Crow's Nest...

I have recently purchased the newest version of Microsoft's gaming consoles, the Xbox One . This is a shift from my prior gaming system which was Sony's PS3 . I loved PS3 and preferred it over Xbox 360 for many reasons. It was smarter looking, faster, could play Blu rays, good games and all my friends had PS3s. However the most like able thing about it was the free online game play that Microsoft does not allow. Things I did not appreciate in Sony were its user interface. The move bundle was a waste of money for all intent and purposes as I used it once in the past two years. So this time around I decided to go with Microsoft's game console. The decision was not easy. Obviously PS4 has some good press out there and it is a step forward in technology. However now Xbox can play blu rays too. Also now both consoles require a subscription service for online game play. This sort of made me feel like Sony didn't care for us anymore. I guess paying money might mean better e...

The issue of avoiding federal taxes is in the news these days with Apple being in the spotlight.  Most of the times big companies avoid paying US taxes by skirting their profits to tax havens.  Healthcare giants can do the same theoretically.  Imagine if there were a health care giant that opens up shop in tax haven islands and then uses the same technique that commercial entities use to skirt their profits out of the country, thereby avoiding taxes.  This is very much possible.  The of shore clinics can be potentially used to complicate the tax return filing system here in US.  I could never understand why a completely US hospital system would like to open up a clinic in Bahamas.  These clinics are portrayed as the global reach of the entity but who do they actually serve.  We never hear about them in press or public.  These clinics are apparently manned by some doctors we never hear about.  How does this system work?  I really do...

The contest between PTI and MQM has been very interesting to me. The fact that unlike Lahore PTI has been able to win a National Assembly seat in the city of Karachi in itself is harbinger of some interesting and revealng news. Everyone is so ecstatic on the PTI wagon about breaking MQM monopoly in their own back yard. I will come to this later but the fact that PTI was unable to do so in Lahore is more telling of future that is to come. I think Lahore will now see the emergence of a different kind of PMLN. The kind that is built more and more on the work ethics of MQM. Anyone who resists will meet stiff and violent resistance at the hands of the overlords. I mean why is it so difficult for the PTI worker to win a seat in Lahore - Imran Khan's home town?  I think the reason Nawaz Sharif met with Imran Khan was different than what was broadcast. I think he had a message for Imran Khan that must have been a lesson for him in politics. I think there was an offer of truce in exchan...

I have been resisting the urge to expand my cloud imprint. It becomes a useless exercise when not a lot of storage is being offered free of cost. Therefore today I took a plunge and boxed myself onto the drive. This adds considerable online storage for use. Now all that is left is to wait for a day when otixo like file manager becomes available for free. Then it is a party indeed.

My iPhone 4s has been giving me troubles recently.  Out of no apparent reason the volume rocker has become self sufficient.  Whenever the phone is unlocked to do any work on the screen the volume starts increasing on its own.  I do not press on the physical volume rocker and the volume just increases on its own.  Just as if some one was keeping the volume up button pressed on the phone.  Sometimes if i just lightly touch the volume down or up button this is sufficient to trigger the volume issue.  This is very annoying as i do not like the volume on my phone to be high at all and now while i am talking on the phone all of a sudden the volume is at maximum and the voice is blasting through the speaker.  This problem has been driving me nuts.  Finally i was able to find something on the Internet.  It seems that this is a hardware problem with iphones.  Apparently their antennas ground the volume buttons and this causes the issue to arise. ...

It was a refreshing series.  I did not get to watch it online.  I blame Dish Network for being guilty of greed.  They make us pay arm and leg for their programming but could not get us the coverage.  I am paying for a cricket channel's package but still was asked to shell out money if I wanted to watch this series live.  I think dish Network should be ashamed of these policies.  I do not believe they alone are the ones who adopt this kind of strategy though. I was pleasantly amused by the results.  It has been a long time since Pakistan and India met in a bilateral series.  I would have liked to see a test series as well but Indians do not want to oblige us that much.  I do appreciate even this little series.  It was such a show.  Such a short lived stint but interesting nonetheless.

Tahir-ul-Qadri is trying to rally Pakistanis to come out in his support and march towards Islamabad.  His million march started last night from the posh neighborhood of Model Town, Lahore.  He left in his bomb proof and bullet proof 150 million Rupee vehicle.  It is also reported that accompanying him in this march is his own palace like mobile home.  The home has been custom built to have a sleeping area, bathroom with own water supply, air conditioning, media outlets for entertainment and is bomb proof. I am astounded by the need of a so called mullah to travel under such heavy guard.  I am also astounded by the fact that he touts this as a movement of the commoner.  If he really believes in this then he should not need protection form this common man of Pakistan.  Yet whenever he speaks on stage a huge void and thick bullet proof glass separates him from his 'followers'.  His die hard fans who supposedly will do anything on his command need to...