Nowrūz (Persian: نوروز /noʊruz/ ↔ [noʊɾuːz]; with various local pronunciations and spellings, meaning ‘New Day’) is the traditional Iranian new year holiday. Nowrus is cheerfully celebrated and observed by Iranian peoples and the related cultural continent and has spread in many other parts of the world, including parts of Central Asia, South Asia, Northwestern China, the Crimea, and some ethnic groups in Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo and the Republic of Macedonia… Read this Wikipedia page for more information.

Here is a documentary about our new year

Activist, hacker and author Richard Stallman speak on “Copyright vs. Community in the Age of Computer Networks”, live in East Vancouver, Feb 6.

This lecture is being sponsored by Free Geek Vancouver, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver Hack Society (VHS) and the Vancouver Fair Copyright Coalition. Richard Stallman will also be appearing at UBC; see the fsf.org website for details.

In 2008/2009 the BC Provincial Government has cut over $6 million from SFU’s core funding. This has led SFU to cut 80 staff positions. With less Professors in the mix, students at both the graduate and undergraduate level will have fewer classes to choose from, fewer supervisors, along with less support staff to help them navigate the ivory tower. This underfunding has led SFU to massively cut tutorials, scholarships, and bursaries – many of things people rely on to get them through school. The rally was held at SFU Burnaby in Convocation Mall, Feb 4th and was supported by the SFU Community Coalition.

Over 1000  people attended the rally – it was incredible! Check YouTube page for video: http://www.youtube.com/user/sfurally2009

There are 2 people always next to you:

1 – The PM (Project Manager), giving a pleasant smile every time he sees you.
2 – The TL (Team Leader), busy in scheduling work for u …. And busy in his world

In between its you, who struggles with the deliverables and schedule. The perfect picture is given below……

Today is the “national engineer’s day” in Iran in honor of “Khaje Nasir Al-Din Tusi“. So, happy engineer’s day to all current, former, and prospective engineers!

In Persian literature, root of the word “engineer” [in Persian: مهندس-Mohandes], is “measure” [in Persian: اندازه-Andeze] which was pronounced as [in Persian: هندسه-Hendese]. When Arabs got this word, they made another word by modification into [in Arabic: مهندس-Mohandes] which means “one who measures”. The word “Engineer”, however, according to Webster dictionary, has a root in English means “to design”. [1350–1400; ENGINE + -EER; r. ME engin(e)our < AF engineor OF engigneor < ML ingeni!tor, equiv. to ingeni!(re) to design, devise (v. deriv. of ingenium; see ENGINE) + L -tor -TOR]. And today, engineering is known as the interlaced art of measurement and design!

Ever thought how does it feel to have a world without engineers?

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle awakens knowing that it must run faster than the fastest lion in order to survive.
Every morning a lion awakens knowing that it must run faster than the slowest gazelle in order to survive.
It makes no difference whether you are a lion or a gazelle. When the sun rises, you must run or you will die.
- African Proverb