Hashemian Blog
Web Tools, Financial Markets, Technology
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Children of Heaven
Nearly eight years after its release, I finally rented this movie produced in my native country, Iran, and watched it with my wife. My expectations of this movie were quote low. I have rarely found Persian entertainment, well, entertaining. The music and the movies have never made much impression on me. growing up in Iran as a child I often watched western movies. Charles Bronson, Clint Eastwood, and Lee Majors were my favorite actors during adolescent times. Star Trek (yes, the original series), dubbed in Persian, was perhaps my favorite TV show. Actually it still is.
Children of Heaven was the first Persian movie that captured my interest from the beginning and kept me interested all the way to the end. My admiration for Majid Majidi, the director, and the cast and crew of the movie for crafting such a fine work of cinematic art.
The movie focuses on a brother and sister of childhood age living in relative poverty in a destitute section of a Tehran. I grew up in relative comfort in a middle class family, so I never tasted poverty personally, but it was always around us. Indeed I saw plenty of salt merchants, like the one depicted in the story, wandering the streets.
The movie isn't so much about poverty as it is about how these two kids try to solve a problem that had befallen them. The boy had inadvertently lost her sister's shoes, and their struggles to honorably solve this problem was the center-piece of this story.
There were no political messages, no declarations of injustice for the poor, and certainly no preaching. Instead the viewer is invited to look at this problem through the children's eyes and develop an empathy for their predicament.
Tehran has a large population and the difference in classes of the haves and the have-nots becomes especially visible in this movie. When the father and son travel to the northern part of the town (where wealthy people live) in search of work, one can't help but ask why some people can live in so much excess, while others scrape bottom just to have a simple meal. I saw many such examples during my childhood and it never fazed me. Perhaps it's one of those things that one gets acclimated to being surrounded by it all the time.
For me, the biggest (perhaps inadvertent) lesson of this movie was that the world we live in is an unjust world and no amount of self-serving political speeches and religious sermons will ever change that. Trusting in God and leaders is but an exercise in futility. It's up to us, the people of this world, to bring that change about.
I highly recommend watching this movie with your family. It is as entertaining as it is educational. The movie is in Persian with English (and I presume your country's language) subtitles.
<Children of Heaven>
// posted by rh
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Installing toilet
As the phrase goes: "if you want something done right, do it yourself". Mine is a modified version: "if you want the work done on your terms (i.e. time and money), do it yourself". So it was with some trepidation that I finally decided to tackle installing a new toilet in our bathroom. Or should say, I was persuaded.
For years my wife and kids have been hounding me about replacing the toilet in the main bathroom. It came with the house when we bought it, and our best estimate puts its age at about 15 years. True to my nature as the male in the house I had been able to escape the dreaded task using various excuses. But this summer I finally relented and decided to take the plunge (so to speak). I'm not much of a handyman and my motto is leave the work to the expert, but as it is in most cases, finding that expert is a hassle. And once you've found the right person, there is more headache ahead. Unanswered calls, unkept appointments, coordination issues, and, of course, the hefty bills.
Home Depot isn't exactly my favorite hangout, but that's where I found myself to pick out a toilet. Only problem was that my neighborhood's branch had the model but not the color. So I ended up visiting the one near my work at lunch time and found the right one. On that hot and humid day I dragged the heavy beast to my car and once home I carried it upstairs and laid it near the bathroom to await the weekend installation.
I have never installed a toilet before, nor have I witnessed one being installed. But that's exactly what I set out to do today. Let me warn you that it could be a cumbersome and unpleasant job. If you have a bad back, don't do it. If it's a hot and humid day, don't do it. if you are a clean-freak, don't do it. The point: it's not fun.
Removing the old toilet was a hassle in itself. Here I am kneeling next to a porcelain bowl that who knows how many people have used, trying to pry it from the floor and one of the nuts holding it down is not budging. After some fruitless labor, it was time to punish it. A good hammer whack and the base of the bowl shattered and the old toilet, wounded and beaten, was finally removed from its thrown.
Then came the cleaning of the area with Clorox, removing bits and pieces of the old wax gasket and porcelain shards, installing new bolts, and sticking a new wax gasket to the base of the new bowl. More backache followed as I tried to lower the new toilet into position. With a little guidance from my wife, it was a perfect landing. Thankfully, this model was a one-piece, with attached water tank. I tightened the nuts, hooked up the water hose, tested for leaks (none so far), and took a bow. It was finally done.
I haven't heard any complaints yet, so I assume the new john is working out okay so far. As for me, I'm yet to take it for a test drive. I read my magazines in the downstairs' bathroom, dad's private library. <Installing toilet>
// posted by rh
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Downside of online banking
I've been banking online for over six years now and has never questioned that move. Even in the face of phishing, data leak snafus, and a host of other security issues, I have continued with it because I believe in its convenience and accuracy.
But a few days ago I found out that online banking, and in particular online bill pay, does have its drawbacks. A couple of months ago I received a parking ticket and being fastidious about paying bills on time, I made an online payment the next day and the matter was closed. Or so I thought.
Last week I received a rather threatening letter from that town's police department claiming that the ticket was unpaid. They had tacked on a penalty and a note that failure to pay would place my car in their impoundment list. Now I knew that I paid the ticket, so I went online to print out the cancelled check and send them the proof. Soon I found out that this payment was no longer in the system, apparently reaching its listing shelf life. Next I decided to lookup my monthly statement and see what I could recover from that. There was a vague line item indicating the deduction from my bank account, but surely this wasn't the type of proof I could send the police department.
It suddenly occurred to me that I had copies of all my deposited written checks provided as a part of the monthly statements, but the online payments were just single lines with mere reference numbers. No way those could ever be used as proofs of payment. Finally I called the bank and was passed from one Indian rep to another until I found the right one. They rep was amiable enough as he took the information and promised the copies to be sent to me and the police department the next day. I suppose he meant next week, because that's how long it took for my copy to arrive.
The cancelled check had both my car's plate number as well as the ticket number typed on the front. A close inspection revealed that the police department had a wrong ticket number on their delinquency system. In other words they had cashed the check and then failed to match the ticket number to the plate, hence the penalty notice. I suppose such follies from the police department could be expected. They probably have archaic systems in their offices, and why should they worry about accuracy for people's sake? It's not like they are in the customer service business. They can't care less about my problem.
But I was surprised at my bank (a large institution) for not providing such documents online. If we are being courted to use online bill pay, they should make it convenient for the customers to access their transactions online. Providing copies of all deposited checks online for a reasonable duration would be useful to that end.
<Downside of online banking>
// posted by rh
Thursday, July 14, 2005
DSL Surfing
I never knew browsing from home could be this fast, but getting there took some work. A few days after ordering the DSL service I noticed a new box installed on the outside wall. A couple of days after that I received the modem and the other equipment. It seemed like a painless job. Plug in a filter to the wall jack. Connect the DSL outlet of the filter to the modem, and plug in the network wire to the modem and the PC's network card. Connect the phone and fax to the other outlet of the modem. The hardware work was all done.
I powered up the modem and my Windows XP PC, popped in the installation CD, and got on the way to complete the installation. The installation program was a user-friendly piece, taking me step by step through the motions. Things were rolling fine until I hit a wall. The program couldn't find the modem. I checked the cables, the modem, the network card settings, disabled all running programs, stopped the firewall and rebooted numerous times, but no dice. The program kept stalling when trying to detect the modem. Obviously the connection between the modem and the network card was the problem. I knew the network card was fine; I had networked the XP PC with a Linux box not too long ago. So I surmised the problem lied with the modem.
Stumped, I called tech support. The techie was a pleasant and friendly lad, and he took me step by step through his playbook. But over and over we were stymied by the pesky detection routine. Somehow the network card was refusing to acquire a dynamic IP address through DHCP. So we decided to give it a static IP and see what happens. After changing the TCP/IP settings, XP prompted me to reboot. This was peculiar, reminiscent of the old Windows 95/98 days, when you had to reboot the PC every time the TCP/IP settings was changed. Windows XP is supposed to take the changes and continue without rebooting. But the static settings did the job, and after the reboot I was up and running. Only thing is that by then it was 1 AM and I was exhausted. Broadband surfing had to wait until the next day.
The DHCP problem and the TCP/IP rebooting continued to dog me the entire next day. Did I need a new driver? was the network card faulty? Was the modem misconfigured? Scouring the Web I searched for answers, but came up empty-handed. And then while troubleshooting a particular Windows service at work I came across the "DHCP Client" service among the list. This is one of those native XP services that is installed with the automatic setting, so it is kicked off every time Windows is booted. It dawned on me that long ago I had disabled this service on my home PC. Who knows why, but I was able to reproduce the exact problem on that work PC by disabling the service.
When I got home that night, I booted the PC and inspected the services. Sure enough, the "DHCP Client" service was disabled and enabling it finally fixed the issue. Moral of the story: if you tinker with your PC, expect to be stung with these types of problems, unless you have super-memory. So far the DSL service is running great. I am finally unshackled from the dialup hell, the busy tones, the slow connections, and the busy phone while online. The only remaining question is that why the tech support guy didn't asked me to check that service? He had me do everything else under the sun. Checking that service should have been at the top of his troubleshooting list. Oh well, all's well that ends well.
<DSL Surfing>
// posted by rh
Saturday, July 09, 2005
DSL
The time has finally come for my household to upgrade to broadband. I know, it's almost shameful from someone in my field, a Web programmer, to have dialup at home. While just about anyone else I know has been on broadband for years, I am just beginning to toe in to the speedy connection.
Why have I waited so long to make the move? The simple answer is finances. For years I explained away my reluctance to switch as lack of availability in my wooded area. But that excuse has been a lame one for over a year or two now. I have had a choice of Cable or DSL for a long time, but to pay nearly $50 per month for the service has been out of the question. It's not that I couldn't afford the outrageous prices, it's the ethical question of allowing myself to be fleeced by the big business. And so I was determined not to be dazzled by broadband so much that it would blind me to the thievery that has been going on in this business.
Well, mo more. When my local phone company started to offer DSL at prices on par with dialup (around $20 per month), I decided that the time was finally right to jump in. I dropped my basic Cable TV service completely (we haven't watched TV in my home for over six months now anyways), and with the money saved, I could pay for the fairly priced DSL service.
The basic DSL service is supposed to arrive next week and usher my home into the era of broadband. The jury is still out on whether I'm going to like it. We'll see if it'll make for happier online experience. The other unknown is whether the price will rise after the one-year term is completed.
Meanwhile I am delighted to hear that google has invested a decent sum in a company that is involved in Internet-over-powerline technologies. The added competition should be music to the ears of throngs of broadband users who've been shackled by their ISP's for so many years. Free broadband may still be a pipe dream. I'm fine with cheap broadband for now. <DSL>
// posted by rh
Saturday, July 02, 2005
Gas and SUV
Car fuel is just one of those indispensable things in life, perhaps almost at the same level as food and water. Most of us go about filling up our cars without paying much attention to the price fluctuations.
But in my last trip to the gas station I finally did take notice. Having spent nearly $35 to fill up my small car's tank, I started thinking about ways I could save on my car trips. It wasn't too long ago that I owned an SUV. Fortunately it got too worn out and I ended up donating it, taking advantage of the final year of the blue book tax write off. With gas prices at these levels, getting another SUV is out of the question for me.
I suppose many SUV owners spend $70 or more on a tank of gas these days. Some are wealthy and may not flinch, but this amount could be unsettling to some of the owners. It dawned on me that perhaps all the talk of dissuading people from buying up these giants might have been in vain. Descriptions such as air polluting, road hogging, heavy damage causing in accidents, and creating more dependence on foreign oil are great reasons to shun SUVs, but none are more potent than money wasting.
And that's exactly what many SUV owners will be facing as gas prices continue to rise. When people start to consider the financial pinch of running these big tanks, they might reconsider buying smaller cars. It certainly has deterred me from owning a big car. Who says money is evil?
<Gas and SUV>
// posted by rh
|
Links
Technorati Profile
TMCnet.com
ARCHIVES
09/01/2003 - 10/01/200303/01/2004 - 04/01/200404/01/2004 - 05/01/200405/01/2004 - 06/01/200406/01/2004 - 07/01/200407/01/2004 - 08/01/200408/01/2004 - 09/01/200409/01/2004 - 10/01/200410/01/2004 - 11/01/200411/01/2004 - 12/01/200412/01/2004 - 01/01/200501/01/2005 - 02/01/200502/01/2005 - 03/01/200503/01/2005 - 04/01/200504/01/2005 - 05/01/200505/01/2005 - 06/01/200506/01/2005 - 07/01/200507/01/2005 - 08/01/200508/01/2005 - 09/01/200509/01/2005 - 10/01/200510/01/2005 - 11/01/200511/01/2005 - 12/01/200512/01/2005 - 01/01/200601/01/2006 - 02/01/200602/01/2006 - 03/01/200603/01/2006 - 04/01/200604/01/2006 - 05/01/200605/01/2006 - 06/01/200606/01/2006 - 07/01/200607/01/2006 - 08/01/200608/01/2006 - 09/01/200609/01/2006 - 10/01/200610/01/2006 - 11/01/200611/01/2006 - 12/01/200612/01/2006 - 01/01/200701/01/2007 - 02/01/200702/01/2007 - 03/01/200703/01/2007 - 04/01/200704/01/2007 - 05/01/200705/01/2007 - 06/01/200706/01/2007 - 07/01/200707/01/2007 - 08/01/200708/01/2007 - 09/01/200709/01/2007 - 10/01/2007
|
