Wishes

There was an old man working as a guardian of a library in Shiraz University. Once I heard him saying "Oh God, Send me a million Dollars". I asked him why he is asking for dollars and not Rials. "No difference to the God. He can send both. So why not Dollars?", he replied.

In my case, I have received whatever I've been in need of. And of course, I've tried to get them. And for sure, I'm very thankful to the God. In some cases, however, he gives you the things you wish, no need to try. You just need to wish it from the bottom of your heart.

Several years ago, when I was a PhD student in University of Tehran, I was stuck in a very small room shared between two. The space was enough for one resident and it was really a damn. The worse thing, in the mean time, was that the window could not be opened at all and the heaters were not adjustable. A real cell mostly like a jail.
Anyway, one day I decided to buy a flower to bring some kind of beauty to my room. And I did it. Yes, a primrose (Pamchal) in a small vase. On my way to the dorm, I was thinking to my self whether I can hear and sing the song "Gol e pamchal" once again (the song was composed for a TV serial under the same title). And when arrived in my room, I just turned on the radio...
Yes!!! The song was on air in "Radio Payam"...

And the day before yesterday, I wished if I can watch a live Spanish dance again. Like the one Madonna performed in "La is La Bonita". And yesterday, during my short excursion, it came true. There was a 20min live performance of Spanish dance on a small stage there. Really nice.

And I thanked God again for it.

Several years have passed as of my educational period in Shiraz University and I don't know if the one million dollar dream has come true. Hope so...

Upside down

There is a map of the world in my friend's office. The map, however, is a little bit different from the normal ones we've seen so far.
How?
Well, actually it is designed upside down. I mean, the northern hemisphere has gone to the south and vice versa. So we have north pole in southern hemisphere. All of the countries (or better to say, every thing) below the equator are those miserable ones which have been in the northern part previously.

This, although funny, reminds us that many of the current rules and regulations, problems and properties,... are results of such sort of conventions. I'm sure that none of us has asked his/her teacher about this. Why we are in north and they are in south? Why those below the equator (except a few of them) are thought to be lower in many aspects (compared to the residents of the northern part)?

Remember, no matter what the maps say or what the divisions are, you can be the heart of the world...

Excursion

I'll be having an excursion tomorrow (Thursday). So, can't write any posts while traveling.
Don't worry, I'm not going to leave you without putting a post in advance. But you got to promise not to read it today. OK?
Good. So, let me think about the new post for a while...

Energy saving

According to the Japanese rules, houses and residencies up to 5 floors do not need elevators necessarily. So, you see many buildings without lifts. This, I think is for energy saving as Japan has no access to oil and gas resources. Last month the prime minister said that he won't wear coats in his office anymore to encourage people for a more efficient power saving campaign. This, according to the authorities, will enable them to increase the setting temperature of the air conditioners from 25 to 28 during summer time bringing saving 310 million liters of oil.

In our campus the situation is getting worse after privatization of the national universities. I mean, they are trying to cut off many expenses. Minimum number of lamps and lighting equipments, decreased phone calls,...
The air conditioner in our room is broken and they are not going to fix it just because of the energy saving. It is really hot in here. This is getting worse day by day. As of last week, they attached a notice inside the elevator and warned that those going to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floor are not allowed to use it. Just because of saving, saving, and saving...

The question is if they respect such kinds of warnings or not. The answer is positive to a large extent. For instance, during the cold winter, the secretary was freezing in her room but was insisting that we have to take care of our lab; you know, there is no money. She finally decided to use the warming bandages instead of turning on the heaters.
To me, work is not so worthy to die for. I want to live...

A friend, gone forever

A Friend of mine, Amir Hosein Naderi, has been shot dead last week in Iran. I got the News yesterday and felt...
No more explanation. The only thing I know is that he was shot with 5 bullets.

Man, this is not fair. What the hell is going on there? He, to tell the truth, could be the best friend of anyone. Very nice guy. We were in the same university and department there in Shiraz. He was young (around 26 or so), small in body but really large in manners.

He was among those who endorsed the agreement of reunion. Now, he simply can't. No, he will. From the sky above. From somewhere over the rainbow...

My heart is going to stop. But my mind can't beleive it...

Time

"Time is an invention".
I read this quotation on a T-shirt. But is it really true? Is the time some sort of invention? If so, how about the life before invention of the time?
And, if it is not an invention, what would be your feeling if some day you see the earth rotating in opposite direction?
In my opinion, time is not an invention, but timers. Timers are inventions to harmonize our life. Time, probably, is a convention for rendering our feelings.

Over the rainbow

Rainbow, to many of the young people is just a term they heard of or read about. Many of us have not seen it even once in our lives. As for me, the last one I saw backs to about 20 years ago; when I was a child and could understand it...
You know, rainbows are everything. They show us all of the beauties of this world; true colors which when they come together, promise a colorful life. No darkness, pure light bridging your heart to that of the one you think of. And beyond this, there is a blue sky. Really blue. Where the birds love to fly...

I selected "Somewhere over the rainbow" for this weekend. The song was performed by Judy Garland for "The wizard of Oz" and released in 1939. Many other singers performed it afterwards but still the one performed by Judy Garland is the most impressive and inspiring one. Lyrics is from Edgar Y. Harburg and music is by Harold Arlen.

##########
Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby
Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true
Some day I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemondrops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me
Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds flyBirds fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why can't I?
Some day I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemondrops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me
Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why can't I?
If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?
##########

Let them talk

Last year, there was a conference here in Japan and I was supposed to prepare an article for presentation. The standards, however, were really strange and tough to obey. We had to prepare our full article in 1 page (A4) only. The worst thing was the abstract. The secretariat asked for an abstract with maximum 100 characters! You know, it is always difficult to have our say in a few words; this time less than 100 characters (including titles,...). I did my best to say everything in just a sentence.
Today, students of MSc (second year, M2) will present their works (as a requirement for the fulfillment of their degree). They, surprisingly, have got to do it within only 2 minutes. I asked one of the M2 students about his presentation and what he can present in his powerpoint slides within such a short time. "ETO... ETO... ETO...", he replied meaning that we can just say "Umm...Well...". There will be, however, a limited time for poster presentation on the same day (afternoon).

A dream

I had a dream last night. Meeting many old friends in a party of its place and occasion I have no idea. Happy to meet them all around and unhappy with waking up, I remembered that we've promised to meet each other in 8/8/88 (30/10/2009). And that breezed my mind. You know, we, professors, alumni, students, and staff of the department of materials science and engineering (Shiraz University), promised to have a reunion on the mentioned day in HAFEZIEH. So, we'll see the changes... This for sure, will be a very beautiful day in my life; old friends...

Alas, I wish I could meet all my friends, teachers,... again; from the childhood till now. I miss them all...

Artists

Engagement of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes was a good news to the huge fans of the American actor. Immediately after this announcement in Paris, TV channels started to broadcast the news in the best way they can. Among these, an interview with Katie was interesting: "He is very kind, gentleman,....". This, on the other hand, is Tom's 4th engagement as far as I know (or maybe I'm wrong). Anyway, I was thinking that in the case of an ordinary guy just like many of us, several engagements or qualities of this type can be interpreted as a disqualifying factor but for an artist...?
This just reminded a discussion between two friends who were talking about an Iranian singer and her life. One of the sides had some negative points on her life story. The other side, however, said that in the case of artists, the life is not that important. You should only look at his/her art.

In my opinion, In the case of artists and their life, the equation has many parameters; At least equal to the number of people they are in touch with. So the equation is really complex and can not be understood well.

Lost in Campaigns

I'm going mad of these campaigns. Just turn on your TV. You'll see the flood of campaigns washing your mind. Here, there is no ending to the campaign programs announced by producers almost everyday. They come in different types and styles: family campaign, single campaign, student campaign, price-down campaign, download campaign, anniversary campaign, Father's day campaign, mother's day campaign,....
Some times, I tell myself that they'd better change it to another word. Just for the sake of customers. How about "Seduce" instead of campaign?

Here is the funniest campaign I saw in the trains: There are some posters asking travelers not to use their mobile phones and also not to sit on the floor. They, for your info, have named it "Manner-up campaign".

My little rose

My pretty rose is singing. I'm not alone any more!

Close your eyes. Just think about it. How beautiful it would be if your flower could sing in its small vase. Then you could share your feelings or you know that at least there is some thing that understands you...

Now open your eyes. Your dream comes true...

Believe me! Japanse have done it recently. Let's Corporation (in Nagoya) has made what they call it "flower sound". It works based on resonance effect of sound. An oscillating component at the bottom of the vase generates sound waves which travel through water to the stalks and then to the flowers and the leaves. Then a sound is generated which can be heared from whole flower. The device, according to The Japan Journal (Vol. 2, No. 3), works with many audio devices such as CD, MD, or even TV.

Duality

I believe that the worst thing in Japan is that you'll never find their feelings about yourself. So, you will never understand whether you are doing right or wrong. This is a result of the way they treat you. No matter what you do, they will respond positive.
You may say that this is not a big problem. However, as a foreigner, I have experienced many situations here and suffered from their duality. Once I broke a part of a device by mistake, I simply wrote a message to the one working with the same device. He came over and said that it is OK and no problem but after leaving, I saw him hitting the wall for this inconvenience saying some words. In another scene, they were talking about a friend of mine but pronouncing her name in an offensive way.
Two days ago, working in the lab, I asked a student if he is doing his research work. "Yes", he answered. Then he asked me the same. "I'm checking my emails", I said. You know, his reaction was this: "What a wonderful work. You are doing a very nice job"...

This, may not look a big problem in the first glance. But to us, this is annoying first of all as we know that this is not the real thing they think of, and secondly, we can not make any plan/schedule for future since their response can not be trusted.

Nada soso

I selected a very nice song "Nada soso" performed by Rimi Natsukawa (Japanese pop singer) for this weekend.
The title literally means "Falling tears (or a stream of tears)". Lyrics is from Moriyama Ryouko.
You can listen to the song clicking here.
The translation is taken from Waxin' Lyrical and you can find the song in Japanese, Romaji and English here.

##########
I whisper "thank you", as I leaf through this old photograph album.
To one who always cheered me on, within my heart.
And should the memories of that smile I think of, come rain or shine, fade away into the distance.
They return in the days I search for a glimpse of your face: a stream of tears...

Almost a habit now, I wish upon the very first star,
Looking within the evening skies for you with all my heart

The memories of that smile I think of, in sorrow or joy...

And if you can see me, from where you are, I'll live on, believing that someday we'll meet again.
And should the memories of that smile I think of,come rain or shine, fade away into the distance.
In loneliness and yearning - my feelings for you, a stream of tears...
If only we could meet, if only we could meet - my feelings for you, a stream of tears...
##########

Buddha's Prayer

Now may every living thing,
Young or old,
Weak or strong,
Living near or far,
Known or unknown,
Living or departed or yet unborn,
May every living thing be full of bliss.

Poor word!

Yesterday, I was looking for a book from Guliev in WWW. The book, as far as I remember, was published in persian entitled "Sokout e Dar" meaning "Silence of the door". Couldn't find it neither in persian nor in English unfortunately. However, something was quite interesting: roughly, 80% of the results of the search for "Sokout" (which means silence), were related to politics. The word is really miserable, isn't it?
By the way, does anybody have any info about Guliev and his works? Where can I find his books? For your info, He is the author of many short stories not only for the kids, but also for grown-ups.

Dedication

You know what, I'm sure that the Japanese nation is alive just for you! Wait, I've got some reasons for this. They work 24hrs to make a contribution to the world of science, or better to say, to the human beings. This, obviously, leaves no time for them to enjoy their life; to see the beauties of nature, to cuddle their kids,...
The result, however, is an enhancement in life; a better life for the rest.

There was a man, deeply seek in a hospital, living with a roommate who was also suffering from another disease. The first guy, could not move and his back was to the window. The other one, by the way, was sitting on his bed close to the window explaining the beauties of outside for his roommate everyday.
One day, when a nurse found the window-side man dead in silence, the second one ask her to move his bed to the window to watch the fascinating outside. The man, needless to say, was surprised to see that there is a wall in front of window and that's all. So he asked the nurse why the dead roommate has been telling many stories about a park with birds, children, boats, old trees,...
And the she replied: "The man was blind and even couldn't see the wall at the window..."

Inconsiderate

I am really inconsiderate these days. Look: moving mobile phone instead of mouse, putting two tea bags in a mug, adding gold paste to the tea (instead of sugar), losing money, falling down on a very flat surface,... All and all are symptoms of this...

You know, there was a kid, highly inconsiderate. His mom used to ask him watch himself when going outside. Here is a typical day of his life outside the house: After playing with friends, he does not notice that one of his hands is left in the playground. Then he goes to the street to take a look at the shops. He, surprisingly, leaves his nose there, then an ear, and...
He goes back home with his mom waiting. "Oh. Not again", says the mom and continues: "How careless you are my little kid".
Then, the same as the days before, the door is knocked. Yes, neighbors are lined at the door bringing his parts to be fixed kindly...

I do not know the author to give you more info. However, I'd like to ensure you that the most important part of the body was never left outside. Yes, his heart. To tell the truth, it was kept by mom...

Children

"The little prince" by Antoine de Saint Exupery makes a part of our memories since almost all of us have seen the cartoon-version on TV. A pilot, lost in a desert with his plane crashed, tells the story of visiting a stranger; a little prince with his simple and lovely character...
I'm not going to repeat the story in the blog but I'd like to publish the dedication words hereby. Here it is:

###############
TO LEON WERTH
I ask the indulgence of the children who may read this book for dedicating it to a grown-up. I have a serious excuse: he is the best friend I have in the world. I have another excuse: this grown-up understands everything, even books for children. I have a third excuse: he lives in France where he is hungry and cold. He needs cheering up. If all these reasons are not enough, I will dedicate the book to the child from whom this grown-up grew. All grown-ups were once children--although few of them remember it. And so I correct my dedication:
TO LEON WERTH WHEN HE WAS A LITTLE BOY
###############

Can't express my feelings after reading the dedication. It is a must read before starting to read the book.
Honestly, I should confess that it is really difficult to understand it. It is the story of a kid who does not understand why the people need to order to own things. Why some are faithful and some are not. How a snake can send someone to heaven with its poison,...
He, in the mean time, learns many things: There are many roses like the one he fell in love with; There are many obstacles to cope with. And most of all, "the important things in life are visible only to the heart" so the time away from the rose, makes the rose more special to him. Therefore, even though there are many roses, his love for his rose makes her unique...

So, do you think that a grown-up can understand all of these?

"My flower is up there, somewhere...", he says, watching millions and millions of stars...

Traffic light

In Japan, the same as any other country on this planet, traffic lights come in three colors: Green, yellow (orange), and red. There is, however, a funny issue here. What?
Well, here green light is called blue. So, when you hear about the blue traffic light you have to consider it as green.
This, regardless of its origins, reminds me a short story I read about 10 years ago.
There was a traffic light installed at a crossroad guiding drivers 24hrs. The light, watching cars passing everyday, was doing a good job. One day, surprisingly, the light turned to blue, a color which was not already seen on traffic lights. Everybody was confused, cars were crashing, bumping each other,...
After some time, the light turned to its original colors (green, yellow, and red) and the traffic jam was vanished afterwards.

And the light was whispering sadly: I wanted to show you the way to the sky. But you didn't realize...

To feel free

I think all members of human-kind society have some common desires regardless of their nationality, religion, whatever. For example, children love to grow up soon, perhaps to get more power or to act as their parents. Youth are crazy of risks, fast moving, not listening to the advices of the elders. And old people wish to be a child, to get their precious moments back. This, may not be true in all cases, but covers a high percentage of the earth's settlements.
The desires may change with our age because of many factors. However, I'm sure that there is something we look for throughout our whole life: Freedom.
Sometimes we are like trapped in what we have made: Our cars, our homes,...
To feel free, we just need to put more time on ourselves, to brush up our minds and to breeze our souls, remembering that the life can be as beautiful as a flight of a butterfly kissing the lovely flowers or the silence of the waves coming to the hug of the shore...

World cup

To be qualified for the final round of Fifa world cup is a dream to all nations even for Brazilians who have the record of attendance. People around the globe, pray for their team and experience the stressful moments of victory. Asian countries, though still far from the first-class squads, participate this nice event with their bodies and souls and celebrate their victories against rivals. Here, doing a fair play is of utmost importance. A loser who has done a fair play is preferred to a winner with dirty works.
For 2006, Iranians have done a nice job. No lost game and direct flight to Germany. This, for sure, brings happiness to all of us as Iranians first, and as soccer fans secondly. Japanese soccer fans are also happy to see Iranians qualified. And, I'm sure that everybody is happy now. So, lets express our heartful thanks to the team members.
Beautiful life, a game can bring all hearts together wherever they are and cheers them up regardless of the man-made borders.

Blogs

The story of blogs is the story of people who want to publicize their thoughts and activities. Here, people are like guests coming without notice and leaving in silence. Blog holder, the host, does not know who the guests are and does not need to know.
Here is a place to be yourself regardless of the chains and locks. You do not need to play a role but you need to care about your known and unknown guests; to welcome them, and to host them with your posts.
There is no start-line and no end to blogging as it is the story of a life and reflects some scenes which may be found in the life of many people. Therefore, it may be boring to some and cheerful to the others. The most important thing, however, is to give something new and refreshing. In my case, life is not directly reported since I'm not good at painting and can not give you a good image. So it is impossible to broadcast it directly. On the other hand, there are many means and tools with their own story which I like to use as an indirect representative of my life. So, the literature of this blog is a little bit different from the normal style. In the mean time, I'd like to stay away of political/ religious/... issues in this blog. This way, I feel more relaxed as we may find more common points to share. Therefore, to my dear readers, posts are like mirrors of my moments and they can feel it up to their imagination. Now, you may send me your thoughts pointing positive and negative issues without knowing the characters acting in my daily life.

A man for all seasons

Floppy disks have been (and still are) playing an important role in our electronic life. However, a few of us have been looking for the inventor appreciating him for his brilliant idea. Yoshiro Nakamatsu, is the one I'm talking about. He, interestingly, holds 2300 patents and 3218 inventions so far (data is from Engology.com) among which, floppy disk, CD, and digital watch are known to almost all of us. He is ranked as one of the five great scientists in history alongside Archimedes, Michael Faraday, Marie Curie, and Nicola Tesla.
The 73-year-old man started his work at the age of 5 with an automatic gravity controller for a model which makes autopilot possible. Plastic kerosene pump and heat pump are two other inventions both made at the age 14. He started to work on downsizing phonograph records with eliminated scratchy quality of sound (age 20) using fine wood. This effort led to the invention of floppy disks. A cigarette that he says makes the people smarter, a chair that cools a person's head and warms his feet ( to induce clarity of thought), water-powered engine, fuel cell, and cosmic energy are some other inventions.

According to Nakamatsu, "Freedom of intelligence" is the key to successful invention which means working with no strings attached.
He believes that he is in the middle of his life and can double his inventions...

Here is the point: You may have some inventions during your life (even small things are counted) . Anyhow, do you think that everybody can invent or should have some kind of invention during their lives?

Persisting people

This is something sparking my mind after reading an article (M. Donovan, "Touching Buddha", The Japan Journal, Vol. 1, No 9, Jan 2005).
The article is about the people and their resistance against changes. It says that even in Japan, as a non-religious country, there are many superstitions: Good or bad numbers, Shrines and temples dedicated to different activities such as health, wealth, happiness, fishing, teeth, childbearing, studying,...Some temples even have changed their field of activity.
Japanese, according to the author, are deeply superstitious. For instance, children are threatened for the uneaten food with the ghost of wastefulness, and more interestingly, people will turn to a cow if they sleep immediately after eating.

To the author, the origins could be partly scientific, mostly wishful thinking, or quite contrary to expectations. To me, however, some other reasons should be added but the question still remains: If the superstitions are dangerous, why the people still believe in them? Or maybe they are good in some aspects?

Books and mobiles

Many of us have heard about Japanese and their eagerness to read: Books, Journals and magazines,...
The story, though still true, needs to be revised as a majority of the Japanese are leaving this habit turning to the electronic-amusement facilities. Now, many people prefer to play with their cell phones instead of reading books. They just play games and/or send c-mails (SMS) using their phones or play with their Nintendo or other game tools.
This, reminds me a story I read in "Zendegi dar Eish, Mordan dar khoshi" (A joyful life, A pleasant death) by "S. Tabatabaei". Here is the story:
Once a man came over to visit Pharaoh bringing his new invention. The king asked about it. "Writing" said the man and explained it: Alphabets,...
Pharaoh, however, rejected the invention and said: It is definitely harmful for the humankind as it brings lassitude to them and makes them slackers. Now we keep everything in our mind and your invention decreases the power of mind.
Don't know if it holds true. But the electronic world seems to target our time. In this battle, those who use it as a means of progress, can be successful. Those who are hoaxed with the devices will go down step by step.

A graph

Have you ever thought about the graph of your life? What will be the result if someone asks you to show your life (so far) in a graph?

Friends

These days I feel like exhausted. That's probably result of pressures of both educational and general life. Yesterday, however, I had a good time talking to a German professor (Thies Thiemann) . He just came over and wanted to see is everything is alright. "Yes", I said. Seemed that he was not satisfied with the answer, so continued: "What are you doing these days? I was just worried about your situation here..."
Anyway, we talked over many things, research, life, German language, Catalan,...
And finally, he asked me to contact him in the case of any problem or if I need...
Later, I was thinking to myself, among the huge number of the friends I have, who is a real one? Those who never let you down? Or...
By the way, do you have any especial criteria in making friends?

Inaccuracy

I learned many things during my educational life here, among which, this one looks very important: To solve the problems, you do not need to be highly accurate. The less parameter, the faster result.
Many people think that they should include all parameters involved. This, obviously, will make the problem more realistic but less soluble. Just take a look at the number of investigations performed to simulate a condition, an object, whatever. None of them can assure you of giving a final answer to the problem. In fact, sometimes you need to ignore some parameters and add a safety factor to apply your findings to a real situation. Isn't it?
This, of course, will lead to some new results in its turn which can be used for further investigations. Here, I do not believe that computer simulations are redundant works but what I'm trying to say is that, with some simplification we may get results applicable to the real situation. But thinking to many parameters and trying to solve complex systems may not lead to an acceptable result necessarily.
Perhaps that's why H. H. Munro says "A little inaccuracy sometimes saves a ton of explanation".

And this is true even in general life...