I went to the Vahzay office last week to meet Athar Osama (after 4 years) on his short visit to Lahore, and had my portable hard disk with me, so Imran Zia was nice enough to copy the full Starup Insiders videos for me – and this is how I ended up with the videos for SI3 (4GB – the one I attended) and SI6 (5GB – the one I missed) on my hard disk, waiting to be sliced and uploaded to youtube or GoogleVideo. I'll probably compress/clip/upload them during some free timeslot this weekend (I still need to find a decent software to do that – I'm a youtube uploading n00b – suggestions are welcome), so stay tuned and if you missed the sessions (which were very interesting) and I will upload the videos whenever I can.
Author: Sohaib Athar
1998 was 10 f—ing years ago
Just when I was enjoying an unhealthy hit of Deep Space 9 induced nostalgia and had almost forgotten the current date, the Onion had to hit my right in the face with this news report (Click to listen). Thanks Onion :-/
I Condemn the Lahore Bomb Blast
While searching for updates regarding the bomb blast in Lahore today, I couldn't help noticing the top two links on Google News were from the Associated Press of Pakistan, a 4 hour difference between the two releases. The titles are linked to the APP pages – I'm just copy pasting the two 'releases' one after the other.
Minister Petroleum condemns Lahore blast ISLAMABAD, Mar 4 (APP): Caretaker Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Ehsanullah Khan Tuesday strongly condemned bomb blast in Lahore, which caused loss of precious lives. In his message he said it was the heinous act of terrorism reflects inhuman nature of the perpetrators. He said anti Islam and anti state elements wanted to derail the ongoing democratic process in the country but they will not succeed in their nefarious designs. The Minister prayed for the deceased, that may Allah Almighty rest the departed souls in eternal peace and grant the bereaved families the courage to bear the loss. He expressed his condolence and sympathy with the families of killed and the injured.
and…
NA Speaker condemns Lahore blast ISLAMABAD, Mar 4 (APP): Speaker National Assembly, Ch. Amir Hussain on Tuesday strongly condemned bomb blast in Lahore, which caused loss of precious lives. In a statement, the Speaker said it was a barbaric act of terrorism, which reflected inhuman and callous nature of the perpetrators. He said a few misguided people were trying to disrupt peace in the country and derail the peaceful democratic process but they will not succeed in their nefarious design. He said the criminals were playing with the lives of innocent people. Praying for the deceased, the Speaker said that may Allah Almighty rest the souls of the victims in eternal peace and grant the bereaved families the courage to bear the loss. He also sympathized with the injured and their families and prayed for their speedy recovery.
I was really moved by their straight-from-the-heart honest sentiments, it did not know our government cared that deeply about the deceased. I'm also surprised at how similar their thought process is, its almost as if they were speaking from the same slimy tongue. I am sure that with such caring rulers who are thinking about the nation all the time and are dedicated to the democratic process, Pakistan will soon be back on the way towards progress.
So, to follow in their footsteps, I strongly condemn the bomb blast in Lahore, which caused loss of precious lives…
APP, can I have a press release page please?
Bomb Blast In Lahore
My wife normally picks up my son from school at 1:30AM. She had forgotten her cell at home today, and at 1:40PM I receiving a call on her cell from my son's friend's mother who had heard a couple of blasts on her way home, and wanted to confirm my wife was okay. She told me the school administration was panicked and the roads were blocked all over. I could do nothing but wait – thankfully, she got home before they blocked the Mall completely.
The blasts, they say, were in the Naval Academy (near Zafar Ali Rd. and the canal). It seems that the more things change, the more they stay the same… the last time I glanced at the TV, the death toll was 5 people. I don't know whether the motive was political or religious, or both (as our religion is inseparable from the state), but what I do know is that we love to cheer on the people killing their brethren in the name of religion – as long as it is happening in another country. Hmm, maybe I should move out of Pakistan and cheer the people fighting (killing) in the name of religion from a safe distance.
PTCL Broadband Cuts Rates (or Doubles Bandwidth) And removes the download limit
I heard the (semi-verified) rumor that PTCL is doubling its bandwidth from tomorrow (1st March 2008). They will be dropping the 256k package, and bringing all costs 1 step down, so the new rates are going to be 512kbps for 1200Rs. and 2Mbps for 5000 Rs.! That is a step closer to the rates that should have been the last few years.
With the frequent bans (youtube last week, blogger/blogspot today), I can't see what we will do with all this extra bandwidth, but it is generous of PTCL nonetheless. Lets see if link.net knows how to limbo.
UPDATE: It is official now! [link] They are also removing the download limits.