WTF (The Fall of Athens by Swiss artist Dave)

Performers during a performance at Filopapou hill in Athens

Picture: REUTERS

via www.telegraph.co.uk

The Scooter Dog

In Piraeus, a dog on the roof of a funny scooter-thing, feels like the king of dogs. :)

The NASA Photo of the Fires

The whole of Attica smells like a fireplace. Over 60 people have died. The few once-green parts of Southern-Greece have now also taken the cement-grey colour of Athens. Ashes spread everywhere ... beyond the centre of the city ... even to the beach-side community where I live.

Only a few places were saved ... and this because the people there had figured soon enough that ... the lack of snows in the past winter, the lack of rains in May, the heat and the winds were just too dangerous. Some villages had thus organised themselves into 24 hour patrols in shifts: the women until midnight and the men after that. They also assigned some people to the top of mountains with binoculars. Where this was done, fires were extinguished before spreading ... but even then barely so.

You see ... these fires were arson ... as in ... they were started on purpose! The motivation behind this is still a mystery. One cannot even begin to imagine what kind of sick persons would do this ... but there you have it ... they did. In any case ... with the start of hunting season ... these patrols will now have the added factors of shotguns.

In the meantime, there is even talk of cancelling the upcoming elections. It won't happen of course. But it just goes to show you.

Greece to Hold Early Elections

"Greece looks almost certain to hold a general election —officially not due until next March— in a matter of weeks. Despite setbacks for the centre-right New Democracy (ND) government under the prime minister, Costas Karamanlis, he is likely to be returned to power..."

That's how they used to do it. :)


Source: The Economist Article

A Greek TV Scam?

Is local "Channel 10" involved in conning needy people out of their money? I don't know, but it certainly looks like it. Can there be another explanation?

The set up is an “Anagram Game” where you can "win up to several thousand Euros":

They give you for example … POU-RKA-ZIA.

The word to be found is the evident "KARPOUZIA" (watermelons).

They then have some “caller” who of course misses the idiotically obvious "KARPOUZIA" ... offers instead “KARPOUZI” and uses a second chance to say... “KARPOUZA” (Is that even a word?). :D

Could his person possibly be part of the set-up? No, you think? Of course not!:)

The "presenter" then goes through a whole routine: "WHAT A SHAME! ... though this answer is not right … it was very close etc". She then continues with the pitch: “CALL IF YOU KNOW THE SOLUTION!” while whistles and bells and meaningless countdowns and computer-game sound-effects and suspense-movie music are blasting in the background: 10 … 9 … 8 … 7 … etc

The trick for them is of course to get people to call (1,19 Euro each call, 1,52 Euros with a cell and 1,43 euro for each SMS). And they of course say that they only have some lines opened, like 5, 9, 12, 19, 20, 21, 30 … which the "red Button" will randomly choose from. Right!

So what do you think the chances are that a real person ever gets on the air? My take is that after they've milked enough money ... they might let one real caller on ... but then again ... they probably have a friend call even for that one.

Do people actually fall for this?

Probably yes, the weak-minded, the senile and children ... though "one needs to be over 18 to call"! :)

Hydra!

The BBC has done a TV Report about the island of Hydra, one of the few places in Greece that have been left relatively pristine. It is now being eyed by a hotel developer. He is likely to be taken to court. "There is the whole of Greece one can use for development, why must they choose historical Hydra!" said an inhabitant.

Athenians March on Parliament

I went to the weirdest March yesterday.

It all started with an e-mail going around ... that and cell-phone messages ... telling us all to march on the Greek Parliament ... because of the devastating recent fires that had occurred close to Athens.

I had found the whole idea of this march pointless ... because these fires did not so much seem like a question somehow resolvable by more (or a different kind of) government action ... being just another one of the absurd occurrences here.

These fires just seemed to fit the pattern.

In any case ... I went ... if only to participate in something positive.

It will of course not make an iota of difference.

But I had to do it nonetheless.

Elvis Costello with the Allen Toussaint Band & Horns featuring Steve Nieve

As part of the 2007 Athens & Epidaurus Festival, the great Elvis Costello will be appearing with the Allen Toussaint Band & Horns featuring Steve Nieve at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus on July 10, 2007 at 21:00 (9 PM) for one night.

It's REALLY hot in Athens lately!

Photo from BBC Article

It's Very Hot These Days in Athens