Hashemian Blog Web Tools, Financial Markets, Technology Saturday, September 29, 2007 Lucid, A Short Story  After submitting my first short story to Answers.com's Creative Writing Challenge, I hadn't intended to write another one. But then one night, as I was jogging, my mind wandered off and I began formulating another short story incorporating the words from the second writing challenge. I usually contemplate software and programming challenges while pounding the pavement. But one mind-drift led to another and this story almost wrote itself over a few segments of my various routes, including the two cemeteries I often run through near the center of my town. Lucid The sun was flooding the room with its blinding rays, but it didn't matter. I was awake already and sitting on a bare floor. "Where am I?", I wondered as I rubbed my eyes. Yet I knew this place well. It was my room in the house I had grown up in, nestled in a sleepy hamlet just inside the state line. There was a fresh coat of white paint on the walls, the ceiling, and the floor. There were no posters of simians swinging in the Sumatran rainforest on the walls, no bookshelves filled with my spy novels and stories of double-agents infiltrating fifth columns; not even a lamp. I slowly rose to my feet and walked a few steps to the window. The fields down below had a passing resemblance to the Kew Gardens. Standing in the room where I had spent my salad days, I was reminded of my faithful dog, Lucas, buried out back, who once helped me abscond with my father's pocket knife, and my parents, also long dead now. The reflection quickly turned into sorrow and I felt my eyes welling up, but I quickly turned my attention to the matter at hand, which was to learn how I had ended up there. The door leading to the hallway was closed. It had the same ghost white paint as the rest of the room. I turned the knob and pulled the door in. It opened with a frightening screech that echoed in the room. Horripilation set in. I froze, listening intently for any signs of life in the house. And then I heard it. Someone was coughing downstairs. The type wheezing cough that sounded so familiar, yet I didn't know why. I was a prowler in a strange house, only this was my house, at least the house of my childhood. It felt like a horrific opus. I passed the bathroom and saw the spiral stairway leading downstairs. Everything was white, even the house door. There was that cough again. I started my descent with my trembling right hand gripping and sliding over the banister. Sunlight was beaming in through the window panes above the house door. As I reached the bottom stair, I turned and squinted at the figure of a woman who appeared to be dusting the bare, whitewashed living room with a feather duster. She abruptly turned. "Oh, Jonathan, you scared me. About time you woke up." She appeared ashen and tired. "I left a bowl of gazpacho for you in the kitchen. Your father's been working outside since the crack of dawn. He could use a hand." "Hello Mother", I muttered as tritely as a child greeting a parent in the morning and then I realized the gravity of the situation. A fug of dust was billowing out of the room. I couldn't quite see the details of her face but there was no mistaking the voice. Was this woman really my mother? Was this an apparition? Was I dead? I stood there agog at the ghost of the person I had just addressed as "Mother". My mind was racing. "I'm in a dream. What do they call it? Yes, lucid dream. It's a lucid dream. I always wanted to have one. Now I'm right in the middle of it." I turned quickly towards the door and flung it open. The bright sunlight blinded my eyes, I could feel its warmth on my face. A man in a distance was hollering my name, "Jonathan, Jonathan". A barking dog was racing towards me. I felt my stomach muscles contracting, the way they do just before vomiting. "Lucas," I cried out. I opened my eyes and tried to swallow, but my throat was dry and throbbing. My fiancée was sitting on the edge of the bed gazing nervously into my eyes. She appeared exhausted. There were bright lights overhead. "Hello Jonathan, how are you feeling?", inquired a middle-aged, bearded man wearing an unbuttoned white overcoat. "We're almost done. I just removed your feeding tube. You might feel a little dizzy or nauseous." He then turned to the attending nurse carting away the apparatus, giving her rapid-fire instructions. The room was white and reeked with the smell of anti-septic. A heart monitor was blipping rhythmically above my bed. "Oh, Jonathan, you scared me. About time you woke up." I gave my fiancée a grimaced smile in response. "Who's Lucas?" short story,lucid,dreaming,ghosts Labels: writing <Lucid, A Short Story> // posted by rh 2 comments Sunday, September 23, 2007 Keeping Humans in Space  Being a space exploration fan (hard not to be when you're a trekkie), I try to keep up with the news and commentaries on the subject. I was disappointed with this recent article in which an respected scientist criticizes manned space missions. In his view, many of NASA's projects that revolve around putting men in space should be scrapped or at least robots should be used instead. He reasons that the cost of such projects do not justify the returns as the public is no longer dazzled or intrigued by seeing humans in space. The argument does have some merit. Astronauts are no longer the hero celebrities they once were and their news are generally drowned out in the ocean of other headlines. To a scientist such as Steven Weinberg, only the tangible and the measurable can have any value. What he misses is that capturing people's imagination is just as important if we are to continue with the business of exploring the space. Look at how much fanfare comes out of China every time they send a man up. There's national pride, a feeling of involvement and accomplishment, albeit by proxy, and international recognition. There is yet the private side of space exploration to consider. Manned space flights have paved the way for private industries to ratchet up their plans to make space flight a possibility for average citizens. As more money pours into the private sector, more research and more exploration could ensue. That's positive news for the space industry as a whole. People who are bored with humans in space would be bored even faster with machines in space. And they would be completely disinterested in some esoteric contraption carrying out some incomprehensible experiment in space whose champions would be a handful of babbling and over-excited scientists. Cutting the humans out to save money for other space projects may end up killing even more of those projects as those budgets shrivel up due to lack of public interest and support. space,nasa,space exploration,china,astronauts Labels: space <Keeping Humans in Space> // posted by rh 0 comments Monday, September 17, 2007 Seatbelt Trouble  It was bound to happen again. After my first incident of getting snagged in Manhattan a few years ago for not wearing a seatbelt, I got caught again, this time in Westchester county. Not that I wish to get snagged. I almost hate paying the fine more than wearing the dreaded seatbelt, but I suppose I should have expected it. I don't dispute for a moment that seatbelts save lives. Believe me, I have tried to play it safe and to buckle up a number of times, but every time I end up yanking it off to release myself from the bounds of this contraption. I have nothing against seatbelts. I embrace the fact that cars come equipped with them. My problem is with the oppressive law that forces drivers to wear it. Sonny Bono lost his life skiing, so should we force skiers to wear bubble wraps? Christopher Reeve was paralyzed after his horseback fall, so should we force people to ride horses on mattresses? Runners have had heart attacks while running, so should we force them to wear heart monitors? Mountain climbers have had fatal falls, so should we set an altitude limit on the sport? I just don't understand this law as far as personal freedom is concerned. Wearing the seatbelt makes me a less safe driver. The constant irritation and pressure of the seatbelt distracts me from paying attention to my driving. I find myself constantly fiddling with the belt to get a little breathing room, and that takes away from being an alert driver. The seatbelt law wasn't exactly enacted to save lives. That's a side-effect. Like many things in life, you'd have to follow the money to get the real answer. The insurance lobby has certainly played a part, and the municipalities use it to generate revenues. At this point I have accepted that there is no chance the seatbelt law would ever be repealed. The money factor is just too strong. So I've decided to look at it from another perspective. That is, the occasional fines are a surcharge, sort of a convenience fee, I would have to pay to drive a car. There are a number of fees and charges we have to pay for the privilege of driving. There are registration fees, emissions fees, license fees, property taxes, parking fees, car repair bills, gas bills, and of course, the price of the car itself. The seatbelt fines are just another fee I would have to endure to be afforded that privilege. Maybe at some point I'll force myself into buckling up and will eventually get used to it. Not because it's the law, but because it's a prudent thing to do. Or maybe I'll end up cracking my skull on the windshield, but at least I would have been more alert behind the wheel and that could have prevented harm to others. As long as I have to pay the fine every now and then, I'd consider it a fair trade-off. seatbelts,seatbelt laws,seatbelt tickets,driving,cars Labels: cars, seatbelts <Seatbelt Trouble> // posted by rh 3 comments Sunday, September 16, 2007 Joshua Tree National Park  In my recent business trip to California, I took a couple of extra days to spend time with my sister. We both grew up in Iran at the base of the Alborz mountains and many weekends outside of the winter season, my father insisted that we accompany him on his hiking trips up the mountains. I wasn’t exactly a fit kid, so I would try any excuse I could think of to get out of them. On those occasions that I couldn’t wriggle myself out I can describe the hiking experiences as a mixture of torture, sadism, profuse sweating, and exhaustion. Well, at least one of us (my sister) had my father’s pride most of the time. Times have changed and my father’s semi-tyranny has paid off quite handsomely. If I see a mountain now, usually my first inkling is to scale it. We hadn’t intended to visit the Joshua Tree National Park on this visit but on a quest to find a decent hiking spot, one road led to another and we ended driving to the park. We entered from the west entrance and almost from the start I was intrigued. This was my first time seeing Joshua trees with their think prickly leaves. The state park resembles the pictures beamed pack from Mars. There were huge boulders piled on top of each other everywhere in the desert and they extended all the way to the horizon. Happily, the park was relatively devoid of crowds. On the advice of the ranger at the entrance, who collected the $15 entrance fee, we headed for the Ryan Mountain, but not before stopping for a quick walk in the desert. It’s an enthralling yet terrifying experience. There’s absolute stillness and desert beauty, yet you realize that disorientation due to heat and dehydration could lead to death. Who’s ever going find a lost person in that vastness? Ryan Mountain turned out to be a good choice. We somehow missed the trailhead and wondered about for a bit but eventually picked up the trail further up. There are no real tall mountains in the park. Ryan Mountain, at around 5,500 feet, is probably one of tallest. It offered a relatively steep climb and at the top we were rewarded with beautiful panoramic views of the surrounding landscape and an incessant but pleasant wind. Now I know why there are so many wind farms in the area. I would have loved to spend more time exploring this splendid place, but time was short. The Joshua Tree national park is one of those places that leaves an indelible mark on your mind. It sure made a unforgettable impression on me, leaving me with the desire to come back again for another visit. Joshua Tree National Park,joshua tree,deserts,california Labels: hiking <Joshua Tree National Park> // posted by rh 0 comments Monday, September 03, 2007 Google's GrandCentral  The other day I received an email from GrandCentral with the subject line: Invitation to sign up for GrandCentral. Like everyone else I receive plenty of bogus invitations to sign up for this or register for that. It smelled like spam. "Who the hell is GrandCentral?", I thought. But before clicking the spam button, I decided to check the email. It started: Good news! We are excited to announce that we are opening the GrandCentral private beta to some additional users and would like to extend you an invitation to sign up. Then I realized that back in June when the news of Google purchasing GrandCentral had hit the wires, I had added myself to their waiting list. So I proceeded with the registration and got my own number. This is a pretty neat concept. You get to choose a phone number and you can link it to several physical numbers. Then, depending on your choice, an incoming call will ring all or some or none of the numbers. It comes with voicemail, Caller ID, email forwarding and a number of other features. Most activities can be done online as well as over the phone. It's presence, call forwarding, and messaging all wrapped in one package. Best of all it's free, and you can keep the number for life. As things are with Google products, GrandCentral is in Beta and probably will be for years. It remains to be seen how Google will fully monetize GrandCentral. There are some paid features, I believe, but I assume the majority of users, myself included, will only use the free services. So I presume, like most Google properties, GrandCentral will come to rely on advertising for a big portion of its revenues. That will probably include text ads on the site, voice ads inserted before or after playing voicemails, or ad links included in notification emails. I wonder if GrandCentral future plans include free fax service. That would be a natural progression and it would position them against some long-established services like jConnect that offer free fax numbers and whom I have been a satisfied user for a number of years. grandcentral,google,fax,phone service,fax service,presence,voicemail,grand central,call forwarding,messaging Labels: google, technology, web <Google's GrandCentral> // posted by rh 2 comments

Links Technorati Profile TMCnet.com ARCHIVES 09/01/2003 - 10/01/2003 03/01/2004 - 04/01/2004 04/01/2004 - 05/01/2004 05/01/2004 - 06/01/2004 06/01/2004 - 07/01/2004 07/01/2004 - 08/01/2004 08/01/2004 - 09/01/2004 09/01/2004 - 10/01/2004 10/01/2004 - 11/01/2004 11/01/2004 - 12/01/2004 12/01/2004 - 01/01/2005 01/01/2005 - 02/01/2005 02/01/2005 - 03/01/2005 03/01/2005 - 04/01/2005 04/01/2005 - 05/01/2005 05/01/2005 - 06/01/2005 06/01/2005 - 07/01/2005 07/01/2005 - 08/01/2005 08/01/2005 - 09/01/2005 09/01/2005 - 10/01/2005 10/01/2005 - 11/01/2005 11/01/2005 - 12/01/2005 12/01/2005 - 01/01/2006 01/01/2006 - 02/01/2006 02/01/2006 - 03/01/2006 03/01/2006 - 04/01/2006 04/01/2006 - 05/01/2006 05/01/2006 - 06/01/2006 06/01/2006 - 07/01/2006 07/01/2006 - 08/01/2006 08/01/2006 - 09/01/2006 09/01/2006 - 10/01/2006 10/01/2006 - 11/01/2006 11/01/2006 - 12/01/2006 12/01/2006 - 01/01/2007 01/01/2007 - 02/01/2007 02/01/2007 - 03/01/2007 03/01/2007 - 04/01/2007 04/01/2007 - 05/01/2007 05/01/2007 - 06/01/2007 06/01/2007 - 07/01/2007 07/01/2007 - 08/01/2007 08/01/2007 - 09/01/2007 09/01/2007 - 10/01/2007 10/01/2007 - 11/01/2007 11/01/2007 - 12/01/2007 12/01/2007 - 01/01/2008 01/01/2008 - 02/01/2008 02/01/2008 - 03/01/2008 03/01/2008 - 04/01/2008 04/01/2008 - 05/01/2008 05/01/2008 - 06/01/2008 06/01/2008 - 07/01/2008 07/01/2008 - 08/01/2008 08/01/2008 - 09/01/2008 09/01/2008 - 10/01/2008 10/01/2008 - 11/01/2008 11/01/2008 - 12/01/2008 12/01/2008 - 01/01/2009 01/01/2009 - 02/01/2009 02/01/2009 - 03/01/2009 03/01/2009 - 04/01/2009 04/01/2009 - 05/01/2009 05/01/2009 - 06/01/2009 06/01/2009 - 07/01/2009

هاشمیان.com

 Home

 Blog

 Web Tools
Usage

 News

 Articles

 FAQ

 About

 Contact

 Financial Markets Book
Read Complete Book

Search Amazon: