What do you think?

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Very interesting.I have finally bought myself an android and I see that there is even an app for wordpress.Awesome stuff. As you might expect this is a post coming directly from it using the very handy swype typing interface.

Unfortunately the android wordpress interface is only useful for small posts like this one so it’s more likely I’ll be using this for twitter rather than my blog.

Still I am completely exited with my new gadget, and off a diaspora app comes out soon I believe I’ll be complete.

Also, photos directly to my blog.fun

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We were planning for the marriage to happen in summer but due to various circumstances, this didn’t manifest. Thus we decided to just have a civil wedding this year and do the ceremony stuff next year, where we’d have more time for planning. The civil wedding was going to be kept very short and sweet, with only a few people invited.

And then came the subject of the clothes. My soon-to-be-wife categorically objected in me going to the civil service on anything casual and I stedfastly refused to use a suit & tie setup. As we were thinking of a compromise, an idea came to me and I was delighted that she found it exciting as well: A Steampunk theme. This way, I would both be wearing something that wasn’t casual or conforming.

So we set about trying to create an outfit for this day. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a lot for the actual steampunk stuff other than the victorian-era clothes and the goggles, but even so, I think the end result was good.

So without further ado, here’s some pics that I found very good. You can see the whole album here (If you get 500 errors, use the slideshow option from the drop-down menu on the top right. Should be more stable)

Here we are in front of the Romer city hall. This is the place where the German kings were crowned. As you can see, we’re a…diverse bunch

Here’s the two of us close up. I think the attire was a success.

This is in the “ceremony” and the actual signing of papers and stuff. In the first pic, you can see me giving this decision some thought.

This is after the wedding, outside of the building. Given the amount of marriages that happen there daily (about one per 30 mins) throwing rice to the couple is forbidden, or else by the end of the day, the entrance would be covered in it. So as an alternative, our crazy Russian friend, throw intra-cook rice bags at us as we were coming out. In the last pic, you can see a bunch of children which were completely surprised by the way we looked. One asked us “Why do you look so bad?”.

We were quite the attraction that day in fact. The Japanese tourists probably thought we were part of the setting.

These are from the breakfast and lunch times. We went for both one after the other so there wasn’t enough time to digest. However we did leave out some space for the cake, which as you can see, we tried to build to the theme as well. There was so much left of it, that I brought practically half of it to work for the people there to eat

So there you have it. Next year, we’ll have one more

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News will be forthcoming

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We weren’t looking for just anything of course. Mostly we were looking for Steinpilze and their family. We ended up with a huge haul.

We’ve got enough of them to last us till spring at least

This is certainly going to become a yearly event.

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Unfortunately on the way there, we were a bit lost in finding our way around Mannheim so we ended up coming a bit late to the fun (about 20 mins) but hopefully the shouts and slogans of the demonstrators led us to the place everything was happening.

By far, the very first thing one notices is the very strong police presence. There were about 150-200 Anarchists in the middle, surrounded with banners and all around them where at least 50-100 policemen. The way the police had formed a wall around them was making it painfully obvious that this was a group of people “normal citizens” shouldn’t be interacting with. The feeling of domination by the police was painfully obvious as they were trying to contain the protesters.

It’s difficult to explain how much implied threat such a police presence registered. For all non-Anarchist onlookers, the police block gave all the “right signals” the state wanted to pass, that the people contained therein where dangerous elements you must be protected from. Furthermore, the heavy use of cameras all around the protestors and also towards onlookers made it even more obvious that your presence there was being noted, even if you were simply curious as to what the whole thing was all about. “Nothing to see here, move along. If you don’t then perhaps you need to be watched” was the feeling I was receiving.

Proof of such sentiments was further provided by Liriel, as an outsider looking in and with experience in previous German protests, she informed me that she’s never felt so threated before in her life for simply being in a public location, watching the proceedings. The police’s implied “You shouldn’t be here” attitude was very hard to ignore to such an extend that you’ll probably be reading soon another post in the Division by Zer0 written by Liriel about the whole thing.

If that wasn’t enough, the police made it painfully clear who is supposed to be watching whom here. As soon as I tried to take some pictures of the police presence, an officer walked over to me and in no uncertain terms made it clear to me that if I was to take one more picture of the police, he was going to take my camera and smash it. His hostility was unmistakable and during the protest, I saw him do the same thing to other onlookers 2-3 more times.  Needless to say that didn’t stop us from taking pictures but only made us do it less obviously.

Soon more Anarchists gathered and we ended up with a large-ish group of people chanting and clapping on the outside of the enclosed group (including me). Needless to say, this didn’t make the police very happy as people could talk to onlookers now and spread leaflets freely. More than once the police tried to enclose the outside groups as well, especially if they became too loud but always people would disperse and reconverge a bit later to chant from the outside once more.

Once the demonstration started moving, the same situation kept occurring again and again, many people would follow the march from outside the police enclosure and chant along with the protesters. As the outsiders became more and more loud, the police would attempt to enclose them as well, on occasion running  in front of us in order to block our way and redirect us within  the main procession. People would then run backwards or split in side streets and meet up the process 100 meters later. No less than three times did I see the police taking to chase protestors who were trying to avoid being kennelled in like some danger to society.

By far the most humorous part of the demonstration was when the protest was passing in front of a bank. The police had already made a human wall in front of the bank, one assumes to prevent any random people rioting in that general direction. As we were passing it, I made a comment like “Now we can plainly see what the police are here for” which made a few people around me laugh out loud. But this is in fact the truth. Even though during the process the police never felt the need to protect anything else, as soon as the banks were involved, they sprang to preventative measures, showing their true duty as the gendarme of the plutocracy.

The rest of the march was uneventful, if humorous at times as one looked at the police’s desperate attempts to control the Anarchists. Eventually we reached the main train station where the whole thing halted and soon after the Anarchists within dispersed just as quickly as they had gathered. In fact it was quite strange the way it happened. I half expected it to be a break among Anarchists and Police so that each side could go grab some drinks and food before continuing. We milled around for a bit until we were certain nothing more was going to happen and then left.

In the end, I believe there must have been around 300 anarchists present and about 100 police, which is quite a big presence if one thinks about it. Unfortunately the whole demonstration was still quite small which further reinforces my belief that Germany (as well as most of the first world) has not yet felt the real effects of the looming crisis. I think that once the shit hits the fan, there will be far a bigger civilian presence and police repression. Future will tell.

Of course, just because in Germany things are not bad enough to make for big protests, doesn’t mean that the same applies everywhere…

PS: Comic event of the day: As we were walking past a small market area parallel to the bigger march, we were shouting various anti-capitalist slogans. People weren’t really afraid of us and many were joking around. One stall-keeper asked us what this was about and when we explained she exclaimed: “Pirate Party Woooo!”, which was amusing to say the least. Not just because she confused our politics, but also because it showed how popular the Pirate Party in Germany has already become.

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Personally I’m doing it in solidarity to the Hoodies in the Greek riots who are demonized by the mass media as mindless vandals, violent fringe elements and whatnot. This act, is miniscule by itself compared to all those people who were and are on the streets, in the schools, in the occupied building etc, but it is something I can do from another country.

So, first it was Vrypan

Who I do not think did it with the same purpose in mind.

Then it was Plagal

And now it’s me:

The rest is up to you. Join in with your own pics.

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Frankfurt Mittelalter markt

The medieval market of Frankfrut happened in Offenbach and it was quite crowded. I guess mostly because so many people could come without traveling far.

There were quite a few interesting items on sale but I especially liked these blobs on sale

And there was also some extreme cuteness

Burghayn

This was the first medieval market I went in germany back more than one year ago. This time the market was much much bigger

I also had a chance to wear some new clothes and there were surprisingly many people in medieval attire as well.

There was also some great swordfighting to be seen and I managed to get some great action pics. I find the last one especially cool.

I also tried to take some artistic photos

And finally, I got to see Schelmish in all their glory again. It was a very short gig however Nevertheless, you too can enjoy some pure medieval music now.

If you liked all these, you might like the rest of my medieval pics.

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Greece has been awarded the gold medal for doping (article in greek) from the president of the IOC Jacques Rogge. He has apparently named and shamed the Greek team as the most doped up team in the Beijing Olympics with the second and third places being taken by Bulgaria and Russia.

For a country that is so hell bent in maintaining a good image, they have managed to put yet another badge of shame on themselves (following the ban on computer games, suing lesbians and other funny stories)

You know what the sad part it? It’s the government itself that is promoting this kind of behaviour. After the recent shame came up, did anything happen? Was anyone fired or forced to resign? No.

Same as in the past where the doping of two Athletes was ignored and they were eventually not punished at all by the greek national sports comitee, only to have them 1 year later admit to the IAAF that, you know, they did dope themselves.

Pathetic.

But at least it makes this easily amused expartiate laugh at their antics.

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Yep, that's me!

Born in Greece, he now lives in Germany, and has been in the tech industry most of his life. His site is not your average blog, ranging in topic from the his love for music to the immigration policies of Europe. His blog is an homage to how the power of technology to connect people and the pursuit of living a thoughtful life.

All I can say is that I’m terribly ashamed of making a boatload of spelling errors. I honestly don’t know what got into me. Seriously, it’s not that English is my second language, I generally spoke england very best. I think I must have been tired or something.

If I can't gratuitously spam you with my pics on my own interview, when will I?

Nevertheless, this kind of customized interview makes it very better for the interviewed person to give more details as they are writing about things that excite and interest them. I won’t hide that some of the original questions (that were replaced) left me with a blank. For example, I don’t have any favourite books on Atheism

OTOH, the new questions ended with me writing a goddamn chapter

So, head over to read about my wonderful personality and then come back to tell me how much I rule/suck. I’ll be waiting.

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