aj int

[Updated 20 Nov '06]
(Have added links related to AJI):

. Al-Jazeera was launched 15 Nov 2005 at 1200 hrs GMT - the main wesbite has been revamped and there is a live stream available - it's much better than the usual mainstream news channels but it seems to be a diluted form of what most people were expecting - a major news item was the "Darfur Crisis" without going into the power game being played there by the major world powers and they kept calling it the "seperation barrier", not "the wall" as any fair and balanced individual would call it.....

. Voohoo!! Aljazeera English is scheduled to start from 15 Nov 2006, two ads on their test video broadcast have been running for a few months - thanks Faz

. News related to Al-Jazeera International

. Control Room - documentary on the channel, the one that introduced John Rushing (more on him below)

. AJI may not be the independent news channel it touts and we want it to be - link

. Friends of AJI - Blog related to AJI news - updated regularly

Al Jazeera, the Arabic language channel is going international. And this time they are pulling put all the stops. They have attracted some of the best known faces in international news from BBC, CNN, ABC and others It is supposed to start in June 2006 and test transmissions have reportedly started in March 2006. It will also offer "simultaneous translations" in Urdu, as a result of which around 500 million people in India and Pakistan will also be able to see and understand the news channel. Al Jazeera International, as it will be called, is based in Malaysia and will have bureaus around the world. Some of the most famous people are listed below:

Sir David Frost is a well known British broadcaster with over 30 years of experience. He is best known for the "Breakfast with Frost" program, broadcast by the BBC. Links to: Profile of Frost on the BBC, and wikipedia - Interview with NYT on why Frost joined Al Jazeera

Stephen Cole is the well-known anchor of BBC's ClickOnline. In Aug 2005, he announced his move to Al-Jazeera as their lead male anchor person. He claimed earlier this year that the show's popularity had made him a star abroad. "When I go abroad, I get mobbed. It's a joke but in Bangalore I can't leave the hotel. Hong Kong and Tokyo are difficult, too." Link to Cole's profile on BBC and wikipedia, - on why he moved to Al Jazeera

John Rushing is a former US Marine Captain who was one of the spokesmen for Centcom during the Iraq war. links to why Rushing moved to Al-Jazeera, radio interview on NPR, personal homepage, Al-Jazeera's global mission, an article about Rushing



Veronica Pedrosa is a well known reporter on CNN. She won the "Best News Anchor" award at the Asian Television Awards in 2004 for her work on CNN International - link to profile on CNN












Rageh Omaar was the face of BBC during the US led invasion of Iraq and became a household name during that period. link to profile and article on Omaar at BBC and UK's Times




Riz Khan was a reporter for CNN during which time he also covered the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Makkah, Saudi Arabia. link to Riz Khan's homepage and an article and on why he decided to move to Al Jazeera (requires subscription), Excerpt: "Former CNN International anchor Riz Khan explains: "Al-Jazeera International provides the ideal vehicle to bridge gaps between communities in the East and West. ... I'm fully aware of the negative image of the Al Jazeera brand in the U.S., especially at the government level, but I think part of that comes from a misunderstanding of the strong cultural position the Arabic-language channel has among the average people of the Middle East. It is extremely popular for being outspoken not only about the West but also about Arab governments."" 

David Marash is the well known and well respected co-presenter of Nightline on ABC, the US TV channel. He faced a lot of criticism for the switch since he is also Jewish. link to Marash's profile on ABC and on why he joined Al Jazeera

Barbara Serra is a former reporter with Sky News, Five News, CNN and the BBC. She is of Italian origin and lived most of her early life in Denmark. She is also a former Miss Italy, so that may help attracting many more viewers to her weekend newscast :) - link to wikipedia profile

Shahnaz Pakravan is a journalist who is a prominent figure in Middle Eastern and British media circles through her work with the BBC and ITN, including Arab World Direct and Tomorrow's World. She will be hosting "Everywoman", where "Shahnaz and her team will bring viewers around the world stories that have universal appeal with subjects as diverse and sensitive as religion, society, sex, education and arts, all from women's perspectives." - link to story

Richard Gizbert is a well-known face on ABC News where he is a correspondent in the London bureau since 1993. Since then Gizbert has reported abroad on many of the major international stories such as the conflicts in Iraq and the continuing unrest in the Middle East. Gizbert was dismissed by ABC for refusing to cover the war in Iraq; he fought the dismissal in court and won. link to profile on ABC, link to court story

Felicity Barr, a specialist sports journalist had been working with ITV before moving to AlJazeera - link to ITV profile and wikipedia article






Amanda Palmer, hottie/journalist :), presents the "48" show/programme for AJI. "Through the personal stories of local guides, intrepid reporter Amanda Palmer and the crew have just 48 hours to find the beating heart of their chosen city." Amanda Palmer has worked for CNN, APTV and others. Links to a news item on her announcement to join AJI, her profile on AJI and the programme 48





Meanwhile, suspected Al Jazeera reporters have repeatedly been beaten up by the "Allied forces" in Iraq, Tareq Ayyoub was killed by a missile in 2003 and Taseer Allouni was sentenced in Spain for "collaboration with the 9/11 hijackers" but their news was mostly ignored by the international media. Now with a roster of news stars like these, most news channels will have a hard time hiding the "other side of the story"

There is a Secret World.....

not sure about the source, reminds of The Alchemist

"The lives we lead, and the lives we wish we led.

This world, the so-called “real world,” is just a front. Pull back the curtain and you’ll see the libraries are all filled with runaways writing novels, the highways are humming with escapees and sympathizers, all the receptionists and sensible mothers are straining at the leash for a chance to show how alive they still are. . . and all that talk of practicality and responsibility is just threats and bluffing to keep us from reaching out our hands to find that heaven lies in reach before us.

You can taste it in the shock and roar of a first, unexpected kiss, or in the blood in your mouth that instant after an accident when you realize you’re still alive. It blows in the wind you feel on the rooftops of a really reckless night of adventure. You hear it in the magic of your favorite songs, how they lift and transport you in ways that no science or psychology could ever account for. It might be you’ve seen evidence of it scratched into bathroom walls in a code without a key, or you’ve been able to make out a pale reflection of it in the movies they make to keep us entertained. It’s in between the words when we speak of our desires and aspirations, still lurking somewhere beneath the limitations of being “practical” and “realistic.”

When poets and radicals stay up until sunrise, wracking their brains for the perfect sequence of words or deeds to fill hearts (or cities) with fire, they’re trying to find a hidden entrance to it. When children escape out the window to go wandering late at night, or freedom fighters search for a weakness in government fortifications, they’re trying to sneak into it—for they know better than us where the doors are hidden. When teenagers vandalize a billboard to provoke all-night chases with the police, or anarchists interrupt an orderly demonstration to smash the windows of a corporate chain store, they’re trying to storm its gates.

When you’re making love and you discover a new sensation or region of your lover’s body, and the two of you feel like explorers discovering a new part of the world on a par with a desert oasis or the coast of an unknown continent, as if you are the first ones to reach the north pole or the moon, you are charting its frontiers.

It’s not a safer place than this one—on the contrary, it is the sensation of danger there that brings us back to life: the feeling that for once, for one moment that seems to eclipse the past and future, there is something real at stake.

Maybe you stumbled into it by accident, once, amazed at what you found. The old world splintered behind and inside you, and no physician or metaphysician could put it back together again. Everything before became trivial, irrelevant, ridiculous as the horizons suddenly telescoped out around you and undreamt-of new paths offered themselves. And perhaps you swore that you would never return, that you would live out the rest of your life electrified by that urgency, in the thrill of discovery and transformation—but return you did.

Common sense dictates that this world can only be experienced temporarily, that it is just the shock of transition, and no more; but the myths we share around our fires tell a different story: we hear of women and men who stayed there for weeks, years, who never returned, who lived and died there as heroes. We know, because we feel it in that atavistic chamber of our hearts that holds the memory of freedom from a time before time, that this secret world is near, waiting for us. You can see it in the flash in our eyes, in the abandon of our dances and love affairs, in the protest or party that gets out of hand.

You’re not the only one trying to find it. We’re out here, too . . . some of us are even waiting there for you. And you should know that anything you’ve ever done or considered doing to get there is not crazy, but beautiful, noble, necessary.

Revolution is simply the idea we could enter that secret world and never return; or, better, that we could burn away this one, to reveal the one beneath entirely."

link

nevashut

This is a really interesting game - it was launched by Pringles, the chips makers for a promotion campaign but it's still very playable


(You need a high speed connection to play it though)

siachen story

I heard this story a long time ago from my uncle who served as an SSG (Special Services Group) officer at Siachen Glacier in the '80s and '90s. The SSG is the equivalent of US's Navy Seals or Britan's SAS, commonly called Commandos. Siachen Glacier is the highest (~5400m high) and most inhospitable fighting ground in the world, located in North Pakistan & India. More soldiers have died there from frostbite than conflict since the battle for the Glacier erupted between Pakistan and India in 1984.

I was reminded today again by another ex-SSG soldier who had served in Siachen immediately after the incident occured in 1986. The story is of one of the greatest soldiers to fight and die in Siachen, remembered and honored by both sides, Lance Subedar Ata Mohammed, Shaheed. "Shaheed" means "martyred" and is commonly suffixed to the name of any man or woman who has died in the line of duty, usually while fighting. (The facts of the story may be slightly incorrect, if any reader spots any mistakes, please let me know)

In 1986, India launched an offensive to occupy a strategic post called controlled by Pakistan called Quaid post, named after the founder of the latter country. The massive offensive managed to dislodge all soldiers, leaving only Ata Mohammed and two other soldiers under his command to fight it out. Ata Mohammed managed to convey to the local commander, a General reportedly, the need for ammunation. The General declined, citing logistical problems. Ata Mohammed ordered the other two soldiers to leave. They refused initially but he ordered them to obey. Ata Mohammed was left to fend for himself and with a broken arm and leg, and inspite of an offer of surrender, decided to fight it to the last.

The Indian Army took his body and alongwith his few belongings, including rings etc. transported his body in a coffin to the Wagah border in South-East Pakistan. When handing over the body only, they insisted that Ata Mohammed be awarded the Nihsan-e-Haider, Pakistan's highest military gallantry award, in recognition of his tremendous bravery.

The Pakistan government, however, gave him a lower award, probably preferring not to politicize the defeat in Siachen.

sandra

Photoblogger Sam Jevanrouh has posted another great pic, this time of a friend Sandra - click the pic to see a bigger image

"the subject of this photo is Sandra, and this is a surprise birthday present for her best frined Masa who lives in Italy and is a daily visitor of ddoi. Sandra contacted me with this idea and I found it very unusual and unique so I accepeted. The day we went shooting it started raining and I was lucky to have a plastic bag on me to protect my camera while shooting. so this is what I came up with. She's inside the bus shelter and I'm shooting from outside." - link

maya nurbs modeling tutorial

My google video on 3D modeling a wine glass in Maya is FINALLY online. Tip: Follow the rules, render the video in the format google specifies in the upload page

fastest century

Afridi does Pakistan proud by scoring the fastest one-day cricket century in history in just 37 balls, beating Sri Lanka's Jayasuriya's 48 ball record and that too in his maiden innings. This is 1996 and Afridi is 16 years old

pirates of the valley

If you are a techie and you watch one film, make it Pirates of Silicon Valley, a "made for TV film"

Here is a clip near the end of the movie when Steve Jobs confronts Bill Gates, accusing him of stealing his ideas....

the buddhabrot

The Buddhabrot is a special rendering of the Mandelbrot set, which, when "traditionally" oriented, resembles to some extent certain depictions of the Buddha. When viewed "upside-down," it vaguely resembles a human face with large, triangular glasses or goggles over its eyes



link to article and many more pretty renderings

ch ch (tsk tsk)

The website of FAST NU, an university based in Islamabad was hacked and a not-too-rude message left - this is what the site looked like at 1200 GMT on 28 Mar '06





 

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)

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."

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!

a first

The rest of the world is constructing tall buildings, Pakistan has decided that it would rather destroy the heavens....
click the image to see the enterprise behind such this ignobile scheme

muslim scientists

The science textbooks in Pakistan always start off with a chapter on science in Islam and the contribution of Muslim scientists to our understanding of the world and the universe. But like all government approved textbooks, the information is presented in such a droll and boring manner that you don't feel like reading the next paragraph.

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.

"The calculations of Muslim astronomers were so accurate that in the 9th century they reckoned the Earth's circumference to be 40,253.4km - less than 200km out. The scholar al-Idrisi took a globe depicting the world to the court of King Roger of Sicily in 1139." The image is of Al-Idrisi's world map from 1154. Note that south is at the top of the map




"In 875, aged 70, having perfected a machine of silk and eagles' feathers Abbas ibn Firnas tried again, jumping from a mountain. He flew to a significant height and stayed aloft for ten minutes". One of the craters on the moon is named after Abbas Ibn Firnas The image is from a US navy site of the Ibn Firnas Crater... yeah, I have no idea either what the Navy has to do with the moon


 

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

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 Yadein

True 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

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





 

the servile indian

Kipling's take on Clash of the Civilizations.

Its not good for the Christian health to hustle the Asian Brown;
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"

Rudyard Kipling

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

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

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!!

pirate booty

c& search

This seems too good to be true

Search C&H comics based on the words in the text

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

ben kingsley comes to pk

Ben Kinglsey, the British actor was in Pakistan recently to make a documentary about the catastrophics Oct 8, 2005 quake that killed over 80K people in the northern regions. The newspapers and the media were luke-warm about his visit, considering the madness that breaks out whenever Lara Croft comes over in person as a UN goodwill ambassador.

Jolie was here in May '05 on her second trip to the country and the PM decided to ask her for a stroll in the meticulous PM house lawns - the PM house, mind you, like the President House, is more of a palace. That time she was there to raise awareness about the tens of thousands Afghan refugess languishing in camps in northern Pakistan. I wonder what she thought of the country and its rulers when she saw the poverty among refugess and ordinary people and was then faced with ostentatious chandeliers, bullet-proof Mercs and ready-to-fly choppers

The next time she was here with beau Brad Pitt in Nov 2005 and this time all hell broke loose. Ministers, beaurocrats and all their minions were salivating at the thought of being in the company of the actress - an op-ed in a national newspaper described the full horror of the visit