Day: October 12, 2013

Source: iefimerida

Iσχυρή σεισμική δόνηση ταρακούνησε το απόγευμα του Σαββάτου το νομό Χανίων, ενώ ο εγκέλαδος έγινε αισθητός σε όλο το λεκανοπέδιο Αττικής.

Οι πρώτες εκτιμήσεις κάνουν λόγο για μέγεθος 6,2 βαθμών, ενώ το Γεωδυναμικό Ινστιτούτο του αστεροσκοπείου Αθηνών ανακοίνωσε ότι η δόνηση σημειώθηκε δυτικά του νομού Χανίων με εστιακό βάθος 12 χλμ.

Το Ευρωμεσογειακό Ινστιτούτο κάνει λόγο για σεισμό 6 βαθμών σε απόσταση 60 χλμ από τα Χανιά, ενώ ανησυχητική είναι η διάρκεια του σεισμού που υπολογίζεται κοντά στα δέκα δευτερόλεπτα.

Ο σεισμός έγινε αισθητός σε ολόκληρη την Πελοπόννησο -από τη Σπάρτη μέχρι και την Πάτρα- όπως και στην Αττική.

Σύμφωνα με το «Flashnews.gr» (με ειδήσεις από την Κρήτη) η δόνηση ήταν μεγάλης διάρκειας και έχουν σημειωθεί υλικές ζημιές σε σπίτια και καταστήματα.

Source: Hellenic News Of America

“The Loukoumi book series has long been a friend to children, opening their eyes to the world around them. This time, it provides comfort and assurance to kids who are frightened and bewildered by bullying. A worthy subject. We at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital are honored to be beneficiaries of such a noble project.”

-Marlo Thomas, National Outreach Director
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

NEW YORK: Have you ever been bullied about your name? Has your child come home from school complaining about an interaction with a schoolyard bully? Bullying plagues students in schools around the world, and now Oscar Winners Morgan Freeman, Olympia Dukakis and Oscar Nominee Nia Vardalos lead an all-star cast in the audio narration of the new book, Loukoumi And The Schoolyard Bully by Nick Katsoris (November 2013: Dream Day Press), which teaches kids that bullying is not cool. Proceeds from the book benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

In Loukoumi And The Schoolyard Bully, Loukoumi is about to have a baby brother. When her friends discuss what to name him, schoolyard bully, Igor the alligator, ridicules Loukoumi’s name, which Loukoumi explains means “sweet” in Greek and is a type of jelly candy with powdered sugar on top. During the course of the day, through several common interactions, Igor realizes that he and Loukoumi are more alike than he thought. In the end, he learns that bullying is not cool, and although Loukoumi’s name is different, everyone is really all the same.

The book includes an audio download of the story narrated by Nia Vardalos, Oscar nominated screenwriter and star of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and author of the bestselling book Instant Mom. Oscar winner Morgan Freeman voices the role of the schoolyard bully, Igor the alligator. Other character voices, reprising their roles from past Loukoumi audio books, include Oscar winner Olympia Dukakis as Marika the monkey, Grammy Winner Gloria Gaynor as Fistiki the Cat, Days of Our Lives star John Aniston as Loukoumi’s Daddy, Tony Nominee Constantine Maroulis as Gus the bear, Actor Frank Dicopoulos as Dean the dog and CBS News anchor Alexis Christoforous as Loukoumi.

Also appearing in the book is the new character of Oinkerella the pig, which was inspired by Caila Tsamutalis, the 10 year-old winner of the Loukoumi Illuatration Contest. Sponsored by Katsoris, the contest called on young illustrators to draw a new character to be featured in Loukoumi And The Schoolyard Bully. Ten finalists were chosen and the winner was selected by a combination of Facebook voting and a celebrity judging panel including Celebrity Chef Cat Cora, Alexis Christoforous, Frank Dicopoulos, and FOX News anchor Ernie Anastos.

About the Author:

Loukoumi And The Schoolyard Bully is Nick Katsoris’ sixth book in the Loukoumi series. Other titles include the iParenting Media award-winning: Loukoumi, Growing up with Loukoumi, Loukoumi’s Good Deeds, Loukoumi’s Gift and Loukoumi’s Celebrity Cookbook. The Cookbook features favorite childhood recipes by over 50 celebrities including Beyonce, Jennifer Aniston, Oprah Winfrey, Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake, Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, George Stephanopoulos, Betty White, several Disney Channel stars, and many others. The Cookbook reached #1 on the Amazon.com children’s cookbook list in January 2012 and received several awards including two World Cookbook Awards, The Mom’s Choice Award for Excellence and The Family Choice Award. The Loukoumi books have also been translated into Greek and plans are underway for a Greek-language Cookbook edition this November.

Based on the themes in his books, Katsoris sponsors several programs including the Growing Up With Loukoumi Dream Day contest, which grants kids the opportunity to spend the day in their dream careers. He also sponsors Make a Difference with Loukoumi Day, based on his book Loukoumi’s Good Deeds (narrated on CD by Jennifer Aniston and John Aniston), which rallies 20,000 kids each October to do a good deed on national Make a Difference Day. In addition, the winner of the Loukoumi’s Celebrity Cookbook recipe contest, Grace LaFountain, cooked her favorite childhood recipe with celebrity chef Cat Cora at Cat’s restaurant, Kouzzina, on the BoardWalk in Walt Disney World during the 2012 Epcot Food and Wine Festival.

Katsoris is a New York attorney and president of the Hellenic Times Scholarship Fund, which has awarded over 850 scholarships totaling over $2 million. Nick is also a board member of Chefs for Humanity, has worked on a Loukoumi literacy awareness program with the National Ladies Philoptochos Society, and is a member of Kiwanis International, where he was the keynote speaker at their 2013 international convention’s Faith and Humor breakfast in Vancouver, Canada. Nick is also author of the legal thriller Crimes of Fire. He currently resides in Eastchester, New York, with his wife, Voula, a real estate attorney, and their children, Dean and Julia.

About St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital:

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is the global leader in finding cures and saving children from cancer and other deadly diseases. St. Jude freely shares discoveries made and every child saved at St. Jude means doctors and scientists can use that knowledge to save thousands more children around the world. Unlike any other hospital, St. Jude relies on funding from the general public. As a result, families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food. For more information, please visit stjude.org.

About Nia Vardalos:
Nia Vardalos is the Academy Award and Golden Globe nominated actress and writer of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. An alumnus of The Second City comedy theater, she also starred in and wrote Connie and Carla and I Hate Valentine’s Day, starred in My Life In Ruins, and co-wrote Larry Crowne with Tom Hanks. Born and raised in Canada, Vardalos now resides in Los Angeles with her husband, their daughter, and many pets and is currently working on balancing her acting and writing career with motherhood and adoption advocacy.

About Morgan Freeman:

Morgan Freeman is an actor, film director, and narrator. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won in 2005 for Million Dollar Baby. He has also won a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Freeman has appeared in many other box office hits, including Unforgiven, Glory, Seven, Deep Impact, The Sum of All Fears, Bruce Almighty, Kiss the Girls, Along Came a Spider, The Dark Knight trilogy, and March of the Penguins.

Source: MykonosGuy

Meet Clara, Lea and Abraham– three of the 275 survivors of the Jewish community of Zakynthos who were hidden from the Nazis. Our set photographer and the newest member of the “No Man is an Island” team, Roy Schweiger, met them today and began preliminary interviews in Tel Aviv.

As we continue to raise funds for our short film about the survival of the Jewish community of the Greek Island of Zakynthos during the Holocaust, we’ve come into first contact with living, breathing Jewish survivors from the time– Clara, Lea and Abraham– who were 16, 8 and 10 years old respectively during the Nazi occupation when they were hidden.

Living in Tel Aviv and speaking only Greek and Hebrew, the three will be amongst many survivors the Steven Priovolos and I will tape during a visit to Israel in December to hear their stories about their lives in hiding in Zakynthos during the dark years of the Nazi occupation.

No Man is an Island will be a dramatic short, with actors, a definitive story based on a beautiful script written by Mia Christou and the actual footage of these survivors will not be used in the actual film. Their testimonies, however, will be included in bonus footage for educational purposes and for presentation on our website.

Please consider a donation to the No Man is an Island film project. Your donation is tax-deductible and will support an amazing story of humanity’s victory over hatred when the residents of a Greek Island stared Hitler’s tyranny and terror in the face and defied it point blank.

At a time when Greek ideals and the credibility of Greece itself is questioned due to the rise of unnatural and un-Greek new-Nazis– stories like No Man is an Island must make the headlines, instead of the vile and hate of those who disparage Greece. Help us.