Archive for March, 2007

Wedding Photos

Posted in News & Discussion on March 30th, 2007
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  • They’re here.

    Â Â
    Click here to view the Complete Wedding Album.

    HP Quickplay on Windows Vista

    Posted in HP, Quickplay & Windows Vista on March 28th, 2007
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  • I’ve finally done it. After waiting a few weeks for the recovery CDs as directed by HP, which turned out to be absolutely useless, I scouted the web some more, found out how to install Quickplay on Vista without signing up for the HP Express Upgrade, which is a tedious process and basically gets you a Vista recovery CD specific to your PC model. Now, the instructions that follow are reproduced from here: http://www.notebookforums.com/post2542025.html. Credit goes to this guy. Also, it seems like Quickplay 3.0 is only going to work on Windows Vista, so I wouldn’t suggest trying it on XP. However, if it works on XP, please be sure to let me know. Here goes:

    ——————Â

    1. Back up your system in case of catastrophic failure (always a good first step when jacking around with partitions).

    2. Download HPQPDP.rar or HPQPDP.zip, from http://ridickulous.net/quickplay/This site is temporarily down for some reason, so you can download HPQPDP.zip here at http://www.asifism.com/downloads/quickplay/HPQPDP.zip and QPW 3.0 (Quickplay for Windows version 3.0) here at http://www.asifism.com/downloads/quickplay/QPW3.0.rar. — Here’s the a link that will have all the files on it. http://asifism.badongo.com/. My apologies for all the inconvenience all the other links have caused, but I didn’t anticipate such a high volume of downloads.

    3. Extract whichever you downloaded and drop the resulting HPQPDP folder into your :\SwSetup\ folder (mostly for safekeeping purposes).

    4. Using PartitionMagic Pro or Disk Management in Windows something else to either shrink your main partition, secondary partition, or whatever. You want to end up with a 1027.6 MB (or 1028 MB) UNALLOCATED area of space at the END of the drive. Go through all the reboots the machine will likely want to make this happen. It can’t hurt to verify that the unallocated space is there and unallocated after all this. (NOTE: If Partition Magic keeps giving errors saying “Selected disk contains one or more Partitions which cannot be moved,” you have a recovery partition that prevents it from doing what you need it to or drive information has changed. You may have to find another way of resizing your partitions or a reboot might solve the problem.)

    5. After creating the unallocated space, assign it the drive letter X: but DO NOT FORMAT IT.

    6. Hie thee to the HPQPDP folder and run setup.exe.

    7. Wait.

    8. Wait some more.

    9. Reboot and keep on waiting.

    10. Shut down the laptop and hit the Quickplay button. You WILL most likely see a Windows logo, since QP2.3 is Windows-based whereas QP1.x is Linux-based.

    11. Enjoy a celebratory glass of single-malt scotch, and pop in or browse to your favorite flick. This step is optional if you are at work and/or not legal drinking age.

    MANY thanks to everyone for their input. For the above files, thanks to modemboy for providing the .rars and to AmigaDude for the valid data2.cab and data3.cab files. Also, thanks to Ericko for the QPv1 image (found at http://www.megaupload.com/es/?d=QVE3S9PU) in case someone’s machine cannot run QP 2.x, and to everyone else that pitched in.

    [Disclaimer: the 1.x image may not work in all machines. It looks like it was taken from a disc that shipped with a dv4000 CTO; YMMV. See the following article if you need 1.x:

    http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/g…reg_R1002_USEN

    If you need QP 1.x and you created your recovery discs you have another option for restoring QP; it is listed in this article.]

    This message was typed in anticipation while QP was installing.

    [Edit: linusl also provides a more complex way of getting QP2.x to work under different circumstances if your QP partition is still intact - see page 42 of this thread.]

    [Edit number 2: Changed slightly since files have ben re-uploaded.]

    ———————–

    Here’s the deal. After following this, you look for the QPW folder in c:\swsetup and install quickplay from that folder. This is the actual Quickplay installation, and only after this will quickplay work. The QPW folder will contain Quickplay for Windows version 2.3. If you want Quickplay 3.0, download it from the provided link and use the setup file in that download rather than the one in the QPW folder. Enjoy, NO thanks to HP!

    Pakistan Cricket Team Murders Bob Woolmer

    Posted in News & Discussion on March 19th, 2007
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  • They’ve done it! Killed the only man with some dignity who had anything to do with Pakistan Cricket. You would have thought Izamam ul Haq was more dedicated to the game and had more integrity than that. I mean, come on! How on earth can you loose to Ireland?

    Once again, shame on Pakistan; shame on the Pakistan Cricket Board, and shame on the Pakistani Cricket Team.

    From the Presidency to the Judiciary to the Cricket, this country and its people are setting new records of patheticism. Divine help is needed.

    Viacom sues Google, YouTube for $1 billion

    Posted in News & Discussion on March 13th, 2007
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  • It seems like the powerful google has finally struck a nerve with someone other than a search engine, and it’s by no means a weak opponent. This could lead to a lot of google investigation, and with the high-flying profits Google, Inc. has been reporting over the last few years, I wouldn’t be surprised if a big shocker awaits shareholders. On the other hand, if Google comes out victorious in this lawsuit, there would certainly be a spike in the stock price.

    Even though it may be true, Viacom’s allegation is kind of harsh if you ask me. The truth is, google may actually end up spending serious cash monitoring the web site and the content that goes on it, and that may not make it a very profitable proposition. But will the users of YouTube let it fall? Time will tell.

    As always, courtesy of MSNBC.com and the Associated Press:

    Updated: 10:28 a.m. ET March 13, 2007

    NEW YORK - MTV owner Viacom Inc. said Tuesday it has sued YouTube and its corporate parent Google Inc. in federal court for alleged copyright infringement and is seeking more than $1 billion in damages.

    Viacom claims that the more than 160,000 unauthorized video clips from its cable networks, which also include Comedy Central, VH1 and Nickelodeon, have been available on the popular video-sharing Web site.

    The lawsuit marks a sharp escalation of long-simmering tensions between Viacom and YouTube. Last month Viacom demanded that YouTube remove more than 100,000 unauthorized clips after several months of talks between the companies broke down.

    In a statement, Viacom lashed out at YouTube’s business practices, saying it has “built a lucrative business out of exploiting the devotion of fans to others’ creative works in order to enrich itself and its corporate parent Google.â€

    Viacom said YouTube’s business model, “which is based on building traffic and selling advertising off of unlicensed content, is clearly illegal and is in obvious conflict with copyright laws.â€

    A representative for Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Other media companies have also clashed with YouTube over copyrights, but some, including CBS Corp. and General Electric Co.’s NBC Universal, have reached deals with the video-sharing site to license their material.

    Universal Music Group, a unit of France’s Vivendi SA, had threatened to sue YouTube, saying it was a hub for pirated music videos, but later reached a licensing deal with them.

    Viacom filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and is also seeking an injunction prohibiting Google and YouTube from using its clips.

    © 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Your Guide to getting Deported from the US

    Posted in Immigration & Deportation on March 11th, 2007
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  • This page has been produced from a post due to it’s popularity. The link to the original post is http://www.asifism.com/?p=39.

    You can still add more discussion and comments as needed. You can also contact me if you have any questions regarding this process.

    KEYWORDS for this page: ICE, Deportation, Process, Deporting, Deportee, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Deportees from America, US Deportation, Immigration, US, USA, United States, getting deported from the US, US Deportation process.

    Here goes:

    Have a relative or friend who is getting deported from the US? Plan on being in the same position anytime soon? Well, here it is, for the first time, a fully documented and procedural guide to US detention and deportation. Please note that you will NOT find this information anywhere else. Half the practiced procedure during this process is NOT published anywhere under the US Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) or Immigration & Nationality Act (INA). That’s primarily because no one has taken interest in this procedure, and although there are manuals published by the House and Congress on the process of deportation and escorting illegal aliens out of the US, they are NOT followed by the monkeys at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The reason for that is that immigration law and procedure largely deals with people who are not US citizens, so the US government, house, or congress doesn’t give a flying fuck about them. Some of this is in violation of human rights, but who gives a fuck? If you’re not white and don’t hold a blue passport, you don’t deserve to be treated with dignity, do you? After all, America was formed after the murder of brown people wasn’t it? Anyway, think I’m getting off the topic here. Here’s how it works:

    How it Begins

    The person who homeland security wants to deport is picked up. Please keep in mind that the pick-up is made not by the USCIS or Immigration Services, but by Customs and Border Patrol, or, most likely, by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The ICE is equivalent to the right testicle of the US Department of Homeland Security for enforcement of Immigration and related unlawful DHS policy and practice. They basically do the “dirty work” for the immigration fogies. So, if someone you know simply disappears off of the streets of America, or they go to see someone at the local immigration service center, or go for an Infopass appointment (http://infopass.uscis.gov/) and never turn up, guess what, they’ve been arrested. Please note that ICE is present at all Immigration Service Centers for this very reason: the arrest of those people they consider illegal. Whether they are OR not is neither their business nor that of the USCIS. A US court has to decide that, and good luck getting there. Not many people that chance; so America’s advertising about a free country is basically full of shit in this department.

    So, how do you find out if someone has been picked up? Visit the local immigration office, and ask them where they hold immigration detainees. You’ll get a couple of printed pages from http://www.mapquest.com directions on them, which will be addresses of the “facilities” or jails that people are taken to when detained. Call them, ask for your party’s name, and you’ll know if they are there or not. Now, you can’t speak to the person who has been arrested. THEY need to call you; then you call back and set up a collect call system that costs you both your arms and a leg, and then the arrested person call you from inside the jail.

    So now they’re in, and you’re contacting attorneys, and your friend is trying to extract information from the people who arrested him; what the hell is going on? Read on…

    After the Arrest

    Now is when the false assurances start. First of, ICE Officers will hardly ever talk to you or an Immigration Attorney. They think you’re the scum of the earth because you’re not white enough for them, and your attorney is equally pathetic because he/she is defending you. So, they will not give you any information. They may, however, give the arrested some false information about when he’ll be deported, but they will never actually tell you when, where, or how, because it’s supposed to be a ‘security risk.’ Yes, the small penis’ of the ICE Officers are at stake; they need to make the most of their petty 2 cents worth lives and they make everything sound like it’s top secret information that could change the course of the earth.

    Typically, the ICE can hold a deportee for about 3 months before they’ll need special permission from other authorities to further hold the person, and because that special permission requires paperwork (which the dickheads are too fucking incompetent to do) and may establish that the ICE has ILLEGALLY or UNLAWFULLY arrested someone (this is very common), they will typically deport your arrested friend or relative within those 90 days.

    If he/she has a committed a crime, the 90 day period will begin after they have done jail time for their crime. They will then be moved to a federal deportee detention facility. You can find a list of detention facilities and related information here:

    http://www.ice.gov/pi/dro/facilities.htm.

    If you believe an ICE Officer has arrested you by mistake, there’s really nothing you can about it. If you had a stay issued by a Court, you can file for a contempt of court. Also, you can file a Habeas Corpus with the court to request that the ICE officer be questioned and you be released. However, it seems like the system is rigged; ICE apparently feeds enough money to US Department of Justice (USDOJ) to where they don’t entertain such applications or cannot take action on them within 90 days, and that basically renders them useless. What you can do, however, is file a civil suit and get the media involved. That’s the only thing that scares the US government, and typically, this is more than an ICE Officer can handle, and somewhere somebody will always pay for fucking up. However, this is not something everyone can do as it may require some serious cash and persistence, and a lot of courage. After all, a lot of people unnecessarily tremble in the name of US Homeland Security.

    The Deportation Process

    This, in itself, is a big mess. There’s no set procedure or way. Typically, here’s the rule: If there’s a direct flight to your country of passport from anywhere in the US, you will be flown on either a US government plane or escorted on a commercial flight to the major international airport that such a flight will fly out of. From this airport, you will be put on a commercial flight ‘home.’ They will hand the passport over to the pilot or airline staff, and they will hand it over to you when you land or are on the plane, unless you’re from a really crooked country where these people are looking to make a quick buck off of you.

    Now, according to the guide for escorting, information on which can be found on the USDOJ site at http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/reports/INS/e0105/index.htm, if no one if the deportee in question has not committed a crime, he/she does not need an escort. But somehow it turns out that homeland security has a very hard time complying with this manual or guide, and so, the rule is typically ignored.

    Now, I’m not sure if this is how it’s done in other countries too, but I know this is how it works for the Middle East and Pakistan. Most likely, the deportee will be moved to the federal detention facility in Buffalo, NY, from where the ICE charters a plane belonging to any airline, and flies in a 24 hour plus flight to three or four countries, dropping the deportees off. The idea is to hand them over to local authorities, but most local authorities could give a fuck less about what the ICE wants them to do. In fact, there have been reports of ICE and Homeland Security Officers getting into trouble upon arrival in the Pakistan without having an invitation; something to be proud of.

    The Return to the Passport Country

    Once your deportee lands in Pakistan, he’ll be uncuffed and brought into the airport. The problem here is that the US flight is so secretive, that they don’t even inform the local authorities of the arrival of a deportee plane, with the result that the local authorities are not prepared. The only people who may have a clue about the flight is the air traffic control room staff, and they typically don’t communicate the information with the FIA (in Pakistan) or the FBI equivalent of the country the deportees are landing.

    The result: deportees are hung up at the airport for a couple of hours for filling out a survey form after which they are let go. For Pakistan, the flight usually lands in Islamabad. For all other countries, it typically lands in the capital city. The last deportee flight that few from NY and ended in Pakistan flew on Tuesday, March 6, with a stop in Jordan, after which it carried to Islamabad, Pakistan.

    Conclusion

    What’s the worst part about this process?

    - The inhumane treatment of deportees, some of whom may be highly educated officials who are simply put behind bars for making a solid, legitimate case against the USCIS or ICE but have the wrong skin color.

    - The lack of information and pathetic secrecy issues.

    - The hiding of ICE officers from lawyers and other genuine people for fucking up; talk about being American, don’t face your mistakes or stand up for what you do. Way to go Dick in Bush!

    - The lack of implementation of legislature and the cowardice of judiciary in front of ICE.

    - Thousands of human rights violations.

    - The incompetence of American Citizens in realizing that there are such atrocities going on inside their own country, and

    - The fact that no one is willing to do anything about it because the mistreated don’t hold American Passports.

    What can we say? What goes around comes around. Stay away and don’t get involved. This is one of the several ways the US is shooting herself in her own foot, and what happens when you do that? You only need to be told if you have never stepped outside the US.

    More Photos Posted

    Posted in News & Discussion on March 10th, 2007
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    More Vatican Photos

    Posted in News & Discussion on March 5th, 2007
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    Pakistan’s NAB Ordinance & US Immigration Procedure show Striking Similarities

    Posted in News & Discussion on March 3rd, 2007
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  • With my recent research compiled, my experience, and my interaction with both superfunctional (sense the sarcasm) departments set up by their respective governments, Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the US Department of Homeland Security have come up with strikingly similar policies to detain, hold, punish/remove violators of law.

    Under the NAB Ordinance passed per the wishes of now Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, NAB has the right to arrest, pick-up, kidnap, assault, or assassinate anyone without accountability to any other entity, government or private. NAB typically can and does arrest and hold accused for 90 days, within which period they can accumulate or create evidence against the person arrested. Typically, no one adheres to the 90 day rule, and if NAB is unable to come up with evidence, in a country like Pakistan, making evidence is not much of a challenge.

    The US Department of Homeland Security has a very similar holding policy for those who have been classified as illegal or unwanted aliens. Apart from being primarily racist, an immigration officer can hold or arrest anyone they please (who is not a US Citizen), but them behind bars without any legal recourse, and treat them any which way they want. They cut off such detainees from the outside world and they don’t disclose any information about there whereabouts or what they plan to do with them. If they’re going to deport someone, they claim they can’t say when or why due to security reasons. What bullshit, just because some white immigration officer has a 3 inch penis and he has to feel powerful about his useless, two-cents worth life and job he tries to make his life more interesting by citing ’security reasons,’ and what else, the pathetic majority of American Citizens widely accept such answers.

    Interestingly enough, such holding of aliens without an order issued by DOA is in most cases illegal. Homeland Security just likes adding mystery to it’s job, and they try to misuse their powers by mis-handling people and not dislcosing any information about that. This is precisely what NAB does; they don’t inform anyone; the family of the accused, friends, or any other involved people what the charge is, why it isn’t being trialled in court, and why they aren’t willing to talk about it openly. Security is merely a bad excuse for the truth, because at the end of the day everyone needs to show they’re doing their job right; they’re implementing the advertised law, whether that implementation is right or wrong, or illegal.Â

    Such acts of corruption have become prevalent in the United States after September 11, especially after George Dickless (or Bush) has decided to raise his war against brown people. On the other hand, Pakistani bureaucrats have reached new levels of corruption and crime since the installation and malpractive of the NAB Ordinance. America definitely seems to be taking some lessons from Pakistan; sadly, Pakistan has nothing pleasant in its short history to teach.

    Reporters in both countries dread bringing up such issues, primarily because they claim their knowledge of the law is incomplete to comment on such incidents. However, the truth of the matter is that the press and media are very afraid of both departments in both governments. Suppressing press: That truly is representative of positive terrorism. Welcome to the war.

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