AllEver » General

Perp? On Google’s Street View

Pavlos — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 23:53:23 +0000

I’m back from quite a hiatus, so best wishes for the new year everyone! May 2008 be fun and prosperous to all!

I was passing the time on a virtual walk around San Francisco on Google Maps “Street View” earlier today, and came upon a peculiar image.

A man is apparently hanging from an iron gate, supposedly trying to get into a house. If you don’t believe me, click here, or look at the image below.

View Larger Map

Of course he could just be trying to look inside, or be on his way out. We’ll never know for sure.

Funny how Google’s camera can capture precious moments like that.

I’m here, I’m here

Pavlos — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 18:52:52 +0000

Hey! So, you thought I gave up on this place again, didn’t you? Truth is I’ve been so busy I hadn’t even checked the comments (sorry) – let alone post. I’m running out of excuses though, and blogging isn’t really a chore – not if you have people who actually care to read through your posts. It’s a pleasure

So, my apologies for the prolonged hiatus – and here we go again!

I am an Ocean Defender

Pavlos — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 00:45:44 +0000

OK, so we live in a consumer society. Nothing wrong with that, is there? Unfortunately, we often consume far greater resources than we are able to reproduce. However, every once in a while there comes a chance to do something nice. A chance to do something meaningful not only for ourselves but for the entire world around us as well.

That is among the reasons I signed up as an Ocean Defender with Greenpeace.

The Ocean Defender campaign is about raising public awareness to environmental issues concerning the world’s oceans. Perhaps the most vital natural resource to our planet, directly linked to the survival of life on Earth.

Today, the world’s oceans are in great danger. A valuable source of oxygen, food and water which we continue to senselessly destroy. Greenpeace aims to have one million Ocean Defenders by the end of the year. You can be one too, it doesn’t cost you anything to sign up and the more people you tell about it, the better our habitat’s chances for survival will be.

Sign up here, make a difference, and follow the Greenpeace research ship Esperanza online, as it travels across the oceans on this year long expedition.

How to learn Chinese – online, fast, easy and free

Pavlos — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 22:50:13 +0000

Chinese is a language spoken by more than 1.3 billion people word wide. Mandarin is the most commonly used and widely spread dialect of the Chinese language group, and the Official language of the People’s Republic of China.

China is an economy which enjoys a high annual growth and continuously attracts the interest of businesses around the world. Listing Chinese on your resume, is a skill valued by most employers, extremely useful in getting a good job or even if you want your own business to expand with activities in China.

The following hand picked online resources will get you started in the study of Chinese. I’ve used them as well, and highly recommend them. Valuable educational material, well planned courses and learning tools, available freely online.

Wikibooks

The Chinese Mandarin Wikibook is a free – constantly developed and enhanced FREE online textbook. Every online student of Chinese should have this one bookmarked.

Chinese (Mandarin)

Wikipedia

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, has some very informative and well written articles that will give you an introduction to the language and culture of China. Excellent reading for someone interested in learning the language.

By members of the Academia

Dr. Tianwei Xie of CSULB, has put together one of the early directories of resources for learning Chinese online, over at “Learning Chinese Online”. Complimented with an amazing, free course featuring lessons and audio read-outs. First course I ever took, now also featured in a printed book.

Learning Chinese Online
Conversational Mandarin Chinese Online (the course)

Ting is a wonderful assortment of lessons, interactive games, a dictionary and character flashcard tools for learning Chinese.

Ting – Chinese English Dictionary Study Center

Set up by the Beijing Language And Culture University, Linese features interactive lessons and audiovisual tools that will help you learn Chinese and understand Chinese culture.

Linese

Podcasts

ChinesePod – Learn Mandarin Chinese

The BBC Languages department has set up this “lively introduction to Mandarin Chinese in 10 short parts” as described on site, which is fun and easy to complete, and makes it easy to remember what you learned.

BBC Languages – Real Chinese

zhongwen.com is the ultimate and comprehensive resource for learning and referencing when it comes to Chinese characters.

zhongwen.com – Learn Chinese Characters

Happy learning everybody!

Introducing, my Newsvine column

Pavlos — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 06:30:15 +0000

Well, as if this place wasn’t keeping me busy enough, I went ahead and started a weekly column over at Newsvine.com. You can read my column there at the following address:

http://pavlos.newsvine.com

Soon, you’ll be able to also follow my Newsvine activity on my sidebar here. My first article there has to do with the current crisis in the Middle East, between Israel and Lebanon, I invite you to read it and share your views on the subject here (Middle East, what next).

Newsvine is an international community / network, of people discussing news and current events. People write, read, share, rate, vote and shape the news. I like it, and membership is free, so why don’t you give it a try as well.

weekend photo

Pavlos — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 21:32:20 +0000

A couple of nice photos I shot this week. You all have a fun weekend

PS: I ought to get more megapixels..

Caravaggio exhibition in Athens

Pavlos — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 19:48:02 +0000

The Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens (scroll down that page), is hosting an exhibition entitled “Caravaggio and the 17th Century”. Featuring works by Caravaggio, one of my favorite artists of all time, and other contemporaries such as Innocento Tacconi and Giovanni Battista Caracciolo. The exhibition ends on June 30th, and I only just found out about it. Typical. Just this however is well worth a quick trip to Athens later this week. If I do make it, I’ll tell all about.

New Layout, Alpha Testing

Pavlos — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 02:45:12 +0000

Well, here’s the new layout. Granted it needs a little more work, but I couldn’t wait much longer to get it up and running. That’s why I have it on Alpha Testing. Hoping to move to Beta in the coming week…

This means, not everything will work as it supposed in the next few days, e.g. some layout problems, things not appearing as they should etc. I also have to figure out how to make my plugins stop fighting each other, but that is a technical story you needn’t bother with.

Please tell me how / if you like the new layout on my blog I’d also appreciate any bug reporting (if something brakes the layout for you, please tell me!!) I have tested on IE and firefox and it appears OK, but one never knows.

Thank you, and now enough with design, lets get back to blogging!

Blog Changes: Possible Downtime

Pavlos — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 03:16:11 +0000

Over the next few days, we’ll be migrating AllEver.com over to a new (and improved) server! Happy blogging days should resume shortly.

In the meantime, the site may experience a small downtime. Hold on tight as new features will include, among other things:

New and improved layout.
Audio-visual goodies for those (you know who you are) on broadband.
The return of the infamous AllEver.com “Podcast Wednesday” (due to popular request).

Stay tunned!

Thank you!

Neglectoblog

Pavlos — Fri, 19 May 2006 01:16:13 +0000

That’s how this place must feel like lately. Well, I will not bore you with excuses, we’ll skip that and just go back to good old fashion blogging about things that matter and things that don’t.