Inspirational Quotes

An unusual collection of quotes about success, serf-improvement etc.
Here:

http://best-quotations.com/inspirational.php

Natural Monuments of Greece

http://www.geogreece.gr/fysis_en.php

a page with a map of the registered monuments of nature in Greece.

Because Greece is more than just beaches and ancient ruins.

New words proposals

The  Washington Post's Mensa Invitational once again invited  readers to take any word from  the dictionary, alter it  by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a  new definition.

Here are the  winners:

1.  Cashtration  : The act of buying a house,  which renders the subject financially impotent for an  indefinite period  of time.

2. Ignoranus  : A  person who's both stupid and an asshole

3. Intaxicaton : Euphoria at getting a tax  refund,  which lasts until you realize  it was your money to  start with.

4.  Reintarnation : Coming  back to life as a hillbilly.

5. Bozone :  The substance surrounding  stupid people that  stops bright ideas  from penetrating.

6. Foreploy : Any   misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose  of getting laid.

7. Giraffiti : Vandalism  spray-painted very,  very high

8. Sarchasm : The  gulf between the author of  sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get  it.

9. Inoculatte : To take coffee  intravenously  when you are running late.

10. Osteopornosis : A degenerate disease.

11. Karmageddon :   It's like, when everybody is sending off all  these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth   explodes and it's like, a serious   bummer.

12. Decafalon (n.):  The  grueling event of getting through the day consuming only  things that are good for  you.

13. Glibido : All talk  and no action.

14. Dopeler  Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to  seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

15.  Arachnoleptic : The frantic dance  performed just after you've  accidentally walked through a spider web..

USA Presidents - Fast Facts

All the American presidents in a showcase.

http://www.usa-presidents.com/

Asking for a Raise

The Day the Penis asked for a Raise

I, the Penis, hereby request a raise in salary for the following reasons:

• I do physical labor. I work at great depths. 
• I plunge headfirst into everything I do. 
• I do not get weekends or public holidays off.
• I work in a damp environment. 
• I work in a dark workplace that has poor ventilation. 
• I work in high temperatures. 
• My work exposes me to contagious diseases. 

Sincerely,
P. Niss 

The Response:

Dear Penis,
After assessing your request, and considering the arguments you have raised, the administration rejects your request for the following reasons:

• You do not work 8 hours straight. 
• You fall asleep after brief work periods. 
• You do not always follow the orders of the management team. 
• You do not stay in your designated area and are often seen visiting other locations. 
• You do not take initiative - you need to be pressured and stimulated in order to start working. 
• You leave the workplace rather messy at the end of your shift. 
• You don't always observe necessary safety regulations, such as wearing the Correct protective clothing. 
• You will retire well before you are 65. You are unable to work double shifts. 
• You sometimes leave your designated work area before you have completed the assigned task.

 And if that were not all, you have been seen constantly entering and exiting the workplace carrying two suspicious-looking bags. 

Principles of Healthy Living Systems

Main Features or Principles of Healthy Living Systems 

(from cells to organisms, ecosystems to Earth, bodies to businesses)

• 1. Self-creation (autopoiesis) 
• 2. Complexity (diversity of parts) 
• 3. Embeddedness in larger holons and dependence on them (holarchy) 
• 4. Self-reflexivity (autognosis/self-knowledge) 
• 5. Self-regulation/maintenance (autonomics) 
• 6. Response abilityto internal and external stress or other change 
• 7. Input/output exchange of matter/energy/information with other holons 
• 8. Transformation of matter/energy/information 
• 9. Empowerment/employment of all component parts 
• 10. Communications among all parts 
• 11. Coordination of parts and functions 
• 12. Balance of Interests negotiated among parts, whole, and embedding holarchy 
• 13. Reciprocity of parts in mutual contribution and assistance
• 14. Efficiency balanced by Resilience
• 15. Conservation of what works well 
• 16. Creative change of what does not work well

Elisabet Sahtourisevolution biologist & futurist

Cognitive Biases That Are Messing Up Your Decision Making

Over millions of years of evolution you'd think your brain would have gotten pretty good at thinking. But the truth is natural selection hasn't been nudging our brains to be ever more rational. It's been nudging them to keep us alive. Those aren't always the same thing.

If our brains were bad at spotting predators, running away from danger, and evaluating possible friends and enemies quickly, the human race would have died out long ago. The trouble is, avoiding hungry lions is no longer the main task we use our brains for. These days we expect them to make rational decisions.

Turns out that's one thing they're not so well equipped to do. According to an incredibly fascinating body of social science (made most famous by the work of Nobel prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahnemann) our minds are riddled with a host of cognitive biases that help us act quickly in the face of danger but make accurately weighing evidence, assessing probabilities, and deciding logically often pretty difficult.

Forewarned is forearmed, and knowing about these biases can help you recognize and correct for them. But if you don't have time to read excellent but in-depth books on the subject, here's a quick cheat sheet of some of the most common errors to watch out for.

1. Confirmation bias

I'm not sure how this one evolved, but I'm absolutely certain I've seen it in action. Humans don't like to change their opinions. Rethinking our beliefs once they've formed is hard and uncomfortable. It's much easier to simply ignore information that calls our most cherished ideas into question than it is to engage with threatening new information. So, often, that's just what we do. It's called the confirmation bias.

2. Availability heuristic

Our brain has a simple shortcut for estimating probability -- how easy is it to recall something similar? But there's at least one huge problem with this approach. Big, terrifying events are easier to recall than run-of-the-mill ones. That's why so many people are afraid of plane crashes, child abductions, and terrorism, which in reality are extremely rare, and blasé about car accidents, which kill more than a million Americans a year. (Alarmist news broadcasts don't much help us get an accurate sense of events' actual frequency either.)

3. Anchoring

This one is beloved by business people setting prices, but beware anchoring if you're a consumer. The term refers to our tendency to stubbornly cling to a number once we hear it and evaluate all other offers based on that previous number, even if that isn't the most relevant bit of information. So tell people they are limited to 'four per customer' and they'll be much more likely to buy four of whatever you're selling, even though they were originally only intending to buy two and really don't need double that.

4. Halo effect

Human brains are lazy and like consistency, that includes ideas that are consistent about a particular person or entity. Internal contradictions take up a lot of metal resources. That's why, when someone makes a positive impression with their small talk and self presentation in the first minutes of a job interview, you're more likely to view their professional accomplishments as similarly positive later. Your good first impression throws a hazy halo of positivity over all subsequent information.

5. Sunk cost fallacy

The everyday expression for this bias is 'throwing good money after bad.' The idea is that once we've invested time and/or money in something, we become vastly less likely to abandon it, even once it should be clear that the project will ultimately fail. The result is we frequently end up losing far more than if we had taken the hard decision to cut our losses early.

6. Survivorship bias

Success stories are easy to spot. Failures that sunk quietly into non-existence much less so. That's why we commonly over-estimate the likelihood of success in risky ventures. Just ask any startup veteran who has been disabused of his starry-eyed optimism over several years in the industry if you don't believe me.

This is also why we often put too much stock in the strategies of particular successful people -- like dropping out of school. We remember the Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerbergs of the world and forget to factor in the vast numbers of quietly struggling dropouts when we mentally calculate how likely an action (ditching school) is to lead to an outcome (striking it rich as an entrepreneur).

This only a small sample of the massive list of biases that afflict the human brain, so if you want to learn more, check out an exhaustive resource on the subject from Slack's Buster Benton, or a less lengthy but still very useful guide from James Clear.

Best selling authors of all times

Sorted by sales (minimum 100 million)

Who	When	Language	Genre	Title / Character	Books	Country
Shakespeare	1582–1616	English	Dramaturgy			UK
Agatha Christie	1890-1976	English	Mystery	Hercule Poirot	85	UK
Barbara Cartland	1901-2000	English	Romance		723	UK
Danielle Steel	1947-	English	Romance		120	USA
Harold Robbins	1916-1997	English	Adventure		23	USA
Georges Simenon	1903-1989	French	Mystery	Commissaire Maigret	570	Belgium
Sidney Sheldon	1907-2007	English	Modern novel	The Other Side of Midnight	21	USA
Enid Blyton	1897-1968	English	Children's literature		800	UK
Dr. Seuss	1904-1991	English	Children's literature	Horton Hears a Who!	44	USA
Gilbert Patten	1866-1945	English	Dime novels		209	USA
J. K. Rowling	1951-	English	Fantasy	Harry Potter	11	UK
Leo Tolstoy	1828-1910	Russian	Classic novel	War and Peace, Anna Karenina	48	Russia
Corín Tellado	1927-2009	Spanish	Romance		4,000	Spain
Jackie Collins	1937-2015	English	Romance		25	UK
Horatio Alger, Jr.	1832-1899	English	Dime novels		135	USA
R. L. Stine	1943-	English	Horror, Fantasy		430+	USA
Dean Koontz	1945-	English	Horror, Fantasy		91	USA
Nora Roberts	1950-	English	Romance		200+	USA
Alexander Pushkin	1799-1837	Russian	Poetry, Classic Novel	Eugene Onegin	17	Russia
Stephen King	1947-	English	Horror, Fantasy	The Shining	70	USA
Louis L'Amour	1908-1988	English	Western		101	USA
Erle Stanley Gardner	1889-1970	English	Mystery	Perry Mason	140	USA
Jin Yong	1924-	Chinese	Wuxia (Fantasy)		15	Hong Kong
Jirō Akagawa	1948-	Japanese	Mystery		500+	Japan
Janet Dailey	1944-2013	English	Romance		93	USA
Edgar Wallace	1875-1932	English	Mystery	King Kong	175	UK
Robert Ludlum	1927-2001	English	Spy stories	Jason Bourne	40	USA
James Patterson	1947-	English	Thriller	Alex Cross	98	USA
Frédéric Dard	1924-2000	French	Mystery		300	Switzerland
Jeffrey Archer	1940-	English	Mystery	The sins of the father	30	UK
Stan and Jan Berenstain	1923-2005	English	Children's literature	Berenstain Bears	300+	USA
John Grisham	1955-	English	Legal thriller	The Firm	22	USA
Zane Grey	1872-1939	English	Western			USA
Irving Wallace	1916-1990	English	Modern novel			USA
J. R. R. Tolkien	1892-1973	English	Fantasy	The Lord of the Rings	36	UK
Karl May	1842-1912	German	Western, Adventure		80	Germany
Mickey Spillane	1918-2006	English	Mystery	Mike Hammer		USA
C. S. Lewis	1898-1963	English	Fantasy	The Chronicles of Narnia	38	UK
Kyotaro Nishimura	1930-	Japanese	Mystery		400+	Japan
Dan Brown	1964-	English	Thriller, Adventure	The Da Vinci Code	6	USA
Ann M. Martin	1955-	English	Children's litterature	The Baby-sitters Club	335	USA
Ryōtarō Shiba	1923-1996	Japanese	Historical novel		350	Japan
Arthur Hailey	1920-2004	English	Modern novel	Airport	11	UK/Canada
Gérard de Villiers	1929-2013	French	Spy stories	SAS	170	French
Beatrix Potter	1866-1943	English	Children's literature	The Tale of Peter Rabbit	23	UK
Michael Crichton	1942-2008	English	Techno thriller	Jurassic Park	25	USA
Richard Scarry	1919-1994	English	Children's books	Best Word Book Ever	250	USA
Clive Cussler	1931-	English	Adventure	Sahara	37	USA
Alistair MacLean	1922-1987	English	Adventure	The Guns of Navarone	32	UK
Ken Follett	1949-	English	Spy stories	Eye of the Needle	30	UK
Astrid Lindgren	1902-2002	Swedish	Children's books	Pippi Longstocking	100	Sweden
Debbie Macomber	1948-	English	Romance			USA
Paulo Coelho	1947-	Portuguese	Fantasy	The Alchemist		Brazil
E.L. James	1963-	English	Romance, Erotica	Fifty Shades of Grey	3	UK
Eiji Yoshikawa	1892-1962	Japanese	Historical novel	Musashi	7	Japan
Catherine Cookson	1906-1998	English	Romance		103	UK
Stephenie Meyer	1973-	English	Fantasy	The Twilight Saga	6	USA
Norman Bridwell	1928-2014	English	Children's literature	Clifford the Big Red Dog	80	USA
David Baldacci	1960-	English	Thriller		25	USA
Roald Dahl	1916-1990	English	Children's literature	Charlie and the Chocolate Factory	50	UK
Evan Hunter	1926-2005	English	Mystery	Cop Hater	94	USA
Andrew Neiderman	1940-	English	Fantasy	The Devil's Advocate	60	USA
Roger Hargreaves	1935-1988	English	Children's literature	Mr. Men	10	UK
Anne Rice	1941-	English	Fantasy	Interview with the Vampire	27	USA
Robin Cook	1940-	English	Medical thriller	Coma, Outbreak	27	USA
Wilbur Smith	1933-	English	African adventure	When the Lion Feeds	32	Zambia
Erskine Caldwell	1903-1987	English	Modern novel	Tobacco Road	25	USA
Judith Krantz	1928-	English	Romance	Mistral's Daughter	12	USA
Eleanor Hibbert	1906-1993	English	Romance, Historical,		200	UK
Lewis Carroll	1862-1898	English	Children's literature, Fantasy	Alice in Wonderland	5	UK
Denise Robins	1897-1985	English	Romance		200	UK
Cao Xueqin	1715-1763	Chinese	Classic novel	Dream of the Red Chamber		China
Ian Fleming	1908-1964	English	Spy stories	James Bond	14	UK
Hermann Hesse	1877-1962	German	Spiritual novel	Steppenwolf, Siddhartha	45	Switzerland
Rex Stout	1886-1975	English	Mystery	Nero Wolfe	50	USA
Anne Golon	1921-	French	Historical Romance	Angélique	14	French
Frank G. Slaughter	1908-2001	English	Medical, Historical novel		62	USA
Edgar Rice Burroughs	1875-1950	English	Adventure, Fantasy	Tarzan		USA
John Creasey	1908-1973	English	Mystery		600	UK
James Michener	1907-1997	English	Historical novel	Tales of the South Pacific	47	USA
Yasuo Uchida	1934-	Japanese	Mystery	The Togakushi Legend Murders	130+	Japan
Seiichi Morimura	1933-	Japanese	Mystery, Historical	The Devil's Gluttony	350+	Japan
Mary Higgins Clark	1927-	English	Thriller	Where Are The Children?	51	USA
Penny Jordan	1946-2011	English	Romance		200+	UK
Patricia Cornwell	1956-	English	Thriller		34+	USA
Charles Dickens	1812-1970	English	Classic Novel	Oliver Twist , A Christmas Carol		UK
Alexandre Dumas	1802-1970	French	Classic Novel	The Three Musketeers		France
Miguel de Cervantes	1547-1616	Spanish	Classic Novel	Don Quixote		Spain
Jack Higgins	1929-	English	Thriller	The Eagle has Landed	84	USA
Tom Clancy	1947-2013	English	Adventure	The Hunt for Red Octobe		USA
Arthur Conan Doyle	1859-1930	English	Mystery	Sherlock Holmes		USA
Victor Hugo	1802-1885>	French	Classic Novel	Les Misérables, Notre-Dame de Paris		France
Jules Verne	1828-1905	French	Classic Novel	Around the World in Eighty Days		France

the F word

The complete list of the emperors of Byzantium

With links to each emperor’s page in www.byzantium.xronikon.com

 

Constantine I the Great
Constantius II
Julian the Apostate
Jovian
Valentinian I
Valens
Gratian
Theodosius I the Great
Arcadius
Theodosius II
Marcian
Leo I the Thracian
Leo II
Zeno
Basiliscus
Anastasius I
Justin I (Iustinus)
Justinian I (Iustinianus)
Justin II
Tiberius II Constantine
Maurice (Mauricius )
Phocas
Heraklios
Constantine III& Heraklonas
Constans II (Pogonatos)
Constantine IV
Justinian II Rhinotmetos
Leontios
Tiberius III Apsimarus
Philippicos Bardanes
Anastasios II (Artemios)
Theodosios III
Leo III the Isaurian
Constantine V Kopronymos
Leo IV the Khazar
Constantine VI the Blind
Irene of Athens
Nikephoros I
Staurakios
Michael I Rangabes
Leo V the Armenian
Michael II the Stammerer
Theophilos
Theodora
Michael III the Drunkard
Basil I the Macedonian
Leo VI the Wise
Alexander
Constantine VII Porphyrogenetos
Romanos I Lekapenos
Romanos II Porphyrogenetos
Nikephoros II Phocas
John I Tzimiskes
Basil II Bulgaroktonos
Constantine VIII
Zoe
Romanos III Argyros
Michael IV the Paflagonian
Michael V the Caulker
Constantine IX Monomachos
Theodora
Michael VI Stratiotikos
Isaac I Komnenos
Constantine X Doukas
Romanos IV Diogenes
Michael VII Doukas
Nikephoros III Botaneiates
Alexios I Komnenos
John II Komnenos
Manuel I Komnenos
Alexios II Komnenos
Andronikos I Komnenos
Isaac II Angelos
Alexios III Angelos
Alexios IV Angelos
Alexios V Doukas Murtzuphlos
Constantine Laskaris
Theodore I Laskaris
John III Doukas Vatatzes
Theodore II Doukas Laskaris
John IV Doukas Laskaris
Michael VIII Palaiologos
Andronikos II Palaiologos
Michael IX Palaiologos
Andronikos III Palaiologos
John V Palaiologos
John VI Kantakouzenos
Andronikos IV Palaiologos
John VII Palaiologos
Manuel II Palaiologos
John VIII Palaiologos
Constantine XI Palaiologos