These days I am reading the fascinating book “More Sex Is Safer Sex” by Steven Landsburg and at the same time I try to use my optimization background to work out some of the arguments made in the book.

This is proof for what Chapter 1 suggests: “Do not make people terrified of AIDS, or you’ll have more!” (click on the images for larger sizes).

This would be the situation for the US (the variable s denotes how much more worried cautious people will become as a result of the ad campaign, compared to the less cautious people),

Persian Post – What is an Excerpt?

The Iranian filtering system has reportedly started custom filtering of the users in friendfeed.com. As a result, the Iranian blogger Vahid Online has been filtered out.

In a “guest piece” he asks what the limits of freedom of speech in Iran are. He asks,

Is development, including economical, political, and alike, possible on the basis of anything but freedom of access to information for the people?

Persian Post – What is an Excerpt?

There is no change in the order of the twenty most-read Persian blogs since nine days ago. This result is collected through project “Feed Counter“.

Persian Post

The last post in this blog is dated December 26 (see: “Al Maliki witnesses another shoe tossed for Bush”), so I guess I do not need to tell you that I have not been updating this blog as frequently as I probably should have. And if you have been following this blog for some time, you have definitely noticed that this is an oddity, given the trend here back then.

So, as I seem to be stuck in my Persian blog, which now has six times more readers than this blog, I thought why not do a little gimmick and publish excerpts from my Persian posts here. I will translate the posts in their entirety if there is any request of course.

So, here it comes the “Excerpts” category.

The picture in the above is taken in the “kick Bush with a shoe” competition held in Tehran.

From Fars News

It was in the news that,

Coinciding with the appropriation of a 5 billion Toman ($5,000,000) budget for a new ministry of ?communications project to filter websites and blogs, Tehran’s deputy public prosecutor, ?Mahmoud Salarkia announced, “A special court to examine electronic and computer-?related crimes will be established.”

Vahid Nikgou, the ?Persian cartoonist, writes that he has read that they are to employ figurines like the Microsoft Office Assistant for stopping the Iranian users from getting involved in “improper” activities. This is his depiction of how the “digital police figurine” will work,

(direct link to the video)

They keep a close eye on certain individuals and censor them out despite whatever technical measure they take in order to keep their blogs afloat. At the same time, if you are looking for porn, music, or movies, as long as you don’t make a fuss over it, you can definitely have it. This is my understanding of how things work in the Islamic Republic: modesty is the cover, supremacy is the aim.

From Antony

We, the undersigned, view the circumstances surrounding the Iranian authorities’ arrest of Hossein Derakhshan (hoder.com), one of the most prominent Iranian bloggers, as extremely worrying.  Derakhshan’s disappearance, detention at an unknown location, lack of access to his family and attorneys, and the authorities’ failure to provide clear information about his potential charges is a source of concern for us.

The Iranian blogging community is one of the largest and most vibrant in the world.  From ordinary citizens to the President, a diverse and large number of Iranians are engaged in blogging. These bloggers encompass a wide spectrum of views and perspectives, and they play a vital role in open discussions of social, cultural and political affairs.

Unfortunately, in recent years, numerous websites and blogs have been routinely blocked by the authorities, and some bloggers have been harassed or detained.  Derakhshan’s detention is but the latest episode in this ongoing saga and is being viewed as an attempt to silence and intimidate the blogging community as a whole.

Derakhshan’s own position regarding a number of prisoners of conscience in Iran has been a source of contention among the blogging community and has caused many to distance themselves from him.  This, however, doesn’t change the fact that the freedom of expression is sacred for all not just the ones with whom we agree.

We therefore categorically condemn the circumstances sourrounding Derakhshan’s arrest and detention and demand his immediate release.

Arash Abadpour
http://kamangir.net/

Niki Akhavan
http://benevis-dige.blogspot.com/

Hossein Bagher Zadeh
http://www.iranian.com/bagherzadeh

Sanam Dolatshahi
http://www.khorshidkhanoom.com/

Mehdi Jami
http://sibestaan.malakut.org/

Jahanshah Javid
http://www.iranian.com/

Abdee Kalantari
http://www.nilgoon.org

Sheema Kalbasi
http://www.zaneirani.blogspot.com/

Nazli Kamvari
http://sibiltala.blogspot.com/

Nazy Kaviani
http://nazykaviani.blogspot.com/

Peyvand Khorsandi
http://soulbean.wordpress.com/

Nikahang Kowsar
http://nikahang.blogspot.com/

Omid Memarian
http://omidmemarian.blogspot.com/

Pedram Moallemian
http://www.eyeranian.net/

Ali Moayedian
http://payvand.com/

Ebrahim Nabavi
http://www.doomdam.com/

Masoome Naseri
http://www.mimnoon.com/

Khodadad Rezakhani
http://www.vishistorica.com/

Leva Zand
http://balootak.com/

Hossein Derakhshan, the used-to-be King of the Persian blogosphere, is gone and no one seems to care. I have been searching for his name using Google Blog Search since his arrest and the very few Persian blog posts I have been able to find refer to “impartial solidarity with the detainee” and “everyone has the right to speak” for their support of him. There is quite commonly a reference to his ill reputation of using his blog for attacking people in what I find as well. Has the Persian blogosphere abandoned the Shah? Is this another 1979-type revolution in which the nation kicked its father out?

Since his arrest on early November, there have been a few calls to action, also accompanied by outrage against the silent body of the blogosphere. Closer friends of Hoder, some of whom have denounced him earlier, seem to be surprised why the blogosphere is so “distracted” by its daily life and is not rising in support of the “fellow blogger”.

At the capacity of being the full-time king of the Persian blogosphere, Hoder was indeed a full-time blogger. He did mention studying in a few different universities as his occupation, but fellow journalists who have examined his track record have surprisingly found out that he used to take courses and leave programs, rather than actually being a student. He was the King. In this context, the kings attend conferences and enjoy trips all paid for by different organizations. I was not surprised to know that a person who had attended one of his presentations later found out that his slides were at least two years old. Apparently, like others of his excellence, the King of the Persian blogosphere did not have a lot of appreciation for what his people were in fact up to.

Generals and the heads of the army kissed the Shah’s boots minutes before he left Iran to not ever come back again. Hoder’s departure was sudden. There was no fancy goodbye party for the departing king. Nevertheless, the people are living their lives, indifferent of the emptied palace at hoder.com . The Shah died of cancer, Hoder’s death can come in form of cooperation with the regime for “exposing and dismantling the web of conspirators”.

The time of celebrities in the Persian blogosphere is over. Welcome to the Republic of Blogestan.

Photo from here

It is a matter of fact that for a lot of hard-core Sunnis, Shias are weird, to put graciously, and downright infidel, to be frank. That might have something to do with some Shia practices which do resemble primitive theologies in which objects would bear sever religious significance. Aside from that, however, sometimes it seems to me, as an observer, that Iranians really don’t care about the skies all together.

Take the example of Fitna, Geerts Wilders’s video about Islam (see: Islam or Islamic Ideology, which one is the problem Mr. Wilders?). The Islamic world was up in arms while the Iranian fellows seemed to only have heard some vague notions about “another offensive thing”. Iranians are not a bunch of lazy people of course. Call the Persian Gulf any name-which-must-not-be-used and see the uproar.

Last night the same happened when I translated parts of an article from the latest issue of The Manitoban, the University of Manitoba students’ newspaper. The article, which is titled “Deconstructing divinity“, starts with the question “Did God create the brain, or did the brain create God?” Referring to temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) as a medical condition which can result in “visions” and “feelings of presence”, the author argues that some religious figures might in fact only have been patients of TLE who were taken too seriously by their people.

The article does name the prophet of Islam as one of those who seem to fit to this theory, something I obviously dropped from the translation in order to avoid an initial agitation of the readers.

The reaction so far is one of “well, interesting” and “this reminds me of The Tripods“. Of course when you write “we will discuss the issues, yelling is what our monkey grandfathers did” there is always the person who keeps asking “was your grandpa a chimp or a screaming ape?”

Let’s be frank! Blogging in two languages at the same time does NOT work. It only could be done if you make yourself do it, and recently I haven’t. And that is a pity, given the fact that I started this blog for the sole purpose of being able to communicate to a different audience, than my own compatriots.

Now, as my studies approach the end (I am actually daydreaming about leaving school after 23 years!), I am hoping for a less busy schedule which would allow me to post more regularly. One thing is for sure though, I am planning to publish one post every three days, at least, starting today.

So, keep up the support! And by the way, I am aware of the technical problems of kamangir.net. I will attend to them as soon as I can squeeze some time.

And, as a “souvenir from hell”, this is the maze I am caught in these days. The analysis of the problem and the subsequent coding is done, I am collecting the results. Soon it will be published on yet another piece of paper no one is ever going to read. A piece of “knowledge” which will be archived on a dusty server somewhere in a huge publication company.

Better days are coming!

Hossein Derakhshan (Hoder) is reportedly under arrest on accusations of espionage for Israel, among other charges.

The Persian blogosphere, however, seems to have not heard the news, for the most part. Hoder had in fact become an outsider in the blogosphere, not because of his ideas, but because of his repeated political swings and his untidy self-centric character. While still some people argue that this is another fake show like many others of his, my understanding is that the chain of events provides more evidence to back the idea that bloggers have to stay away from games of politics.

A blogger is and has to remain a “citizen observer”. Hoder’s long descent from carrying the title “the Godfather of the Persian blogosphere” to being interrogated by the regime while the Persian blogosphere seems to pay the least attention is a clear testimony to that.

A great post from my very good friend Hadi cross posted here due to the importance of the issue.

Correction on Fox News

I noticed that Fox News made a big mistake in describing the reason for shut down of a weekly magazine in Iran, “after featuring President-elect Barack Obama on its front cover and asking the question, Why doesn’t Iran have an Obama?”

But the fact is that the weekly magazine, Shahrvand-e Emrooz, was not shut down for its speculations about the “Iranian Obama”, as Fox News suggests.

Indeed, The magazine had already been closed down by the authorities before Obama won the elections. The administration of Shahrvand-e Emrooz, however, enjoyed the Iranian slow bureaucracy which let them publish another issue before the verdict was submitted to their office.

The commentary, which is referred to by Fox News and other sources, was in fact written by the editor-in-chief of the weekly as a reaction to the shut-down of the magazine. The regarding sentence reads “Why don’t we have the Iranian Obama? Why does the Iranian government make the friends to be foes, instead of making the foes to be friends?!”

But, to mention the accurate justification for closing down the weekly, the Press Supervisory Board has announced the verdict to be based on what they mention as “the license mandated the weekly to address social and cultural issues whereas the publication in fact had contained political commentaries”.

In addition, the editor-in-chief of what many consider to be “Iran’s Time Magazine”, Mohammad Ghouchani, has opposed the verdict, which is still to be approved by higher courts. Ghouchani still hopes to negotiate with the officials for the reconsideration on the verdict.

There were lots of criticizes even by conservatives. Even the Parliament Spokesman, Ali Larijani, who is a close political figure to the Iranian Supreme Leader, has criticized the weekly’s shut-down.

Some other Iranian MPs have questioned and summoned the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance of Iran specifically for the event as well. In the Iranian constitution questioning a minister in the Parliament can potentially result in an impeachment.

Based on the political reactions to the shut-down of Shahrvand-e Emrooz, its staff are still very hopeful to be able to revive their weekly from the ban.

I was recently asked for a short introduction to my work on the Persian blogosphere (Project Didish). I post the report here as well, in case anyone is interested.

 Didish: Statistics of the Persian Blogosphere: Download

This is the English translation of a piece I wrote in August 2008 for Radio Zamaneh on how the Persian blogosphere responded to the controversy surrounding the Ph.D. Ali Kordan (the former Interior Minister) had claimed to have been granted by Oxford University (for more details refer to “Ali Kordan – Degree controversy” on Wikipedia).

This is an example of the work I have been doing recently, as a part of project Didish. I will be posting more information about my work in the coming months.

Kordan Gate – The Persian Blogosphere and Ali Kordan’s Fake Ph.D.

Arash Kamangir – arash@kamangir.net

Masoud Behnoud writes, the fact that Ali Kordan did not know that in today’s world you can not get away with telling big lies in the public is enough reason to make sure that that “piece of paper” could have not been issued by Oxford University (Ahmadinejad responded to inquiries regarding Kordan’s degree by saying that it is “only a piece of paper”). Many people have written about Ahmadinejad’s and Kordan’s reactions to the controversy and how it should be resolved. This short report looks at how the Persian blogosphere responded to the controversy.

This analysis contains items aggregated through 933 link-sharing feeds which are used by Persian bloggers. Some of these feeds are published in friendfeed.com and some others are included in the feeds of Persian blogs. Some others are presented to the visitors of the blogs maintained by the owners of the feeds. Therefore, it will not be an overestimation if we consider link-sharing feeds as one of the tools for communication and distribution of content in the Persian blogosphere.

Figure 1

Figure 1 shows the daily percentage of items shared from July 29th till August 20th of this year which contained one of the keywords “Degree”, “Oxford”, or “Kordan” in their title. In order to draw this figure, first, for each day in the period, the total number of items which had one of the keywords in their title has been calculated. These numbers are subsequently divided by the total number of items shared in the corresponding day. Figure 2 shows a similar curve for the percentage of items which had any of the keywords in their title.

Figure 2

All four curves, the ones shown in Figures 1 and 2, exhibit peaks on the 11th and the 16th of August.

The peak on the 11th coincides with the day after alef.com first published reports regarding mistakes in what was claimed to be a degree issued by Oxford University. On the same day, Alef also published a statement by Oxford University in which the degree was officially discredited. The Persian blogger Jomhour commented on the news by writing a post titled “Will the genius minister discredit the Oxford minister?” The next peak, namely on the 16th, corresponds to the date in which the Persian blogger “Big Sleep” wrote a post titled “I will file a complaint against Kordan“. Both these posts will be discussed shortly.

Figure 1 shows that compared to the peak on the 11th, the keyword “Kordan” has gained more importance on the 16th. On the same day there is less emphasis on “Degree”, maybe exhibiting more concentration on the consequences of the actions undertaken by the minister, and thus mentioning his name rather than the actual events. After the first peak, there is significant drop in the use of the keyword “Oxford”.

Figure 2 shows that the second wave is weaker in magnitude than the first one. This might indicate decreased interest on the topic in the Persian blogosphere.

Among all the items which have any of the keywords in their title, the post by Soroush Rouhbakhsh (whom blogs at “Big Sleep”) has been shared 44 times and is the most shared item in this analysis. Choosing the title “I will file a complaint against Kordan“, He writes,

I will file a complaint against Kordan for forgery of an academic degree, as indicated in article 527 of the Islamic Prosecution Law. What will you do?

The next most popular item is titled “How animals reacted to Kordan’s fake degree“. Having been shared 22 times, the blogger uses humorous pictures of animal figures to mock the issue in that post (one of the pictures is shown to the right).

Jomhour’s post, “Will the genius minister discredit the Oxford minister?“, is shared 18 times and is on the third place. The blogger examines the credibility of the Minister of Higher Education who was given the task of investigating the authenticity of Kordan’s degree. The minister already has a suspicious “Scientist of the Year” title in his resume.

Shared 16 times, the official statement by Oxford University if the fourth on the list and a post titled “Dr. Kordan’s Ph.D.” by Persian blogger “The Wise Boy” is the fifth. In that post, the blogger looks at the research done by Prof. Edmund Rolls, whose signature is seen at the bottom of the claimed-to-be Ph.D. degree. The post, which is archived in the category “deep thoughts” by the blogger, sarcastically argues that “Dr. Kordan” had indeed deserved the diploma.

Figure 3

This analysis includes 166 unique items, shared for a total of 459 times. Figure 3 shows the share of blogs and other sources in the number of items and the number of times an item is shared. As seen here, 45% of the unique items regarding Ali Kordan’s degree controversy have been produced in the Persian blogosphere. In terms of the number of times any item is shared, items from the Persian blogosphere have had a 49% share.

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Mehdi Jami, director of the very successful Radio Zamaneh, was suspended and is apparently to be fired. The new non-Iranian interim director of the “Voice of the Persian Blogosphere”, Zoran Djukanovic, had this for the staff,

As the RZ lawyer said, people in Zamaneh who disagree with this decision, or if they feel stronger personal affiliation with Mr. Jami than devotion to Radio Zamaneh continuation and developing further, are free to start a new media outlet for their own.

One people who are fantastically well capable of turning a success story into a tragedy? That would be us, the Iranians.

English translation of an open letter to Barack Obama, from Somayeh Tohidlou, a former aide in the reformist campaigns and a graduate student of sociology at University of Tehran.

You will be judged by the history Mr. President!

Mr. Obama!

You are to be the president. Great turnout! I know you have had a great night. And nice speech! Although, I am not quite on the same page with you on that “we can”. I wish you really could. I read everywhere that you are the personification of Martin Luther King’s dream. Good for you and good for whoever had been waiting for this day to happen. We are happy as well. Any change in these turbulent times, any step toward’s peace, is invaluable. Just if that could be possible.

Mr. President!

Now you are going to be the president of the United States of America. The country which is to rule the world. It is none of my business what you are going to do during your presidency. I am not anti-American either. This is all none of my business. The point is, one country has the power so becomes the super power, one country does not and so becomes the weak. This is not a moral issue. This is the world of profits and I do understand that. Not that it is not a bitter fact, however. So, I do not expect you to do much in this aspect. And I do not understand why people around me are so excited (the Persian blogosphere is partying for your victory!) I know that you are becoming the president in a structured system and so there is no chance for you to assert a lot of change in the system in order to bring about a massive change [not exact translation]. I know that some of your decisions come from the party and the party is well established so change will be limited…. Let’s be realistic.

Mr. Obama!

You said that the families of the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are waiting for their sons and daughters and look for the end of this crisis. You do know that many mothers and fathers have lost their kids in the war. It is a war at the end, isn’t it? When it inflicts the civilians, however, it becomes a catastrophe. You have to realize that the history and the next generations will look at this very thoroughly. Facts will not just vanish. I wouldn’t have written this letter if it was not four the 23 kids who lost their lives on the very same day that you got elected. They became victims of violence committed by soldiers from your country. I wouldn’t have written this letter if all the kids in the world had a prosperous future in front of them, as your Malia and Sasha do. I wouldn’t have written this letter if the bloodshed in Iraq did not exist. Your country is now involved in every single bloody conflict in the world. Become an advocate for peace if you seek the name of your country to be praised.

Mr. Barack Hussein Obama (and you have no idea how much your middle name is loved by [the state-run] news agencies of my country)

I watched the wedding party in Afghanistan which turned into a bloodbath and I watched President Karzai’s first request from you as a president [to reduce the air strikes]. I believed that people like you and our Khatami, who tried to be an advocate for dialogue amongst civilizations, are the minority in the world. We have to yet wait for one who does really try to do something. That’s assuming he or she is able to accomplish anything in this savage world of course.

Mr. President,

The dream of justice is very good. I do look forward to seeing how you implement your socialist ideas within the framework of the liberal democratic system which is in place in your country. John Rawls, I believe, would have had a tough time theorizing the situation. New experiences are invaluable, though. Let’s give them some room.

….

We all wait for you to see how you deal with all these open issues. All these unsolved challenges, the wars, the conflicts, poverty, and injustice. No one person has the power to accomplish all these and we can not expect miracles, but, who knows? Maybe change indeed is possible!

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By Vahid Nikgoo

(direct link to video)

From Majid

You might be familiar with the story of Mr. Kordan, the interior minister, who “had claimed that he held an honorary PhD from Oxford University. However, after a probe by the Majlis research committee it was revealed that his degree was bogus” (more).

This is the joke that is circulating via email in Iranian communities regarding him,

Although his honorary Ph.D. was rejected, he found a place in Oxford University:

- Kordanize /‘k?rd?naiz/ (v.) [past tense: Kordanized / past participle: Kordanized ]

(1): To get Ph.D without having B.Sc.

(2): To become an important person (e.g. minister) by presenting fake certificate or documents.

- Kordanification( n.)

(1): The process of receiving fake degree, especially from a prestigious university (e.g. Oxford)

(2): The relationship between happiness and telling a big lie.

(3): A method in order to gain Self confidence.

- Kordanism(n. )

(1): The philosophy and strategy of telling lie to a large group of people (e.g. a nation)

(2): A psychological method for deceiving people and laughing simultaneously.

- Kordanic(adj. )

(1): Happy

(2): Self Confident

(3): Relaxed

- Kordanicly(adv. )

(1): In a Kordanic manner.

A rather long conversation with Daniel Breslau about blogging in Persian and the Persian blogosphere. Listen to the interview here.

(direct link to video)

Is the US at war with Iran? Fantastic video examining the situation on the Iraq-Iran borders.

Link from Vahid

I got tagged by Tori and this is how the game goes,

1. Post the rules on your blog (kind of recursive, huh?)

2. Write 6 random things about yourself

3. Tag 6 people at the end of your post

4. If you’re tagged, DO IT and pass on the tag (because I am writing this, I have obviously complied with it, sort of recursive again?)

So, enough with the ranting, these are six things about Kamangir you might not have known before, assuming you do care to know of course,

1- I am afraid of the dark. I have always been and I will always be. I just get terrified of the dark. This is quite embarrassing given my age.

2- The best days of my childhood were spent in Taleghan, a rural area two hours west of Tehran. My late grandfather had a cottage there and we used to spend couple of weeks during the summer in the country. There I dug up for bones in an old cemetery which was located on a hill. A road passed besides the hill and they used to crush parts of the hill to make more space for the road. That was how the solitude of the dead would be interrupted and there would come the great discoverer of the dead. The first thing I do, after I go back to Iran, is that I will buy out the cottage from my uncles and renovate it. See pictures from that little piece of heaven here.

3- My GPA in my bachelor’s is horribly low. My current adviser was terribly shocked to see that.

4- Being raised in an irreligious (if not anti-religious) family, I find it rather interesting when I observe “holy temptations” in me. A friend of mine once anticipated that I will become a devoted religious person before I turn forty. She is known to possess psychic powers.

5- I used to not understand what the point of blogging was for a long time, before I started my own.

6- skjhsiu ylkjns l8uy s lkjh sliu ;slk ‘p[oi p[;s ;iuh luy oiy os pou spoi (You need to have the secret key to decipher this item. You have the key if you have the key).

And I tag these great people,

1- Antony Loewenstein

2- Lisa Goldman

3- Shahrzad

4- Bamdadi‘s English Blog: The Aurora

5- Terry Glavin

6- Esra’a

And a very special invitation to Nim.

Just ran across this fabulous Persian twit and thought you might like it too. This is the twit in English,

Just imagine! It will take little time before you look up a word in the dictionary and, where the description of the word used to be, you see, “Dear user! You are not allowed to have access to this word!”*.

* Mockery of the “page is banned” message in the Iranian filtering system.

If you have been visiting this blog for some time, I guess you do know that I am a relaxed person and that I do not take offense easily (see: Do not Panic! You are not a Cockroach! for example). But, seriously, what is this? “Iranians eat evidence“? So what? That Iranians are hungry creatures strolling in the streets looking for prey? (and that reminds me of “28 Days Later” by the way) Is this Reuters, or is this a spoof item from The Onion? I guess this is yet another clue how much more relevant a blog-like point of view can be.

This is the English translation of a “Personal Note” written by Ferevertish Rezvanieh, published in Pendar about the mentioned sandwich.

Why We should be Proud of the One-and-a-Half-kilometer Sandwich

In the midst of the rising negative views at Iran in the world media, why should we really be proud of our 1500-meter sandwich?

How is our cinema presented in the world? A student who has lost his school book, a kid with a worn off shoe, a boy who so wants a yellow balloon. We definitely should be happy that we have won the Golden Palm and the Golden Lion and all the other prizes, and that couple of Iranian directors are known around the world. Nevertheless, we have to also be aware of how Iran is portrayed in these movies.

Hollywood has long been selling the US as the “lost paradise” which accepts everyone, from whatever race and nationality they are and whatever their color of skin is. But, is that actually what is happening in the US? People think they have gotten more familiar with a society, its culture and the dynamics in there, after they watch a movie from that region. Similarly, when they watch an Iranian movie, of the kind described in the above, they will think, “So, this is Iran!” They will find Iran a country of deserts where kids run after shoes.

Does the presence of Golshifteh Farahani and Mitra Hajjar lead to a more realistic presentation of Iran in the world? Do you go and watch an Afghan singer and then imagine her as an artist who has fled her land of misery using her talents? Does her fabulous voice help you forget the Taliban and the devastated Buda statues for a second? Or to picture prosperous Afghan cities full of colors?

Some Iranian sources have reported that groups of Iranians complained against the making of the sandwich. Is it really useless to have the name of Iran registered as the host for the longest sandwich in Iran when we own the record for death in our roads? It is correct that the money spent on that sandwich could have been put to use in making a lot of sandwiches for the poor. But, still, is it pointless to not fight against the anti-Iran coverage?

The longest sandwich was prepared on Friday morning in Mellat Park, Tehran, and received a lot of attention in the international media. Just look for “Iran+Sandwich” in google to see some of the reactions.

700 kilos of ostrich, 700 kilos of chicken, 100 kilos of green peppers, 120 kilos of onions, 500 kilos of Mayonnaise, 700 kilos of mushrooms, 700 kilos of mustard sauce, 500 kilos of vegetable oil, 1 kilos of Saffron, and 2 kilos of caraway seeds were put into a sandwich. That was how the people of Tehran were brought together in Mellat Park for the world to see that Iranians do own shoes, and Handy cams, and parks. That they eat sandwiches and ride Hummers. That they do not look for a shoe in the sewage.