The stars, escaping,
Evaporate in acrid mists.
The houses, rearing themselves higher,
Assemble among the clouds.
Night blows through me.
I am clear with its bitterness.
I tinkle along brick canyons
Like a crystal leaf. Evelyn Scott [Winter Streets, 1920] Με ευχαριστίες στην Ελένη
Δεν ένιωθαν πια ως φρεσκοερωτευμένοι, αντίθετα μ’ αυτό που ο καπετάνιος κι η Σενάιδα πίστευαν κι ακόμα λιγότερο ως όψιμοι εραστές. Ήταν σαν να είχαν περάσει πάνω από τον δύσκολο γολγοθά της συζυγικής ζωής κι είχαν φτάσει χωρίς άλλες περιπέτειες στο κέντρο του έρωτα. Περνούσαν σιωπηλά πέρα από τις παγίδες του πάθους, πέρα από τις άγριες κοροϊδίες των ψευδαισθήσεων και τους αντικαθρεφτισμούς των παθημάτων τους: πέρα από τον έρωτα. Γιατί είχαν ζήσει μαζί αρκετά για να καταλάβουν πως ο έρωτας είναι έρωτας σ’ οποιαδήποτε εποχή και σ’ οποιονδήποτε τόπο, αλλά γινόταν πιο έντονος όταν βρισκόταν κοντά στον θάνατο.
Γκαμπριέλ Γκαρσία Μάρκες [Ο έρωτας στα χρόνα της χολέρας, 1985] (Gabriel García Márquez, El amor en los tiempos del cólera)
Γλυκό μ' αστέρι του Βοριά, τώρα που σβήνουνε τα φώτα, πάρε μακριά μου τη βαριά σκιά, και δωσ' μου ρότα... Υλαγιαλή, υλαγιαλή, υλαγιαλή, μέσα στη νύχτα με πηγαίνουν οι ανέμοι, κι όπου και πατήσω και σταθώ σαν το πουλί, τρέμει η καρδούλα μου και το φτερό μου τρέμει... Άβυσσος άγρυπνη που πάντα με καλεί, και σέρνει εκεί, σέρνει εκεί πέρα την ψυχή μου, Υλαγιαλή, υλαγιαλή, λάμψε καλή σαν αστραπή χρυσού και ασήμου... Υλαγιαλή, υλαγιαλή, υλαγιαλή, μέσα στη νύχτα με πηγαίνουν οι ανέμοι, κι όπου και πατήσω και σταθώ σαν το πουλί, τρέμει η καρδούλα μου και το φτερό μου τρέμει... Υλαγιαλή, υλαγιαλή, υλαγιαλή, μέσα στη νύχτα με πηγαίνουν οι ανέμοι, κι όπου και πατήσω και σταθώ σαν το πουλί, τρέμει η καρδούλα μου και το φτερό μου τρέμει... Νίκος Δ. Τριανταφυλλόπουλος [Υλαγιαλή της γέφυρας από τη συλλογή Λιμενάρχης Ευρίπου, 1993]
Αγρύπνια, αψηλάφητο ζώο! Δίχως μια στάλα στοργή, σ΄ όσους διψάν για χίμαιρες γέρνεις την κούπα σου που `ναι πάντα αδειανή. Κι ενώ περνά η νύχτα κατάλευκη, βροχερή σαν Κυριακή, ξέρω γιατί, στ΄ αυτί που σπαράζει, χιμάς και γλείφεις σαν το σκυλί. Δεν αγαπάς! Αφήνεις τους ψύλλους σου, τους ήχους που φτάνουν από μακριά, αγρύπνια, κακόφωνο όργανο, που αλέθεις των εκλεκτών το "ωσαννά". Αγρύπνια της κόλασης κήτος, είναι το φιλί σου φωτιά. Αφήνει μια γεύση από σίδερο, που `χουν ξηλώσει από καράβια παλιά. Θανάσης Παπακωνσταντίνου [Αγρύπνια, 2002]
I think that if a person doesn't feel cynical then they're out of phase with the 20th century. Being cynical is the only way to deal with modern civilization, you can't just swallow it whole.
Frank Vincent Zappa - American composer of Greek, Arab, Italian and French descent, passed way on 4 December 1993, aged 52
Τα παιδικά μου χρόνια είναι γεμάτα καλαμιές. Ξόδεψα πολύν άνεμο για να μεγαλώσω. Μόνον έτσι όμως έμαθα να ξεχωρίζω τους πιο ανεπαίσθητους συριγμούς, ν’ ακριβολογώ μες στα μυστήρια.
Round table on the Horizon 2020 space programme at the 2nd FP7 Space Conference in Larnaca, Cyprus.
My expectations from the Horizon 2020 space programme overall:
- Continue support for coordinated space-data exploitation, which did not exist at European level before FP7 and before the establishment of the European Space Policy in 2007.
- Continue support for international collaboration.
- Raise space awareness among citizens.
My suggestions for the support of specific space related topics:
-Development of critical technologies for space exploration and for European non-dependence in space.
-Comprehensive understanding of the consequences of solar variability on planetary magnetospheres / ionospheres / atmospheres and in particular on Geospace and specific space weather products corresponding to needs of our space infrastructure and related services.
-Search for habitable planets outside our solar system.
-Development of hyperspectral imaging technology.
Κοινωνικά ανατρεπτικό το μήνυμα στην παραβολή του πτωχού Λαζάρου (Λουκάς ιστ' 19-31). Στην κοινωνία μας όσοι έχουν πολλά χρήματα και εξουσία ή άλλα χαρίσματα (ωραία φωνή, σωματική ομορφιά, αθλητικές επιδόσεις, κ.α.) βρίσκονται στο επίκεντρο του ενδιαφέροντος, είναι "επώνυμοι" και πολλοί άνθρωποι τους ζηλεύουν και επιθυμούν να ήταν στη θέση τους. Ο Λουκάς δίνει συγκεκριμένο όνομα στον φτωχό, ταπεινό και καταφρονεμένο από την κοινωνία - τον ονομάζει Λάζαρο. Ο πλούσιος της παραβολής δεν έχει όνομα, είναι "θωρακισμένος" και περιχαρακωμένος με τα όποια "πλούτη" του.
Ο Κυρ Αντώνης πάει καιρός που ζούσε στην αυλή
μ'ένα κανάτι μ'ένα κρεβάτι και με κρασί πολύ
είχε δυο μάτια γαλανά κι αχτένιστα μαλλιά
κι ένα λουλούδι πάντα φορούσε στα ρούχα τα παλιά
Αχ κυρ Αντώνη πως σ' αγαπάμε
και μαζί σου τ'άστρα μετράμε
τις φωτιές για σένα πηδάμε
ώσπου να 'ρθει η βροχή.
Και τον καημό σου πάντα ξεχνάμε
σαν πουλιά μαζί τριγυρνάμε
σαν παιδιά μαζί σου γελάμε
σαν κάνεις προσευχή
Ο κυρ Αντώνης βιάζεται να πάει να κοιμηθεί
γιατί το βράδυ στα όνειρά του θέλει να θυμηθεί
ότι ποτέ δεν έζησε, μες στο όνειρό του ζει
μα η νύχτα φεύγει και λυπημένο τον βρίσκει η χαραυγή
Αχ κυρ Αντώνη πως σ' αγαπάμε
και μαζί σου τ'άστρα μετράμε
τις φωτιές για σένα πηδάμε
ώσπου να 'ρθει η βροχή.
Και τον καημό σου πάντα ξεχνάμε
σαν πουλιά μαζί τριγυρνάμε
σαν παιδιά με σένα γελάμε
σαν κάνεις προσευχή
Μα ένα βράδυ ο κυρ Αντώνης στρώνει να κοιμηθεί
κι όταν ξυπνάμε τον καρτεράμε στην πόρτα να φανεί
Μα ο κυρ Αντώνης δεν θα βγεί ποτέ του στην αυλή
αφού για πάντα μες στο όνειρό του θέλησε πια να ζει.
Twenty-one and strong as I can be
I know what freedom means to me
And I can't give the reason why
I should ever want to die
Got no cause to be afraid
Or fear that life will ever fade
'Cause as I watch the rising sun
I know that we have just begun
Detail of a 7th-century icon of Saints Sergius and Bacchus
Saints Sergius and Bacchus (also Serge and Bacchus or Σέργιος και Βάκχος), were third century Roman soldiers who are commemorated as martyrs by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches. Their feast day is October 7.
According to their hagiography, Sergius and Bacchus were officers in Emperor Galerius' army (also see Arch of Galerius at Thessaloniki, Greece, the city where Galerius carried out most of his administrative actions), and were held high in his favor until they were exposed as secret Christians. They were then severely punished, with Bacchus dying during torture, and Sergius eventually beheaded in Resafa, Syria. However, due to its inconsistencies and historical anachronisms, the hagiography is considered ahistorical.
In Moscow for the 50 years anniversary from the launch of Sputnik
At IKI (Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences) with Academician Lev Zelenyi, Director of IKI, and Emmanuel Sarris, Professor of Democritus University of Thrace, under the model of the Mir space station.
Γρήγορα που σκοτεινιάζει, φθινοπώριασε,
Δεν αντέχω τους ανθρώπους άλλο, χώρια εσέ.
Που μιλάς και η νύχτα κλαίει σαν το σκύλο σου
Προδομένος απομένει ποιός; ο φίλος σου.
Οδυσσέας Ελύτης [Αγαμέμνων, από τη συλλογή Τα Ρω του Έρωτα, 1972]
I hardly knew my grandmother. I didn't have any interest in knowing her. I have no need for the past, I thought, like a child. I did not consider that the past might have a need for me. Jonathan Safran Foer [Extremely loud and incredibly close, 2005]
90 years from the destruction of Smyrna: 13-17 September 1922
Smyrna (Greek: Σμύρνη or Σμύρνα) was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Thanks to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is located at two sites within modern Izmir, Turkey. While the first site rose to prominence during the Archaic Period as one of the principal ancient Greek settlements in western Anatolia, the second, whose foundation is associated with Alexander the Great, reached metropolitan proportions especially during the period of the Roman Empire, from which time most of the present-day remains date.
The Great Fire of Smyrna is the name commonly given to the fire that ravaged Smyrna starting 13 September 1922 and lasting until 17 September 1922. It occurred four days after the Turkish army regained control of the city on 9 September 1922. Turks systematically burned the city and killed Greek and Armenian inhabitants. There is extensive relevant eyewitness evidence from Western troops sent to Smyrna during the evacuation, foreign diplomats/relief workers based at Smyrna and Turkish sources. The fire mainly affected the Greek quarters of the city, taking many lives. Ethnic cleansing soon followed, resulting in the expulsion of most of the Greeks from the city, ending their 3000 years presence in Smyrna.
George Horton was the U.S. Consul General of Smyrna who was compelled to evacuate Smyrna on September 13, arriving in Athens on September 14. He published his own account, in 1926, of what happened in Smyrna and included testimony from a number of eye-witnesses and additionally quoted a number of contemporary scholars. Horton noted that it was not till after the Armenian quarter had been cleared by Turkish soldiers that the Turkish soldiers torched a number of houses simultaneously, on September 13, behind the American Inter-Collegiate Institute. Moreover, they waited for the wind to blow in the right direction, away from the homes of the Muslim population, before starting the fire. This is backed up by the eye-witness report of Miss Minnie Mills, the dean of the Inter-Collegiate Institute:
"I could plainly see the Turks carrying the tins of petroleum into the houses, from which, in each instance, fire burst forth immediately afterward. There was not an Armenian in sight, the only persons visible being Turkish soldiers of the regular army in smart uniforms." This was also confirmed by the eye-witness report of Mrs King Birge the wife of an American missionary, who viewed events from the tower of the American College at Paradise.
Here is an abridged summary of notable events in the destruction of Smyrna described in Horton's account:
* Turkish soldiers cordoned off the Armenian quarter during the massacre. Armed Turks massacred Armenians and looted the Armenian quarter.
* After their systemic massacre Turkish soldiers, in smart uniforms, set fire to Armenian buildings using tins of petroleum, and other flammables, with flaming rags soaked in those flammable liquids.
* To supplement the devastation, small bombs were planted by the soldiers, under paving slabs around the christian parts of the city to take down walls. One of the bombs was planted near the American Consulate and another at the American Girl's School.
* The fire was started on September 13. The last Greek soldiers had evacuated Smyrna on September 8. The Turkish Army was in full control of Smyrna from September 9. All Christians remaining in the city who evaded massacre stayed within their homes fearing for their lives. The burning of the homes forced Christians in to the streets. This was personally witnessed by Horton.
* The fire was initiated at one edge of the Armenian quarter when a strong wind was blowing toward the christian part of town and away from the Muslim part of town. Citizens of the Muslim quarter were not involved in the catastrophe. However, the Muslim quarter did celebrate the arrival of the Turkish Army.
* Turkish soldiers guided the fire through the modern Greek and European section of Smyrna by pouring flammable liquids in to the streets for the fire to consume. These were poured in front of the American Consulate to guide the fire there and this was witnessed by C. Clafun David, the Chairman of the Disaster Relief Committee of the Red Cross (Constantinople Chapter) and others who were standing at the door of the Consulate. Mr Davis testified that he put his hands in the mud where the flammable liquid was poured and indicated that it smelled like mixed petroleum and gasoline. The soldiers that were observed doing this had started from the quay and proceeded towards the fire thus ensuring the rapid and controlled spread of the fire.
* Dr Alexander Maclachlan, the president of the American College, together with a sergeant of the American Marines were stripped and then beaten by Turkish soldiers with clubs. In addition, a squad of American Marines was fired on.
Aristotle Onassis who was born in Smyrna, and who later became one of the richest men in the world, was one of the Greek survivors of Smyrna. The various biographies of his life document notable and quite sensitive aspects of his experiences during the Smyrna Catastrophe. His life experiences were recreated in the movie called Onassis, The Richest Man in the World and includes Onassis' personal relationship with a Turkish officer.
During the Smyrna Catastrophe the Onassis family lost their substantial property holdings which were either taken or given to Turks as bribes to secure their safety and freedom. They became refugees fleeing to Greece after the fire. However, Aristotle Onassis stayed behind to save his father who had been placed in a Turkish concentration camp. He was successful in saving his father's life. During this period Onassis lost three uncles and one aunt with her husband Chrysostomos Konialidis and their daughter, who were burned to death when Turkish soldiers set fire to a church in Thyatira where 500 Christians had found shelter to avoid Turkish soldiers and the Great Fire of Smyrna
I felt suddenly shy. I was not used to shy. I was used to shame. Shyness is when you turn your head away from something you want. Shame is when you turn your head away from something you do not want.
Jonathan Safran Foer [Extremely loud and incredibly close, 2005]
The Mountain Meadows massacre was a series of Mormon attacks on the Baker–Fancher emigrant wagon train at Mountain Meadows in southern Utah. The attacks culminated on September 11, 1857, with the mass slaughter of the emigrant party by the Iron County district of the Utah Territorial Militia and some local Native Americans. The wagon train—composed almost entirely of families from Arkansas—was bound for California on a route that passed through the Utah Territory during a turbulent period later known as the Utah War. After arriving in Salt Lake City, the Baker–Fancher party made their way south, eventually stopping to rest at Mountain Meadows. While the emigrants were camped at the meadow, nearby militia leaders, including Isaac C. Haight and John D. Lee, made plans to attack the wagon train. The militia, officially called the Nauvoo Legion, was composed of Utah's Mormon settlers (members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or LDS Church). Intending to give the appearance of Native American aggression, their plan was to arm some Southern Paiute Native Americans and persuade them to join with a larger party of their own militiamen—disguised as Native Americans—in an attack ... Click here for the full story
2 Σεπτεμβρίου 1822 - σαν σήμερα πριν από 190 χρόνια: Οι Σουλιώτες - Μποτσαραίοι, Τζαβελαίοι, Δαγκλήδες - εγκαταλείπουν, οριστικά πλέον, για δεύτερη φορά το Σούλι ...
When I was your age, my grandfather bought me a ruby bracelet. It was too big for me and would slide up and down my arm. It was almost a necklace. He later told me that he had asked the jeweler to make it that way. Its size was supposed to be a symbol of his love. More rubies, more love. But I could not wear it comfortably. I could not wear it at all …
Jonathan Safran Foer [Extremely loud & incredibly close, 2005]
22 August 1862 (150 years ago): Lincoln's letter to Horace Greely, editor of the influential New York Tribune. Written during the heart of the Civil War, this is one of Abraham Lincoln's most famous letters.
"... If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union."
16 August 1832, 180 years ago: Death of Demetrios Ypsilantis (also spelt using Dimitrios, Greek: Δημήτριος Υψηλάντης) - officer in the Imperial Russian Army in Moldavia and hero of the Greek War of Independence. In 1828, he was appointed by Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first head of state of independent Greece, as commander of the troops in eastern Greece. On 25 September 1829, he successfully compelled the Turkish commander Aslan Bey to capitulate at the Pass of Petra, thus ending the active operations of the War of Independence. The city of Ypsilanti, Michigan in the United States - founded in 1825, during the Greek struggle for independence - is named after him.
A bust of Demetrios Ypsilantis stands between American and Greek flags
at the base of the landmark Ypsilanti Water Tower.
Joy Division - "Unknown pleasures" (the graph of the pulsar discovery)
45 years from the first discovery of a pulsar by Joselyn Bell Burnell, a PhD student at the University of Cambridge, on 6 August 1967. Pulsars (pulsating stars) are highly magnetized, rotating neutron stars that emit a beam of electromagnetic radiation. The radiation can only be observed when the beam of emission is pointing towards the Earth. This is called the lighthouse effect and gives rise to the pulsed nature that gives pulsars their name.
Η λέξη pulsar προήλθε από την συγχώνευση των λέξεων pulsating και star («παλλόμενος αστέρας» θα λέγαμε) και πρωτοεμφανίστηκε το 1968. Η πρώτη ανακάλυψη ενός πάλσαρ έγινε στις 6 Αυγούστου 1967, από την Τζόσελιν Μπελ Μπαρνέλ (Joselyn Bell Burnell) και τον Άντονι Χιούις (Anthony Hewish) του Πανεπιστημίου του Κέιμπριτζ. Κατά τη διάρκεια παρατηρήσεων κουάζαρ με μια συστοιχία ραδιοτηλεσκοπίων, αντιλήφθηκαν πως λάμβαναν ένα σήμα με υψηλή κανονικότητα, που αποτελούνταν από παλμούς ακτινοβολίας με περίοδο μερικών δευτερολέπτων (δηλαδή συχνότητα μικρότερη του ενός Hz). Οι δύο επιστήμονες σοκαρισμένοι από την σχεδόν αφύσικη κανονικότητα των εκπομπών (ας σημειώσουμε εδώ πως η κανονικότητα του σήματος κάποιων πάλσαρ φτάνει την κανονικότητα των ατομικών ρολογιών), βάφτισαν την ανακάλυψή τους LGM-1, που ήταν τα αρχικά των λέξεων Little Green Men (δηλαδή «μικρά πράσινα ανθρωπάκια» - ΜΠΑ!) – καλύπτοντας με βρετανικό χιούμορ την αιρετική υπόθεση πως ίσως επρόκειτο για σήματα από εξωγήινα νοήμονα όντα.
99 χρόνια από την πρώτη ανάβαση του Ολύμπου: δύο Ελβετοί, ο ταλαντούχος φωτογράφος Fred Boissonnas και ο Daniel Baud-Bovy, ιστορικός τέχνης, οδηγούμενοι από τον νεαρό κυνηγό Χρήστο Κάκκαλο από το Λιτόχωρο (γνωστός σήμερα από το καταφύγιο του Ολύμπου που φέρει το όνομά του) πατούν για πρώτη φορά την κορυφή του Ολύμπου, τον Μύτικα, το πρωί της 2ας Αυγούστου του 1913. Αυτός που πάτησε πρώτος την κορυφή ήταν ο Χρήστος Κάκκαλος.
Πρώτη φορά στον Όλυμπο, 1985
Οικογενειακώς στον Όλυμπο, 2001
Στεφάνι και Μύτικας: Φωτογραφία του Boissonas, Αύγουστος 1913
190 χρόνια από τη μάχη στο Αγιονόρι (28 Ιουλίου 1822): Νικηταράς, Παπαφλέσσας και Δημήτριος Υψηλάντης ηγούνται ελληνικού σώματος που νικά και πάλι και ουσιαστικά εξουδετερώνει τη στρατιά του Δράμαλη (δύο μέρες νωρίτερα είχε ηττηθεί στα Δερβενάκια).
22 July 1209 (Ste. Madeleine's Day) The day before, the crusader army, commanded by the Papal Legate, the Abbot of Citeaux Arnaud Amalric, reached the outskirts of Béziers and started to besiege the city, calling on the Catholics within to come out, and demanding that the Cathars surrender. Both groups refused. The army, consisting of knights mostly from northern France, was set up following Pope's Innocent III declaration of a crusade to eliminate Catharism in the Languedoc. During the storming of the city on Ste. Madeleine's Day, thousands of Béziers' citizens sought sanctuary in the Cathedral of St Nazaire, which was set on fire, and also in the Eglise de la Madeleine, inside which all were butchered to death. "Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius - Kill them all, God will recognize his own" was the famous quotation of Arnaud Amarlic, which exonerated the rampaging Crusaders. No one was spared, irrespective of rank, sex or age... Contemporary sources give estimates of the number of dead ranging between 15,000 and 20,000.
... the meaning of my thoughts started to float away from me, like leaves that fall from a tree into a river, I was the tree, the world was the river ...
Jonathan Safran Foer [Extremely loud and incredibly close, 2005]
The desert of Judaea as seen from Masada / I.A. Daglis, thanks to Tsvi
The desert is the environment of revelation, genetically and physiologically alien, sensorily austere, esthetically abstract, historically inimical... Its forms are bold and suggestive. The mind is beset by light and space, the kinesthetic novelty of aridity, high temperature and wind. The desert sky is encircling, majestic, terrible... To the desert go prophets and hermits; through deserts go pilgrims and exiles. Here the leaders of the great religions have sought the therapeutic and spiritual values of retreat, not to escape but to find reality. Paul Howe Shepard [Man in the landscape: A historic view of the esthetics of nature, 1967]
Wenn du lange in einen Abgrund blickst, blickt der Abgrund auch in dich hinein. (When you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you) Friedrich Nietzsche [Aphorism 146 in Beyond Good and Evil, 1886]
According to the moral absolutism that characterized McCandless's beliefs, a challenge in which a successful outcome is assured isn't a challenge at all. Jon Krakauer [Into the wild, 1996]
And then I climbed into my car and departed for Alaska. I was surprised, as always, by how easy the act of leaving was, and how good it felt. The world was suddenly rich with possibility. Jon Krakauer [Into the wild, 1996]
Summer night in Nea Fokea, Macedonia, Greece / I.A. Daglis
In days of peace - sweet smelling summer nights
of wine and song;
dusty pavements burning feet.
Why am I crying, I want to know.
How can I smile and make it right?
For sixty days and eighty nights
and not give in and lose the fight.
I'm going back to the ones that I know,
with whom I can be what I want to be.
Just one week for the feeling to go --
and with you there to help me
then it probably will.
Ian Anderson [With you there to help me - inBenefit, 1970]
