Touring Pakistan on a Motorbike

Pakistani Government Blocks YouTube!

UPDATE: Youtube.com is accessible now. It was banned due to trailer of an upcoming documentary “De Koranfilm” by Nederland’s MP (Member Parliament) Geert Wilders. The trailer is removed from youtube. The url of the trailer is still banned.

I’ve just got an email from my ISP telling me that authorities have ordered them to block access to YouTube.com! When will “the authorities” understand blocking a thing isn’t a solution of anything. Here is the text of email:

Dear Valued Customer:

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (www.pta.gov.pk) has directed all ISPs of the country to block access to www.youtube.com web site for containing blasphemous web content/movies.

The site would remain blocked till further orders from PTA. Meanwhile, Internet users can write to youtube.com to remove the objectionable web content/movies because this removal would enable the authorities to order un-blocking of this web site.

We’re sorry for any inconvenience.

Best Regards

Manager
Technical Assistance Center
Micronet Broadband Pvt. Ltd.
Islamabad

Science Vs. Faith

Reference: http://www.freethoughtpedia.com/wiki/Gallery_of_Scientific_Images

Open University Giving Eee PC and Classmate PC

Pakistan’s Allama Iqbal Open University is giving Asus’ Eee PC and Intel’s Classmate PC to its faculty/students in a very reasonable price. (click the photo to enlarge)

I am just back from their display exhibition. Eee PC [900 Mhz, 512MB, 4GB] is for Rs. 20,400 ($334) and Classmate PC [900MHz, 512MB, 40GB] is for Rs. 22,000 ($360). The final price is expected to be lower than this when they are actually given to students. An installment period of 2, 3 and 5 years is also promised. Open University is also letting the students choose HP Compaq 6720s or Acer Aspire along with the two tablet-PC’s. View details here.

Switching to Linux! What, Why, Which One?

A few days ago I decided to switch to Linux. At that time it was just because of I was free and wanted to do something and to learn something new. I’ve been a satisfied XP user for all the years I have used computer. And I pretty much like it. But still trying something new doesn’t hurt anyone. So lets try it.

What is Linux? Search this and you will find a lot of stuff with complex technical terms that will make you re-think your decision to try it. But fortunately I have a BS degree in computers. So it was not that hard to digest all that (I must admit it was somewhat hard). For a typical user “Linux System” should mean an operating system just like Windows or Mac that helps you use your computer (yes really). For a programmer its the kernel: the main part of the operating system. And the best thing about it is its open-source. And by virtue of that anyone can build an operating system using that kernel. That is the reason there are so many “flavors” or “distributions” of Linux out there.

So many people take the kernel, add a terminal to it (the command interface to interact with kernel), a graphics environment (GUI), add utility programs (Network Manager, Control Panel etc), add some daily-use software (media players, cd burner, office suit, games) and ship the whole thing as a distribution. We have got plenty of them. In fact quite a lot of them. A Linux Distribution is actually “the system” that is ready to be used by end users. Most popular being Ubuntu. And thats the distro I am using.

Now why should one use Linux: its open source. And because of that it puts “you” in control. It doesn’t hide things from you. Its very flexible. A Linux System you use is build so transparent that “you” know which thing does what and what alternatives you have for that. You know that the graphical environment is not necessary and you can remove that from your system, you can try another GUI from many available. You can use terminal of your choice. You can modify your system to do virtually anything you want it to do. AND A BIG THING: your system doesn’t hide things from you. It doesn’t consider you dumb and tells you whats happening and lets you control whats happening!

New Vision for selfexile.com

As now you all know I am sad, emotionally down, and not doing freelancing these days. So what am I doing then?

Most of all I am thinking of my country. Things are not hopeful and so am I. Read a column last day in a local newspaper titled: “lamentation of a dying civilization”. The column resembles our times to those described in masterpiece of Urdu fiction Bahao of Mustansar Hussain Tarar (this is one my my top favorit books). So you can imagine how much affect I have taken of that!

And I am thinking of extending this website. To make it a hub of different sections each presenting an aspect of my land (and my passion). You will see in a week or two or three… I am not sure…….

When You don't Feel Like Freelancing – 2

There is another very important thing you can do in free days and I forgot to mention it in my last post When You don’t Feel Like Freelancing.

That thing is: Extend your knowledge. Learn new technologies!.

And I selected to learn and switch to a better operating system. And thats, of course, Linux I had tried it as an amusement during studies but could not switch to it that time (We had Red Hat 6 & 7.2 at that time; must be 1999 or 2000). Will be writing a series of posts about my experience with Linux. I hope they will help you decide. Stay Tuned.

When You don't Feel Like Freelancing

Sometimes in your freelancing career, you feel like not working (as I am facing this these days). But “just being free” will make you sad. So you have to find some way to use your energies.

And the best thing is to do some work for yourself! You can start a blog on the very technology you are in. Or do something that will ensure a stream of passive income. FreelanceSwitch has A (great) Guide to Making Passive Income.

And thats what I’m doing these days: putting some time into my project Folk Punjab. I just changed its design to a more attractive one. Will be changing the theme of this blog in a few days.

Feeling Blue

The title says it all. I am emotionally down these days. Neither taking any work nor checking my emails regularly. It started when we had a short Internet breakage. And still its going on. And, of course, I am not happy about it.

The New Heritage Museum of Pakistan

Yesterday I was passing by shakarparian and thought to visit Lok Visra. (“Lok Virsa” is an organization for preservation and presentation of pakistani culture with its headquarter near Shararparian woods, Islamabad. Its director is Uxi Mufti a great folk lover and son of the renowned fiction writer Mumtaz Mufti.)

Lok Virsa had a museum in shakarparian that had a collection of “all things cultural” from all over pakistan. Many have already visited it. It was good. But Just like any other museum.

But what I saw yesterday was just “WOW!!” They have improved everything. From the main gate to the administration offices. Its “only culture” now. And the best thing I saw was the “new heritage museum”. Its not a mere collection of cultural goods now. THEY HAVE RECREATED CULTURE OF EVERY PART OF PAKISTAN. yes, recreated. The museum is not a rectangular room now. Its a safari into different parts of pakistan. you see a white travel line where you walk and you are shown how vilages/people/things are at different cultural division. You see people{artificial} wearing cultural dresses. You see bazars. you see Traditional Love Stories of pakistan recreated. You see the dresses. you see the doors/ how the front of homes look. In fact, you are having a virtual tour of pakistan. And an important thing is cultural-relations with other countries over the past. How and what came into pakistan from Middle East. you “see” that with your eyes. everything re-created again. While you roam around in the museum, the construction/format of walls change as per the region you are in.

SO, ALL OF YOU, DO VISIT LOK VISRA NEW HERITAGE MUSEUM. IT IS WORTH VISITING. AND BESIDE MUSEUM THEY HAVE MANY MANY THINGS IN THEIR TERRITORY. UXI MUFTI WILL MAKE YOU RE-THINK!

Startup Insiders Islamabad : It was great!

Yesterday I was at Startup Insiders, Islamabad. Its is an initiative by P@SHA and Green & White providing a platform for new startup/wana-be new startups to meet with mentors and people who can help and guide them.

And it was really great to attend it. There were CEOs and other lead people who are successful at startups. And they were thee to guide us: the new startups guys. And even there were investors, as Osama told me, who were willing to fund you if you can convince them your idea/product is worth it. I was really delighted to see/attend all that. Something is happening in my country. So all of you who want to start a startup do attend Startup Insiders sessions. (they will be held every month at Islamabad, Lahore, and Karachi. You can get notified at Green & White) (more…)