Author: opoudjis

What are the rest of Ottomans’s presence in present Greece?

By: | Post date: December 11, 2016 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Greece

Andrew Baird has blocked me, so I’ll post here my corrective that the Parthenon blew up because the Venetians bombarded it. Yes, the Ottomans stored their gunpowder there. They figured the Franks would never destroy the old stones they venerated. And there was noone in the Ottoman realm with the concerted evil of Michel Fourmont: […]

What are the best things about your country?

By: | Post date: December 11, 2016 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Australia, Greece

What I would have answered your question about my country (Australia) is largely already in Nick Nicholas’ answer to Do Australians like being Australian citizens? But I’ll pretend I didn’t already answer it. Many of the best things about Australia, it shares with the US, and they have a similar reason. The optimism. The social […]

Before Nixon met Mao Zedong in China was there strong opposition against it? Was it regarded as capitulating to freedom hating foreigners?

By: | Post date: December 11, 2016 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Countries

The opposition Nixon was truly worried about was the China Lobby, who determined US foreign policy for a couple of decades. But by 1972, the China Lobby seems to have been spent. There was certainly opposition from conservatives, which is why it took Nixon to go to China to begin with. But their voices were […]

Why is that people in UK do not share food? I am from India and have been 3 weeks in London. I have observed that people do not share their food with colleagues or friends in the office or in the restaurants/canteens.

By: | Post date: December 9, 2016 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Culture

Dansby Parker is almost there with his answer. As with many cultural differences, this one comes down to Politeness theory. In many cultures, like India and Greece, good social behaviour involves breaking down the boundaries between people you like, such as friends. Sharing a table involves that, and sharing food at the table makes that […]

What is your favourite march or anthem?

By: | Post date: December 9, 2016 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Music

When I was in university doing computer science (because that’s how old I am), I had a Dutch lecturer, Tobias Ruighaver (now retired). At the end of his course, I arranged the Dutch national anthem Wilhelmus for the instruments I had handy (violin, bassoon, me singing), and someone else presented him with some Heineken. The […]

What has been the general outline of your intellectual evolution over the years?

By: | Post date: December 9, 2016 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Culture, Personal

Habib le toubib, what a tough question this is. There’s a reason I’ve put it off so long. I had some run up of development from 10 to 15, including teaching myself Latin, reading high school Greek literature anthologies, and working out calculus. Tried to be religious, gave up around 15, though still retained cultural […]

What do you think of the Glaswegian accent?

By: | Post date: December 9, 2016 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Language

Ah, an utterly unscientific survey on Scottish accents. I find Scottish accents sexy. I find Glaswegian accents unintelligible and sexy. Taggart was a formative experience in my upbringing. For years, I’d imitate him picking up the phone: Halloo! Thes ez Tahghaghrt! … Whü?! Answered 2016-12-09 · Upvoted by Steve Rapaport [Originally posted on http://quora.com/What-do-you-think-of-the-Glaswegian-accent/answer/Nick-Nicholas-5]

Mecha-Makarios

By: | Post date: December 8, 2016 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Quora

Nick Nicholas’ answer to What are some human-made things you dislike or like that are present in South (and West) Cyprus? Now, to my eyes, this statue of Makarios at the Archbishopric of Cyprus is a reasonable and respectful depiction of the Father of the Nation. But my friend Vlado did not alight in the […]

Why is cheating out of control in relationships?

By: | Post date: December 8, 2016 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Culture

First, as my friend Sam Murray puts it (God, I’m sounding like Michael Masiello now), it was ever thus, and only attitudes to cheating have changed, by both place and time. Never mind the Ancient Greeks and Paris shtupping Helen (which was much more about Bronze Age views of host–guest relations than either Menelaus or […]

If you could take one historical person from history as a lover/date, who would it be and why?

By: | Post date: December 8, 2016 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Culture

A2A Pegah Esmaili Pegah, canım, you don’t expect an ordinary answer from me, do you? Like Cleopatra (meh, inbred Greek), or Catherine the Great (she’d fricking squash me) or Joan of Arc (back away from the crazy)? Good. Because you’re not going to get one. In the modern cornucopia of female objectification, do straight men […]

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