The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY held an exhibition in 1977 entitled “Age of Spirituality”, presenting the first centuries of Byzantium to a US audience through original artifacts of the time.
In 1996, a second grandiose exhibition followed entitled “The Glory of Byzantium”, emphasizing the mid-Byzantine era.
This year, the MET will present a new exhibition entitled “Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition” focusing on the transition era from the Byzantine to the Islam world by recording the development of the Southern provinces of the empire in the 7th century AD.
The exhibition will be open from March 14 until July 8 and will be organized around three themes: the secular and religious character of the Byzantine state’s southern provinces in the first half of the seventh century; the continuity of commerce in the region even as the political base was transformed; and the emerging arts of the new Muslim rulers of the region.
According to a MET press release, “Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition” represents the first major museum exhibition to focus on this pivotal era in the history of the eastern Mediterranean. Through some 300 exceptional works of art, the landmark presentation will reveal the artistic and cultural adaptations and innovations that resulted during the initial centuries of contact between these two worlds.
The works are drawn primarily from the collections of the Metropolitan Museum and the Benaki Museum of Athens, and also include many stellar loans from other institutions in North America, Europe, and the Middle East.
Major support has been provided by Mary and Michael Jaharis, The Stavros Niarchos Foundation, The Hagop Kevorkian Fund. Additional support has been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts. The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
Christos Tsintsaris will be the only Greek artist taking part in this year’s International Erotic Art Exhibition “Dirty Show” in Detroit, Michigan.
Founded by Jerry Vile in 2000, the exhibition showcases over 400 pieces of art by over 250 artists from 20 countries and offers an alternative solution to the celebrations of Valentine’s Day.
The exhibition always takes place close to the 14th of February; this year the exhibition will be open from February 10 to 18 at Bert’s Warehouse Theatre. Through painting, sculpture, photography, illustration, video art, performances and screening of movies, sex will be presented to the audience both as a concept and an image.
Christos Tsintsaris from Thessaloniki will present his work “Howard’s Girls on Wednesday Night” at the exhibition. Having graduated from Boston University’s School of Fine Arts (now the College of Fine Arts) the Greek pop-surrealist presents they key features of his most recent work, which combines vivid colors and particularly expressive cartoon figures. With a sense of humor or criticism, Tsintsaris gives his own interpretation and perspective on things, such as the world and sex.
Sarah Klein wrote on the small but significant word of sex (Metrotimes, 2003) that “Sex sells. Sex intrigues. Sex scandalizes. Sex starts some careers and finishes others. Any channel on the television, any URL on the Web: It’s all about sex, sex, sex, sex, sex!”.
Earth Friendly Products VP Kelly Vlahakis with CEO Van Vlahakis
Earth Friendly Products , a leader in manufacturing award-winning, eco-friendly cleaning products, has succeeded in using 100% renewable energy during their entire manufacturing process. The energy success is the latest in a wave of ongoing responsibility initiatives the company has mandated to continue to lead the green cleaning product industry ahead of the curve.
Earth Friendly Products, whose own solar energy panels keep their facilities 60% self-sufficient, negotiated to purchase the final 40% of energy needs from green energy, making the entire manufacturing power process 100% green. “This is by far one of our proudest moments,” said Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks, Vice President of Earth Friendly Products.
“Responsibility is the driving force behind our company’s every decision and this decision is one of the biggest steps for a manufacturing company toward being carbon neutral.”
Through this initiative, Earth Friendly Products’ carbon footprint is reduced significantly, eliminating more than 600,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide pollution per year. The company has earned several accolades for its tremendous sustainability efforts, including more recently the Illinois Governor’s Sustainability Award.
The purchase of green energy will not affect product pricing and cost to consumers. Earth Friendly’s responsibility toward the environment is equivalent to the economy and their customers. No sustainable initiative has changed or raised prices for any of the Earth Friendly Products.
By purchasing green power, Earth Friendly is helping to reduce America’s dependence on foreign fuel sources. The action also supports the U.S. share of the growing renewable market, which in turn helps improve the job market. Many of their innovative initiatives have directly affected revenue, production and the company’s ability to maintain affordable pricing.
In addition, Earth Friendly Products believes company success is dually rooted in its initiatives to bolster standards of employee satisfaction and morale.
Earth Friendly Products is committed to preserving the environment through every phase of its business operations at each of its five regional manufacturing facilities that help to reduce the carbon footprint of distributing its products around the country.
Earth Friendly Products has been making green a priority for two decades with more than 150 all-natural, environmentally-friendly home and industrial cleaning products.
To learn more about what Earth Friendly Products is doing for the environment, please visit www.ecos.com.
About Earth Friendly Products
Earth Friendly Products is the leader in the development and production of environmentally friendly cleaning supplies for household and commercial use with over 150 products manufactured, distributed, and sold in the USA, Canada, Europe, South America, and Asia. All Earth Friendly Products are created with only replenishable and sustainable plant-based ingredients that are safe for people, pets, and the planet. The company proudly adheres to its strict “Freedom Code”, a list of harmful and toxic ingredients that are not found in any its products. Earth Friendly Products has proudly received the 2010 GEELA Award for Sustainable Business Practices, 2009 Green PatriotTM Green 100TM Designation and the Champion level recognition from the US EPA through the Design for the Environment (DfE) Program’s Safer Detergents Stewardship Initiative. The company’s solar division, Progressive Power Group is just another example of how Earth Friendly Products is a sustainable business leader.
The Olympic Flame will be lit by the sun’s rays on the morning of May 10th in Greece at the start of its journey to the London 2012 Games, Lord Coe has announced.
An hour-long lighting ceremony amid the historic ruins of the home of the ancient Games at the Temple of Hera in Olympia will signal the start of an eight-day relay around Greece before the flame hits British shores, starting in Cornwall.
The flame is due to arrive at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens on May 17th, where a London 2012 representative will be ready for the official handover.
Lord Coe, the London 2012 chairman, said: “It gives me great pleasure to confirm May 10th as the flame lighting date and Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose as the Olympic Flame’s arrival point into the UK.
“My team is looking forward to working with the Hellenic Olympic Committee, the Ministry of Defence and our commercial partners to create exciting events to mark the flame’s Greek provenance and its arrival to our shores.”
Once in Britain, the flame will be taken on a nationwide 70-day relay, from May 19th to July 27th, ending with the lighting of the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremony.
The Greek leg of the torch relay is set to showcase the beauty and history of the Greek mainland and islands to the world, according to London 2012.
The second torchbearer on the first day and the penultimate torchbearer on the last day of the Greek leg have been handpicked by London 2012, which is remaining tight-lipped on their names.
London 2012 will only say they are inspirational people from the UK and that more would be revealed closer to the time of the Olympics.
The Olympic Flame will then be the guest of honour on board a gold-liveried Airbus 319, flight number BA2012, which will take it from Athens to Britain. (source: news uk msn)
PPC and the Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change, Mr. Papaconstantinou, have demonstrated the full capacity of their indifference towards the Greek people not only facing harsh austerity measures, but lately the extremely cold weather conditions as well.
Northern Greece is suffering under the waves of snow and strong winds, but this does not seem to be the only problem. In the village Neochori, Serres, some 60 houses have been left without electricity during these freezing days because their owners have not paid their special land tax bills.
Although temperatures hit an average of -10 Celsius, the president of the Neochori Community contacted the TV daily show of George Papadakis on Ant1 private channel, in order to protest over the cruelty of the PPC officials who did not even care that some of the families included five young children.
Greek daily newspaper Proto Thema contacted the PPC in charge in Serres, who in turn blamed the entrepreneur in charge. According to the PPC, the electricity company told the entrepreneur not to cut the electricity at any house as long as the extremely cold weather continues, even if the owners had not paid for the special tax.
PPC claimed that it has ordered the immediate restoration of electricity, but the truth is that people in Neochori have been suffering from the cold for several days.
Homeless people living in Athens can find shelter from the adverse weather conditions at the Olympic Stadium (OAKA).
According to e-kathimerini, a heated area at the OAKA is available as of Wednesday to all homeless people of the capital, while a fast food company will provide them with food and drinks.
In its official statement, the OAKA management said that the facility will be open to everyone in need for as long as the cold weather goes on.
The town’s municipality and volunteering groups are trying hard as they can to help the over 10,000 homeless people of Athens.
As the former President of the American-Hellenic Institute, Miami lawyer Aleco Haralambides had a stake in promoting Hellenism, but says his biggest hope now for his heritage is saving its beloved language, and promoting it not just to fellow Greeks, but Philhellenes and the rest of the world. There are some 50,000 words in English derived in some way or another from Greek, and Haralambides said he wants to make sure their rich history and place are preserved. He helped do it at Archimedean Academy in Miami, a charter school that has Greek as a mandatory subject, and now said he wants to find supporters to start an international foundation to showcase the Greek language and keep it alive outside of Greece.
The formula is working at Archimedean, which now teaches through the high school level and is rated one of Florida’s top schools and successful enough that there’s a waiting list of more than 1,000 students – most not of Greek heritage. Besides instilling self-discipline in students, Archimedean requires them to take classes 2 ½ hours a day in Greek – not just Greek, but other subjects, and it’s a wonderment to see students not from Greek American households conversing in Greek in the corridors and classrooms, and coming to school on Saturdays to participate in projects, a role model for schools around the country. As a charter school, Archimedean doesn’t charge tuition but receives state assistance as a public school open to students who can get in. On Jan. 30, it was rated Florida’s best middle school and praised for using Greek and mathematics – and teaching math in Greek – as one of the reasons for its achievements.
The Archimedian Acadamy in Miami, FL
When Archimedean students took a proficiency exam in Greek from Thessaloniki University, 44 of 45 passed, he said. Not one was Greek or Greek American. The school has only 70 students with Greek heritage out of an enrollment of 950. “Using the Archimedean model is a proven way to perpetuate the Greek language,” he said in an interview with Greek Reporter. “When you see native speakers talking Greek to these kids who have no background in Greek and they are processing difficult problems and answering in Greek, there just isn’t anybody else out there doing this,” he said. It’s even more astonishing when you realize the students have had no background at all in Greek or Hellenism.
Now, he said, he hopes to get the word out that the model can work in an international foundation, although he knows how tough it is to get Greek Americans together and behind programs. Still, he said, “Once it’s started and promoted you’d have a lot of non-Greeks supporting this and there’s a potential for partnerships with classics programs,” he said, adding he’d like to see the Archimedean model repeated in other charter schools in Florida and across the country, where children could learn Greek – once a stable of great schools such as Boston Latin Academy, and others where Greek and classics were intertwined. “Our goal is not to have a Greek school necessarily, but to have a great school,” he said.
“They aren’t going to come just to learn Greek. They want it to be a very good school academically,” he said. Some parents are not happy with the rigid format, he acknowledged, but said they were a minority.
Haralambides said with a declining birth rate among Greeks, Greek Americans and those in the Diaspora, the need to save Greek is becoming critical because the language is being spoken less. “It’s a mathematical certainty that if we don’t stop that, that it will disappear,” he said. “One way to promote the Greek language and Hellenism is to open charter schools,” he said. Archimedean is applying from further accreditation and said, if granted, “That will allow us to be accredited as a district, which means if we open a school in Alabama, it will be accredited and recognized by colleges.
Like many Greeks of the United States and Disapora, his passion comes from his heritage. “My grandparents were forced to leave Asian Minor because they wanted to maintain their identity as Greeks and Greek Orthodox Christians. They were willing to give up their entire livelihood to maintain their identity. The least we can do is make an effort to preserve it,” he said.
The school’s Chief Executive Business Officer Dimitri Bardoutsos, said the school will admit another 150 students in the next academic year and there is a clamor to attend because he said parents know the students will get a good education beyond Greek too. The school’s charter is with the Miami Dade County public school administration, to which it reports. Classes begin at kindergarten to groom students young. “Our goal is not just to graduate students but those who can enter colleges at the Ivy League level,” he said. “We pay attention to every individual student. We work with parents and students. This is a school of choice. Parents have to offer 300 volunteer hours a year and are part of the school and the process, and they are working together to improve education.”
The school’s President, Founder, and Chairman of the Board, George Kafkoulis, said, “The reason for the success of the school is the commitment to excellence. The school is based on two very important ideas of Greek civilization: language and the dedication to excellence, the rigorous teaching of mathematics and philosophy.” He said many parents weren’t initially interested in Greek, but wanted their children to have the benefit of a good education, but discovered the benefits of the students learning the language. He said the model can work for other schools to emulate. “This can be replicated … it’s a recipe that works in every environment,” he said. Even the Greek Ministry of Education, he said, is studying Archimedean to see how its methods can be used to teach Greek and other courses.
Haralambides said he’s gotten calls from people in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and San Francisco, among other areas, who want to open an Archimedean-style academy that prepares students for college and teaches them Greek as well. “We need someone to spearhead it and is committed to spending the time to do it.” Sounds like he may be the best candidate for this.
Steffen Kampeter
A default wouldn’t help Greece and is not an option to end the country’s debt crisis, German Deputy Finance Minister Steffen Kampeter said, calling on the government in Athens to deliver on budget cuts.
“Nobody gets any profit” out of Greece exiting the euro, Kampeter said in an interview broadcast today by Bloomberg Television. “They have to do it the hard way.”
European Union leaders left a Jan. 30 summit in Brussels without an accord over how to plug Greece’s widening budget hole. Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said he would try to meet German-led demands for a bigger debt writedown by investors and deeper budget cuts by his government.
“We’re a bit concerned that Greece will not be willing to deliver in time,” Kampeter said in the interview, which was conducted in New York yesterday. “We’re not out of the plan, we’re just on track, but Greece has to deliver the next step.”
Few Europeans in 2011 said it was a good time to find a job in the city or area where they live. A median of 12% of residents across the 27 countries Gallup surveyed were positive about the local job outlook, while a median of 80% said it was a bad time.
Greeks were the least optimistic, with only 2% saying it was a “good time” to find a job and 98% a “bad time”, meanwhile Germans were the most optimistic, with 50% saying it was a good time. Germans’ opinions of the job market are the most favorable in the region and have improved markedly from the low of 16% saying it was a good time to find a job in 2009.
As the largest economy in Europe and one of the largest in the world, Germany’s economic success is crucial to the region’s economic stability. As Europe threatens to enter a recession, and confidence in the job climate falters, the positive momentum in Germany is one encouraging sign from the region.
Momentum is also positive in Austria, Sweden, Finland, Luxembourg, Denmark, and France, with all six countries posting double-digit improvement within the last two years. Still, residents in 25 of the 27 countries are more likely to say it is a bad time than a good time to find a job.
These findings underscore not only the pessimism that people feel in the countries hardest hit in the eurozone crisis, such as Greece, but also the wider economic struggle across the EU. Residents in Greece, Bulgaria, Italy, Ireland, and Spain are the least optimistic about the job climate, with the percentages saying it was a good time to find a job in the single digits. (source: ANSA)
After years of efforts, UCLA researchers have explained the puzzling disappearing act of energetic electrons in Earth’s outer radiation belt, taking one step closer towards understanding and predicting space weather phenomena.
The team of scientists, including Greek-American UCLA Professor Vassilis Angelopoulos, using data collected from a fleet of orbiting spacecraft, discovered that the missing electrons are being swept away from the planet by a tide of solar wind particles during periods of heightened solar activity.
During powerful solar events such as coronal mass ejections, parts of the magnetized outer layers of the sun’s atmosphere crash onto Earth’s magnetic field, triggering geomagnetic storms capable of damaging the electronics of orbiting spacecraft.
These cosmic squalls have a peculiar effect on Earth’s outer radiation belt, a doughnut-shaped region of space filled with electrons so energetic that they move at nearly the speed of light.
“During the onset of a geomagnetic storm, nearly all the electrons trapped within the radiation belt vanish, only to come back with a vengeance a few hours later,” said Vassilis Angelopoulos, a UCLA professor of Earth and space sciences, and IGPP researcher.
Key observational data used in this study was collected by a network of NASA spacecraft known as THEMIS (Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms); Angelopoulos is the principal investigator of the THEMIS mission. Additional information was obtained from two groups of weather satellites called POES (Polar Operational Environmental Satellite) and GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite).
Vassilis Angelopoulos was born in 1965 and graduated from the Physics Department of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 1986, obtaining his PhD in Physics from UCLA, with specialization in Space Plasma Physics in 1993, having obtained a scholarship from the Fulbright Foundation.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY held an exhibition in 1977 entitled “Age of Spirituality”, presenting the first centuries of Byzantium to a US audience through original artifacts of the time.
Christos Tsintsaris will be the only Greek artist taking part in this year’s International Erotic Art Exhibition “Dirty Show” in Detroit, Michigan.
Homeless people living in Athens can find shelter from the adverse weather conditions at the Olympic Stadium (OAKA).
After years of efforts, UCLA researchers have explained the puzzling disappearing act of energetic electrons in Earth’s outer radiation belt, taking one step closer towards understanding and predicting space weather phenomena.