A eunuch was a castrated man that served as guard or servant to the emperor/king. Because he was castrated he was considered very trustworthy. We find eunuchs in ancient Greece, Persia, Turkey, India and China. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, for example, there were about 70,000 eunuchs employed by the emperor. I'm thinking.
Why castrate 70,000 straight men and not employ 70,000 gay men to protect the harem? Were the women in the harem so gay-tempting gorgeous or were gay men such a rare species back then? Or was the ruler afraid his guards might be tempted to guard him from too close a distance one day? :)
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Showing posts with label greece. Show all posts
Showing posts with label greece. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
people who know everything
Don't you just hate people who think they know everything?
I live in a small country but I have lived in the past in different countries and I notice that the smaller the country it is the more people tend to pretend they know everything.
I went to this small expensive place yesterday with my girlfriend who happens to be from France. It was a French restaurant with a cuisine that wasn't french at all (my gf is from France and I have lived in france for about 4 years).
Anyway when I told to the waiter that the food wasn't cooked properly as it supposed to be he told us that we have no idea about french food. I asked the waiter if he has ever been to france and he told me No. I asked him if they have a french cook and he told me No as well .. they have a cook trained to french cuisine. He was so insulting and so rude that pretty much I wanted to punch him :)))
By the way we ended up paying almost 100 euros for a 2 persons meal to a restaurant that didn't worth more than 40 euros for the food.
This incident is no exception. That kind of rude , stupid people are almost everywhere. And I don't know what to do . It's impossible to start a fight each time but at the same time I feel an idiot paying twice the amount I would pay in france when I am in Athens , Greece and eating their crap. And of course if I try to tell them my honest opinion I have to apologize about being honest because they know everything and I know nothing!
sorry about my long post but I had to share it with people.
http://thinkaloo.com
I live in a small country but I have lived in the past in different countries and I notice that the smaller the country it is the more people tend to pretend they know everything.
I went to this small expensive place yesterday with my girlfriend who happens to be from France. It was a French restaurant with a cuisine that wasn't french at all (my gf is from France and I have lived in france for about 4 years).
Anyway when I told to the waiter that the food wasn't cooked properly as it supposed to be he told us that we have no idea about french food. I asked the waiter if he has ever been to france and he told me No. I asked him if they have a french cook and he told me No as well .. they have a cook trained to french cuisine. He was so insulting and so rude that pretty much I wanted to punch him :)))
By the way we ended up paying almost 100 euros for a 2 persons meal to a restaurant that didn't worth more than 40 euros for the food.
This incident is no exception. That kind of rude , stupid people are almost everywhere. And I don't know what to do . It's impossible to start a fight each time but at the same time I feel an idiot paying twice the amount I would pay in france when I am in Athens , Greece and eating their crap. And of course if I try to tell them my honest opinion I have to apologize about being honest because they know everything and I know nothing!
sorry about my long post but I had to share it with people.
http://thinkaloo.com
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Tear gas for self-defence
Big riots in Greece so out of control are rare but I've seen them happen in other countries too (US, France). My experience in Greece is that shop owners are completely defenseless, the Greek police cannot protect the streets or the shops. I remember when Bill Clinton visited Athens and the city was burnt down. He cut his trip short and went for a 'safe' trip in Turkey next door. As a better alternative to guns or hiring snipers from abroad, shop owners in Greece should arm themselves with tear gas and use it to protect their property. It takes 1 hothead shop owner to start shooting at protesters destroying his property or threatening his life. If caught he can claim self-defense.
But with no police around and fire and smoke all over no one will see him or his sniper firing. This is the scenario of all hell breaking loose with many dead people. If the police can't protect, tear gas is better self-defense to guns.
http://www.thinkaloo.com
But with no police around and fire and smoke all over no one will see him or his sniper firing. This is the scenario of all hell breaking loose with many dead people. If the police can't protect, tear gas is better self-defense to guns.
http://www.thinkaloo.com
Monday, July 27, 2009
Shoeraq
After President Bush's apt ducking of two shoes thrown straight at him, the State of Texas announced that a shoe rack will heretofore be called a Shoeraq in memory of the incident and spelled as one word. Those hunting trips Bush took with Dick Cheney in Texas were a hell of a good training. If nothing fatal came out of dodging bullets thrown at him, they sure developed excellent reflexes in Bush. In Iraq, the government decided that the pair of shoes thrown at Bush will be auctioned and the billion dollar proceeds be sent out to GM, Ford and Chrysler as a first bailout handout so that their poor CEOs can fly back to Congress on private jets and ask for more money.
Shoe pride is now high in the Middle East which plans to advertise its shoes as the only ones that can demonstrably and reliably follow a straight throw-line to the individual in target. The boom in shoe exports soon to follow this world-class demonstration is the perfect solution to the desperate need for countries in the Middle East to diversify their oil-based economies and offer traditional new ways for young people there to express themselves.
Within minutes of the incident being reported and with the Pope's blessing, the Holy Shoe Trinity of Ferragamo, Prada and Bruno Magli announced plans to set up shoe manufacturing in Iraq. Unfortunately the shoes that were thrown at Bush were too cheap a brand to be auctioned at Christie's and fetch the trillion dollar amounts needed to bail out the US economy.
The Iraqi government announced that all journalists in Iraq will be given Italian brands to shoeraq freely against foreign dignitaries with an exception made for Carla Bruni because she still is too God-damn pretty and because she was hired to advertise the shoes in a new commercial where she and Sarkozy will be shown quarreling. At some point Carla will take off her shoes and throw them at petit Nicola who being so petit won't have to duck down to avoid the hit. The commercial will close by Carla singing "Some fights you don't wanna miss"
In a show of accord with this gracious decision to exempt Carla from Shoeraq, the Vatican requested that devil-wearing Prada design special protest-shoes with angel wings on the side for use by protesters when new priest-in-child scandals break out. This is how the new design will be used to the Church's favor. By mastering his God-intermediation powers the Pope will animate the wings attached to the shoes turning the shoe-throwing protests into a massive up-the-sky dove-release spectacle. Those protesters who refuse to use the Pope-animated Devil-wears-Prada shoes will be denied a fair hearing postmortem.
Religious-devout Iran who has tremendous spiriticopolitical influence over Iraq also announced that when a persona non grata visits Iraq from a country well-versed in the Satan, female journalists will be invited to attend the press conference. Under special fatwa from resurrect-elect Khomeini, all female journalists present will wear stiletto heels with the clear understanding that they'll use them to Shoeraq the foreign dignitary but not miss him next time.
Finally, fashion-conscious protesters in democracy-born Greece who are in the streets for a second week and bored sick of throwing rocks and Molotov bombs to the police are inspired anew by Shoeraq and vow to compete head-on with the Middle East on riot publicity. They believe Bush was actually controlled by the CIA and that's why he maneuvered so fast and dodged the shoe. Down with the CIA controlling our leaders they cry. Shoe stores in Athens are busy placing massive orders of Middle East shoes in response to the high demand from angry left-wing protesters who now want to burn down Athens shoe-style.
Don't you just love to read the news Bush makes when he travels abroad? By getting himself into the most unimaginable situations, it helps fire up people's imagination everywhere. By ducking successfully the shoe throw and letting the journalist go free for exercising his freedom of speech, Bush finally unveiled his version of how democracy will spread in the Middle East. I throw guns at you, duck it if you can. You throw shoes at me, I sure duck it well!!
I am ashamed to joke like that but compared to Bush, Obama might end up being a very boring, uneventful and yes here is my shame, less colorful US president...
http://www.thinkaloo.com
Shoe pride is now high in the Middle East which plans to advertise its shoes as the only ones that can demonstrably and reliably follow a straight throw-line to the individual in target. The boom in shoe exports soon to follow this world-class demonstration is the perfect solution to the desperate need for countries in the Middle East to diversify their oil-based economies and offer traditional new ways for young people there to express themselves.
Within minutes of the incident being reported and with the Pope's blessing, the Holy Shoe Trinity of Ferragamo, Prada and Bruno Magli announced plans to set up shoe manufacturing in Iraq. Unfortunately the shoes that were thrown at Bush were too cheap a brand to be auctioned at Christie's and fetch the trillion dollar amounts needed to bail out the US economy.
The Iraqi government announced that all journalists in Iraq will be given Italian brands to shoeraq freely against foreign dignitaries with an exception made for Carla Bruni because she still is too God-damn pretty and because she was hired to advertise the shoes in a new commercial where she and Sarkozy will be shown quarreling. At some point Carla will take off her shoes and throw them at petit Nicola who being so petit won't have to duck down to avoid the hit. The commercial will close by Carla singing "Some fights you don't wanna miss"
In a show of accord with this gracious decision to exempt Carla from Shoeraq, the Vatican requested that devil-wearing Prada design special protest-shoes with angel wings on the side for use by protesters when new priest-in-child scandals break out. This is how the new design will be used to the Church's favor. By mastering his God-intermediation powers the Pope will animate the wings attached to the shoes turning the shoe-throwing protests into a massive up-the-sky dove-release spectacle. Those protesters who refuse to use the Pope-animated Devil-wears-Prada shoes will be denied a fair hearing postmortem.
Religious-devout Iran who has tremendous spiriticopolitical influence over Iraq also announced that when a persona non grata visits Iraq from a country well-versed in the Satan, female journalists will be invited to attend the press conference. Under special fatwa from resurrect-elect Khomeini, all female journalists present will wear stiletto heels with the clear understanding that they'll use them to Shoeraq the foreign dignitary but not miss him next time.
Finally, fashion-conscious protesters in democracy-born Greece who are in the streets for a second week and bored sick of throwing rocks and Molotov bombs to the police are inspired anew by Shoeraq and vow to compete head-on with the Middle East on riot publicity. They believe Bush was actually controlled by the CIA and that's why he maneuvered so fast and dodged the shoe. Down with the CIA controlling our leaders they cry. Shoe stores in Athens are busy placing massive orders of Middle East shoes in response to the high demand from angry left-wing protesters who now want to burn down Athens shoe-style.
Don't you just love to read the news Bush makes when he travels abroad? By getting himself into the most unimaginable situations, it helps fire up people's imagination everywhere. By ducking successfully the shoe throw and letting the journalist go free for exercising his freedom of speech, Bush finally unveiled his version of how democracy will spread in the Middle East. I throw guns at you, duck it if you can. You throw shoes at me, I sure duck it well!!
I am ashamed to joke like that but compared to Bush, Obama might end up being a very boring, uneventful and yes here is my shame, less colorful US president...
http://www.thinkaloo.com
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Protest virus or tear gas addiction?
Riots in Greece are still going on and violent student protests are fast spreading to France. Why? Could it be that tear gas is addictive? Painful at the start but pleasurable in the fast run required in protests? Is it time to pause social analysis on the issue and conduct chemicals research or should we wait until we see police using tear gas without their masks on? Or are the protests a live chemicals research experiment by the government? What?? Shouldn't I say that in public? :)
http://www.thinkaloo.com
http://www.thinkaloo.com
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Athens metro cheat
If you've been to Athens and used the metro you must have noticed that entry to the station requires ticket validation but unlike London or New York where entry requires the opening of gates to pass through, there is no such thing in Athens. The ticket is valid for 1.5 hours and the price is same for all destinations which makes the ticket transferable. If you see a ticket left around on the validation machine, it's probably because someone left it there to be used by someone else. Next time you're in Athens and use the metro, check to see if there is a ticket on the validation machine before buying a new one.
http://www.thinkaloo.com
http://www.thinkaloo.com
Monday, May 18, 2009
The spiritual interpretation of toilet time in the West
I am responding to JackSparrow's earlier post here about squat principles in Islam. The text in Greek on top of this door reads: "Room for free expression and self-concentration". As you can see, what people in the West do in the toilet Can have spiritual significance. The spiritual dimension of one's toilet activity here seems equally important to the physical aspect of it. It be no surprise if some people behind this door practice the insignia with religious fervor. That the Pope didn't include the principles behind this form of spirituality in his teachings could have been, after all, a grave omission :)
http://www.thinkaloo.com
http://www.thinkaloo.com
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Beware Greeks inspiring sex strikes!
I read on the news that women in Kenya are on sex strike to force the government and opposition to stop bickering and look after the interest of their country. Although I've never been to Kenya, I think the news tell us that women must have no political power in that country. Why would they use sex to bring political change otherwise? In the article I read that the strike was inspired by Ancient Greece. In Aristophane's comedy Lysistrata, the ladies of 5th century BC Athens withheld sex from their menfolk to force them to put an end to the Peloponnesian war!
I must admit I haven't read Aristophane's original guide to a sex strike, but I have the following two observations to make. First, it is well known that homosexuality was strongly practiced in Ancient Greece, so how effective could a sex strike really have been? Second, assuming the strike can be very effective, could It have been the culprit that drove men into homosexuality?
If Aristophane's comedy was an inspiration to women in Kenya, my advice is to be careful about how long they carry out the strike. Ancient Greece was the bastion of homosexuality so it might not be the best example to follow :)
http://www.thinkaloo.com
I must admit I haven't read Aristophane's original guide to a sex strike, but I have the following two observations to make. First, it is well known that homosexuality was strongly practiced in Ancient Greece, so how effective could a sex strike really have been? Second, assuming the strike can be very effective, could It have been the culprit that drove men into homosexuality?
If Aristophane's comedy was an inspiration to women in Kenya, my advice is to be careful about how long they carry out the strike. Ancient Greece was the bastion of homosexuality so it might not be the best example to follow :)
http://www.thinkaloo.com
Monday, April 20, 2009
Multiple Resurrections
I came to the island of Lefkada to spend Easter weekend. The traditional church ceremony was the funniest I have been to in many years. Fireworks lit the sky at 11:15pm, 45 minutes earlier!! A granny asked me if Christ's Resurrection had happened. I told her with a very serious face that in this church they resurrect Christ one hour earlier because the priest has to go to another church soon after.
She seemed disappointed and asked why, so I decided to laugh at this and made up a story about many priests in the island losing their jobs this year because of the bad economy so the ones with a job had to take their shifts or God would not forgive their slacking! The granny kept nodding her head. I don't know if she believed me but she kept nodding. I then looked around and watched others puzzled and confused rolling their eyes in front of their watches. The 45-minutes-premature fireworks were still lighting up the sky, I just had to burst out laughing nervously. I couldn't help it.
I decided to go inside the church as the spectacle outside was unbelievably surrealist and I couldn't control my laughs. Soon as I came in, some of the guys that were standing in the church yard outside, started taking turns exploding detonators. They were obsessive. No one would take a break and the blasts kept coming. Being inside the church it sounded as if a Panathinaikos-Olympiakos soccer game was going on outside. Or Gulf War 3. When some detonators would explode too close to the church's windows and blast out loud, all the little kids inside the church would scream and interrupt the priest. And oh man, the priest!
He was definitely a character on his own. He was chanting fast and in a low voice, he seemed in a hurry to go hide in a bunker or stop the ceremony and go out to scold the fire workers to stop it. Yeah right!
He kept interrupting the liturgy once every 2-3 minutes not to ask someone to go tell the kids to stop exploding the detonators but to ask the crowd to come closer and fill the space in front of him. Was he worried about some part of the church falling or something? Thank Christ I didn't have to wait long to figure out why he was in such a hurry.
The priest turned the lights off inside the church around 11:40pm, twenty minutes earlier than usual, then he appeared on stage like a rock star holding the holy flames and chanting out so loud now it was impossible to hear the explosions outside. He was a rustic paparokas live on stage, a rock-star priest. That's why he would gesture to people with his hands to make them come closer to him. He so desperately wanted to have the crowd fill in the space in front of him he wouldn't mind interrupting the liturgy to nudge people to come closer. What a funny guy!
He was like a stage director planning on making an impressive stage appearance for himself after the lights switched off! Could it be that he was secretly filming the ceremony too? He didn't seem to mind the detonators or the early launch of the fireworks at all!
At some point, however, he must have realized he hurried the whole thing too much. A premature resurrected Christ might have whispered it to him. 20 minutes to midnight. Everyone's looking at their watches again. The paparokas priest has to do something to patch it, so he did the most natural thing to him. He kept chanting the Christ Resurrected theme so many times over and over and over, I think this was the first Easter in my life I must have witnessed multiple resurrections of Christ.
What a weird little village church. Totally asynchronous and absolutely hilarious. After this, I don't want to spend Easter in Athens anymore. Local villages are so much more fun. So unpredictable and idiosyncratic!
http://www.thinkaloo.com
She seemed disappointed and asked why, so I decided to laugh at this and made up a story about many priests in the island losing their jobs this year because of the bad economy so the ones with a job had to take their shifts or God would not forgive their slacking! The granny kept nodding her head. I don't know if she believed me but she kept nodding. I then looked around and watched others puzzled and confused rolling their eyes in front of their watches. The 45-minutes-premature fireworks were still lighting up the sky, I just had to burst out laughing nervously. I couldn't help it.
I decided to go inside the church as the spectacle outside was unbelievably surrealist and I couldn't control my laughs. Soon as I came in, some of the guys that were standing in the church yard outside, started taking turns exploding detonators. They were obsessive. No one would take a break and the blasts kept coming. Being inside the church it sounded as if a Panathinaikos-Olympiakos soccer game was going on outside. Or Gulf War 3. When some detonators would explode too close to the church's windows and blast out loud, all the little kids inside the church would scream and interrupt the priest. And oh man, the priest!
He was definitely a character on his own. He was chanting fast and in a low voice, he seemed in a hurry to go hide in a bunker or stop the ceremony and go out to scold the fire workers to stop it. Yeah right!
He kept interrupting the liturgy once every 2-3 minutes not to ask someone to go tell the kids to stop exploding the detonators but to ask the crowd to come closer and fill the space in front of him. Was he worried about some part of the church falling or something? Thank Christ I didn't have to wait long to figure out why he was in such a hurry.
The priest turned the lights off inside the church around 11:40pm, twenty minutes earlier than usual, then he appeared on stage like a rock star holding the holy flames and chanting out so loud now it was impossible to hear the explosions outside. He was a rustic paparokas live on stage, a rock-star priest. That's why he would gesture to people with his hands to make them come closer to him. He so desperately wanted to have the crowd fill in the space in front of him he wouldn't mind interrupting the liturgy to nudge people to come closer. What a funny guy!
He was like a stage director planning on making an impressive stage appearance for himself after the lights switched off! Could it be that he was secretly filming the ceremony too? He didn't seem to mind the detonators or the early launch of the fireworks at all!
At some point, however, he must have realized he hurried the whole thing too much. A premature resurrected Christ might have whispered it to him. 20 minutes to midnight. Everyone's looking at their watches again. The paparokas priest has to do something to patch it, so he did the most natural thing to him. He kept chanting the Christ Resurrected theme so many times over and over and over, I think this was the first Easter in my life I must have witnessed multiple resurrections of Christ.
What a weird little village church. Totally asynchronous and absolutely hilarious. After this, I don't want to spend Easter in Athens anymore. Local villages are so much more fun. So unpredictable and idiosyncratic!
http://www.thinkaloo.com
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Protest as Olympic torch is lit
This thought was posted on Thinkaloo on 24 March 2008 by member yikes
Visit www.thinkaloo.com, our new online community where you can share your thoughts and knowledge, discuss your ideas, ask questions and meet smart people
---
"OLYMPIA, Greece (CNN) -- A lone protester managed to breach the tight security during the Olympic torch lighting ceremony in Greece Monday....""
What's your opinion on that based on what China does in Tibet?
Article:
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/03/24/torch.relay/index.html
Visit www.thinkaloo.com, our new online community where you can share your thoughts and knowledge, discuss your ideas, ask questions and meet smart people
---
"OLYMPIA, Greece (CNN) -- A lone protester managed to breach the tight security during the Olympic torch lighting ceremony in Greece Monday....""
What's your opinion on that based on what China does in Tibet?
Article:
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/03/24/torch.relay/index.html
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