Do You Know The Ides Of March, The March Of Time?

Do You Know The Ides Of March, The March Of Time - IMRAN™, originally uploaded by ImranAnwar.

I post few photos of myself here unless there is some significance to the image or event. Today is such a day. The Ides Of March are upon us.

The Ideas of March is the name given to March 15, a day dedicated to the Roman god Mars, in their ancient calendar. They held a military parade on the day. It was there and on this day Julius Caeser was assassinated in 44BC, despite being warned.

Life rushes forward, time marches on. Today is March the 15th, 2010. The Ides of March are upon us as the March of Time parades us past our glorious lives to our inescapable ends, the colors of our lives, like the colors of the title in this photo, sliding from the blue skies of joyous lives to the deepening pinks of the ending gentle sleep.

We eye the future, even as the seers of the Ides of March see something else. We do not warm to how they warn us of a different story. For we know only one way to live, no matter how far or near the end. We have to remain full of wonder, for the mystery of the unknown, whether of turning a page, or not turning a corner.

The end may be near, lurking like the dangerous stab in the heart by a trusted loved one, but the joy of having lived every minute as we wished is even nearer, deeper in our hearts, and that lives through all eternity, regardless of how glorious or how humble we are in the grand scheme of history.

"Et tu, Brute? Then fall Caesar!" wrote William Shakespeare.

When we hear the silent haunting melody accompanying an impending dusk, appearing, oh, so soon, on an amazing life, when we felt so close to the blue skies of tomorrow, we are left wonderously gasping in our final breaths....

If only.... if only....if only!
Such was life, Such is life.

IMRAN.TV: (Urdu) "What Are People's Expectations From Obama?"

Imran Anwar, IMRAN.TV, New York, Local video feed clip of Urdu TV channel's question:

Q. What are people's expectations of President Barack Hussein Obama?



What is your opinion?


Category: News & Politics

Tags: IMRAN IMRAN.TV Urdu Obama President Expectations Politics Inauguration Israel Kashmir Palestine India Pakistan Imran Anwar ImranAnwar

In Defense Of Self Defense & Supreme Court Shooting Down DC Gun Laws

It was a split decision, but at last and at least the Supreme Court of the United States has taken a stand on the American Constitution.

Sadly, it has not had much to say on violations of the Constitution carried out by the Bush regime, nor taken any stand on the daily decline in our constitutionally protected rights.

More important to them than the Constitution being torn to shreds were Washington, DC (District of Columbia) gun laws that ban legal ownership of guns by DC citizens.

Mind you, DC, among other cities, has often vied for the Murder Capital of the World title. So, I can see the local law enforcement's logic in trying to ban guns (for the last 32 years). But, both as someone born in Pakistan and having been taught to handle my father's favorite Webley & Scott revolver, and now as an American with an affinity for Smith & Wesson/Walther devices, I fully support the right of Americans to bear arms.

Of course, the NRA, of which I should be a member but am not, would probably disagree with my contention that there do have to be some limits on the types, and possibly even number, of guns we can or should be allowed to own.

I support the right to bear arms for several reasons.

My interest in owning weapons includes having them for target shooting, self-defence and all that the Constitution intended as good reasons to bear arms.

However, I also do not think we, or any non-law-enforcement citizen, need some sort of 3000 rounds per minute assault rifle or machine gun to do all of the things above.

We live in unsafe times. Security of the homeland means protecting ourselves not just from would be suicide-bombers but also from armed home invaders, drug dealers, road-rage-warriors, thugs, muggers, petty criminals, gang members, and so many other types of vile scum that can easily snuff out our lives for a few Dollars, or on a whim.

So, I do support the Supreme Court decision shooting down the DC gun laws, but I also hope for two more things.

The Supreme Court, and American courts in general, should also not hobble American law-enforcement from coming down hard on hard core criminals who often brazenly conduct their business better armed than our Police officers.

Of course, it would also be nice if the Supreme Court actually did something more to protect the whole Constitution itself from our increasingly fascist dictatorial executive branch and lame, crippled Congress, and spineless Senate, and not just try to address one particular aspect of the Constitution. What do you think?

Simonyi's INTENTIONAL Software History Revision?

I am shocked that InformationWeek would allow the publication of an interview with someone without questioning some wild claims, or possible untruths, the person made in a High Five interview with J. Nicholas Hoover on August 20, 2007.

It's bad enough that Microsoft still cannot even successfully COPY others' products (anyone know how to spell ZUNE), still has its vision coming from people who thought 640KB RAM was enough for everyone and the Internet was a fad, and is a company that continues to blatantly practice anti-competitive behavior as showed by the recent court findings against it in many places.

But, Charles Simonyi, now of Intentional Software, and an ex-Microsoft executive, is either delusional or intentionally revising history of the tech industry. In his HIGH FIVE Interview in InformationWeek recently, he makes the laughable claim that Microsoft was working on the GUI (graphical user interface) and trying to sell computer mice way before Apple.

If only I could dig up an old letter from Microsoft to me, in response to the offer I made to license them a mouse I had invented for disabled computer users in the 1980's. Microsoft's management had clearly stated to me in writing and a follow up conversation, that Microsoft had no desire or intention of ever selling hardware or computer mice as they did not see a fit with their business!

Mr. Simonyi has the money to buy a trip to space, but is either now spaced out, or just high, or just not "intentionally" truthful in his claims in the InformationWeek High Five interview. The InformationWeek writer should have dug deeper on that question but seems to have let it slide.

Imran