Spiderman Converts to Islam!

Just kidding. This was a joke circulated on the Turkish blogsphere a few years ago.

The Many Worlds Interpretation: Super Mario

Some people have a hard time getting their heads around the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics which basically states that at every moment our universe is split into many universes. Thus if at any moment we are confronted with many choices we actually do make all of these choices but in different universes. If it is still confusing then have no fear there is no Super Mario who can help you understand what is going on. Appearently someone superimposed many runs of a hacked version of Mario. Here is the link via BoingBoing. The name for this and related series of videos in Japanese is 自作の改造マリオ（スーパーマリオワールド）を友人にプレイさせる is “Making my friend play through my own Mario(Super Mario World) hack.”

So may be there are  many universes out there, in one of them Suroor is Her Royal Highness the Queen of Kingdom of Great Britain, Ireland and Northern Brittany.

Ten Thousand Miles (Part IV)

“Even a ten thousand mile journey starts with a single step.”

– Lao Tzu

The Epiphany of Jahandost

Perhaps it is not the case that the meaning of life is to be derived by reconciling all the ideas in one’s head but rather the meaning of life is to be derived from constant struggle with oneself. These are two visions of life, neither of these is ‘correct’ and neither of these is ‘wrong.’ Different people are meant to follow different paths. I have tried reconciliation for the longest time until I realized that is not meant to be. Some things and some people are not meant to be at rest. With these words, Jahandost will end his self-imposed exile.

Steampunk Watch

One of my side interests is steampunk. As I have stated before it can also be characterized as an aesthetic movement inspired by the Victorian Era. Lo and behold I give you the Steampunk watch. It looks nice but you would not want to wear it all the time.

Fredric Brown’s Answer

Here is the full text of Fredric Brown’s famous short science fiction story, Answer.

Dwan Ev ceremoniously soldered the final connection with gold. The eyes of a dozen television cameras watched him and the subether bore throughout the universe a dozen pictures of what he was doing.
He straightened and nodded to Dwar Reyn, then moved to a position beside the switch that would complete the contact when he threw it. The switch that would connect, all at once, all of the monster computing machines of all the populated planets in the universe — ninety-six billion planets — into the supercircuit that would connect them all into one supercalculator, one cybernetics machine that would combine all the knowledge of all the galaxies.
Dwar Reyn spoke briefly to the watching and listening trillions. Then after a moment’s silence he said, “Now, Dwar Ev.”
Dwar Ev threw the switch. There was a mighty hum, the surge of power from ninety-six billion planets. Lights flashed and quieted along the miles-long panel.
Dwar Ev stepped back and drew a deep breath. “The honor of asking the first question is yours, Dwar Reyn.”
“Thank you,” said Dwar Reyn. “It shall be a question which no single cybernetics machine has been able to answer.”
He turned to face the machine. “Is there a God?”
The mighty voice answered without hesitation, without the clicking of a single relay.
“Yes, now there is a God.”
Sudden fear flashed on the face of Dwar Ev. He leaped to grab the switch.
A bolt of lightning from the cloudless sky struck him down and fused the switch shut.

(Fredric Brown, “Answer”)

Today is Singles Awareness Day

Today is SAD or Singles Awareness Day. Wishing everyone a happy SAD day or sad SAD day. Yeah its kind of confusing.

A Forger in Cairo

Just imagine the following, you are a British writer with international fame and you hear from a friend that your book has been selling well in Cairo. This sounds innocent enough right? There is only one problem with this story – you actually did not write the book! This is exactly what happened to Robert Fisk. To get to the heart of the problem, Robert Fisk himself went to Cairo hoping to find out who the forger was. What followed was a wild goose chase from point A to point B to point C and so on and do forth. Robert Fisk’s recounting of the events is funny in its own strange ways. Here is an excerpt:

There was a slim, cigarette-smoking Egyptian in a yellow smoking jacket with black velvet lapels blocking the doorway. “I want to buy a book,” I said softly, the winning smile – I’m afraid – of an undercover policeman suffusing my face. There were two tough, beefy men inside, shop assistants as you’ve never seen them before. I asked for a well-known volume on the life of Saddam Hussein.

“By Robert Fisk?” I was asked.

“Why yes, the very one!”

I followed one of the beefy men upstairs to the “Saddam Hussein biography” section. At which point, he darted back downstairs and retrieved the book from a secret pile behind the counter. “Thirty Egyptian pounds,” he said. I paid. Yes, I paid the equivalent of £2.86 for a book with my name on it which I never wrote.

Ten Thousand Miles (Part III)

Count: Its cold here.
Esther: The firewood is out.
Count: I presume we will have to wait till morning to fix this problem.
Esther:Perhaps but what about the electric heater in the basement.
Count: I am feeling lazy right now. Perhaps you should get it.
Esther:You know, you do not have monopoly on laziness.
Count: Yes. (smiles)
Esther:Why? Out of all the places, why did you decide to come here. In the wilderness, in the middle of nowhere, in a small hut? You could have been a big shot. People were also getting to know you also.
Count: I don’t know. I do not know how to explain this. I was just looking for a small corner to call my own. I felt ill at ease with all these people.
Esther:So you left? So you left all of them?
Count: Not all of them. Just some of them … Migrating from one place to another. Each time leaving someone behind until I came here.
Esther:Did you ever regret leaving someone behind?
Count: There was one. I still have occasional contact with them but haven’t told the person where I am.
Esther:Why not?
Count: I don’t know. Perhaps I want them to ask the perennial question or perhaps I just want to be left alone.
Relish in misery?
Count: Well. No. This place is peaceful.
Esther:It is.
Count: One could stay here for some time.
Esther:Away from everyone else?
Count: Yes, away from everyone else.
Esther:This is not what you want, is it? And yet you force yourself.
Count: I don’t know. I do not know anymore.

Ten Thousand Miles (Part II)

Vishwamitra: What if nothing matters? What if nothing has meaning?
The Indian Sage: All is destined to oblivion.
Vishwamitra: They why bother?
The Indian Sage: Why not bother?
Vishwamitra: In the end it amounts to nothing.
The Indian Sage: You are forgetting here and now. You are looking at eternity in both directions but you are forgetting here and now.
Vishwamitra: Here and now – less than a drop of water in the immense vastness of time.
The Indian Sage: Less than a drop but have you thought that lessing the misery of single human being is worth more than eternity.
Vishwamitra: As people we have one another against an impersonal universe.