Iranian official warns of 'destructive' consequences of importing Barbies

I am speechless.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
TEHERAN, Iran

A top Iranian judiciary official has warned against the "destructive" cultural and social consequences of importing Barbie dolls and other Western toys.

Prosecutor General Ghorban Ali Dori Najafabadi said in an official letter to Vice President Parviz Davoudi that the Western toys was a "danger" that needed to be stopped.

Iranian markets have been inundated with smuggled Western toys in recent years partly due to a dramatic rise in purchasing power as a result of huge increase in oil revenues.

In Monday's letter, Najafabadi called for a crackdown on the smuggling of these toys which threatened Iranian culture.

"The Iranian Threat"

I have seen less and less articles published about Iran's nuclear energy program lately, and I don't know why. I guess people are tired of the same stories, because I truly am. I've been reading similar statements and accusations since 2002 and nothing surprises me anymore. I

I read the Jerusalem Post on a regular basis. They honor the Iranian nation and the Iranian people by putting up this stupid header on their homepage where all articles about Iran (no matter what it is about) are gathered up.



Anyway, I found an interesting article today.

This one is about some sacked advisor to president Ahmadinejad, who openly criticized Ahmadinejad for his policies this far following his three years in office. The interesting thing here is that more and more officials and politicians/clergies criticized Ahmadinejad's work, and some of these people are from Ahmadinejad's own branch, some kind of Iranian neo-con branch. This is something unique and completely different for me. I thought these kind of statements and comments meant execution but obviously I was wrong.

More sunny (and inspiring) Tuesdays please

This has been a long but inspiring day. I had the great luck to see the sun today as well.

It began with studies, a lecture, followed by another lecture and more studying. The day was rounded off with a long meeting. It's been fair.

The second lecture today was actually more of a talkshow kind of thing where one of Sweden's most successful businessmen was present and where two students openly asked him questions about himself and his work. It was very inspiring to hear about his life and his business, an how he had made himself a fortune.

The same guy is also the chairman of the Swedish football club Hammarby IF from Stockholm. We were allowed to ask questions during the lecture, and I had to ask about the current situation with the goalies in Hammarby. They bought one of Sweden's best goalkeepers (Rami Shaaban) before this season, but after three games of something they benched him and threw their reserve goalie (Kristoffer Björklund) out on the pitch. The reserve goalie proved to be better than we all had expected, and excelled his rival. For example, he managed to deny Henrik Larsson several goals in the game between Hammarby and Helsingborg last week, and on top of that he saved a penalty kick from Larsson in the same game.

Anyway, the chairman said himself that they had bought one of northern Europe's best goalkeepers and that they regarded him as their number one, no matter what. But they had to be consequent and fair now that the reserve goalie was performing this well.

As I said earlier, this was a very interesting and inspiring person, and I told him that I practically am the neighbor of one their players. And of course, I also told him that I am a die hard supporter of one of their greatest (if not the greatest of all time) antagonists. Despite all the trouble AIK is having right now.

Reflections on a beautiful day

It's a beautiful day and I am sitting here working with some stuff that need my attention. I am planning to go out later but most of my friends are out of town. The gym will be my destination.
Pretty soon I'll find out if I need surgery for my injured shoulder/arm or if I am to deal with the condition I am in. The rehab has done wonders for me but it still doesn't feel right inside. It still starts to hurt when I hold the phone to my ear for more than 30 seconds. Something is wrong.

Totti is said to be missing for six months. That's a pretty heavy blow for Roma, although his replacement Mirko Vucinic has been playing well. At the same time, this is good news for any Interista. We've missed key players the whole season but we still managed to do well this far (the exceptions are the games against Napoli and Liverpool.).

I really hope to see a victory tonight against Torino. If we win, we're six points ahead, and the Scudetto race will probably be over for this season.

Roma - Livorno 1 - 1

Diamanti scored a late equalizer in the 83rd minute. If Inter beats Torino tomorrow we're six points ahead with four games left of the season. May could be a very nice month...

Images from last night

Mattias Thylander (to the left) was once again back at Råsunda stadium, now playing in Trellebrog. I remember meeting him six years ago, when he was one of the most hated players in the AIK squad.
Bojan Djordjic
Bojan Djordjic
Bojan Djordjic
Celebrations after Iván's goal.
The goalscorer.


A hero returns to Stockholm, but unfortunately only for a short visit.
Derek Boateng of Beitar Jerusalem heading for the north stand.

When Derek said "This is my home", the fans went wild.
Derek is greeted by the fans.

Lee Baxter and Niclas Bergh

The starting lineup
Rikard Norling smiling again
A hero warms up.

Hatred towards mobility

I hate laptops. They are expensive, weak and ugly. I hate the tiny keyboard, the dark screen, the lousy speakers and the clumsiness that comes with carrying one around. I dislike Apple and I despise Windows Vista (the worst thing mankind came up with after Windows Millennium). I hate when someone rearranges my desktop. I hate when files are removed for no good reason. I hate everytime someone touches the screen (and forces his/her index finger on it as if he/she wants to break through the display). I hate touchpads. I hate the tight keyboard and the flat keys. I hate it when I accidentally hit the [¨] button when I actually intend to hit the [Enter] button. I hate the fact that computers in general become obsolete very quickly. You can't do shit with it before it's too old for this or too slow for that. A simple and basic application such as iTunes lags on this relatively new notebook, and the thought of having to stick with it for a while from now really scares me. It takes around 10 fucking minutes for this one to enter Windows from the moment I press the ON button. And yes, it was formatted recently.

I'm really sick of laptops right now.

10 hours later

New day, new opportunities. I'm off in a few minutes and I will do my very best to make this a good day.

In search of humanity on a chilly Monday

My iPod is currently feeding me with inspiring tunes from a Daft Punk live performance. I need something inspiring on a boring Monday like this one.

The weekend was a success. I spent time with friends and family. No work done but it's okay. I needed some time off. This week is stuffed with lessons, but it's not a big deal. The days are getting longer and that's a huge motivational factor each morning.

Now to something more depressing. Today I was back at campus among what I usually like to define as one of mankind's ugliest and most nasty offsprings. Emotional cripples. Self absorbed women. Childish assholes who possess no sense of emotional quality whatsoever. Morons that fail to perform individually, unable to stay outside a group of their own (primitive and execrable) breed. I see them everyday and it's a traumatic experience every single time. I need to stop, catch my breath and count to ten. Sometimes, when I happen to be walking behind them (and when I have the great misfortune to be listening to their impaired and morbid conversations) I feel like punching them one by one. And no I'm not a violent person, I just happen to hate this sub-specie of mankind.
I would love to post some illustrations but delicate situations could arise.

That's all for now, but I am not through with this subject. This is just the beginning my hate campaign.

Back to reality 2.0

I came back from another conference, this time held in southern Sweden. It was one of the better conferences during my time in the students' association. Some friends left the organization and new blood was welcomed. I am starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Do I really want to see what's out on the other side?

This is a view from the hotel room.


Typical Soviet, spartan architecture with a great pinch of communism added to it. It looks terrible, but that's how it is when you travel on the expense of the members of the association. Their admissions indirectly finance my trips and my stays. But hey, I'm giving something back! Ha!

The funny thing about the hotel was that it was frightening from the outside but it was really fresh on the inside. It's a cliche, I know, but this one is actually for real. Except for a fucked elevator that scared the shit out of me every time I was in it. The funny thing is that there were no stairs so you had to use that horrendous elevator. Hotel Sparta in the city of Lund will always hold a special place within me, some place deep, deep down inside, hidden somewhere in my subconscious mind, far away from reality.

It was a pleasant trip all in all, except for a train delay due to a storm. I had booked a first class ticket on the train, and the ETA from my hometown to Lund was roughly 2 and a half hours. The sum total of the trip was approximately 6 hours, and the worst part was that I had to give up my lovely first class seat for a murderous bus trip through the boring district of Småland, with Swedish countrymusic boosting out of the cheap speakers. Sometimes I love my iPod. I drowned the music with macho stuff and Gigi D'agostino.

I came back on Monday afternoon, a relief to "begin" the week with a Tuesday. This week is stuffed. I'm not that worried though, I've had worse weeks.

Thank you for reading.