Coğrafi Konum

Herhangi bir noktanın dünya üzerinde kapladığı alana coğrafi konum denir.

1.     MATEMATİK (MUTLAK) KONUM

Matematik Konum; bir yerin Ekvator’a  ve Greenwich ‘e göre  konumudur.

Bir yerin matematik konumu ifade edilirken en uç noktalar ifade edilir. Örneğin: Türkiye

36° -42° kuzey pararlelleri (enlem)  ile

26°-45° doğu meridyenleri (boylam) arasındadır.

ÜLKEMİZİN UÇ NOKTALARI

Doğuda: Iğdır-Aralık- Dilucu

Batıda: Çanakkale-Gökçeada -Avlaka Burnu

Kuzeyde: Sinop-İnceburun

Güneyde: Hatay-Yayladağı- Topraktutan köyü

PARALELLER

Kutuplara eşit uzaklıktaki noktaların birleştirilmesiyle elde edilen hayali çembere Ekvator denir. 

PARALELLERİN ÖZELLİKLERİ

 Başlangıç paraleli Ekvator'dur ve en büyük paralel dairesidir (40.076km). Dünyanın şeklinden dolayı Kutuplara 

gidildikçe çevre uzunlukları azalır.

Paralellerin derecesi kuzey ve güneye doğru artar.

Ardışık iki paralel arasındaki uzaklık  her yerde 111 km dir. 

Önemli!

Paralel farkı ile uzaklık hesaplanabilmesi için bize verilen merkezler aynı meridyen üzerinde olmalıdır.

ENLEM VE ETKİLERİ

Enlem;  herhangi bir noktanın Ekvatora olan uzaklığının açı cinsinden değeridir.

Güneş ışınlarının düşme açısı ve sıcaklık  kutuplara doğru azalır.

Denizlerin sıcaklığı ve tuzluluğu kutuplara doğru azalır.

İklim ve bitki örtüsü kutuplara doğru değişir.

Kalıcı  kar sınırı ile tarım, orman  ve yerleşme üst sınırı  kutuplara doğru azalır.

Gece -gündüz arasındaki zaman farkı kutuplara doğru artar.

Çizgisel hız kutuplara doğru azalır. Bunun sonucunda tan (Güneşin doğuşu)  ve gurup (Güneşin batışı ) süreleri 

kutuplara doğru uzar.

AYNI ENLEM ÜZERİNDE ORTAK ÖZELLİKLER

 Ekvatora olan uzaklık

 Güneş ışınlarının düşme açısı

 Çizgisel hız

 Yaşanan mevsim

İklim kuşağı

Gece-gündüz uzunluğu

MERİDYENLER

Paralelleri dik olarak kesen ve kutuplarda birleşen hayali dairelere meridyen daireleri  denir .

MERİDYENLERİN ÖZELLİKLERİ

Başlangıç meridyeni Greenwich’ tir. Greenwich’in 180 batısında ve  180 doğusunda olmak üzere 360 tane meridyen 

yayı vardır.

Kutuplarda birleştikleri için; aralarındaki uzaklık kutuplara doğru azalır.

 İki meridyen arasındaki yerel saat farkı her yerde 4 dakikadır.

Önemli!

Meridyenler arasındaki uzaklık kutuplara doğru azalmasına rağmen yerel saat farkı aynıdır. Bu durumun sebebi, çizgisel hızın kutuplara doğru azalmasıdır.

BOYLAM VE ETKİLERİ

Boylam: Herhangi bir noktanın başlangıç meridyenine olan uzaklığının açı cinsinden değeridir.

Boylamın tek etkisi yerel saat farkları oluşturmasıdır.

AYNI BOYLAMDA ORTAK ÖZELLİKLER

 Öğle vakti

 Yerel saat

 Cisimlerin gölgesinin en kısa olduğu an

Başlangıç meridyeni ile arasındaki zaman farkı

Ekinokslarda güneşin doğuş ve batış vakti

YEREL SAAT

Bir yerin kendine özgü saatidir. Güneşin ufuk  çizgisindeki konumuna göre belirlenir.

Önemli!

Dünyamız ekseni çevresinde batıdan doğuya doğru döndüğü için

 güneş doğuda erken doğar, erken batar.

 doğudaki bir merkezin yerel saati her zaman daha ileridir.

ORTAK SAAT

Bir ülkede herhangi bir meridyenin yerel saatinin ülke sınırları içinde geçerli hale getirilmesine ortak saat denir.

Doğu-batı yönünde geniş alan kaplayan ülkelerde birden fazla ortak saat kullanılmaktadır. En fazla Rusya’da bulunmaktadır.

SAAT DİLİMLERİ VE ULUSLAR ARASI SAAT

Dünyamız 15°' lik meridyen yayları şeklinde 24 saat dilimine ayrılmıştır.

Saat dilimlerinde de başlangıç olarak Greenwich'in 7°30' doğusu ile 7°30' batısı kabul edilmiştir.

Türkiye’de, güneş ışıgından faydalanarak enerji tasarrufu sağlamak amacıyla yaz ve kış saati uygulanmaktaydı. (2016 yılından sonra  yaz saati sürekli hale geldi).

TÜRKİYENİN MATEMATİK (MUTLAK) KONUMUNUN SONUÇLARI

Kuzey Yarım Küre'de ılıman iklim kuşağındadır.

Doğusu ile batısı arasında 19°'lik boylam farkı vardır. Bunun sonucu olarak 76 dk.lık yerel saat farkı vardır (19x4=76 

dk.). 

 İkinci ve üçüncü saat dilimlerinde yer alır.

TÜRKİYE’NİN ORTA KUŞAKTA OLMASININ SONUÇLARI

 Dört mevsim belirgin olarak yaşanır. Bu durum turizm ve  yetiştirilen tarım ürün çeşitliliğini artırmıştır.

  

Kışın görülen yağışlar cephesel kökenlidir.

  

Akdeniz iklimi  görülür.

Batı rüzgarları kuşağındadır.

Güneş ışınları hiçbir zaman dik açıyla düşmez. Bu sebeple bir cismin gölgesi hiçbir zaman sıfır olmaz. (döneceler 

dışında olmasının sonucu)

TÜRKİYE’NİN KUZEY YARIM KÜREDE OLMASININ SONUÇLARI

 Kıyılarımızda sıcaklık güneyden kuzeye doğru azalır.

  

Akdeniz'in tuzluluk oranı Karadeniz'den daha yüksektir.

Deniz turizmi Akdeniz Bölgesi'nde erken başlar.

Yurdumuzda bir cismin gölgesi bütün yıl kuzeye düşer.

Dağların güney yamaçları, kuzey yamaçlarından daha sıcaktır.

Kuzeyden esen rüzgarlar sıcaklığı düşürürken, güneyden esenler artırır.

Yurdumuzda güneyden kuzeye gece ile gündüz arasındaki  fark artar.

Kalıcı kar sınırı ile tarım, yerleşme ve orman üst sınırı Akdeniz bölgesinde 2100m iken, Karadeniz Bölgesinde 2000 

m dir

2.     ÖZEL KONUM (GÖRECELİ)

Herhangi bir yerin kıtalara, denizlere, dağ sıralarına, boğazlara , komşu ülkelere, ulaşım yollarına, yer altı - yerüstü kaynaklarına  vb. göre olan konumu özel konumudur.

TÜRKİYE’NİN ÖZEL (GÖRECELİ) KONUMUNUN SONUÇLARI

Ülkemiz; Eski Dünya karaları adı da verilen Asya, Avrupa ve Afrika kıtalarının birbirine en çok yaklaştığı yerde
bulunur. 

Asya -Avrupa arasındaki  önemli ticaret ve ulaşım yolları Türkiye’den geçer.

Üç tarafı denizlerle çevrili bir yarım adadır.

 Petrol bakımından zengin ülkelere komşudur.

Ortalama yükseltisi fazla ve engebelidir.

 Yer şekilleri engebeli olduğundan kısa mesafede iklim değişimi fazladır.

Değişik mevsim özellikleri aynı zamanda görülebilmektedir.

Dağlar genelde doğu-batı doğrultusunda uzandığından kuzey-güney yönünde ulaşım birçok yerde zordur.

Yükselti batıdan doğuya doğru arttığı için doğuya doğru sıcaklık azalır.

Akarsularımızın hidroelektrik potansiyeli fazladır.

 İstanbul-Çanakkale boğazlarına sahiptir. Bu boğazlar Karadeniz’e kıyısı olan ülkelerin Akdeniz’e ve Okyanuslara 
çıkış kapısıdır.

Not: Karadeniz’e kıyısı olan ülkeler: Gürcistan, Rusya, Ukrayna , Romanya ve Bulgaristan’dır.

TÜRKİYE’NİN JEOPOLİTİK KONUMU

Herhangi bir ülkenin dünya üzerinde bulunduğu alanın askeri, siyasi, kültürel ve ekonomik bakımdan önemi jeopolitik konumunu ifade eder.

JEOPOLİTİK KONUMU ETKİLEYEN UNSURLAR

1.     DEĞİŞMEYEN UNSURLAR

 Coğrafi konum

 İklim ve bitki örtüsü

Su kaynakları

Yer şekilleri

Jeolojik yapı

Stratejik kaynaklar

Coğrafi şekli (ada, yarımada gibi)

2.DEĞİŞEN UNSURLAR

 Askeri değerler

 Politik değerler

Sosyal -kültürel değerler

 Ekonomik değerler

Bilimsel ve teknolojik değerler

MEVSİMLER

21 MART- 23 EYLÜL (EKİNOKS TARİHLERİ)

 Güneş ışınları Ekvatora dik düşer.

 Güneş tam doğudan doğup, tam batıdan batar.

 Gece –gündüz eşitliği yaşanır.

 Aynı meridyen üzerindeki bütün merkezlerde güneş aynı anda doğar, aynı anda batar.

 21 Mart: İlkbahar başlangıcıdır. Bu tarihten sonra Türkiye'de gündüz süresi 12 saatten daha uzundur.

 23Eylül: Sonbahar başlangıcıdır. Bu tarihten sonra Türkiye'de gündüz süresi 12 saatten daha kısadır.

21 HAZİRAN (GÜN DÖNÜMÜ)

 Güneş ışınları Yengeç Dönencesine dik gelir

Güneş ışınları Türkiye'ye en büyük açıyla gelir.

Yıl içinde en kısa gölge boyu ölçülür.

Türkiye'de yaz başlangıcıdır.

Türkiye'de en uzun gündüz  yaşanır. Bu tarihten sonra gündüzler kısalmaya başlar ve 21 Aralık'a kadar devam eder.

Aynı meridyen üzerinde kuzeye doğru  gündüzler, güneye doğru  geceler uzar.

Aynı meridyen üzerindeki merkezlerden daha kuzeydekinde güneş  erken doğar, geç batar.

21 ARALIK (GÜN DÖNÜMÜ)

 Güneş ışınları Oğlak Dönencesine dik gelir.
Güneş ışınları  Türkiye'ye en küçük açıyla gelir.  
Yıl içinde en uzun gölge boyu ölçülür.
Türkiye'de kış başlangıcıdır.
Türkiye'de en uzun gece  yaşanır. Bu tarihten sonra gündüzler uzamaya başlar ve  21 Haziran tarihine kadar devam eder.
Aynı meridyen üzerinde kuzeye doğru geceler, güneye doğru gündüzler uzar.
Aynı meridyen üzerindeki noktalardan daha güneydekinde güneş erken doğar, geç batar. 

NOT:

İlkbahar mevsimi: 21 Mart-21Haziran

Yaz mevsimi: 21Haziran-23 Eylül

Sonbahar mevsimi: 23 Eylül-21 Aralık

Kış mevsimi: 21 Aralık-21 Mart

NOT : 21 Mart-23 Eylül tarihleri arasında gündüzler gecelerden daha uzundur (12 saatten fazla).

23Eylül-21 Mart tarihleri arasında  geceler gündüzlerden  daha uzundur (12 saatten az)

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Yeniden

Esenlikler. Şubat 2018 itibariyle yeniden hayata dönüş yapıyorum. Medyabot olarak en güncel ve ücretsiz programlar yakında.

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Kripto Paralar Dünya'nın Başına Bela Olacak Çevreyi Mahvedecek

Son günlerde herkes kripto paralara odaklanmış durumda ve bu işle ilgilenen kime sorarsam aldığım cevap şu "çok mükemmel bir teknoloji, insanlığa çağ atlatacak vs vs.".

Bu işin altında yatan yazılımlar gerçekten ileri teknoloji kodlar içeriyor olabilir, buna lafım yok. Ancak ortada çok bariz bir durum var: "kripto para madencileri kaynakları aşırı derecede boşa harcıyorlar". Buradaki "aşırı" kelimesi yetersiz bile kalır ancak daha ötesinde bir kelime şu an aklıma gelmedi.

Gelin bu işin detayına inelim.

Öncelikle kripto paralar üzerinden 2 türlü para kazanıldığını bilmek gerekiyor. Birinci yöntem borsada bu paraların değeri düştüğü an alınıp, değeri yükseldiği an satılmasına dayanıyor. İkinci yöntemse daha farklı. İkinci yöntemde bireyler kendi donanımlarını alıyorlar(Ekran kartları genelde daha çok kullanılıyor) ve bu donanımları uygun şekillerde birleştiriyorlar. Tabi sadece bir donanım almyorlar klasik bir bilgisayar için gereken tüm parçalar ayrı ayrı alınıyor.
Buradan da göreceğiniz gibi bu donanımların taleplerinde aşırı şekilde artış oluyor ve üretici firmalar fabrikalarında daha fazla üretime gidiyorlar. Daha fazla üretim demek daha fazla hammadde gereksinimi demek. Bahsi geçen donanımlar çevreye aşırı derecede zararlı işlemler sonrasında elde edilen hammaddelerden ve işlenmeleri sırasında korkunç seviyelerde emisyona sebep olan işlemler sonucunda üretiliyorlar. Gördüğünüz gibi ilk aşamada dahi çevreye zararı tartışılamayacak kadar büyük oluyor.

Peki bu donanımları almakla iş bitiyor mu? HAYIR!

Donanımlar alındıktan sonra bir güzel birleştiriliyor ve bunların en küçüğüne bile(6 ekran kartlı bir sistemden örnek veriyorum) 1200 WATT'lık bir güç kaynağı takılıyor. Yani bu sistem gece gündüz 1200 Watt enerjiyi şebekeden çekiyor ve santrallerde daha fazla elektrik üretilmesine sebep oluyor. Şimdi detaylı düşünmeye gerek yok. Bu elektrik en azından bizim ülkemizde neyle üretiliyor? Doğalgaz ve kömürle... Bu kaynaklar çevreye zararlı gazlar ve küller bırakan kaynaklar, kısacası fosil yakıtlar. Fosil yakıtların zaten çevrenin altını üstüne getirdiği bu dönemde böyle bir etkiyi sizce Dünya kaldırır mı? Zaten mahvettiğimiz gezegenimize bir de böyle bir darbe vurmamız doğru mudur? Karar sizlerin vicdanına kalmış.

Bu yazıyı gerçekten içim acıyarak yazdım. İnsanlar 2-3 kuruşun peşinde koşmak uğruna çevreyi hiç düşünmeden böylesine zararlı yöntemler kullanmaktan hiç çekinmiyorlar. Üstelik kazandıkları şey de tamamen sanal bir ürün. Yarın öbür gün bu işlemler bittiğinde ellerinde hiçbir şey olmayacak. Sadece çevreye verdikleri zararla hatırlarda kalacaklar. - M.Kağan ÖZBİLGE

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Aljon and John Andrew Cifra

Cifra Brothers

Posing Winter 2017/18

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Armstrong Family Homestead Tracts at Mt. Cuba -- Part I

Armstrong properties of the 18th & 19th Centuries

I want to introduce here the first of several guest posts researched and written by Donald Prather, a descendant of several MCH families (because, of course, no one comes from just one). As you'll see, this sojourn into a prominent MCH family and their holdings all started with a simple photograph found in a grandparent's attic, and the even simpler question, "Where the heck is this?" Great thanks to Don for all his hard work, and I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

Researched and Written by Donald Prather --

Introduction
In his posts on the Mill Creek Hundred (New Castle County, Delaware) History Blog, Scott Palmer provides excellent insight into an area of northern New Castle County which came to be dominated by two groups of Armstrong family members from the late 18th century up through the early 20th century. The proliferation of properties owned by Armstrong families just north of Price’s Corner, along both Centre Road and Centerville Road, started with Robert Armstrong [(b) 1743 (d) 1821] and his purchase of the Hedgeland property, acquired some time prior to 1782. Opposite Hedgeland just across Centre Road, William Armstrong purchased and farmed a property known as Woodside, a property occupied today by the Ferris School. Just south of Woodside, across Faulkland Road, the Woodland and Brookland farms were owned and worked by generations of Armstrong families for over two centuries. And just to the northwest of these properties, down Faulkland Road and north on Centerville Road, was John Paulsen Armstrong’s Oakland farm.

Another early concentration of Armstrong family members in northern Delaware was located along today’s Barley Mill Road just south of Ashland in the immediate vicinity of the Mt. Cuba Center. This particular concentration of Armstrongs began in 1817 with a purchase of a 98 acre tract of land by Archibald Armstrong [(b) 1759 (d) 1826]. A later purchase of an adjoining property by Archibald’s son John more than doubled the size of the Armstrong presence in the area in 1842. The two adjoining properties that made up the “old homestead” consisted of 200 acres of some of the most scenic and bucolic piedmont in all of Delaware. At its peak, the combined properties contained at least three houses (one of which still exists today), barns, carriage houses, spring houses, and all the buildings necessary to maintain two working farms.

An Unidentified Photograph
This research effort started with a single unidentified photograph and the simple goal of attaching a location and a timeframe to it. Going in, I had no intention of researching or documenting this area. At the time, in fact, I didn’t even know the properties existed. But like many explorations of local history, the journey took me to new places, introduced me to new people, and taught me things about subjects I never intended to learn about. I never knew that a “looking glass” was mirror, or that a pump existed in the mid-1800’s that could deliver water hundreds of feet uphill without electricity or (nearly zero) manual effort [see note 1]!

The photograph in question, pictured below, had been sitting in a Delaware attic inside a wooden trunk which was handed down from Madolene Armstrong to family members when she passed away in 1976. Born in 1896, Madolene was one of four daughters of Joseph Woodward Armstrong and Mary Guest Armstrong of New Castle County, Delaware. She is also my father’s maternal grandmother.

The original, unretouched photograph. A lovely farm property
 but where was it located, who lived there,when was the
photograph taken, and do any of the buildings still exist?

Weathered and spotted from the decades of temperature and humidity extremes of northern Delaware’s seasons, the old photograph shows an extensive farm property with a stone house, a bank barn, a workshop, a carriage house, and other farm buildings set on a rolling property. As with many of the old photographs I’ve come across, this one was not captioned and it contained no written information or evidence pertaining to the location. Because of this lack of identifying information, my father and I were initially at a loss as to the identity of the property. The terrain certainly reminded us of the foothills of northern New Castle County but it could have been Pennsylvania, western Maryland, or any number of other location in the piedmont region, an extensive region of rolling topography that runs all the way from New Jersey to Alabama and crosses Delaware at its extreme north. We thought that if the property was in northern Delaware, which was quite possible given the fact that Madolene spent her entire life there, it might be the Archibald Armstrong farm near Centreville, now open to the public as the Coverdale Farms Preserve. Upon a deeper investigation of the image and a visit to Coverdale by Hugh Horning (thanks, Hugh!) we concluded that the layout of the house, its position and orientation relative to the barn, and other mismatches between the photo and the property indicated that the image is not of Coverdale.

A modern image of Coverdale Farms Preserve shows the 18th century
 bank barn near the top of the hill with the farmhouse just down the hill
 (far left of the photo). The orientation of the house relative to the barn and
 its well-documented renovation history showed that this property is not the same
 as the one in Madolene’s photograph. This image courtesy of Tripadvisor.com.

After Hugh helped us confirm that the photograph was not of Coverdale, we were left without any other leads. We sent the image to Scott, hoping he could connect us with someone who could help. He, too, was certain that it was not Coverdale. He mentioned that, considering the amount of care Madolene had put into keeping the photograph in good shape, we should look into possible locations closer to her, both emotionally and physically. The Coverdale property was, in colonial times, an Armstrong property but was out of the hands of the Armstrong family well before 1896 when Madolene was born. Because the Coverdale property would have been little more than a history lesson to Madolene, it likely would have held little sentimental value for her. The care put into the photograph seemed to indicate that this picture was of a place she was familiar with and one she held close to her heart. Perhaps it could even be the place where she spent her childhood.

Scott told us of two additional properties just south of Ashland, Mill Creek Hundred which were owned by Armstrong families starting in the early 19th century. He noted that the 1900 and 1910 census records for Madolene Armstrong and her family indicated that they lived in the general area of these two properties and recommend that we shift our investigation over to this vicinity. I had seen these census records during earlier investigations, but they indicated that the family lived along “Wooddale Rd”.

When I had searched the location of Wooddale Road prior, the mapping services had given me the location of the current Wooddale Road. This particular “Wooddale Road” is a short, partly private road located just past the Wooddale covered bridge. Based on this census entry, I had always assumed that Madolene had been born and raised in one of the houses along this little road, some of which still exist. This immediate area, however, is relatively flat and confined by a curve in the Red Clay Creek and, therefore, did not match the terrain of the photograph. It was also the location of an extensive milling operation up until 1918 and not a logical place for a farming family to live.

Scott and Hugh informed us that the road known as Wooddale Road back in 1900 (and well into the 1980’s, in fact) was actually today’s Barley Mill Road from Ashland south. In looking for possible locations of the house and property, we had been looking in one wrong location and had been neglecting another possible location! As often happens when dealing with these puzzles of family history, one piece of new or revised information can be the clarity needed to help move an investigation forward and to reframe the context in such a way that makes progress possible again. With this new bit of information, the pieces started falling into place.

With this new context in mind, we reexamined the photograph and studied maps of the area along Barley Mill Road just south of Ashland. The rolling terrain in the photograph made it plausible that Scott was right. Given the fact that the picture must have had sentimental value to her, we formed the hypothesis that the farm in the photograph was either the location of Madolene’s birth and childhood or was otherwise a location very close to where she grew up.

The close grouping of the Armstrong farms south of Ashland is best illustrated
on the 1868 Beers map of Mill Creek Hundred. Three homes, all marked
on the map as “J. Armstrong” sat along a quarter-mile stretch of
 Barley Mill Road (then Wooddale Road). At the time this map was published,
the three houses sat on two different tracts, all owned by John Armstrong Sr.

A Bit of Background on the Area
With new information in hand and a fresh hypothesis in place, we shifted our investigation to the area between Ashland and Wooddale, in the vicinity of the Mount Cuba Center. The 1868 Beers map indicates that at least two groups of Armstrongs lived in three houses in the area. The two houses located on the west side of the road are identified by Beers as “J. Armstrong” and the third house, across Barley Mill Road, was also identified on the map, quite inconveniently, as “J. Armstrong”.

Tracing the chains of title for the two properties back through the 1800’s showed that the land was purchased by the Armstrongs in two parts, acquired about twenty five years apart. Both properties were pieces of the earlier, larger farm acquired by William Tate in 1773 and later split into at least four separate tracts (see an illustration of William Tate’s original tract in Walt Chiquoine’s post on nearby Cuba Rock HERE. Direct link to the image HERE). The Armstrongs’ acquisition of the two properties served as a reunification of sorts of part of the Tate property, if more in spirit than in actual boundary lines. The two properties remained separate tracts by the Armstrongs and were never merged into one.

The southernmost of the two properties was the original tract acquired by the Armstrong family in 1817 and contained about 98 acres of land. It was purchased by Archibald Armstrong [(b) 1759 (d) 1826] from John and Esther Nicholson. We should note that our Archibald Armstrong is not the same Archibald who owned the Coverdale Farms property in the 1700’s but, rather, his grandson [see note 2]. In 1842, our Archibald’s son John Armstrong (hereafter known as John Sr.) [(b) 1786 (d) 1869] purchased the adjacent north tract of 106 acres from the children of Henry Wilkins, having acquired it upon the death of their father 1837. The metes and bounds describe two adjoining tracts, pictured below, sharing a central border running southwest to northeast. At their peaks, both tracts extended across Barley Mill / Wooddale Road.

Rough outlines of the locations of both Armstrong tracts, about 204 acres in total, along Barley Mill Road.

In Don's next post, he'll take a closer look at the two Armstrong properties along Barley Mill Road. He'll also attempt to match his Great-Grandmother's photograph to the properties to see if the old picture might be one of the Armstrong farms.

Research Notes:

Note 1: During the 1917 Armstrong family reunion, Ada Armstrong Miller mentions the “ram that sent the water to the house.” She mentions how the Armstrong children were attracted to it and its “thud, thud” sound. This ram is most likely a hydraulic ram pump. This type of pump which became popular in the mid-19th century, used the kinetic energy of moving water at the source to pump water uphill, often hundreds of feet, at a higher pressure but a lower flow rate than at the source. The pump was powered by the water pressure at the source and needed no electricity or other power source. It did, however, have to be started by someone and would often stop cycling and require manual intervention. Ada mentioned this in her passage, “how many times we have lain flat down on the ground and peered down to hear that thud, thud and then when the thud stopped somebody had to fix it, and that was still more interesting [to the children].

More information about hydraulic rams and a brief video showing the thud, thud sound Ada spoke of can be found at Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_ram

Note 2: Complicating our research of Armstrong ancestry and history is the fact that the family seemed to have a great affinity for the names “John” and Archibald”. From at least the mid-16th century and continuing on through the early 20th century, every successive generation of Armstrong families in the family lines discussed here contain a John and/or an Archibald. In fact, the list of the names of my direct male progenitors reads as follows:

• Archibald (b. late 16th century) ->
• John (b early-mid 17th century) ->
• Archibald (b ~1695) ->
• John (b. ~1730) ->
• Archibald (b. ~ 1759) ->
• John (b. 1786) ->
• John (b. 1831.. note that he had a brother named Archibald) ->
• Joseph (b. 1865)

Further complicating matters is the fact that not every John and Archibald has a documented middle name making it difficult to determine which person is the subject of a given legal document. Considering that it was quite possible for there to be a John Armstrong, an Archibald Armstrong, and another John Armstrong living at the same point in time on the same, or adjoining properties, one can imagine the effort required to determine who was who. Finally, there are instances of three consecutive generations of John Armstrong in which the third, and not the second John Armstrong, was called “junior”.

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John Andrew Cifra

John Andrew Cifra

Competition Winter 2017/18

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Valentine's Flowers and Snow

Today the sun is shinning out of a blue sky, the air is soft and balmy and the snow is dripping! Spring are you around the corner??

Mandy and I took these pictures on Monday when we were out for the afternoon walk. Snow piles everywhere! It felt like all we did last weekend was shovel snow. The total count was over a foot. It has been a few years since we have had this much snow piled up at once.

Kerri and her favorite winter activity, Digging! She loves to dig and dig and then shove her whole face in the hole. We call it snow snorgeling. (Yes, even Kerri has an extensive winter wardrobe!)

But let's not talk about snow, let's talk about

flowers!

 Mandy went to our favorite garden center today. We always plan a trip in February. Spring fever usually sets in by then and we are longing for the sight of something green and growing! She sent me a few photos. Aren't they lovely!!

I just want to gather them all up and bury my face in them!

Of course, Mandy brought home a few plants including a pink ruffled cyclamen!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Aren't these the cutest things ever! 

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Efendi'nin Gözü 2/5

İkinci sayıyla biraradayız. iyi okumlar.
Efendi'nin Gözü 2/5

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A Valentine to Solar Pons

One of the used books I picked up in New York during the Baker Street Irregulars & Friends Weekend last month is A Praed Street Dossier. It’s August Derleth’s fascinating little coda to his Solar Pons saga, revealing information about “the Sherlock Holmes of Praed Street” not covered in the stories.

“Without exception, the Solar Pons stories have been written around titles,” Derleth writes in a chapter called “The Sources of the Tales.” I’ve done that myself, notably a short story called “Dogs Don’t Make Mistakes.”  In another chapter, Derleth lists his favorite stories and those of his readers.

All of this had me thinking anew about Pons, who is almost but not quite Sherlock Holmes, as I have written before. I turned two friends and dedicated Ponsians for their take on the character. First, Bob Byrne:

Why Solar Pons? I wrote an essay with that very title. You can read that one here.

Derleth created Pons because he enjoyed the Holmes stories and Doyle informed him there would be no more. Which proved to be the case. We all know of Doyle’s rather harsh feelings towards his greatest creation. Derleth was a successful author in several fields who enjoyed writing about Pons and Dr. Parker. His non-fiction writings about Wisconsin and his efforts in the worlds of H.P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu mythos were much more important to him. 

But whereas one can see Doyle’s lack of interest in stories like “The Mazarin Stone,” Derleth's professionalism and fondness for Pons shine through from the first story to the last. And Derleth was a very good writer – so he produced very good stories.

But Pons is more than just a shadow of Holmes. He’s less obnoxious and he’s willing to consider the supernatural, though he’s inclined to the rational solution. His humor is less acerbic. I find Pons much more likeable than Holmes while still being a genius in his profession.

Derleth was a solid plotter. I am almost never disappointed with his story structure. And his ability to draw from real life was impressive. “The Adventure of the Golden Bracelet” was based on an actual archaeological scandal, as I wrote about here. It’s one of my favorites. “The Adventure of the Stone of Scone” is another example.

I've read all sixty of the original Holmes stories more times than I can count. And I like them. But I find Solar Pons to be a refreshing alternative to just poring over the Canon time after time. And while there are definitely some talented Holmes writers out there, I’m not sure any of them does it better than Derleth did.

I created SolarPons.com and my free, online newsletter, The Solar Pons Gazette, because I think every Holmes fan would do well to read the Pons stories. 

One Sherlockian who would agree is David Macum, who continued Derleth’s tradition in The Papers of Solar Pons, a short story collection published last fall. Says David:

What captivates me about Solar Pons is that his adventures embrace everything that’s great about the Sherlock Holmes stories so perfectly – the characters, the interactions, the settings, the types of mysteries – but they are presented in such a way that they go beyond the World of Holmes to reveal that such a world continued long after The Master had retired to his bees in Sussex. Pons very capably carried on Holmes’s work in 1920’s and 1930’s London, even as a number of other detectives, such as Hercule Poirot and Lord Peter Wimsey, also moved to fill the void.

I believe that Pons continued to have an existence beyond his initial connection to Sherlock Holmes because, like Holmes, his adventures – at least when they were initially being published – were occurring in a time that was contemporary to the readers, and thus had a great deal of authenticity.

Pons sprang onto the scene fully formed, with many of the same characteristics as Holmes in terms of appearance, method, and types of cases, and this immediately gave him validity. His chronicler, Dr. Parker, evinced the same narrative style as Dr. Watson. There were other similarities, such as setting – London for both of them, with similar lodgings, Pons’s at 7B Praed Street instead of Holmes’s 221b Baker Street rooms – and associates, such as landlady Mrs. Johnson instead of Mrs. Hudson, Inspector Jamison instead of Lestrade, and brother Bancroft instead of Mycroft.

By the time the first Pons adventure was published, Holmes’s cases had taken place decades in the past. The Pons stories – at least initially – were being recorded contemporary to when they were occurring, in that unsettled era between the World Wars. When first published, Holmes’s cases also had that same here-and-now feeling, with settings in places where people lived or could visit or walk by every day.

Although Derleth continued to Literary-Agent the Pons stories until his death in 1971, he always firmly recorded cases set between 1919 and 1939. However, the 1970’s weren’t that far away from the 1930’s, and the stories didn’t seem too far in the distant past. Now, with every passing year and decade, the era of the Holmes stories – and the Pons stories too – gets further and further away.

Doyle and Derleth had the advantage of being Literary Agents that dealt with matters set in times that they actually knew and had lived through, and that gave their efforts credibility. This is very apparent when reading about Holmes, and one has that same sense when enjoying the adventures of Solar Pons.

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