Earthquake activity:
Most recent earthquakes in Greece -
LINK
There were more than 100 local earthquakes in May -
Link -
Only 4 of any significance:
(ML4.0 & above).
14 May: 4.1 ML, 09.11:52am:
Epicentre 64km SW of Paleochóra, Crete, Greece (pop: 2,372)
Link.
18 May: 4.4 ML, 15.08:06:3pm: Epicentre 59km SE of Agios
Nikolaos, Crete, Greece (pop: 10,799)
Link.
26 May: 4.1 ML, 05.52.33:1 am: 60km S of Paleochora, Crete
Greece (pop 2,372).
Link.
31 May: 4.0 ML, 01.08:29:2am: Epicentre 59 km S of
Ierapetra, Crete, Greece (pop: 12,536)
Link.
Although
earthquakes most certainly are a common feature of life in Greece. It is
however, unusual for deaths, injuries and or damage to buildings to occur,
which could lead to a false sense of security.
The author of a ten year study at the National Technical University of
Athens says that Greece is sitting waiting for the next major
earthquake without doing anything to mitigate it's effects. (Our italics).
There are certain existing buildings considered to
be at risk from major earthquakes. These buildings, which include a
number of schools, are being investigated with the objective of
safety.
Engineers have also called upon the government to
institute checks on old bridges in Greece.
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A Little Extra (Current) News - 'Keep taking the tablets'....
Quite amazing. Absolutely Amazing!
The way that the English language has become converted - or
do I mean 'subverted' - to mean something quite different to the meaning
which prevailed at the time of my English Language 'O' levels... Taking just
one example from a recent TV news programme (or do I mean 'program'?) I
found myself becoming deeply immersed, quite involuntarily, in the world of
the modern tablet . Or do I mean 'Tablet'?
The lectures I attended on 'Materia
Medica' (Pharmacy and all about it!) as a young student were all about pills
and potions, solutions, creams; ointments and lotions. All for administration
to people or application to their bodies by various methods. All, of course,
intended to better their physical or mental well being... Tablets
were commonly round or flat compressed powder. Pills were commonly oval with
the contents sugar coated; Lozenges were of various shapes and
consistencies commonly intended to be sucked, capsules were meant for
swallowing were hollow, usually with powder or granules inside; and so on.
The methods of administration were multiple, some of which are better left
unmentioned for the sake of anyone not in the business or under the age of
65 years, but the most common method of was by oral ingestion -
sucking, chewing or swallowing according to the intended effect and speed
thereof! Simple, easy and definite,,,,
Pfizer; May & Baker; Roche; Glaxo;
AstraZenecker; Merk; Johnson & Johnson; Squibb; Eli Lilly; Beyer; -
hundreds of companies producing innumerable quantities of pharmaceutical
products.... Aspirin, perhaps the most common tablet on the planet has been
used in that form since 1897 has been with us for well over 117 years and
the constituents known to man since at least 3000 BC...
Tablets were meant for people to eat -
normally, in the case of people, for medicinal purposes. They made one
better - or not. Or that, at least, that was the theory...
Fast forward to the mentioned TV programme about Tablets.
Tablets we were reliably informed, in full colour with stereo sound
accompaniment, are now computers... They don't get headaches (just give them
to people) and therefore don't take Aspirin (although the users often do).
This needs care as users now apparently refer to tablets as 'Pills'. This
needs even more care as taking the pill is probably causing the fall in
fertility of tablet users....
So what are 'Tablets'? Tablets are now small hand-held pocket size personal
computers (don't try swallowing one!) owned, apparently, by almost everyone
in the civilized (economically) world. Even, perhaps even especially
by children! In fact, these 'Tablets', produced by electrons companies like
'Apple' - (ipad, ipad mini, Air, with retina displays) ; Microsoft; Samsung;
Amazon; LG; Nexus; Google and so on have all been developed over the years
from the early '90s to the present day. They are startlingly efficient and
knowledgeably vastly proficient when compared with the human brain - even
after an Aspirin (or two).
So Tablets are now computers - any kid on the block could have told you
that! And they don't take Aspirin - that should be quite obvious too - no
Aspirin, no headaches, no tablets...... And of course you should under no
circumstances take them with a glass of water - that's for Aspirins...
OK, I can swallow that (be careful) but what has all that got to do with my
assertion that the English language has become converted - or do I mean
'subverted' - to mean something quite different to the meaning which
prevailed at the time of my English Language 'O' levels. I mean,
every(modern)one must know the difference between a tablet and a tablet,
mustn't they? Obvious...
Backbone; Biometrics; Client; Debug (and bugger); Illegal operations;
System; Java; Memory; Node; Queue; Refresh; Sample; - all mean exactly what
they say, don't they? Or do they? And how about 'Recursive'; Raster
Graphics; or 'Network Topology'; Better than your 'parallel port page
orientation' one would hope! Even though only under 10 year olds know that
off-pat. I just hope that they also know that 'off-pat' is not the same
thing as 'off Pat'!
And again all this brain-work is starting to give me a headache (an Aspirin
perhaps? Maybe two?). There must be an easier way than writing, well, typing
this column. And "Ole" - almost like rubbing the Genie lamp, as I pushed
what I thought was the 'off' button on my ipad mini, and up popped
'Siri'.... Not having been introduced (but definitely a lady!) and
without further provocation the lady asked - "What can I help you with"?
'Give me two Aspirins' I responded. Almost immediately there was a
soft double chime a the female voice replied "That may be beyond my
abilities at the moment".... 'One aspirin'? I proffered. Nothing happened.
"Hello' Hello" I tendered.... Nothing, no response at all... I tapped the
microphone icon and in exasperation asked "How about a Panadol then"? The
reply, immediate and very clear, said "Ok I found this" and put up a page of
text. The fist line said "Barak Hussein Obama Is the 44th President of the
United States". Siri responded "OK, take a look" and put up text which
said "Panadol is one of GlaxoSmithKilns' trademarks for Paracetamol, or
Acetominophen, which is'... "Can you write an essay on Tablets" I asked -
Siri replied "I am not sure whether I can do that or not, but I am
always learning new things"... Ah' Well, back to the keyboard and brain. And
please, pass the Aspirin!!
**Siri,
Apple’s intelligent assistant, helps you do the things you
do every day.1 All you have to do is ask. Say
something like “Tell Jay I’m running late” or “Remind me to
make reservations for Saturday.” Siri can send messages,
place phone calls, schedule meetings, and even turn on and
off VoiceOver, Guided Access and Invert Colors. And because
Siri is integrated with VoiceOver, you can ask where the
nearest sushi restaurant is and hear the answer read
out loud.
Kalos Ithate Stin Kriti.
WB. Cretanvista. Bringing the sunshine, keeping the rain off!
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Site Content:- Last
Change - additions to
Calendar Galleries.
Notices. |
We are still undertaking our
upgrade of the site. Changes here have left some pages outdated -
new houses; hotels; supermarkets; roads and all. But it all takes
time; please bear with us.
**Our 2014 Cretanvista Calendars all issued - Apologies! But you can
always see them on our website :-
Link or browse the entire on-line wildflower galleries here.
Contacting Cretanvista..
We have now discontinued all direct email links. Our is here -
Contact Link |
Photo Galleries...
Calendar Photo Galleries:
A new one every year for the past decade! The 2014 Calendar gallery is
complete and online now.. The 2014 calendar topic was 'Bird Life of NW Crete' (a
new theme for us) and the result was superb! But did have followed up the
previous 'Wild Flower" theme in 2013, 2010, And again in 2011! Because of our
success we have already produced our 2015 wild flower calendar format - and
our other themes continue. Cretanvista probably has the widest range of
calendar galleries available in Crete. But we can reprint any issue with the
any year's dates - whatever year that happens to be! Have a look at the
2014
Bird Life of NW Crete calendar Link.
Wild Flower Gallery - Now at
360 different wild flower photographs online - plus dozens in
preparation - Galleries 13 - 15 are open. 360 flowers online.
Gallery 16 is developing - which will mean 384 online.. Plus we are
adding more reference information on redesigned pages - with more
photos of each specimen to follow later. You may find an occasional
duplicate, which we are keeping for the moment as the actual
photographs will be different and will be used in a later planned
re-organization of the galleries.
We are now well en-route to putting the first 50% of our target 1020
individual flowers on-line. But it all takes time. First find the
flower (hopefully in full bloom); then get the photographs (sounds
easy); put the photographs on-line (simply work); with basic
information on each, making certain that it is accurate...
If you know the location of a rare flower please don't hesitate to
help us photograph - we wont reveal your information to anyone else.
Please note also that All flower galleries have now been
successfully re-coded to eliminate a bug which affected some Firefox
browser versions. All the information will remain online at
Cretanvista. With the advent of ipods, ipads, Blackberry's and other
gizmos it will be much easier to take Cretanvista galleries on your
field trips - and all the information that goes with them. **Your
Amazon Kindle will display cretanvista perfectly - albeit in
monochrome. |
Wildlife Gallery - the first two pages - 48 unique photographs,
including some rare specimens of the Cretan fauna. Some is quite beautiful,
some a bit scary/creepy, but all now add to our wildlife page and the
ornithology gallery pages. Remember that it is always worth checking where
you walk or sit before you do! Start here.
Chania Photo Gallery.
Our Chania photograph galleries commenced with a presentation from Klaus
Dieter Thill, whose photographs of some old buildings in the area of the
Venetian Harbour show a little of what we all sometimes miss. Have a look -
it's worth it. Start here.
Miniature Chapels of Crete Gallery.
Klaus-Dieter Thill - author of Minaturkapellen auf Krista, a printed photo
album detailing some of those enigmatic roadside shrines of Crete, has now
contributed the first page of his Chania on-line gallery.
Cretan Art and crafts -
Weaving pages...
Weaving is in full swing and natural dyes are being made up and the
photographs taken to add to this section. We will be adding our pages on our
new looms, equipment and new projects started as soon as we can. The weaving
tends to take the time right now..
Our very first nature gallery...
Contributed by Anastasios Sakoulis, whose book on Cretan wildlife Moments of
Cretan Nature is also on our site as a book review. Anastasios contributed
18 pictures of birds for addition to a gallery some time ago now. We will
attach these to our bird-watching pages as soon as possible.
GENERAL: There are now 37 galleries featuring aspects of Cretan life,
including sunrise and sunset pictures; Souda Bay War Cemetery; the gallery
of magnificent wild-life pictures by Anastasios Sakoulis; our own wildlife
gallery; the wild flowers; Chania; Mhlia (Milia) traditional village; etc..
etc...
Our improvements continue. We sincerely hope that you notice little - apart
from increased enjoyment and ease of use. Keep visiting - your presence is
what make all worthwhile.
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