iPhone Application Developer... and 6th Grader

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehDAP1OQ9Zw&feature=player_embedded#!

WOW!!!!!!!!!!

An other western hawkish woman...

It's obvious that the spoiled, rude and pathetic Hillary Clinton jealοus the fame of a disgusting former U.S.A. foreign affairs minister, Kondoliza Rajs, as you can see on the video...

This release it's a shame for the modern developed world!

To agree or not to agree? That is the question...

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1157013017

If you have yet to get a whiff of this delicious crumpet of cinematic news, a new Shakespeare movie is about to pop out. "Anonymos", is decribed by the ultimate cinema site (IMDB) as "A political thriller advancing the theory that it was in fact Edward De Vere, Earl of Oxford who penned Shakespeare's plays; set against the backdrop of the succession of Queen Elizabeth I, and the Essex Rebellion against her."

Roland Emmerich has taken up the scrumptiously scandalous notion of identity fraud and taken it up to the next level. This period drama will divide audiences, but will it also conquer? The movie is to be released on October 28 in the UK.

Take a peek at the video, in which Emmerich explains his point of view, and therefore the basis of the plot. Thinkest thou he speaketh the truth?

F+tM!

Aren't they terrific?!

What makes you happy??

A film about taking a moment to consider the simpler things in life. 200 people were asked one simple question and this film is just some of the most honest answers...                                                 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eg2OWXgLWM&feature=player_embedded

'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says

Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UF8uR6Z6KLc#!

"...Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary..."


http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

She meant her NO to rehab and she knew better...

“They tried to make me go to rehab, I said NO, NO, NO!”... That's who was in a few words Amy Winehouse! Many commentators are going to note that this is not the best way to treat someone to his own life. But all the people are not the same. Every one knows better what is better for himself and what seems as cowardness to the majority, some times is the boldness that they never going to have!

“She was all substance”, said Trevor Nelson, a famous media producer and DJ. And I think, he hit exactly to the point! She was a very emotional girl and a great singer, writer and musician, at the same time! She is now in the club of No 27; in a club which has been filled in with some of the most significant artists who passed from the world ever. Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain and now Amy Winehouse, who goes to Rest In Peace with them!

Amy Winehouse have a good time and play great music with all of them and many other special personalities like you! We will always have with us this little sample of your music kindness and grandeur, which you left us before you passed over, to remember you, to pay tribute to you and listen something that doing our every day living, at least, a little bit better!

Speaking English this summer…

All the students of Bokos Therapy Institute, I believe we have the same agony. This agony is that, even though we try to update our knowledge of the English language and we handle to achieve our goal, at leat in some extend, thanks to the honorable professor Mr. B., we have not often the opportunity to check our progress with native English speakers and register more useful information.

The previous days I had the chance to have an interesting conversation with a young man from London, who works in Athens as a movie maker for commercials on the internet. By the dialogs I had with this interesting person emerged two simple truths about my ability in spoken English: Firstly, after a year in a class of Bokos I can easily have a conversation about several issues with any native English speaker and secondly as more as I am speaking the language, I could better understand my weaknesses and do something to overlap them.

For instance, I understood that when I am speaking English outside of the Institute, in the real life, I do not use properly the question form. Instead, maybe because I am a little bit nervous, usually I just set an issue that I am interested to discuss with an other person. Also, some times, I use greek metaphors that are not used in English, thus I now understood another thing too, that it is better to avoid these type of language schemes, at least when I am not sure of their existence.

In my opinion, should all of us try and achieve to have many dialogues with native English speakers during the summer, in order each one of us to establish on his own a personal reliable check and balances system for his progress in English and to upgrade his English speaking ability, having always as final goal to success in the exams and to achieve to speak the language as the natives English speakers!

The riot dog Loukanikos...

David Rovics - The Riot Dog by

The greek riot dog, known as Loukanikos, become now the theme of a song. The dog has impressed people by supporting the demonstrators, in their clashes with the forces.

Funny Royal Wedding ಫೋಟೋ

Europe warned of financial chaos over Greek debt crisis

source

Greek prime minister fails to form unity government as police battle rioters in Athens and shares tumble over default fears

The Greek government was on the brink of collapse after pitched battles on the streets of Athens on Wednesday, sending world stocks tumbling as EU leaders squabbled over whether and how to launch a second attempt to keep Greece from insolvency.

George Papandreou, the socialist prime minister, appeared to admit defeat by offering to dissolve his government and form a national unity coalition, but admitted his efforts to negotiate with the opposition conservatives had failed.

"Tomorrow I will form a new government, and then I will ask for a vote of confidence," Papandreou said on state television. The move followed intense but fruitless negotiations with the conservative New Democracy party to engineer a consensus behind the savage public spending cuts deemed necessary and a wholesale privatisation programme.

The opposition had called for Papandreou's resignation and a renegotiation of the bailout terms with the EU, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund as the price for its assent to a national coalition.

Earlier, riot police had battled with tens of thousands of protesters in the capital against the radical austerity measures being imposed to try to secure a second bailout in a year, running to tens of billions of euros.

EU governments, the ECB, and the European Commission were gridlocked over how to respond to the debt emergency, which pushed Greece closer to sovereign default, possibly triggering a fresh European banking crisis.

A sense of siege descended on Brussels as the Greek drama appeared to be heading towards a denouement. The ECB warned that a Greek default could spark "contagion" across Europe, causing Greek banks to implode and inflicting major damage on the big banks in France and Germany.

"It looks like a week of chaos," said a European official in Brussels. Senior diplomats in Brussels said that an emergency meeting of the 17 eurozone finance ministers on Tuesday had failed to bridge the differences over how to construct a second bailout in a year for Greece, running to almost €100bn. In May last year the EU and the IMF put together a €110bn bailout for Greece, the first in a single currency country. That experiment has failed. Ireland and Portugal have since also needed to be rescued from national insolvency.

"The euro area faces a very challenging situation that comes mostly from the interconnection of the sovereign debt crisis and the situation of the banking sector," the ECB said. "Greece could have a contagion effect," added Vitor Constancio, an ECB vice-president.

Papandreou's offer of a national unity government signalled he was throwing in the towel, spelling the third government collapse in the EU in recent months because of the debt crisis – following Ireland and Portugal.

The debt crisis has also taken a heavy political toll in the richer creditor countries of the eurozone, with anti-bailout populists making big gains in Finland and the Netherlands, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel suffering political setbacks at home while coming in for criticism abroad for her handling of the emergency.

The Americans are exasperated with the failure of EU powers to resolve the crisis and fear for the impact of a Greek default on the international economy.

Greek borrowing costs soared to record levels as investors took fright.

Stock markets suffered; the Dow Jones industrial average in Wall Street was down 180 points, and FTSE 100 was down 60 points.

Berlin, backed by the Dutch, Austrians, and Finns, have been arguing for weeks that there can be no new bailout of Greece without the country's private creditors being forced to suffer losses on their loans. Otherwise, they argue, European taxpayers will be shouldering the costs while the international banks pocket the proceeds.

The ECB, the European Commission and other EU countries led by France argue that this could pave the way to disaster, with the financial markets decreeing the compulsory "haircuts" on private bondholders a Greek default, a "credit event" that could lay waste to the single currency.

"We are against any sort of default with haircuts and any form of private-sector event that could lead to a credit event or a rating event," Constancio said.

There was little sign that the differences had been bridged at Tuesday's emergency meeting of eurozone finance ministers.

They meet again in Luxembourg on Sunday under pressure to strike a deal on a new Greek rescue by June 20, ahead of an EU summit on Thursday next week.

But in Brussels diplomats said it could take weeks, perhaps until mid-July, to reach agreement. Amid a mood of heightening panic, all eyes were on a summit on Friday between Merkel and the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy.

Greece needs a fresh infusion of cash from the IMF by next month to service its debts, but the IMF cannot disburse the funds unless Greece's public finances are deemed to be secure. Without a new EU bailout, they are not secure.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/15/europe-warned-greece-financial-crisis

To the pink

One month has passed since the latest post of the blog, so i decided to upload a song only for renewing it. Enjoy.

By the way, Roger Waters is planning to give a concert in Greece somewhen soon. Nobody should miss him...

http://videos.sapo.pt/3eEvdBAS9WtzbJsI1seu

Time for art

Here is a quote of Tom Stoppard's masterpiece "Rosencratz and Guildenstern are dead", I'd like to share. Think about it.

"A man breaking his journey between one place and another at a third place of no name, character, population or significance, sees a unicorn cross his path and disappear. That in itself is startling, but there are precedents for mystical encounters of various kinds, or to be less extreme, a choice of persuasions to put it down to fancy; until--"My God," says a second man, "I must be dreaming, I thought I saw a unicorn." At which point, a dimension is added that makes the experience as alarming as it will ever be. A third witness, you understand, adds no further dimension but only spreads it thinner, and a fourth thinner still, and the more witnesses there are the thinner it gets and the more reasonable it becomes until it is as thin as reality, the name we give to the common experience... "Look, look!" recites the crowd. "A horse with an arrow in its forehead! It must have been mistaken for a deer."

Climate impacts | Greenpeace International

Climate impacts | Greenpeace International

The nuclear melody sounds weird to my ears

Japan is the country that has been linked mostly with the environmental pollution for many years. There are many examples verifying that fact. The uncontrolled illegal whaling, the increasingly rates of the air pollutants and of course the recent accident in Fukushima. Japan is a global environmental threat. Please read these greenpeace's reports to understand the size of the disaster. http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/System-templates/Search-results/?all=japan

This catastrophe proves the government's weakness to control the situtation as everything is relying on the private companies. And for the time being the Japanese and the whole planet is depending on the willing and the responsibility of some privates, who keep on their hands the nuclear power.

The capitalistic free market should have some restraints. Nobody should be so privileged against the big masses.

Gaddafi as an excuse of the West's brutality!

I have expressed my opinion from the first moment. What happens in Magreb is more a result of western countries plots and less a furious reaction of the North Africans, even though there people who indeed suffer in the region by the leaderships of these regimes.

The brutal offence of some western countries in Libya, with Sarcozy in the lead, is a fact that enhances my opinion and the unacceptable practises of Gaddafi's regime can not be a truthful excuse. I support what the President of Cyprus stated. The only thing will be achieved with the military operation will be an increase of the war victims among the Libya people!

And do not forget that although the United Nations have released hundreds of resolutions against the Turkish intervention to the Mediterranean island, the western countries and its forces have never occupied their minds to apply them...

Super Full Moon !!!!

March 19, 2011: Mark your calendar. On MARCH 19TH, a full Moon of rare size and beauty will rise in the east at sunset. It's a super "perigee moon"--the biggest in almost 20 years.

"The last full Moon so big and close to Earth occurred in March of 1993," says Geoff Chester of the US Naval Observatory in Washington DC. "I'd say it's worth a look."

Full Moons vary in size because of the oval shape of the Moon's orbit. It is an ellipse with one side (perigee) about 50,000 km closer to Earth than the other (apogee). Nearby perigee moons are about 14% bigger and 30% brighter than lesser moons that occur on the apogee side of the Moon's orbit.

"The full Moon of March 19th occurs less than one hour away from perigee--a near-perfect coincidence only 18 years or so," adds Chester.

A perigee full Moon brings with it extra-high "perigean tides," but this is nothing to worry about, according to NOAA. In most places, lunar gravity at perigee pulls tide waters only a few centimeters (an inch or so) higher than usual. Local geography can amplify the effect to about 15 centimeters (six inches)--not exactly a great flood.

The Moon looks extra-big when it is beaming through foreground objects--a.k.a. "the Moon illusion."

Indeed, contrary to some reports circulating the Internet, perigee Moons do not trigger natural disasters. The "super moon" of March 1983, for instance, passed without incident. And an almost-super Moon in Dec. 2008 also proved harmless.

Okay, the Moon is 14% bigger than usual, but can you really tell the difference? It's tricky. There are no rulers floating in the sky to measure lunar diameters. Hanging high overhead with no reference points to provide a sense of scale, one full Moon can seem much like any other.

The best time to look is when the Moon is near the horizon. That is when illusion mixes with reality to produce a truly stunning view. For reasons not fully understood by astronomers or psychologists, low-hanging Moons look unnaturally large when they beam through trees, buildings and other foreground objects. On March 19th, why not let the "Moon illusion" amplify a full Moon that's extra-big to begin with? The swollen orb rising in the east at sunset may seem so nearby, you can almost reach out and touch it.

Don't bother. Even a super perigee Moon is still 356,577 km away. That is, it turns out, a distance of rare beauty.

See the ScienceCast of this story on YouTube at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1yalg_Apdw

source http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/16mar_supermoon/

When Obama met Edmund Hooper!

Some Weeks ago we had a discussion about the book "The King of the Castle, in which one of the main characters is the bully Edmund Hooper. In our discussion we had noticed that bullying is something that many of us, and of course our "therapist" C.B., we had suffer of this awful practise when we were children.

Guess what! The President of USA, Barrack Obama, had the same experience in his childhood. The White House hosted recently an anti-bullying conference, after the suicide of a student, because of a private video scene, with the student and an other man, that was released amid internet!

"We've got to dispel this myth that bullying is just a normal rite of passage, that it's some inevitable part of growing up. It's not... As a nation, we're founded on the belief that all of us are equal and each of us deserves the freedom to pursue our own version of happiness," Mr. Obama said in the conference.

A funny point of view emerged when the black President noted that when he was student the other guys laughed at him because of his big ears and his weird name!

It is obvious; Edmund Hooper had bullying the little Barrack, toο!

An interesting and funny semi-conspiracy story...

I know that maybe some people will think it is a comic film which support a conspiracy dimension of the modern western History, at least in an extend, but I'm convised it is also, and for sure, a humorous and very educational approach of the world's socio-economic History!

Watch it to judge it, from your point of view...

- You could find it with greek subtitles too.

This guy is REALLY good! He should turn.. professional!!!!!!

Goodnight Kemal

Let's let the pop culture aside for a while and please listen to these lyrics. They are greek but I hope you will understand them...

It is related to the stupid Kemal, he thought he could change the world!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-f-vQX942I

An american perspective on solving problems... go ahead, sing along!

A great young pop voice! Don't you thikn?

Speaking of new era pop artists, I think Adele is one of the greatest young singers, with an outrageously beautiful voice! What's your opinion our honourable professor and widely known as a loyal pop fan? You must admit that her voice, as you could understand by seeing the uploaded video, is slightest better than... Vandi's!

A Lady of a new era!

I upload this post to dedicate it to C. Bokos, as I know his interest in pop culture! Gaga is a very strong pop idol of nowadays and her appearance through an artificial egg was indeed an historic appearance for pop music and pop culture in general, even though many commentators have criticized the modern pop Lady!

5 psychology tests... awesome!

http://pinnokio.blogspot.com/2011/01/5_25.html

Mubarack out of the game! So what?!

It's a fact! Hosni Mubarack is out of the game. More than two weeks was needed to be convinced the former President of Egypt that there is no way to stay in power. USA and the western countries have been very careful, avoiding risky choices. Especially the States has been accused for lack of inside information about the fragile situation in Magreb, that obviously takes place there the last months.

I expressed my different opinion, from the very first time, in contrast with this theory! I think the facts that we observe taking place, one after the other, enhance this point of view, which refers to a cautiously control of the fragile situation in Egypt, by USA and the West in general. All the internal parts of the conflict in Egypt seems to trust the honourable Egyptian army and its leadership, the moment that Barrack Obama rewards this transition urging the military forces of the USA’s ally to drive the country in free elections.

I strongly believe that in the “end of the day” in the land of the Pharaohs will rise up a new leadership so friendly to the West, as Mubarack’s leadership was for decades! Someone will ask about the reason of the western countries to act in this way. I could easily think two reasons. Firstly, I suspect that the timing of a change has already come for Egypt, but USA and other western countries do not approve Mubarack’s son to come in power, as the 82 years old President of this Muslim country intended and secondly Mubarack’s status of power has made a variety of economic agreements, which maybe are out of USA’s control and out of control of all the powerful western countries! A great example is given, if someone considers the increasing presence of strong Greek companies in their neighbour country the last decade!

It is for sure that Egyptians have reasons and serious problems to complain! It is a good reason for someone to feel happy because a strong desire of people satisfied! What I’m not at all sure is that the new leadership in Egypt, after a long period of negotiations which are going to take place there until it emerges a new stable status, will behaves more friendly to the people compare to the western countries and, of course, compare to the States!

ΠΟΥΤ ΔΕ ΚΟΤ ΝΤΑΟΥΝ = "Miranda Rights"

We all live in a city in which the police force is ubiquitous, especially in the Centre... Riots, demonstrations, lawlessness and general crime make law enforcement essential to both the State and the average citizen. But are there any limits? Can anyone be subjected to prosecution?

In democratic and non-militaristic societies, the Police is a Corps controlled by the Constitution and the Government, bound to operate within strict boundaries set by the Law. Therefore, it cannot arbitrarily use whichever method of enforcement or investigation it deems necessary.

In Greece, a relatively recent tv ad illustrated -in a humorous but not unrealistic manner- our national perception of the anachronistic character of criminal pursuits and arrests. A chubby, panting officer in pursuit of a villager in flight, shouting in a phoney, over the top american accent his Miranda rights, ordering him to stop. We all had a good laugh at it. What we don't have, is actual Miranda Rights!

The Miranda warning -also referred to as Miranda Rights- is a warning that is required to be given by the Police in the USA to criminal suspects in police custody before interrogation, to inform them of their constitutional rights. Almost all of us know it by heart, having heard it in almost every american action movie: "You have the right to remain silent, etc, etc".

So, to every law-abiding citizen and honorable student of Mr Bokos, I dedicate the advice given on the following video: Ask for a lawyer, and keep your mouth shut!*

http://http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2-nKV5odbw

*also applies in case you haven't finished your h/w and are facing the wrath of your beloved professor...

Getting drunk, as the show goes on...

If someone doesn’t know - and want to learn - about the effects of raki, the famous drink from Crete, this video provides a small sample of what could happen to someone who drinks a little beat more than he can afford...

At least the co-presenter of tv show had some fun!

Around the world in some blue notes

Thanks to the afro-american communities in United States we can now learn and enjoy the art and science of blues music. Please follow me in this tour of a small sample of black and white blue notes...

Howlin' Wolf - Smokestack Lightnin' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBLzTD2wTzg&feature=related

Stevie Ray Vaughan - Couldn't stand the weather http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofj6l9f939A

John Lee Hooker - One bourbon, one skotch, one beer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIvka3SSv9Y

BB King - You upset me baby http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxYLVPjaAKo

Willie Dixon - Blues you can't lose http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1FCnI2ua2U

I strongly recommend the first and the last ones.

To pay or not to pay...

The last months a controversial issue has been placed in the greek daily routine... The question which every one has in mind when he is in front a toll post of the Athens - Thessalonica national road is "am i have to pay or not"?!

This is a matter that the question is much more important than the answer! It is incredible, how this country has become in a point where its citizens do not have an easy answer in a so simple dilemma, if they have to pay or not at the toll posts of the national road...

The attached video, i think it comments this issue in a great humorous way!

Weird and beautiful, as always, Greece! Since the ancient era…

Social unrest or provocation? Not easy to say!

When i first heard about the unstable social situation in Tunisia and the possibility for a "domino effect", which firstly would appear in Egypt, i thought that West was involved in a plan for a widespread social unrest in Magreb and in Near and Middle East region!

The hypothetically scenarios where broadcasted, in the most widely known western mass media soon became true and the unrest hit Egypt and the Mubarak regime! Accidentally? I don't think so! An extra reason that made me careful in the way the facts were commented by western media was the parameter of the role of the new mass media in the protests, in both countries, because the eastern countries have much more power, than all these regimes, in these means of media.

Off course, I’m not a super-fan of conspiracy theory, but also i'm not a politically blind person, too. It is for sure, people who live in these regimes have many problems in their every day life, but is also obvious that specific western countries whether invest in unrest for their own interests, rather for the local people problems and lack of freedom!

If someone analysed carefully the timing and the meaning of Barrack Obama's speech, which took place right after Hosni Mubarack speech, certainly understood that west is not just a viewer. In the opposite, West is a powerful player in this issue. Keep in mind, Mr Obama insisted to Mr Mubarack allowing free communications amid the new media technology, which Mubarrack has dismissed!

In any case, Mr Mubarack, and every leader like him, is not a saint! But, Mr Obama, and every western leader like him, is not too, although, he is a creative and efficient leader for his country and its people. Be aware of powerful Muslim leaders and - at the moment - be aware of the risky - with the life of others – super-powerful "western boys" too!

Do not, ever, forget! In these countries essential problems of the life of the people will remain after the presence of the media! Thus, we ought to carefully analyze these complicate social situations in the international arena and not adopting easily arguments on either side, the moment that we must force the powerful factors acting in order to have people, in these countries and in every country, a “better luck”, a higher level of living!

The right left

To begin my propaganda, I would like to share with you one simple thought of mine. When we say "right" we mean first of all the direction, and also we mean that something is correct and proper. . As a result, the opposite "left" can be used refering to the direction or to chareacterise something as weak or improper. Am I right?

This meaning of right is just a sample for what the English are being criticised for their general cultural and political conservation.

ps. If we say the right left what do we mean? The correct left or the left in the rightest order? Weird things...

We are on air!

Hi Kostas, hi guys, hi honourable audience of Professor Bokos,

I just created this blog to share our experiences of Bokos lessons, Bokos psychotherapy, as all of you know!

In this corner of the net we can write anything that make us happy and we believe that it makes happy the members of K.B. Institute too, the moment that we could, at the same time, practicing our english. Off course, I hope Kostas will be the soul of this net spot and he 'll give us the chance to support him, the way we do it in every lesson!

I expect your posts as soon as you can!

Bye!