Kamangir (Archer)

Celebration Under Siege

Kamangir | March 15, 2006 | Category Iran

Chaharshanbeh Soori, the ceremony of fire, was celebrated in Iran under the aggressive surveillance of police forces. Reports say some fifty people were seriously injured. The government did its all best to avoid people celebrating this event, even a top cleric issued a Fatwa against it. They argue that this is a dangerous event and should be abandoned.

Last night, thanks to the Iranian Association (see), we celebrated the event, here. They have had to pay 100$ to police and the fire department because of making loud noise and open fire. The event went well, no injury. We all had a great night and I had the chance to show the real Iranian spirit to Mike.

From these two paragraphs I conclude that the main party responsible for injuries in the Chaharshanbeh soori event in Iran is nobody except the government. Rather than providing big controlled fireplaces in the cities and distributing safe fireworks they only oppress people. Inevitably, people play with real ammunition and get hurt.

Hanged Brains

Kamangir | March 15, 2006 | Category Iran

Hamid Reza Asefi, Foreign Ministry’s speaker, is among the few top figures who remained in their posts after Ahmadinejad took over the power. To my understanding he was quite a different man. At least, he speaks English well and dresses up like a politician. However, below are his exact words when he was asked about Britain’s Jack Straw (see):

من سخنرانی‌ ای Ú©Ù‡ برای ايشان تهيه شده بود را چند بار خواندم Ùˆ ارتباط منطقی Ùˆ پيوستگی خاصی بين مطالب آن نديدم Ùˆ متأسفم Ú©Ù‡ بگويم اين سخنان تنها مشتی خزعبلات بود … از اينکه ديپلمات برجسته ‌ای همچون آقای استرا پيش از مطالعه مطلبی آن را عنوان می‌ کند به اين نتيجه رسيدم Ú©Ù‡ ظاهراً مغز آقايان هنگ کرده Ùˆ به دری وری گفتن افتاده ‌اند

I read the text of his speech and did not find any logical connection or continuity in it. I regret to say that those were just a bunch of nonsense words… When a top politician like Mr Straw talks before carefully thinking, I conlcud that these guys’ brains are hanged and so they are saying nonsense.

))(( forever

Kamangir | March 14, 2006 | Category Iran

Oil, to help Uranium

Kamangir | March 13, 2006 | Category Iran

News from Iran:

The Freedom to be Oppressed

Kamangir | March 13, 2006 | Category Iran

Azadeh and I were recently reading one of the booklets of the Jehovah Witnesses. The interesting thing was that the writer intended to prove things, but at the same time he used the hypothesis, too. Like, he was talking about “eating too much is a sin”. Then, he quoted from the scripture that Jesus told something like “sleeping very much and wandering around and such things are bad”. Then, he concluded “as eating too much is also very bad, so we have to never commit it.” To me, it’s like using psedu-arguments to prove something you really have nothing to justify it.
The son to Motahari, a top cleric in the time of revolution whose books were the main sources of the ideology courses we had to take in the school, has given a proposal for Islamic clothings (see). After talking about the “fact” that “there should be a standard for Islamic clothing” and that “early governments were not working on this issue very seriously” or “they were even encouraging non-Islamic behaviors”, he concludes that something should be done. He basically intends to “limit all kinds of sexual pleasure including audio and visual ones inside houses” (exact translation). Then, he comes to the point that “forcing people to obey such rules is an exact sign of freedom”. Why? Because it is like “forcing people to brush their teeth” or “forcing people to become literate”. Hence, “it is an exact act of freedom to force people to obey such rules”. To my understanding, we know that brushing our teeth is good for us, everybody knows personally. However, I have never experienced that when I wear short-sleeves, which are assumed to be bad by these guys, something bad happens to me. Or, I barely see a covered woman here and I am not having sexy dreams every night. So, I really do not see why “being covered” is like “brushing my teeth”. Rather than talking about this relationship and trying to prove that there is a similarity here, he goes further and draws a conclusion.
I have always thought, Motahhari was a decent man, but kind of very outdated. It seems that his son is even worse. Though, when your whole existence in the community is because you are the member of this Islamic committee or that Islamic guidance council, then you would obviously talk like that. It is like asking a priest why God exists. He should be very frank with himself to say, “you know, because I would have no use otherwise”.

Mocking, The Legitimate Way

Kamangir | March 13, 2006 | Category Iran

I was watching Ilna News Agency’s best pictures in the Iranian year 1384, which almost over (see). Among the pictures, one was very interesting. The photograph shows a man speaking in a Zoroastrian ceremony. The picture behind him is Zoroaster. So, mocking a prophet is not bad, if he is not Muhammad?

Sharif Cemetery

Kamangir | March 13, 2006 | Category Iran

Very strange things are happening in Iran. A few days ago, members of Basij, the Iranian militia, buried three dead bodies in Sharif University of Technology, one of the best Iranian universities. The bodies belong to unidentified men killed in the war with Iraq. They describe this as “transferring the spirit of martyrdom to universities”. Despite the clear opposition of the students (see) they did what they intended to do (see) and now students are demanding Basij to leave Sharif. Kind of odd thing to ask for in the time when the president’s son is a top Basij member.

Malaysian Ghoul

Kamangir | March 13, 2006 | Category Iran

Fars news agency, the same agency that announced that Ganji is not going to be released on the due date, posted a piece of “news” on its web page. It reads “there is an alive giant in Malaysian jungles”. The news continues that the fact that people have seen signs of a giant which is assumed to be some million years old is now one of the most important thing talked about in Malaysian newspapers. It continues with fascinating details like “the giant’s footprints are found” and “DNA test is in the way”. Also, “tourists are pouring into the region to visit the giant” (see). I tried searching Google News for that, the result was exactly nothing (see). Anybody has any information about this event please let me know, too.

Norouz

Kamangir | March 13, 2006 | Category Iran

The Norouz (see), Iranian new year, text is from here (see).

Ganji Remains in Jail

Kamangir | March 13, 2006 | Category Iran

The Iranian “democracy” has its own procedures. For example, Fars Agency, a very close ally of right wing in Iran, talks about worries that the reformists are going to celebrate Ganji’s release (see). You would ask, so what? Somebody did something “bad” and went to jail for that. When he is released he is like everybody else. It is not that simple, when you talk about Iran. Fars speculates that Ganji still has open cases which will be looked at if he “acts not very well”. It is 2:45PM Sunday when Fars posts this news. Then, 6:31PM Monday, Fars sends a very short announcement that the judiciary has decided that “he will not be released yet”. The reporter adds that the close source to the judiciary, who informs Fars, did not give any more details (see). That’s it. He will remain in jail. To read more about the top Iranian political prisoner, Akbar Ganji, read this (see).

I think we really should create a Google Bomb for this. Like linking Iran or Ahmadinejad to his page in wikipedia. Also, renaming many blogs to his name would be a good idea.

GNU Book

Kamangir | March 10, 2006 | Category Iran

Search for any scientific topic in Google and see gigantic number of resources here and there. Though, until recently, Internet was not assumed to be a reliable source of academic data. However, the introduction of GNU-based resources (see) like wikipedia has changed the whole story.

As an example, see the publicly published book “Introduction to Probability” by Grinstead and Snell (see). You can also download the answers to some problems in the book (see). In terms of descriptions and practicing problems, the book is fantastic. I used to read the famous book “Probability, Random Variables, and Stochastic Processes” by Papoulis. Now, I just think of that book as a reference. To have a taste of Grinstead’s book look at Chapter 11, Markov Chains.

Non-Muslims in Iran

Kamangir | March 10, 2006 | Category Iran

I told Mike something about Iranian Jewish people, and he replied “are there any jews in Iran”. He continued “they should have a very hard life”. When I told him that according to the constitution, Jewish people, along with followers of a few other religions, have their own members of parliaments, he was really looking at me very strange. This picture shows a ceremony in Iran held for recognizing the members of minority religion being killed in action, or as Iranians prefer martyred.

Idiots, Not Soldiers!

Kamangir | March 10, 2006 | Category Iran

Do you really think people like this are ready to go to war to fight for “the right to have nuclear energy”? Isn’t it great that Iranians are just idiot people like every other human being on the earth? Sometimes being serious means you really have to kill somebody. On the other side, being able to spend one whole evening in the stadium shouting to death for your team means that you are really fond of your life. Then, Ahmadinejad will hate you; he has lost one soldier. For your information, there are many different football teams in Iran. But the two major ones are Perspolis (RED), the name of an ancient Iranian palace, and Esteghlal (BLUE), means victory. Esteghlal and Perspolis play together in few occasions, and never an Iranian referee is judging that game. You know, its nothing simple to be left to an Iranian who may be a fan one of the two teams. I think, they really can ask me to go there and judge the game for them, because I am not fond of any of these two teams. Actually, I was flunked when I took football as the sport course in the university.

Clash of Civilizations? (Correction)

Kamangir | March 10, 2006 | Category Iran

A few days ago, I quoted Wafa Sultan where she mentions “the Muslims are the ones who began the clash of civilizations”. She continues “the Muslims have turned three Buddha statues into rubble. We have not seen a single Buddhist burn down a Mosque, kill a Muslim…”. Actually, she is not quite correct. Afshin reminded me the incident which happened to the Babri mosque. This is from wikipedia (see) “The Babri Mosque was a mosque constructed by order of the first Mugal emperor of India, Babur, in Ayodhya in the 16th century. Before the 1940s, the Mosque was called Masjid-i Janmasthan (”mosque of the birthplace”). The mosque stood on the Ramkot (”Rama’s fort”) hill (also called Janamsthan (”birthplace”). It was destroyed by hostile Hindu activists in a riot on December 6, 1992″.

As Afshin puts it “everywhere, and among followers of any religion, there are very different kinds of people”. Correct, but, let’s think why Muslims are known to be terrorists. Partly because there is no oil in India, but have Muslims been always aware of the consequences of what they do?

Wikipedia

Kamangir | March 9, 2006 | Category Iran

I really oppose the idea that the man is the most sophisticated creature on the earth. There are several more glorious ones that you interact with, everyday. Or at least, that would be good if you get friends with them. Take for example, wikipedia (see). I have not found one single topic on which wikipedia does not give you more than enough information. From Laplace Transform (see), to the distribution of a specific Random Variable (see), to the time Imam Reza shrine was bombed (see), to the International Women’s day (see), wikipedia is always helpful. Furthermore, they have one full page of information regarding the Arash (see)! And also another page on the other Arash (see).

Penetration Worries

Kamangir | March 9, 2006 | Category Iran

The great maneuver of Muhammad’s armies was held in deserts close to Qom, Iran. The major aims of this maneuver are announced to be rapid destruction of the enemies and avoiding their penetration into sensitive locations. Are Iranians getting ready for the war?

Rumble Box

Kamangir | March 8, 2006 | Category Iran

Eight cubes and three spheres make the interesting characters that punch each other in the “Rumble Box”. And when you beat one of those who has a bomb in the head, be aware that his explosion would be very deadly. Rumble Box is a free game (see) with a fantastic graphic and extraordinary idea. Just hit Escape at the middle of the game and see how the graphic dissolves into the menus. You can download the game here (see 12MB). To make the game even more interesting, the music is also marvelous.

No Comment

Kamangir | March 8, 2006 | Category Iran

Iranians vs. Islamic Republic

Kamangir | March 8, 2006 | Category Iran

69% of Iranians do not assume the regime’s nuclear plans to be of national importance, in opposition to Ahmadinejad’s claims that it is. Furthermore, 86% state that having nuclear energy does not worth getting engaged in a war. 98% of Iranians think that the nuclear crisis will end in a war between Iran and the states. A similar portion state that Iran would have a fate like Iraq in that war. However, only 28% of Iranians are worried about that war. Finally, only 11% of people think Ahmadinejad is able to solve their problems in daily life. These are the results of a secret poll collected for the heads of the Islamic Republic very recently (see).

For your information, polls are also secret in Iran; because many times they show that regime’s leaders do not represent the nation. For example, Abbas Abadi was sent to jail for couple of months because his institute gathered statistics that showed that the majority of Iranians demand having political relationship with the states.

War of the Words

Kamangir | March 8, 2006 | Category Iran

Iran’s case was referred to the UN security council (see). At the same time, Ahmadinejad is talking about “branding a shameful mark of remorse on the forehead” of those who “plan to violate the rights of the Iranian nation” (see) and Iranian arm forces vow that they are prepared for any foreign military aggression (see). To complete the rhetoric war, Dick Cheney states “the United States is keeping all options on the table in addressing the irresponsible conduct of the regime” (see). It seems that “the Bush administration would not seek a ground war or regime change, at least not initially or immediately” but at the same time John Bolton, United State’s ambassador to the UN mentions “we can hit different points along the line,” Bolton said. “You only have to take out one part of their nuclear operation to take the whole thing down” (see).

No Comment

Kamangir | March 8, 2006 | Category Iran

Let the world know: If anyone plans to violate the rights of the Iranian people, the Iranian people will brand a shameful mark of remorse on his forehead, Ahmadinejad stated today (read).

Clash of Civilizations?

Kamangir | March 8, 2006 | Category Iran

The Muslims are the ones who began using this expression, clash of civilizations, she states. Wafa Sultan continues, the Muslims are the ones who began the clash of civilizations. The Prophet of Islam said: “I was ordered to fight the people until they believe in Allah and His Messenger.” When the Muslims divided the people into Muslims and non-Muslims, and called to fight the others until they believe in what they themselves believe, they started this clash, and began this war. In order to stop this war, they must reexamine their Islamic books and curricula, which are full of calls for takfir and fighting the infidels.

9/11 Witness, Iranian Version

Kamangir | March 7, 2006 | Category Iran

I was collecting some flowers from a small cemetery to sell them in my shop, I am a florist, when I heard two men speaking in Hebrew. It was October 2000. Then, I approached them and hide behind a wall to listen to them. I saw another man who got out of a car and spoke to them. After greeting, the man, whom I think was a Mossad agent, stated “after the planes crash into the twins the Americans will understand what it means to live besides terrorists”. Then, one of the two men talked about his worries that the plan may fail. The other man mentioned, do not worry! We have people in top positions. It does not differ whom is elected as the president. If we were not able to convince the Americans, we will send them some powders in envelops.

The man tells Jam-e Jam, an Iranian newspaper owned by the national television which is governed by a chief selected by the supreme leader, that he has talked about his observations to a senator and some TV channels (see). To his regret, nobody would listen to him. So now, he has sued CIA, FBI, George Bush, and his wife. The other three are charged because of not listening to him. He is not happy with his wife, though, because she has gone to Israel with his children.

That’s how a man having problems with his wife, stealing flowers from a cemetery, solves an international problem. At least that’s the Iranian government’s hope. To see more convincing theories see wikipedia (see).

Crash

Kamangir | March 6, 2006 | Category Iran

Crash won the Oscar for the best motion picture of the year (see). Showing the cycle of violence in a group of ordinary Americans, Crash (see) shows how ethnic problems make the life hard for everybody, because everybody hurts everybody. The main line of the story is about a detective working on a corrupted Police’s case while his brother is also lost and the alcoholic mother insists that he should go find him. Also, we see how a racist police insults a black couple leading them to separate. Then, there is an Iranian family and dozens of other characters all suffering from problems made by people we meet inside the movie. After all, it shows how man makes the world bitter for man.

Irrational Extremists

Kamangir | March 6, 2006 | Category Iran

Nathan Clendenin/WRAL.com

I think it is nonsense to claim that I am a rational human being and to not to condemn the silly act of Mohammad Reza Taheri-Azar. Students in UNC are to rally “to label pit incident terrorism” (see). If anybody drives a car through the pavement to hit people for the sake of any thing in his mind, I would say it is a clear act of terrorism. I do not think any idea, how much sacred it is, is a justification to do such idiot things. See more pictures here (see). By the way, thank you dear Mr Taheri-Azar, search Google for your name to see how much important you are (see). If only one reason was needed to prove that we, Iranians, are irrational extremists, then he helped them with that.