On the Web

Quick Flash Games

www.quickflashgames.com

--Quick Flash Games offers exactly what its name suggests: free online Flash games. The website hosts very simple yet fun games, including:

--Quick Sudoku: Fill the puzzle so that every row, column and 3x3 box contains the numbers 1 through 9.

--Quick Stack: Place and swap bricks and create groups of 3 blocks of the same colour in left or right or both stacks to score points and gain levels.

--Brick Break: Remove all the bricks from the game field to proceed to the next level.

--Quick Words: Make words from the provided letters in this word game.

--Perfect Match: Remember the location of cards, and match two same cards to remove them from the screen.

--Quick Rotation: Rotate the tiles clockwise or anti-clockwise to arrange them in numerical order.

Humble Voice

www.humblevoice.com

Humble Voice is a community that provides artists a chance to share their photography, art, videos, writing and music with each other. Users can view the profiles of other artists or create their own profile and upload, maintain and manage their artistic creations while building a community of friends. The site also provides bulletin boards, commentary, blog space, and community actions, and showcases featured artists along with each day's top listened to/viewed/read creations. So make a profile, upload your art, make friends, browse communities, tag favourite bands and artists, and enjoy!

News-e-land

- Wikipedia reviews its editing policy: Following countless incidents of vandalism, Wikipedia is considering changing its open-to-all policy to ensure that changes to the most popular wiki-pages are vetted before they are accessible on the website. Flagged revision would require pages of controversial topics to be scrutinised by trustworthy volunteer contributors before they appear online.

- Google launches Latitude: Google has launched a new tool, called Latitude, which allows mobile phone users to track other users on the Google Maps software. The application allows users to share their location with others and find contacts that are located nearby, and has led some to voice concerns about privacy.

Firefox

* Firefox within Firefox: To open a Firefox window within another Firefox window, enter chrome://browser/content/browser.xul in the address bar.

* Small icons: To make the icons small, go to View - Toolbars - Customise and check the 'Use small icons' box.

* Mouse shortcuts:

o Open new tab: Middle click

o Previous page: Shift-scroll down

o Next page: Shift-scroll up

o Decrease text size: Ctrl-scroll down

o Increase text size: Ctrl-scroll up

o Close tab: Middle click on a tab

Question of the Month

Home Page

Sadaf Muznani: I have chosen www.indusilicon.net/gp, as the default Home Page due to its fast performance and cultural representation. GP stands for Google Pakistan; it is designed, developed and hosted by myself with the purpose of reflecting digital linguistic and diversity. GP includes major language interfaces, including Urdu, Sindhi, Pashto and Punjabi.

Yumnah Azam: I have chosen MSN as my default home page at Opera 9.6 browser because it's easy to receive and send e-mails as I wait for my mails anxiously. :) Moreover, MSN provides the latest news and updates about the world in its homepage, and one can also watch new videos.

Labeeb Ur Rehman: I have chosen Orkut as the Home Page of my browser. The reason is that wherever I am online, I want to stay in touch with my family and all my friends. I never want to let them feel that I am away from them or unconcerned about them. Unfortunately, I am facing a problem with my explorer and am unable to use the default Home Page option. :-(

QOTM for February

Favourite Pakistani website

Rozee.pk, thenews.com.pk, alizafar.net, apniisp.com…there are countless Pakistani or Pakistan-related websites on the web. Is there a website that you particularly like to visit? Tell Us about it!

Faqeer-e raah ko bakhshay gaye asraar-e sultaani

Baha meri nava ki daulat-e parvayz hai saaqi

-Iqbal

On me, a beggar, secrets of empire are bestowed;

My songs are worth the treasures Parvez amassed, oh Saqi.

-Translation by V.G. Kiernan

Eager to erase

the gloom, I share

my wick with

a flaming match-stick,

and a fire engulfs

my very being.

The ordeal eats

me bit by bit as

I shed silent tears,

yet I've no fears

of the devilish dark,

for I can last till

the onset of dawn.

People will bask in

the light, come morn,

oblivious to my

ashen self.

A martyr to fight

obscurity will remain

obscure, un-mourned

A frozen berg

Shoots for a singing waterfall

My clinched expressions

Want to say it all

Like the cold that cripples the berg

The fear of losing you drains all strength from me

I envy the thought that brings thought in me

The most passionate in its modest way

Like the calmness in the silence of shore

Yet there exists the bitterness in all

I asked myself about that envious thought

It said

You are the artist

And I'm your white canvas

I crave for your colours on my face

I want to see your magic which others talk about

Envision me, fashion me and do bring life in me, whispered my eyes

You painted me red, green and orange

I made a juvenile smile

You brought the blacks and whites the other day

I let you hold me till your anger subside

You showered me with joys and laughs

Then one day you came and painted me blue

And that was the day you left me in rain…

Even though I advocate

The unreality of love

The truth is

In the process of defying love

I, too

Became its biggest believer

A rose petal bends

And the dew drop fell on pond

Rippled all water.

I can hear

My own funeral procession

Passing through my way

To my homeland

Talk to whisky skies, walk with drowsy clouds,

Smile a smiling lie, colourful but blue, harshest look,

You are the teller, tell tales to the world today,

Move in the circle of geometry, world's a stage,

Here, see this apple, full of colour so bright; red and round,

Ah! The colours of fate make us move in shapeless shapes,

Land of fortune black and white, a rainbow filled space,

See below the dream an endless mind open to opportunities infinite,

Journey of a day's life has started; join your only bandwagon Now,

World's a dreamer's fortune, reader's unread shelter,

Writer's dimensionless desert, going on and on and on,

Your wish is my command, you live in a real dream, live in it forever...

A veil of mystery,

A shadow of uncertainty,

A torrent of doubts,

Shattered dreams and broken hearts;

And yet

Rush of feelings,

Bonds of love,

Ties of affection -

Ah, life!

Eyelashes wax heavy,

Curtains fall on my eyes.

All plays are ending.