Corruption is now officially a process

A real life 'sifaarish' letter.

Open Doors 2008 Report

A record number of students came to the US in 2008 - 623,805. As expected, India tops the list (94k+). Amazingly, Saudi Arabia moves into top 10 (almost 10k). And, disappointingly, Pakistan is out of the top 20 (around 5k, even less than Nepal).

From the IIE report:

WASHINGTON D.C., November 17, 2008 -- The number of international students at colleges and universities in the United States increased by 7% to a record high of 623,805 in the 2007/08 academic year, according to the Open Doors report published annually by the Institute of International Education (IIE) with support from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
...
India remains the leading sending place of origin for the seventh consecutive year, increasing by 13% to 94,563, following an increase of 10% the previous year. China was again the second leading sender, showing an increase of 20% for a total of 81,127 students in the United States.
...
Consistent with continued investment in scholarships by the Saudi Arabian government through a program launched in 2005, Saudi Arabian student enrollments in the United States jumped 25% to 9,873, bringing Saudi Arabia back into the top 10 (at #9) for the first time since 1982/83. [LINK]

From Times of India:

The Nepalese surge coincided with the decline in the number of students from Pakistan, which went down by one per cent to 5345, and pushed Pakistan out of the top 20 to number 23. [LINK]

Who is our Obama and when will his time come?

Great episode of a Pakistan talk show called Bolta Pakistan. The episode is titled: "Who is our Obama?"



To paraphrase the presenters: "Imran Khan, you were supposed to be the Obama of our country. WTF happened? (and don't you dare boycott anything again in your life)". Also has Aitzaz Ahsan on the show.

Interesting Article on the future of Pakistan and Obama

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=145098

Pakistan's bleakest moments

At the beginning of the year it was trading at 65 to the dollar. Last month it fell to a record low of 90 to the dollar.

Link

Umm.........I wonder if Mr 10% has got anything to do with this. To re-iterate, I miss Mushy.

Obama a muslim ? So what ! - Colin Powell

I heard about this from watching GPS (Global Public Square) - Fareed Zakaria's show on CNN.
www.cnn.com/gps - Excellent weekly commentary


Colin Powell had an eloquent piece on Meet the Press -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXWqX_O4BKY

Dancing around the world

Awesome video.

Read about the guy who made the video.

Imran in the news

Imran Khan on fata policy, Musharraf, and fixing Pak economy (Capital Talk)

btw this website has all the episodes without ads: the one from Oct 21 is on whether Obama or McCain would be better for Pak (surprisingly, they pretty much agree its Obama)

Recent article from Dawn

While stressing his support for US Democratic White House hopefuls Barack Obama and Joe Biden, he said in an interview Thursday that any move to increase the US military presence would be a bad move.
...
He was scathing about the Pakistani government's attempts to tackle its balance of payments crisis and said any international bail-out would have a minimal effect without structural reforms to tackle corruption.
...
And he said it would not attempt a return to parliament until independent-minded chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who was ousted under Musharraf, returns.

Shooting for the Moon

Two different approaches for lunar exploration...

India:




Pakistan:

Pakistani Daily Show

Last week's episode of 4Man show (this was the show that resulted in the ban on Aj TV before)


Mostly about amreeka coming to Pakistan..funny stuff. I wonder if one of the Khalids will get their own spinoff as well :)

Sleepless nights

From Aakash Chopra's reflections on Tendulkar's achievements:

I asked him about how he prepares for a big match. He said that his preparation is always the same regardless of the importance of the occasion.

But sometimes even he gets carried away. On one such instance he did not sleep for 15 consecutive nights. That was before the India-Pakistan match in the 2003 World Cup.

The thoughts of how to handle every bowler, and working out strategies against the likes of Shoaib and co, kept him awake.

One must not forget that he was actively involved and scoring heavily in the games prior to that one, and all that without adequate sleep.

He went on to score 90-odd in that game, and many rate that knock off as one of his best ever.

[LINK]

Akhter was probably also having sleepless nights (albeit for different reasons: the effects of the 'shrooms he was on)

Waiver No More

And this is basically how the US will handle visits from citizens of the visa waiver countries who are of Muslim/Desi/Arab origin:

Travellers from Japan, western Europe and a number of other countries must request authorization to enter the United States on the Internet from January 2009, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Thursday.

Instead of travellers filling out paper I-94 visa waiver cards en route to the United States, the new measure requires online registration.

In a statement, the DHS said mandatory prior visa authorization is required for travelers from January 12, 2009. The service has accepted voluntary visa applications for over two months, since August 1.

"Over 200,000 travelers have sought electronic travel authorization in the weeks since the site went live, and 99.6 percent of them have been approved the vast majority in under one minute," said DHS assistant secretary for policy Stewart Baker. [LINK]

Family Guy takes a dig at the McCain/Palin ticket

Pretty damn funny!

Intrade.com

It's time to finally put your money where your mouth is. Intrade.com is a trading market for current events which allows you to buy/sell contracts for events in political, entertainment, financial, and all other sorts of arenas.

Here's how it works:

• A contract is created for an event (e.g. Obama to win election).


• All contracts are binary i.e. the event will either happen or it won't at the end of the contract period.


• All contracts are valued from 0 to 100 points.


• As the likelihood of the event increases, so will the value of the contract increase (and vice-versa) as more people buy/sell.


• At the end of the contract period, if the event occurred, then the contract will be valued at 100 points and that is what you will be paid out (minus a small commission). If the event doesn't occur, then the value is zero points.

Spend some time on the site, it's pretty cool (they could use some web design skills though - looks like a 1998 web page). There are contracts on all sorts of things. For example, right now they have contracts for the Dow's drop/gain each day, for the best movie award at the Oscars, etc.

And if you are very confident that Obama will win the election, then buy at the current value of 82 and your contract will be worth 100 if he wins. A 20%+ return in three weeks! Tempting, isn't it?

Here's some more info from Intrade's website.

"A big lesbian and a Sufi Muslim" sing for peace

Etheridge ventures into new territory in the fall when she releases "Ring the Bells," an album of both new and traditional Christmas songs. She wrote and recorded one of the new songs with Pakistani rocker Salman Ahmed and hopes to present it to Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention later this month.

"It's about ringing the bells of change and the bells of peace, and it's by a big lesbian and a Sufi Muslim," she says with a laugh. "If that isn't the embodiment of peace and change, I don't know what is."

Here is the story from Salman.

The song is available here and he is going to be performing in NY soon.

He has also done the soundtrack for "Aliens in America" and his album Infinity is the first Pakistani album on iTunes.

From an old article on Salman:

“There was a talent show,” Ahmad says, remembering his first few days at the university. “I knew how to play the guitar and I knew a guy with a drum set. We would play Van Halen’s ‘Eruption’ and at the end of the song I would break my guitar, just like a real rock star. As soon as we were onstage, there was an almighty noise, and I thought Wow, all these people like this gig! It turned out that the Jamiatis [students from a militant Islamic political party] had come in screaming ‘Obscenity!’ They climbed on the stage, took all the instruments and smashed them. And I thought What the hell is this? They’re stealing my act!”

[LINK]

Marc Faber's view on the US economy

Dr. Marc Faber concluded his monthly bulletin (June 2008) with the Following:

"The federal government is sending each of us a $600 rebate. If we spend that money at Wal-Mart, the money goes to China . If we spend it on gasoline it goes to the Arabs. If we buy a computer it will go to India . If we purchase fruit and vegetables it will go to Mexico , Honduras and Guatemala . If we purchase a good car it will go to Germany . If we purchase useless crap it will go to Taiwan and none of it will help the American economy. The only way to keep that money here at home is to spend it on prostitutes and beer, since these are the only products still produced in US. I've been doing my part. "

Waste of good minds

From the first computer virus to virtually untraceable high-tech theft, Pakistanis consistently prove that they are (sadly) in the top tier of devious minds:

European law-enforcement officials uncovered a highly sophisticated credit-card fraud ring that funnels account data to Pakistan from hundreds of grocery-store card machines across Europe, according to U.S. intelligence officials and other people familiar with the case.

...

The scheme uses untraceable devices inserted into credit-card readers that were made in China.

The devices selectively send account data by a wireless connection to computer servers in Lahore, Pakistan, and constantly change the pattern of theft so it is hard to detect, officials say.

...

The bug would read an individual's card number and the corresponding personal identification number, then package and store the data. The device would once a day call a number in Lahore to upload the data to servers there and obtain instructions on what to steal next.

There is no obvious visual indication that a machine has been altered, but those with the bugs weigh about four ounces more. For the past several months, teams of investigators have been weighing thousands of machines across Europe with a precision scale. [LINK]

(Thanks to KC for the link)

Sell your stuff to the government

From the Economist:

Garage sale - “We figured that instead of protesting this plan, we’d give regular Americans the same opportunity to sell
their bad assets to the government.”
A website allows Americans to offer unwanted items to Hank Paulson.

Checkout all the awesome stuff they have. And remember:

when estimating the value of your 1997 limited edition Hanson single CD "MMMbop", it's not what you can sell these items for that matters, it's what you think they are worth. The fact that you think they are worth more than anyone will buy them for is what makes them bad assets.

The economy is taking a human toll

This is just tragic. I'm sure the guy was in a difficult position. But then kill yourself. Why kill your family??? What a waste!

A man distraught because he could not find work shot and killed his mother-in-law, his wife and three sons and then killed himself inside a home in an upscale San Fernando Valley neighborhood, police said.

Authorities said the man had an MBA in finance but appeared to have been unemployed for several months and had worked for major accounting firms, such as Price Waterhouse [sic], police said.

...

Ed Winter, assistant chief from the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, identified the suspect as Karthik Rajaram, 45.

He said the victims included Rajaram's mother-in-law, Indra Ramasesham, 69, and his 19-year-old son Krishna Rajaram, a Fulbright Scholar and honor student at UCLA.

Also dead were Rajaram's wife, 39, and their two other sons, 12 and 7. Some of the victims had been shot more than once and their identities were not immediately confirmed, he said. [LINK]

There's also the story of a woman who shot herself to prevent being evicted from her foreclosed home. She survived, and her mortgage has been forgiven.

Are these the first signs of a real depression? I never, ever thought I'd have this concern in my lifetime. Crazy times.

Naylin' Paylin

Hustler magazine is making a movie based on a certain VP candidate. Here are a few details, some of it quite disturbing!

The faux Sarah is Lisa Ann, who "will be nailing the Russians who come knocking on her back-door." In another scene -- a flashback -- "young Paylin's creationist college professor will explain a 'big bang' theory even she can't deny!"

There's also a threeway with Hillary and Condoleezza look-alikes. [LINK]

That last bit reminds of a scene from Austin Powers..."Margaret Thatcher naked on a cold day!"

(Don't?) Vote Video

A celebrity video that encourages people to vote, using a little reverse psychology. All I needed to see were 0:35 - 0:37, and 1:54 - 1:57 (admittedly, the ad wouldn't make much sense with just those two bits, but man did it make my day!)

Guys, it's 2008! Use technology!

Amazing. Just amazing. It's the fucking 21st century and brainless mullahs are still using seventh century methods for "moon sighting"! I'm pasting the entire text of an article (from Dawn) below my rant because excerpts don't do justice. Read it all.

And this stupidity is not just limited to Pakistan, but involves Muslims everywhere. In most major cities in the US, Eid is celebrated on two different days. Kinda stupid when you're fasting and your neighbor invites you over for an open house!

A commendation is due to the Fiqh Council of North America and ISNA that have, since last year, tried to implement a fixed calendar. Yes there are a few issues with it, but it's a good start. (FYI, I agree with almost nothing else that these organizations stand for). Of course, there are people who are staunchly against this development (let me guess - because it involves logic and science). I wonder if these same people stand outside everyday to determine the exact times of sunrise and sunset, or do they rely on the scientifically derived timings they picked up at their local desi grocery store? Just curious.

In any case, a happy (early/belated/current - choose one) Eid Mubarak to you. Read this article in its entirety...it's fascinating.

KARACHI, Sept 30: A suspenseful controversy hit Shawwal-moon sighting and kept the entire nation on tenterhooks for hours before the central Ruet-i-Hilal committee announced on Tuesday that Eid would be celebrated across the country on Wednesday.

Political considerations seemed to have forced the committee’s hand when the NWFP government declared with uncalled-for haste that the elusive crescent had been sighted in the province and the festival would be celebrated on Wednesday.

As unconfirmed reports about Eid swirled around the central Ruet-i-Hilal committee, which remained in session hours after the sunset, chairman Mufti Munibur Rehman appeared for a third time on television at around 10.45pm and announced that incontrovertible evidence about the Shawwal moon had been received – not from the Frontier but from Badin in lower Sindh – and accordingly Eid would be celebrated on Wednesday.

He explained that the delay in the announcement of the “Eid moon” had been caused by the painstaking analysis of evidence received from the length and breadth of the country.

However, sources told Dawn that the committee had spent “quite some time weighing the option of ignoring NWFP moon-sighting reports”. But the option was ultimately rejected as divisive and politically injudicious.

Religious scholars insist that an Islamic month begins with the actual sighting of the moon. Those who sight the Shawwal moon first, celebrate Eid ahead of those who do not.

If the central Ruet-i-Hilal committee had not made the announcement it eventually did, three Eids would have been celebrated in Pakistan: one on Tuesday by those who follow Saudi Arabia in the celebration of the festival, second on Wednesday by those in the NWFP who sighted the moon on Tuesday and third on Thursday by those who act upon guidelines of the central Ruet-i-Hilal committee.

The final announcement of the Ruet-i-Hilal committee was preceded by a flurry of activity in the NWFP which saw senior minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour, of the Awami National Party, first making an unscheduled visit to the provincial office of the committee and then making a public statement that reports had been received from district coordination officers about the sighting of the Shawwal moon.

No sooner had the NWFP Ruet-i-Hilal body announced that it had dispatched its reports to the central committee in Karachi than Mr Bilour declared that the crescent had indeed been sighted and Eid would be celebrated on Wednesday. He seemed to have ignored the earlier advice of Mufti Rehman, who cautioned television channels and unauthorised individuals against spreading unconfirmed reports about Eid.

Agencies add: In India, Eid will be celebrated in India on Thursday, according to an announcement made by Syed Ahmed Bukhari, the Imam of Delhi Jama Masjid.

Meanwhile, Eid was celebrated on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Turkey, Afghanistan Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Jordan, Libya, Sudan, Yemen, Djibouti, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania and the Gaza Strip and other Palestinian areas.

Sunni’s in Iraq also celebrated the Eid on Tuesday, while the Shias will celebrate the festival on Wednesday.

Egypt and Tunisia will celebrate Eid on Wednesday.

Eid was also celebrated on Tuesday by Muslims in most countries of Eastern Europe. Muslims in several parts of Philippines also celebrated the Eid, but President Gloria Arroyo announced that the festival would begin on Wednesday. Indonesia and Singapore have also announced that Wednesday would the first day of Eid. [LINK]

Couric / Palin Open on SNL

This is pretty much exactly what the real interview was like:
"under the umbrella of job creation"...hilarious! They even fit Zardari in there :)



Tina Fey is awesome...I am so going to watch all the episodes of 30 Rock!

You go girls!

I just love this picture...from a marketplace in Multan.



[picture taken from Daily Times]

QED

Irrefutable logic!



Transcript here

This is one way to rebel

So you have this hardcore mullah who used to be in the UK - Omar Bakri. He praised the 9/11 hijackers, among other insane things. He eventually got kicked out of the UK and was sent to Lebanon.

He has a daughter, Yasmin, who was "a devout Muslim in her teens and wore a veil and “cover-all” clothes." Her parents fixed her up at age 16 with a Turkish guy. Eventually this girl had enough of her family so she moved out on her own.

Here's what she's up to now:

She has toured as a “podium” dancer with a troupe called Ibiza Untouched, whipping up crowds of clubbers into a frenzy.

And she has even worked a fire-eating routine into her act.

"...she has been leading a wild double life thrashing about on stage in pole dancing clubs and drinking and partying like there’s no tomorrow."

Asked about her experience, she said: “I’ve done pole dancing, but I like to keep it quiet.

“I don’t normally do topless work, but I’m willing to go topless if the venue is right.”

One lover, who asked not to be named, said: “She’s a million miles away from the daughter her daddy would have wanted and is very adventurous in bed.

“She likes to dress up in kinky gear and has worn a police uniform, a French maid’s outfit and various office clothes.” [LINK]

Cloak, any travel plans for this year? UK, perhaps???

Resilience

Below are two pictures of the Islamabad Marriott. One taken on Sunday (the day after the bombing) and one taken on Thursday. Just look at the difference! The entire outside of the building has been repainted already. They've cleaned up all the debris from the front. And the owner, Sadruddin Hashwani, promises to have the hotel ready by Dec 31st (and he also plans to pay all employees till it reopens, even if they have no work to do).

Now that's resilience. It's showing everyone that we can move on from mourning, get back into normal life, and at the same time use non-violent means to fight terrorism.

No one is ever guaranteed security and who knows what can happen at the hotel again. But regardless, I am very impressed with Mr. Hashwani, and all those who are working so hard to bring the hotel back on track.

The Thirteen Greatest Error Messages of All Time

No prizes for guessing #1 on the list, but this sure brought back memories

link

Abort, Retry, Fail? (MS-DOS)
In many ways, it remains an error message to judge other error messages by. It’s terse. (Three words.) It’s confusing. (What’s the difference between Abort and Fail?) It could indicate either a minor glitch (you forgot to put a floppy disk in the drive) or catastrophe (your hard drive had died). And by forcing you to choose between three options, none of which is likely to help, it throws the problem back in your face...
In this post-floppy era, few of us encounter it. But just thinking about the phrase is enough to send me back to the days when I frequently sat at a computer displaying that message, randomly hitting the A, R, and F keys in hopes that something helpful would happen.

Impressing Mr. 10%

Should I have expected anything different? What an effing moron!

On entering a room filled with several Pakistani officials this afternoon, Palin was immediately greeted by Sherry Rehman, the country's Information Minister.

"And how does one keep looking that good when one is that busy?," Rehman asked, drawing friendly laughter from the room when she complimented Palin.

"Oh, thank you," Palin said.

Pakistan's recently-elected president, Asif Ali Zardari, entered the room seconds later. Palin rose to shake his hand, saying she was “honored” to meet him.

Zardari then called her "gorgeous" and said: "Now I know why the whole of America is crazy about you."

"You are so nice," Palin said, smiling. "Thank you."

A handler from Zardari's entourage then told the two politicians to keep shaking hands for the cameras.

"If he's insisting, I might hug," Zardari said. Palin smiled politely. [LINK]

I am SO getting this phone

http://www.enduserblog.com/2008/09/mysteries-of-th.html

Google G1 - with T-Mobile.