Year: 2008

Bomb Blast in Lahore Targets Jews and Barbarians

Sohaib Athar10 Comments

Last night, some terrorists succeeded in planting three time-bombs in the Garhi Shahu area in Lahore, an area that is 4-5 kilometers away from my house. Thankfully, nobody had died until the last update.

I  had to turn on the idiot box (after many months) to catch the live report, and was lucky enough to witness the uber-intelligent reporters standing inside the shop that was destroyed. Using their extremely intelligent brains, and standing on top of the scene of the blast without caring about forensic evidence, they decreed that “The bombs were planted to create panic in the common citizens”.

I think they are wrong, and I have an alternate theory. It involves the terrorists’ big boss telling them to Read more “Bomb Blast in Lahore Targets Jews and Barbarians”

On the Turning Away

Sohaib Athar1 Comment

This song came up on my playlist just as I published the previous post, so I had to share it.

Consider spending six minutes of your life listening to Pink Floyd.

I tried looking for a ‘moderate’ flavored documentary, but couldn’t find any good video that didn’t mention the US of A.

Warning: it contains some very shocking images, but if shock and depression can cure us of apathy, we should be shocked more often.

Here’s the youtube link.

and the lyrics… just in case… Read more “On the Turning Away”

Have a Sombre Eid Everyone!

Sohaib Athar6 Comments

Aren’t you tired of the monotonous “Happy” and “Mubarik” Eids year after year? Why not try something different, like a “Sombre” Eid, for a change?

Don’t hand a 1000 rupee note to every one of your ten nephews. They already have plenty and will blow the money up in a day. Give them each a 50 Rs. chocolate instead, they would be just as happy. Use the 9500 rupees to feed a child. Like this one. For many months. Take your nephews with you. Compare.

Eidi Candidate
Eidi Candidate

Do you really need those new clothes? Isn’t your wardrobe full already? They’ll go out of fashion next year. Or next month. Wear your best clothes on Eid. They don’t have to be new. Buy milk for this child instead. Before he dies. Realize.

Hungry Child
A Pakistani Child

Skip one Eid visit to a friend who lives 20 kilometers away. Save 500 rupees in fuel and the eid cake that you were going to take with you. Drive around your residence until you find a child like this one, or this one. Give the money to her. Your friend has a cellphone, wish him over the phone. Tell him what you did. He’ll understand.

Hungry Girl
A Pakistani Girl

Turn the TV off for a few hours. It will only make you crave more stuff to buy. Instead of wasting time on the special Eid broadcasts for a few hours, read a book with your child – or read The Book. One more day won’t hurt. Learn.

A change may do you good.

http://edhi.org/contacts.htm

http://www.azadfoundation.org/

http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/sponsor-a-child/asian-child-sponsorship/pakistan.htm

http://www.uwt.org/Countries/Pakistan_Charity.asp

People Search the Darndest Things

Sohaib Athar2 Comments
Searches

Each blog has its own micro-zeitgeist (that’s a word that I just made up, or neologized) that gives an insight into its place in the larger scheme of things, and this one is no different. Like most of the human race, I like to look at my Google Analytics data every now and then, perhaps as an aid to introspection, or perhaps because they look very pretty. Looking at the search queries that bring people here, I see some queries that have an answer/solution here, and I hope that the inquirer had to look no further. There are queries that I could have answered in a closely related post, but chose not to, and there are queries that make me wonder about the inquirer’s mental health. There’s also a lot of raw material and leads for possible blog posts, but that’s for real bloggers, not me.

Since I have a few free minutes, let me share a small slice of search strings with you, in decreasing order of popularity, and the replies-that-never-were… because I have nothing better to do.

Read more “People Search the Darndest Things”

Google Says No ‘Doodle For You!’

Sohaib Athar20 Comments

It started with the perceptive ProPakistani people noticing how Google has never had an Islam themed doodle on their homepage, and Dr. Awab picked up the discussion the next day.

I personally think that Google not showing any Doodles for Islamic events has something to do with their “Do No Evil” policy  😉 Seriously though, while Google can not be forced to cater to each segment of their customer base, especially since doodling is the secondary responsibility of the guy who creates them, but given that Read more “Google Says No ‘Doodle For You!’”