Planet Rodmania

on marlity

2010-04-24T19:18:00.006Z

“The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity” - Andre Gide

I've recently been obsessed with truth and lies, hypocrisy and indecency. It's interesting that all my life I thought that questions of science and economics are the only real deep ones worth pondering but I've neglected such basic ones about the human being and the society.

Why everyone seems to be living a double life and is happy with it? What if I chose to be like them? What if I gave up my freedom and became a slave in a world of paradoxes?

I find myself asking "does ethics have a place in my world-view?" and the answer is of course yes. I don't believe that ethics come from religion or parents or anywhere. Absolute morality preached by religion and taught by parents doesn't make sense to me. But I do believe in ethics based on reasoning, secular moral philosophy and legal theory. Therefore,I believe that each of us understands the meaning of right and wrong and understand that telling a lie is immoral. It is also immoral to cheat,steal,break promises,be cruel or kill. That is why I can't be happy and do any of these at the same time.

The beauty of secular ethics is in that you don't need fear of hell or watchful eyes of parents to enforce it. It's automatically with you and urges you to self-discipline. In other words, unlike what we have been taught, you shouldn't be moral because you are afraid to be punished. But you should hold values that have been proven to be right "over historical time through a consensus of reasoning, of sober discussion, argument, legal theory, political and moral philosophy" as Richard Dawkins puts it. These are old and modern values that we need to hold to be functioning members of society who deserve respect.

2009-01-12T19:13:00.002Z

eject...
eject again...reloading...
eject...
eject...reloading...
eject...
eject...reloading...
It's funny how amusing a remote control can be when the movie finishes and silence starts.

2009-01-02T19:38:00.003Z

I just watched 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona', a new movie directed by Woody Allen. It was fun specially in its approach in trying to define life and love. Just like the label said it was "Woody Allen's funny and open-minded celebration of love in all its configurations."
Which brings me to this question: Can love be celebrated provided that one keeps an open mind? After all,what society has defined as love for us may not be love at all...

2008-12-26T12:03:00.002Z

Have you ever done something so stupid and careless that even remembering that you have done it hurts? It has happened for me. Not very often fortunately and usually in trivial matters. But I have made some really odd mistakes a couple of times. I don't think I can call them mistakes though. I consider myself an analytical person. Whenever I want to make a decision or take action about a serious matter I give every detail a good thought, consider the consequences and plot a strategy. Sometimes however, I completely neglect all the calculations and decide to do only what makes me feel good. This is the worst part. Knowing that you are doing something stupid and irresponsible and still doing it. I guess I let my desires get the better of me sometimes specially when it's about relationships or spending money. The problem is the magic of this childish pleasure goes away very soon and I'm left in a mess that I knew would happen from the beginning. Then I'll have to disengage and pull out and never think about it again. Because sometimes even thinking about the mindless things you have done brings a feeling of shame. Note that it's not regret or sadness. It's just only shame from being so stupid and naive. When I imagine myself doing childish things I just feel awkward. That's when I sing to myself loudly to make the thoughts go away!

2008-12-20T20:50:00.005Z

Love is ...

Like life. It eventually ends at some point. Usually in pain.

P.S: Smart's quote from Russel on my last post was inspiring.

2008-12-18T13:05:00.002Z

Love is...

Like pubic hair. It is natural but letting it grow brings you embarrassment! Except in the 60s when it was fashionable!

2008-12-15T18:31:00.000Z

Love is....

Like supernatural beliefs. It's not true but makes a fool's life less miserable.

2008-12-13T21:20:00.003Z

Every decent writer has at some point mused about love and its meaning. So in my quest to become a decent writer I have decided to start a series of short definitions for love as they come into my mind. So here we go, in the true fashion of childhood bubble gum inserts:

Love is....

like alcohol. It should be enjoyed responsibly and only for leisure. Those who get hooked will end up screwed.

2008-12-12T21:37:00.003Z

I've finally decided to move out of my parent's and I'm looking for an apartment to rent. I used to live on my own when I was a student in Zanjan and in fact this whole apartment search thing kinda reminds me of those days. Things are quite different now though. I'm no longer accompanied with my parents when dealing with agents and landlords and of course I should pay my own rent and deposit, buy my own stuff and arrange for the movers myself.

I have already seen a dozen places and have picked a decent one very close to my work. I'm waiting for my real estate agent's call now. I can never trust real estate people though. This one called me the next day I confirmed my interest and told me the place is no longer available. Then he got back yesterday morning and said it is actually available and if I was interested I could meet the landlord in the evening. I had a last-minute report to finish and submit to our headquarters so I told him I couldn't go because I had to work late.

I'm now waiting to see if he's going to call back tomorrow. I hope he does because the place was the only one I really liked. Well, I'm in no hurry. The good thing is, I submitted my report and succeeded to persuade chair of the reviewing committee to pick it up in their next session which brought me a nice appreciation note from my supervisor this morning!

the boy and the dog : my attempt at story writing

2008-12-10T18:54:00.001Z

He hadn't seen him before. Or maybe he had but never gave him any attention. Straying dogs were not very uncommon in this neighbourhood. But this one was different. He looked friendly, the way dogs with owners do. And confused, as if he didn't know how to feed itself and survive without somebody looking after him. He went in, brought some left-overs and started to feed him, cautiosly patting him while he devoured the food to the last bit.In closer inspection he noticed a collar with a tag on his neck. Jagged and torn with letters of what seemed to be his owner's address faded and unreadable.

"poor dog, his owner should have left him behind to die or something" he tought to himself.

The next day, he followed him on the way to school and then back until he got home. Wagging its tale and begging with its eyes to be taken inside. He reminded him of the little puppy he had a few years back. The same needful eyes, the same attachment. He had cried for days when a car hit the poor puppy killing it instantly. So, he took him in. And called him Clover.

Clover was smart and cheerful, playing with him all day without getting tired a bit. But something strange happened after a while. Clover started moaning and hawling one night with no end. Then the next and the next. Possibly missing his first owner.

He knew what was the right thing to do: putting papers everywhere looking for someone with a lost dog and return Clover to whom it belonged to. But he didn't want to do it. He liked playing with Clover after all and everytime the thought crossed his mind he told himself "what if the owner doesn't want him back? why should have he lost him in the first place?"

I can't think of an ending to this story. But I'm considering something like this: the owner comes and takes the dog. The kid feels sad for a while until he finds out XBOX 360 is much more fun than a pathetic animal.

2008-12-07T19:00:00.001Z

He is new here. Another outcast thrown out of paradise. He still doesn't get it why the cherry trees don't have cherries on them all the time.

World AIDS Day 1988-2008

2008-11-27T07:32:00.004Z

TAKE THE TEST

TAKE CONTROL

December 1 is the World AIDS Day. Did you know that according to WHO universal AIDS testing will eventually eliminate AIDS?

2008-10-24T16:09:00.001Z

When I was a kid, I always finished my candy or ice-cream to the very last molecule. These days I get tired half way through.

Just a stupid thought after seeing all these candy wrappers on my desk each with a half -done hard candy inside. Why I can't get myself to write anything proper these days?

Wasting my hate

2008-10-18T19:39:00.000Z

Posting song lyrics on a blog is stupid. It only shows that you are not able to express yourself in your words and are just stealing nice ones from someone else. But what the hell, my brain stem is drying up and can't write anything of my own today. So for your reading pleasure ladies and gentlemen here's "Wasting My Hate" from Metallica. The romour has it that it was inspired by a friend of James that saw a man staring at him at traffic. He walks to the guy's car to teach him a lesson only to see the guy's been asleep all the time. He's been wasting his hate.

Good day. How do?
And I send a smile to you
Don't waste, waste your breath
And I won't waste my hate on you

Ain't gonna waste my hate
Ain't gonna waste my hate on you
I think I'll keep it for myself
Ain't gonna kill no more
Ain't got the time to help you score
I think it's time you pleased yourself
Yourself

Good day. How do?
And I send a smile to you
Don't waste, waste your breath
And I won't waste my hate on you
Waste my hate on you

Hate!

You think you're worthy now?
You think enough to even raise the brow
And to laugh and tip that two-pronged crown?

Well I see my hands, I see my feet
I feel that blood that pumps and beats
But where the hell's my mind going now?
Dead gone now!

Good day. How do?
And I send a smile to you
Don't waste, waste your breath
And I won't waste my hate on you
Waste my hate on you

Think I'll keep it for myself

Hate!

Ain't gonna waste my hate
But I'm so greedy when they say
Better to give than to receive

Ain't gonna waste my hate, no no
Ain't got time to waste my hate on you
I think I'll keep it all for myself
For myself

Good day. How do?
And I send a smile to you
Don't waste, waste your breath
And I won't waste my hate on you
Waste my hate on you

Think I'll keep it for myself

Yeah!

Hate!

Plain Oblivious

2008-10-10T16:01:00.002Z

I am very bad at taking hints. I don't understand unspoken indirect human interaction at all. Most often I ask myself if I am being oblivious. Am I ignoring the signs? Or there are no signs and it's just my imagination? It's a funny situation. You are afraid that what you are seeing is not what you are interpreting. I am confused. I wished my parents had taken teaching me social skills as seriously as they took teaching me math and languages.

It's good to be king

2008-10-09T06:17:00.002Z

It's good to be king, if just for a while
To be there in velvet, yeah, to give 'em a smile
It's good to get high and never come down
It's good to be king of your own little town

Yeah, the world would swing if I were king
Can I help it if I still dream time to time

It's good to be king and have your own way
Get a feeling of peace at the end of the day
And when your bulldog barks and your canary sings
You're out there with winners, it's good to be king

Yeah I'll be king when dogs get wings
Can I help it if I still dream time to time

It's good to be king and have your own world
It helps to make friends, it's good to meet girls
A sweet little queen who can't run away
It's good to be king, whatever it pays

Excuse me if I have some place in my mind
Where I go time to time.

- Listen to: Tom Petty, It's good to be king

my 27th birthday

2008-10-06T21:15:00.000Z

Today I became 27. A colleague told me it's a good age. I guess I agree with him. The only thing that bothers me is that I'm getting closer to 30. I don't know why but I have always thought that once you turn 30 your life will reach a plateau. I don't want that to happen. But well that's three years from now and a lot can happen in 3 years.

Accept the Good

2008-10-06T00:16:00.001Z

I just woke up at 3 AM from a noise outside (or was it a disturbed dream?). I am craving to write and in search of a subject, I saw this DVD cover of a film I saw. The following is not a review. Just what I thought after the film was finished:
I saw ‘Things we lost in the fire’ last night. Audry (Halle Berry) loses his husband to a random act of violence and slowly finds out that the only person who can help her out of her misery is her husband’s best friend Jerry (Benicio Del Toro). The whole film was too melodramatic for my taste but underlying the plot was a nice analogy which appealed to me. It compares Jerry’s addiction and his chase for ‘that first few times’ of drug use with Audry’s inability to get over her grieving because she can’t replace anyone with her husband. Eventually they both learn that they are after something that is never coming back. Jerry is never going to experience the ecstasy of first few times of use and Audry will never have her husband back. They also learn to ‘accept the good’ that life sends their way even if it’s different from what they had experienced before.
In a way many of us are chasing something we have lost and reject replacing anything new even if it’s good but not exactly the same as what we had. Like a kid dropping his icecream. A new cone will never taste the same right? Well, it might not taste the same but it may also be good. There is a point where we should learn that the icecreams we drop are now just a spot on the pavement and what we remember only exists in our memory. We have to move on and accept the good or we’ll end up with the bad.

changing my job

2008-10-05T13:58:00.000Z

I officially resigned from my job today and I'm looking forward to join my new employer. My manager was a bit pissed and told me I am informing him on the last minute. The truth is I am not. I had already told them (trying to quote the wording as exactly as I remember) that I'm having second thoughts about my choice of career and I think there are more opportunities in the market for someone with my skills and education. That qualifies as expressing my intention doesn't it? Most people don't even risk saying that before they have a firm offer from somewhere else but at least I had the honesty to share it with them. Even now that my intention has become a decision, I still told them I'll make sure that my job will be handed over as smoothly as possible.
As for the new job, it seems to be smarter and better matching my aspiration to do a more intellectual job. It's in a retail giant about to launch its first hypermarket in Iran. I liked the way they cared about where I have studied and the technical questions they asked during the interviews. I also kinda enjoyed their GM's comment that the team I am going to supervise is 'the brains' of their business. I know he was probably just trying to motivate me to join them but still. :D Their HR lady was also nice and their emails were written in correct English. All signs that it's probably going to be a good experience.
Some people avoid change, some barely put up with it and some actively seek it. I am from the latter. People may sometimes question my loyalty but I have an answer for them: I am a very loyal person. I am loyal to my career and my long-term goals. I'm proud of that and in the end that's all that matters.

Welcom to the time machine

2008-10-01T09:57:00.003Z

Google has made available its old seach index for 2001 to celeberate their business turning a decade old. I tried it out and immediately a rush of nostalgia hit me. Just a few searches sent me back to my second year studying engineering in Zanjan. I didn't have a PC then so I spent most of my pocket money in a public internet cafe' (the only one in Zanjan for years) exploring the world through Google and Yahoo.

2001 was also the year I found my first job. The tiny paper ad in Hamshahri classifieds under 'others' category looking for someone who could search the internet for exporters and translate and send emails. I spent two months that summer trying to go through my day's work in the morning so that I could spend the evening surfing the web on the company's dial-up connection.

Without the internet,without Google, I would have had a different career, met different girls and held a different opinion about the world. Without internet, I don't know how my life would have looked like now. Thank you Google, and happy 10th birthday.

shot down

2008-10-01T08:58:00.001Z

He had been through this a hundred times in simulations at the camp but never thought he would ever need to actually do it. It was called disengagement, a set of procedures to perform before you can abandon the aircraft and punch out of the cabin. The air force had introduced the lengthy procedure of checking dials and resetting gauges to make sure that pilots had time to concentrate and recover from the panic and only abandon their jet as the last option. After all, a military aircraft is a very expensive asset and you can’t easily let it go. But with both engines down, no radio com or sat-nav, he was now only riding a huge pile of burning hot metal falling headlong from the sky. So disengagement was over much sooner than any simulated practices on the ground. He released and punched out, opening his parachute and watching his bird blowing up some distance ahead in a cloud of dust and smoke.

I Krishna!

2008-09-29T21:23:00.000Z

It's a strange feeling once you decide to leave a place. Every problem that could bother you for hours a week ago suddenly has no meaning anymore. You become more open because you don't need to care about keeping a neutral expressionless image. You won't take no nonsense from any bullies anymore just to be political.
I'm wondering if I can train myself to be like this all the time. To be completely detached from what's going on around me and smile in face of every problem. To be completely what I am and project only who I am. I guess that's how eastern philosophies teach people to behave. To be peaceful as if nothing really matters because nothing is permanent anyway. When you learn to let go, you learn to be truly free.

Hallelujah

2008-09-28T18:52:00.000Z

I've heard there was a secret chord
that David played, and it pleased the Lord,
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this:
The fourth, the fifth,
The minor fall, the major lift,
The baffled king composing Hallelujah.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

Your faith was strong but you needed proof.
You saw her bathing on the roof.
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you.
She tied you
To a kitchen chair,
She broke your throne, she cut your hair,
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

Maybe I have been here before.
I know this room, I've walked this floor.
I used to live alone before I knew you.
I've seen your flag on the marble arch.
Love is not a victory march,
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

There was a time
You let me know
What's real and going on below,
But now you never show it to me, do you?
And remember when I moved in you?
The holy dark was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

Maybe there's a god above,
And all I ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you,
And it's not a cry you can hear at night,
It's not somebody who's seen the light,
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

-Hallelujah by Rufus Wainwright.

In pursue of happiness!

2008-09-26T21:20:00.004Z

We had got together with a bunch of friends in a cafe the other day and someone came up with this question : "why everyone is depressed these days? why no one's happy?". At that moment the best answer I could come up with was that youth in Iran are generally depressed because they don't get laid enough! After all sex is a major factor contributing to one's happiness and in a society that represses any expression of sexual desire, it's natural for people to be depressed.

Well, that is true to some extent but later I tought wether I'll become suddenly more satisfied with my life if I start shagging around. I certainly know I won't. First since I'm more of an old-fashioned relationship type person the idea of casual sex doesn't really thrill me and second because I consider myself kind of an intellectual and think of sex as a primary need I have grown out of ever since I passed my late-teens testostrone rush.

So, I got stuck with the question from a personal perspective. "Why I am depressed these days? Why I'm not happy?". You can't pop out this question with a friend or family member without them thinking you are going to commit suicide or something, so I started to consult my most trustworthy friend : the internet. I read about a dozen self-help sites with corny grandma advices until I came across this article in BBC's website. At least it has tried to be more scientific. In short it says the following are the major things that make people happy and satisfied with life:

Social life: the kind fo relationship we have with our family and friends
Marriage: I would like to correct that to 'a good marriage' as we all have seen people (our parents!) whose lives have turned absolutely miserable after getting married. The problem is "how to establish a good marriage " is an even more difficult question to answer!
Meaning in life : most people in other sites had mistaken this for having faith in God. In fact what is important is to have a larger view of life. You can be an atheist and still find even more meaning in life and universe as a whole.
Goals : we all have long term values. Most of us have an idea of what we want to become in say 10 years. But do we have SMART goals? Achieving realistic goals can lead to happiness.

So, at least I have some sort of a workplan to happiness. I should boost my social life, expand my knowledge about the world and work hard to define SMART goals for myself. As for marriage, I know I said I'm a relationship-type of guy but I have seen so many failed marriages around me that I'm sort of frightened admitting that it's important. What I know is that I should be ready for another deep dive into the internet!

well...now that I think about it...

2008-09-26T11:01:00.000Z

Well, I just read my last night's post and had a good laugh. It may not be a good idea to drive while drunk but I should put something here when I'm tipsy every now and then. The truth is drinking brings out some repressed thoughts which is good but tends to exaggerate them which is misleading. I figured I do need a break but not really that fucking big. hehe...I'm thinking about changing my job at the momement and if I'll succeed to land something more interesting, I can use the time between jobs for a trip somewhere. Istanbul for a week can be a good idea.

So cross your fingers for me.

Big fucking break

2008-09-25T18:45:00.001Z

I got this great idea. I'm gonna save some and then I'm gonna hit far east or latin america. I'll teach English or write freelance or fix computers or something to make a living for a while. And I'm gonna leave everything and everyone behind. I need a big fucking break and I'm gonna get it.

P.S: Alcohol, Caffeine, Nicotine,THC. Any combination of these can save the world.

A managerial dilemma

2008-09-17T18:50:00.001Z

Below is a managerial dilemma I sort of came across just recently. Read and consider questions at the end. All comments are welcome.

A: please spend more time working with me on this project

B: I don't have time

A: But if you won't dedicate enough time to it, we will have to call it off.

B: No. You do not understand how busy I am with other stuff. You do not understand that I have so many other important things to do. I have other unfinished projects. I can't spend time on this project.

A: I understand you find it difficult to finish other projects and I understand you are busy with other stuff but this project is supposed to be the most important one we are going to do in our whole lives and it deserves more time. I have unfinished stuff too. I should take care of other responsibilities too. Still I manage to dedicate more time for this special project.

B: You abusive bastard! What do you want to prove by comparing yourself with me? That you are more capable? People are different. You are questioning my existance and purpose in life.

A: (disappointed) I just meant you need to dedicate more time and effort for this project. That's all.

B: You know what? I don't think so. You are too demanding. I don't even agree with you on the scope of the project or the project proposal. You caring too much for this project is having negative results.

A: (remembering the project proposal they had gone through a hundred times, the presentations he had prepared and the effort he put to convince everyone that it works) Well, if you don't agree with the project scope and think I care too much then we have to call it off. And I wish you luck with your other projects. Meanwhile I'd be glad to keep our professional contact provided that you stop calling me an abusive bastard!

B: How dare you put conditions for me! I'm pissed like hell.

A: (giving up) Yeah, whatever...

--A short while later--

B: I'm thinking about you and that project.

A: Well, as a matter of fact I do too. It was a pity we had to call it off. Are you still pissed?

B: Hell yeah, I'm pissed big time. You have not even apologized yet.

A: I think you were misunderstood. I just wanted you to spend more time on it. I apologize if you took me wrong.

B: I'm not misunderstood, you fucking freak! You were too demanding and ruined the whole thing.

A: WTF!!!!!!!

....

Questions:

- What was the main problem that caused the project being called off in spite of successful initial efforts? Was it A failing to motivate B to dedicate more time? Was it B not being commited to the goal from the start?

- What is the reason for agressive response from B? Is the apologetic Mr. Nice Guy attitude from A encouraging or discouraging it?

- How can such aggressive responses be avoided?

- Could a pre-agreed timeline and division of responsibilities help to avoid the problem altogether? If such a timeline and responsibility matrix existed in project proposal but is now being questioned by B, what is the solution?

Conflict resolution

2008-09-16T15:43:00.001Z

I came across this article about conflict resolution in interpersonal relations. The author has categorized conflict styles and explained each one. It's worth reading. Which one's your conflict style with your partner?

Interpersonal Communication: Styles of Conflict
All relationships have conflict. It is the norm. Many of us do wish to live a conflict-free existence, but this sort of thinking is unrealistic. It often leads to disappointment and frustration.
View more »

Social Web and future of communication

2008-09-15T05:04:00.004Z

What makes two friends feel "close" to one another? I'd argue that a big part of it is the small details that you know about each other. The funny comment your friend made about a billboard they saw while driving down the road, what they had for dinner, a person they ran into on the street, their comments about the movie they saw two nights before. Closeness often comes from knowing the small things, not just the big things. Distance makes knowing those small things harder. When you live together, either with your family or your friends, knowing the small things is easy. They get conveyed when passing in the hall, sitting down to a meal or just hanging out. It's effortless.

When you live apart, things change. Suddenly it takes effort. It used to take a lot more effort when writing a letter was the primary way to communicate over distance as opposed to email or IM or telephone. But, even with our current technology, it still takes work. As a result, we share less with our friends. And when we do share, we tend to share the big stuff (big shifts at work, major family events like birthdays or school milestones) and leave the small stuff behind. We start to feel less connected because we don't know the details.

The above was part of a post from Google's official blog I saw today. It's about the effect of internet on our lives in the next decade and how we can benefit from social web. It's insightful and interesting to read.

Oysters

2008-09-14T20:51:00.000Z

Oysters are funny creatures and they have a stupid design flaw. I mean if you have soft delicious insides with pearls and stuff you should have a shell of stone that's for sure. But IN ONE PIECE buddy. With a crack right in the middle,no matter how firmly you keep it closed, people will open you up with a knife or something, eat your flesh, steal your pearls and use your empty shell for decoration!

Detoxification

2008-09-13T08:03:00.001Z

Inner ear canal and eyes inflamed by toxins. Skin swelled with ugly blisters. Excessive loss of weight. Body weak and bones aching from the poison.

You are diagnosed with radioactive contamination dear.

Wait it out. Only time can get it out of your system.

iTunes Sucks!

2008-09-12T06:42:00.005Z

I have never been an iTunes user but deceived by all the coverage about release of new iTunes and its Genius feature that matches music tracks in your library that go together, I downloaded iTunes last night and here's what I think:

iTunes is the worst excuse for a media playing software. If you have fallen for the ipod hype,your computer is a mac or you actually buy music from Apple store then maybe you don't have any other option except using this crappy piece of software.

But for any Windows user who wants to be in control of his music library and sync files with different non-Apple devices there is no better option than Windows Media Player. WMP plays all filetypes smoothly while itunes only plays AAC and MP3 files meaning all those WMA files I have should be transcoded into AAC which is ridiculous because it's going to take two days to transcode all my files at the rate of one file per 2 minutes or so which was iTune's average speed on a high-end computer. More if you have an older machine of course. WMP looks better too and does everything like it's supposed to without requiring you to connect to a store or sign up with your credit card.

I mean seriously Apple, what is this bullshit? In the era of open-source and cloud computing why should I sign up with a credit card to use the Genius feature on iTunes? I don't buy my music online and I use a Creative Zen instead of an iPod. I was thinking of buying a macbook air as a second laptop but seeing the Genius sign-up pissed me off with Apple's stupid corporate mentality and I've become sure to go with an Asus eee now.

Another Fight Club Quote

2008-09-05T19:08:00.001Z

...you're not how much money you've got in the bank. You're not your job. You're not your family, and you're not who you tell yourself.... You're not your name.... You're not your problems.... You're not your age.... You are not your hopes. ~Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club, Chapter 18

yes. I don't get tired of watching Fight Club and I don't get tired of posting quotes from the book as I like.

Welcome to Google Chrome

2008-09-05T07:44:00.000Z

I downloaded Google Chrome browser as soon as it was out and I'm loving it. I always like anything by google. It's the only search engine I've been using for years now and my main mailbox is a gmail. The trademark sleek and clean interface that makes you love google's homepage and gmail is replicated in Google Chrome as well. In other words Chrome lets you just do what you want to do without distraction. But it doesn't mean that it's not powerful. In fact it's the only browser I know that let's you bring up a task list of pages and shut down pages that have crashed for whatever reason.

The only downside is that I can't use stumbleupon's toolbar with it. The other fix that I want to see in the next release is a tool to manage my bookmarks. With over 200 bookmarks imported with firefox that would be a welcome addition.

LEGO behaviour

2008-09-03T19:53:00.000Z

It's funny for me to see how people can easily destroy something they have tried hard to create. All the time we desire something new, we kill ourselves to achieve it and then all of a sudden we no longer want to keep it. I call this ' LEGO behaviour'. We live our lives like kids experimenting with a LEGO set. The end result is never worth keeping because we always think we can do better next time. Unfortunately most of the time we are wrong. We don't want to face the fact that sometimes we have already achieved the best possible and we should do whatever we can to preserve it. Because if we don't we can't have anything as good again.

I don't want to neglect the value of experimenting in life. What I mean is after a few trial and errors we will reach our peak of performance and even if we try a hundred times more we won't improve much. That's when trying again from scratch doesn't make sense anymore. It's called the law of diminishing return. The results start improving at first and then reach a peak. What is interesting is that after we reach this peak if we try harder, the results will get worse instead of getting better.

The solution to me is that we watch out for that peak point and stop there once we reach it. Then we can rest assured that we have done our best and should live with it.

2008-08-31T18:56:00.002Z

last breath
lungs full of water
numb...heavy
the waves were too high,we could not break free...

single-handed

2008-08-28T22:01:00.001Z

I'm Jack's ultimate hopelessness...

I have bought stocks on margin (that's getting a loan to buy stocks) and now the shares are falling. The interest rate on my loan is increasing and I have no insurance. I don't even have a contract to collect what I earned.

With a big investment, every fraction change will have a huge effect. Every percentile difference will make you jump on your feet and wet your pants. But the truth is when you do a gamble like that...when you shoot for the moon... you'll either get lucky big time or you'll lose everything. All you can do is wait and try to turn the huge cogwheels turn your way single-handed.

I wished I had more time to prepare.

P.S : This is a figurative text. I never actually buy stocks on margin.

2008-08-17T08:47:00.003Z

have you ever tried helping a kid with a short attention span with his studies? One minute you are lecturing the poor kid on the long-term benefits of studying hard, the next minute you find him at his PlayStation with his undone homeworks buried somewhere out of sight. It's really a challenge to turn a half-hearted intention into a firm decision and real effort for success.

2008-08-14T22:04:00.000Z

"This was freedom. Losing all hope was freedom. If I didn't say anything, people in the group assumed the worst. They cried harder. I cried harder. Look up into the stars and you're gone.

Walking home after a support group, I felt more alive than I'd ever felt. I wasn't host to cancer or blood parasites; I was the little warm center that the life of the world crowded around.

And I slept. Babies don't sleep this well.

Every evening I died, and every evening, I was born."

-Fight Club

Autumnsong by Manic Street Preachers

2008-08-14T17:31:00.000Z

Wear your eyes as dark as night
Paint your face with what you like
Wear your love like it is made of hate
Born to destroy and born to create

Now baby, what've you done to your hair?
Is it just the same time of year
When you think that you don't really care?
Now baby, what have you done?
Done to your hair, done to your hair, done to your hair, done to your hair, hair!

So when you hear this autumn song
Clear your heads and get ready to run
So when you hear this autumn song
Remember the best times are yet to come

Now baby, what've you done to your hair?
Is it just the same time of year
When you think that you don't really care?
Now baby, what have you done to your hair?

Wear your eyes as dark as night
Paint your face with what you like
Wear your love like it is made of hate
Born to destroy: born to create, born to create, born to create, born to create

So when you hear this autumn song
Clear your heads and get ready to run
So when you hear this autumn song
Remember the best times are yet to come

And wear your hair in bunches
And your jacket loose
So when you hear this autumn song
Clear your heads and get ready to run

So when you hear this autumn song
Clear your heads and get ready to run
So when you hear this autumn song
Remember the best times are yet to come

summer won't come again

2008-08-06T02:55:00.002Z

Take off your clothes.
run,dive,plunge
swim and splash...
swim and splash...
swim and splash...
walk out
wait until you are dry
put on your clothes...blow your hair
smile ....
and go home.
summer won't come again.

insomnia

2008-07-31T17:43:00.001Z

With insomnia, nothing's real. Everything is far away. Everything is a copy of a copy of a copy. I'll have plenty of time to sleep when I'm dead.

out of your shell, now!

2008-07-30T16:34:00.000Z

Enough of sitting wearing that sour frown thinking about world news to the sound of 70s rock songs. Time to smile, lie down and play that stupid DJ CD your friend ripped for last week's party. Why not grab a couple of drinks, close your eyes and plunge into the water with your clothes on. Let yourself soak, let the chips fall where they may. Become complete! Life inside a shell of steel is not worth living.
Things have a tendency to become all right once you stop worrying too much. After all the good thing about being smart is that you can indulge yourself without having to worry.

2008-07-01T18:07:00.001Z

I just watched "across the universe" . It's a beatles-songs musical set in the sixties hippy and Vietnam war era. There's something weird in a cool way about those days which I always find interesting. The movie was good and I enjoyed it. The ending was too Disney though and kinda spoilt the pleasure.

another long absence

2008-06-29T18:25:00.000Z

I started a web site for Planet Rodmania but failed to pay for my domain on time and some spam site bought it before me. At least I'm happy they are not selling fake Viagra in it. So here I am posting on my good old blogger page.
Dude, it seems like a million years since I posted here last time. So here are the news since then if you are interested in backward chronological order:
- I lost the pin code to my ATM card and now I'm rediscovering the pain of having to live off my parents' pocket!
- I read NEXT by Michael Crichton which was a kick-ass techno thriller. Read it if you have the brains for it.
- I changed my job and switched from Telecoms to a totally new industry: consumer goods. The new job's OK, I'm not paid less than my other MBA classmates and of course much better than my old engineering friends. Building my career has gone according to the plan so far which is the important part.
- This is the most exciting part: I finally got my passport and I'm planning to visit somewhere fun this summer. I just don't know where. Suggestions are welcome.
- I'm learning Spanish. I'm doing OK and who knows maybe I'll start writing a Spanish blog too some time soon!

What else? hmmm nothing worth mentioning.

2007-09-13T20:19:00.000Z

It's widely rumored that they are going to drop 3 zeros from our national currency Rial. Something similar to what Turkey did with 6 zeros. It's probably just one of those pieces of news that are meant to keep people's minds busy and give them a topic of conversation except other more important issues which you are better aware of! The fact is even if it's true, the effect will be trivial for most people.
Interestingly however, I've been recently commissioned to prepare a presentable business plan for a project involving vending machines and I noticed that dropping of 3 zeros off the currency will mean that people can buy a lot of stuff using just coins. This, of course, brings a major advantage for vending machine operators because they can use more convenient and safer systems. So, thanks to the rumor I now have a better SWOT analysis to sell. Thank you guys in Majlis, please keep thinking of more stupid ideas!

Ebooks almost for free

2007-09-10T16:30:00.000Z

During a search for course books needed for our investment management course, I happened to find a great source for e-books and I'm going nuts with it. Can you believe 56000+ (yes FIFTY-SIX-THOUSAND) titles for less than half a dollar each? In a list like that, you can find almost anything you can think of whether it is a map and guide of western Texas or the latest edition of Harvard Business Review.

So,immediately I purchased some course books and all the books written by Richard Dawkins plus an audio book of his most recent one 'The God Delusion' narrated by himself and a lady whose name I can't remember. I also ordered some titles on history of science and econophysics for Mona. That provided me with reading material for all my idle hours at work and enough to listen to while I'm on the move.

If you are as excited as me about a 56K list of ebooks (the list itself is 9Mb!) then drop me a line at my email address so I can send you the list and we can find a way to do business.

Noise in Long-exposure Shots or Don't Let Megapixels Fool You

2007-08-29T12:16:00.000Z

Can you guess at what time of the day this picture was taken ? (click on the picture for a larger view)

If your answer is "just after sunset" you are wrong. It was taken at almost midnight when to our human eyes it's already gotten dark a long time ago. From the camera's eye however things are quite different. I set the shutter speed so that I could keep the lens open for 30 seconds and I was amazed by the results. Subtle midnight street lights and lights from people's windows lit up everything. Even the sky is filled with city lights.

This brings me to my today's point about long-exposure shots with digital cameras: image in a digital camera is formed by focusing the light on millions of small photo diodes known as pixels (this is where the megapixel comes from). These light sensors receive the light and turn them into electric current readable by the camera's CPU. This means that like any other electronic system, a digital camera is prone to noise and the more you expose the sensors to light, the more probable and noticeable the noise will be. While in high-end cameras you may notice the noise only in long-exposure shots, in cheap point-and-shoots the noise is visible even in normal shots taken is poorly lit scenes. This is mainly becasue in larger cameras the larger size of CCD (the board where all those light sensors are installed) decreases the leakage of electric current between cells.

So, next time you want to buy a digital camera don't look for something with the highest megapixels. In fact megapixes are almost the least important thing for a normal user who doesn't want to print billboards from his pictures. What is more important is the size of CCD (you'll have to search the web for the camera you want to buy because manufacturers don't usually indicate it in their brochures) and the quality of optics (lens, etc.). I can even go further and say that more megapixels in a smaller CCD means the sensors are put closer together which results in more noise.

iPhone Sucks, P990 Rocks!

2007-08-18T16:39:00.000Z

Now that you read my last post let me also clarify that unlike what Steve Job's speeches want you to believe, iPod is not a unique device, it's just a marketing term for an mp3 player with a hard disk.

What's more interesting is the marketing bullshit from Apple around their recently released iPhone. Steve Jobs introduced iPhone claiming that it is ten years ahead of its time because it's not only a mobile phone but also an iPod and an internet communications device. In non-marketing-bullshit terms it means that iPhone is a mobile phone which plays mp3 and has an internet browser (and a lousy one from what they say on the net). My Sony Ericsson P990i has all these functions plus it opens and edits MS-office documents and pdf and has hundreds of third-party applications available free or for purchase (while you have no such option for iPhone) like complete and convenient dictionaries I have installed on it. Further, P990i supports 3G networks which iPhone doesn't and costs a lot less and doesn't look like a baby's toy.

There Apple, I said it!

BBC Podcasts

2007-08-18T15:41:00.000Z

A lot of my friends ask me how they can improve their English listening skills that they need for their jobs or to pass exams such as IELTS. So far my recommendation was listening to BBC world service on short wave radio or watch BBC World on satellite TV if they have one. Well, that was what I did more than ten years ago but things have changed a lot since then. Yesterday I found Podcasts from the BBC where you can browse programs from BBC radio (not just the World Service) and download whatever you like to listen to later.

Some clarifications about the word 'podcast' which has been around for a few years now: podcasts are similar to ordinary audio broadcasts on radio with the difference that they are recorded in a digital file format (usually .mp3) and therefore can be saved and listened to later on any device capable of playing such files including your PC,laptop, portable mp3 player, mobile phone etc. But since most people have better things to do on a PC or laptop (like watching a movie or reading this blog!) the main target of podcasts are portable mp3 players such as Apple's iPod (hence the term podcast) or a hundred dozen other brands of such devices.

2007-08-10T20:25:00.000Z

hehe This is me as a Simpson's character. Create yours at www.simpsonsmovie.com

Cardiac Shock

2007-07-14T06:46:00.000Z

Operating room,
electric shock,
that burnt meat smell in the air,

the clogged cold muscle inside his chest starts beating again like the engine of an old truck in a cold winter morning

the world going from black to gray,
gray to green,
then green to colour

sounds kick in,
underwater hum,
brain's tuner on search mode

alive again, it's not time to die, not today,not yet!

The Simpsons Movie

2007-07-10T07:33:00.001Z

The Simpsons is with no question one of my most favourite TV shows. I like their sarcastic jokes, I like their goggle-eyed yellow looks and sometimes I just enjoy their slapstick silliness. The Simpsons Movie is out now and I can't wait to see it. I wonder if there's any chance that there will be more episodes or a feature film of Futurama too.

White Rhino!

2007-07-03T11:52:00.000Z

I woke up at the middle of the night and the only thing I could think about was: 'a white rhino' !!! I don't know why and how it came to my mind. I should have been dreaming of one but the funny thing is I didn't even know there are white rhinos out there before I googled them this morning. From the pictures I found out that white rhinos are actually grayish not completely white as I imagined them, so I'm sure that I hadn't seen one on TV or anything either.

I should stop watching CSI before I sleep, it may be responsible for my weired dreams.

Fuel Rationing or Consumption Reduction Policy?

2007-06-30T07:31:00.001Z

Wherever you go people are talking about the recent fuel rationing, some of them sound really pissed, specially taxi and car pool drivers. I find it entertaining to start a discussion with them and listen to their solutions! "the ration is too little, I use three times as much" the car pool driver told me on our way to the airport. Obviously he didn't understand that rationing is meant to decrease consumption!

Well, everyone knows that petrol is cheap as dirt in Iran and this unreasonably cheap price should have been adjusted sometime one way or the other. Iranians kinda see cheap petrol as their birthright because they live in an oil-rich country. That's why , rationing is a good option because it still lets people have a reasonable amount at cheap prices. But if someone consumes more than that he/she should be able to buy it at real price. This discourages careless use and also keeps options open specially for those working in transportation.

But the recent government policy towards petrol fails terribly at one point. They have started fuel rationing but still haven't made up their mind whether or not to sell fuel at real prices beyond that ration! This makes people feel they are in a state of emergency in which fuel is only available for a limited quantity. As a result, this half-baked policy seems more like a suspicious war-time rationing to them rather than a wise consumption reduction policy. That's why, in my opinion the current dissatisfaction among people is not because they want to use cheap petrol like crazy, it's because they feel insecure if they can't buy even a drop extra to their ration. With the memory of Iran-Iraq war, this creates a fury among people and they start to que up on petrol stations.

I hope the government will be wise enough to sell extra fuel at real prices otherwise things can become very complicated for everyone.

Managerial Conclusion : Always consider the behavioural results of your decisions on the stakeholders. Otherwise you risk getting totally different results from what you expected, building resistance and losing your authority. If numbers support your decision, you have done the large part but it's not enough. Sort it out in a way to make sure that people will support your decision too.

Blower's Daughter

2007-06-26T13:46:00.000Z

I saw 'Closer' a while ago and kinda liked the song that played at the start of the movie. It's a song by Damien Rice called Blower's Daughter. Today, spending a hung over morning behind my desk at work I rediscovered the song and found it sadder and yet more beautiful than I had realized before, so I put it on replay and listened to it over twenty times while writing a case study on our contract change and claim settlement system. It's been quite a while since the last time I got sentimental by a song and had almost forgotten how it felt. I think I should do it more often. It's kinda you know... purifying if that's the right word.
For those of you with a decent internet connection, you can listen to it here (30 second excerpt). Others can find the lyrics here. Tell me what u think!

sms discussion

2007-06-26T08:01:00.000Z

14:38- can u send god's delusion to ***@gmail.com? P.S: John Michelle Jarr is stupid
14:39- will do. I never liked jarr's music anyway. What's so terrible about him?
-It's H's most favourite
14:42: lol/ I'll send god's delusion plus a surprise
- sorry. correct email is #####@gmail.com
14:47: Shit. OK
- thanks, I suppose ***@gmail.com is thankful too

-will u be in Tehran on Wednesday?
22:13 I don't think so but probably Thursday
- I come on Wednesday mornin' back to arak same day. forget Tabriz. come a day early
22:35 let me see. Will let u know
-generally seems i've a problem with instrumental musicians who close their eyes and move their heads when playing instead of saying anything
22:32 poetry is more beautiful than music hence the importance of lyrics
-words are more beautiful than sounds, animals are capable to compose instrumental music too, this doesn't mean instrumental music is pure,but less evolved
22:38 yeah i guess so
-put it in your weblog plz ;)
23:39 sure. u don't wanna start your own blog? it will help with your english writin
- i used to have an instrumental blog, influenced bu buddha's insight , I still feel loyal to buddha, but about to develop a new insight, that time i suppose i'll develop a new relegion than a blog. kiddin'...I'm thinking about it as a matter of fact

-have u read the short story i gave you?
00:14 yeah. i understood a little. too much metaphors i think. i'm used to read easy stuff :D
-that piece of writing lacks clarity, now I'm truly interested in clarity
00:38 good. we r in the same camp now i guess :D

on motivation and job satisfaction

2007-06-10T07:07:00.000Z

Although we had a lot of fun in Tabriz the last two weeks, I can't wait to get back to Tehran. The city, our regional office and the whole project has become very boring. My job satisfaction is decreasing and I badly need a boost.
In a way, jobs are like relationships: if you are not motivated regularly and correctly your interest and your enthusiasm to continue will start to decline. The rate of this decline is different from person to person and from job to job but usually it becomes sharper by some demotivating factors such as receiving a more attractive offer.
Of course I don't deny the benefits of loyalty to one's career but staying loyal while you reasonably don't see a chance for improvement doesn't make sense. In other words I believe in loyalty to career rather than loyalty to a specific organization. If you remain loyal to yourself and your goals then it's absolutely fine or even necessary to assess your opportunities on a cost-benefit basis and go for change when it's justified, or you may decide to stay with the same organization all your life if it takes an active interest in your motivation and job satisfaction. Again, like a relationship, it's a two-way business. Asking for blind loyalty from someone is like telling them that you don't care enough to understand their needs and keep them satisfied.

Project Management Metaphors

2007-06-02T06:13:00.000Z

Among the Bible stories I know, the story of Tower of Babel is an all-time favourite. According to the Bible, all people spoke a unified language before they decided to build a tower of brick and tar in the city of Babel to reach the sky. (This story is where the movie Babel took its name from BTW).

Well,God saw this from up there and like always decided to ruin the effort of his creations and teach them a lesson but what is special about Tower of Babel is the way he chose to stop the effort this time: he confused people's language causing them to speak different languages! Desperate with lack of communication, the TOB project was stopped and everyone got scattered around the world.
Well, I know that today science has proven the story to be entirely fictional but still it can be enjoyed as a fairy tale with a moral in project management : Projects are doomed without proper communication.
I'm working in a project that very much resembles TOB. We have Chinese and Iranian personnel who speak poor English, subcontractors that understand less English than I did when I was 10 and have to deal with people in rural parts of Azerbayjan province who even have problem understanding Farsi. Fortunately unlike TOB, we are not caught in total lack of communication so we manage to get the job done but with a lot more effort and with hundreds of delays and quality/specification problems.
So here's the lesson I learned here: If you want to build a strong project management capability,technical know-how,cheap advanced technology, employees graduated from best technical schools and huge budgets won't get you there. What is maybe more important than all of this is finding people who can communicate effectively and build clear, fail-proof channels of reporting and control. Even if you are the world champion in cycling you can't enter a race with your breaks pushed all the way down and fixed with duct tape. What you need is a smooth multi geared one that weights little and transmits your force efficiently to the wheels.

**Picture taken from website of Communication Matters. a UK charity for people with special communication needs.**

Iranian identity crisis

2007-04-02T07:13:00.000Z

An hour or so after midnight. I turned on the satellite TV and started changing channels with no purpose. As usual waiting on each one only a few seconds. I came across an stupid network from Turkey showing half-naked Iranian girls dancing in a cheap disco bar. It looked like some sort of a news program. Understanding four words from the commentary :Irani, Hijab,Istanbul and No Rouz I figured it's saying that "Hijab-less Iranians celebrate their No Rouz in Istanbul". Yuck...! I turned off the telly feeling sick.

Turkey, Dubai and Republic of Azerbaijan have become favourite destinations for many Iranians. These countries don't require tourist visas for Iranians or grant them with little formality and they are much cheaper than other destinations say in Europe. After all if your only purpose to travel is just drink, dance and go around in mini-skirts why bother with expensive and sophisticated Europe when you can do it in more familiar neighbours.

It's just another example of the way the large majority of Iranians live double lives. When outside they dress and behave conservatively but wait until you go a house party and you'll see the same people metamorphosing into different colours and latest western fashions drinking and dancing like they have been doing it all their lives. Surprisingly this is more true about young people who were born and grown up in the post-revolution era attending single-sex schools and conservative universities that only promote Islamic rules of conduct.

We have become a nation of pretenders. Some pretend to be western by trying to look western but still have arranged marriages and don't give equal freedom to their sons and daughters. Others pretend to be anti-western traditional Islamists but enjoy satellite TV and all kinds of western products. A main root of our problems ,as many Iranian intellectuals (whether islamist or secular) and middle east experts agree, is lack of identity. We don't know who we are and who we want to be. This is reflected in all our actions from house parties to tourist trips to even the reaction towards the movie 300 I dicussed in an earlier post. I remember at the school we learned from history books printed by the Ministry of Education that Iranian kings before Islam were oppressive and superstitious beasts. So what is our government so upset about? The movie has shown pre-islam kings the way they wanted us to see them after all. The post-revolution youth are as confused about who they should identify with as their parents,grand-parents and grand-grand parents.

2007-04-01T19:09:00.000Z

I tried MTN-Irancell's GPRS service on a new SIM card I bought yesterday and I'm totally disappointed. First, I didn't receive any GPRS settings message as promised on their advertisements and it was only after I dug deeper into their website and found the instructions for manual setup that I could make it work. I finally loaded google.com and started browsing but the connection is slow as shit. It's even slower than my other SIM card's 9600 bps dial-up over GSM data. At the moment Irancell is offering GPRS for free during the No Rouz. I hope this is the reason for the crappy speed and things will look better in next few days. Obviously in a market where they are the only operator offering this service, they don't feel much pressure to provide better quality.

Book City Stories

2007-03-28T18:17:00.000Z

1.
To fill my long New Year holidays and nights in my coming business mission to Tabriz I decided to go shopping for books. Tehran Book City central store is the only place in Tehran you can find fresh books and novels in English. Every once or twice a year they hold a book fair and the rest of the year they sell the left-overs which means that you have too look around very carefully to find anything readable. I was lucky to be accompanied by Mona. Although she's a book-worm only interested in very serious stuff like Heidegger and Karl Popper, she picked up a novel by Neal Stephenson, a renowned author in my favourite Cyberpunk genre which I had amazingly missed. Sometimes it's good to have an extra pair of intelligent eyes!
I also bought Human Traces by Sebastian Faulks and Lili by Annie Wang. I have started with the third one.

2.
There I came across some cool architectural paper model kits. You know, the kind that have cut-out printed pieces you should assemble yourself. I chose the largest and most difficult one : a model of St. Mark's Basilica in Venice with several hundred pieces (seen in the picture). I started working on it the same night and soon I found that it's not going to be easy. If I want it to look good, I should pay attention to every detail when folding and gluing pieces which slows me down to only a few finished pieces every night. With this rate the whole model will take weeks or even months.

This reminded me something I had forgotten for a long while: no achievement can be reached without patience. Determination, ability and intelligence are always important but patience is the essence that bonds them all together. If you want to do something worthwhile you should try little by little and consistently and never lose your patience. That's true everywhere and anytime.

3.
Every time I go to Book City I'm reminded of good memories. A good one goes back to 1997 when they held a 3-day seminar for young science researchers (!!) and I was invited as an active member of the book club (I had started reading English books the last year with books I bought from their first annual book fair for teenagers). There I attended lectures about possibility of extra-terrestrial life, ripped poor mice apart and best of all for the first time in my life worked with internet using Netscape Navigator on a Windows 95 machine. I still have some of the Space Shuttle posters I bought there and VHS recorded Discovery channel programs I almost begged the astronomy lecturer to copy for me.When I went back to school after the summer holidays one of my friends said he'd seen me on TV asking this question: "can some extra terrestrial be based on silicon instead of carbon?" wearing my large khar-khooni (farsi word for nerdy) glasses as he called them.
hehe, I didn't become a rocket scientist (at least not yet!) and changed from a nerd to a geek. An ordinary monkey who wears a suit :a business graduate.

Iranian New Year, Macs and PCs

2007-03-18T20:54:00.000Z

Another Iranian new year is just a few days away. Again I'm going to stay home during the holidays trying to read a good book, watch some good movies and work on my school assignment. Just in case these are not enough to fill my holidays, I have also accepted some work from my ex-employer to do from home, of course, in return for a handsome paycheck.
Have you seen those Apple commercials where one guy is a Mac and the other is a PC? I think since last year I have started turning from a Mac into a PC. Metaphorically that is. Well, Apple may think that's very uncool but who cares? Microsoft's ruling the world not them. More on my views about Apple's marketing campaign later. Until then to all friends and foes:

Happy New Year Everyone!

300

2007-03-17T17:43:00.000Z

1- 300 is a comic-book style (think Sin City) film with heavily computerized special effects about 300 Spartans that defeat a Persian army of one million or so. It's fun to watch but ridiculously doesn't make sense because those who like these kinds of movies don't care if it makes sense or not.

2- It's all over the Iranian media. Big bad dirty America has made a movie called 300 in which Iranians are shown as brutal motherless dogs. Once again imperialism wants to poison the world's mind against our brave nation and its ancient ambition to use nuclear energy since Darius the great.

3- Elsewhere in the world the rumors are that the movie's underlying message is about the American army in Iraq (ironically shown as Persians) and the small Iraqi insurgence (the Spartans) who will eventually do to George Bush what the Spartans did to Xerxes!

4- What?Bush? Xerxes? Now that's an insult to my Persian ancestors!

2007-02-22T19:34:00.000Z

"Lamar Smith (of Texas) has introduced a bill he calls the SAFETY (Stopping Adults Facilitating the Exploitation of Today's Youth) Act, which says, rather simply, that ISPs would have to record all users' web surfing history, instant messaging conversations, and email."

I really think blocking of websites here is far better than this !!! At least my emails and IMs are not recorded.

After a While (by Veronica A. Shoffstall)

2007-02-22T14:47:00.000Z

After a while you learn
the subtle difference between
holding a hand and chaining a soul
and you learn that love doesn't mean possession
and company doesn't mean security.
And you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts
and presents aren't promises
and you begin to accept your defeats
with your head up and your eyes ahead
with the grace of an adult not the grief of a child.
And you learn to build your roads today
because tomorrows ground is too uncertain for plans
and futures have ways of falling down in mid-flight.
After a while you learn that even sunshine burns
if you get too much
so you plant your own garden
and decorate your own soul
instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.
And you learn that you really can endure
that you really are strong
and you really do have worth
and you learn
and you learn...

2007-02-19T06:43:00.000Z

I found these jams in a sweets shop here and they looked so good that I couldn''t help not buying a few. Captivated by their beauty and having little to do at the hotel room I started to photograph them and then blog them of course.

I don't think the shop would sell many of these because no one I know here had heard about them but I think they have good potential to be mass marketed. Many large businesses have started from a home-run manufacturing. If I had the money I would have invested. It's a pity that people don't have an eye for sweet pretty things like these. :D

TEDtalks

2007-02-16T12:57:00.000Z

"Each year, TED hosts some of the world's most fascinating people: Trusted voices and convention-breaking mavericks, icons and geniuses. The talks they deliver have had had such a great impact, we thought they deserved a wider audience." -www.ted.com/tedtalks

Thanks to stumbleupon.com (previously reviewed here), I happened to come across ted.com and its downloadable talks section TEDTALKS. Sponsored by BMW, TEDTALKS offers downloadable speeches of some the world's most trusted voices in both audio and ipod-friendly mp4 vidoe format. You can find talks from Bono, Tony Robbins and -to my delight- Richard Dawkins there, all ready for dowanload.

I have downloaded most of the videos to my Zen Vision:W and I'm glad that I've found something to keep me busy on my flight back to Tehran.

2007-02-14T11:19:00.000Z

After a few weeks in hospital, our regional project manager in Tabriz died last night. He was just in mid-forties and seemed quite well last time I met him. Although I only worked with him for a couple of days last time I was here and I didn't know him much, the incident added to my general depression. This morning I was thinking to myself "what if something similar happens to me one day?". If I work hard, I may become a project manager in some other country one day but am I willing to accept that I'll die there alone very far away from anyone I know in a crappy hospital where even the doctors can't speak a language I understand? Hmmm...now that I think about it..why not ?!

2007-02-13T12:06:00.000Z

MTN-Irancell will soon start to offer GPRS to its subscribers. That's good news for someone like me who's been using slow and expensive data over GSM for my email and RSS feeds. Unfortunately their network coverage at the moment is limited to a few cities with planned date of full coverage some time early next year. So for me, having to travel so often, it's still too soon to switch completely but I may get a MTN-Irancell line for the times that I stay in Tehran. I'm telling you, mobile data is the future. That is from the business point of view of course, otherwise from the technical one it's already been there for years now.

Bluetooth

2007-02-10T10:43:00.000Z

Tabriz again. This time I am staying in a hotel instead of an apartment which is very boring specially because there's no internet access. I don't know why they don't offer wireless internet here. A DSL line and a wireless router is all they need and they are cheap as dirt these days.

Apart from the internet problem the whole city gives me depression. People are rude and insist on speaking Turkic even after I tell them that I don't speak the language.

There's one funny thing about here though. Tabriz chicks are super-interested in guys who come from the capital and oddly I keep getting phone numbers over bluetooth. Well, I assure you that having a blind date is the last thing I can imagine myself doing while on a business trip to Torkestan but use of bluetooth here reminded me to share something we read in our e-commerce lessons about technology flexibility. The main point of the discussion was that a technology has to be flexible to be commercially successful. It argued that technology should be usable by different people for different reasons that may not be conceived by the original creators. There we had the classic example of refrigerators being used by Skimos for keeping their food from freezing while elsewhere people use them to keep things cold. The same way, bluetooth technology which was originally designed to connect devices such as computers and printers is now helping young people in backward societies like Iran or Saudi Arabia to connect. Interesting huh?

Torpark

2007-02-01T15:34:00.000Z

"Download Torpark and put it on a USB Flash keychain. Plug it into any Internet terminal whether at home, school, or public. Run Torpark.exe and it will launch a Tor circuit connection, which creates an encrypted tunnel from your computer indirectly to a Tor exit computer, allowing you to surf the internet anonymously. How much does Torpark cost? IT'S FREE. "

This is the description given for Torpark, my Internet browser of choice over the past few months. If you are not a smart geek like I am ,you may ask why I am so interested to launch a Tor circuit connection, which creates an encrypted tunnel from your computer indirectly to a Tor exit computer and why do I also strongly recommend you to do so? Well here's the simple answer : It let's you get around the f***ing Internet filtering. So go and get it here now.

For a long time now, people were using tor anonymity network to bypass the filters or just surf the web without broadcasting their IP address to potential hackers or anyone who might be interested in monitoring your browsing activity at work, school or just anywhere else. But getting the tor working and all the manual proxy server setting and stuff made most people too frustrated to use it effectively. What people who developed Torpark have done is to modify the open source Firefox browser and integrate tor network with it so using anonymous web browsing can be done by anyone without any special effort. It's a smart idea and a good example of how one can use the open-source platforms intelligently.

Caffeine,caffeine,caffeine

2007-01-10T18:50:00.000Z

Question: Is the world getting a better place since say when the civilization appeared or the Dinosaurs disappeared or any other arbitrary point in very far history?

Answer: The world changes pretty much the same way as a man does. When I was younger I was healthier but I was a lot more insecure. Now that I'm older, my problems are deeper but I'm also better equipped to handle them. This is true for any other dynamic system I guess. They move from one equilibrium to the other and to determine whether any single state is "better" or "worse" than any other is a completely subjective evaluation. Since subjective judgment is bullshit and pretty much dependent on our mood (which itself is dependent on our biochemical state at that time) we can conclude that the question above is only confusing with no useful or correct answer.

Final Conclusion: If you take two cans of Hype within a time span of less than 5 hours you will end up writing crap on your weblog instead of concentrating on studying Financial Management.

P.S: Going to Tabriz on Saturday. Hope Iran Air's Tupolev won't crash land and I'll have a better time than I did in Arak. Man, it was a shitty place.

Flush Tank

2007-01-04T11:23:00.000Z

Isn't it beautiful? Last night I decided that I need one of these installed on my head to get rid of all the annoying shit in there..... So I did (not literally of course!)..... and I feel much better now. Try one yourself !!

Let's Stumble Upon

2006-12-25T07:34:00.000Z

If you are a surfing addict like me who uses the internet for everything from school homework to downloading washing machine manuals (yeah my landlord lost it), there have probably been times when you had nothing special to check out and still you couldn’t leave your desk for anywhere better than the World Wide Web. Now, stumbleupon.com is here to solve this problem for us once and for all. They have gained lots of good praise, fame and of course a large user base but if you haven’t already signed up with them it’s still not too late to join.

So how it works? It’s very simple and painless. You sign up with them and select categories which interest you most. Then you install a tiny toolbar that sticks to your browser and requires you to log in the first time you use it. After that each time you click on the green Stumbleupon button it automatically takes you to one random web page picked from a huge pile of user-recommended pages that fall within any of the categories you chose earlier. You can also vote for a page by giving it a one-click thumbs-up or thumbs-down.

This is all so useful and smart as you see but the smartest part of Stumbleupon in my view is its practical and efficient use of social web. Each user has a webpage which includes a personal profile, updated lists of voted pages and even a weblog. So if you liked a page recommended by someone, you can visit other pages recommended by him/her or subscribe to his/her page to stay updated.

The quick rise of sites such as Stumbleupon and more recently YouTube (to be discussed later) shows just how useful social web can be. While the first generation of social networking sites such as Orkut were just mainly attractive to teenagers and the occasional users who just tried them because of the hype, these have made social potential of internet useful for everyone and at the same time have kept their attractiveness for those who use social networking for its own sake.

2006-12-12T08:50:00.000Z

Long story short: I have been assigned to our regional office in Arak for more than a month now. So every weekend I have to take a very long trip from here to north to catch my classes. It sounds too difficult but the truth is I don’t care. After all, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do right? The happy part is that my payment is doubled while I’m on a business trip and everyone’s happy with my performance. At the same time, the job involves lots of negotiations with subcontractors which helps me build my skills in business negotiations. Something I could hardly learn at my previous job.

I’m sharing a second-floor apartment with a guy from the technical support team, an electronics engineer graduated from Sharif with a strange taste of philosophy and arts. It’s really a bliss that I have a flat mate that’s worth talking to. Obviously I am trying to make him interested in Dawkin’s works and last week he had his brother bring him The Selfish Gene from UK. On the other hand, being a married guy in his late twenties, he takes great care of his money which is something I really need to learn. Although, sometimes I think he wished he was single too so he could spend every last penny!

Working with the Chinese is not as bad as I thought. Actually when you are in a new city working with strange-looking people who speak a language you can never understand, you feel like you have stepped into an alien land. I like that…specially since it helps me be more aware of my own presence.

Finally, I am typing this on the company’s laptop. A new Toshiba A105. I still have my own sweet Presario but I don’t carry it around anymore. I don’t want to sell it either. I should do something about my gadget craze or I’ll end up spending all my income on digital toys. Hey, now that I think of it, that’s not really a bad idea!!!!!!!!!!

2006-10-10T19:49:00.000Z

I finally decided to change my job. After a few days of doubts and discussions, I left Kabiri's office and joined a chinese GSM network firm that has several large contracts with Iran's mobile phone providers.
The job seems interesting and fairly suits my desire to work in an international environment.The people are quite nice. Surprisingly I haven't got any negative impressions at all. And they serve Chinese food everyday. heheheh it's kinda interesting and I've signed up for lunch everyday since but I guess I'll start bringing my own food soon or I risk changing my taste for greasy fast food and Persian cuisine forever! The working hours are too strict though specially compared to the super-flexible working hours I enjoyed at the previous job.
All in all I have no complaints so far and I'm happy that I left the previous job. I hope everything goes on well. Keep your fingers crossed and wait for more updates !

Introduction to a new Planet Rodmania

2006-09-06T18:25:00.000Z

Dear Reader,

Obviously, you should have noticed that my previous blog is now gone for good. I'm not going to tell you where it's gone but I can tell you that I decided to give this page a total make-over. I hope that what I learned from my previous blogging experience will help me to turn it into a more entertaining and informative place worth of your regular visits.

My main focus in future will be writing about different aspects of consumer technology which is my primary passion. Secondly,as someone who has learned English as a foreign language, I wish to share some tips and advice for English learners from time to time. So cross your fingers for me and provide me with your valued feedback which is absolutely needed for improvement.

With best wishes,
Rodman