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:
- Greed
- Gluttony
- Sloth
- Lust
- Pride
- Envy
- 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 (0) | TrackBack (0)
اتوار 4 مئی 2008Sunday, May 04, 2008
Why GPS is Better Than a Wife
Here are some reasons:
- A GPS does not act all grumpy when asked to navigate.
- A GPS receiver does not take 30 minutes to tell you where you were half an hour ago.
- A GPS does not get directionally confused by the highway loop around the city.
- A GPS does not skip one page in the directions you printed out from Mapquest.
- A GPS does not refuse to navigate when you don’t take the route it recommended.
- A wife does not cheerfully recalculate a new route to your destination when you don’t take a turn.
- On the other hand, a wife will not suggest you cross a river. Instead, she’ll force you to stop.
Got any more?
By Zack at 12:02 AM in Humor , Science and Technology | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)
منگل 29 اپریل 2008Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Charlie Wilson's War
We watched Charlie Wilson’s War in the theater. It is a movie about the war in Afghanistan against the Soviet invasion and how Congressman Charlie Wilson and how he and CIA officer Gust Avrakotos helped the Afghan Mujahideen.
It is a good movie, but it does focus more on the flamboyant and scandalous than the nitty gritty details of congressional funding. Also, Om Puri did the worst impression of Pakistani dictator General Zia ul Haq that I have ever seen.
While I liked the movie, these deficiencies mean I can rate it only 7/10.
Watching the movie reminded me that I still hadn’t read the book Charlie Wilson’s War: The Extraordinary Story of How the Wildest Man in Congress and a Rogue CIA Agent Changed the History of Our Times by George Crile that the movie is based on. So I got it from the library.
It’s a great book and I finished it as fast as I could. It reminded me more of fiction than of reality. And it scared me. The book includes a lot of details about how the Afghan war was funded and details the way Congress and its committees work behind the scenes. As someone very interested in politics, it was a bit scary to realize how something of the scale of the US funding of the Afghan war could happen with just the personal connections and chit-calling and no open debate in Congress.
My conflicted feelings towards the Afghan war don’t help matters. I was and am a fervent anticommunist and hence did support the fight against the Soviets. At the same time, those Mujahideen groups, including Ahmad Shah Massoud, were not exactly good for Afghanistan. And the Afghan war (and Zia) is a major reason for why Pakistan is in such bad shape today.
If you are interested in the Cold War, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the war on terror, CIA, or US foreign policy, Charlie Wilson’s War is a must read.
By Zack at 1:47 PM in Books , International Affairs , Movies , Pakistan | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
جمعرات 24 اپریل 2008Thursday, April 24, 2008
Terror of School Districts
Laws giving more power of surveillance to the state are often justified in terms of their use against terrorists, pedophiles and other such criminals, but such laws can and will be used for such purposes as finding deadbeat dads or even checking if families reside in a specific school district.
A council has admitted spying on a family using laws to track criminals and terrorists to find out if they were really living in a school catchment.
A couple and their three children were put under surveillance without their knowledge by Poole Borough Council for more than two weeks.
The council admitted using powers under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) on six occasions in total.
Three of those were for suspected fraudulent school place applications.
It said two offers of school places were withdrawn as a consequence.
[…] RIPA legislation allows councils to carry out surveillance if it suspects criminal activity.
On its website, the Home Office says: “The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) legislates for using methods of surveillance and information gathering to help the prevention of crime, including terrorism.”
It goes on to say the act allows the interception of communications, carrying out of surveillance and the use of covert human intelligence sources.
Poole council said it used the legislation to watch a family at home and in their daily movements because it wanted to know if they lived in the catchment area for a school, which they wanted their three-year-old daughter to attend.
Also, in the past, these kind of laws have been used against political opponents, as the Church Committee reports show. It is quite probable that they will be used similarly again.
By Zack at 2:42 PM in Civil Liberties | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
ہفتہ 19 اپریل 2008Saturday, April 19, 2008
There Will Be Blood
There Will Be Blood is a movie about an oil prospector. It is set in the early 20th century.
Daniel Day-Lewis plays the role of a ruthless oil prospector who uses his adopted son to show himself off as a family man. While he discovers oil and grows rich, his paranoia and meanness morphs into a sort of madness.
It’s a good movie that I liked very much. However, Amber found it only okay. I rate it 8/10.
By Zack at 1:45 AM in Movies | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
پیر 14 اپریل 2008Monday, April 14, 2008
Atlanta Zoo
Some time ago, we went to Atlanta Zoo. Michelle was so excited to be there. She was running from one animal enclosure to the next, trying to see all the animals. It was a great trip. I myself spent a lot of time on the gorillas and took lots of photos.
I am hoping next time I’ll have the 70-300mm lens for closeups.
By Zack at 5:12 PM in Parenthood , Photography | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)
بدھ 9 اپریل 2008Wednesday, April 09, 2008
The Lives of Others
Das Leben der Anderen or The Lives of Others is a German movie about the totalitarian state of East Germany.
A playwright in East Berlin is being spied upon by the Stasi ostensibly for Western sympathies but really because a Minister is attracted to the playwright’s girlfriend. As the spying continues, the agent gets more sympathetic to the playwright and his girlfriend. Meanwhile, the playwright decides to write an article in the West German press about the high suicide rates in East Germany.
Overall, it’s a good movie which presents the main characters (playwright, his girlfriend and the stasi agent) as very human. It also shows the detailed spying that the East German state did on its citizens.
I rate the movie 9/10.
By Zack at 12:36 PM in Movies | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
جمعہ 4 اپریل 2008Friday, April 04, 2008
Midnight's Children
Midnight’s Children is an award-winning novel by Salman Rushdie, though Rushdie is known more for the protests and death threats against him due to his Satanic Verses.
The main character in Midnight’s Children is Saleem Sinai who’s born at the same instant as India becomes independent on August 15, 1947. His life story follows the twists and turns of national events. He even shows up in Pakistan for Ayub Khan’s martial law declaration and then later when his family is killed in a bombing raid during the 1965 war. The story then moves to the suppression of Bangladeshis by Pakistan’s security forces in 1971 and then to India again for Indira Gandhi’s emergency in 1975. Of course, Saleem Sinai plays a role in all these events.
Overall, the story is fun and covers the post-Independence history of the region. But at times Rushdie’s writing style gets annoyingly ethnic. I enjoyed the novel but wasn’t much impressed by it.
By Zack at 3:18 PM in Books | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
ہفتہ 29 مارچ 2008Saturday, March 29, 2008
Life of Brian
Monty Python’s Life of Brian is a great comedy about Brian who’s born at the same time as Jesus and is mistaken as the Messiah. There are lots of fun moments in the movie and I loved the religious satire.
Amber had some problem with the accent/speaking style especially since we were watching it late at night with the volume really low to avoid waking up Michelle.
I loved the movie and would rate it 8/10 only because the DVD production wasn’t so good.
By Zack at 12:42 AM in Movies | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
پیر 24 مارچ 2008Monday, March 24, 2008
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gillani
Syed Yusuf Raza Gillani of Pakistan Peoples Party has been elected Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Mr Gillani won the parliamentary vote by 264 votes to the 42 of Musharraf ally Chaudhry Pervez Elahi.
Who is Yusuf Raza Gillani? He belongs to a prominent feudal-spiritual family in the south Punjab city of Multan. His family has been active in politics in the area since the early 20th century. Mr Gilani was first elected chairman of the Union Council, Multan in the 1983 local bodies elections during Zia rule. Then he joined Junejo’s government as a minister of housing and railways. He parted ways with the Junejo Muslim League and joined Benazir Bhutto’s PPP around the time Junejo’s government was dismissed in 1988 by Zia.
In 1993, during the second Benazir Bhutto government, he was elected Speaker of the National Assembly. In 1995, Mr Gillani, as Speaker, issued instructions for the release of parliamentarians detained by his own PPP government. When the interior ministry refused to oblige, he had the matter brought on record.
He, like most PPP candidates in Punjab, lost the 1997 election when Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N(Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz Group) swept the province. Then, during Musharraf’s martial law in 2001, Gillani was convicted over illegal government appointments when he was Speaker. He spent the next five years in jail, being released in late 2006 on a court order.
After being elected Prime Minister, Gillani made a speech in Parliament (video here).
In a maiden speech on the floor of National Assembly after he was elected as Prime Minister, he said, “I request the national assembly as my first job to pass a resolution for UN probe into the assassination of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto.”
Elaborating the top priorities of the new government, the newly elected Prime Minister of Pakistan Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani vowed to take all out efforts for the supremacy of parliament.
He also said the National Assembly should pass another resolution to apologize to the nation for hanging of Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto.
Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani also said that he would issue the immediate directives for release of the held judges.
Gillani also vowed to take efforts for the resolution of multiple problems of people, saying, “ We realize that the people of the country confront several problems including shortage of electrify.”
“Today, democracy has been restored thanks to the great sacrifice of Benazir Bhutto,” the 55-year-old Gilani, wearing a dark suit and tie, said in his first speech to parliament.
“I invite all political forces to join us because the country is facing such a crisis that a single man cannot save it,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Chief Justice deposed by Musharraf’s “emergency” last year and under house arrest since then came out of his house and was greeted by supporters.
Deposed chief justice, Chaudhry Iftikhar Muhammad Chuadhry along with his family members came out of his house Monday evening, marking an end to his and his family’s more than five month long detention.
People who gathered outside Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry’s residence warmly welcomed him when he came out with his family members.
He acknowledged the welcoming slogans of the people by waving his hands.
President Supreme Court Bar Association, Aitezaz Ahsan and Justice (Retd.) Tariq Mehmood and others accompanied Chaudhry Iftikhar Chaudhry.
The lawyers movement’s demands, including the restoration of the large number of superior court judges, would probably be the first important task for this government. President Musharraf has claimed that it is not constitutionally possible to bring the judges back, but then Musharraf’s action itself wasn’t constitutional.
There has been lots of speculation about why Yusuf Raza Gilani was chosen for the Prime Ministerial slot. In my opinion, there are a number of factors. First, Zardari wanted someone who did not have power on his own and was dependent on Zardari. The election of Fehmida Mirza as Speaker was also part of the same process, as she and her husband MPA Zulfiqar Mirza are close to Asif Zardari.
Second, both Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif probably wanted someone who had remained completely loyal and had not had any kind of relationship with Musharraf.
Third, Zardari would like to be able to have the option to remove the current Prime Minister for another or even for himself later as well as keep his kingmaker role now with a lot of behind the scenes power. A somewhat weak Prime Minister would fit right in for that strategy. Yusuf Raza Gillani’s statement after being nominated about staying as PM only as long as the party wants him to is suggestive in this regard.
Fourth, once the idea of a Prime Minister from Punjab was floated, it was in Nawaz Sharif’s interest for the PPP to select someone from the southern feudal families since such a choice wouldn’t encroach on the PML-N’s stronghold in the more urban central and northern Punjab.
I, on the other hand, would have preferred Zardari himself as Prime Minister because that would be a much more transparent system with fewer power centers.
By Zack at 12:08 PM in Pakistan , Politics | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
جمعہ 21 مارچ 2008Friday, March 21, 2008
Nikon D80
As I mentioned earlier, I had been looking for a digital SLR camera. And look here it is:
My old camera, Sony Cybershot DSC-F707, has given good results for more than 5 years. But I was outgrowing it and there was also the delay in taking a shot after pressing the button which resulted in missed photos of the always-on-the-move 3 year old.
I bought Nikon D80 with the 18-135mm lens from B&H.
I liked the extra features in the D80 as compared to the entry level DSLRs (Nikon D40x and Canon Rebel XTi). And when one is buying an SLR, the lenses are more important than the camera body. Looking at the Nikon and Canon lenses, it seemed to me that Nikon has better consumer lenses. Canon has good pro lenses but I don’t think I can afford those.
I thought about the different lenses to buy and then chose the 18-135mm. With the 1.5x factor due to the smaller sensor, this lens is equivalent to a 27-205mm lens on a 35mm camera. This lens has decent performance and has enough zoom capability that most of the time I can make do with just one lens and don’t have to switch lenses.
In the near future, I plan to buy the following in order of priority:
- Nikon SB-600 Speedlight Flash
- Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Lens which would be a perfect, fast portrait lens
- Nikon 70-300mm VR Zoom Nikkor Lens for nature photography
I have been very pleased with the results of the D80.
By Zack at 4:48 PM in Photography | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
اتوار 16 مارچ 2008Sunday, March 16, 2008
Enchanted
On December 28, we went to watch Michelle’s first movie in a movie theater. The movie we chose was Enchanted since Michelle is into fairy tales nowadays.
We have a decent collection of kids’ movies on DVD at home. Also, Michelle has been to a few puppet shows. Then there was the Deepo’s Undersea 3D Wondershow at the 4D theater at the aquarium. The special effects (throwing of water on us, etc) scared Michelle.
Anyway, Michelle was excited about watching a movie at the theater. We decided to go to an early afternoon show. When we went in, Michelle got on her seat and started watching the big screen attentively. I told her the movie hadn’t started yet, but she asked me to be quiet.
Amber brought some popcorns, chocolate and soda for us and we watched the movie while snacking. Michelle was so engrossed in the movie that she wouldn’t even look away.
Then near the end, Michelle decided to go explore. She went and sat in the empty seats in the front.
Michelle did get a little scared when the dragon showed up, but otherwise she enjoyed the movie a lot. We were surprised at her perseverance as she usually doesn’t watch complete movies at home. All of us had a good time.
Enchanted is a good movie for kids who like fairy tales and princesses. I rate it 7/10.
By Zack at 7:07 PM in Movies , Parenthood | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
منگل 11 مارچ 2008Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Black Flag Week
The rule of law is a very important thing in any country and an independent judiciary is an essential part of that. This is what Musharraf has tried to destroy and the lawyers have been protesting. We should support the lawyers movement and this Black Flag Week is part of that support. So I urge you to attend Black Flag Week events or at least wear black armband or put a black flag or ribbon etc on your website/blog.
BTW, Teeth Maestro has good coverage of this week.
Here’s Aitzaz Ahsan’s call for Black Flag Week.
By Zack at 11:29 AM in Pakistan , Politics | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
ہفتہ 8 مارچ 2008Saturday, March 08, 2008
Aliens
Watching old movies that I last watched a long time ago continues.
Aliens is a sequel to Alien. While Alien was a horror movie, the sequel is basically an action flick which continues the story of Ellen Ripley, played by Sigourney Weaver.
Amber’s maternal instincts kicked in during the movie and she was very worried about the little girl Newt.
Overall, it was a good action movie and I rate it 8/10.
I never watched Aliens3 or Alien: Resurrection and have no plans of doing so.
By Zack at 8:47 AM in Movies | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
پیر 3 مارچ 2008Monday, March 03, 2008
How Zack Buys a New PC
The title has been shamelessly stolen from Photodude.
Last July, I was having a lot of trouble with my Dell laptop. So I wanted to backup the data in my hard drive. I went to Fry’s to get an enclosure for the laptop hard disk so I could connect it via USB to my old desktop. There I started looking at computer components. But in the end returned with only the USB enclosure.
By the weekend, I had decided I wanted a new desktop since my old one was almost 8 years old (Pentium III 550MHz) and the laptop was still not working. The good thing is that Fry’s has people who can help you with selecting the appropriate parts for your computer. I do still recommend doing your own research in advance, but they are helpful.
The question that Captain Arrrgh asked was why build one’s own computer. I agree that it is not really cheaper to do that and requires some research and technical know-how. But it is fun. And it gives me an opportunity to wander in Fry’s for hours. Plus I get the exact machine I want.
So here’s what I got:
- Motherboard: Abit IP35E
- Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 because Quad was too expensive and not useful beyond the number crunching software that make use of 4 cores.
- Display card: EVGA e-GeForce 8600GT 256MB
- Memory: 2GB in the form of two Patriot 800MHz 1GB PC2-6400 DDR2 sticks.
- Power supply: Ultra XVS 700W
- DVD Drive: LG 18x DVD Writer GSA-H42L
- Computer Case: Raidmax Katana
- Hard Disks: Western Digital 150GB Raptor, which spins at 10,000 rpm and hence is super-fast, and Maxtor MaXLine Pro 500GB. Both are SATA of course.
- Monitor: Dell 1907FP 19 inch LCD
The hard disk and RAM are in my opinion critical in a computer’s operation, more so than the processor speed. I did not get 4GB since a 32-bit operating system (Windows XP Professional in my case) is limited to about 3.5GB of RAM. Two hard disks, with operating system and programs on one and data on the other, work much better and the Raptor is really fast. My Windows XP boots up so fast I can’t believe it. And Photoshop is also much faster than before.
There was one important factor in selecting the components and that was for the power supply. Not only did I need a power supply with more wattage than required for the components, I also had to check what the current requirements for the individual 5V and 12V rails were.
Assembly was a breeze. The components, especially the processor, need to be handled properly, but that’s it. If you are interested, here are the installation instructions for Intel Core 2 Duo processor.
I ran into a problem while installing Windows and chipset drivers that came with the motherboard. I was getting the dreaded blue screen of death. At first, I suspected the hard disk, but some testing showed it to be a memory problem. Or more accurately a reading problem on my side. The timing settings of the RAM were being read automatically from SPD EEPROM but the voltage setting was not. The motherboard BIOS was defaulting to 1.8V while the memory specifications called for 2.0V. So all I had to do was change that setting manually in the BIOS and it worked perfectly.
It took me a few days to reinstall all the software and get all my data from my old desktop and my laptop.
Later, Michelle demanded a computer of her own, so I gave her my old desktop. Since I didn’t want to buy another copy of Windows, I installed Ubuntu Linux on it. Now I am searching for all kind of programs for young kids for Linux. I installed Debian for Juniors package, GCompris and whatever else I could find on the Ubuntu repositories. My plan is to keep her computer disconnected from the net unless we need to connect for some reason. This will keep all kinds of issues away, I hope.
By Zack at 12:18 PM in Internet , Life , Parenthood , Science and Technology | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)
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