{"id":16328,"date":"2012-06-06T12:26:58","date_gmt":"2012-06-06T10:26:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/?p=16328"},"modified":"2012-06-06T12:26:58","modified_gmt":"2012-06-06T10:26:58","slug":"26-years-is-a-long-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2012\/06\/06\/26-years-is-a-long-time\/","title":{"rendered":"26 years is a long time"},"content":{"rendered":"<!-- google_ad_section_start -->\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/beta.cyprus-mail.com\/lifer\/first-lifer-out-parole\/20120606\">Cyprus Mail<\/a> reports:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>AFTER spending <strong>26 years in jail<\/strong> for killing two people, Andreas Aristodimou, aka Yiouroukkis, yesterday became the first lifer to be released on parole.<\/p>\n<p>[&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>The board said the testimony before it had convinced them that Yiouroukkis was a changed man.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The very serious offences committed by the applicant and generally his criminal record do not escape our attention,&#8221; the board said. &#8220;On the other hand, it is a real fact that the applicant <strong>has been in prison since January 16, 1987<\/strong>\u2026 ample time to punish all that he has done.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That got me thinking on how long of a time 26 years actually are.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I was almost 9 years old when this guy went to prison. \u00a0 That&#8217;s a second grade or so.<\/li>\n<li>My brother was almost 2 years old. \u00a0And he just got married a couple of month ago. \u00a0Wow!<\/li>\n<li>My parents were still married.<\/li>\n<li>We all lived happily in the USSR. \u00a0Which, by the way, was still <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Soviet_war_in_Afghanistan\">at war with Afghanistan<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Spyros Kyprianou was <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/President_of_Cyprus\">the President of Cyprus<\/a>. \u00a0Until 1988. \u00a0Then there wer George Vasiliou, Glafcos Clerides, and Tassos Papadopoulos. Now Dimitris Christofias is almost done.<\/li>\n<li>Cyprus was still using Cyprus Pouds, not Euros.<\/li>\n<li>Cyprus wasn&#8217;t a member of European Union. In fact &#8230;<\/li>\n<li>There was no such thing as European Union in 1987! \u00a0The <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/European_Union\">European Union<\/a> was established in 1993.<\/li>\n<li>The <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/History_of_the_Internet\">Internet<\/a> was in its infancy, and the Web wasn&#8217;t even invented yet.<\/li>\n<li>The <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/History_of_mobile_phones\">mobile phones<\/a> weren&#8217;t mainstream by any means. \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/CYTA\">Cyprus Telecommunication Authority<\/a> (CYTA) launched its mobile telephony services in 1988.<\/li>\n<li>The biggest release in the movies was probably Oliver Stone&#8217;s &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0091763\/\">Platoon<\/a>&#8220;. \u00a0James Cameron&#8217;s &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0090605\/\">Aliens<\/a>&#8221; were about to hit the screens. \u00a0And people were definitely waiting for it after Cameron&#8217;s &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0088247\/\">The Terminator<\/a>&#8221; a couple of years before that.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kurt_Cobain\">Kurt Cobain<\/a> was still alive and <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nirvana_(band)\">Nirvana<\/a> was just an idea.<\/li>\n<li>The <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/World_Trade_Center\">World Trade Center<\/a> towers were still standing and we haven&#8217;t heard the term &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/War_on_Terror\">war on terror<\/a>&#8221; yet.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The list can go on forever, of course. But that&#8217;s not the point. \u00a0The point is in how drastically the world has changed in the last 26 years. \u00a0I know, that people in prison can communicate with others, have access to mass media, and do, sort of, know what&#8217;s going on on the outside. \u00a0But that&#8217;s not that same as living through all that. \u00a0Just image hearing about all these things for 26 years and then coming out and seeing it with your own eyes!<\/p>\n<p>I remember going on a trip to Russia, visiting my home town back in 2006. \u00a0That was only about 9 years since I was there last, and I had weekly phone calls with some members of my family and friends, I had access to news and images online for all that time. \u00a0And still, when I went there, it blew my mind how much the place has changed. \u00a0People have grown up and started families. \u00a0Trees got older. \u00a0Buildings were raised and demolished. \u00a0A million of tiny little details changed. \u00a0Not to mention \u00a0that my own perception of that place has changed. \u00a0And that was only 9 years. \u00a0I can&#8217;t really image how it would have changed in 26 years.<\/p>\n<p>Once in a while, I find myself in a conversation about prison time and isolation. \u00a0Something along the lines of &#8220;you&#8217;d rob a bank for a few million, hide the money, get caught, go to prison, come out in about ten years, get your life back and enjoy the money&#8221;. \u00a0Or something else like that. \u00a0Sounds simple, even almost makes sense. \u00a0Now that I look at the list above, I realize that it sounds so simple, because the talk is about a future. \u00a0As in you would know what you are missing. \u00a0Nobody knows what&#8217;s going to happen in the next ten years and if these years will be worthy of sticking around. \u00a0But if one would look back at the same amount of years, then it&#8217;s a totally different story. \u00a0At least for me, those years are full of fun and cherished memories that I wouldn&#8217;t miss for the world!<\/p>\n<p>Now, back to the original story.\u00a0Andreas Aristodimou missed the last 26 years of his life because he was in prison for murdering two people. He was sentenced to life in prison. \u00a0So not only he could have missed me more than 26 years, he could have stayed there forever. \u00a0And he is just around 50 now. \u00a0That sounds horrible. \u00a0On the other hand, he got out and he has his life back. Sort of. \u00a0Those two people that he murdered, they are gone for good. \u00a0They missed the last 26 years too. \u00a0But there is no way to bring them back.<\/p>\n<!-- google_ad_section_end -->\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<!-- google_ad_section_start -->\n<p>Cyprus Mail reports: AFTER spending 26 years in jail for killing two people, Andreas Aristodimou, aka Yiouroukkis, yesterday became the first lifer to be released on parole. [&#8230;] The board said the testimony before it had convinced them that Yiouroukkis was a changed man. &#8220;The very serious offences committed by the applicant and generally his &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2012\/06\/06\/26-years-is-a-long-time\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">26 years is a long time<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<!-- google_ad_section_end -->\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,22],"tags":[2250,286,577,198,334],"keyring_services":[],"class_list":["post-16328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-cyprus","tag-crime","tag-history","tag-law","tag-punishment","tag-world"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16018,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2011\/12\/20\/cyprus-prison-population\/","url_meta":{"origin":16328,"position":0},"title":"Cyprus prison population","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"December 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The other day I was reading Cyprus Mail's coverage of Cyprus prison overpopulation problem. \u00a0As any other problem it does involve attention. \u00a0But for me personally the article was more useful with absolute numbers rather than relative. \u00a0This paragraph in particular: Cyprus\u2019 total prison population in June this year, including\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15867,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2011\/11\/08\/on-cyprus-marriage-laws\/","url_meta":{"origin":16328,"position":1},"title":"On Cyprus&#8217; marriage laws","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"November 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Being happily married now, civil marriages and other forms of living together aren't high on my interest list, but I still found this Cyprus Mail article interesting. Cyprus law does not provide for any other form of recognised cohabitation beyond marriage. The matter came to the fore after authorities denied\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16158,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2012\/03\/09\/strike-cure-found-by-cyprus-government\/","url_meta":{"origin":16328,"position":2},"title":"Strike cure found by Cyprus government","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"March 9, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Air-traffic controllers were striking way too much recently. \u00a0Cyprus government took an unusually fast and serious action. \u00a0They found a cure. \u00a0Cyprus Mail reports: The government bill, fast-tracked by the executive and the legislature working in rare unison, makes it a criminal offence for any ATC to refuse to work\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21440,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2014\/04\/07\/cyprus-airways-why-so-many-pilots\/","url_meta":{"origin":16328,"position":3},"title":"Cyprus Airways : Why so many pilots?","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"April 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Cyprus Mail reader asks an interesting question: Having just read your article on the Cyprus Airways pilots\u2019 legal action against the board, I cannot believe their audacity. They talk about how the board should remove excess staff. There are 71 pilots for a fleet of six aircraft. That is an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10854,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2007\/10\/06\/another-look-at-cyprus-dating\/","url_meta":{"origin":16328,"position":4},"title":"Another look at Cyprus dating","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"October 6, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I came across my post on Cyprus dating from last November.\u00c2\u00a0 Immediately, I wanted to see how things changed.\u00c2\u00a0 Here is an updated screenshot: Before:\u00c2\u00a0 52 men and 4 women Now:\u00c2\u00a0 37 men and 15 women What does this mean?\u00c2\u00a0 Well, there are a few ways to look at it.\u00c2\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21771,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2014\/05\/08\/cyprus-public-sector-employee-worked-a-total-47-days-in-2-years-with-full-pay\/","url_meta":{"origin":16328,"position":5},"title":"Cyprus public sector employee worked a total 47 days in 2 years with full pay","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"May 8, 2014","format":"link","excerpt":"Cyprus Updates reports: an employee of Cyprus Press Information Office (P.I.O), managed to attend work for only 47 days during a 2 year period and get away with it. The employee under investigation in 2010 showed up to her job for 37 days (followed with 116 days of medical leave)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16328\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16328"},{"taxonomy":"keyring_services","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyring_services?post=16328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}