h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

[this niche, unlike the other ones, has a picture of a woman wearing chinmail and lion's skin, battling with a dragon]

(nim puts cut melons and plates in the middle of the niche and waits for the others to arrive)

Hi I've arrived, 'waves'. ewwwww Melon, yum don't mind if I do. Did you know that Melons never ripen once they have been picked off the plant they grow on. Instead they start to decay as the sugers in side go to work, an the best way to tell if a melon is nice inside before buying is not squeezing but by actally smelling the end that used to attach t to the plant, as if it smells bad you know the inside is bad. If squeezing it then you should give it a gentle sqeeze and there should only be a little play in it.

So anyhow back to the Iran thing, a friend of mine yesterday told me (not sure if its true) that Iran even allows sex change operations these days...

Adib

Wow - I *like* the picture! AND the melons, of course.

I posted the link to the comics, and now one of my comic-collector friends is looking for places he can buy the Arabic Superman & Batman ones!

ok. hope he enjoys them

Adib

Hey! An article on Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami!

http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,6737,1476326,00.html

sorry i'm late - i was at the Tehran International Book Fair this afternoon. whew! as i keep saying : where were all these great kids books when *I* was growing up? spend a fortune for my "godson" and bought him the entire translated tin-tin (?) collection.

Yes, if the physician can prove that the person is suffering from hormonal imbalance, they allow sex-change operations. it's not even new - when i was in highschool, my best friend's sister was in med school and met a few cases then.

we also have gay couples, though it is difficult to find them, because same sex friends tend to hang out more and show more physical attention here than in western countries, without it meaning anything but friendship.

which brings me to a slightly bad experience i had in germany - i had met up with an iranian friend/semi-big sister after several years, and we went out for icecream, when i gave her a gift at the cofeeshop and she hugged me, everybody looked at us rather weirdly...

(puts several other kinds of melons ion the niche and starts serving )

We seem to havfe run abit dry here, so I thought I would post this link here. I posted it on the women and Islam thread too, but think it would be better here, as we would be goingof topic again.

http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2005-05/23/article03.shtml

So yet again womens rights in Saudi have been put on the shelf, I wish I could get my hands on them dumb Mullahs, have they even read the Qur'an. It is really annoying having to look at the out side in as some stupid, greedy, male shovalistic pigs distort and destroy the very rights women have been granted in Islam to further there own ideals and views.

Sorry I seem to have gone off on one there.

Thanks for the extra Melons, hmmm, I don't mean to sound inpolite, but you don't have any mangoes do you?

Adib

(points to the pool) help yourself.

haven't had time yet to check the link - is it that bad? that's why i get upset when they pick on iran's women's rights - a (male) friend once complained that we here got our rights handed to us on a silver platter.

Well, its not that bad, its just that for the last few months a group had lobbyied for the women ban from driving law to be disregarded, but alas as usual they just ignored it.

It just annoys me that in Saudi the place Prophet Muhammad was born they deficit on the teachins of the Prophet Muhammad and The Holy Qur'an. I mean women can not vote, drive etc etc.

An thats another thing, why is it they cannot drive but they can ride a bike? I mean isn't a women going to be more revealed riding a push bike than sitting in a car? I can't comprehend there thinking.

I just get irate at silly unlearnered selfish sexist men giving Islam a bad name simply because they can not be bothered to read and Follow what the Qur'an and hadith says.

I mean if it was alright for the Prophets wife to ride a camal then surelly it should be alright to drive a bloody car.

An Iran has its bad points but they are nothing compared to a lot the so called Islamic countries. But I would not say that women have their rights on a silver platter though.

I just wish I could pick up the Qur'an and manually insert it into their brains, but alas that would be unislamic... darn.

Adib

well, inserting it into their brains won't help much, but from the other side...

(nim contemplates some anatomically just possible actions)

sorry, had a bad scare today. dad's been unable to keep down food for the past 2 days, so our GP suggested we take him to the hospital for overnight observations. fortunately, the very "H" word has gotten him out of bed and demanding food. lets see if he can digest this one...

Well I hope he gets better soon. In England if you go to hospital you come out dead, hope thats not the case in Iran.

A friend of mine went to hosiptal for a sprained ancle and caught the skin eating disease and died two weeks latter.

Seems for all our modern technology we still can't keep disease at bay.

Adib

last year i broke my wrist and had to be operated under full narkosis.
one week later they closed the hospital because of several suspicious deaths in the OP

i have a phobia about visiting very sick people in the hospital ever since i saw what a torture visiting hours were for my brother. and then he died in the hospital (not their fault). afterwards i missed the chance of saying goodby to several older family members because they were in the hospital. so now i'm scared.

I'm sorry to hear that, its bad when you don't get chance to say good bye to someone...

You have to realise that its not your fault, and try to overcome it. It takes time and patience and also understanding I think.

I was in London the other day on a demonstration against Isreals occupation and treatment of Palistine, The demo finished early so I went around town with my friend Idrees. In this one part they had this Buddhist festival thing as it was Buddhas birthday last Saturday. So we went over and showed our respect. Got speaking to these two ladies about Buddhism and Islam and how apart from the subject of creation and reincarnation and the worshipping of Idols that the two are very similer. I mention this because there was a book there I wanted to buy from some wise Buddhist Monk on Letting go to desires etc.

Basically most emotions can be traced back to our inner desires and greed etc and that the only way to achieve inner happyness is to achieve a state of inner selflessness. To let go of desires such as wants and regrets etc. Inner piece revoles around the fact that the world around you is a fluid entity that you only have a limited effect on it and that no matter how hard we try we can never change what is going to happen, simply because we can never be certain what is going to happen till it happens.

Can't wait to get a copy of it and read it.

Proof in the pudding, you had no idea I was going to start talking buddhist ideals to you hmmm? laugh as I said the teachings are very similer to Islam.

Take care

Adib
Adib


Adib

I'm sorry to hear that, its bad when you don't get chance to say good bye to someone...

You have to realise that its not your fault, and try to overcome it. It takes time and patience and also understanding I think.

I was in London the other day on a demonstration against Isreals occupation and treatment of Palistine, The demo finished early so I went around town with my friend Idrees. In this one part they had this Buddhist festival thing as it was Buddhas birthday last Saturday. So we went over and showed our respect. Got speaking to these two ladies about Buddhism and Islam and how apart from the subject of creation and reincarnation and the worshipping of Idols that the two are very similer. I mention this because there was a book there I wanted to buy from some wise Buddhist Monk on Letting go to desires etc.

Basically most emotions can be traced back to our inner desires and greed etc and that the only way to achieve inner happyness is to achieve a state of inner selflessness. To let go of desires such as wants and regrets etc. Inner piece revoles around the fact that the world around you is a fluid entity that you only have a limited effect on it and that no matter how hard we try we can never change what is going to happen, simply because we can never be certain what is going to happen till it happens.

Can't wait to get a copy of it and read it.

Proof in the pudding, you had no idea I was going to start talking buddhist ideals to you hmmm? laugh as I said the teachings are very similer to Islam.

Take care

Adib

whoops like i didn't know i was going to double post

Adib

i loved the budhist temples in thailand. they were so peaceful and (unlike the mosques in iran) so clean.

i think budhismus is one of the very very few religions in the world which has remained relatively uncorrupted by politics.

and i loved the fact that the king of thailand (and certainly his sons) all went through the obligatory 2 years of monk-hood.


my dad went to the hopital 30 minutes ago. he is feeling better, even made a couple of jokes, but he is so weak they will probably put him on serum even if there is nothing else wrong.

Hope things work out all right with your dad.

Adib

he had a bloody HEARTATTACK and we didn't realize it! he was complaining about his ribs aching and everybody including himself thought he'd caught a cold...

he's in ccu for obsrevations and a check up, but my mom came home for lunch and says he is feeling well and comfortable.

bro keeps on harpering (directly to mom and barbs and looks to me) why i didn't go to the hospital with them - as if i could've done anything more than get in everybody's way. and i have session with my therapist this afternoon which i really need. i'll visit him tomorrow - unless they release him first. lets just hope.

sorry about the rant, adib. i know the helpless feeling if you listen to (or read) other peoples troubles and don't know what to say. i'll try to give some new info on iran on this thread in the evening - even if to cheer myself up.

Hey don't worry about it. Some times a good rant is good as it helps clear the system. It don't sound to serious though if his been like it for a while and every thing. Lets just hope it don't leed to another one.

Asprin is good to take so as to help not to get heart attacks. One tablet a day will help thin the blood enough to help stop it getting blocked.

Hope he recovers soon.

Feel free to yell and rant all you want, I don't mind.

Adib

when i called bro this morning on the cellphone, he just told me that dad is in the ccu. not how he is, not why he is there. i had a crying jag until mom came home, now my head and my eyes are still hurting. all of which could have been avoided if he'd just daid: "they put him in ccu for observation, but he's feeling fine" i really can't figure him out.

you said you wrote fanfiction yourself have you seen the anime "ranma 1/2"?

i don't think i'll be posting more tonight - brain's shut down again