One from the most famous modern Greek authors, Babis Tsikliropoulos passed away yesterday morning at the NIMITZ hospital. He was 72-years old. In his final last days, he was very depressed from the loss of his favorite sister.
Babis Tsikliropoulos was born in 1939 in Purgos, Ilias. He started writing from a very early age. He was very sensitive and during his whole life he was looking for the meaning of it in beauties that other people couldn’t see.
He wrote scripts for the TV and the cinema, as well as fictions and novels. He also wrote lyrics and his ideas were sang. Some of his most famous works are “Min ksechasto ke den guriso”, “I Odyssia toy Mitsou”, “Stin akri tis polis”, “Ta efta thaumata tou ipokosmou”, “Perimenontas tin vrochi” and “O Varonos”.
His friends will say the last goodbye to him today at 4 p.m. at Saint Nicolas’ cemetery , at his special homeland.
Author Babis Tsikliropoulos Passes
04/03/2011: Latest Greek Super League Results with Video
Champion Olympiacos Piraeus beat Kavala 3-1 (video) at home in games played for the Greek Super League over the weekend, while Panathinaikos Athens lost 1-0 away from Panseraikos Serres (video) and AEK Athens beat Atromitos Athens 1-0 (video) at home.
In other action:
Olympiacos Volos – Xanthi 3-0
Asteras Tripoli – Aris Thessaloniki 1-2 (video)
PAOK Thessaloniki – Larissa 1-0 (video)
Kerkyra – Panionios Athens 1-2 (video)
Ergotelis Crete – Iraklis Thessaloniki 1-0
Standings after 28 weeks of play:
1. Olympiacos Piraeus 70 points
2. Panathinaikos 57
3. AEK 46
4. PAOK 44
5. Olympiacos V. 44
6. Aris 39
7. Kavala 38
8. Ergotelis 36
9. Xanthi 35
10. Panionios 34
11. Iraklis 33
12. Atromitos 30
13. Kerkyra 30
14. Asteras 28
15. Larissa 25
16. Panseraikos 23
Libyan official in Athens to deliver Gaddafi message
Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Abdelati Obeidi arrived in Athens on Sunday to deliver a message from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to the Greek Prime Minister, a senior Greek government official told Reuters.
“They (Libyan government) requested to send an envoy with a message for Prime Minister George Papandreou and that is why he is in Athens,” the official said.
Arianna Huffington Conquers Europe!
Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington is planning to expand in Europe. Her famous website-blog, Huffington Post, which was recently sold to AOL, has announced plans for publication in Britain next summer, aiming at the reproduction of the successful formula in Europe.
Talking during the Media Guardian Changing Media Conference, the Greek blogger announced the extension of her action. As she mentioned, the formula of the website’s success will remain the same as the one in the U.S.A. It will include a team of journalists, a large number of salaried partners and unsalaried bloggers who “colonize” the platform just to be promoted and become known. In the past, some bloggers protested because they were working for free and didn’t earn anything. “Writing for Huffington Post is like participating in a talk show on TV, which has a huge audience. If you stop working, there are many others who would like to take your place” Arianna answered to those threatening to go on a strike. The presence of Huffington Post in Britain has made everyone excited, both thanks to its news side and because it will give the chance to bloggers to promote themselves.
Arianna and Tim Armstrong, executive director of AOL, are going to invest millions of dollars to their common European project. It is not the first time that these two cooperate, as in the past Arianna has convinced Armstrong to buy her website for the amount-record of 315 million dollars. However, there are many who doubt that the project will be successful. They support that it won’t be easy, as that there are striking differences between the American and the British market. So, there are those who believe that this initiative will fail, but they have no idea of how strong Greek persistence is and how “tough” Arianna can be.
Two Turkish Channels Fight Over “The Island”
Two big private Turkish channels gave a big fight, at the big bazaar of a TV series in Turkey, for the rights of projecting the story of Spinalonga. Finally, after a lot of negotiations, one of the two channels bought the Greek TV series after paying many thousands of Euros.
In Turkey, they know very well the success of the Greek series and that is why they were willing to pay many thousands of Euros for every episode. In Turkey, they also know many leading actors of the series like Stelios Mainas and Katerina Lechou, but above all the author of the book, Victoria Hislop.
Everything went as planned. A few days ago the Greek channel signed with one of the two Turkish channels. The successful Greek series will be projected in Turkey and not as a remake, but with Turkish subtitles.
The Mega channel wants to sell the Greek overproduction that cost 4.200.000 Euros to other countries too, so as to cover part of the expenses of its film making.
Many Greeks in Victoria are victims, or are afraid, of elderly financial abuse, a new study shows
For many elderly Greek Australians financial and emotional abuse from family members or trusted carers is a frightening reality. A new study by Monash University and State Trustees has shown older Greek Australians believe this ‘silent crime’ towards the elderly is common within the community.
The study, Diversity and financial elder abuse in Victoria, used data from 76 survey respondents, aged between 65 and 100 years, 62 of which were from non-English speaking backgrounds, including Greek, Italian and Vietnamese. Nineteen of the participants were elderly Greek Australians.
Monash University’s Associate Professor Jo Wainer told Neos Kosmos that the Greeks identified and recognised elder abuse (which is abuse from a family member or trusted person) more than any other group surveyed. They had many tales of elder abuse and financial mismanagement and recognised that this is mostly from within families. “There are lots of good kids but there are others who abuse a lot too,” one participant responded. The Greek understanding of ‘elder abuse’ included when children push, manipulate, bully and scare their elderly parents, and can mean put downs, shouting, verbal insults, beatings and being pushed around.
One man said he was treated worse than an animal. “I wish I was a dog, they live better than us,” he said. Some of the horror stories brought up included a cousin who lives with her granddaughter and only receives $20 a week, neglect from children who take over, and children taking control of the money and only giving their parent a cold plate of food to eat. One participant told the story of a widow whose children bullied her into selling her units and left her living on the street.
“Her kids fell upon her and manipulated her,” the respondent said. A woman also told of a man she knew who was tricked and lied to. His children had said they would put him in a home for two weeks so they could go on holidays, however the man remained there for 14 years until he died. No one visited him and the children sold all his houses and property.
Most of the Greeks surveyed were women and widowers that feel vulnerable to potential abuse, Prof Wainer said, adding that Greeks were most likely of all groups to rely on their children for banking, paying bills and paperwork.
Greeks were also the most likely of all the groups to actively minimise their risk and think about how to protect themselves. “Almost all of them have a will, the majority have appointed enduring power of attorney, which is a strategy to reduce risk. They appoint their children, which can be protective but also an instrument of abuse,” Professor Wainer said.
The two Greek discussion groups appeared to be living hand to mouth and were concerned about daily survival, with one saying “if they cut the pension then we are doomed, we all live in fear”. Some survival strategies they outlined included buying food at the end of market day, cooking one pot of lentils or beans and making it last five days, paying bills on terms, wearing old shoes and clothes, and buying the cheapest cuts of meat or food at its expiry date.
CEO of Fronditha Care, Penni Michael said Fronditha has encountered such cases of elderly financial abuse with two cases in the past eight months. “These situations are very difficult, the elderly person is very reluctant to talk about what is happening, they know it is not right but at the same time they want to be able to look after their child,” Ms Michael told.
“They also find themselves in the middle of sibling arguments, where one child is encouraging the mother or father to stop giving money to their adult child. They often feel very vulnerable emotionally, especially when they are threatened”. “It’s really important to advocate for these people who are vulnerable and give them support,” Ms Michael added.
Yarra City Council invites seniors to an open discussion this Tuesday, April 5, to discuss thoughts and ideas on the rights of older people and the issue of elder abuse. The event will be held at Richmond Town Hall, 333 Bridge Rd, from 10am until 2pm, with lunch provided. Please RSVP by Monday April 4 to Yarra Council on 9205 5555 or at info@yarracity.vic.gov.au
For information and support relating to elder abuse for older Victorians, their friends and family members, please call Seniors Rights Victoria on 1300 368 821.
(source: neos kosmos)
German Robot Dances Famous Zeibekiko Greek Dance! (Video)
Dancing robots are nothing new, but in this case a small multi-servo ROBONOVA humanoid robot performs an exceptional routine of the famous Zeibekiko Greek dance. While it isn’t the most demanding dancing routine in the world, these characterful moves render this small mechatronics device especially lifelike (original performance examples in this video). Apart from the funny side of this small video, one can speculate about what aspects of human behavior are important for seamless interaction between robots and humans, characteristic moves showcasing specific emotions may be equally or in cases, more important than appearance.
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Vanishing Cyprus
By Andreas Chrysafis*
Social Apathy… Apathy can be summed up as a state of mind where an individual has an absence of interest or concern to certain aspects of emotional, social or physical life. These feelings of lack of interest can also cause rapid deterioration in governments, its institutions and public services but most worryingly, it affects the nation in the worse possible way. If not tackled with “surgical precision”, apathy can quickly develop into an affliction!
This new phenomenon is normally brought about due to stress and disillusionment where it quickly manifests a feeling of “indifference” and “helplessness”. When that happens, it triggers off an avalanche of inter-related psychological and physical problems, which in due course can become impossible to deal with. Imaginary or real, apathy should be eradicated but such a process cannot be done so easily! Once ethos sets in, it will take years to get rid of its detrimental effects on individuals and society at large; it is absolute!
If the present behaviour is the measuring stick of yesterday’s policy results, then today’s attitudes can be summed up as the main cause of social apathy. Plato, the greatest thinker of all times affirmed that: “the price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men”. He was certainly not wrong!
Globalization, brutal capitalism, manipulation by the media, especially by television and government shortsightedness, could be considered as the leading players of generating insecurity so commonly experienced by people, right across the social spectrum. With the ever-growing unsustainable materialistic philosophy on self-indulgence and consumerism, those forces have fostered public attitudes never experienced before. Consumer indoctrination has been cleverly applied to appeal to people’s emotions and not necessarily to their reasoning. Undoubtedly, materialism has become the defining measure of success and has touched every sector of society at the expense of everything else.
As it happens, the majority of people live in a world filled with insecurity and share grave concerns for the future. Historically, there has never been such negativity and lack of interest in the political process, religion or social behaviour. The stable community care of the past has been diminished and replaced by the desire to “prosper by accumulation” of “material things” at any cost. This social trend on materialism has been cleverly implanted in people’s minds through mass media manipulation and clever marketing ploys, as a means to instantaneous gratification. Consumerism has become addictive and people buy products indiscriminately, believing it will make their lives easier and more appealing.
An additional contributing factor to apathy is the prevailing trend of unbridled hedonism. Due to feelings of “hopelessness” and “indifference ”, society has turned itself towards hedonistic entertainment as an antidote to its economic and social woes. Unable to resolve pondering issues, people have chosen to become observers; watching with enthusiasm thrilling and often gory shows that appeal to their senses rather than their common sense. Football hooliganism, anti-social behaviour, uncalled-for violence and brute force inside the arenas attract hundreds of spectators. They flood the stadiums to watch their idols to “battle it out” or to “perform” with their fists rather than with their sporting skills as a means of escapism; Salve Lactum, just like the Romans did in the Coliseum!
It is much easier to be passively controlled than to take initiative, and perplex societies such as Cyprus, are ideal candidates on fostering apathy. The socio-economic conditions on the island have certainly transformed the nation to the point that social consciousness has taken a back seat. It has been replaced by a new culture, one that wallows in materialism and divine apathy, while the government and its institutions sink their heads in the sand believing that the problem will go away, or it does not really exist!
Over 70% of people in Cyprus declared that they are politically and socially disillusioned of the behaviour of the leadership and have lost interest in politics or elections (Cymar poll). Politicians are trained to perform just like actors playing their part in a play, and this sort of shallow attitude, certainly adds to the prospect of apathy taking root in a society.
Some people may believe, that it’s their right to act indifferently to others’ needs and have become desensitized to things that do not affect them personally. This is a classic behaviour of public indifference, and its negative effects can quickly escalate into a domino effect. The existence and fostering of such pessimistic views, offer little scope or optimism of ever changing.
There are obvious indicators that apathy has prevailed over common sense for a variety of reasons, such as; the ongoing refugee dilemma; people’s jobs are at risk; unemployment; falling living standards; disillusionment, political shenanigans and institutional corruption but above all else, there are no obvious social models to aspire by and create a caring society build on fairness. For the less privileged sectors of society it means living without hope, while the wealthy are getting wealthier and the poor are getting poorer! These are valid reasons for public discontent and the escalation of social apathy…
All considered there is always a solution to a problem! The way to wipe out apathy can only be with the introduction of fairer policies, but most importantly by: Education! Education and Education! But, what kind of education? One that fosters: “do as you’re told” or one that endorses the concept of “taking initiatives and leadership”.
In Cyprus such progressive mentality has never existed. People behaved as “followers” rather than “leaders”, and this stigma can be attributed to an intractable unionized education system, unwavering traditions and dogmatic religion. Emperor Justinian I in 529AD, decreed that all philosophy schools to be closed down, because… as an absolute Monarch and god’s representative on earth, he perceived that such free thoughts were at odds with the Christian faith, which demanded blind obedience, subservience and dogmatic blindness to passions, new ideas and new thoughts.
Education is the light out of the darkness, and it’s crucially important to provide the opportunity for students to make choices, and become independent thinkers to discover and learn for themselves; such training will ultimately create a caring community free from apathy! Students of all ages can then learn to develop the manner by which to become ethical people, as opposed to people who merely do as what they are told. This means they create trusting relationships and feel safe; a crucial ingredient for success! For those who want to take control or abandon power this can be a scary experience…
Such freethinking and inventiveness is badly missing from the present education system including government, businesses and society at large. What is even more disturbing, the majority of graduates have been psychologically molded to aspire for a career in the public sector; they’d rather have security at hand than take daring initiatives! Then again, society in Cyprus – dominated by a stagnating political culture and unions – has always encouraged new generations to maintain the status quo by means of nepotism as a way forward. Now a big majority of them are utterly spoilt, demanding and depending on materialistic “things” as a way of life, rather than aim for social consciousness.
Such self-serving mentality does not do any good in a progressive society. Cyprus needs to groom and train new freethinking citizens and not social puppets! Students on the other hand, should be free persons with free minds to explore new ideas and not be brainwashed by the existing old-fashioned political cultures. So far, the principle of “do as you are told”, it has not produced encouraging results, and as long as it continues unchallenged, apathy will nibble away at peoples’ aspirations.
Andreas Chrysafis is the author of:
WHO SHALL GOVERN CYPRUS – Brussels or Nicosia? -Political analysis
ANDARTES – a revolutionary riveting novel
PORPHYRA in PURPLE – a metaphysical spellbinding novel
All books are available from: Bookshops, Barnes & Noble, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, Waterstone’s, Kindle and the Internet.
Two Greeks Arrested in Shotgun Robberies
Three New Hampshire men were arrested Friday and face 23 federal charges that they robbed a local bank, pharmacy and hotels armed with sawed-off shotguns.
Local and state police arrested two Greeks James Karahalios Jr., 30, and Matthew Karahalios, 26, both of Manchester, and Patrick Chasse, 21, of Hooksett, according to U.S. Attorney John Kacavas.
The trio were indicted by a federal grand jury on robbery and drug charges.
The indictments accuse all three men of brandishing a sawed-off shotgun while robbing the Spring Hill Suites at 975 North Perimeter Road in Manchester on Oct. 6 and the TD Bank at 70 Bay St. in Manchester on Sept. 23.
It also accuses them of robbing the Rite Aid Pharmacy at 53 Hooksett Road in Manchester on Nov. 10, Kacavas said.
James and Matthew Karahalios are also accused of robbing the Super 8 Motel at 2301 Brown Ave. in Manchester with a sawed-off shotgun on Oct. 31, and of conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute Oxycontin and Percocet from January-November last year, Kacavas said.
Matthew Karahalios and Chasse are charged with robbing the Hess Gas Station at 805 Massabesic St. in Manchester on Nov. 14, and James Karahalios is charged with possession of a firearm as a felon, Kacavas said.
The alleged crime spree was investigated by Manchester Police, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. It will be prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Terry Ollila, Kacavas said.
Tina Fey’s New Memoir “Bossypants”
The world-famous Greek-American comedian, Tina Fey, is set to publish her first memoir entitled Bossypants this coming Tuesday. The book has been advertised as being written completely by her about nearly every facet of her life. From her early days as a writer to her Sarah Palin phenomenon, from her marriage to the birth of her child — it’s all encapsulated in this book. Tina Fey is perhaps one of the greatest living writers on this planet and, judging from the unique and fascinating life she’s led already, this memoir should be one you won’t soon forget!