Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality

I just watched this documentary: Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality:

Apparently, many things boil down to people defending their symbolic story of denial of death... read it again: our denial of death belief system, defines our tolerance, and when we see our immortality system threatened, we tend to become anxious and aggressive.

Here's a paper published in 1989, http://people.uncw.edu/ogler/Experimental/TM%201.pdf, which says that once subjects are reminded of their death, they sympathizer more toward people of their own beliefs, and become hurtful of people who either disrespect that immortality system or just believe in something different. THIS, of course is when we push this anxiety to our subconscious. If we keep reminding ourselves about our death, we will not allow this anxiety to affect our actions without us realizing it.

There's so much that comes to mind after this. I realized that when a war starts, specially if it is between different culture/religions, it will be a reinforcing cycle: see more death, feel more threatened, get more anxious, hurt the other more, kill more... Now I am thinking that the Iran-Iraq war might have permanently changed the views of those generation that took part in it. (i.e. my parent's generation). They might not realize the effect, but the war has indeed made them more and more intolerant. Some time has passed, some people have again forgotten the fearful times, so they are again getting tolerant people, but I hope.. I just hope... that nothing like that reminds them again and pushes them unto the stressful, intolerance, fear of mortality.

On the flip side, peace is a positive reinforcement cycle too..
oh well..

America, the story of US

Watching "America, the story of US" documentary series on my Netflix! It's really exciting to learn the events I kind of knew and heard about in one collective set and getting the right dates and the gaps and everything. I created a timeline kind of thing, which I hope to keep in my head(we'll see about that). Here it is, without much editing, because I'm too lazy. But it could be helpful to somebody at some point...

100 after Christoph columbus, religion priests went to guide people in the USA.. 

120 after at 1610: John Ralf comes to Usa to james town during starving time in the US,.Ralf marries Pokohantes, daughter of king. He grows tabaco.. 1000 more settlers in 2 years come, including slaves. 30 years later, 20,000 people in virginia. america is founded on tabaco!

in 1616 europians come and bring disease to native people(diseases which they had been imune to, due to the black death)..

10 years after Ralf comes, English religious settlers in new world. seeking religious freedom. april 1621.after cold winter.. food supplies low.. 

they join forces with native and battle a rival tribe, they win and a period of peace comes. after that battle thanksgiving day is celebrated.

Boston rebels dump tea taxes onto sea .. 

1768, at Boston (english colony) 

4 July 1776: independence- declaration of right: liberty in pursuit of happiness..

1825 industrial revolution, america catching up!

1840: the word Millioner is invented in new york. nyc becomes most crowded port.. after Eirie chanal is completed..

1850 america created 75% cotton in world. south becomes very rich. (white gold) thanks to slavery..

in North, factories to make clothes.. women work and earn money for the first time.. punch cards are invented--> idea of binary calculation and computers!

1850 slavery became a moral, political, economical issue that devides north and south. 

1852- uncle tom's cabin best seller in north... 

1860: election.. war of south and north.. Abraham Lincoln.. he's against slavery. south doesn't accept him. they decide to get independent against the rest of the US.

civil wars begin 5 weeks after lincoln takes office.

1844: telegraph and Mors code widespread..

Lincoln uses railroads and telegraphs as an advantage.

invention of portable cameras -> public opinion about war changes..

1864 civil war is over. south joins the union and slavery is stoped.. Lincoln is assacinated soon afterwars. 

After war railroad gets completed to west coast. people are given land as payment because government is poor now. 

1892 population goes back to east because it's too hot and there are tornados and insects...

1885 statue of liberty finaly is assembled.. 

early 1875 steel industry by andrew carnegie.. => tall skyscappers.. cities, ships,..elevators, 

crimes, slums, urban problems.. > but in future at 1930, stock market collapses.

1907 sewage.. waste collection,..

1879 Thomas Edison-> electric light bulb! -> factories, sports everything can operate at night! people coming to cities, women working,. 

1900 Oil is discovered in america.. Gasoline is made cheap... cities allow for larger cities... leads to consumer boom.. 

1908.. Henry Ford makes cheap car after Gasoline is cheap.. (and inventing production line which affects everything)

1919 black migration from south to north.. cultural tension.. white not selling houses to black.. white not getting arrested if he kills black.. riots everywhere (The Red Summer).. also alcohol problem: this year production and sale of alcohol is added to constitution..gangsters grow, people take the amendment back out of constitution.

1930 consumer bubble burst! stuck market collapses, banks collapses, jobs die, --> great depression!

1935 hoover dam is completed. Inspiring, produces electricity and water.. Radio gets to every house..

Then the WWII begins..

T.B.C!

farewell to a friend

What can I say, except that I wish wherever you go, you go with happiness and sincerity and have great great life... I'll miss you for sure, and you'll forever be my dear friend, and I promise here and now that I'll have your back, and be your support until my last breath. May our friendship grow and keep growing and even when life seasons change our friendship remain our anchor..

While reading Randy Pausch's last lecture book...

I'm reading Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture right now, and it's full of little gems, some very familiar to me, some so new and wise. Reading page 168 line 8, I suddenly for some reason realized that this world is built for good people to find each other, and connect, and accomplish their goodness with help of each other. All else is temporary, and random, and shapeless, and like the noise around a solid pattern in an image...

Sophies World, finished!

Yesterday I finally had time to finish Sophie's World book. What a wonderful book it was. Loved the ending too, :) Finishing a book is like an accomplishment. Somehow you feel that you did something good for yourself. The other resolution for my current year was to read 20 books.

So far I've finished
1) Franny and Zooey,
2) Blind Owl (Boof-e-Koor)
3) Sophies World,
4) A Tale of Two Cities (still going!)

There are also two books I have started but kind of going slow. The Golden Compass, and the Freakonomics. Freakonomics is educational, but the other one is like for kids.. I might stop it. NEXT will be a bunch of good books like History of Time or the Grand Design, also the Selfish Gene.. I need to get my hands on all of these!

On another completely different note: Happy Memorial Day! We planned to go to picnic, but first, it's too hot, and second, I had wanted these two days to be MINE, to explore the tech world, iphone app writing, etc. Don't know what to do. Maybe I'll go. Maybe I'll skip it.. I can always go hicking there with another good friend of mine. In fact we had promised to go there togather.. Haha, according to what I learned yesterday in Sophie's World, in Freud's psychoanalysis chapter, I'm just "rationalizing" now.  Deep down I guess I don't want to go, that's all!

OKKKKKKK finally! The papers are both done now, and I'll have two full days to myself and my ambitions! It should be fun :)

Eat that Frog!

Sometimes you become a very boring person.. So boring you don't want to be with yourself even.. Today is one of those days, for me! I have to finish a paper, and it's a boring paper, and anything exciting I want to do I tell myself noooo wait till your paper is finished, and because the paper is boring too, I end up going about it veryyyy slowly. I guess even blogging isn't gonna make me skip that paper. Have you read "Eat that Frog" book? This paper is like one slimy ugly frog that I have to swallow before I can do anything fun in the rest of my life. Might as well finish it early!

Dear President Obama

Dear President Obama,

I was JUST about to write you a (hand written!) letter, and I was thinking how to I make the letter to stand out so that you would read it, when I heard the news! THANKSSSS SOOOO MUCHCHCHC

You just got a thousands of fans among all Iranian students. We'll go back home at some point, and we won't forget the nice gesture of this government. Families and friends are impressed too. It's a BIG BIG step, life changing for us for sure, and as I hope it will be, a medium of change for the whole country.

THANK YOU! :***

Life is all about finding your dream! Once you find it you have enough passion for it to see it come true!*

Footnote                                                            
* I'm looking for my PhD thesis topic these days :)

About those "Super Obvious Secrets That Phil McAndrew Wishes They’d Teach In Art School"

What have you been doing on (almost) daily basis for the past few years? For me, it's been ...research... and... writing! Also having ice creams in the summer, but I guess that doesn't count. :)

Why did I bring it up? So, I was reading this interesting ... guide... http://philintheblanks.com/blog/ which is about how to become a successful cartoonist. First let me confess that as much as I'd love to be a cartoonist too(among many other great things!), I guess that's not in my future. BUT, the tutorial turns out to be applicable to anything. Like, anything creative really. 

The advice says, you have to do that thing, *everyday*! You have to love that thing to be able to do it everyday. 

You have to challenge yourself, be nice to people, have fun, respect deadlines, have breaks, ... 

I suggest you guys read it. For me, it got me thinking. I realized maybe I should *write* some more, and that maybe I should be more serious about writing. It's been what I've continuously been doing in my free time after all. I've gone to drawing class, painting class... When the mood strikes, I draw. I play keyboard, and when the mood strikes I play really nice music for myself. But the only thing that doesn't need a mood, is writing for me. Wish I could take it to the next level, somehow. *Challenge myself* with something bigger, so to speak. Some time ago I was offered a column in the opinion section of an online (small) newspaper. I declined. Ohhh stupid me! You guys do not repeat my mistake at least..

Art By Phil McAndrew from his Blog

(This guy refers to YOU. YOU'RE ALL BORN TO BE STARS)

CMU commencement 2011 with Aron Ralston

Today was CMU commencement. Another year, another speech, another bundle of inspiration!

This year the speaker was Aron Ralston, (the subject of movie "127 hours"), which as I found out just recently is also a Mechanical Eng. CMU alumni!

Gosh! He is so incredible. Very funny, and wise, and ambitious, and passionate. The bottom-line of his speech was, "If you ever dream of doing something, begin it! With boldness!", also make sure you have your wits with you -"carry a knife sharp enough to cut bones!"- "have health insurance!", and don't complain! "if you haven't gotten to drinking your own urine for survival, you're still OK". He also guaranteed adversaries in all of our lives, and ended his speech with "May your Boulders be your Blessings"

I think I'll put Between a Rock and a Hard Place in my to-read list now, after Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture...

Edit: Someone smarter than me recorded this speech. (I thought CMU will release it, in good quality which I later found out they won't.  You have to PAY for that it seems..) Anyway, listen to this!

"One working website"

Is item 3 on my 2011 resolution, and I still have no idea what to do about it!

What I like to achieve at the end, is to create jobs. More and more fundamental jobs.. So now, what can Information Technology (IT) do in this regard? IT is basically a "connector", a "hub" sort of thing. Creating a "connector" kind of business should be easy on the IT side, hard on the "content" side. A good productive online business (that I have in mind) should have people, real people, working and producing something, and then this product can get anywhere with the help of the online systems, such that those people who did the real work do earn their wages too. Without this "real people, doing physical work" component, the business could be beneficial, but it could also simply be redundant. I HATE to ever spend my time on something that's not benefiting anyone but myself, and then trying to convince other people that they need this, just to get myself some revenue. Advertising websites, for example, are just out of question. Communication systems/sites could be interesting. Communication is a basic need for humans, and improving that benefits people. But it won't lead to anyone getting money other than myself, or maybe a few other developers..

On the other hand, an online business could have the value in the business that it does. A lot of softwares are like that. Even Google, for instance, is like this. Will that create jobs though? Does it allow people with little skills, to do something and get something in return? I guess this is a paradox in a sense. These systems automate things. Basically they make processors replace humans. Now the million dollar question is, is there a type of thing that no matter how much you automate it, still needs humans to go on and prosper, and that's not it, it has to be something that's needed. Something that solves the basic needs of human beings...

Man, this is so complicated. What a mess in my head..

Traveling

2010 was the traveling year: Let's see.. I went to Vermont(Middlebury), Cleveland, Orlando and Miami, then Boston, then Reno(Nevada), San Fransisco, then Niagara Falls, Chicago, New York, Miami and finally, New York!

The year before -2009- was good too, since I was getting reimbursed PhD interviews around the US... New Year started in Los Angeles, and Las Vegas later, then I went to Baltimore, then Los Angeles again(for USC interview), then conference in Stanford, and another one in Boulder, Colorado(RED), then the academic year started so no new places until Vermont in the new year..

This year, the new year started in New York City, and tomorrow I'll be flying to ... BOSTON! :) 

Did I tell you I like traveling?!! Did you notice I've already seen *most* of the US cities?! Counting the number of visits to big cities you can see that I've visited California 4 times, NYC 3 times and Boston 2 times. :) Kind of suggesting something! I JUST wish they'd give me multiple entry visa. Then I'd be the one who uses all these travel deals to Spain and China and Australia! FYI Iranian students have single entry visa, which they usually obtain after loooooonnnnng delay of clearance checking and stuff. Pakistani students on the other hand have multiple entry visa. The best I've heard so far about this is that Yes we know it's unfair. We can't change it. Sorry. :/ Nothing is unchangeable though...

P.S. Pittsburgh is actually GORGEOUS these weeks, so I don't even know why I said yes to my friend's suggestion to visit Boston. And yes I've already walked the freedom trail, and yes it was awesome!!!! 

Edit: right now, in July 2012, I can happily say that in 2011 my trips were  New York(at new year), Boston, New York (to pick up my mom!!) Niagara Falls, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Turkey (Ankara), and Iran (Tehran and Isfahan).
2012 started with me in Tehran. I went to Istanbul and Ankara after that, then Pittsburgh, and another New York city visit again, as of July 2012. Hopefully some more cities await 2012 :D

diversity, democracy, and teaching!

Aww, looking up to ~100 students in the class I'm TA-ing, (the final exam is right now!!) how can I ever get out of this diverse society of USA(or Canada, I guess), and live again in the uniform different-is-bad society like Iran?! We have a looooooooonnnng way to go in getting used to very large differences in folks you interact with, everyday, and to be honest, that's one basis of democracy, I think. Thinking of it this way, maybe the school exchange programs do make a big difference in the future generations, in countries like Iran were you don't normally interact with people out of your wavelength...

P.S. When the age gap between students and you grow larger you suddenly realize how LOVELY teaching is! If you ever thought teaching gets boring, you got it all wrong! Teaching is not about going over the subject, it's about the students learning the subject! Every class has its own students, every year, a different group are with you.. Nothing can be more amazing than teaching each kid who want to learn, what you know... I LOVE IT! (Should convince my advisor to let me TA more...or maybe at some point maybe as a postdoc or something, I should teach a class or part of it, myself!)

P.P.S. Do you know of a voluntarily teaching job in Pittsburgh?! I'd love to teach something (within my knowledge), when I have time..

Bin Laden..

Oh well, Bin Laden is dead. At first I simply assumed he might probably have been dead for a while but like any other political news it is announced at the right time.... when minds are mostly at rest and ready for full impact. My friend's FB status was "guess who's getting re-elected?"

But then today I read the random citizen's twitter update about the whole thing later, and kind of got convinced that at least the operation happened today, now whether it could have happened weeks or months or years ago, that's something I'll never know...

I need some time to write down all my own opinion of it, and I will, through time,... but still, it does put a beginning to an end to an era..

We humans are fools! We give one family to be called kings and queens and pass on the privileges of kingdom generation to generation, and we talk about democracy and all that. And then it will be the royal wedding, two gorgeous people and we watch with tear in eyes, like it's the nicest fairy tail we've seen. I wonder how many other things we are so easily fooled by, every day because we're so shallow..

Two of my friends are having babies. One of them has already delivered her son, and the other is waiting. Once you see a friend of yours do this, you realize it's so real.. so natural... Me on the other hand: not married, not dating, nothing. getting older and older in the research lab... Kind of slowly, ever so slowly makes me think something must be wrong about me. I partially know my problem though. I never settle down. At least hasn't, so far. Always changing.. from one place to the next, from one social style to the next.. so many cases always come up right when I'm at this transition point, and they don't work out because I'm already moving on...looking back at myself I don't regret this growth. Sometimes it amazes me to see what I've left behind and thrown away, once I learned better.. The thought of staying as the person that I was before is unbearable sometimes.. so maybe it's all worth it? ... well what else can I say?

My new laptop arrived yesterday. Toshiba Portege, 3.2lbs, intell i5, 4GB memory.. 5 hours battery.. perfect!
The motivation is, I love outdoors and I have to work, so I needed a strong but portable machine. Now if only it stops raining so I can bring this baby outside and work while sitting on the campus yard under the sun :)
should be fun!

I've noticed my new year resolutions are going well. Not much Facebooking anymore ;) Next resolution was, somehow building an online .. something.. a working website that provided an online service of some kind. I figured with this much (but little and shallow!) knowledge I have so far there's got to be something I can do. I just have to spend a couple of full days on it and decide on something and get it done. No jumping around this idea and that idea.. suggestions are welcome :)

Well well things are working out, one by one! Just had my presentation today, and it went quite well. It will probably be a while till I give another one. I still get nervous before the talks. Can't believe, after soooo many years, after so many presentations, still??? I guess some things never changes. I should try preparing my slides and getting them done at least two days before the talk. But how many times do I tell myself this and don't do it?? :/
Soooo.. I also found the house for my next year, which is a huge "phew".. It's a good place, in the same building as two of my best friends. It's not as light as my current unit, but it's not too dark and I'll pay around $200 less a month. Think about it! That means I can spend a couple of days in San Diego every two months :P (FYI I travel a LOT!! All my savings go toward traveling! There's few places in the USA that I haven't visited.. .several places -NYC!!!-I've traveled to, 3 times already! :P) Can't wait to live in LA for next fall. Internship! At a great great place, doing awesome research :) Should be exciting, and hopefully I'll have time to go to all places around the west :)
Today after I guess like a month of not "wasting a time" (i.e. not going home simply without a big to-do list) after my presentation at 4:30pm I decided to simply "waste" the next few hours after so long. Went home, opened the windows (awesome day it was! Great rejuvenating breeze that nourished life of every form!), while listening to birds singing, got in bed and took a looong nap! muuuh finally!!! this half an hour of nap gave me more energy than the whole last night's sleep. :) I wish I had more times like this! will this lifestyle that I've chosen give me any chances? Recently I've been thinking, maybe for someone who likes nature and outdoors and traveling so much, maybe I chose the wrong area? Maybe if I'd become a biologist who has to travel to far islands and study something, .. would have suited me better?... too late now though! I like my field too it's just really frustrating sometimes and I get the feeling maybe I'm not the best person for this...
wow look, it's already 10pm. In a great day like this I was going to COOK! Maybe I can still do that. ttyl!

I'm kind of tired today. Even though I slept till 10!
My mom and dad called from home at noon, and I was kind of snappy. Not really snappy, but definitely not my usual happy self. And they are used to hearing me excited. I think my down-ness might have contaminated them too. I hope not though, but you can always tell how your conversation affects your mom and dad..

I have too much to do these days, and too little time. I get distracted a lot. Maybe I should skip my friend's birthday tonight? Or maybe not, I haven't been with some of my friends in ages. And then again I have to design final questions for the class I'm TA-ing, by tomorrow, and the thesis work which is in a stuck kind of situation needs a lot of thinking and reading and coding, and the presentation for Tuesday, and cleaning the house and laundry, and calling my other friend who's sick on the other side of the world, and her family too...
Dear world, slow down please!!

I have been reading Sophie's World for a while now. I can't get enough of history and philosophy! Part of the reason is that I believe, in order to make a lasting democracy in a region, we should get down to the basics and understand what it takes, in a particular society, to get people interested in having freedom and taking responsibility for it, once they get it.

What does it have to do with Sophie's World then?

Well, a lot! 

Sophie's World is a wonderful book that is actually part of the high school curriculum now, and includes a simplified version of history of Western philosophy. I have had many exposure to the Eastern philosophy, but many things about the western side, I still don't know. Way too many things! It's great to read what was a society was like, before it became educated and responsible and all the good things that grew out of it. 

well, gotta go now. ..

.. ok it's now 1:30am and I am back to here, edditing the left-out draft! (The line above was for 7pm-ish!)

I just want to rewrite something interesting I JUST saw a friend share on Facebook:

"happy ages have no philosophy"

Something to look up and think about! Not about what I read, but about why I'm interested in philosophy right now..

My mom is going to visit me in the US!

After almost 4 years I'll get to see my mom. The only little bitter thing is, my dad was not given the visa with her. Stupid government did they really think my dad would stay there and not go back?! If you never knew what kind of news can make you incredibly happy and also incredibly sad, you know it now..

But god, I'm already imagining my mom's trip and my, it's gonna be FUN! :D What an exciting summer :)

Omar Khayyam and you

Back to writing hopefully daily this time! I'll try to spend a few minutes everyday to write. There MUST be something incredibly interesting happening every day, otherwise what life would that be?!
Soooo, yeah Omar Khayyam, I was thinking about him recently. A Persian poet, mathematician and astrologist. His famous Roba'iyaat poetry book... one of my favorites of alllll Persian poetry.. talks about basically these two lines:

1)
Some are thoughtful on their way
Some are doubtful, so they pray.
I hear the hidden voice that may
Shout, "Both  paths lead astray."

2)

Khayam, if you are intoxicated with wine, enjoy!

If you are seated with a lover of thine, enjoy!
In the end, the Void the whole world employ
Imagine thou art not, while waiting in line, enjoy!

He spoke my thoughts. I know that taking life easy and enjoying the moment is the best path, and it does not mean to be lazy or indifferent. You get rid of the unnecessary burden, free your mind to follow your passion and your passion only, and believe me you get far, when you're passionate about what you're doing! In face Khayyam's passion was poetry and math too, (if you don't see the relationship between poetry and math, think again!). He studied and marveled at the stars, and tried to learn the order behind the chaos, just like you find order and music in words when writing poems.. He was the inventor of Solar Persian Calendar(Jalali Calendar), which at the time was a big project. I love how a calm and happy mind who did not worry about leaving behind a name for himself, ended up exactly doing that on the side, creating something that at least in Iran we use every day.. our Calendar. 

Narges! (talking to myself!) Get rid of the bonds you often imprison your mind in. Stick to your passion and the rest will take care of themselves! What is your passion though? I think you already have some ideas.. define it! if you're not sure, seek it! If you don't have your passion, finding it is THE most important task you have right now.. it takes time and effort, but you remember how beautiful those moments are, when you find that FIRE within you... Good luck! :)

How wast the fields,
How tall the mountains,
What a scent of grass in the field,
What was I looking for here?
Insomnia, maybe?
A beam of light? A grain of sand? A smile?

Behind the bushes,
Was a pure silence, calling for me,
I stayed near the pond, breeze was in the air, I listened:
Who was talking to me?
A lizard stumbled,
I walked away,
Passing through the rye fields,
Then through the cucumber fields, and bright flower bushes,
And through the forgiveness of the soil.

Next to a stream,
I let go of the sandals, and sat, feet in the water:

"How alive I am today,
And how awake my body feels,
Lest a piece of sadness shows up from behind the hills,
Who's behind the trees?
Nothing, a cow is all.
A summer noon,
The shadows know what a summer it is,
Sharp shadows,
Here's a corner of shining purity,
Oh children of feelings, here's your playground;

Life is not empty,
Kindness is here, apple is here, faith is here,
Yes,
While daffodil lives, life shall be lived..
There's something in my heart, like a field of light, like the extra sleep in the early morning,
And I'm so restless, that I want,
To run to the end of the field, to climb to the top of the mountain.
Far far away is a voice, beaconing for me...

--Sohraab Sepehri, A modern Iranian poet.

Egypt

These days all eyes are on dear Egypt! I have a classmate from Egypt and he shares most of the news on Facebook. Just like me, two years ago.. And I'm probably the only one in our department who really understands the anxiety/hope/fear/uncertainty that he feels right now. It's a weird feeling, and you will only understand it when you experience it yourself. All these news that you used to watch passively on TV, happening in other countries, on streets that you didn't know, suddenly happen in your own neighborhood, and people shown are your own neighbors and classmates and students.. it's just not describable!

There's two major differences though, between what happened in Iran and what's going on in Egypt now, and I'm not sure how it will play out but the chances of people succeeding will be higher in Egypt compared to Iran. (And needless to say, Egyptians' success will definitely inspire Iranians more too)

So here's what I see as the major differences. (One) Egyptians have one particular focused goal. They want Mubarak and his team out of the next election, by protesting and forcing him to resign. In Iran, we wanted a fair election, and once the election time passed people started getting branched, some wanted a regime change, some wanted the election to still be revised, some wanted the killers of people to be tried. And people only wanted to go through non-violent methods, through diplomacy, because we thought we already overthrew Shaah through chaos and violence and the revolution was stolen, so we didn't want to go through that again in a couple of decades. The movement wasn't as focused as this one, because each group had one solution in mind, and there wasn't a single person to chose one of the solutions.

(Two, and I think this is super important): Egyptian government is not as isolated as the Iranian government. It's backed by USA, possibly Israel likes them(?), and many countries around the world. This support is a double edge sword. On one hand, Mubarak can be assured that whatever he does to protesters (killing, etc.) is not frowned upon, and that he will get military aid for the army and police for many coming weeks/months to suppress the protesters. On the other hand, as soon as this foreign support is stopped, which could easily happen depending on whether USA or other countries suddenly see their interest in having Arab nations' larger support, THEN, without this protection, the courage will leave them and the government will give up and bend to people's demands.. Iranian government, because of its long isolation didn't have this support and had learned to go on without it. Shaah had it, and one of the reasons for the revolution back then to succeed was the withdrawal of this support.. Now Egypt's situation could also change a lot by the foreign governments' actions within the next few days/weeks.

I don't know much more, so I'll just conclude with mentioning that it's so unbelievably inspiring to see a nation getting closer to freedom. I recently watched a video clip by a young Tunisian singer (Amel Mathlouthi) about freedom and it brought tears to my eyes. May all people on earth get to live in fair, free countries soon, and may them all sing the freedom song in their own language.

Entrepreneurship

These days I've been watching and listening to many talks I found on Stanford Entrepreneurship Seminars website: http://ecorner.stanford.edu. If you haven't checked it out yet, my gosh don't waste a minute! Each and every talk makes me so exCITED!! All these great success stories, how the students, our own age (and younger) got to work and made something that changed the world....

There's a lot to do, that's for sure!!! These days Information Technology and Software engineering is like the old Civil Engineering and Architectural...  Before internet, people used to build shops on this or that street, they got famous because of the good quality of their offering, built more branches and eventually (as I like to look at it) make something that created so many jobs and added value to the world, and made the world a better place..

Now, Internet is like a new district that a number of people (varying by each country) pass through everyday. Before, civil eng. people built "physical" houses and cafes and shops..,  and now on this district, IT people are the builders. very neat world, isn't it?(Specially when you know a little bit of IT yourself! :D) Of course just like before, a shop that created something of good quality that people needed would be successful and valuable. So is true about online business.

Something valuable...Connecting people who otherwise wouldn't have found each other (for example, connecting a person who wants to do something good for the world, and a school that needs a couple of old but working Computers); Collecting local information and providing a useful service (like, online traffic maps,.. ); This list just never ends!! And guess what, it's all about thinking what you want to add to the world, putting down the first block right, and you've got it!

That's definitely part of the plan for me these days.. Creating values, hopefully leading to more jobs and better life-styles, more education, and more responsible citizens, and ultimately, better world! I did some research about this general path... Unfortunately, because of the sanctions against Iran it's a little hard (next to impossible actually) to hire from Iran while I'm studying here. (Not that the company is all up and ready you know, but still...) Very counter intuitive, if you ask me, to stop a family from having a stable income, rather than having them constantly worry about the next day's food, and house rent, and their health, and yet expect them to have enough peace of mind to care about their kids' school performance or attendance, to read news papers, or be aware of their civil responsibilities, etc.

I think all good things begin only when people don't have to fight for their survival..

Anyway, I'm back to more listening and learning and thinking (and of course as a PhD student, doing my research as well!) :P

Talking to an old Indian guy on the plane.

 About two weeks ago, I was flying back to Pittsburgh from NYC, and I had just said goodbye to my little brother (who's now studying in UWaterloo! Time flies...!!), and I was pretty sad, and somehow my seat was next to an Indian old guy...

 He loved to talk, and I love to listen, specially to older people, who have so much experience!! So, we ended up chatting about a loooooot of stuff. Actually from the moment I sat till the moment we stepped out of the plane, on that cold dark gloomy evening, in that tiny scary plane.. we talked non-stop and I didn't realize how time went! (I recommend talking on the planes!)

 We talked about how having a Master is really better than having a PhD when you only want to go have a non-research job in industry, and then about his trips to India, and about Indian independence (somehow he didn't expect someone of my age to know Gandhi, which is so odd  because Gandhi's one of my heroes!!) and then about Pakistan's separation of India, and how the two countries killed each other's citizens for several years, and how different the two countries have become (India, democratic, Pakistan always under military dictatorship, etc.) and I asked him if he thinks the two countries will ever be friendly, and what would be the right thing to do to make things better.. would it be education? money? what? 

 He told me he travels a lot to many countries and in his opinion, in third world countries (India, Pakistan, and of as he thought, probably Iran too...) there's usually no one who can *not* afford sending their kids to school because of the school costs... He said education is free mostly in Pakistan and India. And I know in Iran it's free too.. He said the problem is, when a house has many kids and low income and unemployment problems among other things, the parents *need* their kids to go get some money from somewhere.. They prefer to send them over to get a job on streets, in a shop, somewhere, soon, to support the family. 

For a long while, I had thought that education improves the culture and ultimately makes many positive changes in the society, and I wanted to go to Iran and while being a university professor there, start/join a non profit teaching network or something like that, and just teach underprivileged kids all around the country.. Now, I think... maybe a much better goal would be to instead **create jobs** so that the kid's mom and dad can get some constant salary, and then maybe the kids can be sent to school after all.. 

I know it's such a tricky complex issue.. but ultimately, it seems that just increasing the life quality of the underprivileged families might result in themselves taking care of the rest. 

Sooooo, what do you guys think about this all? Anyone ever had a experience, or talked to an experienced wise person who knew about these issues? I'm inclined now to focus more on creating jobs to help the country rather than building schools and teacher networks etc. that's of course important too, you know, but I'm thinking that without taking care of the first the second would not be as effective... Any thoughts?! 

P.S. Thanks for the comments guys! Artashes jan, haha answering those questions will have to wait a few years/decades! :D 

P.P.S. Gosh I've missed your all!!! 

Back to writing! Hello world!

Well, to those of you who had seen some of my writings before, hi again!! :D

As it turns out, I just can NOT go on without writing. I'm too used to that now, and my thought will not be organized without putting them into words, it seems. I need to vent, rant, daydream, report, and somehow look back and see all the childishness and naivety, and the enthusiasm and the dreams that make me who I am, and if these are only in my head and I talk about it, it comes and goes. But if I write it down, it kind of sticks to the reality and I'm pretty sure someday it will become the reality. Also, I'm finding that this way I can find more friends who share some of these passions with me!

To those who are reading my words for the first time: hi! My name is Narges, and I've had quite an adventure so far in the world of blogging, and in the real world, too, in fact! I used to write in this old journal from when I was about 20 for about 5-6 years.

I had set a goal for my old blog: To talk about Iran and Islam from the point of view of a young Iranian Muslim girl, and somehow, after 5 years I felt like the message was conveyed, and the journal had served what it was made for. That's why I stopped writing in there.

However, these five years of writing about my thoughts and dreams and interacting with different people had transformed me beyond my expectations! I had started the blog to transform other people's views. What ended up happening was my own views getting broader and opener and I just can not describe how much I got from the experience. I don't know if I ever changed anyone else's views, if I ever made another person more open minded, but at least ONE person in this world (myself) learned a lot from this experience.

That journal served its purpose: Created a better understanding of Iran and Islam. Maybe for the readers, but definitely for myself. But my purpose, and as I'm sure, many of you guys', always have been to make our world a better place. Well, that's the plan for this blog!

I am now a 27 year old young woman, soon with a doctorate degree from a great school in the USA, and somehow, the real world is just within my grasp! (How exciting is that?!!!) I have some level of independence now, many skills, lots of connections, and hundreds of dreams, for making this world a better place: Improving life condition for people, creating jobs, increasing education, and encouraging people take responsibility of their own life... These are my dreams. The second chapter of my life is to give them a try!

At some point during these years, I finally realized that no one is going to make your dreams come true for you. You need to be the change you have wished for, in this world! And it's quite achievable, and very satisfying and fulfilling, and gives more meaning to our daily lives!

So, let's begin!!!!!