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January 30, 2005
Aussi Open
One of my favourite current professional tennis players, Marat Safin, finally managed to win another grand slam today.
After winning US Open against Andre Agassi in 2000, Marat had been in various finals, but he never managed to win any of them. He is a large guy (193 cm!), but he is very fast and very precise. However, his game, up to this grand slam, was inconcistant and unreliable. It was normal to see Marat being ahead 6-2 in a set and then losing the same set!
It seems like his new coach has managed to control Marat's nerves and has thus made him a consistent, cool, and precise player. I am very happy about this. Marat Safin is a great player and I hope he manages to win more grand slams.
Posted by Khodadad at 07:01 PM | Comments (1)
January 29, 2005
Mother tongue?
Philology, the field I am much interested in, deals with the development of languages. The current, dominant form of philology has a Darwinian look at language and expects to find an "older" version of the language back in time. For example, the lineage of English is: New English<-- Middle English <--- Old English <--- Anglo-Saxon <--- Old High German <--- Proto-Germanic <--- Western Indo-European <--- Proto Indo-European.
With a little stretch, some take Proto Indo-European back to "Nostratic" language which supposedly was the common ancestor of Finno-Ugric and Indo-European languages. In this way, two major language families are united.
This is a real question for me then: if we can supposedly follow this thread long enough, will we arrive at a single, "Human" language? I know of some historical experiments about finding this mother-tongue (James I of England), but is this scientifically probable?
Posted by Khodadad at 11:25 PM | Comments (1)
January 22, 2005
What does this mean?
I would really be thankful if someone can tell me what this might mean. I am trying to look at both sides of the coin, but I don't see much difference between them.
Posted by Khodadad at 11:18 PM | Comments (1)
Oh, it's so fabulousssss!
I am famous! Yes, WWW can make you famous! It was not even 15 minutes, rather about 2 mminutes, but it was fame!:)
I was walking in the campus today when someone stopped me and asked:"Are you Khodadad Rezakhani?" and I, being quite astonished, said that I indeed am!
He said:"I have been reading your weblog for two years now, and I saw your picture on the web."
So, there we go, my weblog has made me famous. I hope I can bear the responsibility! Oh, it's so fabulous, dahling!
P.S.: This entry can EASILY be disregarded!
Posted by Khodadad at 11:44 AM | Comments (1)
January 17, 2005
Didn't I tell you?
About a year ago (February 3rd, 2004), I wrote a little piece in my Persian Weblog about the news of a Pakistani nuclear scientist who had admitted to selling plans of making an Atomic Bomb to Iran. The news came convenienetly at the eve of George W. Bush's announcement of the the creation of a bi-partisan committee to look into the nuclear activities of other countries.
Back then, I half jokingly suggested that this timely burst of honesty from the Pakistani side is eventually going to be taken up by the government and used against Iran. I didn't think it is going to come true. But now, read this article from the New Yorker and pay particular attention to the paragraph two of the "T" section!
Posted by Khodadad at 03:22 PM | Comments (1)
January 10, 2005
How they see the world
I was reading the introduction to a famous edition of the Royal Frankish Annals (RFA) today. The RFA is one of the best known sources for the history of the Carolingian Empire (Charlemagne et al.) and thus I need to read it for one of my classes.
Anyway, the introduction talks about various issues in the Annals, among which is the authors of the work and how they saw the world and how the work was used as a tool of official propaganda. Basically, the authors assume that their side (the Frankish king) is always right and his enemies are always on the side of evil and do things out of pure hatred.
These sentences in particular attracted my attention and made me think of some of our modern powers and how they look at the world. Seems like not much ahs changed in the past 1200 years, and despite all of our claims of modernity and enlightenment, we are not that different than our 8th and 9th century ancestors!
"The Annalists reveal no sympathy or understanding for the interests of these tribes. If the Franks wage war on them, it is for breach of faith, or, if the people have at no time been subject to the Franks, because of their arrogance and hatred."
"...the later annalists similarly charge them with 'fickleness,' 'treacherous spirit peculiar to the nation, 'senseless obstinacy,' and speak of the 'arrogance of this faithless tribe,' whose opposition, however, quickly collapses under the fierce blows of Frankish counts."
[Carolingian Chronicles, Royal Frankish Annals, Nithard’s Histories, tr. Bernard Walter Scholz with Barbara Rogers, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1972]
Just replace the "annalists" with "journalists/TV Pundits" and "Frankish counts" with the military arm of the super-power of your choice!
Posted by Khodadad at 11:43 PM | Comments (5)
January 05, 2005
Wrong Mr. Stone!
Oliver Stone has recently tried to take advantage of the popular digust with conservatism in America and has claimed that his film, Alexander, flopped because of the fundamentalist reaction to the 'gayness' of Alexander!
First of all, Mr. Stone has given another reason for people to make fun of liberals and call them out of touch with reality. As a liberal, I have serious problems with that.
Then, whoever's fault it was, the market failure of Alexander was not the fault of fundamentalists! This is the same country in which Philadelphia, a movie about a gay person who is fighting for his rights, won an Academy Award and became very successful.
So, the problem is not with the already well known homosexuality of Alexander of Macedon or Mr. Stone's depiction of it. It is rather with the poor quality of the film itself. I am yet to see a person who thinks it is a good film.
Mr. Stone, next time, when you decide to make historical movies, do consider the history!
Posted by Khodadad at 11:49 PM | Comments (4)