I-T's Undead Blog Central

The 2005 Earthquake

2014-06-29T02:02:00.001+05:00

Preamble

The 2005 earthquake had a death toll of 75000 people as per the official government figure. It was a horrible natural disaster and while it struck we were at University at KPK(fortunately far enough from the epicenter not to have any severe accidents on campus). Classes were suspended and the Rector of GIK Institute helped the students send a relief group to the earthquake affected regions. An account of how everything felt at our campus can be found here(written by Basim a good friend of mine). I also wrote a brief account of the first day of our student expedition below. Unfortunately I didn't document the rest of the days. This was written around a decade ago on another blog, the reason I'm pasting it here is because its one such experience that deserves revisiting and contemplation.

Day – 1 Part – 1     [The Journey]

A weird sort of anxiety kept me up at the night until sehri on the day we had to depart for Balakot to dispense medical and food supplies. At sehri I met G2 at the mess table and he gave us brief idea about the camp that they had already set up the day before and the situation near Balakot. He had some steroids with him that were given to patients when hope gets too slim. The purpose of the steroids is to boost up bodily functions in one last effort to save the victim. The previous night, volunteers were scurrying about collecting money for the earthquake victims. With their tireless efforts, 1.5 Lac rupees(approx $2730) had been raised. After sehri, the volunteers started gathering in front of Hostel #2. Out of all those who didn’t leave gik for home, a large part signed up and by 7:00 am we had full 2 vans stocked and ready to go.

After leaving Topi at GIKI, we followed the route through Haripur and Abbotabad. It was at Abbotabad where we started seeing the effects of the quake which were an occasional collapsed building. It was there that when our van split up and we stacked up supplies, which contained bottles of water, biscuits, glucose and chick peas. It took us quite some time to get loaded and we moved further on towards Balakot.

We then got stuck in a huge traffic jam. There were vans and trucks, a lot of them filled with food and relief material. Hallian(a friend of mine) pointed out that there are a lot of nice people in this world which made me think that [This is just my opinion] maybe a disaster on such a nation is a blessing in disguise because it forces a lot of people to help and earn good deeds, but then again I may be mistaken for it is easier to deprive someone else of something when you are in desperate need of it.

It was here that I happened to notice some injured people like children with bandages on their hands but nothing really severe. Little did we know about the squalid and grotesque scenarios that lay ahead of us. A considerable amount of time later, the traffic had resumed its flow as the army had managed to get the path up and operational, by clearing up the landslide.

It was then that we got stuck in an even larger traffic jam than the one before it. Upon further investigation, we found out that there was a bridge up ahead that was causing a bottleneck because one side of it had to be kept open for traffic coming back which consisted mainly of ambulances. Some people went to the base of the river, performed their wudhu(ablution) and started praying, whereas others(myself included) wasted time talking.

Day – 1 Part – 2     [Supply Distribution]

Once our vans crossed the bridge we caught speed again and headed on towards our destination. Without further let or hindrance, we reached a village near Balakot. We had a hard time finding a way in because the mobile phone signals were down to zero and the only information we had was that there was a suspension bridge on the right of the road. Boxer(Mohammad Shoaib Farooqi) and another guy(I am forgetting the name. It was sheri I think) went in and scouted the area in order to find the entrance of the bridge. The bridge was not large enough for our-hi aces [at least that’s what we thought] and we parked both of them close to it. Across the bridge we could see devastation, buildings that lay in ruin. In fact there was one dead or severely injured person being passed every minute in a charpoy across the bridge. It served as a sign of what was to come ahead.   It was there that we decided to split up in order to maximize our efficiency. Chaudry, 4 Juniors and I went on with the supplies a man in a Suzuki mini-van helped us move the supplies across the bridge and to a small village. We asked him if he knew where our camp is and he said that he had very little time stopped near a village with the supplies. Once we stopped, people started gathering around us [I hope God forgives me for this comparison] just like insects gather around light. They started asking us what we brought and to distribute everything. We told them that we needed to find our camp first which offended them. They told us that only the rich people are entertained at the camps and they are a poor locality where people haven’t really given anything. When tension further mounted, they said that God is the one who gives and we should leave if we are not here to distribute.  From their arguments, it was clear that they weren’t thinking rationally and I don’t blame them for that. The driver then agreed to take us further and dropped us at another collection of houses. People also started gathering around us here. This place was worse than the one before it because it had its share of injured. The people had the same reaction over there but we told them that we want a little patience on their side and after a little time we started distributing some water but only to the injured. One of the locals came and supported our argument. It was here that we tried calling G2 who was back in the hostel, I eventually managed to get the message to Hatim to get G2 on the phone and call back, but there was a problem with Mobilink that. After quite some time, Majid Diyal met up with us and told us to start the distribution.

Distribution was no mere task. We had desperate people and we needed to make sure that everything was being distributed properly without anyone getting hoarding up stuff or going deprived. We started distributing the supplies and tried to make the locals get in proper queues (A very hard task indeed). It was only during the distribution that we realized that we should’ve brought more people with us to ensure a fairer distribution. A local and I went down with a couple of crates to the place where we had stopped first with the locals pissed off as us. They however did accept what little we had to offer. The general rule was one bottle of water and 2 tiki packs of biscuits per person. When there were two or three bottles left, a person came grabbed the box of water and ran downhill, it was too late when I noticed as he was quite far and I couldn’t desert the other stuff and go after him. It was then that I really started getting annoyed, but after a moment of pondering about it, I realized that I could not know that persons level of desperation so I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions earlier. After that I went up and got Chaudry and the folks to complete their distribution. When we distributed the stuff, we still had a few crates with us, containing some supplies for the camp.  It was nightfall by then and the time, if my memory serves me correctly was around 6:30 pm.

Day – 1 Part – 3     [In search of the camp]

Once we were done distributing the rations that we brought along with us, it was time to get moving. We started walking in the general direction that Majid Diyal had indicated. On the way we distributed half the glaxose D to the people around us and all of the remaining water. The supplies were proving to be very heavy. We knew that the camp was 6 kilometers from where we were, but there was a lot of confusion regarding the directions. Moreover, most of us were worn-out and fatigued as we didn’t eat anything since sehri, but biscuits and we had been on our feet for quite a bit of time. One major dilemma that faced us was whether to go back to the vans or to head for the camp whose locations none of us knew. There were discussions regarding whether to split up and cover more ground or to stay together. Some of us even got the really improbable idea of being left behind. We resolved all these questions by voting. Together and to the camp was the verdict, so our little party of six started walking by the river downstream and miraculously everything turned out to be alright because there was a jeep carrying sharjoo(Abdul Basit) and Talha Yazadani on their way back from the camp and they confirmed the existence of the camp ahead along the same path. Around 3.5 kilometers in from where we started walking, I heard my name being called again and again and upon investigation I soon identified I to be Hallian’s voice. He was accompanied by some more juniors. We got him loaded with the luggage into a passing Suzuki minivan and we headed off for the camp on foot. It was then that we started seeing the macabre details. Collapsed houses, mosques, buildings made many of us nervous about the things the chain of events that led to this catastrophe. It was like a scene from a war movie, except there was no mortal enemy, just Mother Nature. We had to cross through knee deep water in the middle of the road because part of it went under water making it fit for mainly jeeps, even though Suzuki vans were passing every know and then, with considerable effort from the engine as well as pushes from other people. Not only were the buildings totaled but the roads were also severely damaged with huge cracks and crevices maybe 4 to 5 inches in widths running across them.

Day – 1 Part – 4     [The night at Nara]

I didn’t know that we at our destination when we actually reached the camp. It had no tents or roofing whatsoever. It was also quite late by then and getting really cold. The camp which was situated at a village called Nara contained one doctor, an assistant, clothing, medical supplies, food and a whole lot of other stuff all in the open. It turned out that a group of volunteer students from AIMC had initially set up the camp and we helped them and set our camp with theirs. The doctors had been here since 2 days without any salary on a voluntary basis, which was quite remarkable display of character on their behalf. This was just the kind of initiative that the locals needed. Every now and then locals would come and ask for the doctor, describe their condition and get treated. I met Shadman who had been there longer and he told me about an incident at a nearby school consisting of 4 floors which collapsed due to the quake killing 300 students. He also showed me a clock that fell down at the time of the quake that he had brought back with him that was stuck at the exact time of the earthquake(around 8:45 am) because its batteries had rolled out upon impact with the floor. He also told me about the people who came to the camp and in what condition, about the condition of the buildings, people & bodies. It was almost as gloomy as it could get when I met a person who was around. He wanted to use my mobile phone and I let him, but to no avail, the signals forced all the calls to be dropped. He told me that he was from a location that was situated uphill. Uphill may be an understatement as it was a rocky path that was probably at a 45 degree inclination. He described the condition of the people that had died and were suffering. There were lots of people that were too weak to make the descent. There were numerous fractured limbs. He came down with some of his friends with his aunt laid on a stretcher. When they brought her down the camp the chances of her survival were already fading. She died while receiving treatment. That is why he wanted to make the call to Islamabad. He wanted his aunt to be buried in Islamabad. This man had lost his brothers, sisters, cousins and most of his uncles and aunts up there. When I asked him if we should go up there, his reply was “You people are not familiar with the path, it is half an hour journey and a really steep incline [it should be stated here that a lot of the paths had been destroyed or severely damaged because of the quake]. You people took the time and listened to what I had to tell and I’m really grateful for that”.

Theeta(Imad Manzoor) and the folks had come really late that night to the camp; they were back at the university till noon collecting more funds from the faculty. Something that was quite a feat considering the sum they had collected. By that time we had Rupees 5 lac(approx $9100) for our relief project which were collected from various cities and from the Institute by Gikian volunteers.

Just about then, when the first signs of rain were eminent, we started work at the construction of a makeshift shelter for all the medical equipment. We took the metal roofing off a collapsed house and combined it with cloth and other materials to make a sort of a protective waterproof barrier for the medicine. Although it did not rain that night, this makeshift tent would serve the first aid shelter a lot the following day. After setting up the tent, all of us were really exhausted and fell asleep (or at least tried to) under the open sky and on earth strewn with rocks and pebbles. It made us realize about the conditions that the locals were putting up with. Due to the immense cold, most of us were having a tough time sleeping. Chaudry and I managed to get a sheet from someone and were able to cover waist up with it, but the moment I closed my eyes and reopened them seconds later, I was freezing and Chaudry had the sheet spun around him. He strikingly resembled a cocoon. So I started walking about and found Kalimi also wide awake and roaming around the camp, which comprised of around fifteen to seventeen people sleeping on the side of a road under the clear blue sky. He told me to sleep where he was sleeping under the warmth of a blanket and I savored the warmness that the blankets had to offer with every bit of gratitude. I re-awoke at 3:30 am and we set up a fire to keep warm. We didn’t need to gather wood for this fire as it was lit after breaking a charpoy. It kept us warm until there was light. Most of us decided not to keep a fast that day so that our activities aren’t hampered.

Australian Immigration - The DIY Guide

2014-06-27T11:29:00.002+05:00

Pre-Amble

I went to a consultant in November 2013 inquiring what it would take to get an Australian Visa. I thought that the charges to do some of the legwork would be nominal but I wanted to opt for convenience over sitting down and filing documents.

I booked a free appointment with a consultant who slapped me a 2000 dollar bill. Now 2000 dollars is probably modest in most countries, but I realised that I would rather add this amount to an already planned out vacation (which also happened to be my honeymoon). The consultant was nice enough to tell about the stages of application which I'll cover in the following sections of this document.

I applied as a skilled migrant which is subclass 189 so I'm going to only describe the stages of my application using the options I had to take.

I'm writing this document to convince my younger brother and a dear friend of mine Arees (hopefully this will also motivate them both to move out of their couch). Maybe someone else will also be able to benefit out of this.

Step 0: Points Calculator

I call this step 0 because its the least important but most hyped up step. From my opinion its only to serve as a filter rather than a selection criteria. You can calculate your points on the following page "http://www.immi.gov.au/Visas/Pages/189.aspx". They have a points tab covering this. They also have costing information available on this page which you might or might not want to go through.

Step 1: Assessment Process

This is the first step of the process. Firstly you need to find out whether or not you're on the SOL(http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/pdf/sol.pdf). This is a tabulation of all the in-demand Occupations, the relevant codes and the assessing authorities. I'm a software engineer so naturally my next step would've been the ACS website.

Do have a look at the "Summary of Criteria document"(https://www.acs.org.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/7324/Summary-of-Criteria-2014.pdf) and compute your odds.

Once this is done, there's a 15 page document available titled Skills Assessment Guidelines for Applicants(https://www.acs.org.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/7319/Skills-Assessment-Guidelines-for-Applicants.pdf).

Certified Copy of your passport
Certified Copy of Academic Degrees
Certified Copy of Academic Transcripts
Certified Copies of Employment References built on the guideline found here(http://acs.org.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/7570/Skilled-Employment-Reference-Example.pdf)
A CV covering your skills, education data and work experience. You can use the data from the Employment references to build/rebuild your CV and keep it consistent.

Once you have this homework ready, head over to the ACS website and click their "For Individual Skills Assessment Applications" form. You should be able to fill the form in and upload all the necessary document(s). They'll charge you around 650 AUD for this phase and it will take 2-3 months for you to get your assessment result. The process itself is broken up into stages and if needed, the assessor could ask you for more documents, however for me this was not the case and my app flew through smoothly. I filed on 7th November 2013 and got a positive assessment on the 31st January 2014.

Step 2: Filing an EOI

In the next step you need to submit an EOI. You may do so at the skillselect web portal. https://skillselect.gov.au/SKILLSELECT/ExpressionOfInterest/PreReg/Start

This is essentially a simple form where you choose your visa type(Subclass 189 - Skilled Independent for me). BIO details, IELTS score, the applicants / family members in your application, your work experience and your education experience. This should be possible from the data that was compiled in Step 1 plus the IELTS test result for proof of english. I filed my EOI on 5th February, 2014 and an invitation to on 10th March, 2014. Unfortunately for me, the email was classified by one of the gmail filters as not necessary and I only noticed it a month later on 7th April, 2014. My advice to you folk would be to make a filter for gov.au in your inbox and keep checking it along with logging into skill select and checking the correspondence from there. Please note that invitations are time critical. I applied for my visa on 21st April, 2014 or 4 days before my wedding at which point my EOI got suspended.

Step 3: Visa Application

During this step you follow your invitation within skill select and start the visa application process. You need to submit the following documents in the online portal:-

Form-80. This is a very intensive form that took me 2-3 days to complete. A very good guide that I found is available at http://www.australiaforum.com/information/form_80 . It walks you through section by section and question by question.
Form-1221 (Much simpler form)
Marriage Evidence of / Attested Marriage Certificates (if applicable)
Birth or Age Evidence of / Attested Birth Certificates
Character, Evidence of / Attested Police Character Certificates for the last 10 years.
Skills Assessment, Evidence of / Attested ACS
Language Ability - English, Evidence of / IELTS certificate
Travel Document / Passport
Qualifications - Evidence of / Degrees & Transcripts
Work Experience Evidence of / Resume, Work References

Once these documents are filed, you're assigned a case officer(CO). This happens the moment you get correspondence from an email address like Adelaide Team 13(which was my CO). A few days later, you get a link for an Australian Health Examination which is basically an x-ray, a blood sample, etc. I got a booking for this on the 23rd of april. Most cities in the world have clinics that are associated with the Immigration Authority.

I applied for my visa on 21st April, 2014 and I knew I had a CO on 3rd June, 2014 when they asked me to fill in Form-1221 which I earlier did not know how to submit. I then asked them what I need to submit in order to add my wife into the application. By 12th June, 2014 I had added in my wife into the system but I was able to completely upload her documents by 24th June, 2014 since her IELTS result took some time. Right now I'm waiting for her HAP ID to come in and its the 27th of June, 2014. I'll update this post when I actually get my visa invitation just so that you people can have an idea of the timelines involved.

I'd like to thank Mansoor, a dear friend of mine who answered all the questions I had when I had them from his experience migrating.

[Update 13th August, 2014] Received a request for more information for 1) Form 80 for my wife, 2) HAP ID for my wife, 3) Polio Certificates for both me and my wife (This is a requirement for some countries). My assumption going forward is that it should only be a month or two after I submit these docs.
[Update 24th August, 2014] Submitted aforementioned documents.
[Update 18th September, 2014] Got a response to timeframe enquiry stating that timeframe can not be provided and that often character and national security checks are carried out by external agencies.
[Update 24th September, 2014] It is 5 months, 3 days since visa application and 10 months, 17 days since EOI submission.
[Update 4th February, 2015] Got the Grant. Have to fly by 7th July, 2015

Best of luck

In other news, Rehman Malik gets an Honorary Doctorate

2011-10-13T10:52:00.003+05:00

Today when I stumbled across this link, I was like, whaaaat! This btw is the guy who came up with this theory for Karachi's instability. And then I came across the news of a govt. girls school laid under siege by a group of people armed with crowbars, here. And whats even worse is that the police are not taking any action, that caused my mind to wander and what came out as a result is a bard song, you know like the ones they had during the medieval times, with robin hood and role playing games and all. Here goes:

The Dunce was awarded a doctorate degree
Launching anyone with a hint of sanity into melancholy

The Dunces theory, absurd as can be
Wives and Girlfriends, not politically and ethnic rivalries

Loony Laureates went lauding,
While the Thugs and goons went on marauding,

You may say that This is a joke,
where are the decent folk?

This is where you my friend would absolve yourself,
so that you may live your life like a sheep in disguise,
leaving the old and weak, the destitute and the youth
to dwell in a pool of their own misery

and the nation itself lies at the brink of a knife
there is no legacy without identity
hmm hmmm humm hummm
hmm hmmm humm hummm
la laa laa la la laa laa laa

Speaking of Bard Songs, if anyone here is Monty Python fan, you must surely remember the bard song about brave and bold sir robin.

Molly Malone -- The Graphics Card

2011-08-29T00:45:00.002+05:00

So I was bored the other day and I was listening to The Dubliners - Molly Malone on youtube "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdxLxnhGnvo"

And just having bought a new rig, I thought why not have a version of this where Molly Malone is a graphics card. Well this is what I came up with, I intended to make a recording using some karaoke track, but have been quite lazy about it.

So here goes, hope you enjoy it.

In electronic City, where the rigs are so pretty

I met a graphics card, called Molly Malone

While she churned out some hashes, other systems were in crashes

with their flicking transistors, going high and then low

going high and then low

high and then low

with their flicking transistors going high and then low

as she churned through the seasons, rendering landscapes and regions

working harder and longer than ever before

she was so much stronger, than the versions before her

but it wasnt a wonder that even she'd have to cope

computational vectors

non rational spline selectors

rotations, transformations

each one took its toll

she died of a fever

while rendering a grim reaper

who poured down with his minons and collected her soul

now she's way up above

rendering constellatoins with starfish and doves

all the other systems going high and then low

The cost of life

2011-07-28T02:32:00.000+05:00

It is a widely accepted belief that life is invaluable and sacred. In order to test this claim, let us consider a small thought experiment. If you were to go to a hospital and came across a patient unknown to you, except that your contribution is vital in ensuring that he comes out alive. What would be the maximum amount that you would be willing to contribute if it meant life or death for the person in question. I asked myself this question and I found my own response disturbing. The mere notion that I could quantify life in a number expressed as a percentage of my monthly savings seems to dispel the belief that there is nothing more valuable than life.

Only by removing the veil of indifference can we surmount the obstacles that lie ahead of us as a race.

The Spirit of the Sea

2010-09-25T00:42:00.002+05:00

Astrogeranimo waddle daddle beezlebub napkins with honey bee wax. Sparkling springwater, cast upon by the image of the midnight moon. An impression so smooth that it makes the forest green with envy. In the blink of an eye your essence flashes by. An eternity, a calm serenity. Time slows down, like a lazy dog at an abandoned yarn. Such an effect is cast upon me. The thought of your presence makes me quiver not unlike the turbulence in a river which is lonely until one day it meets the sea. I am like a mirror, but I do not shatter. Instead I tear and batter, drowning among the waves. As I drown into the sunset, such a fragile balance unset, some said. I will always remember thee my love.

Sighed, The lonely Spirit of the sea.

Some tips for Laptop manufacturers

2009-09-20T23:58:00.001+06:00

Do not put headphone and mic slots on the panel that faces towards you from at the forward base of the laptop. Ergonomics aside, a lot of laptop users like to keep laptops on their stomachs, wear headphones and watch movies. It ruins headphone jacks.
Please do not put ethernet or USB connectors(unless there are alternative options at the back) on the right hand side of a laptop(no offense to left handed people here, I'd prefer these things to be at the back anyways). Lan Cables, external HDD connecters, mice cables, etc can really get in the way of your mouse if you're into gaming.
Putting 2 more dollars worth of material into laptop hinges. I've broken mine twice, they cripple an otherwise really great machine. Mine broke both times in half where the back screw is inserted. It might make sense making this part tougher.
Putting indicator lights at a more viewable place, (HDD, battery, power, etc).Maybe at the side of the screen rather at the base, that would make increase visibility.
Anti RSI keyboards, I wonder why most good laptops still have keyboard layouts still on a square grid pattern.

Until next time, have fun manufacturing laptops.

Varsity Heroes

2009-04-20T02:22:00.005+06:00

Diane, I'm standing at the enterance of Varheroes because they say I dont have a valid university email address. However I've been fortunate enough to spot kick ass developer eye^tea from kick ass developers incorporated on the pavement next to a will code for food sign.

Trisha: eye^tea, could you tell us a bit about varheroes and what purpose it was meant to serve.
eye^tea: Go away
* shows eye^tea a $20 bill.
eye^tea: Varheroes is a kick ass inter college war game that is intended to serve a much higher purpose. The game was commissioned by Hassan Baig of the Earth Liberation Front so that they could recruit someone to take lead of hundreds of spidermonkeys so as to avert any impending doomsday scenario that earth might face.

Although this developer is entitled to his own views, skeptics argue that the game was actually made to support a comic book, by that very name. Some people beleive that it was conjured to serve a different purpose altogether, except that they dont remember what it was.

This is Asian correspondent Tricia Takanawa, reporting live from the main page of Varheroes and now back to the weather.

And now a word from our sponsors. Click here and forward to 1:03. Stay tuned for an upcoming special advertisement right after the break.

--- Break ---

Do you find life boring, feel lonely or otherwise depressed just short of contemplating suicide?
Do you often find yourself wondering about Life, The Universe & Everything however find it difficult to acquire a copy or finance it?
Now you too can give in to mental distractions and avoid the same boring routine filled with assignments, quizzes, classes by choosing to do something better.
Sign up now for a normal Varheroes account and we shall upgrade it to regular absolutely free of cost. Terms & Conditions* may apply.

Excessive Varheroes usage has been known to cause rsi, poor eyesight, ocd and may cause geeks and nerds to flock around you. Use only the daily recommended dosage of 1 turn per day.

*You can currently only play Varheroes if you own a university account from Fast, Lums or GIK. If you'd like your university entered into our Beta Trials, email contact@varheroes.com with your complete bank details, SSN/NIC number, scanned finger prints & university email pattern and we'll work to support you.

Random Chat Posting

2009-03-16T21:03:00.001+05:00

I do not know why I'm posting this but what the heck.

Ammi: ammi says do u want us to pick you??

ilyas uncle is dropping by
I-T: i'm in the computer
you do not understand
i'm trapped inside
helllllllpppppppp
I cant get out
knock knock
Ammi: hey u're pretty good at crashing computers... if u can't fight it... try spoiling it.... bust the pc mate!
I-T: kick kick
jump jump jump
machine gun
dak dak dak dak dak dak dak
rat tat tat tat taaaa tat tat taaaa
diskhauuuuun
dishkaunnnnn
Ammi: thats the spirit....
I-T: thud thud thud
oh no they are coming
they are coming for me
Ammi: hey me gtg now...when will u be home?
I-T: the chub chub's are coming
I'm in the transistor forest
the transistors are interfering with the radio telecommunications
kheeeeek kheeeekkk
* I'm not a ghost*
I'm alive
I'm alive tell them I'm alive
Ammi: aaarrr.... i think u're hallucinating....
I-T: the world thought I was crazy and I was okay with it
but my own sister
w00t
I'm deeply saddened by the fact
that I'm out of pretzels
and also by the fact
that I dont have soda
Ammi: i never said ure crazy...
hallucination is something completely different
I-T: hallo see nation
hallo
si
masi
nation
Ammi: acha bhai bye.... talk to u at home
I-T: twak2uhoam
Ammi: B-)
I-T: twak twak
twakkkkkkk
Ammi: <3
do u're work bugger
I-T: :P
Ammi: <3
I-T: whats with the hearts
so many of them
Ammi: yah...i wuv u bra....
:P
I-T: heh
awwwww
now you're getting all emotional
I think this is the perfect timing for sorbet
o//
\\o
Ammi: come home then we'll talk about it bye
I-T: chalo sure thing
take care
Sent at 9:00 AM on Tuesday

Tower Overlord

2008-12-09T09:55:00.004+05:00

I was using the elevator shaft of Siddique trade center when I managed to catch a glimpse out of the window and then I saw something that captivated me. In front of me there was a tower, a not so complete tower with people working in it.

The view was so sensational that it felt these these were my men building my tower. It felt like a strategy game of some sort and reminded me of the good old days of SimTower. I wanted to control these people like a strategy game(Dungeon Keeper comes to mind). I would like to drag and drop slow workers into the pit:-

If these pics look appealing to you, head over to the flickr page by clicking here. You'll see interesting shots including but not limited to slacker crane operator

and his replacement super tauren man.

.

I never thought that simple building construction could be so beautiful for those who're willing to view the world from a different angle.

Oh and before I forget, Eid Mubarik to all my tower subjects. May this Eid be a special one for both you and your families. And remember to knife some goats.

New member in the family

2008-12-09T00:11:00.005+05:00

Blabbering Wombat persuaded me to continue until right now, what I'd been considering a dead blog :). This is just to tell you folks that I am back.

So for my first article after my going underground I'm going to write about another member in my errm laptops family. My trusty laptop sidekick for over a year 'sage' just got a girlfriend, eee.

Click here to go to their Flickr Album.

Don't they just look cute together.

Thanks to champion matchmaker and gaming clan overlord Karar who made all this possible.

The XP's in Japanese and needs to be re-installed anyways. You cant apparently switch the language for display inside windows XP home edition(suxxx).

My mom was really excited and she and eee have been getting along quite well together, even though eee's having a hard time adjusting to english :). I wonder if I switch the distro from WinXP, to lets say Xandro or Ubuntu in order to satisfy myself will mom's and eee's relationship get strained.

Vacation from my Vacation : Long needed GIKI Trip

2007-11-21T16:08:00.001+05:00

Last weekend I was at GIK. Croft wanted to go to the ugX[GIK's nationwide lan gaming event]. I thought that I would have a good time meeting everybody and maybe some old students as well. I did intend to go to GIK earlier but wanted to prepare some sort of presentation on something. Having people dependent on you gives you a strong urge to learn something. Thats why people who usually give crashers during the university levels prepare for it really well because of all the dependents or something. I hoped to present something cool, but this time it wasnt possible. I did meet Raptor, Baddie, Junaid and the rest of batch 12 that was present. I was hoping to leave on Monday, but I met Shah during what was a pleasent surprise. Everybody was such a great host and entire volumes can be written on Rappies hospitality :P. We had a great time bugging people too. Playing practical jokes on people with the help of the faculty kekeke. Chuck Norris had his way with a whole lot of people those couple of days.

We had a major gaming session last night of Q3, DOTA and a bit of brood. This was the first time I played brood after something like semester 2 during GIK. And I sucked! Thats an area I need to work on. It was a nice long weekend and a much needed vacation from my vacation. I'll try playing Brood online with UZ and the rest of the people. Its such a fun game, however I dont think that I'll be able to boost my level a whole lot especially with all the other games out there.

While heading off to GIK, I stopped at Isloo, it was a friday and I got to meet Muji, Athar Shah, Asad Khattak and Ather Shah the 2nd :P. I also got to meet Sameer Durrani, one of my brothers good friends and it was a Friday or else we would've had a great time. He treated me to some great lunch. I intended on meeting a lot more people on the way back but I think that my mom's getting angry and she would'nt let me into the home if i stay for another night outside.

Right now I'm at the Daewoo Pindi Terminal and they have an Internet kiosk which I use while travelling and best of all it's free.

Tragic Demise

2007-11-10T21:27:00.001+05:00

I'm very sad to let you guys know that Umair Azfar mother passed away. It is unfair that such things happen to such nice people. Although I do not know her personally, I am deeply greived and judging by Umair's personality she must've been really kind and caring too.

INNA LILLAHE WA INNA ILAIHE RAJEON
"Verily we are Allah's and verily untoHim shall we return. (Qur'an 2:156)"

May Allah grant her the rewards of her good deeds and the rewards of the good deeds that people she has influenced are doing.

This is the link to Umairs blog. I'm currently unaware of his phone number and contact. I'll post those once I get them.

Defence Cinema

2007-11-09T02:38:00.001+05:00

Much better than I expected.

I went there with my mom today to watch that movie, Khuda ke liye that translates to For God's Sake. It was much better than most pakistani movies I have seen so far. The direction was good and all but the plot seemed to have a lot of holes in it. Moreover it wasnt really deep or anything but a great improvement. I'm glad I watched this movie in a cinema and didnt buy some pirated DVD because this movie deserved it. [Not that I condone piracy in any of its forms, but what's a guy to do when the stores are full of nothing but pirated stuff].

And defence cinema, well I guess its the only cinema in lahore where all of the following are true:-

Family Safe
You wont get stung by one of those needles saying you've got aids
All of the above, cant think of anymore.

You can find the website at www.dhacinema.com. The phonenumber is 042-5066888 and it is situated on 305 R Block, DHA Lahore. In case any of you googlers stumble upon it.

Regards & Take Care

PC GAMES

2007-10-05T05:06:00.001+05:00

Games to be on the Lookout for:-

Crysis
Guitar hero III
Gears Of War
HellGate London

Recommended but not tested Games:-

Oblivion

Games you should already have:-

BIOSHOCK
Company of Heros

PAX 2007 ROCKS!!!!

2007-08-26T16:50:00.001+05:00

Hey guy's I'm at PAX 2007. I've been having fun checking out all the latest games and stuff, but I rather happened to stumble upon this thing by accident. Actually initially I was looking for World of Warcraft video's when I stumbled upon Jonathan Coulton's song code monkey. You can see the video below on youtube :).

I liked it so much that I stumbled across his website . Some of his other songs were also cool like Re Your Brians. You can listen to them on the site and stuff. But what happened ultimately was that I ended up looking for concerts which linked me to PAX2007. I was like hey, I like gaming and I've not been around much so I set off for PAX. It was quite entertaining, the company stalls were great, Jonathan Coultons performance rocked I even got him to sign my zombies shirt and my cast. If you're my parents please ignore the last three words of the previous line :).

I liked the video showcases about the future of gaming, designing video games, 8 bit audio[Which really is a neat thing]. People are using Gameboys to compose 8 bit audio and its actually an art form. Kohina is a great site where you get a lot of old 8 bit game music. Although its not technically the same as people are doing nowadays with their gameboy's its nevertheless equally fun in my opionion.

The atmosphere reminded me about college and stuff, the event team running around with their enforcers T shirts, chicks in dressed up like NPC's from some MMORPG and others carrying AK-47's. Apart from the chicks, we had stuff like this at my university back in pakistan at a much smaller scale and it was called the UGX.

All in all it was a great day and a great experience. The part when I actually got to play games was at the end where they had a demo section. They had free playable demo's of old nintendo games from ages long forgotten as well as the latest titles like Bioshock and GuitarHero. It was while playing guitar hero that I made some new friends.

In fact I liked guitar hero so much that I want to have it, but because I spent my annual gaming budget on my laptop, it didnt look like I'd be able to play it until I came across Frets On Fire, the open source version of guitar hero available on Windows, Linux and Mac. You guys can get it here. It hooks up to the actual guitar from guitar hero. And if you dont have one, you can play it via keyboard. The video below shows the code monkey demo of frets on fire:-

Although it does not have characters with guitars and stuff, it has all the basic functionality and I guess it'll work as a substitute for some. I wont think twice about buying the actual guitar hero if it comes out on the PC though.

Anyways have fun and game on.

Face Recognition in Live Search

2007-08-17T05:26:00.001+05:00

Check this article out. It is about Face recognition in Live Search:-

http://blogs.msdn.com/livesearch/archive/2007/07/27/three-new-features-in-live-search-images.aspx

New York!!!

2007-07-04T16:53:00.001+05:00

Start spreading the news
I'm leaving today
I want to be a part of it
New York, New York

These vagabond shoes
Are longing to stray
Right through the very heart of it
New York, New York

I wanna wake up in a city
That doesn't sleep
And find I'm king of the hill
Top of the heap

These little town blues
Are melting a way
I'll make a brand-new start of it
In old New York

If I can make it there
I'll make it anywhere
It's up to you
New York, New York

New York, New York
I want to wake up
In a city that never sleeps
And find I'm a number one, top of the list
King of the hill, a number one

These little town blues
Are melting a way
I'm gonna make a brand-new start of it
In old New York

And... if I can make it there
I'm gonna make it anywhere
It's up to you
New York, New York

-- Frank Sinatra, New York

Hello viewers from across the globe. I've finally gone all the way from Seattle to New Ark[NY's 2nd largest airport] via Portland, Oregon [The place we all know and love because of no sales tax].

Anyways, I got the the airport at 6:00 am and I took the taxi to some street intersection tiffy told me about on the phone. At first the taxi driver didnt understand, i had to take the map out on my cell and show it to the taxi cab driver and he finally figured out where we had to go.

We'll when I got to Tiffy's place in 15 minutes, tiffy was nowhere to be seen. he wasnt even picking up his cell phone. :/ Turns out he was sleeping and he'd been up watching transformers till 4:00 am. I had to wait A LOT!!!. I will seek vengeance.

I'll let you know what became of Tiffy later, or you may find a post written by some bashed up Tiffy on his own blog.

I just had breakfast at Tiffany's [oh sorry Tiffy's]. I'm waiting for Prince Tiffy to take a shower. Will catch you guys later.

ciao!!!

My Life Nowadays

2007-06-17T01:03:00.000+05:00

And now, the end is near;
And so I face the final curtain.
My friend, Ill say it clear,
Ill state my case, of which Im certain.

Ive lived a life thats full.
Ive traveled each and evry highway;
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

This song was dedicated to me by a close friend recently. And I listen to it at the end of every day. I dont know why, I just do.

Quite on the contrary my life has just begun. I've gained a lot in the last couple of months, experience, tolerance, weight, you name it and I would've gained it. However my life's just begun. It might be changing its direction along some other lines but still theres some momentum in there.

I've been having a lot of fun recently. I've been hiking, kyaking, whale watching, watching movies and all kind of stuff and that was because I had a car. Not just any car, the car but its gone now and I'm wondering what I'll do without it. I bought a bike though, however its useless without a helmet. Gotta buy meself one of those.

Oh by the way, I got some cool whale pics like this one here.

Now I just need to take a picture of bigfoot. He's also roaming around the pacific north west.

Oh yeah and Tiffy also came and visited us during his tour of the area. You'll find more at his blog. I could just find one pic and that is here . Are you thinking what I'm thinking, maybe we can cancel the previous paragraph out. Man I'm dumber than Johnny Bravo.

Anyways people see you around and have a blast.

Microsoft

2007-05-19T03:08:00.001+05:00

Alas I'm finally here. I've been here since a month just in case I didnt tell someone. I also just passed my driving test. Today is a good day :).

This place is fun. Pictures speak louder than words. I'll put links to pictures somewhere around here in a bit.

Take Care Dudes.

3 Tragic Demises

2007-04-14T01:22:00.000+05:00

My EPSON LQ-550

First of all I'd like to offer my condolences to the Epson family of printers for the demise of my LQ-550. It had been a faithful printer.

About my EPSON-550:-

This model of EPSON 550 was bought in December 1991 along with a 386 machine with something called an IO card in it back in the days when PC's used to have a Turbo button which worked.

It was not an ordinary 9 dot matrix, it was a 24 dot matrix with advanced graphics support. It was not as fast as one of em daisy chains or line printers but it was a lot better. Color printing was not an option back then and you had weird dot matrixes that could print in 2 or 3 colors but none of them beat my LQ-550 which rendered a good 15 years of service after which it was put into a box never to be seen again until today.

Upon plugging in the device its soul made a final shreiking static noise and now its dead.

I hope my LQ-550 rests in Peace.

Battle Star Galactica:-

This one happened some time back but I just realised it. BSG is finally over I'll have to find some other series. I'm too upset about the first loss I wont write much here.

Anyways there is going to be another series about the battle star Pegasus and what happened to it between the invasion of New Caprica and its reunion with Galactica.

I actually started watching this show when Whiz told me that Cmdr Adama looked like Gen Pervez Musharraf that got me on one episode and then I watched every episode till the end. BTW near the end they show Adama with a moustache then he looks like Musharraf for sure.

Prison Break

This is also over and this time for good. But they still left room for more seasons I think.

Coldest day in 70 years

2007-01-07T00:33:00.000+05:00

I'm at home in Lahore[Yes yes laziness got the better of me] and its the coldest day in 70 years. At a stagerring -1 degrees Centrigrade, it really isnt that much but for an unprepared population it can wreck havoc, especially with respect to young, old and people with breathing ailments like asthma. For a live feed into Lahores temperature with a considerable lag time, check this [ link]that reports the temperature at Lahore Airport.Delhi also saw its coldest day in 70 years logged in at 0.2 Degrees [ link]. I hope that there isnt a significant loss of livestock, crops and worst of all people.[Not everyone can enjoy a warm cup of custard next to the fireplace]

Seasons Greetings, Happy 2K7, Eid Mubarak and lots of Cheese

2007-01-01T03:37:00.000+05:00

The first act of the new Year:

Well, let me recall whats the first act I this new year, I broke my 1.5 month abstinence period from carbonated drinks. No thanks to my younger brother who filled the fridge up with Pepsi Lemon. Man a new flavor had to get the better out of me.

Who moved my Cheese

Right around this time of the year, I read a book called who moved my cheese[click for website]. One of the best books I've ever read. It contains a different approach to look at life and I feel that its raised my motivation levels to do something new by a significant amount and I hope it raises yours too. Also by Dr Herbert Spencer is the 1 minute manager, while being a good book with some valuable lessons I didnt find it as awe-inspiring as "Who Moved my Cheese". Lets get to what this book is about. It's about four characters: two mice called sniff and scurry and two littlepeople called hem and haw. They're all stuck in a maze and they need to find cheese[something that makes you happy]. The cool thing is that by comparison you can actually use this story to motivate you whenever you're down, its something that you'll have to read yourself in order to appreciate. The cool thing is that this book only takes an hour and a quarter to read.

Visual Mumbo Jumbo [Cheese for Geeks {Inspirational} ]

Another thing [for the geeks] that had me interested is a paper by a notable Google Employee TV Raman on "Visual Techniques for Computing Polyhedral Volumes". Now I generally dont put Geek stuff on my blog, however this paper compares properties of various shapes in 2D and 3D and relates them all to simple elements such as unity(1), important angles in a unit cube and the golden ratio and goes on to derive lots of stuff visually using only class 8 Math. It had me impressed. And more amazing is that this person has a sight disability. Just lets you wonder at the accomplishments a motivated and hardworking individual can make despite of handicaps.

Fake Powdered Cheese Leading to Real Lunar Cheese [Cheese for Geeks]

Nasa Needs Ton's and Ton's of Fake Moon Dust.

The Cheese I hope to have in a months time

Oh and well I've decided on one thing for sure this year and that is to buy myself a digital camera. After around 2 days of extensive web search I selected the Fujifilm S5600 which is also rated #1 Camera on PC World's List of Advanced Digital Camera's. For people in Pakistan, this is availible from the official dealers for 23,900 Rupees from the official Fujifilm Dealer in Lahore.

S5600 Page on Fujifilm.
FujiFilm Dealerships in Pakistan [Note: Their site is not updated regularly so it does not list this model
FujiFilm FinePix S5200 Review on Steve's Digicams[No 1 Digital Camera Review Site in my opinion]
S5200 Review on PCWorld
Compare the S5200 with other camera models like the Canon S3IS in the same Category on PCWorld

Apart from StevesDigicams, another cool site for camera reviews is Digital Photography Review.

How I intend to work towards my Cheese

We'll I'm not very Certain at the moment, but I have a feeling it would include Crofty.

A Miscellaneous Tip to help you get to your Cheese

If you havent already, check out FreeMind an open source mind mapping software that helps you come up with new dynamic ideas, do research, maintain a featureset for an existing product, brainstorm for an essay and lots of many other uses including undiscovered ones. In addition, it does not lack the usual annoyances of mindmapping on Paper[cutting & starting over] and you never run out of space. Its worked for individuals like me, its worked for the industry and it could work for you.

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Wishing you a Happy New Year With all the Cheese you Hoped For, this is your host I-T signing off and retiring to dream about Cheese. Good Night!!! And Eid Mubarak in Advance.

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If you're a resident of Lahore Pakistan and want the prayer timings for this Eid, they're availible at the Daily Times WebSite here. List covers most mosques in Lahore.

So that web crawlers cache this : Eid Eid-ul-Azha Lahore Timings Prayer timings

Two things I liked about Christmas

2006-12-26T01:28:00.000+05:00

Christmas brings with it lots of new movies, happiness, joy and snow. However this Christmas there were two things that I really fancied:-

Aleks's Controllable Christmas lights was a really good site that lets you view a house from three camera's with inflatable homer, santa, elmo, a message board and lights and the fun thing is that you can control the items in the web cam feeds using simple controls on the web page. Really awesome and neat idea. No wonder its raising lots of money for Celiac Research. I wish his kids a brighter future.
The dudes at the Planetary society have set up a page that allows you too to submit your name, email address etc to be flown to Mars for the upcoming Phoenix mission. It even lets you take a print of a certificate. Cool stuff. It can be found here.

So this Christmas has really been about useless but fun stuff, unless you believe in aliens. Just the way we like it.

In case you guys want to know where I've been recently, we'll my teaching duties at GIK have kept me really busy. I even have a web page at www.giki.edu.pk/go/IT. You may want to check it out. And we had an end of semester party for my compilers students. Pics at http://s119.photobucket.com/albums/o124/iqqi84/GIKI/TASHIP/Comp_Lab. Apart from that all is smooth sailing.

Need to get a decent digital camera fast under 20K(PKRs). Any recommendations???

Looking forward to hearing from you guys. See you around. Take care & seasons greetings. Looking forward to blogging again on or before Eid.

Becoming the master

2006-10-29T05:36:00.000+05:00

    To follow the path:
    look to the master,
    follow the master,
    walk with the master,
    see through the master,
    become the master.