
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
ch ch (tsk tsk)

a kiss on the cheek
"A Kiss on the Cheek" was penned by a fellow giki alumnus
"I was no different. Having despised arranged marriages with all my body and soul, I was now all set to go home and get married to this I-know-nothing-about girl. Is this where it all ends?"
"'Hey, my wife-to-be is beautiful. OK!!. So is Catherine Zeta Jones and so is that lady who reads the financial news on CNN. Does this mean that now I have to spend the rest of my life with one of them? A big emphatic NO!!!!'"
link
On a related note... (the guy on the left is Asok, an Indian programmer living in USA)
"I was no different. Having despised arranged marriages with all my body and soul, I was now all set to go home and get married to this I-know-nothing-about girl. Is this where it all ends?"
"'Hey, my wife-to-be is beautiful. OK!!. So is Catherine Zeta Jones and so is that lady who reads the financial news on CNN. Does this mean that now I have to spend the rest of my life with one of them? A big emphatic NO!!!!'"
link
On a related note... (the guy on the left is Asok, an Indian programmer living in USA)

Friday, March 17, 2006
sweet victory
I am a huge fan of spongebob squarepants, the fantastic "sponge who lives under the sea"
This is my fave moment from the show. It is the last scene from the episode "Band Geeks"
"Squidward gets a call from his high school classmate, Squilliam Fancyson. He's very successful and succeeded in everything that Squidward failed in. He says that Squidward's band has to play instead of his own at the Bubble Bowl, but Squidward doesn't have a band. So he makes one! On the first day of practice, a fight breaks out. On day two, the flag corps twirl the flags around so fast that they propell themselves into the air and crash into a blimp, which explodes. A trumpeter then plays "Taps." On the day of the concert, Squilliam insults the band. Squidward turns his head away from the band before they begin, assuming that the performance will be a disaster, but the band is successful. Amazingly, both Mr. Krabs and Plankton play in the same band during the course of this episode."
This is my fave moment from the show. It is the last scene from the episode "Band Geeks"
"Squidward gets a call from his high school classmate, Squilliam Fancyson. He's very successful and succeeded in everything that Squidward failed in. He says that Squidward's band has to play instead of his own at the Bubble Bowl, but Squidward doesn't have a band. So he makes one! On the first day of practice, a fight breaks out. On day two, the flag corps twirl the flags around so fast that they propell themselves into the air and crash into a blimp, which explodes. A trumpeter then plays "Taps." On the day of the concert, Squilliam insults the band. Squidward turns his head away from the band before they begin, assuming that the performance will be a disaster, but the band is successful. Amazingly, both Mr. Krabs and Plankton play in the same band during the course of this episode."
Monday, March 13, 2006
they fight crime
Auto-crime-fighter-duo-punchline generator
"He's a war-weary drug-addicted barbarian on a mission from God. She's a violent kleptomaniac politician in the wrong place at the wrong time. They fight crime!"
"He's an impetuous crooked cat burglar for the 21st century. She's a plucky belly-dancing femme fatale from Mars. They fight crime!"
He's an obese flyboy cyborg on the hunt for the last specimen of a great and near-mythical creature. She's an enchanted motormouth queen of the dead from out of town. They fight crime!
"He's a war-weary drug-addicted barbarian on a mission from God. She's a violent kleptomaniac politician in the wrong place at the wrong time. They fight crime!"
"He's an impetuous crooked cat burglar for the 21st century. She's a plucky belly-dancing femme fatale from Mars. They fight crime!"
He's an obese flyboy cyborg on the hunt for the last specimen of a great and near-mythical creature. She's an enchanted motormouth queen of the dead from out of town. They fight crime!
a first
muslim scientists

The Independent has run a very interesting article on the contribution of Muslim to science. The article is supplements an exhibition, "1001 Inventions" about science in the ancient Muslim world in Manchester, UK.


Saturday, March 11, 2006
dubya in pk
Jon Stewart, host of "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central, which also runs on CNN, joked about Bush's visit to India and Pakistan - link to video
Many of Stewart's shows can be seen on youtube, which seems to be the first serious video publishing & boradcasting site. I wonder how long will it take for yahoo to acquire it.....
A must watch is Stewart's bashing of CNN's Cross Fire show who pride themselves on running a tough, in-your-face kind of program. He talks about how programs like Cross Fire actually help politicians run away with falsehoods due to the hosts's flip-flop interviewing methadology
Jon Stewart gave a commencement speach at his alma-mater in May, 2004 - a transcript is available here which is again a must read
Stewart regularly lampoons the atrocious Bill O' Reilly. The latter was brave enough to come on his show once leading to a very funny interview. Bill O' Reilly once said that the viewers of the Daily Show were "stoned slackers", so someone did some research and guessed what they came up with? Daily Show viewers were the better educated than O' Reilly watchers and knew more about world politics than people who did not watch Daily Show at all
Many of Stewart's shows can be seen on youtube, which seems to be the first serious video publishing & boradcasting site. I wonder how long will it take for yahoo to acquire it.....
A must watch is Stewart's bashing of CNN's Cross Fire show who pride themselves on running a tough, in-your-face kind of program. He talks about how programs like Cross Fire actually help politicians run away with falsehoods due to the hosts's flip-flop interviewing methadology
Jon Stewart gave a commencement speach at his alma-mater in May, 2004 - a transcript is available here which is again a must read
Stewart regularly lampoons the atrocious Bill O' Reilly. The latter was brave enough to come on his show once leading to a very funny interview. Bill O' Reilly once said that the viewers of the Daily Show were "stoned slackers", so someone did some research and guessed what they came up with? Daily Show viewers were the better educated than O' Reilly watchers and knew more about world politics than people who did not watch Daily Show at all
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
what is a remix

It's pretty difficult to explain the difference between a good remix and a lame attempt to make a song that sounds similar to the original.
Lame remix attempt:
Jal's original Lamhey and Atif's Bheegi YadeinTrue Remix:
Jal's original Aadat and Jal's Bikhra Hoon Main(a free subscription at sangeetradio is required to download the wma files)
Jal became super-famous for their song "Aadat" in Pakistan in 2002. The lead singer of the band, Atif Aslam, went solo after a highly publicised breakup with half the fans siding with Atif and the other half supporting the writer of the song "Aadat", Goher Mumtaz. Trust a Pakistani not to look at the bigger picture and break off to do their own thing as soon a couple of bucks start pouring in
Atif ripped off quite a few songs and decided to release them as his own, receiving a lot of flak as a result. Most of his songs were badly composed and only his strong, though poorly executed vocals supported the songs
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
crop circle on ggl

Came across this on Google's API/Code Blog. Click the image to go to the maps page.
Crop circles are a matter of interest for many people who believe they are either messages by extra-terrestials or the result of unknown atmospheric phenomena - a very good article on crop circles can be seen at wikipedia
Monday, March 06, 2006
the servile indian
Kipling's take on Clash of the Civilizations.
Kipling lived and worked for a long time in what is now Pakistan at the Mayo School of Arts, now called the National College of Arts. At that time, South Asians were supposed to be servile, back-stapping, cheating, lying people. In 1962, an American diplomat, JK Galbraith wrote that an “Indian would kick if you lick (him) and will lick (you) if you kick”.
Remembering the government approved text books which used to teach (read brainwash) us about the "ideology" of Pakistan (muslims are good, hindus evil etc., Pakistan has always been stabbed in the back by India /Afghanistan /Iran /USA etc.), the message that used to come across was that Pakistanis, being Muslims, have always been very brave and confident, whereas the Indians have always been a conniving, cheating people. A chapter in my 9th grade history book told the true story of Shiva Ji who convinced Afzal Khan, the leader of an attacking Muslim army to meet him unarmed and the repeatedly stabbed him, thus rendering all Indians/Hindus back-stabbers for life in the eyes of all Pakistanis/Muslims
This kind of thinking led Shaan, a top Pakistani actor to make a film called Moosa Khan (now banned). The film is set "in some time warp suggesting a pseudo colonial subcontinent... Beautiful white doves of peace flutter about in the foreground in idyllic slow motion while an all male choir of angels kicks up a heavenly tune as the audience is introduced to the local Mosque and its saintly Maulvi Mufti.... Meanwhile we are shown that across the way there is a temple where instead of doves of peace, there is a menacing looking python at large along with a group of snarling, drooling old men draped in orange robes, with funky hairstyles who are cringing at the sound of the azaan from the nearby Maulvi." You can read the rest of the excellent review at theHotSpot
This is all fine and dandy but it forced me to think twice when I since I read the story of an officer who fought in the war against India in 1965. He describes about how the Pakistani Army attacked and decimated an Indian platoon and while he was walking about the Indian corpses, a fallen Indian soldier suddenly held his leg and shouted out, "Mubarik ho Sir! Aap ne Hindustan kee behtareen paltan tabah kar dee hai" (Congratulations Sir! You have just managed to destroy only the best platoon in all of India). The officer says he was amazed by the bravery of this young man, who was half-dead and defeated but still talked with such courage. Hopefully, I will come across this anecdote again and mention the reference. If any reader knows about it, please do let me know
Its not good for the Christian health to hustle the Asian Brown;Rudyard Kipling
for the Christian riles,
and the Asian smiles
and he weareth the Christian down;
and the end of the fight is a tombstone white,
with the name of the late deceased,
and the epitaph drear,
"A fool lies here, who tried to hustle the east"
Kipling lived and worked for a long time in what is now Pakistan at the Mayo School of Arts, now called the National College of Arts. At that time, South Asians were supposed to be servile, back-stapping, cheating, lying people. In 1962, an American diplomat, JK Galbraith wrote that an “Indian would kick if you lick (him) and will lick (you) if you kick”.
Remembering the government approved text books which used to teach (read brainwash) us about the "ideology" of Pakistan (muslims are good, hindus evil etc., Pakistan has always been stabbed in the back by India /Afghanistan /Iran /USA etc.), the message that used to come across was that Pakistanis, being Muslims, have always been very brave and confident, whereas the Indians have always been a conniving, cheating people. A chapter in my 9th grade history book told the true story of Shiva Ji who convinced Afzal Khan, the leader of an attacking Muslim army to meet him unarmed and the repeatedly stabbed him, thus rendering all Indians/Hindus back-stabbers for life in the eyes of all Pakistanis/Muslims

This is all fine and dandy but it forced me to think twice when I since I read the story of an officer who fought in the war against India in 1965. He describes about how the Pakistani Army attacked and decimated an Indian platoon and while he was walking about the Indian corpses, a fallen Indian soldier suddenly held his leg and shouted out, "Mubarik ho Sir! Aap ne Hindustan kee behtareen paltan tabah kar dee hai" (Congratulations Sir! You have just managed to destroy only the best platoon in all of India). The officer says he was amazed by the bravery of this young man, who was half-dead and defeated but still talked with such courage. Hopefully, I will come across this anecdote again and mention the reference. If any reader knows about it, please do let me know
gmail rss feed
If you cannot access gmail from your machine (due to corporate/ISP policy etc.) you can atleast read your mailbox by subscribing to gmail's RSS feed
Subscribe to https://USERNAME:PASSWORD@mail.google.com/mail/feed/atom using an RSS reader, I use bloglines and you can read all those important messages you are missing
Subscribe to https://USERNAME:PASSWORD@mail.google.com/mail/feed/atom using an RSS reader, I use bloglines and you can read all those important messages you are missing
no blogs in PK
*.blogspot.com was blocked in Pakistan immediately before and during Bush's visit to Pakistan on 4-5 March.
What the n00bs who executed the dumb ban did not know was that you still publish and update your blog since blogger.com is used to write/edit your blog and myName.blogspot.com is used to view it, so you could still rant/rave/abuse all you wanted to, only you could not see it with your own eyes
News reports have stated that the Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered the block because a couple of blogs on blogspot.com were hosting the blasphemous caricatures.
"Attorney General for Pakistan, Makhdoom Ali Khan was directed by the apex court to consult technical experts for internet laws as to how the order of the court may be implemented and come up on the next date of hearing."
I am pretty sure the "technical experts" were doofuses with post-grad degrees in some coversion MIT (Masters in IT) degree from some alleyway in downtown Cyprus. Here in Pakistan, a "foreign kee degree" with zilch knowledge is worth much more than a local degree with good IT/CS know-how, specially for a "gore-mant" job
The ban has been lifted, now that Bush has left. This leaves a big question mark as to the real reason of the ban. Maybe in their super-conspiratorial frame of mind, the government imagined that a "fundo" would get his motivation for an attack from ABC.blogspot.com.... unbelievable!!
What the n00bs who executed the dumb ban did not know was that you still publish and update your blog since blogger.com is used to write/edit your blog and myName.blogspot.com is used to view it, so you could still rant/rave/abuse all you wanted to, only you could not see it with your own eyes
News reports have stated that the Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered the block because a couple of blogs on blogspot.com were hosting the blasphemous caricatures.
"Attorney General for Pakistan, Makhdoom Ali Khan was directed by the apex court to consult technical experts for internet laws as to how the order of the court may be implemented and come up on the next date of hearing."
I am pretty sure the "technical experts" were doofuses with post-grad degrees in some coversion MIT (Masters in IT) degree from some alleyway in downtown Cyprus. Here in Pakistan, a "foreign kee degree" with zilch knowledge is worth much more than a local degree with good IT/CS know-how, specially for a "gore-mant" job
The ban has been lifted, now that Bush has left. This leaves a big question mark as to the real reason of the ban. Maybe in their super-conspiratorial frame of mind, the government imagined that a "fundo" would get his motivation for an attack from ABC.blogspot.com.... unbelievable!!
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
google maps at night, sailor's delight?
A Georgia Tech PhD student has a site that displays the earth at night. He has used night-time satellite imagery from NASA and uses Google Maps to manage the maps. It looks really beautiful. Check it out here
Guess which is the darkest continent? :)

This image shows Pakistan and India, the bright lights at the bottom left are Karachi, and there are lights again all the way along the GT road that snakes through the country up-to Peshawar in the North, the other bright spot on the right appears to be Bombay
"The underlying 128 megapixel night imagery from NASA uses a map projection different from Google Maps'. The two are aligned near the NYC-Madrid-Tokyo axis only"
The creator of the site has a very good blog, too, check it out here
Guess which is the darkest continent? :)

This image shows Pakistan and India, the bright lights at the bottom left are Karachi, and there are lights again all the way along the GT road that snakes through the country up-to Peshawar in the North, the other bright spot on the right appears to be Bombay
"The underlying 128 megapixel night imagery from NASA uses a map projection different from Google Maps'. The two are aligned near the NYC-Madrid-Tokyo axis only"
The creator of the site has a very good blog, too, check it out here
Thursday, February 23, 2006
ben kingsley comes to pk



patenting code
We thought we had dinosaurs here in Pakistan in tech-related organizations, the US Patent Office seems to have its fair share of goons who approved each and everthing that came their way
Someone let Adobe patent tabbed browing, I guess I will have to pay a royalty everytime i click Ctrl-T in my Firefox
Seems like the patent granting officer was really high on dope/acid/sugar&coffee when he gave the A-OK for this gem:
#6055910: Toy gas fired missile and launcher assembly - "A toy gas-fired missile and launcher assembly whose missile is composed of a soft head and a tail extending therefrom formed by a piston.....To operate the assembly, the operator places the inlet tube with its valve open adjacent his anal region from which a colonic gas is discharged" - link
More crazy patented ideas here
Someone let Adobe patent tabbed browing, I guess I will have to pay a royalty everytime i click Ctrl-T in my Firefox
Seems like the patent granting officer was really high on dope/acid/sugar&coffee when he gave the A-OK for this gem:
#6055910: Toy gas fired missile and launcher assembly - "A toy gas-fired missile and launcher assembly whose missile is composed of a soft head and a tail extending therefrom formed by a piston.....To operate the assembly, the operator places the inlet tube with its valve open adjacent his anal region from which a colonic gas is discharged" - link
More crazy patented ideas here
Civic vs GTTi
[Update: the video was made by Bilal, brother of fellow blogger Usman Ilyas, on Constitution Avenue, Islamabad]
This video has been doing the rounds here in PK - it shows a Charade GTTi overtaking a Honda Civic Vti (sorry for the bad quality; Bilal, next time take a better camera)
Honda Civic is a fashionable car wanted by almost everyone who can (and cannot) afford it here in Pakistan - many hours are spent everyday by enthusiasts (who have nothing better to do) debating how a Toyota Corolla in city XYZ overtook a Civic Vti in a race
Daihatsu Charade GTTi is an older model of the hatchback that has a super-charged engine and was a very desirable car by late-teens everywhere about a decade ago
This video has been doing the rounds here in PK - it shows a Charade GTTi overtaking a Honda Civic Vti (sorry for the bad quality; Bilal, next time take a better camera)
Honda Civic is a fashionable car wanted by almost everyone who can (and cannot) afford it here in Pakistan - many hours are spent everyday by enthusiasts (who have nothing better to do) debating how a Toyota Corolla in city XYZ overtook a Civic Vti in a race
Daihatsu Charade GTTi is an older model of the hatchback that has a super-charged engine and was a very desirable car by late-teens everywhere about a decade ago
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
old internet
Waybackmachine lets you "browse through 55 billion web pages archived from 1996 to a few months ago"
Click the image to see the page

(12/02/98)
The images load very slowly, so be prepared for it...
Click the image to see the page

(12/02/98)
The images load very slowly, so be prepared for it...
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Thursday, February 16, 2006
isloo/pindi in high-res
Google Earth now has high-resolution satellite imagery of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Pakistan in addition to Karachi too
See if you can identify the following places (hover over the image to see it's name):







See if you can identify the following places (hover over the image to see it's name):








Tuesday, February 14, 2006
destructive hackers
This is a chat transcript that shows why it's no good to try and "hack" systems without an inkling of how PC's work...
link
I remember how girls (usually) used to come online on our IRC channel at giki and ask dumb questions like "I have problem with my computer, please help fix me" or something and the response would consist of carefully spelled out steps with an instruction to click Alt-F4 in the middle...
link
I remember how girls (usually) used to come online on our IRC channel at giki and ask dumb questions like "I have problem with my computer, please help fix me" or something and the response would consist of carefully spelled out steps with an instruction to click Alt-F4 in the middle...
Friday, February 10, 2006
caricature blasphemy

Zone-H, a security firm, lists the details of the 1000+ attacks here
One of the most prolific hackers around is the Pakistani group called GForce Pakistan. They were featured on the BBC and were also interviewed by an Indian security website. I am not sure if GForce Pakistan was involved in any of the attacks, they are mostly attributed to script-kiddies
uncyclopedia
I don't know how I could have missed something as cool and funny as this wiki site - it is a humorous version of the very famous wikipedia and has been running since Jan 2005
The wikipedia article on the site can be seen here
All the articles are monitored by the admins to ensure they follow the rules to good humor: "In essence, written humor is not "Whack-a-mole;" it is more like Tetris."
Browsing it is a *must* for everyone - it features everything from the satirical to the absurd. Some gems I came across in the 5 minutes I browsed:
9/11 (video game) - (9/11 runs as a hacker noobs chat session)
[9/11 Chat session]
*Flirty18 has joined the game*
Flirty18: asl? me: 18/f/Kabul
fundaMENTALIST: OMG WTF J00 HAV DESECRATED THE HOLY SERVER!!1!1
fundaMENTALIST: J00 MUST PAY FOR YR SIN!`~~!!
*Flirty18 has left the game (kicked: INFIDEL!11!!)*
fundaMENTALIST: pak, u need to Nforce rulz on ur svr
tuPAK: um yah sure right after i patch #Kashmir
fundaMENTALIST: ur svr is full of infidels. u need 2 drop da bomb.
fundaMENTALIST: if u dont i will
tuPAK: how bout u dont. haev this insted
*tuPAK has given GUNS to fundaMENTALIST!*
*tuPAK has given CASH to fundaMENTALIST!*
[9/11 Chat session]
Pakistan:
img © uncyclopedia
“What muslim leader Jinnah made to the Indian subcontinent is somewhat the same as hindu leader Jawaharlal Nehru made to Lord Mountbattens marriage ”~ Oscar Wilde on Pakistan
"The national motto of Pakistan is Allah o mamnunam ki ham bharati nahin hai~, which means, Thank God , we are at least not Indians!"
Metal Gear's Solid Snake:
"I'm going to f** bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to f** kill Solid Snake." ~ Steve Ballmer on Solid Snake
"Solid Snake is a crazy dude who has saved the world, like, a bunch of times."
Ducks:
"A Duck is a mythical creature." "Now the word ‘Duck’ is actually an acronym. It stands for Dynamic Uber Commando Koala. Why? Because inside every D.U.C.K is a Dynamic Uber Commando Koala bent on donut domination. They will enslave your donuts and take over the Galaxy."
The Great Pirate-Ninja conflict:
img © uncyclopedia
"It is a proven fact that pirates and ninjas are polar opposites, thusly there is a theory that neither could get along very well with the other. This theory is proven by the fact that there is a war going on, as of this very second waged between both of these great forces." "image: A brave cameraman takes a moment to film some ninjas running over to kill some pirates."
The wikipedia article on the site can be seen here
All the articles are monitored by the admins to ensure they follow the rules to good humor: "In essence, written humor is not "Whack-a-mole;" it is more like Tetris."
Browsing it is a *must* for everyone - it features everything from the satirical to the absurd. Some gems I came across in the 5 minutes I browsed:
9/11 (video game) - (9/11 runs as a hacker noobs chat session)
[9/11 Chat session]
*Flirty18 has joined the game*
Flirty18: asl? me: 18/f/Kabul
fundaMENTALIST: OMG WTF J00 HAV DESECRATED THE HOLY SERVER!!1!1
fundaMENTALIST: J00 MUST PAY FOR YR SIN!`~~!!
*Flirty18 has left the game (kicked: INFIDEL!11!!)*
fundaMENTALIST: pak, u need to Nforce rulz on ur svr
tuPAK: um yah sure right after i patch #Kashmir
fundaMENTALIST: ur svr is full of infidels. u need 2 drop da bomb.
fundaMENTALIST: if u dont i will
tuPAK: how bout u dont. haev this insted
*tuPAK has given GUNS to fundaMENTALIST!*
*tuPAK has given CASH to fundaMENTALIST!*
[9/11 Chat session]
Pakistan:
img © uncyclopedia
"The national motto of Pakistan is Allah o mamnunam ki ham bharati nahin hai~, which means, Thank God , we are at least not Indians!"
Metal Gear's Solid Snake:
"I'm going to f** bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to f** kill Solid Snake." ~ Steve Ballmer on Solid Snake
"Solid Snake is a crazy dude who has saved the world, like, a bunch of times."
Ducks:
"A Duck is a mythical creature." "Now the word ‘Duck’ is actually an acronym. It stands for Dynamic Uber Commando Koala. Why? Because inside every D.U.C.K is a Dynamic Uber Commando Koala bent on donut domination. They will enslave your donuts and take over the Galaxy."
The Great Pirate-Ninja conflict:
img © uncyclopedia

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