Which comes first?

Well, it is an old question now: which is prior to the other: language or thought. That is, you think without any need to have a word or a group of words to do it, or you are unable to think if you don't know how to articulate it with language? It is a tricky question and has tantalized lots of scholars to find a convincing answer for it. But what I am personally interested in is the feeling of it. Have you ever been conscious about it? How do you feel about it? Some of you may be bilingual and may have a psychological bond with one of the languages you are fluent in. You might have been asked to say in what language you think. Or in what language you dream. Then does it mean that 'language' comes frist? Or even if you just talk one language, have you ever been thinking outside the boundaries and possibilities of that language? Is it possible to do so?

Is it a male thing, me or what?

I had this Mico freeview box (to watch digital tv) from Asda. No sooner did I install it than I found out that to enjoy its high quality image you should first have high shooting skills to use the remote control: 30 degree angle, level with the box etc. If it happened that you were relaxing yourself on the sofa not facing your top-set in 30' angle then you were brutally reminded of your nonstandard non-hightech watching style. Anyway, I had it for over a month (I suffer from 'return-phobia') and then it began to act weirdly: switching itself off and on and failing signals. I could finally talk myself over to return it on the grounds that 'it is faulty and I am not a compulsive returner' etc. (And no points to me there; Asda is the best ever for returning; the guy did not even open the box).
So I go to Tesco and buy a Bush one. And voila: Bush is not so crap after all! And I can finally relax and watch digital channels. Isn't it a luxury!? You cannot believe how relieved I am now that I have a fully functional remote control. All this past month or two there was always something gnawing at me.
It is always like that with me. If my gadgets fail me, it goes right into my blood. Am I yet to grow up? Is it a male thing? Eccentric? Or ...

Themla and Louise: A Wrong Answer

I just watched Thelma and Louise. No doubt the film has a serious agenda: feminism. Though I have huge problem with the way the question is raised, I think the answer to it is responsible for even more problems. Violence to condemn violence. And the film ends so sadly that the viewer is left with no option but to sympathise with the characters and even uplift them to a position of unavoidable martyrdom. It is an implausible film too.

Another Planet's Hell

These days there is only one inspiration left for me to blog: quotations. Well, I just bumped into this one by Aldous Huxley: "Maybe this world is another planet's hell." When it comes to me, I don't take it as a joke at all. Huxley must have taken it seriously too, or he wouldn't bother to create his Brave New World. I loved reading it.

Gathering Data

In an interview in late 70s, Saul Below once said seven days of the week we keep busy stuffing ourselves with data. No sooner do we begin to use the data to our good that the new week begins and we again make it our business to gather new data. He made his diagnosis three decades ago yet we don't seem to have ever tried to do something about it. I wonder if it was his diagnosis in a pre-internet era what he has to say for now.

This combat footage is about Iraq war.

Unasked for Help

Today a friend offered me some unasked-for sympathy and possibly help. It made the offer far more beautiful and invaluable. Thank you friend. I offer the beauty of the following memory to you.

Sweating all over, I was walking along the pathway in the campus. It was an exceptionally big campus, so it could take me some 30 minutes to reach the main enterance where I could take a taxi. As is not a rare thing to happen in Iran, a car stopped and asked me to pop-in. I did. I thanked him lavishly. He took it very lightly and asked me to see it as his duty. He then insisted that he really meant what he said. "As a human being whatever I can do for others is my duty," was his cool unforgettable reasoning in that hot summer day.