The parable of the “Ambitious Violet” by Khalil Gibran

There was a nice and aromatic violet that lived quietly among her friends and moved happily between the other flowers, in a lonely garden. One morning, when her crown was decorated with raindrops, she raised her head and looked around. She saw a tall and nice rose standing proudly and reaching high to space, like a flamed torch on a lamp of emerald.

The violet opened her light-blue lips and said: “How unfortunate am i among those flowers and how humble is the position that i have in front of them! Nature created me to be short and poor… I live very close to the earth and i can't raise my head to the blue sky or bend my face towards the sun, as the rose does”.

And the rose listened to the words of her neighbor. She laughed and commented: “How strange is your talk! You are lucky, and yet you can't understand your fortune. Nature gave you aroma and beauty that was never given to any other flower. Throw these thoughts and be content, and remember that whoever humbles the self, will rise and whoever exalts the self will crush”.

The violet responded: “You console me because you have what i ache for… You want to bitter me in the sense that you are great… How painful is the preaching of the fortunate, in the heart of the miserable! And how strict is the strong when he is the councilor of the weak”.

And Nature heard the dialogue of the violet with the rose, approached and said: “What happened, my daughter violet? You had been humble and sweet in all your actions and words. Did Greed enter your heart and paralyzed your senses?”.

With a begging voice, the violet answered saying: “Great and gracious mother, full of love and compassion, please, with all my heart and soul, make me the favour and let me be a rose for a day”. And Nature replied: “You don't know what you are asking for. You don't conceive the hidden disaster behind your blind ambition. If you were a rose you would regret and the regret wouldnt be beneficial in anything”. The violet insisted: “Make me a tall rose, because i want to raise my head high with pride. And regardless of my luck, it will be my own fault”.

Nature backed down, saying: “Oh, naive and unbowed violet, i will do your favour. But if a calamity strikes you, your complaint should be directed upon you”.

And Nature extended its mysterious and magical fingers and touched the roots of the violet, who immediately became a high rose, and soared above all the flowers of the garden.

In the evening, the sky was filled with dense black clouds and the furious elements agitated the silence of existence with thunders, which started hitting the garden, catapulting great rain and strong winds. The storm aced the birches, unrooted the plants and broke the stems of the strong flowers, leaving intact only the small flowers that blossomed close to the friendly earth. That lonely garden suffered greatly from the hostile sky and when the tempest calmed and the sky cleared, all the plants got destroyed and none of them escaped the wrath of Nature, except those little violets that were hidden close to the wall of the garden.

After raising her head and saw the tragedy of the flowers and the trees, one of the young violets smiled happily and said to her companions: “Look what the storm did to the proud flowers!”.

Another violet said: “We are small and living close to the Earth, but we are safe from the wrath of the heavens”.

A third one added: “Due to our shortness, the storm cannot succumb us”.

That moment the queen of the violets saw next to her the changed violet, thrown on earth from the storm and deformed on top of the wet grass like a weak soldier on the battlefield. The queen of the violets rose her head and called her family, telling her: “Look, my daughters and think what Greed made to the violet that became a proud rose for one hour. The memory of this scene may be a reminder of your good fortune”.

The dying rose moved, assembled the remnants of her power and said quietly: “You are satisfied and obedient fools! I was never afraid of the storm. Yesterday, i, as well, was satisfied and happy with Life, but Satisfaction acted as an obstacle between my existence and the storm of Life, which constrained me in a sick and lazy bliss and peace of spirit.  I could ask the same life you live now, by sticking because of fear to the earth… I could wait for the winter to bundle me in snow and surrender me to Charon, who will certainly take all violets… I am glad now because i explored outside my little world the secret of the Universe -something you haven't done yet. I could ignore Greed, whose nature is superior than mine, but as i was attending the silence of the night, i heard the heavenly world talking to the earthly world, saying: “Ambition beyond existence, is the basic purpose of our life”. That moment my spirit revolted and my heart ached for a place higher than my restrained existence. I understood that the abyss can't listen the song of the start, and that moment i started fighting against my smalldom and ache for what didn't belong to me, until my unbowedness became great strength and my aching creative will… Nature, who is the great object of our deepest dreams, satisfied my request and made me a rose with her magic fingers”.

The rose silenced for a moment and with a weak voice, filled with pride and achievement, said: “I lived one hour a proud rose. I was for a time like a queen. I looked the Universe from the eyes of a rose. I listened the whisper of the skies with the ears of the rose and touched the fold of the dress of the Light, with rose petals. Is anyone here, who can claim this honour?”.

Having spoken like that, lowered its head and with a weak voice said gasping: “I will die now, because my soul achieved its goal. Finally, i extended my knowledge to a world far from the cave of my birth. This is the plan of Life… This is the secret of Existence”.

Then the rose started dreading, folded slowly its petals, and took its last breath with a sky smile on its lips…

A smile of accomplishment, hope and purpose of Life…

A victorious smile, a smile of God

Commonly used greek words

Chrome: from the word “khrōma“ = “color”. Chrome is related to the chemical element chromium, which is also the name of a second google browser and was named like this because of the colourful compounds it makes.

Utopia: from “ou“ = “not” and “topos” = “place” which make it mean the “nowhere”. The word was coined by Thomas Moore due to him using it as a title of his book that discusses about an imaginary island of legal, social and political perfection.

Dinosaur: the “terrible lizard” from “deinos” = “terrible“ and “saura“ = “lizard“. When Sir Richard Owen named these newly discovered creatures he first imagined the feelings of the people confronted by them. (In reality people did not encounter dinosaurs but that wasn't known then)

Horizon: It comes from “horizon” = “limiting (circle)”, which comes form the verb “horizein” = “bound, limit, divide, separate”, which comes from “horos” = “mountain” (not to be confused with chorus since the h was added when the word latinized).

Chaos: from “khaos” = “abyss, that which gapes wide open, is vast and empty”. Mythologically it was the first created being from which came Gaia (Earth), Tartarus (Underworld), Erebus (Darkness), and Nyx (Night).

Android: from “andro-” = “man” + “-eides” = “form, shape”. Androdes meant “like a man, manly” compared also to “andrias” = “image of a man, statue”. It was popularized from 1950 by science fiction writers.

Technology: ”tekhne” = “art, skill, craft in work, method, system” + “logy” = “a speaking, discourse, treatise, doctrine, theory, science”, which comes from the verb “legein” = "to speak".  

Nostalgia: “algos” = ”pain, grief, distress” + “nostos” = “homecoming” which comes from “neomai” = "to reach some place, escape, return, get home". Where this word is stressed most in our schools is when we talk about Odysseus who spent 10 years fighting and another 10 trying to reach Penelope, Telemachus and his people as well as for the ones that become part of the diaspora.

Aeronautics: from “aer” = “air” + “nautikos” = “pertaining to sailing" which comes from “nautis” = “sailor”. This word would be used only for metaphors whilst now it has a literal use. On the same pattern is astronaut and aquanaut.

Strategy: from “strategia” = “generalship” which comes from “strategos” = “general, commander of an army” which comes from “stratos” = “multitude, army, expedition, encamped army” literally meaning “that which is spread out” + “agos” = “leader" which comes from “agein” = “to lead”.

Callisthenics: from “kálos” = “beautiful” + “sthénos” = “psychic strength”. Gymnastics played a basic role in the cultivation of the concept of “kalos kai agathos” of “gentlemanly personal conduct, especially in a military context”. There is also another saying “mind healthy, body healthy” which emphasizes body/mind balance as well. Note: Plato was a wrestler.

Magnet: from “magnes lithos” or the stone “magnes” or “lodestone”. It was mined in large amounts at a place called Magnesia of Ionia, hence the name.

Moron: from “mōrós” = “foolish,dull”. There is an unnecessary word used a lot in modern greek the “re”, especially when we talk to someone. A possible theory for this is that “moré”, moros in the vocative case, evolved into the easier said “re”. Philologists at school told us this as well.

Ocean: from “ōkeanós” = “ocean”. It was the name of the great river or sea surrounding the disk of the Earth, not the Mediterranean. It was personified as Oceanus the titan, son of Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Earth).

Theory: from “theoria” = “contemplation, speculation, a looking at, viewing, a sight, show, spectacle, things looked at” which comes from the verb “theorein” = “to consider, speculate, look at” which comes from “thea” = “a view” + “horan”  = “to see”.

Catholic: from “katholikos” = “universal”,  from “kata” = “in respect of” + “holos” = “whole”. It was applied to the Church in Rome at 1554, after the Reformation began.

Porn: it is an abbreviation of ‘pornography’ which comes from prostitute or “pornē” = “bought, purchased”  + “graphein” = “write”. In the Roman times it was practiced with the grossest license but was tolerated to a considerable extent at all times. Parrhasius, Aristides, Pausanias, Nicophanes, Chaerephanes, Arellius were famous pornographoi.

Sources: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=

http://www.lexigram.gr/lex/arch/%E1%BD%84%CF%81%CE%BF%CF%82#Hist0

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/calisthenics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Greek_and_Latin_roots_in_English/A%E2%80%93G

https://www.wyzant.com/resources/lessons/english/etymology/words-mod-dinosaur-info

Human Language vs Animal Communication Systems

From what different experts or random people have meant, one can conclude more or less that language is the “emergence of thought in the natural world”. Through the complicated process of muscle activation and breath, sound is produced, the info of which we decode for the purpose of inserting the meaning into our minds. Animals, also living beings, have similarly developed communication systems so as to interact easier. The question is, on what do those two differ? They differ in three points.

The first one is called “Discrete Infinity”. Language as a tool has at its disposal a discrete number of fundamental units, the alphabet.  From these 26 little legos the human mind has offered outflows of tens of thousands of books, essays, dialogues, academic papers. This diversity of output, as time passes, goes to infinity. On the contrary, while animals do have basic mechanisms of communication, it is hard to say that they have the ability to express this great complexity.

The second difference lies on the thinking of time, space and the abstract. A human can speak about its baby age in the past and dream the love of its life in the future. On the other hand, an animal expresses itself at the moment. A human discusses on countries kilometers away, travels with a plan, and in general has sufficient clarity for many things that aren't at the exact place it is being/living. For the animals the dimension “space” is very restricted, they can only reach an understanding on what is “there”, “here”, “a little further”. Moreover, humans think abstractly, we talk about justice, write poems and compose music. Animals cannot comprehend that “sadness is getting more beautiful because we look like her” or “do a leap faster than decaying”.

The third one is on the purpose of communication. In the human/animal society every member has a role to play for a common purpose. That's why we have to transfer images from one to another, to get into the shoes of the other so that we function more efficiently as a whole. Two monkeys look at the same wig, may know that they see the same wig, but cannot interact in that complex way we humans do.

Source: The info was taken from a MOOC(online lesson) in coursera.org called Human Linguistics, the teacher was Dutch.

It seems that the root/basic difference that is preceding the differences above is the intelligence factor and it is explained by Michio Kaku why we were the species that got it at a blog link here: http://ideanautica.blogspot.gr/2017/02/michio-kaku-on-evolution-of-intelligence.html

Pythagorean Cup

Imagine Pythagoras in one of his school feasts in southern Italy looking at his pupils having fun. He sees some drinking too much and thinks about the vices of men. So he decides to teach them a lesson, involving math as always. What was later conceived was one of the most simple and marvelous ancient gadgets.

What is it?

The cup is exactly like all the others, though it differentiates in 2 things. First, inside of the space where the liquid is to be, there is a small bit lifted in the middle. Second, inside the bit there is a route for the liquid that goes, as the below image demonstrates, out of the cup.  

How does it work?

So, you fill water in. Until you reach the discontinuous line everything is fine. The water will concentrate around the bit and inside it, but only in the right side of the liquid route. When more liquid is thrown and the line is passed, the laws of nature take charge. What happens is that liquid falls in the right side of the bit holl and a route is created that is pushed by the weight of the rest of the liquid. End result = no liquid to drink :(

Algorithm “filling the drink”:

litresofwater = 0

enter the loop/startfilling

{

litresofwater = litresofwater + litrespouredintothebottle

if (litresofwater > limit)

go to A

else

continue loop, but first

If (you want to stop)

go to B

}

A: throw slowly the liquid out

B: stop filling and drink as you like

End of Algorithm

It is also very interesting because during the application of the algorithm you get schooled by dead physical matter which at least i think is wow. Step one, you fill the cup, it's your trial, this step is in your total control. If you don't cheat your classmates everything is fine you are equal among equals, you have respected the fair distribution of resources, you can now proceed with confidence coming out of a moral challenge and discuss with your peers. If you do cheat, you have to be humbled, and your chance of drinking sweet wine of the Mediterranean is diminished so that you think what happened.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISfIT3B4y6E

How to use Facebook faster

Scroll down for greek

If you press these button you'd be able to use facebook faster.

• j , k — browse your starting page
• p - post something new
• l — declare whether u like or not the selected post
• c — comment the selected post
• s — publish the selected post
• o — open the attached document of the selected post
• enter - look more of the selected post
• / - search
• q — search in chat
• ? — appearance of dialogue window

• Alt + 0 — Help
• Alt + 1 — Starting page
• Alt + 2 — Profile page
• Alt + 3 — Friends
• Alt + 4 — Incoming messages
• Alt + 5 — Notifications
• Alt + 6 — Configuration
• Alt + 7 — Archive of activity
• Alt + 8 - Info
• Alt + 9 — Terms of use
• Alt + m — New message

Αν πατήσετε αυτά τα πλήκτρα στο πληκτρολόγιο, θα μπορείτε να χρησιμοποιείτε το Facebook πιο γρήγορα.

• j , k — Περιηγείστε στις ανακοινώσεις των Ενημερώσεων
• p - Δημοσιεύετε νέα κατάσταση
• l — Δηλώνετε ότι σας αρέσει ή δεν σας αρέσει η επιλεγμένη ανακοίνωση
• c — Σχολιάζετε την επιλεγμένη ανακοίνωση
• s — Κοινοποιείτε την επιλεγμένη ανακοίνωση
• o — Ανοίγει το συνημμένο της επιλεγμένης ανακοίνωσης
• enter - Δείτε περισσότερα για την επιλεγμένη ανακοίνωση
• / - Αναζήτηση
• q — Αναζήτηση επαφών συνομιλίας
• ? — Εμφάνιση του παραθύρου διαλόγου

• Alt + 0 — Βοήθεια
• Alt + 1 — Αρχική σελίδα
• Alt + 2 — Χρονολόγιο
• Alt + 3 — Φίλοι
• Alt + 4 — Εισερχόμενα
• Alt + 5 — Ειδοποιήσεις
• Alt + 6 — Ρυθμίσεις
• Alt + 7 — Αρχείο δραστηριοτήτων
• Alt + 8 - Πληροφορίες
• Alt + 9 — Όροι χρήσης
• Alt + m — Νέο μήνυμα

Bits of Taoism

Taoism is a historical spiritual movement or a religion that sprouted and grew in the Far East. It focuses on discovering patterns of nature and applying them in the human experience. The ultimate goal is to live in absolute harmony with nature. To achieve that a person has to follow “the way” or Taoism and connect with the Tao, the source and sustainer of the universe

Its “holy  book” that explains fundamental concepts is the Tao-te ching

Here are some small paragraphs from that book:

Passage 7

Heaven is long-enduring and earth continues long. The reason

why heaven and earth are able to endure and continue thus long is

because they do not live of, or for, themselves. This is how they are

able to continue and endure.

Therefore the sage puts his own person last, and yet it is found in

the foremost place; he treats his person as if it were foreign to him,

and yet that person is preserved. Is it not because he has no

personal and private ends, that therefore such ends are realised?

Passage 8

The highest excellence is like (that of) water. The excellence

of water appears in its benefiting all things, and in its occupying,

without striving (to the contrary), the low place which all men

dislike. Hence (its way) is near to (that of) the Tao.

The excellence of a residence is in (the suitability of) the place;

that of the mind is in abysmal stillness; that of associations is in

their being with the virtuous; that of government is in its securing

good order; that of (the conduct of) affairs is in its ability; and

that of (the initiation of) any movement is in its timeliness.

And when (one with the highest excellence) does not wrangle (about

his low position), no one finds fault with him.

Passage 33

He who knows other men is discerning; he who knows himself is

intelligent. He who overcomes others is strong; he who overcomes

himself is mighty. He who is satisfied with his lot is rich; he who

goes on acting with energy has a (firm) will.

He who does not fail in the requirements of his position, continues

long; he who dies and yet does not perish, has longevity.

Sources:

Tao-te ching: http://www.sacred-texts.com/tao/taote.htm

http://www.taopage.org/taoism_beliefs.html

here is some taoist music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vl2et7OYJ4

http://www.answers.com/Q/How_many_followers_does_taoism_have