I have a four-part map
available if you want to make it easier to see every space. But the best place to get a selection of maps
is the Badpets web page. Colonia VII-B can be found there at http://www.badpets.net/Diplomacy/Colonia_VIIB/index.html
Diplomacy (Black Press – Permanent Opening
in ES):
Signed up: Paul Milewski, Arthur Shulman, Brad Wilson, Mark Firth, Jack McHugh,
needs two more.
1898 (Black Press): Randy Davis
designed this simple variant. Rules in ES #87. Signed up: Richard Weiss.
Jack McHugh, needs 5 more.
Balkan Wars VI (Black Press): Fast-paced variant
with no season separations. Rules and
map in this issue. Signed up: Jack
McHugh, needs five more
Middle Eastern Diplomacy (Black Press): Phil Reynolds’
seven-player variant prompted by the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990. A minimal number of neutral
centers. Rules and map in this
issue. Signed up: Jack
McHugh, needs six more.
1499: The Italian Wars (Black Press): David McCrumb’s fast five-player variant. A favorite of mine. Rules and map in this issue. Signed up: Jack McHugh,
needs 4 more.
Colonia VII-B (Black Press): Fred Hyatt’s true
wraparound global variant. VII-B was the
final version he released; VI was quite popular, and VII and VII-B had some
minor tweaks. I once had a zine that only
ran Colonia VII-B, Grand Hyatt. Rules
and map in this issue. Signed up: Jack McHugh, needs 8 more.
Acquire: Can take up to six players. Signed up: Hank Alme, Tom
Howell, Ricvhard Weiss, can take up to three more. Let’s get one more so we can start! This game may move by email turn by turn
instead of simultaneous.
By Popular Demand: Back to the regular
BPD instead of BAPD. Join
at any time. I am considering
using the Dane Maslen version next time, where one
answer must be five letters long, and every other answer must begin with one
unique letter of the key word. Or
perhaps running tow games, one normal and one that
way.
Eternal Sunshine Movie Quote Quiz: Join anytime, new game beginning. Switching back to photos now!
Where in the World is Kendo Nagasaki?:
Rules
in ES #58. Join anytime! Also a SECOND game being run by Heath
Gardner in his subzine Equinox and a THIRD game in The Abyssinian Prince and a
FOURTH game in Zero Sum!
Coming Soon: Kremlin, Fog of War Diplomacy,
Stonehenge IV, Aberration. If you’re interested
in one of these variants, or have a suggestion, let me know. My signups are getting slower and slower
lately. When player interest in games
completely dies, I’ll probably fold the whole zine and disappear.
Standby List:
HELP! I need standby players! – Current
standby list: Richard Weiss, Jim Burgess (Dip only), Hank Alme, Martin
Burgdorf, Paul Milewski (Dip only), Brad Wilson (including Woolworth), Chris
Babcock, Marc Ellinger, Heath Gardner, Jack McHugh, and whoever I beg into it
in an emergency.
Diplomacy
“Dulcinea” 2008C, F 28
Austria (Martin Burgdorf – martin_burgdorf “of” hotmail.com): A Brest Supports A Burgundy - Gascony
(*Cut*), A Burgundy - Gascony
(*Disbanded*), A Paris Supports A Brest.
England (Hank Alme – almehj “of”
alumni.rice.edu): F Barents Sea Hold, A
Belgium – Burgundy,
A
Galicia – Vienna, A Holland – Belgium, F Kiel Hold, A Munich Supports A Belgium
– Burgundy,
F
North Atlantic Ocean Hold, F North Sea Hold, F Norwegian Sea Hold, A Picardy
- Brest (*Fails*),
A
Ruhr Supports A Belgium – Burgundy, A St Petersburg Hold, A
Warsaw Hold.
Turkey (Jim Burgess
– jfburgess “of” gmail.com): F Aegean Sea Hold,
A
Bohemia Supports A Galicia – Vienna, A Budapest
Supports A Galicia – Vienna, F Eastern Mediterranean Hold,
F
English Channel Supports A Picardy – Brest, F Gascony Supports A Picardy -
Brest (*Cut*), F Ionian Sea Hold,
F
Marseilles Supports A Spain, A Piedmont Supports F
Marseilles, F Portugal Hold, F Prussia Hold,
A
Rumania - Galicia (*Bounce*), A Silesia - Galicia (*Bounce*), A
Spain Supports F Gascony,
A Tyrolia Supports A Galicia – Vienna, F Tyrrhenian Sea Hold,
F Western Mediterranean Hold.
W 28/S 29 Deadline is May 27th at
7:00am my time
Supply
Center Chart
Austria:
Brest, Paris=2, Even
England:
Belgium, Berlin, Denmark,
Edinburgh, Holland, Kiel, Liverpool, London, Moscow,
Munich, Norway, St Petersburg, Sweden, Vienna, Warsaw=15, Build
2
Turkey:
Ankara, Budapest, Bulgaria,
Constantinople, Greece, Marseilles, Naples, Portugal,
Rome, Rumania, Serbia, Sevastopol, Smyrna, Spain, Trieste,
Tunis, Venice=17, Even
PRESS
(JIM-BOB PLEADS FOR PATIENCE): Patience, grasshopper, not much longer now.
“Dulcinea” Diplomacy Bourse
Billy Ray Valentine: Probably in his
limousine.
Duke of York: Stands pat.
Smaug the Dragon: Snore.
Rothschild: Sells 500
Pounds. Buys 368 Piastres.
Baron Wuffet: Zip.
Wooden Nickel
Enterprises:
Sells 36 Pounds. Buys
27 Piastres.
VAIONT Enterprises: Resting his eyes.
Insider Trading LLC:
Grand
Jury hearing.
Bourse Master: Stands pat.
PRESS
(YORK to
NWE): Thank you very much.
WNE to
York: Ain't enough turns
left to straighten this out...
Next Bourse Deadline is May 26th at 7:00pm my time
Diplomacy
“Jerusalem” 2012A, W 09
Seasons
Separated by Player Request
Austria (Melinda
Holley – genea5613 “of” aol.com): Remove A
Tyrolia..Has A Venice.
England (John Biehl
– jerbil “of” shaw.ca): Build A London..Has F Baltic Sea, A Brest, A Burgundy,
F
English Channel, A Kiel, A London, F Mid-Atlantic
Ocean, F North Atlantic Ocean, F Norway, A Paris,
F
Portugal, A Ruhr.
Germany (Heath
Gardner - heath.gardner “of” gmail.com): Retreat A Paris-OTB.. Has A Berlin.
Italy (Mark Firth – mark.r.firth “of” capita.co.uk): Has F Gulf of Lyon, A Spain, F Trieste, F Tunis,
F Western Mediterranean.
Russia (Richard
Weiss – richardweiss “of” higherquality.com): Has A Prussia, A Sevastopol,
A St
Petersburg, A Warsaw.
Turkey (Geoff Kemp -
ggeoff510 “of” aol.com): Build A
Constantinople, A Smyrna.. Has A
Bohemia,
A
Constantinople, A Marseilles, A Munich, F Rumania, A
Serbia, A Silesia, A Smyrna, F Tuscany,
F
Tyrrhenian Sea, A Vienna.
All Draw Proposals Fail
Now Proposed – E/T, E/G/I/R/T. Please vote. NVR=No.
S 10 Deadline is May 27th at 7:00am my time
PRESS
London (Apr 1, 1910): King John II
wonders how it is the Christian rulers of Europe are allowing the Muslims to
succeed where all previous rulers in European history managed to halt the
Turkish advance into Europe. England will support fellow Christians to turn
back this Islamist tide, God willing.
Diplomacy
“Walkerdine” 2012D, W 05
Seasons Separated by Player Request
Austria
(paul.milewski “of” hotmail.com): Has A Serbia.
England
(Marc Ellinger - mellinger “of” bbdlc.com): Remove
A Ukraine, F North Sea..Has F Finland,
A
Livonia, A Moscow, F Norway.
France
(Jim Burgess – jfburgess “of” gmail.com): Build F Brest, F Marseilles.. Has A Belgium, F Brest,
F
Ionian Sea, F Liverpool, F Marseilles, F Mid-Atlantic Ocean, F Naples, F Rome,
F Tunis, A Tyrolia.
Germany
(Steve Cooley – tmssteve “of” gmail.com): Retreat F Norway - St Petersburg(nc).. Build F Kiel..
Has A
Bohemia, A Denmark, F Gulf of Bothnia, F Kiel, A Prussia, A Silesia, F St Petersburg(nc), A Trieste,
A
Vienna, A Warsaw.
Russia
(Hank Alme – almehj “of”
alumni.rice.edu): Has F Adriatic Sea, A Budapest, A
Sevastopol.
Turkey (Chris
Babcock - cbabcock “of” asciiking.com): Retreat A Bohemia-OTB, F Ionian
Sea-OTB,
A
Trieste - Albania.. Build A Smyrna..
Has F Aegean Sea, A Albania, F Greece, A Smyrna, F
Venice.
Deadline
for S 06 is May 27th at 7am my time
PRESS
(FRENCH
RULE THE WAVES):
Ahoy, mateys!
Anyone call for double digit fleets?
Crazy eights??
He who rules the waves rules....
(IF
THIS REALLY IS A WALKERDINE GAME THEN): It must be multiplicity!!!! Anyone recall the rules for Multiplicity, one
of the most elegant variants ever designed, as Richard Sharp so stated! I'm ready to form my multiple fleets!!! So says the French Admiral. I'll bet other players would say the
same. As for the sad Austrian, he has no
multiplicity to form.
Black
Press Gunboat, “Fred Noonan”, 2013Arb32, F 07
England: Retreat F Edinburgh-ORB..No
units.
France: A Belgium – Ruhr, A Burgundy Supports A
Belgium – Ruhr, F English Channel - North Sea,
F
London Supports F English Channel - North Sea, F Mid-Atlantic Ocean - Western
Mediterranean,
F
Norwegian Sea Supports F English Channel - North Sea, A Picardy Supports A
Burgundy, F Wales - Liverpool.
Germany:
A Berlin – Silesia, F Edinburgh Supports F
North Sea, A Holland – Belgium,
A Munich
Supports A Ruhr – Burgundy, F North Sea Supports F Sweden - Norway
(*Dislodged*, retreat to
Holland or Helgoland Bight or Denmark or
Skagerrak or Yorkshire or OTB), A Ruhr - Burgundy (*Dislodged*,
retreat to Kiel or Holland or OTB), F Sweden - Norway.
Italy: F Albania - Ionian Sea, A Bohemia – Galicia, A Budapest -
Serbia (*Fails*),
F
Eastern Mediterranean - Smyrna (*Fails*), F Greece - Bulgaria(sc) (*Fails*),
A
Trieste Supports A Budapest – Serbia, A Vienna Supports A Bohemia - Galicia.
Russia: A Livonia Supports A Warsaw – Moscow, A Warsaw - Moscow
(*Fails*).
Turkey: Retreat F Greece - Bulgaria(sc).. F Bulgaria(sc) - Greece (*Fails*), F Constantinople - Aegean Sea,
F
Ionian Sea – Naples, A Moscow - Warsaw (*Fails*), A Rumania Supports A
Serbia,
A
Serbia Supports F Bulgaria(sc)
- Greece (*Cut*), A Sevastopol - Moscow (*Fails*),
F
Smyrna Supports F Constantinople - Aegean Sea (*Cut*), A Ukraine Supports A
Moscow - Warsaw.
Deadline
for W 07/S 08 Will Be May 27th at 7am My Time
Supply Center Chart
England None=0,
OUT!!
France:
Brest, Liverpool, London,
Marseilles, Paris, Portugal, Spain=7, Remove 1
Germany:
Belgium, Berlin, Denmark,
Edinburgh, Holland, Kiel, Munich, Norway,
Sweden=9, Build 2 (if room)
Italy:
Budapest, Greece, Rome,
Trieste, Tunis, Venice, Vienna=7, Even
Russia:
St Petersburg, Warsaw=2,
Even
Turkey:
Ankara, Bulgaria,
Constantinople, Moscow, Naples, Rumania, Serbia, Sevastopol,
Smyrna=9, Even
PRESS
(ENGLAND
to FRANCE):
No more of your nonsense, I won't help you, but you won't help me either. I shall die honorably.
(RUSSIA
=> FRANCE):
Can't you see that your Press is just annoying all of us? I would rather remove my fleet and leave the
North Atlantic to the noble Germans than do anything the likes of you would propose.
(ITALY
-- FRANCE): I appreciate your
continuing to leave our noble DMZ, but I think Turkey has breached it, and I'm
completely uninterested in making an enemy of Germany. You're on your own there.
T => R: I should have known
better. I could have done more. But now I've got what I always wanted: an
Italian home supply center.
(GERMANY
barely speaks to FRANCE): You would be well advised to be careful whom you call
"my friend".
Russia
- World:
This game sucks.
(T
=> R):
You are now a mere speck in my imagination.
(RUSSIA
=> TURKEY):
I'm sorry if I annoyed you, at this point I'm just trying to survive, any
chance we could strike my Russian colours and I could
raise Turkish colours as part of a deal of some kind?
(ITALY
-- TURKEY):
Any chance we could reach some rapprochment without
you raping my home centers?
Diplomacy “Sweet Spot” 2013A, F 06
England
(Harold Zarr - skip1955 “of” hotmail.com): A Liverpool – Edinburgh,
A
London - Yorkshire (*Bounce*).
France (Melinda Holley – genea5613 “of” aol.com): A Burgundy Supports A Gascony –
Marseilles,
F
English Channel - London (*Fails*), A Gascony – Marseilles, F Holland
Supports A Kiel,
A
Kiel Supports A Munich, F Mid-Atlantic Ocean - Spain(sc) (*Fails*), A Munich Supports A Kiel.
Germany
(Jack McHugh – jwmchughjr “of” gmail.com):
No units.
Italy
(Heath Gardner - heath.gardner “of”
gmail.com): NMR! F Gulf of Lyon Hold, F Ionian Sea Hold,
A
Marseilles Hold (*Dislodged*, retreat to Piedmont or OTB), F North Africa
Hold, A Portugal Hold,
F Spain(sc) Hold, A Trieste Hold, A Tyrolia Hold, A Vienna Hold.
Russia
(Chris Babcock –
cbabcock “of” asciiking.com ): A Berlin Hold, A
Denmark - Yorkshire (*Bounce*),
F
North Sea Convoys A Denmark – Yorkshire, F Norway -
Norwegian Sea, A Silesia Supports A Berlin,
F
Skagerrak - Denmark (*Fails*), A Warsaw Hold.
Turkey
(Larry Peery – peery “of”
ix.netcom.com): F Aegean Sea Supports A
Greece,
A
Albania Supports A Greece, A Ankara – Armenia, A
Budapest Supports A Galicia,
A
Galicia Supports A Budapest, A Greece Supports A
Albania, A Serbia Supports A Budapest.
F/I/R/T
Draw Fails
Now Proposed – F/I/R/T. Please vote.
NVR=No.
Would Hank
Alme (almehj “of”
alumni.rice.edu) please standby for Italy?
Deadline
for W 06/S 07 Will Be May 27th at 7am My Time
Supply Center Chart
England:
Edinburgh, Liverpool,
London=3, Build 1
France:
Belgium, Brest, Holland, Kiel,
Marseilles, Munich, Paris=7, Even
Germany: None=0,
OUT!!
Italy:
Naples, Portugal, Rome,
Spain, Trieste, Tunis, Venice, Vienna=8, Even or Remove 1
Russia:
Berlin, Denmark, Moscow,
Norway, Rumania, Sevastopol, St Petersburg,
Sweden, Warsaw=9, Build 2
Turkey:
Ankara, Budapest, Bulgaria,
Constantinople, Greece, Serbia, Smyrna=7, Even
PRESS
DIPLOMACY TWICE UPON A TIME ABOARD THE ORIENT EXPRESS
By Larry Peery
The first part of this story, DIPLOMACY
ONCE UPON A TIME ABOARD THE ORIENT EXPRESS, may be found with the Spring 1904 results for “Reasonland”
press for France elsewhere in this issue.
In this, the second part of my story,
we continue our celebration of the 130th anniversary of the famous Orient
Express train and the opening of a new exhibit at the Paris World Arab
Institute devoted to the
Venice Simplon Orient Express train and its history. The big
attraction in the exhibit is the four original carriages from a VSOE train of
the 1930s.
After Paris the exhibit will move to
Liege, Belgium, where the founder of the VSOE, Georges Nagelmackers,
a Belgian businessman, was from; and then to Vienna, the original last stop for
the train; and finally to Istanbul, the last stop of the train in Europe. So,
here we will look at the Orient Express through glasses colored by the peerispective of Turkey in ETERNAL SUNSHINE’S “Sweet Spot,”
2013A in Fall 1906.
But first we need to remind ourselves
of three things: 1) In regards to the old Ottoman
Empire and its partial successor, the modern state of Turkey, we are talking
about two different things. The old Ottoman Empire, often referred to in its
decline as “The Sick Man of Europe” was still very much alive and of interest
to the Europeans in the time period we are looking at. The Ottomans were
Muslims but they were not Arabs, something you will be constantly reminded of
if you visit Turkey today. The Ottoman Empire was centered in the traditional
“third Rome,” Byzantium, and then Constantinople, and finally Istanbul. Their
empire was centered in Turkey but it covered a vast area across North Africa,
the Near East, Arabia and the Middle East.
Try as they did the Ottoman/Turks were
never really successful in bridging the gap between their Turkish and Arab
peoples although they tried to hold their empire together with things like the
Orient Express. As we will see they are still trying to resolve this
today. However, do keep in mind that
there was and is a big difference between them.
2) There was until recently a
difference between the two different trains that make up the Orient Express
tradition. This gets confusing even to a train buff but later I’ll direct you
to a site that explains the difference between them. For now, just keep in mind
that the traditional Orient Express was a train that usually included two
classes of carriages and sometimes sleeping and dining cars as well that moved
between various points across Europe from Calais as far as Istanbul but the
make-up of the trains, the routes and the schedules changed constantly over the
last 130 years until recently and today there is no real train that can be
called the Orient Express. However, the second train, called the Venice Simplon
Orient Express (VSOE for short) is very much alive and the subject of the
current exhibit in Paris. This is the luxury train that high end travelers,
train buffs, travel writers and investors love to hear about.
There’s more than a passing connection
between the VSOE and Diplomacy as we learned in the first part of this story.
I, playing Turkey in Sweet Spot, was made aware of this right from the
beginning of the game when for no logical reason I decided to send Ankara to
Armenia in Spring 1901 and then on to Syria in Fall 1901! Although completely illogical and done
without malice aforethought the move caused a sensation, or at least
considerable confusion, among the other players; especially Russia, Austria and
the Italians! Plans for a Lepanto or a Reverse Lepanto went out the door as
everyone tried to figure out what I was up to. It was all very amusing to me
since I didn’t have a clue what I was up to. However, when the game is over I
suspect more than one player will agree with me that that dual order in 1901
changed the entire course of the game. Perhaps it was my sub-Freudian side
saluting my namesake Lawrence, and his romps through Arabia blowing up
Ottoman/Turkish trains, including some of the Orient Express, right and left.
Certainly I can remember those great scenes in “Lawrence of Arabia” when the
trains went flying.
3) There is also a problem with Taurus
and Tarsus and both seem to be used almost inter-changeably, so if you’re
searching online try both.
OK, so much for demographics and
semantics. On with the story! In this part of the story we are focusing on what
was known as the Tarsus Express, the train named for the ancient city known as
the home of Paul of Tarsus and a major trading and communications center
between Turkey, the Near East (what we think of as the Middle East or Levant
today) and the Middle East, and even Egypt by land. As you can see from the map the carriages,
trains, routes, schedules and owners/operators of the various elements of the
Tarsus Express changed over time. Still, a study of the history of the Tarsus
Express offers a fascinating insight into the history of the Near East and
influences us today. Today of course there is a huge difference, trains have
been replaced by airplanes and it is aircraft and airports that have the
importance that trains and railroads once did. It is no accident that the big
buyers of big jets and the builders of big airports are located in countries
like Turkey and Abu Dhabi. Where the Tarsus Express once ruled today its
Emirates Airlines!
For more information on the Tarsus Express http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taurus_Express
Let’s begin in Istanbul as it became
known in 1453 after the Ottoman conquest. Take a few minutes and look at a map
of the city and straits. If you have time look at some of the Rick Steve’s
videos on Istanbul, West Turkey, Central Turkey, Eastern Turkey, Israel, Egypt
are all helpful. And, of course, in addition to the movies I mentioned in the
first part, take time to watch “Lawrence of Arabia” again and its soundtrack
makes great background music as you pour over your map.
The usual panoramic and aerial view
shots of Istanbul make it look huge and in some ways it is, but the heart of
the city, like most great European cities, is actually quite small. First,
orient (There’s that word!) yourself on a larger map so you can see how
Istanbul relates to Europe. It’s a whole different perspective from the one you
get in Western Europe. Let one simple fact illustrate that: the staff of the
Turkish embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria is ten times the size of the Turkish embassy
in Paris! Look at the map of Istanbul and locate the key water areas, the main
mosques, public buildings and squares, the bridges (and don’t forget the new Mamaray Tunnel).
The tunnel is hugely important because
it will provide, among other things, an easy link between Istanbul’s two main train stations, the Haydarpasa Train Station (Asian side) and Sirkeci Terminal (European side), which was built
specifically as the terminal for the Orient Express, from which trains bound for Europe departed.
Prior to the construction of the Mamaray Tunnel,
which just opened a couple of months ago, passengers had to be ferried from
station to station to change trains. Now it’s a direct link through two
adjacent tunnels under the Bosphorus Strait.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmaray
PHOTO OF
HAYDARPASA TRAIN STATION
PHOTO OF SIRKECI TERMINAL
PHOTO OF PERA PALACE HOTEL
On October 4, 1883, the first voyage of
the Orient Express departed from the Gare de ‘Est in
Paris with farewell music from Mozart’s Turkish March (Remember, anything
Turkish or “oriental” was all the rage of the time in Western Europe, just as
it had been in Mozart’s time.). The route passed through Strasbourg, Karlsruhe,
Stuttgart, Ulm and Munich in Germany, Vienna in Austria, Budapest in Hungary,
Bucharest in Romania, Rousse and Varna in Bulgaria (but not Sofia!) ending in Sirkeci. The travel took 80 hours for the 3,094 kilometers,
at an average speed of about 28 miles per hour. That train ran in one
incarnation or another until 2009 when it was finally abandoned.
As mentioned, this is not to be
confused with the Venice Simplon Orient Express (VSOE), a luxury tourist train
utilizing restored coaches first used during the 1930s. The VSOE still makes one
journey per year to Istanbul, but mostly travels between Calais and
Venice. For more information
http://www.belmond.com/web/luxury/trains.jsp
Passengers on the original Orient
Express and later on the VSOE had their choice of hotels in Istanbul, just as
they did in Paris where the old Majestic, built for the opening of the Orient
Express and which today is being reborn as the new six stars Peninsula Paris,
awaits. Today in Istanbul the old Pera Palace,
originally built for the opening of the Orient Express and which underwent a
complete renovation from 2007 to 2010, awaits the day when the VSOE will return
to Istanbul, as it has said it will. If you can’t wait you can try the Pera Palace Hotel Jumeirah (a Taskim Hotels property) and visit the Kemel
Ataturk Suite/Museum (#101) or even sleep in the Agatha Christie Room (#411).
The hotel is a “special category” museum hotel with rates accordingly adjusted.
A 323 square foot room with 2 twin beds is USD 500 a night. A 528 square foot
room with 1 full bed is USD 550 a night. One of the six Greta Garbo rooms (There are six of them, all decorated in pink
silks.) will set you back even more. Dining at Christie’s Restaurant will cost
you as much as any other five star hotel in London or
Paris and, frankly, the hotel menu online didn’t look that impressive. More
fun, I think, would be the Brasserie l’Orient Express
in Liege, Belgium which I discovered doing a Google search. Liege is a fun town
and a lot cheaper than Paris or Istanbul I’m sure.
The story of the construction and
operation of the Orient Express and Tarsus Express can be either long or short
depending on how much detail you want to get into. Trust me, like most railroad
stories, the long version is far more interesting. However,
to summarize. The basic idea from beginning to end was simple: get the
best train system possible at little or no expense to Turkey. Everything else
was details and didn’t matter. To do this the Ottoman/Turks needed two things,
money and technology. In the early days the money came mainly from the French
and British. That pretty much got the system done as far as Istanbul and
covered the period from the 1880s until the outbreak of WWI. During WWI the
baton was passed to the Germans who provided the money and technology to expand
the system through Turkey, down the Mediterranean coast, and into parts of the
Near East. For more on this period here’s a fascinating story on the Tarsus
Express written by a travel writer in 1935, complete with photos of the day.
http://www.railwaywondersoftheworld.com/taurus-express.html I particularly enjoyed the story of
one bidding session on building a new section of the railroad. The
Ottoman/Turks invited representatives from the various powers to present their
proposals in Istanbul to the Divan. The British delegation presented its
proposal on a large silver tray covered with a map of the proposed route inlaid
in precious stones. The Germans sent the Kaiser (mano
a mano or Kaiser to Kaiser, it’s all the same) and
Dr. Siemens, head of Germany’s largest bank to talk turkey. Guess who got the
contract?
During WWI the Taurus Express moved,
slowly, in reverse as Lawrence and his friends destroyed more of it than the
Germans built. Later, as the British realized the importance of oil to their Navy
and the presence of oil in Iraq, etc. they took more of an interest in the area
and its railroads.
As the Ottoman Empire collapsed in a
series of minor wars that lasted until the 1920s the railroad system in the
area gradually collapsed. The various new countries took responsibility for
their own affairs and railroads were not a high priority item. Oil wells,
pipelines, refineries and shipping ports were the big ticket items of the day.
Later came airplanes, airlines and airports. And again
during WWII the entire system was basically shut down. Still, in theory, at its peak you could use
the Tarsus Express to get from Istanbul to Cairo, to Badhdad
and even to Tehran. But recently
Turkey’s rise in importance to Western Europe (first as a NATO ally and then as
a source of cheap labor) and to Japan began to create new interest resulting in
the on-going , on and off negotiations between the EU
and Turkey, and the occasional tidbit like the Japanese funding and
technological aid to build the Mamaray Tunnel under
the Bosphorus. Once again the Ottoman/Turks had
gotten something for next to nothing.
One story that just came out concerned
the negotiations between the Turks and Japanese just before the construction
deadline arrived for the Tunnel. According to one reliable source, after the
opening ceremony it was discovered that Turkish authorities (Obviously NOT
Erdogan or Gul) threatened their Japanese counterparts (Obviously NOT Abe)
working on Marmaray that they would commit suicide if
the project did not finish before the October 2013 deadline. Ministry
Infrastructure Investment Director (NOW there’s a likely candidate!) Metin Tahan, said that he and other Turks working on the project would
commit suicide if the project were not finished by the scheduled deadline,
perhaps because they knew that Erdogan would kill them anyway if it wasn’t.
Finally, here are a few updates on the
Paris exhibit that I learned after I wrote the first part of this story:
Best Headline: I looked at probably a
hundred different stories online about this exhibit. Most were just rewrites of
the original press release from the promoters of the exhibit, so the story was
the same whether you read it from a European, American, Asian, Australian or African source. My favorite headline, though,
was “The Orient Express Gets Back on Track.” From Ruth Bender
in the Wall Street Journal.
Details: I had to look at nearly 20
different sites to find something as basic as the hours and prices of the
exhibit. That’s amazing and indicative of how low journalism standards have
fallen. FYI, the exhibit is open from 4 April to 31 August in Paris. Tues-Thurs, 1000-1800 hrs, Fri, 1000-2130
hrs, Sat-Sun, 1000-1900 hrs. Prices are Full
price,10.5 euros, 14 USD, Reduced price, 8 euros, 11
USD, up to 16 years, free! (When did you see that in the USA?). No idea what
hours or prices will be in other cities. Check later online for details.
Video version of the story: Video on
VSOE begins about 6 minutes into the lead story.
Yannick Alleno Update: This story is all
about food as I suggested last time. You can do a Google search on Alleno and find dozens of stories about him and this
project. The thought of 11 VSOE chefs working in a 1,500 square foot kitchen
making everything from soufflés to bombes makes one shiver, but keep in mind
that the White House kitchen has 5 chefs working in just under
600 square feet and the La Meurice Hotel in Paris has
a kitchen staff of 94!
The History in it all: The VSOE, then
and now reflects the western fascination with the Near East at the time. Coach
2149 has a special place in history. It was where the agreement ending the
fighting in WWI was signed in Nuremburg and where, in 1940, Hitler signed the
agreement ending the fighting between Germany and France. “The VSOE has a slow
rhythm with a sumptuous décor which made it appealing to the times. The slow
pace would be perfect in today’s ‘slow food’ crazed world.” --- Jack Lange.
What’s next? The owners of the VSOE
(SNCF) hope to extend the route from Venice to Vienna and eventually to
Istanbul. As one executive said, “The VSOE of the 21st Century is now being
designed in Milan (NOT Paris!).”
And we should not forget the armchair
travelers among us. For them the exhibit offers the SNCF Thriller Prize finals,
consisting of readers’ voting for their favorite detective novel of the year,
along with an exhibition “Trains du mystere’ showing
the interfaces between rail and crime literature in the past 150 years.
Woolworth
II-D “Coney Island” 2013Bcb19, W 05
Seasons
Separated by Player Request
Austria (Secret):
Has A Mar.
Balkans
(Secret): Has A
Tyr, F Alb, A Gre, A Vie, A
Tri.
England
(Secret): Has A Yor, F Lon.
France
(Heath Gardner - heath.gardner “of”
gmail.com): Has F Eng, A Bur, F Tun.
Germany
(Marc Ellinger - mellinger
“of” bbdlc.com): Remove A Mun..Has
A Kie, A Ruh.
Italy
(Secret):
Bld F Rom..Has
F Rom, F Mor, F Tus, A Swi, A Nap, A Ven.
Russia
(Jim Burgess - jfburgess
“of” gmail.com): Bld F StP(sc)..Has F StP(sc),
A Sev, F Bal, A Boh, A Ber,
A Sil.
Scandinavia
(Geoff Kemp - ggeoff510 “of” aol.com): Has F Edi, F Nwg, F Nth, A Den.
Spain (Secret): Retreat
F Nth-Hol..Has F Hol, F Wms, A Bel,
A Gas, F Mad.
Turkey
(Hugh Polley – hapolley
“of” yahoo.ca): Has F Aeg, A Ruh,
A Mac, F Tys, F Ion.
Deadline
for Spring 06 is May 27th at 7am My Time
PRESS
(BOOB to DOUG): I know, I'm useless....
Doug –
Boob:
Well you saved me from having to say “you guys suck” this season.
By
Popular Demand
The goal is to pick something that fits the
category and will be the "most popular" answer. You score points based
on the number of entries that match yours. For example, if the category is
"Cats" and the responses were 7 for Persian, 3 for Calico and 1 for
Siamese, everyone who said Persian would get 7 points, Calico 3 and the lone
Siamese would score 1 point. The cumulative total over 10 rounds will determine
the overall winner. Anyone may enter at any point, starting with an equivalent
point total of the lowest cumulative score from the previous round. If a person
misses a round, they'll receive the minimum score from the round added to their
cumulative total. In each round you may specify one of your answers as your Joker answer. Your
score for this answer will be doubled.
In other words, if you apply your Joker to category 3 on a given turn,
and 4 other people give the same answer as you, you get 10 points instead of
5. Players who fail to submit a Joker
for any specific turn will have their Joker automatically applied to the first
category. And, if you want to submit some commentary with your answers, feel free
to. The game will consist of 10 rounds,
with the 10th round being worth double points. A prize will be awarded to the winner. Research is permitted, but cooperation or
collusion between players is not!
Round 5 Categories
1. A brand name of
coffee (whole bean or ground).
2. A button found on a
normal phone.
3. A Paul Newman film.
4. A Billy Joel song.
5. The capital of any
South American country.
Richard Weiss scored big with a 67 (out of a possible
69). Hugh Polley
was in the basement with a 23.
Selected Comments By
Category
Coffee – Melinda
Holley “I don't drink coffee so this is one from my childhood.” Dane Maslen “The
coffee brand was a bit awkward. My
immediate reaction was Nescafé as my guess was that it was as well-known in the
US as here in Europe, though personally I boycott Nestlé products because of
their approach to selling breast milk substitutes in Third World
countries. Then I rummaged around on the
internet to see what was popular and/or best selling
in the US. Popular gave Green Mountain, while
best selling gave Folgers. Having never heard of the former, I opted for
the latter.” Geoff Kemp “I assume you
have Nescafe as a brand in the States?”
Jim Burgess “Maxwell House probably will win. Or people will say Starbucks even though you
described it aimed at brand in the store.”
Marc Ellinger “This is tough, since a few
years ago you would have said Folgers or Maxwell House, now no-one drinks that
crap!”
Phone
Button – Melinda Holley “There are normal phones out there???” Richard Weiss “What is "normal"
anymore? Rotary dial. Push button. Cell. Button? There is a commercial on tv
now with an older man and a flip phone that says phones now only have three
buttons, but more are better, like when you dial a phone number with a
"4" in it.” Andy Lischett “Button? My phone has a dial!” Geoff Kemp “Nothing really springs to mind
but 1 is the first digit and also used for emergency
calls I believe?” Per Westling “Normal phone? Today a normal phone is a cell phone, and
possibly a smart phone. So I am going
for the Power button.”
Paul
Newman – Richard Weiss “Cool Hand Luke or The Sting are the two I enjoyed
the most, Butch Cassidy may be the one most selected.” Dane Maslen “A rare
instance of my being able to name a couple of films starring a particular
actor, though I did still resort to IMDB to check that I was right about The
Sting and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”
Marc Ellinger “Choosing between this and The
Sting is really hard (not to mention The Hustler, which was awesome too!!!) Of course, Slap Shot is one of the funniest
movies ever!” Brad Wilson “I'd like to
pitch two of his later films, little-known but terrific gems: Twilight, a film
noir in California pastel with an awesome cast - Gene Hackman, Susan Sarandon,
James Garner, Stockard Channing, Reese Witherspoon,
Margo Martindale, M. Emmet Walsh - and a terrific
Elmer Bernstein score, and also Nobody's Fool, a gentle, wry, bittersweet
comedy from a Richard Russo novel with a dazzling ensemble cast, a major, major
star in a uncredited role and some moments that make me cry every time I see
the film. I recommend both highly.”
Billy Joel – Richard Weiss “Piano
Man or Only the Good Die Young, hmmm…”
Geoff Kemp “Not my favourite Billy Joel track but possibly the best known one.” Marc Ellinger “After
all, he IS the Piano Man!”
SA
Capital – Andy Lichett “Bogata
- Which I learned from the album McCartney.”
Geoff Kemp “Hopefully obvious with the World Cup
coming up.” Per Westling “The natural choice would be the capitol of Brazil,
but I am not sure that is well known. So instead I go for Buenos Aires,
Argentina. Have never been to South America, but someday I will go there.
Brazil is the likely land to visit, but maybe I'll go to Sao Paolo and Rio de
Janeiro, although none of those two are capitols of the countries, but of
course of states.” Marc Ellinger “Brazil has the world cup and the next Olympics,
so why not.”
Round 6 Categories
1. Something sticky
besides tape.
2. An album that Paul
McCartney appears on.
3. Another word for
“laugh”.
4. A mixed adult
beverage besides martini.
5. A small U.S. state.
Deadline for Round 6 is May 27th at 7:00am
my time
May
2014
