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To the enlightened Pakistanis,     I happened to be reading for my Bar in London when this tragic incident took place. Then and now i have stuck to my stance, though barraged with a lot of criticism, that Benazir deserved nothing but a few words of sorrow for her death. Yes call me cynical or a disrespectful brat, however truth be told, she left behind nothing for the country to be proud of. Neither was she a success at running the government (twice), or as a women's rights activist as she propounded to be.I did not see her much as a philanthropist(the least she could have done with her Billion of Rupees of her assets), nor did she lead the country out of any problems of any nature that are notable. But credit is dew where it is, and she did succeed in becoming a public figure all around the world, that a drunk individual on the London Bus on route 91 was paying his condolences to me on learning that i am from Pakistan.        Now, i hear many talk wonders about her, but it was at ...

Of course, you can't unfry an egg, but there is no law against thinking about it. If I had my life to live over, I would try to make more mistakes. I would relax. I know of very few things that I would take seriously. I would go more places. I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers. I would eat more ice cream and less bran. I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary troubles. You see, I have been one of those fellows who live prudently and sanely, hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I have had my moments. But if I had it to do over again, I would have more of them – a lot more. I never go anywhere without a thermometer, a gargle, a raincoat and a parachute. If I had it to do over, I would travel lighter. If I had my life to live over, I would pay less attention to people telling us we must learn Latin or History; otherwise we will be disgraced and ruined and flunked and failed. I would seek out more teachers who inspire relaxation and fun. If I had my life to li...

Written by - Renowened Honkong TV Broadcaster My son, I am writing this to you because of 3 reasons:- 1. Life, fortune and mishaps are unpredictable; nobody knows how long he lives. Some words are better said early. 2. I am your father, and if I don't tell you these, no one else will. 3. What are written is my own personal bitter experiences that perhaps could save you a lot of unnecessary heartaches. Remember the following as you go through life 1. Do not bear grudge towards those who are not good to you. No one has the responsibility of treating you well, except your mother and me. To those who are good to you, you have to treasure it and be thankful, and ALSO you have to be cautious, because, everyone has a motive for every move. When a person is good to you, it does not mean he really likes you. You have to be careful; don't hastily regard him as a real friend. Whereas when a person is really mean to you, it doesn't necessarily make him an enemy. He might be ...

The Messenger of Allah, sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam, said,  "The best actions are continuous ones even if little..." [Muslim]  After I looked at my own state and the state of those who waste their time, I wanted to encourage our souls to obey and worship Allah `azza wa jall by compiling a list of some well-known actions that Allah `azza wa jall has honored us with and prepared a great reward for those who do them. This list is also a reminder of better utilizing our time and seizing the opportunity of every hour and making use of it. My goal in compiling the list is not to point out the actions as much as to show the necessity of organizing and planning and preserving one's time by investing it in something good. First of all, let us talk about time, with which many are heedless and wasteful, and which importance only few recognize. Time is like wealth, it requires our attention and care in both spending and managing. While it is possible to gather and store wealth, and ...

The Messenger of Allah, sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam, said,  "The best actions are continuous ones even if little..." [Muslim]  After I looked at my own state and the state of those who waste their time, I wanted to encourage our souls to obey and worship Allah `azza wa jall by compiling a list of some well-known actions that Allah `azza wa jall has honored us with and prepared a great reward for those who do them. This list is also a reminder of better utilizing our time and seizing the opportunity of every hour and making use of it. My goal in compiling the list is not to point out the actions as much as to show the necessity of organizing and planning and preserving one's time by investing it in something good. First of all, let us talk about time, with which many are heedless and wasteful, and which importance only few recognize. Time is like wealth, it requires our attention and care in both spending and managing. While it is possible to gather and store wealth, and ...

The Qur'an, in Surah Nisa, chapter 4 verse 3, states that a Muslim is allowed to marry a maximum of only four wives. Another verse in the Qur'an makes Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) an exception to this rule. In Surah Ahzab chapter 33 verse 52: "It is not lawful for thee (to marry more) women after this, nor to change them for (other) wives, even though their beauty attract thee, except any thy right hand should possess (as hand maidens) and Allah doth watch over all things ".   [Al-Qur'an 33:52] This verse clearly gives Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) the permission to keep all his previous wives but prohibits him to marry any more women except those which his right hand possessed i.e. slave girls. The Prophet (pbuh) was allowed to keep all his previous wives because no one was allowed to marry the Prophet's wives (ra) after they were divorced or widowed as they were ummul-momineen (mother of the believers). People falsely accuse the Prophet (pbuh...

by The Editors of EatingWell Magazine , on Wed Dec 1, 2010 The much-dreaded cold and flu season is upon us. And if you're like me, there isn't any spare time built into the schedule to be sick. So how can I bolster my defenses against the germs lurking in the common areas in my office, the mall where I do my holiday shopping and the rest stops I encounter in my holiday travels? Related: Delicious recipes to help boost your immune system I took a look at the research Emily Sohn and Rachel Johnson, Ph.D., M.P.H., have written about for EatingWell and pulled together a list of what's worth trying—and what's not.   Try It: Vitamin D In a study published recently in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, children who took daily vitamin D supplements (1,200 IU) were 40 percent less likely to get a common flu virus than kids who took a placebo. Laboratory studies indicate that the nutrient may help immune cells identify and destroy bacteria and viruses that make us ...

Celebrating next week THREE YEARS in the New York times Bestseller List, you find below parts of the dialogue between the shepherd boy and the Alchemist on the way to the pyramids. "Why do we have to listen to our hearts?" the boy asked, when they had made camp that day. "Because, wherever your heart is, that is where you'll find your treasure." "But my heart is agitated," the boy said. "It has its dreams, it gets emotional, and it's become passionate over a woman of the desert. It asks things of me, and it keeps me from sleeping many nights, when I'm thinking about her." "Well, that's good. Your heart is alive. Keep listening to what it has to say." "My heart is a traitor," the boy said to the alchemist, when they had paused to rest the horses. "It doesn't want me to go on." "That makes sense. Naturally it's afraid that, in pursuing your dream, you might lose everything you've won....

By Dominique Dawes   Are you really happy? It's a question that has crossed all of our minds. Just a month prior to interviewing researcher, explorer and best-selling author Dan Buettner, I had been wrestling with this question myself. Am I really happy? Am I passionate about the work that I do. Do I love my family and friends, or at least the ones I choose to keep in my small circle. My faith is at the core of my being. And I really appreciate the little things in life: a rainy Monday, the color of fall (one of my favorite times of the year), my morning coffee that lasts for hours, that special song that sparks a memory, the laughter of children — especially my niece and nephew.   For me it's these little things that seem to make me happy. But is that really enough? I learned a lot from Buettner, who travelled the world in search of the keys to happiness. His new National Geographic book, " Thrive: Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way ," reveals secrets from the...

Author: Paul Judge, CTO, CipherTrust, Inc. Effectively stopping spam over the long-term requires much more than blocking individual IP addresses and creating rules based on keywords that spammers typically use. The increasing sophistication of spam tools coupled with the increasing number of spammers in the wild has created a hyper-evolution in the variety and volume of spam. The old ways of blocking the bad guys just don't work anymore. Examining spam and spam-blocking technology can illuminate how this evolution is taking place and what can be done to combat spam and reclaim e-mail as the efficient, effective communication tool it was intended to be. Heuristics (Rule-based Filtering) One method used to combat spam is Rule-based, or Heuristic Filtering. Rule-based filters scan email content for predetermined words or phrases that may indicate a message is spam. For example, if an email administrator includes the word "sex" on a company's rule-based list, any email co...

Author: Henry James Links are widely used by various webmasters to judge their internet presence. Even the web crawlers or search engines are using the effective popularity tools to measure the rankings of the various websites. You can also use the latest tools such as link popularity software, online optimizers and prowlers to boost up the page ranking of your website(s). By using these tools, you would certainly gain a greater number of targeted traffic as well as business contacts. First of all lets us discuss the basics of link popularity. A website is always ranked on the basis of its link popularity. And link popularity is nothing but measuring the number of quality links on your website. Your website can support certain links—inbound outbound and reciprocal links— with other websites in the forms of text link, banners or advertisements. The more quality links you have, the more popular is your website. So, a good link popularity tool or software would drastically increase your p...

  The paranoid elected government of President Asif Zardari has been out battling shadows and ghosts, whipping up anti-military sentiment when the military never planned a coup of any sort against him. His problems are with the Supreme Court on legal grounds. To calm frayed nerves, it appears Gen. Kayani agreed to let Zardari and Gilani issue a statement on the three's commitment to 'defending' democracy. Pakistani military could also be bound by 'sovereign guarantees' given as back as 2007 stating that Pakistani military won't destabilize a government created through the US-sponsored NRO deal.     By  AHMED QURAISHI Tuesday, 28 September 2010.         ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—Hardly. Better still, there wasn't a coup to start with.     Monday's well-timed meeting between the so-called 'troika' – the President, Prime Minister, and the Army chief – is being widely interpreted as having averted a possible collapse of the elected Za...

On Wednesday August 25, 2010, 5:20 pm EDT WASHINGTON — A top Pentagon official has confirmed a previously classified incident that he describes as "the most significant breach of U.S. military computers ever," a 2008 episode in which a foreign intelligence agent used a flash drive to infect computers, including those used by the Central Command in overseeing combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. Plugging the cigarette-lighter-sized flash drive into an American military laptop at a base in the Middle East amounted to "a digital beachhead, from which data could be transferred to servers under foreign control," according to William J. Lynn 3d, deputy secretary of defense,  writing in the latest issue of the journal Foreign Affairs . "It was a network administrator's worst fear: a rogue program operating silently, poised to deliver operational plans into the hands of an unknown adversary," Mr. Lynn wrote. The incident was   first reported  in November 2008...

    ·         'Royal' FM's Fundraiser Costs National Kitty Heavily ·         US$20,000 at NYC hotel to raise funds for flood victims! ·         Options ignored: cheaper hotels, the residences of the Pakistani Consulate ·         Why Amb. Haqqani failed to convince his boss this time to donate the expense to flood victims ·         Upscale hotel because the minister is a 'blue blooded Pakistani politician' or because he's a foreign minister?     By: Kaswar Klasra | Published: August 25, 2010 The Nation   ISLAMABAD – While thousands perished and millions were forced to flee from the floods that swept Pakistan this month, Pakistan's Foreign Minister, who came to New York City with a begging bowl in hand for foreign aid, was spending thousands of dollars per night at cushy five-star hotels in the US. 'Beggars cannot be choosers' evidently is an adage never heard by our honorable leaders. Be it a visit to the...