Light Within

Homepage is a new genre brought into existence by the Internet. Everyone who uses a connected computer has a homepage. Some users keep having the same homepage that came when they bought a computer? Some others pick new ones: blank or showing their main interest on the Internet.

Homepage, also called as a default page, "is the main page or the first page of a Website that a browser opens with, or where the browser will return if the Home button on the Navigation toolbar is pressed." A good homepage should attract, and hold the attention of the visitors and direct them to content within the rest of the site. Webmasters and designers obviously go a long way in their endeavors that users make their sites' Homepages their own, apart from tweaking them for the search engines. Most Websites have options like this: 'Make us your home page, click here to make us your home page, click to make this as a default page. But that is not enough particularly with savvy and choosy users.

The Internet is a shorter route to many things: learning, obtaining information, conducting business, making decisions, socializing, or spending leisure time. Researchers are trying to find the Internet's impacts on life and offline. The celebration of Internet Free Day or 20-year net veteran Steve Cisler's expedition to put himself "in other people's shoes who are not online" are some cases in point.

The Internet is not only changing our outlook on life and work but is also going to change the male-female ratio in the workforce, giving the female population more choices. But what do female work choices have to do with geeking? Plenty!

First, let us see the origin of the term geek and establish why geek girls are not geek boys. Tom Ziegler researched the origin and changing usage of the term geek and quoted this in the geek.com feature, "It appears that "geek" outstrips "nerd" by almost 400 years! Seems Mr. Alexander Barclay back in England wrote the following in 1570: He is a fool, a sotte, and a geek also which choseth ... the worst [way] and most of ieoperdie [jeopardy]. Why, old Willy used it in Twelfth Night, Scene I, as Malvolio says to Olivia: Why have you suffer'd me to be imprison'd, kept in a dark house, visited by the Priest, And made the most notorious gecke and gull That e're invention play'd on?

The word geek is derived from geck or gek or geke. In its original meaning, "geek referred to a foolish, inept, or clumsy, single-minded or accomplished in scientific or technical pursuits but is felt to be socially inept or a carnival performer whose show consists of bizarre acts, such as biting the head off a live chicken." As per MS Word 2000 UK Dictionary geek is a synonym of nerd, weed and bore. Eric Raymond describes "computer geek" as "one who eats (computer) bugs for a living." But that was in the past.

Importance of historical buildings is multidimensional. These buildings help us understand the people and culture that produced them. They also have architectural, aesthetic, historic, documentary, archaeological, economic, social and even symbolic values .

Now: what comes through AI

Earlier: it was actually my writings, LOL.

Travelling on Grand Trunk Road all my life, it captured my imagination as a cultural curiosity when I read Rudyard Kipling's Kim. At the beginning of the last century Kipling called it "a wonderful spectacle.... without crowding.... green-arched, shade-flecked ... a river of life." But Pakistan's National Highway Number 5 (N-5), alias the Grand Trunk Road, or simply the GT Road, presents a different impression now. Commuting up and down the GT Road are caravans of trucks, buses, cars, animals and animal transport as well as auto-rickshaws, all having equal rights of the way. On the GT Road every bus, truck, and car must pass the vehicle ahead. "The GT Road," a veteran traveler John Otto wrote, "really belongs to the trucker." And he is right in a way.

So much has changed since Kipling described the GT Road, which he saw "brimming with all manner of travelers -- rich merchants with elephants and camels laden with merchandise, guarded by retainers. The aristocracy on colorful horses and elephants with gilded howdahs for the ladies, their silk drapes fluttering in the wind, the raggle-taggle of the gypsies roaming from one village to the next in search of food and work." The old identities have steadily been defused by the common objectives for prosperity and development. Since partition, the new social and economic objectives have been the major engines of change. The only thing that still remains on this strategic, economic and cultural artery of Pakistan is that it is "the river of life."

This article appeared in Daily The Nation

The Salt Range derives its name from extensive deposits of rock salt. The Range stands as remnant of forts with bastions and temples. Exceptionally, this region maintains an almost continuous record of history that can define the evolution of society. Forts and temples surviving along the range are a reminder of how untouched many of the ancient remnants are. Alexander from Macedon came to this Range twice; one from Taxila and later when his forces refused to go any further from the banks of the River Beas. From here he marched towards the Arabian Sea on his way to Babylon. And, now an NGO is constructing a monument of Alexander near Jalalpur town in the foot of the Salt Range in district Jhelum.

For those who take their first chance to the area, the landscape all along the Salt Range is rock-strewn, lacking in softness and loveliness. In many parts, it becomes barren and uninviting. But, in truth, the range is dotted with historical wonders, romantic legends, archaeological remains, and varying geological formations. The surroundings are very quiet. Urial is also found in the Range though facing extinction. A journey along the range is exciting as well as informative.

What is a blog? How is blogging phenomenon still evolving in Pakistan? Lack of content in Pakistan blogsphere and how quality local content can help create a new image of Pakistan? This review of Pakistan blogsphere appeared in Pakistan Armed Forces' Monthly Magazine Hilal (Urdu section) in May 2011 issue.