Monday, August 27, 2007

Unmasking the Face on Mars



May 24, 2001 -- Twenty five years ago something funny happened around Mars. NASA's Viking 1 spacecraft was circling the planet, snapping photos of possible landing sites for its sister ship Viking 2, when it spotted the shadowy likeness of a human face. An enormous head nearly two miles from end to end seemed to be staring back at the cameras from a region of the Red Planet called Cydonia.


There must have been a degree of surprise among mission controllers back at the Jet Propulsion Lab when the face appeared on their monitors. But the sensation was short lived. Scientists figured it was just another Martian mesa, common enough around Cydonia, only this one had unusual shadows that made it look like an Egyptian Pharaoh.

And so on April 5, 1998, when Mars Global Surveyor flew over Cydonia for the first time, Michael Malin and his Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) team snapped a picture ten times sharper than the original Viking photos. Thousands of anxious web surfers were waiting when the image first appeared on a JPL web site, revealing ... a natural landform. There was no alien monument after all.



read more about this topic.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Shamseddin Hafez Shirazi (1500)


Read real version of this poem in Persian
My poor English translation of some sections:
………
Don't coquette to destroy my root
Don’t hold on your head to let my outcry be heard on the heaven
Don’t make your hair chain ringlet to capture me
Don’t swag your hair to make me lost on the wind
………
Take pity on me and help me
Hafez never avoid your cruelty
I was free as I was your prisoner

Here is a beautiful clip of this poem with Zahra Amir-Ebrahimi playing roll of actress. Singer and Setar player: Mohsen Namjoo



Friday, August 10, 2007

Death and the Will of Achaemenid Darioush


(Read full persian version of Darioush will here)
…. but don’t close my grave and so whenever you could, come in the grave and see my stony coffin there and understand that: me; your father was a mighty king and reigned over 25 countries and died finally and you will die too, because die is the destination of all people … when you see my grave whenever you could, vanity and bigheaded can’t conquer you and when you saw your death near close my grave and tell the same as me to your son ….

Deny this Pic

I think this pic is real! and not for fun! just for cry!

Saturday, August 04, 2007