Nadir Nasir's Blog

The semi-agonizing process of installing Windows 7 :)

2009-11-25T03:36:00.000+05:00

Okay so now is the time when the Windows 7 was already out, I was running Vista 32 and XP on my system. Windows XP was old and the new internet connection didn't work on it and Vista was too damn slow for me to actually do something other than browsing! One of the major disadvantages of Vista is the extremely slow I/O. Being a designer I spend most of the time on photoshop and dreamweaver, but on vista, the simple task of pressing the spacebar (hand cursor) and then click and dragging could not be done properly. It always detected the mouse click first and the key press afterwords despite of the fact that I pressed the key first and then clicked. Anyway, every time I wanted to move the canvas, vista made any one of the design elements to go to the north pole and stick there!

Anyway, I got a little frustrated to having two OSt, so I thought I should install the new Windows 7 64-bit. The reviews of windows 7 were quite good. People said it is much lighter than the Vista and much much more visually better than XP. So... I thought I should give it a try. Now I should mention my lifelong dislike with Microsoft so I already had in mind that something - at least one thing would go wrong. So here is the installation process with timestamp as I tried my luck.

10:28 PM
I put in the Windows 7 64-bit bootable DVD in my DVD drive and the setup started. It showed me something like "loading setup"... I thought to myself... Hmmm good start.

10:30 PM
It then loaded a graphical screen with a bluish background and some curves. It was much better than the dos-type installation of XP! What I noticed was a leafy artwork in the background and a bird in white. I thought what's with the nature Windows 7!? Still don't know what's the concept behind that leaf and a bird illustration in the Windows 7 background! Maybe going green or something! :)

10:32 PM
It then asked me to select my language. I selected my own Country and was quite amazed to see my own language in the list "IN" the setup. Urdu is an Asian language and we had to install it separately. Anyway, good thing to have Asian language support from the beginning of the setup, but I selected English and pressed "next"...

10:35 PM
It then showed me a "two" step installation screen. The first was I think "Checking System" and the other was "Installing Windows" or something like that. Anyway, 5 second later during checking system I got an ERROR: "The CD/DVD ROM Drive Driver not found..." It gave me two buttons "Cancel" and "Browse", I tried everything, tried searching for the driver, tried canceling it, but there was NO WAY I could skip pass that error message and continue with the installation. The interesting part is that the DVD was already in the drive, the system booted up with the same DVD drive, the setup loaded its "necessary" files from that DVD ROM drive and now it is refusing that there is no driver for it so can not continue. So here is what I did, I restarted my system, went back into Vista, and started Googleing.

12:20 PM - ERROR: "The CD/DVD ROM Drive Driver not found..." While installing Windows 7 64-bit
As you can see I have spent almost 2 hours in searching for any fix for this error but didn't find any. What I found from the internet was a guy who was able to get it through by buying a new DVD ROM drive! I mean that is just simply stupid! Some said look for the jumper settings, some said fix the cables, some said download a new torrent and verify the disk after burning. Anyway, none of it made sense to me, so a friend of mine dropped by and he mentioned something about disabling "SATA Native" support. Well that was something that I could try! So I went into my BIOS and looked for the specific settings. I have ASUS M2N-E motherboard with AMD Athlon X2 Dual Core processor, 3GB of RAM, 250GB SATA drive and a standard SONY DVD-RW ROM Drive. The thing was that I didn't find the "SATA Native Support" option in my BIOS settings. However I did see something like "Serial ATA Support" and "RAID" settings under in Advance > Onboard Devices in BIOS Menu. I was able to resolve this CD/DVD Drive Driver not found error during installation of windows 7 by enabling "RAID". I only had two options, RAID -> Enable / Disable. A few people said that it should have been AHCI and some said that enabling RAID is not recommended and the windows might not work after that. But it worked for me for now.

12:30 PM
So after 2 hours of searching and trials and rebooting I was finally able to get pass this error message. And by the grace of God the setup was finally running. It was a breath of fresh air. It then listed around 5-6 steps, and took almost 10 to 15 minutes in "Expanding files".

12:40 PM
At this time the setup completed expanding files and it rebooted. When the system came back on again, the most weird thing I noticed that the background of the setup was now flipped horizontally! Still didn't get the logic behind that!

12:45 PM
Now as usual - "Completing Installation"

12:47 PM
Again the system rebooted, now I see the great "Preparing windows to load for the first time"! Now it was sort of a good feeling to be able to get to this point without loosing anything else. Then finally it asked me to create an account, I supplied the password and again the the famous "Finalizing Settings" screen :)

12:50 PM
Finalizing Settings

12:52 PM
Preparing Desktop - Then again restart

01:00 PM
FINALLY! I was finished with the installation and the "enter password" screen was in front of me. I entered the password and was expecting a LOT of drivers that I still have to install. In earlier versions of windows I had to install the drivers from the ASUS Motherboard CD, the sound drivers and the Radeon X550 graphic card drivers. But interestingly enough windows 7 had all the drivers pre-installed. When the windows was ready and I had my profile in front of me I amazingly didn't need to install all the third party drivers. It was indeed the best surprise up till now :)

However, I did go to windows update and downloaded whatever Microsoft had for me to "update", most of them were security updates a few driver updates etc. The windows was ready to use and I started to install the other softwares such as Office Suite and messengers and stuff. The windows indeed is quite better than older versions. A major first glance change I saw was the way they merged the taskbar buttons and the quick launch buttons. It is a good addition to the new windows usability. Other than that some of the good features includes - what I call windows-gestures. For instance, if you click and drag the window and touch it at the top of the screen, it would maximize itself, dragging it back would restore it's original size. Touching it on the left or right would tile it vertically on the left or the right, shaking it would minimize all the other windows but the one clicked on. Anyway, the overall feel is quite right IMO!

My final thoughts about the installation would be, Good but not that great, I'd rate it 7 out of 10. I did face some technical / hardware related issues later on which I will be writing about quite soon. But one thing I should mention, as I wrote earlier that I had two installations of windows, one was XP and the other was vista. I installed windows 7 over XP after formatting the partition, but left vista as a backup. BUT, windows 7 did not add itself to the OS selection menu, rather it deleted the vista selection menu so there is no way for me to run vista now. I had to format that partition as well.

Anyway, no regrets in deleting both the operating system and have Windows 7!

Critical Mass - Extremely bad logo design!??

2009-11-05T17:43:00.001+05:00

Do you know what a bad logo design is? Well here is a good example. It is not just a bad logo, it is extremely creative too!!

Here is what the event has to say about it self as quoted by someone on Lahore Metblogs

All you need is a road-worthy cycle and an sense of fun. Buy, beg, borrow or steal a cycle if you have to, but join the Mass. Come, cycle around Lahore. Reclaim your city, and have more fun than you can imagine!

At the top of my head.... The logo designer was asked to make a logo for Critical Mass and was offered a reasonable sum of money... he is a genius! But then they said... oh we are just an organization making no money... so... the thing is... we can't pay you, would you like a coconut or maybe a bottle of water instead 8-).

The logo designer got pissed off and made a 1-color logo taking his anger and frustration out using his innate logo designing talents.

I've made a comic how he came up with the logo design.

After seeing this logo, I ain't going no where on my bike, because it scares me to the very depths of my core! :D

Goddamn you free logo designer, you've ruined our world! :-D

Memorialize friends who have passed away on Facebook

2009-10-27T18:58:00.001+06:00

Over on the Facebook blog, head of security Max Kelly has just explained what to do to memorialize the profile of someone who has passed away:

We understand how difficult it can be for people to be reminded of those who are no longer with them, which is why it's important when someone passes away that their friends or family contact Facebook to request that a profile be memorialized.
...When an account is memorialized, we also set privacy so that only confirmed friends can see the profile or locate it in search. We try to protect the deceased's privacy by removing sensitive information such as contact information and status updates. Memorializing an account also prevents anyone from logging into it in the future, while still enabling friends and family to leave posts on the profile Wall in remembrance.

If you have a friend or a family member whose profile should be memorialized, please contact us, so their memory can properly live on among their friends on Facebook.

Treatment of all diseases with water. Easy and Simple!

2009-10-06T21:17:00.001+06:00

It is popular in Japan today to drink water immediately after waking up every morning. Furthermore, scientific tests have proven its value.. We publish below a description of use of water for our readers. For old and serious diseases as well as modern illnesses the water treatment had been found successful by a Japanese medical society as a 100% cure for the following diseases: Headache, body ache, heart system, arthritis, fast heart beat, epilepsy, excess fatness, bronchitis asthma, TB, meningitis, kidney and urine diseases, vomiting, gastritis, diarrhea, piles, diabetes, constipation, all eye diseases, womb, cancer and menstrual disorders, ear nose and throat diseases.

METHOD OF TREATMENT

As you wake up in the morning before brushing teeth, drink 4 x 160ml glasses of water
Brush and clean the mouth but do not eat or drink anything for 45 minute
After 45 minutes you may eat and drink as normal.
After 15 minutes of breakfast, lunch and dinner do not eat or drink anything for 2 hours
Those who are old or sick and are unable to drink 4 glasses of water at the beginning may commence by taking little water and gradually increase it to 4 glasses per day
The above method of treatment will cure diseases of the sick and others can enjoy a healthy life.

The following list gives the number of days of treatment required to cure/control/reduce main diseases:

High Blood Pressure (30 days)
Gastric (10 days)
Diabetes (30 days)
Constipation (10 days)
Cancer (180 days)
TB (90 days)
Arthritis patients should follow the above treatment only for 3 days in the 1st week, and from 2nd week onwards – daily.

This treatment method has no side effects, however at the commencement of treatment you may have to urinate a few times.

It is better if we continue this and make this procedure as a routine work in our life. Drink Water and Stay healthy and Active.

This makes sense .. The Chinese and Japanese drink hot tea with their meals ..not cold water. Maybe it is time we adopt their drinking habit while eating!!! Nothing to lose, everything to gain...

For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you.
It is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion.

Once this "sludge" reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food.. It will line the intestine.
Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.

A serious note about heart attacks

Women should know that not every heart attack symptom is going to be the left arm hurting,
Be aware of intense pain in the jaw line.
You may never have the first chest pain during the course of a heart attack.
Nausea and intense sweating are also common symptoms.
60% of people who have a heart attack while they are asleep do not wake up.
Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep.. Let's be careful and be aware.. The more we know, the better chance we could survive...

Am I a dumb Design-Whore or innately creative?

2009-07-25T05:20:00.001+06:00

Today I am compelled to write this feeling of mine which has somewhat throwing me to and fro from feeling like a dumb design whore or being innately creative.

You must be wondering why I used the word "Design Whore", well I came across this really informative and well written post on how designers are being taken advantage of and how to prevent oneself from getting misused or abused.

The story starts when I first started working for a big organization after a few freelance projects, I joined there as a junior designer / webmaster. I didn't know much and was still learning a lot from day to day activities. Interestingly the organization I joined was not a design firm, so there were not many seniors to learn from. During my tenure, our company hired an ad agency / design firm to design all the print materials for all the corporate products and services. The firm came up with a bunch of ugly ideas and some really catchy ideas. In the internal meetings we all agreed upon that one design and I was asked if I am able to duplicate these designs. I replied "yes" because if a junior is asked "can you do this" and he replies "no sir" then it is really not very nice. Anyway... I took the concept of their designs and created a bunch of artwork that later went into printing and the whole country could see those designs. It was a great exposure for me, but I know it wasn't "originally" me.

Since that day, I kind of felt that it was an immoral thing to do as a person and as an organization. So since then I have tried my best to be original in all my designs.

Eight years later, all I design is originally me, I've enjoyed designing quite a lot. Isolated dark room, background music according to the mood and everything, it was and has become more like my hobby of designing in leisure time. I make wallpapers and other conceptual artwork for pleasure other than clients' work or with my employer.

In the life of a designer there are a lot of projects when you give samples of your work or create a few "demos" to actually get the project... some of them end up with "Its not what we were looking for" or mostly... "We'll let you know soon"... and you never hear from them again. This is called speculative work... we'll pay if we like it.

Speculative work is IMO somewhat a necessity for beginner to a mid-career designer. You don't have a lot to show as your work so you do end up working and designing... trying to prove your creative skills in front of the most dumbest non-creative individuals.

After passing the mid-career stage and when you have enough in your portfolio you should take control of what you do and how and when you get paid for what you do. Personally, I try to link to or display NO!SPEC anywhere through which I could be reached such as my website or emails etc. So I've tried to block out the work which is judged by comparing a number of designer who designed for free and then the (mostly) idiotically chosen "winner" gets paid.

But after all the effort one does, there are still some projects or references where you don't emphasize on your rules and standard procedures. Recently an old friend of mine asked me a favor to design a logo for his company, I did him a favor and gave him a few options for his logo. 2 weeks later, when I followed him up he said, nah! Other guys in the company didn't like them "that" much. So we kind of had it designed it from somewhere else. He also added (feeling proud) that he paid very less for the logo and was done in less than one day. Now that was a slap in my face, because I know how to design a logo and I know why logo designs don't cost 5 dollars and I spent 5 days to come up with those options for his logo.

Another, in a very recent past, I came across a client who wanted his website designed. I asked him if he needs a logo as well, he said no I have it designed already. So I asked him to send me the design so that I could make the website according to the logo's color scheme. What I got was a PSD with 2 layers, one was a cell phone image of the monitor screen displaying a logo and above that layer was a trace of that image. Upon inquiring the guy told me that he had it designed on one of the "free" logo making websites. It was indeed a pathetic logo. Anyway, he asked me to change the shade of one specific color in the logo for which I would have to re-create the logo... So I did, he also asked me if I could improve the logo if I could, so I did that too. I kept my followup for the contents that he was supposed to send me for the website so I could send him the costing for the website. But he just kept on delaying the contents form his end, in the meantime he asked me if I could send him a few sample layout of visiting cards that I had designed earlier. I didn't give him any designs but, did a quite clean, minimalist design for his visiting card. Then the guys cell phone was switched off, no email replies, no reply on messengers etc and this goes on for one whole month approximately. Couple of days back I got to talk to him and he said, we actually had it designed by someone else. I asked him casually that if they didn't like the design or they already had it designed before I sent them my design. He quite openly replied to me that no, we actually liked your design but we made another one based on your design. I mean what the heck! I haven't heard from him since and there is no costing or talks about payments whatsoever!

So now with the whole story from start till the end... if you were in my shoes, what would you feel like? A dumb design whore who is just getting abused? or an innately creative person with a demand for his creative skills and people actually wanting to use his work by hooks or by crooks?

Reverse Graffiti Project

2009-06-26T04:05:00.002+06:00

This Reverse Graffiti Project is absolutely amazing. There is always one guy who comes up with an unimaginable yet very simple idea! Watch the video below, it is amazing how he cleans walls instead of painting over them to create art. Lovely.

WARNING for using US English as my default Browser language!

2009-06-17T03:07:00.000+06:00

This is wired! On my regular late night browsing, I came across this site that was offering fonts for download then I click a link, when the page loaded, I see a huge red box on the top that literally says

Warning: Your browser claims that you are a speaker of United States English. If this is not correct you should update your browser and OS language settings to correctly reflect your native dialect.

I wonder why!

Facebook Privacy Flaw - Disable CSS to view Private Accounts.

2009-06-08T05:29:00.000+06:00

I was playing around with some new web developer addons in my Firefox while on Facebook and I pressed a key combination which disabled the CSS styles for currently opened tab of Facebook. I was on a profile page of someone who has set their details not to appear if the viewer is not her friend. I just scrolled down and saw the profile picture of that person which really amazed me to see something that wasn't there before (in normal layout).

I tried this on a few other private profiles and everytime I was able see the profile pictures of those who were not my friends. Apparently, facebook hides the information (display pictures) using CSS! How ridiculas can it be! I think of it as a serious privacy flaw.

WHAT THE SCRAP!

2009-05-29T23:51:00.000+06:00

Can anybody tell me what is the practical usage of this SCRAP that Microsoft pasts when every you copy some text from Ms Word?

I hate Microsoft and this is yet another reason why!

Screw You Microsoft!

Bank Alfalah Credit Card Says "No Advance Payments Please"

2009-05-16T03:32:00.001+06:00

I've been using Bank Alfalah credit card for over 2 years now and for me the service has almost never created any problems. Contrary to what a general opinion is about credit cards, I have (Alhamdullilah) never been a victim of pretend-mishaps like cheque misplacement, surprise charging etc. To avoid such over-charging or paying what you didn't spent, there is just two things one can do. 1. Pay before the due date. 2. Pay in hard cash at the branch. Yes paying bill in cash does have extra charges of 110 Rupees (as of this date) but it is worth spending as you get to see them input your payment in the system, so you can be sure that you paid and they received. Instead of using a drop box or cheque, this is the most reliable way of paying.

Anyway, there is another very common opinion that there is no real reason for using or even having a credit card. But given that Pakistan does not have a PayPal service and all the wire transfers have fees that is somewhat more than the amount itself! So what's left for making payments abroad or on Internet? My main reason for having a credit card is to do online payments (being in the web business). When it comes to Internet the first thought is of Credit Card Frauds or
Internet scams etc. So what's the precaution for that? Well there is! Every card (as far as I know) in Pakistan is blocked for Internet payments, (and no, you can't use your Debit Visa on Internet), which means that if your card number and verification number is released, no one can misuse it on Internet. Which is good! My card is also inactive for Internet transactions and I ask them to activate it when I need
it, I do the payment and I have it inactivated again as soon as I am done.

But since the last few months I am being told in every call to helpline for activation, that there are 100 Rupee charges for Internet activation! That was quite a shock for me! because if you call any helpline and ask them to do something, should they charge when there is no actual resource being used!? Anyway, hundred rupee was not such a big amount and given the economical situation and the fact that the
card which is "free for life" didn't apply a yearly fee to it, it was acceptable enough.

Then guess what! last time I paid the bill, I paid around 5K above my actual bill, so I was assured that I can use my card for a while now without worrying to pay instantly. I also knew that a payment was due in a couple of days, so what's wrong in paying in advance!? So today the time came when I had to activate the card on Internet... I called up the helpline (042-111-225-786) and asked the gentleman to have the card activated. He asked some verification questions and then said "Sorry your card can't be activated on net"... I was baffled to hear
that, so I asked him why... He told me that it was because I had paid in advance. The interesting part was that he said "Why did you pay in advance, tell me the reason" (exactly these words) in a tone in which a grandpa would ask his grand son "Why did you break the toy, give me reason" I was offended by that, but I held myself and asked him that what does he propose as I have a payment on the Internet due right now! I told him that I knew this payment was due so I paid in
advance... He was disgusted for god knows what reason and said that it is the "Company Policy" that you can't activate on Internet when youhave a positive balance! That was ridicules in its complete nature, so I said to him... "Okay, so we should pay within the 15 day time and we should pay exactly the amount due, we can't pay any late because then bank will get "angry" and charge the late fee, but we also can NOT pay in advance as it is also frowned upon by the bank!? He said, Sir G
this is a policy... I cut him there and asked him to give me a solution for the payment that I have to do right now. He then did some keystroking on his keyboard and said "I'm allowing it now, but just for this time, take care next time and DO NOT pay in advance"

I usually do not make posts about bad customer experiences, but this one is something that had be thinking. I still don't get what is the reason for such a grandpa-type attitude and what could possibly be the reason for the bank to frown upon advance payments! If any of you people know, please share your thoughts! I'll be happy to know!

Using IE 6 Message

2009-05-05T03:33:00.000+06:00

Pardon the language :) but being a designer myself I also feel so strongly about making sites "IE 6 Compatible". IE 6 is history people!

Fired for Facebook: Don’t let it happen to you

2009-05-05T03:10:00.000+06:00

Apparently - talking crap about your company will not be taken lightly. So be careful when you open your mouth - especially on social networks. :) Here is the article I came across, I though to share with your people.

It all started with an innocent "tweet"–a post to the micro-blogging site Twitter. Connor Riley, a 22-year-old pursuing her master's degree in information management and systems at University of California, Berkeley, wrote:
Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.
Cisco employee Tim Levad saw the post and responded with his own tweet:
Who is the hiring manager? I'm sure they would love to know that you will hate the work. We here at Cisco are versed in the Web.

That exchange exploded into what is now known as the "Cisco Fatty" incident–other Twitterers picked up the posts, and soon the Internet was all atwitter about a prospective employee who squandered a job opportunity in this dire economy for saying something stupid online. Riley ended up writing a post on her personal blog apologizing for her tweet, explaining that she was being sarcastic and that she'd actually already turned down the offer.
OK, so no real job loss here, but the incident begs the question: Can social media get you fired? Ask Dan Leone, and the answer is a resounding "yes." Leone, a Philadelphia Eagles employee, was bummed when Eagles player Brian Dawkins signed with a rival team. So he posted his state of mind on Facebook:
Dan is [expletive] devastated about Dawkins signing with Denver … Dam Eagles R Retarted!!
Days later, he was canned by the Eagles.
What you post online, whether it's on your personal blog or at a social networking site, matters. (Who can forget Heather Armstrong, who got fired several years ago for writing about her job on her personal blog, Dooce.com? The episode launched the phrase "getting dooced" to mean being fired for blogging about work.) But I think social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook pose a bigger threat, because it's easy to get lulled into the feeling that we're just posting comments for our friends' consumption. I don't even think employing the most stringent privacy settings–like having your profile or thoughts available to "friends only"–is much of a safeguard. It just takes one person to create a screenshot of something you write that could haunt you for life. So next time you post something online, err on the side of caution. Assume the everyone in the world can read it–and would you really want them to?

Source: http://moneyfeatures.blogs.money.cnn.com/2009/04/21/fired-for-facebook-dont-let-it-happen-to-you/#comments

Illustrator CS3 I/O Error

2009-05-02T02:48:00.001+06:00

Hi folks! I hope you have found yourself looking at an error while trying to save an illustrator file that says I/O Error. I believe that is just because you don't have much space left on your hard drive to save the file to that specification location. I was quite frustrated for what type of error is this and never thought of the fact that it could be my issue than of illustrator's. Although I would appreciate if they could have just said "You don't have much space to save this file" or something like that instead of "I/O Error".

Tasks in Outlook

2009-05-01T02:17:00.001+06:00

No wonder why outlook is so "fast"!

I hate to use outlook for email, but I have for office emails. Check the attached screenshot, it shows two tasks - simple "sending" and "receiving" but says "6 out of 7 Taks completed". How dumb a software got to be to do something like that. Microsoft SUCKS!!!

# 003 Dummails!

2009-04-29T17:38:00.001+06:00

The Magical Eye Test

Can you find the B
(there are 2 B's) DON'T skip or your wish won't come True...

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRR
RRRRRRRRRRRBRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRR
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRR
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRR
RRRRRRRRRRBRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRR
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRR

Once you've found the B

Find the 1

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIII1III
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Once you found the 1........... ...

Find the 6

9999999999999999999 999999999999999
9999999999999999999 999999999999999
9999999999999999999 999999999999999
9999999999999999999 999999999999999
9999999999999999999 999999999999999
9999999999999999999 999999999999999
9999699999999999999 999999999999999
9999999999999999999 999999999999999
9999999999999999999 999999999999999
9999999999999999999 999999999999999
9999999999999999999 999999999999999
9999999999999999999 999999999999999

Once you've found the 6...

Find the N (it's hard!!)

MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMNMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM

Once you've found the N...

Find the Q...
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOQOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO

Make 2 wishes!

>
>>
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>>>>>>>>>> >
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OK, NOW THAT U MADE A Wish, IT WILL COME TRUE...
ALL U HAVE TO DO IS FORWARD
TO 5 PEOPLE BUT
IF YOU FORWARD TO MORE IT WILL HAPPEN SOONER!!!

I got myself an AMD 16-core PC (aghhmm-itel-lover-aahmm)

2009-04-27T02:11:00.000+06:00

ME: Hi you, its the year 2011, and I got myself a (dual-dual-dual-dual-dual-dual-dual-dual)-Core PC.
You: Hey hi, I didn't get that...what did you say?
Me: Oh I'm sorry... I mean I got myself an AMD 16-core PC (aghhmm-itel-lover-aahmm) :-)
You: Wow really!
Me: Yea, read it for yourself dude! When are you from! Like 2001!

Google Search in Year 2084

2009-04-21T21:50:00.000+06:00

This is relatively possible :)

IE Blank Space after IMG tag - Fix

2009-04-06T03:23:00.005+05:00

There has been an issue that is bothering me for quite a while now. Whenever I place an image in my HTML and start the text just after it, it shows blank spaces in IE. Firefox never renders a blank space unless &nbsp tag is displayed. IE (all version before 8) shows a blank space. I don't know why! This is the reason why I hate IE from the bottom of my core!

Anyway, I tried everything, but it keeps coming back. I tried to align the image towards the direction in which it shows space, but no use. Here is the screenshot of space that IE shows. There is an IMG tag and next starts a div with repeated background defined via CSS.

Here is screenshot of how Firefox (correctly) displays the design.

The fix is that you have to remove all the white space from the code, see the image below (click it, thumbnail is very poor quality). Notice the selected area in the code below.

This is how it should look like. In short don't let dreamwaver autoformat your code, as IE (dumbass) will take it as blank space

Coded Example:

<img></img>
<div>></div>

it should be like,

<img></img><div>></div>

I hope Microsoft discontinues its products, especially the INTERNET EXPLORER! :)

Super Concept Bikes Part 2

2009-04-04T04:25:00.001+05:00

Super Bikes! If Honda Pakistan starts production, I'm definitely getting one of these bad boy! :)

Mass Hysteria: Almost as if in a movie!

2009-03-13T03:12:00.001+05:00

I came across this article about a social illness that has showed up in central America, in which a group of people are affected contagiously. The primary symptoms include breathing problems, shaking, anxiety excreta, it has also been reported that in later stages the affected individuals seize to remember where they are and refuse to recognize anyone around.

The thing so freaky about this is that it is an illness that affects the behavior or multiple people at the same time. It is contiguous while no one knows how it is transmitted or transferred, and more over no one knows how it starts - what causes it and above all there is no cure. It is almost as shown in some Hollywood movie like The Invasion or Resident Evil or something!

Source

Email: Gmail starts sending mails from Future :)

2009-03-13T02:01:00.001+05:00

This event is about to be held in EXPO Center, Karachi for which I was invited for the exhibition. The interesting part is that Google tells me that the email was sent "-1" minutes ago. Which means that if something is sent 1 min ago, it is past, if it is sent 0 minutes ago then it is present and if it is sent "-1" minutes "ago" means its future isn't it :D

Kind of funny that I was able to capture that just as the email was sent. Though I'm curious that how it could happen!? (No it is not edited) What time stamp does Gmail attach to the emails sent? Is the Gmail server time and the scripting not going along with each other lately? Or is Google literally "so ahead of its time" :-p

Mega Super Bikes!!!

2009-03-12T20:06:00.004+05:00

Ever since I sold off my bike all I could think about is heavy heavy and heavier bikes! And then this comes to me in an email, man that kills me! Especially the one ridden by the pretty lady ;-)

If someone knows the origin of these pictures please share

Email: Spammers Now Target Facebook

2009-03-12T02:14:00.001+05:00

I have now stared receiving this email in my spam folder (once again thanks to Gmail for such a great spam filter) telling me that someone uploaded a video of a girl who danced in some party and someone is very shocked! :).

It is supposed to be from messageserver##(at)facebook(.) com and points to something like htp://facebook.shared..... Yes a dancer video! who wouldn't click it. I just went in the spam folder to click "delete all spam messages now" where my custom-made purple label for social websites grabbed my attention and so I though I should share with you guys.

In my case it was gmail who filtered it and added a big notice in red at the top of the email that this might not be from who they claim to be so be careful. What if I was using Outlook to grab my emails or Hotmail or Yahoo? I'm once again lucky to have not clicked it and get my credentials / privacy compromised.

But for all you guys out there, be careful what you click.

Have you guys received any such emails in the recent past or that you know of? Please share!

Wanna see what a .docx file looks like!

2009-03-09T22:56:00.000+05:00

Have you ever got into a position where you wanted to pull your hair off just so you can extract images enclosed in a "fabulous" Microsoft Words file. Well if you are using the old version, having the .doc extension - keep pulling your hair :)

BUT, if you are on a Word 2007, with the .docx file extension, I could show you how you can get everything out of the file. You know I really hate Microsoft especially its approach to "conceal" everything thing. Just 10 minutes ago I wanted to extract a couple of images from a word file, well not exactly a couple of images - a couple of "hundred" images actually. I tried everything, I tried to copy paste into Photoshop but that stupid Microsoft Word won't copy it to the clipboard so Photoshop could get it. NO! I tried to export it as a web page, thinking it would make an html file and a folder just next to it with all the files in it so I could get my images from there, but guess what, I did that and it added an underscore (_) instead of the last charachter of image file extension. It turned ".jpg" into ".jp_". I do know how to solve it, but I don't want to do it in a hundred file. Anyway I tried taking the print-screen and then pasting it in photoshop, I mean I could do it but it would take like forever to edit all the pictures that way, saving files and making new files etc.

So here is what I did, I heard that Microsoft 2007 file format (that ends with an "x" at the end of its old-version extension) is all XML based, I tried out multiple things like renaming it to xml etc but then I did something that slit-opened the file and showed me everything it has in it. I really appreciate Microsoft's move to make its file XML based so it would be compatible with other programs / standards.

Here is what you can do to extract the images from a .docx Ms Word file.

Duplicate your .docx file
Rename the file to .zip instead of .docx - You don't wanna do this "filename.docx.zip" just "filename.zip"
DO NOT make the file a zip file (i.e. "add to archive") by using WinRAR or any other zipping program, just RENAME IT
and when you have renamed your .docx to .zip just double click (you need a zip file viewer to view the file)
You will find all the things in there in proper folder hierarchy.
Go to the folder "word >> media" and find all the images there.

Voila! Don't you just love it when you can rip apart files and use the pieces for your own purpose :D

Website Robustness and Integrity - A true benchmark

2009-03-02T02:16:00.002+05:00

When it comes to website robustness, security and privacy control, there is nothing better than the local Pakistani websites run by people who don't even know the abbreviation of www. Here is a typical example of a (supposedly) locally managed website called pak wheels. The security is so tight that they don't even allow the registered seller of the "wheels" to give out their number and contact information on the website. Okay I agree, in the section of comments you can type in your phone number if you want to in words or whatever. But take a look the image, it says at one place "Sorry, you must be logged in to view seller's info", just in the next section it says and actually provide the sellers "personal" info with name contact number even age :)

GUYS!!!! This is what you get when you pay 5000 Rupees and expect a 100++ dunamic website with unlimited hosting and .pk domain name!

Have you ever heard of something some quality designers sometimes talk about -called NO-SPEC