tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-196671592024-03-23T18:08:46.599+00:00Who knew?The mumblings and meanderings of a (former) student in Glasgow (now London).Atifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03756091460361124165noreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19667159.post-1148866847631361952006-05-29T01:17:00.000+00:002006-08-02T14:17:11.243+00:00Privacy? Wossat?I remember watching Enemy of the State way back in the day, at the Trafford Centre in Manchester. I came out the cinema looking for CCTV cameras all around me. The feeling of paranoia soon wore off, however, and I went back to my confortable state of ignorance.<br /><br />Fast forward eight years, and the paranoia is back. Sadly, I don’t see it leaving me quite so easily this time. I watched BBC 2’s awesome ‘<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctwo/programmes/?id=money_programme">The Money Programme</a>’ [bbc.co.uk] the other night, which was all about how we’re increasingly watched and tracked by both business and the state.<br /><br />Essentially, the argument boils down to this: there are good, solid business cases for the vast majority of surveillance that is conducted by companies. However, problems arise when staff no longer feel trusted, when that information can be obtained by the state, and when many seemingly disparate and innocuous pieces of information can be pulled together to paint a picture and track the movements of individuals.<br /><br />I think I’m going to carry this theme forward a bit over the next few posts. To give a flavour of what’s in place today, think about the following. We receive itemised phone bills for our landlines and mobile phones. It’s handy for us to know who we’ve called, and to check that our bills are accurate. Phone companies are required to keep these logs of who, when and for how long we’ve called for several years. Mobile phone companies also record all the text messages we send and receive – and that includes the actual text content. On the internet, ISPs keep a record of all the emails we send and receive – including their content. They can also keep a log of all the websites we’ve visited. Then of course there’s Echelon, the shadowy electronic surveillance super-machine that intercepts and analyses hundreds of millions of digital communications (including voice) every hour of every single day.<br /><br />But it’s not just our communications that are recorded. All our credit card and banking transactions are recorded electronically, too. ‘Loyalty cards’ record our buying habits, telling stores what we bought and when. Our movements are tracked by the UK’s network of an estimated 5 million-plus CCTV cameras. Some of these are capable of automatic number plate recognition. Automatic facial recognition isn’t far away. There are CCTV cameras on busses and trains. The London underground is expanding its current network of 6,000 cameras to 12,000 over the next five years. The Oyster card (a handy smartcard for public transport use in London) keeps a record of all the journeys you have made. Last year, the police requested these details for over 200 separate individuals. In the UK, we are caught on camera approximately 300 times <span style="font-style: italic;">every day</span>.<br /><br />And all that’s just for starters…Atifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03756091460361124165noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19667159.post-1144365608797016302006-04-06T23:06:00.000+00:002006-04-06T23:25:16.660+00:00Drivers of ChangeAs I've mentioned before, I'll be moving to London to join an engineering firm called Arup this September. I've also mentioned before that I'm really quite fascinated with the future and what it might bring. What does the surveillance society mean for us? When will building have to generate all of the energy they use? How will the Earth sustain you and nine billion other people?<br /><br />Well, whaddya know... a few weeks ago, Arup released a set of 50 cards called '<a href="http://2006.driversofchange.com/" target="_blank">Drivers of Change</a>'. These cards are the result of Arup's Foresight & Innovation team's research in to the forces that are shaping our world. They're themed around five main areas; social, economic, political, environment, and technology, with ten cards under each area. Each card has a picture on the front and some text and a graphic on the back.<br /><br />Unfortunately the set of cards costs £20 to buy, but from what I've managed to dig up on the internet, they make for some interesting reading. The cards cover everything from atomic engineering to fear to food legislation to urbanization. It's a comprehensive look at the world around us and how it's changing. I might even splash out and buy myself a set.<br /><br />I can't wait to get started working for them. Be sure to check out the <a href="http://2006.driversofchange.com/" target="_blank">Drivers of Change website</a>.Atifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03756091460361124165noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19667159.post-1143933944453479752006-04-01T23:21:00.000+00:002006-04-01T23:25:57.736+00:00Need... to... know...I want to know far too much about far too many things - and the problem with the Internet is that it's perfectly suited to feeding my crazed addiction to information.<br /><br />Luckily, a bunch of crazy librarians have finally come up with what they claim is <a href="http://metastacks.blogspot.com/">a cure for information overload</a>. Check it out - I'm sure hoping it helps me!<br /><br />Hopefully, a fuller post will be coming soon. :-)Atifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03756091460361124165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19667159.post-1142985891678819862006-03-21T23:41:00.000+00:002006-03-22T00:04:51.703+00:00SurrealYou know when you’re just going about your daily life as normal, and then something small, but out of the ordinary, happens? The sort of thing that makes you stop for a second and puts a smile on your face? I love those moments.<br /><br />They can happen for all sorts of reasons… deja vous, coincidences, anything. Well, I remembered one such moment today, and it brought a smile to my face. So I thought I’d share.<br /><br />A few weeks ago my sister was flying up from London to come home for the weekend, and I was to go and pick her up from the airport. Now, our house is under the flight path out of/in to Glasgow Airport, but the thought that something like this could ever possibly happen had never crossed my mind before.<br /><br />As is usual for me, I was cutting it pretty fine to get there in time to pick her up. As I closed the back door and turned round to lock it, I heard a plane passing over head. I looked up to see the BA flight my sister was on (it could only be hers; there are no other BA flights at that time of night) pass above my head, just as I was setting out collect her. I think that’s pretty cool!<br /><br />That brought a real smile to my face. For me, it’s wee moments like this that make life fun.Atifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03756091460361124165noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19667159.post-1142801792957728772006-03-19T20:20:00.000+00:002006-03-19T20:56:36.350+00:00Powerful StuffSo the other night I was procrastinating (clearly, this was shortly before our Masters project was due a couple of weeks ago). And, as I’m sure every student knows, among the most Fundamental Laws of the Universe is, “If you have something to do, you will definitely find alternative things to do to keep yourself otherwise occupied, no matter how menial. If you have nothing to do, you will not find anything interesting enough to keep you occupied, no matter how fascinating”. I hate that Law.<br /><br />Turns out, though, that it’s not all bad. Because on this particular night, it led me to <a href="http://video.google.com" target="_blank">Google Video</a>. Which is generally quite cool. I ended up watching a 30-minute lecture entitled “All Marketers are Liars”, given by author <a href="http://sethgodin.typepad.com/" target="_blank">Seth Godin</a> (a Stanford MBA and business writer/speaker). The lecture was given at Google HQ, as part of some mad speaker series they have for their staff.<br /><br />Now, me being as sad as I am, a bit of a business geek, AND having cause to procrastinate, I ended up watching it. T’was quite interesting, but I’ll spare you the details (though they do involve purple cows and a short man with a bald head [no, I don’t mean me]). My point is, that from this video I followed a link to Godin’s blog, from whence I followed another link to another page, which was entitled “<a href="http://www.thisisgoingtobebig.com/2005/08/10_steps_to_a_h.html" target="_blank">10 Steps to Creating a Successful Web2.0 Company</a>”. Again, I’m sad enough to find something like this somewhat interesting (remember also, that one is subject to the Fundamental Law of Procrastination, just as Gravity keeps one’s ass inescapably on the ground).<br /><br />Having read this article, I thought of my Canadian friend who is currently starting up his own Web2.0 company (well whaddyano), and so double-clicked his name in MSN Messenger and sent him the link to the article. In an instant I’ve got a reply from him thanking me for the article, and we end up discussing the lecture I’d just seen, because it turned out he’d seen it too.<br /><br />Bearing in mind how sad I am, I think that’s pretty cool, and a powerful demonstration of ‘The Power of the Internet’. I got educated, passed it on to friend thousands of miles away in an instant, and then discussed the material and our thoughts on it together. And that’s not to consider the fact that the Internet facilitated the sharing of the content in the first place, not just my accessing it.Atifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03756091460361124165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19667159.post-1142126922971352552006-03-12T01:21:00.000+00:002006-03-12T01:31:11.866+00:00That was close...Woomf. Our trolley fell apart four times in the two days before our final presentation for the Masters project. Instead of spending the last day taking pictures and videos of the completed trolley for the <a href="http://www.projects.mecheng.strath.ac.uk/groupf">website</a>, we spent it scraping adhesive off and them reapplying it - twice. Such a downer. Crap day all round - we ended up staying in until about 8.30 to practice our presentation for the following morning.<br /><br />But then, on Friday, the presentation came off without a hitch. It was beautiful, and a real feeling of achievement for everyone in the team. The culmination of months of hard work and some very, very stressful days towards the end there! We had biscuits, tea and coffee for our assessors/project supervisors, a display of the adhesive technologies and testing we'd done, some samples of the shoddy technician work we'd had to find workarounds for, the old trolley and a spectacular unveiling of our new prototype, not to mention the slick presentation itself! The feedback at the end was very positive, and we all went out for a celebratory lunch afterwards. Good times.<br /><br />The heartstopping moment was when one of the assessors picked the trolley up at the end and started shaking it about, asking us, "Have you tested this joint for fatigue? I'd really like to see how it holds up under some abuse." Our hearts were in our mouths - it was truly terrifying! Thankfully, the trolley held together and didn't fall apart!<br /><br />I was going to write about some cool stuff (well, I think it's cool) I did on t'internet the other day, but I think I'll save that for another post.Atifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03756091460361124165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19667159.post-1141608060297392072006-03-06T00:54:00.000+00:002006-03-06T01:25:33.920+00:00TardyTardy. What a great word. I'm getting rather tardy with my blog posts, and it's unacceptable. Fortunately, it's not my fault. It's all Uni's fault. All of it. And until I get my life back at the end of the month, it's likely blog posts will continue to be rather thin on the ground. Which is sad.<br /><br />My Masters project final report was due on Friday, and we managed (just) to get it in on time. We need to have the <a href="http://www.projects.mecheng.strath.ac.uk/groupf">website </a>finished by this Friday, and the final presentation is due on Friday as well. At the same time, I have a CFD (computational fluid dynamics)coursework to hand in by next week and a helluva lot of work to do on a business plan project for my entrepreneurship class.<br /><br />But there's always time for TV! I watched Bremner, Bird & Fortune the other night. I've never really sat and watched a whole episode of it before, butI have to say they were pretty damn good at pointing out the unbelievableness (yes, I know that's not a word) of some of the stuff that goes on in our country.<br /><br />I'm also loving The Apprentice, although last week's episode really didn't inspire me with confidence in the contestants. Three people broke down in tears and neither team deserved to win - they were both crap.<br /><br />God - I've really gone downhill. From discussing the world's economic future and global politics to boring people with my uni assignments and thoughts on TV. Pretty sad!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.waytoblue.com/media/video/the_real_simpsons_850k.asx">Let me make it up to you</a>. :-)Atifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03756091460361124165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19667159.post-1141078325523786732006-02-27T22:11:00.000+00:002006-02-27T22:12:05.543+00:00Some things money can't buy...<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4756054.stm">Priceless</a>.Atifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03756091460361124165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19667159.post-1140742756341775612006-02-24T00:51:00.000+00:002006-02-24T01:01:16.963+00:00TerrifyingI’d like to refer you to <a href="http://www.osamasaeed.org/osama/2006/02/guantanamo_film.html">this post</a>, on my good friend Osama’s blog, Rolled up Trousers. From there, he links to a story detailing how one actor, who had portrayed the role of a man released from Guantanamo Bay as innocent after two years of detention (what sort of a world allows that go on unchecked? Western values of freedom and liberty? Hello?), was stopped and question by police. Click on the link to the The LIP. It’s compelling reading:<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">"She called in a male colleague who threateningly told me to give him the phone before gripping my hands and wrestling it from me. He then sat on a table in the room, grinned at me, winked and went through my phone. I protested, but he ignored me and continued to go through my phone. Then a third officer entered, and all three adopted very aggressive stances, threatening to take me to a police station, calling me a 'fucker', moving in very close to my face, pointing and shouting at me to 'shut up and listen'. I complained at being called a fucker. The officer who still had my phone, and who had sworn at me, smiled at me and then said 'now you’re making things up, no one called you that'."</span></div><br />The government has powers to stop, detain and interrogate us at any time, for absolutely no reason at all, with no requirement for any evidence or even motive. And, according to this account, they claim that they can also deny us access to legal assistance for up to 48 hours. I really do find this genuinely terrifying. Every time I fly the thought of being put through something similar to this plays on my mind. This guy handled himself really well; I'm not so sure I could do the same.Atifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03756091460361124165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19667159.post-1140741034962794352006-02-24T00:18:00.000+00:002006-02-24T00:37:44.530+00:00EmbarrassingMuslims all over the world are rioting. Like, all of us. Everywhere. At perceived American imperialism, at insulting cartoons, at each other (and - allegedly, I have my own suspicions - bombing each others’ mosques to boot). I find it really, really embarrassing. In fact, when I’m sitting watching the news switching between Muslims rioting in Iran to Nigeria to Syria to Iraq to London to Indonesia, I can’t help but feel that if I weren’t Muslim, I’d probably be thinking something along the lines of, “What the hell is the matter with these guys? All they ever do is get angry about stuff and shoot guns and riot and bomb things and kill people. I don’t like Muslims”. And I’m not exaggerating in order to make my point – I’d really be thinking that. I think I would be able to draw a distinction between the Muslims here and the Muslims abroad doing all the rioting, but the basic sentiment is there.<br /><br />So that’s one point – we Muslims really need to sort ourselves out and start showing a much, much more professional, media-savvy face. And, nicely, that leads me smoothly on to my second point, which is that all we seem to see in the media is images of Muslims rioting and marching and protesting. Of course, it’s fair to say that that’s because there’s a fair amount of that going on. And I also have to say that some of the pictures – even on ITV news – have been of peaceful demonstrations, for instance of Iraqi Shi’ites and Sunnis jointly calling for peace and calm, and condemning the bombing of the Mosque over there.<br /><br />But also, it doesn’t help when that’s all that we are seen to do by those watching Western media (again, I concede that we largely have ourselves to blame, but it’s not all our fault, either). When all people see is pictures of angry mobs shooting guns and chanting things in Arabic and burning flags, they forget that there are hundreds of millions more Muslims just trying to get on with their lives in a peaceful manner; people just trying to earn a decent, fair living, to put food in their childrens’ mouths and to improve their lot in the world. People like you and me (OK, so sans children for most of us!).Atifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03756091460361124165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19667159.post-1140549741851802192006-02-21T19:18:00.000+00:002006-02-21T19:24:09.903+00:00Masters Project<a href="http://www.projects.mecheng.strath.ac.uk/groupf">The site is up</a>! It's taken me ages to get there, but I eventually figured it out (with a lot of help from friends). It's a requirement of our Masters projects that we produce this, and you can check out some of the other groups' sites by changing the group letter in the url.<br /><br />So <a href="http://www.projects.mecheng.strath.ac.uk/groupf">check it out</a> and let me know what you think. It's far from complete, but the Project side is is getting there. I'd be lying if I didn't say I'm quite pleased with how it's turning out, but there's always room for improvement. Hit me with your criticisms - thanks!Atifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03756091460361124165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19667159.post-1140400710283510572006-02-20T01:43:00.000+00:002006-02-20T01:58:30.296+00:00No wonder it's so bigI am, of course, talking about the internet (or t'internet, as its known in Yorkshire). As part of my Masters project, my group has to produce a website detailing the project itself and our final product. I won’t bore you with the details just now (I’m saving that for another time), but, naturally, the job of creating the website fell upon me.<br /><br />I’ve never, ever created my own website. I’ve been told by a million people that html is dead easy to learn, but I’ve never believed them because I’ve tried and failed to learn it, several times. I was determined that this time would be different. And with the help of a piece of software costing several hundred pounds (cough cough), it has been. I’ve actually created something half decent, and even learnt a little html and Javascript along the way.<br /><br />The point is that if I can make a half decent website with no prior knowledge whatsoever – literally, none – then so can anybody. Now, to anybody with half a brain that’s been obvious for several years, what with the proliferation of the internet and the websites it comprises. There are two reasons the net is so prolific today – it’s free, and it’s easy to add to.<br /><br />Of course, until recently, the ‘adding content’ bit of the net has been reserved for those with at least half a brain (you still need some ability to learn). The difference with blogging, however, is that you don’t even need that much. It’s the internet for dummies. And when you invite dummies to add to the net (ala me), the result is millions and millions and millions of pages of self-absorbed, emotional garbage and unbelievably ill-informed opinions.<br /><br />I don’t really have a problem with that, though. A lot of people do, but I don’t really understand why. It’s not as if anyone holds a gun to your head and forces you to read anything. You have choice. So let the dummies keep adding to the internet – it’s in the nature of the beast.<br /><br />I’m not really sure what the point is that I’m trying to make in all of this. I’m just glad that adding to internet is easy, and getting easier. That’s good for everyone. <br /><br />Yeah. That’s it.Atifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03756091460361124165noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19667159.post-1140054678353052242006-02-16T01:29:00.000+00:002006-02-16T01:56:12.303+00:00Pot. Kettle. Black.My apologies (again!) for the lack of regular updates - it's been a pretty hectic time these last few days.<br /><br />I want to comment quickly on the unbelievable crap that the US government seems to keep churning out. Three things in particular: The US Vice-President shooting a man in the face with a shotgun, US ‘lawmakers’ criticising some Internet firms on their dealings in China, and the US government complaining about an Australian show that found and broadcast previously unseen images of the abuse inflicted upon the inmates at Abu Ghraib.<br /><br />On <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4711372.stm">the first thing</a>, you’d think with an idiot like Bush as President, the White House communications people would be used to handling PR disasters – but apparently not. Cheney has (to date) refused to comment publicly about the hunting accident, despite the fact that the man has been in hospital since Sunday and has suffered a subsequent heart attack. They were slow in releasing the news, slow in reacting to question, and why on Earth hasn’t the Vice-President of the most powerful nation in the world got the guts to stand up and apologise when he’s made a bobo?<br /><br />On <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4699242.stm">the second thing</a>, this really does smack of hypocrisy. The US government continues to invade the privacy of its own citizens by trying to force companies such as Google to give up their records of individuals’ search patterns and illegally monitoring the activities of its own citizens, but has the gall to make a song and dance about companies doing legal business in China. The fact of the matter is that the situation in China is far from ideal, but you have to start somewhere – and this is very much a start. And I believe that China is better off with these countries in than out. Some of the rhetoric coming out of Washington is unbelievable. The cynic in me says its more about the US fearing political liberation in China than trying to encourage it.<br /><br />On <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4716280.stm">the third thing</a> (watch out - this links to graphic images) – oh dear, really, where do you start? The strategy the US government is trying to pull here is pretty clear. Come out hard, don’t deny that the pictures are truly horrific, but be unapologetic in condemning their further publication. Say it will make things harder for our troops, and cause needless violence, because people know we're not about violence. The problem with that line of thought is that anybody with half a brain will think to themselves “Hold on a minute. This is your fault – don’t go crying about it now”. They’ve made their bed, now they must lie in it. The thing that gets me the most, though, is that we only find out about the incidents where soldiers are stupid enough to record their actions (really makes you wonder about the calibre of people they’re sending out there). I’ve not seen a single media source question how much of this disgusting, low-life abuse goes on unrecorded, unchecked and unheard of. I get the distinct feeling that the recorded stuff is only the tip of the iceberg, yet no-one seems willing to dig deeper.<br /><br />Least of all the conniving American government. Three PR disasters in one week from the world's only superpower! The geek in me says, "OMG uberROFLLMAO LOL!!!!11!1!"Atifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03756091460361124165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19667159.post-1139457794180150192006-02-09T03:59:00.000+00:002006-02-12T20:32:21.273+00:00Sad newsMy father-in-law-to-be passed away on Wednesday night at around quarter to midnight. He had been in hospital for several weeks having initially been admitted with water in his lungs. A few days ago doctors discovered a tumor in his lungs, and his health rapidly deteriorated on Wednesday before he passed away.<br /><br />Please remember him in your prayers, as well as his wife and the four daughters he leaves behind. Uncle Rashid was known for his good humour and calm temperament, as well as the marvellous job he has done raising his family.<br /><br />I don't really know what else to say right now. Updates will probably be very erratic for the next few days (not that that's anything new!). Please remember them in your prayers.Atifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03756091460361124165noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19667159.post-1139355404869068462006-02-07T23:20:00.000+00:002006-02-07T23:42:07.936+00:00Here we go again...I must apologise for the lack of recent updates. The blog honeymoon period, where updating is fun and something I look forward to, is well and truly over. I had been anticipating this stage ever since I started this baby up, but never knew exactly when of how it would hit. Now, updating is beginning to feel more and more like a chore, which is bad. So I need to keep this thing interesting for myself first and foremost, and for all those to take the time to read my ramblings second. Like I’ve said before – I’m selfish that way.<br /><br />One of the reasons I’ve not posted recently is because I feel like I should say something about the whole cartoon fiasco, but really can’t be bothered. The whole thing has just spiralled out of control into this utterly preposterous situation.<br /><br />Was the Danish newspaper right to publish the pictures? In my opinion, absolutely not. Do they have the right to do so? Absolutely, according to Danish law. As Muslims living in the West we must understand and respect the ideals and laws of the lands in which we choose to live. These pictures were published because it’s legal. Equally, when such things are legally published we should engage in legal complaint. Freedom of speech does not infer the right to offend, and the newspaper would have done well to consider this before publishing. However, the completely OTT reaction we’ve seen in the Muslim world has done far, far more damage to the image of Islam than these cartoons ever would have done on their own.<br /><br />There’s so much to be said on this, but I’ll limit myself to just a couple more points. In all the arguing and protesting and everything that’s gone along with this, the point of the outrage has been lost. Yes, Muslims are horrified at the cartoons themselves. However, this is not the main cause of the outrage; rather it is the fact that they were then republished several times out of what appears to have been sheer spite. To a people who already feel victimised and downtrodden, this like was rubbing salt in the wound and then sticking two fingers up in their faces.<br /><br />What should have been an opportunity for Muslims to explain the significance of the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in our faith, and why we abhor any depictions of the prophet or God, let alone such vile ones, has turned in to a deeply embarrassing episode that has left many people in the west wondering why it is that any time Muslims are offended mob culture takes hold, flags are burnt and embassies marched upon. We’ve succeeded in shooting ourselves in the foot, with a shotgun, from point blank range. D’oh.Atifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03756091460361124165noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19667159.post-1138928804475510222006-02-03T00:39:00.000+00:002006-02-03T01:06:44.493+00:00The decision<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">After my internship at Accenture, I was dazed and confused. <span style=""> </span>On one hand, I’d managed to secure a (very) well paying job that was based out of <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Edinburgh</st1:place></st1:City>, which was awesome because it meant I could stay close to home. <span style=""> </span>On the other hand, I’d discovered that I didn’t really have a passion for IT, wasn’t too keen on the culture at Accenture, and I wasn’t sure that I was really ready to commit my life to Accenture’s demands of constant mobility. <span style=""> </span>I was very lucky to be given 4 months to decide on whether I wanted to accept Accenture’s offer.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">If I was going to work in Engineering, it was only ever going to be with one firm – Arup. <span style=""> </span>To me, Arup is the very pinnacle of the engineering consulting profession, and everything – from their projects to their culture to their training – is awesome. <span style=""> </span>The downsides were that it would probably require a move to <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">London</st1:place></st1:City>, the pay would be considerably less than with Accenture, and that I highly doubted that I had the required engineering aptitude to pass the technical interview.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I attended a presentation they held on campus, and sent off my application form in October.<span style=""> </span>Over 3 months and two follow-up emails later, I was finally offered an interview (only a week before I had to give my final answer to Accenture!). <span style=""> </span>The interview was an interesting experience, and I liked the fact that it more informal – I got the impression that the interviewers really cared about the person they were interviewing. <span style=""> </span>In contrast, at Accenture I very much felt like just a ‘number’. <span style=""> </span>The technical interview apparently went very well, and I think my enthusiasm for the field shone through with the interviewers. <span style=""> </span>I was delighted when they offered me the job immediately after the end of my ‘chat’ with the two senior engineers (which had lasted for one and a half hours).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">What followed were an agonising two days of deciding between good pay, good location, good company, boring job and average pay, acceptable location, fantastic company and amazing job. <span style=""> </span>In the end I decided that it’s more important to be happy in my job than to have loads of money, and the attractiveness of Arup’s training policy swung it in their favour.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">It is, without a doubt, the second-hardest decision I’ve ever had to make in my life (the first being getting engaged). <span style=""> </span>I’ve been utterly torn over what to do – and even now that the deed is done and I’ve phoned both companies to tell them my decision, I’m still finding it hard to think about anything else! <span style=""> </span>Nevertheless, I can’t wait until I start the new job in September this year.</span></p>Atifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03756091460361124165noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19667159.post-1138844694681881452006-02-02T01:26:00.000+00:002006-02-02T01:44:54.693+00:00At last!As I mentioned last night, the reason I’ve not been posting much over the last few days is that I’ve had other things on my mind. Pretty big things, actually – things that are about as big as big things can get. Big, Big Things.<br /><br />It’s been a while since I’ve written a personal post, so here goes. When I was at school, I always knew I enjoyed maths and science more than art and music (strangely, I’ve also always enjoyed English). So when it came time to go to university, engineering seemed the logical choice. I chose mechanical engineering because it was so broad, and as I had little idea at the time of what I wanted to do for a career, I figured it would allow me to keep my options open.<br /><br />I can be quite an indecisive person, and have flip-flopped between potential careers throughout my time at uni. Initially I wanted to go in to the aerospace industry, until I discovered I had neither the required aptitude nor any interest in the nitty-gritty of it, so dropped that idea in second year. I went on exchange to the University of Toronto during third year, and during my time there became something of a building geek. So on my return to Glasgow the following summer, I did an internship at a building services engineering firm. In short – interesting job, crappy pay.<br /><br />During my fourth year I figured I was worth a lot more than what I’d make working as a building services engineer in Glasgow, so instead I investigated the management consulting/big City firms to follow the money. I did an internship with Accenture between my 4th and 5th years, which was very challenging and good fun to do for three months. The best thing I can say about Accenture is that it’s the people who make it a great place to work – everyone is outgoing, down to Earth, good fun to be around and very smart. I was genuinely surprised by how nice everyone was, as I’d expected to be surrounded by people with their heads up their behookies (apparently those types are primarily confined to the financial services companies).<br /><br />Trouble was, I didn’t find the work at Accenture all that satisfying… and to find out what happened next, including the Big Things I was talking about, you’ll have to tune in at the same time tomorrow!<br /><br />Yeah yeah, I know what you’re thinking… Crappest. Cliffhanger. Ever.<br /><br />Bite me.Atifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03756091460361124165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19667159.post-1138756210275520932006-02-01T01:06:00.000+00:002006-02-01T01:10:10.290+00:00Loss of ServiceSorry for the lack of updates (though I'm sure no one actually missed my inane ranting).<br /><br />I was offered a last minute job interview with Arup (a world-leading engineering consultancy, dealing mainly in the built environment), a company I have long aspired to work for. I spent the weekend preparing, flew down to London yesterday and got back a wee while ago from the interview.<br /><br />I was offered the job immediately after the interview was over, which is absolutely fantastic.<br /><br />Problem is, now I'm faced with making a very, very tough decision...Atifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03756091460361124165noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19667159.post-1138328678415946112006-01-27T00:54:00.000+00:002006-01-27T02:24:38.456+00:00Shock-a-roonieHamas winning power in the Palestinian elections is one of those turning points in history that is so huge, few are able to predict what will happen next. Personally, I think this has the opportunity to refresh the peace process – but maybe I’m being optimistic. It all depends on how Hamas decides to play it.<br /><br />My question is not so much ‘What happens next?’, but ‘How did this happen?’ Apparently, I’m the only one who’s interested in this – Google searches on Why/how did Hamas win turned up no exact phrases, and no useful standard search results. World leaders are busy renouncing Hamas and telling them to shun ‘terrorism’ and embrace Israel with peace and love, seemingly neglecting to consider and analyse how it could be that Hamas has pulled off such a stunning victory – from nowhere.<br /><br />There are several other issues, too. For a start, it seems that the West (including Israel) is all for democracy when it gives them what they want – i.e. puppet governments that will pander to their every demand, and play their agenda for them. But when democracy turns up a result they don’t like, suddenly they’re not so quick to point out that this is the will of the Palestinian people, and so the Israelis must deal with it. Instead, they moan and complain. Again, this leads on to the question ‘Why did the Palestinians elect Hamas?’<br /><br />I could go on and on, but briefly, here are my other thoughts.<br /><ol><li>There’s no reason Hamas should abandon all its weapons. The only difference between the military wings of Hamas and Israel is now also gone – before one was merely an organisation of the people, the other and organisation of a state. Other than that, they both kill civilians by targeting civilian areas.</li><li>Both Israel and Hamas have indicated recently that they may talk to each other in the future… which in itself was unheard of just a few weeks ago. This is how progress begins.</li><li>One of the primary reasons, in my view, that Hamas was elected was that the Palestinians were sick of Fatah, corruption, and the neverending road to nowhere. They’ve put their faith in Hamas, and its now up to Hamas to prove that the faith has been well-placed. Schemes to help communities are one thing – running a government is quite another.</li><li>I do have more, but this post is long enough. So I’ll spare you.</li></ol>Atifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03756091460361124165noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19667159.post-1138234785154927782006-01-26T00:03:00.000+00:002006-01-26T00:21:20.086+00:00Expensive paper. Oh, and we're doomed.Living in a highly modern, technologically advanced country like Britain is great because we can use technology to make ourselves more efficient, and stuff.<br /><br />Yet somehow it costs the British taxpayer <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4641132.stm">£60 per page</a> for the printing costs associated with Early Day Motions (see a guide to EDMs <a href="http://www.obv.org.uk/education/edm.html">here</a>) tabled by our MPs in the Houses of Parliament. £60 per page? Mental!<br /><br />In other news... a wee thought about this globalisation malarkey. To sum up my previous arguments, basically the West is doomed because of the sheer numbers of engineers China and India are churning out year upon year. Eventually, they're going to kick our collective asses - so now would be a good time to learn Mandarin.<br /><br />Hold on a minute, say the other side. India and China aren't so much producing engineers as spewing them out; in other words, they've got the quantity, but they ain't got the quality. And when they ain't got the quality, it takes superior Western engineers to come in and sort the mess out when they screw up. And that makes any cost savings pointless, and so the West is saved.<br /><br />Let me finish, say I. They might not be the world’s greatest engineers just now. But give them 10 years (I’m feeling generous, I reckon it’s more like 5). The point isn’t simply that they’re churning out more engineers, but also that they’re getting better and smarter faster than we are. And that’s a bad thing. Because not only are they getting smarter, but in general we’re getting dumber. And we’re graduating fewer engineers every year, not more.<br /><br />So like I said – we’re screwed. Welcome to the future.Atifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03756091460361124165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19667159.post-1138066053160996272006-01-24T01:14:00.000+00:002006-01-24T01:27:33.176+00:00Politics FatigueBack to uni today - the final countdown. It's weird to think that I'll finally be graduating this year. And getting married. And starting a job. Jeez.<br /><br />I've been wanting to post some political stuff for the last few days (ala yesterday), but I just don't have the same motivation as when I first started this blog. Partially I think it’s because the blog ‘honeymoon period’ is over – all the juicy topics I wanted to write about have basically been covered (and my opinions/thoughts aren’t developed enough to cover them again), but also I think it’s down to politics fatigue.<br /><br />It’s like everything in the world is changing, yet it’s the same thing happening every time. Blair and Bush are bad, the terrorists must be stopped, but we must understand why the terrorists do what they do, but they kill innocent people. Two opposing sides, constant debate, little progress. I’m sick and tired of it. <br /><br />Of course, the situation’s going to get far, far worse before it gets any better. I firmly believe that we haven’t yet seen the tip of the iceberg. There are so many things going on right now that eventually it’ll have to all rise to a crushing crescendo at some point in the future. That will be a truly horrible time.<br /><br />The many things going on right now include (in no specific order), killing of innocents by terrorists, killing of innocents by governments (i.e. state-sponsored terrorism), unilaterally initiated war, increasing friction between Muslim communities and the Western societies in which they live, hate mongers bent on increasing this hatred, erosion of civil liberties, depletion of fossil fuels, growing international mistrust between East and West, the economic rise of Eastern nations…<br /><br />…I could go on and on, but I’m guessing most people will have stopped reading by now. I know I would have.Atifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03756091460361124165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19667159.post-1137980659067896802006-01-23T01:03:00.000+00:002006-01-23T01:52:56.830+00:00AmericaAmerica is an incredible country, and Americans are justifiably proud of it. In little over 2 centuries, their country has risen to be the most powerful and economically successful nation on Earth. There is little that goes on in the world without their country’s agreement and involvement; they are world leaders in science and technology; and they have a free and democratic society that is protected by the US constitution. It is a truly great nation that has achieved a great deal in a very short space of time.<br /><br />Of course, there’s a lot that can be said against America, too – a heck of a lot. But I think sometimes America’s detractors (myself included) can lose sight of just what it is they’re up against in terms of the American psyche. Given the stuff I rambled on about in the opening paragraph, I think it’s easy to understand why Americans are so in-your-face patriotic about their country – it is, in their eyes, a land of opportunity, freedom and greatness. And they want to protect it at all costs.<br /><br />The problem is that all those great achievements have come at a huge cost. If you ignore all the bad things America has done to get to where it is today, then it’s easy to admire the world’s greatest superpower. But when you think about the brutal regimes across the globe that have received American support, the blatant disregard for Earth's environment, the internal race and class struggles, the hypocrisy in their policies, you come to a different conclusion.<br /><br />And that is why I find it to be a great nation ruled by a truly repugnant government. A government, sadly enough, elected to power by its citizens. Now, what does that say about Americans?Atifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03756091460361124165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19667159.post-1137809500405449792006-01-21T01:56:00.000+00:002006-01-21T02:11:40.416+00:00Row, row, row your boat, gently down the hall...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bizcardpro.com/customlogos/House-Maintenance/Man-Mopping.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://bizcardpro.com/customlogos/House-Maintenance/Man-Mopping.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Two hours ago, I was sitting in my room quite happily chillaxing before going to bed. Then I heard my Dad shouting me from the hall and walked out to see our combi boiler gushing water all over the utility room and out in to the hall. Lovely.<br /><br />So after we managed to get the water off, we spent the next hour and a half trying to soak up as much of the water as we could. The water was a lovely muddy colour, and smelt just wonderful. We've got a heating technican coming out first thing tomorrow to take a look at the boiler.<br /><br />I'm now very tired, very peeved, and feeling very, very dirty. And with no water in the house, there's nowt I can do about it.<br /><br />G'night.<br /><br />(Ps. It could have been worse... my friend Robin had <a href="http://robubu.blogspot.com/2005/05/3-hours-sleep-buckets-full-of-water.html">a similar experience</a> a while ago. She thought it was a robber taking a shower; my mum thought the gushing sound of water was me taking a shower and my Dad thought it was me washing dishes. It wasn't.)Atifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03756091460361124165noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19667159.post-1137715032902665532006-01-19T23:55:00.000+00:002006-01-20T00:08:07.690+00:00Where do I begin....... asking how this picture ever came about?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.syslog.com/%7Ejwilson/pics-i-like/ups.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://www.syslog.com/%7Ejwilson/pics-i-like/ups.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>There's just so much <span style="font-style: italic;">wrong</span> here!Atifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03756091460361124165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19667159.post-1137695662914817202006-01-19T18:22:00.000+00:002006-01-19T18:47:05.450+00:00Darmstadt, we have a problem...For anyone who thought to themselves, "There's no way Atif could ever work in Mission Control - he's too stupid", turns out you were right.<br /><br />I discovered that whilst I absolutely have the right skillset (a combination of IT & space engineering knowledge that is hard to come by) I would've been competing against not only other graduates from across the UK, but against the very best phD's and chartered engineers from across the whole of Europe. Not only that, but you are subjected to a very rigorous, challenging panel interview by ESOC staff that is designed to challenge and determine how you think under pressure. If at any point they don't think you'd be able to handle the job, they'll stop the interview right there and ask you to leave. According to my contact, it's "brutal". Quite clearly, I'm not superhuman enough to drop my current job offer and risk going through such a tough process. Ce la vie.<br /><br />On another note, the government continues to flap about like a headless chicken over the fact that our country is facilitating US torture flights by allowing them to land and refuel at our airports. How can they expect us to believe that there's nothing going on when (a) There's overwhelming evidence to the contrary and (b) They have proven themselves to be a bunch of liars on several occasions.Atifhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03756091460361124165noreply@blogger.com0