Bilal’s personal blog

Electricity is for sure one of the major necessity in todays world. but when we talk about summers in pakistan, we can say that its an element that makes us able to survive. electricity breakdown in summers is common thing but there is a limit. since last 2 weeks electricity is playing seek & hide & i am helpless except to wait for meracle & yes! there is another unfortunate thing happpen with me today when i witnessed the air conditioner in my room stop running, & when i concern AC tecnicean he told me that its got some problem due to poor electric supply. it is however i orderd Frigidaire parts to make it back on track but what i want to say this that who is responsible for my loss?

Government is however taking initiatives to cope with the current electricity problem in the country, in this regard government  announced a new conservation plan according to which.All major markets, shopping plazas to be closed by 9pm,No electricity for neon signs and signboards,Air conditioners in all government offices, including PM Secretariat, to be turned off between 8am and 11am,Only 50pc of street lights to be turned on to save power,Shops to be closed on Friday, while offices closed on Sunday to stagger electricity usage. but i belive its a timely solution,so all we need to made new dams & solar energy plants, its a time to make it practicle instead of discussing it over tables.

Recently china mobile company in pakistan after replacing the code 0304 with 0314, now introduced its new brand in called “ZONG” . with an introductory slogan ” say everything” or “sub kuch kah do” & started its advertiseng compaign at popular print & electronic media outlets.

Paktel started its commercial operations in pakistan in november 1990 as the pioneer of cellular telephony with an AMPS network which was converted to TDMA (Digital) in 2003. soon after GSM quickly gained popularity all over the world and became the technology of choice leaving AMPS/TDMA far behind.Paktel’s principal shareholder was Millicom Pakistan, which held 98.86% equity of Paktel. but however on Feb 13th 2007 Millicom announced that it had completed the sale of its 88.86 per cent shareholding in Paktel Limited to China Mobile Communications Corporation which finalized Millicom’s exit from Pakistan. Soon after, china mobile company bought all the assests of paktel , the new management seems busy, to tie up promotional strategies, with the intention to win the telecom market slowly & silently. well that is just a prediction i have made because in pakistan chines products mostly are famous due to their cheap prices. & more the 90% population in pakistan is price concious due to their lower or medium income level, so lets see weather ZONG is facilitating mobile users specially youngsters by providing lowest calling, sms,mms as well as GPRS rates or not. anyways i welcome ZONG for the only reason tht i like its colourful corporate logo

UPDATE: YES! heres is the call/sms plans of ZONG.

Call to any network in pakistan for RS 0.75 rupee for 30 seconds (exclusive of taxes), call to one ZONG number is free from midnight ie (12:00 am to to 7:00 am), talk at rupee 3.99/hr from noon to 2:00 pm, one happy hour of your own choice from among 24 hour  for RS 4.99 (exclusive of tax),5 FNF(friends & family)  are added. plus i came to know though some source that ONE RUPEE will be deducted daily from zong. attach is the tariff for your convenience. you can book ZONG number of your own choice by clicking this  link

There was a time in history of sub-continent when the people had to wait for six months to get the information about the United Kingdom (UK) and the rest of the world. As the newspapers used to reach through ships to the sub-continent but however the new techniques and new innovations in the field of journalism has given birth to the different forms of mass media different kinds of media and at the same time it has also left a lot of impacts on society.No doubt after the introduction of different forms of mass media channels the way of communication and dispatching of information has been greatly advanced. .

The information flow in our society has become so much fast that people now don’t need to wait for the newspapers. It is also worthy to mention that with the physical growth of the mass media its role in the society has also increased. Now it’s the foremost responsibility of media to guide the masses in positive direction and inform the people about the real ground situation. The good example in this context is the 2005 earth quake disaster where thousands of people lost their lives. The credit goes to the media who integrated the society and create sympathies in the hearts of billions of people.  

 Media has great impacts on the society, some of these impacts are positive while some are negative. The dark side of media in Pakistan is they just give coverage to the events but later on when these events become an issue then they don’t give the desired coverage to it and they don’t explain the background of such complex issues. The very best example of it is Lal Masjid issue, in which a lot of people lost their lives when Pakistan army was doing an operation against them. Although media gave bullet to bullet coverage to it but no media organization focused on to explain that how it was possible to bring such kind of heavy explosives and weapons to the mosque?

On the other hand the dramas produced by our television channels are the evident examples of it where every story starts with love and it also ends with same theme. The traditions which is showed in these serials does not match our norms and values.

As far as economic impact of media is considered now a day in Pakistan it has been developed in the form of strong industry. Majority of the young graduates have formed their place in it. They are earning handsome amount of salaries from it. On the other hand we can also claim that media may have guided the government to take some positives steps for the economic betterment of the people but over all in  Pakistan regional press has remained   very much weak as majority of the prominent newspapers and TV channels are working from the prominent cities so the issues and problems of these cities are always highlighted and the government also pays an equal attention to it but the problems of other cites are never explored and some times one issue given rise to another issue.So keeping all these hard realities we can say that media may have developed quantity wise in our county but to act in more professional way and to develop itself in quality wise it’s a big challenge but still media in Pakistan is in grooming stage and it is learning from their own mistakes and day by day it is showing responsibility and maturity in their programs.

NOTE: The writer is Amir Hamza Bangash.Lecturer at the department of Journalism and Mass Communication,Peshawar University.” thanks for your exclusive contribution sir”

Employees is for sure an asset for any reputable corporation. & every good organisation spent huge funds over employees welfare. as a matter of fact every organisation seeks to provide healthy & stress free working environment for their employees. here is the example. Google Inc, the world leading corporation specializing in internet search & online advertising. the company had 10,674 full time employees (source-wikipedia) they simply enjoy their work because its fun & stress free. watch google new york city headquarters where employees are provided with state of the art gaming area to relax. for example the massage chair & pool. they didnt need to buy phentermine in order to keep themselves smart. yes the cafeteria is cool too. here are few pictures for your eyes. enjoy it

The present scenario in our society regarding education is completly reversed from the past when availing tuitions meant that you were weak or a bad student.but as we look students of this age, tutions are a significent need of ever one. wheather rich or poor. so the conclusion is that tutions culture take root in the present educational system.

There are many factos involve that boost the increasing demand for tuitions. for example the the large no of pupils in class rooms. so its difficult for teachers to pay indicidual attention. for instance an internet marketing teacher can’t manage to check the activities & performance as well as make it sure that all the students have understand the lesson in only 30 or 6o minutes.on the other hand if we talk about SEO Marketing Company that ensure students to learn how to understand the lesson & be attentive to the teacher during class by their powerful Social Media Marketing . i belive thay are playing their role their best level. but only 5% of the actual students was aware about it. so what for the other 95%?

Another important thing leading to the tuitions culture is the present teacher status in our society & less monitory benefits in the teaching profession. as a result many teachers are forced to run private tuitions centers to earn normal living. the present examination system is another factor that lead tuitions centers to encourage students to take shotcuts rather then studying the respective subjects indepth. solving old examination papers & notes cultuer are the few exmaples of it.

One of the most known & accepted title of man is social animal. Over ages, the study of humans concluded that besides air, shelter & food, social interaction & communication of opinions, perceptions & expressions for the purpose of information entertainment & education is essential for humans to earn a balanced life. So as a matter of fact every man shares his thoughts to others to get the objective of socialization.  While talking about this present era where telecommunication & World Wide Web is at full boom, online social networking has become the part of our lives. The first phase of online social communication is now at decline where most of the folks are engaged in chatting at yahoo, msn, AOL, mirc massagers. Nowadays that trend is replaced by social networking websites. There are dozens of free websites that enables you to communicate with your friends as well as many other folks from every corner of the world. This trend is something more exciting & posses high degree of attraction. This is more convenient as well. A single profile makes it easy to share your pictures, videos and other concern portfolio to different peoples. These social networking websites is also helpful to find ones lost friend or old school mate.

So, this era is the era of online social interaction where folks are having fun at social networking websites. this is for sure one can say a plateform to join all the peoples of different countries, cast & religion togeather.so this is obvious that social networking is a huge souce of information in a particular way. for example! when peoples of different regoins communicate with each others thay can also shere different sort of informations. there are many websites that are specialized in making people of the same hobbles & interests join together & communicate, but however every website has its own way of interaction. The most recent I discovered is wetpaint! a free website with many unique features of  its kind. its easy to register in 3 easy steps. This is more concerned about you in a particular way.  it’s easy to find the right groups of friends and communities with people of the same interest as yours. You can blog & express your daily ramblings as well. So join social networking & contribute your freedom of expressions.

Yes! this platform is open for young graduates who had completed 16 years of eduction & are at the age of, not more then 25. the first batch i e (2005) of this program is yet in progress at which several graduates of all recognised universities/institutions are assigned at various government organisations for one year internship, providing the opportunity of training along with monthly RS 10,00 compensation. this is what i believe a positive step taken by the government of Pakistan to curb the problem of unemployment in the country, particularly its more then a relief for fresh graduates who belongs to poor families. so if one did not get good job after getting the degree, national internship program is all the way a better opportunity. one thing i want to mention that the way of selection is fair enough & interestingly the selection is strictly followed by your educational field for example! if one is having a masters degree in mass communication then he/she must be selected at the organisation who is specialised at this particular field. one the other hand NIP is a platform to polish the practical skills & abilities of graduates. also Candidates will be awarded experience certificates on the successful completion of internship.

application are available one at NIP website & various dailies on Sunday specially. submissions are entertained via post mail or online. yes, remember last date of form submission is MARCH 1, 2008.

yellow journalism is the most notorious terminology in the media language & always reffered to as a blot on the fair name of this profession. keeping in view the lowering standard of journalism in the developing systems, most of the people take this terminology synonymous for journslism as a whole but however very few of them know exect definition of yellow journalism & its intresting history.

talking about the history of yellow journslism, it got fame in late 1880’s in america when industrial revolution was in full boom in the west. however after going by the history & relating it to the current situatoin. it is still not clear that what comes under the definition of “yellow journalism” and what are excluded form it. but however some aspects are clear that yellow journalism is somewhat with no sense of decency and respect for the rights of citizens, either public or private.the practice of yellow journalism involved sensationalism, distorted stories, and misleading images for the sole purpose of boosting newspaper sales. but here the question arises that did all modern newspapers hold the conons of yellow journalism? the answer is surely NO. therefore it will be convenient to devide the newpapers into three categories such as “quality press” “popular press” and “gutter press” or yello press. thus all those newspapers which knows the difference of hard and soft news  and maintain this difference as a rule on its papers are quality newspapers. for example if a newpapers is turning a story about sex or crime into a sydney sheldon novel, then surely we can trem it folowing the yardstick of yellow journalism. but on the other hand if the same story is published just for the sake of information and education as a hard news then it shows the features of a quality press. similarly if this story is published for the sake of information with stress in very minute details on different dimensions then it is the attribute of popular press.

well the title of this post seems a little awkward but let me tell you that this post is not for a blog designer. its  for all the beginner’s like my friend naveed who ask me almost daily how can i start a blog. so here are few tips :) first let me tell you whats blog really is?Blog! as far as i know is a website providing information’s opinion & expression of the blogger (the writer) related to any matter of the world. it is updated frequently in chronological order, it means, last post viewed first. post means the actual context such as text,image,video,sound etc. yes! another good thing that i know about blogging is that, its as “multidimensional communication” means it also allow readers to leave comments so it you can get feed back directly from your readers.

 there are many free blogging service providers on the web such as blogger & wordpress. so the first thing i suggest is to register a free blog & learn the few basic things related to blogging. once you learn how to write posts, how to manage comments etc. for learning word press control panel  is the better option. it is easy to understand for anyone who know a little a about microsoft world. see above pic for assistance.  later if you want your own domain you can register a domain & shift your blog to another server. also you can buy an exclusive custom made blog theme from any good web designer. but yes! learn the basic things first. so start blogging because “sooner is better”

Since last week there is a hell of cold at our town, minus 3 degree centigrade was the recorded minimum temperature yesterday. even the whole country is suffering from this cold, though its a winter season but this degree of dry weather with cold waves was unexpected, & today i feel that i am about to freeze even i am not able to write this post now. one reason is that the electric heater of my room got some problem & not working. anyways there is nothing i can do except to wait till tomorrow to bring new one or repair this one. but this a big task! ask why? cold weather is the answer! the reason is that my car battery is not at fine state & due to low temperature cant start the car engine at morning. so this is another problem.  let me tell you that since last week i am asking my kind neighbours to help me to push the car to & make it ready to run. i believe in this cold weather online shopping is the best option in which you didn’t need to go out to buy a particular item, i check http://www.testfreaks.com/ but unfortunately electric heater was not listed at their categories. so i must have to move towards electric shop tomorrow.

here i want to mention that this winter is the coolest at all times , it breaks all past records. for example Lahore & Islamabad, Lahore saw the coldest day since 1935 on saturday that day the temperature fell one degree below zero Celsius. on the other hand islamabad observed - 3 degree yesterday. in 1995, minus 4 degree centigrade was the minimum recorded temperature at Islamabad. this cold weather has caused many problems in the country like Water pipelines burst at several places like quetta & shaman. water and gas supplies, the reduce supply of Sui gas to industrial units and residential areas & the electricity problems is all due to cold weather. according to meteorological department this wave of extreme cold weather continue till one week.