fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Let's go sailing in Greece — Sept/Oct 21
By: Uwe Allgäuer
Tags: Digital Nomads, Greece, Cyclades, Sailing, Travel

Visits on land

We will find great restaurants, many of them reachable only via boat, and explore the islands during day or night.

Learning to sail will enhance the experience and gives you the ability to immerse fully into the adventure. You will feel safer and understand the bits and pieces to ultimately enjoy sailing more deeply. We will form a sailing team of the course of our journey, connect with likeminded souls and have great fun out sailing.

Stargazing is very special when anchoring. At night the water calms down the soft motion of the boat and the surrounding is very pleasant to watch stars with no light pollution.

Retreat versus working on the boat

Yes, we will have WiFi at times and WiFi is generally available via 4G (when close to land), in restaurants, marinas or places we visit. It is completely up to you if you go off-line or if you like to stay connected. From past experiences we have noticed that working on a boat can be very tricky. Internet will not be provided as a service on this boat. Digital detox is appreciated.

Meet your tribe

This journey is for likeminded souls, location independent people, entrepreneurs and people who carry a similar spirit. The boat comes empty and we would need to bring the good vibes and the good atmosphere with us — as I like to say. There will be plenty of chances to connect to chat business and hang out. This environment is very fruitful, projects like Coworking Bansko, as well as other projects, have been initiated on sailing trips! The calm environment might change your perspective and give you the possibility to look at your situation differently. You might be surprised what you can learn and take away from such a sailing adventure! We recommend joining for two weeks in order to fully enjoy this unique experience.

There is room for flexibility

The trip is planned to reach each milestone of each stage easily and allow amendments, for instance, if we decide to hang out longer at one amazing place. For most of the nights we will anchor in beautiful bays around islands and the shore to enjoy the solitude. We have time to explore and saviour the real sailing experience and freedom, offered by such a journey. During the day we are either sailing, swimming or exploring islands or the places on land. There is lots to do on a sailboat and the days are easily filled with action, relaxing, exploring, celebrating and you have time to connect with fellow sailors.

Swimming, snorkeling or SUP?

We’ll have the chance to swim in the ocean or in lonely bays, just as we wish. Feel free to hop on the stand-up paddle board to explore on your own or to get some exercise whilst on water. Bring your snorkeling gear and dive into the blue. Doing stops for breakfasts, lunch or supper at random places has been appreciated many times. Or having a stop just to hang out is an awesome thing to do. You will have time and there is little distraction from outside, the chill factor is very high!
As US, China fight trade war, Greece opens up to Huawei’s 5G ambitions
By: Bojan Stojkovski
Tags: Trade War, Huawei, 5g, Greece, Privacy

Source: Freepik

While the US-China tech cold war rumbles on and the UK weighs up how much involvement Huawei should have in the country’s 5G networks, elsewhere in Europe the Chinese tech giant is already implementing its technologies.

As of last month, a prime example of these developments is Greece, where pilot projects could help open up the southeast European 5G market to Huawei.

Recently, the Chinese telecom company tested two pilot 5G pilot networks in the Greek capital, Athens, and in the seaside city of Kalamata.

Huawei is running the pilot in Kalamata with Greek telecom provider Wind Hellas. By implementing the project, Kalamata becomes the first Greek city to experience the potential of 5G.

The 5G network in Kalamata now covers the central square and several important points in the city. First commercial use is expected to begin roughly two years from now.

According to Anastasios Bikos, a 5G cybersecurity architect with Huawei, Greece’s cooperation with the Chinese giant represents a “ tremendous historic opportunity for the country to take the lead in investing in new revolutionary 5G digital technologies”.

Huawei has been investing in Greece for almost 15 years and commands a 50% share of the telecoms equipment market.

Bikos tells ZDNet that public debate on implementing 5G and the efforts of the governments and regulatory bodies in Greece and Cyprus are smoothing the shift from 4G to 5G.

Despite speculation that the US could ease some of the restrictions that President Donald Trump imposed on Huawei in May, the ongoing trade war between Washington and Beijing doesn’t appear to be nearing its end.

That situation could spell trouble for Huawei’s business in Europe. But in the case of Greece, Bikos points out that “no political issue should delay the 5G deployment, since no one, nor Europe, will benefit from that”.

However, amid rising global privacy concerns related to 5G technology and especially Huawei as a 5G supplier, Greece has yet to address one crucial issue regarding the processing of personal data — the full implementation of GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).

Together with Slovenia and Portugal, the country is a part of the remaining trio of EU members that still haven’t made the necessary domestic reforms to enact GDPR. The regulation is crucial for providing European citizens with better protection on the use of personal data.

Last month, the European Commission decided to refer the country to the European Court of Justice, for failing to incorporate GDPR into national law.

The Commission also called on the Court to impose a fine on Greece of €5,287.50 for each day that has passed since May 6, 2018 — the deadline set by Brussels on national governments to incorporate the directive.

Enacting the GDPR also means tighter data-protection rules when it comes to managing data on 5G networks. So the Greek authorities will soon have to consider the possibility that this could affect ongoing and future 5G projects with Huawei.
Germany may spend 50 billion euros to pump up the economy and markets | SimpleFX Blog
Tags: Europe, Economics, Germany, Greece, European Union

Germany may spend 50 billion euros to pump up the economy and markets | SimpleFX Blog SimpleFX Aug 19, 2019·2 min read

The recent macroeconomic data suggest that there’s a turning point at the horizon for the global economy. The possibility of US-China trade war doesn’t help the forecasts. The German government may be to take a proactive approach and release a substantial stimulus of 50 billion euro ($55 bn). We recommend watching the story closely as it may affect the euro, DAX30 as well as many German and European stocks.

The world’s biggest economies face a downturn. The US bond yields dropped to under 2% and German companies have recently published some gloomy results. The concerns about Brexit are just another uncertainty.

While Donald Trump does his best at promoting his economy, but we shouldn’t take his words for an objective forecast as he’s got his own agenda before the upcoming elections.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1163169730477395968?s=20

At the same time, the Federal Minister of Finance Olaf Scholz suggested Germany can spend 50 billion to activate the economy. The sole declaration may have positively affected the markets already as Frankfurt stock exchange opened higher today.

The problem with the plan could be finding the money for the stimulus. Germans are not keen to print or borrow and Angela Merkel has always tried to run a balanced budget.

The declaration was hinted by Scholz during a meeting in Berlin when talking about the previous financial crisis a decade ago.

“..the last crisis cost us 50 billion euros, according to my estimates.” “We have to be able to muster that and we can muster that. […] The biggest problem is uncertainty, including that caused by the Chinese-U.S. trade war.”

Watch the news about the possible German stimulus closely. It’s going to be interesting to see how politics will affect. Germany is ruled by a wide CDU-SDP coalition. The socialists, who are a smaller partner in the coalition, are pushing for more spending to stimulate the economy and abandon the zero-deficit policy.

However, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who took over the Christian Democrats leadership from the chancellor Angela Merkel, has declared sticking to the balanced budget as she stated: “We invented and will continue to defend it” on Tweeter.

https://twitter.com/akk/status/1162051905322921989

On the other hand, as Scholz noted, Germany could spend more since the government managed to reduce the national debt and squeeze it to less than 60% of the GDP.

Stay tuned!
AYS Daily Digest 8/7/2020 — Protests in Camps Across Greece
By: Are You Syrious
Tags: Refugees, Digest, Greece, Migrants, Pushbacks

AYS Daily Digest 8/7/2020 — Protests in Camps Across Greece

Cartoon by Malagon via CEAR

FEATURE

Protests Against Injustice in Moria and Kos

Across Greece, people are expressing their frustration with the government’s repression of people on the move.

In Kos, residents are entering the second day of their hunger strike. In a video sent to journalist Franziska Grillmeier, people are chanting “We want freedom!” and using empty water bottles as noisemakers. People were protesting not just the national policies, but restrictions, often arbitrary, put in place by camp directors and staff. For example, the administrator of the Kos center recently stopped children from going to school, especially targeting unaccompanied minors. The reason for this draconian policy? Some children had allegedly left the camp without permission. With such severe restrictions of freedom of movement, is it any wonder that people are protesting?

In Moria, people mourned the death of a teenage resident in front of the camp asylum office. The boy was killed during the weekend and is the latest victim of rising tensions in the camp that have been worsened by the psychological stress of lockdown and strict Greek immigration policies. His blood is on the hands of indifferent policy makers that crowd people in these camps indefinitely, with no public health or safety measures to protect residents.

All solidarity with people imprisoned in camps who are fighting for their rights! Basic rights such as the right to move freely and the right to attend school should be available to all, regardless of immigration status.
AYS DAILY DIGEST 09/07/2020: Protests in Greece against New Demonstration Law
By: Are You Syrious
Tags: Refugees, Mediterranean, Europe, Digest, Greece

AYS DAILY DIGEST 09/07/2020: Protests in Greece against New Demonstration Law

First aid trainings in Moria // Report on discriminatory practices by Blue Star Ferries // News from the Sea // Von der Leyens reaction to investigation into March shooting at Turkish-Greek border Are You Syrious? Follow Jul 10, 2020 · 11 min read

young boy at Victoria Square in Athens

FEATURE: NEW DEMONSTRATION LAW IN GREECE

On Thursday, thousands of people demonstrated in Athens against a new law that has been submitted to the parliament. The law aims to expand police power over demonstrations.

“It stipulates that protesters apply to the police for a license to demonstrate. Groups must do so via an assigned organiser who will be financially liable for any damage to property or obstruction of economic life deemed to have been caused by the protest.”

(see article below)

The demonstrations that were held on Thursday proved the new bill’s inadequacy and the people’s will to oppose it: some 10,000 people gathered to show their disapproval. Clashes between demonstrators and police occurred. Greece sees big demonstrations on a regular base, especially since police violence, mainly against refugees, is high. The bill is especially inadequate since many of these protests are held spontaneously and without clear organizing structures. At the same time, there have been reports of an increase of police violence, especially during Corona-lockdown.

Ioanna Manoussaki-Adamopoulou, a PhD candidate at University College London researching refugee rights in Greece, spoke about the

“increase in records of police stripping of citizens during stop and search operations, and worryingly, taking them into spaces without cameras and beating them up. These are all the practices that remind us of non-democratic dictatorial governments. Such practices have reappeared with ferocity, and with a kind of discourse of Junta-like police powers.”

For more information, see:
AYS Weekend Digest 3–4/7/21 Ocean Viking rescues 138 people on Sunday
By: Are You Syrious
Tags: Refugees, Italy, Immigration, Digest, Greece

Refugees — info for and about refugees — provided this thorough timeline of events for the Ocean Viking over the last couple of days:

“Last update: 4/07/2021 at 19:48 (All times in UTC + 2 hours/CEST)”

→ “On June 27, the Ocean Viking leaves the port of Marseille, France.

→ On July 1st, the Ocean Viking rescues 44 persons from two wooden boats in distress, in two separate operations, in the Maltese Search and Rescue Region: 30 persons are rescued in the first operation; 14 persons in the second. The Ocean Viking also spots an empty blue wooden boat adrift in the Maltese Search and Rescue Region.

→ On July 2nd, the Ocean Viking searches for two wooden boats in distress in the Maltese Search & Rescue Region. The Ocean Viking witnesses both empty boats set in fire following their interceptions by the Libyan Coast Guard.

→ On July 2nd, the Ocean Viking requests a Place of Safety for the 44 survivors onboard.

→ On July 3rd, the Ocean Viking rescues 21 persons from a fibreglass boat in distress in the Libyan Search and Rescue Region. The Ocean Viking also spots two empty boats in the Libyan Search and Rescue Region. The Seabird aircraft from Sea-Watch confirms that one has been intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard. The Ocean Viking investigates one of them, a double-deck wooden boat and finds personal belongings.

→ On July 4th, the Ocean Viking performs two rescue operations in the Maltese Search and Rescue Region: 67 persons are rescued from a wooden boat in distress in the first operation; 71 others are also rescued from a wooden boat in distress in the second operation.”
Covid Vaccinations in Greece (Data in Power BI)
By: Dimitris Chortarias
Tags: Covid 19, Data Analysis, Greece, Power Bi, Data Visualization

Mani in Greece July 2021

Today, the answer in the question if we can go on vacation in greece today is Yes, tomorrow is Yes. I think that for the next 2–3 months also the answer is also Yes. But what about the winter?

“The winter is coming”

Maybe this quote is from one of the best TV Shows of all time, but it is also true. In order to see how covid vaccinations are going in Greece, I have built a fast dashboard with data from the internet.

Power BI

Bla,bla,bla sorry for this one, but i am not going to analyze and describe what is power bi. You can find more information about this in powerbi.com.

Covid Vaccinations in Greece

Greek Government has created a site with the total vaccinations per region, https://emvolio.gov.gr/vaccinationtracker but the question in this data is the percentage of people who got vaccinated vs total. To answer this question, the fastest way is to implement it with power bi.

Getting Datasets

To get the first data with the vaccinations is really easy. Just select as datasource “From Web” and paste the link

Getting data from web

In the next screen select the table with vaccinations and select load.

select the table from the website

Before implementing the dashboard we need just a few more steps… as mentioned before there is a need to compare this data with the population. To do this we just need the data for population in greece. These data are also available in wikipedia.You can find this data here.

Wikipedia Population

Data Transformation

Now, we have all of our data, and we are ready to implement a data transformation in order to merge these tables and get a final dataset.

The steps of transformation in wiki table:

Remove “Π.Ε.” From the column of “Περιφερειακή ενότητα” (This is Region) Uppercase text in column Region

The steps in Covid vaccinations table and the total data table:

Promote headers Split last column in order to have only the integer number with people who are fully vaccinated. Split third column in order to have only the integer number with people who have at least 1 dose. Merge these 2 tables using power bi merge and select Fuzzy!

After implementing all these steps we have now a datatable like this..

Data table in Power BI

Viiiiz It!

In this section everyone has a different point of view. For me each Dashboard or Power BI Dashboard or Python Dashboard or Qliksense should say a story. You can find this story below. :)
The Greek Endgame
By: Arthur Wong
Tags: Eurozone, Bonds, Greece, Endgame

The Greek Endgame

All tensions are focused on whether Greece and its creditors will figure out an agreement so that emergency funds of €7.2bn are released and the IMF can be repaid its €1.6bn, especially as Tsipras has recently called for a referendum, on July 5th.

At the time of writing, Greece is on the brink of defaulting on its debt and possibly abandoning the euro. Some spectators have questioned the magnitude of a potential Grexit, given that its economy constitutes only 2% of the Eurozone.

If a Grexit does become a reality, it has been forecast that the GDP of Greece will drop 20–30%. This is due to the loss of access to international credit and trade agreements. It is therefore to no surprise that some ‘smart money’ has already retreated from Greece, even JPMorgan has lost faith in Greek bonds as the endgame approaches.

One of the main concerns is that if Greece defaults, in fear of a reoccurring incident, investors will start to abandon other ailing member states including Spain and Portugal. This domino effect may potentially send the fragile economies back into recession.

The result may be the free fall of the euro causing the ECB to raise interest rates to “contain the situation”. However, the action will also delay recovery from the last financial crisis, which has taken its toll on member states with GDP with less than 1% annual growth.

Currently Spain has a substantial left-wing populist party, Podemos, which has parallels to Greece’s Syriza. They have been slowly growing and gaining momentum as soon as the austerity policies for bailout funds were implemented. If Greece can defy the ECB and IMF, Spain may eventually follow suit. The present instability and lack of confidence in the Europe forebodes the increase of future volatility in stock exchanges around the world.

Currently in hopes to prevent a whiplash effect if Grexit takes place, the ECB has taken measures to buy periphery bonds. However, there is no guarantee whether markets like Spain will be spared. $46 billion is invested into Greece via foreign banks, with Portugal and Spain as its two biggest creditors, who may suffer from a bumpy ride in the near future.

However, some economists argue that if Greece does fail to pay the €1.6bn due, the reputation of the IMF may suffer. The three major credit-rating agencies have commented that failure to pay the IMF would not automatically lead to a formal default. A non –payment to the IMF would make Greece join the club of arrears countries of Zimbabwe, Sudan and Somalia. If Greece were to join the club of arrears, there is little incentive to pay back the IMF as its payment schedule operates till 2030. Whilst there are many market commentators on both sides of the fence, it is interesting to see how this high stakes game ends, especially with the referendum on the 5th July.
Sun over Santorini chapter alert!
By: James Finn
Tags: Gay, Greece, Love, LGBTQ, Fiction

Sun over Santorini chapter alert!

We’re taking a break from tension and enjoying the beach. Juliette’s an awesome swimmer, and the water is remarkable, “like swimming in Perrier.” Ian and Dima have fun while Mark and Juliette get serious about love, beauty, and loss.

Author’s Notes:

I had a super hard time finding a photo to illustrate this chapter. I wanted a picture of Juliette, but a couple hours of searching got me nowhere. When I saw this one, my jaw dropped. The woman in the photo could almost be “Juliette,” so close is her resemblance.

The woman I based Juliette on really did say that the water off Mykonos was like Perrier. We really did hang out on half submerged rocks ringing the bay. She even convinced me to sunbathe nude on those rocks. I was never brave enough to do that on the beach proper, even though most everybody else did.

Juliette’s musings about Martha’s Vineyard come from the real woman I modeled her on. Daughter of wealthy Kenyan immigrants, she resented her parents for thrusting her into social situations where she felt constantly rejected because of her race. She also resented them for not seeing it.

Alex Peach kurt gasbarra Esther Spurrill-Jones Kathy Lee Tolleth David Wade Chambers Jerald Cole neil chapman Fred Shirley Phil Stevens Cameron Wheeler Adam, Diabetic Cyborg Patricia Copenhaver Kathy Lee Tolleth howlevmuso@aol.com Artemis Shishir Britt Rossman BFoundAPen Brindusa-Katalin Poenaru Alan Lee Ali Wyles Chris Cohlmeyer Audrey Chung Better Joe Donald Robb Jane Vogel Jason X Little Fears Holly Lyn Walrath Adam Millett Elle Beau
Why Your Family Holiday Should be at The Peligoni Club This Summer
By: Sharky, George Events
Tags: Summer, Greece, Holiday Packages, Holidays, Travel

Why Your Family Holiday Should be at The Peligoni Club This Summer

The Peligoni Club is a fun-filled beach club on the beautiful Greek island of Zakynthos. Think golden sands and crystal clear water, mixed with loads of adventures on land and at sea!

We’ve teamed up with the Peligoni Club to host a range of epic activities for little holidaymakers to ensure your children have a holiday to remember!

Mischief on land

High energy and epic adventures are in order as we play in the sunshine, and every element of Peligoni is a source of inspiration for a week of fun! From tug-of-war games and beach treasure hunts to water pistol painting, our adventures are full of smiling children, who you’ll often see running around in their Sunuva gear. Expect a week jam-packed full of excitement under the Greek sun.

Sharky & George mischief on the land (Photo Credit: The Peligoni Club)

Mischief in the ocean

A Sharky & George Greek adventure isn’t complete without mischief in the ocean! We’ll be water bombing from the pontoon, hosting gladiator battles on the floating island and playing in the water with our Sunny Life inflatables! There isn’t a dull moment as we take to the ocean to make a splash to banish boredom and give your child the holiday of a lifetime!

Sharky & George mischief in the ocean (Photo Credit: The Peligoni Club)

Food

After a day filled with fun, we know better than anyone the excitement of dinner time… and at The Peligoni Club, you won’t be disappointed! Complete with a brilliant main restaurant, and four bars for the parents, there’s truly something for everyone. Whether you’re after a tasty pizza or a superfood salad, the dishes are made from the freshest local ingredients! Yum!

Time for tasty treats (Photo Credit: The Peligoni Club)

Find out more about our fun-filled Peligoni Club partnership here: https://www.peligoni.com/kids-activities-with-sharky-george/

Follow us on social or visit our website for more inspiration:

@sharkyandgeorgeparties on Facebook

@sharkyngeorge on Twitter

@Sharkyngeorgeevents on Instagram
AYS Special from Greece: The ongoing failure of accommodation programs
By: Are You Syrious
Tags: Refugees, Special, Homlessness, Greece, The Mobile Info Team

Both the referring organizations and the accommodation structures would have to submit information before the meeting about the referred asylum seekers and refugees and the spaces currently available in the housing structures. The referring organizations were requested to upload information about their beneficiaries onto an internal UNHCR Excel sheet form, which UNHCR personnel would edit to remove names in order to protect the identity of applicants and check overlapping referrals.

During the meetings, the UNHCR staff would project the Excel sheet onto the wall and the negotiations would begin: referring organizations would provide additional information about the vulnerable asylum seekers they had referred, accommodation structures would present the available spaces, destined for families, single men or women, or unaccompanied minors. The accommodation structures would accept asylum seekers according to the services they could provide. For example, the presence of a psychologist could mean the acceptance of victims of gender-based or sexual violence. Accommodation structures would also host people based on language groups and available interpretation.

This sort of criteria led to delays of over 6 months in the transfer of a Somali woman with serious mobility issues and her small child with a hydrocephalus (water on the brain) from being moved from Moria camp to appropriate accommodation.

The woman only spoke Somali and the organizations providing accommodation did not have a Somali interpreter, since, at the time, asylum seekers originating from Somalia were not particularly represented on the island.

Acceptance to accommodation schemes would vary from year to year and from season to season. In winter time, the government would adopt measures to decongest the islands. The assumption being that the policy of transferring vulnerable people off the island was the result of the winter of 2016 when at least 3 people died in Moria as a result of the freezing conditions. In summer time, on the other hand, transfers were not proportional to the numbers of new arrivals, leading to utter congestion. In 2020, the capacity of the camp extended to over 20,000 residents. The rapidly shifting circumstances would be reflected in the available accommodation spaces: referrals would be more readily approved in winter time as there were more spaces available, while in summer time they were severely choked by overcrowding. But overcrowding is a term that implies there is a degree of choice, that people chose to stay in the same place and refused to move. Of course this was not the case, asylum seekers in Moria, as well as in other camps, were forced to be in that same space for a long period of time. Forced to queue for food, forced to queue to renew their asylum applicant cards that expired every 30 days, forced to queue to register for cash assistance.
Peripéteies in Greece — Week 31. Adventures in Greece as we pursue the…
By: Tim Bull
Tags: Lockdown, Greece, Athens, Boats

Boat wise we have a contract drafted now which took longer than we hoped (our issue this time for a change), now we’re just waiting on the sellers to counter-sign and we can move forwards from there. Assuming they sign, then the sea-trial will be early-mid April (COVID and lockdown allowing). Still a long way to go until we actually own something, but it’s definitely feeling very promising and heading in the right direction. The reality at the moment however is that even if this transaction goes smoothly, we’re starting to resign ourselves to the likelihood that it will be May or even June before we can start cruising at the earliest as even once we own the boat, there’s a lot of additional things that need to happen, many of which rely on lockdown easing further.

It seems as far as lockdown is concerned, as I thought last week, the government have started to ease measures a little. Cases have continued to rise, hitting a record for Greece of 3,500 infections a day on Wednesday, but the consensus is that the lockdown measures are ineffective and the damage to the economy and people’s well being now outweigh the risks of COVID. It’s not a radical change, but we’re very excited because outdoor archaeological sites are reopening from Monday so we can actually go and visit some of these ruins we just stare out from outside the fence! We’ll also be able to get a haircut again. I suspect in a couple of weeks we’ll see retail re-open as well.

Until next time,

Tim & Karina.
The Search for Best Villas in Greece for Rental Ends Here | Alasvillas | Greece
By: Alas Villa
Tags: Vacation, Greece, Beach, Holidays, Travel

If you are looking for spending an amazing holiday in Greece in the laps of the mesmerizing sea, then visiting our prodigious Beach House would be the best choice. We understand the value of your freedom and desire to experience the extreme. Here we have brought for you the best villas in Greece for rental that is enough to please your senses. Whether you want to witness the magical beauty of the sea beach or you want to be in the spellbinding aura of the arresting Island of Poros, we have both for you. Your search for the villas in Greece on the beach finds the best result here. Get ready for your life’s most amusing yet peaceful experience when you spend your time in our stupendous villa.

The Beach House, our traditional seaside 19th-century farmhouse situated at the beach of the Kiato town is one of the most demanded villas in Greece on the beach. The Beach House is specially constructed and restored keeping in mind, all the needs, requirements, and satisfaction that a family can expect. Our Beach house has a large garden that’s perfect for giving children their ultimate happiness while they use it as their playground. The magnificent house gives one the feel of absolute relaxation, comfort, and the freedom of celebrating their precious moment in the sea beach that’s connected directly with the house. It has three bedrooms where it has the various capacities of 2, 3 and 4 people. The classy interior, the enchanting ambiance of connected sea beach, beautiful gardens, and abundance of space is the complete package for a memorable holiday destination.

Your urge to witness the whole Poros bay can only be satisfied when you visit our one of the best villas in Greece for rental that lies in Poros Island. The house is cozy and gives you the feel of perfect peacefulness. Being clean is our only priority. All our houses are perfectly clean and always found in a healthy position to address healthy life of our guests. It has one bedroom of the capacity of two persons and a common space having three sofa beds to give you the feel of absolute comfort and ease.

So if you are planning to spend a memorable holiday in the best villas in Greece, never forget to visit us at alasvillas.com.
Peripéteies in Greece — Week 44. Adventures in Greece as we cruise the…
By: Tim Bull
Tags: Varkiza, Greece, Expats Life, Crocs Shoes

The speedboat course will continue in ten days time, so in the meantime we’ve decided to head up to Ioaninna which is a town in the North West of Greece, close to the border with Albania on a lake. It’s supposed to be very beautiful up there and it’s one of the parts of the mainland that we haven’t seen yet. The idea is to spend most of the week there and then go back past the boat next weekend to start on some of the chores (like polishing the stainless steel).

From a covid perspective, things continue to improve substantially here. While masks as still mandatory outside, it’s very common to see people with them under their chin etc. The numbers are improving every day — we’re down to around 350 cases a day now, and it’s less and less every week. It’s a far cry from the peak of the third wave where it was almost at 4,000 a day. With the exception of the masks, covid is having little impact on the day to day here now — a good thing! With the vaccination roll-out continuing to go seemingly well, it’s hopeful that by the end of August, things will be more or less back to normal again.

So overall a quiet week. We continue to float in a holding pattern and make the best of it — we’re certainly not bored, we are enjoying ourselves and staying busy, but from a “look at me” blog perspective, not much really going on right now! It will change next week as I’m sure we’ll have a large number of photos from our weeks trip away.

Until next time,

Tim & Karina.
Holiday Triptych (five month ago, before Coronavirus)
By: Nathaniel Herz-Edinger
Tags: Greece, Short Story, Santorini, Travel

INF

What is to be learned from the modern airport? The milky gloss of its tile reflects nothing; its tough, thin carpet holds no imprint. Outside, between the night sky and a vast flattened desert of asphalt, a portable staircase zips through the darkness, climbing cheerfully into nothingness. On the other side of the perspex, rows and rows of plastic chairs stare fixedly at one another in the harsh light. For a moment a clamshell mirror reflects a set of regulation rouge lips; the stewardess snaps it shut.

Ports were once places of violent, swoopstake ambition and dumb courage; where the detritus of humanity rose above their station only to sink, lifeless, under the waves. Does the driver of that portable staircase have anything to do with Twain’s Mississippi? That stewardess with Melville’s Nantucket? Does any great salty Dickensian romance find its way through the modern airport’s intestines?

— I think not, I think, as the red MRI blob of a headache inexorably blossoms, as I gulp down an absurdly priced, region-specific pint, gazing numbly up at the closed circuit of Hi-Def news highlights: Djokovic punching the air; Merkel’s indifference varnished with stoicism; the fat scarecrow flashed at by crows outside his elegant townhouse, №10; a rusted ute floating through a brown flood somewhere; everything, like a pop-art collage, pasted together with a bright cloying hopelessness.

Is the airport, with its necessary distance from all that is natural and alive, with its soulless, cross-sectionally perfect diversity, with its fetischistic embrace of The Local in pre-fabricated honeycombs of retail space, a symbol, a metaphor, for, phor, something? — No no, its merely a synechdoche, that lazy kicking of the can down meaning’s long road, I think, as I gather my things after a four-hour layover in Athens and shuffle into the boarding queue.

This cheap, Brexitty nostalgia of mine (Melville, Mississippi), cynical in the very remoteness of its idealism, is no match for the bank ads that line the umbilical passage from gate to plane. Here is young Mastercard, an aryan toddler, bushy of blonde ringlet and toothy of grin. In panel one, he frolics in the lensflare of a green day, damp grass and cherry blossoms, a pollen-soaked breeze freshening, perfuming, renewing. In panel two, he forages lollies from the leathery palm of granpa; whose hair is of a softer, silkier floss; whose smile is of the same poetry as his grandson’s; but read from a page wrinkled and dog-eared with use, and care, and the carelessness of others. In panel three, a windowpane of starry night watches over the sleeping boy. His face is calm and quiet, with a touch of angelic seriousness in the set of the mouth. The linen is light blue and well tucked, and a slowly twirling mobile of aircraft guards his dreams. I am, it is all, going away, the myriad questions, the concreteness of time and politics in the city. The engine crescendoes, oh, none of it matters any more, we are going away.
AYS Daily Digest 14/07/2020 — Suffocating Conditions in Munich Shelters, Temperatures Up to 50° Celsius
By: Are You Syrious
Tags: Refugees, Newsletter, Greece, Human Rights

AYS Daily Digest 14/07/2020 — Suffocating Conditions in Munich Shelters, Temperatures Up to 50° Celsius

The radio barracks that serve as accommodation for asylum seekers. Photo credit: Robert Haas via Suddeutsche Zeitung

FEATURE

Hellish Conditions in Munich Accommodation Centers

Temperatures reach up to 50 degrees Celsius. People are only allowed 30 minutes of fresh air a day and spend the rest of their time in seven square meters of space. There’s not even internet to communicate with the outside world or distract residents from their conditions.

Is this hell? No, it’s what people seeking asylum residing in Munich have to deal with. Their only crime? Being born in the wrong country.

Local authorities have put four community accomodation centers with 621 residents on strict lockdown, allegedly to stop the spread of coronavirus. Whole buildings are on lockdown, even if only a few residents have tested positive for the virus. Conditions inside also make it difficult for residents to maintain proper sanitation procedures and distance from each other. Thus, although these measures have been adopted with the excuse of protecting public health, it’s clear that local authorities only care about the health of Germans, not people on the move.

Local organizations and residents have been warning for months that these conditions are dangerous for mental and physical health and are especially difficult for children to bear. However, local authorities claim that they “meet market standards” because people can open a window if they’re hot and “individual cases” can get room fans (there was no explanation of how one qualifies for a room fan, or why access to fans is so limited in the middle of summer).

This case highlights what asylum seekers and their allies have been arguing for ages: mass accommodation like the ones described are dehumanizing and detrimental to residents’ health. They should have been replaced with individual accommodation that at least offer residents private rooms a long time ago.

Sadly, this is only the latest in a global pattern of governments denying people on the move basic liberties and freedom of movement with the excuse of stopping the spread of coronavirus.
A Solution for Today’s Mortgage Crisis
By: Refi America
Tags: Solutions, Mortgage, Economy, Crisis, Finance

Our country is at the precipice of another hundred-billion dollar mortgage crisis. As the COVID-19 global pandemic ravages communities, our government is nearing a massive bailout of our mortgage system, again.

We believe that our current mortgage system isn’t good enough. We believe that it isn’t helping homeowners enough in times of crisis, and another industry bailout doesn’t solve our problems. But the good news is that today, we can better help homeowners and create a more resilient mortgage system for the future.

We’re calling this plan, RefiAmerica. It follows three simple steps:

Homeowners refinance their mortgages into lower cost, flexible mortgage loans at today’s low interest rates. These mortgage loans protect them from housing market changes, job loss and health emergencies, and they can defer the first payment for up to a year. Investors invest in RefiAmerica mortgage loans through a streamlined, national investment vehicle that provides higher returns, fewer defaults and avoids expensive middlemen and guarantee fees Our government no longer requires taxpayer dollars to bail out our mortgage system because RefiAmerica’s mortgage loans do not have taxpayer guarantees.

Our approach is based on evidence that we’ve spent a decade collecting. We’ve studied the 2008 housing crisis with internationally acclaimed economists to understand how the mortgage system works. We’ve designed a new mortgage product that helps homeowners and investors do better in times of distress through our company Safe Rate. And we’re a licensed mortgage originator and servicer who has built technology systems to make mortgage processes more efficient. Along the way we’ve learned that people know our mortgage system isn’t working but have avoided change because they think reform is too hard.

We don’t agree. If we understand the stakeholders and their incentives, we can design a better solution, and now all it takes is the courage to act. We have created videos for Homeowners, Investors and Policymakers to show how and why RefiAmerica works for each in our new mortgage system, and why it is an improvement over today’s system.

That means that the success of RefiAmerica is now tied to your voice and your belief. We are two people (Shima and Dylan) who have dedicated our lives to making a better mortgage system. We’re now asking you to take the time to share in our life’s work and see if you agree with the case we have made. If you say yes, we will continue to give you everything we have to create the mortgage system we all deserve.

So we hope you will join us in this movement. Please sign up for our mailing list, and be sure to share our story with others. And if you have an idea or note to share, please reach out to us directly at team@refiamerica.today. Our movement will be strengthened with your ideas and your voice. Together, we will create a mortgage system that works for all of us.

Thank you,

Shima and Dylan
Take Help of Best Love Vashikaran Specialist Babaji
By: Riya Sharma
Tags: Vashikaran, Mantra, Solution, Love, Problem

Love is a blessed feeling. We are individuals and we do have exceptional affections for extraordinary individuals. In any case, getting a genuine romance is surely a troublesome situation. A portion of the individuals attempt to prevail upon the hearts of the one, whom they have extraordinary emotions. However,some of them become hopeless.

Getting genuine affection is unquestionably an extreme undertaking. And still, after all that, there is an enormous possibility of getting fizzled. Things being what they are, how to get genuine affection? Just, let me talk about how normal bodies influence your love life. Our love life or love marriage problem is generally impacted by the movements of the stars and planets. The universe is loaded with vitality. This can be certain or negative. The positive vitality drives us forward for progress while the negative vitality carries hardship and disappointments to our life but vashikaran is the solution of all problems.

What to do to bring true love in life? Astrology based solutions can easily help in bringing true love in your life. This is a science which helps in providing you the information about what is stored for you in the near future. It provides the causes about the happenings which are taking place in your life. If something bad is about to happen to you, then love vashikaran specialist solutions will help in controlling these things.

There are different love marriage specialist who are rendering their services. These vashikaran specialist can help you in getting back the lost love in your life. They have taken this information from the old books and are utilizing these supernatural spells to support you.
The Once and Future Ocean
By: World Ocean Observatory
Tags: Climate, Environment, Solutions, Ocean Protection, Oceans

“I want to change the way we see the world…”

~ Peter Neill

Exhausted land. Drought. Acidification. Wildfires. Intercontinental smoke. Extreme weather. Torrential rain. Flood. Erosion. Water scarcity. Water conflict. Pollution. Social disruption. Migrants. Refugees. Pandemic. Corruption. Political paralysis. All are climate related. All are urgent challenges demanding immediate response. What will it take to confront these realities and meet these challenges — now?

We need a new paradigm, a new operating system for organizing how we sustain our natural resources, our communities and ourselves. We must immediately define and execute a new strategy for the next generation.

The most essential, indeed the only natural system remaining by which to survive is the freshwater-ocean continuum, the affirmation of the water cycle as an organizing principle around which all economic, social, and political action revolves. This understanding, as a consistent guide to governance and the application of existing technology, is the sole way forward remaining.

Consider hydraulic society as that paradigm. Consider how we cannot endure, as individuals, families, communities, and nation states, without adequate water to sustain us. No other natural resource ultimately matters. And if we have exhausted the land and its aquifer, then there is only the ocean to provide freshwater, energy, food, health, and the other indispensable needs for life. It is there for the saving.

If you have a better idea, say so. But denial or indifference or procrastination are no longer viable options; inaction is no longer acceptable.

The Once and Future Ocean — Notes toward a New Hydraulic Society presents a context and framework of a plan for survival.

What will it take?

THE ONCE AND FUTURE OCEAN

Notes Toward a New Hydraulic Society

by Peter Neill

With a foreword by Dr. Paul Mayewski, Director,

Climate Change Institute, University of Maine

Leete’s Island Books, April, 2016

398 Pages. Formats: Hardcover, Trade Paper, Mobipocket

and EPub. Hardcover: $24.95, Trade Paper: $18.95, EPub: $9.99.

ISBN 9780918172563

Available through your favorite local bookstore, on Amazon.com, IPGbook.com, and at leetesislandbooks.com.
WebGoat Admin lost password Challenge
Tags: Ctf Writeup, Webgoat, Solutions, Infosec, Challenge

WebGoat first challenge

This is the first of four CTF-like challenges present in WebGoat

The challenge itself is not particularly complex but the process you have to go through is what’s important here

I have spent many hours trying to figure anything plausible on this challenge, thehackerish’s video that you can find below has been my last resort just to be sure I was somewhat on the right track, since I have been trying to think about solutions in the realm of what I know is somewhat usual in security related CTFs, alas I was mistaken, but this helped me understand a lot about the mental process of figuring out possible solutions

To fully appreciate what it means to go through this particular challenge and every single possible aspect looking for vulnerabilities, I highly recommend watching this video from thehackerish after you tried the challenge by yourself

thehackerish Admin Lost Password live hacking

I have to stress that this is a CTF challenge and it is not a usual real-life security vulnerability issue or a plausible security aimed CTF so stop reading if you do not want any spoilers and go solve it by yourself first

Let’s proceed, once the challenge page is loaded, go check Burp to see what happens during the process

Burp history filters

Enable logging for every possible MIME type

Burp history requests

Burp History will reveal the full extent of the loading process, of all these things, the ones highlighted in red arrows are loaded specifically for this challenge, the other seems to be shared between all of WebGoat (but this does not really mean anything though)

In particular:

/WebGoat/Challenge1.lesson.lesson is the challenge page, a lot of HTML but not much interesting info

/WebGoat/service/lessoninfo.mvc is invoked by the lesson page to get the contents, not much in there

/WebGoat/challenge/logo is an extentionless PNG image file loaded for the challenge, while boss.jpg has been loaded in other WebGoat pages and it is not in a “challenge” directory

Challenge page HTML on browser dev tool

By checking the page HTML source, we can find the /WebGoat/challenge/logo in the lesson div

logo PNG without extension

The infamous logo image without file extention

I went over the Debugger dev tool and searched all page loaded files for admin/pass/password/login/username just to be sure but it did not show anything interesting

Then I started to look for admin/pass/password/login/username in the responses on Burp History, Burp is exceptional for this, just put your text on the search bar and click through the responses

Burp search feature at its best

And just like that, here we have username and password for this challenge

Login to the challenge page, you will be given the flag

This concludes WebGoat Admin lost password Challenge

I hope you liked it.

PVXs — https://twitter.com/pivixih