A Boteh a Day Keeps the Covid Away

[Filiberto Boncompagni]

Chuck,
All right, I'll do it tomorrow. Time to go to bed here.
Joel,
Since your last post (August 6th) Postimage is not working, at least in this part of the world. I noticed it also on other websites. :confused:

[Steve Price]

Chuck -

A google search won't take you to a specific message, it will take you to the beginning of a thread that has your search term in it. When the thread is of modest size, finding what you're looking for in it (which may or may not turn out to be what you hoped to find) is simple. When the thread is long, it's not so simple. What threads like this one become is a mini-Library of Congress with no card catalog.
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Pat -

Meaning no disrespect, but I don't think many of our current participants have numbers of breathtaking specimens in our homes. Random specimens can have lasting value, but if hundreds of them are in the same thread we're back to a mini-Library of Congress with no card catalog.
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Joel -

The system you use for images does take a load off my shoulders. The one disadvantage it has is that when you remove the image from the host, it vanishes from Turkotek even if the message it's in is archived. An earlier version of our software package incorporated images into archives automatically, but that vanished in one of their updates.
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All - Thanks for your participation.

Steve Price

[Joel Greifinger]

Since your last post (August 6th) Postimage is not working, at least in this part of the world.

Filiberto,
It seems to be working here, since the screen shot of Postimage that I posted today in #160 was uploaded to Postimage. Are you unable to see that?

The one disadvantage it has is that when you remove the image from the host, it vanishes from Turkotek even if the message it's in is archived.

Steve,
Since very few threads are archived, particularly these longer ones, that shouldn't have much impact. I think it's a small loss if it allows us to continue a practice that we enjoy (despite the paucity of "breathtaking specimens") without causing undue annoyance.

Joel

[Steve Price]

Hi Joel

True, only 5% to 10% of the discussion threads are archived. But the archived stuff makes up most of what's on our site and nearly 100% of what I think is worthwhile from the standpoint of our goals. But mostly, I wanted to be point out that having images on external servers does have a downside.

I do think that it would be worthwhile to have an off-line email conversation among the managers to clarify what they see as Turkotek's raison d'etre.

Steve Price

Addendum: I should add that I find the title of this thread offensive. I think jokes about COVID-19 are about as amusing as jokes about lung cancer.

[Chuck Wagner]

Steve,

Offended.

Hmm.

Not me.

Might want to read:


Effects of humor and laughter on psychological functioning, quality of life, health status, and pulmonary functioning among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a preliminary investigation

Kim R Lebowitz, Sooyeon Suh, Philip T Diaz, Charles F Emery

Heart Lung. Jul-Aug 2011;40(4):310-9.

Regards
Chuck

[Steve Price]

Chuck

I'm not as offended by the effect of levity on COVID-19 patients as I am by its impact on their families and friends. Likewise for levity about lung cancer, the holocaust, and the like. I'm a great believer in the usefulness of humor in dealing with the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, but that's not one of Turkotek's roles.

Steve

[Filiberto Boncompagni]

Hi Joel,

It seems to be working here, since the screen shot of Postimage that I posted today in #160 was uploaded to Postimage. Are you unable to see that?

Nope, and I tried different browsers. I also searched the web for an explanation, found nothing so far.
I'll try later with my laptop from a different modem.

[Filiberto Boncompagni]

Just tried with my Android smartphone. Same result, so the problem is not related to my computer.
Again, before the 6th it worked OK.

[Filiberto Boncompagni2]

OK... Different computer, different modem and location, same result.

My antivirus software (Avira) now comes with 500 MB free of VPN (Virtual Private Network). Never tried it because I don't need it.

Now it's the right occasion. And it worked. I used 7 MB out of 500 but I was able to see Joel's (and Dinie's) images from postimages.org

Which means that in the last few days postimage.org altered their policies in order not to show their images to Internet Protocol addresses from (I guess ) Europe. It's called Geo-blocking .

VPN works like an anonymizer hiding my location.

There is no mention of Geo-blocking on postimages.org.

It surely complicates my task, though. :rant:

[Dinie Gootjes]

My son in Holland confirms that he cannot see the pictures either.

Postimages was the main factor in my return to Turkotek. I was just not willing any more to resize and rename pictures, send them in to a moderator and wait for the reply with codes. I must say that Steve and Filiberto were always quick, friendly and helpful, big shout out to both of you :applause:, but it simply took too much time, and was too awkward if while waiting for the codes I found a better picture :nerd2:.

Steve, I hate Facebook and am hardly present there, but I do contribute to several forums under Gardenweb.com. You can upload your images, if the files are too big they are simply refused, and if there is a problem with a post, moderators take it down. Is it impossible for Turkotek to adopt a similar way of operating? It would save everybody time and aggravation, especially now that Postimages seems to have lost its usefulness for people on the other side of the Atlantic, and with that for us in North America too.

[Steve Price]

Hi Dinie

It's probably doable. The reason we haven't done anything like that is that although our software lets us put messages from anyone we don't know into a moderator queue, the moderator can't see the images in a post until it goes public. Image files can be carriers of malware, and we do our best to keep our pages safe.

Steve

[Dinie Gootjes]

Hi Steve

I cannot but agree with keeping Turkotek safe from malware, but it is a lot of bother for moderators and posters. :felix:
"Will no one rid us of this turbulent malware?"

Dinie

[Joel Greifinger]

Hi Dinie and Filiberto,

I am trying an alternative image uploading site to Postimage. if this one works worldwide, I’ll pass along the details.

Here’s the test image:

https://iili.io/dVP8Wx.jpg

Let me know.

Joel

[Patrick Weiler]

Joel,
I can see the test image quite nicely. I like that Jaf Kurd bag.
Patrick Weiler

[Filiberto Boncompagni2]

Good news! Today Postimages is working! :clap:

It seems it was a temporary glitch. Thanks to Dinie's son for confirming the glitch, though.

Joel, the other image host works as well. Keep it in mind if the problem with Postimages returns. :cheers:

[Dinie Gootjes]

Yeeehaaaaw, Postimages works again, and thanks to Joel we now have a second possibility. In celebration, 225 more botehs for the thread. Yes, once upon a time I counted. :flush:

https://i.postimg.cc/cHFp9tnc/Afshar-Fardin.jpg

[Joel Greifinger]

This is another test image, but at least it has shapes that might be construed as botehs.

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/Test.jpg

Joel

[Joel Greifinger]

I've wondered whether botehs ever found their way into 19th century Anatolian village rugs, which are often covered with an array of small devices. By and large, I think the answer is no, but here is one that appears to be an exception to help prove the rule. Published in Bruggemann & Bohmer's Rugs of the Peasants and Nomads of Anatolia, pl. 27:

https://i.postimg.cc/J0pjWDkV/B-B-27.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/QMKmkbWB/B-B-det.jpg

Joel

[Pierre Galafassi]

Hi all,

May I bother you with pictures of two rugs.

Both feature rather ordinary botehs, (or tadpoles), but their number (about 200 today but still rising ) may give them these covid-repellent properties promised by Patrick.

My in-laws bought them around 1950 (although purchased at an antique shop, they were most probably brand new at the time. ) They gifted them to us when we moved in our first flat, 50 years ago.

I would be thankful for suggestions about their origin.
In all likelihood most or all dyes are synthetic, although reasonably good, modern ones.

The first one I called *Bakhtiari* without any confidence.
Quite probably mid 20th century.
I did not bother to get the dyes analyzed, of course, but would bet a quarter that the dyes are mainly Neolan (aka 1/1 Chrome-complex acid dyes).

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/Pierre-A-Bak.jpg

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/Pierre-B-Bak.jpg

The second one, with its tsunami of little botehs, I dubbed *Senneh*, no offense to these nice Kurds intended.
Quite probably mid 20th century too
The incendiary orange is quite likely to be a so-called *acid dye*.

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/Pierre-C-Sen.jpg

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/Pierre-D-Sen.jpg

Best regards
Pierre

[Jim Miller]

Pierre,
The first looks distinctly like Bakhtiari, both in colors and drawing.
The second looks like an Afshar shar babak. The two white background medallions and the boteh field are common.
Cheers
Jim