Procrastination

بدھ 23 جولائی 2008Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Iron Man

Iron Man is another comic book superhero turned into a movie.

In recent years, there have been quite a few good supehero movies and this is no exception. The plot has some holes and is a bit weak at times, but the movie delights.

If you stayed till after the credits, there was an extra scene setting up The Avengers movie.

Michelle got hold of an Iron man toy at McDonald’s and wouldn’t stop talking about Iron man. We thought about taking her to watch the movie but after reading reviews thought that it wasn’t appropriate for a 3 year old.

Overall, I rate Iron Man 8/10.

By Zack at 10:33 AM in Movies , Parenthood | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

جمعرات 17 جولائی 2008Thursday, July 17, 2008

Geocaching

Geocaching is:

an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (called “geocaches” or “caches”) anywhere in the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook and “treasure,” usually toys or trinkets of little value.

Geocaching started when selective availability of the GPS system was turned off in May 2000, increasing the accuracy of consumer GPS units by ten-fold. You can read more about its history here.

My friend Wayfarer got me into geocaching in April 2006. I became a member of the Geocaching.com and was off finding caches. My first find was one my daughter and I found together in a park that we visited often.

My best day was when Wayfarer and I found 14 geocaches together in April last year. May 2007 was my best month when I found 22 caches.

At times, geocaching has been a lot of fun. It’s especially fun to hunt for them in the wilderness. However, sometimes geocachers hide microcaches (those that are very small) in parks etc, and those can be difficult to find. In the city, some hiding places are so crowded that one arouses suspicion during the search. At times, the bomb squad is called.

The houses were evacuated, the bomb squad called to disarm the suspicious device that was found in a quiet Tustin neighborhood. A member of the bomb squad placed an explosive device to detonate the offending object and BAM!

The lid blew off the rectangular ammunition box and revealed … some notes and a few pieces of candy.

Bounty from what turned out to be nothing but a high-tech scavenger hunt.

On the other hand, some tourist destinations, like Jekyll Island or Callaway Gardens, have hidden geocaches all over the place as a way to attract visitors with another activity.

So why write about it more than two years later? Because I passed a milestone: On July 9, I finally got to 100 geocache finds.

I use the GPS receiver Garmin GPS60CSx for navigation/finding the cache and Treo 650 smartphone for storing all the info about the caches from the Geocaching website. GSAK is the software on my PC which keeps a database of caches I might be interested in and Cachemate runs on the Treo for the same purpose. I also use Garmin MapSource (I have the Topo maps, Google Earth (on the PC) and Google Maps (on the Treo) for mapping.

By Zack at 2:10 PM in Life , Sports | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

ہفتہ 12 جولائی 2008Saturday, July 12, 2008

The Departed

The Departed is a crime movie involving moles. There is an undercover policeman in the mafia and a mafia man in the police. The movie involves their predicaments as they realize that there is another mole.

The Departed is great as should be expected from a Martin Scorsese movie. I rate it 9/10.

By Zack at 12:30 AM in Movies | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

پیر 7 جولائی 2008Monday, July 07, 2008

Hilton Head

As is our tradition, we went to the beach for the Memorial Day long weekend. This trip was to Hilton Head Island, SC.

We spent most of our time there on the beach. Michelle was very excited about getting into the water. The first day she spent most of the time in the ocean, but on the second day, it was very windy and the waves were much higher. She would go into the water and then run back when a wave crashed on the shore.

Here are some photographs.

We had some great dinners there. At Truffles Grill, I had salmon with mango barbeque glaze which was heavenly. CQ’s the next night was pretty good too. We sat outside at Old Fort Pub where I had a very tasty Bouillabaisse.

By Zack at 4:37 PM in Food and Cooking , Parenthood , Photography , Travel | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

بدھ 2 جولائی 2008Wednesday, July 02, 2008

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Michelle has been excited about watching movies at the theater since she enjoyed Enchanted. So we decided to take her to see The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

That wasn’t such a great idea since I didn’t realize how much violence there would be in the movie. Michelle was scared of the fight scenes. On the other hand, she was so engrossed in the movie that she didn’t even look away when she was scared.

Since Michelle enjoyed the movie despite some scary stuff, I would rate it 7/10.

By Zack at 3:30 PM in Movies , Parenthood | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

جمعہ 27 جون 2008Friday, June 27, 2008

Inheritance and Islam

As parents, we decided that we needed a will. Therefore, some net surfing and searching was warranted in the name of research.

Looking at Georgia law spouse and children share equally if there is no will. In case of no spouse or children, parents are considered 2nd degree relatives, siblings 3rd degree and grandparents 4th degree.

Upon the death of an individual who is survived by a spouse but not by any child or other descendant, the spouse is the sole heir. If the decedent is also survived by any child or other descendant, the spouse shall share equally with the children, with the descendants of any deceased child taking that child’s share, per stirpes; provided, however, that the spouse’s portion shall not be less than a one-third share;

The problem for us here was that with a minor child, too much of the estate might be tied up until she’s older.

Of course, I had to search for what Islamic wills were out there and I found one from a major Atlanta mosque. When I first looked at the document, it just said that the distribution of the estate should be according to Shariah, which didn’t make any sense since who was supposed to figure that out. Now the document goes in some detail. However, I was surprised by this section:

I direct and ordain that any heir, declared as non-Muslim at the time of my death, be disregarded and disqualified in the application of Section B of Article V.

So anyone “declared as non-Muslim” can’t inherit from a Muslim. I decided to check some online Islamic sites. According to Sunnipath, a Muslim can’t inherit from a non-Muslim and a non-Muslim can’t inherit from a Muslim. However, a bequest can be made either way. The Salafi site Islam Q&A also has some information where they restrict even the bequest somewhat.

According to the Twelver Shia website, a Muslim can inherit from a non-Muslim but a non-Muslim cannot inherit from a Muslim.

This whole approach to inheritance is communitarian instead of individualistic. It looks like the community has major rights on the estate since these rulings make it difficult for the estate to leave a particular religious community regardless of how closely related some members of different communities might be.

There is another problem with this approach. Who decides who’s a Muslim or not? Islam Q&A provides a hint:

If you believe that the person who does not pray is a kaafir and apostate – which is the correct view, and Allaah knows best – it is not permissible for a kaafir to inherit anything from a Muslim’s wealth, or for a Muslim to inherit anything from a kaafir’s wealth.

This same principle might be applied by the same group to any sects/groups they consider heretic or non-Muslim. In that direction lies madness in my view.

SunniPath has guidelines on preparing one’s will according to Islamic principles, which contains this odd tidbit:

It is worth remembering here that along with one’s written Will, one should have a separate document stipulating the number of unperformed prayers, missed fasts, unpaid Zakat, unperformed Hajj, any other religious obligations and debts payable to the servants of Allah.

One must strive in accomplishing these obligations in one’s life, and make the necessary amendments to the document whenever an obligation is fulfilled. For example: One had 500 unperformed prayers. In such a case one should stipulate this in the document. Thereafter, whenever, a prayer is made up, it should be deducted from the total of 500. This “important” document should be attached with the Will in order to let the relatives know of one’s obligations and liabilities after one’s death.

While searching on inheritance information, I found this software that can calculate inheritance shares according to Islamic laws. That’s cool.

I would recommend that you read Quran’s verses about inheritance law too.

From what is left by parents and those nearest related there is a share for men and a share for women, whether the property be small or large,-a determinate share. But if at the time of division other relatives, or orphans or poor, are present, feed them out of the (property), and speak to them words of kindness and justice. Let those (disposing of an estate) have the same fear in their minds as they would have for their own if they had left a helpless family behind: Let them fear Allah, and speak words of appropriate (comfort). Those who unjustly eat up the property of orphans, eat up a Fire into their own bodies: They will soon be enduring a Blazing Fire! Allah (thus) directs you as regards your Children’s (Inheritance): to the male, a portion equal to that of two females: if only daughters, two or more, their share is two-thirds of the inheritance; if only one, her share is a half. For parents, a sixth share of the inheritance to each, if the deceased left children; if no children, and the parents are the (only) heirs, the mother has a third; if the deceased Left brothers (or sisters) the mother has a sixth. (The distribution in all cases (’s) after the payment of legacies and debts. Ye know not whether your parents or your children are nearest to you in benefit. These are settled portions ordained by Allah; and Allah is All-knowing, Al-wise. In what your wives leave, your share is a half, if they leave no child; but if they leave a child, ye get a fourth; after payment of legacies and debts. In what ye leave, their share is a fourth, if ye leave no child; but if ye leave a child, they get an eighth; after payment of legacies and debts. If the man or woman whose inheritance is in question, has left neither ascendants nor descendants, but has left a brother or a sister, each one of the two gets a sixth; but if more than two, they share in a third; after payment of legacies and debts; so that no loss is caused (to any one). Thus is it ordained by Allah; and Allah is All-knowing, Most Forbearing.

My thoughts about this system of dividing up the estate is that it requires very specific social conditions, with a communitarian ethos where women are generally taken care of by men they are related to. In an individualistic society, this distribution leaves women in a bad situation. As parents of a girl, we are particularly sensitive to these issues.

Finally, the most important thing in our will (and the real reason we wrote one) is the issue of guardianship of our daughter in case both of us die. As immigrants living far away from parents and siblings, this was a difficult problem. We won’t want to remove her from familiar surroundings of the US but at the same time we couldn’t leave her with someone who’s not closely related. In the end, we decided that only her grandparents, uncles and aunts could be trusted.

By Zack at 2:54 PM in Islam and Other Religions , Parenthood | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)

پیر 23 جون 2008Monday, June 23, 2008

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

I am going to commit heresy here and say that we didn’t like Monty Python and the Holy Grail much. This was a bit surprising since we liked Life of Brian and usually I like that style of comedy. Amber didn’t even watch the whole movie.

Anyway, I rate it 4/10.

By Zack at 1:52 PM in Movies | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

منگل 17 جون 2008Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Old Man's War

I had been meaning to read Old Man’s War ever since I found out about it on John Scalzi’s blog since he writes so well there. But I had too many books on my reading list and I never got around to it until I found out about the features and offers with Tor’s new website.

we’ve got a little “holding page” currently at the tor.com URL, where we’re urging people to sign up as preregistered users. In exchange for their advance support (and their permission to email them our newsletters) we are, For A Limited Time, sending them links through which they can download free, un-DRMed digital editions of various recent Tor books in a variety of formats. For instance, if you sign up now, you can download The Outstretched Shadow by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory; in a few days, that will go away but you’ll be given the opportunity to download Farthing by Jo Walton. Since we’re rotating books in and out of the program at a fair clip, the earlier you sign up, the more free books you’ll score.

And this is how I got the Old Man’s War ebook, along with a dozen others and continuing.

This was also my first experience of reading a book on my Treo. While I won’t read long works on my PDA/phone, I found reading short novels pleasant.

Old Man’s War is the story of 75 year old John Perry who joins the Colonial Defense Force and battles aliens around the universe in his new, young, green body. It is well written and interesting throughout and reminds me somewhat of Robert Heinlein.

John Scalzi’s first novel, Old Man’s War was nominated for a Hugo award in 2005.

By Zack at 12:06 PM in Books | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

جمعرات 12 جون 2008Thursday, June 12, 2008

National Treasure

National Treasure is a movie about Nicholas Cage (as Benjamin Franklin Gates) who’s looking for the treasure of the Knights Templar which was hidden by the Founding Fathers. Of course, one of the clues is on the back of the Declaration of Independence and Cage’s unscrupulous partner plans to steal it.

My recommendation is not to pay for this movie. We watched it on TV one day and you should do the same. It’s okay for having some fun while killing time but not for much more. I rate it 4/10.

By Zack at 1:51 PM in Movies | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

ہفتہ 7 جون 2008Saturday, June 07, 2008

Lake Lanier Islands Lights

Lake Lanier Islands Resort has magical night of lights after Thanksgiving through the end of the year. Here are some photographs from there in December 2007.

We have been to the Georgia Aquarium quite a few times.

Here are some from the Centennial Olympic Park.

By Zack at 1:01 AM in Photography | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

بدھ 28 مئی 2008Wednesday, May 28, 2008

The Battle of Algiers

The Battle of Algiers is a classic movie about the Algerian War.

The topics – insurgency, bombings, terrorism, counterinsurgency, torture – seem strangely poignant and current.

I rate the movie 8/10.

By Zack at 4:01 PM in Movies | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

جمعرات 22 مئی 2008Thursday, May 22, 2008

Plagiarism

While plagiarism has been there forever, the Internet makes it really easy. At the same time, it makes it easy to find out if someone has copied and pasted your writing and passed it off as their own.

Recently, I found out that Paksir has copied my blog article about global gender attitudes without so much as a hint of where it came from. My comment on his blog to provide a link has gone unanswered for more than two weeks.

Let’s look at a more amusing example: Muhammad Imran Latif’s portfolio page. I was alerted to the similarities with my About Zack page last year. I tried contacting him, but got no reply. Since then, I have made some minor changes to my about page, so let’s compare his description of himself with mine from the wayback machine

Imran Latif	Me
My name is Muhammad Imran Latif. I am usually known as Pomy & Imran.	My name is Zakaria Ajmal. “Zakaria” is a biblical name and hence has different spellings and pronunciations in different languages. I don’t mind the different spellings that much, but to make it easy, I am usually known as Zack.
I am 27 years old and i am originally from Pakistan where I was born and raised. I was living in Daska, the beautiful city, before coming to the Islamabad. I am a Muslim.	I am 35 years old and am originally from Pakistan where I was born and raised. I was living in Islamabad, the capital city, before coming to the US. Like most of the Pakistani population (97% according to the CIA World Factbook), I am a Muslim.
I came to the Islamabad 1 years ago and am currently a Web designer and Network administrator Computer field.	I came to the US 9 years ago and am currently a graduate student in Electrical and Computer Engineering (research interests: computer vision and graphics/animation, video and image analysis, telepresence, etc.) at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, GA.
Other than research and teaching, I like to plants and gardening. I am also very much interested in economics, information technology teaching, social work, politics and national affairs.	Other than research and teaching, I like to camp and hike, travel and take photographs with my digital camera. I am also very much interested in science fiction, history, politics and international affairs.
I got married to Sofia (nickname: Bahaar) on September 5, 2005. We have had a lot of fun together and plan to live together happily ever after.	I got married to Ambrin (nickname: Amber) on December 1, 1994. We have had a lot of fun together and plan to live together happily ever after.
On August 29, 2006, a cute Michelle was born to Baahar and me. Nowadays, she is the center of our universe.	On August 12, 2004, a cute Michelle was born to Amber and me. Nowadays, she is the center of our universe. She has a weblog of her own on which we post her photographs, video clips and milestones etc. If you would like to read her blog, please email me.

How much do you want to bet that Imran’s daughter is not actually named Michelle?

For the record, here is my policy on copying stuff:

All original content, whether text, images or multimedia, on this weblog, Procrastination, is Copyright © Zakaria Ajmal, except for posts by other authors which belong to them.

You can excerpt the contents of this website anywhere else but you must attribute it to us and cite the location (URL) from which you are quoting. However, you are not allowed to copy our images without permission. Similarly, you are not allowed to hotlink to any of our photographs.

An exception to this policy pertains to the comments by visitors and readers, which belong to the commenters themselves.

Hat tip to the two readers who tipped me off about these two cases.

By Zack at 12:07 PM in Internet | Comments (15) | TrackBack (0)

پیر 19 مئی 2008Monday, May 19, 2008

Juno

Juno is a comedy about a young girl who gets pregnant and her travails during that time while she and her parents try to arrange an adoption.

It’s a fun film with the girl Juno, played by Ellen Page, and her dad, played by J. K. Simmons, doing great work and providing good comedic moments.

I would rate it 8/10.

By Zack at 2:13 PM in Movies | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

بدھ 14 مئی 2008Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Rendition and Torture

Extraordinary Rendition is defined as:

the extrajudicial transfer of an individual to a country where there is reasonable probability he will be tortured.

Mother Jones (hat tip: Desi Italiana) recounts the renditions carried out by the United States, including those before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

In our research we have counted 67 known cases of extraordinary rendition by the United States since 1995. While the details are often incomplete, they help paint a more complete picture of this secretive and controversial Central Intelligence Agency program.

[…] Then-CIA director George Tenet testified before the 9/11 Commission that there were more than 80 renditions before September 11, 2001. We found information on 29 cases of extraordinary and ordinary rendition prior to 9/11. Of the 14 that qualify as extraordinary renditions, 12 were to Egypt.

[…] We found information on 117 renditions that have occurred since September 11, 2001. When we excluded renditions to Afghanistan, CIA secret prisons (or “black sites”), Guantanamo, or American custody, we found 53 cases of extraordinary rendition. All individuals for whom the rendition destination is known were sent to countries that have been criticized by the State Department’s annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, which document “torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

Of these 53 prisoners, more than one quarter have explicitly claimed that they were tortured while in foreign custody; four claim they were tortured while passing through American custody either en route to or following foreign custody. Four others may have been tortured while in foreign custody based on secondhand accounts or vague descriptions of treatment in prisons in their destination countries. Sixteen of the 53 individuals have been released after extraordinary renditions, and half of them claimed they were tortured while in foreign custody; two claim they were tortured while in American custody.

These renditions, which started in the Clinton era, resulted in torture by states that were well-known to use torture in their interrogations.

For hours, the words come pouring out of Abu Omar as he describes his years of torture at the hands of Egypt’s security services. Spreading his arms in a crucifixion position, he demonstrates how he was tied to a metal door as shocks were administered to his nipples and genitals. His legs tremble as he describes how he was twice raped. He mentions, almost casually, the hearing loss in his left ear from the beatings, and how he still wakes up at night screaming, takes tranquilizers, finds it hard to concentrate, and has unspecified “problems with my wife at home.” He is, in short, a broken man.

Torture is not just something we have outsourced to countries like Egypt. Instead, after the September 11 attacks, the Bush administration has issued legal opinions declaring torture okay. John Yoo of the Office of Legal Counsel wrote a memo in August 2002 and another one in March 2003, basically declaring an imperial Presidency that had the power to declare torture legal if it felt like it.

Torture was discussed and approved at the highest levels of the government.

In dozens of top-secret talks and meetings in the White House, the most senior Bush administration officials discussed and approved specific details of how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency, sources tell ABC News.

[…] The high-level discussions about these “enhanced interrogation techniques” were so detailed, these sources said, some of the interrogation sessions were almost choreographed – down to the number of times CIA agents could use a specific tactic.

The advisers were members of the National Security Council’s Principals Committee, a select group of senior officials who met frequently to advise President Bush on issues of national security policy.

At the time, the Principals Committee included Vice President Cheney, former National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell, as well as CIA Director George Tenet and Attorney General John Ashcroft.

As the national security adviser, Rice chaired the meetings, which took place in the White House Situation Room and were typically attended by most of the principals or their deputies.

And Bush approved of these torture policies.

In a stunning admission to ABC news Friday night, President Bush declared that he knew his top national security advisers discussed and approved specific details of the CIA’s use of torture. Bush reportedly told ABC, “I’m aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved.” Bush also defended the use of waterboarding.

ACLU suggests that we should demand accountability from Congress and I urge you to send a letter to your Congressman right now.

The Bush administration is still using the euphemism of “enhanced interrogation techniques” for torture and claiming that the CIA is allowed to use these methods.

The Justice Department has told Congress that American intelligence operatives attempting to thwart terrorist attacks can legally use interrogation methods that might otherwise be prohibited under international law.

The legal interpretation, outlined in recent letters, sheds new light on the still-secret rules for interrogations by the Central Intelligence Agency. It shows that the administration is arguing that the boundaries for interrogations should be subject to some latitude, even under an executive order issued last summer that President Bush said meant that the C.I.A. would comply with international strictures against harsh treatment of detainees.

While the Geneva Conventions prohibit “outrages upon personal dignity,” a letter sent by the Justice Department to Congress on March 5 makes clear that the administration has not drawn a precise line in deciding which interrogation methods would violate that standard, and is reserving the right to make case-by-case judgments.

“The fact that an act is undertaken to prevent a threatened terrorist attack, rather than for the purpose of humiliation or abuse, would be relevant to a reasonable observer in measuring the outrageousness of the act,” said Brian A. Benczkowski, a deputy assistant attorney general, in the letter, which had not previously been made public.

The rot in the state is widespread. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia likes to excuse torture for the purpose of thwarting terrorist attacks and Republican Presidential candidate Senator John McCain, while an opponent of tortute, voted against prohibiting torture by the CIA, despite the fact that he was tortured by using stress positions by the North Vietnamese when he was a prisoner of war.

May be Congress can get the 7,000 documents relating to torture and rendition that the CIA is unwilling to release and make them public and the next administration can untie the hands of the FBI and get it to investigate these abuses.

By Zack at 2:55 PM in Civil Liberties | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

جمعہ 9 مئی 2008Friday, May 09, 2008

Seven

Se7en is a movie about a serial killer who is inspired by the seven deadly sins which are:

1. Greed
2. Gluttony
3. Sloth
4. Lust
5. Pride
6. Envy
7. Wrath

It’s a good movie in which Kevin Spacey as the killer and Morgan Freeman as the retiring police detective are very good. Brad Pitt as the new detective is okay.

I rate the movie 8/10 despite the fact that I had a good idea how it was ending.

By Zack at 11:43 AM in Movies | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)