Our oldest rock

What is the oldest thing that you have ever held in your hands? How ancient and antique was it? Well, you cannot beat the age of what I held today: the oldest solid rock in our solar system, a meteorite that is 4.56 billion years old! Older than our Earth!

What I did not know about Nourooz!

Every year we celebrate the beginning of the Spring, Nourooz. We take pride in this holiday. We clean our houses, set up new year's table, wish friends and family the best, all because of Nourooz. Nourooz reminds us of the rebirth of the nature, and we aim to have a new start as well. For at least a couple of weeks most people forget about their past grudges and come together. For at least two weeks everyone is friendly and nice, hoping the spirit of spring and rebirth continues in the coming year.

I knew that people in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, parts of India, Iraq, and Turkey also celebrate Nourooz. What I did not know was that Kurds of Turkey, some of whom want independence from Turkey and a state of Kurdistan (similar to some Kurds in Iraq) were not allowed to celebrate Nourooz openly in Turkey until 2005; that many kurds were detained on Nourooz by the Turkish government who takes action against supporters of the Kurdish rebel movement; that many Kurds in Turkey use this holiday for making political rallies and statements; that they often use fire (holy and important in Nourooz celebration) to ruin so many public places; that many Turks have negative feelings towards Nourooz because of all the destruction and bad news they hear on that day in their country. That is a shame; That is the last thing I could expect to hear about our beloved Nourooz.

اين هم از فوايد ترك شيرازى شدن!

References:
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nowruz

Some of this year's sad news:
[1] http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/nevruz-clashes-erupt-in-five-cities-across-turkey-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=16452&NewsCatID=338

[2] http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/explosives-found-near-nevruz-site-in-eastern-turkey-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=16420&NewsCatID=341

[3]http://www.ubalert.com/a/86851

Dress to impress yourself!

Today I learned about the stroop effect, a measure of our brain's reaction time. There is a test associated with this effect, mentioned on the right hand side column of the link below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroop_effect

Apparently, there are other things that can affect our brain's reaction time, including our clothing!

"
“The clothes we wear have power not only over others, but also over ourselves,” Northwestern University scholars Hajo Adam and Adam Galinsky write in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. While much research has looked at how our wardrobe influences the way we’re perceived, their study examines its impact on our own thinking and behavior.
"

Learn more here:
http://www.miller-mccune.com/science/the-brain-focusing-power-of-the-lab-coat-40108/

TED Ed

Today TED introduced TED Ed! A great project, aligned with the purpose of this blog; Something I envisioned to make or have one day through different efforts, whether it was our podcast, my project at work or this blog! Who knows, maybe I contribute to TED Ed one day!

http://youtu.be/FfJ5XG5i2aw

Their online channel is here: http://www.youtube.com/user/TEDEducation

Keep learning and sharing!