P for Peace P for Palestine

 Below are the videos excerpts of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Isreali Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking for and against the statehood of Palestine respectively in front of the General Assembly at the UN this Friday. 

Very carefully listen to both of them and you'll know who's right and who's wrong. Seems to me that in order to obtain the goal of returning to their homeland Palestine, all of them have to grit their teeth now. 

Think again the children walking over the bricks of their devastated homes, with their mothers putting up the tents instead of making food, with their fathers locked up in jail for no good reason, sobbing for they cannot even afford tears, with tanks and gunmen walking down the streets, the palestinian child can just stare hopelessly. We can not even imagine what it feels like to be a Palestinian. VIVA LA VIDA!

  and now you see the other end of it

I'll leave you with a quote by Yasser Arafat "I come bearing an olive branch in one hand, and the freedom fighter's gun in the other. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand".

courtesy: WashingtonPost & AP

How to activate the new Facebook Timeline

source: cnet.com

If you are impatient and want to experience the new Timeline Facebook announced earlier today, you can turn it through the developer section of Facebook. The process is simple, takes a few minutes, and will require some patience as Facebook tidies up any lingering issues and bugs. You game? Read on.

As reported on TechCrunch just a bit ago, users can quickly enable the Facebook Timeline on their account in a matter of minutes. Here's how you do it.

1. Visit the Facebook Developer page, and enable it for your account. If you aren't currently logged in, you will be required to do so. 

2. The button to create a new app can be found in the top right corner of the Apps page. Make sure to give your app a display name and name space when requested (it doesn't matter what you enter here, no one will see this app, just make something up and continue). Accept the Platform Privacy agreement by checking the box. You will have to have a verified Facebook account, meaning you have either a credit card or phone number on file.

3. After the app has been named and terms accepted, you will then be taken to your shiny new apps' settings screen. You will see an Open Graph option on the left-hand side. Click on it.

4. You will need to define an action for your new app. You can enter whatever you like; no one is going to see this app when all is said and done, so don't fret too much over the details. (We entered "People can 'high five' a 'video'" as our action). Click on Get Started once you have entered your action.
























5. Once you are presented with the screen above, you don't actually have to do anything, just scroll to the bottom and select Save Changes. You may have to do this on a couple different screens; just remember to scroll to the bottom and select Save Changes.

6. After you are taken back to the Dashboard for Open Graph, you have completed the setup process. Give it a few minutes, then go back to your Facebook home page. You should then see a big invite to enable Timeline. If you don't see it right away, give it a few minutes.

That's it. Once you click on Get It Now, you will then be redirected to your new Timeline. Your Timeline is private, by default, for the time being. You can either edit it until you are ready to publish it, or you can ride it out and let Facebook publish it for you on September 29. 

One more note: if you access your Facebook account from another computer, your Timeline is turned off. To get it back, enter the follow URL into your browser: http:www.facebook.com/[yourusername]?sk=timeline. Make sure to replace [yourusername] with your actual Facebook username.

Happy Facebooking everyone.

Source: CNET

Facing the New Book - Welcome to Timeline

Take a look at the new profile timeline video below.

The annual Facebook conference F8 was wrapped up a while ago, and it was one boring conference. There were a million viewers initially and then the number kept decreasing steadily: so much for the new changes and layouts facebook has announced. To start with, their is a very intersting new upgrade to facebook called Timeline. Naaaah....i am not talking about the twitter TL, its the facebook version. Take a look at it and sign up for it to upgrade your profile by clicking here.

There are a lot of changes one will see in their profiles starting today. The music on facebook will be one of the first updates apart from movies and radio(iheart). A whole new family of interesting apps can be expected as the Open Graph has been given an overhauling. With all these new changes facebook is bound to get a little complex and messy than it used to be and it will intrude a little more into your personal life than before. Nothing will remain personal anymore until you prefer not to put it up on facebook. The secret services and other agencies must be feeling so relieved at this move by Facebook.  So, just be careful and mind your script and watch your actions whilst you are facing the upgraded book.

If you want to know how facebook defines this new changes then click here to go to Facebook's blog. And, just incase you don't like the new changes and would like to switch back to good old facebook try this Better Facebook addon.
Ciao!

Six of I don't know how many

This is the sixth post of the Lyrical Excerpts series I've been blogging about. A quick recap about it; I share a part of the lyrics from the songs I like and what they mean to me, under this label. In this post I shall share three more songs in this post. Since I am in a Lucky Ali hangover, lets start with a song of his that is not so well known.

1. Tanhaai mein Basi hai Zindagi by Lucky Ali

चला हूँ मै तो तेरी चाह में

मिलेंगे जाने किस राह में

कहा है मेरे दिल भी यही

तुम्ही से जुडी है यह ज़िन्दगी

इरादा है के तुमको पाऊं मै

जो कहना चाहूँ कहते जाऊं मै

तुम ही तो उम्मीद हो मेरी

तुम्ही से जुडी मेरी हर ख़ुशी

I must confess I fell in love with the lyrics of this song when i heard it for the first time. The whole song gives you a little sad feeling, a sense of despair with a pinch of disappointment but reckons that their always is some light at the end of the tunnel. Hope they say is what drives us all. The lyricist has done a wonderful job and has very creatively and emotionally sewn the entire poem so as to provoke the trust in thyself. Another awesome song by Lucky Ali and certainly in my favourites list. 

2. Titliyaan Yaadon Ki by Strings

एक झील थी, कई फूल थे

सब मिट गए, क्या कहें

चाहा था कहना, ना कहा, चुप रहे

राहों में तनहा चलते ही हम रहे

 तितलियाँ यादों की उडती जाएँ

रंगों में मुझसे कुछ कहती जाएँ

This song is one of the best works of the band Strings, in my opinion. This one again speaks initially about despair, desire and memory and retentiveness. The music is good and so are the lyrics. Memories at times is like a child walking alone the sea shore. You never know what small pebble it will pick up and store amongst its treasured things. 

3. Joe Purdy - Isn't Love

Last night i had the sweetest dream
That you were nowhere near me

That you could not cut me

That you do not affect me

That i had my sanity

That was just a dream

That was just a dream

So go away

Why cant you leave me be

Because i love your face and need for me


Despite being one of those peaceful guitar songs, this song has a lot of different elements in it. To start with, the way the singer has sung the lyrics is a little weird and little interesting as well. The part of the song i shared talks about a dream where the dreamer although is in love with someone but cannot show it probably because of the fear embedded in the heart. The dreamer however feels safe in the dreams and simply wants the person to get away of his/her dreams and out of the mind. I love the way this song ends. Simple subtle yet very nice guitar chords.

Lucky Ali - Live in concert wasn't so lucky for his fans

Hyderabad was all so excited to hear and see Lucky Ali performing Live and starting his 25 city Rastaman Tour. The banners were all around the city and online and offline ads were flying by. Being a Lucky Ali fan I was too damn excite to watch him perform at a venue not so far from the city. 

I entered the closed auditorium to see the seats already filled. I wasn't late to the show mind you. Out of the dark stage emerged the emcee who was doing incredibly terrible. He seemed to be a last minute adjustment and all he was doing was taking names of the sponsors again and again and again. After some anxious moments  appeared the star of the evening and introduced his younger brother Mansoor Ali. Mansoor opened the show on a sad note and expressed his grief and extended his support to a grieving cricketer father. He sang almost 3 songs. Did i say 'sang'? Shacks. He actually was lip synching, thanks to his apparent cold. He was terrible and he confessed that he is not even 1% of his elder brother. How so true?

Then came Lucky Ali dressed in an elegant gray Kurta. The crowd jumped in excitement and awe only to discover an ultra bad sound system and improperly set microphones. Lucky began with a brief introduction of his troupe which primarily had his family members, most of this intro went unheard sadly.  

From song one, Lucky himself and the crowd were not enjoying anything because the volume of vocals was too less and that of bass was too loud. And then as surprise came the microphone feedback. Lucky was trying his best to give a good performance but then he gave up. After some struggle with his microphones he announced that he is not enjoying the show as much as he wanted and he'll get back after a break. During the break, the technicians seemed to be testing the equipment to no avail. 

The funniest part of the whole evening was the camera man on stage. He wasn't alone, he had a youngster trailing behind with a bunch of wire so that it doesn't get entagled. Reminded me of the camera persons hired at weddings. It really was not an inch close to be called Professional. 

After the so called testing and fixing Lucky, came back and it was still the same, although there was a difference in the audio output (almost negligible). He retired from the stage after a handful of songs and some from his father Mahmood's films too.  Lucky departed on a reminding note of his new album RASTAMAN, a.k.a Exsuie and that it is available for free download online. Apart from Lucky's voice amidst all those chaos, the violinist stood out. He was just amazing.

Apart from the mic and the acoustics, the camera work was aweful, the lighting was confusing, the cameramen had no clue who to focus on and when to switch frames. There was a constant disturbance and discomfort in the audience. People seemed more interested in the drinks than in the songs. 

This is just a Lucky Ali fan's voice of disappointment and perhaps Lucky should check the systems before stepping on stage and the great organisers of the event should learn to get professional. It is always not just about the advertisement. Hope Lucky Ali comes back to Hyderabad once again. I wish him a great life and a wonderful Rastaman Tour ahead. 

Re-Cession

Recession a word that sends tremors down each one of our spines has been doing its disastrous job since 1929. Here's an infographic representation of how it affected the US of A.

Click here to expand
Source: Online Schooling