9/24/2007

Praying For Peace

Some days are hard. Coming out of several weeks' hard work, sleeplessness, and stress, I was so looking forward to starting a relaxing and commitment-free week. My week has gotten off to a stressful start, with trepidations about what happened today at Columbia University, what is happening in my household, projects I must finish at work, and what is happening to a few friends of mine. Thinking about what will happen tomorrow at the United Nations is not terribly uplifting, either. All day today, I had a crippling headache, and my neck and shoulders went back to their cramped and painful state. Yikes. I guess I will just have to keep remembering how well our event on Saturday went, and how good we all felt when we got together last night to celebrate completion of the Seminar. My bright young friends came and in addition to the regulars, two other bloggers joined us for dinner last night. The Man Who Observes Texas is a very interesting character, full of joy of life! I end this day praying for peace.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

به تبریک می گم... علی رو هم دیدی؟ اسمشو تو لیست قبلی ندیدم. جای ما خالی بوده. شما ایران نمیای؟ چرا از خودت عکس نگذاشته بودی؟

Nazy said...

Salam Shin Jan! Thanks for coming. Yes, I met him last night. He wasn't here on Saturday for the event. He arrived yesterday to attend a professional conference and Leva brought him to my house. What a character! I hope to be able to come to Tehran soon. About pictures, I have tried so hard to stay away from them, which isn't easy when you have so many journalist and blogger friends, everyone of them ready with a picture all the time! It got out of hand this time, and my pictures are everywhere now, making me feel strange and embarrassed! I don't think it has anything to do with being so old, either! I just like it so much better when we each have a face and a likeness in each other's imagination. I also don't want people around here to know what I look like, as I like to go to events and when I am "spotted," it makes reporting and obsvering a little harder, because people become apprehensive about what I will be writing about them! Anyhow, someone left a link in my previous post, and if you go there you can see what I look like, no big deal. Be good Shin-e azizam. I have been really busy, but I will soon resume visiting you and leaving comments, something I enjoy immensely!

احسان الف said...

Nazy,

To think that we had a part in giving you all that stress and headache :-(

Siah said...

haha, I'm happy to see people are interested in the algorithm of moorche!!! :) I was rolling on the floor laughing when I read that people find your blog with that term :) As you requested I'm gonna write the description later on this note.

by the way, It was very nice talking to you on the phone (it was very short though but I know you were busy taking care of the guests) and a young lady was nice enough to send me some more photos of you. I'm keeping my fingers crossed to be able to meet you in person

Cheers
Edward A. Golabdooz



here is a brief introduction to "الگوریتم مورچه":

It may refer to two different concept as I don't know exactly how they translate it into farsi, the first one is "Langton's Ant" and the second is "Ant Colony Optimization"

Langton's ant is one of the examples how a sophisticated system can be made without a superpower,(I wish Dr Alef Shin comments on this one too) in this case we have an ant and this ant has two VERY SIMPLE rules to follow, and nothing else. It's proven that regardless of the shape of the universe around the ant the ant will make a highway shape eventually, it is interesting that in some cases the final shape will look like the map of Iran (A gorbe)
An example of a langton's ant is made by a friend of mine, you can play with it online
Langton's Ant


I highly recommend wikipedia's entry on the Ants

Ant Colony Optimization concept was developed by Marco Dorigo, an Italian scientist, in his PhD dissertation, it is basically developed by observing how ANTS find their way to food and back home, it is one of the most amazing yet easy to understand concepts, it is used in game programming and internet routing, GPS systems, etc. Whenever you see a routing problem (like in google map or mapquest) its quit possible that they are basically using ant colony along with other methods

Siah said...

I sometimes forget that you work with programmers, I guess you might have even known that moorche thing already and you just wanted to test me! I hope I pass :)

jeerjeerak said...

With A.N.'s speeches and american media's stunts all over the place, we do need to pray for peace Nazy Jan.

I hope you had a rather more restful day today and felt already better. You take care of yourself over there for me, okay?:)

Nazy said...

Salam Bar Ehsan-e-Aziz:

You could never give me a headache! My headache is gone today and I'm back to normal, I'll have you know! I tend to over-commit myself, and then I get stressed out while trying to deliver on my promises and commitments. The remedy for me is to take it easy for a few days and I'll be good as new again! You guys were the best part of the weekend for me. Be good azizam, and my best to Maryam.

Nazy said...

Salam Siah Jan:

Thanks so much for that thorough comment! I just knew you would get a kick out of that comment! No, I didn't know what the theory, so, no, I wasn't testing you. I used to work with software engineers, but never on a technical level (just telling them what to do as a project manager!). I don't know what is happening with Alef Shin. He hasn't been around my blog for a long time now. I hope he reads your request and comes to talk to us about it.

Be good Siah (you do realize that the only reason my blog came up in that search was because of a comment you had left, right? Your new comment will make it even worse for me now, so thanks a million!).

Nazy said...

Salam Jeer Jan: Thanks for your good wishes. I am better today. yes, it was depressing and embarrassing. I am so worried now. Thanks for being so kind Jeerjeerak Jan. Be good.