My Babbling Brain

In “Treacherous Alliance,” Trita Parsi, an adjunct professor at John Hopkins University and president of the National Iranian American Council, contends that shortly after Iran proposed a “grand bargain” to the United States four years ago, Tehran made a similar offer to Israel during an academic meeting in Athens.

During a May 2003 conference in Athens attended by several prominent Israeli analysts and ex-officials, Mohsen Rezai, a former commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, presented what Parsi describes as a bold strategic shift to a group of Israelis. Rezai’s proposal at the conference, which is organized annually by the Greek Foreign Ministry and the University of California, Los Angeles, entailed a more moderate Iranian stance on the Palestinian issue in exchange for Israel dropping its opposition to rapprochement between Washington and Tehran.

Parsi’s version of events, however, was disputed by a senior Israeli who attended the session but refused to be identified in keeping with the meeting’s off-the-record protocol. The Israeli stressed that Rezai’s pitch focused only on finding a modus vivendi on Iraq with the United States and did not touch upon the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

Parsi’s claim was also called into question by some Iran experts, who noted that as a former official Rezai was not speaking on Tehran’s behalf. The former Revolutionary Guard commander, they added, was criticized upon his return to Iran for meeting with Israelis and for discussing such sensitive topics.

Source: Forward

Looking at birds is a key; it opens doors, and if you choose to go through them, you find you enjoy life more and understand life better.

Predictions by means of birds is called ornithomancy. The word auspicious comes from the Latin for birdwatching.

Freud said that all flying dreams are really about sex.

Emiliy Dickinson called hope “that thing with feathers.” Birds are about hope.

We can empathize with birds, thrill at their appearance and at their song.

What makes the marvellous is its peculiar way of being ordinary; what makes the ordinary is its peculiar way of being marvellous. (Orphan Pamuk, The Black Book)

How to be a Bad Birdwathcer by Simon Barnes

Maybe the older you grow, and the less it is easy to put thought into action, maybe that’s why it gets all locked up in your head and becomes a burden.  Whenever I read in the paper about an old man disgracing himself, I know it’s because of this burden.

 It’s essential not to have any ego at all.

Dizzy with excitement is no mere phrase.

Never love a wild thing. You can’t give your heart to a wild thing: the more you do, the stronger they get. Until they are strong enough to run into the woods. Or fly into a tree. Then a taller tree. Then the sky. You’ll end up looking at the sky.

How do you feel if you are in love? she asked. Ah, said Rosita with swooning eyes, you feel as though pepper has been sprinkled on your heart, as though tiny fish are swimming in your viens.

The stars were his pleasure, but tonight they didn’t comfort him; they did not make him remember that what happens to us on earth is lost in the endless shine of eternity.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote

Change happens: they keep moving the Cheese (your objective). Anticipate change: get ready for the Cheese to move. Monitor change: smell the Cheese often so you know when it is getting old. Adapt to change: the sooner you let go of old   Cheese, the sooner you can enjoy new Cheese. Enjoy change: savour the adventure and enjoy the taste of new Cheese.

Old beliefs don’t lead you to new Cheese. The more important your Cheese is to you, the more you want to hold on it. If you don’t change, you can become extinct.

What would you do if you weren’t afraid?

Movement in the new direction helps you find new Cheese.

Imagining yourself enjoying your new Cheese leads you to it.

It’s safer to search in the maze than remain in a Cheese-less situation.

Who Moved my Cheese by Spencer Johnson

Frankly speaking, I don’t enjoy listening to the news on the radio. It’s always reported by some girls who pronounce the names of places inaccurately. Besides, every third one has some slight speech defect, as if they are chosen on purpose.

A writer is identified not by an identity card, but by what he writes.

What would your good do if evil didn’t exist, and what the earth would look like if shadows disappeared from it?

The cat was united and returned to its owner, having tasted grief, it’s true, and having learned by experience the meaning of error and slander.

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

The whole novel

Penguin Guide

On Wikipedia

Middlebury

چند وقته متوجه شدم نسبت به پارسال کمتر کتاب متاب می خونم، دلیلش هم این اینترنت لامصبه. واسه همین این وبلاگ از حالا تغییر کاربری می ده و به فیشدونی آنلاین خوندنیهای غیرآنلاینم تبدیل می شه.

فکر نمی کنم اون فیشها بکارتون بخوره، چون بنا ندارم حاشیه ماشیه بنویسم و موضوعاتشون هم از شیر مرغ تا جون آدمیزاد متفاوت خواهد بود. با این اوصاف سعی می کنم منابع رو ذکر کنم.

پس از همه دوستانی که این چند ماهه، کامنت حمایت آمیز یا انتقادآمیز گذاشتند ممنونم. اگه جواب انتقادها رو ندادم و روح لطیف تعاملی وبلاگستان رو جریحه دار کردم پوزش می خوام ولی جدا هدف این بود که یچی من بگم، یچی شما. قرار نبود همدیگه رو قانع کنیم.

به قول ممد، بودن با شما خیلی خوف و توّهم بود! (یعنی خوش گذشت.)