John Rawls
Professor Rawls earned his A.B. and Ph.D. degrees in philosophy from Princeton University and was a Fulbright Scholar at Christ Church, Oxford University. In addition to teaching at Harvard, he held appointments at Cornell University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The author of A Theory of Justice and Political Liberalism, Professor Rawls was a member of the American Philosophical Association and Phi Beta Kappa. He served as President of the American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy and of the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association. His research centered on problems of justice and moral philosophy. In 1997, Professor Rawls was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws by Harvard University.

I have read an interesting speech by Dr Fooladvand who explains the key points of Rawls’s thought (this speech is in Farsi). The Original Position most lasting contribution of John Rawls to theorizing about social justice is really interesting.

(posted by Iman)

Posted:Friday, February 28, 2003 | 

The Revelations of Devout and Learn'd
Who rose before us, and as Prophet burn'd,
Are all but Stories, which, awoke from Sleep
They told their comrade, and to sleep return'd.

(Omar Khayam)





(posted by Iman)



Posted:Friday, February 28, 2003 | 

Gholamhossein Amirkhani
I believe that Ustad Gholamhossein Amirkhani is the greatest calligrapher in Iran. Just see and enjoy this masterpiece.







Posted:Thursday, February 27, 2003 | 

A promising AIDS vaccine

This is the first look at the potential for a human vaccine against the deadly virus, which killed more than three million people worldwide last year. 43 million people living with HIV across the world. After three-year study involving more than 5,000 volunteers, VaxGen announced that this vaccine only reduced the rate of HIV infection by 3.8%. Interestingly, black and Asian people, however, had a 67% lower rate of infection than those who received a placebo shot.
This vaccine, known as AidsVax, is the only HIV vaccine to have completed Phase III clinical trials - the last step before drug companies can seek approval from the US Food and Drug Administration. A synthetic copy of proteins found in HIV is used to try to sensitise the body's immune system to the virus so that it produces anti-bodies to fight it. The hepatitis B vaccine successfully uses the same approach.
Therefore, we must continue to expand existing prevention efforts. Good sex education and HIV prevention programmes remains our biggest weapon against the continued spread of the virus(reference BBC).
(posted by Iman)

Posted:Monday, February 24, 2003 | 

Sir Karl Raimund Popper (1902-1994) is a great philosopher who had a substantial effect on the modern philosophy. One of the most interesting ideas that he expanded on is Falsificationism .

Karl Popper's 1934 Bombshell

In 1934, Popper published what many regard as his Magnum Opus The Logic of Scientific Discovery. The famous chemist Wachtershauser said that this is a "gem" and that it liberated him from a sterile accounting view of science. Wachtershauser subsequently went on to develop one of the main theories of the origin of life. Frank Tipler, the famous cosmologist, regards this as the most important book this century. In one majestic and systematic attack, psychologism, naturalism, inductionism, and logical positivism are swept away and replaced by a set of methodological rules called Falsificationism. Falsificationism is the idea that science advances by unjustified, exaggerated guesses followed by unstinting criticism. Only hypotheses capable of clashing with observation reports are allowed to count as scientific. "Gold is soluble in hydrochloric acid" is scientific (though false); "Some homeopathic medicine does work" is, taken on its own, unscientific (though possibly true). The first is scientific because we can eliminate it if it is false; the second is unscientific because even if it were false we could not get rid of it by confronting it with an observation report that contradicted it. Unfalsifiable theories are like the computer programs with no uninstall option that just clog up the computer's precious storage space. Falsifiable theories, on the other hand, enhance our control over error while expanding the richness of what we can say about the world.
Any "positive support" for theories is both unobtainable and superfluous; all we can and need do is create theories and eliminate error - and even this is hypothetical, though often successful. Many superficial commentaries are keen to point out that other people stressed the importance of seeking refutations before Popper. They overlook the fact that Popper was the first to argue that this is sufficient.
This idea of conjecture and refutation is elaborated with an orchestration suggestive of someone who loves great music. (Popper loved Mozart and Bach, and took great pleasure in composing his own music.) The common idea that Popper neglected to consider whether Falsificationism itself is falsifiable is already scotched here. You can falsify a description, but not a rule of method as such (though obviously a rule can be criticized in other ways). The notion that science offers proof is now only advanced by popular treatments of science on TV and in (many) newspapers - most journalists (with a few important exceptions) are sadly completely devoid of theoretical knowledge: a side-effect of overspecializing on the immediate moment. But then, anyone can improve!
Most people who think they have a ready rebuff to Popper's position have never read his work. If they only read the original works, in most cases they would see that their supposed "Point that Popper neglected" had already been considered and exploded. A good example of this is Lewis Wolpert's remarks on Popper's works in his otherwise excellent book The Unnatural Nature of Science. He seems to think that Popper's falsifiability criterion ignores hypotheses about probabilities - overlooking the blatant fact that The Logic of Scientific Discovery devotes more than a third of its pages to the two fundamental problems of probability in an effort to find a solution that will also allow hypotheses about the probability of events to be capable of clashing with the evidence! Popper was in fact fascinated by probability and even produced his own axiomatisation of the probability calculus.

(posted by Iman)

Posted:Saturday, February 22, 2003 | 

Pinglish!!
There is a website that converts what you write in Pinglish (writing Farsi words with English alphabet) into a picture and can be sent as email. This is an interesting online service for people who cannot type letters of Persian alphabet or do not know Persian calligraphy. For writing Farsi in your letters, you should use Unicode (UTF-8) for the Encoding part of your web page.

Update: This is another translator

(posted by Iman)

Posted:Friday, February 21, 2003 | 

Posted:Friday, February 21, 2003 | 

It reminded me of "Sarbedaran", when sheikh Hasane Joori was telling people that "beshetabid ke bange rahil ra modat hast ke be seda dar avarde and", I was so young then but I loved this phrase so much that I remebered it after so many years. is it a farsi letter after Annihilation? how do you type Farsi?
(posted by Farid)
Posted:Friday, February 21, 2003 | 

One Moment in Annihilation's Waste,
One Moment, of the Well of Life to taste
The Stars are setting and the Caravan
Stars for the Dawn of Nothing__Oh, make haste!
(Omar Khayam)
(posted by Iman)

Posted:Thursday, February 20, 2003 | 

Rumi is saying that before the sun's light, candle has so little light that it finally hangs his head in shame, and he is using candle as a symbol for human's power of thought and sun for divine knowledge.We can also look at it as the shame of not having more to offer or a bow of humbleness.

Live fast
Be a spark and glow a while
You'll be dead a long, long time
Be a shooting star
And in one mad moment
Burning bright
Light the night
And make us stand in awe
Live fast
Be a supernova
Explode now while you can
Then flashing in the pan
Be a streak of red
Against the grey
Do it young
Don't let time slip away
And makes us real
And feel
And see
Your beauty
Live fast.

When I was young
I would do a million things
Dreaming up a thousand schemes
I would change the world each night
I would tear the stars apart
Confusion tore that pounding heart
With certanity that things weren't right
I'd read all that student stuff
read it till I'd had enough
Then making up my own mind
Think it
Feel it
I believed I'd never die
When I was young

When I was young
Hopes were bulit like shining spires
Reaching up and spearing skies
That rained their bitter tears around
I remember all these things and more
I belived I never die
When I was young

Baby, baby, baby when the whole world turns around
Baby, baby, baby keeps both feet on the ground
Baby, baby, baby when there's nothing else to do
Then baby, baby, baby I hold on tight to you
Cos there ain't no rear view mirror in my car
I ain't looking back
Not very far
(by Bob Geldof)
(posted by Farid)

Posted:Thursday, February 20, 2003 | 

Although this symbol has a paradoxical meaning ,
"No candle that did ever flame
But hangs its head in shame"

Nevertheless, I do agree with you as Molavi says;

The ship sunk in love
Should Love's heart rejoice unless I burn?
For my heart is Love's dwelling.
If You will burn Your house, burn it, Love!
Who will say, 'It's not allowed'?
Burn this house thoroughly!
The lover's house improves with fire.
From now on I will make burning my aim,
From now on I will make burning my aim,
for I am like the candle: burning only makes me brighter.
Abandon sleep tonight; traverse fro one night
the region of the sleepless.
Look upon these lovers who have become distraught
and like moths have died in union with the One Beloved.
Look upon this ship of God's creatures
and see how it is sunk in Love.
(Mathnawi VI, 617-623)

(posted by Iman)


Posted:Thursday, February 20, 2003 | 

I like to put Chris Rea's Candle which is a favorite song of mine here as a birhday present for you, the first lines talk about
one of your and mine concerns and one of the biggest problems of all times, and you can think of the candle as your birth day candle , maybe this symbolic custom is telling us that we should shine bight, and shine , shine , shine , and as Chris Rea says in his song "shine, shine, shine", "as the days flies over,[ ] feel younger every day".

Faith for reasons still unknown
Like 'Bleak House fog' seems everywhere
The truth has frozen into stone
And hope lies freezing in the midnight air
Though dark our days may seem
This is a different dream
Their freedom light don't shine at all
So I will light a candle for you
Keep it burning in the night
And pray that you are all right
I will light a candle for you
Little candle burning bright

When school yard heroes disappeared
The little girl, she stands alone
Oh I believe you if you say
A prayer can help to get her home

So I will light a candle for you
Keep it burning in the night
And pray that you are all right
I will light a candle for you
Little candle burning bright
(Posted by Farid)
,
Posted:Thursday, February 20, 2003 | 

30 years ago an innocent, fragile baby was born!!
( posted by Iman)
Posted:Tuesday, February 18, 2003 | 

What the World Needs Love is Love (Sweet Love)
Jackie Deshannon

What the world needs now is love,
Sweet love
It's the only thing
That there's just too little of
What the world needs now
Is love, sweet love
No, not just for some,
But for everyone

Lord, we don't need another mountain
There are mountains and hillsides
Enough to climb
There are oceans and rivers
Enough to cross
Enough to last till the end of time

What the world needs now is love,
Sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just
Too little of
What the world needs now is love,
Sweet love
No, not just for some,
But for everyone

Lord, we don't need another meadow
There are cornfields
And wheat fields enough to grow
There are sunbeams and moonbeams
Enough to shine
Oh, listen lord,
If you want to know
(posted by Farid)


Posted:Monday, February 17, 2003 | 

From A Distance
(by Bette Midler)


From a distance, the world looks blue and green,
and the snow caped mountains, white.

From a distance, the ocean meets the stream,
and the Eagle takes to fly.

From a distance, there is harmony,
and it echoes through the land,

It's the voice of hope,
It's the voice of peace,
It's the voice of every man.

From a distance, we all have enough,
and no one is in need.

There are no guns, no bombs, no diseases,
no hungry mouths to feed.

From a distance, we are instruments,
marching in a common band,

Playing songs of hope,
Playing songs of peace,
They're the songs of every man.

God is watching us, God is watching us, God is watching us,
from a distance.

From a distance, you look like my friend,
even though we are at war.

From a distance, I can't comprehend,
what all this war is for.

From a distance, there is harmony,
and it echoes through the land,

It's the hope of hopes,
It's the love of loves,
It's the heart of every man / song of every man.

(words by Julie Gold)
(posted by Farid)
Posted:Sunday, February 16, 2003 | 

People are People

People are people so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully
So we're different colours
And we're different creeds
And different people have different needs
It's obvious you hate me
Though I've done nothing wrong
I never even met you
So what could I have done

I can't understand
What makes a man
Hate another man
Help me understand

People are people so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully

Help me understand

Now you're punching and you're kicking
And you're shouting at me
I'm relying on your common decency
So far it hasn't surfaced
But I'm sure it exists
It just takes a while to travel
From your head to your fist

I can't understand
What makes a man
Hate another man
Help me understand

(by David Gahan )
(posted by Farid)
Posted:Sunday, February 16, 2003 | 

"Why Can't We Live Together"
(sade)



Tell me why, tell me why, tell me why.
Why can't we live together?
Tell me why, tell me why.
Why can't we live together?

Everybody wants to live together.
Why can't we be together?

No more war, no more war, no more war...
Just a little peace.
No more war, no more war.
All we want is some peace in this world.

Everybody wants to live together.
Why can't we be together?

No matter, no matter what colour.
You are still my brother.
I said no matter, no matter what colour.
You are still my brother.

Everybody wants to live together
Why can't we be together?

Everybody wants to live.
Everybody's got to be together.

Everybody wants to live.
Everybody's going to be together.

Everybody's got to be together.
Everybody wants to be together.

I said no matter, no matter what colour.
You're still my brother.
I said no matter, no matter what colour.
You're still my brother.

Everybody wants to live together.
Why can't we be together?

Gotta live together...
Together.

Poem and music of this song is by Timmy Thomas

Posted:Saturday, February 15, 2003 | 

Imagine
Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today...

Imagine there's no countries,
It isn’t hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...

Imagine no possesions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I’m a dreamer,
but I’m not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.
(Writen by John Lennon)


Posted:Friday, February 14, 2003 | 

The Article 13 of " Universal Declaration of Human Rights " is:
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
I cannot imagine how it is possible that every body chooses his /her state! Because many people of developing and underdeveloped countries like to go and stay in the developed world. What will happen? Don’t humans have this right to keep their capitals including national ones or whatever you say? What do you think? (written by Iman)

Posted:Sunday, February 02, 2003 | 

Ghazal: the Art of improvisation
Ghazal is a masterpiece by Kayhan Kalhor, an Iranian kamancheh (a vertical, four-string fiddle) virtuoso, and Shujaat Husain Khan, a sitar master. I believe it is an entirely successful fusion of two ancient classical musics: Persian and Hindustani (north Indian). The word Ghazal means a type of Persian (Iranian) poetry and also describes an old style of romantic ballad often sung in India. They make exciting, accessible, richly melodic music that will delight listeners of all tastes and backgrounds. It is one of the best works I have heard. (written by Iman)


Posted:Sunday, February 02, 2003 |