all-columns.blogspot.com: August 2013

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Home remedies to Lighten Dark Elbows and Knees by Kiran Zahra

Home remedies to Lighten Dark Elbows and Knees

If you have tried all the means to conceal darkened elbows and knees. And it has limited your options of having your desirable wardrobe. Here are few simple home remedies for the flawless skin.

Mint Application
Mint contains certain essential oils that makes mint a potent breath freshener. It also has antiseptic and anti- inflammatory compounds whose essential oils helps in synthesis of white blood cells and collagen in the body. It also functions to clean away the scar tissues from within.

Combination of mint and lemon oil helps make skin fairer and is good bleach for the skin. Boil ½ cup of water with a handful of mint leaves. Squeeze half lemon juice into the mint water. Soak a cotton ball in the mixture and apply it on your knees and elbows. After 15-20 minutes wash it with warm water.

Lemon And Sugar Scrub

Lemon has super healing properties that heal the scars and bleaches the skin. Sugar granules combined with lemon exfoliates the dry dead skin and aids to form a new softer skin layer.

Before taking a bath rub a slice of lemon with sugar crystals in circular motion till the sugar crystals dissolves.

Scrubbing With A Towel

Mix ½ teaspoon of lime juice and 1 teaspoon of coconut oil together and apply it evenly on the affected area. Leave it on for 15-20 minutes, then scrub it by using a towel soaked in hot water. Coconut is rich in essential fats and Vitamin E that nourishes the skin and makes it soft and supple. If regular scrubbing is done the skin can become more fairer within few days.

Yogurt And Vinegar

Yogurt and vinegar contain lactic acid and acetic acid respectively which helps in lightening skin color.Darkened knees and elbows , scars and pigmentation can be effectively treated with a combination of yogurt and vinegar.Apply it on the affected area and let it sit for approximately 20 minutes and then wash it off with water.

Magic Of Garlic And Onion
Cut a clove of garlic and an onion and rub it directly on your elbows and knees for approx. 10 minutes and then wash it dry. Garlic and onions are herbaceous plant with numerous minerals and volatile oils. Both are oftenly used in phytotherapy due to presence of vitamin C and their essential oils.They are good remedy to lighten up darkened body
parts especially elbows and knees.
Gram Flour And Curd Pack

Gram flour contains a large number of vitamins , minerals ,and proteins, that acts like a natural exfoliant. Its whitening properties aids to eliminate pigmentation and blemishes.

Apply a smooth paste of curd and gram flour on the affected area.After it dries, scrub it off in circular motions and wash it off with water.

Honey And Aloe Vera Mask
Honey is sticky in texture and possesses large number of phytochemicals , enzymes and organic acids.It acts as a natural
moisturizer for your skin whereas saponins and lignins present in aloe plant go deep in the skin and clean it effectively.
Apply aloe vera gel and honey on the knees and elbows and wash it after half an hour.

Lubrication After Shower

Mustard oil has anti bacterial oil with linoleic acid,oleic acid and erucic acid.These volatile acids helps to lubricate the skin, maintain its color and protect it thoroughly.It also helps to retain its melanin pigment.It is better to rub mustard oil on the affected areas right after taking a bath for best results.Let it be for 15 minutes then wash it with warm water.

Writer: Kiran Zahra

The Wolverine: an Indestructible Masterpiece

Director James Mangold brings a furrowed-brow solemnity to the comic-book world of Marvel’s blade-fisted antihero, The Wolverine. One that scratches and claws against the law of diminishing returns always destined to beset the splintering X-Men franchise.

Inspired by the 1982 Chris Claremont & Frank Miller Wolverine miniseries, “The Wolverine” takes enough liberties to better adapt it to the Marvel X-Universe that Fox has been building towards.

Haunted by the death of Jean Grey, former X-Man Logan (Hugh Jackman) is now a loner, foraging in the woods. But he’s tracked down and brought to Japan by a billionaire who’s keen to repay a life debt by stripping the Wolverine of his immortality.

Yukio (Rila Fukushima), a katana-wielding assassin with an intriguing back-story of her own, accompanies Logan to Tokyo, where he meets his would-be benefactor, Lord Yashida (Hal Yamanouchi), now an elderly mega-rich industrialist who wishes to repay his debt to Wolverine. Not willing to embrace death, he offers Logan a chance to relieve him of his eternal suffering in an exchange for his healing abilities. Logan refuses to do so – believing it to be a curse rather than a gift – only to be drawn into a web of intriguing mystery that needs unraveling.

Mark Bomback and Scott Frank’s screenplay follows Chris Claremont and Frank Miller’s popular Japan-set comic-book arc from 1982, but Mangold of “3:10 to Yuma” fame seeks to distance his film from those pulpy beginnings by embedding his protagonist in a conventional, near bromidic drama of familial squabbling, corruption and corporate greed.

Until a third act that collapses in a harebrained heap, the director largely succeeds in keeping the more fatuous aspects at bay, roughing up the surface with organically staged fight scenes and, raising the stakes by stripping his hitherto indestructible hero of his self-healing and regeneration powers.

Figuratively declawed, the Wolverine stumbles and bleeds, that intricately sculpted body which is hurting in tune with his inner torment.

That said, ’The Wolverine’ is that rare superhero film that is mindful of the cannon but works excellently as a rousing standalone action picture with a lot of heart and soul to it. Hugh Jackman like many before him – such as Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Christian Bale (Batman) and Sean Connery (James Bond) – has made Wolverine his own. With the right mix of vulnerability, steel and extremely buffed body, he creates an emotionally wounded superhero we can look up to and identify with.

The action set pieces from the dropping of the atomic bomb in the beginning, to the fight on the bullet train and the slightly silly climax are suitably gob-smacking. Unlike its predecessor the action in this movie is nicely balanced with the quieter moments and meditations of mortality.

Despite being an improvement on the last outing for Jackman’s not-so-merry mutant the movie leaves you with a sense of unfulfilled desire.

Regardless, the X-Men film series that started promisingly and then spun into a dive and was successfully rebooted thanks to the prequel “X-Men: First Class” is now at a point where the franchise has been snicked into strands so twisted from each other that its getting tough to trace the genealogy. Inconsistency is inevitable in a world that’s constantly being dug up with new characters and done over, leaving us no time to fall in love with anything being flung at us.

Heroes wander in, heroes wander out. Wolverine – the indestructible centerpiece of the buffet’s spread – isn’t waning, but Box Office results show otherwise. Here a superhero strives to be ordinary. As Marvel continues to claw the character’s mystique away, he’s starting to get his wish.

Source: www.thenews.com.pk
Reviewed by: Hasan Ahmed Ansa

Zardari’s record breaking travels

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari may leave the presidency self-satisfied and “without any regrets” on September 8 but praise and harangue are likely to follow him for long for his five-year record in the highest office of the land.

His Pakistan People’s Party is sure to sing the laurels of the many political “firsts” its leader is recognised for but his haters would not let go any opportunity to rake up his tarnished image of decades past in a shouting match.

A glimpse of what to expect in the coming months was provided during the ongoing session of the National Assembly.

In reply to a question, the PML-N government informed the lower house of parliament that President Zardari went on 93 foreign trips during the past five years – 25 of them to Dubai alone.

Since the question put by the PML-N MNA ,Choudhry Mohammad Shahbaz Babar from Faisalabad was ‘unstarred’, the information went unread, buried in the record kept in the Assembly’s library.

It still stirred the house, and could become handy for any member to make fun of the “record number of trips” the president took.

And the occasion for it is at hand as the debate on the last of President Zardari’s “record six addresses” to the joint session of the parliament, a constitutional requirement, has begun in the National Assembly.

MNA Shahbaz Babar had also sought details of expenditures incurred on Mr Zardari’s 93 foreign trips, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs inexplicably failed to provide that information.

Would it matter to critics, however, that most of the trips Mr Zardari made to Dubai were ‘private’, to visit his children who live there?

Asked to comment on the president’s perceived “unusual interest” in foreign trips, his spokesperson, Senator Farhatullah Babar, said President Zardari undertook them on the invitation of heads of states, reminding them that other presidents in the past had done the same.

“President Zardari going to address the United Nations General Assembly, or visiting other countries on the advice of the sitting government, is nothing unique,” said Senator Babar.

In any case, the PPP has enough to sing the laurels of such achievements as the passage of the far-reaching 18th amendment in the Constitution by consensus under its policy of reconciliation.

President Zardari himself gave up the dictatorial powers that his military predecessors, General Ziaul Haq and General Pervez Musharraf had written into the 1973 Constitution for the president, with the blessings of the judiciary, and returned all powers back to the parliament.

In the Westminster model of democracy that Pakistan purportedly follows, the ceremonial head of the state rarely visits abroad and only on invitation.

Neighbouring India’s president is rarely seen visiting other countries.

Source: www.dawn.com
Writer: Khawar Ghumman

Don’t Blame Mothers for Not Giving Sons

Sadly, the birth of a girl is unwelcomed and far from being celebrated in our country. Ironic as it might seem to anyone with basic sensibilities, it’s only the same gender through which life holds possibility, and to those with twisted biases, it’s the women only who provide our patriarchal society the exalted gender- Men.

People take reckless measures to ensure it’s a son! To begin with, they use unsafe methods of abortion to get around the anti-abortion laws of Pakistan, after the figure out it’s a girl in the womb. If a mother’s child comes in danger with it, so be it! A girl should not be allowed in this world.

If, after all the precautions, it’s a baby girl, she calls for the wrath of the in-laws and the husband, who in turn, ruthlessly beat their women while making attempts to murder them for committing the inexcusable crime. While statistics are excessive to go into, let’s see a couple of cases of the similar nature. In Lahore, a woman was beaten to death by her husband for giving birth to a baby girl. In Khanewal, a man tried to kill his wife after ultrasound reports revealed that she was about to give birth to their third daughter.

If giving birth to a daughter is such a heinous crime, shouldn’t we at least know for sure who’s really responsible of committing it? Is it really the mothers?

I’m no doctor or scientist. In fact, my knowledge of science is limited to A level biology alone. But do we really need any rocket science for that? Even an O level student could answer this question with utmost authority.

Technically speaking, it takes an X and Y (XY) to make the revered sex-male. And while the X factor, women (XX) have only X chromosomes to contribute in any case, it’s the man (XY) whose contribution or non-contribution of Y chromosome that can end up to make a baby girl or a baby boy.

Which chromosome combines with which one, it’s God’s work, who’s planned for all lives to come in this world, if we really are desperate to play the blame game here and exact our anger on someone, then it has got to be the Man.

So folks, next time, when you feel the urge to beat someone or kill someone for that matter, hold the father by his collar, for he the century- veiled enemy is to be blamed for the gross wrong!

But since we live in a crazy society where women are blamed for rape, attempted for them, and responsible for men’s leering stares because they look desirable, it would still make sense if people find a way around science, to blame them for bringing a girl anyways.

The divine chanters of God’s will, mullahs, who kill their wives after the birth of the daughter forget all about the same “will” seeing a baby girl in the cradle, for this is a woman’s will. And even if so, then what’s so terribly wrong with it? Aren’t these men, mother-born or else?

I hope a day will come, even though perhaps we’ll have to wait a couple of centuries for that in our society, when women will not be held reprehensive for disgracing their families with a girl. Even though, I doubt that if women will ever be entitled to any respect from the society that sees only angels in men and witch in women, the least I expect it thousand of women who instead die redeeming for the unforgivable sin, can be saved at last.

Source: www.thenews.com.pk

Writer: Aqsa Sajjad

The Father of Modern PC Interface

He was called “The father of modern PC Interface” owing to his achievements in streamlining human interaction with computer systems. He engineered mouse and integrated it with a graphical user interface 15 years before the first Macintosh OS was developed. He is credited for developing number of devices which ended the monopoly of computer geeks and bringing the computers into layman’s reach, computer mouse being the most prominent of all. On 2nd July, 2013, he died. Yes, one of the greatest computer scientist Doug Engelbart.

In the 1950’s when computers were a size of the room and processing was so slow that one could enjoy a complete game of tennis before getting an answer, Engelbart envisaged the idea of making computer interaction simple for a layman. At that it was considered cumbersome even for experts to interact with computers with punch card processing techniques.

Engelbart started research on his idea at Stanford Research Institute (SRI) in early 60’s where he was the head of the team researching on his idea which was called the “Vision of the information age”. For the next eight years no significant advancements could be made in this regard when in November,1968 he finally managed to develop something substantial. He presented his idea in a conference held at San Francisco which was named as “The mother of all demos”.

In his presentation, he presented several ideas related to human-computer interaction including the idea of video conferencing
which he named online systems. He presented the idea of individual windows for each application running on system, the idea of icons used for opening an application was also presented. Menu’s which are located on top of any applications were introduced in this
presentation. In short most of the modern aspects of computer systems in the form of graphical user interface were introduced in that
conference.

The very next year, Engelbart started working on a device with which a layman can interact with a computer. He started researching on several ideas including a joystick, a foot controlled device, tracking ball and a stick controlled pointing device before deciding on a device which worked in the principal of X-Y Coordinates. It can be considered as the first mouse of computing history, the device consisted of a wooden box placed on two wheels, one for the x-coordinate the other for the y-coordinate. A wire was used to connect the front end of the box to computer and the first mouse of the computing history was manufactured.

15 Years after that, Steve Jobs, the founder and technology giant of “Apple Systems” developed “Macintosh OS” and develop first
commercial mouse. SRI of Engelbart sold the rights of mouse to Macintosh for 40,000 US Dollars. Out of this amount, only 10,000 US
dollars was paid to Engelbart.

Ebgelbart was a son of radio shop owner who died when Engelbart was nine. Engelbart was born on 30TH January, 1925. His complete name was Douglas Carl Engelbart who was a student of Electrical Engineering at Oregon State University when he had to leave his studies in order to take part in world war two as a radar and naval electronics equipment technician. After the war he worked as an Electrical Engineer at Ames Research Center as a research on wind tunnel program. He obtained his doctorate in electrical engineering in 1950s from University of California, Berkley. He served as an assistant professor In the same institute before he left to in 1959 Stanford where he developed a research center named as “Augmented Research Center”.

Engelbart was awarded with several accolades in recognition of his excellent work in the field of computing including the Turing award
(Nobel Prize for computing) in 1997, Lemelson MIT prize of worth 500,000 US Dollars, and National Medal of Technology at the hands of the then US President Bill gates in 2000. The very next year, he was awarded the Lovelace Medal by british computer society in 2001.

The favor done by Engelbart to humanity in general and computing in particular is enormous. He made it literally possible for us to get any information at a mouse click. Her daughter revealed that his father died in his home town which is in California in a peaceful manner during his sleep at night on 2nd july, 2013.

Imagine what would have happened to such a person had he been living in our country. Either he would have been laying alone in a charity hospital seeking financial support for his treatment from government organizations or he would have been compelled to sell all his awards and medals in order to make both his ends meet.

Source: www.thenews.com.pk
Writer: Usman Malik

Information Technology Ministry- a Chaos so far

It has been around a year now I moved back from the Uk and I found everything stand still in Pakistan where I left it off in 2009. The same Corruption from the cleaner of my street to the police men standing at a barrier stopping people for some extra cash.

Literally, Nothing Improved.
What I find astonishing and what has improved over time is the awareness of internet in Pakistan, mobile phone communication level and the point that now almost everyone owns a mobile phone in Pakistan (as reported by ProPakistani 120 Million).

Thanks to Etisalat and PTCL which came across thick and thin and made the broadband services available to almost all the cities in Pakistan as well as hundreds of small towns and tehsils.

My connectivity in the UK was of some next level. With a blackberry connected to a 3G network all the time I could instantly browse for whatever I want to eat, where I want to walk and in the train reading and going through different tech blogs and articles.

Sadly when I moved to Pakistan, I saw whole new dimensions of connectivity because of the fact that 3G services not yet being launched in Pakistan and the silly 90’s service ‘’Edge’’ for Data Transferring still used. Now this maybe a tiny weenie bit of problem for around 90% of Pakistani’s but considering the rest 10% who actually care about this service and want to escalade when it comes to technology and want to actually improve the rest of 90% connectivity level and bringing them to the whole new platform of connectivity, changes the whole picture.

I have been reading about Pakistan’s new IT (information Technology) Minister ‘’Anusha Rehman’’ And I learned that she is an absolute disaster when it comes to knowledge related to IT.

The Fact that she has no background of IT (i.e Computers) and she studied law all her life. From around past 5 years, IT Ministry was being controlled by the PPP (a political party in Pakistan) .The fact that this post was politicized and no work was done over 3G SPECTRUM licenses.

I tried speaking to some of the Telenor as well as Mobilink Personnel’s regarding 3G Services and I was told the companies are desperate for the 3G spectrum Licenses to be issued by PTA (Pakistan Telecommunication Authority).

Bear in mind Afghanistan has 3G services from past 2 years, India has around 70 Million daily 3G users.

Now the Story behind is disastrous and saddens me each day reading about it and IT Ministry of Pakistan.

PTA is in around Rs 600 Billion debt. And they want to recover that debt by selling the 3G spectrum license with a huge price tag which cellular companies in Pakistan simply cannot afford.

Because of the previous government blunders and the new one who appointed this astonishing illiterate woman when it comes to IT, Citizens like me suffer because of high prices when it comes to data connectivity which is the slowest in the world and the fact that 3G is still a dream for every single Pakistani.

If I could ever get one wish to be granted in this lifetime, I would appoint a young talented individual for Information Technology, who knows what’s going around the world and what needs to be introduced instantly in the local Pakistani market, what companies should be brought to Pakistan.

Moreover, someone who can ask multibillion Computer Manufacturing Companies to open their flagship store in Pakistan i.e Lenovo, Dell, Hp. So people could buy straight from the manufacturer and get after sales service rather than spending more than they actually cost of the product by purchasing it from a random retailer and getting no after sales services whatsoever.

Source: www.thenews.com.pk

Writer: Haseeb Sohail

9 Things Girls hear in Love Marriages only

Wallah, if you’re lucky enough to find true love in just one person after having rummaged half the world across and after scoring a few grey hair in your pony, don’t think it’s the end of the problem. Well, other than the case where you might want to be in more than just in a live-in relationship or a secret affair, and hoping to walk down the isle with the love of your life, expect an array of non-ending stumps and bumps down the road.

And who would make sure, you ride this roller-coaster? Parents- not the girl’s, Guy’s. Girl’s parents happen to be a much milder version of any potential problem on the roar; it’s usually the guy’s mother,- the eternal villain in the love triangle of Girl-Guy and Guy’s mother. Top it with cheese, if she happens to be the gharelo-jhagralo sort, she finds her enemy-radar shifted from her susralis to evergreen Dushman to be- her son’s girl.

And even after she has apparently given up her resolve to never let her son marry the one he loves, she just keeps on trying and trying and….But before you could even experience a brief respite, brace yourself to listen to the nine stereotype dialogues you and your dude would just have to hear.

1. Uff..The girl swept my boy away:

Black Magic, Vodoo dolls or adabra cadabra- you’re the girl with a brewing cauldron and the broomstick! And in no time, you can officially become the trigger for another series of witch trials. Her son, her very innocent son, who she had brainwashed to like only her right from his childhood can only fall in love with a witch. How else could you explain him hankering after the girl and lavishing his attention, that are purely and supremely the mother’s! No way! Be ready if you see your man wearing a talisman on your next meet-up, and don’t be surprised- it’s to ward you off.

2. I could get him way better girls than this one

And once it’s proven that it is biologically and psychologically possible that he has cut the umbilical chord to tie a nuptial knot, it worries the poor mother how this ugly-duckling be her son’s choice. “You’re so handsome and so smart, and for you I can get you the prettiest and youngest girls ever known to world, if you could only let go of this “shame-on-girlhood”. Yeah right, that sounds more pimpy than motherly. Trust me, she’ll see a monster in any potential lover you might ever have. And for the young part- either she thinks her boy’s still playing in his cradle or perhaps he’s a pervert and after high-school girls.

3. My boy’s too pricy:

Any MBA from IBA or even from Allama Iqbal Open University has his “rate” way higher than what any middle-class girl could ever afford. Yeah- how much could he possibly bag in the free market? Cars, bungalows, loadsa money and not to forget the green jail card! (With his high-rates, he could only be bagged as a call boy, nothing more) Haha. Well, that’s why they say; guy’s mothers are usually excellent businesswomen. Who else could trade her son for material wealth and prosperity?

4. Girl’s mother’s cleverer than a witch:

Yeah, this one is a hit formula. Despite the fact that she might herself be a full-blown b****, she fears a witch, middle name for the girl’s mother. The mother-daughter wicked duo that laid one fine trap for her son and would soon lure away whatever little’s left of him now, and so needs to be exorcized so her and her son’s life to be purged of a curse forever. She’d make up things on her behalf, cry some fake tears and would lie incessantly just to prove how she has been disrespected and demeaned by the girl’s mother. Oh poor she, she’s as innocuous as a bat. Lol

5. She’s a girl with a head? How could she be the perfect bahu?:

In case a girl is more than just a declared playmate; a box of make up or a perky, pretty face, and has got brains and acumen in that usually otherwise vacant-skull, she’s in a big problem. Her every word would be twisted and perverse other way round, her educated opinion would be taken for disrespect and her frankness becomes her over-modernity. A perfect prospective bahu is a dumb, deaf and blind vessel, who doesn’t show any human colors until after the wedding night.

6. My boy always take her side:

And when the guy tries to tell his mommy that his girl’s more than an average dumbster and that the girl’s mother does not come from a line of dark witches, she taps her head hard and cries how you always take the girl’s side now. A guy torn between a overly-demanding mother and a humiliated lover is simply a chewing gum that gets stretched until it breaks down.

7. My Son has changed!:

The above is followed by a you-have-changed rant. Of course, he’s no longer a breast-fed, chuckling infant and has a girl he sees his future and present with, in his life. Only a stone wouldn’t change. But for every mood swing he has- a trigger for it would be herself only, the blame comes on the girl. She’s responsible for turning a toddler into beast; and must be cursed and puked upon.

8. Do whatever you want to, I’m dying soon anyway:

Ultimate blackmail and by the way it always works. A desperate mother is the best manipulator. She has manipulated her sons all her life and here’s the final stroke. Some would go to as much as a fake, pseudo illness, one in which she might will against her son’s marriage with the girl. If son needs his mother alive, he better be her puppy or else…

9. You Guys will never be happy ever-after:

Oh no. In the end, if none of her pervert reasons and tactics work on the girl she’ll give her son the mother’s curse- the deadliest weapon against son. “ If a mother’s not happy with her son, he shall never prosper”. It’s more of an angry greek god speaking than a mother, her words reflect divine judgment and doom. Well the truth is, she’s one desperate woman, who’d go to whatever extent it takes to do the duo apart.

In the end, you can be sure; a son’s mother is another specie walking on the face of earth like a human. If sons can have Oedipus complex, their mothers have female version of it (don’t know how Freud missed a name for that). Especially for mothers in sub-continent, sons are more lovers than sons, and love marriage calls for a marathon between the same sexes that end up in the destruction of the other sex- Man!

Source: www.thenews.com.pk
Writer: Madeeha Ishtiaque