It’s been a while since the last entries on evdomada.net and a few things have occur ed locally and around the world since then.  We’ve had a worldwide economic meltdown, the first African-American to be voted the president of the United States of America, Nikos Vertis performed at the Enmore Theatre, Vandi visited us at the Entertainment Centre, others participated in the Sydney to Wollongong charity bike ride for Multiple Sclerosis … just to mention a few.

Articles and posts on all of the above are to follow shortly and hopefully I will be able to be a little more proactive than the last couple of months.

Finally the evdomada.net team proudly had its first article printed in the Sydney Hellenic newspaper <<O KOSMOS>> last Monday.  It was in relation to the Australian-Greek pension agreement and a related interview which was given on the radio show by Mr Danalis from the Greek Community.  I will post a link to the article for any of you that didn’t have a chance to read it.

evdomada@gmail.com

By Iota Myrtsioti – Kathimerini

Link to White Tower Exhibition … click here

Thessaloniki’s White Tower has once more opened its heavy doors to the public as an exhibition space.

The tower’s new permanent display, which Minister of Culture Michalis Liapis inaugurated on Friday, is a charming journey through the history of the northern city, even for its own residents. Visitors to the display will gain a clear understanding of Thessaloniki, from its founding in 316/5 BC to the recent past, as well as its important geographical position which has made it a key junction throughout the centuries and its particular urban character.

New technology helps unravel the history of 23 centuries on six separate floors. Audiovisual means, screenings, videos, sound documents and touchscreens present the city’s multicultural character, from Byzantine times to the Ottoman period and then through to the 20th century, with all its inhabitants of different religions and cultures.

It took four years to set up the exhibition. The scientific team of the Museum of Byzantine Culture, which worked day and night, faced many problems. The venue was initially unsuitable for hosting a display and there was an enormous volume of information as well as 20,000 photographs. The temperature and humidity had to be regulated and special provisions had to be made so that the disabled could have a visual guided tour on the ground floor.

The main concern was to design an exhibition that would respect the building’s architectural identity and highlight it, instead of competing with it.

The exhibition unfolds on two levels. On each floor, the central hall presents a summarized version of each theme, while the surrounding rooms are equipped with various applications that enable visitors to probe deeper. As an extension of the display, the circular walkway around the top of the tower has screens where one can compare today’s view with past views of the city.

The organizers didn’t want to create an “academic” exhibition, but one that would intrigue people, redefine their relationship with the city and make them love it. “We could have set it up in a way that would present a different historical era on every floor, but that would be tiring. We sought literature, poetry and the city’s people, so as to convey not only information but also emotion. A city is not just its buildings, but mostly its people,” said the Museum of Byzantine Culture’s director, Anastassia Tourta.

There have been significant contributions from private collectors, cultural institutions as well as French collector and ardent admirer of Thessaloniki Jean-Pierre Grelois, who asked only that his name be mentioned.

Source: e-Kathimerini

Yiannis Alafouzos, chairman and managing director of Skai Television, announcing the ‘Great Greeks’ project at a recent press conference. The idea for the upcoming series comes from the original BBC’s own ‘Great Britons’ series, which was subsequently followed by similar projects in 17 countries.

The search is on for the greatest Greek of all time – take your pick of five prominent Greek men and women and cast your vote up to May 7.

Skai Television recently announced the launch of the “Great Greeks” series, to be presented by Alexis Papachelas.

The project was announced during a recent press conference in Athens.

The idea for the upcoming series comes from the original BBC’s own “Great Britons” series, which was subsequently followed by similar projects in 17 countries, including Germany, France, the United States, Finland, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Romania, Portugal, Spain, Argentina, Ukraine, Canada, the Netherlands and South Africa.

In Britain alone, 30,000 voters suggested no fewer than 10,000 personalities, ranging from Winston Churchill to John Lennon, Isaac Newton and Diana, Princess of Wales.

Who are the Great Greeks? That’s up to you, the public, to decide.

There are personalities who lived hundreds of years ago, but also people who are making a difference today. People who come from all walks of public life: politics, sports, culture, the arts. Some are pioneers, others are much loved, they are those who at a certain point in time may have altered the course of Greek history.

No doubt a number of these leading personalities deserve some good-quality time on the small screen.

Initial part

In the first part of the series, public voting will determine the top 100 names – voting is currently open via telephone, SMS and online. The top 100 will then be turned into a four-year documentary, to be shown in a series of two-hour programs.

In the second part of the series, the top 10 names will be showcased individually through a 10-documentary program. Each documentary will feature a different presenter, fiercely arguing in favor of the great personality he or she is presenting. All presenters will then take part in a final, live debate conducted by Papachelas with the participation of a live audience.

The project is being sponsored by the National Bank of Greece.

For more information log on to www. skai. gr/greatgreeks. If you wish to vote by phone, call 9011404040, or send an SMS to 19400.

Hμερομηνία : 23/4/08
Copyright: http://www.ekathimerini.com

A Greek court has been asked to draw the line between gay women and the natives of the Aegean Sea island of Lesbos.

Three islanders from Lesbos – home of the ancient poet Sappho, who praised love between women – have taken a gay rights group to court for using the word “lesbian” in its name.

On Wednesday, one of the plaintiffs said that the name of the association, the Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece, “insults the identity” of the people of Lesbos, who are also known as Lesbians.

“My sister can’t say she is a Lesbian,” Dimitris Lambrou said.

“Our geographical designation has been usurped by certain ladies who have no connection whatsoever with Lesbos,” he said.

The three plaintiffs are seeking to have the group barred from using “lesbian” in its name and filed a lawsuit on April 10.

A spokeswoman for the Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece said the action was “a joke in bad taste that borders on discrimination”.

“I don’t see how the word can be an insult,” Evangelia Vlami said.

“We don’t think doubt can be cast on dictionaries … even the United Nations refer to us as lesbians.”

Old name

Also called Mytilene, after its capital, Lesbos is famed as the birthplace of Sappho. The island, particularly the lyric poet’s reputed home town of Eressos, is a favoured holiday destination for gay women.

“This is not an aggressive act against gay women,” Lambrou said.

“Let them visit Lesbos and get married and whatever they like. We just want [the group] to remove the word lesbian from their title.”

He said that the plaintiffs targeted the group because it is the only officially registered gay group in Greece to use the word lesbian in its name.

The case will be heard in an Athens court on June 10.

Sappho lived from the late 7th to the early 6th century BC and is considered one of the greatest poets of antiquity.

Many of her poems contain passionate references to love for other women.

New definition

Lambrou said the word “lesbian” has only been linked with gay women in the past few decades.

“But we have been Lesbians for thousands of years,” said Lambrou, who publishes a small magazine on ancient Greek religion and technology that frequently criticises the Christian Church.

Vlami, the gay group spokeswoman, said any misunderstanding can easily be resolved through linguistics.

“Most people from Lesbos prefer to use the word Mytilene, which is the more ancient version and because some people may be afraid of being misunderstood,” she said.

“I don’t see what the problem is … Can’t a woman just say: I am from the island of Lesbos?”

Lambrou says Sappho was not gay.

“But even if we assume she was, how can 250,000 people of Lesbian descent – including women – be considered homosexual?”

Source: Al Jazeera English – News – Europe

It’s an old article but I thought it was interesting.  Maybe it can help you better understand how you select who you vote at elections?

The Guardian, Monday September 10 2007 – Alok Jha, science correspondent

Political differences might be explained by a fundamental variation in how our brains are “wired” to process information, according to a study published today.

Scientists have found that the brains of people calling themselves liberals are more able to handle conflicting and unexpected information than the brains of their conservative counterparts. The study points to a likely neurological basis for complex personality and behavioural traits.

David Amodio, of New York University, writing in the journal Nature Neuroscience, says conservatives were found to be “more structured and persistent in their judgments”; in tests they had “higher average scores” on measures of the personal need for “order, structure and closure”. Liberals showed “higher tolerance of ambiguity and complexity”.

Dr Amodio asked 43 volunteers to press a button on seeing a frequent cue – that caused an habitual response. A less frequent cue required no button pressing. Electroencephalograms revealed liberals were more likely to withhold the habitual response and had more activity in a part of the brain involved in conflict monitoring.

The study is not conclusive, Dr Amodio says, but it is possible that political orientation to some degree reflects a person’s style of information processing.

Source: The Guardian 

Amnesia was the first digital agency (ever) to be invited to participate in the ADNEWS MOCK ADS in November 2007.

The brief given to them was how to change people’s perceiption of migrants.

With most Australians being suspicious of migrants and many believe our intake is too high and that migrants steal jobs from hard-working Australians.

So they were given a task to create an ad promoting immigration as being of benefit to the country’s economy and/or cultural heart.

The result was KICK A MIGRANT.

A game based on the extremely popular Flight Sim X paper plane game, (developed late 2006 by amnesia and has now passed 200 Million games played).

Don’t judge a book by it’s cover, play through and see what happens at the end…

Source: http://amnesiablog.wordpress.com