Saudi king books entire luxury hotel for 18-day stay in Turkey, report

A view of the Mardan Palace Hotel in Antalya. (Photo: DHA)

November 07, 2015, Saturday/ 11:30:17

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz, who is due to arrive in Turkey soon for the upcoming G-20 summit, has reportedly rented the entire Mardan Palace Hotel in the southern province of Antalya for his 18-day stay in the popular tourist destination.

The king, who is accompanied by a 1,000-member delegation, will pay $18 million for his stay at the luxury hotel, Hürriyet newspaper reported on Saturday.

The 560-room hotel and villa complex, branded as one of the most luxurious hotels of the world, will be closed to other guests for 18 days.

Red carpets will be laid down in hallways in the hotel and even in the helipad so that the Saudi monarch will not have to touch asphalt when arriving at or departing the hotel.

Hürriyet said the hotel personnel are being given special training and the rooms are redecorated to accommodate the king's taste.

Mardan Palace was acquired this week by Turkey's Halkbank. Built by Russian Azerbaijani businessman Telman Ismailov at a cost of $1.4 billion in 2009, the flashy complex has been put up for sale by an Antalya bankruptcy court for TL 207 million worth of debt that Ismailov owed to another lender, Garanti Bankası.

In a one-bidder tender on Monday, Halkbank purchased the complex for TL 360 million. However, the bank will reportedly only pay TL 207 million to cover the hotel's old debts to Garanti, while it will write off its own receivables stemming from Ismailov's separate debts to Halkbank.

King Salman, head of one of the world's richest royal families, rented every room in the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown for himself and his entourage during a visit to Washington in September.

The king's luxurious taste has stirred protests in France this summer, when more than 100,000 people signed a petition against closure of a beach on the French Riviera to allow the monarch to holiday in private.

Ελληνικα λαθραια αρχαια αγαλματα βρεθηκαν σε λιμανι της ταιλανδης Διαμετη! 11-5-2015

11-5-2015

Ελληνικα λαθραια αρχαια αγαλματα βρεθηκαν σε λιμανι της ταιλανδης Διαμετη! 
ΙΣΩΣ ΓΙΑ ΑΥΤΑ ΠΡΕΠΗ ΝΑ ΜΕΣΟΛΑΒΗΣΗ ΚΑΠΟΙΟΣ ΓΙΑ ΝΑ ΕΡΘΟΥΝ ΣΤΗΝ ΠΑΤΡΙΔΑ!
Αυτο ειναι μεσα στα πλαισια των δυνατοτητων και μεσα στα πλαισια του νομου για επιστροφες αρχαιοτητων!

الأربعاء، 04 نوفمبر 2015 - 05:24 م


دمياط ـ معتز الشربينى تمكنت جمارك ميناء دمياط، من ضبط أكبر حاوية تضم آثار فرعونية ورومانية ويونانية قبل تهريبها إلى تايلاند. وكشفت المعاينة الأولية لحاوية الآثار التى تم ضبطها داخل ميناء، أنها حاوية 20 قدم برقم 8/ 861405 وتخص شركة للاستيراد والتصدير كانت متجهة إلى بانكوك بتايلاند عبر ميناء دمياط وهى حاوية بمشمول مستلزمات مقاهى عبارة عن عدة شيشة ومناديل ورقية والتى اشتبه فى مشمولها من مأمورى جمارك الصادر طارق الفرارجى ومحمد العوضى. وقام المختصون، بإبلاغ غريب محمد الغريب مدير عام الصادر بجمارك دمياط والذى أمر بالتحفظ على الحاوية، حيث تبين أنها تضم كميات كبيرة من الآثار ترجع إلى العصر اليونانى والفرعونى والرومانى بينها تماثيل كاملة وأجسام تماثيل ورؤس تماثيل، ويتم حاليا فحص محتوياتها بمعرفة لجنة مشكلة من الآثار والجمارك. 


δοχείο επί του σκάφους, τα αποτελέσματα της λαθραία στην Ταϊλάνδη Δαμιέτη Λιμάνι Την Τετάρτη 4 Νοέμ - το 2015 17:24 Κατασχέσεις Δαμιέτη Moataz El-Σεμπρίνι Ικανός Τελωνείο λιμάνι της Δαμιέτη, για να ρυθμίσετε το μεγαλύτερο δοχείο περιλαμβάνει φαραωνικού, ρωμαϊκά, ελληνικά επιπτώσεις προτού λαθραία στην Ταϊλάνδη. Αποκάλυψε την αρχική επιθεώρηση των επιπτώσεων του δοχείου που έχουν κατασχεθεί εντός του λιμένα, είναι ένας αριθμός εμπορευματοκιβώτιο 20 ποδών 8/861405 και ανήκουν στην εταιρεία για την εισαγωγή και την εξαγωγή κατευθυνόταν προς Μπανγκόκ, Ταϊλάνδη, μέσω του λιμανιού της Δαμιέτη ένα δοχείο Bmhmol κιτ καφενεία μια σειρά από ναργιλέ και χαρτί υγείας, το οποίο ήταν ύποπτος για Mhmolha των δικαστικών επιμελητών Τελωνείων εκδοθεί Tariq Lafrarjy και Mohammed Al-Awadi. Οι ειδικοί, ενημερώνει παράξενο Μοχάμεντ παράξενο, Γενικός Διευθυντής Τελωνείων Δαμιέτη, ο οποίος διέταξε την κατάσχεση του δοχείου, όπου διαπιστώθηκε ότι έχουν μεγάλες ποσότητες Αρχαιοτήτων που χρονολογείται από το φαραωνικού και Γκρέκο και ρωμαϊκά αγάλματα, συμπεριλαμβανομένης της πλήρους και φορείς αγάλματα και αγάλματα των αρχηγών, και το περιεχόμενό τους εξετάζονται επί του παρόντος από μια επιτροπή που αποτελείται από τα μνημεία και τα έθιμα. 

Η ανακάλυψη του Τουταγχαμών 1922 image

Nov. 4, 1922

The discovery of
Tutankhamun, in color

Unboxing King Tut, the boy pharoah

by Alex Q. Arbuckle




November 1925

Tutankhamun's burial mask.

IMAGE: HARRY BURTON (C) THE GRIFFITH INSTITUTE, OXFORD. COLORIZED BY DYNAMICHROME FOR THE EXHIBITION “THE DISCOVERY OF KING TUT” IN NEW YORK.



Jan. 4, 1924

Howard Carter, Arthur Callender and an Egyptian worker open the doors of the innermost shrine and get their first look at Tutankhamun's sarcophagus.




In 1907, Egyptologist and archaeologist Howard Carter was hired by George Herbert, the 5th Earl of Carnarvon to oversee excavations in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. Carter had built a reputation for scrupulously recording and preserving discoveries.

Carter searched the valley for years with little to show for it, which drew the ire of his employer. In 1922, Lord Carnarvon told Carter that he had only one more season of digging before his funding would be ended.

Revisiting a previously abandoned dig site at a group of huts, Carter started digging again, desperate for a breakthrough.

On Nov. 4, 1922, his crew discovered a step carved into the rock. By the end of the next day, a whole staircase had been uncovered. Carter wired Carnarvon, imploring him to come at once.

On Nov. 26, with Carnarvon at his side, Carter chipped open a small breach in the corner of the doorway at the end of the stairs. Holding a candle, he peered inside.
At first I could see nothing, the hot air escaping from the chamber causing the candle flame to flicker, but presently, as my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the room within emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues, and gold — everywhere the glint of gold.
HOWARD CARTER



December 1922

A ceremonial bed in the shape of the Celestial Cow, surrounded by provisions and other objects in the antechamber of the tomb.




The team had discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun, the boy king who ruled Egypt from about 1332 to 1323 BC.

Though there was evidence the tomb had twice been raided by ancient grave robbers, it was still remarkably intact. The tomb was crammed with thousands of priceless artifacts, including the sarcophagus containing the king’s mummified remains.

Every object in the tomb was meticulously recorded and cataloged before being removed, a process that took nearly eight years.

These photographs documenting the discovery of the tomb have been colorized by Dynamichrome for the exhibition The Discovery of King Tut, opening in New York on Nov. 21. With precisely crafted replicas and reconstructions, the exhibit allows visitors to step into exact recreations of three burial chambers just as the discoverers saw them.



December 1922

A gilded lion bed, clothes chest and other objects in the antechamber. The wall of the burial chamber is guarded by statues.





c. 1923

An assortment of model boats in the treasury of the tomb.





December 1922

A gilded lion bed and inlaid clothes chest among other objects in the antechamber.





December 1922

Under the lion bed in the antechamber are several boxes and chests, and an ebony and ivory chair which Tutankhamun used as a child.





c. 1923

A gilded bust of the Celestial Cow Mehet-Weret and chests sit in the treasury of the tomb.






c. 1923

Chests inside the treasury.





December 1922

Ornately carved alabaster vases in the antechamber.





January 1924

In a "laboratory" set up in the tomb of Sethos II, conservators Arthur Mace and Alfred Lucas clean one of the sentinel statues from the antechamber.






Nov. 29, 1923

Howard Carter, Arthur Callender and an Egyptian worker wrap one of the sentinel statues for transport.





December 1923

Arthur Mace and Alfred Lucas work on a golden chariot from Tutankhamun's tomb outside the "laboratory" in the tomb of Sethos II.





c. 1923

A statue of Anubis on a shrine with pallbearers' poles in the treasury of the tomb.






Dec. 2, 1923

Carter, Callende, and two workers remove the partition wall between the antechamber and the burial chamber.





December 1923

Inside the outermost shrine in the burial chamber, a huge linen pall with gold rosettes, reminiscent of the night sky, covers the smaller shrines within.





Dec. 30th, 1923

Carter, Mace and an Egyptian worker carefully roll up the linen pall covering the second shrine.






December 1923

Carter, Callender and two Egyptian workers carefully dismantle one of the golden shrines within the burial chamber.





October 1925

Carter examines Tutankhamun's sarcophagus.





October 1925

Carter and a worker examine the solid gold innermost sarcophagus.





c. 1923

Lord Carnarvon, financier of the excavation, reads on the veranda of Carter's house near the Valley of the Kings.

IMAGE: HARRY BURTON (C) THE GRIFFITH INSTITUTE, OXFORD. COLORIZED BY DYNAMICHROME FOR THE EXHIBITION “THE DISCOVERY OF KING TUT” IN NEW YORK.

Cyborg Cockroaches Could Save Your Life | Cyborg Nation

Δημοσιεύτηκε στις 4 Νοε 2015

Most consider them pesky critters, but Dr. Alper Bozkurt of North Carolina State University thinks that cockroaches have the potential to save human lives. By hacking their antennae and transforming them into remote-controlled creatures, he believes we can use the cyber roaches as a mobile search and rescue team to help find survivors during natural disasters. 

Ancient Greek fortress thought to have been unearthed in Jerusalem

Δημοσιεύτηκε στις 3 Νοε 2015

Israeli archaeologists unearth what they think is an ancient Greek fortress in Jerusalem. . Report by Asana Greenstreet.

New APEX instrument for finding water in the Universe

eso1543 — Organisation Release

First Observations from SEPIA

New APEX instrument for finding water in the Universe

4 November 2015

A new instrument attached to the 12-metre Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) telescope at 5000 metres above sea level in the Chilean Andes is opening up a previously unexplored window on the Universe. The Swedish–ESO PI receiver for APEX (SEPIA) will detect the faint signals from water and other molecules within the Milky Way, other nearby galaxies and the early Universe.

Installed on APEX earlier this year, SEPIA [1] is sensitive to light with wavelengths in the range 1.4–1.9 millimetres [2]. The exceptional observing conditions on the extremely dry Chajnantor Plateau in northern Chile mean that, although this light is blocked by water vapour in the atmosphere at most places on Earth, SEPIA is still able to detect the faint signals coming from space.

This wavelength region is of great interest to astronomers as signals from water in space are found here. Water is an important indicator of many astrophysical processes, including the formation of stars, and is believed to play an important role in the origin of life. Studying water in space — in molecular clouds, in star-forming regions and even in comets within the Solar System — is expected to provide critical clues to the role of water in the Milky Way and in the history of the Earth. In addition, SEPIA’s sensitivity makes it a powerful tool for also detecting carbon monoxide and ionised carbon in galaxies in the early Universe.

The new SEPIA receiver has been used to make test astronomical observations at APEX during 2015. Identical receivers are being installed in the ALMA antennas. Results from the new detector on APEX have shown it to be working well. With this validation, SEPIA is being made available to the wider scientific community. Observations with SEPIA can now be proposed by astronomers in the community.

"The first measurements with SEPIA on APEX show that we really are opening up a new window, including looking at water in interstellar space — SEPIA  will give astronomers a chance to search for objects that can be followed up at higher spatial resolution when the same receiver becomes operational on the ALMA array," says John Conway, director of Onsala Space Observatory, Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden.

Just as dark skies are essential to see faint objects in visible light, a very dry atmosphere is needed to pick up the signals from water in the cosmos at longer wavelengths. But dry conditions are not the only requirement, the detectors need to be cooled to a very low temperature of –269 degrees Celsius — just 4 degrees above absolute zero — for them to work. Recent technological advancements have only now made these detectors possible and practical.

APEX, which is a collaboration between the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR), the Onsala Space Observatory (OSO) and ESO, is the largest single-dish submillimetre telescope operating in the southern hemisphere and is based on a prototype antenna constructed for the ALMA project.

Notes

[1] SEPIA stands for “Swedish ESO PI receiver for APEX”. SEPIA was designed and built by Onsala Space Observatory's Group for Advanced Receiver Development (GARD) at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, and supported by ESO. SEPIA has room for three receivers and currently one receiver is in position. The receiver cartridge was originally developed and tested for ALMA Band 5 as part of a project under the European Commission supported Framework Programme FP6 (ALMA Enhancement). ESO delivered the local oscillator source and the room temperature electronics were produced by NRAO.  (ann15059).

Sepia is also a colour with a close connection to water. The reddish-brown shade, characteristic of pigment collected from the cuttlefish of genus Sepia (found in the waters of both Sweden and Chile), has been used in ink since ancient times and sepia toning is a well-known way of giving photographic prints a longer life.

[2] Frequencies between 158 and 211 GHz.

More information

APEX is a collaboration between the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR), the Onsala Space Observatory (OSO) and ESO. Operation of APEX at Chajnantor is carried out by ESO.

ALMA is a partnership of ESO (representing its Member States), NSF (USA) and NINS (Japan), together with NRC (Canada), NSC and ASIAA (Taiwan), and KASI (South Korea), in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. The Joint ALMA Observatory is operated by ESO, AUI/NRAO and NAOJ.

ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world’s most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It is supported by 16 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, along with the host state of Chile. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world’s most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world’s largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is a major partner in ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. And on Cerro Armazones, close to Paranal, ESO is building the 39-metre European Extremely Large Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become “the world’s biggest eye on the sky”.

Blue Glaucus, Blue Sea Slug, or Sea Swallow?

The blue glaucus (Glaucus atlanticus), sometimes called the blue sea slug or blue ocean slug, is a bizarre-looking marine creature in the group of sea slugs known as nudibranchs. Found in the temperate and tropical waters of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, this slender, up-to-3-centimeter-long slug lives its life floating upside-down on the surface of the ocean thanks to an air bubble which it swallows and keeps inside its stomach. Its color pattern, an example of a phenomenon known as countershading, helps it avoid both flying and swimming predators while floating wherever the wind and the currents take it: its underside, which faces upward, is blue, helping it blend into the water’s surface when seen from above, while its back, which faces downward, is a more grayish color, helping it blend into the ocean when seen from below. This camouflage, however, is not the blue glaucus’ only form of self-defense. It feeds on animals known as hydrozoans (in the same phylum as jellyfish), especially the highly venomous Portuguese Man-O’-War. Although a sting by a Portuguese Man-O’-War is very painful to a human, the blue glaucus, like some other nudibranchs, can swallow its prey’s stinging cells (known as nematocysts) without hurting itself. It may be able to protect itself from the sting both by secreting mucus and by hard discs in its skin. Far from being harmed by the poison, the blue glaucus stores it in the up to 84 finger-like structures or cerata sticking out of its body, and uses it to defend itself against predators.

NASA Sees Cyclone Chapala Approaching Landfall in Yemen

On Nov. 2, 2015 at 09:40 UTC (4:40 p.m. EDT) the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured an image of Tropical Cyclone Chapala as the eye of the storm was approaching the Yemen coast. Chapala maintained an eye, although it appeared cloud-covered. Animated multispectral satellite imagery shows the system has maintained a 15-nautical-mile-wide eye and structure. The image was created by the MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland.

Chapala weakened from category four intensity a couple days ago while maintaining a course that steers it toward Yemen.