Article

2004-07-30 Europe

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Posted by Raj 2004-07-30 9:20:05 AM|| || Front Page|| [4 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 DEH is the "Dimosia Epixeirisi Hlektrismou"- (Public Electricity Company), while OTE is the "Organismos Tilepoikinonion Ellados" -- (Organization of Telecommunications of Greece).

A common joke was that in truth they stand for "Den Exoume Hlektrismo" ("We have no electricity"), and "Oute Tilefona Exoume" ("Nor have we any telephones.")

As a sidenote, linguistic jokes are hard to do in translation.

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And as a secondary issue, it's only the mass transit I'm worried about.

The stadiums were never an issue -- I knew they'd be completed in time which made all the jokes of raj only the more infuriating for their utter stupidity and ignorance. Electricity and telephones -- pfft: They were working to updade the system and had a glitch or a blunder. Unproffessional, sure, but also *TRIVIAL*.

I'm worried about the tram on the other hand, because it's not a self-contained system, it affects traffic throughout the city. And having been only introduced to public use a week or so ago, it seems there are still glitches with the traffic lights that normally ought to give it right of way. This has led to traffic jams and delays, and I've no idea whether they'll fix it in time.

Posted by Aris Katsaris 2004-07-30 11:28:13 AM|| 2004-07-30 11:28:13 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 all the jokes of raj only the more infuriating for their utter stupidity and ignorance.

That's quite a rebuttal, isn't it? The fact is, there were numerous reports that specualted about the stadiums not being built on time or within schedule whilst being threatened with strikes by the people building them, so it's a big leap to accuse me of ignorance based on that.

Stupidity, on the other hand...

Posted by Raj 2004-07-30 12:51:59 PM|| 2004-07-30 12:51:59 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 ~~within schedule~~ - s/b within budget (preview is your friend). The point still stands.

Posted by Raj 2004-07-30 12:53:42 PM|| 2004-07-30 12:53:42 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 Yes, there were quite a few reports. And in this forum, we *always* take media opinions (especially BBC) as factual unbiased information, right?

And the accusation of trollery comes first and foremost btw, which btw is worse than a mere accusation of ignorance. If you had been an informed rather than an uninformed troll, that might have made you less annoying, but not any less of a jerk.

"Within budget"? Sure, nothing hardly ever gets built within budget. You are actually trying to make *that* a supposedly standing point?? The Olympics are an international affair but I think that whether too much is being spent on them and too little on other issues is something for the Greek people to evaluate on election-time. Which perhaps they did, since they voted in a different government.

Posted by Aris Katsaris 2004-07-30 5:14:37 PM|| 2004-07-30 5:14:37 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 Aris, Raj is right about the Olympic venues;
out of 36 or so planned venues, only about 23 were going to be usable for the Games, meaning at least a dozen were totally scrapped.
And I haven't read any reports that the venues left are finished.
But then, as you judged, I'm too stupid to Google...LOL

Posted by GreatestJeneration 2004-07-30 5:21:20 PM|| [http://www.greatestjeneration.com] 2004-07-30 5:21:20 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 Cut us a little slack Aris
Raj was indulging in that time honored American hourmor form.... the recurring joke.

Posted by Shipman 2004-07-30 7:29:04 PM|| 2004-07-30 7:29:04 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 Bull, shipman. He stalked me across threads, even ones that had nothing whatsoever to do with either Olympics or Greece or anything whatsoever.

That's not recurring joke, that's bullying -- trying to stop me from participating in any thread whatsoever so as to avoid his comments. He's nothing but a little trollish jerk.

Posted by Aris Katsaris 2004-07-30 9:41:18 PM|| 2004-07-30 9:41:18 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 Aris, TNX for the acronym jokes. (Well, I appreciated em!)
Americans have them too: An oldie: The US Color television standard is called NTSC (after the National Television Standards Committee). It requires extremely phase-stable transmission circuits, or the hue will shift; so it's sometimes known as Never The Same Ccolor.
Newer one: One type of personal interface called PCMCIA led to the translation: "People Can't Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms."
Yah, geek humor. So sue me.

Posted by Old Grouch 2004-07-31 12:38:48 AM|| 2004-07-31 12:38:48 AM|| Front Page Top

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