Year: 2007

Can we bury the politicians?

Sohaib Athar1 Comment

<RANDOM_THOUGHT> 

I am neither a linguist, nor do I care much for politics, but when ever I think about the events scheduled for this nation in January, the term 'selection' rather than 'election' comes to my mind. Infact, I don't get democracy (as practiced in Pakistan) at all. Whoever devised the whole democracy/voting process probably wasn't an internet user (umm.. yea… hmmm).

As far as I'm concerned, if I am provided with a set of choices, and have to select the one I hate the least, I'd rather opt out of the whole fiasco by NOT voting for anyone. That's a 0 vote… for each such 0 vote, there will probably be two +1 votes. So if 90% of the nation doesn't like any of the candidates, the worst that they can do (besides turning into a candidate) is to NOT vote.

I wish the concept of 'democracy' had a negative vote, so I had the option of a +1 vote to 'dig' or a -1 vote to 'bury' whichever 'candidate' I disliked the least/most respectively. It would have been a big motivation for a lazy  person like me (and others as well, I hope) to go out and (un)vote the most likely winner. It would have been fun to learn that the MNA in my area was selected by getting -5 votes.

</RANDOM_THOUGHT>

Pakistani Leader or Pakistani Ruler?

Sohaib Athar5 Comments

A leader leads, serves and guides, while a ruler governs and rules – people follow a leader, they are dragged and ruled by a ruler.

It never ceases to amaze me when the media refers to our ruler as a 'leader'. Do a google search for 'pakisani ruler' (557 results today) and another one for 'pakistani leader' (124,000 results today). While its true that there have been many real Pakistani leaders that those thousands of websites refer to, why do only 557 (Five hundred and fifty seven only) websites exist that acknowledge that some such thing as a "Pakistani ruler" actually exists?

Pakistani bloggers, please be a bit honest and at least use the correct term in your posts – unless, of course, you think you are being 'led'.

I just changed the wikipedia entry text from 'leader of Pakistan' to 'ruler of Pakistan' in the text:

"After the coup of Pervez Musharraf in 1999, Musharraf assumed the role of Chief Executive, and was the sole ruler of Pakistan."

on the page Prime_Minister_of_Pakistan as the first step. Lets see if it stays that way. Maybe one of you can edit Musharraf's page now.

The Wheel of Time

Sohaib Athar1 Comment

"The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend.  Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again.  In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose… The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of time. But it was a beginning."

Ouch! Robert Jordan, the author of the 12 volume 'The Wheel of Time' saga, died last week, which is sadly ironic, as the Wheel of Time didn't let him finish the last book in the series. I read 11 of the 12 books last year, around 10,000 pages, and was waiting for the last book – now the millions of scifi and fantasy fans will have to settle with someone else telling the story that he began. Makes me want to pray for the health of the other dozen authors with unfinished stories that I'm reading … at least until they write the last book in the series … after that, they can go to hell.

Sneaky Facebook Applications

Sohaib Athar

'What kind of tattoo would you get and where?' – this is the question automatically asked my the 'My Questions' Facebook application on my behalf. I just noticed it when somebody answered it. Needless to say, I immediately removed the application. Since Facebook applications usually get access to your friends, they can very easily impersonate you. I have NO interest in other people's body mod preferences. Leave my profile alone!