Barriers

Your task is not to seek for love, but to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it...

Unknown...
from: www.yully.com

Swimming

Swimming is a tricky course, you fail you die.

Hypothetical question!

Assume that you have only one hour left in this world. Interestingly enough, you have a couple of missed calls on your cell phone. If you had to choose, would you spend that one hour to do your research at school or return those phone calls?

تار و پود هستیم بر باد رفت اما نرفت
عاشقی ها از دلم، دیوانگی ها از سرم

رهی معیری

Kite

Remember ... a kite only rises against the wind.

P. D. Cummings

Opinion

When you ask someone for his/her opinion ... it is a complement.

P. D. Cummings

مهم نیست، مهم نیست ...
مهم انیشتین بود که اونم مرد

Idiocrocy !!

Stupidity is contagious.

Father!

That insecurity will never go away, but it is that insecurity which drives you forward in life.
Learn to come in peace with it.

گوی توفیق و کرامت در میان افکنده اند
کس به میدان در نمی آید، سواران را چه شد

First Step

The first step is to forgive yourself ...

Storm

Life is a storm ... you will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes. You must look in that storm and shout ... 'Do your worst ... for I will do mine '

Count of Monte Christo

The memory ...

That impossible anger strangling the grief, until the memory of your loved one is just poison in your veins. And one day, you catch yourself wishing the person you loved had never existed so you'd be spared your pain.

Henry Ducard!

طرح مبارزه با بد حجابی در روسیه

photo: BBCPersian.com

When the stupid question trick didn't work ...

When it is just 5 minutes left and the professor is about to start a new topic, somebody should make a sacrifice, ruin his reputation and do the stupid question trick because otherwise you have to sit there for another 15 minutes before the professor realizes that he has gone 10 minutes overtime.
How does it work? ... Simple, just make a complete fool of yourself and ask a very stupid question. The professor will be busy answering your question for the remaining time of the class.
But when the trick doesn't work, it really hurts ...

The Namesake

Everything that happens since that day has been a gift.

Einstein

The Orthodox Jewish leader in New York, Rabbi Herbert S. Goldstein, sent a very direct telegraph to Einstein: "Do you believe in God? Stop. Answer Paid. 50 words."
Einstein used only about half his allotted number of words:

I believe in Spinoza's God, who reveals himself in the lawful harmony of all that exists, but not in a God who concerns himself with the fate and the doings of mankind.

For more on this subject refer to TIME.com

تکیه بر تقوی و دانش در طریقت کافریست
راهرو گر صد هنر دارد توکّل بایدش

حافظ

The Caterpillar Effect

These days walking around campus is not as easy as it used to be. You have to watch out not to step over the caterpillars and at the same time you have to look up so that they don't end up in your mouth or eyes.
Wondering why I am worried about stepping over them? In my opinion, the way we look at the caterpillars is the same way God looks at us. All these little creatures like to do is to climb up something, as we like to climb up in the course of our life.
I am not stepping over them, so that the next time God is passing by to see how is everything here down on the earth, he doesn't step over me. I have had enough already!

The non-delivered gift

Old Story

Once again, God is singing the same old song, telling the same old story. The same old story that I hate.
Every moment is like a deja vu, and I can't stop it again.
I can't stop it again.

Vibration!

There is no point in putting your cell phone on the vibration mode and then leave it on the table in a meeting. The noise that it makes is even more horrible.

Hummingbird ...

When I see a hummingbird, I just stop and look at it as long as it is flying there. They fly so smoothly that I feel happy. The other day, I was walking down the street and bumped into one of them. It was flying and I was looking. But the exciting thing was that it started flying literally in front of my eyes for like fifteen seconds, standing still in the air and staring at me. Just beautiful …
Next time you see one of them, stop for a second and enjoy the maneuver.

Something ... Someone ...

Do something great for someone everyday and don't get caught.

G. W. Cummings Sr.
Lessons at the Fence Post

Things happen ...

We live and learn ...

Dr. Milani

Yourself

Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

50 life lessons

The color of Love

Love is red, although sometimes it appears a little blueish. But one thing is for sure, it is not green and never will be green.

دل خویش را بگفتم چو تو دوست میگرفتم
نه عجب که خوبرویان بکنند بی وفایی

سخنی که با تو دارم به نسیم صبح گفتم
دگری نمی شناسم تو ببر که آشنایی

سعدی

The boy who cried wolf

I am sure all of you have read or heard the story of the boy who cried wolf because he was bored. When the real wolf came, he cried wolf again but nobody helped him since he was a liar. The point that I don't understand is the moral of the story. When villagers didn't help the boy, their sheep were scattered and slaughtered. So the moral of the story should be if somebody is lying, listen to him/her every single time or you might be the looser at the end of the day.

اگر ژاله هر قطره ای در شدی
چو خر مهره بازار از او پر شدی

سعدی

What are you doing when you are not doing anything?

You may say "nothing". But according to an article in TIME we are traveling in time when we are doing nothing. When our mind is not involved in any task, it travels in time. Either reviewing the past memories or foreseeing the future. The thing is that if you have some distracting memory in your head or some not very pleasant event coming in the near future, you may get even more anxious when you are idle because your mind starts exploring them.

Whip Cream

I am starting to believe that whip cream is a complicated thing, not necessarily the most complicated concept in the world but one of those that our little brain needs some time to process. I was in the Starbucks the other day and two girls entered the Starbucks talking to each other. The guy ask them about their orders and one of them without any hesitation started ordering:
Can I get a Triple Grande 140 degree no foam cinnamon dolce latte with caramel ...

The guy asked:
Do you want whip cream on it?

And the girl was thinking for like 10-15 seconds to decide whether she liked whip cream on it or not. Anyway, the funny part was that the answer was no and the order came with whip cream.

Automatic Doors

I think the automatic doors are the most polite and respectful things in the world. They open when you're close enough regardless of who you are. They don't care if you're black or white, tall or short, smart or idiot. They respect you being there.
Whenever you're sad, just pass by one of them. They will notice you, they will open for you and they will make your day.

Lessons not necessarily from a trip, No.1

بعد از این تنگ کنم دایره خلوت خویش
تا بدانجا که نهم دل به دل صحبت خویش

دوری و دوستی و حرف کم و رنجش کم
به چنین شیوه توان داشت نگه عزت خویش

زود رنجیدن اگر جرم من ساده دل است
جمع یاران ابدی باد و مرا عذلت خویش

Lessons from a trip, No. 5 - Tea

People have their own ideas on how to boil water, you trust your own or you won't have any tea for the night.

Lessons from a trip, No. 4 - The KitKat incident

If your socks got wet because of walking on a wet floor, don't accept any KitKat offers unless you exactly know what was on the floor!

I know it is a little bit tricky and hard to get the logics behind it. But believe me it is a very crucial lesson to hear and remember.

To move on ...

We never heal or recover inside, we just learn how to cope.

Lessons from a trip, No. 3 - Check list

When going to the bathroom, make sure to go through the well-known, universally acclaimed and internationally admired checklist:

• No multi paragraph announcement is hanging anywhere near the bathroom
• The door should have a lock
• Siphon should be working
• There should be enough toilet-papers

Lessons from a trip, No. 2 - Don't bother reading it

If you want to use the restroom and there is a multi paragraph announcement hanging on the door. Don't bother reading it, it basically means "Not Working".

Lessons from a trip, No. 1 - To slip away first

If something dropped on your head while standing in the kitchen and chitchatting with your friends. Do not look up first because the next one will drop on your face. But if you can't help it since you have a very very curious nature, make sure the curiosity does not open your mouth.

Attachment

I got an email from a TA today with several reading materials attached to it including a zero KB PDF file. Then I got another email from her, explaining that the PDF file had not been attached properly and we had to download it from a web page. Now that I am trying to download it I see that it is a 48MB file. It is a strange feeling to know that your TA expects a 48 MB file to be attached to an email. I am either gonna fail the course no matter how hard I try or will get an A+ without handing a single homework.

To hide a few ...

Skill is not to make people happy while you are happy. Skill is to make them laugh and laugh along with them and don't let them know how crashed and burned you are inside.

کی شعر تر انگیزد خاطر که حزین باشد

یک نکته از این معنی گفتیم و همین باشد

life ...

You know what is harder than catching on fire?
... Putting it out with your bare hands.

تا بهار دلنشین آمده سوی چمن
ای بهار آرزو بر سرم سایه فکن

چون نسیم نو بهار بر آشیانم کن گذر
تا که گلباران شود کلبه ویران من

Please, Don't walk for a second ...

Please, Please ... Don't walk for a second. That bird needs to rest. She is scared of you.

Clown

Somebody told me once that clowns have a pitiful life. They have to laugh even when they don't want to. I am not a clown. I can opt not to laugh anymore even when I am making jokes. The strange thing is that nobody even notices ...

Complicated things ...

Love should never be a secret. If you keep something as complicated as love stored up inside, it could make you sick.

Dr. Otto Octavius!
Spider-man II script

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

این پیمان عزیز دل انگیز، طی یک پیغام سیسیلی، من رو به بازی شب یلدا دعوت کرده. من اصلا نمی دونم این بازی کی در اومد. ولی دیگه نمیشه کاریش کرد ... این هم اعترافات بنده، هرچند همش هم اعتراف نیست

- من تا ۱۴، ۱۵ سالگی توی خونه با توپ تنیس فوتبال بازی می کردم. دیگه برگردون و قیچی و هر چیزی که فکرش رو بکنین. با اون توپ فقط یه دونه قاب عکس شکستم که ربطی به فوتبال نداشت. همینجوری اومدم هنرنمایی کنم که گند زدم

- تا ۱۱ سالگی می رقصیدم (اونم فقط خارجی، نه ایرانی ... یعنی ایرانی بلد نبودم برقصم) بعد دیگه نرقصیدم تا ۲ سال پیش. الان فقط ایرانی ... هرچند هنوزم بلد نیستم

- من تا ۳-۴ سالگی فارسی حرف نمی زدم ... اصلا زبونی که حرف می زدم ربطی به ایران نداشت هرچند همونجا بزرگ شدم

- سوال های امتحان جغرافی یکی از ثلث های سال سوم دبیرستان رو می دونستم، بازم گند زدم

- من بلد نیستم فارسی تایپ بکنم، این رو همین امروز فهمیدم

One Word ...

One Word breaks the code of silence,
Silence tells me all I need to know.
One Word,
One Word, tells me all I need to know.

It is not the way that I want it,
It is just the way that I need it.
Day after day.

One lie tells a thousand stories,
The greatest stories that were ever told.
One Lie,
One Lie, tells the greatest stories that ever told.

Kelly Osbourne Lyrics

They may or may not know ...

آنانکه که محیط فضل و آداب شدند
در جمع کمال شمع اصحاب شدند
ره زین شب تاریک نبردند به روز
گفتند فسانه ای و در خواب شدند

خیام

When more is less

Dragonflies have six legs but can not walk ...

Little did he know ...

Little did he know, but this simple, seemingly innocent act would lead to his imminent death.

Part of the movie script:
Stranger than fiction

Be like water

Don't get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water.

Bruce Lee

Kiosk

Iran suspended by FIFA

Iran have been suspended from all international football activity because of government interference in running the game in the country.
In a statement, Fifa said it had decided to "suspend the Islamic Republic of Iran Football Federation (IRIFF) from all international activity due to government interference in football matters and violation of Article 17 of the Fifa Statutes."
For more detail refer to BBC Sport News.

Loneliness

We might be very happy because we have a lot of friends or family with us, or we may feel insecure since we have nobody to lean on. Either way, when it comes full circle, nobody can help us even if they want to. In fact, on some level we are all alone; we just don't know it yet.

Survey!

Ello, my name a Borat! I come from Kazakhstan! I like sex!

- Oh my God! It was disgusting! I hardly could watch it.
-(me) So what were you doing then?
- I was laughing.
-(me) How come you were laughing? you said it was disgusting.
- Yeah, I know! I couldn't do anything else.

Part of my discussion with almost everyone who has watched "Borat".

Triskaidekaphobia

Don't bother yourself if you can't read the title. I just did it once and won't do it ever again. But if you're wondering what it is, it is the fear of number 13. In most cultures 13 is assumed to be a bad number. (perhaps I have to change all the 13's to 12+1)
A reason that people consider it a bad number is that it is more than 12 which is a number commonly used and sometimes a sacred number. Besides, if you divide 13 objects into many groups, there is always one left alone which should be kind of scary!! Actually, I am a little suspicious about all prime numbers.
Some people consider the failure of Apollo 13's mission as an example that 13 is a cursed number. Even in Formula 1 there is no car with the number 13. The number has been removed after two drivers were killed in crashes both having the number 13.
Anyway, the fear of the Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia which is so hard to read that makes it less scary.

Question

Somebody told me once that whenever you ask God for something and he doesn't give you that, most probably that request is no good for you and you just don't know it yet. Someday you'll understand. Like a mother who won't give her child poison, no matter how hard the child cries for it. Someday, though not necessarily very soon, the child will understand.
Believe me I've been there many many times. Looking back in my life and wondering what the hell was I thinking? and of course thanking God for not giving me what I wanted.
But here is the thing that I don't understand. Isn't God the mighty of all? So he should be able to provide our request without any bad consequences. I mean after all, he is GOD!

Internet Explorer 7

Most likely you've either downloaded IE7 or heard about it somewhere. specially because of the large number of articles comparing IE7 and Firefox2. Just let me add here some exciting features or behaviors I noticed about IE7. Whenever you log in or log out of a Google service in one tab, it automatically does the same thing for other google services open in other tabs and refreshes them too.
The other thing is its ability to zoom in or out of a page. I am not sure if Firefox has such an extension but it comes handy sometimes, especially when you want to look at a small picture.
Although I am still a fan of Firefox, I recommend you to explore the new IE7 yourself.

For a few dollars more!

This week, TIME magazine has published some interesting statistics on American people. Since money is all that I think about!, here the one with the money ...

How much time at work does it take to make $1,000?


Dr. Phil ......................... 2 min. 42 sec.
Brad Pitt ....................... 4 min. 48 sec.
Maria Sharapova ........... 6 min.
Chief Executive .............. 2 hr. 55 min.
High School Teacher ...... 43 hours
Farmer ........................... 57 hours

For more refer to TIME Magazine.

UC Berkeley courses at Google Video

Well, I have to confess that I have a weired feeling about this post, but who cares let's enjoy the material as somebody once said: It is the material that matters!
UC Berkeley is offering public a lot of videos including course videos on Google video for free. Here is the link, take a look and I am pretty sure you will find something out of it.

Good deed

Whenever you do a good deed, take a receipt. You may need it in Heaven, especially if it is something like IRS.

No comment ...

Writely - Online Word Processing

Last night I noticed that Writely.com is up and working. You can use your Google account to sign in. It is a word processing software similar to Microsoft Word but it is online and free. I played a little bit with its features and liked it a lot. It has many useful tools such as tables, variety of fonts and you can publish your blogs through it. A very useful feature is its real-time multi-collaborator capability. You can also share your document with others instantly. On the other hand, it is possible to upload your Word documents into it and edit them and save your files as a PDF file.

Headbutt phenomenon

I was playing with Google Trends and I searched for Zidane. As you may remeber, he headbutted Materazzi, Italian player, in the World Cup final match. Here is the search history for Zidane and Materazzi according to Google. I would like to call it Headbutt phenomenon.

Click to enlarge

Noble Prize in Medicine for 2006

" The Noble Assembly awarded the Noble Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2006 to Andrew Fire , PhD, of Stanford University School of Medicine and Craig C. Mello, PhD, of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, for their discoveries related to RNA interference."

" Fire, 47, professor of pathology and of genetics at Stanford, is part of a team of researchers credited with recognizing that certain RNA molecules could be used to turn off specific genes in animal cells. The discovery marked the first time that biologists were able to selectively silence the voice of one gene in the cacophony of the tens of thousands that pilot a cell throughout its development and death. This development opened up previously impossible areas of research."

from Stanford University School of Medicine website, for more detail on this news follow this link .

Iranian Stand-up Comedian

I am in fact the only Iranian Comedian in the world, that's actually three more than Germany.

Omid Djalili

Recently, I watched some stand up comedies from Omid Djalili. Apparently I am little behind here because I didn't know him before. There are a couple of short clips in his website. You can also find many short ones in YouTube or Google Video. Here is the one that I liked a lot, although it is an old joke and I remember it since high school, but he tells it magnificently. In case you've watched "Over the Hedge", he is the voice of the Persian kitty.
By the way, I know there are other Iranian stand up comedians around such as Maz Jobrani, so don't blame me for the quote here.

Uncertainty

We are required to be maximally uncertain about what we do not know. This is the most honest thing to do!

Entropy Optimization Principles
with Applications
by Kapur and Kesavan

Rise and Fall

Our greatest glory is not in the never falling but in rising every time we fall

Confucius

No Comments ...

Browzar ...

Are you worried about leaving a trace of what you've browsed on the web when you're using a friend's computer? Browzar claims that it won't leave anything behind. Just simply download it and run it without installing anyting. The only catch is that if you're one of those people who are worried about leaving a trace, you probably know how to clean up your trace after using IE or Firefox. So, ignore this post and wait for the next one!

Memories ...

Sometimes, I think I am getting drowned in my memories, but I like it. At least I will die in a sweet thing. It is becoming a game more or less, to go down as far as I can, to remember things deep inside. The other day, I remembered the classical music played by Keyvan Saket with TAR which is a Persian music instrument. Believe me it is hard, more than you can imagine. I found some of his audio clips on the web. Here is the link ... Enjoy.

First Dell then Apple

Short after Dell recalled 4.1 million laptop batteries, Apple also recalled 1.8 million batteries. In both cases, the batteries were made by Sony Energy Devices Corp. of Japan. Both recalls are expected to cost Sony between $172 million and $278 million.
I am wondering what happens if God recalls human hearts for unexpected failure and catching fire!! Perhaps, whenever there is a war somewhere, it is basically a battery recall. The only difference is that there is no replacement.

The blue screen

Well, it is a bit of a technical note but is worth mentioning. Recently, I've seen two IBM laptops (T series) both of them having an exact same problem with their wireless driver causing the famous blue screen error. The strange thing was that the problem had come out of no where. My guess is that a windows update or an upgrade in a software had caused it. Anyway, new wireless drivers solved the issue and I have to confess that I was very lucky to pinpoint the source of the problem. So, here is an experience: If you have a T series IBM laptop and you are getting blue screen error, it may have something to do with the wireless drivers.

(The Image is a sample blue screen error, not related to the problem described above)

Microsoft Office 2007

Last week I did a brave thing and installed Microsoft Office 2007 (beta). I say a brave thing because I had a very bad experience with new Windows Media player 11 that eventually I un-installed it.
Anyway, it has a lot of good features that I may post later but one strange thing was that Microsoft Outlook kept crashing each time I opened one email. After searching around, it turned out to has something to do with Adobe Acrobat 6.0 add-in, although I have to say that I didn't find the solution in microsoft.com. Anyway, for those who are willing to test office 2007 (which I recommend) here is a good resource in case of any problems with Outlook.

The end ...

When memories exceed dreams, the end is near

One thing that tells me a company is in trouble is when they tell me how good they were in the past. Same with countries. You don't want to forget your identity. I am glad you were great in the fourteenth century, but that was then and this is now. When memories exceed dreams, the end is near.

Michael Hammer
from the book: The World is flat
by: Thomas Friedman

Wikimapia

Take a look at this Wikimapia web site. It has a high resolution satellite picture of the world with a lot of comments and information boxes on the map. Of course since it is a wiki you can also put your own comment boxes on the map. It is time to get global and let every body know where is your home and where you usually sit to watch TV!! It might be a little slow though. But it is fun after all. Here, I have zoomed on Sharif University and I am highlighting its soccer field.

Click to enlarge ...
(Picture: Screen snapshot from wikipedia.org)

No need for an apology!

Stand for nothing

Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.

Alexander Hamilton

Laddies rule

I think car manufacturers should put the window switches on the front passenger's seat side, not on the driver's seat side. Because most of the time it is the lady who is sitting on the passenger's seat and she is the one who decides almost everything, including the closed and open windows.

Friends are the best

Friends are the best in our life. You can call them when you need them. You can count on them when you are in trouble. You don't have any legal binding to them. You can end the whole friendship anytime and they are the first ones you stop calling when you are busy.

All Breakups are off

Due to recent heat wave in the area, local government officials announced yesterday that no breakup is permitted during next week and all breakups done during the last week are considered annulled! Restaurant managers will also be responsible for the breakups taken place in their restaurants. Apparently there has been many reports on people getting crazy because of hot weather and breaking up!
Government speaker also advised people to use more water to avoid dehydration and its terrible consequences.

Neils Bohr

I read this quote from Neils Bohr ,

Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future.

What do you think?
The guy was real genius.

Please ...

Idiots

The trouble with idiots is, they're too idiotic to see their own idiocity.

Jakob Arjoni
from the book "Idiots"

Toopkhaneh Sq.

Toopkhaneh Sq. - Iran, Tehran - July 18th
For details refer to this link.

Chador

No comments ...
(photo from BBC)

Kindness

"What is the reason that we are kind to some people? If I tell you that you're kind to me because you fear loosing me as a friend, do you start defending yourself or you take it as a complement? I mean, is it wrong to be kind to people because we fear loosing them?"
She said that and continued eating her salad ...

Letter to Einstein from his son

Dear Papa,
Imagine, Tete can already multiply and divide, and I am doing geometetry (geometry) as Tete says. Mama assigns me problems; we have a little booklet; I could do the same with you then as well. But why haven't you written us anything lately? I just think: "At Easter you're going to be here and we'll have a Papa again."
Yours, Adu!

The letter was sent to Einstein from his older son Hans Albert (known as Adu) at 1915, when Einstein was working on his General Theory of Relativity. His younger son Eduard was known as Tete. For more details on Einstein and his personal life crisis at that time refer to www.time.com

Henry's comment on Zidane

You can take the man out of the rough neighborhood, but you can't take the rough neighborhood out of the man

Thierry Henry
Commenting on Zidane's headbutt
during the World Cup final match

My friend and his new friend

A friend of mine has met a very beautiful girl recently. Apparently, they have talked and agreed to be friends from August 4th. I am very happy for them. There are some rumors that they may call each other meantime but both parties have denied it officially.

Flash

Have you seen people in stadiums taking pictures? I always wonder what they think by leaving the camera flash on. Do they really think that the flash will light up the whole stadium? The point is that most of them are using "Point and Shot" digital cameras. These cameras automatically change ISO (which controls digital camera sensitivity to light) and aperture ( which controls the amount of light that reaches the camera) settings and make the shutter speed faster. So if your flash can not brighten up the scene, you will get a dark photo. That's why when you take a picture during a cloudy day and leave your flasher on, your photo looks like a photo taken during the night.

Bye Bye World Cup

( photos from Yahoo!)

Good News

Yesterday, my fortune in Orkut was:
" You and your wife will be happy in your life together. "
I am dying to tell her this fabulous news. Does any body know her by any chance?

Roozonline.com

Roozonline.com is one of the news sites that rarely put a reference for its news. Suddenly today, they have this big reference thing there under the Germany - Italy news. I am wondering who may need a reference for it. I mean is there really some one who may doubt the fact that Germany received two goals during the last two minutes and wants to check the whole thing up on fifaworldcup.com?

Grande Cappuccino ...

Today I asked for a non-trimethylxanthine Cappuccino and the waiter looked me in the eye as if I was asking him to lunch Discovery shuttle. I was just asking for a decaf Cappuccino.
By the way, did you know that caffeine is basically an addictive drug and stimulate your brain the same way that heroin and cocaine do? So, watch out my friend, you may want your coffee decaf for a while.

FIFA suspends Greece from world play

Same thing can happen to Iran:

European champion Greece has been suspended from international competition by soccer's ruling body because of government interference in the domestic administration of the sport.

For the full story refer to this link.

Life ...

Click to enlarge ...
(photo taken: 07/29/2004 - Iran)