After the murder of one of its members, the rest “troktika” have said their final goodbyes and the site is no more. This was the best information site any Greek could ever have hoped for, producing news and comments at a staggering rate and giving us what we demanded; truth.
RIP, you will be sorely missed. This is how democracy dies.
Add comment August 7th, 2010
There is a very weird thing going on right now in Greece. A blog is attacked on two fronts for doing what newspapers should be doing; informing people.
Troktiko is a blog that enjoys vast popularity among Greeks everywhere, being the fifth most popular site after Google, Facebook, YouTube and Blogger.
This blog has no advertising nor does it ever wish to. It regularly posts opinions of its visitors and does not shrug at facing off against anyone, from politicians, to taxi drivers, to simple people that appropriate parts of public streets outside their home to facilitate their parking needs.
One of the fronts comes from a high profile journalist in Greece who filed a suit against them for slander. The Greek court this case went to decided to summarily shut the blog down, but the administrators managed to bring it back up as this ruling was illegal; no chance was given to the owners of the blog for rebuttal or explanations and when the admins took action to point that out, there was nothing left to do but put the site back online.
This points out the need for a response in whatever one feels that is wrong. Had the admins not responded or acted on the premise that “a court told us to shut it down so we can do nothing” the blog would not exist any more.
On a personal note, I don’t know if a blog, or any publication or indeed a person, has a right to just characterise someone with an term that is neither supported by or describes a wrongful action he committed but simply is a term of derision. I would hope not, and in that I find troktiko in fault. However, the court’s ruling was reached summarily and without due process and as such it is illegal.
On the other front, it is reputed that there is a football scandal brewing right now for which the owners of the blog have evidence. They claim that Google itself has notified them that the posting of this material will result in the blog being shut down. Currently, posts in the blog say that they will ignore such “warnings” and they will post it soon, not succumbing to intimidation tactics.
Add comment May 27th, 2010
How can anyone say such a thing? And who believes it? Who doesn’t remember?
Perino may try to “spin” 9/11 (although even trying to is an insult to all the people that died) all she wants but what are the reporters doing there? Oh, pardon me… it’s FOX News. That explains it…
Add comment November 26th, 2009
Life is generally good. You sleep (instead of slumbering), you work to make a living (instead of living to work), you love a woman (instead of tolerating her), and you go on vacations (instead of going out just to eat as an excuse of leaving the house).
Of course all those things are the ideal, the dream. People don’t usually do those things for one reason or the other. If I may, people need to make their revolution. We have lost all meaning in our lives and are more and more transferring our dreams on our children, or even worse, abandoning them to something else, grandparents, day care stations, TV, computers…
Revolutions are not easy and do not happen over night of course. Young people in Greece work for very little money and tolerate it because there are 100 others that don’t have jobs that would gladly take this low pay job. What if no one got that job though? Would it be difficult to turn down? Of course. Would it make a difference though? I think so.
I started talking about life though, and how good it should be, as mine was these past few days. A five day trip to Syros with a friendly couple, then a happy circumstance that allowed for one more trip to Syros, this time with my girlfriend and the couple responsible for our introduction. All this in a frenzy to make up time for the year that is awaiting me in the obligatory military service in the Greek Armed Forces.
In a hurry to make up time I’m being driven to excess. More time spend with friends, loved ones, more nights out, more more more…
Life interrupted and all I will have will be memories and the dream of the eventual release from the army.
At least I met her… and that gives new meaning to life, and new hope…
5 comments July 30th, 2007
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Just watch it… and applaud, laugh, think, and hope!
2 comments December 20th, 2006
Of course it is, just like 1 cent is the same as 1 dollar, or… hey! Hold on! 1 cent is not the same as 1 dollar! OMG, this is so HARD!…
ok… so I’m joking, but some guys in Verizon (an american carrier) do not… This little video (which is actualy a recording of a support call) shows three people NOT getting this difference!
This is a long one too, and people with half a brain will shoot, hang or by some other way kill themselves… or maybe they will just laugh and spend 20 minutes with a smile on their face.
I think my favorite thing is the part from 15:47 to 16:05
-Do you recognize that there is a difference between one dollar and one cent?
-Definitely!
-Do you recognize that there is a difference between half a dollar and half a cent?
-Definitely!
-Then, do you, therefore, recognize that there is a difference between 0.002 dollars and 0.002 cents?
-No!
Classic comedy!
Add comment December 10th, 2006
People are still up at arms when it comes to race, and by race I mean the race of a person. Well, I never thought it would go away, but it is the only answer. What I mean is, if you want the Issue of Race to go away, the stop thinking about it!
Let me explain further; read this article and see where thinking about the race of people has lead – an impasse! Because people wanted to consider using the race of people to create a mixed environment, the created a law for it. It took this long to state the obvious and make a case against it: if a law says that people should attend a certain school based on race, pretty soon people will be denied access to a school because of race (if you don’t get that, then let me be more clear: one student of one race cannot be accepted into a school because the “quota” for that race has been filled, and hence he sues for being denied because of his race, which is also illegal! – the school had no chance, in following one law, it broke another).
And this is what I say; STOP thinking about the race of someone. Don’t use race as the first argument. Don’t think about race as your first explanation for not getting what you want. Does one white blame another white for racism? Does one black blame another black for racism? Then it is time for one white to stop blaming another black (and vice versa). And don’t give me that “Do you know what my people (whoever they are) have endured?”. Sure, but have you endured? Your granddad or your dad may have an axe to grind, but if someone in your family tree doesn’t stop grinding, you are only giving your children a sharp axe! And they are going to use it and pass it on to their children.
STOP thinking about race! See how simpler it would be if a law existed that said “First come – First served”; if you pay the tuition for the year (in private schools) or apply before someone else (in public schools), then you are in, and I keep doing that until I feel my classrooms. After my classrooms are filled, no more for this year. Now here is the tricky part: IF YOU ARE THINKING “But that would mean that there could be 2 children from race A, 24 from race B and 4 from race C and that is just not right, it is racist” then you are part of the problem. There are 30 children in the classroom whose parents just applied sooner than others. If your child asks you why it is different from other children in its school, do you tell them “Because you are a different race, honey, you are black/white/asian/native american etc…”? Maybe… But consider telling them “Because no two people are the same, others have green eyes, others have blonde hair, others have darker skin. We are all different people in one way or another, and not only on the outside, but also in how we think. And that is one of mankind’s greatest strengths; by being different we can all offer a different perspective on things and thus find the best way to move forward”.
Is that so much to ask for?
1 comment December 5th, 2006
I love how some thing work… Take for instance this article.
Verisign has sole control over the .com suffix, so anyone who wants to use one, must pay Verisign for it. You cannot go anywhere else for it.
Further down this article there is this passage:
Price rises are limited to 7% in any year and six months notice must be given of any proposed increase.
Ok… six months notice… to do what… exactly…?
…
You can not go to another company, and you can not say I disagree. So what exactly is the point of the six month notice?
“Hey, FYI, in about six months you will pay more… ok? Good…”
That’s it! Like I said, I love those kinds of things 
Add comment December 4th, 2006
It seems that red tape is much stronger than ever. Who does not know that the World Trade Center does not exist anymore? A lot of people it seems, or they wouldn’t still be sending mail to that address, as this article proves. It is remarkable that so many companies still send mail to the WTC after five years, and the post office has been admirable in its handling of this case. Extending the forwarding of the mail time-frame from one year to five (and it will keep on forwarding such mail as it seems), staying calm and professional, when I would just send them the mail back and tell them off…
Amazing…
Add comment December 4th, 2006
…although I really can’t tell you when I’ll go AWOL again. It’s just that some times a person should take a break from what he has been doing and do something else. After all, I’m one of those people that are never satisfied with what they’ve got (and I don’t mean that in a materialistic way) and are always looking out for anything exciting and new and different.
Thing is though, my interests tend to be specialized, highly involved and unique in their total irrelevance to most people’s interest… I’m blessed with people in my life that understand that about me, and even some that share this quirk in their characters and thus we can communicate and be close.
We are however a minority in the society and thus what I had been doing never seemed the right thing to write on a blog. I had a sense of what I want my blog to be about (which is everything – don’t comment yet, wait for the next few lines) and it was for other people, even people I don’t even know that just happened to pop on by, either by mistake or wild chance, to take a part in the discussion. So while some of my hobbies and interest do cover that, others do not. And that was the source of my silence for the past few months.
But I missed it, and thus, especially since “this is my blog and I’ll cry if I want to”, I’ve decided to keep rumbling on whenever I feel like it, no matter the issue, no matter who might want to comment or read. After all, I’ve come to redefine the role of this here blog; to express myself, openly, in an effort to expose myself. Those that will read it, will get a glimpse of me, and maybe even understand me a little bit. At least, that is the hope… I may just make a complete and total ass of myself!
1 comment December 3rd, 2006
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