Mani on Wordpress

10 days ago I traveled to Japan for a robotic competitions. My trip to this amazing country took about 8 days and I got totally impressed by Japanese people. I am still thinking deeply about their behaviors and cultures and I think this would take much longer. Japanese are kind, responsible and friendly people with a permanent will to help. You will never feel lonely in Japan when you face a problem.

I do not know if a Japanese will ever read this post or not, but if so, I would like to thank you all …

Iranian government’s central Internet-blocking software now blocks WordPress.com SSL requests. Iranian internet users used to access blocked weblogs on WordPress.com through their HTTPS address (e.g https://blogname.wordpress.com instead of http://blogname.wordpress.com). It seems that they block all requests for WordPress.com IP’s on port 443 (port used for secure connections). Because of such restrictive method, even unblocked weblogs on WordPress.com can not be accessed through SSL.

Today is Persian New Year (Norouz). One of the greatest traditions of Norouz is Haft-Sin table which includes seven items specific starting with the letter S or Sîn (س) in Persian alphabet). The items symbolically correspond to seven creations and holy immortals protecting them.

Egg do not start with Sin (S)(س) in Persian alphabet, but egg decoration is very popular among Iranian families, They add decorated eggs to their haft-sin table.

Each year, near Norouz, a popular contest is held in our faculty named “Egg Decorating Contest“. Students from all over our university take part in this big contest. It was the second year that I gave my friends an idea to decorate the egg! (Just the idea, I can not even paint a simple sheet of paper!)

Last year this egg finally became one of the top 20s (Thanks Shokoofeh):

This year I didn’t have time to participate, but again I just gave one of my friends the idea. We are all member of Parsian Robotic Group, which is a robotic team working on a group of Small Size Robots. This year is the second year we are working on this project and our team is one of 16 teams which were qualified for this year RoboCup Competitions.

What could be more better than a “Robo Egg” ?? This egg didn’t took place in top 20s, but the Judge Team gave that egg a special prize for the concept !!! Here are some other pictures of the egg beside one of our robots:

As I told, I didn’t go to take photos from this year contest, but last year (@ March 13th 2006) I got some great photos which I didn’t publish, if you want to see some creativity of decorating eggs, take a look:

Iranian students have staged a rare demonstration against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, setting off firecrackers and burning pictures of him as he delivered a speech at Tehran PolyTechnic university. - CNN

Dozens of protesters burned pictures of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad crying ‘dictator go away’, ‘death to dictatorship’ and threw firecrackers on Monday forcing him to interrupt several times a speech he was giving at the Amir Kabir university (Tehran Polytechnic) in Tehran and leave before scheduled. A thousand students had also protested on Sunday at the university asking the president not to come the following day. - AKI

Tehran, 11 Dec. (IPS) Hundreds of pro-reforms students burned pictures of hard line Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadi Nezhad, booed him with chants of “Ahmadi Nezhad, symbol of discrimination and dictatorship” and threw firecrackers in an effort to disrupt his speech at a university on Monday, according to eyewitnesses and reports from several Iranian independent news agencies. - IPS

Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, faced an unprecedented outburst of public opposition today from student demonstrators who burned his picture and chanted “death to the dictator”. - Guardian Unlimited

PS. I am a Tehran PolyTechnic student, and I was there from the begining to the end. All the news sources above quoted the truth. Governmental news agencies here extremely trying to censor the truth about the meeting today.

What can I say …

• Iranian dies after hunger strike
• Jailed student dies on hunger strike
• Iranian Student Dissident Dies in Prison Following Hunger Strike
• Student dies after hunger strike in Iran prison
• Iranian dissident dies in prison
• Iran: Student Activist’s Death In Prison Remains Mystery
• Iranian dissident dies after hunger strike
• Iranian dissident dies in prison after hunger strike
• Jailed student dies on hunger strike in Iran
• Iranian Dissident Dies in Prison

What would happen next … ? Who will be next victim ?

Many people may ask themeselves, why the world do not count on "Islamic Republic of Iran" as a democratic country. They may ask if Iran is not democratic , why there are so many elections there.

As an Iranian, It's been a long time that I want to write a little about the political structure and elections' routine here and describe for others why it is not a real democracy here, Today when I was surfing around, I faced to a good article about Iran's elections and political structure.

John's article, "Sorry, but Iran is not a democracy", explains in simple words why we can not say Iran is a democratic country.

These days, I am almost hidden from others' sight! 'cause I am heavily under pressure by a robotic projects. We are working hard for preparing for this year Robocup Small Size league competitions.

A tree with blossoms in a public traditional cemetery in Iran - March 9 2006

Yesterday, I was invited to the 2nd reformists’ Persian bloggers meetup , hosted by Doctor Mostafa Moeen, Persian politician who was one of the candidates in previous Iranian Presidental Election in June 2005, The election that led to victory of Mahmood Ahmadi Nejad, current Iranian president . Dr.Moeen was candidate of reformists’ parties and was supported by most of Iranian students, [modern] women and bloggers, Eventhough he was unable to reach to presidental chair , he continued his meetings with his supporter bloggers till now.

As a supporter it was the second time that I was invited to the meeting , The last time, I was unable to go because of some conflicts in my plans , but today I was lucky enough to meet so many other great persian bloggers. By my estimations , There were 40 people in the meeting which was held in an office located in Tehran downtown and lasted near 3 hours.

Well, meeting people , most of them writing with their virtual names was very exciting, most of topics discussed in the meeting were about Iran nuclear program and IAEA watchdog reaction, Internet filtering inside Iran and bloggers rights and effects on society.

Most of the bloggers were university students and journalists in ages between 18-25. so many popular bloggers were invited like h.mazrooi , alpr and farnaaz. It was very intimated and full of points discussion. It was very obvious that most of the people there were againts Iranian government official foriegn politics and social rules, and they want democtratic reforms in politics and society.

People outside Iran usualy can not see this group of Iranians, and they judge Iranians through their government’s actions, But I get very proud when I see these high level discussions held inside Iran by young and active persians and I get proud when I see many other Iranian modern youth who we can count on to reach a free and democratic Iran. I can’t say that I have a good politic view so I can not expect myself as one of them , The main reason I was there was my efforts on Moeen Supports webring and some other technical assistants I made through Iranian ‘05 election for Dr.Moeen supporter bloggers.

No power even to think, I rather sit somewhere and rest, I wish I could be able to find a way to get rid of these “Endless Questions�?.

1. How many fall downs are enough for someone to change the way?
2. How many times should someone forgive?
3. What is the best way not to like others?
4. What is the best way to be able to hate?

I told before, People think I have an exciting life, with lots of activities. It’s been a while that I’ve been in a hard challenge with myself to change things in a way that I want. All I want is a normal life. I don’t need others’ respect; I just want to feel happiness continuously, I don’t want to let “small people�? to grab my happiness and fall me in a situation that I am currently in,

But, The end of the story is clear, As far as I can’t find the answers to those questions, as far as I believe in giving chances to the others, as far as I am living with positives thoughts about others, I will not be able to change my situation. People will use, test, leave and forget …

If I could change I would,
To get the pain I would,
To trace every wrong move that I made I would.
If I could …