My New Love

That's a DELL Inspiron 1525 Notebook people. A budget-machine that packs enough punch for a non-gaming machine to be branded cool (especially for college students like me!). This baby's got 3 gigs of RAM along with 250GB HD among a host of other cool features like Integrated web cam, card reader, DVD writer and not to mention Intel Core 2 Duo T5750 processor running at 2Ghz. So, all in all, it was a pretty good deal I got at best buy and am extremely happy with it so far.

Needless to say, it is the object of my affection these days. It has a sleek silverish look to it that I really really like. You can read its full review here.

So, Mushy Goes

So, Mushy finally gave in to all the pressure and decided to leave his post before they put him on trial. Let's make one thing clear folks, I used to be a die-hard Musharraf supporter back in his early days because the country enjoyed a lot of stability in those days, and in turn, we made great strides economically. All this talk of impeachment just puts a wry smile on my face. Sure, I have left no stone unturned in speaking out against Mushy on several occassions -his insidious emergency plus action, his approval of NRO, his support for MQM in their inhumane display of strength, his dismissal of Chief Justice among others. But the fact of the matter remains, the very people that are governing right now are far worse than Mr. Mushy himself and if anybody must be put on trial, it is these very goons. They've looted hundreds and millions of dollars worth of state wealth, not to mention distributed acres of land amongst themselves, which is partly the reason they are yet to restore the judges. Justice, apparently, cannot prevail in this country because if it did, it would open a door that would reveal 60 odd years of rampant, unabated corruption by the people in power!

Musharraf sahib, you gave us some real good years, but then you turned into something I did not like. I don't know what it was - the lust for power, the support of America or maybe something else. But some of your actions just defied belief - even if they were under your much-publicized slogan of "Pakistan First" (which I do wholeheartedly agree with tbh).

I would like to see you given a fair trial, but not before the very people you've forgiven via that hideous NRO bill.

Look Who's Talking

Some quotes you can't help but chuckle at:

"Russia has invaded a sovereign state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people. Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century."

“With its actions in recent days, Russia has damaged its credibility and its relations with the nations of the free world. Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century,” - George Bush

So its ok when they do it? Lying and falsifying evidence to invade a sovereign nation (Iraq) and threatening, bullying and intimidating another sovereign nation (Iran) when it all it wants to do is pursue nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. Jon Stewart was so right when he said on The Daily Show that: "Russia is soo 20th century! This century is all about preemptive strikes!". Watch the video here.

The world knows better than to be lectured by these goons - who have a long history of
meddling in other countries' affairs and invading them whenever they liked. I totally agree with David Remnick of the New Yorker when he says that: "Why would any leader, much less Putin, respond to moral suasion from Washington? That is America's tragedy, and the world's."

Des Pardes

I'm finally where I had been planning to come since my last year of Bachelors. Going back to school can be a pretty daunting task, especially when it's in a foreign country - USA, in my case. So, here I am, in a totally new country with totally different norms and lifestyle itching to get started on my degree. It sure is an exciting time! Wish me luck people- one thing I sure need a lot of in the next few months.

First impressions are the great courteousness of the natives, and the fantastic road network. I believe 'Thank You' is THE most common word spoken here, something sadly not even worth contemplating back home. Speaking of home, it appears I won't be able to rant anymore about all things dysfunctional back home - be it the inane leadership we're cursed with or some random spottings on the streets of Karachi. I'm now officially a desi in exile - which is great, but it's not until you leave home that you realize how much you took it for granted.

Oh, and that logo you see there belongs to my school - N.C. State.

Me the Gamer

I've been a computer gaming-freak for as long as I can remember. I was introduced to this monstrosity called a Computer back in 1993, when we bought a 386SX-33Mhz that had 2MB RAM with a 113MB Hard Drive. SVGA monitors used to be cool back then and possessing one drew your friends and cousins to your place to check it out. Kher, it started with that game Dangerous Dave, LOL! Yes, that little guy jumping around dodging creepy spider-like enemies on its way to the door out of each level. I remember I used to copy games from other friends on 14inch-floppy disks, now extinct of course (but I've still got those disks stashed somewhere!).
Prince of Persia 1, Skyroads, Wolfenstein 3D (The first 3d-shooter ever!) were some of the highlights of those early days.

After a couple of years, we upgraded to an 8MB RAM just so that I could play Mortal Kombat 3 :P. It was totally worth it, the game was awesome and had me glued to it for many days. Crazy Cars 3, BC Racers, Wolfenstein 3D extensions, Warcraft 2, Duke Nukem 3D, DOOM, Lemmings, NFS, Starcraft you name it I've played it! FYI, you can find a lot of these classic games up for download on DOSGamesArchive.com. In terms of 3D gaming genre, the next breakthrough of sorts was when Quake was released. Fast, beautiful and realistic (for those times), it was an instant hit! and with multiplayer support and several patches/mods, it was there to last.

So, as you can imagine, the list is endless :). Some games that have occupied me for the least couple of years include Unreal Tournament, NFS Series, GTA Series, Warcraft 3, Call Of Duty series, Medal of Honor series - again, to name a few. Right now, I'm playing Assassin's Creed, a bloody fantastic game with enough detail to put your graphic card in overdrive!

You'll notice the ever so famous Counter-Strike missing from the list. That doesn't mean that I haven't played it ... it's just that I haven't developed quite the liking for it that has others glued on it for hours and hours no end. I used to play it a lot too back in the college days, but there came a point when it became too addictive, not to mention a total waste of time. Do you find the time to still play a few games every now and then?

Enterprise

I just finished watching the Star Trek Enterprise series (previously referred to here). This series had the misfortune of being the first to be canceled by the network airing it rather than it being ended by its producers. And now that I've seen the whole thing, I must admit I could see where they were coming from. Enterprise Season-1 went on air in 2001, and its last season (Season 4) aired in 2005.

The total flop of Star Trek - Nemesis movie didn't help matters at all, and to this date, I haven't a clue about exactly what they were thinking when they made that movie. Given it had extraordinary special effects, yes, but it also had a very ordinary storyline and worst of all, they decided to kill DATA! Horrible! Anyway, back to Enterprise: ratings for the series in question took a plunge after Nemesis debacle and Paramount decided to pull the plug on it, making it the first trek series to meet this fate and ending a 17-year run of trek shows on tv!

If you ask me, it just didn't live up to the high standards set by its predecessors. There were no captivating story-lines of DS9, fantastic acting of TNG and Voyager nor the character-development of all three. It just lacked in all departments and even though it was still good in its own right, but, like I said, not good enough. Incidentally, the next trek movie is being produced by J.J. Abrams (of LOST fame), and its set to be released in May 2009. Although I'm not a great fan of LOST, but here's hoping that J.J. Abrams would do a good job of directing it and hopefully bring back the glory-days for the franchise.

Dr. Randy Pausch passes away

Dr. Randy Pausch, whose last lecture I posted here on my blog, has sadly lost his battle with pancreatic cancer and has passed away today. Rest in Peace doctor, your last lecture was something truly worth remembering.

Read MSNBC Story

Girl Runs Away from President Bush

As some on Digg said:

She's not scared, she's just allergic to concentrated stupid.

LOL!

Hasna Mana Hay

Need I say more? :)

Waisay, this would be perfect for a photo caption contest!

GRE Preparation Tips

Following on my post earlier on TOEFL iBT Preparation tips, I'm penning down some helpful links and tips for doing good on the GRE. I managed to rake up 1350 in GRE last April, with 630 in Verbal, 720 in Quantitative and 5.5 in Analytical Writing. While I was pretty satisfied with my verbal score, my quantitative score was pretty disappointing. Read on and you'll find out why. Btw, this post also includes excerpts from my post on TestMagic forum here.

Beating the GRE isn't exactly easy. You need to put in some time in the preparation before you can expect a real good score. Preparation-wise, the books I consulted were Barrons, NOVA and ARCO (for the Analytical Writing section). Besides these, there are some pretty cool websites out there you can use to prepare including mygretutor.com, number2.com (funny name I know), 800score.com, Peterson's free online practice test, missiongre.com to name a few. Then there's PowerPrep ofcourse whose tests offer a real measure of your prep - at least for Verbal.

I did the entire prep thing in 2 months time. I had just graduated, and wasn't working so had ample time to draw up a schedule for this duration. During this time, I did the entire Barrons master word list (3500 words), quantitative prep from the books mentioned above, and not to mention writing practice from NOVA, ARCO and mygretutor.com. Like I said, I did the entire Barrons list in 2 months time, averaging roughly 1 word list per day. Initially, it took a lot more effort to memorize the words but once I got used to memorizing, it wasn't overly difficult at all. Be sure not to break your momentum though, for e.g., if you go 3-4 days without doing a list, you start to struggle. In other words, draw up a schedule and stick to it. Also, the important thing is to keep revising! I revised all the lists done in the preceding 7 days at every weekend. I finished the entire list 20 days before the test, and revised 3 times more before the big day, and every time the cycle of revision was less. The result of all this effort was that I remembered 99% of the words. I scored 670 in verbal in my first PowerPrep and was overjoyed! I guess it wasn't to be in the real thing. Still, this should get you into the 90% percentile on verbal like I did.

Speaking of PowerPrep, I scored 1420 and 1400 on the two powerpreps I gave a couple of days before the test. I thought the quantitative questions on Powerprep are a lot easier than the actual test. After the initial Writing section, I had quant. and it went horrible to be honest! (in terms of time-consumption that is!) , and for that I think ALL books are useless because none of the questions there were remotely as difficult as the ones presented in these books. They were, however, extremely complicated and time-consuming! I couldn't manage my time very well and ended up guessing on the last 7! Yes, last seven !! I honestly believe I could have scored more in the verbal section that followed had I done quant. better! So take my advice, don't rest assured of the fact you've done Barrons quantitative prep, YOU NEED TO DO MORE!

The tension level invariably rises as the big day comes closer. I had stopped studying 3-4 days before the test and would do 1-2 exercises per day at most. This helped me relax leading up to the big day where the most important thing is to stay calm and not to panic. If you can manage to hold you own in the test center, you'll do just fine otherwise if you panic, time flies at warp speeds and you'll be guessing on questions before you know it. I guess I don't need to emphasize the importance of getting the first 5 questions right in GRE's Adaptive testing format. You are allowed to take your time on the first few questions as their importance cannot be stressed enough, but after that you need to pick up the pace and work your way towards the end before time runs out. It really is a time-management test as much as it is a test of your verbal and analytical skills. So, good luck and remember it's not the end of the world even though it may feel like it. Just stay cool and you'll be fine :)!

Some "Democracy"

So, it's been over a 100 days since those elections that were reveled as if they were a panacea, as if they were supposed to solve everything. Oh how terribly wrong we were! This is not a pro-Musharraf post by any means, but you can't help but think if things would be just as bad had he been in charge. I mean, we're still fighting the militants in FATA, we still have a puppet PM, and to make matters worse we have just witnessed the highest rise in inflation in Pakistan ever! And where are our political leadership when needed the most, in London? Dubai? Washington? Why are they there in the first place? What is wrong with staying in PK and solving long-standing disputes vital to the stability of the country? Is everything to be blamed on the past government?

I don't know about you but I think this government's days are numbered if they continue to act like muppets appeasing god-knows-who and acting in everything but Pakistan's interest. Good riddance, if you ask me.

Of Religion and Ignorance

There are many educated people who have ruined their future on account of their ignorance of religion. Their knowledge did not prove of any avail to them.

Hazrat Ali (A.S)

Dr. Israr's Blasphemy

Readers of this blog will vouch for the fact that I tend to stay away from religious debate, as we seem to have different interpretations and after all, everyone is entitled to their opinions and beliefs. But this time, Dr. Israr has really crossed the line for me. His comments, aired on June 12th on a QTV program, are shockingly sacrilegious and leaves one wondering: what the ?#@$ was he thinking?! I addressed the following letter to PEMRA and sent it to the editor of DAWN. Hopefully it'll get published.

The recent deplorable comments by Israr Ahmed on QTV are a cause of shame and disgust for all Muslims. One can only judge the true intentions of a speaker by the selection of issue. By narrating a highly controversial tradition from a dubious source that contradicts the very essence of Islam - as Imam Ali (as) embodied whatever Islam is - Mr. Ahmed has shown an incredible lack of rationality and objectivity. Mr. Ahmed deliberately tried to put doubts in minds of the unwary and stoke flames of sectarianism, in pursuit of fulfilling his satanic agenda. However, the responsibility of this act does not end with Israr Ahmed. The team of QTV responsible for producing this program share equal blame for their severe lack of competence in screening this venomous content, which has the potential of causing great social strife. Subsequent apologies from the ARY Network notwithstanding, this is a case-in-point for taking measures against incompetence of a media outlet by PEMRA.

In this regards, we ask the regulatory authority to severely reprimand the administration of QTV along with imposing a hefty fine as a reminder for the channel to rectify it's conduct. We also demand the QTV administration to name-and-shame people involved in broadcasting the program in question. Furthermore, speakers/preachers such as Israr Ahmed should be barred from writing or voicing comments through the electronic media, in view of the disturbance of public order these people can and have caused. We sincerely hope that by taking such strong measures in view of the controversy created by the speaker will restore public confidence viz-a-viz the credibility of the media and governance credentials of the people in power.

The damned video in question:

Ankahi

If you've been living under a rock or something, you need to get hold of this great new
program called Ankahi. It airs weekdays on SAMAA TV from 10-11PM, and is hosted by Faisal Qureshi (of Loose-Ends fame) - a humble and down-to-earth fellow (surprisingly for a media man). Do check it out!

Dr. Randy Pausch - Last Lecture

When a dying man gives a talk on how to "live", you're bound to listen carefully. Dr. Randy Pausch is one such unfortunate person, who has sadly lost the battle against pancreatic cancer and has been told by his doctors that he has only a few months left in him. While that would send most of us in a deep comatose-like depression, it's had a different effect on Dr. Randy altogether. It's made him more determined to share his view of how to make the most of your life - a true believer in the adage that it don't matter how long a life you have, but it is how well you live it that matters. A truly inspiring talk that you absolutely must see!

There's also a TIME article on him:
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1733748_1733756_1736194,00.html

Back to School!

And so it's supposed to be! I am going back to SCHOOL ladies and gentleman - the very thought of which sends shivers down my spine tbh. I am sure no one would welcome the prospect of taking up books again with open arms but you gotta do what you gotta do eh? At the same time, I am also excited that I'll be pursuing the subjects of my interest and possibly end up doing some serious research in them (ending up with a Doctorate), but time will tell how far I'll go. Fingers crossed for that.

So I resigned yesterday with a month's notice and now prepping for the new semester by selecting the courses I'm going to be studying this Fall. Classes start August 20th, yikes!

Vote for Nobody

Seems true enough in our case. What you YOU think?

The Paradox of Our Time

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings, but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints; we spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy it less.

We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time; we have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgment; more experts, but more problems; more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get angry too quickly, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too seldom, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We've learned how to make a living, but not a life; we've added years to life, not life to years.

We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor. We've conquered outer space, but not inner space; we've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul; we've split the atom, but not our prejudice.

We write more, but learn less; we plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait; we have higher incomes, but lower morals; we have more food, but less appeasement; we build more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever, but have less communication; we've become long on quantity, but short on quality.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion; tall men, and short character; steep profits, and shallow relationships. These are the times of world peace, but domestic warfare; more leisure, but less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition.

These are days of two incomes, but more divorce; of fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throw away morality, one-night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer to quiet to kill.

Source: http://www.xdude.com/paradox.htm

Here we go again...

I had almost forgotten. Today's the last day before we switch to a daylight saving time and push our clocks one hour forward in an attempt to utilize more daylight and in turn, save us some of that precious power. It was when I paid a visit to the market today that I found out that it was the talking point of the day, and everyone was busy giving their opinion of the whole time-changing thing. Some thought it was a futile attempt at fooling people into thinking that the government is actually trying to do something for them, whereas others were a bit more hopeful and thought that it might actually work this time.

Whether this attempt will fail like the last one remains to be seen, but you're likely to run into a lot of confused people in the next few days - most of them, sadly, poor who couldn't care less tbh. A friend regaled something funny he encountered on a bus the last time we did this daylight saving thing. While on his way to work, he inquired the bus conductor about what time it was, to which the conductor asked back: konsa? naya ya purana wala? :)

In my opinion, it is a very useful thing indeed - provided it is utilized properly and the masses are educated about it. If everyone starts doing things one hour later then there's no point in it. Except for namaz, everything should be done at exactly the same time. Some public service ads aimed at raising awareness ought to help IMO. With filthy rich telcos around these days itching to get some attention, it wouldn't be hard attracting sponsors for these ads either.

I guess we'll have to wait and see. Meanwhile, here's something that oughta put a smile on your face:

Speak Up and Be Free?

These stupid billboards, they do your freaking head in don't they!

I'm talking about the stupid bullcrap JAZZ ads that have "taken over" the billboards at several places in the city. Since when does speaking up and being free involve doing semi-nude poses that could at best be described as raunchy? Come to think of it, almost all mobile ads project some sort of hollow made-up dream society where all the kids are jumping around in night clubs - in some cases, with grannies joining them - and singing as if they're high on drugs on something.

Is this the kind of bull we'll be serving now that our media is finally FREE? Is this how we become an "enlightened" and "tolerant" society? One that accepts freedom of expression? By the looks of things, I'm beginning to think it was better the other way around to be honest! Who the hell approves these stupid billboards/television ads/dramas anyway?! (that is, if there is an approval process in place in the wake of millions in advertising revenue - especially from the telcos). And there's another of these totally inane billboards on Sharah-e-Faisal of Shezan twist that would probably look better on a poster of an X-rated film. I am not kidding people, it really is that bad! See for yourself (the twist ad). I'll try and get an image of the JAZZ ads as well. It freaking does my head in sometimes, really.