Homelad? Is that what they called you there?
For some reason, I just assumed that Americans wouldn't be allowed to take pictures in Iran. A couple of those shots look infrastructure-y.
I thought you were being clever. Since you shared the lamb-killing story from when you were a lad, and everything.
You know what strikes me about these photos? Besides how gorgeous the landscape is, I mean? How boringly, wonderfully normal infrastructure is. There is a streetlight, just like every other streetlight. People have the same problems and come up with pretty much the same solutions.
I dunno, just seems nice somehow, after all that philosophizing about innate moral whatevers.
Nice pics!
I soo want to go to Iran some day. I almost began taking steps toward a visit a couple years ago, but I got sidetracked by my deteriorating marriage.
I still prefer to refer to Iran as the Persian Empire.
assumed that Americans wouldn't be allowed to take pictures in Iran
No idea if they care. If you were taking pictures of government buildings, maybe. And anyway, it's not like I look American.
Nice pics!
Thanks.
Very cool pictures. I don't know why but pictures like "this is a house where I used to live" or "this is the place where I used to play" elicit much more (wistfulness? nostalgia-by-proxy?) from me than pictures of people from when they were a little kid.
So you're really a Lur, right? What's your opinion on Rumsfeld's proposals for Lur autonomy.
When you went back to visit, how long had you been away?
Man, I've got such a fascination with Iran. It's the only place outside the former Soviet Union that really intrigues the hell out of me. And I've always liked Iranians ever since Sarmad in the 4th grade was the only cute and popular boy to be nice to/notice me.
it's not like I look American.
I'm a little surprised. I am usually told that "over there" folk can distinguish their American cousins by sight, from things like the way they walk and the clothes they wear. But, then, those cousins were probably exposed to the Family Circus.
But, then, those cousins were probably exposed to the Family Circus.
I didn't know the Foley thing had an international dimension.
"over there" folk can distinguish their American cousins by sight
Well yeah, they can; it was your plain "American" that threw me. Anyway, no one cared (and several of those pictures were taken from moving cars).
how long had you been away?
24 years, if I'm counting correctly. It was my one trip back since I left as a kid.
So you're really a Lur, right?
I really am, on both sides; most of my family still speaks Luri, rather than Farsi, when they get together.
Rumsfeld's proposals for Lur autonomy
Seriously??
24 years, if I'm counting correctly. It was my one trip back since I left as a kid.
Incredible. I can't imagine what it must be like to see your childhood home after that kind of temporal and cultural distance. (I assume there wasn't some write-up of it that I missed, seeing how this was in the lonely Before Unfogged era.)
I can't imagine what it must be like to see your childhood home after that kind of temporal and cultural distance.
I started to write it up at the time, but then decided to let it simmer. It was all pretty overwhelming, since I was going back not just as a kid they'd known, but, for my dad's side of the family, as the only link to their favorite and long dead sibling. Add to that the fact that I went back when I did because one of my dad's sisters was dying, and...you can imagine.
On the happier side, what I tell everyone about that trip, and the thing that struck me as most amazing, was that the people on my dad's side, with whom I didn't grow up and hadn't seen since I was five, were just like me in ways that the relatives I did grow up with aren't. I mean, certainly in terms of our interests and such, but also down to the knowing sidelong glances, and how long they could stand silence without becoming uncomfortable--it kept blowing our minds over and over. Practically strangers, but those are my people.
You can be a general in the Free Lur Army, the entering wedge for Iranian liberation. They've already got a maildrop / fax / email address / website in Maryland.
This is scary:
Lur is a name given to two distinct types of wind musical instrument. The more recent type is made of wood and was in use in Scandinavia during the Middle Ages. The older type, named after the more recent type, is made of bronze, dates to the Bronze Age and was often found in pairs, deposited in bogs, mainly in Denmark.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lur
Damn, well, when it gets done simmering (four years and counting?), let us in on it. Like Becks, I get the wistfulness-by-proxy too.
I wanted to make a joke about the Futurama character from Omicron Persei, but I see his name is spelled "Lrrr" instead. Darn.
Jeebus. Jeff Goldblum in gigantic fez.
Ogged, if, on your next trip to DC, you don't turn this tale of wist into at least one tryst, I'll be sorely disappointed in you.
Or at the very least, an erotically-charged game of whist.
23 is Kurt Vonnegut, I think, in native costume.
it's not like I look American.
Oh?
Also, some of those pics look to me kinda like Arizona, sans cacti. City, city, city, nothing!
I had the same thought, that many of the pictures are eerily similar to the American southwest.
This one, for instance, looks a lot like Albuquerque.
Conclusion: Iran is as fake as the lunar landing.
Let's nuke the Universal Pictures tour.
Alternate conclusion: places without mountains suck.
Ogged, if you get one of those hats you can go around photographing freely, preparatory to liberation. They'd never suspect a Lur in a hat.
You didn't say you had a picture of a diversion dam. I thought they were going to be boring pictures of some beautiful place.
Is that the one with the turtles? I was going to put a comment on that one saying, "I know it looks like there's nothing to see here, but...."
I'm with Becks--the "this is my house" kind of picture really gets to me. I also like that you write descriptions of the pictures. I should do more of that on my Flickr.
These made me excited for my upcoming trip to Egypt, in March. It's only been two years since I was last there, but every time I go back I feel like I'm more ready to understand it.
Very well done, ogged.
Yes, that one. What do you mean, nothing to see?
There's those dual undershot gates that somehow also look like flashboards, and unusual concrete forms that I can only guess are trash racks, because there is no evident flow, so they probably aren't for energy dissipation. Are those pump facilities in the back right? 'Cause the rice field is higher than the water level, so I don't understand how that is working. It is plausible that we're looking at the ds side, but I don't get that either. If it is a canal, it is freakin' huge. Maybe it is a sump for drainage flows? They wouldn't have that weed mat if they cut back their fertilizer use on the rice.
Besides all that, why is it so big? For flashy surge flows in the spring, when the rice floods up? It looks like a new facility, no water stains in the concrete to tell me how tight they keep their water levels.
That is a picture of beauty and mystery. The turtles are the least of it.
if, on your next trip to DC, you don't turn this tale of wist into at least one tryst
To be arranged, of course, at Tryst.
Thanks, leblanc.
You'll love this, Megan. This place is a ways outside of town, and I was there only because my cousin, who's an engineer, had worked on it and wanted me to see it. I think he explained it all to me, but I have no idea what it was about.
Blah blah blah water blah blah very difficult concrete work something something irrigate blah HEY! Are those turtles?!
Blah blah blah water blah blah very difficult concrete work something something irrigate blah HEY! Are those turtles?
It's like you were there.
43: Cool, it's just a few blocks from where I live. Comfy couches there.
Those pictures of the desert are amazing, ogged. I've never actually been to any places like that, not even in the U.S., though I've wanted to for a long time.
Oddly enough, the desert pictures remind me of my my hometown, Yakima, WA. I moved there when I was 10 years old, went away after high school, but I've never forgotten the elemental starkness of the high, arid landscape. And I love the thought of Iran and Yakima sharing a common feel.
One of the cool things about Iran is the diversity of climates and landscapes. The north is basically rain forest.
For those who like desert scenery, I just uploaded some pictures of Albuquerque. They're of a golf course, but it's a pretty deserty golf course.
49: Oh, man, that is a beautiful picture.
Desert to rain forest. No wonder you like the pacific U.S.
Dude, I used to spend every morning at Tryst - the bagels are good.
I might actually respect M. Leblanc now.
You said you'd respect me in the morning.
Shows how much you can trust people you meet at Unfogged rendezvouses.
So you're saying I shouldn't have given Becks my car keys and a bottle of scotch? Suddenly it all makes sense!
I live in Phoenix, and am perpetually envious of everyone that lives in Albuquerque. I'd move there in a heartbeat if I could figure out how to make it work with my professional situation.
[tramadol spam removed due to Emerson's suspicions]
I know I'm uncivil, but I have my suspicions about Tramadol.
Hey ogged, is that photo of what you called a river by your old house actually a qanat? (I'm, er, not a water engineer, but those things fascinate me.)
I have no idea, JM. As far as I know, it was uncovered everywhere, which would indicate that it's not, right? Uh, I'm also not a water engineer.
That rainforest picture is ridiculously pretty.
Maybe I'll get organized and scan some Samoa pictures in. I haven't looked at them in a decade.
That would be cool. Anyone care to speculate on this story?
That would be cool refers to LB's Samoa idea, in the sense that I'd be interested.
As far as I know, it was uncovered everywhere, which would indicate that it's not, right?
Yeah, I think that's right. I don't know what the term for "completely paved and managed urban river that is no longer potable" is, though I suspect it might be some subspecies of qanat.
The north is basically rain forest.
Damned if that doesn't look just like the North Georgia mountains. Only prettier.
Iran borders on South Georgia, of course.
