Archive for January, 2008

Blue screen of death – download link

A lot of friends and readers have asked where they can get a full copy of the Blue Screen. You can download the complete book in PDF format by clicking here. Enjoy reading. And if you have as much fun reading it as I had writing it, drop me a line. And if you would [...]

January 31, 2008   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

ZAK

ZAK as promised ran a great show in Karachi. We started off with the Martin Luther king speech and wondered what it would look like if he had used power point. And ended with his DATA warehousing in Lahore story in the early 80′s… I was also able to sneak in a number of solid [...]

January 30, 2008   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment

Dancing away with the wind…

How can you not be bullish on a country where children can still make beautiful music like this: The event, CAS senior section sports day. The highlight: cheerleading display by class 3 and 4 students. You had to be there and see them dancing away with the wind. Here are a few snaps of what [...]

January 30, 2008   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment

Old posts – redux

And here for old DesiStartup posts

January 29, 2008   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment

Life before Word Press…

Accidently stumbled on the blogger edition of DesiBackToDesh that I ditched in January 2007 after bloggers ill fated attempt to upgrade my blog. Old posts, old memories, with some of the original desi posts, click here

January 29, 2008   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

PIB Bond Auction results

Unconfirmed reports indicate that the central bank picked up about 11 billion rupees in the Pakistan investment bond (PIB) auction this evening. Cutoffs for the 5 offered tenors were as under: Tenor Cutoff yields 3 years 10.05% 5 years 10.25% 10 years 10.85% 15 years 11.75% 20 years 11.95% 30 years 12.11% The benchmark 30 [...]

January 29, 2008   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

ZAK and Presentation Skills

One of the greatest regret of my life is not going to a school where Zaheer Kidvai taught. All of that should change on Saturday when he runs his infamous (better to be infamous, than famous) workshop on presentation skills at the Karachi Marriot. If you have anything to do with selling, presenting or convincing [...]

January 24, 2008   Posted in: Uncategorized  2 Comments

Startup Insiders – through the pictures

PASHA and Green and White, started the new year with a bang. Even though the party didn’t get going till about 6:15 pm on the 17th, it was the place to be yesterday in Karachi. If you have been dying to scratch the itch of working for yourself, yesterday was the day you would have [...]

January 18, 2008   Posted in: Desi Startup, Pakistan, Startup, Uncategorized  16 Comments

Startup Insiders – directions

Here are directions to the PixSense Office, courtesy Adnan. See you there at 6:00 pm sharp. We will inshahallah start on time.  

January 17, 2008   Posted in: Uncategorized  2 Comments

Business Plus interview – review

PASHA Blog carries the video of the Business plus Interviews… Feedback Yes that really is Mr. Potato Head masquerading as Opti-MASH Prime in the foreground. It has always been important for me to remember to not take myself too seriously. I had to do something to balance out the suit. Yes I did speak about [...]

January 17, 2008   Posted in: Uncategorized  2 Comments

Terror Alerts – from a friend in Europe

I know I am going to get flogged for posting this, but here’s to our global sense of humor. From a friend of a friend, source uncited: European Alert Status     The British are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist threats and have raised their security level from “Miffed” to “Peeved”. Soon, though, [...]

January 16, 2008   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment

Startup Insiders – Pixsense – 6:00 pm, Thursday, 17th January 2008

PASHA and Green and White host a two hour, free for all, ask what you want, insiders only session at Pix Sense on the how, why and where of starting your own technology venture in Pakistan. Bring yourself, your friends, your team members and your soul mates to show them the cool geeks you hang [...]

January 15, 2008   Posted in: Uncategorized  5 Comments

Sticky rice and mangoes or building relationships

Sticky rice with mangoes is an interesting Thai desert. Take rice steamed in starch (hence sticky), pour a few spoons of sweetened coconut cream, sprinkle with cracked peanuts, and serve on a banana leaf with sliced mangoes. It brings out a mix of interesting flavors – slightly salted rice, crunchy peanuts, sweetened cream and ripe [...]

January 13, 2008   Posted in: Startup, Thailand, entrepreneurs, life style, new ventures, small business  One Comment

Predictions for 2008

Building up on predictions for 2008 at Tech Lahore We will once again witness a broad based equities melt down on NASDAQ and NYSE, but with a limited fall out in emerging markets.   Despite conditions back home, we will see an increase in the reverse brain gain into the country.   2008 will see [...]

January 10, 2008   Posted in: Uncategorized  5 Comments

The next 50 years or Student output – its extrapolation and impact on our future

In the course of my meandering search for Pakistani datasets, I came across the HEC website where I found to my surprise that: We produce about 150,000 students every year from our nationwide University system. The actual number was 118,000 in 2004 and projecting growth for 2005, 2006 and 2007 at the prior three year [...]

January 10, 2008   Posted in: Uncategorized  3 Comments