View allAll Photos Tagged objectivity
This is the dashboard of my 2003 Dodge Caravan after it was completely reassembled. The Air Blend Door shaft broke making the temperature control useless. The cost of repair would take $1000.00 or more depending upon who you take it to. The high price is due to the fact that the temperature blend door is located behind the dashboard.
At 1st I faulted the mechanics for wanting too much money for such a small part. It's like they think the average person is walking around with $1000 in their pocket. Having seen for myself what was involved with replacing the part, I now understand the cost.
By the way, here is an update from a person who found a quicker and easier way to repair/replace the part. It is not a professional fix but, it is a good option for those who do not have either the time or the patience to remove a dashboard.
However, what I don't understand is why a vulnerable part is placed in such a way the average person will not be financially able to replace it when it fails. It looks like they are using cheap parts and they don't care. I hope that is not the case but, that is how it looks.
Until now, my parents and I have had great results with Chrysler products. A 1966 Oldsmobile Jetstar 88 was the last Non-Chrysler my father owned. At the time I remember him carefully researching all the vehicles of the time. He purchased a 1989 Chrysler Newport. Every 4 or so years he would purchase a new Chrysler. Here is the car he had in 1984.
President Tsai explains trip objectives before departing for Paraguay and Belize. (2018/08/12)
La Presidenta Tsai explica los objetivos del viaje antes de partir hacia Paraguay y Belice. (2018/08/12)
授權方式及範圍：
Authorization Method & Scope:
...and the final product. I believe it was a lines filter... anyway...
I like.... how you can still tell what it is. It still has the beauty of the original shot- still won't tell you where....
I don't like how white the majority of the sky is... but if I moved the tab anywhere else, it would do one of two things- 1) become beyond recognition or 2) no longer look like it was filtered. Instead it simply looked horribly photoshopped.
(16/20)
The estimated 1.5 million dollar project will replace an existing concrete notched weir fishway for herring, reinforcing the dam and improve the fish ladder at historic Baxter Mill at Mill Pond on the Mills Creek, in West Yarmouth, MA on October 19, 2019.
An approximate $400,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources and Conservation Service (N?RCS) and a majority share from the Community Preservation Act has paid for the project.
The efforts will benefit six habitats. One of the habitats is the Mill Pond, which is the seasonal home of swan pairs. Water levels and construction activities have successfully been underway without disrupting the swans.
The construction will better stabilize the mill, a local tourist attraction. The new spillway will provide better flow through the grist mill. The dam’s earthen embankments will be made more stable with riprap rock and thick sheeting.
Since 1710, the Baxter Mill has been at this location. The dam suffered failures about 60 years ago, with subsequent rebuilds. Local funding will provide the restoration of the mill, which has been inoperative for 40 years.
NRCS has a proud history of supporting America’s farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners. For more than 80 years, we have helped people make investments in their operations and local communities to keep working lands working, boost rural economies, increase the competitiveness of American agriculture, and improve the quality of our air, water, soil, and habitat.
As the USDA’s primary private lands conservation agency, we generate, manage, and share the data, technology, and standards that enable partners and policymakers to make decisions informed by objective, reliable science.
And through one-on-one, personalized advice, we work voluntarily with producers and communities to find the best solutions to meet their unique conservation and business goals. By doing so, we help ensure the health of our natural resources and the long-term sustainability of American agriculture.
Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) is the Department’s focal point for the nation’s farmers and ranchers and other stewards of private agricultural lands and non-industrial private forest lands. FPAC agencies implement programs designed to mitigate the significant risks of farming through crop insurance services, conservation programs, and technical assistance, and commodity, lending, and disaster programs.
The agencies and services supporting FPAC are Farm Service Agency (FSA), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and Risk Management Agency (RMA).
NRCS – NRCS - nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/site/national/home/
FPAC - Farm Production and Conservation - usda.gov/our-agency/about-usda/mission-areas
USDA - USDA.gov
USDA Photo by Lance Cheung.
Coin, AD 55-6
Illustrating the shifting power dynamic between Nero and his mother during his early reign.
[From] prominence to Agrippina and relegates Nero to the reverse...mother and son facing each other...Agrippina behind. It demonstrates her waning influence and Nero's rising independence. Subsequently, Agrippina disappeared from his coinage altogether.
[British Museum]
Nero: the Man Behind the Myth
(May - Oct 2021)
Nero is known as one of Rome's most infamous rulers, notorious for his cruelty, debauchery and madness.
The last male descendant of the emperor Augustus, Nero succeeded to the throne in AD 54 aged just 16 and died a violent death at 30. His turbulent rule saw momentous events including the Great Fire of Rome, Boudicca's rebellion in Britain, the execution of his own mother and first wife, grand projects and extravagant excesses.
Drawing on the latest research, this major exhibition questions the traditional narrative of the ruthless tyrant and eccentric performer, revealing a different Nero, a populist leader at a time of great change in Roman society.
Through some 200 spectacular objects, from the imperial palace in Rome to the streets of Pompeii, follow the young emperor’s rise and fall and make up your own mind about Nero. Was he a young, inexperienced ruler trying his best in a divided society, or the merciless, matricidal megalomaniac history has painted him to be?
Nero was the 5th emperor of Rome and the last of Rome’s first dynasty, the Julio-Claudians, founded by Augustus (the adopted son of Julius Caesar). Nero is known as one of Rome’s most infamous rulers, notorious for his cruelty and debauchery. He ascended to power in AD 54 aged just 16 and died at 30. He ruled at a time of great social and political change, overseeing momentous events such as the Great Fire of Rome and Boudica’s rebellion in Britain. He allegedly killed his mother and two of his wives, only cared about his art and had very little interest in ruling the empire.
Most of what we know about Nero comes from the surviving works of three historians – Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio. All written decades after Nero’s death, their accounts have long shaped our understanding of this emperor’s rule. However, far from being impartial narrators presenting objective accounts of past events, these authors and their sources wrote with a very clear agenda in mind. Nero’s demise brought forward a period of chaos and civil war – one that ended only when a new dynasty seized power, the Flavians. Authors writing under the Flavians all had an interest in legitimising the new ruling family by portraying the last of the Julio-Claudians in the worst possible light, turning history into propaganda. These accounts became the ‘historical’ sources used by later historians, therefore perpetuating a fabricated image of Nero, which has survived all the way to the present.
Nero was born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus on 15 December AD 37.
He was the son of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina the Younger. Both Gnaeus and Agrippina were the grandchildren of Augustus, making Nero Augustus’ great, great grandson with a strong claim to power.
Nero was only two years old when his mother was exiled and three when his father died. His inheritance was taken from him and he was sent to live with his aunt. However, Nero’s fate changed again when Claudius became emperor, restoring the boy’s property and recalling his mother Agrippina from exile.
In AD 49 the emperor Claudius married Agrippina, and adopted Nero the following year. It is at this point that Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus changed his name to Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus. In Roman times it was normal to change your name when adopted, abandoning your family name in favour of your adoptive father’s. Nero was a common name among members of the Claudian family, especially in Claudius’ branch.
Nero and Agrippina offered Claudius a politically useful link back to Augustus, strengthening his position.
Claudius appeared to favour Nero over his natural son, Britannicus, marking Nero as the designated heir.
When Claudius died in AD 54, Nero became emperor just two months before turning 17.
As he was supported by both the army and the senate, his rise to power was smooth. His mother Agrippina exerted a significant influence, especially at the beginning of his rule.
The Roman historians Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio all claim that Nero, fed up with Agrippina’s interference, decided to kill her.
Given the lack of eyewitnesses, there is no way of knowing if or how this happened. However, this did not stop historians from fabricating dramatic stories of Agrippina’s murder, asserting that Nero tried (and failed) to kill her with a boat engineered to sink, before sending his men to do the job.
Agrippina allegedly told them to stab her in the womb that bore Nero, her last words clearly borrowed from stage plays.
It is entirely possible, as claimed by Nero himself, that Agrippina chose (or was more likely forced) to take her own life after her plot against her son was discovered.
Early in his rule, Nero had to contend with a rebellion in the newly conquered province of Britain.
In AD 60–61, Queen Boudica of the Iceni tribe led a revolt against the Romans, attacking and laying waste to important Roman settlements. The possible causes of the rebellion were numerous – the greed of the Romans exploiting the newly conquered territories, the recalling of loans made to local leaders, ongoing conflict in Wales and, above all, violence against the family of Prasutagus, Boudica’s husband and king of the Iceni.
Boudica and the rebels destroyed Colchester, London and St Albans before being heavily defeated by Roman troops. After the uprising, the governor of Britain Suetonius Paulinus introduced harsher laws against the Britons, until Nero replaced him with the more conciliatory governor Publius Petronius Turpilianus.
The marriage between Nero and Octavia, aged 15 and 13/14 at the time, was arranged by their parents in order to further legitimise Nero’s claim to the throne. Octavia was the daughter of the emperor Claudius from a previous marriage, so when Claudius married Agrippina and adopted her son Nero, Nero and Octavia became brother and sister. In order to arrange their marriage, Octavia had to be adopted into another family.
Their marriage was not a happy one. According to ancient writers, Nero had various affairs until his lover Poppaea Sabina convinced him to divorce his wife. Octavia was first exiled then executed in AD 62 on adultery charges. According to ancient writers, her banishment and death caused great unrest among the public, who sympathised with the dutiful Octavia.
No further motives were offered for Octavia’s death other than Nero’s passion for Poppaea, and we will probably never know what transpired at court. The fact that Octavia couldn’t produce an heir while Poppaea was pregnant with Nero’s daughter likely played an important role in deciding Octavia’s fate.
On 19 July AD 64, a fire started close to the Circus Maximus. The flames soon encompassed the entire city of Rome and the fire raged for nine days. Only four of the 14 districts of the capital were spared, while three were completely destroyed.
Rome had already been razed by flames – and would be again in its long history – but this event was so severe it came to be known as the Great Fire of Rome.
Later historians blamed Nero for the event, claiming that he set the capital ablaze in order to clear land for the construction of a vast new palace. According to Suetonius and Cassius Dio, Nero took in the view of the burning city from the imperial residence while playing the lyre and singing about the fall of Troy. This story, however, is fictional.
Tacitus, the only historian who was actually alive at the time of the Great Fire of Rome (although only 8 years old), wrote that Nero was not even in Rome when the fire started, but returned to the capital and led the relief efforts.
Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio all describe Nero as being blinded by passion for his wife Poppaea, yet they accuse him of killing her, allegedly by kicking her in an outburst of rage while she was pregnant.
Interestingly, pregnant women being kicked to death by enraged husbands is a recurring theme in ancient literature, used to explore the (self) destructive tendencies of autocrats. The Greek writer Herodotus tells the story of how the Persian king Cambyses kicked his pregnant wife in the stomach, causing her death. A similar episode is told of Periander, tyrant of Corinth. Nero is just one of many allegedly ‘mad’ tyrants for which this literary convention was used.
Poppaea probably died from complications connected with her pregnancy and not at Nero’s hands. She was given a lavish funeral and was deified.
Centred on greater Iran, the Parthian empire was a major political and cultural power and a long-standing enemy of Rome. The two powers had long been contending for control over the buffer state of Armenia and open conflict sparked again during Nero’s rule. The Parthian War started in AD 58 and, after initial victories and following set-backs, ended in AD 63 when a diplomatic solution was reached between Nero and the Parthian king Vologases I.
According to this settlement Tiridates, brother of the Parthian king, would rule over Armenia, but only after having travelled all the way to Rome to be crowned by Nero.
The journey lasted 9 months, Tiridates’ retinue included 3,000 Parthian horsemen and many Roman soldiers. The coronation ceremony took place in the summer of AD 66 and the day was celebrated with much pomp: all the people of Rome saw the new king of Armenia kneeling in front of Nero. This was the Golden Day of Nero’s rule
In AD 68, Vindex, the governor of Gaul (France), rebelled against Nero and declared his support for Galba, the governor of Spain. Vindex was defeated in battle by troops loyal to Nero, yet Galba started gaining more military support.
It was at this point that Nero lost the support of Rome’s people due to a grain shortage, caused by a rebellious commander who cut the crucial food supply from Egypt to the capital. Abandoned by the people and declared an enemy of the state by the senate, Nero tried to flee Rome and eventually committed suicide.
Following his death, Nero’s memory was condemned (a practice called damnatio memoriae) and the images of the emperor were destroyed, removed or reworked. However, Nero was still given an expensive funeral and for a long time people decorated his tomb with flowers, some even believing he was still alive.
After Nero’s death, civil war ensued. At the end of the so-called ‘Year of the Four Emperors’ (AD 69), Vespasian became emperor and started a new dynasty: the Flavians.
[Francesca Bologna, curator, for British Museum]
Taken in the British Museum
Some of the most productive forests in the world are managed by the BLM in western Oregon. The objectives of the O&C forestry program are to manage for a sustained yield of forest products and qualities needed to contribute to the economic stability of local communities, and continuing forest values and health. This vintage photo depicts forest management that took place in the BLM’s Eugene District in the 1980s.
The Eugene District of the Bureau of Land Management, now part of the Northwest Oregon District, extended from the Pacific Coast into the western slopes of the Cascade Range, and encompassed 316,000 acres. The Eugene District managed several ecosystems ranging from coastal inlands to dense Douglas-fir, hemlock, and cedar forests.
The Eugene District and the Salem Districts were officially consolidated into the Northwest Oregon District in 2016 and now collectively make up approximately 720,000 acres. The Northwest Oregon District stretches from the Cascades to the Pacific Ocean, where the historic Yaquina Lighthouse greets thousands each year.
To learn more about forestry in western Oregon head on over to: www.blm.gov/programs/natural-resources/forests-and-woodla...
To learn more about the Northwest Oregon District head on over to: www.blm.gov/office/northwest-oregon-district-office
Photo: Don Smurthwaite, BLM
Cats and dogs have nothing on crows and eagles when it comes to antagonistic relationships. Sure, most cats are understandably prickly around dogs they don't know. But at the other end of the scale is that YouTube favorite, the cat and dog asleep together in an endearing pose. Well, the crow-eagle video that moves viewers to exclaim "aww!" has never been made and never will be.
What's going on in this video is self-explanatory. The motive can be chalked up to cussed orneriness on the corvid's part. If crows had policies, harassing raptors right up to the mighty bald eagle would be high on their list of policy objectives.
Does this mean that no hungry bald eagle has ever snacked on a fledgling crow? That's what crows get for leaving the nest unguarded whilst they tear around the forest cawing at one another. What crows consider social behavior others see as downright obnoxious.
Anyway, look who's talking. By now crows' own indifference to members of other feathered species is notorious:
"Like a cunning thief in the night, crows have been known to raid nests of other birds and steal their eggs or nestlings. These intelligent black birds are notorious for being opportunistic predators and scavengers, but what drives them to prey on other birds’ offspring? As a wildlife expert, it is important to understand crows’ communication and nesting behavior to advise bird enthusiasts on how best to protect their feathered friends."
"Crows are highly social animals that communicate with each other through an intricate language of calls and body postures. They can recognize individual faces and voices, convey emotions like anger or alarm, and even pass along information about food sources or danger. This sophisticated system allows them to work together as a team when hunting or defending territory. Unfortunately, this also means that if one crow discovers a vulnerable bird nest, it may alert its flock members who will swarm the area and attack en masse."
thebirdidentifier.com/how-to-keep-crows-away-from-bird-ne...
See? There's no standard like a double standard.
Still, one should not be too hard on crows. It would be a dull world without their antics. It's reassuring knowing that I make enough of an impression in the world for the crows to denounce me loudly from the tree tops as I make my down the forest path to beach.
Some of the most productive forests in the world are managed by the BLM in western Oregon. The objectives of the O&C forestry program are to manage for a sustained yield of forest products and qualities needed to contribute to the economic stability of local communities, and continuing forest values and health. This vintage photo depicts forest management that took place in the BLM’s Eugene District in the 1980s.
The Eugene District of the Bureau of Land Management, now part of the Northwest Oregon District, extended from the Pacific Coast into the western slopes of the Cascade Range, and encompassed 316,000 acres. The Eugene District managed several ecosystems ranging from coastal inlands to dense Douglas-fir, hemlock, and cedar forests.
The Eugene District and the Salem Districts were officially consolidated into the Northwest Oregon District in 2016 and now collectively make up approximately 720,000 acres. The Northwest Oregon District stretches from the Cascades to the Pacific Ocean, where the historic Yaquina Lighthouse greets thousands each year.
To learn more about forestry in western Oregon head on over to: www.blm.gov/programs/natural-resources/forests-and-woodla...
To learn more about the Northwest Oregon District head on over to: www.blm.gov/office/northwest-oregon-district-office
Photo: Don Smurthwaite, BLM
Schefflera (umbrella plant) carries numerous stomata on its lower surface only, in a chaotic pattern.
Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
"Frackfree group blocks access to well in North Jackson"
Published: Mon, October 15, 2012 @ 12:00 a.m.
NORTH JACKSON
About 40 demonstrators from Frackfree Mahoning Valley blockaded access to a horizontal fracturing well under construction in Jackson Township on Sunday.
The well is operated by Consol Energy, and the group says it is located within the environmentally protected area that surrounds the Meander Reservoir, which provides more than 200,000 people in the Mahoning Valley with drinking water.
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a process in which sand, water and chemicals are pumped into shale at high pressure to release natural gas and oil trapped within the rock thousands of feet underground.
The protesters blockaded access to the well pad for almost five hours, starting at 10:45 a.m., after which the blockade was ended, according to Sam Rubin, a member of the anti-fracking group.
The blockade took place without arrests or confrontation with workers or police, Rubin said.
Protesters were supported by people from across Ohio, who chanted, sang songs and listened to addresses by the Rev. Monica Baisley-Martin and Atty. Staughton Lind.
The action was organized under the banner of Frackfree Mahoning and Frackfree America.
According to 21 WFMJ-TV, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner, Consol Energy says safety, compliance and continuous improvement drive its operations. The company says it takes its operational footprint very seriously and has worked closely with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Agency to obtain all necessary permits. That includes a floodplain permit to operate at the site.
Frackfree Mahoning Valley contends that fracking contaminates ground and surface water. They say that no matter the safety record of a company, wells fail, and over time, all wells break, becoming sources for water contamination.
Group members say the main objective is to see to the safety of families in the area.
This action comes just days before the Youngstown City Council is set to decide whether to sell mineral rights on city lands. The city may consider selling its mineral rights to raise more money for demolition and neighborhood improvement projects.
"40 demonstrators block access to fracking well in North Jackson"
Published: Sun, October 14, 2012 @ 5:18 p.m.
NORTH JACKSON
About 40 demonstrators from Frackfree Mahoning Valley blockaded access to a horizontal fracturing well under construction in Jackson Township today.
The well is operated by Consol Energy, and the group says it is located within the environmentally protected area that surrounds the Meander Reservoir, which provides more than 200,000 people in the Mahoning Valley with drinking water.
The protesters blockaded access to the well pad for almost five hours, starting at 10:45 am, after which the blockade was ended, according to Sam Rubin, a member of the anti-fracking group.
The blockade took place without arrests or confrontation with workers or police, Rubin said.
Protesters were supported by people from across Ohio, who chanted, sang songs, and listened to addresses by Rev. Monica Baisley-Martin, and Attorney Staughton Lind.
The action was organized under the banner of Frackfree Mahoning and Frackfree America.
My comment:
Drilling one hole for oil and gas on leased property using composite concrete for encasement without injecting brine and other hazardous substances and fracturing the shale and extracting the oil and gas TO BE USED IN THE USA- YES.
Horizontally drilling many holes invading other people's property (including State-owned property such as Meander Reservoir and Beaver Creek State Park) and injecting brine and other hazardous substances causing pollution of groundwater (that will pollute Meander Reservoir, Beaver Creek and the Mahoning River) and then fracturing the shale and extracting the oil and gas TO BE USED IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES OTHER THAN THE USA- NO!!!
(And why are "landowners" not allowed to extract oil and gas on their own property for their own use or for starting their own business selling oil and gas to their community?- maybe because so-called "landowners" really don't own the land to begin with?)
"Don't be fooled"
It's all about THEIR $$$MONEY$$$ that they use to their advantage to control us.
Please do not use this picture for any kind of media for any objectives without my expressed permission.
Objective Non Narrative Issue #8.
No longer on hiatus!
5.25 x 7.875 in
Edition of 100
24 pages black and white
photo curtesy of silvanie
Melrose, Bronx, New York City, New York, United States
No. 614 Courtlandt Avenue , an early multi-use building in the Bronx, was built in 1871-72 for Julius Ruppert and contained a saloon, public rooms, meeting rooms, and a residential flat. Most likely the work of a builder-contractor, the imposing building displays a variety of early to late Second Empire style motifs successfully combined to reconcile the several uses contained within the building with their exterior expression. Hewlett S. Baker's renovation in 1882 only further enriched the facade.
The building is a monument to the first stage of urbanization within what had been the previously rural south Bronx, helping by its presence to establish a sense of place in the new village of Melrose South. No. 614 also has many of the stylistic features which characterized the buildings along the Bowery between Canal and Houston Streets in the area known as "Kleine Deutschland," where Julius Ruppert first established his business before following his fellow Germans to the Bronx. With its varied uses, the building sheltered a variety of German ethnic activities.
Melrose South and its Early Settlers
The majority of the mid-19th century settlers in New York City's future 23rd Ward (1874), the southwest Bronx, arrived from Manhattan's Lower East Side, eager to leave their noisy and dark, cramped and airless tenements. One of their earliest objectives was the sparsely populated freehold manor, seat of the Morris family who had been prominent in colonial government and the affairs of the early republic, which only recently had been opened for development. Though not a model for subsequent expansion, "New Village," the first subdivision, carries with it some of the method and some of the ingredients of those that followed. In 1848 an association 222 members strong, for the most part German and some Irishmen, mechanics and laboring men, met at the Military Hall at 193 Bowery. Represented by their agents, Jordan Mott, Nicholas McGraw and Charles W. Houghton, they had purchased 200 acres from Gouvemeur Morris, _ Jr.
Lots were drawn and assigned with but one proviso: each owner was to erect a house of no less than $300.00 value within three years, and Morris executed a deed to each new owner. In 1850 New Village became Morrisania, when Mott's early development along the Harlem River, (which had been Morrisania) became Mott Haven.
New Village's success inspired Morris to develop his property further. With Robert Elton and Hampton Denman he had Andrew Findlay, a surveyor, lay out several more communities, Woodstock, Melrose and Melrose East and South, in 1850. Melrose South was incorporated as a village a year later, and in 1864 Morrisania was incorportated as a township, embracing these and ten other villages.
At the time of its incorporation as a village, the boundaries of Melrose South were East 160th Street and the Village of Melrose to the north and East 148th Street and Mott Haven to the south. Its eastern boundary was the Old Boston Post Road (Third Avenue) and its western boundary the railroad. But before the Civil War the area was principally farmland. In 1856 the number of dwellings totalled 173; twelve years later there were 488. Like the citizens of New Village, the preponderance of Melrose South's first residents were German, seeking a healthier alternative to life on the Lower East Side.
Courtlandt Avenue, running north and south along a ridge, was the main shopping street, lined by beer halls and the scene of parades by German bands. Intersecting it, from south to north, were Mott, Benson, Denman,Gouverneur, Wilton, Schuyler, Springfield, Mary and Melrose streets.
The Protection Hall, whose members sponsored marching bands and drill teams, had its headquarters — incorporating a beer garden, bowling alley and dance hall — on the west side of Courtlandt between Springfield (154th) and Mary (155th) Streets. Melrose South had its own brewery, J. & M. Haffen's on Elton (152nd) between Courtlandt and Melrose. The Arion Liedertafel Hall was on the west side of Courtlandt between Benson and Gouverneur and so was the Melrose Turn v ere in. There were many beer gardens too. Indeed, Melrose South was compared with the area around Manhattan's Tompkins Square — "Kleine Deutschland," and Courtlandt was called "Dutch Broadway."
For example, in 1871 at the intersection of Courtlandt and Gouverneur (151st Street) — Ruppert's building would occupy the northeast corner — Jacob Sauter, a butcher, lived on the east side of Courtlandt north of Gouverneur; William Langrebe, a tailor, occupied the northwest corner of Courtlandt and Gouverneur; August Schulte had a grocery store on the southeast corner of the intersection. Andrew Schrenk, also listed on the southeast corner, may have lived upstairs. A rooming house occupied the southwest corner, among whose tenants there was an actor and an Irish laundress. August Frenke, a blacksmith in working in Manhattan, dwelled in the first house on the north side of Gouverneur, east of Courtlandt; John Giesner, the cabinet maker, lived next door to him in the second house east of Courtlandt.^ Only the northeast corner was vacant.
The history of the northeast corner of Courtlandt and Gouverneur (151st) is a reflection of Melrose South's early development in microcosm. The butcher Jacob Sauter, mentioned above, engaged in speculative real-estate as well. Immediately following the Civil War (1865) he purchased three lots at the intersection of Courtlandt and Gouverneur from Philip Schuler: lot 300 on the north side of Gouverneur; lot 301 on the corner; and lot 302 on the west side of Courtlandt. Sauter sold lot 300 to Henry - Penning, Sr., in April 1867 and two months later lot 301 to Philip Brecher. Sauter had retained the northern seven feet of lot 301 along Courtlandt.
By 1870 Brecher had divided the remaining fifty foot frontage along Courtlandt, creating two lots, each twenty-five by one hundred feet. A year later Brecher sold the new corner lot to Julius Ruppert, and immediately, Ruppert set about to build his handsome four-story brick building.
The First Owner
The presence of Julius Ruppert (d.1877) is first recorded on the Lower East Side. His initial place of business - a billiard hall in 1859 - was at No. 50 Bowery. In 1863 he moved to No. 5 Avenue A, at the northwest corner of 1st Street, where he maintained a saloon until his death. Beer, most likely the new German lager, was the specialty of the house, except for a short period (1865-67) immediately after the Civil War when he ran a hotel on the premises also. The beer gardens along the Bowery, many of them large buildings decorated within to imitate gardens, could accommodate hundreds of guests. Music was often provided and whole families came to be entertained. Ruppert's establishment at A and 1st was in a four-story building (Plate 2), still standing, with taller second story windows which suggest this floor contained public rooms. His was but one of the beer halls contributing to Avenue A's erstwhile Gemutlichkeit.
No doubt, Ruppert was aware of his countrymen's migration to the Bronx and was motivated to follow his former customers and to offer them the same hospitality in their new neighborhood along "Dutch Broadway" as that they had enjoyed in "Kleine Deutschland." The second story of his building at 614 Courtlandt (Plate 1), with second story windows even taller than those at Avenue A and 1st Street, contained public rooms, most likely designed to house the convocations of fraternal, patriotic or cultural societies. This use is suggested by the proximity of the ground floor saloon. The third story contained meeting rooms while a one-family flat occupied the fourth story.
Ruppert himself never moved his residence from Manhattan, but his widow Catharine (d.1926) did. One year before her husband's death, she took title to the building. And though Catharine Ruppert attempted to sell the building in December of that year — evidently an unsatisfactory arrangement -— she was residing there in 1880, and it remained her address until 1894. It was Catharine Ruppert who commissioned Hewlett S. Baker, architect, to renovate the building in 1882, ^ dividing the second and third stories into two residential flats each. Baker lowered the second story ceiling and, as a consequence, the height of the distinctive windows; he also lowered the Gouverneur Street entrance.
Until her heirs sold No. 614 in 1927, Catharine Ruppert leased the ground story, and often some dwelling space abov^,' to tavern keepers, with but one exception. Her first tenant in 1889-1894, was a butcher, Mortimer C. Langrebe, perhaps a kinsman of William Langrebe, the tailor across Courtlandt Avenue.
The Building and Its Design
Julius Ruppert's multi-use, three-story building with its mansard fourth story is an imposing structure. Aside from the tall mansard, "Ruppert's building has other remarkable features. Among these are the tall, second story windows already mentioned, as well as the raised decorative ornament on the roof dormers. But most remarkable of all is the manipulation of stylistic forms to translate the varied aspects of the building's several functions into architecture.
No. 614 Courtlandt represents a combination of successive historical styles, styles characteristic of the third quarter of the 19th century. The cast-iron segmental window heads and their foliate corbels are characteristic of the late Italianate mode. The steeply pitched mansard roof is typically of the Second Empire Style. The heavy, bracketed and modillioned, galvanized metal cornice is neo-Grec. The second story window tympana with their fan motifs suggest Queen Anne ornament. The decorative reveals in the brick chimneys can be seen in both neo-Grec and Queen Anne prototypes.
One explanation for this apparent multiplicity has already been touched upon; Hewlett Baker's interior renovation for Catharine Ruppert in 1882, had a definite impact on the exterior of the building her husband had built eleven years before. But despite the presence of these variegated stylistic elements, building records and stylistic analysis indicate there were but two building campaigns.
Julius Ruppert's building can be considered as generally Second Empire in style, a revival of French .Renaissance forms associated with Napoleon Ill's ambitious program for reconstructing offical Paris. The style was accepted in the major cities of Europe as well as in post-Civil War New York. There is a German quality about its use here — the crisp and practical manipulation of architectural elements rather than the grand and symmetrical interpretation more typical of the French. The mansard roof is, of course, de rigeur.
The imbricated slates and oval dormers, the rounded edges of the roof's metal framing and this framing's convex corners, the rosettes and the roof's iron cresting are all stock Second Empire stylistic components. Segmental-arched windows and doors are also characteristic of this style. The late Italianate window hoods (Plate 4) are not inappropriate here; many Second Empire style buildings retain Italianate features. These windows (all but the three ground story windows on Gouverneur which have straight iron lintels) with their corbelled iron sills compare favorably with those of a contemporary firehouse in Morrisania, the Lady Washington Engine Company No. 1 (1872), but now destroyed (plate 5). Even the fourth story dormers echo the segmental curve of the windows below.
Neither the modillions of the cornice entablature nor the circular panels of the architrave below them are foreign to the Second Empire style, but the paired brackets although somewhat neo-Grec in character are an integral part of the cornice design itself; and their placement plays a small but sensitive part in resolving the facades conflicting symmetry. These brackets are articulated as projecting triglyphs. As such they are not inappropriate; the Second Empire style made frequent and explicit use of the classical orders. Finally, the symmetrical aspect of the Courtlandt Avenue facade, albeit clumsy, fits the Second Empire canon.
Who might have designed Julius Ruppert's building? Most likely, it was a builder-contractor, perhaps not even a Bronx man, but someone Ruppert knew in "Kleine Deutschland." He appears to have been familiar with Ruppert's establishment on the Lower East Side. Like No. 5 Avenue A , No. 614 -. ^has four stories, the entrance to the upper floors is located on the side street to the rear of the building and the second story ceilings and windows are taller than those in the two stories above. On one hand, the combination of early and late Second Empire stylistic features, the manipulated symmetry, and the slight chronological stylistic disparity between the mansard, the cornice, and the window heads, speaks of a builder dependent upon ready-made, pre-cast elements.
On the other hand, there is no doubt that No. 614 Courtlandt's builder was familiar with the rudiments of proportion and possessed a knowledge of styles. Our builder, rather than mimicking the exact synnnetry of French prototypes, produced a Second Empire facade of imposing practicality. He integrated the various parts with a pleasing and confident authority.
The most conspicuous of the exterior changes caused by Baker's 1882 interior renovation are the terra-cotta, second story window tympana (Plate 4), introduced when Mrs. Ruppert had the second story adapted to residential use. The decorative terra-cotta panel above the building's 151st St. entrance (Plate 6) is Baker's also (now a metallic silver color, it matched the tympana before it was painted). He introduced this design, a two-handled, classical lamp within a wreath and an ornamental frame in low relief, when he lowered the height of the original doorway. The fire escapes with their decorative iron balustrades were attached to the building at this time.
In 1911 Mrs. Ruppert was required to broaden a fire escape on the 151st Street side and add another to the Courtlandt Avenue facade, both on the second story. In 1933 the firm of De Rose & Cavalieri was retained by a new owner, Leandro Casario, real-estate and insurance broker at 566 Courtlandt Avenue, to renovate within once more. New bathrooms required new windows in the building's eastern (rear) wall at the second and third stories. At this time the original 151st Street stoop was removed.
There appears always to have been some kind of structure in the rear yard. It was a frame shed in 1882, but by 1933 it had become a wooden frame, two-car garage. The present brick-faced, one-story, three-car garage was built at that time. This structure which faces 151st Street is on the Landmark site but is not being identified as a protected feature.
Description
The building is located at the northeast corner of Courtlandt Avenue and 151st Street with the main facade on Courtlandt and the secondary, although longer, facade on 151st Street. Four stories high, it is of red brick.
The ground floor was planned as a commercial space. On Courtlandt, shop windows would have originally flanked a central entrance. Recently the modern roll down security gates have been painted sky blue. The current shopfront is a later addition, but remnants of the original — one iron pilaster supporting an iron cornice which extends across the front and around the corner for one bay — survives. At the base of the iron pilaster, at the northern edge of the building, is stamped the name of the foundry, "J. Alexander, Greenpoint"(Plate 7). On 151st Street are three ground floor window openings, now covered with grilles, with projecting iron lintels and projecting iron sills supported on pendant corbels. The entrance to the upper floors is at the eastern end, up a low stoop. A decorative terra-cotta panel with lamp motif is placed above the door. An iron door hood is aligned with the lintels of the ground floor windows.
At the second floor on the Courtlandt Avenue facade are three tall window openings with segmental, projecting cast-iron hoods on foliate corbels and stone sills. Segmental-arched tympana, bearing fan motifs, are set within the window heads. Until recently the sash had been wood four-over-four; now they are aluminum one-over one. Originally the alignment of these windows would have corresponded with the ground floor openings, unlike the 151st Street elevation where the second story windows are still aligned with the ground floor openings. Here the window openings resemble those on Courtlandt Avenue except for the projecting iron sills with pendant corbels.
At the third story on both elevations, the segmental-arched window openings are not similarly aligned, reflecting the different use of this story; there are four openings on Courtlandt and six on 151st Street. The cast-iron window hoods and corbelled sills are like those seen below. Until very recently the northernmost window on the Courtlandt facade retained its original wood four-over-four sash. Now all the windows in the building have been given aluminum one-over-one sash.
A massive, bracketed and modillioned cornice of metal with paneled architrave surmounts the third story. The fourth story mansard is covered with imbricated slate and punctuated by metal-framed dormers which correspond to the alignment of the third story windows. On Courtlandt oval dormers flank a broad segmental-arched dormer with paired segmental-arched windows with two-over-two sash. The pediment of this dormer contains a central escutcheon secured with a riband and flanked by rinceaux. It is set, in turn, within a central mansard — a reassertion of the central ity of the lower floors — which bears a cavetto cornice.
Applied to the metal surface is a raised eagle, wings outspread. Apparently this eagle is not associated with the decorative escutcheon and riband program just below. Though somewhat bloated in appearance, no doubt due to a lack of exactness in execution, this eagle may be a reflection of the enthusiasm for the impending national centennial.^ The four segmental-arched dormers on 151st Street bear simple riband bows. Two tall, panelled brick chimneys flank these dormers. Recently, these chimneys have been parged and the mansard painted white.
Decorative iron fire escape balconies may be seen at the third story on Courtlandt Avenue and the second, third, and fifth stories on 151st Street.
The Dollar Savings Bank was founded in 1887 by John Haffen of the prominent Haffen family, which controlled much of the Bronx in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It was the first thrift institution to be organized in the Bronx, preceding its competitors by sixteen years.
Structured as a mutual savings bank, it was managed for the benefits of the depositors, which assured that most savings would not leave the Bronx. The bank’s early leaders moved quickly to organize development in the Bronx and used the savings deposits to fund improvements in the borough. As the number of accounts increased, the bank’s location in the Haffen building at 2808 Third Avenue was unable to accommodate its rapid growth, and the bank sought new and more spacious quarters.
Designed by the renowned firm of Renwick, Aspinwall & Tucker in 1919, the Classical Revival Style, and the free standing bank building illustrate the style adopted by savings institutions during the last decades of the 19th and the first decades of the 20th century. The banks design has the visual continuity of classical architecture linked with civic pride that is symbolic of the bank’s wealth and stability that typifies the characteristics of the Classical Revival bank building style.
The impressive building is clad entirely in limestone, and sits on a trapezoidal corner lot with facades facing three streets; the window fenestration is distinct on each façade. The canted main entrance with central bracketed pediment, roundarched window, flanking paired Ionic pilasters, with laurel leafs all evoke the traditional classical deign.
The building is crowned by a stone frieze engraved with DOLLAR SAVINGS BANK. This distinctive bank building is a significant reminder of the Classical Revival style banks built in New York City at this time.
By the late 1940s, Dollar had become the sixth largest savings bank in the country. This building, the former Dollar Savings Bank at 2792 Third Avenue, served as the bank’s headquarters from the time it was constructed until c. 1950, when the offices were moved to the Fordham branch at 2516 to 2530 Grand Concourse (a designated New York City Landmark). It is now the Bronx Temple of Seventh Day Adventist Church.
By the turn of the century, the commercial heart of Melrose—with numerous theaters, shops, and banks—was centered around the intersection of East 149th Street, Melrose, Willis and Third Avenues, known as the Hub. It is the oldest major shopping district in the Bronx, with inhabitants throughout the borough patronizing its department stores, boutiques, movie palaces and vaudeville theaters. The intersection of 149th Street and Third Avenue became to known as the “42nd Street and Broadway” of the Bronx. As predicted, by 1911 the intersection was “the great business center of the north borough.” Melrose continued to prosper well into the twentieth century.
The Classical Revival style-building is clad entirely in limestone. The building sits on a trapezoidal corner lot with facades facing three streets; the window fenestration is distinct on each façade. At the base of the Third Avenue façade below each pair of pilasters is a narrow vertically oriented rectangular window with wrought-iron security grilles. This feature is repeated on the base of Willis Avenue façade. Below each window on the same façade is a horizontally oriented narrow window with wrought-iron security grilles, which graduates in size.
On the corner of Third Avenue is the canted main entrance with central bracketed, pedimented entrance, which features a round-arched window with keystone above, flanked by Ionic pilasters. Left of the central entrance are two sets of paired round-arched windows separated by paired Ionic pilasters, a design element that is repeated at the corner of each façade.
On the 147th Street façade are a series of five large round-arched windows with keystones and separated by molded stone discs, flanked at the corners by one-over-one windows with transom, followed by a molded stone decorative panel featuring an eagle and laurel wreath, with a small casement window above nestled between paired Ionic pilasters. This window fenestration is repeated on the Willis Avenue façade. Willis Avenue also features a bracketed pedimented entrance, with a round-arched window and keystone above flanked by Ionic pilasters, and three, one-over-one windows with transoms, followed by a molded stone decorative panel featuring an eagle and laurel wreath, with a small casement window above.
On all three facades the architrave is decorated with paired laurel leafs above each pilaster, crowned by a stone frieze engraved with DOLLAR SAVINGS BANK, followed by a acanthus leaf band and then, a denticulated cornice; the Willis Avenue façade is topped by an angular stone pediment. The northern façade is constructed of brick, it contains two window openings that are partially obscured. The second story is a later addition to the building, and is also constructed of limestone. There are two small one-over-one windows on the Third Avenue façade, five on the 147th Street façade, and two on the Willis Avenue façade. The addition is topped by a metal roof.
From the 1987 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report:
Officials with the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s (APHIS) operations at the Sarasota Sterile Insect Rearing Facility, host a ribbon-cutting ceremony, April 17, 2019, in Sarasota, Fla.
Plant Protection and Quarantine releases sterile adult Medflies over the highest-risk urban areas of the state (approximately 633 square miles) in Hillsborough, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward Counties. The target release rate is 125,000 flies/square mile/week. One-hundred million irradiated pupae are received weekly from Guatemala, eclosed at the Sterile Insect Release Facility (SIRF), and released by airplane from an altitude of 1600-2000 feet. These pupae are temperature-sensitive lethal (tsl) strain, rendering the flies released 99.8% male.
New Sterile Insect Release Facility in Sarasota, FL: This facility supports the Medfly Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) Preventive Release Program (PRP), and is the work unit for 24 personnel. The Sarasota PRP was initiated in 2002 in an old ice cream factory, but due to the need to replace the existing aging SIRF, solicitations for a new facility (~30,000 square feet) began in spring 2015 and a lease was awarded in fall 2015 for a new facility located north of the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport. Ground-breaking for this facility took place in November 2016 and USDA accepted the building on July 23, 2018. This is the first time a facility like this has been built in the continental U.S. The objective is to facilitate and improve efficiency and effectiveness of the program for years to come.
USDA Photo by Preston Keres
A paratrooper assigned to Company A, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade, trains on urban operations, including room and building clearing May 21, at Vaziani Training Area, Georgia, during Exercise Noble Partner. Noble Partner 16 is happening May 11 to 26 and includes approximately 1300 participants from the U.S., Georgia and the U.K. The exercise is a reoccurring training event that takes place at Vaziani Training Area, Georgia. Noble Partner 16 is a critical part of Georgia's training for its contribution of a light infantry company to the NATO Response Force (NRF) and enhances Georgian territorial self-defense capability. (Photo by Sgt. Daniel Cole, U.S. Army Europe Public Affairs)
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The Inglewood and Glendale based troops from the California Army National Guard's 1-160th Infantry, HHC and B Co. units, conduct a dry-run of their assault on their Operation Red Snow objective Feb. 15, 2012, while still in the safety of the U.S. Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center. The troops acclimated over six days planning, adjusting, testing and learning before getting the final word to suit up at 8 p.m. They would be transported into the wilderness and dropped off in a starry night with temps dipping into the teens. Teams would ascend 1000 feet over snow fields, crossing streams, climbing ravines, all while staying perfectly quiet and using no light except the moon and their night vision devices. They would converge on the terrorist camp at 2 a.m. with frozen water bladders and eager for action. Here, Sgt. Leif Thomas Devemark and Spc. Mark Anthony Matthews, the sniper team, walk their route and position themselves far away from the assault squads as overwatch. (Army National Guard photo/Master Sgt. Paul Wade)
About the Quinault and the canoe:
Emmett Oliver watched from his daughter’s truck as his 14-year-old grandson Owen arrived Aug. 1 at Point Grenville in the Chinook Nation’s canoe as part of the 2013 Canoe Journey/Paddle to Quinault, Washington.
It was a perfect storm of irony and symbolism. Twenty-four years ago, Oliver, a noted Quinault educator and retired Coast Guard officer, proposed the Paddle to Seattle as part of Washington state’s centennial celebration. Tall ships, formerly instruments of empires bent on dominating indigenous cultures, were going to be there; Oliver wanted to ensure the state’s First Peoples had a presence, too.
That event gave birth in 1993 to the annual Canoe Journey. This year’s theme was “Honoring Our Warriors,” a tribute to Indian country’s military veterans. And on this day, Oliver – at 99 the Quinault Nation’s oldest living veteran – watched from his home shores as his grandson’s canoe arrived, having been escorted from Neah Bay by the state’s official tall ship.
Oliver’s daughter, Marylin Bard, described the moment as “powerful.” But she said it symbolized much more: The tall ships were invited by Quinault President Fawn Sharp so they could practice protocols of friendship that had been neglected in the past by European sailors – and to convey a message that Native and non-Native peoples can collaborate and work together on common issues.
The moment seemed to set the tone for the 2013 Canoe Journey: Healing, honoring, encouragement and love.
Pullers and skippers in 89 canoes endured rough seas and fog in the month of travel en route to Quinault, but the prayers and medicine were stronger. One canoe tipped between Port Townsend and Jamestown S’Klallam on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and at least six tipped during the landing at Queets. The bow of a Suquamish canoe was broken after it tipped. And yet all pullers arrived safely at Quinault.
“There were some days maybe we shouldn’t have been out there, but we did our best because we really believe in this Journey,” Suquamish Chairman Leonard Forsman said. “The ocean humbled us, but we made it through. We’re still here.”
In the protocol tent, canoe families shared stories of deliverance and sang songs of blessing, healing and honoring – a recognition that, as Jamestown S’Klallam artist Elaine Grinnell once said, in life and in the canoe “It’s the team that gets you where you need to go.”
“Songs have the power to reach out and heal,” said Antone George, Lummi. “This is what Tribal Journeys is all about.”
The tall ships Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain escorted canoes down the Pacific Coast of Washington state during the 2013 Canoe Journey/Paddle to Quinault. The escort was provided to commemorate the 225th anniversary of first contact between the new United States of America and the Quinault Nation. Quinault President Fawn Sharp called the tall ships’ involvement an opportunity to help make some amends for some past transgressions” and “convey[s] a message that tribal and nontribal communities choose to look forward to and work together on a collaborative basis toward common objectives.”
George asked for prayers for those on the “journey to wellness.” He encouraged people to never give up on loved ones working to recover from addiction, “because sometimes the hardest thing [for them] is to give up something like that.”
This six-day celebration of the strength of Northwest indigenous cultures included the honoring of culture bearers – including Musgamagw Tsawataineuk Chief Frank Nelson, who had recently been hospitalized for an illness. The honoring of Nelson was powerful, and included gifting and singing and dancing to songs for which he is known.
There were stories of cultural renewal as well. A Palouse woman told of pulling in the Journey – starting on the Snake River in eastern Washington and continuing on to the Columbia River and the Pacific. It was the first time the Palouse had canoed on the Snake River since her grandfather’s time.
A group of Skokomish people hiked an ancestral trail over the Olympic Mountains to Quinault, the first time in about 100 years that Skokomish people had walked the ancient trade route.
And on Point Grenville, which the Spanish and British visited in the late 1700s and the U.S. used as a Coast Guard station from the 1930s through the 1980s, Quinault installed the first of three story poles by Quinault artist James DeLaCruz Jr. The poles will symbolize Quinault restoration, sovereignty and spirituality. The first pole was dedicated in honor of Oliver.
Quinault hosted an estimated 10,000 people, Quinault spokesman Steve Robinson said. Indigenous nations from British Columbia, Washington and Oregon – as well as Maori, Native Hawaiians and the Shinnecock Nation of Long Island – participated and shared their cultures.
Quinault provided oceanfront and forested campsites, firewood, medical and healing tents, laundry and showers, breakfasts and dinners. The menu included elk, crab and salmon.
This is the second time Quinault hosted the Canoe Journey; it last hosted a journey in 2002, when 38 canoes participated. This was the 21st annual Canoe Journey since 1993; there was a four-year gap between the Paddle to Seattle and the first annual Journey in 1993. There were two Journey routes in 2000.
indiancountrymedianetwork.com/culture/sports/pullers-brav...
Photos by CPL Chris Moore.
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Abramss M1A1 Tanks lead M113AS4 Armoured Personnel Carriers towards their objective during rehearsals for Exercise Chong Ju..
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Mid Caption:.
The roar of the venerable RAAF F-111 was heard in the Goulburn valley for one of the last times this week (12-13 May 10). .
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Two of the Amberley- based aircraft supported the Army’s firepower and manoeuvre demonstration at Puckapunyal Military Area, called EXERCISE CHONG JU..
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EX CHONG JU is named after a series of offensive actions by the 3rd Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR) on 29 October 1950 against North Koreans, during which infantry company advances were supported by US Army tanks and artillery..
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Artillery from 53 Independent Battery fired 105mm rounds in support of the biannual exercise. The battery usually supports courses run by the School of Artillery. .
53 Independent Battery was the only Australian battery to bring its guns to bear against the Japanese during the Battle of Kokoda in 1942..
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Besides the effect of artillery and aircraft, EX CHONG JU demonstrated M1A1 Abrams tanks, M113AS4 armoured personnel carriers (APCs), ASLAV and the Javelin Medium Defensive Fire Support Weapon. All of these weapon systems are available to an Australian combat team when it employs synchronised arms effects..
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From a dense treeline, tanks and armoured personnel carriers (APCs) advanced to their target, called Objective Spike..
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The M113AS4 is an updated APC, and features improved armour and cross country capability that allows it to keep up with the M1A1 Tank..
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The assaulting force made short work of is objective, and clearly demonstrated the potency of the modern Australian combat team..
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EX CHONG JU is a training activity for the Combat Officer Advanced Course, which trains combat arms officers on combined arms tactics.
A bottle of Northern Light, one of the Orkney Brewery's finest ales, and a horn mug to drink it from. The perfect way to end a project. Northern Light is a pale, citrusy beer with a zing of hops that's great as a session ale or just for relaxing.
The coffee in the background (both Douwe Egberts Gold and Rocket Fuel) saw me through the run-up to this moment. As did the drip-coffee maker.
The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise and
The Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion
The Awards consist of a business Award (The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise) with three separate categories: International Trade, Innovation, and Sustainable Development; and an Award for individuals: The Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion. The objective of the scheme is to encourage and reward outstanding achievement by UK based companies and individuals.
A total of 209 business Awards have been announced this year from a total of 862 entrants:
International Trade (423 entrants, 151 winners)
Innovation: (311 entrants, 50 winners)
Sustainable Development (128 entrants, 8 winners)
Eleven individuals have received The Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion for their inspiring efforts to encourage UK entrepreneurship.
There was an increase in the number of applications received this year over last year, and the business success rate was the highest we have ever seen at just over 24%, reflecting the increased quality of entries in the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year.
The winning companies cover a vast range of business sectors including design, building and construction, transport, electronics and technology, manufacturing and engineering, finance, medical and pharmaceuticals, food and drink, oil and gas, metals, plastics and packaging, safety equipment, printing, recycling and more.
Winners of The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise enjoy widespread respect from their peers, a company visit by a Royal representative to present a crystal bowl and a grant of appointment, and a special reception at Buckingham Palace in November. They may use The Queen’s Award Emblem for five years as a symbol of their quality and success.
Winners each year are announced on the Queen’s birthday, 21 April.
In a survey of business winners in 2011:
76% reported the win had brought added commercial value to their business
73% reported a boost to staff engagement
61% felt that applying for a Queen's Award was a useful process to benchmark the progress of their business
55% reported the win had delivered new business opportunities
49% of winners achieved increased recognition overseas
PHOTO: Michael David BIS Digital © 2012
Shakhrisabz is Timur's hometown, and once upon a time it probably put Samarkand itself in the shade.
Ak Saray, Shakhrisabz
Shahrisabz is, above all, associated with the Ak-Saray palace. Many amazing legends are linked with the history of the palace's construction. According to one of them, Timur began to think of building a magnificent edifice, summoned an architect and set out his objective. After listening to the ruler, the architect asked to be allowed into the state exchequer. When permission was granted, the craftsman started to make foundation blocks from clay mixed with gold in full view of Timur. Seeing that the ruler remained impassive, he broke up the blocks and returned the gold to the exchequer. When Timur asked: "Why did you do that?" the architect replied: "So as to make sure of your determination to embark on constructing a building that requires vast expenditure." A second legend recounts that, after the main building work had been completed, Timur began to tell the craftsmen to hurry up and finish the decorative facing of the palace. But they were in no hurry to cover the building with majolica and mosaic. When the angry ruler ordered the chief architect to be brought before him, it emerged that had vanished after hanging a chain in the centre of the palace's main arch. Since no other craftsman of equal stature could be found, the building remained unfinished. Some time later, however, the architect suddenly appeared and, after making sure that the chain on the entrance arch was now considerably lower, embarked on decorating the building. When Timur demanded an explanation of his strange flight and sudden reappearance, the architect replied: "I dared not disobey my sovereign's command, but I could not carry it out either. Stern punishment awaited me in either case, since such a majestic building had to settle and bed down firmly in the ground, otherwise all the decoration on it would be destroyed." The great ruler appreciated the craftsman's wisdom and resourcefulness.
The palace building in Shahrisabz took over a quarter of a century to construct. The Spanish ambassador, Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo, who passed through Shahrisabz in 1404 on his way to the court of Timur in Samarkand, was astounded and charmed by the architectural miracle, and he left a detailed description of it, noting, however, that the splendid artistic decoration of the palace was still unfinished. The overall layout, scale and artistic appearance of Ak-Saray can be reconstituted from the descriptions of contemporaries and eyewitnesses, as well as from the results of archaeological excavation at the site. According to written accounts, the palace consisted of several
stately, living or service quarters, grouped around separate courtyards.The overall scale of the palace is impressive: the main courtyard alone, which has been reconstituted from the microrelief, was 120 - 125 m wide and 240 - 250 m long. The size of the other courtyards and of the outer perimeter of the palace has not been reconstructed owing to severe disturbance of the microrelief in the 15th - 16th centuries. Calculation of the proportions of the surviving elements of the site makes it fairly certain that the height of the main portal reached 70 m. It was topped by arched pinnacles (ko'ngra), while corner towers on a multifaceted pedestal were at least 80 m high. The main entrance portal was 50 m wide, and the arch had the largest span, 22.5 m, in Central Asia.
The architectural decor, featuring a wide variety of designs and colours, is particularly
noteworthy in the artistic appearance of Ak-Saray. When using various techniques,
however, the craftsmen bore in mind that the palace's main portal faced north, towards the capital, Samarkand. Given the poor light, the rchitects used only flat segmentation here and hence a continuous decorative treatment. The use of brick mosaic work, mainly dark and light blue in colour, forming large geometrical and epigraphic designs on a background of polished building brick, gives the portal a special softness of colour and an air of grand mystery.
The various mosaic and majolica work in the niche of the portal is particularly refined and highly coloured. The delicately executed foliate ornamentation incorporates exquisite calligraphic inscriptions of mainly Koranic content, although secular ones are found too. In the midst of the decorative facing, an inscription has survived, giving the date of completion, 798 (1395 - 1396), and the name of the craftsman, Muhammad Yusuf Tebrizi (from the Azeri city of Tabriz). According to Clavijo, who visited Ak-Saray, "in this palace was a very long entrance and a very high portal, and by the
entrance, to right and left, were brick arches covered with tiles painted with various designs. Beneath these arches was what looked like small rooms without doors, and the floor inside them was covered with tiles. This was done so that people could sit there when the king was present. Beyond this was another door and after that a large courtyard, paved with white slabs and surrounded by richly decorated galleries. In the middle of the courtyard was a large pool. The courtyard was some 300 paces wide, and it gave access to a large house, in which was a very high and wide door, decorated with gold, azure and tiles of very fine workmanship. In the middle, above the door, a lion was depicted, lying in the sun, and exactly the same picture was to be found at the edges. This was the device of the king of Samarkand. After this, the envoys were taken to look at the chamber that the king had appointed for sitting and feasting with his wives, very spacious and luxurious. Before it was a large garden with many shady and
assorted fruit trees. Inside it were many pools and artfully sited meadows. By the entrance to this garden there was such a vast space that many people could have enjoyed themselves sitting there in the summertime beside the water and beneath the shade of the trees. The workmanship in the palace is so luxurious that, in order to describe everything well, one has to go and examine it a little at a time."
The Ak-Saray palace is a grandiose piece of civil architecture, and not just by Central
Asian standards. Historical tradition ascribes the destruction of the majestic edifice to
Abdullakhan, who, during one of the sieges of unsubdued Shahrisabz, is supposed to have ordered the splendid structures of Timur and his descendants to be demolished. Be that as it may, of the once luxurious royal palace only the pillars and part of the arch of the main portal remained by the second half of the 18th century.
Friday 21 February 2014: Neltner Refuge (3207 m / 10 522 ft) - Tizi n'Ouanoums (3684 m / 12087 ft) - Neltner Refuge (3207 m / 10 522 ft) - Sidi Chammharouch (2350 m / 7710 ft) - Aremd / Aroumd (1920 m / 6300 ft) - Imlil (1740 m / 5708 ft) - Marrakech (مراكش)
A long day, but with an extra half hour in bed before the watch/phone alarms went off. This morning's objective was Tizi n'Ouanoums (3684 m / 12087 ft) from where, the trip notes promised, we would "look down the steep southerly face to the emerald green of the Lac D'Ifni below" - hmmmmm.
The first part of our route followed in yesterday's footsteps (literally at times) half way up the Assif n'Isouhouanem n'Ouagounss before turning due east and straight up a very steep snow slope. After a few hundred metres of side steeping ascent and a welcome breather under a bare rock buttress with magical views back down into and across the valley, a short zig zag along a scree lined path brought us out at the pass (~9.25am).
We could just about distinguish the waters of the western-most tip of the lake, but the view down was outshone by those out over mountain ridges beyond and Mt Toubkal (جبل توبقال) to the north.
Over photos of the views, album cover poses, push ups and collected Grivel yellow crampons Jagged Edges was born - and then (~10am) it was time to head back downhill to the Neltner Refuge, encountering an Eastern European couple en route who thought they were on the Toubkal path .... uh oh.
Back at the refuge by 11am, we had an early lunch (~11.20am!), then a final sort out of daypack, kitbag and layers before setting off around 12.30pm back down the valley, feeling slightly sad. Crampons on, crampons off, crampons on, crampons off.
Back at the shrine at Sidi Chammharouch (~2.50pm) as we enjoyed another glass of mint tea at the cafe Chammharouch (and used their loo to de-layer discretely) our kit was transferred from porters to donkeys which then ferried our bags plus crampons and ice axes back to Aremd. We continued our descent in the sunshine - a striking difference to the weather during our outbound walk in only a few days previously.
Having said farewell to Hussein-the-cook at Aremd (~4.20pm) we said a fond farewell to Hussein-the-guide at the top end of Imlil, rendezvousing with our minibus at the other side of town around 5pm.
A beautiful sunset over the High Atlas mountains, a stork, a flock of egrets, a Tachograph traffic fine and a count down to hot showers marked our journey back to Marrakech (مراكش), and we drew up outside the Hotel Les Trois Palmiers a little after 7pm.
Rendezvousing clean, fresh and fragrant an hour later we walked a few doors down Rue Loubane to Chez Joel at the Hotel Le Caspien where I feasted on pizza, frites and other non-Moroccan fayre washed down with beer (1 bottle of Casablanca, 1 large draught mug of Flag), serenaded by a Mark Knopfler sound-a-like.
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Introducing the new L47 Objective Squad Based Bullpup Rifle Series, from MKC. This is the Close Quarters Variant. Because the barrel of a bullpup rifle extends behind the trigger assembly, the rifles over all length is normally shorter than that of a rifle with the same barrel length. This means that what would normally be a full size rifle can be shortened to a CQBR by configuring it as a bullpup. The L47 is a perfect example of this. The 11" (inch) barrel it sports would normally extend 11 inches away from the trigger, plus magazine size. The tip of the L47 CQ's barrel is no more than five inches away from the trigger, without attachments. That's the same length as an MP5K.
Chambered in 4.6x36mm, this rifle fires in either full or semi-auto, or in a three round burst, and feeds from a 45 round magazine. The stock is rounded off underneath for shoulder mounting, and the lower rail includes a built in flashlight holder.
Soldiers from the 74th Motorized Battalion in the Slovenian Army maneuver through thick forestry en route to their objective as they conduct a deliberate attack exercise during the Immediate Response 2012 (IR12) training event held in Slunj, Croatia on Wednesday, May 30, 2012. IR12 is a multinational tactical field training exercise that will involve more than 700 personnel primarily from the U.S. Army Europe’s 2nd Calvary Regiment and Croatian armed forces, with contingents from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Slovenia. Macedonia and Serbia will send observers to the exercise. The exercise is a part of USEUCOM's joint training and exercise program designed to enhance joint and combined interoperability between the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, Croatian Armed Forces and partner nations, and will help prepare participants to operate successfully in a joint, multinational, interagency, integrated environment. (U.S. Army photo by SPC Lorenzo Ware/Released)
Senegalese Armed Forces soldiers attack an objective at a live fire range near Thies, Senegal, Feb. 11. The soldiers were part of a demonstration to land force commanders from across Africa as part of the African Land Forces Summit 15, held in Dakar, Senegal, Feb. 9-12. ALFS 15 brings together land force commanders from across Africa to solidify relationships, exchange information on current topics of mutual interest and concern, and seek cooperation in addressing common security concerns. (U.S. Army Africa photo by Pfc. Craig Philbrick)
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A French soldier of Airborne Combined Joint Entry Force tactically maneuvers to an objective after conducting airborne operations during Swift Response 16 training exercise at the Hohenfels Training Area, a part of the Joint Multinational Readiness Center, in Hohenfels, Germany, Jun. 15, 2016. Exercise Swift Response is one of the premier military crisis response training events for multi-national airborne forces in the world. The exercise is designed to enhance the readiness of the combat core of the U.S. Global Response Force – currently the 82nd Airborne Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team – to conduct rapid-response, joint-forcible entry and follow-on operations alongside Allied high-readiness forces in Europe. Swift Response 16 includes more than 5,000 Soldiers and Airmen from Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the United States and takes place in Poland and Germany, May 27-June 26, 2016. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Lloyd Villanueva/Released)
The fortifications of Famagusta are a series of defensive walls and other fortifications which surround the city of Famagusta in Northern Cyprus. The walls were built by the Lusignan Kingdom of Cyprus in the 14th century, and redesigned by Republic of Venice in 15th and 16th centuries before the siege of Ottoman Empire in 1571. The fortifications of Famagusta withstood an 11-month siege before the city capitulated to the Ottoman Empire in August 1571.
In the 13th century, Famagusta's harbour was defended by a tower, and it is possible that some form of fortification existed earlier. In the 14th century, the Lusignans built the Othello Castle to defend both the harbour and the town. Famagusta fell to the Genoese in 1373, and in 1489 it was taken over by the Republic of Venice along with the rest of Cyprus.
While Famagusta was under Venetian rule, the city was essentially a military base. The Othello Castle was modernized, and fortifications surrounding the entire city began to be built. The fortifications were designed by a number of military engineers, including Michele Sanmicheli and his nephew Giovanni Girolamo Sammichele. The latter arrived in Famagusta in around 1550, and he designed the Martinengo Bastion, which served as a prototype for various other fortifications in Europe and America. He died in Famagusta in 1559, while the fortifications were still under construction.
The Fourth Ottoman–Venetian War broke out in 1570, when an Ottoman force invaded Cyprus and took control of most of the island including Nicosia within a few months. On 15 September, Ottomans surrounded Famagusta, which was the last Venetian stronghold on the island, and began the Siege of Famagusta. The city held out until August 1571, when the Venetians asked for terms of surrender. Although terms were agreed and the inhabitants began to evacuate the city, at the surrender ceremony Lala Mustafa Pasha learned that some Muslim prisoners had been killed and he had the Venetian commander Marco Antonio Bragadin mutilated and flayed alive, and the remaining Christians in the city were massacred.
The Ottomans repaired the damaged parts of the walls, but did not make any major alterations. The city began to expand outside its walls in the late Ottoman period, and this increased after Cyprus fell under British rule.
Although many buildings within the old city of Famagusta is in a state of disrepair, the fortifications are still in relatively good condition.
The fortifications of Famagusta consist of an enceinte which is surrounded by a rock-hewn ditch on the landward side, and the harbour on the seaward side. Like the fortifications of Rhodes, which were built by the Knights Hospitaller between the 14th and 16th centuries, the walls of Famagusta show the transition between medieval fortification and the bastioned fortifications of the early modern period.
Famagusta is a city on the east coast of the de facto state Northern Cyprus. It is located east of Nicosia and possesses the deepest harbour of the island. During the Middle Ages (especially under the maritime republics of Genoa and Venice), Famagusta was the island's most important port city and a gateway to trade with the ports of the Levant, from where the Silk Road merchants carried their goods to Western Europe. The old walled city and parts of the modern city are de facto part of Northern Cyprus as the capital of the Gazimağusa District.
The city was known as Arsinoe or Arsinoë (Greek: Ἀρσινόη, Arsinóē) in antiquity, after Ptolemy II of Egypt's sister and wife Arsinoe II.
By the 3rd century, the city appears as Ammochostos (Greek: Ἀμμόχωστος or Αμμόχωστος, Ammókhōstos, "Hidden in Sand") in the Stadiasmus Maris Magni.[5] This name is still used in modern Greek with the pronunciation [aˈmːoxostos], while it developed into Latin Fama Augusta, French Famagouste, Italian Famagosta, and English Famagusta during the medieval period. Its informal modern Turkish name Mağusa (Turkish pronunciation: [maˈusa]) came from the same source. Since 1974, it has formally been known to Turkey and Northern Cyprus as Gazimağusa ([ɡaːzimaˈusa]), from the addition of the title gazi, meaning "veteran" or "one who has faught in a holy war".
In the early medieval period, the city was also known as New Justiniana (Greek: Νέα Ἰουστινιανία, Néa Ioustinianía) in appreciation for the patronage of the Byzantine emperor Justinian, whose wife Theodora was born there.
The old town of Famagusta has also been nicknamed "the City of 365 Churches" from the legend that, at its peak, it boasted a church for every day of the year.
The city was founded around 274 BC, after the serious damage to Salamis by an earthquake, by Ptolemy II Philadelphus and named "Arsinoe" after his sister.[6] Arsinoe was described as a "fishing town" by Strabo in his Geographica in the first century BC. In essence, Famagusta was the successor of the most famous and most important ancient city of Cyprus, Salamis. According to Greek mythology, Salamis was founded after the end of the Trojan War by Teucros, the son of Telamon and brother of Aedes, from the Greek island of Salamis.
The city experienced great prosperity much later, during the time of the Byzantine emperor Justinian. To honor the city, from which his wife Theodora came, Justinian enriched it with many buildings, while the inhabitants named it New Justiniania to express their gratitude. In AD 647, when the neighboring cities were destroyed by Arab raiding, the inhabitants of these cities moved to Famagusta, as a result of which the city's population increased significantly and the city experienced another boom.
Later, when Jerusalem was occupied by the Arabs, the Christian population fled to Famagusta, as a result of which the city became an important Christian center, but also one of the most important commercial centers in the eastern Mediterranean.
The turning point for Famagusta was 1192 with the onset of Lusignan rule. It was during this period that Famagusta developed as a fully-fledged town. It increased in importance to the Eastern Mediterranean due to its natural harbour and the walls that protected its inner town. Its population began to increase. This development accelerated in the 13th century as the town became a centre of commerce for both the East and West. An influx of Christian refugees fleeing the downfall of Acre (1291) in Palestine transformed it from a tiny village into one of the richest cities in Christendom.
In 1372 the port was seized by Genoa and in 1489 by Venice. This commercial activity turned Famagusta into a place where merchants and ship owners led lives of luxury. By the mid-14th century, Famagusta was said to have the richest citizens in the world. The belief that people's wealth could be measured by the churches they built inspired these merchants to have churches built in varying styles. These churches, which still exist, were the reason Famagusta came to be known as "the district of churches". The development of the town focused on the social lives of the wealthy people and was centred upon the Lusignan palace, the cathedral, the Square and the harbour.
In 1570–1571, Famagusta was the last stronghold in Venetian Cyprus to hold out against the Turks under Mustafa Pasha. It resisted a siege of thirteen months and a terrible bombardment, until at last the garrison surrendered. The Ottoman forces had lost 50,000 men, including Mustafa Pasha's son. Although the surrender terms had stipulated that the Venetian forces be allowed to return home, the Venetian commander, Marco Antonio Bragadin, was flayed alive, his lieutenant Tiepolo was hanged, and many other Christians were killed.
With the advent of the Ottoman rule, Latins lost their privileged status in Famagusta and were expelled from the city. Greek Cypriots natives were at first allowed to own and buy property in the city, but were banished from the walled city in 1573–74 and had to settle outside in the area that later developed into Varosha. Turkish families from Anatolia were resettled in the walled city but could not fill the buildings that previously hosted a population of 10,000. This caused a drastic decrease in the population of Famagusta. Merchants from Famagusta, who mostly consisted of Latins that had been expelled, resettled in Larnaca and as Larnaca flourished, Famagusta lost its importance as a trade centre. Over time, Varosha developed into a prosperous agricultural town thanks to its location away from the marshes, whilst the walled city remained dilapidated.
In the walled city, some buildings were repurposed to serve the interests of the Muslim population: the Cathedral of St. Nicholas was converted to a mosque (now known as Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosque), a bazaar was developed, public baths, fountains and a theological school were built to accommodate the inhabitants' needs. Dead end streets, an Ottoman urban characteristic, was imported to the city and a communal spirit developed in which a small number of two-storey houses inhabited by the small upper class co-existed with the widespread one-storey houses.
With the British takeover, Famagusta regained its significance as a port and an economic centre and its development was specifically targeted in British plans. As soon as the British took over the island, a Famagusta Development Act was passed that aimed at the reconstruction and redevelopment of the city's streets and dilapidated buildings as well as better hygiene. The port was developed and expanded between 1903 and 1906 and Cyprus Government Railway, with its terminus in Famagusta, started construction in 1904. Whilst Larnaca continued to be used as the main port of the island for some time, after Famagusta's use as a military base in World War I trade significantly shifted to Famagusta. The city outside the walls grew at an accelerated rate, with development being centred around Varosha. Varosha became the administrative centre as the British moved their headquarters and residences there and tourism grew significantly in the last years of the British rule. Pottery and production of citrus and potatoes also significantly grew in the city outside the walls, whilst agriculture within the walled city declined to non-existence.
New residential areas were built to accommodate the increasing population towards the end of the British rule,[11] and by 1960, Famagusta was a modern port city extending far beyond Varosha and the walled city.
The British period saw a significant demographic shift in the city. In 1881, Christians constituted 60% of the city's population while Muslims were at 40%. By 1960, the Turkish Cypriot population had dropped to 17.5% of the overall population, while the Greek Cypriot population had risen to 70%. The city was also the site for one of the British internment camps for nearly 50,000 Jewish survivors of the Holocaust trying to emigrate to Palestine.
From independence in 1960 to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus of 1974, Famagusta developed toward the south west of Varosha as a well-known entertainment and tourist centre. The contribution of Famagusta to the country's economic activity by 1974 far exceeded its proportional dimensions within the country. Whilst its population was only about 7% of the total of the country, Famagusta by 1974 accounted for over 10% of the total industrial employment and production of Cyprus, concentrating mainly on light industry compatible with its activity as a tourist resort and turning out high-quality products ranging from food, beverages and tobacco to clothing, footwear, plastics, light machinery and transport equipment. It contributed 19.3% of the business units and employed 21.3% of the total number of persons engaged in commerce on the island. It acted as the main tourist destination of Cyprus, hosting 31.5% of the hotels and 45% of Cyprus' total bed capacity. Varosha acted as the main touristic and business quarters.
In this period, the urbanisation of Famagusta slowed down and the development of the rural areas accelerated. Therefore, economic growth was shared between the city of Famagusta and the district, which had a balanced agricultural economy, with citrus, potatoes, tobacco and wheat as main products. Famagusta maintained good communications with this hinterland. The city's port remained the island's main seaport and in 1961, it was expanded to double its capacity in order to accommodate the growing volume of exports and imports. The port handled 42.7% of Cypriot exports, 48.6% of imports and 49% of passenger traffic.
There has not been an official census since 1960 but the population of the town in 1974 was estimated to be around 39,000 not counting about 12,000–15,000 persons commuting daily from the surrounding villages and suburbs to work in Famagusta. The number of people staying in the city would swell to about 90,000–100,000 during the peak summer tourist period, with the influx of tourists from numerous European countries, mainly Britain, France, Germany and the Scandinavian countries. The majority of the city population were Greek Cypriots (26,500), with 8,500 Turkish Cypriots and 4,000 people from other ethnic groups.
During the second phase of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus on 14 August 1974 the Mesaoria plain was overrun by Turkish tanks and Famagusta was bombed by Turkish aircraft. It took two days for the Turkish Army to occupy the city, prior to which Famagusta's entire Greek Cypriot population had fled into surrounding fields. As a result of Turkish airstrikes dozens of civilians died, including tourists.
Unlike other parts of the Turkish-controlled areas of Cyprus, the Varosha suburb of Famagusta was fenced off by the Turkish army immediately after being captured and remained fenced off until October 2020, when the TRNC reopened some streets to visitors. Some Greek Cypriots who had fled Varosha have been allowed to view the town and journalists have been allowed in.
UN Security Council resolution 550 (1984) considers any attempts to settle any part of Famagusta by people other than its inhabitants as inadmissible and calls for the transfer of this area to the administration of the UN. The UN's Security Council resolution 789 (1992) also urges that with a view to the implementation of resolution 550 (1984), the area at present under the control of the United Nations Peace-keeping Force in Cyprus be extended to include Varosha.
Famagusta's historic city centre is surrounded by the fortifications of Famagusta, which have a roughly rectangular shape, built mainly by the Venetians in the 15th and 16th centuries, though some sections of the walls have been dated earlier times, as far as 1211.
Some important landmarks and visitor attractions in the old city are:
The Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosque
The Othello Castle
Palazzo del Provveditore - the Venetian palace of the governor, built on the site of the former Lusignan royal palace
St. Francis' Church
Sinan Pasha Mosque
Church of St. George of the Greeks
Church of St. George of the Latins
Twin Churches
Nestorian Church (of St George the Exiler)
Namık Kemal Dungeon
Agios Ioannis Church
Venetian House
Akkule Masjid
Mustafa Pasha Mosque
Ganchvor monastery
In an October 2010 report titled Saving Our Vanishing Heritage, Global Heritage Fund listed Famagusta, a "maritime ancient city of crusader kings", among the 12 sites most "On the Verge" of irreparable loss and destruction, citing insufficient management and development pressures.
Famagusta is an important commercial hub of Northern Cyprus. The main economic activities in the city are tourism, education, construction and industrial production. It has a 115-acre free port, which is the most important seaport of Northern Cyprus for travel and commerce. The port is an important source of income and employment for the city, though its volume of trade is restricted by the embargo against Northern Cyprus. Its historical sites, including the walled city, Salamis, the Othello Castle and the St Barnabas Church, as well as the sandy beaches surrounding it make it a tourist attraction; efforts are also underway to make the city more attractive for international congresses. The Eastern Mediterranean University is also an important employer and supplies significant income and activity, as well as opportunities for the construction sector. The university also raises a qualified workforce that stimulates the city's industry and makes communications industry viable. The city has two industrial zones: the Large Industrial Zone and the Little Industrial Zone. The city is also home to a fishing port, but inadequate infrastructure of the port restricts the growth of this sector. The industry in the city has traditionally been concentrated on processing agricultural products.
Historically, the port was the primary source of income and employment for the city, especially right after 1974. However, it gradually lost some of its importance to the economy as the share of its employees in the population of Famagusta diminished due to various reasons. However, it still is the primary port for commerce in Northern Cyprus, with more than half of ships that came to Northern Cyprus in 2013 coming to Famagusta. It is the second most popular seaport for passengers, after Kyrenia, with around 20,000 passengers using the port in 2013.
The mayor-in-exile of Famagusta is Simos Ioannou. Süleyman Uluçay heads the Turkish Cypriot municipal administration of Famagusta, which remains legal as a communal-based body under the constitutional system of the Republic of Cyprus.
Since 1974, Greek Cypriots submitted a number of proposals within the context of bicommunal discussions for the return of Varosha to UN administration, allowing the return of its previous inhabitants, requesting also the opening of Famagusta harbour for use by both communities. Varosha would have been returned to Greek Cypriot control as part of the 2004 Annan Plan but the plan had been rejected by a majority(3/4) of Greek Cypriot voters.
The walled city of Famagusta contains many unique buildings. Famagusta has a walled city popular with tourists.
Every year, the International Famagusta Art and Culture Festival is organized in Famagusta. Concerts, dance shows and theater plays take place during the festival.
A growth in tourism and the city's university have fueled the development of Famagusta's vibrant nightlife. Nightlife in the city is especially active on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights and in the hotter months of the year, starting from April. Larger hotels in the city have casinos that cater to their customers. Salamis Road is an area of Famagusta with a heavy concentration of bars frequented by students and locals.
Famagusta's Othello Castle is the setting for Shakespeare's play Othello. The city was also the setting for Victoria Hislop's 2015 novel The Sunrise, and Michael Paraskos's 2016 novel In Search of Sixpence. The city is the birthplace of the eponymous hero of the Renaissance proto-novel Fortunatus.
Famagusta was home to many Greek Cypriot sport teams that left the city because of the Turkish invasion and still bear their original names. Most notable football clubs originally from the city are Anorthosis Famagusta FC and Nea Salamis Famagusta FC, both of the Cypriot First Division, which are now based in Larnaca. Usually Anorthosis Famagusta fans are politically right wing where Nea Salamis fans are left wing.
Famagusta is represented by Mağusa Türk Gücü in the Turkish Cypriot First Division. Dr. Fazıl Küçük Stadium is the largest football stadium in Famagusta. Many Turkish Cypriot sport teams that left Southern Cyprus because of the Cypriot intercommunal violence are based in Famagusta.
Famagusta is represented by DAÜ Sports Club and Magem Sports Club in North Cyprus First Volleyball Division. Gazimağusa Türk Maarif Koleji represents Famagusta in the North Cyprus High School Volleyball League.
Famagusta has a modern volleyball stadium called the Mağusa Arena.
The Eastern Mediterranean University was founded in the city in 1979. The Istanbul Technical University founded a campus in the city in 2010.
The Cyprus College of Art was founded in Famagusta by the Cypriot artist Stass Paraskos in 1969, before moving to Paphos in 1972 after protests from local hoteliers that the presence of art students in the city was putting off holidaymakers.
Famagusta has three general hospitals. Gazimağusa Devlet Hastahanesi, a state hospital, is the biggest hospital in city. Gazimağusa Tıp Merkezi and Gazimağusa Yaşam Hastahanesi are private hospitals.
Personalities
Saint Barnabas, born and died in Salamis, Famagusta
Chris Achilleos, illustrator of the book versions on the BBC children's series Doctor Who
Beran Bertuğ, former Governor of Famagusta, first Cypriot woman to hold this position
Marios Constantinou, former international Cypriot football midfielder and current manager.
Eleftheria Eleftheriou, Cypriot singer.
Derviş Eroğlu, former President of Northern Cyprus
Alexis Galanos, 7th President of the House of Representatives and Famagusta mayor-in-exile (2006-2019) (Republic of Cyprus)
Xanthos Hadjisoteriou, Cypriot painter
Oz Karahan, political activist, President of the Union of Cypriots
Oktay Kayalp, former Turkish Cypriot Famagusta mayor (Northern Cyprus)
Harry Luke British diplomat
Angelos Misos, former international footballer
Costas Montis was an influential and prolific Greek Cypriot poet, novelist, and playwright born in Famagusta.
Hal Ozsan, actor (Dawson's Creek, Kyle XY)
Dimitris Papadakis, a Greek Cypriot politician, who served as a Member of the European Parliament.
Ṣubḥ-i-Azal, Persian religious leader, lived and died in exile in Famagusta
Touker Suleyman (born Türker Süleyman), British Turkish Cypriot fashion retail entrepreneur, investor and reality television personality.
Alexia Vassiliou, singer, left here as a refugee when the town was invaded.
George Vasiliou, former President of Cyprus
Vamik Volkan, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry
Derviş Zaim, film director
Famagusta is twinned with:
İzmir, Turkey (since 1974)
Corfu, Greece (since 1994)
Patras, Greece (since 1994)
Antalya, Turkey (since 1997)
Salamina (city), Greece (since 1998)
Struga, North Macedonia
Athens, Greece (since 2005)
Mersin, Turkey
Northern Cyprus, officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a de facto state that comprises the northeastern portion of the island of Cyprus. It is recognised only by Turkey, and its territory is considered by all other states to be part of the Republic of Cyprus.
Northern Cyprus extends from the tip of the Karpass Peninsula in the northeast to Morphou Bay, Cape Kormakitis and its westernmost point, the Kokkina exclave in the west. Its southernmost point is the village of Louroujina. A buffer zone under the control of the United Nations stretches between Northern Cyprus and the rest of the island and divides Nicosia, the island's largest city and capital of both sides.
A coup d'état in 1974, performed as part of an attempt to annex the island to Greece, prompted the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. This resulted in the eviction of much of the north's Greek Cypriot population, the flight of Turkish Cypriots from the south, and the partitioning of the island, leading to a unilateral declaration of independence by the north in 1983. Due to its lack of recognition, Northern Cyprus is heavily dependent on Turkey for economic, political and military support.
Attempts to reach a solution to the Cyprus dispute have been unsuccessful. The Turkish Army maintains a large force in Northern Cyprus with the support and approval of the TRNC government, while the Republic of Cyprus, the European Union as a whole, and the international community regard it as an occupation force. This military presence has been denounced in several United Nations Security Council resolutions.
Northern Cyprus is a semi-presidential, democratic republic with a cultural heritage incorporating various influences and an economy that is dominated by the services sector. The economy has seen growth through the 2000s and 2010s, with the GNP per capita more than tripling in the 2000s, but is held back by an international embargo due to the official closure of the ports in Northern Cyprus by the Republic of Cyprus. The official language is Turkish, with a distinct local dialect being spoken. The vast majority of the population consists of Sunni Muslims, while religious attitudes are mostly moderate and secular. Northern Cyprus is an observer state of ECO and OIC under the name "Turkish Cypriot State", PACE under the name "Turkish Cypriot Community", and Organization of Turkic States with its own name.
Several distinct periods of Cypriot intercommunal violence involving the two main ethnic communities, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, marked mid-20th century Cyprus. These included the Cyprus Emergency of 1955–59 during British rule, the post-independence Cyprus crisis of 1963–64, and the Cyprus crisis of 1967. Hostilities culminated in the 1974 de facto division of the island along the Green Line following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. The region has been relatively peaceful since then, but the Cyprus dispute has continued, with various attempts to solve it diplomatically having been generally unsuccessful.
Cyprus, an island lying in the eastern Mediterranean, hosted a population of Greeks and Turks (four-fifths and one-fifth, respectively), who lived under British rule in the late nineteenth-century and the first half of the twentieth-century. Christian Orthodox Church of Cyprus played a prominent political role among the Greek Cypriot community, a privilege that it acquired during the Ottoman Empire with the employment of the millet system, which gave the archbishop an unofficial ethnarch status.
The repeated rejections by the British of Greek Cypriot demands for enosis, union with Greece, led to armed resistance, organised by the National Organization of Cypriot Struggle, or EOKA. EOKA, led by the Greek-Cypriot commander George Grivas, systematically targeted British colonial authorities. One of the effects of EOKA's campaign was to alter the Turkish position from demanding full reincorporation into Turkey to a demand for taksim (partition). EOKA's mission and activities caused a "Cretan syndrome" (see Turkish Resistance Organisation) within the Turkish Cypriot community, as its members feared that they would be forced to leave the island in such a case as had been the case with Cretan Turks. As such, they preferred the continuation of British colonial rule and then taksim, the division of the island. Due to the Turkish Cypriots' support for the British, EOKA's leader, Georgios Grivas, declared them to be enemies. The fact that the Turks were a minority was, according to Nihat Erim, to be addressed by the transfer of thousands of Turks from mainland Turkey so that Greek Cypriots would cease to be the majority. When Erim visited Cyprus as the Turkish representative, he was advised by Field Marshal Sir John Harding, the then Governor of Cyprus, that Turkey should send educated Turks to settle in Cyprus.
Turkey actively promoted the idea that on the island of Cyprus two distinctive communities existed, and sidestepped its former claim that "the people of Cyprus were all Turkish subjects". In doing so, Turkey's aim to have self-determination of two to-be equal communities in effect led to de jure partition of the island.[citation needed] This could be justified to the international community against the will of the majority Greek population of the island. Dr. Fazil Küçük in 1954 had already proposed Cyprus be divided in two at the 35° parallel.
Lindley Dan, from Notre Dame University, spotted the roots of intercommunal violence to different visions among the two communities of Cyprus (enosis for Greek Cypriots, taksim for Turkish Cypriots). Also, Lindlay wrote that "the merging of church, schools/education, and politics in divisive and nationalistic ways" had played a crucial role in creation of havoc in Cyprus' history. Attalides Michael also pointed to the opposing nationalisms as the cause of the Cyprus problem.
By the mid-1950's, the "Cyprus is Turkish" party, movement, and slogan gained force in both Cyprus and Turkey. In a 1954 editorial, Turkish Cypriot leader Dr. Fazil Kuchuk expressed the sentiment that the Turkish youth had grown up with the idea that "as soon as Great Britain leaves the island, it will be taken over by the Turks", and that "Turkey cannot tolerate otherwise". This perspective contributed to the willingness of Turkish Cypriots to align themselves with the British, who started recruiting Turkish Cypriots into the police force that patrolled Cyprus to fight EOKA, a Greek Cypriot nationalist organisation that sought to rid the island of British rule.
EOKA targeted colonial authorities, including police, but Georgios Grivas, the leader of EOKA, did not initially wish to open up a new front by fighting Turkish Cypriots and reassured them that EOKA would not harm their people. In 1956, some Turkish Cypriot policemen were killed by EOKA members and this provoked some intercommunal violence in the spring and summer, but these attacks on policemen were not motivated by the fact that they were Turkish Cypriots.
However, in January 1957, Grivas changed his policy as his forces in the mountains became increasingly pressured by the British Crown forces. In order to divert the attention of the Crown forces, EOKA members started to target Turkish Cypriot policemen intentionally in the towns, so that Turkish Cypriots would riot against the Greek Cypriots and the security forces would have to be diverted to the towns to restore order. The killing of a Turkish Cypriot policeman on 19 January, when a power station was bombed, and the injury of three others, provoked three days of intercommunal violence in Nicosia. The two communities targeted each other in reprisals, at least one Greek Cypriot was killed and the British Army was deployed in the streets. Greek Cypriot stores were burned and their neighbourhoods attacked. Following the events, the Greek Cypriot leadership spread the propaganda that the riots had merely been an act of Turkish Cypriot aggression. Such events created chaos and drove the communities apart both in Cyprus and in Turkey.
On 22 October 1957 Sir Hugh Mackintosh Foot replaced Sir John Harding as the British Governor of Cyprus. Foot suggested five to seven years of self-government before any final decision. His plan rejected both enosis and taksim. The Turkish Cypriot response to this plan was a series of anti-British demonstrations in Nicosia on 27 and 28 January 1958 rejecting the proposed plan because the plan did not include partition. The British then withdrew the plan.
In 1957, Black Gang, a Turkish Cypriot pro-taksim paramilitary organisation, was formed to patrol a Turkish Cypriot enclave, the Tahtakale district of Nicosia, against activities of EOKA. The organisation later attempted to grow into a national scale, but failed to gain public support.
By 1958, signs of dissatisfaction with the British increased on both sides, with a group of Turkish Cypriots forming Volkan (later renamed to the Turkish Resistance Organisation) paramilitary group to promote partition and the annexation of Cyprus to Turkey as dictated by the Menderes plan. Volkan initially consisted of roughly 100 members, with the stated aim of raising awareness in Turkey of the Cyprus issue and courting military training and support for Turkish Cypriot fighters from the Turkish government.
In June 1958, the British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, was expected to propose a plan to resolve the Cyprus issue. In light of the new development, the Turks rioted in Nicosia to promote the idea that Greek and Turkish Cypriots could not live together and therefore any plan that did not include partition would not be viable. This violence was soon followed by bombing, Greek Cypriot deaths and looting of Greek Cypriot-owned shops and houses. Greek and Turkish Cypriots started to flee mixed population villages where they were a minority in search of safety. This was effectively the beginning of the segregation of the two communities. On 7 June 1958, a bomb exploded at the entrance of the Turkish Embassy in Cyprus. Following the bombing, Turkish Cypriots looted Greek Cypriot properties. On 26 June 1984, the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktaş, admitted on British channel ITV that the bomb was placed by the Turks themselves in order to create tension. On 9 January 1995, Rauf Denktaş repeated his claim to the famous Turkish newspaper Milliyet in Turkey.
The crisis reached a climax on 12 June 1958, when eight Greeks, out of an armed group of thirty five arrested by soldiers of the Royal Horse Guards on suspicion of preparing an attack on the Turkish quarter of Skylloura, were killed in a suspected attack by Turkish Cypriot locals, near the village of Geunyeli, having been ordered to walk back to their village of Kondemenos.
After the EOKA campaign had begun, the British government successfully began to turn the Cyprus issue from a British colonial problem into a Greek-Turkish issue. British diplomacy exerted backstage influence on the Adnan Menderes government, with the aim of making Turkey active in Cyprus. For the British, the attempt had a twofold objective. The EOKA campaign would be silenced as quickly as possible, and Turkish Cypriots would not side with Greek Cypriots against the British colonial claims over the island, which would thus remain under the British. The Turkish Cypriot leadership visited Menderes to discuss the Cyprus issue. When asked how the Turkish Cypriots should respond to the Greek Cypriot claim of enosis, Menderes replied: "You should go to the British foreign minister and request the status quo be prolonged, Cyprus to remain as a British colony". When the Turkish Cypriots visited the British Foreign Secretary and requested for Cyprus to remain a colony, he replied: "You should not be asking for colonialism at this day and age, you should be asking for Cyprus be returned to Turkey, its former owner".
As Turkish Cypriots began to look to Turkey for protection, Greek Cypriots soon understood that enosis was extremely unlikely. The Greek Cypriot leader, Archbishop Makarios III, now set independence for the island as his objective.
Britain resolved to solve the dispute by creating an independent Cyprus. In 1959, all involved parties signed the Zurich Agreements: Britain, Turkey, Greece, and the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders, Makarios and Dr. Fazil Kucuk, respectively. The new constitution drew heavily on the ethnic composition of the island. The President would be a Greek Cypriot, and the Vice-President a Turkish Cypriot with an equal veto. The contribution to the public service would be set at a ratio of 70:30, and the Supreme Court would consist of an equal number of judges from both communities as well as an independent judge who was not Greek, Turkish or British. The Zurich Agreements were supplemented by a number of treaties. The Treaty of Guarantee stated that secession or union with any state was forbidden, and that Greece, Turkey and Britain would be given guarantor status to intervene if that was violated. The Treaty of Alliance allowed for two small Greek and Turkish military contingents to be stationed on the island, and the Treaty of Establishment gave Britain sovereignty over two bases in Akrotiri and Dhekelia.
On 15 August 1960, the Colony of Cyprus became fully independent as the Republic of Cyprus. The new republic remained within the Commonwealth of Nations.
The new constitution brought dissatisfaction to Greek Cypriots, who felt it to be highly unjust for them for historical, demographic and contributional reasons. Although 80% of the island's population were Greek Cypriots and these indigenous people had lived on the island for thousands of years and paid 94% of taxes, the new constitution was giving the 17% of the population that was Turkish Cypriots, who paid 6% of taxes, around 30% of government jobs and 40% of national security jobs.
Within three years tensions between the two communities in administrative affairs began to show. In particular disputes over separate municipalities and taxation created a deadlock in government. A constitutional court ruled in 1963 Makarios had failed to uphold article 173 of the constitution which called for the establishment of separate municipalities for Turkish Cypriots. Makarios subsequently declared his intention to ignore the judgement, resulting in the West German judge resigning from his position. Makarios proposed thirteen amendments to the constitution, which would have had the effect of resolving most of the issues in the Greek Cypriot favour. Under the proposals, the President and Vice-President would lose their veto, the separate municipalities as sought after by the Turkish Cypriots would be abandoned, the need for separate majorities by both communities in passing legislation would be discarded and the civil service contribution would be set at actual population ratios (82:18) instead of the slightly higher figure for Turkish Cypriots.
The intention behind the amendments has long been called into question. The Akritas plan, written in the height of the constitutional dispute by the Greek Cypriot interior minister Polycarpos Georkadjis, called for the removal of undesirable elements of the constitution so as to allow power-sharing to work. The plan envisaged a swift retaliatory attack on Turkish Cypriot strongholds should Turkish Cypriots resort to violence to resist the measures, stating "In the event of a planned or staged Turkish attack, it is imperative to overcome it by force in the shortest possible time, because if we succeed in gaining command of the situation (in one or two days), no outside, intervention would be either justified or possible." Whether Makarios's proposals were part of the Akritas plan is unclear, however it remains that sentiment towards enosis had not completely disappeared with independence. Makarios described independence as "a step on the road to enosis".[31] Preparations for conflict were not entirely absent from Turkish Cypriots either, with right wing elements still believing taksim (partition) the best safeguard against enosis.
Greek Cypriots however believe the amendments were a necessity stemming from a perceived attempt by Turkish Cypriots to frustrate the working of government. Turkish Cypriots saw it as a means to reduce their status within the state from one of co-founder to that of minority, seeing it as a first step towards enosis. The security situation deteriorated rapidly.
Main articles: Bloody Christmas (1963) and Battle of Tillyria
An armed conflict was triggered after December 21, 1963, a period remembered by Turkish Cypriots as Bloody Christmas, when a Greek Cypriot policemen that had been called to help deal with a taxi driver refusing officers already on the scene access to check the identification documents of his customers, took out his gun upon arrival and shot and killed the taxi driver and his partner. Eric Solsten summarised the events as follows: "a Greek Cypriot police patrol, ostensibly checking identification documents, stopped a Turkish Cypriot couple on the edge of the Turkish quarter. A hostile crowd gathered, shots were fired, and two Turkish Cypriots were killed."
In the morning after the shooting, crowds gathered in protest in Northern Nicosia, likely encouraged by the TMT, without incident. On the evening of the 22nd, gunfire broke out, communication lines to the Turkish neighbourhoods were cut, and the Greek Cypriot police occupied the nearby airport. On the 23rd, a ceasefire was negotiated, but did not hold. Fighting, including automatic weapons fire, between Greek and Turkish Cypriots and militias increased in Nicosia and Larnaca. A force of Greek Cypriot irregulars led by Nikos Sampson entered the Nicosia suburb of Omorphita and engaged in heavy firing on armed, as well as by some accounts unarmed, Turkish Cypriots. The Omorphita clash has been described by Turkish Cypriots as a massacre, while this view has generally not been acknowledged by Greek Cypriots.
Further ceasefires were arranged between the two sides, but also failed. By Christmas Eve, the 24th, Britain, Greece, and Turkey had joined talks, with all sides calling for a truce. On Christmas day, Turkish fighter jets overflew Nicosia in a show of support. Finally it was agreed to allow a force of 2,700 British soldiers to help enforce a ceasefire. In the next days, a "buffer zone" was created in Nicosia, and a British officer marked a line on a map with green ink, separating the two sides of the city, which was the beginning of the "Green Line". Fighting continued across the island for the next several weeks.
In total 364 Turkish Cypriots and 174 Greek Cypriots were killed during the violence. 25,000 Turkish Cypriots from 103-109 villages fled and were displaced into enclaves and thousands of Turkish Cypriot houses were ransacked or completely destroyed.
Contemporary newspapers also reported on the forceful exodus of the Turkish Cypriots from their homes. According to The Times in 1964, threats, shootings and attempts of arson were committed against the Turkish Cypriots to force them out of their homes. The Daily Express wrote that "25,000 Turks have already been forced to leave their homes". The Guardian reported a massacre of Turks at Limassol on 16 February 1964.
Turkey had by now readied its fleet and its fighter jets appeared over Nicosia. Turkey was dissuaded from direct involvement by the creation of a United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) in 1964. Despite the negotiated ceasefire in Nicosia, attacks on the Turkish Cypriot persisted, particularly in Limassol. Concerned about the possibility of a Turkish invasion, Makarios undertook the creation of a Greek Cypriot conscript-based army called the "National Guard". A general from Greece took charge of the army, whilst a further 20,000 well-equipped officers and men were smuggled from Greece into Cyprus. Turkey threatened to intervene once more, but was prevented by a strongly worded letter from the American President Lyndon B. Johnson, anxious to avoid a conflict between NATO allies Greece and Turkey at the height of the Cold War.
Turkish Cypriots had by now established an important bridgehead at Kokkina, provided with arms, volunteers and materials from Turkey and abroad. Seeing this incursion of foreign weapons and troops as a major threat, the Cypriot government invited George Grivas to return from Greece as commander of the Greek troops on the island and launch a major attack on the bridgehead. Turkey retaliated by dispatching its fighter jets to bomb Greek positions, causing Makarios to threaten an attack on every Turkish Cypriot village on the island if the bombings did not cease. The conflict had now drawn in Greece and Turkey, with both countries amassing troops on their Thracian borders. Efforts at mediation by Dean Acheson, a former U.S. Secretary of State, and UN-appointed mediator Galo Plaza had failed, all the while the division of the two communities becoming more apparent. Greek Cypriot forces were estimated at some 30,000, including the National Guard and the large contingent from Greece. Defending the Turkish Cypriot enclaves was a force of approximately 5,000 irregulars, led by a Turkish colonel, but lacking the equipment and organisation of the Greek forces.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1964, U Thant, reported the damage during the conflicts:
UNFICYP carried out a detailed survey of all damage to properties throughout the island during the disturbances; it shows that in 109 villages, most of them Turkish-Cypriot or mixed villages, 527 houses have been destroyed while 2,000 others have suffered damage from looting.
The situation worsened in 1967, when a military junta overthrew the democratically elected government of Greece, and began applying pressure on Makarios to achieve enosis. Makarios, not wishing to become part of a military dictatorship or trigger a Turkish invasion, began to distance himself from the goal of enosis. This caused tensions with the junta in Greece as well as George Grivas in Cyprus. Grivas's control over the National Guard and Greek contingent was seen as a threat to Makarios's position, who now feared a possible coup.[citation needed] The National Guard and Cyprus Police began patrolling the Turkish Cypriot enclaves of Ayios Theodoros and Kophinou, and on November 15 engaged in heavy fighting with the Turkish Cypriots.
By the time of his withdrawal 26 Turkish Cypriots had been killed. Turkey replied with an ultimatum demanding that Grivas be removed from the island, that the troops smuggled from Greece in excess of the limits of the Treaty of Alliance be removed, and that the economic blockades on the Turkish Cypriot enclaves be lifted. Grivas was recalled by the Athens Junta and the 12,000 Greek troops were withdrawn. Makarios now attempted to consolidate his position by reducing the number of National Guard troops, and by creating a paramilitary force loyal to Cypriot independence. In 1968, acknowledging that enosis was now all but impossible, Makarios stated, "A solution by necessity must be sought within the limits of what is feasible which does not always coincide with the limits of what is desirable."
After 1967 tensions between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots subsided. Instead, the main source of tension on the island came from factions within the Greek Cypriot community. Although Makarios had effectively abandoned enosis in favour of an 'attainable solution', many others continued to believe that the only legitimate political aspiration for Greek Cypriots was union with Greece.
On his arrival, Grivas began by establishing a nationalist paramilitary group known as the National Organization of Cypriot Fighters (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston B or EOKA-B), drawing comparisons with the EOKA struggle for enosis under the British colonial administration of the 1950s.
The military junta in Athens saw Makarios as an obstacle. Makarios's failure to disband the National Guard, whose officer class was dominated by mainland Greeks, had meant the junta had practical control over the Cypriot military establishment, leaving Makarios isolated and a vulnerable target.
During the first Turkish invasion, Turkish troops invaded Cyprus territory on 20 July 1974, invoking its rights under the Treaty of Guarantee. This expansion of Turkish-occupied zone violated International Law as well as the Charter of the United Nations. Turkish troops managed to capture 3% of the island which was accompanied by the burning of the Turkish Cypriot quarter, as well as the raping and killing of women and children. A temporary cease-fire followed which was mitigated by the UN Security Council. Subsequently, the Greek military Junta collapsed on July 23, 1974, and peace talks commenced in which a democratic government was installed. The Resolution 353 was broken after Turkey attacked a second time and managed to get a hold of 37% of Cyprus territory. The Island of Cyprus was appointed a Buffer Zone by the United Nations, which divided the island into two zones through the 'Green Line' and put an end to the Turkish invasion. Although Turkey announced that the occupied areas of Cyprus to be called the Federated Turkish State in 1975, it is not legitimised on a worldwide political scale. The United Nations called for the international recognition of independence for the Republic of Cyprus in the Security Council Resolution 367.
In the years after the Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus one can observe a history of failed talks between the two parties. The 1983 declaration of the independent Turkish Republic of Cyprus resulted in a rise of inter-communal tensions and made it increasingly hard to find mutual understanding. With Cyprus' interest of a possible EU membership and a new UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1997 new hopes arose for a fresh start. International involvement from sides of the US and UK, wanting a solution to the Cyprus dispute prior to the EU accession led to political pressures for new talks. The believe that an accession without a solution would threaten Greek-Turkish relations and acknowledge the partition of the island would direct the coming negotiations.
Over the course of two years a concrete plan, the Annan plan was formulated. In 2004 the fifth version agreed upon from both sides and with the endorsement of Turkey, US, UK and EU then was presented to the public and was given a referendum in both Cypriot communities to assure the legitimisation of the resolution. The Turkish Cypriots voted with 65% for the plan, however the Greek Cypriots voted with a 76% majority against. The Annan plan contained multiple important topics. Firstly it established a confederation of two separate states called the United Cyprus Republic. Both communities would have autonomous states combined under one unified government. The members of parliament would be chosen according to the percentage in population numbers to ensure a just involvement from both communities. The paper proposed a demilitarisation of the island over the next years. Furthermore it agreed upon a number of 45000 Turkish settlers that could remain on the island. These settlers became a very important issue concerning peace talks. Originally the Turkish government encouraged Turks to settle in Cyprus providing transfer and property, to establish a counterpart to the Greek Cypriot population due to their 1 to 5 minority. With the economic situation many Turkish-Cypriot decided to leave the island, however their departure is made up by incoming Turkish settlers leaving the population ratio between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots stable. However all these points where criticised and as seen in the vote rejected mainly by the Greek Cypriots. These name the dissolution of the „Republic of Cyprus", economic consequences of a reunion and the remaining Turkish settlers as reason. Many claim that the plan was indeed drawing more from Turkish-Cypriot demands then Greek-Cypriot interests. Taking in consideration that the US wanted to keep Turkey as a strategic partner in future Middle Eastern conflicts.
A week after the failed referendum the Republic of Cyprus joined the EU. In multiple instances the EU tried to promote trade with Northern Cyprus but without internationally recognised ports this spiked a grand debate. Both side endure their intention of negotiations, however without the prospect of any new compromises or agreements the UN is unwilling to start the process again. Since 2004 negotiations took place in numbers but without any results, both sides are strongly holding on to their position without an agreeable solution in sight that would suit both parties.
The evolution of this telescope has been driven by conceptual breakthroughs. I'm not saying that these were brilliant on any objective, global scale, but for me they provided a series of steps forward.
Originally I was going to stick the new mirror cell I built into a PVC tube, so that the back end would match the front end. Then I realized that the trim ring from the back end of the National Geographic scope (read: cannibal victim) would work fine as a back-end cage, and I could skip the PVC tube and make the telescope simpler and lighter at the same time.
Similarly, the first build of the telescope used the original 3-vane spider (i.e., secondary mirror support) from the National Geographic scope. But that spider was loooong, so it had to be mounted a long way forward, which meant the whole secondary cage had to be long. I couldn't cut down the secondary cage until I figured out a nearly zero-length solution for the spider.
People have been mounting secondary mirrors on posts for literally centuries, and that was an option, but I wanted my secondary to be fully adjustable on all axes. Eventually it occurred to me that the secondary support could just be wedged into the tube; elasticity and friction could take it from there. This is exactly what it looks like: the secondary mirror holder is glued (with silicone) to a good ole No. 2 pencil. The pencil is cut to length and capped with fat rubber erasers, which have themselves been cut down slightly to enlarge their contact patches. The white slash on the inside of the tube is one of the spots where I had to grind down that internal ridge with my Dremel to make a flat (and rough!) spot for the erasers to grab.
This spider cost me about $0.35 for the office supplies. It looks like hell, but it works perfectly. The secondary is rock solid and holds collimation well, but it can be easily adjusted in any direction with gentle finger pressure. The only way I can see improving it would be to use a narrower beam, possibly a thin piece of sheet metal or a section of a small metal ruler. But I'd still anchor the beam with rubber feet to preserve the all-axis adjustability.
I ordered the mirrors for a 5-inch f/5 reflector that I intended to build as a travelscope before I ever saw the National Geographic scope. One of those mirrors is still in the post. In the meantime, this thing has given me an opportunity to learn some things and to come up with solutions I might not have otherwise.
So where from here? Eventually I am going to drill some more holes and glue in some more bolts so that I can use two struts 180 degrees apart, and put them into a Dobsonian-style mount. That's the same thing the often-referenced David Gilbank did with his (http://dgilbank.freeownhost.com/travel.html), and I'm going to do it for the same reason: the tripod pan head just has too much backlash. You don't usually notice one degree of backlash, but when that's the size of your entire FOV it rapidly becomes obvious, and irritating.
Still, the perfect is the enemy of the good, and right now this telescope is Good Enough. It will be going with me over the holidays; I'll keep you posted on our adventures.