On a train ride from Munich to the Alp mountains, between places that carry such pedestrian names as Miesbach (transl.: Ugly Creek) or Schliersee (transl.: Slimy Lake), the train radio announces the next stop will be “Agatharied”. The sound of this name resembles a magical spell, maybe of Sumerian or Egyptian origin. But apart from the enchanting melody of… (more…)
Just cross the road from the Avicenna bookstore in Munich, with its huge assortment of Persian literature, is the old building of the Munich University. Seventy years ago it was in the main hall of this building that the antifascist resistance group “White Rose” spread around leaflets that should reveal and condemn the nazi-crimes against the Jewish population and against… (more…)
Recently I was invited by a friend in Munich to a reading of poetry by an Iranian writer, who died much too young in 1967, only reaching 32 years of age. Forugh Farrokhzad (1935-1967) was exceptional among woman in modern Persian literature, since only an extremely small number of Iranian women in general have achieved anything outside of the home… (more…)
Here we have the two finalists of a competition that went largely unnoticed in the west. No, I am not talking about the super-bowl of American Football, I am talking about a competition that has less media coverage and which I call “The World got hypocrisis”: Two of the most hypocrite characters that came into political power by highjacking the… (more…)
Dear Michael, All the big stars, i.e. those with a mass exceeding the sun’s mass by a factor of 1.3, gain most of their energy by a hydrogen-fusion reaction that involves a catalytic cycle, known as the Bethe-Weizsäcker or CNO-cycle. During this reaction cycle, protons (i.e. hydrogen nuclei) are added four times into a cycling reaction that converts carbon through… (more…)
Eine Theorie besagte, dass seine besondere Verbindung zum Iran und seinen Menschen auf ein fast 25 Jahre zurückliegendes Ereignis zurück ging, von dem aus allerdings eine Verbindung bis in die Gegenwart reichte. Damals war Deutschland und die ganze Welt noch strikt getrennt in Ost und West. Er lebte auf der östlichen Seite des sogenannten Eisernen Vorhangs und hatte eigentlich nur… (more…)
Ghazal my Dear, I felt sorry for this nice big moon tonight, ’cause he seem to be freezing up there. You can see from the blue shine on his cheeks how cold he must feel. And he was shivering so much, that the picture I did of him appeared to be not very sharp. Take Care, Michael Bookmark on Delicious… (more…)
Nahid Persson-Sarvestani, a former activist of the student branch of the Tudeh party and in the late 70s among the demonstrators against Shah Reza Pahlevi, now lives in Sweden as a film-director. In her 3 parts documentary, she interviews Farah Diba, the last empress of Iran, who now lives in exil in Paris. part 1 part 2 part 3 Farah… (more…)
Ghazal dear, Listen to this great song by Michael Buble, who is not afraid to show that a his amazing voice can be like a music instrument. I would be curious to hear what you think. Buble is only a bit elder than you, so no excuse to say that his music is from another generation. Bookmark on Delicious Digg… (more…)
Ghazal mon cher, Un réalisateur suisse, un alpiniste iranien et un randonneur australien traversent d’ouest en est les majestueuses chaînes volcaniques de la République islamique. Dans cette première partie, du mont Ararat aux faubourgs de Téhéran, rencontre avec des nomades, des tisseurs de tapis, une championne de ski, seul membre féminin et porte-drapeau de la délégation iranienne aux JO de… (more…)