Memories of Akbar Hashemi - May 11, 2002

‍‍‍‍‍‍For a while, I carefully observed the behavior of birds; their food hunting, various displays of collective flight, racing, calling, diving, and fighting. The interesting point is the lack of collision and accidents despite all that speed and twisting among the multitude of birds, which indicates careful measurement and calculation in their movements.

In Cuba, 17,000 people signed a petition asking [Fidel] Castro to grant democracy to the people.

I was at the army ground forces camp all day. The time was spent resting, studying, and walking along the beach. It is still cold, and the sea water cannot be used. During the New Year when we were in Kish, the sea water was used there. Here, even though it is 25 meters lower than the level of the open sea, the weather is colder.

There were many birds by the shore. I watched their behavior closely for a while; catching food and various aerial displays such as flocking, racing, calling, diving, and engaging with each other; I couldn't find a logical connection among their movements and sounds. The interesting point is the lack of collisions and accidents despite all that speed and twisting among the flock of birds. If airplanes or helicopters exhibited such behavior while being controlled and calculated, many collisions would occur, which indicates precise measurement and calculation in the movements of the birds.

The camp manager brought his newborn for me to recite the call to prayer in his ear. I gave a gift: half a coin. He reported on the situation of the camp. A hijacker who had attempted to hijack a Mahan Air plane on the route from Kerman to Tehran was arrested by the plane's security. The bodies of three occupants of the downed helicopter have been found. One person is still in the helicopter - at the bottom of 42 meters of water - and there is one injured.

Tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv against the war, calling for the withdrawal of the Israeli army from Palestine. 90,000 Italians also protested in favor of the Palestinians, and clashes between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland left several injured.

The U.S. Congress has approved a $385 billion military budget. This is four billion dollars more than the request of [George] Bush, [the President of the United States]. It was announced that the person responsible for sending bombs in the mail to five U.S. states is a 21-year-old American.

An explosion at the Baikonur base in Kazakhstan killed 10 people. In Venezuela, tens of thousands of opponents of [Hugo Chavez], the president, held demonstrations to commemorate the victims of the recent coup. In Cuba, 17 thousand people signed a petition asking [Fidel] Castro to grant democracy to the people. Today, [Jimmy] Carter, the former president of the United States, traveled to Cuba.