Saturday, May 21, 2011
Swedish House Mafia - Save The World
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Pakistan army denies US troops were in northwest
Pakistan’s military has denied a report that US special forceswere embedded with Pakistani troops for intelligence- gathering missions in the northwest of the country.
The local Dawn newspaper said on Saturday it obtained secret dispatches from WikiLeaks that revealed that US special forces were deployed with Pakistani troops in joint operations in Pakistan by September of 2009.
A spokesman from the Pakistani military’s media relations department categorically denied the presence of American troops in North and South Waziristan.
“No US troops are involved in any military operations in FATA,” said the spokesman. The WikiLeaks cables could hurt the powerful Pakistani military’s image.
It faced rare criticism after a secret US special forces raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden not far from the capital Islamabad this month. The army condemned the assault, which has severely strained ties between the two countries, as a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty. But Pakistanis lashed out at the country’s generals because they did not know about the raid.
Anti-American sentiment runs high in Pakistan, partly because of US drone aircraft strikes on militants, which are regarded as a violation of the US ally’s sovereignty and have killed civilians.
The disclosure of the alleged US troop deployments came a day after another set of cables showed that Pakistan’s powerful army chief not only tacitly agreed to the covert US drone campaign against militants, but asked for “continuous Predator coverage” of the tribal areas by these aircraft. The army denied the contents.
Pakistan and China — what about India?
In conversations with the Afghan leadership during their visit to Kabul last week, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other top Indian officials were stunned to hear that Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and Army Chief Ashfaq Kayani had told their Afghan hosts, during their own visit to Kabul last month, that upon the withdrawal of the Americans from Afghanistan, China should be, both, encouraged and allowed to fill in the vacuum.
I suppose the pieces of the jigsaw were falling into place quite nicely —if only that chap, Osama bin Laden, hadn’t rudely disrupted all those carefully coordinated plans in Islamabad and Beijing.
China is easily the world’s most interesting power, both because of its phenomenal economic rise and because of the debate taking place within the country over the kind of political power it should exercise across the world. And Pakistan, long Beijing’s special friend, is now helping it become top dog in Middle Asia as well.
Sometimes, I wonder why — even if many of you think that is an utterly naive thought. First of all, Pakistan and China share what has come to be known as the “all-weather friendship, deeper than the seas and higher than the mountains”, a turn of phrase that commends the creative juices on both sides.
China has helped Pakistan build both bridges and nuclear plants over the years, and, as the Pakistan prime minister’s very successful just-concluded visit to Beijing demonstrates, friendship cements the permanent interests of both nations.
Of course, India is closely watching the outcome of Gilani’s warm handshake with Hu Jintao, but it seems to me that, this time around, there is a subtle change in Delhi’s reaction to the Pakistani-Chini bhai-bhai bonhomie.
Not that Delhi will underplay the deep significance of Gilani’s visit, which includes the promise of additional nuclear reactors to neutralise the importance of the Indo-US nuclear deal, as well as more Chinese fighter jets to balance the 126-fighter jet deal that India is soon likely to finalise.
The fact is that, for the first time, India holds a card that has the capacity to balance the Pakistan-China primary relationship, and this is the $60 billion trade that is significantly in China’s favour. By 2015, this figure is likely to touch $100 billion annually.
My point here is that Comrade Hu will warmly shake the hand of ‘old friend’ Gilani, but he is smart enough to know his own strategic limits. He knows there is too much at stake in the India-China relationship to make promises he can’t keep with Pakistan.
Which brings me to the question of friendship. Who is Pakistan’s best friend? Not the Americans. Certainly the Saudis, and by all accounts, the Chinese. Sometimes I wonder where India fits in, if it does at all. So here’s my question: Pakistan and China must promote each other’s interests, because of the extremely special nature of their relationship, in Afghanistan as well as the rest of South Asia. But let’s not confuse that feeling with friendship.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Michael Meets Mozart - 1 Piano, 2 Guys, 100 Cello Tracks- by Jon Schmidt & Steven Sharp Nelson
Purchase Mp3, Sheet Music, Minus Tracks, Midi Files and more at http://www.jonschmidt.com
After our Taylor Swift Coldplay mash-up, lots of people wanted more song combos. This led us to the creation of a cool hip hop/classical mash-up, but again we could not get permission. Instead of scrapping the great ideas, we used them to create an original tune. You will hear influences and inspiration from other artists. Try and guess them.
On the recording, Steven Sharp Nelson laid down over 100 tracks including cello textures never known possible. Every single sound on the video was made using only the instruments shown: piano, cello, mouth percussion and kick drum. We utilized some cool effects on lots of stuff...for example the U2-style delay on Steve's pizzicato at the beginning.
The extra string on the electric cellos (the black cello has an extra high string and the white cello has an extra low string) allowed us to cover the full range of the orchestra. The deep bass drum sound is a bump on the body of the cello with a little help from some effects. The shaker sound was created by Steve rubbing rosin on his bow. The record scratch is Steve scratching a quarter on the strings...you get the idea.
Special SPECIAL thanks to Paul Anderson and Tel Stewart "The Piano Guys" who put as much of themselves into the video as we did and without whom the video would never have happened. (please "Like" them on facebook, they are awesome!!!) http://www.facebook.com/PianoGuys
Thank you,
Jon Schmidt
Websites to check out!
The Piano Guys
Website:
http://www.ThePianoGuys.com
The bald look: Shave off the fear
It was during my A’ levels when I first decided to sport the bald look, inspired by none other than Pakistan’s one and only rocker par extraordinaire, Ali Azmat, who had shaved off his long curly locks. This was almost eight years ago and I was, like every other teenager, in my ‘coming of age’ years; experimenting with my look and imagevividly recall a lot of guys going bald around that time, most of them naturally, and some by choice. I belonged and still do, to the latter. In retrospect, I can’t help but think to myself whether it was a celeb -inspired phenomena or global warming that brought on this development.
Since the time that I first went bald, I have witnessed my fair share of ridicule and compliments, the latter usually from the ladies, who were totally into my scalp. I can’t take all the credit for this though. I would like to thank God and my aunt in Dubai who massaged my head into shape when I was a baby, so that now I can proudly hold my head up high amongst the Vin Diesels, Bruce Willises and Sir Patric Stewarts of the world.
Let me be very clear: I was, am and will always be proud of my bald head. Maybe someday I will grow my hair back, but for now, I am loving the current look. Woe on all haters for being jealous! Most of you are soon going to join the bald ranks anyways, thanks to all that gel abuse your hair has been subjected to over the past decade.
Here are a few reasons why being bald or sporting that look is awesome (thank you Barney for making that word relevant again):
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Lil Wayne - John (Explicit) ft. Rick Ross
Music video by Lil Wayne performing John. (C) 2011 Cash Money Records Inc.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Senior al Qaeda operative arrested in Karachi: ISPR
KARACHI: Pakistani security forces have arrested a senior al Qaeda Yemeni operative in the city of Karachi, the military said on Tuesday.
The army identified the man as Muhammad Ali Qasim Yaqub, alias Abu Sohaib al Makki, and said he had been “working directly under al Qaeda leaders along (the) Pak-Afghan border”.
Faisal Shakeel, correspondent for Express 24/7, said the arrest of al Makki by security agencies may help ease tensions between Pakistan and the US.
According to an update on Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) website, al Makki is a Yemeni national and has been working directly under the al Qaeda leaders along Pak-Afghan borders.
It also says that the arrest of Al Makki is a “major development” in unraveling the Al Qaeda network operating in the region.
The arrest followed a US covert operation in the garrison city of Abbottabad near Islamabad on May 2 that killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and comes after US senator John Kerry visited Pakistan on Monday to smooth a damaging row caused by the raid.
The raid rocked the country’s powerful security establishment, with its intelligence services and military widely accused of incompetence or complicity over the presence of bin Laden in a suburban house in Abbottabad.
US reduces military presence in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD:
The US has reduced its military presence in Pakistan after Pakistan’s military establishment decided “there is no need for unnecessary presence of its troops,” according to a senior military official.
US military personnel have been training the paramilitary Frontier Constabulary force in Warsak, Peshawar, Tarbela and Shahbaz Airbase.
“We are in the process of complying with the directions of the General Headquarters (GHQ) that the number of US military personnel training Pakistani soldiers at various stations be reduced,” a US military spokesperson in Islamabad confirmed.
According to a top Pakistani military official, as many as 160 US soldiers had left Pakistan after the Abbottabad operation. However, he did not confirm the number stated by Pakistani officials, saying, “Over 200 US military personnel are still working here.”
Pakistan had formally asked the Pentagon to recall its men soon after the killing of al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden in unilateral American raid in the garrison city of Abbottabad.
The strong stance comes in the aftermath of a resolution passed during a joint session of parliament, which focused on revisiting the country’s policy regarding the war on terror, officials said.
A senior official revealed that the GHQ has written to Colonel Michael Shavers, a senior US official in Islamabad, asking for further reduction in the number of soldiers engaged with Pakistan Air Force (PAF) at various airbases.
Almost four dozen Americans soldiers working at various training stations will be leaving Pakistan by the end of this month, the official said.
According to army officials, the troops that have already left Pakistan include 25 US engineers who were imparting F-16 training to PAF pilots at the Shahbaz Airbase.
The US troops, they said, had accompanied the new fighter jets that the US had provided to Pakistan for training young Pakistani pilots last year. However, they added, no American pilot is stationed at Shahbaz Airbase right now.
Meanwhile, US officials in Islamabad stated that they were in regular contact with Pakistan’s military leadership to enhance cooperation between the two forces rather than simply withdrawing its top officers from Pakistan.
Muslim champions: A gold medal for ‘ghairat’
When the excited lot at Times Square was celebrating the death of Osama bin Laden, we in Pakistan were in a state of absolute shock and bewilderment. Like an uninvited guest at a party who’s been asked to say a few words on stage, we had no clue how to react.
Why we didn’t celebrate
A large fraction in the West expected us to celebrate the death of Bin Laden like New Yorkers. A friend in India tweeted that the moderate Pakistanis should come out of their houses to show their contentment on the death of the Saudi businessman turned al Qaeda’s founding daddy. But on the other side of the border, we were still chewing on the facts that came our way via western news sources. Unlike the Scooby Doo cartoon show where the evil villain is always unmasked in the end, this episode further mystified everything we were made to believe in the last one decade.
The answer to why Pakistanis did not celebrate Bin Laden’s death came a few weeks later, when a double suicide attack was carried out in Charasadda (taking 89 innocent lives and injuring 140 people) followed by another drone strike claiming the death of al Qaeda militants.
So to our American friends out there, who are still curious about why we did not celebrate: you might have won this year’s ‘Super Bowl’ but as far as we are concerned, we always end up cleaning the mess irrespective of who comes out as the winner.
What we shouldn’t celebrate
Having said that, I secretly wish the Supreme Court had banned Pakistanis from expressing their feelings on this incident. Only a few hours after the announcement of Bin Laden’s death, a section of journalists and anchors started referring to him as a martyr and Islam’s true soldier, who also turned out to be a lover of pornography (now I know who to blame).
But what disappointed me the most was the open stance of some Pakistani intellectuals including writer/poet/ diplomat Ataul Haq Qasmi, creator of PTV classic Khwaja and Sons, who found nothing wrong in publicly admiring Bin Laden on local TV channels. Similarly lawyers, political party leaders and even citizens in various Pakistanis cities offered prayers for the terrorist who publicly declared war against Pakistan and its people, resulting in the death of over 3,500 Pakistanis – majority of who never supported the US war mongering policy in the region).
BBC radio’s Urdu service interviewed a housewife in Abbottabad who wished she knew of Bin Laden’s existence in her neighbourhood – she would have showed him the well-known Pakistani hospitability (shudders!). From the looks of it, she doesn’t appear to be the only one to think like that. But, I am pretty sure that she or someone in her family would not mind US citizenship if offered. Pakistanis who criticise US policy the most wouldn’t mind living the American dream in the USA or any prosperous part of the West. I fail to understand this phenomenon.
Numerous times in the past, Islamic states have also sabotaged the sovereignty of Pakistan but this is not something we want to talk about. We have trained, facilitated and harboured foreign terrorists in the past and continue to do so today, even if it proves to be hazardous for our own safety, economy and future, because the terrorists appear to follow the same religion and claim to be better Muslims than we are.
Does this make sense to anyone out there?
Our double standards
We want our kids to study and work abroad, to bring back dollars, pounds, euros and foreign degrees. At the same time we find it completely appropriate to publicly display open affection for dead al Qaeda leaders and approve of the Taliban version of Sharia in our country.
So, from what it appears, we are either an utterly stupid or a despicably hypocritical nation that does not want to learn from the past – as if learning from the past has been banned by the Lahore High Court (LHC) or considered blasphemous by the local mullahs.
We wish to be given a gold medal for our ghairat – if there was a championship where they gave out prizes to Muslim cheerleaders for showing their love for the religion, we would surely be world champions.
If there was a reality show by the name ‘Muslims got ghairat,’ Pakistanis would vote their hearts out to win the title and we would easily win it too for wanting to ban Facebook two years in a row, if nothing else.
But no awards or rewards, religious or otherwise, are handed over for absurdity or irrationality.
The world is watching us and our growing extremist behaviour. The legacy we are leaving behind for our next generation is only going to make them unwanted and disrespected global citizens – in fact we are half way there already.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Tarantulas Shoot Silk From Feet, Spider-Man Style
Rachel Kaufman
for National Geographic News
Published May 16, 2011
Tarantulas shoot silk from "spigots" in their feet to climb slippery surfaces, a new study says.
Keeping balance is crucial for the delicate arachnids, which would likely die in a fall. So tarantulas often use silk much like Spider-Man does when wall-crawling—to stick to surfaces and stay firmly attached, even when the ground is shaky, the research confirmed.
Tarantulas don't spin typical spider webs, but often use their silk to line or protect their burrows.
(See "Spider-Man vs. True Spider Superpowers.")
The silk-slinging theory was first put forth in 2006, but scientists have been divided on whether tarantulas shoot silk from their feet, or if they grab silk from their spinnerets—silk-producing organs—and use that as a glue.
To resolve that question, the University of Newcastle's Claire Rind and undergraduate student Luke Birkett put tarantulas into a clean, dry fish tank lined with microscope slides. While filming with a video camera, the team tipped the tank on its side so that the spiders either stayed put or slipped just a bit.
Watching the footage in slow motion revealed that only the spiders' feet had touched the glass, and that the spiders slipped only slightly.
They also examined the slides to look for any evidence of silk secretions, Rind said. "On the slides where the foot was found, we found 20 or 30 silken threads in the footprint."
Spiky Silk Spigots Observed for First Time
Rind also studied tarantula feet under an electron microscope and found tiny silk-producing spigots intermingled with the hairs on the spiders' feet.
(Watch a video of the world's largest spider.)
Each fuzzy hair looked like a "loo brush," said Rind, while every spigot resembled a "small spike."
Rind saw silk threads still coming out of the spigots—contradicting previous studies that had found that the spikes are sensory structures.
She observed three different species of tarantula under the microscope: the Chilean rose, the Indian ornamental, and the Mexican flame-knee tarantula.
These species are "about as far away as you could get from another on the tarantula tree," so it's likely that all tarantula species possess this silk-slinging ability, Rind said.
(See "Untangling Spiders' Evolutionary Web.")
The Mexican flame-knee tarantula was studied via its molted exoskeleton, which incidentally came from Rind's pet tarantula, Fluffy, who had died before she could participate in the experiments.
But that's OK by Rind: "She was not the best-behaved lady ... a bit aggressive."
The tarantula-silk study will appear June 1 in the journal Journal of Experimental Biology.
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Wednesday, May 11, 2011
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