Is PPP Buying Musharraf's Ouster From USA?

What seemed as a completely futile and unnecessary visit to Washington by the PM Gilani may just have been an attempt to persuade the US authorities that the PPP is willing to extend the same support (and more) to the US in case they agree on Musharraf’s removal from the top slot. A news appeared in Daily Jang last month that Zardari asked Nawaz to accompany him to US with the PM in a bid to talk to the US authorities on these lines. Sharif wasn’t interested in such a visit and Zardari also took a wise decision by holding back. What else could have been discussed on such a failed visit??

Theoretically, the US doesn’t want Musharraf or anyone in particular. They will be glad as long as those in power are fulfilling their job. So to get the nod from Washington the PPP needs to prove that they are as worthy partners as was/is Musharraf.

Putting together other pieces of this puzzle, the notification to put ISI under Interior Ministry could just have been an indication to the US of the extent the People’s Party is ready to go with their support for US. The heavy warfare in Swat just adds to their portfolio.

Assuming all above is true, then the timing of the meeting that took place yesterday also means that they were indeed waiting for a message from Washington before taking a clear stance on the President. All this means that the PPP is willing to do anything to prove their worth to the US and in return get a nod for Musharraf’s ouster. Whether or not they’ve bagged the trade deal is yet to be seen.

PM's Weekend in London: WHY?

The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, had planned beforehand for a stopover in London enroute to Washington. Rumors were rife about his expected meeting with the PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif. A famous TV channel also confirmed that the PM will address the Pakistani community in London. Neither happened. Nor did any British official (of any lowest level) receive the PM at the airport or bid farewell to him as he stepped back on his plan for pilgrimage to the White House.

So what did the PM exactly do in London? Nothing, to be precise!

Homo Nerdus

“Nerds are the ones who don’t go to the party so they can stay home and do homework; geeks bring their homework to the party.” —David Anderegg, Nerds: Who They Are and Why We Need More of Them (2007)

Is the word nerd an insult or not? Until recently, there was no doubt; in fact, most dictionaries call nerd an offensive term, used to insult a person’s appearance, hygiene, or social skills. That sense of the term has been around since at least the early 1950s. The 28 October 1951 issue of Newsweek tells us that “in Detroit, someone who once would be called a drip or a square is now, ­regrettably, a nerd.” The word nerd also appears in the 1950 Dr. Seuss story If I Ran the Zoo, but he was referring to a ­fictional animal, not a socially inept person.

Now, however, most reference guides also include a second definition for nerd that’s practically a compliment. For example, Encarta defines a nerd as a “single-minded enthusiast: somebody who is considered to be excessively interested in a subject or activity that is regarded as too technical or scientific.” The phrases “excessively interested” and “too technical or scientific” still give the definition an odor of insult, but that bit about being a “single-minded enthusiast” doesn’t sound bad at all. Wikipedia’s ­definition is similarly ambiguous: “a person who passionately pursues intellectual activities, esoteric knowledge, or other obscure interests that are age inappropriate rather than engaging in more social or popular activities.”

Some folks are taking the positive aspects of the word’s definitions and running with them. That is, people are enthusiastically embracing their inner (and outer) nerd. For example, the online merchandiser Cafe Press has a Geek and Nerd Gifts section where you can buy T-shirts and other items with slogans like “Talk Nerdy to Me,” “Nerd Girl,” and “I [Heart] My Nerd.” There’s even a Nerd Pride Day (also called Geek Pride Day), which is celebrated on 25 May, the day the first Star Wars movie was released, in 1977.

All this pro-nerd feeling is spilling over into the language, too, with nerd-related coinages popping up like pocket protectors at a comic-book convention. For example, the population of nerds taken as a whole is called nerdom, and a person’s nerdy traits and characteristics represent their nerdity. The latter term is used often by the psychologist David Anderegg in his engaging book Nerds: Who They Are and Why We Need More of Them [Tarcher, 2007]. The whole nerd-is-cool meme is often summarized in the formerly oxymoronic phrase nerd chic.

Any long and nerd-oriented activity is known as a nerdathon, and if that activity happens to be a computer game or a LAN party (a gathering where people bring their own computers, connect them together into a local area network, and then play games against one another), it’s called a nerdstorm.

As yet another example of the digital DIY movement I talked about in my column last June, nerds are embracing crafts of various kinds. For example, some nerds are baking cakes in the shape of Sonic the Hedgehog or an Xbox 360 console. These are known as gamecakes, and the people who bake them are gamecakers. The desserts are examples of a larger genre called nerdcraft, and the people who engage in such activities are called nerdcrafters.

On the music front, there are artists who specialize in a form of rap music with lyrics relating to computers, technology, and engineering (I am not making this up), a genre known as nerdcore (from its original association with the hard?core music genre), though many people prefer the term geeksta (a play on gangsta).

Nerds are even starting to congregate in the same areas (outside of Silicon Valley, that is), a trend first recognized by the urban analyst Joel Kotkin. He uses the term nerdistan to refer to any upscale and largely self-contained suburb or town with a sizable population of high-tech workers employed in nearby office parks that are dominated by high-tech industries. Those employees with vested stock options in successful tech start-ups are known as millionerds or, if they started the company, entreprenerds.

All these nerdologisms can’t hide the fact that, for nongeeks, the word nerd is still something of an insult (more so than the now almost neutral term geek but less so than the truly insulting terms dork and dweeb). The difference is that now the nerds simply shrug their shoulders, push up their glasses, and go back to whatever they were obsessing about. They’re proud of their nerdhood, and they know that living nerdily is the best revenge.
This article is reproduced, as is, from the June 2008 issue of IEEE Spectrum. (Link)

Offering Condolences

The problem for me is that I don’t know how to offer condolences. With a huge social circle of my family we’re supposed to visit everyone’s place where death strikes (even their relatives!). But having no affinity at all with the deceased, and feeling no regret (really!) how can I put on that veneer of sadness on my face and say something which is almost futile. I have to say something when meeting them, but what??

What should one say when offering condolences? No words can placate the one in distress for sure, but even then we’re supposed to say something like Sabar Karo or Bohot Afsos Hua or simply put a question like Kese Inteqal Hua? I detest the last one primarily because you’re asking the person to repeat the whole story again, and rekindle those feelings which will stay at the back of his memory for lifetime. And all this when you really don’t know the person who just left the world!

How on earth should one offer condolences when you really don’t feel it???! I’m not asking WHY, because there is no answer to that.

What Kinda Nerd Are You??

Put on Abba Gold, get out the pistachio nuts and crack open the ginger beer – it’s time to celebrate! Nerds are back in fashion! Goodbye George Michael, goodbye P. Diddy, goodbye Liam Gallagher …. Hello Graham Norton, hello David Walliams, hello Bill Gates and hello Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber! Geek is the new sleek.

Nerd is the new world. Songs from the musicals, ballroom dancing and weird talents were once the domain of the nerds – now it’s prime time Saturday night compulsive viewing! The nations gone nerdy. Geeks used to be the butt of everybody’s jokes. Now they’re heading the way in becoming the new billionaires of our time!

Remember – Geek and you will find!

Homonerdus: What kind are you?

There’s one in all of us that’s itching to come out! Every one of us have nerdy tendencies and a stack of nerdy potential. Amongst the species of Homo-nerdus are families of nerds, each with their own unique mannerisms, quirks and abilities.

There are 5 families:
1. Nerdus Practicus
2. Nerdus Technicus
3. Nerdus Anorakus
4. Nerdus Brainus
5. Nerdus Dumbus

Nerdus Practicus

Nerdus practicus are like adult boy scouts – always ready for any eventuality. Everyone needs to know and befriend one. They will come in handy when a giant avalanche is heading in your general direction.

1. More often that not, you carry a man-sized handkerchief in the front pocket of your trousers. (You regularly wash that handkerchief while remaining in the pocket of your trousers – Not you but your handkerchief. If it was you, you would be a very small geek indeed.)

2. You regularly check the next day’s weather the night before to work out your clothing requirements for the morning.

3. Before a long road trip, you usually plot your journey beforehand on a road atlas and look for refuelling spots along the way.

4. You always carry an assortment of pens with you and when someone asks if they could borrow a pen, you ask, ‘What colour?’

5. You keep some butterscotch, some boiled sweets or even genuine Werthers in the glove box of your car for emergency situations.

6. You have a drawer that is dedicated to the god of light bulbs and is stocked up regularly. (You also have a second drawer dedicated to the battery god.)

7. Your Christmas shopping is done well in advance to avoid the Christmas rush. You have been known to buy presents as far back as August to save money in the mid year sales.

8. If you find that there is a fair quantity of food still left on the table at a restaurant, you always ask for a doggy bag (even if it is boiled vegetables).

9. You’ve thought about getting a mini fire extinguisher for your car just in case of an electrical fire or crash. (You already have the first aid kit.)

10. When boarding an airplane, you always study the emergency exits and your evacuation plan in case of serious emergency.

Nerdus Technicus

Nerdus technicus is the family of nerds that love to fiddle. The jobs they do are functional and meticulously dull to the non nerdy world. They love a good manual, a good argument and good natter even if no one is really listening.

1. You have an obsessively keen interest in things that are not really noticed by the greater public and, wow, are they missing out!

2. You are pretty good at converting kilograms to pounds, kilometres to miles and metres to feet as well as American dollars to British pounds.

3. You don’t like newspapers and magazines that don’t give you all of the facts and details you are looking for in order to be properly informed.

4. You love to dismantle things, and sometimes take special care so as not to avoid the warranty.

5. Before you power up your new mobile phone, you look carefully through the instruction manual.

6. When boarding an aeroplane with family or friends, you’ve mentioned on more than one occasion how the plane successfully stays up in the air without crashing.

7. Whenever you drive past or over a bridge, you always wonder how it stays up.

8. If there is a problem with the plumbing, the dishwasher or the washing machine, you would try to fix it before asking for assistance.

9. You have actually corrected a shop assistant about the technical spec of an item being displayed.

10. You feel a little bit of a power surge when someone asks you to fix something at the office or in their home that’s stopped working. That includes people with financial problems.

Nerdus Anorakus

Nerdus anorakus is the family of nerds that have no dress sense and are not really interested in conforming with mainstream society. They are pleasantly oblivious to fashion, personal space and smell. At some stage every student becomes one and many never return from whence they came.

1. The shirt you are currently wearing is more than three years old – why buy new when you can wear old.

2. You have a total of less than 4 good friends and every now and then you go to the movies on your own.

3. You are often in bed by 10pm and occasionally like a nice hot chocolate drink to make you a little sleepy.

4. There’s no way you’re going to spend over £2 on a Starbucks when you own a perfectly good thermos.

5. Your wardrobe consists almost entirely of beige, khaki green and grey clothing. (If war came to our country, you would not be spotted by the enemy.)

6. When you see someone flying a model plane, your pulse rate increases and you react like a man addicted to crack cocaine.

7. Right now, the socks that you are wearing almost match, but don’t. (Your drawers are full of lonely socks that were separated at birth never again to be reunited with their next of kin).

8. You have a biohazard or a warning sign in your bedroom. (Not to mention a heavy metal poster and a more than revealing female celebrity poster.)

9. Your collections mean more to you than family, friends or life or death. Cursed is anyone who plays with it without express prior permission.

10. Your collections are fully itemised, categorised and analysed. You’d sell your kidney if you could get your hands on that one missing item. (Seriously, you’ve thought about it.)

Nerdus Brainus

Nerdus brainus is the family of nerds that are so smart that they’re prone to little obsessions. Everything they see, read and hear is called data, ready to be evaluated, categorised and challenged! Watch out!

1. Sometimes your brain is that big that some people wonder where your heart is. (You sometimes wonder where their brain is!)

2. When you hear a statistic on television, you enjoy disagreeing with it and compare it with other statistics you have.

3. When someone’s telling you a story, you just want them to get to the end of it and tell you what happened.

4. When someone’s telling you a joke, you find it hard to concentrate on it and by the time the punch line comes you’ve totally missed it. You laugh as authentically as you can.)

5. You enjoy listening to viewpoints you don’t agree with as well as listening to people talk about things you’ve never heard before. It’s all good food for thought.

6. You regularly bring to light (or think about) factual discrepancies in close friends accounts of things that took place when you were actually there as well. This really annoys people but it was their fault for making up the facts.

7. You rarely read fiction. The closest you get to it is science fiction. You love a good, hard fact.

8. When you’ve noticed a double crease in your trousers or shirt (or even a small spot of something) it really annoys you. (Unless you have a big helping of Nerdus anorakus as well.)

9. When you walk into a room, you become aware of all of the background noise including what music is being played. Sometimes it’s a song you haven’t heard for ages and it gets you really excitable.

10. When someone listens to you, you need them to stop everything they’re doing and look you in the eyes. That way you know you have their full attention.

Nerdus Dumbus

Nerdus dumbus is the family of nerds that are particularly clumsy and unco-ordinated. Don’t blame them – they can’t help it. You wouldn’t pick on a blind person, would you now?

1. If there’s a drink left on the ground next to a sofa, you’re the one likely to knock it over.

2. It is impossible for you to go 12 months without scraping your car against something. (If there is an extra high curb, you are likely to hit it.)

3. At first you think they’ve been stolen, then the reality sets in, you’ve lost another set of keys (not to mention your bank cards.)

4. You say the first thoughts that come into your head which seemed brilliant at the time. After the innuendo was pointed out you wished you could swallow your words.

5. Your teeth are in need of some urgent attention but eating only on the left hand side of your mouth has given you some breathing and space (and eating space).

6. When you sing a song, you only actually know the first line. The rest of it you’ve just made up and tried to make it look like you really knew it. (This amuses all who watch on.)

7. You are a brilliant Dad dancer, but you are actually attempting to seriously dance! (You also love a bit of air guitar when everyone’s gone out.)

8. When you go on holiday, you usually forget one very important item – like your swimmers, a towel, toiletries or your passport.

9. When people are gathered around and you try to share a really funny joke you often forget the punchline.

10. You tell everyone you’re not keen on golf because it bores you. The real reason is because the golf course needs major reconstruction after you’ve been.

The content above and the banner image are reproduced from:

Fly Like A Nerd – Geek is back for good!

The Cutest Kid

This lil baby in our family deserves to be seen. He is, undoubtedly, the cutest kid in the family after me. More than once have people walking around in the malls of Dubai sought the permission of his parents to snap his pics! Well, this didn’t happen with me, probably because of the lack of cheap digital cams and cellphone cams back in 1986.

This budding star in out family is my maternal cousin, around 7 months old, living in Dubai. Not only is he cute, he is smart, witty and loves the song Mauja hi Mauja. He jumps at his place when he hears this song and stops crying in case he isn’t happy at something. So this is one of the most played songs when he is around. And yeah! he winks at baby girls!!

I’ve added few of his pics in an album here. The link to the album can also be found on the Photos page.

Petrol Prices in Pakistan: An Analysis

The petrol prices have shown a predictable rise in the recent past, but the amount of rise is unpredictable according to some analysts. What I want to analyze here is the prices of petrol in the near future. With all sorts of political uncertainties and crumbling economy the prices of petrol in Pakistan is likely to increase by a greater percentage than the international market.

The petrol price internationally in February 2008 peaked at $103.05 per barrel while the price in July reached about $147.02 per barrel (at the time of writing this article). This shows an increase of 42.67%. In the same interval Pakistan’s petrol prices per liter have jumped up from Rs.53.70 to Rs.86.66 which is a rise of 61.38%. This just proves the above point, and with no end to political crises and rising international petrol prices in sight, the effect on local petrol prices can well be imagined. The following figure shows the petrol prices in the country after the February 18 elections. All statisticians can extend that line of rising gradient and predict the future prices easily.

According to FuturePundit the petrol prices in 2012 is predicted at $225 per barrel. Comparing this with the prices in February 2008, the increase is a whopping 118.34%. As I said earlier, the Pakistani economy cannot sustain this easily and the price hike in Pakistan can be estimated at 170.22% using the same proportion of increase as today. Assuming that the government continues to provide some subsidy as it does today (the minister has already said that no subsidies will be given on petrol next year!), the petrol prices in Pakistan in 2012 will be Rs.145.11 per liter. My guesses are a price higher than this calculation because of the war-like situation in tribal areas and the political situation which is still worsening (there’s more to it!). It will probably be around Rs.160-170 per liter.

Happy cycling in 2012!

Time to Divide the Provinces

In 1947, at the time of independence, India had 17 provinces. Soon after the independece, instability and tensions gripped India as most of these 17 provinces were created by the British to serve their colonial purposes and did not reflect the will of the people. This resulted in ethnic tensions within the provinces which prompted the Indian Parliament to reorganize the country among ethnic and linguistic lines in 1956. (Source)

This resulted in the creation of autonomous states instead of provinces and union territories which came directly under the federation. Several new states and union territories have been created since 1956. As of today, there are 28 states and 7 union territories. The last such addition in the count of states came in 2000 with the creation of 3 new states.

Compare the status of Pakistan with India, what do we have? We have rather lost one big province of our country chiefly due to ethnic problems between the two big provinces vouching for more share in the center.

Today, we have four provinces and some federally (un)administered areas. The demographics of these provinces are unusual. The land allocation is absurd. Minority ethnics within a province are more than supressed. The major province (big brother) decides who goes to the power in center! (Why not the other three?)

Why can’t we divide our provinces among some realistic lines, giving each province an equal share in the center? The advantages are enormous. It’s easier to administratively handle a smaller area. More ethnicities can have representations in the NA. Job oportunities in the government sector will rise remarkably. Sense of equality among provinces. Federation will be strengthened by quashing the monopoly of a certain province. And many more…

Ideally, Sindh and Punjab should be divided in 3 further provinces each and Baluchistan and NWFP in 2. I searched on Google for this idea and to my utter surprise came a link within a forum which was discussing this issue. Have a look here:

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\05\22\story_22-5-2006_pg7_35

I believe dividing the provinces will provide better opportunities for the people of all ethnic origins rather than just sticking to four, from 1947. A thorough study on demographic and geographic aspects must be done and boundaries redefined to mark out new provinces. Furthermore, no one province must be a political heaavyweight enough to dictate terms in the center. This can be a very difficult decision to make for the politicans because this will be resisted strongly by the politicians of the larger province of Punjab in terms of political share. Currently, we have Punjab as the big brother of all provinces. It’s about time to increase the number of family members each having equal share within.