Parisa's Blog

Don't Stop The Music!

noreply@blogger.com (Parisa) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 00:48:00 +0000

China's ministry of culture is now banning music performances that threaten national sovereignty. Russia is having its own moral panic over music and trying to ban Goth and Emo music. They're also trying to disallow kids from dressing up Emo and Goth, calling the trends a "social danger" and "a threat to national stability". But black is so slimming!

These aren't the first government actions to control culture; in the U.S., we haven't been concerned about the evils of Rock n' Roll or Eminem for awhile, but there are still a lot of vocal supporters calling to get rid of all those violent, influencing video games. The Russia and China incidents are just recent, but they caught my eye and got me thinking again about the power of music and how the cultural suppression of an Orwellian dystopia are possible.

One of the best things about music is how it arouses emotions and memories, often which are shared with friends, or even shared with total strangers that were doing something similar when they heard the same song. Whenever I hear Regenerator, I'm going to think of Mil (and probably one person in particular, whose name will be protected), while everyone else will just hear mediocre Electronica. If you graduated or went to prom at an American school at any point in the late 90's (and probably thereafter), you'll probably get the same nostalgic twing whenever you hear Good Riddance, no matter how many thousands of times you've heard the song. All of the summer songs of 2000 are branded in my mind because I heard them on the loudspeaker over and over and over again while lifeguarding at my local pool (and depressingly, that playlist includes Thong Song). And then all the artists and songs that make me think of the people that recommended them... Friends of P by The Rentals, anything by Thursday, No Ordinary Morning by Chicane, Infected Mushroom, Of Montreal. The examples go on and on, but music just has a power to evoke feelings that few other legal substances can, and what a shame when leaders of the world are calling for it be controlled and restricted.

Steve, Leo, John, and Dean have all opened my eyes to some great music of recent, and I hope I've introduced others to something new or interesting. These are some of my favorite, recent recommendations (both new songs and some classic old ones) that might spark something in someone out there:

Have a song to add to the list?

Tales of a Host

noreply@blogger.com (Parisa) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 04:45:00 +0000

My most artistic of friends, Mr. Jason Pietrucha (the "Patroosh"), came to visit me after a stint in L.A. with Steve. Jason is one of those amazing types that was smart enough to be any of those professional occupations (and was well on his way to medical school), but eventually chose to follow his natural artistic genius and go the artsy design route. I'm slightly jealous at all the awesome projects he gets to work on in school, and it's made me think a bit more seriously about starting a design oriented degree program around here. Part time, for the hell of it, with no motivation other than to do it.

Every time someone visits, I get to do something touristy that I should have already done. Jason and I went to Moma over the weekend and well, I was unimpressed. Admittedly, I've never bought into modern art. A blank canvas with one neon light is not art. It's a blank canvas. And a light. Oh well, we gave it a shot. On the positive note, their book store is amazing. I could sit in there all day and look at the gorgeous art books and trinkets. They have some especially impressive pop-up books.

A week later, my mom visited. Our excursion of note was to Sonoma, which was just lovely. On top of the winery hopping, we did a few circles around the town and stopped by the famous cheese and fudge factory (free tastings!), had lunch in an outdoor garden at a perfect little cafe, and found one of the best thrift stores I've ever been to. It was so clean and organized and had great prices (e.g. I bought a perfect quality free form wine rack originally sold for about $75 for just $10). I'd return to Sonoma just for the thrift store.

Docurecommendations

noreply@blogger.com (Parisa) — Tue, 27 May 2008 05:08:00 +0000

For those nearing the bottom of their Netflix queue, I shall supply two recommended documentaries:

1. Jesus Camp: Follows a Pentecostal summer camp for children who spend their summers learning and practicing how to "take back America for Christ." There is no strong hidden bias in this film (unlike your typical Michael Moore flick), and the main characters depicted in the film were generally pleased with the resulting film. Amusingly, the only character displeased with his depiction was Ted Haggard. Then again, he was probably just bitter because of some incidents that were exposed months after this film was released. This was quite disturbing, at least for someone who is otherwise unfamiliar with religious extremism. Still, a worthwhile watch.

2. Grizzly Man: Follows the adventures and not too unexpected death of Timothy Treadwell as he lived among Grizzly bears for 13 years in the Alaskan wilderness. I know what you're thinking... "Bet all those trees and bears would look really nice on a big screen... Yawn." And yes, there is some nice bear footage, but the more entertaining part of this documentary is watching the eccentric, bipolar, yet at times charismatic main character spread his controversial Grizzly gospel.

And remember, even if the documentary is bad, you sound that much smarter for watching it over some crappy romantic comedy.

Glass Blowing

noreply@blogger.com (Parisa) — Sun, 11 May 2008 03:34:00 +0000

I took a glass blowing class about a month ago and thought I'd post some of my finished products. There are a few places in the bay area that offer glass classes, typically for lampworking and typically for around $400 for a weekend workshop -- pricey! I really wanted to try out glassblowing (think glory hole and big vat of molten glass) over flame working (think little blow torch and rods of glass), and I finally found a dude in Santa Cruz that offered to teach me out of his rented garage. Hooray for hippie art dudes on Craigslist! So we set up a time to do it, I paid him some money, and he taught me the basics of glassblowing while helping me make some paper weights, some pumpkins, and a drinking glass. I'd love to continue doing this, but it's a pretty expensive hobby, requires a lot of equipment or studio rental and you really need a partner to work with. Until I figure out those details, I'll just have a much greater appreciation for glass work.

[asirp]+

noreply@blogger.com (Parisa) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:53:00 +0000

These suckers are stealing my letters!

Thanks to Leo for the link.

Today, I am

noreply@blogger.com (Parisa) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 22:51:00 +0000

...annoyed (as always) that there are two exits for Mission Blvd on I-680 (how confusing!). This means nothing to most of you, but if you live in Northern California, you can appreciate how stupid this is.

...listening to the "Time after Time" cover by Quietdrive.

...adoring a baby pineapple, which was twice the cost of a regular pineapple, a quarter the size, and five times the cute.

...making my obligatory post for March.

Paper Icon for Sale, $1 USD

noreply@blogger.com (Parisa) — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 14:57:00 +0000

Who actually is buying this stuff? And no, the irony of selling paper on the Internet is not lost on me.

January and February in a (Cacao) Nutshell

noreply@blogger.com (Parisa) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 07:20:00 +0000

The weeks of 2008 are flying by, which is good. The less time I spend writing in my blog, the less time you have to spend reading it. At some point in January, Leo visited and we started our career as rock stars. I still have a lot of practice to do before I can play in the same room as Josh, but we just got the game for my team at work, so I will be training until my fingers are worn and blistered. Shortly after Leo left, Will visited from Calgary. Will, Peter, and I drove down to Joshua Tree for some southern California sun. We did one day of climbing, one night in LA, one morning in Venice beach, then dropped Will off at LAX and drove back to Mountain View. Meder was supposed to join us on the trip, but a series of canceled flights kept him in London. After a short stop in D.C., he eventually did make it to California to play. One night we watched his favorite movie while eating chips, guacamole, pizza, and beer, followed the next morning by a stop for donuts on the way to play video games; you know, the typical way we entertain in America.

More recently, I went to Disneyland on a company trip. There were no lines since we went midweek in the middle of winter, but the park was closed for Google after 8pm, which meant we were only limited by our stomach's tolerance for rides. The rides are more tame than those at Great America, but Disneyland just has this amazing fluid fantasy feel throughout the whole park that can't be matched.

A few days later, Dawn visited. Among other lazy activities, we toured the Sharffen Berger chocolate factory in Berkeley. The one hour tour was free and included tastes of their different lines of chocolates, the main reason we were attracted. I actually learned a lot about how chocolate was made and would definitely recommend the tour for anyone looking to entertain or waste some time on a Saturday. Plus, walking around a factory where all of the rubble, dust, and debris comes from some part of a cacao nut is awesome - I want my own chocolate factory now.

And now pictures to prove that some of that happened and I'm not making it all up.

If I Were a Cartoon

noreply@blogger.com (Parisa) — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 20:08:00 +0000

Free Ad Space

noreply@blogger.com (Parisa) — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 05:10:00 +0000

Tis the season for generosity. As a gift to my friends, I'm giving away free ad space on my blog, which means there will be one more text file on the Internet pushing your agenda. Now you can stop complaining about all those birthday presents I forgot to send. Free loaders.

Jerry is working on this cool research project called Dryad that everyone should try out and give him feedback on. It's supposed to allow laymen (like you, not me) to create their own 3D tree models for games or whatever other virtual landscaping needs you might have. Easy to make pink and blue trees, what more could you ask for?

Steve had a bad experience with Fuzzy's Skateboards, so be careful before purchasing from them, or you might too. Personally, I would never be interested in a fuzzy skateboard. Seems like they would roll a lot worse.

My brother, David, wants people to know what an excellent experience he is having at Rush Medical University. The curriculum is challenging, but the faculty is encouraging and helpful. He also wants to let people know that Betty Crocker instant potatoes are exceptionally tasty, especially when you add garlic powder.

Want free advertising? Let me know what you want the world to know about, and I'll include it above.

A Taste of Chicago

noreply@blogger.com (Parisa) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 13:08:00 +0000

I was in Chicago for Thanksgiving, but this time, as a visitor. Now having some other city data points to compare against, I can authoritatively say that Chicago is a great city. It's a city that doesn't need a distinct personality, but ends up having one anyways. The people are hard-working, but easy going and good natured. No one is eternally sun kissed or draped in gold and diamonds; even Chicago born celebrities are of modest persona. The city moves through the four seasons every year, and while not always gracefully, is beyond compare if you hit the right morning in Spring or Indian summer evening. If you're a fan of deep dish pizza, sports, or stand up comedy, you'll have no trouble blending in, but as hub of the U.S., anyone is likely to find their niche in the cultural spans of the metropolitan area. I had a great time and look forward to going back. No, I have not been paid for this endorsement.

On to more ego-centric blathering. I had my own high school reunion in between working and family fun. On Monday, I met up with Lauren and Kerry at Mambo Grill for really good guacamole and gossip - the typical stuff of where who-and-who is living, what they are doing, and what sexual orientation they are now. Then I went to stay with David in his apartment near Rush. He showed me around the anatomy lab on Tuesday morning, showing off the cadaver they are dissecting in class - I named her Eunice. It turns out that when you die, you end up looking like Turkey meat.

On Tuesday, I met up with Alan to have pizza at the original Gino's East, or so we thought. I guess the original one was actually closed down, so this one was a phony, but still had the same amazing pizza. Corn crust, chunky tomato sauce, mountains of cheese... I just gained another 2 lbs remembering how delicious it was. We also went to the Schoolyard to meet up with some of his friends and watch the UIUC vs. Duke basketball game. I guess this is one of uber pro-Illini bars in Chicago, so Alan made me wear an orange and blue shirt for fear I'd get beaten up otherwise. I would have been impressed if I pulled off the whole school pride, sports fan thing, but we ended up talking about oil market volatility, hedging, and XSS attacks instead.

On Wednesday, I took the L back to Google and then had lunch with Matt at Harry Carey's. Matt's doing the whole law school thing and has promised to defend me pro bono in all future legal troubles, not that I intend to have any. Then I walked 1.5 miles in freezing rain to Union Station to catch a train back to the 'burbs. This was one of those ungraceful weather days I was talking about.

Thursday was Turkey day and Friday was our annual craft day, which means more gingerbread houses! Jason came to this year's event (invite only) and made an amazing house on wheels with fruit roll up flame decals on the side. I made a pink sorority gingerbread house, David made a ho-ho-ho-spital, and Michael made a log cabin.

Reflections on UIUC, Projections of Silly

noreply@blogger.com (Parisa) — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 23:56:00 +0000

I went to Reflections|Projections 2007 this past weekend to catch up with friends and watch Peter give a talk. Campus looks about the same, except this time I left with a better appreciation for UIUC and college life. I miss being able to walk across the street to my friend's apartment or two blocks to have lunch at Za's for $5. I miss having coffee shops open until 2AM (Mountain View shuts down by 10PM), but most of all, I miss having access to all of the public school buildings to hideout in. I was never good at doing work in my apartment, so I'd seek out remote places at strange hours of the day and night. Classrooms in old and creepy Altgeld, the basement in DCL, or random rooms in Beckman or Loomis were all favorites. UIUC also just has a nice campus to walk around; there is this interesting architectural dichotomy between the modern engineering buildings north of Green St. and the older collegiate buildings farther south. Even downtown Urbana and Champaign have their own charm. Maybe it isn't as ugly and boring as I always complain it is.

Anyways, it was a pretty rushed visit as far as seeing and catching up with people, but I got to see most of the important ones.

Bill claimed he could replant a pineapple top when I lived with him,
and failed miserably. He seems to have succeeded after I left,
but now is claiming chickens can be hynotized. Ankur's just happy
he doesn't have to listen to Bill's crazy claims anymore.

Chris really likes Pirate swords and got a new
piece of jewelry in his ear. Arrrrr...

Carrino adores Steve and his contentedness; Ari suffers
with a pepperoncini.

Paul gives the camera a 15% smile, slightly more generous
than average. Kurt makes up for the difference.

Peter thinks he is one of the Blue's Brothers.
I won't tell him any different if you don't.

I'm Parisa, from The Real World

noreply@blogger.com (Parisa) — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 04:03:00 +0000

It's come to my attention from numerous sources that there is an Iranian girl named Parisa on the the most recent series of MTV's The Real World, the popular reality show that tells the heavily edited story of seven strangers, picked to live in a mansion, work together, and have their lives taped, to find out what happens when attractive, sexually charged 20-somethings stop being polite, and start doing anything they can to prolong their 15 minutes of fame... or start getting real, or something like that.

I haven't watched an episode, so I can't say anything about MTV Parisa, but the show isn't really known for its laudable characters. In any case, it's strange to have my name personified on a reality series. I've yet to really meet another Parisa, so I suppose I've become a bit possessive of the name. Of course other Parisas exist, and there are even a few famous ones, but for a somewhat unique name by American standards, I have my name association to protect. And well, since I have a full time job, bills, live in a normal suburban apartment, and don't get paid to make event appearances, I'm going to go ahead and claim that I live in a somewhat more real world than the one MTV Parisa will become noteworthy for. So this post is to me, Parisa, for starring in the unaltered and unabridged version of the really Real World.

Riddle Me This

noreply@blogger.com (Parisa) — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 18:03:00 +0000

Peter made it to California! My brothers came to visit!! OMG my apartment is outnumbered by tall boys with big appetites and dirty feet!

In review, my brothers, David and Michael, finally came out to visit me in California before they both started their respective school years - Hah, suckers! They hijacked my car during the day to do fun touristy things while I worked, such as visiting San Francisco (to take a romantic tour of Alcatraz and watch the Cubs beat the SF Giants), Berkeley (to visit Jeff Noh and Top Dog), and Santa Cruz (to check out the beach and local offerings of "green trees" and "wacky-bo-jacky").

Over the weekend, we all headed up to South Lake Tahoe to do some climbing and camping. I'm now convinced that when any group is biased with males, conversation will tend toward topics related to farting, pooping, and beer. When it didn't (and oh how I savored these brief moments), we shared bad jokes and silly riddles to pass the time. And as a reward for reading this far, I'll share two simple riddles with you. First to answer will probably be rewarded with a life of fame, glory, and riches beyond your wildest expectations. Probably.

1. How bright are you?
You are positioned in front of a closed door and three light switches, each of which is wired to a light bulb in a room behind the closed door. Your task is to determine which light switch controls which light bulb, but there is a catch! You can position the switches in any arrangement you want prior to opening the door, but once you open the door to peer into the room and look at the light bulbs, you can no longer adjust the light switches and must determine the wirings. How do you do it?

2. A darker riddle.
A man dressed all in black is driving down a black paved road in his black car. There are no street lights on and he has neither his headlights on or any lights turned on in his car. Out of nowhere, a black cat jolts out in front of his car and he slams on the breaks just in time. How did the man see the cat?

Mt. Tallac, Secrets Exposed

noreply@blogger.com (Parisa) — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 04:04:00 +0000

Deric, Steve, Chris, and I went to hike up Mt. Tallac in South Lake Tahoe this past weekend. We ended up hiking in with full packs and camping^* in Desolation Wilderness between the Tallac summit and Cathedral Lake. Blah, blah, blah, gorgeous views of the lakes, blah, blah, great weather, blah, blah, etc.

There are a few important takeaways from this trip. First, chipmunks in Lake Tahoe are not afraid of you. They wait until you fall asleep and then approach their prey without hesitation. And don't expect your friends to protect you because they'll probably be too busy taking pictures. Second, there is some flower or weed out in the wild (or at least on the hike up Tallac) that smells exactly like cinnamon incense. At first I thought I was imagining this, but Deric verified the odor. We weren't able to identify where it was coming from, but if anyone knows what I'm talking about, I'd love to find out what plant this is. Third, if you use Cingular, you probably have a full signal all the way up to the Tallac summit. So ya know, call and text all your friends to tell them how hardcore you are out in desolation wilderness and then check your voicemail. Finally and least relevant, it turns out that someone other than me has ripped a mole off in the past. I once was picking at what I thought was a scab on my back only to find out that I really had ripped a mole off my skin. At the time, it was a bit concerning. I mean, you aren't supposed to scratch your eye and accidentally wipe your cornea off. Had I just opened up a tiny leak for my innards to seep out of? I ended up attributing it to super human strength on my part, but I guess if someone else has done it, it's not that big of a deal anymore.

* Some random beta: Desolation Wilderness allots 50% of their overnight camping permits to parties on arrival (the other half can be reserved in advance). We got their at 9:30am on Saturday and we didn't have any problem getting a camping permit, despite every other major campsite in South Lake Tahoe being booked far in advance. If you are into more of the back country camping atmosphere, I recommend this area because it required no major planning (they had lots of permits and this was a July weekend), parking is free by most trail heads, and you have much more space to roam around in and avoid other parties.

One Yue in Mountain View

noreply@blogger.com (Parisa) — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:48:00 +0000

Yisong visited this past weekend and I'm happy to report he is still as awesome, hungry, and Capitalistic as we all remember him! Whereas most people lose the majority of their friends to distance after college, it seems that many of mine are slowly migrating to the Bay Area, tech Mecca of the western world. Just this summer, Steve moved to Berkeley to start his PhD and last week John moved out with Robin to start working at Palantir. Or maybe it's just my magnetic personality that is drawing all my friends to California. Yeah, that must be it.

Anyways, Yisong was in town and it was my job to help entertain and feed him. On Saturday, John, Robin, Steve and Anne Downing, the other Steve, and I went to Amarin Thai and a gelato shop in Mountain View for dinner. On Sunday, a subset of that group and Graeme, one of my coworkers, drove up to Big Basin to do the Berry Creek Falls trail, an easy 10.5 mile loop with a gorgeous waterfall midway through the hike. After the hike, we came back to my apartment for a barbeque and had Jerry Talton and his girlfriend for dessert. We didn't eat them, but we did do a good job on the chocolate cake they brought. In an effort to reduce Internet pollution with redundant dribble, I'll just link to Steve's blog for the details.

Comments for Leo

noreply@blogger.com (Parisa) — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 01:13:00 +0000

Despite my better judgment, I've enabled commenting on my blog. To me, it always seemed like having a commenting feature assumed a certain size of readership that I never planned on having and am sure I still don't have. Then again, blogging about enabling a commenting feature assumes that there are enough people reading this that actually care or even noticed one way or the other. In any case, this is for the hundreds of recent requests I've gotten to allow commenting. Well, it was really only one request from Leo, but she carries the weight of hundreds. So to all of the spambots, e-trolls, and blog nomads, this is for you.

Free Hugs

noreply@blogger.com (Parisa) — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 14:13:00 +0000

I enjoy people watching. I'm always interested in seeing strangers interacting, and unfortunately, am disappointed when so many people are rude or indifferent to those around them. This isn't to say I'm not guilty of ignoring my surroundings. In college, I was walking in a grocery store and an older man startled me with a sharp, "Smile! It can't be that bad!" I snapped back from la-la land to realize he was talking to me and embarrassingly explained that I was just zoned out. It left an impression on me and I try to smile more and approach strangers with genuine greetings.

We are becoming a disconnected society. We are taught to fear our neighbors, distrust the motivations of coworkers and peers, and not disturb those we respect. The economic and social status lines are such stronger sound barriers, so much so that we forget to look those that serve us in the eyes and are too afraid to approach those we serve with any sign of personality.

I just came across the free hugs campaign the other day. The movement has already been going on for quite some time and has inspired similar campaigns around the world. It made me smile and restored my faith in the ability of one person to make an impact on another's life. So as a reminder to myself and as encouragement to the general public, please stop studying sidewalk cracks and counting clouds and share a free hug!

A Timely Escape from the Cicadas

noreply@blogger.com (Parisa) — Fri, 25 May 2007 21:13:00 +0000

My Aunt just reminded me that I'm missing the cicadas this summer in IL. I guess 17 years have passed since their last arrival, though I distinctly remember them covering all of the trees in our yard and also remember dreading when they would come back. To a 7 year old girl, the song of the cicadas is not what you want your summer soundtrack to be. Actually, this holds for the 24 year old girl too.

I, however, will be smiling for the rest of the day, not only because it's the Friday before a long Memorial day weekend, but because I'm in California all summer... far, far away from any signs of cicadas. And for those that have no idea what these benign, yet disgusting and loud bugs are, enjoy!

Long Hikes in Sandals

noreply@blogger.com (Parisa) — Tue, 22 May 2007 04:03:00 +0000

To save a bit of money, I decided to lease out my extra bedroom for a few months this summer. I now co-reside with Adam Black, an east coast Physicist that has come back to the Bay area to start a job at some crazy laser making startup. It's nice having a roommate again. Now I don't have to talk to the walls all the time. Hopefully he doesn't try to steal my identity and erase my whole class schedule. It would be a pain to have to go through all of that again.

Anyways, yesterday we went on a hike through Muir Woods and Mount Tamalpais (or Mount Tam) to Stinson beach and back. It was 11 miles of gorgeous hiking across rolling meadows and thick Redwood forests. I did the whole thing in flip flops, though I don't necessarily recommend that for others; few mortals can cover the terrain or withstand the climates that I can in just your average flip flops. Also, I was kind of wishing I had some real shoes when we passed a rattlesnake on one of the fire roads early in the hike.

For anyone interested in repeating the hike, we started at the park headquarters and took the Dipsea trail towards Pantoll ranger station. We then took the Old Mine trail to the Matt Davis trail, which led us to Stinson beach. Stinson is a small beach town with a few restaurants, shops, and ice cream stands near the beach. We brought food and ate in the sand, but you could easily find something to buy. On the way back, we started on the Dipsea trail which led us to the Steep Ravine trail. This trail was my favorite as you walk along Webb Creek and see lots of tiny waterfalls and boulders completely blanketed in soft moss and ferns. We got back to Pantoll, and took the Ben Johnson trail back to Muir Woods. Admission to Muir woods is $3 and parking can get tight, but how often do you get to see really, really, really tall trees that have been around since 900 A.D.?

Red Rocks, Climbing, Chris, Robin, Rich

noreply@blogger.com (Parisa) — Tue, 01 May 2007 06:10:00 +0000

Added one more tick to the Vegas trips tally, this time with my fantasic Security coworkers, Robin, Chris, and Rich. Our intent was to do lots of climbing in Red Rocks, but partying on Friday and Saturday night made for late wakeups and departures. Perhaps our initial mistake was staying in such an amazing hotel.

On Saturday we ended up climbing in the Black Corridor. Rich and I warmed up and climbed Trigger Happy, my first 5.10a, and then followed it with Nightmare on Crude Street (5.10d), which I managed to struggle up with some rests. On Sunday, we headed to Black Velvet Canyon and Rich got a chance to test drive our rental Subaru Outback on offroad terrain. It took us a bit of time to hike out to the base, especially in the 95 degree heat. Chris is learning to lead trad, so Rich gave us all a mini-clinic on how to place gear. By the time everyone got up and down the first pitch of Our Father (5.7 crack), there wasn't much time left in the day. Rich and Chris did the first pitch of Wholesome Fullback (5.10a) before we had to head back to the airport, return to California, and go back to organizing the world's information and making it universally accessible and useful.

Pirelli vs. Parisa w.r.t. P-Zero.org

noreply@blogger.com (Parisa) — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 20:39:00 +0000

Over a month ago, I got an email that first appeared to be spam. No email body outside of a signature from a case coordinator with the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) and an attachment referring to a domain dispute complaint. After some further research, I realized that the NAF existed, the complaint was real, and the dispute was over P-Zero.org, a domain I purchased from GoDaddy.com last summer.

First, I'll share some background on the domain purchase. I was looking for a new domain for a personal website. Since all of parisa.{com, net, org} were either owned or parked, I thought I'd go with some variant of thepurple0yster, an AIM name I use on occasion. On August 20th of last year, I had the following conversation with Mike explaining the choice.

(15:45:54) Parisa: i wanted p0.org, but that is gone
(15:46:14) Parisa: i can get p-zero.org
(15:46:16) Parisa: but it's not as ideal
(15:46:26) Mike: thats pretty cool
(15:46:34) Mike: why is it less ideal?
(15:46:43) Parisa: eh.. p0 would have been cooler :)
(15:46:52) Parisa: p0 == purple0yster
(15:46:54) Mike: ohh
(15:47:20) Parisa: i dunno.. i just liked it
(15:47:26) Parisa: i guess p-zero is ok

I ended up buying the domain, but didn't immediately use it since I didn't have web hosting set up. It ended up laying dormant with the standard "This page has been parked free, courtesy of GoDaddy.com" index page until now because I bought some other domains in the meantime and didn't have an immediate need for this one.

P-Zero.org on 3.1.2007

Now, the first email I received wasn't even the complaint, but a notice that the complaint was incomplete. The Complainant, Pirelli & C.S.p.A. (their legal counsel), had specified two locations for mutual jurisdiction, but they were required to select only one. Their two proposed locations were Scottsdale, Arizona (the address of the registrar, GoDaddy.com) and 100 CandyLand Ave. Peppermint Grove, ID 31338 (my own address from the WhoIs database for P-Zero.org).

I emailed both parties to try and find out what was going on. At that point, I didn't know what NAF was, who Pirelli was, or what domain was even in question. I logged into GoDaddy to check the personal profiles for my domains. By this time, they had frozen my account without any notice or indication on my admin web panel. I tried, countless times, to reach GoDaddy customer service by phone and email. Finally I reached customer service and they told me my account was frozen due to a domain dispute and they could offer no further information via phone.

There was little response from either NAF or Pirelli to my questions since the complaint hadn't been officially filed yet, but I discovered that Pirelli was an Italian company with a line of tires named PZERO and they were after my P-Zero.org domain. Pirelli & C.S.p.A. filed for the PZERO trademark about a month before I purchased the domain and were granted it about two months later. They eventually filed their complaint specifying Peppermint Grove, ID, and I received the formal notice on March 5. The complaint turned out to be an extremely entertaining read, including the accusations that I was using the reputation and fame of Pirelli and the PZERO tire line in bad faith for my website of dubious qualities, that the damage suffered by Pirelli from my registering of the site was clear and the rights of Pirelli had been harmed, and that I was unfairly and opportunistically appropriating the goodwill associated with the PZERO trademark. Quite the cybersquatter I have become.

I should mention that I'd never heard of Pirelli prior to all of this. I simply registered the domain because I wanted to make a website. I took no action to sell it to Pirelli and made no profit from any of the advertised links that appeared on the index page (compliments GoDaddy). While I wasn't using the domain, I paid for it and was a bit insulted at the accusations of the complaint. It was all fairly ridiculous, but unfortunately real.

So, I researched the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) and filed a response to the best of my legally unskilled abilities. The basis of my response was that the current page at P-Zero.org was just a default GoDaddy page (not an attempt to distract Pirelli customers), I never contacted Pirelli to sell the site, I had only non-commercial interest in the domain, and I have a history of web development that supports my intended use of the domain.

I received the decision last week that I had no legitimate rights or interest in the domain and it was to be transferred to Pirelli. Apparently holding the domain for half a year was enough to prove bad faith registration and use, despite claiming non-commercial intent.

My unprofessional opinion on this decision is that it's bull shit and a dangerous precendent against individuals purchasing Internet real estate. Applying for trademarks is an easy and cheap procedure for companies. Peruse through the USPTO database and more likely than not, someone has an existing trademark on any acronym or word you can think of. Pirelli already owns 23 variants of PZERO domains, so my ownership of P-Zero.org didn't preclude them from exercising their trademark. Plus, .org gTLD is widely recognized as serving non-commercial sites. Most importantly though, I don't agree that my simple holding of the domain was proof of bad faith use when you consider everything involved in this situation. Even if I held it for years without putting up content, I paid for it, never posted defamatory material, and never attempted to sell it.

I have probably exhausted any legal action I can take (or free one at least) and in the end, am out one purchased domain. If anyone has any other legal advice for additional action, I'd love to hear it. In the meantime, I'll be doing my best to spread the word about this nonsense, won't be purchasing any Pirelli tires, and maybe will even try out to become a NoDaddy girl.

[Updated 05-03-07] I just got an email from a guy that seems to be going through a similar debacle against the great tire God. This time Pirelli has claimed infringement regarding the domain zero.us.

[Updated 05-08-07] And in accordance to the latest related ruling, zero.org will be transferred to Pirelli. Strangely, when I hear the word zero, the first thing I think of is a number and not an Italian tire.

Selling Your Soul, Living to Write About It

noreply@blogger.com (Parisa) — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 01:11:00 +0000

Hemant's book, I Sold My Soul on eBay: Viewing Faith through an Atheist's Eyes, comes out today. Everyone should buy a copy, but not because I'm telling you to. Under normal circumstances, that's probably enough, but Hemant is one of the most creative, intelligent, funny persons I've had the pleasure of knowing and calling a friend. Just over a year ago, Hemant auctioned off the chance to save his soul on eBay, promising to attend one hour of church for every $10 that was raised (proceeds going to an Atheist charity). A winning bid of $504 secured Hemant's spot at 50 church services. This book is about his experience. Whether you are a person of faith wishing to look into the respectful and funny mind of an atheist, or one of the more godless variety that wants to know how one of your own fared in the world of God, this will be an enjoyable read.

Happy Birthday to Me!

noreply@blogger.com (Parisa) — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 22:22:00 +0000

On this date 24 years ago, the world was graced with my presence. Thank you to all friends and family that remembered and sent me messages and gifts. And thank you to everyone that wished me well two days early as a result of a Facebook reminder. Despite my entire profile being fictituous (Born in France? Horticulture major? Pagan?), I can see how you might have believed that my birthday was actually on April Fool's day. Next time you'll know better than to trust anything associated with my name.

about:config

noreply@blogger.com (Parisa) — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 23:57:00 +0000

I love Firefox, but hate some of the new UI features in version 2.0. Specifically, I hate per-tab close buttons and limits on tab width that force scrolling when you exceed the number of tabs you can fit in your browser. I tried using it for a few weeks and was convinced I could get used to it, but I failed to adjust and sought remedy without having to go back to an older version. If you're like me, or have some other beef with Firefox, you should play with the advanced configuration options that you can't get your fingers on from the UI.

To access these, just type about:config into your browser address bar. A long list of key:value pairs will display that describe your current configuration.

about:config

To fix the per-tab close button issue and revert back to having one global button that closes the active tab, set browser.tabs.closeButtons to 3. To get rid of the tab scrolling, set browser.tabs.tabMinWidth to 0. You can also speed up your browsing by enabling browser pipelining. Set network.http.proxy.pipelining and network.http.pipeline to true. You can also increase network.http.pipelining.maxrequests to speed up web page loading, but remember to be nice to those servers!