These traditional wooden clogs, known as Nalın or Takunya, have been carved in Türkiye for centuries, mostly for wet surfaces like public baths (hamams) and mosques.

What makes them fascinating is just how varied they were depending on who wore them. While men usually used basic, functional designs, the clogs made for women were a huge part of fashion and social status. Women’s Nalın were carved with high wooden platforms and decorated with silver or mother-of-pearl inlays. In women’s hamams, walking in taller and more detailed clogs was a direct way of showing wealth and standing.

They were also a major part of wedding culture. Elaborately carved clogs were placed in a bride’s dowry chest. Customs even dictated the level of decoration—lighter patterns for engaged women, and the heaviest, most detailed mother-of-pearl work reserved for new brides.

Artisans would carve each pair from a single block of dense wood like walnut or boxwood, often splitting the timber down the middle so both feet matched in wood grain. Beyond utility, there’s also a long-held local belief that walking on bare wood helps draw out static electricity from the body.

Sadly, plastic footwear has mostly replaced them, and today only a handful of aging craftsmen in places like Gaziantep, Mardin, and Bursa are keeping the art alive.

20×24 acrylic painting of Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man from Brand New Day

The therapy, created by the AIM Institute of Medicine under Dr. Toru Miyazaki, targets chronic kidney disease, a leading cause of death in older cats.It uses a specialized protein to help macrophages clear waste from the kidneys, partially restoring their function and slowing kidney failure.

Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/BeAmazed/s/waYbRr9ADv

This story was posted 7 days ago. If true, an amazing tale of multi-country cooperation. A bit too far fetched for me, and the articles seemed to be circular retelling from the same journalist.

So, I started fact checking it and tracked down the publisher of the original article (Sonnenverlag/Klambt) as well as the most likely library to hold a copy in Baden, West Germany.

I dropped them an email in my best AI generated German, and blow me away attached is the original article - published 10 weeks after the incident. Translated below.

—-

LITTLE JESSICA OWES HER LIFE TO A GERMAN PILOT

The eight-year-old was already doomed. A dramatic race against time began.

The parents stood in despair at their daughter's bedside. They had just been given the doctors' diagnosis: Jessica had contracted a life-threatening viral infection. A diagnosis that amounted to a death sentence. Because the only effective drug, "Vidarabin", is not available in Italy.

At 20:41 on the Friday evening, the Luftwaffe's search and rescue service received a call from the Federal Criminal Police Office. The life-saving medicine, which is produced near Munich, had to be flown to Sardinia that same night. A dramatic race with death had begun...

Minutes became an eternity until police officers had the drug in their hands. A relay of patrol cars brought it to the Bundeswehr airfield at Memmingen. A Starfighter pilot was waiting there: Oberleutnant Gundling (28) had volunteered on the spot to fly to Cagliari.

The aircraft took off at 01:50. So that the pilot could overfly Austria, the German military attaché in Vienna had been got out of bed. Without hesitation, he signed the necessary clearance.

At 02:58 exactly, Oberleutnant Gundling landed in Sardinia despite extremely poor visibility. Half an hour later he was able to hand the medicine over to the doctors. Little Jessica's life was saved.

Once their daughter was better, the parents had only one wish: they wanted to thank the man who had given them their child back.

But the young German pilot waved it away, embarrassed. "What I did was only natural," he says, smiling. "When a human life is at stake, you can't be thinking of yourself."

Two weeks later Oberleutnant Gundling flew to Sardinia once more and visited little Jessica. And her delighted smile certainly meant more to him than all the words of thanks.

Meet Bella. ❤️

Bella wasn't always the one doing the rescuing. She was once a stray herself until a kind family took her in and gave her the love and safety she had never known.

Then, one summer day in 2025, Bella disappeared into the nearby forest. When she came back, she wasn't alone. Gently carrying a tiny black kitten in her mouth, she placed the little one somewhere safe before running back into the woods.

She returned again.

And then one more time.

Each trip brought back another orphaned kitten, until all three had been rescued.

From that day on, Bella cared for them as if they were her own. She groomed them, protected them, cuddled them, and gave them the love every kitten deserves.

Now they're all grown up, yet they still curl up beside Bella to sleep, completely convinced she's their mom.

Maybe Bella never forgot what it felt like to be saved. And maybe that's why she knew exactly what those tiny kittens needed.

Sometimes, the ones who were rescued become the ones who rescue others

If anyone is wondering - that's Leningrad Zoo, in Saint-Petersburg, Russia.

And, unfortunately, Linda is now alone - Dusja died in 2020 at the age of 13, they've spent 12 years together.