Finally?

I might not be good at drawing, but I know a thing or two about computers, don't you say?

Another me?

How about this?

Does it?

Does this look like me?

My Server Has Been Maxed Out

I have reached my 500 MB storage capacity for the pictures on my hosting server. I will be moving the 2003 and 2004 pictures to another server to open room for newer pictures. Once I do that, I will upload the pictures we took at my place. Sorry it's taking a while, I'm busy with OS (my Operating Systems course) so I'm at the MC labs most of the time and spend very little time at home on my computer.

Since ISAW is taking its time to announce the Bomber party, I will say here that ISAW is organizing a Persian Night on Thursday, February the 3rd and word is on the streets that they're gonna be doing a Persian Kareokee! So, for those who love to have their voices heard but never get the chance because their voice sucks - like myself! - I suggest you do some practicing for that night.

دختر پسرای واترلو چه جورَین؟

Dubai: Memories & Memories

After 13 years of residing in Dubai, my parents have decided to leave it for good. Soon, I would no longer be able to call it home, the place that I grew up in, went to school, went to university and at which I slowly matured. The hot and humid days of Dubai with all its people will forever be in my memory like engravings in stone.

For that matter I have uploaded some pictures of those days. I dedicate these to those of my dear friends who shared it with me and I present it to my dear friends here at Canada where I am spending some of the best years of my life; And thanks to my mom and dad for making me the happiest guy on earth no matter where I am.

Life After Death

I would like to write a little bit about my own viewpoint regarding life after death. Perhaps, others would enlighten me with their own perspectives, which with no doubt I will appreciate and value, as all that I know comes from the things I've learned from others. I personally do not believe in any sort of life after death. I am going to tell you why:

Firstly, I believe many people believe in life after death because they are scared. Many people think that in any case there is a possibility that there is a life after death and if there is a judgment day then they would be held responsible for the things they have done. Now all people do both good deeds and bad deeds; thus they expect to be rewarded for their good deeds and also try to minimize their bad deeds to minimize the probability of having a miserable afterlife. Simply put they say: "What if there is a life after death?! Then there would be punishments, so let's try and be good. That's what my conscience tells me."

There are another set of people who believe in life after death mainly because they believe in fairness of the world. They believe that life should be fair, thus if they aren't being treated fairly in this life, then there must exist another life where the balance is achieved. However, why they believe in fairness of the world is another question. I think that if this world isn't fair, then why should the next one be?

There is yet another group of people who believe in life after death because of the instinctive desire in human beings for eternality. All of us like to leave something behind. All of us like to live in some sort after we die. We like to leave a high name, a valuable article or an astonishing work or invention. We like fame. Humans love to be eternal. And because this desire cannot be achieved in this life because of death, humans seek it in the afterlife. They say that: "ok, so there must be another life. If my life ends when I die, then everything would be pretty stupid. What's the point?!" We want to live even after we die.

There is a fourth group of people who believe in life after death due to a religious faith. To this group, I have no answer. Faith is not something that can be justified by logic. Faith is an acquired belief and is not something which can be argued. It is like a basic belief; just like I have a basic belief that there is a God. Some people have the basic belief that there is life after death. I would not argue with someone about the existence of God. I would simply say that I cannot prove that there exists a God; and I would say that I have faith in God. Logically, I would say that God doesn't exist. But according to my faith, I believe in God.

At the end, I realized that I don't fall into any of the categories that I mentioned above. I also realized that I have not logical proofs of the afterlife, that I don't find any indications of it. I have no clue what so ever of anything about it. Thus, I have way more reasons to believe that it does not exist than to believe that it does. Besides, the more you go into science, the more you realize how minimal and valueless you are. You realize what a big deal humans have made out of themselves, where in reality they are not even microscopic seeds in the ultimate infinity of the universe. To end on a positive note, I would say that I would go to heaven when I die; because the moment I close my eyes, I would not sense anything at all. I fall into a sleep so comforting that nothing could make me happy or sad. I will forever rest in peace.

Khayyam agrees with me in his following "roba'ees":

Regarding my last post

Ambiguity is a natural component of Hafez's poems. Perhaps, due to this reason many of the barobax thought that the line that I posted was regarding me and Sanam! Since many people had confused interpretations of what I said, I thought it would be worthwhile for me to elaborate a little bit on what "I" meant by it.

"raz" means grape and by "dokhtareh raz" Hafez is referring to wine. I found the poem interesting based on my own interpretation which follows:

The wine is a great companion but one must be aware not to get addicted to it and be able to set it aside at times or "divorce" it in other words.

So interpretations such as "A guy has the right to cheat on the girl several times while in a relationship" are definately out of question ;)

Perhaps those among the barobax who are alcoholics would most benefit from this poem. Keep your minds clear barobax and drink responsibly. chaX ;)

با حافظ

"The Others"

I used to be very much scared of the supernatural. Horror movies scared me a lot. There were nights that I would stare at the window and imagine how I would feel if I suddenly saw two eyes watching me. I used to think about the afterlife. I used to read about black holes and a 4th dimension and then read the Quran matching the other world with the other dimensions. I used to pay attention to stories of ghosts and "jinn".

However, I have changed now. I view the world differently. Less and less I believe in the supernatural. Less and less I pay attention to such stories. The more I learn, the more I develop faith in the logical and scientific explanations. Yet, there remains many mysteries, for me, and for everyone else. This universe is so unlimited, so unknown that statistically anything is possible. However, just like Newton laws apply to our near world perfectly, logical and simple scientific explanations suffice me in the everyday life. I would compare the supernatural to laws of Quantum mechanics where the context is one that is different from what we experience in our lives.

"I don’t know whether there is any limbo — I’m no wiser than you."

Free ATX case

I changed my computer's case yesterday and I have my old ATX case, but I have no room to keep it. If by any chance anyone is looking for one, let me know before I put it outside. It does not have a power supply.

تمدن نابود شده ی پارسیان

Dubai

My dad has recently posted his viewpoint of Dubai in his site: www.neghneghoo.com. I had lived in Dubai for about 10 years and I can relate to some of the things he has pointed out. However I spent my teenage years in Dubai and probably did not grasp an in-depth feeling of the real world during my time of residence in there. His recent post had an impact on my persepctive towards Dubai. Good and bad. I think for both of you who do and don't know Dubai, it'd be a nice way of getting to know some aspects of it.

The article itself is located at: http://www.neghneghoo.com/archives/2005/01/oeuoeu_1.php

Ehsan & Sanaz's Engagement Party

Great, great times last night at Sanaz & Ehsan's engagement party. Congratulations to this lovely couple on behalf of all barobax. We had a great time, and everything was perfect. The pictures turned out to look very good. I took a lot of pictures myself, and others did too. If you want to share the pictures, I'd be happy to put them up on the site. Just message me or email me and I'll give you FTP access to upload them directly.

Regarding the pictures, I usually go over them before uploading and take out the ones that I think are bad. However, my judgment is not always the preference of the ladies! :D Since I cannot send all the pictures to each and everyone of you for pre-approval, I ask you to look at the pictures and message or email me the filename of the pictures that you want to be removed. This way, I don't have to worry too much about putting up the picture. However, I will still use a quick judgment call to take out the ones that are not very decent.

کاموا

A song that you've never heard before...

1 more day off!

Interestingly enough, University of Waterloo will be closed on Monday January the 3rd. The first day of classes is Tuesday the 4th. I don't know about you but I find it interesting that classes don't begin on the first day of the week. All the time I was thinking that Monday is the first day of classes. Now I am happy that I can relax for 1 last day.

Today, Farbod will be coming back to Waterloo. All the barobax who spent the new year's at Montreal will be in town too and the city will once again live. UHauls and trucks will fill the streets of Waterloo and we'd see "people" walking in front of Waterloo and Laurier campuses. This calls for a Winter term reunion, and on that note, where would be better than our good old Williams coffee shop?