Violence begets violence

There is just one video and one photo that I want to publish in that post. It is just 30 seconds. For people who don't understand Greek, the translation of the sentences is given.

"Get out of the Square! Out!

... 

Don't hit me!"

Image from reuters as presented in www.newsit.gr

A solitary swallow

Odysseus Elytis (2^nd November 1911 – 18^st March 1996) [1] was maybe the greatest Greek poet. In 1979 he was awarded with the Nobel Prize in Literature [2]. Some of his poems were set to music by Mikis Theodorakis, another Greek great persona.  As I said, in a previous post I am not the best in literature as I found sometimes the content of the poems a little bit “strange”. Nevertheless, there are artists who created real masterpieces, like Elytis did. For me, the best collection of poems ever written, is Elytis' “Axion Estin” (or translated in English as “It is truly meet”). One of the best poems included in this collection, and my favorite, is the one with the name “A solitary swallow”. For me this poem is a hymn to revolution. Take a look at the following lyrics [3]:

A solitary swallow

and Spring’s great worth is found.

It takes a lot of work

to make the sun turn round.

Their shoulder to the wheels

it takes a thousand dead.

It also takes the living

to offer up their blood.

Elytis declares in this poem that the arrival of a new era can become reality but the cooperation between people and unfortunately their blood is needed.  It was written in 1959 but it is far from outdated. The video above is this poem with music (singer: G. Mpithikotsis, music by M. Theodorakis). I strongly advise you to read the whole poem or the whole “Axion Estin” collection (in English) here.

[1] http://portal.kathimerini.gr/4dcgi/_w_articles_kathextra_6_17/10/2007_208375
[2] http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1979/elytis.html
[3] "The collected poems of Odysseus Elytis", Jeffrey Carson, John Hopkins University press, 1997, p. 148

Money: Target locked.

“Ma'am, I know you've done your homework and so you know that money isn't a big part of my life, but at the moment I could buy Mt. Auburn Street, take the Phoenix Club, and turn it into my ping-pong room.” [1]

What’s the goal of the education? Is it the obvious one: gain knowledge? Or the hidden one: gain money? From my point of view: Both.

We spend almost the one fourth of our lives studying (in most cases studying hard). I know that teenagers in Greece, and I suppose in all the countries of the developed world, sacrifice the most carefree years of their life carrying heavy bags, listening to “I-know-everything” professors and living without any kind of free time activities.

When I was younger, my grandmother said that this process is necessary in order to build a good life, create a family and have the resources to grow your children wealthy. Resources? She never made that clear, and unfortunately I can’t ask her to make it clear now. Did she mean money or knowledge? Is knowledge, including practical skills, culture, experiences enough to create the circumstances under which life is considered to be absolutely fabulous? A bunch of questions and here are my thoughts on that:

No, knowledge is not enough. We study to gain money, too. Actually, we study to find a job to earn as much as we can. It is a clear trade. Since the age of 22-25 we pay to buy the goods and then we sell those goods to future employers, trying to have the biggest profit. Of course, the sold knowledge remains to our possession as it is an intangible good. And we can sell it again to hit a better salary. However, it still exists. Knowledge remains in our brain. It helps as to organize better our lives, to make better decisions, to live a life that fit our needs.

I believe that this educational pain is worth doing. It is not only a way to refine the working environment but the whole life.

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[1] Quote from the movie “The social network”. In the movie, Mark Zuckerberg said that as part of his apology when he was sued by the Winklevoss brothers for the paternity of Facebook.  Sometimes knowledge is not enough, you need to be lucky, too.

The Polis

Agia Sofia Temple [1].
In my opinion, it is the most impressing architectural creation all over the world.

29^th of May 1453. 558 years ago. The Capital of the great Byzantine Empire was captured by the Ottoman Turks. Constantinople (or Istanbul, or Polis) became the capital of the Ottoman Empire. After 8 weeks of siege, the last emperor, Constantine the XI was killed and Sultan Mehmed II conquered the City. According to historians, Constantine said the following marvelous phrase to Sultan Mehmed II: “Delivering you the City, is not my decision and it is not a decision of anyone of its citizens as we all unsolicited decide that we will die*” [2].  Leaders like him should be an exemplar of the politicians of the new era. Do not sell your nations to brutal financial killers. Resist and fight until death.

Read here more about Constantinople, one of the best Greek achievements!

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[1]: Image taken from http://www.citypictures.org/
[2]: http://www.blog.gr/article.php?id=33646&category_id=23
* The translation is mine and I believe that it represents the original meaning of the phrase.

Angry vs Angry Birds

Well, well. The previous post created some objections, a lot of discussions (that's probably the best outcome of that blog - for me). After the whole financial situation in Greece, the last thing that we should care about (right now, I mean right now) is who is responsible for creation of the problem. The only thing that we should think now is how we can get out safely from that situation. Then it would be easier to identify and punish the real guilty people (politicians, bankers, brokers or whatever). As I said the previous article was published after the creation through Facebook of a "motion" that it is cleverly called "Angry" (or "The angry people").

But, wait a minute... I talked about a movement called "Angry". Who are them? The answer is easy: They are people, pure people from my point of view, that are really angry about what is now happening in Greece. As they say, and I believe them, they don't belong to any political party and they have no leaders from political parties. Cool. What are their goals? The answer is easier than expected: They have NO goals. Honestly, what's the goal of that? Do you "Angry" people want the prime minister to leave the country? Do you want our country to leave the eurozone? Do you want our country to declare bankruptcy? Do you want to receive double salaries from tomorrow? I strongly believe that if we ask them, we will receive different answers which cover the whole range of the above questions. So, until they reach a final decision (basically, start discussing about that) on what are their goals, they are simply a group of confused people. 

So, I apologize for my terrible approach to your really acceptable protest, but I prefer another group of angry. Yeah, the angry birds! They have different colors, different skills but these cheering, funky birds, have at least a clear goal: Destroy the barriers and kill the ugly green pigs.

Angry birds is free for Android phones/tablets (link)

Viva la revolution

Did you ever hear the name Theodoros Pagkalos? Greeks say "Of course we know him", all the others "No, not at all". For all the others, T. Pagkalos is a Greek politician and he is elected from 1981 since now a member of the Greek parliament. Everyone admits that he is a very active politician. However he became famous in January 1996, when he was the Greek foreign minister. That period Greeks and Turks were almost came in war when the Turkish army stepped on a small Greek island and remove the Greek flag. T. Pagkalos became famous because it is claimed that he said that in order to avoid the war we can say to Greeks that the flag was removed not by the Turkish army but by the strong wind. 

The last 2 years he is the vice president of the Greek government. A second phrase that he said a year ago brought himself against the Greek citizens. While people were trying to convince themselves that the politicians are responsible for the dead-end in the Greek economy, he said "We ate them together" which means that you are responsible, too. This phrase will accompanying him for a long long time.

From my point of view that phrase is the biggest true word that this person ever said. The problem is that Greeks are still trying to convince themselves that it is not correct. The list of proofs that confirm that phrase is so big. The best proof is that almost every family in Greece has a member who works as a public servant. 

As the alcoholics say, "the best way to fight against it, is to admit it". So Greek people, we ate them together. You know that. Now try to solve the problem, not by protesting (really against whom? the people that we voted for?), but by simply being citizens that obey to the law, pay their taxes and not trying to befool the public financial mechanism. 

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*All the above are personal thoughts of the writer and should be addressed like personal opinion and nothing more.

** The above was written a couple of weeks ago and it is published now as a result of the following 2 images. 

Young protesters in Spain are fighting against the socialist party and their prime minister, Jose Luis Zapatero.

Young protesters in Greece are fighting against the socialist party and their prime minister, George A. Papandreou. [through Facebook - Viva la revolution] 

Run to catch the bus

480 pages assessment delivered.

After a long long time I am back to express myself in this blog. To be honest, during this period I’d written two articles but I postpone their publication because I am not sure if they are offensive or they can create some uncomfortable situation to some friends of mine. Eventually, taking an MSc course isn’t the easiest situation you can deal with. Hours of study, countdown to deadlines and… running to catch the bus (for people who doesn’t know that, my principle “never run to catch a bus, another one will arrive shortly” was busted here in York, twice!).

Finally, the Practical Software Engineering & Management of Software Engineering module ended yesterday followed by a fest in the local pubs. 4 months working with 4 people from 4 different countries. Deal with 4 different cultures. A lot of 4s or a lot of lessons learnt? I strongly believe the second one. Let’s do some maths:

• 7.648,42 are the kilometers between Athens and Beijing.
• 5.009,51 kilometers from Athens to New Delhi.
• 2.481,57 kilometers from Athens to Tehran.
• 2.422,30 kilometers from Athens to London.
• 1500+ hours of team working. 841 hours spent on defined project tasks.
• More than 100 liters of coffee (= 300 pounds spent in vending machines)

What about culture?

• Capital punishment is the penalty to Iranians if they declare that they are not religious.
• In contrast, English people really don’t care about God.
• Chinese boys have to buy a house to their girlfriends.
• Indians smoke a lot, like Greeks.
• Never bet against Iranians.
• In China, you have to work at the place that you were born.
• If an English man wants to speak real “everyday” English you cannot understand him, even if you hold a PhD in English language from the Cambridge University with the title “Understanding everyday English from English university students”.
• ...

And finally, general stuff:

• Conversation between two Greek boys is very sexy (yes, someone told that. WTF?).
• Greeks can speak for boring things very passionate.
• Democracy in software engineering sucks.
• after 4 months Gu Zi became Gu Zili and got his glory back (sorry Steve ).

That’s all. It’s time to start my final project. Another 4-months experience starts from now. For the previous one, I want to thank Lyla, Steve, Ehsan and Vipin.

Human vs Nature

River Ouse (18/3 @ 16:30). This photo was taken from Liana.
(Click to enlarge)

I am back after a week break with no blog activity. The last 10 days in York were very difficult as I had to study hard in order to deliver three open assessments for my university course. Today I "escaped" from this hell in which I will return in 2 days to continue with two very difficult assessments.

I am writing this from the York's Starbucks shop located in Coney st. Today, the weather in York is really nice. The sun is shining and the temperature is raised to 10 degrees Celcius. It may sounds strange for the people reading this from Greece, but 10 degrees is thought as warm here. I have nothing in my mind right now as I am really tired. The only thing that I can say is that I am very sad about the Japanese people. They are living a real nightmare.

I hope that this will end soon. Nature proved once again the its powers are unlimited and people should not underestimate them.

Take care!

Over the rainbow

This time I will not write about my thoughts or my beliefs. I will make a tribute to my hobby, that is flight simming. If you think that this is not as thrilling as bungee jumping or not as impressive as soccer, then please read the whole article. Maybe I can manage to change your view.

First of all, I introduce you Air GREECE VA (VA stands for virtual airline). Air GREECE is a partner in a gigantic VAs network called VATSIM. VATSIM provides the networking that allows as to fly in real time with pilots and Air Traffic Controllers (ATC) from all over the world using Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 & X. Imagine that at the time this article is written about 1000 virtual pilots are flying simultaneously, executing real flightplans under real weather conditions. It mays sounds boring but it isn't. You can fly a short route, ie from London Heathrow to Paris Chars De Gaulle airport (approximately 1 hour) or a really long and challenging route, ie from New York JFK to Athens El. Venizelos (approximately 10 hours). We are talking about real time flights so you have to stay in your virtual cockpit for every single minute. There are real people whose hobby is to control the air traffic so you have to communicate with them and follow their orders like in real world.

I am in Air GREECE VA for about 3 years and I have 700 hours in my flight record. I am currently a Senior Captain in this company. Before Air GREECE I was flying with Aegean VA and I had more than 1000 hours of flying. My longest journey was a 13 hours flight from Athens to St. Maarten (the most thrilling airport in the world. Just type St. Maarten airport in youtube).

What's the point? I can't analyze it to you so much. It's a really big community out there and I made some good friends. We organised in the past group flights in which 20 people took place flying together. I can remember the best moment in Air GREECE when 20 pilots flew the 1 1/2 hours route from Athens to Innsbruck. The place where this airport is located and the big amount of traffic that we created led the traffic controllers to order me to execute a holding pattern (imagine it as making cycles above a specific point at the same height) for almost 2 hours. I landed having the minimum allowed fuel in my tanks.

I love virtual flying and I love real flying, too. I had the luck to fly 2 times a Cessna 182 in Makedonia Airport and execute some landings and take-offs. My dream is to fly, over the rainbow, so high. Flight simming helps me to fulfill my dream virtually. I hope that in the future virtual reality will become reality.

The first video is a video I created, recording one flight I made from Heraklion to Thessaloniki. The second is a video form the CEO of Air GREECE VA. Watch them and enjoy the flight. If you are interesting in finding details then visit www.airgreeceva.gr and www.vatsim.net. If you want to fly with us then e-mail me ASAP!

The perfect balance

I always hear people protest for some bad luck or some lack of capabilities that they may have comparing themselves with others. I don't know anyone that is happy of what he has. We are always be jealous of things that we don't have but we never think of what we possess. I am thinking of that since I was five years old. I remember myself claiming new toys saying to my parents names of my friends that have more toys than me. But, mysteriously I was forgetting the friends of mine that had less toys than I had. In contrast, there are people thinking that they are better than the others. That they have more knowledge, more money, generally more positive characteristics that the others. Two different views that are both wrong.

No one is in better situation than you are and your are not in a better situation that the others are. Trust me. Every single person in this universe has the same amount of positive and negative features in his life. And responsible for that is an unknown power that handles these "resources". Many people call this power "God" while others just "Destiny". I will simply call it "Universe" to avoid any misunderstandings. If you think that you are unlucky because someone seems to have more than you, then have in mind that there are things in everyone's life that are hidden. So you can't judge if he is what he looks or what problems he may have. On the other hand, if you think that someone is not good as you then have in mind that he may have some hidden features that you simply don't know. Always remember that the "Universe" knows everything and it will balance everything. 

But, what's the point of that? Firstly, I want to express that people should be happy of what the "Universe" selected for them because the selection was totally fair. Secondly, there are no people in this planet that are bad or that they are worse than the average. All of us have some positive characteristics. It is your responsibility to find the characteristics of each person that are positive and disregard those that are negative. Have in mind that you are not perfect because no one is. Do you remember the "Universe"? It is responsible for that. It is here to control that no one is perfect. To control that no one is better that the others. To set the perfect balance!

The dream of "bring them back"

Melina Mercouri (1920-1994)

Many of you may know Melina Mercouri. Melina was a great Greek actress, singer and politician. Andreas Papandreou in 1981 anointed her Minister of Culture, a position that she held for 8 years. She had a dream. Today is completed the 17^th year after her death. Her dream hasn’t yet fulfilled.

I hope that all of you know the Parthenon located in the Athens’ Acropolis. It’s a great historic monument, which millions of tourists from all over the world visit every year. It was built with marble in the middle of the 5th century BC. This construction is so huge that is very difficult to understand how it’s built having in mind the restricted technology that people had 2500 years ago.

Around 1800, Greece was under the Ottomans possession. Ottomans let Elgin, a British Lord, to move almost the half of these marbles to Britain. Since then the monument of Parthenon is expecting the return of these marbles. Melina fought to bring them back however she didn’t manage to do that. Many people after her had the same dream but it is still a dream for them.

Now the marbles are located in the British Museum, in London.  I always had in mind that it is not so bad that the marbles are hosted in Great Britain. It is a very good advertisement of my country in such a big museum. Why do we want the back? I visited this museum 2 years ago. I left the hall where they are hosted in almost five minutes. I left because I was bored. I saw some hundreds of well sculptured marbles in a cold room. Then I realized why Greeks want them back.

These marbles are losing their importance, their merit away from the building of Parthenon. People can’t understand what they animate because their animation is strongly connected with the rest of the building. I was never a big fan of the “Bring them back” movement. But, I think that Melina’s dream should be fulfilled as soon as possible. The marbles don't belong to Greeks, to British, to Ottomans. They belong to Parthenon and to the citizens of this world.    

Parthenon

ACAB? ACAHT!

Today morning, when I woke up I found my Facebook wall full of posts regarding the police. I wasn't informed on what happened but I easily realized that something bad was happened in Greece the previous night. The news portals had the assassination of two young police officers (22 years old) at the top of their newslists. The story can be found here. 

My facebook wall continued to grow with messages of friends who were declaring their opposition to the death of these two guys. However there were some messages of people who were happy because two cops were killed. The "ACAB" acronym (All Cops Are Bustards) was written at the end of each message of that type. 

I am not going to talk about the dead policemen. They are dead and our religion says that now they will be judged by God and not by humans. Nevertheless, I will write four statements for people that are supporting that a death is welcomed if is a death of a cop.

1) Each of these guys was a son of a mother, whose life in now ruined. She is now in pain and she has no difference from your mother.
2) Each of these guys was a son of a man, who sacrificed his life to let his children become useful members of this society. He is now in silent pain. Remember, that he has no difference from your father.
3) Each of these guys was a brother. His brothers and sisters can not even sleep from now on. It's like your brother.
4) Each of these guys was a friend. A friend of people like you.

So, if you believe that ACAB then I say to you that ACAHT (All Cops Are Humans Too).

Over the hill

Well, I cannot really understand what's the meaning of the song. I think that it's about love and a girl that is left alone. Or maybe a person that is old and alone, as the phrase "over-the-hill" is used to declare the past of the youthful vigor. So, I decided to write about what I firstly understand when I read the title of the song which is not related at all with the above. 

Let's imagine that life is a trip with a bicycle. In this trip, unfortunately the road isn't straight and the biggest problem is that the road has a lot of uphills. In uphills, you have to spent a big amount of energy to manage to reach the top of the hill. This effort is awarded by a downhill in which you don't even need to pedal. The bike is moving all alone and now you can enjoy the trip. Until you reach a new uphill and face the new troubles that you have to surpass. It is something like a giant roller coaster which lasts many years, going up and down all the time. But you know that the great effort is awarded. 

Sometimes you get the award really fast. Sometimes it takes many years to grab your award. You think that you are trying but nothing changes. But if you really try and there are no results then a magic hand will push you to ride the hill. If you don't try the result is obvious. The bicycle will go down the hill, but this time backwards. 

And when you reach the top of the hill then a new era begins. Try for this moments. The moments that you are on the top of the hill. Ride with passion your bike over the hill.

PS. The explanation of the real meaning of the song is welcome! 

Give galaktoboureko* to the people

Most of us know the phrase "If they have no bread, let them eat cake" that is often attributed to Marie Antoinette, the Queen consort of Louis XVI although there is no evidence for that. According to unapproved sources Marie Antoinette said that phrase when she was informed that the poor French citizens had no bread to eat. Her status quo allowed her to understand little about the plight of the poor [1] and she proposed to give cake to them.

The last 2 year, the financial crisis hit Europe and there are people that have no sources to buy the basic goods that are necessary for their living. Banks bankrupt worldwide and the governments give them money to avoid chain reactions that will destroy the whole financial construction. Greece faces more or less the same difficulties that all the members of the Eurozone suffer from. Portugal, Iceland, Greece and Spain were the first victims of the financial crisis however there are many other countries that try to hide their big problems in order to avoid creating panic to the financial markets, a panic with unpredictable consequences. 

Everyday I read on news that the situation is worse than we can imagine and I fear that in some months Europeans will face the "If they have no bread, let them eat cake" situation. Maybe in Greece the government should say "Give galaktoboureko* to the people" [2] instead of cake because it is more delicious! 

* Galaktoboureko
Find recipe here: http://www.grouprecipes.com/21949/galaktompoureko.html

[1] http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/let-them-eat-cake.html
[2] The phrase belongs to Aris, a classmate in SWE.

Nostalgia

First of all, what “Nostalgia” is? I copy the words of Svetlana Boym, a professor in Harvard University

The term nostalgia describes a yearning for the past, often in idealized form. The word is a learned formation of a Greek compounds, consisting of νόστος,nóstos, "returning home", a Homeric word, and ἄλγος, álgos, "pain" or "ache". It was described as a medical condition, a form of melancholy. [1]

In plain English: The pain for being away from your home. Many people who read this blog may have this feeling the last 6 months, being away from their country and their families to study in a foreign country. Personally, I believe that, as nostalgia is “a yearning for the past”, everyone experience a different type of nostalgia.

Yanni, a fabulous musician, who originates from Greece and his sales are more than 20 million worldwide, composed a marvelous song named “Nostalgia”. I think that this song defines nostalgia not is words but in music notes.

The following video is the performance that Yanni did at the Acropolis in Athens in 1993. Listen to it and bring back in mind beautiful scenes of you past. Reminisce beautiful moments. But be careful, don’t fall back! Life is all about present.

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[1] Boym, Svetlana, The future of Nostalgia, 2001 pp. xiii-xiv. 

On the threshold of wisdom

The University of York established in 1963 and it is located in York, UK. This year the Times Higher Education voted UoY as the best university in the United Kingdom. I don't know the criteria for such a decision and I don't care. I have to say that UoY can offer you everything you need in order to become a successful scientist.

If you saw the video [1] before these words then you probably understand what facilities this university offers to the students. I have the opportunity to study at Heslington East, the new campus which was developed this year. The facilities that this campus offer are incredibly thrilling. The new campus is the one showed after the 4:12 of the above video. However, I think I should do a separate tribute to this campus when I have the stuff needed to present it the best way.

Maybe I am not an objective viewer and other universities offer much better goods for their students. I am happy that I study here and I enjoy every second of this marvelous new experience. It is hard because the educational standards are very high. Regarding the computer science department I know that we have the crème de la crème professors around the world. Their upper knowledge in the domain and the fact that they are too approachable inspire you to try harder and harder. To place yourself, as the university's motto says, on the threshold of wisdom!

[1] Property of the "University of York Students Union - YUSU", 2010-2011

The road to Ithaca

The Island of Ithaca

A few years ago, when I was a high-school student I hated the module of literature. I always had in mind that some of the poems which we analyzed might be a result of intoxication, drug consumption or pure madness. A poem of K. Kavafis called "Ithaca" is the only poem that I really like.

The poem is a metaphor of the trip of Odysseus from Ithaca to Troy and back. This trip lasted 20 years and Odysseus fought with several mythical creatures and gods until he arrived back home. The poem starts as:

When you set out on your journey to Ithaca,
pray that the road is long,
full of adventure, full of knowledge. 

Kavafis supports that the fulfillment of the goal itself is not a big deal. The difficulties you face and the knowledge that you acquire is the whole benefit of the process. He claims that the the trip should be long, in order to gain as much as you can. New experiences, new knowledge. Wisdom. And he ends the poem:

Ithaca gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn’t have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.

The lyrics of this poem claim that in our lives we should set new goals which we have to fulfill. However, the goal is only needed to encourage as to start a new trip. A trip that makes as better people. A trip that can enrich our spirit. So, whenever you encounter some problems in your trip to Ithaca, then you know that it is for good. It is a part of the game which is called life.

The whole poem can be found here.

The 700 Thespians

At the end of summer 480 BC, in the region of Phocis, a place near Athens, took place the most remarkable battle in the ancient Greek history. This battle is known as "The battle of the Thermopylae". If you are not Greek then you probably hear about it for first time. If you are cinemaniac then you probably heard about it in the movie "300" by Zack Snyder. 

In this battle 5.200 Greeks fought against 2.600.000 Persians [1]. Modern estimations calculate the Persians between 70.000 and 300.000 [2]. The Thermopylae was a narrow strip of land between mountains. Greeks selected this place for the battle because they believed that the enemy couldn’t line up its millions of soldiers in such a narrow land strip. In this way the potential difference would be eliminated. Leonidas was the Greek commander and Xerxes the 1^st was the Persian. The battle lasted six days and at the end Persians won.

This battle is not remarkable because of its consequences, but for the vigor of the 300 Spartans who participated in the battle. When all the Greeks decided to leave the area of the battle and fortify their own cities, the Spartans and their leader decided to fight until they die. They denied to surrender, saying the glorious “Come and get them” ( “Μολών λαβέ” in Greek). A statue is placed where these heroes lost their lives in a battle which they knew they had no chance to win.

It is not widely known that the 300 Spartans were not alone at the end. 700 Thespians decided to help them and fight until death, too. And they did so. However the battle of Thermopylae is only directly connected with the courageous Spartans. Have in mind that the law of the Spartans didn’t allow them to return alive back if they lost a battle, so in any way they had to fight. Maybe they didn’t want to but they had to. In contrast with that, the Thespians had the choice to escape and save their lives but they didn’t.

This is a great history injustice. This phenomenon is repeated in modern life. There are people who work hard and their work is not recognized or it is absorbed by others.

Glory and honour to the 700 Thespians.

PS. I want to mention that this blog is not about the Greek culture's grandeur. It is not related with any kind of nationalism. The first two posts are symptomatically related with the Greek culture.

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[1] Herodotus VII, 186

[2] Holland, Tom (2006). Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West. New York: Doubleday, p. 394

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Read more about the battle of Thermopylae in Wikipedia

Read the amazing book of Steven Pressfiled, "Gates of fire"

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The "300" movie trailer

Which is the richest language?

Yesterday I had an discussion with a friend on which language is the richest in terms of vocabulary. He insisted that English language has the longest vocabulary.

Years ago, when I was at the first year of Lyceum, there was a Greek literature professor who was always saying that Greek language has the biggest vocabulary. I remember him claiming that computer programmers want to adopt the Greek language as a standard in creating programming languages because of its unlimited vocabulary. Based on that, I decided to bet that Greek Language has the biggest vocabulary against my friend's believing that English is the richest.

We searched the web to find an answer. The first results were declaring that "English is at all the richest language". However I read an article on the economist [1] analyzing why this question cannot be answered. More or less the article supported that it is impossible to count the words consisting a language for the simple reason that there are no rules to do that. For instance, if we count the word "home" and the word "run" as two separate words then the word "home run" should be counted or not?

English language is generally believed to be the richest language while Greek language isn't considered at all in such a "competition" (the top-5 languages participating in this competition are English, French, Tamin, Mandarin and German). However, I strongly believe that Greek language has a characteristic that is very important in this concept. There are very few words that the Greek vocabulary borrowed from foreign languages while the Greek vocabulary is used widely in languages like English. Should these "imported" words be counted as part of the English vocabulary? If you don't believe me, then read the following speech that was written by X. Zolotas the 177th president of Greece:

Kyrie, it is Zeus' anathema on our epoch for the dynamism of our economies and the heresy of our economic methods and policies that we should agonize the Scylla of numismatic plethora and the Charybdis of economic anaemia. It is not my idiosyncrasy to be ironic or sarcastic, but my diagnosis would be that politicians are rather cryptoplethorists. Although they emphatically stigmatize numismatic plethora, they energize it through their tactics and practices. Our policies have to be based more on economic and less on political criteria. Our gnomon has to be a metron between political, strategic and philanthropic scopes. Political magic has always been anti-economic. In an epoch characterized by monopolies, oligopolies, monopsonies, monopolistic antagonism and polymorphous inelasticities, our policies have to be more orthological. But this should not be metamorphosed into plethorophobia, which is endemic among academic economists. Numismatic symmetry should not hyper-antagonize economic acme. A greater harmonization between the practices of the economic and numismatic archons is basic. Parallel to this, we have to synchronize and harmonize more and more our economic and numismatic policies panethnically. These scopes are more practicable now, when the prognostics of the political and economic barometer are halcyonic. The history of our didymus organizations in this sphere has been didactic and their gnostic practices will always be a tonic to the polyonymous and idiomorphous ethnical economies. The genesis of the programmed organization will dynamize these policies. Therefore, I sympathize, although not without criticism on one or two themes, with the apostles and the hierarchy of our organs in their zeal to program orthodox economic and numismatic policies, although I have some logomachy with them. I apologize for having tyrannized you with my Hellenic phraseology. In my epilogue, I emphasize my eulogy to the philoxenous autochthons of this cosmopolitan metropolis and my encomium to you, Kyrie, and the stenographers.

Yes, all these words are of Greek origin. That's the grandeur of the Greek language.

[1] http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2010/06/counting_words