Discoverability & Visibility

Out of sheer boredom (and recalling the opening scenes of Wanted) I started typing my name in Google. The auto suggest feature of Google took me surprise. Below is a screenshot of Google’s suggestions.

Obviously, searching for anas imtiaz, the first result was this website. Not only this blog, but my facebook profile, twitter, jaiku and imperial blog also ranked hihgly in this search result. Aur koi anas imtiaz nai hai??

Curiousity crept in and I decided to do some research on my visibility on the web. Searching for anas, my blog came up on the 4th page i.e. within the first 40 results. The search keywords anas pakistan, anas imperial and anas blog produced my blogs on the first page of the results.

The point here is not (entirely) to brag about my blog being ranked somewhat nicely on Google but the uncomfortable fact that I can be found so easily with a few clicks.

This is advantageous to an extent; I can be easily found. Yet this is also the disadvantage, I cannot hide!

My Highs & Lows of 2008

What’s good about a new year? To be honest, nothing is good about it given the extra effort needed at the time of speech delivery to make sure you don’t say next year to things which are suddenly going to happen in this year and the added mental effort of making sure you jot the correct digit when writing down the date. However, the new year, or end of an year can serve as a benchmark to have a look at the things and events that happened in the past year. Looking back myself, I can say with certainty that this year had events that will remain ingrained in my memories forever.

The beginning of year 2008 was a good time for me. I was done with my final semester exams looking at various options to shape my career. As soon as the year started I knew the next two-and-a-half months would be extremely busy. Being the sole driver in my family (with my dad in UAE), only son, and only brother of my dear sister it was me who had to make sure all her wedding arrangements were meticulously handled. I didn’t apply for jobs at that time, hoping to secure an admission in some MSc course. I also knew the next few days would be spent shopping with my mom. This wasn’t all that bad: shopping at Tariq Road with ladies around (more…)

One Year Old!

Shuffling through my previous posts to find when exactly I started blogging on this platform, I found to my utter surprise, that my first post is dated 27th December 2007. I’d like to thank the government of Pakistan for having a national holiday for my blog’s birthday celebrations

I had been blogging on and off on other platforms earlier, but serious blogging began on this historic day. I think completion of my undergraduate degree just before that and having a lot of free time contributed most to this activity. So beginning with an activity just to kill free time, blogging is now an integral part of my daily life and I try to update this space even when I am utterly busy.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank…:P

On a serious note, it has been a momentous journey of one year where I’ve learned a lot about web development, some PHP programming, learning about other people and yeah earning some adsense money
I don’t remember posting it here but I did get about $110 last month which were accrued over a period of four months.

To celebrate this auspicious occasion (ufff!!) I have ordered myself a gift which I shall be receiving tomorrow and then brag about it henceforth. So get ready

One last thing, a year before Pakistan was facing a hostile situation and on this day our dear nation is also threatened both on internal and external fronts. Let us all hope and pray for the safety, security, development and advancement of our country – and me and my blog

Pakistan Paindabad

[Liked the speech?]

Story Of THAT Car!

CAUTION: This is a long story written out of extreme boredom AND I suck at story-telling.

It was a Thursday night and time was not on our side, so wasn’t luck. Things were getting tougher as the deadline drew near. As I recall with my bad memory, only a week was left to finish off the task before flying out. There was uncertainty about the end but the determination was rock-solid. We weren’t aware of the time, day or night. Only one (maybe two) thing was on our minds – victory (and defeat too).

On this particular Thursday night we decided to go out to eat, as we usually did at some point of the day whenever we achieved something or failed to produce anything for a very long time. As I said, time was of essence hence eating out in least possible time was always favoured. That meant something close by. The other factor was our light pockets during those days and the debts we had taken from almost everyone we knew (I hope we returned all of them!).

So, if some of you haven’t already guessed, this is a page from the days we were working on the (second robot). I like to call that period The Robotic Age. Anyway, PNEC being situated in a prime location – Karsaz, the obvious choice to eat was Mohammed Ali Society. Perhaps, the cheapest place there was Ideal Restaurant (ideal, indeed). I don’t remember how many of us went there but I’m sure about three (including myself). The other two included Atif (the guy in the video) and Munzir (deserves a whole post for his achievements and geniuses). On that team of four, two of us had cars. That particular day, I left mine at home (because my father was in Karachi) so we went out for dinner on Munzir’s car hoping that it doesn’t stop midway. The car obliged, and we were relieved, obviously. After satiating ourselves with some nice (and cheap) food and discussing further plans on how to make the night more productive we decided to leave.

The driver (Munzir) turned the key and the engine roared. The car moved, and we were almost assured of reaching back to PNEC which was only a few minutes drive. But then Uncle Murphy had to come in somewhere!! The car stopped, running short of fuel of either kind i.e. petrol and CNG. We tried giving it a push several times, but the car did not respond as if it was comatosed (is that a word?). We shared a few laughs partly because we knew that was likely to happen. In fact, it should have happened earlier! (more…)

October 8: Today In History

October 8, 2005 Earthquake in Kashmir kills approximately 80,000 people

October 8, 2003 Arnold Schwarzenegger is elected the governor of California

October 8, 1998 House of Representatives approves impeachment inquiry of President Clinton

October 8, 1986 Anas Imtiaz is born!!!!!

October 8, 1980 U.S.S.R. and Syria sign peace treaty

October 8, 1980 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test

October 8, 1971 U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

October 8, 1965 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk U.S.S.R.

October 8, 1961 U.S. Constellation crashes at Richmond, Virginia, 74 die

October 8, 1961 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya U.S.S.R.

October 8, 1959 Conservatives win British election

October 8, 1958 U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
October 8, 1952 Chinese offensive in Korea

October 8, 1940 German troops occupies Romania

October 8, 1939 Germany annexes Western Poland

October 8, 1924 British Labour government of MacDonald falls to Communists

October 8, 1918 7 U.S. soldiers are surrounded by Germans in France, Alvin York is given command and shoots 20 Germans and captures 132 more

October 8, 1912 Montenegro declares war on Turkey, beginning 1st Balkan War

October 8, 1896 Dow Jones starts reporting an average of selected industrial stocks

October 8, 1886 Start of Sherlock Holmes adventure “Noble Bachelor”

October 8, 1873 1st women’s prison run by women opens at Indiana Reformatory Institute

October 8, 1871 Great Fire kills 200, destroys over 4miles (10 km) of Chicago buildings, and original Emancipation Proclamation

October 8, 1806 British forces lay siege to French port of Boulogne using Congreve rockets, invented by Sir William Congreve

October 8, 1492 Columbus’ fleet about 400 sea miles from Puerto Rico

October 8, 314 Battle at Cibalae: emperor Constantine beats emperor Licinius