khanzmusing

Automating, Sequencing & Logging: Beauty of x264CLI Video Encoding

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 22:31:00 +0000

x264 Video encoding is perhaps the best OpenSource compression utility without degrading video playback quality. The graphical interfaces (GUIs) available out there in my view seriously handicap of what x264 can really do. Of coarse one needs to learn a bit of encoding syntax but once learned you can encode all of your videos to ~half the size without losing your precious quality. One must however realise that this encoding is extremely time consuming & without necessary logging & automation x264 encoding may not prove trivial enough for a common user.

Regaining Internet Freedom In Pakistan

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 21:06:00 +0000

Having very bad experience with all the browser plugins & applications to bypass country’s restriction on google services & my personal favourite search engine http://www.filestube.com/ I decided to test Win7 built-in VPN functionality to anonymise myself online & guess what I have been perfectly successful.

Bogus Love and Baloney Lovers

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 10:11:00 +0000

Playing a prank is easy especially when your are dealing with a benighted yet zealous horde pushed to streets not by devotion but to carry out destruction perhaps because this alone is their favourite cup of tea. In a not-so-learned city like Faisalabad one evening while returning from work I came across a group of children (12-16 years old); one grasping Israel’s flag & the other a bottle of petrol. This enticed my sense of humor and I approached them inquiring what they are about to do (hell! I do know the answer already). “We are going to burn Israeli flag”, replied the oldest child, not calmly though. “But this is a Afghani flag, you know the same Afghanistan where Mujahids are fighting Jihad against Americans”, I chirped in. Extremely confused he looked around his fellow comrades who appeared none the same. They started talking among themselves. Out of their gibber my ears picked the word ‘shopkeeper’ and now it was my turn to get confused. “Are these enemy flags sold?” I asked. “Yes, we bought it for 8o rupees plus the petrol”, again the oldest answered, this time quite calmly. On the contrary my mild confusion downlinked into raging anger, not for the children but for the shopkeeper who was able to play trickery in the curtain of Ishq-e-Rasool.

Salve Of Critical Thought

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 23:43:00 +0000

Ever seen a leadership from the commoners of the Pakistani nation? Surely you are correct if you answer this with a big NO. After Jinnah and Iqbal there were none, for even Z.A.Bhutto was a feudal lord and nonetheless reigned supreme among the rank and file spheres of various ministries under General Ayub.

In Need Of References

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 20:57:00 +0000

Take a peek at your Pakistan Studies textbook, navigate to the end of any chapter and an expert’s eye will catch something missing...references! A book, read by millions of Pakistani students, officially endorsed by our authorities, fails to give chapter and verse on a subject; a subject(history) that is extremely sensitive and highly relative. Students are then encouraged to take everything written in this book as granted and adopt silence in the name of patriotism and in the face of seniority. For whoso blindly embraces the validity of such textbooks and replicates it generously in his or her exams is likely to outdo those who question the questionable and seek what should be answered. Thus, begets a mindset, a myopic, a grotesque mindset with a desperate appetite for spiritual fakery brimmed with westbound conspiracies.

Negatively Quaint

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 19:28:00 +0000

Being a teenage of 21st century one surely get buzzes having an iPhone or an Android tablet. This cloud of technology not only shadows teenagers rather it equally rains over our adult community. Our fathers desire luxurious cars, precisely tailored coats & keep au fait with latest exchange rates, waiting to strike gold. Even our beloved mothers constantly search eBay to get hands upon discounted L'Oréal products & while preparing meal they often lose temper, asking (rather ordering) their husbands to have an air conditioner fixed in probably the most sultry yet highly visited part of house. Superficially, it may appear that Pakistanis are ‘technology welcomers’ & trendy enough to be called progressive; but be not hasty for I haven’t yet discussed the murky, regressed & negatively quaint nature of our nation.

Ancestral Angels

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 17:02:00 +0000

Nowadays, people tend to discuss how evil politicians are eating away the very roots of our national economy & integrity, conveniently using the guise of ‘democracy’. To many intellectuals this so-called democracy is a roller-coaster ride only for the ‘chosen few’. This ride ends after every four years, after which from among the ‘chosen few’ becomes the new rider. This otherwise persistent vicious cycle may suffer discontinuity at the hands of military which hitherto had only converted it into vicious spiral.

Where Tracker XChange beats Adobe Acrobat

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 18:19:00 +0000

My analysis is based on my personal usage of the two PDF viewers named above. Personal usage varies from person to person, therefore I must clearly define here what are the features that I use while analysing any PDF application. Being a heavy book (mostly technical) reader myself I prefer to read in the Fullscreen mode, in addition I prefer having easiest way to annotate (highlight, underline ...) PDF documents & here the competition starts.

Benchmarking Religion - Death Preparation

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 03 May 2012 21:11:00 +0000

Preparing for death is perhaps the most vital duty of a believer. Though the concept of ‘life after death’ prevails in every Abrahamic religion but I will discuss it only with reference to Muslims & particularly Pakistani Muslims. Surrounded by a large ‘religiously active’ community at Facebook & Twitter I constantly receive ample religious hearkening of what ‘death preparation’ really is, thanks to the Christian Youtube which makes this ‘Dawat’ so very accessible!

Document Printing Guidelines For University Students

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 21:28:00 +0000

Four years at engineering university taught me that hostel students face a great deal of difficulty while printing their electronic assignments. These problems share one single root ... a common computer lab. The computers placed at university labs are infested with a spectrum of viruses & trojans. Students mostly transfer their assignments from portable drives to these infected computers & thus commences their nightmare. Following are the most common problems they face:

Benchmarking Religion-The Language Fiasco

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 23:18:00 +0000

Funny that one start calling Arabic as the mother of all languages, funnier still in believing that only learning Arabic will pave way for one's salvation in the hereafter & the funniest part that such jokes come from the mouths of the most respected religious clerics; but oddly enough I can’t hear laughters...The assemblage sitting in front of these ‘Noorani’ spiritual fathers instead of questioning, welcomes such pettiness with rallying cries of ‘God is great’; but then again I am an imbecile & they are the pious disciples who are destined to live in nirvana!

Siachen Tragedy: Army’s Weakness or Limitation

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 12:09:00 +0000

When American SEALS took out Osama Bin Laden within the territories of Pakistan a blow was struck to a nation which satisfactorily took pride in being a nuclear power & having 6th largest military. A hard realisation dawned upon them that their impenetrable ‘Islamic Fort’ was not only penetrable but the continuing avalanche of drone attacks would prove it more & more fragile. That incident however didn’t budge my confidence in Pakistan’s army, simply because my ‘degree of confidence’ never revolves around fictional religious mantra & I knew beforehand that my army doesn't have a weakness though it inherits natural limitations of a third world’s army.

Virtuous Fibs

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 03:23:00 +0000

Recalling the fussy year of 2001 I can remember having night-long discussions with my colleagues regarding the probable outcome of American-Afghan war. High-speed internet wasn’t available then & same goes for Youtube, the portals for worldwide information. Thus, we as junior O level students can’t witness (or understand) the awesome military might of America, so easily available today in the face of dedicated missile & warplane Youtube channels. In a sense we were gullible & hence got amazed by the heroic Taliban stories of how they struck the equally mighty Soviet military & disseminated it! Little do we know that this Jihad (or should you label it as ‘freedom fighting’) had nothing to do with honour & religion but with the technology provided to Taliban by non-Muslims (Americans) in the face of Stinger missiles.

Welcome To Quetta; the City of Shura

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 23:22:00 +0000

As the hub of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar's insurgency against the NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, the Pakistani city of Quetta has become synonymous in the Western media with terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism. And indeed, those of us who left in the 1980s, when the city bore the burden of refugees fleeing the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan, find Quetta drastically changed -- more religiously and culturally conservative, socioeconomically backward, and fragmented by ethnic disputes.

Benazir, Education & the India Partition

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 14:43:00 +0000

The entitlement of the late Benazir Bhutto as the Prime Minister of Pakistan set new standards in the political environment. The first Muslim female to rule the country was by all means a stunner to the Muslim republics & monarchies throughout the world. The carrier of this charismatic, highly educated & extremely bold lady had a sad ending but political affairs are not the subject of this article rather we will discuss Benazir’s educational reforms.

Educational Celebrities

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 09:32:00 +0000

It is a great honour that you have thousands of Twitter & Facebook followers & that you are the person so admirably & eagerly observed as the role model of teenage masses. Nay! I am not talking about Daniel Radcliffe (aka Harry Potter) neither I am talking about Emma Watson (aka Hermione Granger). I am talking about those rare intellectual beings that are no less than above mentioned celebrities with regards to popularity, though may not be that rich!

Benchmarking Religion-Introduction

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 16:31:00 +0000

Our religion Islam is what I have been told is the ‘complete code of life’, now it is up to me that I (like many others) take it for granted & join the masses in their superiority complex, with regards to religion. The word ‘complete’ here may mean two things:

Complete...like ‘The End’ which is written at the end of a story book
Complete...like ‘Encyclopedia’ where you can find each & every thing examples are Britannica, Wikipedia etc.

Who, What, Why…

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 12:21:00 +0000

The tile of this blog may well be the most self-explanatory one in the sense that the parts of this compound title ‘khanz’ & ‘musing’ gives the name of person & the mission he is up to.