Pakistan's Gamers Community - Blogs

My latest obsession

CrashBandicoot — Fri, 17 May 2013 22:00:38 GMT

(1)(1)

For a guy in his early fourties its a bit odd to even look at toys (except those adult ones :D ) but hey,i live in a western country where nobody gives hoot about what you are doing (Actually they are nosy but good at pretending they don't care).
So after a spell of stress and depression i started thinking of a way to distract myself from the routine life and many ideas came to the mind.
First idea that came to my mind was to buy a multi barrel gun and shoot all the homeless people,but unfortunately guns are banned in this country and so is murder.Then i thought of bungee jumping,the last time i bunjee jumped was 15 years ago,off the bridge at corinth canal and shouted all the abuse i could at a passing ferry underneath,knowing that they cant reach me.If i had fallen down,they had beaten me first before sending me to the hospital.But that's something i cant do regularly.Not many places for bungee jumping in this country.The next idea was to drive fast,But i live in the "Most watched" country on the planet with hundreds of thousands of CCTV cameras and plenty of speed cameras on motorways.A speeding car never gets unnoticed unless you are in the mountains of Scotland where nobody lives and nobody cares...or in Pakistan (still you people complain you are not free).
So i had to be content with something fast but free of legal troubles..Something that looks and drives like areal car..Only on a smaller scale and i cant ride it.
Here is what i bought,and love it.

Since i am still a beginner so i bought a relatively slow car which goes at 50 KPH,but was a pain to adjust the fuel air mixture and get the engine temperatures right.But thats part of the fun,you need a tabletop workshop with these things and need to tweak,tinker with these toys every time you run them.If you crash them, you will need to change broken parts which cost money.this one is only a 1/10 scale Niro model.Once i get some practice i may upgrade to 1/8 or 1/5 scale which are powerful and go to speeds of 60-70 MPH.
If any of you are interested and dont want the noise of a Nitro engine and the trouble of tweaking them,you may try the newer electric ones.Actually one particular electric model is faster than a real super car.
http://traxxas.com/products/models/electric/6407xo1

Honesty.

Syavash — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 19:26:30 GMT

"Always be honest with people" "Lying is a sin" "Lying gets you into trouble". Thats the sort of advice most of us usually grow up with, that's what my parents taught me and maybe yours too.

I'm 20 now and in 20 years of my life I'm proud I can actually count the number of times I have lied to people, honesty is something deeply ingrained in me and you know what, its not one bit like its dressed up to be.

In my experience, the problem with being honest is not so much having the guts to say the right thing as it is having someone who has the guts to LISTEN to the right thing. We people normally have this idealistic view of how the world should be, how we should all act and behave towards each other that occasionally when they come face to face with reality, they just freak out and go into a state of complete denial.

Why is that? Why the paradox? You want the world to be some idea you have in your head but you also want people to be honest with you ? I've noticed this the most with Pakistani parents, their approach to parenting is completely illogical. Of all the teenagers I have known, their parents have no idea who they are, what they do or who they hang out with. Their parents are just happy with the belief that their child is perfect and innocent and occasionally when things dictate otherwise, the reaction is often beating or heated arguments to iron out whatever is wrong with their child. Ofcourse it never works, people need to be talked to, we're not sheep you can beat with a stick and mould into whatever it is that you want.

The point of this blog post? Stop filling your children with grandiose ideas of how honesty enriches your life, it doesn't. Instead all of you reading this could start by being a bit more receptive to the people around you, have the courage to listen to criticism no matter where it comes from and have the courage to tell people what you think even if they get angry or hate you for it, stop living in a fairy land and face reality for once.

Spoiler: show
Just something I've wanted to share with people for a long time so I thought I'd get it out. :p

Starting Out on Odesk

wordsmithess — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 06:58:31 GMT

A lot of people ask me how to get started on Odesk. Some even want me to go fill out their profiles and apply to jobs for them. I can't do that.

So, here's an overview for anyone who's interested.

1. Set up your profile. Look at other contractor profiles to get an idea. Choose the category that you want and search contractors here: https://www.odesk.com/o/profiles/

2. Take some tests that are relevant to the kind of job you want. Here: https://www.odesk.com/tests

3. Look for jobs. Go here: https://www.odesk.com/o/jobs/
Choose the category that matches your skills and browse jobs.

4. Read the job description carefully then apply to a few jobs.

Remember these points:

> Odesk assigns a job quota to new people so you will have a limited number of applications that you can use until you get some jobs and feedback.

> Try to apply to jobs that you know you can do if hired.

> Use your application quota wisely. Do not just start applying to every job you see. It isn't easy to get jobs and the first job you get, you want to do it exceptionally well because your employers get to rate you after it is completed. Much like the trader score here on PG but a bit more targeted towards your skills, commitment etc.

> The application must be written for each job separately according to the requirements of the job. If your job application is properly written and unique, you have a higher chance of getting the job than other people.

> As a new contractor, you will probably have a tough time getting hired for well paying jobs because:

You are new so you don't have a work history and employers can't trust you. They also have no proof of your skills.
If you're applying for writing jobs, you'll have a harder time than others because you're not a native speaker of English and employers assume your language skills will be sucky.

Useful links:

Writing a great cover letter for odesk: https://www.odesk.com/blog/2010/05/h...-cover-letter/

Sample cover letter: https://kb.odesk.com/questions/1419/...A+Cover+Letter

About the Odesk job application quota: https://kb.odesk.com/questions/781/W...ation+quota%3F

Setting up your profile:
https://kb.odesk.com/questions/1417/...+Great+Profile

The Odesk Contractor 101:
https://kb.odesk.com/questions/1434/...Contractor+101

Remember, Google is your friend and the Odesk website has lots of resources to help you. Ask for advice, but only if you have exhausted all other resources and can't find answers. If you want to be a freelancer, you need to learn to be independent and self-reliant.

Well, that's all I could come up with first thing in the morning. Other Odesk contractors can add their advice in the comments.

Best of luck.

{ Footprint | part 4} Sprechen Sie deutsche?

NaNoW — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 02:18:08 GMT

Sprechen sie Deutsche = Do you speak German?

The biggest issue I immediately faced when coming here was obviously the language barrier. Me and @Joker departed our ways from Frankfurt airport to take the ICE train to our destination, along the way I learnt the value of knowing even the basics of another language. I am sure if I hadn't communicated with a few really nice people, who helped me along the way, I wouldve been lost.:frown:

The little German I learnt in Karachi (I did A1 course from Goethe), to prepare myself helped alot. I would highly recommend anyone interested in coming here to learn a bit, trust me, it makes your life a lot easier.
Other than that, German isn't a hard language to learn if you know English, Urdu and your teacher focuses on grammar. The alphabets are 90% English with a few twists, S/Z/E/J/F sounds like Z/S/A/Y/PH, thus more than a few words are similar sounding with their English counterparts.

And like Urdu for formal we use Sie (App), and in informal Du (tu/tum). Also like Urdu gender of things is specified die/das/der( like bhens KI:bd2:, phone KA,etc).
Contrary to my belief previously, it is incredibly fun to learn a language (imagine 15 or so masters student with decent educational background learning A, B, C, D...).

Also learning a new language opens up a whole new culture and a dimension to the world. Knowing a language really does offer more than we anticipate. How would you feel if you didnt know urdu or english?. You would be missing out on alot.Maybe that's why most young people here yearn to speak 3 or 4 languages., cause it's fun.

In cities like Berlin, Frankfurt and Munchen approx 80%-90% people speak English, but in smaller cities like mine the ratio drops to 70-80%. And in villages the ratio drops even further to 60 to 70%. But these figures are for everyday people, because learning either English/Latin/French is a part of German education,and most go for English. So it is a safe bet that anyone who has attended school here knows basic English. Another thing to keep in mind, when a German says he knows english " a little bit" or "ein bisschen", expect him to blow you out of water, these people are modest about their english skills.

You CAN get a job here and live without knowing German, but honestly do you want that, or spend a lil time and enjoy the country to its fullest? Plus most universities have cheap course for its students (WARNING : By cheap I mean nearly same price you would pay in Pakistan, so its better to learn from Pakistan and not waste your time here).

Germans really appreciate you learning their language and respect that. and you can have a time of your life with friends you make in language course here in Germany, as it is a part of the course to interact and communicate with them.

Answer to a question asked: :blah2:

I misspelled both words, so maybe thats people couldn't Google it..my bad!
anyways here's the answer:

What is Hochschule?

Best answer from wiki:

n recent years, Hochschule has increasingly become the term for institutions of higher education without full university status, i.e. for institutions that:

do not cover a large diversity of academic fields, but focus on certain areas;
do not have the right to award doctorates, but bachelor's degrees and master's degrees.

Institutions that are called Hochschule meet one or more of these criteria, which differentiate them from a full Universit�t (university).
Hochschulen are similar in mission to specialized colleges or academies (e.g., of arts) in English-speaking countries. Other German terms for this type of institution are Hochschule f�r angewandte Wissenschaften (university of applied sciences, institute of technology) or Fachhochschule (FH).
In most German states, a Berufsakademie is not a Hochschule by either of the definitions because the bachelor's degrees conferred by such are professional degrees, which are de jure not academic degrees. However the state of Baden-W�rttemberg, from where this type of tertiary sector education originally emerged, has recently elevated these institutions to the status of a Hochschule as Baden-W�rttemberg Cooperative State University. The degrees awarded by the latter are academic degrees and equivalent to those awarded by Fachhochschulen and universities.^[2]

and Fraunhofer:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraunhofer_Society

a couple of pics of my town are below

Alrite thats it for now...next blog when I get more free time.thanks for all the love, appreciate it !:bdance::Chilli:

Leave a Like, Subscribe and Peace!(y)

{ Footprint | part 3} Typically German

NaNoW — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 14:08:34 GMT

First of all Thank you guys for the response, and everyone who PMed me for the support.

Now, I am gonna share an exclusive look into what a German thinks about their culture and people .

My question: So what is typically German?

their answer :

Cultural characteristics :blah2:

1. Facts are important

2.Respect of rules and structures

3.Self-control

4.Monochronic notion of time

5.Separation of life areas

6.Communication style

7.Individualism

:frown:
(German proverb: First the work, then amusement)

Personal relationships do not lead to
preferential treatment

Facts/objectives are the main priority,
relationship building is a side effect

Focusing on facts may be more important

Germans enjoy a personal touch, but they do
not expect it to happen

In terms of respect of rules and structure:
Rules and regulations are strictly observed,
violations are penalized

Objective:

Risk reduction and controlling
the situation

There are no exceptions to the rule

Agreements are binding

If there is a problem, Germans set up a
system

Improvisation = poor planning
my side note: Which is alot different to Pakistani culture

:RTR:
Rules are binding for everyone.
Rules are observed even if there is no one
who controls it (red light, bus ticket etc.)

Reliability is important

Self reliability/independence is expected

The one who needs help/information, has to take the initiative/be pro active

Time is valuable, it is to be used effeciently

Time management (even in free time) is an
important quality

Planning leads to security (control)

Germans have the 3rd fastest life rhythm in the world
One step after the other (no multitasking)

:bd2:

Strict separation of work and private lifeSeparation of rational and emotional (work
place = rational)
Separation of role and person (mixing both
incriminates authority)
Religion is a private matter
Separation of state and church

Object oriented communication:rip:

What is said is more important than
how it is said

"No" mean no..and "Yes" means yes

Coming straight to the point (without small talk)

Being Explicit ! Germans do not understand Subtexts !!

Problems are addressed first

Honesty is more important than politeness

Criticism is positive and helps in improving

Individualism(y)

Being and developping yourself is important

German children are taught to be responsible for themselves,

self reliable and to have their own opinion

You are free to do what you want to as long as you do not harm anybody else

Privacy is important

My opinion :

Germans are cold until you break the ice, then they will be amazing friends.

They dont like weak, small or emotionally unstable people.

They take care of health alot. and quality of lifestyle is excellent

These people will spend 3 Euro on shirt, but 50 Euro on under garments

They are in love with America, for some reason.

Dont push them, dont test their patience, Be Calm and Move on:)
They get irritate easily

Taste of Music is pathetic in most of them..few are exceptionally brilliant
Love clubbing music and retro style

...but you will hear I am barbie girl, Haayeaaa Makarena, Oppa Gangnam Style, Back street boys, I am sexy and I know it in clubs...:P
though there are other most concentrated rock and metal clubs too..but mostly play cheesy songs

but watching football matches, in Irish pubs with other fans is alooot of fun:)

And now to answer my fellow PGs :

Originally Posted by assasin42o

1st, you're doing MS or BS?
2nd, share the expenses of living, would really appreciate.
3rd. how much people are there from Asia? Specifically from Pak and India?
4th, and how are Pakis treated there?

I've always been fascinated by the culture of different European countries... They're really rich in it. Plus full of natural beauty.

2. According to the bank account you have to open from Pakistan, you have to put aside approx 690 Euro / month...but its more like 400 Euro for a good normal life...

But remember that you can work (120 days full time or 240 days part time) /year.

You can get Student HiWi or Student Research Assitant jobs.

They usually give you 40 hours/ month. Though you can get more or less as your wish.

And you can earn from 9.80 to 13 Euro usually. Mostly, and keep calculations simple, lets assume you get 10 Euro. So that means you can easily expect to fullfill all your requirements by working part time. But remember thats easier said than done, because of the high level of education and self study. and these prices vary a lil from city to city, but my estimations are a good average.

3. Every year, like this one, IMTEK (name of department of Uni Freiburg) gets 25 people from India and 4-5 from Pakistan. So the population of Desi people is very low. Most people who finish studies move to other cities or countries.

Frankfurt, Berlin and Munchen are ofcourse a bit different, more multicultural. They get a lil higher number of Desi people, but still our number is significantly low in comparison to Turkish or other nationalities.
In my town you will meet alot of people (esp girls) from eastern Europe, France , Spain, Italy, etc ..rather than Indian or Paki.

4. Zero tolerance level to racism has made Germany nearly free from it.
Most young Germans have personally told me that they want to get rid of the stereotype that Germans dont like others. Infact, a few of them say that they want more people from around the world to come here and contribute.
The thing is, they like hard working people, and the fact that nearly all Pakistanis here work in specialized field make them respect us. so in short Pakistanis are respected here, and in my opinion, they are making Pakistan proud.

Originally Posted by XxRebellionxX

How is Germany in comparison to UK for studies? I am planning to go to UK after my A-levels but I'm just as much compelled to go to Germany.

In short if you can learn the language, (I am going to write a blog on that topic soon as well) and I am saying this after being in England for 4 months, Germany, in my honest opinion, has much better job perspective,quality of education(exclude ox-bridge), quality of life and security.what else is there?.

P.S: its been snowing since last night now...5 days now since I saw the sun (and this being Germany's sunniest city)..the last time it snowed a week ago it was a mini snow storm, I got stuck in that...(it will be one of the topic of blog in near future), how a simple day turned into an adventure due to me not covered properly for the snow (and to my Karachitte Pakistani skin it was like climbing Everest)

@cheesewarrior01 : appreciate the support man!:wink2: @Major Aly @shahzadfootball @assasin42o @XxRebellionxX
for a few pics : http://www.pakgamers.com/forums/f28/...6/index12.html

wow that was a long blog...
Please Like and Subscribe...and Peace ...!

{Footprint | part 2} and so it starts continued...

NaNoW — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 17:26:57 GMT

After a few questions raised by a people here..and a few PMs I got, this entry is gna be mixed with my experience plus clearing/answering some things up from my perspective ...so If anyone wants to come here, these tips should make it a lil easier for you and be helpful.

As I got here, (and the journey with @Joker..in which we missed our plane, spent hell on airport and misplacement of bags), requires another blog entry itself..keep your eye out for that one as well) :wink2:

I applied to Uni Freiburg as my first choice Uni, because the course offered was exactly what I was looking for. Even before I could send my 2nd or 3rd choice Unis my application, these people responded positively. And I appreciated their quick response.

The full name is Albert-Ludwigs Universit�t Freiburg.It is the 2nd oldest university in Germany and I am doing MEMs ..one of the hardest programs (And trust me it is extremely hard). The quality of education is mind blowing...(e.g)
two of our prof. teaches us from their own books.
another one has an micro actuator to his name.
and another one has got over 43 patents
Nearly all of them are CEO's of some firm near black forest.

I will quote my senior " Yahan per apney subjects ki balayeen bethi hein".

The Uni campus is state of art with multiple clean rooms, expensive equipment and extensive research going on. Not only in my campus but other specialized companies nearby. Alternate energy solutions is a hot topic here, so alot of money is invested in solar cells, LED and whatnot.

A brief overview of the city of Freiburg.

Freiburg im Breisgau (Alemannic: Friburg im Brisgau) is a city in Baden-W�rttemberg, Germany with a population of about 230,000 people

is a travel destination and a student city. Freiburg is the sunniest city in Germany, and also the most southern.
It shares it's main Airport, there's another one but that is not international and is used mainly for sky diving, etc), with France and Swizerland ( google Euro Airport), both of which are only 25 mins away.

Black Forest was famous for 3 things, as told by our lecturer, and which I also found to be true:
1. Landscapes
2. Cake
3. Watch makers..

And many research companies here used to be run by watch makers. The art of precision and working with small things has been transferred from one generation to another ..and from one profession to another (watch making to chip making:P)
Also Black Forest area is simply the mind blowing-ly beautiful. As @Shyber would say Awesomsaucetastic (did I say that right?)

City is itself georgous sitting in between beautiful mountains.It's filled with students, most of them are girls from all Europian countries learning in Goethe Language Institute, Language/Medician/Bio in Uni Freiburg
There are 5,6 horeschules and 8 fahnhofers here as well.

To clear a few things:
You get a 1 and a half year visa to search for jobs after your degree is finished....and jobs here are plenty...

Germany was just dropped to 2nd largest exported after China, and their young populaion isnt that interested in reproduction and/or scientific fields.

Another thing: Most Girls in main town/cities are 7.5/10..as it is all very multicultural...but if you head in smaller cities or towns I have heard, from quiet a few people, that there they get 10/10 girls everywhere. As I am not that perverted to take the trip myself, treat this is as a scientific analysis....IN THE NAME OF SCIENCE :)

I trekked in black forest, visited Switzerland and Netherlands all within two weeks of landing here..I have been to Frankfurt, Colonge, Aachen, Stuttgart (car lovers would go mental, like I did), Bonn..as of yet in Germany alone...Travelling here is so simple, very little border control, hardly any checks..everything works on trust system..looks like humans live here
I wish a few people in Pakistan would change, and I am sure our people are
capable of the same.

Doing Nazi salutes, or even mentioning Hitler is a NO-FLY ZONE.
Germans are cold people until you break the ice, after that they are very friendly

Next blog is about what is typically German ...coming straight from the mouth of a German who I know:)

Pictures would be coming as I am a lil occupied in studies at the moment.

And I did learn German a lil bit in Pakistan from Goethe, it isnt a hard language.

Thank you for reading the blogs.. :
My English isn't outstanding so grammar nazis keep away:)

hope I answer a few questions.(y)
@Major Aly @omarko @HaiderSangi@Joker @shahzadfootball
@Obelisk @XxRebellionxX @Gizmo @Ottoman @AsadAbrar
@cheesewarrior01 @Fir3d3mon

dont forget to like and subscribe..keeps me motivated !

{ Footprint | part 1}And so it starts!!

NaNoW — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 18:50:36 GMT

Wondering what am I talking about?
I am talking about my plan to move away from Pakistan, due to the security issues and targeted killings, and continue towards my goal for further studies somewhere else.

I choose Germany for a couple of reasons.
1. It's excellence in field of electronics (I am doing MicroElectroMechanical Engineering)
2. It was not as expensive as US.
3. The opportunity to experience life in Europe.

This blog is going to be updated with experiences that I encounter..so lets hope for the best

:wink2:

Dont forget to Subscribe...:bd2:

So, what happened here?

Crow — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 12:06:08 GMT

Looks like a war-ravaged country in paranoid resignation of its depressing fate, counting the seconds and saying goodbyes in anticipation of the nuke to remove every lingering trail of the butchered, run-over memories.

iPhone 5 Launch - Roundup of Rumors

wordsmithess — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 11:33:49 GMT

Apple fanboys are as jumpy as a pile of Jelly Beans today.

What's happening today? Well, the launch of the new iPhone 5, of course. Bloggers have been making tons of money by creating rumors and speculations on their blogs.

Techies have had nothing else to talk about for weeks now. They just can�t focus on anything any longer, except, of course, the iPhone 5. Will it have a bigger screen? How many cores? Will Siri work even better? Will it service my every need? Will it...?? And the list goes on and on. One thing all techies and fanboys share is the idea that Apple will, once again, �transform the market for mobile content.�

So, here�s a roundup of some of the rumors that have been circulating lately. Some of these might turn out to be true today, while others, well, you�ll just have to wait till the next iPhone. The iPhone 5S?

� 4 inch screen
� Taller phone body than previous ones
� 15 to 20 % thinner than iPhone 4S
� Improved retina display
� Better aspect ratio
� iOS 6
� A5X dual-core processors (similar to the new iPad)
� New and improved battery
� Improved LTE global chipset
� NFC capable
� Updated camera
� New, 9 pin dock connector
� Headphone jack moved to bottom
� New iPhone 5 headphones
� Old accessories will not work with iPhone 5
� Nano sims
� Finger print recognition
� Facetime
� Sales to begin on or around September 21

There have also been the bizarre rumors about the iPhone 5 actually being used to make calls! *Gasp*

Apple's press conference starts tonight at 10pm Pakistan time.

Oh and by the way, here's a video I made last year about the iPhone 4.

When Lulzsec Hacked My Email

wordsmithess — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 08:27:28 GMT

That morning, as usual, I checked my mail. This particular email caught my eye because of the content in the excerpt. My first thoughts? OMG!

I was too scared to click and open it for two whole minutes. (Yes, I counted them.) I did click eventually. Of course, if I hadn�t I would not be writing this post. Or maybe I would. Anyway, the following are the contents of the email.

Dear,

We have been following You very closely and at this point in time know more about You than You are comfortable in acknowledging. However, the purpose of this email is not to threaten or deface Your identity, we would only like to extend a friendly gesture. Since this is our first and only known correspondence, we would hope that You appreciate the risk we are taking.

We are very interested in Your work and have been closely following Your activities for the past month and a half. Suffice it to say that due to the bad publicity that we have been receiving over the past few months we would like to reboot our site design and slowly reorient our activities and reintegrate ourselves into the white-hat community. To this end we would like to contract Your services as a consultant to assist with the new site design and content. You need not worry about Your identity, it is safe with us and You will have our full protection.

We can assure You that You will be compensated handsomely. However, due to the nature of our previous exploits cannot afford risking sending monetary compensation. You will, however, have our complete security, coding and hacking expertise at Your disposal. We only request that You use it judiciously and with care.

We have attached a word file with full details of the contract and the nature of the work and would request that You read and understand the risks associated with such a job carefully before replying. You will have two days to respond fully to our email. Please write an email and save it as a draft to respond as we will carefully be monitoring your email activity. We will delete the draft as soon as we have read Your response and will correspond in like manner.

We request that You try not to change Your email address or Your passwords. We are Lulzsec and we do it for the Lulz, You can�t hide or run � the CIA couldn�t. We will however respect your privacy and your decision, those are Yours and we value them.

�The Lulzsec Team

And Remember,

(My Email Signature was inserted here with the Lulzsec website address)

I checked to see what email they had used and this is what I saw

Well, obviously, when you hack into someone�s email, you email them from THEIR email address, not yours.

Holy Moly! Lulzsec emailed me? Wow! Yes, sadly, that�s what I thought. The thought that my privacy had been compromised did not even cross my mind. I was so excited (exhilarated actually) that Lulzsec had sent ME an email that i did not even think for a second how dangerous it could be. My email was hacked by LulzSec! I didn�t even bother to change my password. Well, they told me not to, how could I let them down? Sigh. I even saved a response in the drafts and waited eagerly for it to be deleted, as �they� had promised.

As I watched my email, my phone rang. That was frustrating because I didn�t want anything to come between me and my email watching. The caller id told me it was my friend. I answered it to hear hoots of laughter at the other end. Perplexed, I asked,

�What happened?�

�You actually fell for it!� More laughter.

Enlightenment.

�Damn it! YOU emailed me as Lulzsec?�

More devilish laughter.

I vaguely remembered days of no internet connection when I had given my Gmail password to my friend to reply to an important email. Never changed it after that. Yes, I know, that was dumb.

By this point, I was not amused. I was heart broken. All my dreams of working with Lulzsec were shattered in the span of a few minutes. Who needs enemies when you have friends like that?

A positive side to this incident, I instantly set up the two-step Gmail verification, changed my Gmail settings to always use https instead of http and a lot many other things.

Do you think your Email is secure? How would you have reacted to such an email?

P.S. If you have no idea who LulzSec is (are you serious??) check out the following links:
CIA Website Hacked
LulzSec and Anonymous Declare War

Saba and her Phone

CrashBandicoot — Fri, 18 May 2012 17:36:24 GMT

This is a real story of a young college girl who passed away last month in karachi .Her name was Saba. She was hit by a truck.She worked in a call centre. She had a boy friend named Shahrukh... true lovers...They always used talk for hrs on phone. You could never see her without her headphone. In fact she also changed her lines
from Ufone to Zong, so both of them could be on the same network, and save the cost. She spent half of the day talking with Shahrukh. Saba's family knew about their
relationship. Shahrukh was very close 2 Saba's family..Before she passed away
she told her friends "If I pass away please burn me with my headphone" she also said the same thing to her parents.After her death, people cudnt carry her body, A lot of them tried to do so but still couldn't ,everybody tried to carry the body, the result was still the same. Eventually, they had 2 called a person, who spoke 2 soul of dead person...He took a stick and started speaking to the dead soul
slowly. After a few minutes, he said "this girl misses something here." Then her
friends told the person about her wish to burn her with her phone... they then opened the grave box and placed her phone & sim card inside the casket. then finally they tried carrying the body. It was easily lifted and so they put it into the van easily.
Everyone were shocked. Saba's parents did not inform Shahrukh that Saba had passed away. After 2 weeks Shahrukh called Saba's mom.....Shahrukh :...."Aunty, I'm coming home today. Cook something nice for me. Dont tell saba that I'm coming
home today, I wanna surprise her." Her mother replied..... "You come home first, V wanna tell you something very important."After he came, they told him the
truth about Saba. Shahrukh thought, they were all fooling him. He laughed and
said "dont try to fool me - tell Saba to come out, i have a gift for her. Please stop
this nonsense". Then they showed him the original death certificate. They gave him proof to make him believe. (Shahrukh started to sweat) He said... "Its not true. We spoke yesterday. She still calls me. Shahrukh was shaking..Suddenly, Shahrukh's phone rang. "see this is from saba, see this...."he showed the phone to saba's
family. all of them told him to answer. he talked using the loudspeaker mode.
All of them heard his conversation. Loud and clear, no cross lines, no
humming. It is the actual voice of Saba & there is no way others could use her
sim card since it was nailed. Inside the grave box, they were so shocked and called
for the same person (who spoke 2 souls of deal person) helpagain. He brought his
master to solve this matter.He & his master worked for 5 hours.Then they discovered one thing which really shocked them...

Spoiler: show
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Zong has the best coverage.
Where ever you go, our network
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Don't shout on me I am also
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Has sent me this post.... so what
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Some zong marketing genius came up with this story and i liked it ;)

No.335139

CrashBandicoot — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:07:08 GMT

Sipahi Maqbool Hussain of Azad Kashmir Regiment was declared missing on August 20, 1965 during Operation Gibraltar in Srinagar Area, his relatives said. He was understood to be have been martyred. Forty years later, he crossed the Wagah border in exchange for civilian prisoners. A far cry from the tall, well-built soldier he once was, mentally disoriented, his tongue cut, was presumed to be a fisherman like the rest of the group who returned with him. On the homecoming of the soldier, neither his parents, nor his brother of Tarrar Khal on September 17, were in this world to receive him. In his saner moments, he kept writing "No.335139" whenever he was questioned about his identity. Weeks later, officials, realizing the significance of the number, handed him over to the military, under whose care he has been for the past two years.Now he is spending his life under the care of pak Army.Still drifting between sanity and insanity,this man somehow survived fourth years of imprisonment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sipahi_Maqbool_Hussain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiitj...layer_embedded

127 Life Stories

Edifier — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 23:32:30 GMT

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. None of the characters in this piece are real. Just stories. Made up stories hoping to help you realize something.

xxxx

He was 19. Only 19. Not even third of the way through average life expectancy. On his way to Islamabad to give his visa interview at the Canadian Embassy. Just two weeks ago he got into that college of his dreams in Toronto and the paperwork had just begun. He is never graduating with that degree of prestige in his hand. Never getting his dream job, never marrying his young love. When they hung up and he turned his phone off, the last few words that he said and the last few words that he heard her say were the same: those three words, that acceptance of love.

"I'll call you when we land."

----

He called his parents three weeks ago that he�s passing out of the military academy on 21st. The biggest day of his life was just around the corner and he couldn�t be more excited. Living away from home for the past few years had taught him so much about his family. How his dad always liked reading the paper before calling him every Sunday morning so they can use news and events as fillers during conversations. How his mother loved making him tea, the taste of which never really matched to the chaye available at the mess. How his younger sister was always the shy kind and never really made new friends after 2nd grade.

When he told his father that his passing out parade is scheduled for Saturday, his father replied with we�ll all come to see you on this big day of yours. He was excited and he thought, I�ll keep the big news to myself and they�ll be surprised when they�ll watch me receive the Sword of Honor. �Or perhaps they wouldn�t be surprised, I�ve always been a good student�, he thought. They never made it to the parade.

----

�Baba, Karachi isn�t that far, afterall. It�s just a two hour flight. I can drop by every weekend or two and things will still be the same. I know you won�t get to see me every day but still, I really, really wanna go study communication design at Indus Valley. They have the best program in the country. Please let me do this?�

Her puppy face had always worked. Her dad agreed. She moved to Karachi last fall to study. Life had been good to her during the last few months. She made new friends, reconnected with old ones, started living with Manzoor Uncle and Shabana Auntie who cared for her just as her own parents. Daily phone calls to Baba were something that wasn�t ever a chore. Since last fall, every other weekend was spent in Islamabad. Last December she had to skip a weekend due to an assignment and the same week, when he fell on the stairs and hit his head on the marble, she flew a weekday morning flight for the first time.

She was an only child. When a reporter shoved a camera in her Baba�s face at the crash site, he couldn�t say anything. He was too shocked to even cry.

----

�So do you have a seat in any other airlines? I have a really important meeting to get to at 9am tomorrow. Anything tonight or tomorrow would do.�
�There are a few seats in 7pm tonight but it�s not PIA, it�s Bhoja. And it�s their first flight to Islamabad after they resumed operations.�
�Why does it matter, please book it for me. You have my credit card info, right?
�Yes, sir. I�ll email you the ticket in a short while, then.�
�Sounds good.�

Didn�t sound as good to his wife when she heard news of the crash.

---

Working at a news group gave him chances to travel all over the world during the past 23 years. He�d been to South America, to Portugal and Bahamas, to South Africa and India and Thailand and China. His favorite place in the world was by far Karachi, partly because it was home and partly because it is what it is: this havoc-loving chaos with no system whatsoever but still pretty much the best example of survival through adversity.

He got another one of those calls on Thursday morning. �Farhan Saheb, kal zara ek interview karna hai Islamabad mein.� He happily obliged. He loved travelling and had sadly been home for the past six weeks.
�Sir, masla he koi nahi. Details? Kaun hai, kahan hai, waghaira?� He was told details would come in later through email. Meanwhile, he should get his affairs in order if he has anything urgent in Karachi.
�Waise, main free he hun. Aglay weekend, albatta, meri beti ko dekhne kuch log aarahay hain. But I am assuming this would be a short trip?�
�Haan, haan. Nothing more than three days. You can be back by Monday night. Aur apki meetings kay schedule main aapko bhej rha hun, acknowledge kar liye ga when you get my email.�

�Jee, zaroor. Boht shukria.�

During the first hour of the flight, the voices inside his head ranted not about work but about new places that he wanted to see. Next year, after Sana�s wedding, I should probably take a month or so off from work and just.. roam around Europe.

-----

�Beta, phone kar kay Noman ko Karachi se bula lo. Mera nahi khayal is baar haspataal se main zinda wapis aaungi. Ab tou bus tayyari hai.�
�Maan Jee, Aisi baatein kiun karti hain? Noman ko bula lia hai. Kal sham ki flight se aaraha hai woh Islamabad. Aap bus fikr na karein, bus jaldi se theek hojayen.�

�Beta, Noman ki flight kitne bajay land karni thi? Operation kal subha hai, main chahti hun kuch ghantay tou bethay wohh mere paas. Kuch baat karay, kuch meri sunay. Pata nahi kahan reh gya hai.�
�Maan jee, Noman ka phone aya tha, keh rha tha operation se pehle pohnch nahi payega.�

This is all she could tell Maan Jee before her eyes teared up again. She had no choice but to walk out of the room then. She couldn�t even cry on her brother�s death. She was too focused on spending last few hours with her mother before they would take Maan Jee away to the operation room. The operation next morning, with less than 30% chances of success, was the last hope of prolonging Maan Jee�s life by a few months.

-----

These stories are fictional. None of the people who died in the tragedy were my friends or relatives. But the reason why I wanted to write this was helping myself realize that 127 isn�t just a number.

They weren't just 127 people. They were 127 life stories. 127 dreams that are never realizing. 127 sons and daughters, husbands and wives, lovers and friends. I don't know what the cause was, and frankly don't care that much either.

All I know is that this is a reminder for all of us: Say your I Love Yous and Sorrys today. Forgive the people you're holding grudges against. Let go with peace and harmony. Stop hatred. Stop being mean. Stop focusing on future too much and live in the now. That best shirt you have in your closet that you still haven't worn thinking you'll wear it on a special day? Wear it today. Take lots of pictures. Create memories. Make a difference. Follow your passion. Change lives ..

And above all, make sure that when you die, you leave enough behind that you are remembered as a person. Something a whole lot more than just a number. Just a body. Just an average human being.

I do not reserve any right of this article. The sole author of this article is Muhammad Abdullah (https://www.facebook.com/mu.abd)

What happened at siachen..A layman's analysis

CrashBandicoot — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 00:44:48 GMT

Look at the shape of Glacier in this Picture.

Now crop the Glacier and zoom in..and notice the Dam shaped structure? It looks alike an ice dam with Walls holding back the ice?
The top section is very steep at probably 70' angle then its almost flat at 20' angle an dthe bottom long tongue of the Glacier is at about 50' angle..and notice the Dark grey walls of the Ice dam??

The structure has varying gradients.The top and bottom are steep,but the ice lake is nearly horizontal.
The structure looks stable as the Vertical ridges of ice holding the Ice pool is wider than the pool itself and should have held it.
Such structures don't collapse suddenly and if they collapse,they do so in phases...
The whole Ice pool,the Vertical ridges and much of the Glacier tongue appear to have slid off in one go.

The same structure from a different angle..All these pictures are pretty recent..From late 2011

Now look at this Picture..This is on the morning of the Avalanche...Taken just after the Disaster...The whole of the ice dam and Much of the glacier tongue is missing?

Glaciers are clumsy and happily sit on their place for eons...They don't crash down the mountain like this..Unless there is a major earthquake or Volcanic eruption...There was a mile long Buffer zone between the camp and the Glacier in addition to the river..Its highly unlikely that a Glacier just breaks off the face of a mountain comes hurtling down hill..This was unthinkable.

Lets try to calculate the amount of Ice,snow and debris that crashed on them that fateful day.

This is the picture of the Army base before the disaster,although a bit old picture.
Assuming that the barrack/Hit in the red circle is 7 feet high from roof edge to bottom...We can see that 7 huts fit on the vertical face of the glacier on the sides and 10 huts fit in the middle.
This makes the Glacier 50 feet or 15 meters high on the sides and 70 feet or 21 meters high in the middle..Or a mean height of 18 meters?

Now this isnt a high resolution picture but presumably it was taken just after the disaster,and it clearly shows the Grey area just ahead of the Pure white snow at the top..Thats the missing area of the Glacier..Since the Edge of the Glacier was about 1.2 kilometers from the Camp.We can say that the Collapsed area of the Glacier is about 900 meter long and about Half as wide.

Now to find the area of the Slab of Glacier that crashed on the camp.

Its LXBXD?

Thats 900m X 450m X 18m

Thats a volume of 7290,000 cubic meters.

Average Density of Ice + Snow is 0.9 for ice, 0.7 for compacted snow 0.5 for non compacted snow..Mean density is 0.7 tons per cubic meter?

Total weight of the Glacier that crashed that day will be.

7290,000 X 0.7 Equals 5103,000 tons

Thats 5.1 million tons of Glacier sliding down the mountain...
Lets take out 50% margin of error in the calculation??..Even then its more than 2.5 Million tons of ice that hit our Soldiers on that unfortunate day.....

If you look at the top of the second picture you will see a straight line dividing the white snow and the missing Grey area,and that indicated the the whole slab slid off in one go.

Avalanches come down at speeds of 100 miles an hour..
2.5 million tons hurtling down the mountain at 100 Mph..How much forces are involved? May be somebody good in maths can convert this into Kilojoules and we can compare the destructive forces involved with detonation of small nuclear weapons..as i guess the forces will be equivalent.

A large Aircraft carrier weighs 100,00 tons...
The weight of glacier that crashed on the soldiers equals 25 Aircraft carriers hitting them at 100 miles an hours..

It looks very bad..But lets not lose hope..Miracles happen.They need our prayers.

This Nation is Doomed!

USUF — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 17:00:52 GMT

....for good!

Today, i was on my way home from the university and, as always, I was supposed to pick up my younger sister from her school on the way. I arrived at the school and went inside the main gate and waited for her to show up. As I waited, i saw a mother and a father arguing with their daughter who looked to be not more than 7 years old.

They were barely 5 feet away from me. The father started off by telling the little girl how upset he was that she didn't stay in front of the gate as he had told her to on countless occasions. The girl innocently looked down in shame and didn't say a word and the father continued on his rant and I saw as he got angrier by the second.

From what i could tell, the girl had left the school premises for a while, gone into the parking lot to look for her parents, and then came back into the school because she couldn't find them.

But that's just my guess...Whatever the case, it was definitely certain that she left the school premises for one reason or the other.

I didn't really pay attention to this argument happening in front of me. It's a pretty common sight whenever you go to pick up your younger siblings from a Primary school. But what happened next was a complete shocker.

The mother pinched in the argument and said to her daughter:

"....haan tu koi pathan utha ke le jata tumhe phir?"

Are you f*cking kidding me?.....SERIOUSLY?!

Not only are you feeding your little child, an innocent young girl, with a fear of being kidnapped, but you're also indirectly forcing her to accept a prejudice against a certain group of people of your own country?

ARE YOU F*CKING OUT OF YOUR MIND, LADY?!

What will this girl learn when she grows up? What kind of ridiculous dogmas and doctrines will she be subjected to by her own parents? Worse, she will learn to not even question these LIES given to her by her own parents. She will learn to not use her brain, not use her reason, but simply accept what is being told to her by her parents.

Her close-minded relatives will condition her brain to think in a certain way, believe in certain norms, and practice certain things. They will even go as far as making her believe that this is what the religion says so...and you know the worst part? She will actually accept all of these things and grow up to be a complete narrow-minded, insignificant, emotionally and intellectually weak member of the society with NO self-confidence and no dignity.

Jahalat ki INTEHA hai is qaum me. What is this nation going towards?

PS: I'm not a pathan by the way.