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December 13-15, 2003
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* Pre-1979 drinks
Latest: "Abjo Ghootee" & Aragh Mina

I was at a party -- a surprise wedding party -- in Oakland a couple of weeks ago. As we were drinking wine in the front porch, the subject of alcoholic drinks in Iran came up. Alcohol has been banned in Iran since 1979, although by all accounts there's now a thriving black market.

I was curious to know the names of various pre-revolution brands? These were alcoholic drinks produced legally in Iran and sold at liquor stores. Here are the names I remember hearing. If you can add to this list, please email here. Names in brackets are people who offered a piece of their sober memory:

Beers
-- Latest: Skool, known affectionately as "Abjo Ghootee" or beer in an aluminum can, (Parviz H.)
-- Argo (Ali H. & Jujeh Akhund)
-- Majidieh (Roubik A.)
-- Shams (J. Javid)
-- Tuborg (J. Javid)
--... ?

Wines
-- Chateau Sardasht & Rezaieh (Roubik A.)
-- Pakdis (J. Javid)
-- Shahani (Soroor)
-- Khollar, from Shiraz, (Mehdi)
-- ... ?

Vodka/Aragh
(many also produced wines)
-- Latest: Mina, from Isfahan (Javad K.)
-- Latest: Sheverin, from Hamadan (Javad K.)
-- Latest: Harir, from Kermanshah (Javad K.)
-- Latest: Meykadeh, from Qazvin (Javad K.)
-- Latest: Khollar, from Shiraz (Javad K.)
-- Latest: Jamshid Jam (Javad K.)
-- Latest: Balzam (Javad K.)
-- Latest: Daregaz (Javad K.)
-- Latest: Estelak? (Javad K.)
-- 21 Makhsoos Ettehadieh (Jujeh Akhund)
-- 66 Rezaieh (Jujeh Akhund)
-- Pakdis (Jujeh Akhund)
-- 21 Khollar, from Shiraz, (Jujeh Akhund)
-- Keshmesh Ettehadieh (Jujeh Akhund)
-- Qoochan (Javaneh K.)
-- Soltanieh, tops, by any standard (Roubik A.)
-- Capital (Roubik A.)
-- Pirouzeh Ettehadieh brand (Joan V.)
-- Makhsoos 55 (Ali. H.)
-- ... ?
If you can add to this list, please email here

-- Jahanshah Javid, with thanks to these contributers: Ali H., Mehdi, Soroor, Joan V., Roubik A., Javaneh K., Jujeh Akhund, Parviz H., Javad K, ...

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* What is this, Ali?

Heard from Ali. H.:

I was in London at a college party. This was the mid-seventies.

In the middle of the party my professor pulled me to the side and said, "Ali, I want to show you something." He took me down to his crowded basement, moved a few boxes and then pulled out a dusty bottle. He wiped off the label and said, "What is this, Ali?"

It was a bottle of Iranian vodka, Aragh Makhsoos 55 (55 proof?). The professor said he had gotten it as a gift from an Iranian student several years before but never got a chance to open it. I said, "Well now's the time..." It was pretty damn good!

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* The "F" word

I just finished a very interesting course called "Language Analysis". In this course we looked at many interesting subjects such as Lexicon & Morphology; Semantics; Phonology & Phonetics; Discourse Analysis; Situated Meaning& Cultural Models, etc. - an indepth linguistic knowledge to have for us the teachers.

In our Situated Meaning & Cultural Model class discussions, I asked one of my American colleagues why Americans from all classes of society constantly (without hesitation) use the "F" word.

You see I can not even write the "word" itself. I guess it has something to do with the culture and the way I was brought up. So, he was nice enoght to educate me further and sent the following site >>> Monty Python's "Proper Use of English"

-- Farideh

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* Limitations of democracy

There is no question that democracy, as compared to autocratic rule, is vastly more humane and productive.  However, it should be recognized that democracy is government by opinion and political pressure.  As such, its effectiveness is limited to the level of  real knowledge distributed within a population, and can therefore be only a stepin the right direction.  At the present time, even the democracies all remain based on instituted delusion, and recognizes neither the factual nature of Existence nor that of a human being.

Human sustainability requires the abilty to correct the premises and paracitces of our institutions.  This can be achieved only through the growth of objective knowledge within populations, public pressure moving the institutions to make corrections.  Human behavior follows human perception, always.  When what the individual learns fails to reflect factual reality, the individual, the society, and ultimately the species, is misdirected and comensurately dysfunctional.

-- Everett E. Allie
Humanity's Ultimate Challenge

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* Call girl

My name is Siamak H. (Sia Abadani). I left Iran in 1974 when I got out of high school. I was around 17 years old. I traveled all over United States for work. Now I live in South Florida since 1993. I know someone for the past 8 years who is a Limousine driver. He called me last Saturday afternoon:

"Hey Blacky this is Steve, how are you?"

"Fine Steve, what a pleasant surprise! A call from Steve on a Saturday afternoon?"

"Blacky I need your help! I am in Miami Airport picking up 2 Japanese guys who are going to Key West and there is a girl who came to meet them. She says her name is Zahra and she claims to be an Iranian call girl, very pretty. These Japanese guys are paying lots of money to sleep with an Iranian Muslim!"

"I want to make sure she is what she claims to be, if she is I'll become a millionaire in 2 months with all the clients who would pay lots of money for her."

"Son of a bitch! Good for you! Being a pimp is great, isn't it? What do you want me for?"

"Blacky, all I want you to do is talk to her and confirm that she is Iranian. I am the pPimp not you. I told her you are her next client and willing to pay $500 for services and $200 for me to drive you there."

"OK but you owe me one! Since I left Abadan the only thing I still have from Iran is my accent. Give her the phone, let me talk to her."

"Hi... I'm Zahra... Steve says that you may be interested in getting together..." (Accent detected. She's definitely Iranian.)

"Lovely accent... Where are you from?..."

-- Sia

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* Woodcraft

When I was a senior at Wurtzburg American High School in Germany I had to take a woodcraft class to complete my course requirements. It was winter 1980 and the revolution was a year old.

For my class project, I took a piece of cherry wood, cut it to about 6 x 20 inches and sanded it. Then I cut out pieces of wood in the shape of letters in the Persian alphabet and pasted them on the board:

M -- J -- A -- H -- D.

For the dot under the J, I cut out a star.

I was really into the Mojahedin Khalgh and leftist Islamic groups in general. Every day I would check the mail in our apartment in Kitzengen, hoping, praying, that the mailman had delivered the latest issue of Mojahed, or Ommat, which was published by Habibollah Payman's Jonbesh Mosalmanan Mobarez.

I got an A in woodcraft.

-- Jahanshah Javid

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* Friday morning yawn

Simon the lion yawns Friday morning, Nov 21, 2003 in the National Zoo in Managua, Nicaragua. The Managua Zoo has started it's own campaign to raise additional funds to feed its animals. The annual government spending for the zoo is $33 million, and in order to function properly, the zoo needs $130. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

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Shorts
Archives

* Pre-1979 drinks
* What is this, Ali?
* The "F" word
* Limitations of democracy
* Call girl
* Woodcraft
* Friday morning yawn

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