Stuck in a rut: Pakistan's Political Scene

This is a guest post by Usama Guddar. (hey, I came up with the title).

With Raja Pervaiz Ashraf getting the premiership, I decided not to worry about Pakistan anymore. I was determined to move from here as soon as I find an opportunity. However, today again I feel like I should post something. It's all about the "selection" 2013. (Yeah you heard that right! Not election, I said selection)

Starting from the fiascoes of the PPP government to Nawaz Sharif's so called opposition party, to Pervaiz Illahi's becoming the deputy premier (that was an invention, btw) to Imran Khan fever among all the kiddos of the country, I have a lot to say. Lets not talk about PPP or Nawaz Sharif and confine ourselves to Imran Khan today. Allow me to talk about the "Jinnah" of this gumrah-kun nation.

Imran Khan rose up with such a momentum that we all thought he will clean sweep this time. Those music concerts, t-shirts posing IK as the revolutionist of the century and the heated speeches of him (not to mention those memes) are still up on my mind. To tell you how much our people got obsessed by him, those idiots started comparing him with Jinnah. I got this text from someone counting the similarities between the two. Jinnah was in the Hall of fame of his university and so do Imran. Jinnah did this and Imran also did the same. Guess they wanted Imran's photo on the currency notes instead of Jinnah's. Isn't it too much?

Automated Traffic Fines? Vehicle-To-Vehicle Communication

The Internet police have cracked down on peer-to-peer file sharing as a result of pressure from the music and recording industries. Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication would be music to the ears of municipal police and drivers if it works the way developers plan.

The Transportation Research Institute at the University of Michigan, along with the U.S. Department of Transportation, began a project last fall to study the effectiveness of V2V communication in real-life situations. The $25 million in-vivo experiment follows the driving activities of 2,800 local residents who volunteered to have their vehicles equipped with the the transmitters and receivers. The vehicles will not only communicate with their drivers via audio and visual alerts, but also with devices installed at various street corners and intersections. The study is scheduled to last through the summer of 2013.

How It Works

Ray LaHood, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation, said smart cars could ultimately reduce traffic accidents by up to 80 percent. The dedicated short-range communication technology allows equipped vehicles to warn drivers of road hazards, of imminent collisions and can even tell a red light to turn green when no other traffic is around.

LaHood told Annarbor.com that the study will determine whether a federal mandate can be implemented requiring every vehicle on the road to be equipped with the technology. The biggest hurdle, besides the effectiveness of the program, is cost. But Consumer Reports noted the price is nothing compared to the savings on medical bills (which it estimates to be $99 billion annually) and the lives saved because safer cars of V2V communication.

Automated Traffic Fines

Researchers at Carlos III University in Madrid said the automated systems could work with existing V2V technology to send driving violations directly to the vehicle through municipalities. The ticket-administration program, known as Communications and Information Technologies (CITs), would allow drivers to report who is breaking the law, while allowing offenders to communicate with nearby drivers to ask them to act as witnesses. According to an Arizona car dealership, some cars are already being equipped with communication systems for emergencies.

The Sarabjit Conundrum: India-Pak tensions rise again

This Amateur artwork is presented by yours truly, Mirsub. Microsoft Paint, you have saved me once again.

Note: As admin, I've seen this whole drama unfold on Twitter and in the media and it's simply ludicrous. Strayed from the Punjab? Yeah, O.K.
-Mirsub

Guest blog by Fatima Sajjad. She writes for the Tribune.

I am not a blogger or writer and never have I tried my hand at it but the Pakistan India topics are always an interesting choice to begin with! Moreover the Sarabjit Case and the false potrayal of him as 'just a farmer' has forced me to let it out.

I am not an anti-Indian but the way they have reacted to this situation and similar ones has changed my view of them. Lets start with what their very well know and learned people had to say about Pakistan, Javed Akhtar called Pakistan a 'petty establishment' after the death of Sarabjit and others termed Pakistan as an insensitive nation. I ask them,if Pakistan is a petty establishment why did they release several other prisoners convicted of terrorist activites,examples can include Gopaal Daas and Surjeet Singh who were recently pardoned and sent back home safe and sound! If Pakistan is a petty estabilishment why did our soldiers send the little Indian girl,that too with new clothes,candies etc,back to India with full safety! Also,is not India a petty estabilishment too as after the Sarabjit Incident one Pakistani prisoner was attacked by his inmates in Jammu and just by the way he has been struggling for a living as well why is this not telecasted?

The Most Annoying Posts on Facebook

We all loved Facebook when it started (OK, not all of us...). It was agreat way to keep in touch with all our friends -- even the ones we weren't intouch with any more. For a reason. But we loved it anyway because it meant thatwe could spy on them and secretly judge them without having to actually beinvolved in their lives in any real way. That included frienemies from college,old flames, former co-workers and grade-school chums that we were glad to findworking at a Burger King and growing bald after picking us relentlessly (Idigress...).

BUT all that schadenfreude started to turn against us when we found thatin addition to lamentations about how much it sucked to work at Burger King,that same former grade-school chum also posted cute cat video after cute catvideo. Instead of being a source of amusement, your news feed became a reasonfor you to want to poke your own eye out every day.

Besides the cat videos, here are some of the most annoying posts you arelikely to find on Facebook (even with the most stringent requirements for whoyou let on your friend's list):

"My kids just say the darnest things..."

Yeah, we know: Your little angel is just HIGH-larious! Except she's not.And we don't need to hear about every precocious observation she has made in her adorable little lisp -- carefully typed out phonetically so we get the full effect. Save it for someone who cares: Grandma.

"My lifesucks :("

Otherwise known as #smh. Or FML. Or "I tried." These are the short, cryptic, woe-is-me posts that are crying out for you to ask "What's wrong? What happened?" but they are inevitably answered with "oh nothing" or "I don't want to talk about it" Then stop posting it on Facebook and move on!

"Click' Like' If You..."

Click "like" if you love the Lord and aren't afraid to show it. Click "like" if you support autism awareness. Click "like" if you're a Southern girl. The only reason these posts exist is self-indulgent navel-gazing. I'd like to be able to click "you are ridiculous," but it's not an option.

Self-Affirmations

Sometimes, these are actual status updates that someone wrote out themselves. Sometimes, they are meaningful quotes stuck on a photo -- usually of someone famous (usually of Marilyn Monroe). They say something like "I may be stupid and ugly, but gosh darn it! people like me -- or at least they should." Maybe it's more eloquent than that, but the sentiment is the same, and it's one that needs to be shared in group therapy, not the place you come to connect with people you haven't spoken a real work to in decades.

Duck Face

I don't know how this trend started -- or why any woman ever thought it was sexy in any way -- but it needs to end now and forever. Photos taken of yourself sticking out your lips need to never be shared. In fact, they shouldn't be taken in the first place. Actually, since we're on the subject,just stop taking photos of yourself period. Nothing looks more ridiculous or posed than that "Who me?" look paired up with the reflection of your self holding the camera.

Running Commentary

We get it: You're excited about the game, or the presidential debate, or the final episode of the Real Housewives. But you don't have to try to be the first one to break the news about whatever big thing happened. By the time you post, everyone already knows what happened. Your constant posts aren't funny or clever, they're only annoying.

Between the "Hey do you know that this celebrity died today?" posts and the requests for you to come play on a virtual farm, Facebook is starting to be a virtual minefield of annoying posts. You can hardly escape one before you go stumbling onto another.

These are my pet peeves on Facebook. What are yours? What are some ofthe most annoying posts you see? Share them in the comments!

(Heres one from the Owner of the site too..)

"1 like= 1 support"

I liked the the idea of this guest post so much that yours truly, Mirsub couldn't help to resist to add a little "something something" of his own. You see this all over the place, you think we're f**** dum? Yes I love Pizza, Eminem, cuddly wuddly kittens and what-not but you must be out of your mind if you think you're gonna fool me in your futile/desperate attempts for "likes". And oh, one more thing; sorry to burst your bubble but doctors don't get paid in "Likes".

About the Author:

Alexis Bonari writes for one of the largest open databases of collegefunding opportunities. Specific topics like schoolgrants are described in detail to provide multiple resources for students.