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Vasilios Gardiakos

Elefteria E Thanatos - Liberty or Death

I offer my ultimate thanks to my Great-Grandparents and all my fellow Greeks who fought so valiantly in 1821 to start the process of freeing the Greek lands from the brutal Turkish invaders. After great suffering and oppression for 400 years under the Ottoman Turkish yoke the Greeks managed to maintain their language and heritage. If it were not for them I would be in a similar situation as the Cypriots, Armenians and Kurds fighting for independence and justice and not have the time to record music, paint and speculate about reality and existence. If it were not for these heroes I would be speaking Turkish instead of Greek. It's great to be free!

By the way the struggle for independence started in my home town, Kalamata. The cry of the day was "Eleftheria E Thanatos", liberty or death.

Haralambis

Haralambis (c. 1960) - Kalamata Holy Man or Saint? - Photo: George Dekeles

Little that I know about Haralambis is that though he was poor he
helped all those in need. I barely remember seeing him when I was a child.
The local folks believe that this extraordinary person is a holy-man or a saint.

My Health Remedies

Periodontitis: Read my book, The Smile Method - How to Avoid Gum Surgery and Dentures.
Visit: www.albrite.com

Sinus infection: I use Source Naturals Ultra Colloidal Nasal Spray for serious sinus infections. Thereafter a saline nasal spray may be adequate to rid of minor sinus infections. Antibiotics will do the job but take longer and have side effects. The Source Naturals Ultra Colloidal Nasal Spray can be purchased at many health food stores and online.

Topical infections: For topical infections Tetrasil a silver ointment works wonders.
Visit: www.tetrasil.com 

Hemorrhoids: I stumbled across an article on the internet that if one eats one ounce (though it may have said two) of pumpkin seeds daily that the hemorrhoids will go away. Can be salted but not sure if they must be raw. You should see improvement within a month.

Energy: If one recalls from Greek Mythology: The moon Goddess Hecate fed dandelions to the hero Theseus, giving him power to kill the notorious Minotaur, a half-man, half-bull monster, who devoured  young men and maidens. Theseus probably got his strength from the dandelion's iron content (or was it fiber?) which has a little more than spinach; and everybody knows what eating spinach did for Popeye. Modern day Greeks prepare dandelions (endives or spinach) by boiling them and adding some olive oil (isn't Popeye's love of his life named Olive Oyl?) and lemon over it. They eat this along with whole wheat bread, feta cheese and olives. As a side dish or as a main dish twice a week it will provide the best fiber and roughage that nature can offer.

Fiber: If you are over 35 year of age, consider eating higher fiber foods or taking fiber supplements.

Treating Burns: For kitchen burns apply Aloe Vera directly on the burn. Cut about an inch (3 cm.) from the leaf. Cut away the thorns. Wash the exterior with soap and rinse. Cut in two to expose the juicy stuff. Hold directly on the burn for a while. Re-apply a few times. If the pulp develops a dry skin, scratch it with a perforated knife to expose the juices. Applying the juicy pulp directly on the burn will reduce pain. It accelerates healing. Also great for sunburns. Aloe Vera can be applied to the whole body. This saved me on one occasion from a severe sunburn.

Flakiness Around the Nose:  I had an area around my nose which was flaking for many years. I had experimented with many salves, vitamins, minerals, colloidal silver and antiseptics etc. but nothing worked until I tried Equate Dandruff Shampoo Normal. I applied with only a little rubbing. I left it on for 20-30 seconds then rinsed. I saw results with three applications over a week. A month or so later it was nearly flake free. I have continue to apply it periodically as I suspect this is not a cure. Equate brand is only sold at Wal-Mart. There may be other brands that are similar but I have not tested them.

Teeth Grinding or bruxism: There is a simple technique to help those that grind their teeth. Open mouth slightly and with your hand made into to a fist put under your chin. Lightly push up with fist while resisting with your chin. Do not open or close your mouth. This is strictly a resistance technique. I do not have this fully researched but do it for less than one minute or what works for you. Do not apply too much pressure. Once done relax your mouth and it will want to stay open and thus stop the teeth grinding. If awaken during the night repeat and your bruxism will improve temporally.

Pain: Apply Artrosilium on your aching bad knees, elbow or lower back. To avoid contact with your hands put a dab on the backside of table spoon and apply to the problem area. A plastic spoon will not be as cold to the touch.  See: www.artrosilium.net

Health Summary: For health maintenance exercise, take fiber and vitamin C supplements.
Read my article: Vitamin C and Your Health
 

How to Determine if the Feta (cheese) is Good!

Order Greek feta from the "barrel" from a Greek grocery store. Try a little and you may say it is ok or may even say what a waste of money. Put it away in the refrigerator. If within a few minutes you develop an irresistible urge to open the refrigerator door and try some more then you have good feta. By the way, my favorite feta is from Arachova.

New Calendar

Knowing full well that many have written on the subject of upgrading the current calendar, I will now add my thirty cents. How about making all twelve months 30 days long so that will cover 360 days. The 5 extra days will be divided so that the southern and northern hemispheres have a mid winter and mid-summer 2 or 3 days that will be used holydays and workers day off. Then we can have five or six day weeks. Each month will start on the same day. Any buyers?

Gulf of Mexico Parakeets

Sailing with a few friends in the Gulf of Mexico on the Aethra two wild parakeets landed on the halyards.  I slowly approached one and using my secret method to calm the bird I extended my index finger to his feet. To everyone's amazement he slowly climbed on my finger. We all agreed that this happening was a good omen. Was it?

How did I accomplish this? Don't forget I had Cookie a beautiful blue parakeet which I hand fed from the time of birth. So I know a little about parakeets. I will divulge the method sometime in the future.

Going Places (TM)

Artificial Human Computer

The Greek Tragedy Test: The way to judge if a computer has human qualities is to let it scan Antigone by Sophocles or another Greek tragedy then monitor its reaction. If there is no reaction then the computer is obviously not alive!

Fun Spot!

There is a place about two inches above my right eyebrow that when I scratch it or if I dig the finger nail into the scalp often I sneeze. Nothing like a nasal climax, well maybe a few things but if I accidentally touch the F spot well I gotta go all the way. If you do not have your daily sneeze try the F spot and let me know if you find it. Gesundheit! or Yassou in Greek (from hygiene = health)!

My Greatest Fear

Can technologically advanced evil groups conspire to forever gain a technological advantage dooming the rest of us to second class citizens. My fear is that some group of people will gain access to some technology that will forever keep them in a position of power over the humans that are not part of their clan. They will have the power to exploit us forever, for endless generations. Technology may not be the only way for a group to gain complete control but it may be the most enduring. This is my greatest fear!

How Did They Know?

The Caduceus was a symbol of commerce and is associated with the Greek God Hermes the messenger for the Gods, creator of magical incantations, conductor of the dead and protector of merchants.

The Caduceus and the DNA double helix have similar geometric properties.

Apparently someone else already made the connection between the Caduceus and the DNA double helix. It may be difficult to see but the DNA double helix on the bottom morphs into the intertwined mating serpents.

The connection seems obvious between the intertwined snakes and the DNA double helix but could it be that the staff signifies an additional element or principle connected to life?  Could the staff represent the spirit, sentience or something unknown to us? Evolutionary push, speciation? Genetic observation, memory and manipulation? Plato's Forms? What do the wings represent? What is the meaning of the globe at the top of the staff in scientific terms. Could it be that for the DNA to produce a living organism it must find the staff that will give it individuality and consciousness? It may be that more than DNA is required for a sentient living organism.

Artists

I believe that artists of all disciplines due to their influence on society have a special obligation to try to make this a better world when they express themselves though their art. If an artist cannot or does not inspire us they must at least not influence the society to think negatively or to act in a way that will be harmful to society.

The Parthenon Marbles aka Elgin Marbles

When the Parthenon Marbles are returned from England to their original location I propose that they are exhibited in a large museum near Acropolis so that the visitors can see it from many angles. The original frieze would be mounted at the original height on the top of a reproduction of the front eight columns. The visitors will start their audio visual journey at the top to see the frieze close up as the Gods would see it. Slowly the powered walkway will descend allowing the frieze to be viewed and appreciated from many angles and to the ground so that the visitors will view the frieze as the Athenians did 2400 years ago.

Search Google keywords: "parthenon marbles" acropolis, return, jpg, elgin

My Earliest Memories

I recall a warm day in the crib and I was very warm and sweaty. I could hear voices in the next room. I felt abandoned and cried to get noticed but I was not successful.

Another very early experience is when I was learning to walk and my confidence was strong. I was being watched not to fall and was not allowed to stray far or in an area where I could injure myself. This irritated me so I attempted to show off that I could walk but fell and was very disappointed with my self.


Space Travel

Advanced technological societies may use CAP, select Cut And Paste method instead of the DAD, select Drag And Drop method. The DAD method that we use now to get around or drag ourselves has limit of the speed of light. The CAP is similar to how we move text and images in our computer programs. We select-cut-paste to move the data within a program or from program to program. Insert a spacecraft inside a CAP Machine, then using the master computer program find the location and paste into it. Simple in theory but difficult in practice and much faster than the speed of light. There may however be areas the master program will be unable to paste into.

Stock Market Tips

I started playing the stock market when I was 19 years old. Though I did not know what a bear market was I starter trading during one. I followed the stock market trading theory "Let your profits run, cut your loses short." I sold more stock at a loss than for a profit but in the end I came ahead.

One year I bought Coleco Industries which tuned out to be that years greatest percentage gainer. Just bragging, just in case you were not aware that I was.

When I was twenty-one I passed the National Association Of Securities Dealers test. Thereafter I was unable to make money from trading stocks as I got bogged down with conventional thinking on the stock market.
 

Science and Mythology

In science things do not exist until it is proven that they do; ether, demigods, Gods, God, angels, nymphs, devils, Santa Clause, ETI, ESP, personal levitation, time travel, the list is endless. If the reverse is true that everything exists unless shown otherwise by science then science would be in very deep trouble. It’s a good  thing that we have mythology so that we can openly discuss these subjects in an artistic manner. In the mythological universe reality is boundless, you can claim whatever you want and no one will ask for proof, and rightfully so.

A Grand Thought on Evolution

The reason we have grandmothers is because in the evolutionary scheme of things they help perpetuate the species. The reason grandfathers die at a younger age is that in the evolutionary scheme of things they are less important in the perpetuation of the species.

Those that have faith in the existence of God or belong to a group of believers such as a religion have a health and longevity advantage. Belief in God carries an evolutionary advantage evidenced by the existence of religions and the many followers. 

Two Empires

Greece was conquered by two empires. Rome loved everything that was Greek and did everything to preserve it. Turkey despised all that is Greek and has done everything to destroy it. And after 550 years they have come very close to succeeding but they will not. E Elada pote then petheni, Greece will never die.

7x22 Greek Temple

If you have any information about an ancient Greek temple that has an arrangement of seven columns across and twenty-two on the side please contact me. If I recall correctly the photo of such building which I saw was in Crete. 

   
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"Going Places" is a trademark and copyright of Vasilios Gardiakos, 2005
Copyright 2007 V. Gardiakos