Peter doesnt answer

Go to www.peteranswers.com. It's a great scam. A wonderful way of fooling people like those who believed in the phone virus scam, which includes most people in Pakistan, so you're in luck. Go there, Type "Peter, please answer the following question:" followed by a question, such as "Who is standing to my right?" and hit enter. You'll get an answer. Now do the following: When typing "Peter, please answer the following:" type "." followed by the correct answer, followed by "." and then continue typing the rest of "Peter, please answer the following question:" Then ask the question. For example, if Atif is standing to my right, I'd do:
Peter, please.Atif.er the following question:
You would see in the textbox:
Peter, please answer the following question:
Followed by:
Who is standing to my right?
Then hit enter and see what happens. If you have quick typing speed, you can fool almost anyone.

Advertisement twists

Twisting a couple of TV advertisements, one for KASB bank and the other for a tea brand. Try saying it you'll like it:
"KASB Bank! Takhleek karay aisee banking, jo laga THAAAA ker kay"
Translation: KASB Bank creates banking that hits with a bang.

For 1%

Gone are the days of good entertaining programming on TV. Now you cant see a drama on TV that has anything but hatred, scheming, crime, depicting only the 1% of the nation's population. Other major ingredients include hijras, dresses you wouldnt see anyone wearing ordinarily in the depicted social class, and lots of other absurdity. There's this program on A-TV in which the host invites rich people to show off their fancy wheels and to tell us how much they bought them for. That' bullcrap! I used to watch a similar BBC program on PTV and they never showcased any billionaire owners, of which I'm sure they have plenty. But our 1% wouldnt be left behind. Then, there's this interior design program, again, for the 1%. Hello, how about us? The 1% can watch their own favorite foreign channels, so why dont you give us what we would like to see.
There was a host on PTV who was talking about "enlightened moderation" saying that we are not adopting western extremism, of vulgarity for instance, but are showing moderation, by balancing with our culture. Well, she got it all wrong. It's not coming down from their side, it is going up from our side. Leaving our extreme and finding a common ground. Like saying, yea, yea, that might be my religious obligation, I understand, but I have to keep the rest of the world happy, too, I'm sure Allah would understand, so I'll just skip namaz and some other stuff and be enlightened moderate. At least get your facts straight.
Talking of the media, what's with these protests against protesters? The ruling party protesting against Jamia Hafsa, protesting against those who are protesting in front of Supreme Court, and being so nice as to have their own rally stopped far from the Supreme Court, "to avoid any clashes." That's a little more bullcrap! The same people who had media people beaten up, talk about freedom for the media, and protest when "the other guys" beat up some journalist during their protests. That's even more bullcrap! Stay tuned, there's much more bullcrap than can fit on this page.

Road safety

During the 4 kilometer drive from my home to LUMS, 3 motorcyclists riding just ahead of me towards the left handside attempted to make a U-turn from in front of me. They wouldnt have cared if I'd ran them over, too, judging from their complete ignorance throughout the manouver until I slammed my hand on my horn. We dont value our lives at all. That was three incidents in just four kilometers. That's not counting the reckless car drivers coming out of streets straight onto the fast lane with complete oblivion to the approaching traffic. That's also not counting the pedestrians and bicycle riders who are more reckless than all others. Welcome to Pakistan!

(In)Justice

I used to think that justice isnt available to the weak or the poor (synonymous, arent they?) in Pakistan. That still is true. I also used to think that justice is only available to the rich and the strong (synonymous, arent they? Not really, the cops are powerful but not rich) in Pakistan. After some thought, I decided that justice isnt for anyone in Pakistan. No one gets justice. The rich and powerful have the right to commit injustice, which they may choose to avail.

Something that only works in Pakistan

Well, there are certain things that just wouldnt work anywhere except Pakistan. Here's a shot that I took from inside my car approaching Lahore-Islamabad motorway, several months back, of a tractor with only three tyres on the road. I guess they must be endangered species.

Victory of the establishment

It was proven yet again that you cant beat the establishment and that there is no such thing as justice. In the Sonia Naz case, the defendent didnt appear before the court on repeated calls, and left her home. The reason is quite obvious. The powers that be must have threatened her. The accused have been acquitted. Yes, the present regime is best for Pakistan.

What crap

I bet most of the Pakistanis reading this blog have already received what I am referring to here. An SMS requesting you to forward it to everyone you know that if you receive a call from a 12 digit number containing 0099, dont answer it. The SMS even mentioned a name for the condition it causes. Allegedly red rays are emitted and the brain is affected by the radiation, and the preson dies. 20 deaths were reported in a message. The stupid Geo network even aired this news. Someone mentioned that a person died on Mall Road, Lahore like this. A friend of mine reported that his entire village had turned off their cell phones because of this report.
What crap! This is bullshit and anyone participating in this spreading of rumours should be prosecuted.
First, Imagine the tiny battery in your cell phone. How the hell would it be capable of emitting radiation strong enough to damage your brain? You've had hundreds of X-rays, and that huge machine never damaged your brain to kill you instantly (at least not yet). So, how can your tiny cell phone battery do me this great favour? Also, the GSM standard is clearly documented, and it doesnt matter what number a call comes from, the same protocol is followed. It's downright impossible.
Grow up, people! Bullshit like forward it to everyone you know, care about, love, $1.00 for everyone you forward this email to, 10 copies kara kay distribute karain warna aap ko nuqsan ho ga, it's all nothing but bullshit. Grow up!

Men, women and violence

I've been seeing some activity on campus regarding "men for end of violence against women." We've also seen plenty of similar activity around "empowerment" of women by the government on miscellaneous platforms. I personally think that the latter is to win favor of the women half of the population for the next election. But that aside, let's get to the point.
Violence against women by men is wrong and I'm not for it at any level. It is wrong and shouldnt happen. However, most of the problems for women are created by women, not men. Often, one would find a feminine hand behind violence committed by men. But let's let that go. Every day I see women on the street and the way they look at other women is characteristics of criticism and jealousy. When you talk to them or they talk to each other, the same attitude is evident. When at home, they are jealous of each other and create problems for each other. At work, they do the same. So, I think, talking of violence against women by men is just a way to hide from the skeleton in the cupboard. Shouldnt women face the other reality and get their own act together? After that, by all means, come and kick us men, too.

Bangladesh vs South Africa

Bravo! If you wanna change the second half of that game, and change the result, I'd still praise Bangladesh's side for the great job that they did of reaching 251 for 8 wickets. Most teams couldnt even bat out the 50 overs, but these guys not only did that, they scored a marvelous total. What's more, they beat the competition really badly. Good job guys. I wish you'd win the cup, too, I truly do.
Of the England vs Sri Lanka game, even though England lost, I want to praise England. Especially Ravi and Nixon. They fought like men. Bravo! It doesnt matter that you lost. You played extremely well.

Wasim Akram

Well, the other day, I was thinking, and I decided that I havent seen any bowler of the calliber of Wasim Akram. Others came with a bang, Waqar Younis for instance, but gradually reduced in effectiveness. This guy, Wasim Akram, on the other hand, matured and matured and never stopped improving. He would run five steps and still bowl as fast as he wanted to, and the bowl would whizzzz past a dazzled Sachin Tendulkar's nose on a day when Sachin would be in prime form. Truly a great bowler.
I've seen captains, but I havent seen better than Imran Khan. He was a true leader, a firm believer. The team that he led to a world cup victory was probably the worst team Pakistan ever took to any world cup tournaments. I mean, look at it, Ramiz Raja in his last few days not batting too well at all, Javed Miandad not what he once was (though still was pretty effective and key), Wasim Akram, the top bowler in really poor form, Inzamam failing every time, and he still led them to beat Australia in Australia and win the cup. When I look at the match reports now, I say to myself, there's no way this team could make it to the semi finals even, and it had actually won. A guy who walks into the dressing room to a gloomy team and tells them that he's not telling them that they'd win the league match on that day, but that they'll win the world cup, which they eventually did.

What to do now?

OK, enough has been said about this already by plenty of people. It seems vogue to criticize after defeat, but here's my two cents.
We've said and re-said that Pakistan's cricket team is unpredictable for plenty of years. We know why! We know that the batsmen cant stand fast wickets where the ball bounces and seams. Yet nothing has been done about it. And if Aqib Javed was right in one of his TV reviews lately, then use of Gray's ball, which allegedly doesnt wear out, in the domestic cricket scene is spoiling even our strenght, the fast bowling.
OK, we went in with a weak bowling attack into the world cup, missing our top two pacemen. But did Ireland have a better bowling attack? Yikes, that hurt!
Inzee bhai, media everywhere does the same thing. They criticize when you play bad. That's the truth, and they say it. I mean, come on, except for Shoaib Malik, who delivered consistently? That's been the scene for quite some time. Sure, no one pointed it out earlier on, but that doesnt mean they are wrong now. They were wrong before, but you saw it, others saw it, and didnt react. I think they shouldnt have dropped kamran butt from the side like they did a long time ago. I think he had plenty of promise.
I mean, come on, my eldest brother played club cricket for a few months in Karachi, and I knew that his coach punished people if the ball didnt go all along the ground when they were batting. I saw that his foot landed next to his bat where the ball pitched without exception. If they teach that in club cricket, then beats me as to where the national team players learn their bit.
I think, now, that they should do away with anyone who doesnt have the potential to make it to the next world cup, and start with a fresh team. Start building now, and not only the team, but wickets. The cricket board gets plenty of funding from sponsors, where does it go?

Renewed

I've been renewed as MVP this year. I want to speed up my activities, but I am tied up with increasing academic load at the same time. Let's see.

Woolmer no more

I guess he was the only sensitive person on the plane leaving from Pakistan to West Indies. It appears that he did what the others should (more importantly) have done. Several people criticized him, but I always though that he was a good coach.

Microsoft IT Community Day

On Friday, March 16, 2007. Microsoft Pakistan held Microsoft IT Community Day at GCU Lahore. The main objective was to build a synergy amongst the various Microsoft communities. Another objective was to help the particants of Imagine Cup 2007 to compete more effectively by telling them about the tools and techniques available.
Being an MVP I was requested to give a welcome address at the occassion, and I happily did that. One of the speakers reported a couple of days before the event that he'd have a night duty at the office and might be unable to deliver his presentation. So, I was requested to do it in his place. I agreed.
It wouldnt look good, though, to see too much of me on the stage, so alternate arrangements were made. Unfortunately, the backup speaker couldnt make it either due to late night at the office, so I was requested at the last minute to do the session. I noticed that the only other speaker who was present was delivering a session on SOA using Web Services. The session I was supposed to backup for was on Web Services, too. So, I decided to make late breaking adjustments and delivered a session on Windows Vista, XAML and WPF instead.
We started more than an hour late due to late arrival of the coaster from Islamabad which was bringing some Imagine Cup 2007 participants and the other speaker. I made a quick welcome address, invited the Dean Faculty of Sciences to the stage for a few quick words. Followed by that, I delivered a very quick presentation on Imagine Cup 2007 so that we finished in time for juma prayers.
After the prayers, Rizwan Ahmed delivered a session on SOA, followed by my own on Windows Vista, XAML and WPF. Vaqar Khamisani from Microsoft Pakistan was there close to the end of my presentaiton and had a few quick words with the participants. This was followed by lunch and departure to the Bowling Alley at Fortress Stadium. I followed in my car but before reaching the Alley, I had to divert because I had to go to LUMS.
In the end, it all worked out, OK. I helped bring a delayed event back on schedule. I gave out some giveaways to the audience and joked with them to ease them out a little. Overall, they had been very quiet all day.

What's up!

Lots of things happening. Pretty busy for a long time. One quarter ended, another one about to start. Tough courses ahead. Conference deadline also fast approaching and need to work on a paper to submit to it.

The day

Kal mulk bhar main lakhon farzandanay tauheed nay well-in-time-day/laaltain-day manaya. Is moqay per tamam chotee baree masajid main khusoosi duain mangee gaain. Is moqay per sadr-e-mumlikat nay qom k naam apnay khusoosee paigham main kaha kay Pakistan key jarhain well-in-time-day or basant mananay say or mazboot hon gee, lihaza hamain chahiyay k burh churh ker is naik kam main hissa lain. Is moqay per sadr-e-mumlikat nay apnee beshumar well-in-times ko gulab k phool bhaijay.

Critique

On comments made by anonymous in an earlier email:
thanks for the wish
if by standing and delivering you meant to ACTUALLY brought a change, I would like to know what you have delivered ..
No disucssion here. Neither you, nor I am a judge to this. Time will only tell.
i guess in order to deliver you need to stand-up and lead from the front, sorry for personal comments but ....
for how many times you were in the class ON-TIME for lectures
Zero. I was never on time. I was always late and always left earlier than the scheduled finish time.
how can you talk about bringing a change when you DID NOT EVEN CHANGE the few ROTED questions during viva
No I didnt change the questions.
talk about change, and I would like to know what changes had you made to the style of examination paper (asking for chunks from your notes)...
No, I didnt change that either.
i would like to know what you had delivered, and if you do not have the moral courage to face criticism and are eager to delete comments BECAUSE I DO NOT KNOW THE CIRCUMSTANCES , I wish you stop criticizing others as well because similar can be said for you as well
Yes, you're right. Me and my friend are both crooks. I was never on time, and didnt change anything that you mentioned. My friend is a greedy person who ceased the opportunity to earn some big bucks when he couldnt find anything to earn here in Pakistan anymore. You're right, we're both crooks who just talk about righteousness and dont practice it.
At least I changed one thing. I gave guys like you the ability and opportunity to criticize me, so yea, sure, go ahead and do it.

I would, however, like to mention a few things. Changing the examination style is beyond my control, and delivering involves doing whatever is in your power. I tried to do that. I guess a guy who got out for a duck is better than a guy who didnt show up for the games because he thought the game was lost before it was played. Sure, the ducker will be criticized, but this little ducker is happy that he did what he possibly could.
It makes me wish, though, that I should've been selfish, too. All those times when I was late to class because some ex-student was there, off from his job for an hour, to seek a recommendation letter, pleading that it had to be done right then, I should've refused then and there. And that department gardener and electrician who would catch me all the time, going to class to plead their cases of possible bonuses or other opprotunities to augment their otherwise meager salaries to support their poor families, I should've told them to shut up and talk to them later. I always thought, people dont understand when I say I have a class to take. I should've disregarded their not understanding, and been off with them nonetheless.
As for exams, there's no argument, that given the greater experience that I had than my students, I could've beaten them with challenging questions any day, just like my teachers did, for the sake of satisfaction to see them do poorly. But I dont believe that there's a point in doing that, we're not equals. It's a tricky bit, I'd get criticized if I ask tough questions, and I'd get criticized if I ask easy ones.
That said, what you've said is right, and as said earlier, I accept it all. Dont forget to write once you've brought some cool changes to your surroundings, because I will truly be pleased to see that, and not jealous, only inspired. Doesnt matter where good comes from. It should keep coming. It didnt come from me, there's an opportunity from everyone else. With that, I hope that with my confession, this discussion would be over, unless, of course, you want to deliver a sentence, too, which I'll have to serve since I have made the confession. The other entry was supposed to be from a friend to another friend. It got taken into an entirely other, unfortunate dimension.

One less number in my phone book

In a couple of days, I'll be deleting a number from my cell phone's phone book, with a heavy heart. There'll be one less number of dial once in a while. One less number to receive calls from. One less pleasant face to see. There'll be another friend gone away. I dont even know if I'd be able to delete that number. It's tough, I can feel it. My trustworthy friend, one with whom I gave sweat and blood to the cause of INETA, one with whom I shared thoughts in social and technical issues, one with whom I shared my car, one who shared his car with me quite often, one for whom I always made time despite busy schedules, is going abroad. Adnan, adios, my dear friend.
Our hopes and dreams of doing a .NET session together one last time for sake of old times didnt materialize, alas. Maybe we'll be able to do that in the future. Maybe I'll see you sometime when I am at some conference in the US or you are at a conference in Pakistan as an honourable visiting speaker, or on a land where we're both foreign visitors.
I hope that you have a pleasant flight all the way to the US. I hope that you have a pleasant walk through the airports, a pleasant drive to your new home, exciting wonderful assignments on your new job and that life treats you well. I wish you would make great friends there. May all the thorns in all your paths vanish.
Keep smiling my friend! I will try to do the same, even though it'll be difficult knowing that you're not closeby anymore.

Hummer at bhatta chowk

Talk about seeing a Hummer at a location like Bhatta Chowk in Lahore. Well, here's a photograph of what was seen, if you dont know what I am talking about.

The location photograph is not there, but it's a pretty low area. The only reason I saw it there, perhaps is that it is between DHA Lahore and the Lahore Airport, so the owener or his dirver was going to the airport from his DHA residence, perhaps.
This piece of steel, rubber, glass and plastic costs about US$54000.

New girl in town

Yea, he's happy to have become a big brother, for sure and she's my niece, born Jan 17, 2007.

Visiting

I'll be visiting Karachi from tomorrow and returning to Lahore on Jan 2. A very short trip just to clebrate eid with parents.

Kallar Kahar

I went to Lake Kallar Kahar a while ago over the weekend with my wife, on a friend's recommendation. I was very disappointed by the experience. It is situated about 350 kilometers from Lahore on the Lahore Islamabad motorway. We boated in the lake full of dirty water. It wasnt worth all the travel. We wanted to touch Khewra mines, too, but scrapped the idea.
CNG stations along the way were low on pressure and I drove consider amount of the time on petrol. My recommendation, dont go there.

Miththu lost and found

We lost miththu a month or so back. He was sitting on top of his cage (we dont lock him in), and we were upstairs. The door was open. When we came down, miththu was nowhere to be found. Several weeks later, we were returning home and in the street we saw miththu perched on top of a kid's shoulder. He said that he brought it from his village 7 months earlier. But we tested miththu out and sure enough miththu exhibited all individualistic characteristics. My brother took miththu back.

Laylatal Qadr on MSN

This is interesting.

It's that time again

It's midterm time again. Got one three hours from now. Been here studying since 6 am at the university. Same yesterday.

Student at LUMS

Just ran into a student of mine in the PDC (Pepsi Dining Center) at LUMS. He has joined the MBA program here. It was good to see him after a long time. He worked at a software development company in Karachi for two years after his graduation from NED University before joining LUMS. He was appreciating the very tough studies here and mentioning the nighters that he is doing. I agreed with him and said that while we did nighters at the end of the year at NED, here we do it throughout the year. It'll be good to have a familiar face from the past at LUMS.

Change of fate

Well, he said he'd change the city's fate. You gotta give credit to the man, he's done it in admirable time. He said he'd change it into Paris. Well, maybe he didnt exactly make it Paris, but Venice isnt too far from Paris, is it. You have to give him credit for that. I guess we should rename to something like I. I. Chundrigar Canal, or M. A. Jinnah River.

Investment

The other day, I was watching a program on TV which was addressing the concerns of overseas Pakistanis wanting to invest in real estate back home. Give me a break! As if the pseudo-investment from within wasnt enough to blow things out of proportion. Property prices have increased to at least 4 times what they were about five years ago. House rents have sky rocketed. Anyone renting a house is obviously a salaried class person. In my opinion seven or eight years ago, any salaried person renting a house could never hope to own a house. Now, it's even worse. I am seriously wondering if we'll be able to rent a house one or two years later.
What the hell is this? I dont buy any such thing as investment in real estate. It's the most selfish thing I ever heard, which is benefiting one person and hurting millions of others. If it were investment in real estate in the form of hotels and stuff in the tourist districts, I'd understand, because that would give tourists better facilities and create employment. But no, I dont see people going that way. All they want to do is to buy a piece of land in a housing society somewhere, keep it till its price is three times its buying price (which, imho is at least six times what it reasonably should be), or erect a house and rent it out.
No one cares! And how about the masoor key daal selling at Rs. 70 per kg. To my overseas friends who think the present regime is good: Yea, sure. If they'd only leave us able to live. We might not be able to sustain livelihood for more than two years if these trends continue. OK, so the price trends are the same everywhere in the world, there's a slum, but we're getting subsidies, and aid, and still not getting it. Our oil prices are decided based on international market prices even though we are sold oil at much lower rates. But who cares, right! Not until you find the chokehold too tight for you to breath. Await that moment, my countrymen. I can only pray that at that moment, we depart as less painfully as possible.

In dependence day

So the "in dependence" day is drawing close. I just cant get myself to be happy on this day. It pains me greatly to see the very plight of us. 59 years we've been banging our heads on the walls. At least we should've developed some civic sense, of which we have none. We have no sense of responsibility towards the country that we live in. Nothing but selfishness abounds. I wish someone would come up with a way to set things right quickly because there's very little time left.

Whoever is guilty....

So, our Federal Minister for privatization said to the press guys that following the detailed judgement of the supreme court, the Pakistan Steel Mills will be re-offered for privatization. He also said that whoever is found guilty in the misdeeds of doing a bad deal in the previously held privatization process of the same indsutry will be punished.
It's funny that the same people who were happily claiming the privatization as their success will have to look for people responsible for a discovered failure in the same.

I just want you to know who I am

And I'd give up forever to touch you
Cause I know that you feel me somehow
You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be
And I don't want to go home right now

And all I can taste is this moment
And all I can breathe is your life
Cause sooner or later it's over
I just don't want to miss you tonight

And I don't want the world to see me
Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming
Or the moment of truth in your lies
When everything seems like the movies
Yeah you bleed just to know your alive

And I don't want the world to see me
Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

I don't want the world to see me
Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

Business proposition

Forgot to upload a site image to explain what I am talking about, when I published this post originally. Here is a pictorial view.

Well, I've got an excellent business idea. I cant put it in action since I am not in Karachi. But it's yours for free, if you are up for it.
Thinking of the submerged underpass turned swimming pool is right there in Clifton, and the dockyard is nearby, one might as well run a submarine service to get people and their vehicles across the underpass.
Dont like that? Here's another one. Suck out a little bit more of water (if the surrounding area could use some more, so that there is some head clearance in the underpass to operate a ferry. Operate a cruise across the damned thing. From that, you can go crazy about the opportunities and value added services. Here's another free idea, throw in a few fish as well, makes for a great cruise. There's money to be made here.

Dont blame them

"It wasnt our fault. It wasnt the drainage problem. It wasnt rain water. It was a sewage line nearby that burst." The sewage line is someone else's problem. They probably beat the shit out of the person asking the question. Go figure!

Iron

I was watching Spider Man 2 (again) this morning, and as Mary Jane Watson ran away to Peter Parker's apartment and vowed to be his, and Peter's friend Harry was being prepared to become a vilain, it was fun noting how we'd see M J in Spider Man 3, ironing the spider man costume for her beloved husband cursing who the hell came up with the idea of the heavily ribbed suit.
On a more serious note, it was worth grasping that we shouldnt be disappointed by how people hate us even though we're doing the right thing. There are people who think highly of us, it's just that we dont see that when others say bad things about us or treat us badly. When you fall trying to stop a train headed for disaster, you will find people who will lift you on their shoulder and stand by you.

Sense

Surprisingly, some sense has gone into the brains of the powers that be controlling the Internet connectivity tap to Pakistan, and the blogspot.com domain is viewable again in Pakistan. Better late than never, I guess.

Monkey business

In Ayubia recently, I found these monkeys going about their business. You can see Pakistan in the background, clearly identifiable courtesy the garbage in a public place.

VPC

Read about my recent first encounters with Virtual PC 2004.

Presentation upload

I have a technical blog at http://idevelop.spaces.msn.com/PersonalSpace.aspx. Please do visit it. I also have an MSN group called IDevelop and have uploaded the presentation in the files section of that group. The message is posted on my technical blog. I am sorry about the delay, I was caught up with a research project. I was hoping to upload it to my webserver so I can offer you a simple URL to download instead of the "join my MSN group" marketing crap, but there are some complications with the upload and I'll get it fixed asap. Thanks for the appreciation and keep in touch.

Long time no (PD)C

OK. So, I've got several complaints that I've not been blogging, which is pretty well placed, too. I was pretty busy with life in general and a research project in particular. I came down to PDC 2006 with minimal preparation for my session, which I feel didnt go too well. It's not that my demo didnt work or anything, but I wasnt satisfied with how I did in presenting the material. Maybe a bit rusty, but I'm sure I can work on that and fix it. Unfortunately, this had to be at the mega event such as PDC.
The community lounge was pretty bad this year. The volunteers were not interested in anything but each other. There were issues everywhere. "I told him not to do that, and still he was doing it" type of material. Pretty immature stuff. The event overall, didnt come out to me as good as last year's. Let's hope for the best next time around.

Long time no post

Life's been busy. Got married. Toughest quarter yet. Projects still outstanding. Will write more frequently later. Fareeha, I couldnt reply to you directly. Will try later.

Beauty and the geek

Beauty and the geek

The Americans have landed

The Americans have landed in Karachi! No, its not the FBI or the Marine Corpes. It's my sister, her husband and my nephew. They are here after about five years. Long time no see. They came down as a surprise. They werent supposed to come in another week or so, but they did and called home from the Karachi airport.

Appreciation

I guess that the positive side about blocking of blogspot.com is that some people high up have noticed "blogs." That's a quantum leap in bureaucracy. Which is also bad news for me, because if I keep blogging what I blog, I'd be picked up by some secret service one of these days.
I'm just glad they werent smart enough to ban blogger.com. Or maybe they wanted to leave us write only access. I thank them if it is the latter.

Choka

Last quarter results are out for all three courses. This time I hit fours in all three courses! Yeaaaaaaaaaa! A+, A, A. In the first quarter I had A+, A, B. This will improve my CGPA and help me in retaining my scholarship here at LUMS.

Beautiful

I love the LUMS campus. Especially when it rains. The lush green grass, and the red buildings look so cute. It's downright, out of this world. It's at times like this that I wish I had brought my camera. Its raining right now and been raining for several hours. I feel like taking a dip in the rain. I have to see my advisor to decided on some resources for my term project for the course Topics in Internet Research right now before I go home.

In your face!

I've been unable to read my blog for quite some time. At first, there was a report of a distributed denial of service attacks against popular blogging sites, so I thought, OK. But DDoS attacks shouldnt last weeks. So, there was another report that some ISPs have banned some blogging websites because one blogger posted a blasphemous cartoon to his blog.
So, I thought, OK. You're challenging me with something even a school kid could bypass. Have a look at the following snapshot dated a few minutes ago. (I havent uploaded it to my webserver yet, but I'll do it tonight insha Allah).

Anonymous HTTP proxies can easily bypass these trivial, childish, and foolish bans. You cant sensor stuff anymore. You block one medium, it'll pop up on another. Even if you ban HTTP traffic completely, I can view web pages through email. So much for your sensorship. Grow up! Some ISPs havent banned it. Let's be frank here. How many ISPs block pornography? They know that it is the number one thing that people are after. They are in a business of making money, not losing it.

Insecurity

I hope everyone at PAF KIET including their staff, faculty members, current and ex students read this so that I dont get bombarded for any future "racist" remarks. Here's a letter from an ex faculty member at NED. I personally knew her through email contact and must say that it is another great loss to the student community at NED. Read her letter to the editor of dawn.

Sunshine and rain

So, it turned out that it rained yesterday for a bit after the windstorm. The weather became pleasant, but only for yesterday and now we're back to the hot weather. I took out one of my kurtas declaring the start of summer as far as I am concerned.

Road sense

Enter the Pakistani pedestrian! I was driving down a street and there was a guy and his goat walking on the left handside of the road. Walking on the road, not off the road. Should've been walking on the right handside, but, hey, it's Pakistan, we do exact opposites just for fun. As I approached in my car, the goat moved off the road, without even turning around to see. The goat driver, however, continued to go his merry way. He wants others to watch out for him, when he doesnt watch out for himself. If you dont care about yourself, why do you expect others to care for you?
This goes to demonstrate that an animal has better road sense than an average Pakistani.
Today, though, I finally spotted an animal that had an exact replica of a Pakistani pedestrian's road sense. A donkey! An abandoned donkey, to be precise. Walking right in the middle of a road with complete abandon. How ironic! A donkey who is old, worn out, good for nothing, not even worth feeding. We have a match! I guess even the donkey would've forgotten his instinctive road sense because the bigger ass driving him in the donkey cart drove him in very erratic ways. We're even corrupting the animals.

Nomenclature

Oh, the ironic names that people give to their brain childs here in Pakistan. I guess it's the same in other non native English speaking countries, too. For example, a friend of mine showed me a "Playboy Beauty Parlor" for ladies only. Yesterday I saw a driving training school vehicle saying "Diana Driving School." To think that the most famous Diana in the world died precisely in a car crash. I guess there'll be an airline called "Plane Crash Airlines" somewhere, too. At least on paper.

Today

I had an exam yesterday, and then the next one is on Monday followed by another one on Tuesday next week. I decided to study for the exam on Tuesday first. I thought I might need to access the Internet for some problem solutions, so I came to the campus to leach on the wifi. Meanwhile, several MSDN TV episodes are also being downloaded on a download manager.
As I went to pray, there was a slight windstorm and the weather seems to have improved a bit. I'll resume studies after lunch now. It's not the kind of weather when the last thing my students would have wanted to do was study and I forced them to, for their own good, so it serves me right to sit and study now. So, here I am in the library with a beautiful view from the window behind me, and a book in front.

May Day!

Mithu was attacked on last night. Now, we've got a couple of golden puff chickens. The male is very bad tameez and doesnt let the lady eat, so my brother was sitting in front of their cage when he gave them the food. When he's near, the male doesnt come close the food because he's scared he would be punished for his bad deeds.
Bhai also happened to have mithu on his lap. Seeing mithu, something got into the male and he jumped at Mithu, took him by one of his wings and dragged him in. Bhai acted quickly and slapped the male on his head to let go of poor mithu. All night, poor mithu had eyes the size of golf balls.
We have lodged an attempt of murder case against the golden puff and are awaiting the court's decision. Well, who knows, maybe the court would rule against the golden puff and then given them "fifteen days" off, to allow them to attack mithu during that time.

Of Mian and of Dad

Last night, Javed Miandad was on TV on a sports commentary show. To me, Javed Miandad came across as a great batsmen and nothing else. He wasnt a great player. Just a great batsman, which is why he didnt make a great captan. He doesnt have a great understanding of the game. While the rest of the world moved on and on including Ramiz Raja and Waqar Younis and developed great understanding of the game, our hero stayed his crease.
So, now when he comments, he is usually not very compelling. When he talks, he's saying "Dekhain, woh meray khayal main iss cheese ko us tarah naheen lay ker chalay jaisay chalna chahiyay tha. Aap is ko is tarah daikhain. Cheezon ko aik plan k sath lay k chalna paray ga." Now he's just speaking, without making any sense at all.
It seems that he has been placed there by powers that be to have another one of "their guys" on TV.
His brother called and asked a question why he was not sent an invitation card to Imran Khan's hospital innauguration. While Javed didnt answer the question, I guess that he should've given the narrow minded brother of his the answer he was looking for "Chota sooba, bara sooba."
Geez, when will we every grow up. Answer: Never. At least not the Southern part of the country.

It's that time of the year

Well, it's exam time. Again! Exams start for me on Tuesday next week and end exactly one week later. I also have a presentation to give in between. Let's see how things go.

Riots

One of our family friends has a relative who works in the bank that was set on fire in Lahore during the protest on the day of the nationwide strike against the cartoon issue. He described what was completely different from what was reported on the media. He told us that the rally of people came to the bank as the bank was open. Some leaders of the rally asked them why the bank was open when they knew it was a day of strike. The bank staff agreed to shut the bank down and started wrapping up. The rally went on. A while later, the bank security guard saw a few young men standing near the entrance to the basement which housed the locker where the currency bills were kept. The guard thought that the young men were robbers and he shot at them. That's when the rally returned and thinking they had been fired upon, did all the damage. Nothing justifies setting things ablaze or breaking things. Heck, such a thing doesnt even justify a strike, we're only hurting ourselves. But this goes to show how the media is doing.
By the way, if you've seen the photograph of the guard pointing his gun at someone, which was published in the newspapers, he's got really big moustache. We were joking that "guard nay moonchain naheen rakheen, monchon nay guard rakha hay."

Cartoon

Our khateeb talked about the issue of the cartoons. He also addressed my uncomfort with the issues that I had pointed out in an earlier post about forgiveness. He said that that feeling is not true and pointed out that when Abu Lahab said Tabb alaika ya Muhammad, Allah responded with the verses, Tabban yada Abee Lahabin wa tabb, in effect saying tabb twice in response to his once. Allah took great exception in matters of disrespect to the prophet. There was one such person who would be disregardful to the Prophet and the Prophet to Allah for forgiveness for that person and in response Allah said, Allah will not forgive him even if you pray seventy times for forgiveness for him.
At another occassion, when the Prophet and his companions had gone to the battle of Badr, a blind companion, Muazz bin Adee was in Madina because of his lack of eyesight. A woman who used to say disrespectful verses against the Prophet came on the streets and said some such verses. Muaaz was very upset at this and promised Allah that if the Prophet and his companions would return from Badr, he will finish that woman. When they did return victorious, Allah knows how Muaaz, withtout eyesight managed to get to that woman and executed her. He then went to the Prophet and asked him if there was any punishment for his act. The Prophet told him no and that on that matter, even two goats wouldnt lock their horns, which is an Arabic proverb meaning that even animals wouldnt disagree on this, what to talk of men.
Now, since this present act is not a chance incident occurring out of ignorance, but a planned one, as you can see the Italian Prime Minister on TV saying that he will not only wear a T-shirt with that logo, but also distribute such T-shirts, and he was wearing it, it should not go unnoticed. The means of taking action against this are definitely not the ones seen in Lahore, though.
The khateeb also pointed out Allam Iqbal's work titled "Ibless ka paygham apnay syasee farzandon k naam." He mentioned a verse that said something to the effect "yeh moat say naheen dartay. In k badan say rooh-e-Muhammad nikal do."

Of disrespect

So, you're thinking, why's this Mr. Big Mouth silent when all the country is in riots over the issue of cartoons. Well, notice how we associate Allah with punishment more than with mercy. We use Allah (perhaps only) to scare children and each other from sins, or to comment on calamities, whereas Allah's mercy far exceeds the punishment.
Remember that the Prophet never retaliated or take revenge even after people had severely injured him from stoning or killed his loved ones. Is the cartoon worse than that? The issue of claiming to be a false prophet is something that the sahaba after the Prophet's death did act strictly upon, but other than that, I'll need to seek learned guidance. I'm not talking about anyone telling me of his/her knowledge, but that of a good alim.
Other than that, I dont think anyone gives a damn as to what we do down here, protest, take out rallies, set property on fire, set ourselves on fire, do whatever you like. You're only doing what you do all year: harming yourself or your brothers depending on how you want to look at it, and enjoying it.
I cant forget the broad smile on the faces of the school kids jumping up and down with joy and some of them dancing as they destroyed property during these riots. That's not protests, that's realization of hidden anarchic desires.

Addendum to presentation

In last night's presentation, I had forgotten to mention that when you have created a master page with a content placeholder in it and inherit a page from a master page, you right click on the content control in the inherited page, and select "create custom content." That should be easy to remember CCC (Create Custom Content).

LUMS MS Launch event

Alright, the LUMS Microsoft Launch event last night went very well. The audience was quite good despite the cricket game on the TV. The event was started with a short welcome by Jaffar Haider, MS Student Ambassador at LUMS.



Then, there was recitation from the Holy Quran and I believe that the recitation should be kept a litte bit shorter, with no offense to the person in picture here. I appreciate him doing a very nice recitation.



Then, Rai Yawar, delivered his presentation on SQL Server 2005 Business Intelligence.



He started with an overview of SQL Server 2005, and the need for Business Intelligence. He talked about SSIS architecture and OVAL.




He also talked about scalability, optimization, parallelism, security and extensibility.






And then, I took the stage and introduced myself.


I first talked about Imagine Cup 2006.




I talked about Web Developer features in Visual Studio 2005. I fired up magnifier to let the audience take a closer look as I created a website.






The first thing I talked about was the background of the demo application, "Online airline reservation sytem" which was the cornerstone of the entire presentation.



I showed the audience what the finished demo application looked like and gave them the URL where they could download it from.




I then talked about the need for consisten look and feel in a web application and how it has been accomplished in the past. I talked about the role of Master pages in this context and created a master page and copied and pasted some layout markup into it. I also created a couple of pages that inherited from it to demonstrate the idea.


I then showed the audience how to use the new contentplaceholder control to provide page specific content.






Someone asked about the possibility of developing a web application in Visual Studio 2005 that could run on ASP.NET 1.1.


I answered that question.



I next talked about membership and how easy it is to setup it up using aspnet_regsql wizard.


I then explained the choices that exist for the backend of the membership data.


I dragged and dropped some login realted controls onto the forms and showed the audience how easy to use, yet customizable they are.



I showed them how easily we could use the loginview control to customize what is displayed based on who is logged in.



I summarized the login related functionality.



I then talked about data access. Before I did that, I talked to the audience about the necessity of a good design and architecture. I talked about the layered architecture and shared with them my choices in the design and development of the demo application.





I gave them a look at my business logic layer and what it meant.



I kept this part of the presentation short, as we were almost running out of time and the last thing I want to do is to drag the presentation to bore the audience.



After the presentation, I reminded the audience about Imagine Cup and the lucky draw. People submitted their feedback forms into a carton and then I drew 25 of them randomly and Jaffar handed out the goodies to the winners. We really went crazy at this time, as the audience really got into it and we had all sorts of suggestions on how to turn the carton upside down to best shuffle the feedback forms inside, and suggesting that we should draw the folded feedback forms or the unfolded feedback forms. We had lots of fun and some people from the audience came up to me asking interesting questions and I addressed most of them and asked a couple of them to email me so that I can look into their issues. One of these was about the availability of Licensed software at LUMS. LUMS is a member of MSDNAA so all students and faculty get licensed MS software for free, but the student community is unaware of how to avail it.
It was a very good launch event and I enjoyed being part of it. I hope that the audience was also happy.

Launch event tonight

There's another launch event tonight at LUMS. I'll again be talking about ASP.NET master pages, login controls and data controls. The other presenter is Rai Yawar. Let's see how the event goes. The demo source code is already uploaded.

Blind justice

Well, the SCP has lifted ban of kite flying (if any such thing was in effect) for 15 days. So, killing people has been made legal for 15 days. Thank you, so much.
Indian sugar mills have raised the prices of sugar after news of Pakistan importing sugar from India. Well, I guess they're not much different from us.

Profit

A few weeks ago, while my car was at the automotive mechanic workshops, I went to buy some gear oil from a nearby shop. The shop owner is a seemingly nice person, has a long beard, always carries a tasbeeh and never misses a prayer in the mosque, which I notice whenever I have been to the workshop.
I gave the oil to the mechanic and went to the university. A while later, when I returned to the workshop, the workshop owner asked me where I had bought the oil from. I told him I bought it at the neighboring shop. I had bought those cans for Rs. 190 each. The owner told me that he had learnt from the mechanic how much I had bought them for and he bought the same oil at the gas station for Rs. 120 each for me and asked me to return the cans to the shop owner if possible.
What a shock! Something that is retailing for Rs. 120 carries sufficient margin for the shopkeeper, yet he'd love to sell it for as much as possible. Cant trust anything in Pakistan, can you. And to think that he seems so religious, and is selling something for about 50% more than necessary. What is all his religious practice teaching him?
At least in the land of the infidel, I could go to WalMart and rest assured that whatever I buy, I buy it for what it is worth. I can find things of various quality on the same shelf, and the best quality is expensive and the compromise is cheaper. The choice is mine. But here, I am confused. I buy expensive, yet low quality.

Cloud number nine(teen)

Well, well, strange things happen, dont they. I was coming from the masjid a few minutes ago when I saw my algo teacher approaching. Just as I was about to say salam to him, he said, "Tumhari first assignment achchee thee." Now that's a very interesting course and with the size of the class, it is not easy to impress him. I am so excited!
The fun part is that he recognized and rememberd me by face, name and roll number, which in such a class is remarkable.

Spring cleaning

Two things. First, I saw PM Shortcut on TV today as he was supposedly condemning the cartoon affair. Well, his body language didnt look like it. He looked more to be apologizing than condemning. I guess it is justified with the kind of economic and moral debts that we are under, we are basically sold. And slaves dont complain. See how the condemnation from the government has come almost a week after the incident.
Second, there's news of reforms in jails on, like, not putting restraints in the feet and stuff. Lots of reforms. Well, those who are planning and executing it belong there, so I call it spring cleaning. Starting at the home, so to speak.

Presentation

Alright, so here I am at Khorsheed Mahal Avari Towers, Lahore, yet again. This time around, I am at the other end of the hall in the speakers' area, where I will be giving a presentation on VSTS 2005 and ASP.NET 2.0. I had a class at 2 pm, which ended at 3:20 pm and getting to Avari before 4 pm was almost impossible given the traffic and the traffic lights. Fortunately, I got here a couple of minutes before 4 pm. Also, Vaqar Khamisani is still giving his presentation, so my presentation will start a few minutes late, which will given me time to catch my breath after almost running all the way from the car parking to the hall.
Wish me luck. As I mentioned, the presentation and demo source code are already uploaded here. Enjoy!
Now, after the presentation I have run back to LUMS because I have another class at 6:40 pm in which I also have a quiz.

Website updated

I just updated my website. The special occasion is Microsoft ISV Community Days, 2006 tomorrow. Since I'd like to offer the source code and presentations on the website for download during the presentation, I decided to do the much delayed update to the website.
Now, the thing here is that I have a quiz tomorrow afternoon in the class from 2 pm to 3:30 pm, then I have to rush to the presentation which is scheduled to start at 4 pm, and then I rush back to another class where there is another quiz. The best part is, I havent prepared for either quiz and I also have to do some work on the demo for tomorrow's presentation.
Let's hope for the best.

Managed Instant Messenger

Many students asked me at various times on how to integrate their own application with MSN Messenger or to import the contacts from the MSN Addressbook. My answer was that this would need to be done on the socket level, connecting to the MSN Messenger Service and a lot of hacking would be needed to figure out the request response possibilities. Well, there is a sample application that does IM through MSN. Check it out. I hope you find that useful. It is a command line based application and there is a link to another application developed using the same code but is richer. I had been wanting to blog about this for months, so I finally succeeded in doing it tonight.

Merchandise

Recently, I ordered the merchandise from Microsoft company online store for the gift voucher that I got for my MVP award. The merchandise just arrived. Here's a glimpse of it.

Hooded shirt.


Geek T-shirt.


Bag and books.


Microsoft mouse keyring.


Mouse keyring was in this case.

Tests on random numbers

If someone (such as a random number generator) claims a set of numbers to be random numbers, following some probability distribution, most commonly, uniform, there are certain tests that can be performed on these random numbers to ascertain or deny this claim. Such tests include Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Chi-square test, Poker test, Gap test, Runs test. There are also some batteries of tests such as the Diehard battery of tests, that can be performed on the set of random numbers. The results of these tests can be analyzed to accept or deny the claim.
We were asked to perform these tests on the random numbers generated through Microsoft Excel and Matlab. Here is everything, including the Excel workbook to perform the tests on Excel random numbers as welll as a workbook to perform the tests on Matlab random numbers. Different worksheets correspond to each test. Macros have been written to perform and repeat these tests on 100 sets of 100 random numbers. Matlab includes a command called xlswrite() to export some Matlab variable to excel.
Also included is the C# program to export random numbers from Excel to a binary mode file for the DieHard battery of tests using Office Interop. Apart from that, there is a Visual C++ program to export random numbers from Matlab into a binary mode file for the same purpose. Test results from the Diehard battery are also included, as is an MS Word document that summarises and analyzes the results.

Shepherds

"I didn't know shepherds knew how to read," said a girl's voice behind him.
"Well, usually I learn more from my sheep than from books," he answered. The shepherd told her of the Andalusian countryside, and related the news from the other towns where he had stopped. It was a pleasant change from talking to his sheep.

But when he thought to complain about the burden of its weight (his jacket), he remembered that, because he had the jacket, he had withstood the cold of the dawn.
We have to be prepared for change, he thought, and he was grateful for the jacket's weight and warmth.
The jacket had a purpose, and so did the boy. His purpose in life was to travel, and, after two years of walking the Andalusian terrain, he knew all the cities of the region.

Ethan

"Ethan do you copy?"
"No, but I do scan, email and print."

We failed again

Once again we let our masters down. If we had bombed the shit out of that house in Bajor agency ourselves, they wouldnt have been troubled to do it themselves. What are here for anyway?
And dont you go talking about violation of sovereignty. Sovereignty is violated when one armed force attacks another country's territory. In this case, the attackers were conducting an operation within their own land.
Never forget: we'd sell our mother if the price were right.

New Islamabad police

So, they've set up a new Police force for the federal capital. My argument is, can any police force act against Brigadier Blah Blah, or Secretary Blah Blah, or son of Minister for Waste Management? When the so-called elite considers itself above the law, and the police has no abiliy to enforce the law, you can continue inventing new police forces, which we've been seeing non stop in Karachi for two decades, without any results. Bottom line is, they're spending the tax payers money to get better looking protocol.

A shepherd and his sheep

He swept the floor with his jacket and lay down, using the book he had just finished reading as a pillow. He told himself that he would have to start reading thicker books: they lasted longer, and made more comfortable pillows.
He arose and, taking up his crook, began to awaken the sheep that still slept. He had noticed that, as soon as he awoke, most of his animals also began to stir. It was as if some mysterious energy bound his life to that of the sheep, with whom he had spent the past two years, leading them through the countryside in search of food and water. "They are so used to me that they know my schedule," he muttered. Thinking about that for a moment, he realized that it could be the other way around: that it was he who had become accustomed to their schedule.
He had always believed that the sheep were able to understand what he said. So there were times when he read them parts of his books that had made an impression on him, or when he would tell them of the loneliness or happiness of a shepherd in the fields. Sometimes he would comment to them on the things he had seen in the villages they passed.
Quoted from The alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Adams

A while ago I was watching the movie Stepmom on TV. I've seen it before, but I hadnt noticed that old boy Bryan Adams' song was in there, too. And a smashing one at that. Bryan Adams is definitely reputed to be the world's best ever live singer. I've listened to him studio recorded, I've listened to him MTV Unplugged, and I've listened to him recorded from a live performance. He's truly awesome. Summer of 69 is so amazing, it never misses hitting the spot whenever you listen to it.
But then I quite listening to music a long time ago. This particular song that I heard in this movie, brought back old fond memories. The song is called When you love someone. It's one of my favorites and I absolutely loved the MTV unplugged version of it. Here are its lyrics.

When you love someone - you’ll do anything
You’ll do all the crazy things that you can’t explain
You’ll shoot the moon - put out the sun
When you love someone

You’ll deny the truth - believe a lie
There’ll be times that you’ll believe you can really fly
But your lonely nights - have just begun
When you love someone

When you love someone - you’ll feel it deep inside
And nothin else can ever change your mind
When you want someone - when you need someone
When you love someone...

When you love someone - you’ll sacrifice
You’d give it everything you got and you won’t think twice
You’d risk it all - no matter what may come
When you love someone
You’ll shoot the moon - put out the sun
When you love someone

And then there's Jon Bon Jovi that I like very much. They had a soundtrack for a movie, which I think was called Young guns. That soundtrack, by the way, was the first thing I ever listened to on a compact disc on our first ever Aiwa CD player. It belonged to a friend of mine and he leant it to me. Billy get your guns, Blaze of glory, Blood money, absolutely awesome songs. I also used to enjoy Def Leppard. These guys were great.
I was also watching The terminal starring Tom Hanks and I loved it very much. Tom Hanks is truly the best actor ever born. I've seen him do all sorts of characters and he does them like no other and leaves you feeling short of nothing. Mel Gibson is cool, too, with his emotional scenes, but this guy, Tom Hanks is a maestro.
In this movie, towards the end (advance apologies to the ladies), when Tom Hanks is about to kiss Catherine Zeta Jones (cant blame him for that, by the way), my brother switched the channels to Geo, where nothing short of pornography was being played in terms of a hindi song, but that channel stayed put. I wonder why more is acceptable in a more recognizable language.

Check this out

This might be a surprise to some of the readers, but this is no news and there's a lot more going on in our society than meets the eye. Now, though, it has started to meet the eye a lot more and those who dont like it have been ordered vide what you could call an ordinance to keep their eyes shut if they dont like what they see. Daily Times published a feature article recently, a reference to which was made at this blog.
I wouldnt comment on the contents of the article, you can form your own opinions.

Phuns gaay

Now, our big guy is really proud of himself. And how can one get to the top of the (not so) pak foj without having good propaganda and public dealing skills. A couple of days ago we saw him pitted against Karan, an Indian origin journalist on a CNN interview. Karan won hands down. He flattened our big guy very quickly, who wasnt able to get up. Our big guy started talking to him as if he were talking to the Indian government. DUH, even if he were an Indian, he was representing an American (friend?) news channel. Karan, why dont you take over? Our big guy was teaching everyone about leadership and how the leader should dictate his "ideas" onto others and not be dominated by theirs, yet, somehow mysteriously enough, be open to their ideas. Now, I'm an engineer, basically, and I like precise stuff, and this sounds a self-contradictory statement. Karan kept calling him quite rightly, like all other foreign visitors by his military rank instead of Mr. Pres or something.
One analyst earlier on pointed out on the topic of public consensus on Kalabagh that the consensus was not sought on issues like LFO and District Governments, steps that changed everything, and are supposedly in the greater national (we know which nation we are talking about) interests. Kalabagh also being in national (in this case, this nation, if there is such a thing) interests, why do you need consensus now? Yea, Mush boy, lay down the foundation stone baby. Or should I say, cast the stone?

Diehard battery of tests

There is a battery of tests that assess the randomness of a sequence of (pseudo-)random numbers, called the Diehard battery of tests. We have been assigned a task to run this battery of tests on random numbers generated by MS Excel and Matlab. It's a strange set of tests in the sense that it requires an input file of 10 to 11 MB, containing nothing but random numbers and the file needs to be in binary format.
I used C++ to generate such a number (2867200 to be precise) of random numbers and dumped it to a binary file of 11.2 MB. I'll upload the code to do that soon.
The squeeze test always failed. I tried to increase and decrease the size of the file but to no avail. Ultimately, I stumbled onto the fact that the random numbers were not in the range from 0 to 2^32 - 1. What I was generating were 0 to 2^16 - 1. This is just so if someone stumbles into this problem and does a search, hopefully they would bump into this.
Now I am working to generate such a file from within Excel.

So, what is the problem?

OK, so we've been pointing out deficiencies, and we've been saying how Pakistanis behave abroad and make it a point to misbehave when not. Why is that? Well, if I were to talk of the US, if I were to skip a red light, or stop at a traffic light beyond the zebra crossing, or stop in the middle of two lanes and the list goes on, it is entered to my record by the policeman whom I can not bribe. The result is not merely a few dollars fine, the result replicates itself into my houserent, my loan interest rates, my insurance premiums (which are mandatory by law) and so many other things, that you can not even imagine doing any of that stuff.
So, it is fear of punishment that makes us behave. Down here, though, there is no fear. When President of the United States of Pakistan, General George W. Mush took over, I thought that he has an opportunity at a critical point in the nation's lifetime. It's now or never. If he puts just a few thousand corrupt people in front of the firing squad, without courts, without lawyers, just shoot, then a few hundred good men would die, but their blood would not go in vain and everyone else would learn the lesson they defie. But no, he wasnt there for that. He is there for other reasons, which are becoming obvious with time.
So, who or what, if ever, will erect those hangman's in the roundabouts of our towns?

Retribution

I was reading a novel by Paulo Coelho titled, "The Devil and Miss Prym." It is a story of a small town in the mountains which, being remote, is inhabited mostly by criminals, who go there because they know no one would catch them there. A priest also lives there in a small church. The strongest of those criminals is Aheb. The priest, sick of living alone in the church wants to get a good night's sleep in a proper bed, for once. He goes to town and over to Aheb's place. Aheb is astonished how come this guy is sleeping at a killer's place. He gives him a bed and sits close by sharpening his knife while talking to the priest. Soon, the priest goes to sleep, waking up to the sound of Aheb crying. He asks Aheb what is wrong, and Aheb says that his whole life is changed. Aheb is amazed how a person could be so calm to go to sleep knowing that death is on his bed post.
Aheb then tells all the criminals to mend their ways and to find a legal line of work otherwise, Aheb would punish them. Everyone is apprehensive and talking amongst themselves of what to do. Aheb gives the design of a wooden structure to the carpenters and has them build a big structure in the middle of the town's square. He unveils it. It is a sort of hanging place. Now, the criminals are always crafting their crimes, but whenever they do their planning, the wooden structure comes to their mind and being scared, they give it up. The wooden structure is up for years, but no crime is committed. Then when everyone is righteous, whether they like it or not, Aheb has the carpenters take the structure down and replace it with a cross made of the same wood.
We need such wooden structures in our streets. We have no real punishment system. We know that even if we commit wrong, we'll let ourselves off by bribing or by influence.
We need a few of those wooden structures and we need a few million people or so hanged or put to firing squads. That's the only way to survival. We need a Mao Ze Tung.

Car parking

Our lane is currently under maintenance as a new sewerage line is being laid. Half of the lane is dug up in the middle. Now, that means that half of the residents are unable to get their vehicles to their car porches or to park them outside their own homes. The lane being not too wide, means, that our half of the lane is loaded with twice the load. Even with half the load, sometimes, some Einstein would park their vehicle in a creative fashion such that entire empty piece of land where I'm sure we can park six vehicles, is able to house only one.
Even if it is shared, no one wants to park their vehicle inside the plot and would like to park on the outside edge. The situation, now is more severe. No sense of sharing. Everyone's going through a difficult time, can being cooperative be so bad? But I'm living amongst Pakistanis.

Print

Well, thanks to Zeeshan Muhammad, my rants made it to the Daily Dawn of December 31, 2005. I'm sure it will piss off several people in the IT industry, provided they do read it, that is.

Long wedding

Last year I went to Islamabad with technical collaboration of South Korea (Daewoo Express Bus Service) to attend my friend's wedding, which was finally held yesterday. Why the hell did I have to go one year earlier than the marriage? No, I'm not a wedding counselor or consultant, I went there on December 31, 2005 and the wedding was on January 1, 2006.

Each man for himself

My dear friend Adnan used to say, "Saqib sahab, each man for himself" on certain occassions that he knows and I know, too. Something happened a few weeks earlier that reminded me of that saying of his, immediately. It also reminded me of what my Software Engineering teacher, Saima Sheikh often said, "You have to know when to put the foot down."
I was merrily checking my email in the academic block at the university on my laptop sitting on a bench using wifi. Along came a boy and asked me "Yahan pay wifi hay." I get asked that a lot by people who own a laptop and discover that they can actually access the Internet from on campus using wifi when they see me doing it. So, I told him, "Yes."
Now he took the next step, "Can I use your laptop for 'a minute,' I just need to update my address on LUMS admission system." This was kind of outrageous, but I thought, well, I just have to go in five minutes for asr prayers, let the boy use it. So, down he sat and went about his business.
Then he went off. A minute later, he returned telling me that the admissions office people were asking him to do something else, too, right away. That was irritating, but I thought, OK, maybe he really does need it, so I let him do it. During his use of the laptop, he kept chatting asking me whether I taught here or what etc, and I spoke only as much as necessary.
He received a phone call and guided someone to where he was sitting and told them that he'd be over a minute or two. A minute or so later, he then got up with the laptop and told me that he was going to the admissions office, which wasnt too far, for just a minute to show them his progress.
This is when I recalled both these quotes I have mentioned, and I decided enough was enough. I asked him to stop right there, return the laptop right away and that he could do whatever it is that he wanted somewhere else, because I had to go for the prayers and I had waited enough. Everyone has there limitations and he should learn to live by his limitations. If he doesnt own a laptop, he can not do what he was doing, period. Plain and simple. He needs to find a nearby cyber cafe or lab or something to do what he wants to do.
At that moment, I also made a mental note to add 'laptop' to the list of things never to lend out, which already contained, 'wife' and 'car.'
So, if you lend someone your car, your wife, or your laptop, expect them to be returned after identical treatment.

What does MVP stand for?

OK, some kidding.
Most Voracious Professional
Most Vulnerable Professional
Most Voluminous Professional
Feel free to comment and give more, but kindly avoid foul language.

More irony

Military cadets have to "guard" the final resting place of the founder of the nation. How ironic! I havent seen military guards on monuments in other countries that I visited.

Advertisements

Some of the advs you see contain some real un-natural stuff. For instance, the Pepsi adv featuring Reema coming out of some sky scrapper in New York, Islamic Republic of USA, and getting into a cab. When the cab finally stops, the Pepsi can flys over to the back seat. Gee, I thought that when a brake is hit, we are pushed forward in our seats, not backwards.
Also, see the new Paktel GSM bill by the second advertisement. Two ladies talking for a mere four seconds? Duh!

Comrades, get some, get some, fire at will

This post is a reply to an earlier post. I am a bit uncomfortable with reading posts with too many replies myself, so I decided to post this as a separate post so that the largest possible audience could read and take joy.
My dear friend Adnan. I value your commitment and contribution. In the present age, the only thing of value is information. It's what makes or breaks you. Most people keep it to themselves because they feel that it is what gives them the edge over others. Few believe that information should flow freely from mind to mind. You fall in the latter category. I've seen you evangelizing at academic venues with great zeal and effectiveness. I'm sure your intentions are very pure. People with such attributes over the entire human history, have faced criticism and opposition, so why should we be an exception? Time will soon tell who was right and who was wrong. But to me what matters is not to be proven right, but that there is an end to the suffering not of my own, but of all the people I live among. Alas, it seems like a far cry. One thing that keeps reviving my faith are my students, like Sohail Sarwar, Salman Mehmood, Faisal Nasim, Sabrina, Sarfaraz, Shoaib, and so many others that I can not name but I can see them on the screen of my mind's theatre. You, my dear students, are my heros. You, my dear students, are my warriors of the truth. Whether we win or lose, I'm glad we're fighting this war battle after battle, shoulder to shoulder, till the last man, till the last bullet. No retreat, no surrender.

Sara is here

Sara finally arrived in Lahore in an HP Brio carton today.

Jealous?

In case you're jealous of my MVP status, I offer it to you. MVPs are for one year renewable and new nominations are done. By the next nomination cycle, if you can prove to me that you've got what it takes, I'll be happy to nominate you instead of myself. You have my word.

Shamyana

Yesterday there was a report in the TV news that the Hyderabad, Pakistan cricket stadium was being used for wedding receptions and also doubled up as the helipad for VIPs. The DCO was contaceted last night in another news program and asked about that. The DCO said that there was only one wedding on that venue, and it will be ensured that this doesnt happen again.
I guess that the DCO was lying, just like his beloved leader because no wrong is done only once. If a wrong is done once, it is bound to be repeated.

Reply

Well, in response to my last post about Edu blues, qspasta gave a comment and I would like to comment to his comment, but it will be long, so I decided to make another entry.
First, I take back my word "nation" because we are a few hundred million individuals living on a shared piece of land, dying to get out of it whether we admit it or not, and have little else in common. A nation has a share destiny, a collective conscience, and a few other ingredients and we lack all of them. I dont know whether we were born this way in 1947, or something changed us afterwards, and I dont care either, because that is immaterial. What matters is whether we are ready to realize that we are thinking and acting in all the wrong ways, which we are obviously absolutely not interested in.
I agree that there's no use pointing fingers, firstly because it wouldnt solve any problems, but more importantly, because I would run out of fingers, even if I borrow fingers from everyone I see over a period of the next month. The solution as I said, there is no silver bullet. Everyone has to realize their shortcomings and try to improve. As I said, it seems to be our deepest desire to be able to inflict pain and suffering on others in every possible way. Societies are based on cooperating individuals, hence we have no society either. Once again, I can give so many examples, but all of us have been through situations every day that are indicative of this tendency, and there needs to be no reminders and proofs, in my opinion.
In all of this situation, the tiniest motivation that I can see to do right is, that too many wrongs dont make a right. If everyone else is doing wrong, I shouldnt join them. I wouldnt be let off the hook, in a worldly court or the court of the Almighty on the ground that, hey, everyone else was doing it. Unlike most worldly courts, where most of the wrongdoers in such situations get away and a few unfortunate ones get caught, everyone will pay in the court of the Almighty. And even if you dont believe in such a being, then at least, at the end of the day, when the last breath is upon you, it would be nice to look back at your track record and have a smile on your face, that you played well, and went down fighting "the good fight."
Behaving like the rest of the mob, makes a contribution to chaos. Refraining will make problems a little bit less complicated. Yes, you'll be late to where you are trying to get, because you'd be giving way to the other traffic waiting your turn which will be once everyone else in the city has used the road, but, hey, is anyone ever on time anywhere in this country? I'd rahter be late for a good reason.

Image improvement progam

So, it is reported that the US government has sanctioned US$ 300 Million (if I remember correctly, but the exact figure doesnt matter much) for improving the image of US abroad, especially in the middle eastern, muslim countries by airing news items etc. The debate of whether this is right or wrong is besides the point and futile. What I would like to remind you is that US isnt the only one in this. Dont our beloved heroic armed forces spend a fortune on their image building? We'll talk about why they do it sometime later.

Edu blues

I am very concerned about the standard of education especially so-called higher education in Pakistan. And I dont keep things wrapped in sweet coating, so I name people and institutions openly in my discussions.
Recently, a friend of mine was delivering a seminar at PAF KIET. Now, we already know that the intake in IT related programs in all so-called universities is very poor lately and the intake at PAF KIET, unfortunately, isnt Stanford quality either. What's even worse is that except for a few, the teachers are even worse than the students. Take a load of this.
When my friend talked about polymorphism, inheritance and generalization etc to final year computer science students, every single one of the students were stumped, which embarassed the dean and faculty present at the moment. On their way to the Dean's office, they ran into a faculty member, to whom the Dean complained that he was very disappointed that the students could not answer basic questions about polymorphism, inheritance, generalization etc. To this the teacher responded, "I'm not the Database teacher." When asked what he taught, he said, he taught MFC.
This is a crime and everyone involved should be hung. These idiots are destroying a whole generation. I'm sure it is not limited to computer related institutes, either. And to think that PAF KIET is one of the institutes who are most active in shaping their curricula in line with the industry's requirements through active collaboration and reviews. The Industry keeps complainig of inferior quality output from IT institutes. No wonder.
No one cares! You expect the government to take action in this regard? Parents have a responsibility they dont feel. Students have a responsibility they dont feel. Teachers have a responsibility they dont feel. I'm wasting my Internet dialup time here. I cant think of one walk of life in Pakistan that feels responsibility, so let's suffice at that.
Have you noticed that the nation is looking at Geo as their saviour lately? Just look a bit harder and you'll see. People are reaching out to Geo with their complaints hoping that they'll get them solved. No one can solve our problems except ourselves, and one thing is for sure, we dont want to solve them. We wish there were a magic stick, we're waiting for a miracle that will never come.

Chill

We often overlook blessings, and I just realized that since September, I am so much relaxed now that I dont get bombarded by unexpected advice seekers. You wouldnt believe that people actually came, multiple times, from areas of the country that I hadnt even heard of to seek my advice on matters of academic significance. Now I am not complaining for the value that people lay upon my advice, and I'm not saying that they were taking too much of my time, all I'm saying is that it was taking a toll on my professional duties to my job at times. Now, here, no one knows me and I am in peace for once. :-)
But till when will the mother of the male goat celebrate goodness.

Excel

Excel is a tool that never ceases to surprise me with its capabilities. Here's a spreadsheet that demonstrates the vlookup() function in an attempt to model and simulate a queueing system. The interarrival time of customers is uniformly distributed between 1 and 8 minutes. The random number is generated with the help of the rand function whose output is uniformly distributed between 0 and 1, meaning that it is equally likely to be anywhere between 0 and 1. We needed a non uniform distribution for service times, where service time is 1 minute with probability 0.1, 2 with probability 0.2, 3 with probability 0.3, 4 with probability 0.25, 5 with probability 0.1, and 6 with probability 0.05. I used a table in excel and the vlookup function. In connection with the above defined distribution of service times, we generate a random variable between 0 and 1 and use vlookup to find the row in that table that this random number lies in. The value from another column from that table in that row is picked. For example, if the random variable is between 0 and 0.1, we pick 1, if it is between 0.11 and 0.3 we pick 2 and so on according to the above described distribution. This is one way of generating non uniformly distributed random numbers in Excel. Check out the sheet and pay attention to the formulae. Never underestimate the power of Excel! That's serious advice.

New blog

I started my new blog: Research direction. It has a rather cryptic URL. I tried several simpler ones but none of them was available. I'll leave this space only to myself and to miththu and the other blog for posts regarding my research direction. You could bookmark that blog if you have difficulty remembering that URL and want to visit it from time to time.

MSDN Launch Event

I am blogging from Khorshed Mahal, Avari Towers, Lahore from the MSDN and TechNet Launch event. Here are a few photographs of the event. I am manning the INETA Pakistan booth right now. The Wireless LAN is not working well, keeps disconnecting, so I'll blog in more detail later.
Last night, Vaqar Khamisani called me to shock me with the news that the speakers coming in from abroad, their flights had been delayed and I should prepare an emergency presentation, which was no big deal. I was ready, but the speakers eventually did manage to fly in, so I only had to sit back and man the INETA booth.
Jawad Rehman, Country Manager, Microsoft Pakistan is barely visible in this photograph, but you can see how crowded the hall is. They had to put extra chairs in.


Here's a photo of two of the speakers, Asseel and Chad.



I took off at 11:15 am because of class.

One line humor

Here are a few one liners that I stole from a mailing list:

• Regular naps prevent old age, especially if you take them while driving.
  
• Having one child makes you a parent; having two you are a referee.
  
• Marriage is a relationship in which one person is always right and the other is the husband!
  
• I believe we should all pay our tax with a smile. I tried - but they wanted cash
  
• A child's greatest period of growth is the month after you've purchased new school uniforms.
  
• Don't feel bad. A lot of people have no talent
  
• Don't marry the person you want to live with, marry the one you cannot live without, but whatever you do, you'll regret it later.
  
• You can't buy love, but you pay heavily for it
  
• Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired.
  
• Marriage is give and take. You'd better give it to her or she'll take it anyway.
  
• My wife and I always compromise. I admit I'm wrong and she agrees with me.
  
• Those who can't laugh at themselves leave the job to others.
  
• Ladies first. Pretty ladies sooner.
  
• A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.
  
• You're getting old when you enjoy remembering things more than doing them.
  
• It doesn't matter how often a married man changes his job, he still ends up with the same boss.
  
• Real friends are the ones who survive transitions between address books.
  
• Saving is the best thing. Especially when your parents have done it for you.
  
• Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools talk because they have to say something
  
• They call our language the mother tongue because the father seldom gets to speak!