Been there

EnJoo Chung has been worried this week.   more …

Unequal in death

I had been musing on how tragedies are perceived and the unequal treatment they receive depending on their social and political contexts and happened to come across this article.

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

 Within a day of the Virginia Tech massacre, the 32 victims were memorialized in detailed biographies, news stories, photos and “interactive features” on a range of Web sites.  more …

Broadcast on Pakistani Politics

I usually don’t post material directly concerned with politics but this announcement refers to an upcoming radio and Internet broadcast and so more for that reason than anything else I decided to bring it to your attention. The announcement is from a note sent to a distribution list by Murtaza Solangi of the Urdu service of the Voice of America (VOA).

The broadcast will take place on Monday, April 23, 2007, at 1:00 pm (US) Eastern Standard Time, 10:00 pm Pakistan Standard Time, 1700 UTC.

From: Murtaza Solangi, VOA

 ”It is about the deal and no deal [between Pervez Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto] and its impact on the Pakistani people’s quest for democracy. Yes, I will have both Ayesha [Siddiqa] and [Hussain] Haqqani LIVE but, I also have short clips of Najam Sethi, Rashid Rehman (Editor The Post),  Ahsan Iqbal (from Nawaz Sharif’s party) and PPP spokesperson as pointers to carry the debate. It is an hour long program. And yes, no commercials.

It will be broadcast LIVE on VOA’s Urdu web as well as the radio. In Pakistan it will be carried over medium wave on 972 KHz and 1539 KHz at 10:00 PM Pakistan and 1:00 PM eastern time.

Here is the link to listen LIVE. http://www.voanews.com/wm/live/live-urdu-a.asx
If somebody wants to listen to it after it is aired, one can access it in our archives. It will stay on our website for a week on the following link. http://www.voanews.com/urdu/radio/aapkidunyaa/roundtable .cfm For this link, one would need to click on Monday after the program is aired.”

More re VT tragedy from the Chronicle

GUN VIOLENCE
Our cultural predilection to understand public events in terms of individuals may prevent us from crafting effective public policy on issues such as gun violence, writes Kristin A. Goss, an assistant professor of public-policy studies at Duke University.  more …

RESPONSIBILITY
No one in Blacksburg died for lack of text messages or an alarm system, writes Gary Lavergne, director of admissions research at the University of Texas at Austin: They died of gunshot wounds, at the hands of a murderer who is completely responsible for what happened.  more …

THREATS AND LIBERTIES
It is not a crime to be depressed or even scary, as the gunman at Virginia Tech was, notes Katherine S. Newman, a Princeton University scholar who has studied the causes of rampage school shootings. So preventing such incidents poses tough questions for a society committed to civil liberties.  more …

We are Virginia Tech. We will prevail.

    On Monday, 16 April, 2007, a gunman massacred 32 people on the Blacksburg campus of Virginia Tech; many were in class at that time. My deepest sympathy and heartfelt condolences go to the families of all the victims and the entire Virgina Tech community.

Visit the Virginia Tech site here and record your condolences here.

Reports from The Chronicle of Higher Education:

“Shortly after 8 o’clock Tuesday night, 10,000 students, faculty members, and local residents packed the Drillfield, a large grassy area in the center of the campus, for a candlelight vigil.

Near the makeshift stage sat a dozen wooden pyramids, waiting for mourners to write messages on them with pens and markers. One student wrote: “It will only make us think harder … play longer … run faster … live stronger.”

Adeel Khan, the student-body president, said, “With the entire country watching, the Virginia Tech community looks not to dwell but to heal.” As he spoke, the crowd, in unison, raised their candles overhead.

Zenobia Hikes, vice president for student affairs, urged students to “take care of yourselves, look out for each other.”

After the few speeches concluded, the crowd grew silent. Candles were again raised in the air. The only sound heard was the clicking of camera shutters. And then, for nearly 10 minutes, silence. “  more …

“A large poster with the words “We are with VT” sits flanked by red and yellow roses at the main office of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering here. The department lost one of its professors, seven graduate students, and an undergraduate student in the massacre on Monday inside Norris Hall.

Those eight students — plus another who was not a civil-engineering major — and a professor, G.V. Loganathan, were killed in Norris 206, the classroom where Mr. Loganathan was teaching Advanced Hydrology. Five other students in the classroom survived, although some were injured, said William R. Knocke, chairman of the department.

…

Two other engineering professors in the department of engineering science and mechanics were also killed.

Mr. Knocke said his department planned to stop teaching Mr. Loganathan’s graduate course in which the nine students died. ” more …

Profiles of the slain

Some of those identified so far:

Ross Abdallah Alameddine
Hometown: Saugus, Massachusetts
Sophomore, University Studies
Student since fall 2005

Minal Hiralal Panchal (also here)
Hometown: Mumbai, India
Master’s student, Architecture
Student since fall 2006

Waleed Mohamed Shaalan
Hometown: Blacksburg, Virginia (originally from Egypt)
Ph.D. student, Civil Engineering
Student since fall 2006  

G.V. Loganathan  (also here)

Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Prof. Loganathan’s faculty webpage

Partahi Mamora Halomoan Lumbantoruan
Hometown: Blacksburg, Virginia (originally from Indonesia)
Ph.D. student, Civil Engineering
Student since fall 2003

Reema Joseph Samaha
Hometown: Centreville, Virginia
Freshman, University Studies
Student since fall 2006

(Versions of Panchal’s and Loganathan’s profiles are posted on Sepia Mutiny as well).
 

Laathi Charge!

Islamabad vs. Karachi

This picture is from a story in the Daily Times.

Some pictures of the Karachi rally against extremism can be see here. That is a pretty large crowd!

Thanks to the bloggers on Karachi Metroblog for clueing me in to these links.

US Congressional Hearing on US Policy Toward Pakistan

A subcommittee of the US House of Representatives (US Congress) held a hearing on US policy toward Pakistan. The subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia chaired by Rep. Gary Ackerman (Democrat – New York) held this hearing on March 21, 2007. Appearing as some of the witnesses were Marvin Weinbaum (The Middle East Institute), Lisa Curtis (The Heritage Foundation), and Husain Haqqani (Boston University).

Statements by the chair and witnesses are available here:

Rep. Gary Ackerman, Marvin Weinbaum, Lisa Curtis, Husain Haqqani.

A webcast video of the hearing is available here.

Seminar on Pakistani Economy at Johns Hopkins, April 16

The Pakistani American Leadership Center cordially invites you to attend

“A Discussion with Dr. Shamshad Akhtar and Dr. Salman Shah”

Monday, April 16 2007

SAIS Rome Auditorium, Johns Hopkins University

Washington, D.C.

4:30pm – 7 :00pm

Dr. Shamshad Akhtar is the Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, and is the first woman to serve in this position. Prior to her appointment to this position, she worked at the Asian Development Bank for 16 years, most recently as the Director General of the Southeast Asia Department. She also worked for 10 years as an Economist in the World bank’s Resident Mission in Pakistan. She has presented numerous papers on issues of monetary and fiscal policy, banking and capital market, international finance architecture, regulation and supervision, and corporate restructuring. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Palsley College of Technology in the U.K.

Dr. Akhtar will speak on “Pakistan’s Banking Sector Reforms: How Does It Compare with Its Neighbors in Asia?”

Dr. Salman Shah is the Advisor to the Prime Minister of Pakistan for Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs. He brings experience in academia, and the public and private sectors. He has served as Chairman of the Privatization Commission, Advisor to SMEDA at its inception, and Advisor on Public Finance for the Government of Punjab. He has been on the Board of Governors of the State Bank of Pakistan, PIA, Foundation University and Bank of Punjab. He holds a Ph.D. in Finance from Indiana University, and has taught at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), and the business schools at the University of Michigan and Indiana University.

Dr. Shah will speak on “Pakistan in South Asia: Prospects for Regional Economic Integration”

RSVP to Jenika Kaul at southasia@jhu.edu, with your contact details and affiliation.

College Prank Videos

I hope The Chronicle of Higher Education won’t mind sharing this light-hearted article.  Please subscribe to the Chronicle for excellent coverage of the higher education sector.

 An article by Thomas Bartlett describes the best college prank videos from YouTube.  The article entitled “The College Prank as Viral Video” has been published in  the issue dated April 06, 2007, Volume 53, Issue 31, Page A6. Bartlett’s summaries of the videos are given below.

————————————————————————————–

Compilation of college prank videos noted below.

All descriptions below are from Thomas Bartlett’s article for the Chronicle.

Drinkin’ Time
Video

The needlessly long set-up is annoying, but the prank itself makes the wait worthwhile. The victims are a group of prospective students on a tour of Dartmouth College. In the video, the tour guide is droning on when suddenly there comes a primal scream: “It’s drinking time!”

Students stop their conversations, drop their books, and begin running down the street. Then a character called Keggy the Keg appears. And a marching band. And oh, just go watch it yourself. Credit for the prank belongs to the Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern Humor Society, which, according to its Web site (http://www.dartmouth.edu/~jacko), has been around since 1908.

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Start-Up Sound
VideoThe setting is a library, and the prank involves a computer start-up noise that crescendoes into a symphonic resonance. It’s a subtle stunt, and it’s unlikely that most of those present even knew what was going on. But thanks to YouTube, we can all enjoy its quiet, goofy charm.

It’s all the work of Columbia University’s Prangstgrüp. Their videos can be found at http://www.prangstgrup.com

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Upside-Down Room
VideoAccording to the video, this Brandeis University prank took nine days, 12 people, and 600 screws.

I believe it. Attaching all of your roommate’s possessions to the ceiling is hard work.

This prank even has its own Web site (http://www.lightsideup.com). On the list of frequently asked questions is: “Why?” The answer: “Why not?”

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A Lecture Musical
VideoAnother offering from Prangstgrüp, and arguably the best college prank on YouTube. In the middle of a classroom lecture, in front of maybe 200 students, a young man stands up and begins singing. The song is a Broadway-worthy ditty about the need for professors to inspire their students. As the song continues, other students stand up and start singing too, in what is obviously a carefully choreographed scene. Brilliant.

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Fun With Yellow Books
VideoFilling a dorm room with crumpled paper or carefully wrapping every itemdown to the toothbrushes and alarm clocks is a time-honored college prank. There are numerous such videos online, but this one, at Tufts University, is particularly well done. The real fun is watching the pranksters do their work, which suggests a general truth about pranks: The anticipation is often better than the actual thing (this is also true of life).

The roommate’s reaction is perfect. He is mildly upset but mostly good-natured. Other videos prove that if you react poorly to a prank, you end up looking like the jerk.

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Universities and Colleges in Pakistan

Here is a terrific (hyper-linked) listing of universities and colleges in Pakistan.

I came upon this link from the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) but the list is maintained by an open source database, General Education Online, that is sponsored by Simple End User Linux, a volunteer-based organization promoting the use of Linux in education and science.

Also, look at this comprehensive list of colleges and universities in the United States that is maintained at the University of Florida.

Canadian universities and colleges are listed here.