Theory of a stable relationship (guest post)

Until I find time to publish what's going on on my side, I'm publishing this "scientific paper" sent to me by a .. friend, who preferred to stay anonymous :) Let us know what you think of it in comments.

This paper describes the relationship between two human objects of opposite sex, discovering correlations between those two based on Newton laws of mechanics.

We particularly focused on gravitational forces affecting this relation mistakenly referred by general public as "addiction" as well as counter-forces that may potentially break relative stability known to public as circumstances.

The paper concludes on a formula derived to describe this phenomenon that can be used in the relationship science to support decisions and further development of the science of love.

General rule of addiction 

There are billions of study objects around the world. Some of them create families, others don't. Significant numbers of families break up after t period of time. The importance of this study comes even more vivid if considered that relationships between various human objects break at the stage of formulation even without reaching the state of a stable equilibrium. The phenomenon becomes even harder to analyze given that these billions of objects have over 35 billion communications daily and around 580 million people travel per day. 

To understand this phenomenon, we suggest looking at the stars. There are countless space objects moving, however the universe still keeps its firm structure over millions of light years. This is mainly happening due to the gravity forces between all objects that create network of forces to support the overall structure. This same gravity (although based on human specific parameters) creates forces between two humans to provide acceleration towards each other. This “addiction” (as we fictitiously call it) can be described by the formula below:

Where:
F - addiction force - is the actual force by which one object is pulling the other one.

G - addiction constant. This constant is not affected by any variable other than time. It can be calculated by the following formula G = B × (tn - t0), where B is the base underlying the relationship typically mol. mass of either oxytocin 1007.19, adrenaline 183.204, or pheromones varying between 230-280; and tn - t0 is the total number of days in relationship.

M1 - the mass of positive attitude and support provided by addicting object (further referred as addictor).

M2 - the mass of positive attitude and support received from subject of addiction (further referred as addictee).

R - the average distance between addictor and addictee.

Both M1 and M2 comprise of the aggregation of the following:

• support provided to counterpart 
• level of forbearance 
• attention to its counterpart 
• quality of gifts 
• rest time shared 
• etc

Thus, the force of addiction is positively correlated with the time of relationship (as provided in the G constant formula) and the relative weight of objects for each other, and negatively correlated with the distance between the two.

Circumstances or the surrounding universe

Given that there is no other object and movement around the addictor and the addictee, the addiction force described above would be the only force affecting the objects. Thus they would either pull each other until their integration into one object with no distinctive individual properties, or in case of long distance and/or negative M1×M2 product, would have insignificant mutual relations. 

In reality, all the human objects spin around the world and, as described in previous chapter, have a large number of other interactions. Thus, there is another force, giving us a tendency of avoiding integration and pushing objects away from each other. In universe this rule is known as the centrifugal force. 

In our study, the formula of avoidance provided below best describes the imprint of so called circumstances on the relationship.

Where:
F2 - is the force of avoidance

M1 - mass of positive attitude and support provided by the addictee

V - the speed by which addictee is being spinned around routine realities and the universe around itself

R - the distance between addictor and the addictee

Thus we can say that there is a clear hyperbolic positive correlation between the speed of our life and the force pushing us far from our addictors. Another interesting finding of this study is that the closer two object are − the higher is the force pushing to break up.

State of equilibrium
Any two human objects with positive M1 and M2 values are able to reach equilibrium stage at T point of time.

To prove the statement above, lets calculate through the formulas presented above. To reach the stage of equilibrium the addiction force F1 and F2 shall be equal, therefore:

Based on our assumption in the hypothesis, M1 is positive value, thus:

or

or

As we can conclude from the equation above, there can always be a positive M2 for given distance, speed of life and duration of relationship to bring the equation to solution. The faster the environment and longer the distance − the more positive energy and care is needed to sustain equilibrium. On the other hand, the longer relationship lasts − the less M2 is required for equilibrium given that V and R remain constant.

In conclusion, this study proves, that to reach a stable relationship, it is critical of addictor itself to provide necessary M2 weight to relationship. In the meantime, both addictor and addictee can calculate necessary V speeds and R distances to leverage the lack of Weight at a given point of time. This type of adjustments may provide short-term equilibrium situations to free up time to recover the M2 and M1 levels. Failure of recovering necessary mutual weights of objects will lead to shifting of V and R values to unrecoverable margins.

Once M2 value is sustained at the equilibrium value, the relationship can enter long-term stability stage.

I typed "y"... I am now suddenly, geekily and happily engaged :)

...or "How to propose to a geek girl".

The rumor spreads and everyone keeps asking - how was it? what did he say? Since it was very unexpected, geeky and with so many details, I thought it would be best to write down here and share my happiness with the world.

It was an ordinary Wednesday (November 7). The only 2 things that could be counted as "not ordinary" were the facts that a) I was sick and bedridden on Monday and Tuesday and b) my (now) fiancé was on a business trip in Stepanakert, Artsakh (or so I thought).

The card

On Tuesday evening, while tracking his journey on latitude, I asked him to call and wake me up on Wednesday morning and so he did. I promised I'd get up soon. But since my tummy was till aching, I decided to cuddle in bed a few more minutes and eventually fell asleep again. I woke up a couple hours later to find his messages like "Asleep again?". I started to slowly dress up and get ready to go to work. My friend Lia called to ask me if I was still at home and could take the pocket books I had promised to pass to her. It was around 1pm already. Then it turned out I had to buy my dad's newspapers. So I went out, bought the papers, brought them home and headed to work. (see the bullet points below the post to find out why I described these details)

On my way to work, next to the Charents monument pathway, a teenage boy handed me something. I asked "what's this?", in order to avoid the religious pictures that kids give on streets and ask for money. The boy eagerly replied - "vizitka!" (business card). I took it and saw a nicely designed business card (pictured below).

the QR code reads "Will"

I went on a few more steps and checked the QR code on a side of the card, which read "Will". "Hm.. Interesting", I thought and entered my office.
I told about the card to Azar, my boss. My guess was, that this is some promotion or maybe a puzzle, a quest..

The Facebook tag

In about half an hour I am being tagged on a picture on Facebook. It was in a closed group of AIESEC alumni. See below:

I was tagged together with a bunch of other people.. It had the same logo as on the business card.. and a QR code reading "You". The description was "Cool initiative, guys i am sure you will like this! Detail coming soon!". I started to suspect that it had something to do with AIESEC - some kind of a new project and I was lucky to get the card on the street! The comments on the post didn't shed any light to what it was.

The hack

At 6pm I had an appointment with Kristine, Gohar and Lia (TEDxYerevan organizing team) at The Green Bean Coffeeshop. Kristine had written us a week ago asking to get prepared for a dinner with the US Ambassador John Heffern (who attended TEDxYerevan 2012). We had to discuss our possible cooperation. Kristine asked us to dress nicely, no jeans or suits -- just a cute dress. She also asked me to bring my netbook, since we had to discuss things in Green Bean, before going for the dinner. I didn't suspect anything yet :D
I got there and we started to discuss our stuff. The waiter approached, and I ordered a bagel and no drink. Gohar ordered tea and Kristine insisted that they bring another cup for me to drink too, since i was recovering from cold. I got the Green Bean mug... and it had the "liveit" logo and again a QR code!

I got surprised and started telling them about the card and the picture from facebook... and then finally got to scan the code. Guess what? It read "Marry me?" ..... I blushed and smiled... and then immediately got a call from Azar (my boss), who told me that supposedly panarmenian.net was hacked and I should check it quickly and call him back, since he was outside, far from a computer. I turned on my netbook and opened panarmenian.net. I got this console screen instead (click to view bigger):

I typed "y"...

The waiter, in a white elephant t-shirt, was looking at me and smiling. She led me to the other hall of the cafe to find my Areg. With white lilies and a ring. On his knees.

We were surrounded by friends - who were involved in all this - cheering, applauding ... By that time i was blushing with my full capacity :).. shocked to find Areg to be in Yerevan and to have a ring on my finger...

The story didn't end here.
We sat at a big table with this company and everyone was telling details of the "QRաջարկություն" operation.. Something that was being planned around me for the past few weeks.

Areg's masterplan for THE day :)

It turned out that:

• Areg had created a secret group in Facebook for communicating the stuff for organizing matters. Sharing mindmaps, coordinating everyone's actions for the day. 
• Areg didn't have a business trip that week. It was just to enhance the "effect".. and also have a free Tuesday for arranging the stuff. 
• Areg was near my building since early morning when he called me. He was waiting for me to go out for several hours! Standing! Tracking me on the latitude if I was still there... until his phone drained out... (yep, I feel very very bad about this :()
• Speaking on the latitude.. he did arrange somebody to login with his account on latitude on the trip to Artsakh. That's why I was seeing him there...
• Lia called me to ask if I was at home to take the books with Areg's desperate request. 
• He asked his friend to follow me on my way to work. When i went to buy the papers, I could accidentally see them. They were hiding behind a car :D
• They arranged someone to wait for me near Charents monument, to hand the card. She was available only till 1:30 pm. Afterwards, they were trying to find someone else and in the end approached a school boy having a lunch nearby. The idea was to suggest him some "bribe" for giving me the card. The boy politely refused the money, and after some convincing ("heeey, it's our friend's birthday, we need to give her this card, blabla") he agreed to stand there and wait, only until their teacher (who was almost near) could notice him.
• Areg followed me on my way to work until he was ensured that I read the QR code on the card. 
• Lia had been thinking that I saw her trying to hide near the cafe at Charents monument, but in fact, I didn't. 
• Azar reported in the FB group, that I had told him about the card. He also called Areg when I went out of the office, saying "Объект вышел".
• Kristine had made up the story about the Ambassador and asked us to dress up, because she knew that on that important day for me, I would feel upset if I wouldn't be dressed :)
• Areg had prepared beautiful flower compositions for the Green Bean (partly seen on the picture with the QR code mug). They are still there, decorating the tables in the cafe.
• The hack was created by our friend Tiko and was "enabled" on panarmenian.net by Azar (CEO of PanARMENIAN.Net). It was targeted specifically for the IPs of Green Bean (Areg and Tiko have been tracking cafe's IP address for few days, to ensure it was a static one). While installing the hack on the website, Azar was testing it in our office's IPs, and as a result, the whole editorial was frustrated, unable to work while the testing and installing took place. 
• When I just got to Green Bean, I didn't order any drink, which was a little out of the plan, but thankfully Kristine managed to convince me to ask for another cup for me to drink the tea. That's when I got the mug with the QR.
• There were actually 2 t-shirts with a pixelated white elephant - one for the waitress and one for me.
• Areg had prepared special "Thank you" cards signed by both of us (i did it right there) for all the participants of the "operation". 

So.. this is the story :) I want to thank all of my friends (and the Green Bean staff) who were involved in the organization of this beautiful day.. it's really something that me and Areg will remember forever :)

At the end, there are a few pics...

giving out the thank you card

Wanderlust

.at, .cz, .nl, .de, .fr, .ae, .qa, .ru, .pl .. nkr.am :)) 

My check-ins from the last 6 months include this many countries :) [in reality, I didn't travel in all of them, .ae and .ru were transit points] .. traveling is my drug, my motivation, the trigger for my accomplishments, inspiration and for mental "restart".
I have estimated that I need at least 2 trips abroad a year, in order not to feel travel-sick. 
I know that I need to work hard to achieve this and I have found out which direction to work on :)

It's twice as awesome to travel with someone dear ;) [recent discovery, haha]

So here is a thank you shout-out for you, my dearest, for making this all awesomeness happen to me!

over the clouds...

p.s. my previous post on traveling.

Victor Ambartsumyan's legacy and my trip to Byurakan Observatory

I have already told about my passion for astronomy in my blog more than 2 years ago. This April 16 has been a very remarkable day for me. I had a tour in the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory. It was a press trip organized by the Armenian Astronomical Society (ArAS); a step for promoting science and journalists came for help :) [note: i'm not a journalist currently, but how could i resist not to go there, with the excuse that i work for a news organization... and am a blogger? :)]

here i'm actually outside (on the balcony) the biggest (2.6 m) telescope

The trip included several presentations about the Obeservatory and Victor Ambartsumyan, contemporary issues of astronomy, science journalism and more. They were held by Areg Mickaelian - the man who organized the trip (co-president of the ArAS) and Hayk Harutyunyan - the director of Byurakan Observatory.

We learnt some amazing facts (Gayane Mirzoyan has outlined some of them in her blog (Russian) about the observatory, the telescopes etc. Here's my pick:

• When first installed in 1976, the 2.6m telescope was the 7th in the world, now it's 45th... 
• Couple of years ago a small observatory was set up for educational purposes in Stepanakert, Artsakh Republic.
• A number of international astronomic conferences were held in Armenia throughout these years, 
• In 1964 and 1971 conferences on extraterrestrial civilizations were held in Byurakan Observatory. The meeting of 1971 was the first international symposium on the problem of Extraterrestrial Civilizations and Communication with Them.  Many prominent scientists, including astronomers, physicists, chemists, biologists, philosophers, and specialists of other related fields participated in the symposium.
• Victor Ambartsumyan has been promoting Armenian language within the science academy institutions and in his will he even wrote that "everybody, regardless the percentage of Armenian genes in their blood, should study and master the Armenian language" (source in Armenian).

Areg Mickaelian, Leading Scientist and Head of research group at the  BAO

Hayk Harutyunyan, director of the BAO

There were also talks about astronomy and astrology (turns out even some journalists didn't know the difference!).. For those who don't know me well -- I absolutely hate everything connected with astrology and get frustrated to hear people confusing it with astronomy! 

Here are some pics from the Ambartsumyan's worplace: 

Victor Ambartsumyan's desk

the amazing portrait by my former colleague William

After the presentations we had a tour in Ambartsumyan's house, which is now a museum. Then we went to see the pride of the observatory - the 2.6m telescope. I've been there couple of times by night and never seen it in the daylight. Turns out it was possible to get out to the balcony.

2.6m telescope. pride of the observatory

here is it - the largest telescope of the observatory

the control panel of the telescope

me and Gayane, to whom I am grateful for learning about the press tour

the group of the press tour

...........

This week I watched The Contact again. I have almost forgotten how I loved that movie. And the next day I read in the news that SETI suspends its search for alien life :(

.. and I just finished translating the first Armenian TED speaker - Garik Israelian's talk about the spectroscopy and search for extraterrestrial life. Soon the Armenian subtitles will be published here. Here's the talk:

My new passion: VESPA

this post has been draft for more than 2 months, I couldn't get myself finish it the way I wanted and was about to cancel, but changed my mind just about now :)

Sean Jordan's Vespa and me!

Derek Sivers, in a hilarious short talk from the TED stage, says that we should keep our goals to ourselves.
I do truly believe him. Even though i have always thought that if I am telling someone about my plans, i'm feeling sort of a responsibility towards my plan and accountability to the person I'm telling. But every often when planning something it happens that I'm visualizing it so well, squeezing all the possible positive emotions from just the thought of it, that I no longer feel the need of actually realizing it. Like I have got enough joy just even thinking about it, that after now i have less motivation to accomplish it in reality.

But here, I'm gonna reveal one of my plans, which I'm accountable to few people. These are kind of friends, whom I won't be trying to disappoint or let down.

As someone who's known of loving everything Italian, I must state that I have found another proof of greatness of my favorite nation. They produce awesome scooters! and Vespa being the greatest brand of them.

Carlo's scooter back in 2008, in Genova

It all started when I noticed the strange (for Europe) lack of bicycles in Italy and the plenty of small vehicles that looked different from motorbikes and easier to ride. Then on my 2nd trip to Italy I met Carlo and we made a "giro" on his scooter around Genova and across the Ligurian sea shore... That was truly unforgettable. The first thought I had after that ride was "I'm gonna get one at home!".

My sister has been convincing me to start saving money for a car. I knew i can't save that much money and besides, one car won't be enough for the two of us. I don't like cars much, but for the recent months I've started to feel the terrible lack of a personal vehicle. and I remembered Vespa... started a basic research and found out that there are no Vespas in Yerevan. No one imports them, because they are expensive. There are scooters of Chinese production that are currently in use by local pizza/shaurma delivery services but are not reliable.

Just in the middle of this research i got to meat Sean. A Canadian from Hungary traveling around the world on his old-style Vespa. I told him about my passion and he convinced me that I should definitely get one. When we met, he offered me a ride around Yerevan, so that I could feel how it is to drive a Vespa in Yerevan.
Needless to say, that experience was plain awesome! Of course we got some attention (maybe I shouldn't be wearing those heels :D) and probably it will be much more intense when I drive it alone, but it was not as difficult with local drivers as I thought it would be.

Vespa is a very popular brand.
in La Feltrinelli, buying Vespa merch. :)

During my trip to Italy, I saw so many Vespas, that I couldn't help but wonder: how much time will it take until scooters become a popular transport mean for Yerevan residents? Sooner of later they will, because of the increasing traffic. Inevitably. Maybe I should contact Vespa for establishing a local dealership :)

in Trastevere..

this was the most awesome Vespa I saw in Rome

This one is just the best!

Jeff Buckley: love, anger, depression, joy and dreams.. and Zeppelin

If I had to choose one musician to resurrect from the dead - it would be Jeff Buckley. For a bunch of reasons.

First: his songs make me cry. I don't usually cry on songs.. movies - yes, sometimes, but songs - almost never. Maybe i'm over-emotional today, but I've been feeling these tears trying to break free from my eyes. I somehow feel different when I'm on his songs. Different and better.. maybe they're my drug.

Second: He has written one of my favorite albums ever - "Grace". It's just totally awesome...Every song is special, so relevant and so up-to-date... If you haven't heard about him at all, you need definitely to listen to the whole "Grace"... you'll never guess that it was released 16 years ago... in 1994! The album was included in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003.

Third: Because he sings the "Hallelujah" better than anyone else. His cover of the famous Leonard Cohen's song is included on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". It brings me chills every time. Especially because i heard it once performed live by some guy, in a small cafe, by a sea side, looking at the waves.

Fourth: He tragically died just too young. TOO young. I never knew about him when he was alive, so handsome and such a promising artist...

I wish i knew him personally. I wish he feels all my gratitude and love I'm sending on his way, wherever he is now.

Dear Jeff, you gave me more to live for, more than you'll ever know...

by 08942

and just to see what he looked like, how he spoke.. watch this short video:

love, anger, depression, joy and... dreams and... Zeppelin. totally.

The video for "Last Goodbye"



Hallelujah

Moleskine, the legendary notebook on my desk!

I am now a proud owner of a Moleskine notebook. It's even the special Woodstock 40th anniversary edition!
Sadly, Moleskines can't be found in Armenia, so I had to wait to get it from somewhere else. I'm so thankful to my friend Gohar, who brought it for me right from Italy!

It's a hard cover ruled notebook, perfect for writing down my thoughts, the most positive ones :)

When I posted about the Moleskine in Facebook, I was surprised to see that so many of my friends are its fans and seem to know why Moleskine is special and is not like any other notebook.

I love everything about this notebook. The quality of the paper, its smell, and the expandable pocket!
I now feel as a part of a special community :) (especially after registering in the website :)

"Moleskine is a family of notebooks with a rich history that has captured the hearts and minds of people the world over."

If you are not familiar with Moleskines, read further for some interesting info I digged on the web.

My latest obsession.. Parisian macarons!

Long awaited post from me about... macarons! No it's not sort of a pasta and not even Italian :) It's actually a French and, particularly, a Parisian PASTRY! no, more precisely it's a small heavenly thing that you can put in your mouth :-D

Macarons are a very colorful french pastry that are usually made of egg whites, almond powder, icing sugar and sugar. They are sandwich-like, made with two thin cookies and a cream or jam or mousseline between the cookies and can contain also various nuts.

Note that each color has its own flavor ! and although they may seem small, but personally I think that having just one macaron at once, with a coffee, tea or hot chocolate is perfect.

Macarons are widely used as wedding favors!

They have also been featured in the movie Marie Antoinette:

Interesting article on maracons on SerousEats.

A video on how the macarons are made:


I'm delighted to inform you that you can taste macarons even in Yerevan!!! They can be tasted in the "Café La Bohème" and "Charles" restaurant near Cascade, costing 350 AMD for one there (I've heard that also Café de Paris has macarons, though haven't tried them there yet). They give it also for takeaway in such cute boxes:

Thanks to Davit Hakobyan for the images of "my" macarons :))