Nerds of the World, Unite

November 22, 2009 at 6:09 pm · Filed under Great Minds, Really Cool Science, Videos

Jim Kakalios was a science advisor for the Watchmen movie, and wrote a book called The Physics of Superheroes. He gave this very entertaining and edifying 2009 convocation address at the University of Minnesota, and talks about geeks and nerds. And how we run the world.

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What We Need the United Nations For

November 9, 2009 at 1:42 pm · Filed under Politics, Videos

I think the United Nations spends way too much time, effort and money on having meetings, feel-good days of awareness that accomplish nothing, and obstructionism.

All we really need them for is to do this:

(Via Gavin Atkins)

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Iran 2009 Trip Report - Part Three

November 2, 2009 at 10:40 pm · Filed under Iran, Travel, Trip Reports

Continued from Iran 2009 Trip Report - Part Two

Day 4: Kashan – Esfahan

On the bus ride from Esfahan to Kashan, I made a point of not taking any pictures. The road passes close to Natanz, which is where Iran’s uranium enrichment plant is. I heard stories of a couple of French travelers that had their cameras confiscated for taking pictures in the area, so I didn’t want to take that risk.

After checking into one of Esfahan’s more popular backpacker hostels, I deposited my passport and most of my money in the hostel safe. Because of the large number of visitors, Esfahan has a large number (for Iran) of pickpockets, so I decided to play it safe. Then I set off for Atashkadeh. Atashkadeh is a small hill outside Esfahan, on which there are the ruins of an ancient Zoroastrian fire temple. I caught a local bus, and had to get used to the peculiar way in which bus services run in Esfahan. Every bus stop has a little hut with an old man sitting in it, who will sell you tickets and give you change. You wait for your bus, get on, and when you get off, you put the ticket in a rusty old can, next to the gear levers, in the front of the bus. The buses were segregated though. There were two doors, one in the front and one in the middle. Women use the middle door, and sit in the back half of the bus. There are bars on the inside of the bus, physically separating the two sections. When women get off the bus, they have to walk to the front door and put their tickets into the can.

I asked the bus driver to tell me when the stop for Atashkadeh was. About twenty minutes later he pulled over on the side of the highway, between stops, point up at the mountain looming over us, and say “Atashkadeh”. That was good of him, it saved me a fifteen minute walk. I scrambled up the side of the mountain, and looked around the ruins. The ruins themselves were nothing special, the view however was great. There’s something special about the sky in Iran. I don’t know what it is… it’s as if a child painted it with water colours. Looks great.

When I go hiking or climbing, when I get to the summit or the point in the hike where I sit and look at the view, I usually reward myself with some chocolate. To this end, I had a bar of very familiar looking Irani chocolate. It was pretty good.

On the bus ride back, I had an interesting conversation with one of the local Esfahanis. I blogged about that in my post titled “A Pilgrimage to Iraq”.

I was kind of hungry when I got back, and I found a place selling… samosas! These were especially welcome. Not because I particularly wanted indian food, but because after nearly four days of Irani food, I needed something spicy. Irani food, while good, can be a little… bland. My experience with Irani food is that it’s generally either on the bland side, or sweet. Iranis consume sweet stuff like nobody’s business. Iran is a nation of diabetics waiting to happen. If someone were to set up insulin production facilities and other necessities for diabetics in Iran, they’d make a lot of money. Iranis consume ridiculous amounts of sugar, candies, pastries, even bread, all with excess sugar, all in large quantities. The worst offender is tea. More on that later.

There’s a popular half-rhyme from the 16th century that goes “Esfahan nesf-e jahan” or “Esfahan is half the world”. As I made my way to Naqsh-e Jahan Square I could see why people would be writing poetry praising this city. Officially known as Imam Square, it contains what are probably the most amazing, awesome and majestic set of buildings in the islamic world. Naqsh-e Jahan means “Pattern of the world”, and is ringed with some fine mosques and a marketplace. More details about the Square to follow in Part Four of this trip report.

When I got to the Square it was evening, the lights were on and it looked spectacular. I can’t think of enough words to describe the magnificence and scale of the area. It is the second largest square in the world, second only to Tiananmen. Though for sheer attractiveness, it beats the more severe Tiananmen hands down.

One of the better known secrets of Esfahan is the tea shop on the bazaar roof, at one end of the Square. It’s a great place to sit, drink tea, smoke qalyun (hookah) and watch the square.

A brief digression on tea: I grew up hating tea. I used to have a pathological loathing for it, tea was my kryptonite. Drinking it made me throw up, and just the prospect of it being served to me gave me cold shivers. I decided to get over it. In Iran, I drank it almost every day, and while I didn’t really enjoy it, I managed to endure it, and get over some of the issues I had with it.

Iranis have a unique method of drinking tea. The tea is usually served in a pot, without milk. A bowl of lumps of rock sugar or sugar cubes accompanies it. You hold a lump of sugar between your front teeth and filter the tea through it as you drink it, and the sugar dissolves away with the tea. It’s common to use five or six lumps of sugar per cup of tea.

There are many interesting stories about why Iranis drink tea the way they do. Most of them sound like complete fabrications, but like most tall tales, they’re entertaining, with perhaps a grain of truth. My favorite one is the one of the British Merchants and the Imams. It goes like this: Back in the 1800s, most of Persia’s sugar was supplied by British Merchants, under charter from the Shah. Persia’s imams felt they weren’t getting their due from the sugar trade. Their requests to the British were rejected. So, they issued a fatwa against using sugar in tea. Mixing sugar with tea was now haram. Overnight, the demand for sugar dropped to nothing. The British merchants capitulated and came to some kind of arrangement with the imams. However, the imams couldn’t just rescind their original fatwa, it would look like they were being opportunistic. If sugar was haram yesterday, how come it is halal now? So, they issued a new fatwa that said it’s still not alright to mix sugar with tea. However, if you put the sugar in your mouth and drink the tea through it, it is completely acceptable. Sugar sales went back up, the imams made out like bandits, and the Iranis got screwed over by their clergy, yet again. A precursor of things to come perhaps? It’s a funny story.

To be continued…

Also in this series:
Iran 2009 Trip Report - Part One
Iran 2009 Trip Report - Part Two

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