A man looking like a cross between Roland Gift from the Fine Young Cannibals and Freddy Mercury from Queen approaches me at a buffet dinner party. He was some sort of technician.

He tells me stories of Iranian scientific miracles of old:

- In one ancient palace the royal architects had managed to design rippled walls which for a short time absorbed and released sound. By this miracle of science, music played in that special room could be enjoyed for half an hour after the musicians stopped playing. This way the clever and sensual king could use that room to make love to his queen with music and nobody watching. “Wow,” I said. He concluded lamentingly “but a team of British scientists coming to figure out how the mechanism worked broke it in the process.”

- In another city there is a public bath house (hammam) whose many hot steam and warm water rooms and chambers were heated by one normal-size candle: now that is power efficiency! “Wow,” I said. He concluded lamentingly “but a team of British scientists coming to figure out how the mechanism worked broke it in the process.”

I was beginning to see a pattern. “Those damn British Scientists!” I exclaimed, barely supressing a giggle.

As I was leaving the party he came up to me again and said “let me know if my values are wrong.” He was using technical language to ask me to let him know if his claims that it was “one candle” and “half an hour of music” were exaggerated.