Remember Murphy’s law, yes that law that states that “if you fear picking any two socks of different colors out of your drawer, chances are that YOU WILL”. Especially if its the zero hour of your very first date, prom night, wedding, etc. And you will end up wearing them for lack of better alternatives.

Ever had that feeling that you are Murphy’s perfect subject for this hypothesis. I know for some people sitting for their exams, preparing that ultimate presentation etc, nothing seems to be working right. But then suddenly things start working out…then again, Murphy wasnt always wrong .

Here’s a shout out to all the Murphy’s subjects and a big toast to others who made it through …

Had a bad case of writers block with a lot of work load in the past few weeks. But hey, heres food for thought. Technology seems to be seeping through everyones lives these days. Stop at a red light, and people take out their cell phones and start sending texts, checking emails, updating blogs etc. Those who’re not doing this, are already dancing to the tune on their ipods and mini players. Looks like we’ve come a long way from gazing at star trek gadgets back in the 80s to now ….

 ….happy driving….

Phew…its been a long while since I last posted anything here. I’ve been doing a lot of travelling the past few weeks and its all been filled with technology seminars, talks, and sight seeing. Not to mention discovering new places just around the block. To keep it short, its been a fun filled work vacation and I’ve been able to round some decent candidates for the big blue company . Although I’m still on vacation and would love to share the sights and sounds of Asia soon…More on that later…

One year ago, today Pakistan was hit by a massive 7.6 earthquake that left around 73,276, dead and more than 3 million homeless in the mountain ranges of the north.

What followed was a massive relief operation that included both national and international relief organizations that worked round the clock against the elements and the upcoming winter months to save as many lives as possible.

This post goes out in solitude to all the survivors of the tragedy. With a wish that they have recovered from the tragedy. And a thank you note to the Pakistan’s aid organizations, countries, friends, and humanitarian NGOs that helped evacuate and save those countless lives…

For more information on the quake and the massive relief operation that took place, visit the wiki link here:

Pakistan Earthquake Wiki Link

– Tashfeen.

For all those entrepreneur and design enthusiast college students, the time has come yet again to sit down, think of a completley innovative concept, turn that from white board to actual implementation and send the results to Microsoft Imagine Cup 2007.

Finalists from different categories will fly to South Korea where they get to showcase their software design, programming, web interface, algorithm etc competency against other team members from all over the world. So gather your team mates, take out the drawing boards and start imagining…

Also, for people aspiring to join Microsoft, Priya Priyadarshini over at MSDN Jobsblog has posted Microsoft’s international recruitement calender. They are visiting different geographic locations and interviewing qualified candidates who display passion, creativity, and willingness to adapt and learn.

 So while you prepare for the Imagine Cup, prepare your CVs and send them in. Such competitions are always a great way to grab recruiters attention <wink wink>..

Have fun and Good Luck..

~Tashfeen.

I get tons of forwarded emails and messages about such facts. Infact, theres a new term for this. Its called internet-folklore. One of the interesting facts (or myths) that I recently came across was

“Does a ducks quack echo back”.

I was watching Myth Busters on Discovery Channel and they recently busted the myth. Ducks quack DO echo back. But the reason why its made it into internet-folklore is that the reverberations of the quack and the echo are so similar, that people (including compturs and wave form softare) confuse it as a regular quack.

Recent research on echos reveals that humans voice and echo is represented as a big spike (voice) followed by a lull and a smaller spike (echo) in the spectrum. Instead of this phenomena, in the ducks case, there is a gradual decrease in the waveform that forms after a ducks quack and its echo back. Which is hard to distinguish for both humans and computers alike since the gradual decrease gets confused for a duck quacking on and on when its quite and its echo is being thrown all over. Giving the wrong impression that a ducks quack, dont quack back after hitting a wall.

Hence, another myth busted…Good job Adam and Jammie…

–Tashfeen.

Wishing everybody a wonderful month of Ramazan

And while we increase our prayer credits, good deeds, repent our mistakes, and try to reduce our daily consumption of food in solitude with others, lets also try to give mother earth a break as well. By curbing our daily Co2 emissions to a bare minimum . The
“EPA Global Warming Calculator tool” is an online calculator that demonstrates our daily consumption and how its affecting our society. And what measures we can use to reduce it ten folds.

Go plant a tree and Happy fasting .

– Tashfeen.

Actually its more like zune as in zuny or zuni. Or so I’m told.

Microsoft recently has launched its portable MP3 player which has some cool features. Such as wifi access, social networking opportunities (connect with ppl of like interest and like tastes), tag based music categorization, and a cool 30Gb packed in an impressive display and video design.

As a launch, Microsoft gave Endgadget some of these new devices to distribute as free giveaways as Endgadgets relaunc their website. So now you have a chance to get your hands on a ‘zune’. But at a cost, you need to scrap a message on Endgadgets blog letting them know your favorite song and the author. And in return, Endgadget, will randomly pick out one winner from the blogs per week and hand them a zune for free. Good deal. And since 19th of Sept., the day they announced they are giving zune’s away, they received 10,000 scraps on the first day …how cool is that….

Here are the links:

Endgadgets gives away free Microsoft Zunes

Microsoft’s Zune Insider’s Blog

Oscar moment pictures of Zune

Happy scrapping zuners…And if you dont win a Zune, you can always check the post below and try to figure out how the website figures out your symbol each time …Wizardy or magic …

–Tashfeen

Wizardy or magic …check for yourself…

http://www.milaadesign.com/wizardy.html

By the way, my fiance’ figured out the trick. Mind reading or whatever, She’s posted her findings as a comment. Lets see if others can figure it out …

But dont cheat, try to figure it out yourself first…;)….

Curses…haarrrrrr :p,
–Tashfeen.

Get your telescopes ready space enthusiasts…

Now you can see Expedition 14 (Anousheh’s Crew) dock with the International Space Station (ISS). Anousheh’s crew on the Russian spacecraft Soyuz will dock with the ISS on 20th Sep at 930p PST. To view sky tracking info wrt to your region and headings to see the ISS, log on to Nasa’s Human Space Flight Sightings and Tracking. They provide real time orbit of the ISS and the docking space crafts.

As far as my region is concerned, the ISS should make a fly by the horizon at 558a on the 21st, and 449a on the 22nd. I will miss the actual docking but I can always see the Soyuz docked static with the space station. The viewing time for my region is 3 mins, thats about the time the ISS will be in my regions space before speeding out into the horizon.

I’ll hopefully catch a glimpose of when Anousheh departs the ISS onboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis 8 days from now. For a live video feed of the docking as it happens, log on to Nasa’s live web tv. .

–Tashfeen