. Istanbul's cuisine is as diverse as its heritage. Try traditional Turkish delights, savory kebabs and fresh seafood, a real feast for the senses.
As the sun sets, watch the city transform into a golden hue. The silhouette of minarets and domes against the evening sky is a sight to behold.📸@mstfatyfn
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turkeyblogblr · 26 days
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Maiden's Tower, Istanbul, Turkey: The Maiden's Tower, also known as Leander's Tower since the Byzantine period, is a tower on a small islet at the southern entrance of the Bosphorus strait, 200 m from the coast of Üsküdar in Istanbul, Turkey. The tower appeared on the reverse of the Turkish 10 lira banknote from 1966 to 1981. Wikipedia
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Rescue dogs from Asia helping to sniff out survivors after Turkey quake
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The Straits Times / Asia News Network
14 February 2023
SINGAPORE – As search and rescue teams continue to seek out survivors among the rubble in the aftermath of last Monday’s earthquake in Turkey and Syria, rescue dogs from Singapore and its South-east Asian neighbors Malaysia and Thailand have emerged as key members of these operations.
These trained canines and their keen sense of smell are able to work in tandem with the human members of the rescue teams and access areas that humanitarian aid officers find difficult to reach.
Their senses are especially useful in the two countries, where hundreds of buildings have collapsed due to the 7.8-magnitude earthquake, leaving more than 37,000 dead and thousands more missing so far.
The Singapore Civil Defense Force team sent four canines along with their 68-man Operation Lionheart contingent to the south-eastern Turkish town of Kahramanmaras, near the quake’s epicenter.
The dogs, including two labrador retrievers Frenchy and Rizzo, have been deployed to sniff out areas that could become potential rescue sites, helping the teams assess the need to use search equipment to home in on victim locations, said the SCDF on Facebook.
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Thailand’s search and rescue team in Turkey, including its two sniffer dogs Sierra and Sahara, has also drawn attention on social media, according to Thai daily The Nation.
The female golden retrievers in the team from the country’s urban search and rescue team have raised awareness of the role sniffer dogs play in these missions.
Photos of seven-year-old Sierra and six-year-old Sahara have been shared widely on social media, along with an outpouring of concern for those affected by the catastrophe.
Both dogs had passed training certified by the International Rescue Dog Organisation and have been tasked to search for earthquake victims in the rubble.
The Thai team started work on Saturday in Hatay, a southern Turkish province on the Mediterranean coast that borders Syria, where wintry conditions have seen temperatures plunge to 2 deg C.
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From Malaysia, tracker dogs Denti and Frankie have been sent on their first mission abroad, less than two months after their high-profile search and rescue job during the landslide at Batang Kali near Genting Highlands that killed 31 campers.
Both Denti, a labrador retriever, and English springer spaniel Frankie were put on an 11-hour flight to Istanbul, before being dispatched to southern Turkey for their mission to locate casualties of the earthquake in 12-hour shifts, The Star newspaper reported.
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On Saturday, they discovered and rescued five family members who had been trapped under the rubble of their residential building for six days, Bernama reported.
A Malaysian tactical operations official said the dogs were trained to find victims, alive or dead.
They were accompanied by their handlers, said unit chief Donny Chap.
He told The Star that the two canines, who received “Hero Malaysia” medals following their efforts during December’s landslide, had been given sufficient rest before their latest deployment.
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📷 https://www.nationthailand.com/thailand/general/40024812
🤍🐶🤍
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