tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82393298504446331212024-03-13T05:36:51.902+02:00George's BlogAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14242029118507475827noreply@blogger.comBlogger97125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239329850444633121.post-11374269360245472632015-03-13T23:31:00.000+02:002015-03-13T23:31:18.482+02:00The Coral Sea particularly sensitive sea<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Coral Sea is considered one of the most distinctive and undisturbed natural systems in the world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is home to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park which was made a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA) for shipping by the International Maritime Organization in 1990.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In order to protect this vulnerable region the Australian Maritime Safety Authority has taken a proposal to the International Maritime Organization to extend the existing PSSA into the Coral Sea.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The new area will cover approximately 564,000 square kilometers of the Coral Sea and includes a number of shipping hazards not covered by the current arrangements.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The extension provides a means of protecting the unique physical, ecological and heritage values of the Coral Sea while having a minimal impact on international shipping.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Source </span><a href="http://www.green4sea.com/the-coral-sea-particularly-sensitive-sea/" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Green4Sea</a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14242029118507475827noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239329850444633121.post-24618776003601240192015-03-13T22:30:00.001+02:002015-03-13T22:43:34.600+02:00Prehistoric connections Crete & Norway <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">J</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">ohan </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-align: justify;">Jarnaes, a citizen of the small Norwegian town of Kongsberg, is the one making this assertion. Kongsberg is situated 80 km to the west of the Norwegian capital of Oslo. Johan Jarnaes holds university degrees in history, archaeology and languages. On a late evening in autumn 1987 Johan was out for a walk in the outlying fields surrounding the small town of Kongsberg. Due to the low sunlight he discovered some strange, unknown, signs on a flat granite slab. The slab was part of a farmyard belonging to a friend of his. Johan had been on the spot many times, but neither he nor his friend, the owner, had seen these signs before. The signs were revealed only because Johan happened to pass there just at the moment the sun was setting, thus throwing a beam of light onto the slab.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-align: left;">Jarnaes found the characters sensational since they reminded him at first sight of characters from the classical Greek alphabet. Furthermore he discovered 12 circular cup shaped marks with a diameter of 4 to 8 cm as well as a drawing that apparently was an illustration of a boat! There were also other engravings on the granite slab. The engraving techniques indicated that they had originated in various different eras. In addition to the previously mentioned characters, signs and drawings, Johan discovered an even more peculiar one which had no resemblance to any of the others. The lower part Johan later recognised as a “bag for water or wine”. The strangest was, however, that on the outside of the “bag” a horizontal parallel wavelike drawing was visible. Jarnaes came to the conclusion that the wavelike drawing was apparently meant to describe water! On the top of the bag there was an even stranger sign that reminded him of the letter </span><strong style="color: #333333; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-align: left;">V</strong><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-align: left;"> in the Latin alphabet. The most mysterious in this whole figure was that the three parallel wavelike lines were identical with the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic sign for water!</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-align: left;">Read more at </span><a href="https://araenil.wordpress.com/2011/06/26/evidence-of-prehistoric-connections-crete-norway/" style="background-color: white; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-align: left;" target="_blank">ARAENIL / Sven Buchholz blog</a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14242029118507475827noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239329850444633121.post-75254269846167631482013-12-27T17:16:00.003+02:002013-12-27T17:16:40.342+02:00The Selfish Giant<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Amazing story you can read: The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde<br />
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<a href="http://markaki-reading.wikispaces.com/The+Selfish+Giant">http://markaki-reading.wikispaces.com/The+Selfish+Giant</a> </div>
Christina Markoulakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06460428861771429571noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239329850444633121.post-89246549496983463372013-11-25T20:19:00.002+02:002013-11-26T15:19:46.816+02:00Top 10 Mysterious Ghost Ships and Haunted Stories of the Maritime World<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px;">Mystery, fear, enigma, encompass the seafaring ghost ships’, or phantom ships’ tales that has been passed around throughout centuries by sailors, anglers and others. These mysterious ships are fantasized as spectral phantasms that materialize in the middle of the sea and disappear quickly, which is apparently a bad omen. In addition, abandoned ships, which are found adrift, left desolated under fearsome and cryptic circumstances, are also included in this category.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px;">Albeit these all being marine legends and sometimes lacking authenticity, some of these haunted ships continue to provoke speculation and fearful anticipation. We present you with ten such mysterious ghost ships of the maritime world that would surely give you an eerie feeling and goose bumps.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; text-align: start;">It is a legend of the Chilota mythology, where it is described as a ghost ship, which comes into being every night near the island of Chiloe. It says the ship carries the spirits of all the people who have drowned at sea. The Caleuche is strikingly beautiful, bright and gay as always surrounded by party music sounds and laughter.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; text-align: start;">However, it only stays for a few moments, and then suddenly disappears or submerges itself under the water. Three Chilota ‘water spirits’ – the Sirena Chilota, the Pincoya, and the Picoy – who resemble mermaids, summons the spirits of the drowned.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; text-align: start;">In 1906, the SS Valencia sank off the coast of Vancouver, British Columbia after encountering bad weather near Cape Mendocino and thereafter became a subject of mysterious ghost stories. Eventually 37 of merely 108 people were saved using lifeboats</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; text-align: start;">, among which one simply disappeared.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; text-align: start;">Since then, many a fisherman has claimed to witness ghost ship sightings with human skeletons even after many decades post sinking.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; text-align: start;">Read more </span><a href="http://www.marineinsight.com/marine/life-at-sea/top-10-mysterious-ghost-ships-and-haunted-stories-of-the-maritime-world/" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; text-align: start;">here</a><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Source: <a href="http://www.marineinsight.com/">marineinsight</a>)</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14242029118507475827noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239329850444633121.post-67956402703825993772013-11-11T19:19:00.000+02:002013-11-11T19:22:25.605+02:00Conditionals: Examples<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Fxw4FFZWb2E/UoERjmSxrWI/AAAAAAAAJNE/lWUQ3uYTVdA/s1024/Photo%252520Nov%2525208%25252C%2525202013%25252C%2525207%25253A21%252520PM.jpg" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Fxw4FFZWb2E/UoERjmSxrWI/AAAAAAAAJNE/lWUQ3uYTVdA/s500/Photo%252520Nov%2525208%25252C%2525202013%25252C%2525207%25253A21%252520PM.jpg" id="blogsy-1384190511230.4717" class="aligncenter" width="500" height="667" alt=""></a></div>
<p> </p>Christina Markoulakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06460428861771429571noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239329850444633121.post-35092892664724972572013-10-15T23:38:00.000+03:002013-10-15T23:38:06.108+03:00The Importance of Cultural Roots<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14242029118507475827noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239329850444633121.post-58850340868959548642013-08-27T02:41:00.003+03:002013-08-27T02:43:19.707+03:00Oia, Greece: Atlantis Books<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Located in the basement of one of Santorini’s white houses, Atlantis Books was started by young American and European bibliophiles who wanted to create a haven for readers and writers in one of the most beautiful, if remote, places in the Mediterranean. Here, sunburned vacationers can spend afternoons in the bookstore’s cool quarters, with the jazz guitarist Charlie Hunter on the stereo as they scan the eclectic collection.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Though not a moneymaking enterprise — the staff rotates throughout the year and lives in the bookshop — Atlantis Books is getting international praise. Some came earlier this year from <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/dec/06/top10s.bookshops">Jeremy Mercer, a writer in The Guardian, who listed Atlantis Books as one of his 10 favorite bookstores in the world.</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Our first year we did make the big mistake of buying a shipment of books, 10,000 of them, over eBay,” said Chris Bloomfield, 25, a <span style="color: black;">Memphis</span> native who works at Atlantis. That shipment, most of which they gave away, included a few too many self-help books, and a volume titled “Mount Your Own Fish Trophies”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Source: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/travel/20foraging.html?_r=0">The NewYork Times</a></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14242029118507475827noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239329850444633121.post-89425015219211971592013-08-20T16:21:00.000+03:002013-08-20T16:22:49.714+03:002 interesting videos on global warming<p> <a href="http://youtu.be/OqsRD4HPtH0">http://youtu.be/OqsRD4HPtH0</a></p>
<p><a href="http://youtu.be/2stHuRMMxog">http://youtu.be/2stHuRMMxog</a><br>
</p>Christina Markoulakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06460428861771429571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239329850444633121.post-21245731189714152722013-08-09T00:42:00.004+03:002013-08-09T00:44:24.248+03:00Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg68cUbqbxh6rc65feBFDYLDVWU3h-nBGUbl_Cm6TaThB9sI8pWbgprkYqIAq6vqybMdnEvPMoC2p2FC6Pz6YlVomt1oK7VAUNlclvG55h6XU_FT2ve_ivPu4D6CQA7IsQ_uLxFZU1MSYS1/s1600/_69152885_126536965.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg68cUbqbxh6rc65feBFDYLDVWU3h-nBGUbl_Cm6TaThB9sI8pWbgprkYqIAq6vqybMdnEvPMoC2p2FC6Pz6YlVomt1oK7VAUNlclvG55h6XU_FT2ve_ivPu4D6CQA7IsQ_uLxFZU1MSYS1/s320/_69152885_126536965.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">There are more bicycles than residents in The Netherlands and in cities like Amsterdam and The Hague up to 70% of all journeys are made by bike. The BBC's Hague correspondent, Anna Holligan, who rides an omafiets - or "granny style" - bike complete with wicker basket and pedal-back brakes, examines what made </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">everyone get back in the saddle.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Before World War II, journeys in the Netherlands were predominantly made by bike, but in the 1950s and 1960s, as car ownership rocketed, this changed. As in many countries in Europe, roads became increasingly congested and cyclists were squeezed to the kerb.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The jump in car numbers caused a huge rise in the number of deaths on the roads. In 1971 more than 3,000 people were killed by motor vehicles, 450 of them children.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In response a social movement demanding safer cycling conditions for children was formed. Called Stop de Kindermoord (Stop the Child Murder), it took its name from the headline of an article written by journalist Vic Langenhoff whose own child had been killed in a road accident.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Dutch faith in the reliability and sustainability of the motor vehicle was also shaken by the Middle East oil crisis of 1973, when oil-producing countries stopped exports to the US and Western Europe.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">These twin pressures helped to persuade the Dutch government to invest in improved cycling infrastructure and Dutch urban planners started to diverge from the car-centric road-building policies being pursued throughout the urbanising West.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Source: <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/">BBC</a></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14242029118507475827noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239329850444633121.post-33731942456554635082013-08-05T00:33:00.001+03:002013-08-05T00:33:22.049+03:00The key to happiness<br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg65JtpGX6AJxfUsv0gGc4Yurtn7qVzWQFXhblCzxnD0UcnJj59EiWLe9IDS9O3cMjDd4lyM9lWCAx63Ft2OZs4WKT3OiS6FpfWGRiGMp0fQuu8-6JiQQ9dbw-bTVdQIB_DiawM47Zbigzr/s640/blogger-image--2045072662.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg65JtpGX6AJxfUsv0gGc4Yurtn7qVzWQFXhblCzxnD0UcnJj59EiWLe9IDS9O3cMjDd4lyM9lWCAx63Ft2OZs4WKT3OiS6FpfWGRiGMp0fQuu8-6JiQQ9dbw-bTVdQIB_DiawM47Zbigzr/s640/blogger-image--2045072662.jpg"></a></div>Christina Markoulakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06460428861771429571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239329850444633121.post-58482956092091388852013-07-27T21:56:00.000+03:002013-07-27T21:56:14.696+03:00Greece at the Boiling Point<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">ATHENS — If you drop a frog in a pot of boiling water, it will instantly jump out. But if you heat the water slowly (or so the story goes), the frog will sit there patiently until it boils to death.</span></div>
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Greek democracy is like that simmering frog. Long weakened by clientelism and abuses of power, stunned by five years of recession and austerity, it is now perilously close to giving up the ghost.</div>
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The coalition government of New Democracy’s Antonis Samaras is becoming more and more authoritarian, passing laws by decree and pandering to the agenda of the far-right party, Golden Dawn. References to the junta of 1967-1974 are no longer the sole province of left-wing rhetoric.</div>
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The sudden <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/12/world/europe/greece.html?pagewanted=all">closure of the state TV and radio broadcaster ERT last month</a>, without any debate or vote in Parliament, brought back memories of tanks and martial music for many who would normally reject such crude comparisons.</div>
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In the seven years of the colonels’ dictatorship, many Greeks looked to Europe as a source of hope. Some of Europe’s civil bodies have indeed come to democracy’s defense. But the European Union’s political and financial institutions and their partners in the International Monetary Fund are interested only in the bottom line, piling on pressure to plug holes in the balance sheet regardless of the cost to human life and civil liberties.</div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, times, serif;">Source: </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/11/opinion/global/greece-at-the-boiling-point.html?_r=0" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif;">The New York Times</a><span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, times, serif;"> (</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 12px;">By </span><span itemprop="author creator" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" style="line-height: 12px;"><span itemprop="name">Maria Margaronis) </span></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14242029118507475827noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239329850444633121.post-11396334886699037342013-07-09T20:01:00.000+03:002013-07-09T20:11:09.924+03:00The Phaistos Disk and Related Inscriptions<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The best-known Minoan inscription is the Phaistos Disk. It is commonly accepted that this can be read spirally, i.e., from the rim inwards. 16 cm in diameter, the disk's two sides bear a total of 242 signs which can be divided into 61 groups.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">There are 45 different signs on the Disk, too many for them to constitute an alphabet and too few for them to constitute a truly ideographic script, as is the case with Chinese. This observation enables us to deduce that it is also a syllabic script, as are both Linear B and Linear A.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It goes without saying that that the language of the Disk is unknown, and thus the text remains beyond our reach. Nevertheless, this has not deterred many potential decipherers from offering their own interpretations. Indeed, more has been written about this Cretan inscription than about any other, but most work is the product of fantasy.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Source: <a href="http://www.teicrete.gr/daidalika/pages/page.php?page=phaistos_disk">TEI of Crete</a></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14242029118507475827noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239329850444633121.post-15610916386696475932013-06-29T10:50:00.000+03:002013-06-29T10:54:55.321+03:00Radical Reform: Dutch iPad Schools Seek to Transform Education <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 19px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Think different. It was more than an advertising slogan. It was a manifesto, and with it, former Apple CEO Steve Jobs upended the computer industry, the music industry and the world of mobile phones. The digital visionary's next plan was to bring radical change to schools and textbook publishers, but he died of cancer before he could do it.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Some of the ideas that may have occurred to Jobs are now on display in the Netherlands. Eleven "Steve Jobs schools" will open in August, with Amsterdam among the cities that will be hosting such a facility. Some 1,000 children aged four to 12 will attend the schools, without notebooks, books or backpacks. Each of them, however, will have his or her own iPad.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">There will be no blackboards, chalk or classrooms, homeroom teachers, formal classes, lesson plans, seating charts, pens, teachers teaching from the front of the room, schedules, parent-teacher meetings, grades, recess bells, fixed school days and school vacations. If a child would rather play on his or her iPad instead of learning, it'll be okay. And the children will choose what they wish to learn based on what they happen to be curious about.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Preparations are already underway in Breda, a town near Rotterdam where one of the schools is to be located. Gertjan Kleinpaste, the 53-year-old principal of the facility, is aware that his iPad school on Schorsmolenstraat could soon become a destination for envious -- but also outraged -- reformist educators from all over the world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">And there is still plenty of work to do on the pleasant, light-filled building, a former daycare center. The yard is littered with knee-deep piles of leaves. Walls urgently need a fresh coat of paint. Even the lease hasn't been completely settled yet. But everything will be finished by Aug. 13, Kleinpaste says optimistically, although he looks as though the stress is getting to him ... <b><a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/new-ipad-schools-in-holland-hope-to-revolutionize-education-a-907936.html">cont</a> </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Source <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/new-ipad-schools-in-holland-hope-to-revolutionize-education-a-907936.html">Spiegel Online</a></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14242029118507475827noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239329850444633121.post-71563257143996080342013-06-19T16:31:00.001+03:002013-06-24T15:12:36.978+03:00Why we love cycling!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Christina Markoulakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06460428861771429571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239329850444633121.post-16313280748127115432013-06-09T01:10:00.002+03:002013-06-09T01:12:12.381+03:00How The Human Face Might Look In 100,000 Years<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">We’ve come along way looks-wise from our homo sapien ancestors. Between 800,000 and 200,000 years ago, for instance, rapid changes in Earth climate coincided with a tripling in the size of the human brain and skull, leading to a flattening of the face. But how might the physiological features of human beings change in the future, especially as new, wearable technology like </span><a class="exit_trigger_set" href="http://www.forbes.com/companies/google/" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Google</a><span style="line-height: 24px;"> </span><span class="quotecard_hook initialized loaded" data-exchange="NASDAQ" data-naturalid="fred/company/1821" data-quotes-closing="864.2259" data-quotes-now="879.33" data-ticker="GOOG" data-type="organization" style="border: 0px; display: inline; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="wrapper increase" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="exit_trigger_set" href="http://www.forbes.com/companies/google/" style="background-color: #eaf3ea; border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; border: 1px solid rgb(214, 232, 214); color: #017200; display: inline-block; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 3px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ticker" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">GOOG</span> <span class="change" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">+1.75%</span></a></span></span><span style="line-height: 24px;">Glass change the way we use our bodies and faces? </span><a href="http://nickolaylamm.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Artist and researcher Nickolay Lamm</a><span style="line-height: 24px;"> has partnered with a computational geneticist to research and illustrate what we might look like 20,000 years in the future, as well as 60,000 years and 100,000 years out. His full, eye-popping illustrations are at the bottom of this post.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lamm says this is “one possible timeline,” where, thanks to zygotic genome engineering technology, our future selves would have the ability to control human biology and human evolution in much the same way we control electrons to power our world today.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lamm speaks of “wresting control” of the human form from natural evolution and bending human biology to suit our needs. The illustrations were inspired by conversations with Dr. Alan Kwan, who holds a PhD in computational genomics from <a class="exit_trigger_set" href="http://www.forbes.com/washington/" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Washington</a> University, UPDATE: Lamm’s project was also sponsored by the website MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, where he has a blog.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Read more <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2013/06/07/how-the-human-face-might-look-in-100000-years/">here</a> (Source: <a href="http://www.forbes.com/">forbes</a>)</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14242029118507475827noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239329850444633121.post-80543112191642497002013-05-27T00:04:00.001+03:002013-05-27T02:14:41.651+03:00Human intelligence is declining according to Stanford geneticist<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-style: normal;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b>AFP Photo / Johannes Eisele</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-style: italic;">“I would wager that if an average citizen from Athens of 1000 BC were to appear suddenly among us, he or she would be among the brightest and most intellectually alive of our colleagues and companions, with a good memory, a broad range of ideas, and a clear-sighted view of important issues. Furthermore, I would guess that he or she would be among the most emotionally stable of our friends and colleagues. I would also make this wager for the ancient inhabitants of Africa, Asia, India or the Americas, of perhaps </span><a href="tel:2000%E2%80%936000" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-transition: color 0.5s, text-decoration 0.5s; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2000–6000</a><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-style: italic;">years ago. The basis for my wager comes from new developments in genetics, anthropology, and neurobiology that make a clear prediction that our intellectual and emotional abilities are genetically surprisingly fragile.” (</span></span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Crabtree">Dr. Gerald Crabtree</a>, a geneticist at Stanford).</span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Read more at </span><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); font-family: '.HelveticaNeueUI'; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="http://rt.com/usa/intelligence-stanford-years-fragile-531/">RT</a></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14242029118507475827noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239329850444633121.post-45113903491624835272013-05-15T13:59:00.002+03:002013-05-15T14:04:14.979+03:00A European population in Minoan Bronze Age Crete<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, 'MS Pゴシック', 'MS ゴシック', Osaka, 'MS PGothic', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b>The first advanced Bronze Age civilization of Europe was established by the Minoans about 5,000 years before present.</b> Since Sir Arthur Evans exposed the Minoan civic centre of Knossos, archaeologists have speculated on the origin of the founders of the civilization. Evans proposed a North African origin; Cycladic, Balkan, Anatolian and Middle Eastern origins have also been proposed. Here we address the question of the origin of the Minoans by analysing mitochondrial DNA from Minoan osseous remains from a cave ossuary in the Lassithi plateau of Crete dated 4,400–3,700 years before present. Shared haplotypes, principal component and pairwise distance analyses refute the Evans North African hypothesis. Minoans show the strongest relationships with Neolithic and modern European populations and with the modern inhabitants of the Lassithi plateau. Our data are compatible with the hypothesis of an autochthonous development of the Minoan civilization by the descendants of the Neolithic settlers of the island.</span></div>
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Read more about the study at <a href="http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v4/n5/full/ncomms2871.html">nature.com</a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14242029118507475827noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239329850444633121.post-16993465870547358532013-04-23T17:07:00.000+03:002013-04-23T17:12:47.257+03:00Sal Khan: the man who tutored his cousin – and started a revolution<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://www.khanacademy.org/">Sal Khan</a> has a simple mission: a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere. Naturally, people think he's crazy. The craziest part is not the "world-class education" part, because plenty of people want that. And it's not even the "for anyone, anywhere" part. It's the "free" part.<br />
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Crazy or not, it's an idea that has attracted attention from Downing Street to Washington DC. And like a lot of crazy ideas, it started by accident.<br />
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Khan – working as a financial analyst in 2004 after earning degrees from MIT and an MBA from Harvard – started remotely tutoring his cousin, Nadia, in Louisiana, who was struggling with maths. "Then the rest of the family heard there was free tutoring," he says, and more relatives started taking part. The demands got too much – until a friend suggested he could film the tutorials, post them on YouTube and let the family members view them whenever they chose.<br />
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Source: <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/">theguardian</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2013/apr/23/sal-khan-academy-tutored-educational-website">Read more </a><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14242029118507475827noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239329850444633121.post-63662435969951048072013-04-08T12:48:00.000+03:002013-04-08T12:48:36.698+03:00Revision of English through images!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Christina Markoulakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06460428861771429571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239329850444633121.post-26895406059131839602012-10-16T13:21:00.000+03:002012-10-16T13:25:12.330+03:00TOEFL writing topics and samples<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A number of corrected TOEFL essays (Part 1 and Part 2):<br />
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<a href="http://markaki-toefl.blogspot.gr/search/label/Writing">http://markaki-toefl.blogspot.gr/search/label/Writing</a></div>
Christina Markoulakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06460428861771429571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239329850444633121.post-22981854704625829752012-04-13T19:46:00.000+03:002012-04-13T19:46:21.479+03:00Writing topics for the TOEFL exams<iframe src="https://docs.google.com/viewer?authuser=0&srcid=0B9sJiVZOK74JMTE1NTJiMDAtMzJlZC00Njc4LTkwNmYtNmE2NWVlNTc0N2U5&pid=explorer&a=v&chrome=false&embedded=true" width="640" height="480"></iframe>Christina Markoulakihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06460428861771429571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239329850444633121.post-46597501971620998542012-02-16T17:27:00.000+02:002012-02-16T17:27:10.380+02:00Social apps 'harvest smartphone contacts'<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">"Twitter has admitted copying entire address books from smartphones and storing the data on its servers, often without customers' knowledge. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Access to the address book is enabled when users click on the "Find Friends" feature on smartphone apps. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two US congressmen have <a href="http://butterfield.house.gov/press-releases/ranking-members-waxman-and-butterfield-want-answers-from-apple-on-iphone-address-book-privacy-concerns/">written to Apple</a> asking why the firm allows the practice on its iPhone, as it contravenes app developer guidelines.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #505050; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;">Critics say Apple should not approve apps that copy user data, according to the company's own policies</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #505050; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Twitter has said it will update its privacy policy to be more explicit. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">The practice came to light when an app developer in Singapore, Arun Thampi, <a href="http://mclov.in/2012/02/08/path-uploads-your-entire-address-book-to-their-servers.html">noticed that his contacts had been copied </a>from his iPhone address book without his consent by a social network called Path. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Dave Morin, CEO of Path, apologised and <a href="http://blog.path.com/post/17274932484/we-are-sorry">said Path would ask users</a> to opt in to share their contact information.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">However, he noted separately that it was an "industry best practice" to upload or import address book information. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">iPhone apps by social sites including Facebook, FourSquare, Instagram, Foodspotting and Yelp are also <a href="http://venturebeat.com/2012/02/14/iphone-address-book/">reported to access </a>the address book."</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Source: BBC News Technology (read more<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17051910"> here</a>).</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14242029118507475827noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239329850444633121.post-63501678004913692402012-02-16T16:49:00.001+02:002012-02-16T16:49:46.334+02:00Shame on Europe for betraying Greece by William Wall<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Capitalism is triumphant as EU states sacrifice the Greek people in a desperate attempt to appease the gods of speculation.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #666666; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">'We condemn Greece to misery and poverty to keep Standard & Poor’s off our backs. But we have miscalculated.' Photograph: Argyropoulos/Sipa/Rex Features</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;">The </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/feb/13/greece-hopes-quick-bailout-agreement-dashed">behaviour of the EU states towards Greece</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"> is inexplicable in the terms in which the EU defines itself. It is, first and foremost, a failure of solidarity.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;">The "austerity package", as the newspapers like to call it, seeks to impose on Greece terms that no people can accept. Even now the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/sep/15/greek-school-books-economic-lesson">schools are running out of books</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;">. There were </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/235757.php">40% cuts</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"> in the public health budget in 2010 – I can't find the present figure. Greece's EU "partners" are demanding a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/13/greece-left-idUSL5E8DD61O20120213">32% cut in the minimum wage</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"> for those under 25, a 22% cut for the over 25s. Already </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/feb/13/greece-return-economic-death-spiral?newsfeed=true">unemployment for 15-24-year-olds is 48%</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"> – it will have risen considerably since then. Overall unemployment has increased to over 20%. The </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">sacking of public sector workers</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"> will add to it. The recession predicted to follow the imposition of the package will cause unbearable levels of unemployment at every level.</span></div>
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In addition the "package" demands cuts to pensions and public service pay, wholesale privatisation of state assets – a fire-sale, since the global market is close to rock bottom – and cuts to public services including health, social welfare and education. The whole to be supervised by people other than the Greeks. An entire disciplinary and punishment system.</div>
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When we casually use a term like "bailout", it is important to remember that it is not people who are being bailed out, or at least not the Greek people. The bailout will not save a single Greek life. The opposite is the case. What is being "bailed out" is the global financial system, including the banks, hedge funds and pension funds of the other EU member states, and it is the Greek people who are being ordered to pay – in money, time, physical pain, hopelessness and missed educational opportunities. The relatively neutral, even stoic, term "austerity", is a gross insult to the Greek people. This is not austerity; at best it is callousness.</div>
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On top of this callousness, we must remember that the strategy itself is nonsense. Every intelligent observer is agreed that cuts do not produce growth. The highest rate of growth in the EU at present is in Poland where massive public investment is driving the economy. GDP is declining or barely moving among the "austerity" nations, including the UK.</div>
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In essence, this crisis is a failure of the EU states to show solidarity in the face of an onslaught from the financial markets. At first glance this seems to be a very simple fight. In one corner you have nation states, which have the wellbeing of their citizens as their <em style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">raison d'être</em>; in the other you have global capitalism as represented by the financial markets, which has the wealth of a tiny few as its <em style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">raison d'être</em>. But the nation state has, for a considerable time, identified itself with those same markets. States have agreed to see themselves as economies rather than societies. More recently we have been led to believe that the market alone can provide everything the citizen needs and much more efficiently than the structures that the citizens normally rely on and which they have, over generations, erected as protections against the revenge of the market.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 19px;">Read more at <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/feb/14/europe-betraying-greece?cat=commentisfree&type=article">theguardian</a> (by <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/william-wall">William Wall</a>)</span></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14242029118507475827noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239329850444633121.post-69624100796840139312012-02-05T17:25:00.000+02:002012-02-05T17:25:01.055+02:00Meet the creatures that live beyond the abyss<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #464646; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is pitch black, icy cold and the pressure is phenomenal. The deepest parts of the ocean are some of the least hospitable places on Earth - yet footage from recent expeditions reveals that life in the oceanic trenches is thriving...</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #464646; line-height: 18px;">Our fascination with the deepest of the deep was sparked by an extraordinarily dangerous expedition that took place 50 years ago. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #464646; line-height: 18px;">On 23 January, 1960, the bathyscaphe Trieste propelled Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh to the bottom of Challenger Deep in the Marianas Trench, which at more than 10,900m (35,800ft) down is the deepest spot in the ocean. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #464646; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">They were the first - and even now, the only - humans to have experienced these depths.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With the vessel creaking and groaning under an immense 1,100 bars of pressure - the equivalent of having several dozen jumbo jets piled on top of you, the explorers stayed at the bottom for 20 minutes before they began their risky ascent back to the surface.</span></div>
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But as they neared the ocean floor, instead of finding a barren desert, devoid of life, the explorers say they spotted a fish swimming past.</div>
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Captain Don Walsh told the BBC: "The flatfish was seen just before we landed and the water clarity was still good.</div>
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"I would guess that it was less than a metre away. Jacques was at the viewport and I was looking at our fathometer calling off our height above the bottom when he saw the bottom and the fish."</div>
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The sighting suggested that even this most remote spot was habitable - and the hunt was now on for life in this mysterious underwater world.</div>
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Read more at: <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8426132.stm">BBC Science & Environment</a></div>
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</span></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14242029118507475827noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239329850444633121.post-71223011798336030112012-02-04T18:36:00.001+02:002012-02-04T18:36:09.817+02:00National Libraries Day 2012<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcf4ol36zllCXj2Y8iFcr8WXPt7JAZEas9sE_sHMyB06ET85YMj1YXbQ-zhRcH64IM7OU-CTjxBVwbwP3PXp_l4aiFjRxaUexWmtTrVJBRZyCBHpLQ41iFWE-OtOXyGkmjC-_LP6YJ-or8/s1600/nld-100.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcf4ol36zllCXj2Y8iFcr8WXPt7JAZEas9sE_sHMyB06ET85YMj1YXbQ-zhRcH64IM7OU-CTjxBVwbwP3PXp_l4aiFjRxaUexWmtTrVJBRZyCBHpLQ41iFWE-OtOXyGkmjC-_LP6YJ-or8/s1600/nld-100.png" style="cursor: move;" /></a>"Children's Laureate Julia Donaldson has written a poem in protest at planned library closures.</div>
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The <i>Gruffalo</i> author, who was awarded the MBE last year, has written the poem to mark <a href="http://nationallibrariesday.org.uk/">National Libraries Day</a><b> </b>(Saturday 4 February) and the 62-year-old writer, who was born in London but lives in Glasgow, said she wanted to make a serious point in a fun way.</div>
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Donaldson has used libraries since she was a child and still visits her local branch to research and write her best-selling books. Her poem describes libraries as places to "<i>meet your heroes, old and new, from William the Conqueror to Winnie the Pooh</i>".</div>
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A campaign against library cuts has been running since last February's Save Our Libraries Day; and protests and legal action have helped stave off some of the plans for mass closures. In the past 12 months, 32 UK libraries have closed and 43 mobile libraries have also shut down but<i>Public Libraries News</i> lists 407 libraries as being at risk of closure."</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Source: <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9059937/Julia-Donaldson-poem-against-library-closures.html">The Telegraph</a> (</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3f3f3f; line-height: 18px;">By <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/martin-chilton/" rel="author" style="color: #234b7b; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Martin Chilton">Martin Chilton</a>, Digital Culture Editor)</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Julia Donaldson, Waterstones Children’s Laureate, has written a dedicated poem to celebrate National Libraries Day.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Everyone is welcome to walk through the door.<br />It really doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor.<br />There are books in boxes and books on shelves.<br />They’re free for you to borrow, so help yourselves.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Come and meet your heroes, old and new,<br />From William the Conqueror to Winnie the Pooh.<br />You can look into the Mirror or read The Times,<br />Or bring along a toddler to chant some rhymes.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The librarian’s a friend who loves to lend,<br />So see if there’s a book that she can recommend.<br />Read that book, and if you’re bitten<br />You can borrow all the other ones the author’s written.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Are you into battles or biography?<br />Are you keen on gerbils or geography?<br />Gardening or ghosts? Sharks or science fiction?<br />There’s something here for everyone, whatever your addiction.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are students revising, deep in concentration,<br />And school kids doing projects, finding inspiration.<br />Over in the corner there’s a table with seating,<br />So come along and join in the Book Club meeting.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, come to the library! Browse and borrow,<br />And help make sure it’ll still be here tomorrow.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;">Julia Donaldson is the current Waterstones Children’s Laureate, a post which is managed by the literature charity Booktrust. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.childrenslaureate.org.uk/">www.childrenslaureate.org.uk</a></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Taken from: <a href="http://www.nationallibrariesday.org.uk/2012/02/library-poem-by-julia-donaldson/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NationalLibrariesDay+%28National+Libraries+Day%29">National Libraries Day</a></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.weheartlibraries.org.uk/">Love your library? Here are some ways you can show it.</a></span></div>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14242029118507475827noreply@blogger.com1