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Post by sh on Feb 5, 2013 1:32:58 GMT -5
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!HAPPY BIRTHDAY KARLSIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by grainnerhuad on Feb 5, 2013 16:34:10 GMT -5
Thanks for letting me know about the problem with Diquss. We were trying something new but if we can't make it work for everyone we will revert back.
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Post by sh on Feb 6, 2013 15:30:13 GMT -5
Yeah, I thought it was strange that I could post comments the other day, but the next day my browser was no longer supported. But the new comment format was cool, more sophisticated, IMO.
So, the Mazda 3 used to cost like 30 million tomans last year, whereas today, according to the newspaper, it costs over 140 mil. The Nissan Maxima, also 30 mil a couple of years ago, now costs over 150 million tomans. The cheapest piece of crap car on the market in Iran is a Kia, called Pride. Last year you could have bought one for 6 million tomans; today it's going for around 18 million. The Honda-125 motorcyle, cost 600,000 tomans last year and it weighed 110kgs; today it costs 1,800,000 tomans and weighs 90kgs.
Now, last year 30 million tomans was a lot of money, I mean no one from the Iranian working-class could afford to pay that much for a car then, let alone now!
The average price of land in Tehran is 10,000,000 tomans per square meter.
And yet somehow, the wheel keeps turning. There's no way I could possibly account for this. It's unbelievable. I was talking to this guy named Ali yesterday. He went to Germany as a young man, after the revolution, and he moved back around the same time I did. I'm gonna try to quote what he said.
He compared Iran to an amusement park carousel. He said "this wheel keeps spinning no matter what; you could remove gears, screws, or any of its vital parts, you could jam a wrench in its engine, but it just keeps going like nothing's wrong." He said, and I quote, "the things that have happened to Iran in the past 300 years...if they had happened anywhere else, that country would have gone bankrupt and disappeared from the face of history: morally, economically, socially, spiritually bankrupt." Then he went on to elaborate how much the country of Iran has suffered at the hands of foreign peoples and corrupt Shahs in the past 300 years...which is all history.
And even today, 99% of the country's wealth goes straight into the pockets of a handful of people + the revolutionary guard corps.
The average Iranian makes 600,000 tomans per month. Divide that by 4000 and you get the amount in dollars. A pair of good sneakers costs exactly 600,000 tomans today.
The average Iranian shouldn't be able to afford food. And yet no one is hungry, let alone starving. Ahmadinejad claims that Iran is the country of the Mahdi, the saviour. And that Allah is the force that keeps "the wheel" spinning.
A couple weeks ago, I was really worried. I thought how the hell are people going to afford to pay 2,000 tomans for a liter of gasoline? (The government has hinted that the price of gas will triple from the current 700 tomans per liter in 2 months; the Iranian new year) But now, it seems to me like none of this even matters. Gas prices could reach 10,000 tomans per liter, and I don't think anyone would even notice. Don't ask me how. The price of chicken has almost doubled since I left Tehran three weeks ago. Has anyone in Iran stopped eating chicken? Somehow, middle-class Iranians can afford to pay 120,000,000 tomans for a car.
Also, since the economic pressure started, the government has really eased "social" pressure. For example, the chance of anyone getting a parking ticket in Iran today is close to 0. A ticket for speeding? 0. The chance of anyone getting arrested for _anything_ is also very slim IMO. I haven't seen a cop since I came to Mazandaran. I suppose the government knows that the only way to counter-act the effect of the sanctions is to give people freedom.
Iran is, IMO, this >< close to total chaos. I think at this point the smallest thing could set off a chain reaction that'll take the whole country down with it. And yet, this is how it's been for 30 (300) years in these parts.
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Post by grainnerhuad on Feb 8, 2013 19:47:23 GMT -5
Okay, I was halfway through with your piece when I remembered we had an annual piece I had to do, so I will finish up next week, sorry.
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Post by asiaticdarkperson on Feb 9, 2013 13:52:49 GMT -5
I'm back. And Tehran really sucks ass.
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Post by karlsie on Feb 10, 2013 7:10:09 GMT -5
I see one major difference between your economy and ours. Your law enforcement has easy up on misdemeanors and apparently for crime in general. Our law enforcement has cracked down harder, practically gnashing at the bit to find ways to fine citizens and bring them into court to keep the lucrative business of lawyers and judges well greased. I am reminded on one of those old black and white westerns where the bad guys break into a humble abode and say, "ransack the place. They're sure to have a bit of gold stashed away somewhere". Squeezing out every penny, every drop of blood possible so they can fly private airplanes and take long vacations.
I still rather envy your country's history. It spirals so deeply into the past, and rumbles of great civilizations that rose and fell, than rose again, while the inhabitants continued on, unperturbed. This was much of how I felt staring down from the Mayan pyramids. Here was civilization buried under layer after layer of shifting sand. Here were the telephones, the automobiles, the tourists with cameras, yet toiling along beside them, scarcely noticing them at all, were the inhabitants patiently herding goats out to small, cropped pastures, crouched over their charcoal ovens, fanning them into ruby flames, the slumbering hillside saying it had seen it all before and will probably see it again... It was then that I truly realized that time is not linear. It twists and turns upon itself. We see glimpses of ourselves standing in silhouette, unnoticed among the crowd, yawning eternally into the past, and barely leaving a foot print on the present. How could we possibly leave an imprint on the future when our moment is so thin?
In my deeply forested land, the past doesn't echo and loop and reappear boldly. We are so young, so very young. It is a world just waking up. I feel the past only in the rumbling of the volcanoes, in the creaking of the glaciers, in soil so rich and fertile, you can taste it. I wonder as the cities frantically circle around their mistakes; the same mistakes they had made for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years; if with time, we too shall become a great civilization, or if the cycle truly is completed and we shall become nothing more than fur-wrapped survivors huddling against the cold.
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Post by asiaticdarkperson on Feb 10, 2013 16:08:36 GMT -5
I just have to say this again. Tehran is very likely the worst city to live in, in the whole world. Once you stay here a while, you get so used to it that you don't notice the nauseating orange buzzing vibe anymore. It's lethal, IMO. And Mazandaran is so incredibly beautiful, that the contrast is remarkable.
Tehran is bound by mountains on three sides. The horizon is very limited. Mazandaran, on the other hand, is on a plain that's open on three sides. The horizon there appears infinite, and with it there's a sense of unlimited possibilities. The light is also very different. I can't explain it...everything is really bright up north, whereas Tehran is gloomy and dull even when it's sunny. Mazandaran is green all over, even in the winter. In the past three weeks it rained more in Babol than it does in a whole year in the central plateau. And the almost constant fog over the jungle-covered hills is something you absolutely never see south of the Alborz mountains.
I was so sad to leave...there's no words. More than a few times, I got the idea to sell my land down south and move to Mazandaran, get myself some land near the jungle, and stay there forever.
I kept imagining what the region must have looked like thousands of years ago when the first humans came. It must have been heaven. The sea, the wetlands, the plains and rivers, the hills and forests, and the high mountains, with the ancient volcano, Damavand, standing tall way above the rest of the mountains. It was majestic, breathtaking.
And oh yeah, Tehran really blows.
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Post by asiaticdarkperson on Feb 11, 2013 9:39:58 GMT -5
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Post by asiaticdarkperson on Feb 11, 2013 9:57:54 GMT -5
www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/06/us-usa-iran-broadcasters-idUSBRE9150VE20130206As someone who is living in Iran, I can say with absolute certainty that the sanctions are only hurting the Iranian working-classes. They have no effect whatsoever on the rich elite, who keep getting richer no matter what. It's the average joe, and nobody else, who is suffering at the hands of the US, and their sanctions. The US keeps saying their sanctions aren't aimed at the Iranian people. I say BS. The people of Iran are struggling to make ends meet, because of America. The Iranian economy was fine up until a few years ago. In fact, it was better than fine, it was great, and everyone was prospering. Everything was so cheap here, it was unbelievable. Now, small business owners are going bankrupt left and right. But are the big businesses affected at all? No. So, fuck you America. I hope terrorists nuke NYC this time. And I hope it's an Iranian nuke that sends you to hell.
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Post by grainnerhuad on Feb 11, 2013 14:06:36 GMT -5
While I hope nothing gets nuked really as it would ultimately be bad for everyone, I agree that these sanctions and the pretty words around them are utter bullshit. I don't know how stupid our military complex thinks people are. Sanctions are a tactical tool, always.
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Post by asiaticdarkperson on Feb 11, 2013 14:31:48 GMT -5
So, I got some news from back home today.
Let me reiterate. I live on some orchard land, in a valley, a few miles away from a village of about four thousand people. Of those 4000, four are my trusted friends. Practically everyone else wants me either dead, or gone. My feud with these people isn't really even mine. I inherited it, as I am the only descendent of my great grandfather who is present, willing and capable of taking care of these lands. You see, before the revolution, when the arbab (lord, landowner) and kadxoda (tribal chief) were the highest authority in any given town/village, things were a bit different in rural Iran.
The vast majority of arbabs treated their raiyat (peasantry) very unfairly. The raiyat would sow the fields, tend the orchards, take care of cows, sheep and goats, etc. etc. all of which were the arbab's property. For example, the peasant would sow dozens of hectares of wheat (provided by the lord) each year, and in return, he'd get enough wheat to bake bread for his family for a year. This was the customary pattern; the peasants were almost never given any money. Another peculiar feature of that time, was the fact that whenever a couple got married in town, it was the arbab's right to sleep with the bride on her wedding night. She was allowed to go to her husband's house the next day. So...you get the idea. But there were also arbabs who treated their raiyat kindly and fairly, my family being one of them.
After the revolution, all arbabs and kadxoda, whether good or bad, were kicked out. The whole system was replaced. A lot of the arbabs and their families were brutally executed by the village people. Many of them watched their ancestors bones dug up, mutilated and burned, before they themselves were murdered. Their women and children were usually raped before they were killed. In any case, it was a turbulent time, and the wisest thing for an arbab was to take his family and flee.
When things settled down after the revolution, a lot of the arbabs and/or their sons tried to get their lands back, legally. Very few of them succeeded. Only the arbabs with respectable reputations were given their lands back; the court would order the peasants to vacate and never set foot in the land again, punishable by prison time if they ever did.
Anyway, the real beef between me and these village-morons (who live in clans) is that they thought they could get rid of me easily, six years ago when I first started living there. It's been going on for so long now, and they've simply gotten into the habit of making my life miserable. Entire clans (hundreds of people) hate me, simply because one of their own was evicted from "their" land, by my grandfather via the law.
So, I got a call today from one of my friends, (Turaj) and he tells me that someone broke my windows, splashed gasoline in my house and set the place on fire last night.
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Post by asiaticdarkperson on Feb 11, 2013 14:39:11 GMT -5
Grainne, I think if there was ever a time when someone was pushing someone else for a nuclear war, that time is now, the someone is the US and Israel, and the someone else is Iran.
They are pressuring Iran into a very dangerous corner. Seriously, what do they expect is going to happen?
If I ever have to choose between us and them, it's definitely going to be us.
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Post by asiaticdarkperson on May 5, 2013 1:30:03 GMT -5
According to a recent private study, a majority of women (and a lot of men) living in Tehran suffer from year-round vitamin D deficiency. The research also indicates that Osteoporosis is relatively common among the elderly female population in Tehran, with the highest occurence generally in upper-class neighborhoods. Apparently, sunblock coupled with 'excessive' clothing is resulting in a widespread mass inadequate sunlight exposure condition. People are being advised to regularly eat foods and supplements containing vitamin D.
Being white is 'important' somehow in Iran. There seems to be this underlying culture of white-worship, which isn't exactly dominating society but exists nonetheless. It's like, if you're white and blond here, you're beautiful by default. But if you go out without sunblock in most places in Iran you just _can't_ be white half the year, 'cause, you know, the sun is no joke here. It's extreme.
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Post by asiaticdarkperson on May 5, 2013 6:42:12 GMT -5
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Post by asiaticdarkperson on May 11, 2013 5:58:30 GMT -5
"Ottawa backs using social media to boost Iran's dissidents"
Shut up Canada! Nobody gives a shit about your opinion.
Is it suspicious that southern Iran is getting struck by earthquake after earthquake this year? Is one finally going to hit the Bushehr power plant in the following weeks?
"Scientific Journals Must Not Touch Anything Related to Iran" lmao...someone must be getting really desparate.
The western media is claiming that Iran is the worst country in the world in terms of journalistic freedom. They are apparently citing a case where a journalist wanted to publish an article titled "Iran sucks, USA rules! Kill the Iranian government now" but the Iranian government wouldn't let him. There was another example provided of a case where a foreign journalist wasn't allowed by Iranian authorities to take pictures of sensitive military installations. Really, journalism in Iran is such a complicated business.
There was another article claiming that Iran is the worst country in the world in terms of religious freedom. The titled read "Iran sucks, USA rules! You can worship whoever you want in America." The article made no mention of ayahuasca's legal situation in the US.
"Prayer session planned for Baha'i prisoners in Iran" -- whoever is writing this stuff is clearly assuming that none of their readers is aware of Baha'i history. The Baha'i faith was most certainly not a western plot to undermine the unity of Persia; it was simply the son of god come back from the dead to offer peace to all mankind. If America feels Bahaism is so wonderful, maybe they should make it their national religion?
The Times of Israel reports "Likud MK: Israeli decision on striking Iran by early 2014." The Iranians countered with their standard thirty year old line "Stop pussydicking around and strike already." The Israelis responded by drawing yet another red line in their notebook. Iran has allegedly crossed and pissed on every one of Tel-Aviv's red lines so far. It remains to be seen if Tel-Aviv's slave, the USA, can muster up the necessary funds to begin another invasion campaign. Congress is asking all patriotic americans to work harder and buy more shit.
"Saeed Abedini, the American pastor imprisoned in Iran for his faith, has been released from solitary confinement" -- who cares?
"US Congress moves to close Iran sanctions loophole." Reports state that this is the seventeenth loophole to be closed in two years. American analysts are claiming that Iran has found some kind of underground loophole mine. Iranian officials shrugged off the allegations as baseless, stating "what sanctions?"
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