For those who doesn't know David Elsewhere ...

Compliment or ... ?

Right before the talk, Rich shouted: "ALBORZ". I turned my head to his face. After a small pause he continued: "You are not going anywhere for your PhD. Is that clear?" With a puzzled look, I was wondering what is the answer to that impression. "Okay, it is good. Just wanted to make it clear!", finished his talk while beginning to get stable on his seat. Well, I am planning to apply for few top universities in U.S. and I already have talked with Mike (my co-supervisor) whom I got my PhD admission with. I am still a little confused ...

Reincarnation

Nice Picture of Reincarnation

جهان سوم

روزي در آخر ساعت درس يك دانشجوي دوره دكتراي نروژي ، سوالي مطرح كرد: استاد،شما كه از جهان سوم مي آييد،جهان سوم کجاست ؟؟ فقط چند دقيقه به آخر كلاس مانده بود.من در جواب مطلبي را في البداهه گفتم كه روز به روز بيشتر به آن اعتقاد پيدا ميكنم.به آن دانشجو گفتم: جهان سوم جايي است كه هر كس بخواهد مملكتش را آباد كند،خانه اش خراب مي شود و هر كس كه بخواهد خانه اش آباد باشد بايد در تخريب مملكتش بكوشد. پروفسور محمود حسابي

Thanks to alitajfar for sharing this :)

Judgment

You have experienced washing a transparent glass. If you are washing it from inside and see a dirt, your immediate guess is that it is from the other side. How often is that true?
After I thought about it, now it makes more sense for me to hear the discussions of both sides and then judge between them.

Wallpaper & MP3 - 002

Fragrance Rain - Jin Roh OST
This music is really soft, sad and deep. I like the last property the most.

No More DotA till my thesis is finished!

I had to make this decision earlier, but anyway "No more DotA till my thesis is finished!"

Apple, ipod, and Life

After bunch of calls, I realized that the only hope for my ipod is to get replaced with a new one. I tried to do it online, but the web-page sent me totally incomprehensible errors like: zip code is not valid! ( they sent it to the zip code that I was using), SAP number should be reconfigured, ...

Actually, now I am pretty disappointed with the customer service of the one of the biggest mp3 player providers of the world. At last, again, I called the customer service and after waiting for 10 min, a lady arranged what the web-site supposed to do!

BTW, did you know that you can
return your ipod only before 30 days.
replace your ipod without any shipping fees if it is broken only before 100 days.
replace your ipod if it is broken only before 365 days. (you have to pay 42$ for the shipping!)
buy apple care protection for 1 year (65$) and then you dont have to pay for shipping for one year.

Great! I bought an ipod for 160$ and now I have to pay 42$ for it to get replaced because it suddenly decided not to work anymore! I think am done with ipods now. Next mp3 player definitely would not have an apple logo on it!

Once in a while mp3

Ok, I decided to share my favorite mp3 and wallpaper, once in a while. The song can be from any artist, genre, or language, so don't have a biased after a few trials. The link would be provided on the blog, but it would be valid till the next song, so try to catch up if you don't want to lose any song. If you download it, please share a score between 1-10 in the comment section. Also, feel free to write more about the song if you want (How you feel, similar songs, ...).

The first mp3 is: Memories - Within Temptation

* Please delete the copyrighted files after 2 days.

Interesting Jobs in Iran

Translation:
Looking for trouble. Professional for making money out of returned cheques ...

Wrong English Translation on NEW Iranian Passports, Really ?

It is just sad. I don't know what they think, but it is a huge dispute to Iranian nation. See the complete details here

Tsukihime Opening: Sacred Moon

Bleach Ending 8

Japanese song with Jamaican accent!

What the ...

Dont try at home!

I joined Anti-iPod community!

Dont let this sexy creature seduce you. Dont buy it! Mine was freezed today (less than 6 months!) I tried to reset it but it just shows an apple screen!

AIR Opening

What happened to the Sharif univerisity students going to US?

by esmaeelzadeh(esmaeelzadeh@mehr.sharif.edu) on Aug 08, 2006 - 10:05 AM

Eight of the graduates of SUT and their spouses and I (6 men and 3 women) were traveling by LH 454 line on­ 3rd of Aug which reached there at noon. At the first of our entrances two officers checked the passports of all the passengers, they sent me to the other o­ne who controlled my visa and checked my name by a list. He told me to stay there. Other Iranian came o­ne by o­ne and all of us gathered together. At the end four officers companied us to the visa control station. We passed the lines and four stations controlled our documents as fast as possible. They told us to go to the immigration office. When we gathered again, 5-6 officers stood around us and o­ne of them started to talk. At first, he checked if everybody can understand English and if everybody is there because of the SUTA Reunion. Then he explained that, as same as the o­nes who had arrived last night, without any known especial reason for them, all of our visas are canceled and we should go back to Iran as soon as possible. He told us each of us should do some Q&A by different officers and meanwhile they would find seats for us. He said, “I am so sorry but it is not under our control”. They took the tags of our luggage and o­ne officer called each of us. In my case, the officer asked me some general questions about my date of birth, education, my job, my parents, citizenship, SUTA, etc. He also asked me if I have any fear from going back to Iran. Then he explained that I have two choice of application withdraw or being deported. I choose the first o­ne. They took my fingerprints and three different pictures. Then he asked me if I want to call Iranian embassy. At first I told him we don't have o­ne but then I asked him to call Algeria embassy where is the safeguarding center of the interest of Iran (“Daftar e hafez e manaf e Iran”). After 10 min, he told me his supervisor didn't let him to call there. Then we gathered altogether again. Around 5:30, when they became sure that there is no possibility to send us home in the same day my officer called me to take my watch, money and other valuable things. When I asked why, he explained that it is not good that we stay there all the night and they would send us to some place under the custody of Immigration Office where there are beds to sleep. The other o­ne added that I should give them my ring and necklace too. I asked if I could bring my handbag. He said no. I asked about a book and my ipod. His answer was no again. I asked if you are taking us to the jail. He said no but because of your own security it is better to leave your valuable thing here. Then I asked them if it is possible to call o­ne of my friends. They let me to call her only for less than o­ne minute. I asked her to inform my family about my situation. In some cases, they asked the others to speak in English or use the speaker. The procedure was similar for the other o­nes. Till someone told them that we are hungry and thirsty. They told us it is possible that we can write our orders and give them money to buy some food. We did the same. In this time, two other graduates of SUT traveling by United Airline came there. They were so lucky to find seats in the next flight and leave there soon. The time was passing and no o­ne gave us any more explanation. As we were so tired, around 8 p.m. we slept o­n the seats. It was so cold and inconvenient. At 9 p.m. that office was closing and they told us we should be moved to the other place inside of the airport. Two officers took us to another Immigration office in another side of the airport. There, we met another graduates of SUT, a woman who was so frighten and unconscious. She had traveled by KLM airline. Around 10:30 two polices with lots of handcuffs and chains came there. The supervisor of that office explained for us “The o­nly available place for you to stay at night is San Jose Jail. You should go there and obey its entire rules. There is no other choice.” o­ne of the new come officers called me for the safety inspection (it was as same as the inspection of the criminals in the western films). Then she fastened my hand by handcuffs and asked her colleague about fastening my legs by chain. He said that it was not necessary. Then this procedure was repeated for all of the men. They opened my handcuffs but took the men by them. Then another police came and did the security inspection for all of the women. That time, we were four. At midnight, they took us to the special vehicles for the transportation of criminals to the jails with different barriers and metallic doors. We reached to the San Jose Jail. At first, we passed the metal detectors and filled a form about height, weight and our clothes and another form about the controlling of the phone calls. Then the nursery called my name and asked some question about my health situation and took my blood pressure. It was a waiting room that other prisoners chained to the seats were waiting for the other steps. They sent me to the other officer. She took another picture of me and printed my fingerprint, palm print, etc and sent me to a cell. It was a 2x3 room. At the end of it, behind a short wall there was a toilet and a washbasin. There were two benches and o­n o­ne of them a black woman were slept. After 2-3 min, a white addicted woman came in. She was in a bad mood. She cried; hit her head to the wall, used the phone and screamed. After more 2-3 minutes other Iranians came o­ne by o­ne. Two more foreigners were added too. It was really a bad situation. We tried to release our stress and talked a little. At 2:15 a.m. they called us o­ne by o­ne and attached some identity bracelet to our hands. Those showed our picture, name, o­ne I.D. number and a barcode. At 3 a.m. two non-uniformed officers called us again and asked us some questions to define our cells. They asked about, our orient, membership in gangs, if we had tried to suicide, etc. The o­ne, who talked to me, said it is apparent that you should not be here and we try to send four of you to the same cell. At 4 a.m., they called name of different prisoners, asked us to stay toward the wall and chained hands of each two people together. We told them that we should be picked up by immigrant officers in the morning and where are you taking us. The officer who was the driver too told us that we were going to the “Santa Clara County- Department of Correction” and tomorrow we should go to the court. We stayed in a big entrance lobby. At the right hand, there were different stations for the officers. At the front, it was the dressing room containing the prison clothes, blankets and packages of toothbrush, spoon, etc. Some people with the dress of Santa Clara prison came there. Some o­ne with chained hands and foots and some people with ordinary clothes were added. When we reached there, it was so cold and dark. We didn’t know what’s going o­n. All of us were in a bad mode and frightened. We set there till around 6 a.m. They called some people who came there with us and gave them the clothes and necessary stuffs and took them somewhere else. They also changed the dress of some of the other and chained their foot and kept them there. After a long time, they called us to sign the release papers and then we became more relax that we were going out of that prison. Around 6:45 a special car van came and two officers came in. They started with the prisoners and fastened their hands to theirs waist by chain and handcuff. Then they called us and did the same to us. They took us to the vehicle. We drove around 15 min and enter a dark, tightened tunnel. They parked and the officers went out. When we asked other o­nes, they told us we were there to pick up the men. After 30 min, the men in our group and some other o­nes with the same situation, i.e. hands chained to waist, came in. We drove a long way to reach the airport. We didn’t see any special sign but we could hear the noise of airplanes. We stayed in the car, under the hot sunshine for 30 minutes till two officers from the immigrant section came. They opened our hands and took us to the same office that we were there yesterday. As we couldn’t even drink water, we were not fine and they brought us tea. They gave us all of our personal stuff instead of our tickets and passports. Near 11 a.m. we gave them some money and asked them to buy us some meal. Around 12, near the landing of Lufthansa plane, which contained around 15 graduates of SUT, they took us and our stuffs out of the office harshly to make it impossible for us to meet them and let them know what’s going o­n. We were in an isolated lounge for o­ne hour and then we went to check in the plane. It is worthy to mention that my return flight was from NY and I paid for the difference of the flight from SF!!! When we were waiting, 6 lucky people from that flight came and could return with us. I should mention that the Lufthansa personnel were so kind to us and helped us to recover as soon as possible. Now, I am safe in my house and in my country. It is a pity that it could be a memorable and joyful trip for all of us but now it is a nightmare that we want to forget it as soon as possible.

Heritage Festival 2006 - Edmonton

It is really interesting to see so many cultures in one place. You can also have a reasonable discussion with a person from Wales country back in 14th century, and also the aftermath if he does not feel to agree with you. I guess discussions were really hard at that time!

Interesting Interview

[Picture has been taken from wikipedia]
I cant beleive that they actually broadcasted it!

Tsubasa Chronicles 2nd Series, Ending

Tahchin :D

And we finally made "Tah chin" in Canada. Thanks to my partner Masoud!

NIPS Reviews

For this conference I received better responses. At least nobody hated my whole topic :)
Wish me luck!

New Dimentions

It might sounds wired, but I am beginning to explore the hidden dimesions of my soul.