Thursday, November 24, 2005

Symptoms of Addiction to Internet ! ! ! !

1. A friend stops to see you since your phone has been busy-----for a year!!!!!"
2. You forgot how to work the TV remote control.
3. You see something funny and scream, "LOL, LOL."
4. You tell everyone, that after surgery, your mom went to ICQ ......instead of ICU!
5. You sign off and your screen says you were on for 3 days and 45 minutes.
6. You placed the refrigerator beside your computer.
7. You buy a laptop and a cell phone so you can have ICQ in your car.
8. Tech support calls YOU for help.
9. You beg your friends to get an account so you can "hang out."
10. You get a second phone line just to call out for pizza.
11. You purchase a vanity car license plate with your screen name on it.
12. You say "he he he he" or "heh heh heh" instead of laughing.
13. You say "SCROLL UP" when someone asks what it was you said.
14. You find out divorce papers had been served on you 6 months ago.
15. You talk on the phone with the same person you are sending an instant message to. (uh oh...I've done this! LOL)
16. You look at an annoying person off line and wish that you had your ignore
button handy.
17. You start to experience "withdrawal" after not being online for awhile.
18. You say......."Where did the time go??"
19. You sit on ICQ for 6 hours for that certain special person to sign on.
20. You get up in the morning and go online before getting your coffee.
21. .....You end your sentences with.....three or more periods.......
22. Your shoes are suddenly 2 sizes too small.
23. You think faster than the computer. <----Not difficult for me
24. You enter a room and get greeted by 25 people with {{{hugs}}} and ** kisses**.
25. Being called a newbie is a major insult to you.
26. You're on the phone and say BRB.
27. Your teacher or boss recommends a drug test for the blood shot eyes.
28. Your answering machine/voice mail sounds a little like this...."BRB. Leave your S/N
and I'll TTYL ASAP".
29. You get up at 2:00 AM to go to the bathroom and turn the computer on instead.
30. You need to be pried from your computer by the Jaws-of-life.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

The Exam Fever

Starting from yesterday, I've totally been stuck in my mid-term exams.
The first one was of Business Law and I'm writing this when the next one, Macroeconomics, is just round the corner.

Hope to perform well and be back in time to update you people with the latest of my ideas, thoughts and favorite things...

Wish me best of luck!

Friday, November 18, 2005

Review: 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'



If the third film in the Harry Potter series, last year's "Prisoner of Azkaban," seemed frightening with its soul-sucking Dementors and its German expressionist aesthetic, then the fourth installment, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," will have kids quaking in their seats and perhaps wishing they had an invisibility cloak to hide beneath.

This "Potter" earns its PG-13 rating a first for the previously PG series about the boy wizard as Harry grows into adolescence and learns more about his powers and his past. Of course, young fans have already devoured the J.K. Rowling books that provide the basis for the films, so they know what's coming. (The author is up to No. 6 out of seven planned.) But reading it on the page and seeing it on the screen can be two entirely different experiences, and several scenes will be disturbing to viewers regardless of age.

"Goblet of Fire" features the return of the dreaded Lord Voldemort He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named the dark warlock who killed Harry's parents and tried to kill him, too, when he was just an infant. (Having survived the attack is what gives Harry a certain mystique among his professors and classmates at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; it also gave him his trademark lightning-bolt scar on his forehead.)

As played by an unrecognizable Ralph Fiennes, Voldemort appears hairless and noseless, hissing and threatening in the moonlight a smooth, almost effeminate incarnation of the Devil, surrounded by cloaked minions.

Even scarier, though, is the maze Harry must navigate as a competitor in the dangerous Triwizard Tournament. The giant hedges that serve as the maze walls aren't just tall and the pathways aren't just narrow they're also predatory, collapsing violently on their inhabitants, sensing and feeding on their fears, trying to swallow them whole. (Bet Stanley Kubrick wishes he'd thought of that when he made "The Shining")

While these are the most extreme examples of the movie's intensity, they're also the ones that are the most emotionally powerful. Director Mike Newell has crafted a film full of images that are vast and wondrous, but strangely detached and obviously artificial, similar to the look of the "Lord of the Rings" movies. You can appreciate the enormity of the visuals, but they seem so distant, it's difficult to feel engaged by them.

But with Newell at the helm the first English director following American Chris Columbus, who did the first two parts, and Mexican Alfonso Cuaron, who did the third and best thus far "Goblet of Fire" seems more in touch with the innate Britishness of Rowling's books, both in its sense of humor and in its boarding-school setting.

Read the Full Review here...



Watch "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" Trailers and Clips

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

PIA creates world commercial aviation history

Pakistan Inter-national Airlines (PIA) has created world commercial aviation history by flying newly-manufactured Boeing 777 LR (Long Range)-- the first airline in the world to fly it from Hong Kong to Heathrow -- the wrong way around the globe.

According to a press release on Thursday, flying from Hong Kong it went overhead Japan, then across the Pacific Ocean flying over Hawaii to overhead San Francisco, then onwards across North American continent to overhead New York, flying still farther across the Atlantic Ocean to land at Heathrow Airport, London, non-stop and in one giant leap lasting slightly less than 24 hours.

The trip which broke 18 minutes flight time record of Airbus 340 and also Boeing's 747-400's record from London to Sydney, flew 12,600 miles or more than half circumference of the globe.

Flying at 83 Mach or 17 Mach less than the speed of sound, the 35 persons onboard, including eight cockpit crew members, witnessed two sunrises and even had scheduled sleep timings in the bunkers onboard. Among five Boeing pilots were Capt Susana Darcy, Boeing 777 Test Pilot and Capt Frank Santoni, representing the Boeing Company.

Along with five Boeing pilots, Commander Asif Reza, senior vice president flight operations PIA, was in command and assisted by Captain Mohammed Ilyas Malik, designated as check pilot Boeing 777 in PIA, to fly the aircraft as Boeing's "Launch Customer", pending delivery of this very first plane to PIA, registered in Pakistan AP-BGY.

A Singapore Airline pilot was also on board, as the Singapore Airline is evaluating buying this airplane after PIA.

The event was reminiscent of another such record breaking flight by PIA nearly four decades earlier, when commander Abdullah Baig, the most famous pilot of PIA flying newly manufactured Boeing 720, eased into a jet stream during cruise with consummate skill to break the London-Karachi flight time record. staff report.

Source: Daily Times Newspaper

Monday, November 14, 2005

The Tsunami survival!

I was on a comfortable vacation at a paradise island. Music, cocktails, beaches, Palm trees, sun n' sand, all were quite plentiful there. I can remember how enjoyable was each moment spent on that heaven.

But, then, it was that unfateful morning. After having a good night's sleep, I came out of my personal cabin facing the shore of a beach and found out that the waves were behaving strangely.

I, actually saw the height, size and force of the waves increase by each landing on the shore. In no time, I could figure out that the next one's going to thrash the cottages. Worried and terrified, I ran into mine, locked it and got hold of one of the two steel poles supporting the roof. And then, it was the one big water splash that went through the wooden walls of the cabin by breaking the cottage into shatters. With eyes closed, I could feel water lifting me up from the ground. It felt like I had slipped into a deep cold-water swimming pool. Despite loosing solid land under my feet, the grip on pole was strong enough to prevent me from being washed away back to the sea.

The sea was calm, once again, and, I was lying on the same beach but with nothing except ruins of wood and steel in view. As I managed to get out of the trauma, the best thing that happened to me was that I woke up!

Man! that was one freaky dream...

Saturday, November 12, 2005

Humor from Great Minds

“As you get older three things happen. The first is your memory goes, and I can't remember the other two...”
Sir Norman Wisdom

“One of the most difficult things in the world is to convince a woman that even a bargain costs money.”
Edgar Watson Howe

“A true friend is one who overlooks your failures and tolerates your success!”
Doug Larson

“A harmful truth is always better then...a useful lie!”
Eric Bolton

“When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bike. Then I realized that The Lord doesn't work that way, so I stole one and asked him to forgive me.”
Erno Philips

“ I only go to work on days that don't end in a 'y'.”
Robert Paul

“We spend the first twelve months of our children's liv! es teaching them to walk and talk and the next twelve telling them to sit down and shut up.”
Phyllis Diller

“Laughter is the closest distance between two people.”
Victor Borge

“Start every day with a smile and get it over with.”
W.C. Fields

“Everything is funny as long as it is happening to somebody else.”
Will Rogers

“Always get married early in the morning. That way, if it doesn't work out, you haven't wasted a whole day.”
Mickey Rooney

“Women now have choices. They can be married, not married, have a job, not have a job, be married with children, unmarried with children.
Men have the same choice we've always had: work or prison.”
Tim Allen

“If you never want to see a man again, say, 'I love you, I want to marry you. I want to have children...' - they leave skid marks.”
Rita Rudner

“I'm not afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens.”
Woody Allen

“Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't.”
Erica Jong

“Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out of it alive.”
Elbert Hubbard

“Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use.”
Wendell Johnson

“I've been in love with the same woman for forty-one years. If my wife finds out, she'll kill me.”
Henry Youngman

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Balance Sheet of Life

Our Birth is our Opening Balance
Our Death is our Closing Balance

Our Prejudiced Views are our Liabilities
Our Creative Ideas are our Assets

Heart is our Current Asset
Soul is our Fixed Asset

Brain is our Fixed Deposit
Thinking is our Current Account

Achievements are our Capital
Character & Morals, our Stock-in-Trade

Friends are our General Reserves
Values & Behaviour are our Goodwill

Patience is our Interest Earned
Love is our Dividend

Children are our Bonus Issues
Education is Brands / Patents

Knowledge is our Investment
Experience is our Premium Account

The Aim is to Tally the Balance Sheet Accurately.
The Goal is to get the Best Presented Accounts Award

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Choorian; the Eid colors



Choorian or Bangles are an essential part of Eid festivities. Made up of colorful glass, these bangles are most popular among girls and women of all ages.

As part of the celebrations, male members of the family buy this stuff for their mothers, sisters and children.



Choorian add colors to happy occasions like eid and marriages and are a sign of happiness and joy.



Well before the Eid day, street markets all across the city are full of colors and beautiful designs with women trying on & buying these as part of their Eid shopping. These are some of the views from Chand Raat; the night before Eid...

Friday, November 04, 2005

Eid Mubarak from Hasan Mubarak

Dear All,

Assalam o Alaikum

I would like to wish all of my family, friends and fellow bloggers a very very happy & prosperous EID.

_./'\._¸¸.•¤**¤•.¸.•¤**¤•.¸.•¤¤•.¸.•
.•*´¨: *•. .•* *EID MUBARAK**•. .•
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_./'\._¸¸.•¤**¤•.¸.•¤**¤•.¸.•¤•.
*•. .•* * EID MUBARAK* *•. .•*
/.•*•.\ ¸..•¤**¤•.,.•¤**¤•..,.•¤**

_./'\._¸¸.•¤**¤•.¸.•¤**¤•.¸.•¤¤•.¸.•
.•*´¨: *•. .•* *EID MUBARAK**•. .•
/.•*•.\ ¸..•¤**¤•.,.•¤**¤•.*. ¤•..,.•

May this Eid bring you all the happiness, health and wealth. And may your life be filled with success and many more triumphant moments. Amen!

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Thursday, November 03, 2005

Its EID!; Sharing a sad moment of happiness...

The moon sighting has just been announced which means that we, here in Pakistan, will celebrate the happy, holy occasion of EID tomorrow.

EID is to Muslims as Christmas is to Christians. It comes as a gift from God for those who kept fasting throughout the Holy month of Ramadan. It is for those who have 'actually' learnt something during this period of self-control and patience.

EID will be celebrated tomorrow. The early morning prayer ceremony will mark the beginning of the occasion. Later during the day friends and family will have reunions and celebrations. There will be charity, there will be sharing and there would be fun too.

But, in many ways, this EID will be different from the previpous ones. It is because EID will not be all about happiness for hundred of thousands of our fellows this time. It would, rather, be an occasion that will grieve them for the moments spent with their loved ones as many of them are no more.

We will celebrate with then as we are never going to forget our brothers and sisters in grief.

May God help them smile and celebrate again, forever and ever! Amen.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Photographer of the Year 2005

I just came across "2005 News website Photographer of the Year" competition at BBC NEWS' website.

My personal vote went to Tom Sullam for the above picture. I loved the above picture for its color contrasts. The silvers, greys and the goldens in this photograph are just mind-blowing.

What do you say about this picture??



You can also vote for your very choice at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4392574.stm

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

The Last Wish...

If you were in this situation, what would you last wish for?

Lahore Metblogs