.farshid sedghi’s personal blog.

ABC primetime had a very interesting and moving segment tonight. It was a social experiment taking place in a bakery. A Muslim woman (ABC’s actor) dressed with a head dress wanted to buy something and the clerk (also ABC’s actor) was refusing her on the grounds that she was a terrorist, non-american and was being insulting. Here is the interesting part as they did experiment several times: 22 customers said nothing, 6 sided with the clerk and 13 stepped up and defended the customer.

As I watching this, it certainly saddened me to see ignorance and/or indifference when a human being is treated that way. It also reminded of a more tragic fact. In this case, let’s assume the by standers were apathetic or sided with the clerk because of ignorance and understood all Muslims to be terrorists because of the actions of a few rotten eggs. At least they had ignorance or being misinformed to blame it on.

What about all the Baha’is in Iran who have been and are being terrorized in countless ways? How can recognition of mankind to be one and wanting to unite all the people and races of the world possibly be used as a reason for persecution, imprisoning and killing? Further, how can this be justified to systematically vilify and subject innocent children to cruel treatment??

At least when I grew up in Iran, the government just expelled me from primary school (for being a Baha’i) and that was the end of it, rather than now humiliating and ostracizing in different ways before expelling.

Make no mistake, this is not prejudice. This is certainly not ignorance. This is nothing other than systematic attempts to eliminate human rights, and force people to stop believing in oneness of mankind, oneness of God and oneness of religion.

It really baffles me that the leader of a nation can deny facts in front of the rest of the world and everyone just laughs it off. As an example, when Iranian president visited Columbia university he made several denials that made the audience explode in laughter, yet none of these denials are joking matters. And yet another example of these denials that certainly cannot be blamed on his ignorance of lack of knowledge is the standard answer he gives on why the Baha’is of Iran are denied their basic human rights.

These are very deliberate denials. And Iran’s regime knows that no one will stand up to them on the question of minorities in Iran. Why? Because there are bigger issues that they get away with, so this one is a walk in the park, and that is why the president himself can outright lie and deny facts and get away with it.

Putting that aside, the question in mind today is what level of hatred, ignorance or whatever you want to call it does it take when you put so much energy into even destroying the Baha’is’ cemetery which is located somewhere very remote and desolate. And what have these Baha’is done that generates such a level hatred? They believe in oneness of mankind, oneness of religion, universal peace, elimination of poverty and many principles similar to these I just mentioned.

For those of you who have an unusual name for the country you live in, or your name is simply not international enough, I am sure you can relate to this little dilemma: You pick up the phone to make a reservation at a restaurant for dinner with your friends. It’s a simple task, you dial the number, say hello, ask for a table for x number of people at a certain hour and thats that. max 30 seconds needed. But in my case that never would be the case. After saying my name, they ask me to repeat it three times, then we go into spelling it…and since “d” and “b” and some other letters sound familiar, you now have to go into F as in frank/foxtrot, a as in apple/alpha…

so 5 minutes later I have successfully managed to reserve a table for dinner. Well a couple of years ago I decided no more of this, so my resturaunt/starbucks/general waiting line name became Bob Heart. Think that solved the problem? Oh yes! However, once every three months, when I order coffee at a coffee shop and they ask for a name to call when its ready, I get the question sometime: “You don’t look like a Bob. You sure your name is Bob?”..to which I respond, would you like to spell my real name instead?

Over two months into being a dad, I thought I would jolt down some of the experiences before new ones make the initial memories fade away (mostly due to lack of sleep). People ask how it feels, and regardless of how hard I attempt, I feel I am short of words to describe it.

The closest description I have come to, that most can relate to is going through, what I call, pink-clouds-period of falling in love: Nothing else matters, you walk around with smirk on your face, you don’t need food, sleep or drink. You are in a constant wonderful high and each time you hold your baby or see her face, your heart just melts away and you are washed over by a giant wave of joy. Every little movement or sound she makes is the cutest thing you have ever heard and as a bonus her occasional (reflex) smile puts you over those pink clouds.

Simultaneous to these feelings, there is a sense overwhelming feeling that you can’t help being reminded about constantly, mainly the great responsibility you have for this soul’s well being and development. The well being part being a walk in the park in comparison to the development part. I am far from having perfected my own flaws and character and yet here she is and it is a reality that can be overwhelming. And of course, I can’t get away with do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do.

The start of this journey is a happy one as at least for me, fundamentally, it comes down to knowing the purpose of life before you start focusing on smaller puzzle pieces. It makes it a little easier to align the rest of your actions in accordance to this objective or at aspire and try to.

My sister sent me a link today to one of the 10 conversations recorded in the documentary called Dah (Ten in Farsi) which I have been wanting to see. The documentary as described in Wikipedia:

In 2002, Kiarostami directed Ten, revealing an unusual method of filmmaking and abandoning many scriptwriting conventions. Kiarostami focuses on the socio-political landscape of Iran, and the images are seen through the eyes of one woman as she drives through the streets of Tehran over a period of several days. Her journey is composed of ten conversations with various passengers, including her sister, a hitchhiking prostitute and a jilted bride, as well as her demanding young son. This style of filmmaking was praised by a number of professional film critics such as A. O. Scott in The New York Times, who wrote that Kiarostami, “in addition to being perhaps the most internationally admired Iranian filmmaker of the past decade, is also among the world masters of automotive cinema…He understands the automobile as a place of reflection, observation and, above all, talk.”

But to the point. Seeing this scene (despite the movie being a docudrama) at first may seem surprising how the mother treats his son as an adult (as well as how the adult like the son behaves), but it reminded me how quickly you are forced to grow up in many parts of the world and in a sense you don’t experience a classically defined childhood. It was also interesting that I was taken back by this dynamics shown in the scene, whereas I am not sure if that would have been the case if I had not grown up in places where being treated as a child during childhood is a must. Or maybe it happened because I am about to become a dad and this is not the dynamics I wish to have with my daughter (that’s right, we will be having a girl).

Nonetheless, I don’t think its either or. Children definitely need to enjoy their childhood and at the same time they don’t always need to nor want to be treated as children. I love this quote from Abdul-Baha which really summarizes it all so wonderfully:

While the children are yet in their infancy feed them from the breast of heavenly grace, foster them in the cradle of all excellence, rear them in the embrace of bounty. Give them the advantage of every useful kind of knowledge. Let them share in every new and rare and wondrous craft and art. Bring them up to work and strive, and accustom them to hardship. Teach them to dedicate their lives to matters of great import, and inspire them to undertake studies that will benefit mankind. Selections From the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá pp128-129

As I was eating lunch today, once again I couldn’t stop thinking about the huge amount of trash this country (U.S.) produces. Not to say that every other country is better, but it absolutely amazes me how every single paper or plastic plate, bowl or utensil here is so solid and sturdy that you could put it through the dish washer and no harm would be done to them. How can these things be called single use kitchenware?

An add to this that the concept of recycling here is a joke. Growing up in Scandinavia, I am used to separating recycle material very carefully and deposit them in separate stations. you have to separate brown paper from white, colored glass from clear, different types of plastic and a lot of people also have compost. Here in the States, we you toss everything that is supposed to be recycled in one giant bin, and there is no proof that all of this gets recycled (even if they wanted to, they would have to separate things first), and when talking to people about recycle, you can tell that overwhelming majority have no clue about what can or can’t be recycled. people think for instance a pizza box can be recycled, even if it has left over pizza or cheese stuck to it, or that styrofoam can be recycled and so on…

And while i am on the topic, the amount of absolute unnecessary wrapping and packing pretty much anything you buy comes with really is tragic to see. All (mostly) because of marketability of the products

It breaks my heart to see this much waste on a daily basis everywhere I look….

With sites like facebook.com and myspace.com taking over the Internet it makes it easier for people to keep in touch by leaving messages on each others “Walls” (facebook). What I notice is also that while this Web 2.0 concept is taking over, it makes it harder to be an outsider, by not having an account or just having a standalone blog of your own on the Internet.

As an example, my wife, sisters, brother and lots of friends all have facebook or myspace accounts. While almost not a week goes by without receiving invites to facebook or similar sites and despite verbal attempts of convincing me to join this movement from my wife and sisters, I am very content with just having a blog that I have full control over. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with these sites and while I am sure there are some valuable content being generated through this crowd sourcing, it does not really attract me since it a) does not give me full control over what I can do on it and being a techie I like being able to poke around things as much as I want to and b) being on such sites in my experience you also end up engaging in a lot of (semi addictive) frivolous activities, e.g. graffiti a friend’s wall or virtually poke each other, (which I am sure is fun, but I just don’t have the time for it).

So the question becomes, do you ignore the wisdom of these crowds and stay outside or do you go with if-you-can’t-beat-them-join-them? While not joining these sites may not make me as visible or accessible to friends and other contacts who would like to get updates on my life and in turn also not give me access to theirs, some of which can be friends from a very long time ago that you wonder what they are up to these days, I think there is a middle ground and example of that can be another site like LinkedIn.com. That site may not be as ‘cool’ or happening as other fun social sites, but it gets the job done for me.

Or maybe take a more old-fashioned approach, find out their email or phone number and call/write them to get updates, but I guess in today’s world that can be a little passé, or better put, in a world where we travel a lot and its so easy to stay in touch through the Internet, we tend to have a large circle of contacts around the globe and we don’t necessarily have the time or are not that interested to do one on one emails/calls with them and are just content with coming across whatever they broadcast to the world about their lives.

Update: Notes on final decision can be read here

Update: The Pentax K10D is now in the race too as I have discovered that it is a bit of undiscovered gem among DSLRs. On the other hand D40X is out and so is D200. D40X out because it simply is a D80 wanna-be and in a sense this article summarizes why I decided to drop it. D200 I dropped because in a nutshell the only difference between D80 and D200 is that D200 is sealed against dust. Not enough to make me want to pay the price differance.

For a few years now I have had my eye on a DSLR, and the time for buying one has come. I have narrowed it down to to Nikon as the brand I like the most. Now, its down to two models (D200 is a little out of my price range) and for the life of me, I can’t get a straight answer either way. The search is still ongoing so feel free to chime in if you have any thoughts. So far this is the best summary I have found.

In my continued quest to answer the two never ending questions (1. what’s it like working for Microsoft & 2. what exactly do you do?) from friends, family and others here is another post answering the second question, i.e. what does a Microsoft Program Manager do?

The term Web 2.0 has been around for a few years now and I remember when first heard about it, I had the exact same feeling about it as I had when I first heard about Microsoft .NET. Both terms were too abstract and no one/website had a coherent and concise explanation of what it was or what it did or more importantly how it can be implemented in actual software development. (read .net white paper to see what I mean)

And in my opinion if you can’t explain something (in this context technology) in a understandable manner, it is usually indication of it being a marketing ploy (since it either useless or is far from being ready for the market so whoever is trying to promote it is also trying to give themselves an option to decide it later). There are other reasons behind vague tech terms as well and Joel attributes it to Architecture Astronauts.

Here is a 4.5 minute visual presentation of what this so called web 2.0 is for those who are still unclear about it (hope you are a fast reader).

Time and again I tell people to always be aware of what you post on the internet about yourself. Here is an example of why. Imagine I am an identity thief and I have decided to target you for whatever reason…it could be that I saw your myspace page and got a glimpse of personal data on you there and decided to pursue and complete the rest of the picture and take advantage of that info. You might think this should be challenging.

I am afraid with all the search engines like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft and these engines archiving things away, it would be fairly easy to do this. In fact I came across a tool that just does this and demos exactly my point.

Go to http://www.paterva.com/wizard/. Choose what info you have (person’s name, email or phone number) and it will give you probably more accurate info you thought about the person you search for. Now, this is just a prototype and as these types of tools get more powerful, imagine how easy it will be to find out a lot about you?

So next time you decide to publish any personal information about yourself, I would think twice before doing it.

As a FYI to all my fans (thanks mom), I have started a work blog on http://blogs.msdn.com/farshid. That blog will mostly talk about work related stuff. However the first post is about what it is like to work at Microsoft which you might find interesting as I have been very open about things.

The Iranian president regularly uses the word peaceful, believes strongly in compassion and being human and these are his words during the recent release of British Navy soldiers, yet he arranges conference to examine if the Holocaust ever existed. He also strongly insists on loving the people of the world, yet this president and his government find no conflict in being compassionate and peaceful and at the same time expulse Baha’i students from universities and harass and abuse Baha’i schoolchildren.

Of course if you ask them why, their reasons for this behavior are many and conflicting and yet so justified and simple in their hypocritical heads. Baha’is, according to the Iranian government, are all spies of Israel and US and have to be punished. This is what justifies harassing and abusing children, torturing & killing men and women alike, demanding money (from the remaining family) for the bullets by which they kill the Baha’is. This sad and tragic story has gone on for 27 years and will continue to do so as long as the world allows it to.

Seeing 300, which by itself had a thin storyline and was cheesy (yet done differently and I enjoyed the artistic way they shot it) I couldn’t help thinking about a few things, be it that such a movie was not maybe made to make us think deeply but to entertain:

• The Gladiator factor - Seems like with Gladiator being such a success, this was another movie to ride the wave of telling stories of people that face, or rather choose to acquiescently face hardship and sacrifice despite knowing the suffering that comes with it, because of what they believe in.
• The war factor - Gladiator was a huge success, so was several other similar themed movies, yet I can’t escape thinking why bloodshed is the way to highlight the inspiring points. Certainly, there are many many inspiring stories out there based on truth if Hollywood wanted to inspire people. Personally, the reason I think war and violence type of movies are made popular is simply because they cater to the very lower natured emotions within each of us. We see suffering, death, misery and the first emotions awakened within us are usually anger, hate, fear and sadness and what better way to give the audience something to quench and put out these feelings, but blood shed and retaliation.
• “Wag the Dog” factor - And finally, having seen “Wag the Dog”, and following the world affairs, with Iran having such a spot light on it for its nuclear program, I thought the timing for this movie seems right if you want to show a violent/world domination perspective of the history of this nation and maybe provoke and attract support to stand up against Iran. Is this plausible that the movie has some baked in propaganda? I don’t have the faintest clue, nor do I care to speculate.

Becoming a dad was not a topic I had thought about that much until we found out we are expecting, some 12 weeks ago. Ever since, it has gradually become more of a reality, and a wonderful one at that. Of course, the emotions go in cycles, from excitement to fear (am I ready for this?, what if something goes wrong? what if this…what if that?) to a sense of calm, gratitude and satisfaction to give you a few examples. Nonetheless, it was not until today, when mommy had a second ultrasound that it really became a tangible reality. There he/she was….around 6 inches (15 cm)…with heartbeat, arm, legs, eyes, ears…everything and he/she even streched during the ultrasound which just awoke an indescribable feeling of joy to see our first child alive.

It’s has been hard not to mention anything until now, but in case you haven’t heard, Neda and I are going to be parents!! Mommy is doing very well and is a trooper and I am very proud of her.

My first cousin whom I had a chance to reconnect with after som 16 years while we were both serving as volunteers at the Baha’i World Centre has picked up painting and as a proud counsin I thought I would give a shout out to him and link to his site. In my eyes at least, he has talent…

As a new resident of US, I saw my first State of the Union speech by President Bush on TV tonight. I didn’t expect this to be particularly eventful, but after the first few minutes I couldn’t take the constant ovations which became just a huge distraction. After few more minutes, I started to realize the synchronized, orchestrated standing ovations of the right part of the audience and then left part and followed by the entire audience giving standing ovations making me realize depending on what the topic was (driven by republicans or the democrats), the republicans (or democrats) of the crowd would give standing ovation. And as true sports fan each camp was sitting together.

So what did he say? No idea as I was too distracted by the applauds and synchronized ovations, just like a football game. I found it amusing though…

The life story of Mona (Mahmudnizhad), a 16 year old children classes teacher is a well known one amongst the Baha’is. Mona along with 9 other Baha’i women were executed by hanging for being Baha’is.

Despite efforts from the International community, the threat against the Baha’i in Iran continues to grow. Elsewhere, the Supreme Administrative Court of Egypt decided to heavily discriminate the Baha’is of that country because of their belief, and make non-citizens of an entire religious community.

It still seems so unbelievable that the Holocaust could take place in front of the eyes of the World, yet we have seen and continue to see similar type of start and if given the slightest room, the government of Iran (as well as other countries) would love to continue these persecutions and discriminations against the Baha’is.

A movie has been made, telling the story of the 9 courageous women who were executed and it will be produced this year. I am certainly very excited to see the final result. The website below gives you a better idea of this and the progress on the movie.

http://www.monasdream.com/

Iran’s President in an interview said paraphrased, his way of trying to start talks on Israel and Palestine conflict was through the conference he initiated in December 2006 in Tehran titled something in lines with: International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust. The goal according to him was not to deny or prove the existance of the Holocaust. Further though, the Iranian Foreign Minister said: “If the official version of the Holocaust is thrown into doubt, then the identity and nature of Israel will be thrown into doubt. And if, during this review, it is proved that the Holocaust was a historical reality, then what is the reason for the Palestinians having to pay the cost of the Nazis’ crimes?”

What Iran’s true motive with this conference was, only they can answer, but here is a related story that I would like to share.

“This story was aired on Sunday, Dec. 17 on CBS on 60 minutes about a long-secret German archive that houses a treasure trove of information on 17.5 million victims of the Holocaust. The archive, located in the German town of Bad Arolsen, is massive (there are 16 miles of shelving containing 50 million pages of documents) and until recently, was off-limits to the public. But after the German government agreed earlier this year to open the archives, CBS News Scott Pelley traveled there with three Jewish survivors who were able to see their own Holocaust records. Its an incredibly moving piece, all the more poignant in the wake of this weeks meeting of Holocaust deniers in Iran.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=2274705n

Time for some reflection again. Some of the topics I want to note down today may be random, but I have been reminded of them several times. In no particular order:

• Return Policy - Certainly this comes as no news that the return policy in U.S. puts all other countries to shame. I am not going to discuss at what cost this comes at, but it certainly makes life a bit easier with the return policy of stores such as Costco, Nordstrom and so on where you can return things even years after you have purchased the good and they won’t even ask you why. Try returning something in Europe and you are lucky if they don’t throw you out of the store.
• Availability and Abundance - Which brings me to availability and abundance of it. I have touched on this subject in another post, but the point I have to make here is that I cannot think of anywhere else in the world where (almost) anything is so accessible for purchase. You can walk into a store and buy anything from a Jacuzzi, pool table, mini tractor, or even a small & easy to assemble mini cabin!. And I am not talking about going to specialized stores to get these items. Go to your closest Costco and pick one up! Next after that, most of the well known (clothing) brands that are considered more on the exclusive (and expensive) side elsewhere in the world such as Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss and so on can be found in piles here in the States which also is a bit puzzling. I guess this works well with the commercial philosophy of U.S. which probably goes something in lines with: ‘People should be able to buy anything they want anytime they want as much as they want and we don’t care how much garbage it will produce, though we can compromise on the quality so the prices are not too high. If we don’t compromise on quality we will charge the customer three arms and five legs to let them understand it is quality stuff they are buying.’
• Junk (paper) Mail - I am still puzzled by how financial institutions (as well as other companies) are so persistent in bombarding your house’s mailbox with offerings printed on thick glossy papers. During the course of last month alone I have had 4 offerings to become an American Express customer and I already have had two cards with them for over a year! (one personal and one for work). Makes me wonder how they run their operations. Actually I have come to realize a big share of the corporate world here who make very good profits and are well known are not running smoothly because they run a lean and efficient business model. They just have reached a stage where they make so much money that they can cover their inefficiencies and still look like they are running a smooth operation.

Interesting documentary where lots of different theories are being presented. But the one thing I did find particularly interesting was the analysis of the Military industrial complex.

The term first was used in president Eisenhower’s farewell speech where he warned of the too significant of a role that the department of defense has come to play and the amount of resources that it uses for its purpose. “Iron Triangle” which is another similar term used for this concept refers to an institutionalised collusion among defense contractors, The Pentagon , and the United States government, where these three ensure to create a permanent war economy, which in a nutshell states that since productivity of the nation is higher than normal during war (at least during WWII), the economy cannot be allowed to return to a civilian economy.

As a result the defense is heavily dependant on the industry (defense contractors) and it needs to secure a steady stream of revenue from the government to be able to support this model, something that is seen a heavily against the public interest. Very interesting movie and definitely worth seeing.

The last few weeks, I had the awesome experience of going to China for work. I was in Shanghai the whole time and that was plenty by itself as there seems to be no end to this giant megacity. The people are very friendly and forthcoming, but unfortunately communication becomes an issue as almost no one speaks or understands English. I saw a lot of tourists/foreigners walking around so it seems like Shangai is giving Hong Kong a run for its money in being a world metropolitan. All in all, apart from the mad traffic and air pollution (similar to LA), it really is a must see place.

The second topic I wanted to write about is Kiva.org. This non-profit organization which its name means unity or agreement in Swahili, was started in 2004 and although is still in the process of becoming self sustainable (by 2008), is currently being funded by a number of angel investors, including Microsoft Research. Here is how it works:

“Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can “sponsor a business” and help the world’s working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates from the business you’ve sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back.”

Here is a list of people and businesses who need a loan that would change their lives.

I read the following article today, talking about how Islam is brutalizing Baha’is in Iran. While the article itself is interesting and has valid points, the only thing I think the author was not being clear on, is the fact that Islam as a religion is a religion of Peace. Islam as a self serving tool for clergy, regimes and fundamentalists on the other hand is anything but peaceful. This made me think of something I read in One Common Faith commissioned by The Universal House of Justice that sums it up very nicely:

“Few today among those who have some degree of objective familiarity with the subject are likely, therefore, to entertain an illusion that any one of the established religious systems of the past can assume the role of ultimate guide for humankind in the issues of contemporary life, even in the improbable event that its disparate sects should come together for that purpose. Each one of what the world regards as independent religions is set in the mould created by its authoritative scripture and its history. As it cannot refashion its system of belief in a manner to derive legitimacy from the authoritative words of its Founder, it likewise cannot adequately answer the multitude of questions posed by social and intellectual evolution. Distressing as this may appear to many, it is no more than an inherent feature of the evolutionary process. Attempts to force a reversal of some kind can lead only to still greater disenchantment with religion itself and exacerbate sectarian conflict.”

I find this very interesting as I see this on a daily basis in media and around me, i.e. past religions’ clergy and institutions struggling so obviously and so painfully simply because there is no divine source for these needed changes and by twisting the Bible or the Koran into something else, it is nothing but man made inventions that backfire very quickly. What I find amusing though is, for the lack of a better word, the childish nature of these institutions and clergy to prove that their Prophet was the best one or the most powerful one and that he was the very last one. Reminds me of arguments I would have in kindergarden about how my dad is stronger than others. Does any parent set a date on which they tell their child, this is the last advice I am giving you and this is the very last day I will care for you? No! So why would God do that to mankind by sending a last Prophet and then leave us forever?

It has been a long while since I posted anything on my observations in my new home land, US of A. The last two posts came almost a year ago and it is long overdo for new observations.

Let’s start with the summer time activities. Having lived my first summer in the northwest, I have come to learn more about what is close to American hearts when it comes to summer and I can say BBQ-ing is probably most popular. People here love their bbq and not to be excluded we got one too. Now, being a Persian, my research was a little more demanding on what BBQ grill is considered good since we would be BBq-ing more than just burgers, ribs, steaks and hot dogs. We love our kebab and in order to be able to make good kebab, your BBQ grill has to be FKA (Food and Kebab Administration) certified. Next after the kebab comes the real test, i.e. how good of chef you are is based on how good your burgers are. The funny part here is that all men think they have their own little secret receipe that makes their burgers just the best burger in town and as in Rome you do as Romans, I have come to find myself included in this ever-ongoing competition. So far though I am still considered the rookie and have a long way to go and much to prove.

Next is all the summer fairs and festivals. Granted that these events are not specific to US, but what is different is the size of these things. Take for instance the sea fair here. Over the course of a weekend, you have TONS of hydro plane races and shows, you have the blue angels (6 F-16 fighter planes) do two air shows and a numerous number of other events that I am not even aware of. I enjoyed this very much since I have never really experienced a sea fair of this magnitude and like I said it is not what is done a lot of the times, it is how it’s done that makes it so different.

As for burgers though, so far and by far, In-N-Out burger joints in California are the best burgers I have tasted in this country. I am sure that won’t last long though as burgers is something this nation does not take lightly on.

Generally though, the biggest observation that I am reminded of on a daily basis is the abundance of everything here and how people just take is for granted, as if the resources on this planet can’t be exhausted. The amount of food I have seen being wasted as well other areas of waste is just mind blowing to me and I still cannot fathom it. Until the next report from this side of the pond - This is me reporting for all the fans out there.

The other day as my wife and I was about to start a movie, I thought to myself that I no longer seem to find myself particularly excited about watching movies these day. Sure, some movies I am curious about in terms of special effects or some other shallow aspect. But apart from that it felt like it has been a very very long time ago since I saw a really good movie, one of those movies that really makes you reflect on things or stirs something deep inside you.

Tonight we saw a movie called What the Bleep Do We Know? A description from IMDB says: “This film plunges you into a world where quantum uncertainty is demonstrated - where neurological processes, and perceptual shifts are engaged and lived by its protagonist - where everything is alive, and reality is changed by every thought.”

Although the description sounds complicated, it really is an awesome movie. And as a Baha’i, it was so wonderful to see distinguished doctors in quantum physics and other fields come to the conclusion that the fundamental purpose (and I am quoting from the movie itself) and message of the universe is unity and that we are all one. Something, that Baha’u'llah, proclaimed almost 150 years ago.

Now,as good as all these doctors were doing, most of them went on to miss the point by dismissing religion (as a unifying force) and God as the Creator of all things and this due to their own preconceived notions or simply by looking at how mankind has turned religion and God into a man made set of traditions and rules. But at least they all agreed in the existance of consiuosness which some of them called ’soul’, so I guess they have made a bit of progress. I am not particularly familiar with quantom physics, so this movie was also a wonderful practical experience of seeing what harmony between religion and science would look like, i.e. having what I already know as a Baha’i explained from a deep scientific perspective.

Highly recommend watching this movie.

Many friends have been very encouraging about this blog and have found it useful. They also have expressed interest to see more post about what is going on in our lives and see pictures.

The purpose of this blog really was and still is for my own forgetful brain to document things that I want to come back to, mostly articles, websites, tools etc and although bookmarking things in Firefox or Internet Explorer many times does it, I find this method a lot more efficient.

That said, I still don’t want to disappoint the friends visiting this blog by over and over “exposing them to yet another plugin” as one friend put it, So if you are one of those friends and would like updates (mostly pictures), either drop a comment here or drop me an email on farshid@com.gmail (flip gmail and com) and let me know and I will make sure to include you next time I upload recent pictures online.

Serving at the Baha’i World Centre, I met so many amazing people. Some of these wonderful friends have their own blog and since it is getting more difficult to keep track of who has a blog and who does not, my dear friend Nafisto the great has come up with a wonderful initiative which helps to keep up to date with all the BWC friends’ blogs.

If you are one of those friends, or know a friend that served there as has a blog, let them know about this.

This week I started my new work and it is really fun to get back into it. Put aside the first month or two where everything is a blur and you are trying to get your head around all the details of what you are doing and are supposed to know and do, the project that I am working on is an exciting one. It is a product by Micrsoft that is still in beta testing and is called Windows OneCare Live, which is combined antivirus, firewall, back up and tune up application.  I am working on the security policy of the firewall and it is an interesting project for sure. So my frequency of posting might dip for the next month or two as all my focus is on getting up to speed as soon as possible.

Having used Google Analytics for a couple of months now, today I was looking around to see if I could mine any important info and found rather amusing info, that being what keywords has lead people to this blog…some make sense, others are more of a puzzle…see for yourself

New country means learning new things. A few weeks back I heard the word filibustering on the NPR (National Public Radio, my favorite channel on the radio around here) and it didn’t make any sense whatsoever, so I looked it up and was somewhat stunned to find out what it means. For any of you that might not know what it means:

1) The use of obstructionist tactics, especially prolonged (irrelevant) speechmaking, for the purpose of delaying legislative action. 2) An instance of the use of this delaying tactic.

I did a 5 minute google search on the term to find some sort of background about this and found out that it comes from Spanish filibusterowhich originates from the Dutch word vrijbuiter (which means pirate). Anyways, long story short, early nineteenth century, John Randolph, a senator from Virginia kept giving long irrelevant talks which made the other senators ticked off, so a decision was made to stop this. 1872 though, Vice president Schuyler Colfax stopped this and once again this practice of delaying tactics started and by now as you know it’s part of everyday life of the Senate.

What is amazing to me is that when asking people about this practice of our law makers here no one even finds this particularly strange, the fact that the leaders of this country, when trying to make decisions are allowed to act as a bunch of kids and try to stall each other. Maybe I am overreacting or missing something big here, but this sounds totally out of control and childish behavior at its peak. Nevertheless it is so accepted here that when looking up the meaning in the dictionary, that is what it means.

So the question is what is the difference between filibustering in the Senate and a kid that wants ice cream in the grocery store, puts a finger in each ear and starts screaming in order not to hear his mom refuse his request.