The Storm Station structure that our team is creating is not just being built for the architectural and engineering education for the variety of majors that are part of this team. Every single member on this team is contributing to an important social cause. It’s a social cause that currently a vast majority of people living in Puerto Rico are actively fighting for: utilizing technology when their government fails them in times of crisis. …

Israel:

After a quick excursion for brunch at Cafe Olympia with my professor and colleagues, we headed down the block to the Israeli Consulate for their meeting with us at 11:30. Well, it was supposed to start at 11:30 but they had emailed my professor a couple hours before the start time stating they were having some technical issues and would need to actually start at 12:00 instead.

No matter, said my Professor, we will have a bit more time for brunch and head on over.

Once we got to the consulate however, we noticed a significant difference between the Syrian Consulate and the current building we entered. Upon entering the lobby, it was quickly clear that this was an important building that you did not want to accidentally step inside of. The previously visited Syrian consulate was an unassuming building with lax security measures. The Israeli embassy, on the other hand, meant serious business. As soon as we entered the building, we needed to go through a metal detector and line-up to make sure we had our official student ids or passports ready if we were international students. We were checked to see if we had any sharp or dangerous weapons on us and we had to make sure to be on the emailed list of people coming today with the proper identification and approval of Starak Barek. In fact, I was even taken aside since they did not see my name on the list although I had emailed ahead of time and a few others were taken to a separate room as well. …

December 30th, 2019 — Quantum computers have the ability to change life as we know it today. When I discuss quantum computers with others, it is often met with a look of bewildered confusion or of apathetic skepticism. My goal is to clear that here: Although it is commonly disregarded as a technology several decades into the future, quantum computing (herewith referred to as q-computing) will have shown its implications much sooner than people may anticipate. Particularly as humanity enters the next decade, the importance of our awareness in this quantum age becomes increasingly critical. …

Syria —

I was rushing to make it on time for the 10:00 am meeting on 370 2nd Ave to the Syrian Consulate. I had made it just a minute past 10 and thought that since I was late that I might not be allowed to step inside. However, once I entered the building and explained that I was here with the respected Professor Michael Izady, the doorman sitting by front desk merely told me the number 15 to go up on the elevator. …

Sheherezade was a grand storyteller to the King, often mentioning tales from the most frightening of mythical beasts such as the Djinn or the whimsical & benevolent Peri that bestows great boons upon human society with its fairy-like appearance.

“The Peri has been styled “the fairest creation of poetical imagination.” No description can equal the beauty of the female Peri, [a] and the highest compliment a Persian poet can pay a lady is to liken her to one of these lovely aerial beings.

The Peri represents an angelic lady of myth and yet is fair in every way. A regular woman often holds no chance to the sheer power and grace of this Persian fairy spirit. …

As Scheherazade knew well, she was in the presence of a king. She knew that she would not be able to narrate stories of commoners like herself and she would need to tell of the folklore she had heard from relatives whispering about of the grand kingdoms overseas. From there, she hoped, the king would learn more about these foreign kingdoms and perhaps execute those very practices upon the corrupt system taking place here in King Shahryar’s own land. She started telling the tale of The Three Princes of Serendip:

The original story of The Three Princes of Serendip is a very well known one often associated with the 1001 Nights originating from the same era. The English word serendipity, or the chance occurrence/development of events in a happy or beneficial way, originates from this tale. In this tale, the three princes originate from Serendip, or modern day Persia or Iran, and set off on a journey together, with multiple stories each of their trials and tribulations and ultimately leading them to found a staple kingdom of their own. In much this way, I find, wading into this huge colonizing world of technology, it seems I have to recall the great three giants before me to learn of their trials and tribulation first. …

In the translation of 1001 Nights, Sir Richard Burton’s description of Scherazade was as so:

“Scheherazade had perused the books, annals, and legends of preceding Kings, and the stories, examples, and instances of bygone men and things; indeed it was said that she had collected a thousand books of histories relating to antique races and departed rulers. She had perused the works of the poets and knew them by heart; she had studied philosophy and the sciences, arts, and accomplishments; and she was pleasant and polite, wise and witty, well read and well bred.”

Of course, Scheherazade had manually labored to acquire all of knowledge to know it by heart. In 2019 however, we have artificial intelligence to allow for computers to acquire this knowledge for us. Night 1 begins with the tale of Machine Learning, particularly using the great company IBM’s business model. …

Scheherazade, as the fable goes, practiced telling a different story every night to the King of Arabia for 1,001 nights in order to keep him intrigued and to teach a lesson with each parable.The original story of the 1001 Nights is set up as stories within a story, with the over-arching story of King Shahahryar listening each night to the recountings of his new virgin bride, Scheherazade.

If Scheherazade did not tell a story that night, she would be at risk of losing her virginity to the king and then losing her life shortly after. This is what the King did to all of his newly-wed virgin brides on account of a personal heartbreak he had undergone with his first love. Thereby, in a quite misogynistic way, he would reap his cruel revenge on the opposite gender(as you can tell Arabian Nights was one of my favorite story-time collections for the astounding misogyny that I knew I would love to challenge). To a bored king who was both lustful and blood-thirsty for thrill, the bold Scheherazade needed to be quick-witted to tell a different story each night that would leave the king on edge to allow her to live for one day more. …