Hand to Nose

God's Power

2011-02-22T11:26:00.003+01:00

Pretty self-explanatory, isn't it?

He also created me in 1979, don't know if a more complicated task than a toast show-off.

շնորհաւոր տարեդարձ Հրանտ!

2010-09-15T00:31:00.000+02:00

Happy birthday Hrant Dink!

Oldest Writing in New World

2010-07-24T21:09:00.007+02:00

Apparently the stone tablet you can see on the left is the oldest writing in the New World. Scientists could not tell what is written on it yet but still very fascinated. The fascination is coming from the possible origin of the people who had written the tablet. According to scientists, they might be the mighty Olmecs!

Olmecs are an ancient people who ruled in New World between 1500BCE-400BCE. The tables is thought to be created around 900BCE.

Further information can be found at:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/09/060914-oldest-writing.html

Curadmir and Babur

2010-07-24T17:44:00.004+02:00

In the old Irish Language, "Curadmir" means the "champion's portion". Warriors who have shown extraordinary examples of bravery would have the right to have the best part of the meat in any feast.

Actually, the same tradition exists in the Mughal Empire. Here is a excerpt from Baburnama:
"That day, Qasim Beg Quichin, the Lord of my Gate, outstripped the rest of the enemy and entered the fray with his sword. Sultan Ahmad Tambal Mughal, and Muhammad Dost Taghai got in also. But Qasim Beg Quchin won the champion's portion."*

It looks like the rules of getting the champion's portion were better defined in the Mughal Empire. A warrior should first decide upon a target, outdistance his tribe and get the target with his sword.

North American Natives (touching the enemy in a fight) and Ottomans ('serdengecti's and 'dalkilic's) had their own merits for brave warriors too.

*Baburnama, translation by Annette Susannah Beveridge, Penguin Classics

Stargazing Scrat

2010-04-14T19:25:00.002+02:00

Taken by Ibn-i Batuta. (:

Music duel from "Train de vie"

2010-02-24T18:41:00.000+01:00

This music duel is from the movie "Train de vie". I love both Jewish klezmer and -of course- Gypsy music.

Looking for a QA Team Lead

2010-02-17T09:26:00.004+01:00

I am looking for a QA Team Leader for my former company. Visa Sponsorship is possible for strong candidates. Please find the JD below:

Quality Assurance Team Leader

The Challenge

We are seeking a hands-on, experienced individual to lead planning and implementation of manual and automated QA testing for the Verum ASD:Suite of development tools. Along with product testing responsibility, you will help coordinate the testing efforts of others and expand automated product testing. This is a Scrum/Agile environment with a team committed to “first time right” implementation. The ideal candidate will have experience working with Agile teams and previous success with implementing automated testing for client-server applications.

Responsibilities
• Analyze complex requirements and create/execute test plans and test cases
• Work with the development team on estimating, assigning and monitoring the progress of tasks, evaluating status, risk, and priorities
• Coordinate all release test planning and testing efforts of the Verum testing team
• Perform manual testing and extend the test automation efforts for Verum development tools. This may include automated unit test scripting as well as automated routines to test specific features or stress testing.
• Evaluate, select and implement various open source or commercial tools for use within the test environment
• Mentor new and/or junior level QA employees.

Qualifications
• 5+ years of hands-on testing experience including test planning, estimation, test case creation, test execution
•Proficient in the software development life cycle using Agile development methods
• Experience with automated testing tools including scripting tools
• Strong leadership skills with a proven track record for leading the test efforts on products with complex product features
• Customer-focused, ability to triage issues, react well to changes and work with teams
• Excellent communication, collaboration, reporting, analytical and problem solving skills
• Very good knowledge of English
• C# and C++ programming experience is a plus
• Degree in Computer Science/ Engineering or equivalent preferred
• Work with documentation staff to re-design and produce customer oriented electronic and printed product documentation.
• Build and maintain a QA test lab where test equipment can be pooled among the various QA testing efforts.
• Help perform manual or automated testing as needed.

Timepass Na?

2010-01-08T01:00:00.001+01:00

Free as a bird

2009-12-30T01:06:00.004+01:00

Are you aware of how important is Project Gutenberg? Classics have no borders now. They are all free. My dad told me once that he had to save his weekly allowance to buy a Balzac. Now you can have a computer for 100 bucks and read 30,000 books for free. This is a dream for my dad's generation. So, lets appreciate the value of it. Children in Africa can read Indian, African, European and Chinese classics for free. And we all owe this to free software, GPL and DRM opponents.

So praise it!

Twitter Account

2009-12-19T01:26:00.002+01:00

Have we mentioned yet that we have a twitter account and it goes as "HandToNose"?

Great Debates

2009-12-07T02:50:00.003+01:00

This is a compilation of debates conducted by the Astrobiology Magazine. Good Stuff.

Pleiades (Messier 45)

2009-11-23T02:40:00.003+01:00

Today, we took our first photo in Astrophotograpy with our new telescope. We took the picture of Pleiades a.k.a. Messier Object 45.

Pleiades is consist of 7 blue stars (seven sisters) which are very young. You can clearly see the seven sisters in the picture we took.

Our photo is in a very amateur shape, as it can be seen. We used our 4.5 inch Newtonian telescope with 500 mm focal lenght and simply put our Camera (EOS 350D) to the eyepiece.

Our First Iridium Flare

2009-11-22T22:37:00.005+01:00

Yes, at last we bought a decent telescope.

It has an 4.5 inch mirror and 500mm focal length. Being a Newtonian, it is good enough to observe nearly all the planets and nearly all Messier Objects. Even we were able to see the Great Red Spot of Jupiter.

While me and Diadra was out and spying on Jupiter, we saw that Iridium Flare. Certainly not less than -6 magnitude, it was the brightest celestial object on the sky. It was our first flare. There are some websites available which informs about the flares to happen:

http://www.heavens-above.com/

Have fun with flare hunting!

Swine Flu

2009-11-22T22:34:00.004+01:00

Yep, I got the Swine Flu. Although nearly recovered as of yesterday, It took some time. I stayed at home for nearly a week.

Back to blogging.

The Bitch Rules

2009-11-19T17:19:00.000+01:00

I think it is from the American Book Center in Amsterdam. I don’t remember exactly. Just before the US Elections. (:

Berlin Block Tetris

2009-11-04T16:12:00.002+01:00

Berlin Block Tetris from Sergej Hein on Vimeo.
Check out my Interview for this on YouTube´s "Creator's Corner Blog" http://video-creativity.blogspot.com/2009/10/howd-they-do-that-berlin-block-tetris.html

9/11

2009-10-30T23:36:00.004+01:00

This is a text written by a 9/11 survivor on the next day of the attack. This is genuine, not a spam.

Shows how ordinary people can be heroes. It is of course quite emotional by the very nature of the incident. The very country does not have to be the U.S. Ask a Pakistani who is bombed by Taliban recently and grabbed a fellow from the wreckage , you will find the same essence.

Agreeing the policy of U.S. in Iraq is a different thing, mourning for the innocent losses are a different thing. That is the reason why I am against the U.S. Policy in Iraq.

THE PRICE WE PAY:

My name is Adam Mayblum. I am alive today. I am committing this to "paper" so I never forget. SO WE NEVER FORGET. I am sure that this is one of thousands of stories that will emerge over the next several days and weeks.

I arrived as usual a little before 8am. My office was on the 87th floor of 1World Trade Center, AKA: Tower 1, AKA: the North Tower. Most of my associates were in by 8:30m. We were standing around, joking around, eating breakfast, checking emails, and getting set for the day when the first plane hit just a few stories above us. I must stress that we did not know that it was a plane. The building lurched violently and shook as if it were an earthquake.People screamed. I watched out my window as the building seemed to move 10 to 20 feet in each direction. It rumbled and shook long enough for me to get my wits about myself and grab a co-worker and seek shelter under a doorway. Light fixtures and parts of the ceiling collapsed. The kitchen was destroyed. We were certain that it was a bomb. We looked out the windows. Reams of paper were flying everywhere, like a ticker tape parade. I looked down at the street. I could see people in Battery Park City looking up. Smoke started billowing in through the holes in the ceiling. I believe that there were 13 of us.

We did not panic. I can only assume that we thought that the worst was over. The building was standing and we were shaken but alive. We checked the halls. The smoke was thick and white and did not smell like I imagined smoke should smell. Not like your BBQ or your fireplace or even a bonfire. The phones were working. My wife had taken our 9 month old for his check up. I called my nanny at home and told her to page my wife, tell her that a bomb went off, I was ok, and on my way out. I grabbed my laptop. Took off my tee shirt and ripped it into 3 pieces. Soaked it in water. Gave 2 pieces to my friends. Tied my piece around my face to act as an air filter. And we all started moving to the staircase. One of my dearest friends said that he was staying until the police or firemen came to get him. In the halls there were tiny fires and sparks. The ceiling had collapsed in the men's bathroom. It was gone along with anyone who may have been in there. We did not go in to look. We missed the staircase on the first run and had to double back. Once in the staircase we picked up fire extinguishers just incase. On the 85th floor a brave associate of mine and I headed back up to our office to drag out my partner who stayed behind. There was no air, just white smoke. We made the rounds through the office calling his name. No response. He must have succumbed to the smoke. We left defeated in our efforts and made our way back to the stairwell. We proceeded to the 78th floor where we had to change over to a different stairwell. 78 is the main junction to switch to the upper floors. I expected to see more people. There were some 50 to 60 more. Not enough. Wires and fires all over the place. Smoke too. A brave man was fighting a fire with the emergency hose. I stopped with to friends to make sure that everyone from our office was accounted for. We ushered them and confused people into the stairwell. In retrospect, I recall seeing Harry, my head trader, doing the same several yards behind me. I am only 35. I have known him for over 14 years. I headed into the stairwell with 2 friends.

We were moving down very orderly in Stair Case A. very slowly. No panic. At least not overt panic. My legs could not stop shaking. My heart was pounding. Some nervous jokes and laughter. I made a crack about ruining a brand new pair of Merrells. Even still, they were right, my feet felt great. We all laughed. We checked our cell phones. Surprisingly, there was a very good signal, but the Sprint network was jammed. I heard that the Blackberry 2-way email devices worked perfectly. On the phones, 1 out of 20 dial attempts got through. I knew I could not reach my wife so I called my parents. I told them what happened and that we were all okay and on the way down. Soon, my sister in law reached me. I told her we were fine and moving down. I believe that was about the 65th floor. We were bored and nervous. I called my friend Angel in San Francisco. I knew he would be watching. He was amazed I was on the phone. He told me to get out that there was another plane on its way. I did not know what he was talking about. By now the second plane had struck Tower 2. We were so deep into the middle of our building that we did not hear or feel anything. We had no idea what was really going on. We kept making way for wounded to go down ahead of us. Not many of them, just a few. No one seemed seriously wounded. Just some cuts and scrapes. Everyone cooperated.

Everyone was a hero yesterday. No questions asked. I had co-workers in another office on the 77th floor. I tried dozens of times to get them on their cell phones or office lines. It was futile. Later I found that they were alive. One of the many miracles on a day of tragedy.

On the 53rd floor we came across a very heavyset man sitting on the stairs. I asked if he needed help or was he just resting. He needed help. I knew I would have trouble carrying him because I have a very bad back. But my friend and I offered anyway. We told him he could lean on us. He hesitated, I don't know why. I said do you want to come or do you want us to send help for you. He chose for help. I told him he was on the 53rd floor in Stairwell A and that's what I would tell the rescue workers. He said okay and we left.

On the 44th floor my phone rang again. It was my parents. They were hysterical. I said relax, I'm fine. My father said get out, there is third plane coming. I still did not understand. I was kind of angry. What did my parents think? Like I needed some other reason to get going? I couldn't move the thousand people in front of me any faster. I know they love me, but no one inside understood what the situation really was. My parents did. Starting around this floor the firemen, policemen, WTC K-9 units without the dogs, anyone with a badge, started coming up as we were heading down. I stopped a lot of them and told them about the man on 53 and my friend on 87. I later felt terrible about this. They headed up to find those people and met death instead.

On the 33rd floor I spoke with a man who somehow new most of the details. He said 2 small planes hit the building. Now we all started talking about which terrorist group it was. Was it an internal organization or an external one? The overwhelming but uninformed opinion was Islamic Fanatics. Regardless, we now knew that it was not a bomb and there were potentially more planes coming. We understood.

On the 3rd floor the lights went out and we heard & felt this rumbling coming towards us from above. I thought the staircase was collapsing upon itself. It was 10am now and that was Tower 2 collapsing next door. We did not know that. Someone had a flashlight. We passed it forward and left the stairwell and headed down a dark and cramped corridor to an exit. We could not see at all. I recommended that everyone place a hand on the shoulder of the person in front of them and call out if they hit an obstacle so others would know to avoid it. They did. It worked perfectly. We reached another stairwell and saw a female officer emerge soaking wet and covered in soot. She said we could not go that way it was blocked. Go up to 4 and use the other exit. Just as we started up she said it was ok to go down instead. There was water everywhere. I called out for hands on shoulders again and she said that was a great idea. She stayed behind instructing people to do that. I do not know what happened to her.

We emerged into an enormous room. It was light but filled with smoke. I commented to a friend that it must be under construction. Then we realized where we were. It was the second floor. The one that overlooks the lobby. We were ushered out into the courtyard, the one where the fountain used to be. My first thought was of a TV movie I saw once about nuclear winter and fallout. I could not understand where all of the debris came from. There was at least five inches of this gray pasty dusty drywall soot on the ground as well as a thickness of it in the air. Twisted steel and wires. I heard there were bodies and body parts as well, but I did not look. It was bad enough. We hid under the remaining overhangs and moved out to the street. We were told to keep walking towards Houston Street. The odd thing is that there were very few rescue workers around. Less than five. They all must have been trapped under the debris when Tower 2 fell. We did not know that and could not understand where all of that debris came from. It was just my friend Kern and I now. We were hugging but sad. We felt certain that most of our friends ahead of us died and we knew no one behind us.

We came upon a post office several blocks away. We stopped and looked up. Our building, exactly where our office is (was), was engulfed in flame and smoke. A postal worker said that Tower 2 had fallen down. I looked again and sure enough it was gone. My heart was racing. We kept trying to call our families. I could not get in touch with my wife. Finally I got through to my parents. Relived is not the word to explain their feelings. They got through to my wife, thank God and let her know I was alive. We sat down. A girl on a bike offered us some water. Just as she took the cap off her bottle we heard a rumble. We looked up and our building, Tower 1collapsed. I did not note the time but I am told it was 10:30am. We had been out less than 15 minutes.

We were mourning our lost friends, particularly the one who stayed in the office as we were now sure that he had perished. We started walking towards Union Square. I was going to Beth Israel Medical Center to be looked at. We stopped to hear the President speaking on the radio. My phone rang. It was my wife. I think I fell to my knees crying when I heard her voice. Then she told me the most incredible thing. My partner who had stayed behind called her. He was alive and well. I guess we just lost him in the commotion. We started jumping and hugging and shouting. I told my wife that my brother had arranged for a hotel in midtown. He can be very resourceful in that way. I told her I would call her from there. My brother and I managed to get a gypsy cab to take us home to Westchester instead. I cried on my son and held my wife until I fell asleep.

As it turns out my partner, the one who I thought had stayed behind was behind us with Harry Ramos, our head trader. This is now second-hand information. They came upon Victor, the heavyset man on the 53rd floor. They helped him. He could barely move. My partner bravely/stupidly tested the elevator on the 52nd floor. He rode it down to the sky lobby on 44. The doors opened, it was fine. He rode it back up and got Harry and Victor. I don't yet know if anyone else joined them. Once on 44 they made their way back into the stairwell. Someplace around the 39th to 36th floors they felt the same rumble I felt on the 3rd floor. It was 10am and Tower 2 was coming down. They had about 30 minutes to get out. Victor said he could no longer move. They offered to have him lean on them. He said he couldn't do it. My partner hollered at him to sit on his butt and schooch down the steps. He said he was not capable of doing it. Harry told my partner to go ahead of them. Harry had once had a heart attack and was worried about this mans heart. It was his nature to be this way. He was/is one of the kindest people I know. He would not leave a man behind. My partner went ahead and made it out. He said he was out maybe 10 minutes before the building came down. This means that Harry had maybe 25 minutes to move Victor 36 floors. I guess they moved 1 floor every 1.5 minutes. Just a guess. This means Harry wad around the 20th floor when the building collapsed. As of now 12 of 13 people are accounted for. As of 6pm yesterday his wife had not heard from him. I fear that Harry is lost. However, a short while ago I heard that he may be alive. Apparently there is a web site with survivor names on it and his name appears there. Unfortunately, Ramos is not an uncommon name in New York. Pray for him and all those like him.

With regards to the firemen heading upstairs, I realize that they were going up anyway. But, it hurts to know that I may have made them move quicker to find my friend. Rationally, I know this is not true and that I am not the responsible one. The responsible ones are in hiding somewhere on this planet and damn them for making me feel like this. But they should know that they failed in terrorizing us. We were calm. Those men and women that went up were heroes in the face of it all. They must have known what was going on and they did their jobs. Ordinary people were heroes too. Today the images that people around the world equate with power and democracy are gone but "America" is not an image it is a concept. That concept is only strengthened by our pulling together as a team. If you want to kill us, leave us alone because we will do it by ourselves. If you want to make us stronger, attack and we unite. This is the ultimate failure of terrorism against The United States and the ultimate price we pay to be free, to decide where we want to work, what we want to eat, and when & where we want to go on vacation. The very moment the first plane was hijacked, democracy won.

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/mayblum.asp

John Key; a conservative politician ~Sort of!

2009-10-23T01:01:00.000+02:00

I am a liberal. I mean a real liberal. That means I do not have a problem with venture capital, conglomerates and the free movement of the workforce and the capital internationally. Also, as a good liberal, I believe that people should have some right that has to be given by the government. And this do not clash with the liberal view, if you think so, go and read your Adam Smith books (Liberalism 101).

John Key is a conservative. He is the Prime Minister of New Zeland. Being a real (yes this is important) liberal, I despise Geert Wilders (you defame Israel, Gertie Boy!) , McCain, Recep Tayyip Erdogan or Putain... Oops, sorry Putin. My mistake.
John Key is a conservative. But he shows us what conservatism means in different regions and cultures. It is completely different than what we used to in Europe.

Some of his views are:

Gay couples can adopt children, no problem with that.
Global warming is a phonemenon that New Zeland should take some measures for.
His mother is Jewish, so technically he is Jewish. But he takes it in a more relaxed way. He does not believe in the afterlife. Come on, I smell at least an agnostic?
He wants to reduce the greenhouse emissions of New Zealand up to 50% in the next 50 years. (Do they have any, compared to other European countries??)
He is a pro-republic politician. (bye-bye queen~!)
He wanted to raise the legal drinking age from 18 to 20. Well, that sucks.

Anyhow, in Europe John Key could be a liberal or center left. But in the Down Under (yeah, all AU and NZ) he is a conservative.

Geert, do you hear me? Hello... Hello??

A late parrot

2009-10-22T23:47:00.002+02:00

Yes, I borrowed the name of the title from one of the sketches of Monty Python. Although this video looks very funny, both me an Diadra think that it is actually quite dramatic. http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1922318

This parrot has 19 of its own species left in the world and all he want to do is mate and survive its species

Commercial Heroin

2009-10-20T23:16:00.004+02:00

Yes, once upon a time heroin was commercial. It was produced by Bayer and used as a sedative for coughs!

Gosh, even Radium was a commercial drug in the past.

The Most Scientific Birth Control Method Ever

2009-10-20T01:24:00.004+02:00

This is the most scientific birth control method I have ever heard.

It has electronics in it.

Islamic Alcholic Bevereage

2009-10-20T00:29:00.006+02:00

According to a report, Tekel is the 71st biggest company in the muslim world. Tekel is an alcohlic beverages and tobacco company, which was owned by the state untill near past.

http://www.dinarstandard.com/rankings/ds100/index.html

Sometimes, life is funnier than fantasy.

Röyksopp - Happy Up Here

2009-10-15T11:35:00.001+02:00

Happy Up Here from Röyksopp on Vimeo.

Deja vu?

2009-10-09T00:46:00.008+02:00

Today I read a news article about a ban against building minarets in Switzerland. Being a person who does hate about every oppressive aspects of organized religion, I still despise such an event. I really, I mean really can not understand a government which can put a ban on the construction of any building, even not mentioning a temple.

I personally despise Islam compared to other organized religions because of its positioning of women, freedom of thought and organization of daily life. Still, sorry Swiss boys, this is pure fascism. If you behave like that, you are not different than the fundamentalists.

These things happened in 1930'ties. I smell Deja vu and Zyklon-B.

A Tribute to Grandpa Jones

2009-10-07T00:31:00.002+02:00

I just saw that someone from Louseville, Kentucky, visited our blog. I'm kinda excited because most of the coolest banjo artists come from Kentucky, Tennessee or Ohio. So, greetings to our visitor from Louseville, Kentucky and enjoy one of the super bluegrass songs mentioning Louseville, Ohio: Eight More Miles to Louisville. (:

Zombie Infestation

2009-10-06T23:31:00.008+02:00

You did not believe it. You thought it will never come. But if it comes, do you know how it will end?
I am talking to you, heedless people. What will you do, when zombies infest? Well, you are lucky. Because some chaps from the Ottawa University used mathematical modeling techniques by using MATLAB to find out if humanity has a chance in an outbreak. The answer is: No!

You can read it yourself. Though you gotta need to have some idea about Jacobian Matrixes, eigen etc etc.

Well, here goes the tax money!:
http://www.mathstat.uottawa.ca/~rsmith/Zombies.pdf

New Zealand: Real Wonderland

2009-10-05T23:40:00.005+02:00

Our dream country. The video is self explanatory. (: "Prime Minister John Key delivers the Top Ten Reasons You Should Visit New Zealand."

Ten answers to "But, you don't look Turkish?"

2009-10-05T20:04:00.015+02:00

Well, yes. I mean, really, enough... I've been living abroad for say, nearly 6 years and I always get this question when I reveal my nationality.

-"You don't look Turkish?"

I do look Turkish. I do bloody look like a Turkish man who has an Australian Hat (and most of you think it is a cowboy hat you ignorants) on top of his head and who speaks fluent English. If you have not left your village except visiting closed-system all-included hotels, is this my problem?

I am talking to you Dutch (If you want you can replace it with French, German, Egyptian, etc.)!

Actually we are so fed up with the expression we see on people's faces, we have just begun to have fun with this situation. Me and Diadra wrote 10 answers to "But, you don't look Turkish?" question.

+ Oh, you don't look Turkish?

Answers:

I look Turkish.. (slight hand movement and mind-trick)
Thanks, and you totally look German! (priceless..)
Can you paint me the picture of Turkish Abidin? (a Totally Turkish joke)
While you were living in the caves, they were building Hagia Sophia in my city.
Who does?
Why so disappointed? Xenophobic, are we?
Aww, look at that face. You're trying so hard to conceal your disappointment, that's so sweet. (:
Well I think you could work on that look on your face. You know, for the next time you meet someone Turkish. For being less rude, I mean.
Wow, did you know that having a less obvious expression of disappointment on your face makes you look much younger?
Oh, you don't either.

Bu bloga ne olacak? [What will happen to this blog?]

2009-10-05T18:49:00.008+02:00

This mostly goes to some of my followers from a Turkish Site (www.eksisozluk.org). I am not writing there anymore and I wanted to tell that I will focus on HandToNose more. So it is in Turkish and you can read it if you want to learm more about Altaic Languages. And yes, the blog stays!

P.S: Don't come to me with an "Ural" theory after reading the quoted text below. Me and my fellow kinsmen actually eat the people alive if they support the Ural-Altaic Language Theory.. And do not complain, as this blog has text in other different languages such as Sabir, Ottoman Turkish, Latin, Hebrew etc etc.

"Beni seven insanlara attiklari mailler icin cok te$ekkur ederim. Blog'da yazarken daha cok keyif alabilecegimi du$unuyorum. Ek$i sozluk bir cok insanin bir araya gelerek olu$turdugu bir mefhum idi. Bu yuzden belli ba$li kurallara uymak zorunlulugunun olmasi kacinilmaz idi. Bu, ister istemez insanin yazisini etkiliyor idi.

Burada ise, kurallara tabi degiliz. Yazarken Hitit'ten girip, Wright karde$lerden cikabilir ya da "okuz"un ne kadar latif bir hayvan oldugunu tarih silsilesi icinde size kanitlayabilirim. :)

Turkce yazilarim "http://thesoundyellowmakes.blogspot.com" 'da olacak. Buyuk ihtimalle orada daha cok yazacagim.

daha yeni ba$ladik..."

Anne Frank: a brief film footage

2009-10-05T17:15:00.000+02:00

Quoted from the YouTube user AnneFrank:

July 22 1941. The girl next door is getting married. Anne Frank is leaning out of the window of her house in Amsterdam to get a good look at the bride and groom. It is the only time Anne Frank has ever been captured on film. At the time of her wedding, the bride lived on the second floor at Merwedeplein 39. The Frank family lived at number 37, also on the second floor. The Anne Frank House can offer you this film footage thanks to the cooperation of the couple.

Richard Dawkins in Colbert Report

2009-10-01T17:38:00.002+02:00

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Richard Dawkins

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Michael Moore

Neil Gaiman's Journal

2009-09-28T18:22:00.001+02:00

Hey there!

Well, I'll be translating Neil Gaiman's journal to Turkish. That's it. (:

Here's the link: http://neilgaimantr.blogspot.com/

Waalre

2009-07-22T20:05:00.012+02:00

I think it's time for an update. I know we haven't been around for quite some time. After a long period of uncertainty, now we moved to Waalre (Aalst), a village close to the Belgium border. During the last four months, we had plans to move either to Canada, or to the UK, or to New Zealand. It started as a depressing period related to the global economic depression, but after a while things got much better. Finally, we are still in the Netherlands.

Grotere kaart weergeven

Anyway, let's talk a little bit about Waalre. This is a small and wealthy village close to the city of Eindhoven. Also, it is only 14 km away from the Belgium border. It has a population of approximately 15~16,000 people. The thing I love the most about this village is the regulations to sustain a diversity of tree and bird types. This is one of the reasons why this lovely "dorp" is also known as "de groenfontein" - the green fountain. Well, even the municipality is in a small forest with a lake. Love it, love it, love it!

Most residents of Waalre are quite rich and they have huuuge houses, farms, horses...and alpacas. I was fascinated to see a lady walking her two alpacas on the pavement! Now I am getting used to stuff like a group of children on their horses, crossing a street, etc. Well, lucky bastards... (:

Another reason we could not pay any attention to our blog was the lack of internet. Thanks to KPN, our internet connection was made in 49 days! I'll write more about KPN, the Netherlands and most importantly, about Dutch people later. I have a lot to say. (;

Below are some photos from Waalre and Dommelen. I am not a good photographer and also some photos were taken with a mobile phone. Sorry for the quality. Enjoy!

Sense and Simplicity

2009-03-06T19:48:00.003+01:00

Sometimes simplicity shows the perfect catch.

Oldest Map in the World

2008-08-03T22:18:00.004+02:00

Cartography was not supposed to be a very old discipline. But that is not true.

The oldest map in the world is apprx. 8000 years old and was painted on the walls of Catalhoyuk. In the map, you can clearly see the twin cones of an erupting volcano. The mountain is Hasan Dag, located near to Catalhoyuk. I, myself, climbed the mountain two times. It is an incredible mountain just in the middle of the vast plains.

In the painting, you can clearly see the Konya Plain behind the mountain. Foreground, the map of the village can clearly be seen.

Ut queant laxis

2008-05-25T19:16:00.006+02:00

Why do we call the notes as "ut-re-mi-fa-sol"? The story goes back to a fellow Italian who lived in the 10th century.

The plainsong of the Latin Church is called as Cantus Planus but widely known as Gregorian Chant in honor of the pope who fixed its eight component modes and collected nearly 3,000 melodies. Most of these songs have been derived from Greek and especially from Jewish traditional chants. Cantus Planus had four main dialects:

Ambrosian; Roman;Gallician;Mozarabic.

In the eleventh century the musicologist Guido d'Arezzo (995-1050) invented a notation system which the names of the notes are originated.

He took the initial syllables of the chant of "Ut queant laxis". This chant is dedicated to John The Baptist. It goes like this:

Ut queant laxis ,
Resonare fibris,
Mira gestorum,
Famuli tuorum.

Solye polluti,
Labii reatum,
Sancte Joannes.

[Let Thine example Holy John, remind us; Ere we can meetly sing thy deeds of wonder; Hearts must be chastened, and the bonds that binds us; Broken asunder.]

The first letters of Sancte Joannes formed the note "si" afterwards.

Then from the 12th century onwards, the Gregorian Chants had been enriched by polyphony. The art of Canon began in the 13th century and from that date on, we can talk about a standard vocabulary of musical phrase.

A Very Long Weekend [2]: Bemmel, Groesbeek and the Rainbow Road

2008-05-17T23:17:00.018+02:00

Well, let me tell you before I start: This post consists of more photos than text. Actually I should have written this post two weeks ago.

First, I was really busy.

Then, I was too lazy as the spring sun called me away from the PC.

And now, I barely remember what I was going to write! (Baaad Diadra...)

As I promised to Ibn-i Batuta, I'll tell you a little about Bemmel and Groesbeek, and add a couple of photos.

We have been to Bemmel, a beautiful and tiny town in the Netherlands, twice.

The first time, we fell in love with the town and its people.

The second time, we went there to take some photos. But as we were admiring the place so much, we forgot to take photos except our meals.

We also went to Groesbeek. Another beautiful town in the Netherlands reminding of paradise.

Yet, unfortunately, I cannot say the same things for their people. They were just the opposite kind of people I have met in other places of the Netherlands. Just extremely rude, weird people.

The fun part was to go back home as the weather spared some very nice surprises that caused us to smile a whole week afterwards.

We went through a forest like giant park on the way back home.

We cycled under a rain shower but it was so pleasant...
(In order to see the rain drops, click on the picture to enlarge.)

We were so tired that we had a little rest in a large park. We were cold but that was OK, as we couldn't stop ourselves from smiling.

A path between Nijmegen and Groesbeek. Apparently -as we have guessed from the road signs-, this path was ideal for horse riding.
You can see the award the weather has given us for appreciating its showers, as well. (:
Ah, it was a day in heaven...
P.S. If you are really careful, you can notice the second rainbow in the picture. (;

(You can click on the pictures to enlarge.)

A Very Long Weekend [1]: Kleve Tiergarten - A Tribute to Madagascar

2008-05-01T23:31:00.019+02:00

Hey there! After a short break, here I am.

I was planning to write about some scientific stuff such as the relation between volcanic eruptions and global temperature. I also had some other things in mind, but as we are having a beautiful holiday, I'll try to share some stuff with you.

30th April was the "Koninginnedag" in the Netherlands, that is the Queen's Day (Queen Beatrix's Birthday). Previously, we had planned to attend the traditional party, but instead we went to Kleve, a German city near the Netherlands - Germany border.

I'd like to tell you more about this city but there is nothing much except a small zoo. Oops, and a building still keeping its Swastikas. Obviously, someone forgot to remove that demonic signs as this sign is forbidden in Germany. That was a surprise for us... (Click on the picture to enlarge.)

Let me tell you about the zoo. One of the zookeepers told us that there were 600 animals in the Kleve Tiergarten. As we wandered around in the zoo, we observed that probably 80% of the animals consisted of sheep, goats, sheep, and well...goats... Other than these sheep and goats -and boars- there were some wild birds, foxes, seals, porcupines etc...

I think you have noticed the title: "A Tribute to Madagascar." Here's the story: When we were looking at some cute baby goats, we noticed some sheep eating grass just next to us. Then, we noticed that the sheep, one by one, were leaving their "area" and running freely within the zoo. You can see their escaping point in the picture (left) circled with red.

After their funny escape, they kept running and pasturing for a while.

Here are some other photos from the Kleve Tiergarten:

Suleymanname [Book of the conquests of Suleyman the Magnificent]

2008-04-19T22:26:00.016+02:00

Last week our postman rang the bell. Not twice, but once. Because I was so eager to get my book and did not keep him waiting. He brought my new book ,Suleymanname.

Suleymanname is about the conquests of Suleyman the Magnificent.

The full name of the book is "Tarih-i Feth-i Siklosh, Estergon ve Istol[n]i-Belgrad". It is written by Sinan Cavush. We don't know so much about Sinan Cavush though at least we know that he is the author of an another book, "Gazavat-i Hayreddin Pasha [The Holy Campaigns of Barbarossa]" . The powerful narrative style of Sinan Cavush was very popular among his readers. The anecdotes he told in his books which were related by story-tellers and listened to with great interest especially in the Ottoman Coffee houses and sometimes became the subjects of many other books.

Four written copies of Suleymanname survived till today. The book I have is the facsimile of the manuscript kept in the Topkapi Palace Museum Library[no:1608]. It has 146 folios, contains 4 maps and has 32 miniatures. You can see the Constantinople miniature on the left.

The story of the book goes like this:

After Suleyman succeeded to the throne, there were no threat from east left.The year following his accession to the throne,he attacked Belgrade. It was year 1521 , he captured Belgrade after some struggle.After he attacked and annexed Hungary after the Battle of Mohacs on 29th of Agust 1526.

The events written in the book are the events happened after the Battle of Mohacs. The Austrian Archduke Ferdinand attacked Budin[Buda]. They captured Peste on 27th of August 1542. Peste is across of Buda and they form Budapest of modern times. Ferdinand put 32 cannon and started to pound Buda. As you can imagine, Suleyman did not wait so long to declare war. The section about the archduke is given on the left.

When Suleyman reached Belgrade, enemy forced immediately fled. Suleyman began to prepare for the avenge of Buda.
In the meantime, an envoy sent by the French king requested the Sultan to send Barbarossa to help him. The king of Spain and Germany had attacked the French king and thrown him into prison.Sultan sent Barbarossa for the help.

Barbarossa and his men captured the outer fortress of Nice in 19 days. In retaliation against the violent siege, the commender of the fortress made a secret pact with the French ambassador to surrender the fortress if the Ottoman fleet departed. French ambassador talked to Barbarossa and said him that he has to end the siege because the fortress had been handed over to the French. Barbarossa lifted the siege immediately but the enemy did not keep their word, they did not surrender. After that, French ambassador sought help from the Ottoman Navy for the attack. Barbarossa attacked Nice again, heavily bombarded the city but the stormy season was approaching. Barbarossa returned to the island Santa Margarite for winter.

The book also tells the stories of how Estergon, Valpo and Shiklosh conquered. I cannot write really all of the things that are being told in the book as it is a really thick one. But I might let you enjoy the beautiful miniatures!

Ancient Graffiti

2008-04-16T11:30:00.023+02:00

Graffiti:
"Unauthorized writing or drawings on a surface in a public place."

This is how Oxford English Dictionary describes what a graffiti is. Graffiti are very important records of the common folks in a society.

They come out with no control or regulation. Sometimes they represent the views of an individual living in it's time, sometimes they represent a widely accepted view which was being suppressed by the ruling hegemony; sometimes they are nasty, sometimes they are wise, sometimes they are more worthy than formal records...

The media of a Graffiti is the street. That is very important and the main point of the very fabric of the relationship between the Graffiti and the masses. It is anonymous, anyone could have done it. I will give you some examples of "Ancient Graffiti" around the world. You could have a glimpse of the mind-set of the carvers(yes, not painters) of these Graffiti makers, which helps to understand their time from the angle of a common folk.

Alexamenos Graffito

Did you know that the earliest pictorial representation of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is a Graffiti? But not a praising one so. This graffiti is known as the "blasphemous graffiti" as well. It is dated back to 1st century AD and it shows a man worshiping to a crucified donkey. Unsuspectingly, this graffiti had been carved by a non-Christian and the crucified donkey represents Jesus Christ.

There is a writing which comes with the picture as well. The writing is in Greek but with a wrong grammar. It is written "Alexemenos sebete theon" which actually have to be "Alexemenos sebetail theon"; which means "Alexemenos worships his god". So someone was mocking the belief of Alexemenos, and having fun with the guy he believed (Jesus Christ of course). But Alexemenos had his answer. Next to this Graffiti there is a writing in Latin that goes "Alexemenos fidelis" ;"Alexemenos the faithful". Apparently, Alexemenos wanted to react.

Political Graffiti of Pompeii

Like everything, graffiti of Pompeii had been reserved in the volcanic ash untouched. On the left, you see a graffiti on a wall which caricaturizes a Pompeian politician with exaggerated features. Probably he was an old man as the graffiti reveals. There were so many graffiti in Pompeii, so that I will only write some of them.

"Suspirium puellarum Celadus thraex"(Celadus the Thracier makes the girls moan)

"Myrtis bene felas". (Myrtis, you do great blow jobs)

Well, no wonder why the brothels of Pompeii were so famous.

Hagia Sophia Graffiti

This interesting graffiti was carved by Varangians (north Europeans who were serving in Constantinople) in the 9th century CE. It is written in Viking runes.

The name of the soldier who had written this graffiti is Halvdan, as we read from the graffiti. It writes "Halvdan was here". Vikings were not Christians in those times so I wonder how could a "barbarian" Viking soldier had been let into the most sacred church of Orthodox Christianity. There is another graffiti in Hagia Sophia which has not been fully deciphered. Experts suspect that there might be more graffiti in Hagia Sophia.

Maybe you can hunt one?

The Year There Was No Summer

2008-04-13T17:56:00.050+02:00

I'm exactly a quarter century old and I've never had the chance to learn cycling until last week. Finally I made it! Ibn-i Batuta and I cycled approximately 10km yesterday -that is a good distance for such a beginner like me- and planned our much longer journeys which we'll go by bike. I guess you wonder what this has to do with that summerless year. Well, our story doesn't have anything to do with that, but bicycles automatically have, as their predecessors, velocipedes or Draisines, were invented mainly as a result of this unlucky year of many Westerners.

The Year There Was No Summer: Poverty Year, Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death, The Year Without a Summer. All of these refer to the same year: 1816. Very unfortunate for the people from England to Canada, from North America to Germany.

It began with a usual winter. Everything was just as normal as it had always been, until Spring came...

It all started in the beginning of May. On the 12th of May, cold waves started to sweep around beginning from northeastern Canada. Frosts hit Quebec City, New England, Connecticut, New Haven, Rhode Island. Cold fronts traveled across the area. Although there was a couple of days break causing farmers and dwellers to cheer up, the cold came back much worse in July and August.

The cold weather, frosts and so forth kept striking the areas during June and July, killing most of the crops (e.g. 90% of the usual crop in New England) and causing terrible famines. Finally, in Autumn, things went back to normal and the people had a warmer winter than usual. On the right, there is a chart I got from Wikipedia:

"The development of global average temperatures during the last thousand years. A significant drop shortly after 1800 is visible in the majority of concurrent reconstructions."

Well, why? Let's also explain that. There had been 3 significant volcanic eruptions in the near past. First one was in 1812, the La Soufrière eruption on Saint Vincent in the Caribbean. The second was in 1814, the Mayon (above) eruption in the Philippines. And, finally, in 1815 volcanic eruptions of Mount Tambora on the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia. As previous eruptions caused massive volcanic dust to mix in the air, the final eruption of Mount Tambora prepared the necessary conditions for a dramatic temperature decrease. As this post keeps getting longer and longer, I'll cut it short for now and explain volcanic dusts and temperature changes in my future posts.

Then, what happened? Of course, famine, riots, floods, national emergency declarations from England to Switzerland, from France to China; and a death toll of 200,000 people.

Here comes the best part of this whole unfortunate year: People could not feed horses in Germany due to hay shortage. Karl Drais, wanted to invent some horseless transportation vehicle, and came up with the Draisines (above)!

For more and detailed information about the subject, including journals and news of that year, please click on the title of this post.

It is really upsetting to learn that the predecessors of these vehicles called bicycles, providing such a feeling of freedom, emerges from such terrible conditions. Hmm, well, who cares! I'll go and get my bike! *evil laugh fading out*

European Pirates in the Ottoman Navy [1]: Jan Janszoon

2008-04-10T14:38:00.019+02:00

If you were someone who was living by the shores of Italy, Spain, Portugal, Malta, Ireland, Iceland or in other Mediterranean islands between 15th and 18th century, you would had to worry. You'd better had to worry about the Corsair Raids to the shores, which always pop up instantaneously and enslave everyone in sight in a very short time. You could be enslaved and end up in the Barbary States.

I am talking about the Barbary Pirates who ravaged Mare Nostrum for centuries. They were very capable seamen, equally ruthless and cosmopolitan in both religion and race. Barbary Coast was a magnet for the people who wanted to become a pirate to have a fortune in a short time, go for an adventure or take revenge from the Spanish and the Italian. The revenger were mostly Moors and Jews, who were expelled from their lands with the ReConquisita of Spain. In this series, I will investigate individuals who were born as Christians out of the Ottoman Soil. Being have born in Ottoman Soil or not makes a big difference. If you were not, your way which leaded you to North Africa was probably different than an Ottoman Citizen's; Slavery.

If you know Dutch history a bit, that means you know how much do the Dutch involved in Seamanship. Being squeezed by the English, French, German and Spanish; Dutch people looked for their fortunes in distant shores. In their golden age, they built a very big trade fleet consisting of hundreds of ships which were carrying goods from all over and around the World. They were brave adventurers who were looking for making a fortune in the shortest time. Jan Janszoon was one of them. A perfect fit for an adventurer profile of his time.

Jan Janszoon was born in Haarlem, in the Netherlands. In his youth he attacked Spanish trade ships as a privateer. Apparently, he could not make so much money there. So he moved to Barbary Coast.

While he was active in the Barbary Coast, he flew the Dutch flag when he was attacking to Spanish ships, and he flew the Turkish Flag when he was attacking other ships. Yet he had been caught by the Barbary Pirates in the Canary Islands in 1618. And well, the usual story: he was enslaved.

If you were pursuing a career in the Barbary Coast in those days, you had to have some qualifications. Jan was well aware of that. The best qualification in those days (you can compare to a MBA of today;)) were converting to Islam. Well, Jan did that and he got the name of Murat Reis the Younger. He began to raid Christian ships and lands with an another man: Suleyman Reis. Suleyman Reis was originally from the Netherlands, too. His Christian name was De Veenboer before he converted to Islam. De Veenboer (aka Suleyman Reis) was known with a trait: He was not attacking Dutch Ships; and if he had to, he never killed the Dutch crew. Because of him, the crew of Murat Reis and the crew of him were mostly consisted of Dutchmen. De Veenboer was killed by a cannonball in 1620.

Jan Janszoon went on his pirating activities. After all, it was a prosperous business. He became the admiral of the Pirate Navy. In 1622 he went to the Netherlands again, claimed diplomatic immunity as he was protected under the Turkish flag. Dutch authorities could not do anything. He collected new volunteers and set sail back.

In 1627 he raided Reykjavik, Iceland and enslaved 400 people. This event is known as "Turkish Abductions" in Iceland. In 1631, the target was Ireland. He enslaved 108 people.

After that, he got caught by the Knights of Malta and stayed in prison till 1640, until his escape. In the following year, his daughter from his first wife visited him. He died peacefully in Algiers afterwards.

And, now, when we make an overland through Afghanistan or India, we call ourselves adventurers.

We gotta think about it twice..

Best Birthday Present Ever!

2008-04-09T21:59:00.017+02:00

Well, well, well..
That's a fact folks, we all grow old as our planet completes another tour around our GV2 class star. I'm turning 29 this year and I got plenty of presents for my birthdays till now, as you can imagine. But the one I got this year, from my sweetheart, beats them all.

Diadra gave me a rare book of Asikpasazade, "Tevarih-i Al-i Osman"(The History of the Ottomans). It is in Ottoman Turkish Language, thus in Arabic Alphabet. It is dated to 1332. Well, Hegira Calendar of course, no need to have over enthusiasm.
This book had been printed with the reference to the manuscript 478, which is in Istanbul Archaeological Museum. I have an another version of Tevarih-i Al-i Osman in Latin Alphabet (a 2003 publish) and it is based on the manuscript 4954, in Suleymaniye Manuscripts Library.
What I do nowadays is to read two manuscripts and compare them. There are some differences between the two manuscripts; such as place names, some dates and names of some people. I am taking notes while I compare the two manuscripts. Well, maybe someday I will publish it. Or I might romanize the manuscript 478 and publish it with explanatory notes.

Of course, with the prologue with thanks to Diadra... :)

Slaves of the Orient and the Occident

2008-04-07T18:56:00.013+02:00

Well folks, here I am again with a new subject. It is about Slavery both in the East and West. Sorry, no pictures of concubines... :)

Both in the East and in the West, after the Middle Ages, the concept of slavery began to differ quietly than the old ages.

First of all, slaves were not seen only as a “muscle power” machines. They were actually captives whose ransom could be paid by their families and beloved ones, and the owner of the slaves could conduct a very profitable business. Yes, I called slaves as “captives” but hopefully, this will not disorient you. They were captives, right. Yet neither in the Muslim World or in Christendom they did not worth more than mere a dog. Not as a Meta (they used to cost a lot sometimes) but as the receivers of respect.
It was true that slaves in the Muslim World had some rights gained by the Shari’a (Islamic Law). So, generally speaking, they were in a better condition. In the Muslim World, one thing could change the fate of the slave: Conversion. If a slave would be converted to Islam, he would immediately have the same right of a free Muslim in the very society and would have the opportunity to rise in the hierarchy.

On the other hand, the situation with the Christendom is a bit different. Infants and women had a better treatment in the Christendom. They were seen as objects of joy and fun. But when they grew up, or their beauties diminished, they had the fate of a regular slave. The dehumanization against an Ottoman P.O.W. was very high in Christendom. First of all, an Ottoman Soldier was a barbarian who flocked from the East to batter down the West. He was a heathen who was following the “Blasphemous Sect of Mohammad”. It was also believed that Turks were the "Slash of the God" (anyone remember Huns?) who had been sent to Byzantium as Byzantium Empire separated their church from Roman Catholic Church. For the Muslims, Christians were heathens as well (how surprising?). They were worshiping three gods and blasphemously alleging that Jesus Christ was the son of the God! Of course there were so many common points among them but one point was more common than others. They were referring each other with the same word: Dog!

Both the East and the West chroniclers used this word excessively. That point of view also lies beneath the Martin Luther’s naming of homosexuality. He named homosexuality as “Hundehochzeit”, which means “Marriage of dogs”. Homosexuality was quite common in the Ottoman soil and was tolerated widely. Martin Luther was thinking that a sinful intercourse like homosexuality could only be linked to the blasphemous Turks, in other words “Dogs”.

As I said before, slaves were not treated humanely at neither sides. Sometimes our anachronistic perceptions really blur the vision of the past. One record tells us what happened in Ferrara, a city in modern Italy, once upon a time. Our record tells us that one of the Ottoman P.O.W.s (A.k.a. "slave" in these days) had been beaten up to death in the middle of the main street when a group of P.O.W.s forced to march the streets to demonstrate the victory of the Christian Armies. After killing him they buried him. The governor of Ferrara took him out from his grave, cut his head and filled it with straw. He put the slaves head on to display in the room he called “Wunderkamer”.

On the other hand it is known that Christendom was continuously in a shock as Ottomans continued to cut the head of the soldiers they killed in battles, P.O.W.s and sometimes civilians who showed up at the wrong time and place.

Decapitation was a very barbaric act according to Christian Lands. It was carefully and systematically carried out by Ottoman Armies as mutilation of the body by tearing it apart, chopping the head off or cutting it into two means there would be no single grave for the enemy. This was very insulting for the Ottomans. That was the main reason for mutilations. Actually Ottomans did not invent this way of mutilation. Romans were the first ones who carried out this tradition widespread. Apparently, this Roman habit had been forgotten by Europeans of that age.

Slaves were allowed to write letters and send news to their families. In these letters they were -of course- asking their beloved ones to pay their ransoms to their owners. Also, family members of the slaves were allowed to visit them; just to show the family that how poor the slave is! So that his/her family can hasten the process of gathering money for the ransom, to save the poor slave as soon as possible.

Tortoise Mom to a Baby Hippo

2008-03-28T17:54:00.013+01:00

Kenyan tsunami survivor baby hippo, Owen (300 kg), chooses a 100 year old male tortoise to be his mother! It seems both of them are very happy about this extraordinary relationship.

Ecologist Paula Kahumbu from Lafarge Park said, "After it was swept away and lost its mother, the hippo was traumatized. It had to look for something to be a surrogate mother. Fortunately, it landed on the tortoise and established a strong bond. They swim, eat and sleep together."

"The hippo follows the tortoise exactly the way it followed its mother. Somebody approaches the tortoise, the hippo becomes aggressive, as if protecting its biological mother," Kahumbu added.

Khambu also explained that the hippo was a young baby, he had been left at a very tender age and by nature, hippos were social animals that like to stay with their mothers for four years."

Kinetic Sculpture Genius: Theo Jansen

2008-03-25T22:53:00.014+01:00

Are you an eco-friendly stuff maniac, a kinetic art fan, or a renewable energy geek like me? Then, probably you have heard about Theo Jansen.

Let me introduce him for the ones who doesn't know him yet: he is a genius combining engineering with art. He is the designer of wind powered robots.

The Dutch artist, Theo Jansen, creates huge animal skeleton-like robots walking by wind power.

At this point, I'm glad I'll be able to see his works in Netherlands. Yet, for now, we all have the chance to learn more about his work, and see the pictures and movies of his creations at his website, strandbeest.

And the video below includes the BMW commercial with Theo Jansen, and some footages of his works.

Ancient Music from Urkesh Palace

2008-03-25T18:30:00.012+01:00

Welcome back!

I know I told you that there would be more about ancient melodies and tablets in the following post. I kept my promise. Although I am not providing a lengthy text, I have a gift for you - unless you have discovered the link before me. In this link you'll find the earliest musical score in the history, as far as it is known, and more information on this music, the tablet from 13th century BC found in Ugarit with this notation written on, and a simplified translation of the lyrics of the hymn. And most importantly, you will be able to listen to this melody!

The simplified - by Hans-Jochen Thiel - lyrics:

I will (bring x?) in the form of lead at the right foot (of the divine throne)
I will (purify ?) and change (the sinfulness).
(Once sins are) no longer covered and need no longer be changed,
I feel well having accomplished the sacrifice.

(Once I have) endeared (the deity), she will love me in her heart,
the offer I bring may wholly cover my sin
bringing sesame oil may work on my behalf
in awe may I ...

The sterile may they make fertile,
Grain may they bring forth.
She, the wife, will bear (children) to the father.
May she who has not yet borne children bear them.

If you are interested, you can download the precious document, which contains the musical portion of the text from Ugarit interpreted by Marcelle Duchesne-Guillemin, "A Musical Score from Ugarit: The Discovery of Mesopotamian Music".

A distinctive Photo-Blog

2008-03-25T12:55:00.013+01:00

They say, some people are born lucky, but I don't belive that. People make their own luck in this world. Well, Wouter is one of them. He is a fellow traveler and also a very good photographer.
First of all, he is my colleague, so he is darn lucky (ok, I flattered myself a bit). Secondly, he is just back from a 5 months of journey which he toured South America. So again, he is so darn lucky... Sure I envy him a bit... yet. Well, everyone has his future travel plans. :)

You can reach his blog by clicking here or on the title of this post.

A Biblical Martial Art?

2008-03-24T20:08:00.008+01:00

It looks like in these days everyone knows about Krav Maga. It is everywhere: in How I Met Your Mother, Splinter Cell and Wolverine. If you still haven't heard about it, I will post something about this Martial Art which I also practice. So don't worry. :)

Yet today, our subject is "Abir". Just like Krav Maga and it's derivatives, it is originated from Middle East, but not from Israel. It is originated from Yemen! It's Abir Aluf(The Grandmaster) is "Joshua Sofer" whom you can see on the right. I will tell more about him later.

Abir is an ancient Jewish Martial Art. It is originated from Habbani Jews who were originally living in Yemen in vast numbers before they were expelled. The literal meaning of Abir is "warrior," "fighter," or "strong" in Hebrew. It's semitic root is "Aleph-Beth-Resh." In Hebrew Alphabet it is written as "אַבִּיר".

Abir has different attack styles for each of the 12 Hebrew tribes and its defensive movements are derived from the shapes of old Hebrew Alphabet.

The place where it has been practiced is called "Beit Abir" which literally means the "Abir House". Abir takes its roots from Jewry as I told, so it is a "conservative" martial art...

So, what is a conservative martial art??

Trainings open with the reading of Torah. There are numerous references to Jewry and Midrash, so if you want to understand the philosophy behind the system you have to know something about Judaism.
Yehoshua Sofer is the "Abir Aluf" (The Grandmaster of the Abir now. You can see one of his pictures on the fly on the left side). :)

He is an Habbani Jew and also he is a follower of Chassidism. He is an extremely fast fighter, thanks to his 45 years of physical and mental training. He began to involve in Martial Arts when he was 3!

According to Yehoshua Sofer:

My family lived in Israel for 100 generations, since the time of Saraya Sofer — a royal scribe and warrior who served the kingdom of Israel. Both ancient Israelite writing and martial arts traditions, were handed down in my family from generation to generation.

The Sofer family has a tradition that, following the wars of Bar Kokhba, their ancestors lived in Piq'in near Tiberias for one thousand years, and at the time of the Crusades, moved to Hevron, where they lived for another one thousand years, some of them moving back and forth between Israel and Yemen all the while.

Members of the Sofer family moved between Jerusalem and Habban in eastern Aden to cities such as Baidha. "Baidha" means "white" in Yemeni Arabic. While in Israel, Nachman Sofer and his youngest son, Ya`aqov Mosha, Yehoshua Sofer's father, left the region for Jamaica following the Chevron massacres of 1929. From there they would move to the United States and later back to Israel.

I can hear you saying "It is so much words for a Martial Art! Let's see it in action!". Here it comes folks:

And here is defense of "Isshakar Tribe" against choking.

You can find more about Abir at Abir Warrior Arts.

The Oldest Melody In History?

2008-03-23T19:09:00.008+01:00

Well, it seems the 3400 years old music played below is the oldest melody of the history according to Klezfiddle1, a YouTube user.

The Hurrian Hymn, which has been preserved for 3400 years on a clay tablet, was discovered in mid 20th century. The Hurrians, to whom the Hittites owed the weaving of their social fabric, dwelled in the northern Mesopotamia. And the clay reserving this melody was found in Ugarit, an ancient port city.

There will be more about ancient melodies and tablets in the next post. But first...

Let's listen to the melody!

As a subscriber of Klezfiddle1, I can say that besides being a really creative musician, he is also very talented and extremely good in handcrafts. He gets beyond his knowledge of history by making replicas of ancient lyres. For example, the lyre he is playing in the video is a replica based on a contemporary illustration of the Kinnor on the back of an ancient Jewish coin (on the right).

For more information on this hymn, please visit the video page. And for other projects of Klezfiddle1, please visit his user page in YouTube.

Tetum

2008-03-20T19:29:00.008+01:00

Approximately 350,000 people speaks Tetum, which has become one of the official languages of East Timor since the country had declared its independence in 2002 (the other official language is Portuguese), and Tetum-Dili.

Before the Portuguese occupation, Tetum became widespread through Central and Eastern Timor as pidgin under the aegis of the Belunese speaking Kingdom of Wehali. When they arrived, the Portuguese built their settlements mostly in the west, where Dawan was spoken. As the capital was moved from Lifau to Dili, Tetum became an inter-regional language within the colony. These conditions brought Timor to a significant place amongst the colonies of Portugal. For only a few Portuguese colonies conserved a local language which is not a form of Portuguese as the lingua franca (later on, the language was immensely influenced by Portuguese).

With the hasty occupation of East Timor, which couldn't have relished its independence declared in 1975, by Indonesia and the declaration of the country as "the Republic's 27th Province", Portuguese was banned and Indonesian became the only official language. Yet, the Roman Catholic Church adopted Tetum as its liturgical language.

Tetum has four dialects. The first one, Tetun-Dili, which is also known as Tetun-Prasa (City Tetum) is spoken in Dili, the capital city, and in the north of the country. The second dialect, Tetun-Terik, is spoken in the southern and southwestern coastal regions. Tetun-Belu is spoken in a central strip of the island of Timor from the Ombai Strait to the Timor Sea, and is split between East Timor and West Timor -where it is considered as the regional language, "bahasa daerah" with no official status in Indonesia-. Nana'ek, which is spoken in the village of Metinaro, on the coastal road between Dili ile Manatuto, is the fourth dialect.

Tetun-Belu and Tetun-Terik are not spoken commonly and understood at all, other than the main places they are spoken. Tetun-Prasa is the form of Tetum spoken in East Timor, and it has always been the predominant lingua franca in the eastern part of the island, even when it was not an official language.

If you are interested in this language, you can find this page interesting. And, of course, the main resource for this post, Wikipedia.

...obrigada everyone! (:

Loving Ottomans

2008-03-19T16:00:00.016+01:00

As Ibn-i batuta mentioned Turkish language in Arabic alphabet -known as the Ottoman language- I think it's time to show you this piece. The page shown above is from a book published in Paris and London, in 1842: "The Turkish Interpreter or a New Grammar of the Turkish Language".

This book is another proof of the fact there has never been a language such as "Ottoman language". It's the good old Turkish we know, only with Arabic alphabet.

The first column is the original Turkish words written by Arabic alphabet. The second column is the same words in Latin letters. And the third column is the English translation.

The book is full of entertaining dialogs and examples. You can find it in Google books. (Respect, Google!)

The image cannot be enlarged here, so you can check it out from here or by clicking on the title of this post.

Pater Noster

2008-03-19T15:30:00.017+01:00

The picture you see above is the "Pater Noster" written in Ottoman Turkish Language. Ottoman Turkish was actually Turkish, both in grammar and structure, but a more elegant language with the blend of Persian, Arabic and Greek loan words. The alphabet used was the Arabic Alphabet.

The first two sentences in this Pater Noster go like this: "Bizim atamız ki göklerdesin. Seniñ adıñ mukaddes olsun."

More will follow about Ottoman Turkish in the future.

Lukasa

2008-03-19T15:02:00.010+01:00

It had been quite some time since I had written to the blog, ain't it? Well, here comes a specific subject: Lukasa.
Lukasas are basically memory boards that are being used by Luba Tribe of Africa. Lubas are dwelling in Democratic Republic of Congo which is actually former Zaire. They emerge to the stage of history in the 5th century AD. The environment they are living brings some challenges. To survive, they had to build dams and canals. As you can imagine, constructing and digging work needs communication and organized labor. Well, Toynbee's "emerge of civilizations" theory looks applicable here. Toiling to get over the challanges brought an organized society. Nevertheless, in 1880 Belgians came. The usual story followed afterwards, Lubas forced to slave labor at the copper mines.

Traditionally, Lubas dwell in rectangular houses which have facades to a single road. They are "slash and burn" farmers, fishers and also hunters. "Kilolo"s are their patrilinear chiefs and under the protection of the traditional king they are responsible from the administration of the village. These chiefs and the King are the members of a secret group which is called "mbduye". Women can be the members of Mbduye, as well.

Well, here it comes folks: one of the main responsibilities of the mbduye is keeping the record of the important instances and the religious life of ther village with Lukasas.
Lukasas are hand carved. You can see an example on the right. They are various. Some of them are about the political systems of the Lubas, some are telling the stories of the historical figures and some are drawing the borders of the villages' lands. Every lukasa is unique. On the front side of the lukasa faces of the chieftains, members of the mbudye and historical figures are carved. At the outer side the diagonal, horizontal and vertical strips symbolizes Lolo ina Nombe, who is the ancestor goddess of the Lubas. It is believed that she still lives among people as in the form of a tortoise. Hence, tortoises are highly respected in the Luba community.

A Hobo's Paradise

2008-02-19T14:14:00.022+01:00

Well, nearly all of us have an idea of an ideal heaven in our minds. Mostly, these ideas have not been developed and shaped with free will, though we have so many intruder thoughts which are dictating us about how a desired place should look like.

Pretty scary isn't it? But there were some guys who described a heaven which is quite appealing and apparently has more intervention of free will.

Hoboes were wandering homeless guys who were traveling by hopping in and out of the freight trains during the great depression times. They have their own culture, own language and even own writing system. So these guys described a place, a heaven and a safe haven, which they call "Big Rock Candy Mountains". You could recall this song from the movie O Brother Where Art Thou.

Big Rock Candy Mountains

One evening as the sun went down and the jungle fire was burning

Down the track came a hobo hiking and he said boys I'm not turning

I'm headin for a land that's far away beside the crystal fountains

So come with me we'll go and see the Big Rock Candy Mountains

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains there's a land that's fair and bright

Where the handouts grow on bushes and you sleep out every night

Where the boxcars are all empty and the sun shines every day

On the birds and the bees and the cigarette trees

Where the lemonade springs where the bluebird sings

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains all the cops have wooden legs

And the bulldogs all have rubber teeth and the hens lay soft boiled eggs

The farmer's trees are full of fruit and the barns are full of hay

Oh, I'm bound to go where there ain't no snow

Where the rain don't fall and the wind don't blow

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains you never change your socks

And the little streams of alcohol come a-trickling down the rocks

The brakemen have to tip their hats and the railroad bulls are blind

There's a lake of stew and of whiskey too

You can paddle all around 'em in a big canoe

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains the jails are made of tin

And you can walk right out again as soon as you are in

There ain't no short handled shovels, no axes saws or picks

I'm a goin to stay where you sleep all day

Where they hung the jerk that invented work

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

I'll see you all this coming fall in the Big Rock Candy Mountains!

David Zasloff

2008-02-18T16:41:00.015+01:00

This extremely talented guy is a jazz comedian. He has written two books: “Zen Judaism, The Joy of Suffering” and “The Complete Book of Everything, Part I”.

David Zasloff and his band perform a different kind of music: "zen jazz". This is a combination of African, Japanese, Jewish, Latin, Caribbean and bebop. Besides playing trumpet, piano, percussion, guitar, autoharp and shofar, this inspiring musician is a master of shakuhachi.

We met David while we were surfing Youtube to see what is shofar, and what does it look and sound like. This amazing person plays hatikvah with shofar, which is already very hard to blow (just like ney).

David Zasloff is not that famous except a limited part of the USA. For more information, please visit the musician's homepage by clicking on the title of this post.

Hand to nose?

2008-02-18T15:28:00.015+01:00

I know that hand to nose is some kinda weirdo name for a blog. But it has a good background tale folks. So gather around the fire and grab your coffee cups!

In the ancient times, the first real civilization was emerging in the Middle East.They were called "Sumeru" by Akkadians. So that's why we call these Indo-European people Sumerian. They were calling themselves "SAG-GIGA" which basically means "the black-headed people". Also they are the same people who are called as "Shinar" in the Hebrew Bible.

So what is it to do about "hand to nose"? Here it comes:

Sumerians were greeting each other with moving their hands to their noses. This way of greeting is the first recorded greeting in the human history.

So thats why we greet you with the oldest greeting!

"Silim-ma he2-me-en"!