tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109653442024-03-13T07:08:14.600+01:00Life in GermanyMy experience in Germany.Yasir Niaz Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04588106549679573179noreply@blogger.comBlogger165125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10965344.post-36733773635966335922023-02-19T12:50:00.004+01:002023-02-19T12:50:52.487+01:00Experience at Iqraa Hospital Lahore Pakistan <p> Over the weekend we had a 3 day experience at Iqraa Ext Medical Complex Lahore. Before this we always went to Saira Memorial Hospital Model Town Lahore. Iqraa gave a much better experience overall. The staff was more courteous, the charges were low, and Pharmacy is very organised. The nursing staff is very cooperative and the doctors are sympathetic. There was constant cleaning going on in the hospital. Pharmacy staff is very quick and efficient. Reception guys don't have a good attitude. Cafe is less equipped as there is only junk food there.</p><p>Now the cons: rooms are small. We tried to find a bigger room, but failed. So the room was full all 3 days. We didn't have many visitors, just caretakers. Secondly, there is issue of parking. During the daytime there is not much issue of parking, but during the evening it is a nightmare, since the consultants come in the evening. Thirdly, there is an issue of workers (female) asking money again and again. They also asked from relatives. When I complained to the administer, he said he cannot do anything about it. The workers would come in mobs and follow you giving "congratulations" and then explicitly asking for money.</p><p>A positive point is that Bashir fish restaurant and cakes and bakes bakery is nearby.</p>Yasir Niaz Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04588106549679573179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10965344.post-17437323523963108832017-02-07T16:27:00.001+01:002017-02-07T16:34:41.122+01:00Hi tea at Spice Bazaar - a journey full of spices<p dir="ltr">Today I went for hi tea at Spice Bazaar restaurant next to M.M.Alam road. We were seated outside as requested, next to a three level waterfall and greenery. It was a courtyard in the middle of a U-shaped building with a very neat countryside look. We went to the food area which was empty, so we took time in looking through the dishes and pouring them. When I reached the end and glanced back, the food area was full of people. So I guess we were the first to start.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The food selection was mostly dry. It started with 5-6 salads (but no potato-cream or cabbage-cream salads, my favorites). Behind them were servers for dahi bhalla and go gappey. Next was an unusual thing: pickle vegetables in vinegar, which reminded me of Muslims in Germany. Then the dishes started with fish kebab, honey wings, small chapli kebab, fried fish, one Chinese dish+rice, chicken malai boti, vegetable and white pasta, somosa+channay (an odd item), pizza and the highlight: Haleem (spelled Daleem). We were greeted on our table with pina colada.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Sweets included gulb jamun, trifle, pastries etc but excluded jelly, really!!! </p>
<p dir="ltr">Except the missing jelly, there was nothing negative and the environment was super peaceful, even for a buffet. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Comparison: both village and ziafat are cheaper and have much more variety. But this food was a little more tasty and the best thing was the outside aura.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-mwziNf8rJ5w/WJnpClEHCWI/AAAAAAAA0Is/s1600/20170207_160814.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-mwziNf8rJ5w/WJnpClEHCWI/AAAAAAAA0Is/s640/20170207_160814.jpg"> </a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-4tGj1bKxeZSuq9g5peqWmvMCp8qdQ7GG1bfwGFxKBAKnDrnjRZPtT3WIcw8vYQzkhk3xInotZ5R1qDHwPSGy_1Q_KhXGqmNqS-m1V1bxAs3P3TSQMZNcaNEPMvCcCuVBhlVx/s1600/20170207_160823.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-4tGj1bKxeZSuq9g5peqWmvMCp8qdQ7GG1bfwGFxKBAKnDrnjRZPtT3WIcw8vYQzkhk3xInotZ5R1qDHwPSGy_1Q_KhXGqmNqS-m1V1bxAs3P3TSQMZNcaNEPMvCcCuVBhlVx/s640/20170207_160823.jpg"> </a> </div>Yasir Niaz Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04588106549679573179noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10965344.post-24723000566447700892016-08-17T10:58:00.000+02:002017-02-07T16:09:19.647+01:00Visit to North-East Italy 2016<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This year, I planned to check out another item from my to-see list: Venice. I started looking for flights, and found cheap flights from nearby airports. However, as usual, getting to a Ryan Air airport is itself time and cost consuming. Another option that I considered was trains. German trains are fast and efficient, through not as luxurious as Italian ones, etc. I considered the option of taking a night train to Venice and coming back on a day train to see the landscape. Finally I opted for this option, however, failed to get a booking on night couch, and instead got a seat reservation only.<br>
<br>
The train journey started at 6 pm. The first train to Munich was a nice train. We had a stopover in Munich for one hour. Due to recent terrorism events in Munich, we didn't wander too far from train station, but managed to find a Pakistani restaurant in a basement. We ordered one chicken qourma, roti and lassi. The chicken qourma was sweet, really. The bill was too much. Then we got on the night train. The train was cozy. We were two friends who bought their tickets at different times, so got different seats. We asked the lady at the counter at the time of buying the 2nd ticket to combine our seats, but she said not possible, even without looking at the booking plan. . . </div>
Yasir Niaz Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04588106549679573179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10965344.post-517479291342009952014-03-23T14:42:00.001+01:002019-04-05T14:24:53.734+02:00Glow24 by Warid<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://itpark.pk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Glow24-By-Warid-Itpark.pk_-e1390125108474.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://itpark.pk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Glow24-By-Warid-Itpark.pk_-e1390125108474.jpg" height="173" width="200"></a>I have been reading about the new Glow24 package from Warid for some time now. at Rs. 15 per day, I considered it to be costy. But recently I analyzed my monthly phone expenditure and deduced that I end up spending Rs. 450 to 1000 in this regard. So it is time to analyze a shift to Glow24 package.<br />
<br />
We start with simple math. Rs. 14.99 per day for a month adds up to Rs. 450 per month (incl taxes). You have to pay Re. 1 for your first FnF call, so add Rs. 30 per month to that. I think the tax rate is 42% on mobile card loading. So, if you make at least one call every day, you'll pay Rs. 827 on Glow24 package per month!!<br />
<br />
This will give you 100 minutes on your FnF numbers. Calls on non-FnF numbers will cost regular. I don't think I can cross the limit of 100 SMS or 100 MB in one day. So non-FnF calling is the only extra cost I would incur. If that is around Rs. 50 for me, then switching to Glow24 will cost me Rs. 900 per month. That is a very big jump to take for now.<br />
<br />
Let me know if I made any mistake in my calculations. </div>
Yasir Niaz Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04588106549679573179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10965344.post-62230344539605263312013-05-03T13:08:00.001+02:002013-05-17T22:04:35.619+02:00Trip to Andulus<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Before my departure from Germany, I decided to visit one last location in mainland Europe - Andulusia Spain. This was planned hurriedly and we looked around for cheap tickets, which we found to be from Ryanair and bought the tickets for Malaga with a 4 day stay. We were supposed to reach at night and strangely the train network of Spain proved very inefficient to take us to either Granada or Cordoba. It was so inefficient and expensive, that we never sat on a train in our whole trip. The cheaper and much more efficient is the network of inter city buses. They even have very big bus stations and ticket machines, which I haven't seen for inter-city buses even in Germany.<br />
We first landed at Malaga airport. Enroute we saw one of the most beautiful landscape about half hour before landing. There were steps of land and beautiful reservoirs of water. We decided to try to visit this place, but couldn't. In Malaga city, we had booked a hotel for one night. The airport shuttle bus dropped us in city center, from where we started walking. There was a fort atop a hill in city center. After that we reached a shopping street and were astonished to see something we hadn't seen in Europe.
<br />
To be continued... </div>
Yasir Niaz Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04588106549679573179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10965344.post-15183401650039597672013-04-17T18:06:00.003+02:002017-02-07T16:10:19.019+01:00Trip to Pakistan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In November I had another trip to Pakistan; first one with my daughter. I travelled with Qatar Air which is known as the only 5-Star airline in Gulf and surrounding regions. The flight was as usual, however, the staff was very good, even at airport. They asked us to hand the stroller (baby-pram) at the gate of the plane. Folding the pram was a long effort since I was doing it for the first time and the staff also struggled with it. My daughter was presented with a stuffed plane model with vibration feature. Older children were given small school bags with coloring stuff. We had to change plane at Doha, Qatar. <br />
<br />
The first flight was from Munich to Doha. It took us 4 hours with the fastest train. </div>
Yasir Niaz Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04588106549679573179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10965344.post-75981886089992038532012-05-15T06:31:00.001+02:002012-10-15T13:06:30.308+02:00Attending a conference in USA<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I arrived on Sunday in the US. The flight was a long 9 hour journey from Germany to New York. On arrival, they asked for a special interview because of my last name matching with someone else (Shahrukh Khan? :) But they were very nice in the interview and afterwards they skipped my customs line. Then the next flight was to Minnesota, where I had an American from California sitting with me. He was a very cheerful guy making jokes with passerbys, who also always smiled and replied jokingly. This was the 2nd difference I noted from Europe. The first was, that here they offer/use much less juices than soda, and use too much ice. The weather is excellent, but the distances which look small on maps are not that small to walk.The hotel is very nice for such a price, with big rooms and a pool+sauna. Another thing I noticed was that all the cups used in the conference, whether for water or for tea/coffee are compostable. Almost everything is recyclable; i don't know whether in the whole of US? The conference organizers were obsessed with shrimps, which they offered in every event.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Yasir Niaz Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04588106549679573179noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10965344.post-34098202098317349582012-04-11T19:13:00.000+02:002012-04-13T13:40:58.427+02:00Applying for US visa in Germany<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="color: black;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;">
<a href="http://www.icra2012.org/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" dir="ltr" height="70" src="http://www.icra2012.org/banner/stPaulBanner.gif" style="color: black;" width="400" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: black;">
<div dir="ltr" style="color: black;">
I got a paper accepted in one of the two biggest robotics conferences. This conference is supposed to be held in the US. So I had to apply for the visa. I asked the conference chair to send me an invitation letter to present my paper there. Then I checked the US embassy website in Germany. The nearest embassies are in Munich and Frankfurt. Frankfurt has a one week waiting list for appointments, whereas Munich has two weeks time. So I chose Frankfurt. Their website lists the requirements. There is a $10 application fee for filling the online application. Then there is €112 visa fee to be submitted to another agency. This agency sends an email confirmation of fee payment within 3 days. Then I got the sponsor letter from my prof. I reserved a time slot on a Monday at 9 am. I went to Frankfurt on Sunday and stayed at a friend's. </div>
</div>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: black;">
<div dir="ltr" style="color: black;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: black;">
On Monday morning I got up early and went out. I had seen the route plan on the Internet and so we went about to search for the tram station to take the tram. This tram station had two platforms on two different streets for two different line runs. We got to one platform, but found out that the relevant tram doesn't run from here. So we searched for the other platform, and asked a lady about it. She told us the location of this platform but said there is a transport strike today. Great!!! Like the transport strikes in my city weren't annoying enough, that they follow me here as well. Good thing a few buses were running. So we got on a bus. I called the embassy to tell them that I would be late because of the strike, and the guy there said ok in a careless manner, which surprised me. Anyways, the bus took us to a station about one km from embassy and we walked towards the embassy. </div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: black;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: black;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://germany.usembassy.de/photos/icons/niv.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" dir="ltr" src="http://germany.usembassy.de/photos/icons/niv.jpg" style="color: black;" /></a></div>
The embassy is a big structure with a lot of space. There was a small queue outside the embassy for the initial counter. There were some sheds with benches along the queues with heaters in them. The heater did feel good as it was a little cold. When I reached the counter, the lady told me that there is a form missing in my documents. She gave me a map of the local area with addresses of local copy shops. The nearest one is an imbiss with a south asian owner. She told me that it is the nearest but most expensive. He had a laptop and color printer. It took me a long while to find the form, fill it and print it. Many people were coming there to do this, so it was a common thing. I also helped a couple of ppl there in finding the info they needed. One family hadn't submitted their fee, so they needed much more to do. Anyways, I got back to the embassy where they checked my documents and let me in, while giving my friend a map of the local cafes to roam around and come back after about 1.5 hours. </div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: black;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="color: black;">
Inside, the process was pretty simple. The visa officer was a young guy who asked some simple questions, and then asked whether I can leave my passport with them. I got my passport back within 3 weeks with the visa.</div>
</div>Yasir Niaz Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04588106549679573179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10965344.post-5917082504907320942012-01-26T12:16:00.000+01:002012-01-26T12:16:41.364+01:00Transport strike in Germany<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.tagblatt.de/Home/bilder/bilder-lokales_mmid,4638.html" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" width="380" src="http://www.tagblatt.de/cms_media/module_bi/438/219346_1_gross_0055z12.jpg" /></a></div>
This Monday was a strike by the transport union drivers in my area. They are being paid on a different tariff than the standard tariff, but want to be shifted on the standard tariff. The strike was announced last week in some newspapers, but still many people didn't knew about it, especially the people not reading German newspapers.
I also got to the bus stop next to my home and discovered that the electronic displays showing the next arriving buses was blank and only displaying the text that there is a strike from the drivers and buses are running according to an emergency schedule. I checked the website of the bus company and it said that they are trying to run some buses and that many bus-stops downtown have been occupied by the drivers, so it was not possible to service those bus-stops. We waited for the next bus for some time, but then they told on their website that they cannot serve the route towards my campus, so I decided to walk to office. Good thing that it is just a 10 minute walk downhill. Some of the colleagues decided to work from home. Many people were angry with the strike. Later I saw some pictures on the Internet of the people doing the strike. This was a very peaceful strike. I don't know if their demands were met.
Earlier there have been frequent announced strikes from the transport drivers in Stuttgart, which had been going on for months (although the strike was always one day long every time). I just hope that these strike don't occur so frequently here.Yasir Niaz Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04588106549679573179noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10965344.post-83021967691137577452011-09-08T12:49:00.001+02:002019-01-31T15:24:47.881+01:00Myth of Population of Pakistan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We are often told by our rulers that all of our problems are due to a huge population. And the worse <br />
thing is that many of us believe them, and thus their own corruption goes in the background. In fact it is their corruption that is the main problem. Let's analyze statistically what is our population situation. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGJA4fvA1ZtFLF5Ck0sUIOjIAxPbriP1VsMzOyA4nNGq27oYOd63_YlHu6nAZHdw53WKvgdAzH7j1_EMxhHHPAO9SvB5XBi2VeX64D42AXLrLEntNBpxsTheHI9wHC2iuUA6JC/s1600/population-density-2019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="818" data-original-width="1125" height="464" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGJA4fvA1ZtFLF5Ck0sUIOjIAxPbriP1VsMzOyA4nNGq27oYOd63_YlHu6nAZHdw53WKvgdAzH7j1_EMxhHHPAO9SvB5XBi2VeX64D42AXLrLEntNBpxsTheHI9wHC2iuUA6JC/s640/population-density-2019.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependent_territories_by_population_density">Wikipedia: List of countries by population density</a><br />
<br />
Pakistan has 55th largest population density in the world. There are many countries which are richer and yet have more population density. These include UK (53), Japan (41), Belgium (37), India (33), Israel (34), Netherlands(31), South Korea (23), Taiwan (16), Hong Kong (4), Singapore (3). Even Germany(62), Italy (73) and Switzerland (71) are not too far behind. So it is a myth that we are poor because we have too many people. <br />
<br />
Lately, countries with huge populations are becoming stronger. For example, China and India are the new booming economies because of making good use of their population. US also has a big population. Brazil is also getting stronger and opting for a permanent seat in UN SC. <br />
<br />
Lastly, advanced economies of Europe are facing an acute shortage of young workers. Because of their decreasing population and better health system, their populations are getting old and they have to import workers. Similarly, China is also going down this path and is about to face this problem. We should use our population effectively before we also face this problem.</div>
Yasir Niaz Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04588106549679573179noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10965344.post-58388957990550545192011-03-02T17:08:00.001+01:002013-04-17T18:07:32.273+02:00International Conference on "Home-grown Terrorism Threat" in Germany<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I was forwarded a link to the mentioned conference to be held in my city. It was a pleasant surprise that the conference was taking place here and that the entrance was free. So I booked a place in it and waited for it. Sadly, the conference coincided with Eid-ul-Fitr festival and so I couldn't attend all of the sessions, but those I did attend were very interesting and informative. Conference was in English and attracted speakers from all of Europe, USA and Australia. There were some lectures, debates, panel discussions and workshops.</div>
Yasir Niaz Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04588106549679573179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10965344.post-26514408899419604192011-02-28T22:55:00.007+01:002011-02-28T23:18:06.509+01:00Travelling business class with Qatar Air<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I took membership of the Qatar Air Frequent Flyer program. I flew with Qatar last time. So I had gathered points. This time when I flew to Lahore, I had gathered the required 10,000 points to upgrade half of my return flight to business class (from Lahore to Doha), although this cost an extra 25 Euros. Well, the upgrade was worth it. First up, I was spared the check-in queues at Lahore airport and was checked-in at business counter. Then I was given a voucher, with which I discovered that there is a VIP Lounge at Lahore airport with free snacks, drinks and tea. There were PCs with Internet and a large TV. They informed the guests when their boarding started. I was also boarded prior to the queue. The seat in the plane was very large and had a multi-function remote control which provided a massage and could be fully to a bed. The meal was served in clay crockery and there was a large variety of drinks. The personal TV screen was also big. The blankets were thicker and they also provided eye-cover etc. There were disposable tooth-brushes and tooth-pastes in the washroom, though the wash-room size was same as Economy :)<br />
<br />
Towards the end of flight, the head-hostess went to all the guests individually and asked about the journey. Then the pilot went to each passenger and chatted about their destination and invited to travel with them again. To me he informed of the Berlin Film Festival. From Doha to Munich, I traveled in the usual Economy class. However, only this time, the Economy cabin seemed too small and the meal too less presentable :)<br />
<br />
I then realized, how just a few hours of travel in a different class made me very uncomfortable in the regular class people; what kind of mind-set would it be producing in the people who regularly enjoy that upper-class facilities, and some of them claim to represent us.<br />
<br />
<embed flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&hl=en_US&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0x000000&feed=https%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fyasir.niaz%2Falbumid%2F5578864305392503745%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26hl%3Den_US" width="600" height="400" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></div>Yasir Niaz Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04588106549679573179noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10965344.post-56816394999882131362010-11-29T16:32:00.000+01:002010-11-29T16:32:22.129+01:00First snowfall of Winter in Germany - too much snowLast Thursday, it started snowing for the first time in this winter. Overnight there fell a lot of snow. On Friday morning, everything was covered in snow. The city's snow cleaning services were working and clearing snow from roads and footpaths.<br />
<br />
But Friday afternoon, it started to snow again. Till the evening it got very bad, so that the city had to restrict its bus system. All buses going on hills were stopped. My city lies on hills, that means many destinations were not reachable through public transport. My university has many campuses around the city. The campus where I work is on a hill. So no bus was coming to my campus as well. A colleague was nice enough to give me a ride home in his car, otherwise I would have to walk down the hill and up another hill to my home.<br />
<br />
It has been snowing almost everyday since then and the little snow that melts during the day is replaced by new snow overnight.Yasir Niaz Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04588106549679573179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10965344.post-42599931069115295942010-10-24T22:07:00.004+02:002011-11-21T19:47:05.414+01:00Won a robotic competition in Germany<a href="http://ais.badische-zeitung.de/piece/02/28/68/8d/36202637-w-600.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img height="150" src="http://ais.badische-zeitung.de/piece/02/28/68/8d/36202637-w-600.jpg" width="200" /></a>On 2nd October, one day before the national day of Germany when East and West Germany got united, <a href="http://www.ra.cs.uni-tuebingen.de/forschung/sickRobotDay/welcome_e.html">we participated</a> in a robotics competition for which we were preparing since last year. The competition was organized by a renowned German company building laser sensors and other stuff, called <a href="http://www.sick.com/">SICK</a>. The competition is thus called <a href="http://www.sick.com/group/EN/home/pr/events/robot_day/Pages/Robot_day_2010.aspx">SICK Robot Day</a>. It comprised of a circular area with numbers drawn on big posters and hanged along the boundary of the arena. Within the arena, multiple obstacles are placed at different places on the ground. Each robot has to recognize the numbers and drive to them in sequence while avoiding the obstacles.<br />
<br />
There were 12 German and 4 European teams. Our robot (called "<a href="http://www.ra.cs.uni-tuebingen.de/forschung/sickRobotDay/welcome_e.html">Attempto</a>") completed the whole task in 3 minutes. Our robot hit some obstacles, so including the penalties, our task time was 3:18 minutes. Each robot was given a time of 10 minutes to complete the task. The robot at second position completed the task in over 6 minutes. No other robot was able to correctly complete the task. One other robot completed the task, but it misjudged one of the numbers. Here is the video of the successful run of our robot:<br />
<br />
<object height="390" width="540"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/tpILYAUGxfU&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tpILYAUGxfU&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></embed></object>Yasir Niaz Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04588106549679573179noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10965344.post-58225619738926235992010-08-29T16:16:00.001+02:002010-08-29T16:21:35.372+02:00Slow Tsunami - worst floods in PakistanThese are the most destructive floods in Pakistan's history. After the flood, the real destruction starts, as the crops are destroyed, livestock killed, roads and bridges dismantled, houses unusable, and worse, diseases spreading from standing water.<br />
<br />
United Nations is repeating calls for aid. Please help.Yasir Niaz Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04588106549679573179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10965344.post-34011824193317676572010-05-31T22:24:00.006+02:002010-06-03T15:23:24.032+02:00Google Blogaward for my Blog<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLk-fHRlrjaO03PdBV1RLN8uMMPRkqTipmefYEEkpVYL8RWJidS1-ENAZCwXinWKNxPzwxteN9eWpObK1xiERr3N-HiLzHaNeJCh0jBkFvg6SzJgs5fdk08AW4aCr2-w2wm_Lk/s1600/Culture+Blog+-+yasirniaz.blogspot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLk-fHRlrjaO03PdBV1RLN8uMMPRkqTipmefYEEkpVYL8RWJidS1-ENAZCwXinWKNxPzwxteN9eWpObK1xiERr3N-HiLzHaNeJCh0jBkFvg6SzJgs5fdk08AW4aCr2-w2wm_Lk/s200/Culture+Blog+-+yasirniaz.blogspot.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Since a couple of days I was receiving comments on my blog congratulating me for winning the Pakistani blog award. I checked the section of the Google+CIO award website containing my blog, but there was no announcement there, and my blog still had less votes than some others. So I thought of these comments as spam.<br />
<br />
But today I received congrats on an email forum of old students of FAST-NUCES, which made me very curious. I went to the home page of the award website and there I found the announcement. It was a pleasant surprise for me since I entered my blog very late in the competition and thus it had received less votes.<br />
<a href="http://blogawards.pk/">http://blogawards.pk/</a><br />
<br />
It was a beautiful 5-hour event and I missed it :(<br />
<br />
Country Manager of Intel Pakistan (Ashar Zaidi) was the judge of my category, and hear his flattering comments about it:<br />
<br />
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/djjbvLeYyAY&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/djjbvLeYyAY&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br />
<br />
They even made an animation about my Blog Award on youtube :)<br />
<br />
<object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/X-elC2PPxSc&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/X-elC2PPxSc&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br />
<br />
<br />
More details of the event:<br />
<a href="http://ciopakistan.com/2010/05/1st-annual-pakistan-blog-awards-new-media-unconference-2010/">http://ciopakistan.com/2010/05/1st-annual-pakistan-blog-awards-new-media-unconference-2010/ </a><br />
Yasir Niaz Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04588106549679573179noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10965344.post-43713290600467575312010-04-04T02:16:00.004+02:002010-04-15T01:26:26.932+02:00Solution of Pakistan's administrative problems?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiob_HHUk_20r60Rh6l38ZEaqdjigpD-fSMUIKjUT507ia-PmUlWDgu8z5WfU3zKgftM6FlCsBARCsDV_B2yr8Q8A3hJ_6wDJrPlqGyiWAGDjfum8QIzMEzv-q3AKp7cUj5AyYt/s1600/province+pop+ratio.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiob_HHUk_20r60Rh6l38ZEaqdjigpD-fSMUIKjUT507ia-PmUlWDgu8z5WfU3zKgftM6FlCsBARCsDV_B2yr8Q8A3hJ_6wDJrPlqGyiWAGDjfum8QIzMEzv-q3AKp7cUj5AyYt/s320/province+pop+ratio.png" /></a>Recently, there has been much talk in media of increasing the number of provinces of Pakistan to solve the many administrative problems. Both politicians and TV anchors have repeated this plea. Now that the constitutional reforms have been agreed upon, maybe the Government should focus on this issue. It is often said that the provinces of Pakistan are too big to manage, either population-wise or area-wise. This has resulted in the focus of govt resources on provincial capitals and around. Creating new provinces will also solve the problem of separatists and smaller provinces complaining about bigger provinces. No province will then become the center of power. All the developed countries of the world and neighbours of Pakistan have many more provinces or states than us.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00maplinks/modern/pakadmin/pakadmin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00maplinks/modern/pakadmin/pakadmin.jpg" width="320" /></a>So how should new provinces be created? There could be many ways and the parliament would know the best. But here are two scenarios that come to my mind:<br />
<br />
Scenario 1: Divide each of the provinces into two parts. Since Punjab is the biggest, it may be divided into three parts to get a balance with other provinces. Then we would have 9 provinces: Quetta, Kalat; Hyderabad, Sukkur; Peshawar, Dera Ismail Khan; Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan Divisions.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00maplinks/modern/pakadmin/pakadmin.html">http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00maplinks/modern/pakadmin/pakadmin.html</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdaEXNeLQg8LueI_0CNiNAFEKrP3OYtrrePBe8aM4t4i8QM5puPMLCQeLwIBluUbdHn5Zg2S1U_VlFzqS_wXwv_IVkbdmqT7ZHzaZrLmyLfl1e5R6KEBBx-AopaAbrs-vQXWjl/s1600/pak+divisions.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdaEXNeLQg8LueI_0CNiNAFEKrP3OYtrrePBe8aM4t4i8QM5puPMLCQeLwIBluUbdHn5Zg2S1U_VlFzqS_wXwv_IVkbdmqT7ZHzaZrLmyLfl1e5R6KEBBx-AopaAbrs-vQXWjl/s320/pak+divisions.png" /></a>Scenario 2: Another scenario presented in the media is to convert all the previous divisions into provinces. This scenario has two potential subscenarios: First is the divisions before 1990s. Then we would have 20 provinces:<br />
Quetta, Kalat, Sibi, Makran, <br />
Hyderabad, Sukkur, Karachi, <br />
Peshawar, Dera Ismail Khan, Hazara, Kohat, Malakand,<br />
Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan, Gujranwala, Dera Gazi Khan, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Bahawalpur.<br />
<br />
The second subscenario is the divisions that existed till 2000. These were 26 in number, thus creating 26 provinces:<br />
<br />
Quetta, Kalat, Sibi, Makran, Naseerabad, Zhob;<br />
Hyderabad, Sukkur, Karachi, Larkana, Mirpur Khas;<br />
Peshawar, Dera Ismail Khan, Hazara, Kohat, Malakand,<br />
Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan, Gujranwala, Dera Gazi Khan, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Bahawalpur.<br />
<br />
Many people complain that only 5 cities are being heavily developed, and most provincial funds are spent on the provincial capitals. Creating 26 provinces would give an immediate benefit that instead of 5 cities, we would have at least 27 cities which would be developing fast.Yasir Niaz Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04588106549679573179noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10965344.post-47260219820124480882010-03-31T00:06:00.000+02:002010-03-31T00:06:42.269+02:00Final solution to my slow notebook: parts replacement by Dell<a href="http://i.dell.com/images/global/brand/ui/logo62.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i.dell.com/images/global/brand/ui/logo62.gif" /></a>This weekend, my laptop came down to an agonising slow speed. It was getting heated too much. The voice of the fan had also slowed a lot. I decided it was time to call Dell again. So I called them Monday and explained the problem with my Dell Inspiron 1521. The guy agreed to replace its motherboard. The next morning, a technician came with a motherboard, fan and heat sink unit. He laid out a rounded sheet and plugged its wire to the power output. He wrapped another of its wires around his wrist. I asked if it was a protection against electric shock, but he said that it would protect the notebook against any static charge. he opened up the complete notebook and replaced the three parts. I asked him many questions. He mentioned that the typical life of a notebook is 6-7 years. He also showed me a ball of thready dust (about the size of a big cherry) that was stuck in the fan. He told me that the notebook has a protection mechanism such that it reduces the processor and graphics processor to reduce the heat, if fan or heat sink is not working. If that doesn't work, it shuts down the system.<br />
<br />
After that, i turned on the system and I was able to watch youtube videos in fullscreen again. My warranty would expire this year. I guess I'll renew it to get my notebook parts replaced often :)Yasir Niaz Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04588106549679573179noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10965344.post-74750665284986358562010-02-05T15:37:00.002+01:002010-02-09T11:49:57.455+01:00Kashmir Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8f/Kashmir_region-map_2004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8f/Kashmir_region-map_2004.jpg" width="318" /></a></div>Today is Kashmir day. The day we show solidarity with the Kashmiri people suffering decades of violence and occupation. It all started in 1947, when the British left the Indian subcontinent and gave the option to all states whether to join India or Pakistan or stay independent. The population of Jammu and Kashmir was Muslim majority and naturally wanted the join Pakistan. However, the ruler of Kashmir was a Hindu <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hari_Singh">Maharaja Hari Singh</a>. He wanted to remain independent. People revolted in western Kashmir to overthrow the Raja, and their neighbor tribesmen crossed the border to help them. They were advancing fast towards the center. The Hindu ruler asked India for military help to save his throne, but India refused to help unless he joined India. So he joined India and India invaded Kashmir. <br />
<br />
Later, India took the issue to UN in 1948, which passed a resolution asking for a Plebiscite so that the people could themselves decide upon the fate of their state. Both India and Pakistan agreed to this. However, the plebiscite never took place. Pakistan has repeatedly called for the plebiscite according to UN resolution, but India refuses and claims that Kashmir is a part of India. The UN Security Council passed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_Resolution_47">Resolution 47</a> on April 21, 1948, which stated "that the final disposition of the State of Jammu and Kashmir will be made in accordance with the will of the people expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under the auspices of the United Nations". The cease fire took place on December 31, 1948.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Nanga_parbat%2C_Pakistan_by_gul791.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Nanga_parbat%2C_Pakistan_by_gul791.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The UN Security Council later passed four new resolutions, revising the terms of Resolution 47 to include a synchronous withdrawal of both Indian and Pakistani troops from the region, per the recommendations of General Andrew McNaughton. Uptil now UN arbitrators put forward 11 different proposals for the demilitarization of the region - every one of which was accepted by Pakistan, but rejected by the Indian government. Let us hope and work to get this plebiscite done in Jammu and Kashmir and let the people decide. Pakistan says that it would accept any decision from the people of Jammu and Kashmir. However, this is not acceptable to India.Yasir Niaz Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04588106549679573179noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10965344.post-46855363188381655422010-02-03T12:15:00.000+01:002010-02-03T12:15:04.336+01:00Problem solved: Windows 7 slow on dell notebookEver since I installed Windows 7, my laptop was very slow. Whenever I ran vlc, I had to close all other applications to save it from dying down. I solved the problem with my Windows 7 being too slow. Well, it is a long story: I had a dell notebook which when charged its battery full, would disconnect the battery and run the laptop on direct power. Due to many problems, I got it replaced, but the new laptop (1521) lacked this feature of disconnecting the battery. As a result, my battery wore out after 2 years, while the earlier laptop's battery was good even after 2.5 years of use. Since we always use the laptop at home, I let the battery inside and use it as desktop replacement. A few days back, when I turned my laptop on, it said that my battery was almost dead and thus my computer could run slow. Walla ... that was the reason. I removed the battery, and the laptop now runs fast, much better than Vista. (however, not when I run Vuze) :)Yasir Niaz Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04588106549679573179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10965344.post-82702579925781321322010-01-29T17:43:00.000+01:002010-01-29T17:43:42.349+01:00Cleaning snow in GermanyI live in a so-called Terassen-haus (house on steps?) which has its floors placed diagonally on the side of a hill. So the building is not straight, rather diagonal. So the elevators opens its one door for the first 3 floors, and the opposite door for the higher 4 floors. I live on the 5th floor. Such an arrangement of floors gives each front appartment a big balcony, and each balcony is surrounded with bushes, so the whole building looks a part of the hill. The building is located a little above the base of the hill, so there are 3 sets of stairs before the building, with a 2 meter flat surface between each set of stairs. Why am I telling in so much detail? Because yesterday I was asked to remove snow from these stairs. <br />
<br />
Each appartment in the building gets its duty almost once every month in winter to keep the stairs clear of snow. Last 2 months, there was no snow on my duty. But this month there is snow every day. They place the tools outside the building. They consist of a shovel, a long brush and a bucket of snow-salt. I had never done this before, so I took the shovel and tried the carry the snow on each stair-step to the side. Most of the snow was easy, but it was very hard where people had stepped. The surface was not smooth, so the shovel didn't move easily. Then I figured that fine cleaning would perhaps be better done with the brush. It worked, but not at some spots. I tried for half hour at my best and then sprinkled salt on it and left for office. It snowed heavily in the afternoon, reminding me that I have to clean again in the evening. When I reached home, the path that I made on the stairs was even cleaner than I left it in the morning. This snow-salt is a magic salt. Though, I was a little annoyed why I had I worked so hard in the morning, I would have just cleaned a bit and sprinkled the salt. But, anyhow, it showed me that Farmville is a lot more easier when played on PC :)Yasir Niaz Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04588106549679573179noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10965344.post-43583480373398010752010-01-21T14:33:00.000+01:002010-01-21T14:33:04.569+01:00Chilling Winter in Germany & EuropeThis winter is different than some previous years. Well, it started like normal: it snowed in December, but the snow vanished before Christmas, leaving wishing for another white Christmas. Then, it snowed again; this time an awful lot. For many days it snowed daily, mostly powdered snow. City services was quick to clean the pathways, but it snowed again the next day, until the newspapers announced a shortage of snow clearing salt. I even saw snow cleaners at night. A few days after, the authorities issued a warning asking people to store 4 days food and candles in case of electricity outages. This made us nervous, but then we realized it was probably meant for Northern coastal regions and Islands. They were hit the hardest by this extreme snow. People even said that this is a record since at least 20 years.<br />
<br />
A funny (read: scary) thing happened too. My university has multiple campuses. My campus is on top of a hill. A bus goes up and down the hill. One day, when it snowed at extreme, I was waiting for the bus at bus-stop. The bus was late about 5 min, and it crawled slowly towards the bus stop. It was a double bus (two bus sections joined, but can bend). Well, I got on the bus, and the bus started down the road to get on the main road on a T-intersection. There was a signal there which was turned off due to the weather. The bus waited, but cars were coming from both directions. As soon as a small gap occurred between the traffic, the bus driver gave gas to make use of it, but he had to turn sharply to avoid tumbling down the hill in front of the T-intersection. The bus driver applied brakes, and the feared happened: the bus slipped: it was too fast. It took our breath away. So the driver released the brakes and gave some gas while turning the steering-wheel. Thankfully, the bus turned and got on the main road.Yasir Niaz Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04588106549679573179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10965344.post-12014637722934390112009-12-16T13:28:00.003+01:002009-12-16T16:52:26.723+01:00Trip to Pakistan<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.qatarairways.com/images/splash/qatar-logo.png"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 326px; height: 75px;" src="http://www.qatarairways.com/images/splash/qatar-logo.png" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />In November I had another trip to Pakistan; first one with my daughter. I traveled with Qatar Air which is known as the only 5-Star airline in Gulf and surrounding regions. The flight was as usual, however, the staff was very good, even at airport. They asked us to hand the stroller (baby-pram) at the gate of the plane. Folding the pram was a long effort since I was doing it for the first time and the staff also struggled with it. My daughter was presented with a stuffed plane model with vibration feature. Older children were given small school bags with coloring stuff. We had to change plane at Doha, Qatar. <br /><br />The first flight was from Munich to Doha. It took us 4 hours even with the fastest train to reach Munich airport. The airport is cleverly designed in that there are two runways on both sides of the terminal, so they can be used simultaneously. And passengers have to walk less because of reduced building size. However, the small walk between terminal 1 and terminal 2 is bad on a rainy day. Food on the plane was as usual German style. They provided us a basinet for my daughter in the plane. It is a rectangular box fitted on a table in front of the front seats. A child can easily jump out of the basinet, so constant care was to be taken, but still it was very helpful.<br /><br />Doha airport is a small one lacking boarding tunnels. After a small security check, we went upstairs to wait, only to come downstairs on the other side and board a bus to the next plane. It was going to Lahore and thus completely full with a lot of families. Hence we couldn't obtain a front seat and so no basinet. We were given two seats from a row of 4 seats. Another lady was sitting beside us with her baby. The steward moved her somewhere else, since this row had only 5 oxygen masks and thus only one baby could sit there. We landed in Lahore at about 3 am. There was a banner there that passengers from some Swine Flu infected countries can get tested here.<br /><br />Our return flight also started at about 4 am. Changing the plane again at Doha, we landed on Frankfurt airport. Then we went underground to the fast trains (ICE) station. They have separate train stations for fast and for normal trains at Frankfurt airport. There we tried to board a fast train, but it was full. Then we waited for half an hour for the next train, but it was full too. I went to the booking office to reserve seats, but it was not possible for the next two train connections, since it was Friday afternoon and everybody was travelling for the weekend. So we boarded the next train and stood in the aisle. After reaching our city, we asked multiple big and small taxies, but noone would take us since we had luggage, a pram and a baby. Some didn't have a baby-seat and some thought the luggage was too much. Finally we got a minibus from a company and reached home.Yasir Niaz Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04588106549679573179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10965344.post-75751955011355716672009-12-11T14:37:00.004+01:002009-12-11T14:55:45.417+01:00Why we do not progressI remembered an old bad happening with me. When I came to Germany in 2005, I got in contact with a Pakistani named Kashif Ghani. He was running a company called Magnus Multimedia. He told me that he got the project of translating a website into multiple languages and he wanted me to get this translations for him and he would pay me for each translation. I started my hunt for translators and found a French and an Italien translator as per his requirement. I got the text translated by them and sent it back to Mr Kashif in good faith. I didn't get any reply. When I checked the Deewan Farooq website, the Italien translation was uploaded. I intimated Mr. Kashif about it. He replied that they had uploaded both of the translations and I would soon get the payment in my Pakistani Bank account. At the urging of my translators, I asked him again about the payment. His reply was: "Our accounts manager is in England these days, he'll return after 10th August. We'll deposit the agreed amount in your account as soon as he returns". After one month, I again asked him and he said that the account manager has returned and my payment will be transferred soon. But as expected, no payment. I kept emailing them for 6 months, but there was no reply. I paid the translator from my own pocket in Euros. To this day, there is no reply from Mr Kashif Ghani (kghani@magus-multimedia.com), and the Italien translation is still visible on the website: http://www.dfsml.com/Italian/. I do not know why the French translation does not show up.<br /><br />Now this is the attitude that beats us. The guy had such an opportunity with me as I had people of almost all languages. We could have been progressed a lot in translation business. But all he saw was his temporary gain, and removed my faith from freelance employers.Yasir Niaz Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04588106549679573179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10965344.post-45855158932474984252009-10-27T13:22:00.003+01:002009-10-27T13:36:22.140+01:00Yahoo Geocities closing its free service - a saga comes to end<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e9/FirstGeocitiesYahoo.png/180px-FirstGeocitiesYahoo.png"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 180px; height: 27px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e9/FirstGeocitiesYahoo.png/180px-FirstGeocitiesYahoo.png" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Yahoo is closing its free web hosting service Geocities. It will, however, continue providing paid web hosting services. I don't remember when I started using Geocities service, but it was a long time ago. I really utilized it extensively when I became my batch's representative (2001), I put all information about my university on it. Later I put my teaching materials on it (2003). I also registered a domain www.yasirniaz.com and pointed it to it. <br /><br />There were some good points in it and some bad. Good point was that it was one of the earliest and most reliable free web hosting. Bad point was uploading of html pages, which I had to do file-by-file, and since I used a desktop tool to make pages, I always had to upload many files related to its theme. One bad thing was also, that they were not increasing their webspace, unlike their email. Still it was the best solution available then and it served its purpose good. Even now I still come across many private websites using this free service. I guess the finanical problem is the reason for this closing. They also closed Yahoo Briefcase earlier, which was a free online storage service since a long time. It also had the same problems, but was the best service available and I also used it for a long time.<br /><br />Now the question is: where to get free web hosting? The first name coming to mind is of course, Google. Google's web hosting is different, as it lets host multiple sites. However, they strip the html that is imported into a page, so much that most of the good dynamic features are gone. Is there any other reliable free web hosting service?Yasir Niaz Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04588106549679573179noreply@blogger.com1