WeCite Entertainment’s Open Mic Nites // July 14, 2007 @ Civil Junction Islamabad

This is WeCite Entertainment’s calling to all budding musicians, song writers, lyricists, poets, writers, and stand up comedians alike.

From July 14, 2 thousand and 7, WeCite Entertainment brings to you a chilled out avenue dedicated to the promotion of hidden talents in Islamabad!

Think you have a good voice but can’t get hold of an audience? Think you have it in you to tickle the funny bone? Think you would like some promotion for your latest piece of poetry? That and so much more is what WeCite Entertainment’s Open Mic Nites are all about!

Come relax with us at the well known Civil Junction café in Islamabad where aspiring talents from all across the city give you a colorful mix of their performances* for your listening and viewing pleasure.

It is YOUR VOICE… YOUR STORY… It is YOUR OPEN MIC NITE!

*Performances will be subject to auditions scheduled to be held at Civil Junction in the first week of July.

OM-Nites is hosted by Fauzan Sohail @ Civil Junction, Islamabad and brought to you by WeCite Entertainment, the ‘RANDOMLY SPECIFIC’ Entertainment Group in collaboration with the Civil Junction cafe, Islamabad.

For further details and to enroll for auditions:

 

Click @: http://randomlyspecific.wordpress.com/

 

Call: +92 321 536 3781

 

Email: fauzan.sohail@gmail.com

“Karachi Kaos” leaves almost 240 dead

240 people, according to the latest figures, lost their lives in the torrential rains (17.2 millimeters  / 0.7 inches in one hour) and thunderstorms that lashed at the Pakistani port city over the weekend. The storm left hundreds of homes destroyed and there have been severe power outages throughout the city that has only added to the mismanagement that the Karachi public has been protesting about recently. Up until Saturday, the Provincial Health Minister,  Syed Sardar Ahmed had  stated 43 people had lost their lives. By Monday morning, the death toll is estimated to be roughly 240.

Hundreds of affected families were evacuated to makeshift relief centers in schools and other government buildings, while media criticized the authorities for allowing over sized billboards with weak foundations in congested areas.

Our hearts go out the all who have been effected by this natural disaster and in this time of need, our prayers and wishes are with all the familes who have lost their loved ones in the past two days. May their souls rest in eternal peace.

Heat wave claims 26 lives this weekend

In what is said to be the 78-year old record breaker, the heat wave in Punjab has so far claimed 26 lives. Saturday (June 9) was the worst so far with temperatures soaring around 50 degree Celsius coupled with severe humidity. It is also said that a similar heat wave is making its presence felt in India as well.

Suspended CJP to face new charges

The Chief Justice of Pakistan, who was suspended by the President Pervez Musharraf this March on charges of misuse of authority, will now be facing a plethora of new charges by the government.

Wasi Zafar, the country’s Law Minister said on Sunday: “A new reference is ready against the chief justice and it will be filed at an appropriate time if needed. The new reference has been prepared by the government regarding chief justice’s activities since the filing of the previous reference against him on March 9, 2007, and the three affidavits submitted by the government in the supreme court. Had the previous reference not been filed against the chief justice, the government would have been considered incapable of accomplishing constitutional responsibilities.”

Source: Associated Press

The ULTIMATE Reading Test

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulactly uesdnattnrd waht I was rdgnieg!

—————————-

THE PAOMNNEHAL PWEOR OF THE HMUAN MNID

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttear in waht odrer the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny ipmorantt tihng is taht the frist and the lsat ltteer be in the rgiht pclae. The rset can be a ttoal mses and you can siltl raed it wouthit any porlbem. Tihs is bcuesae the hmaun mnid deos not raed erevy ltteer by isltef, but the wrod as a wlohe!

Fnid taht amznaig?

Let’s ‘Cook By Numbers’!

How many times has it happened that you stumble in to your kitchen in the dead of the night and grumble with dismay when you open your fridge or cupboards to see nothing ‘good to consume instantly’?

Well here’s something to help us all out. CookingByNumbers is a site that has the motto: “Don’t bother going shopping, let’s cook with what you have.”

You basically use a check list to specify the items you have at the moment in your fridge or cupboards and the site will then sift through its huge database of recipes to give you an exhaustive list of things you could do with them (all edible things of course!).

Go ahead, check it out today and share your experiences with here!

PEMRA ordinance amendments suspended

Islamabad has taken steps to suspend the amendments made to the PEMRA ordinance amid intense pressure from the media and opposition. President Pervez Musharrraf issued a decree on Monday giving the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority extra powers after the media criticised his suspension of the country’s chief justice.

The parliament, once again, became a battle ground with countless scuffles and obscenity exchanged between pro government bodies and slogan-chanting journalists.

New York-based group Human Rights Watch urged military ruler General Musharraf to lift the restrictions in a statement yesterday, denouncing the move as a disgraceful assault on press freedom.

“Musharraf should realize that stifling the media will not prevent power ebbing away from him. It will only hasten it,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

AFP

In another news in Daily Times today, AAJ TV and ARY TV have reported that the president will address the nation today with emphasis on current judicial crisis. The address is said to be a pre-recorded one and will be televised on PTV.

Can’t Wait for iPhone? Get the HTC Touch!

Ok, this is what this mystic beauty holds within the confines of its curvaceous body…

Dimensions: 99.9 x 58 x 13.9 mm || Weight: 112 g

Display Type: TFT Touchscreen, 65k colors

Display Size: 240 x 320 pixels, 2.8 inches, TouchFLO finger-swipe navigation, Handwriting recognition, 5-way navigation.

Memory: microSD (Trans Flash), 1 GB card included, 64mb RAM, 128mb ROM, TI OMAP 850, 201 MHz processor

EDGE, Bluetooth, USB (mini USB) included

Operating System: Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional

Colors: Soft Black and Wasabi Green

Camera: 2MP, 1600 x 1200 pixels (no flash though)

Up to 200 h stand-by time and up to 5 hrs talk time

Need I say more everybody?

If you can’t wait for Apple’s iPhone to reach the Asian Markets (expected early next year), then it is time to get your hands on the HTC Touch! But hold your horses! The gadget is not available in the Asian market until early July this year. You can however get it from your friends or relatives who happen to be in UK since it has been launched there yesterday.

For the rest, it’s up to you to decide: Almost a year’s wait for the iPhone or a month’s wait for HTC Touch?

Courtesy: GSMArena

Print Media, You are next!

Following up on the government’s recent onslaught on private TV and broadcasting stations, Daily Times is quoting in today’s headlines that the state is now planning to introduce another law to curb down the printing and publication of ‘objectionable’ cartoons and editorial comments. This, if it happens, will encompass all the national as well as regional newspapers across the country.

PEMRA Ordinance Challenged

In related news, PEMRA’s recent right (see here) to suspend privare TV licenses, confiscate property and equipment etc has been challenged in the Supreme Court as well as the Sindh High Court on the grounds that the ammendment made to the PEMRA ordinance serves as a gag order to the fundamental right of freedom and speech of the Pakistani people.

“Go Media!” chants Lal Masjid

Doing in Rome as the Roman’s do, the fine folks at our very own Lal Masjid have ‘voiced’ their support for the Pakistani media and declared its struggle against the recent restrictions put forth by the government as yet another ‘jihad’. 

According to Lal Masjid’s senior cleric, Maulan Abdul Rashid Ghazi: “Criticising wrong polices of the government and speaking truth before a cruel ruler is also a jihad. The government has no courage to bear a mere criticism of the media.“

Courtesy: DAWN and DailyTimes

Make way for N81 and N82!

Nokia is said to be all set for launching the latest buzz in their N-Series family: The N81 and N82 by fall 2007!

Even though the specs have a little more to offer than what we always expect from Nokia, it is after all the N-Series and the market for it in Pakistan as we all know is… BOOMING.

The N81 (see image above) is going to be a slider phone and is rumored to have 8GB flash memory space, built in N-Gage gaming, quad-band EDGE and HSDPA, Bluetooth 2.0 along with A2DP. It will have the much popular Series 60 (third edition). The camera however is said to be only 2mp which is a turn off considering the N80 came out with a 3mp camera. An upgrade in the cam department was atleast expected.

The N82 (see image on left) on the other hand will be a bar phone with the specs mentioned above including TV out port, FM Radia and a 5 mp camera with Carl Zeiss lens that was first seen in the N90.

There is no definite agreement or announcement regarding the price but seeing the cost trends that we have seen for N-Serie, don’t expect any thing ‘economical’ from N81 and N82.

Courtesy: Ring Nokia

Huge outcry against change in PEMRA laws

The Pakistan Government is facing a stiff opposition led primarily by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) against the new amendments made to the PEMRA ordinance. It has been tagged as ‘yet another assualt on media’s freedom in Pakistan.’

According to the new amendments, PEMRA now has the authority to revoke/cancel licences, halt broadcasts, confiscate and seal locations and equipment of any private TV channels and media sources.

Media heads and opposition alike are terming this as completely unacceptable and a threat to the freedom of media in the country.

In another news, United State’s State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack said that the media should have the freedom to inform people of what is happening in the country. He, however, remained neutral on the stance saying that both the Government and the Pakistan Media should resolve their conflicts within the confines of their law.

Related News: DAWN

Palm Foleo :: For those with too much spare time on their hands

I have been hearing about the upcoming Palm Foleo launch for quite some time now.  The hype surrounding it actually came quite close to that of the iPhone (see related news below). It is finally here! Hurray! And it looks something like this:

http://wecite.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/palm-foleo.jpg 

Now I know that not many of us would like to have this (as tempting as it seems but did you know that you can only sync it with a palm hand held device for now and not any windows or symbian devices that most of us have?), but in case you do have spare money to spend on the latest gadgets, trust me… DONT!

Look at it this way: Granted that it might be cheaper than your heavy duty laptop (the last I heard, the Foleo was for Rs. 40,000 (max) but would you really want to by a smart phone along with a laptop sized device with a 10-inch screen to synchronize your smart phone with and in turn use the smart phone to synchronize your lap top like device with? Mind boggling eh! Aren’t we already doing this with our laptops? So why the overhead of a laptop, a smart phone, AND a laptop like device to synch the smart phone with? What was Jeff Hawkins (founder of Palm) actually thinking.

If some one knows as to why this happens to be actually the most interesting product so far by Palm, feel free to enlighten and educate me.

“Leave Lal Masjid Alone.. or else!” : Taliban

Haji Umar, the Taliban commander has warned the Pakistani government of ‘dire consequences’ and ‘retaliation’ if any action is taken against the Lal Masjid in Islamabad.

Haji Umar told reporters of various news agencies that the Taliban are in direct contact with Maulana Abdul Aziz in Lal Masjida and they will assist him in hitting back at the government if needed. Maulana Abdul Aziz still maintains that the mosque’s mission is to simply fight for “the supremacy of Islam and enforcement of the Shariah.”

The Pakistani authorities in the capital are also busy with investigating claims of the desecration of Quranic verses at a nursing school under the management of Pakistan Institute of Management Sciences, Islamabad (see related story).

iPhone showcases 3 new adverts

This just keeps getting better and better!

The hype behind the soon to be launched iPhone has taken a new turn with apple.com bringing 3 new iPhone adverts for your viewing. These adverts seem to be not only about the phone’s outlook but actually give a short tour of its interface and their functionality!

Now that is something you don’t see everyday in a mobile phone advertisment.

iPhone has an eager population awaiting its launch. Too bad it will not be available in Asia till early 2008 but we all know there are other means to get our hands on this hot gadget.

You can view the adverts at: http://www.apple.com/iphone/ads/

A Passion That Is Mobile

I’d be surprised to know if any one who reads this blog does not possess a cell phone. Graham Bell would have made gazillions had he known that his invention would one day engulf the world like this. A necessity more than a luxury that it is now a days, you see gadget freaks all around the world show-casing their cellular bling bling from the younglings to the oldies.

What gets you going in a cell phone? The Camera, the EDGE, the size, the sound, the design etc?