Thursday, February 9, 2017
More Week: More Notable Walls
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The Walls of Diyarbakir, Turkey:
The ancient city walls of Diyarbakir in Turkey date back to Roman days. Today, the walls are largely intact, form a ring around the old city that is over 5km (3miles) in circumference, are over 10 metres (about 33 feet) high and are 3-5 meters (about 10-16 feet) thick. The walls were first built in 297AD by Romans under the order of Constantius II. Over the next 1500 years the walls were expanded and fortified using volcanic rock from the surrounding region. This black basalt lent the name “Black Fortress,” which is what many military leaders called the city. The black exterior of the walls is only surface deep and the walls hide a complex network of tunnels, barracks and storage rooms.
There are four main gates and 82 watch towers on the walls. Although mainly built by the Romans, the walls were reconstructed by the Ottomans when they took over the city in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Having destroyed the walls with the use of cannons, a new type of weaponry at the time, they therefore had to rebuild them afterwards.
The walls have been nominated for the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Gallery:
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The Sacsayhuamán Walls, Peru:
Most people are familiar with the wonders of the Peruvian mountain citadel of Machu Picchu. Equally amazing is the walled complex known as Sacsayhuamán near the old Peruvian city of Cusco. Believed to be a form of fortification, the walls are also believed to be the teeth of a figurative jaguar when seen from above. As at Machu Picchu, the stones have many angles and sides, are massive, yet interlock so precisely that not even a sheet of government toilet paper could be placed between them. One of those stones is nearly 10 metres (29 feet high) and weighs more than 360 tons, which has been compared to the equivalent of 500 passenger cars. That stone is not even at the base of the wall and has been transported from a quarry 16 kilometres (10 Miles) away. As with all Inca stonework, there is still mystery surrounding how they were constructed.
Gallery:
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Hadrian’s Wall:
Anyone who has seen the Clive Owen film King Arthur (good movie, worth watching) will be familiar with Hadrian’s Wall. Serving much the same function as the wall in Game of Thrones, it marked the northern limit of the Roman Empire in Brittania. North of the wall were the Picts, the Woads and the White Walkers. The wall was begun in 122 AD in the reign of the emperor Hadrian. Its location was as follows:
The wall had turrets, forts, ditches and garrisons of infantry and cavalry.
Although much of the stone used to build the wall has been taken over the centuries to use in anothewr works, a large portion of the wall remains today and is able to be followed on foot. It was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987
Gallery:
Hadrian's Wall near Birdoswald Fort, with a man spraying weed-killer to reduce biological weathering to the stones.
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Tommaso’s Wall:
Constructed by the great wall builder Tommaso of Colos, imo one of the best wall builders to have ever lived, this wall of ex-railway sleepers is not only a functional retaining wall but also a thing of beauty.
Gallery:
It is also in my back garden.
Grazie per il muro, Tommaso.
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
More Week: More Funny Protest Signs
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- Billy Idol, "Rebel Yell" lyrics
As More Week continues, here are some more funny protest signs. I love the last one and I love the ones taking the piss out of the judgmental holy rollers.
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Tuesday, February 7, 2017
More Week: More Epic Mistranslations
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Response to the Potsdam Declaration
The Potsdam Declaration or the Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender is a statement that called for the surrender of all Japanese armed forces during World War II.
On July 26, 1945, United States President Harry S. Truman, United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Chairman of the Nationalist Government of China Chiang Kai-shek issued the Potsdam Declaration, aka the Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender. It was a statement that called for the surrender of all Japanese armed forces during World War II as agreed at the Potsdam Conference, the ultimatum stating that, if Japan did not surrender, it would face "prompt and utter destruction."
Winston Churchill (L), Harry S. Truman (C) and Joseph Stalin (R) at the Potsdam Conference in July 1945. The Potsdam Declaration, which outlined the terms of surrender for Japan during World War II in Asia, was issued on July 26, 1945.
Although the Japanese Government did not disclose the ultimatum to the Japanese populace, the declaration was broadcast by American radio picked up in Japan and American bombers dropped leaflets. The result was that most of the Japanese population knew of it.
Japan did not officially respond to the Allies but at a press conference where reporters had been bugging for an answer, the Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki gave a response of “mokutsatsu”, meaning the equivalent of “No comment, we’re still thinking about it.”
However, in the Japanese language the word can also mean “We’re ignoring it with contempt.” Sort of like “I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper. I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.”
Although it is clear that the word was intended in the former sense, it was translated for the Americans in the latter sense, who responded by nuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki 10 days later.
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Treaty of Waitangi
In 1840, the British government made a deal with the Maori chiefs in New Zealand. The Maori wanted protection from marauding convicts, sailors, and traders running roughshod through their villages, and the British wanted to expand their colonial holdings. The Treaty of Waitangi was drawn up and both sides signed it. But they were signing different documents. In the English version, the Maori were to "cede to Her Majesty the Queen of England absolutely and without reservation all the rights and powers of Sovereignty." In the Maori translation, composed by a British missionary, they were not to give up sovereignty, but governance. They thought they were getting a legal system, but keeping their right to rule themselves. That's not how it turned out, and generations later the issues around the meaning of this treaty are still being worked out.
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Baseball player Willie Ramirez, 18, was rushed to a Florida hospital in a coma in 1980. His family, who spoke only Spanish, described Ramirez as “intoxicado” (poisoned). But an interpreter (reportedly a bilingual hospital employee) said the patient was “intoxicated.” The doctor diagnosed Ramirez to have suffered from a drug overdose. Days later, it was discovered that he actually had a brain hemorrhage. But it was too late and Ramirez became a quadriplegic because of the wrong interpretation and consequent delay in treatment. Ramirez received USD 71m in a malpractice settlement.
Monday, February 6, 2017
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