Links For Thursday

Stuff to make you waste time:

To all those who were beating their chest and crying their eyes out when Bubs left: you can stop beating your chest and crying your eyes out. He has a blog on Newsline's website, though the tone (a touch more formal), language (no curse words, alas) and content (no Lost recaps) are different from his time at Rs.5. We're adding his blog to our blogroll over on the right. To get you started, read his post on how the controversy over Musharraf "admitting" that the military misused U.S. military aid in directing it against India is bullshit. He -- Musharraf, that is -- did nothing of the sort.

Tazeen has an awesome post on Junaid Jamshed telling poor people to stop running after food and simply place their trust in God instead. No, seriously. This post wins the coveted if-you're-going-to-read-just-one-thing-this-week-make-it-this award.

Courtesy Naqiya, it appears New Jersey residents are as fond of conspiracy theories as South Asians.

Check out the good people at Cafe Pyala, a blog run by journalists in Pakistan, who we're also adding to the blogroll. They have an interesting post on this whole Meera thing. To be honest, it wasn't until two days ago when I even discovered what the hell the controversy was. I really should follow celebrity news more closely. Also on Meeragate, our good friend Mosharraf wrote quite possibly the worst column he has ever written. Which is ok; we all have our bad days and bad ideas. To be fair, he did redeem himself with a hilarious response to a bunch of criticisms on the Facebook thread for his column, which unfortunately I can't reproduce.

Courtesy Rishad, some really fantastic and revealing photographs from across Pakistan. Highly recommended.

The Atlantic magazine has a list -- apparently scientifically produced -- that ranks the top 50 pundits and op-edders by influence. It's really sad that there's only one name in the top ten who I super-duper trust (bet you guys can't guess who it is).

From the department of just-how-much-should-we-read-into-this?, Juan Cole tells us that the three most requested books from prisoners at Guantanamo are: the Harry Potter series, Don Quixote and Barack Obama's Dreams from my Father.

Imtiaz Gul says the world needs to give the Pakistan military some credit for their recent successes. Make sure to read the comments to the post, which as usual descend into an absolute free-for-all.

Ok, I have to tread carefully here. I was sent a link to this blog by the writer of the blog. After reading it for a few minutes, and after connecting a few mental dots in my head, I am convinced that the writer is operating under a pseudonym and is in actual fact a very senior official in the Zardari administration. I know exactly who it is too. Since I obviously can't prove it, I'm not going to take names (and please don't send me emails trying to goad me into an off-the-record response; it's not happening). But anyone intimately aware of this government and the people that make it up will know who it is. Just spend some time on it, and you'll figure it out.

Virender Sehwag says he likes to sing songs to himself at the crease to calm himself down. With the way he bats, I am assured it's only Metallica songs that make it to his setlist.

Ta-Nehisi Coates says Obama is driving the conservative right crazy by, in his words, "refusing to be a nigger." Must-read post.

And finally, courtesy Annie, the NYT has a blog post on Pakistan's rock scene and the American accents that make it up. Posts on Rs.5 that may or may not be relevant to this: my plea for fewer puff pieces (though, to be fair, this was a short blog post, not a news story per se) and AKS' post on how pop matters more than rock in Pakistan.