On Procrastination, 24+ Hours Awake Binges & TGIF Inspiration - IMRAN™

One of my worst weaknesses (yes, shocking that I have even one, right? LOL) all my life has been procrasti..... wait a second, let me install this hot new software first... OK... I am back... yes, as I was saying... procrastination. I am kidding about installing the software (or am I ? LOL).. but you get the idea.

The one flaw of my many which has let me... or, I should say, that I have let keep me from doing all that I need, want, aim, dream and hope to achieve in my life. I have probably only hit 1-2% of all that God gave my potential for, and it is a crying shame that it is so little because of the one weakness which I allow to get the better of me.

One way I have compensated for the many days of my life I was not productive is doing things in binges... Just like watching Netflix's The House Of Cards 13 episodes per season within 2-3 nights, I will sometimes go 24-36 hours on a productivity binge.

That is what I ended up doing last night when I took this selfie this morning. As Friday dawns over the Great South Bay outside my windows at home on Long Island, with merely 2 weeks left in what was one of the fastest flying years I can remember, I am taking time to reflect.

The good thing on such 24-36 hour days is that I will get a lot done, but the down side is that each time, each darn time, I kick myself about how this or that could have been done weeks, or even months ago. And, as many of you are all too familiar, I am sure, you too end up swearing off procrastination, "Never Again!" Until, of course, we do it the very next day or week.

We may not always overcome every weakness, but at least committing to fight it is a step forward. Not just a promise to make in new year's resolutions, not just in promising ourselves to try to make tomorrow better, but to doing it Now!... Forget doing better tomorrow.. Make the rest of today, make the rest of this hour, even make this minute, a better use of time than the previous.

That is a fresh start without having to wait for a new year... That is a chance to begin anew even as our lives hurtle towards an end we all will reach sooner or later. No matter what time is left available to use, let us promise to make better use of it.

May God give us the strength to overcome our weaknesses and the tenderness to forgive ourselves and others for what we fail to achieve due to them. As long as we promise "I can and will do better" ... we will!

© 2016 IMRAN™
IMG_7777

Radio City Music Hall Manhattan Street Scene - IMRAN™ (360° Interactive VR 4π Panorama)

(Click to see the interactive virtual reality experience.) I had stepped out of my then office on 52nd Street near Radio City Music Hall when I took shot this handheld panorama on an iPhone 4S.

Unfortunately even four years later, with PhotoShop CC 2017 the program fails to properly stitch actual Spherical panoramas.

Doing the upper view accurately would take too long so I hope you will just enjoy the street scene with some inaccurate processing above my name.

© 2012-2016 IMRAN™

Penny For Your Thoughts But Not Your Services - IMRAN™

Some photographer posted in a FaceBook group about a model hurting their feelings by saying the photos they took (including location, hair, makeup) weren't worth more than $10 each. I think a dozen people commented on that post. 

As I clicked to post my response on the original post it disappeared. Maybe the original poster deleted their post. I'm just sharing my "comment" here for everyone, as there will always be unappreciative and ungrateful clients in every field. 

I wrote: "Most people do not appreciate intangible expertise or subtle specialization or soft services nor put real monetary value on it. 

They'll pay a plumber $200 for fixing a $100 leaky toilet but will have a heart attack paying $300 for cloud & technology or management consulting advice they hit you up for regarding their million dollar business.  

I haven't seen the work the original poster did but assuming it was well done I'd say, go with the attitude, "Yes, the photos were worth just $10 each because the ungrateful model wasn't worth more. 😋"

😋

Driverless Cars Better Than Brainless Drivers - IMRAN™

Michigan is about to approve cars without drivers or steering wheels on its roads. Some people will worry. But a driverless car is better than cars with moron drivers, especially the ones I see everywhere in the USA, but especially in Florida or in NY on the Long Island Expressway.

You know the types of drivers I am talking about. The ones with a genetic inability to turn their fat neck to look over their shoulder, the ones without a brain capable of processing moving over from the fast/passing lane, or the ones without a decent upbringing to know now to be @a$$#0¬3$ on the road.

At least driverless cars will signal when turning or changing lanes, not hog the passing lane like a fat stupid obnoxious pig, or drift between lanes while texting. And I am being polite. LOL

IMRAN™

Autumn Weekend Motorcycle Ride To Marina Long Island New York - IMRAN™ (360° VR)

4K 360° Music Video! A quick music video with one of the tracks "Chocolate & Vanilla, Melting Into One" from my CD (nTrance, available on iTunes). Stunning autumn weather at Thanksgiving weekend on Long Island, New York. I took a quick motorcycle ride to the commercial marina next to my home community to test some gear. The Nikon KeyMission 360 has horrible rolling shutter even at low speeds, made worse by the useless GoPro clamp mount. The clamp is nice and tight but the plastic encased balled joints that make the flexible stand shake terribly and even worse, they slump after a few minutes of riding. Even the maxiumum setting attempt at reducing rolling shutter did not work, at least in iMovie. The video itself is a 4K SOOC clip with zero color editing of any kind. © 2016 IMRAN™ #IMRAN, #Motorcycle, #Riding, #Marina, #Boating, #Autumn, #LongIsland, #NewYork, #Thanksgiving, #Weather, #Lifestyle, #Music #Yamaha #R6

Sunset Flight Of The BumbleBee - IMRAN™ - (4k/UHD)

Be the first to see my new music video and hear the new single track I dropped today as soundtrack to this drone flight. Enjoy the 24 minutes flight (cut at 300% speed) fit into less than 4 minutes! Actual video is 4K. This is just a USB file recording playing on a TV at home during daytime so the colors are not as vivid as the real colors. NO color processing or filter of ANY kind. Like Love Comment & click Share! © 2016 IMRAN™

Ideal Yachting Day At Apollo Beach Florida - IMRAN™ (4K)

Spectacular day for yachting on Tampa Bay in perfect Florida weather. A classy yacht passes by my home and jet ski on the dock as a white heron flies off but a seagull stays put on the jet ski lift. Light clouds and perfectly calm water shows just another day in blessed paradise in Apollo Beach. © 2016 IMRAN™

Shocking Pink Deep Blue Tranquility At Sunset - IMRAN™

An IMRAN™ Experience! Time Lapse 360° VR Music Video Of 2 Hours Tampa Bay Sunset In 30 Seconds. Watch in full view or enjoy the fully immersive 360 degrees virtual reality experience turning your device screen around up and down, left and right, full circle. Or use your fingers to swipe around.

 © 2016 IMRAN™

Perfect Halloween Boating Day Tampa Bay & Last Sunset October 2016 - IMRAN™

It was Halloween but the water of Tampa Bay was eerie in its perfect stillness. The brilliant day gave way to another gorgeous dark night with a beautiful sunset as the perfect backdrop for a jet ski ride, return home, shutting down for the night and enjoying a surreal experience in full 360° VR panorama timelapse video set to an original theme I created "Dark Knight Night WaveRunner" inspired in part by a piece called "Putin's Demise" {which would be a great thing to happen in the real world!) by Basil P. Enjoy the full 360° panorama flat or interactive view as I will post it in both formats.

© 2016 IMRAN™

https://youtu.be/yNfyvXsbRcs

Drone Flying At Dusk, Nightfall On Tampa Bay Florida 360° VR TimeLapse - IMRAN™

Drone Flying At Dusk, Nightfall On Tampa Bay Florida 360° VR TimeLapse - IMRAN™

View in your VR glasses for a 360° view! OR just play in YouTube or FaceBook and rotate the phone. OR swipe with your fingers to rotate left and right to see the full scene as if you are standing there with me. This is an absolutely unedited timelapse video from Nikon KeyMission 360 as I flew my drone at home in Apollo Beach, Florida, to capture 4K video of the dusk while the Nikon camera took five sets of 10 seconds long timelapse clips. You will see the drone takeoff, and land, while boats and birds go by while fish in the water gather around the green lights I installed. I simply combined the 5 clips in iMovie with NO editing or processing of ANY colors of ANY kind. SOOC video. I simply added music, titles, transitions and exported the file. Enjoy!

© 2016 IMRAN™

#VR #360VR #timelapse Nikon Nikon KeyMission 360 #sunset #nightfall #TampaBay #Florida #music #video #SOOC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTB1XWa2P7Y

Our Principles Must Trump Our Symbols - IMRAN™

There are a lot of news items about people expressing their protests in different ways, from kneeling at the time of the national anthem to flag burning Americans.
I have no sympathy for racial groups that have a sense of entitlement because some white man enslaved some black man 400 years ago. Many of us immigrants come from former colonies or enslaved countries. Some still live in places like that in Kashmir and Palestine.
The groups that celebrate gangster culture in their music and commit crimes but get off easy for playing the race card. I cannot stand them. But I am deeply & literally physically sickened when I see, again and again, unarmed black men being killed by out of control cops, none of whom go to jail.
So, I can understand the silent, peaceful, protest of some professional players to call attention to the matter.
If anything, I am dismayed that a supreme court justice, whom I respect, first foolishly expressed political opinions against Donald Trump. Though I cannot stand him, I would expect a Supreme Court justice to keep their personal opinions to themselves in case the election leads to a Supreme Court case. I would expect even a despicable person like him to get a fair hearing.
(Sidebar: I despise both candidates. Donald Trump being the worst Presidential candidate in recent history is the only reason the second worst candidate Hillary Clinton is likely to become President. Even worse, as I have been warning my Republican friends for months, he could cost them Senate and even Congress if things keep going as they are. Then they will be wishing they had accepted President Obama's moderate nominee).
The lady Justice then called the silent peaceful protesting players stupid for kneeling in protest at the anthem. Maybe she is ready to retire and wants to go out making some statements like that to be in the news, but she is wrong on that.
The fact of the matter is, saying Black Lives Matter when an unarmed man is murdered by cops just because he was Black, does not mean one is saying it is OK to kill cops or that other lives do not matter. I do not see a stream of videos of cops shooting white people for even more egregious actions.
Therefore, silent peaceful protest it to be respected not demonized. Would we rather have the violent gangs burning up cities as happened in Ferguson?
No group is perfect. Speak up for injustices against blacks or any group. But throw criminals in jail hard regardless of their color. Stand by the police. But call out and prosecute the killers among them.
That brings us to another controversy people are fed to take their attention off real issues, Burning of the American Flag.
I dislike people who disrespect the flag of their own country. BUT, remember, the Flag is symbolic, the Constitution is what makes us the greatest country in the world.
Symbols represent us. Principles make us who we are. We could change the American flag to all pink and purple or any color and still be the same great nation if we live by our constitution.
So do not get caught up in the furor of someone burning the flag. Sure, discourage them, ignore them, but do not threaten or attack them. They are doing what our constitution gives them the right to do as also decided in a Supreme Court decision.
Only a freedom guaranteeing constitution like ours gives people the right to burn the flag or do other stupid things under free speech.
Our principles must always trump even our own symbols. Symbols can change but not change who we are. But if we abandon our principles, it won't matter what color or how fancy or pretty or fireproof our flags are.
What do you think?
Imran Anwar
IMRAN.TV

One Of The Few BLONDs I Would Eject & Run From - IMRAN™

Everyone knows of my weakness for beautiful women in general, and gorgeous blondes in particular. I would never press Eject or run from them unless they are bipolar or two-faced.

I also happen to love Music of almost all types. Other than a few notable exceptions though, rap, especially the cuss-violence-hate-lack-of-talent filled kind that seems to get most popular because of the ghetto gangsta culture popularized in some communities and by some media, is not on my favorites list. That is why I hardly ever heard of Kanye West types unless they did stupid, or ridiculous, or criminal stuff that got in the news.

Despite all that, I had fallen in love with the song "No Church in the Wild". Kanye, JAY Z, Frank Ocean. Not one of them a person I had ever bought a song of, yet this one quickly became one of my 50 Most Played Songs ever. Surprisingly full of poetry, music, politics, religion, society, history, more music, lyrics, and deep ideas... all wrapped into one song. A song to be remembered for a lifetime by any artist, even though it had 3 major names behind it.

That song was where I first got to know about this, well, artist. Though Kanye, JayZ, et. al. are not in my playlist except that one incredible song above, when I was on iTunes updating apps today, I saw this new album being promoted. I clicked to hear what the much hyped album BLOND by Frank Ocean album would offer.

I clicked, and listened, and then the next one, and then the next one, and.... Now I know the good reason that the "Artist" is hiding this face on the album cover.

The first few tracks sounded like typical B- to B+ songs one can find in many albums. But due to some technical bug, it seems most of the remaining song files got corrupted on iTunes and every CD that was manufactured. I could not hear decent music. I could not hear anything poetic. I did not hear lyrics. I heard some possibly human sounding voices cussing and more like whining than singing.

Then I realized, I had to write this review and save you from wasting your time, if you ever consider getting or hearing BLONDE by Frank Ocean.

What do you think?

© 2016 IMRAN™

That's Not A Phone Ringer, It's The Death Bell For WindowsPhone - IMRAN™

"Microsoft Windows smartphone sales collapse. Down 76%!" reports Computerworld.

That's not a WindowsPhone ringing but death bell of Microsoft's phone platform strategy that you do not hear, because when was the last time you heard a WindowsPhone ring except for the expensive product placements on TV shows and in movies? 

It was a mere $8-10 BILLION write off which destroyed the lives of tens of thousands of Nokia employees. Please stand by for a similar LinkedIn write off in 3 years for about $30 Billion. They could have cured Cancer or built 1000 hospitals worldwide with that money!

Imagine me, a MacOS lover from Day 1, working at Microsoft (in strategy / cloud / consulting though) for 3 years. Ironically, I was already sick and tired of the 200 years old iOS UI (user interface) that has STILL not changed since it launched, and the UXdesign (user experience getting worse) from Apple in EVERY area. 

So I was actually happy to see Microsoft's WindowsPhone interface as one of the few things they did not steal from, I mean, copy from Apple, and something actually better. But, the problem was not the technology. It was, and likely still is, the people of Microsoft.

It is a company with MANY smart people who made so many stupid decisions again and again, but never learned. A most senior leader liked some ideas I had to build a WindowsPhone ecosystem. He connected me with an Indian guy (not Satya Nadella) who was the VP responsible for WindowsPhone app and ecosystem development. I wish I remembered his name now. 

On each proposed step I discussed, he laughed and said, "We are Microsoft, We do not need to do that." And, "Developers are begging us to develop on our platform."

I wish I could have recorded that conversation for entertainment value alone.

Imran Anwar

Butterflies Are Free - IMRAN™

Beautiful summer day on Long Island, New York, at my blessed home. Looking out the sliding doors I saw a reminder of why I love having planted four butterfly bushes years ago. They grow massive and even 12 feet tall or higher before being trimmed by the landscapers. Some days they're covered in monarch butterflies. The bushes, not the landscapers. 😄

Today I saw these two bright yellow and dark blue spotted ones despite it being a windy day. I was able to get close to them and record, create and upload this fun little movie right from my iPhone 6S+. NO color editing or setting or filter of Any kind.

© 2016 IMRAN™

PS Absolutely ƒ-\/-©-|{-!-N-G stupid FaceBook system deleted this video with a false claim that it contained someone else's copyrighted material? Really someone else owns my home and butterfly bush? And the stupid music in the video is actually one of the free BUILT-IN themes for use free in Apple's own FREE iMovie app for iOS. Goddamn stupid policing of wrong stuff while anyone can take your photos and create fake profiles without anything being done by these morons to verify your profile so victims of the fake profiles at least know it was not you. Way to go Mark Zuckerberg, turning a jolly light afternoon into one of extreme irritation. FU. Frankly, Underwhelmed by the 'intelligence' of FaceBook engineers.

You Know What Rises To The Top, In USA Elections & Pakistan Politics - IMRAN™

What!? HOW DARE THEY DO THAT?! A shameful image to see on Pakistan's Independence Day, August 14! People of Pakistan ...

Why are pictures of the founder of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, and respected Miss. Fatima Jinnah, up SO HIGH?

They are almost too close to the greatest leaders on the Planet (Lollywood) that no one will remember in 50 years.

//end sarcasm 

Send 1000 Jootian (rotting shoes) to the ass licking chamchas (sycophants) who put up the posters this way. Thanks to Shams Bin Niaz for the photo.

For my non-Pakistani friends, this is like political parties here putting up posters of Donald Trump/Mike Pence or Hillary Clinton/Tim Kaine ABOVE posters of George Washington/Abraham Lincoln along city streets on the 4th of July. 

Sadly, we are not far from that situation here in USA either. A few years ago Fox News had actually done a segment on George W. Bush (Yes, the moron retard Iraq War one) being THE GREATEST PRESIDENT EVER...

Seriously. It seems Pakistan has also reached that level of sickening political shamelessness. Or, wait.... is it the other way around?

 

Wide Roads, Narrow Humanity, In China - IMRAN™

Q. Why are Chinese roads built so wide?

A. To leave room for traffic to get around dead accident victims laying there.

Help a dying man?.. They have such hectic social lives these Chinese running/driving by. "Ain't nobody got time for that...."

This video shows that the only thing cheaper than the Chinese junk we buy here is Chinese lives in China . Shame.

Even in countries with frequent terror attacks like Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc., where terrorists detonate additional bombs to kill the innocent people gathering to help bombing victims, decent people still rush to help.

Shame on every single person that ignored this victim and kept on going.

What do you think?

IMRAN

 

https://www.facebook.com/240170852998660/videos/276137382735340/

Finally, Rolls On A Roll That I Want A Piece Of - IMRAN™

I'll be honest, though my Dad loved British cars in Pakistan, until he finally got used to the reliability and quality of Honda vehicles, but I have never been a fan of them.

I never liked the classic Rolls-Royce Motor Cars regardless of how much class they were supposed to exude. I disliked them even more when BMW bought the RR brand and made them into brutish, more monstrous than sophisticated, tanks, which, in recent years were being sold in such ugly garish colors that only a hoodlum rapper on LSD (does THAT drug even exist anymore, or was that taken over by some other company too LOL) and a love of shiny disco balls would love.

But, seeing this newest model, I have to say, when I am ready for 4-5 luxury cars, I would consider having this particular model among a Mercedes Maybach / S600/ S65 AMG, Ferrari, Lamborghini, and possibly one of those Danish supercars.

Though I am not a fan of the rear-swinging doors, this is a great photo and color scheme.

Who wants to come for a test drive?

Imran

Wagner's Sacred & Profane Love Atlantic Ocean Ormond Beach Florida Drone...

Profane Loves Are The Most Sacred, in my Book Of Love, Desire, Lust, Passion, and a life lived fulfilling every wish. This video is set to Wagner's opera Tannhauser presented in an IMRAN re-interpretation. Composed in 1845 based on a poet from 1245 AD, the opera has a rather powerful description.... "The story centers on the struggle between sacred and profane love, and redemption through love, a theme running through much of Wagner's mature work."
Sacred and Profane Love (also known as Venus and the Bride) is also an oil painting by Titian, painted c. 1514.
In my book, the most profane loves are the most sacred. And I would travel to the ends of the earth to experience, savor, celebrate, honor, love and cherish them.
I also love the blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean on the East Coast of Florida (and New York) as much as I love the stunning red colors of the sunsets on the Gulf Coast at the West Coast of Florida.
That is why it was great to visit the Ormond Beach area for a wonderful afternoon with beloved friends, and to pick up great food that my private chef there made for me. While she was cooking I went off to enjoy the expansive beaches in the area.
Driving up to Al Weeks Park I found the right balance of wide beach and not too many people around making it perfect for me to do a FaceBook livestream from my DJI Phantom 4 drone. That is why you see me speaking in the video,See it at http://facebook.com/IMRAN.TV . You can see how windy it was, and the drone did a very good job of keeping level in flight. But as I was turning it 360 degrees 400 feet up in the air, you can see some parts where the wind tilts it enough to show the horizon tilt briefly.
This is the actual 4K video, about 30 minutes cut to under 15. I was looking for a piece of music to fit that length and that choice can be somewhat limited. I found this opera in my collection and did a reinterpreted version of it.
I did not have time to do a detail edit to set all the motion to just the right movement of music, especially because rendering a 4K video takes so long, and then uploading it and having YouTube fail to process it twice added to the delay. Third time is the charm.
I hope you will love the stunning scene and the aerial view as you feel yourself at the beach and above it!
What do you think of the view?

Drone Landing At Breathtaking Dusk Tampa Bay Florida SOOC 3D SBS - IMRAN™

Not only was I blessed to experience this mind blowing ZERO color editing or processing or tweaking or ANY kind. This is a quarter of the original 4K SOOC (Straight Out Of Camera) video from the DJI drone camera. As I was bringing the drone in for a landing after a fabulous sunset and dusk I felt the dusk colors would make an awesome backdrop to make use of the closely spaced objects and strictures on my dock at home in Florida to make it a fun 3D video. I will also upload this somewhere on one of my sites in full size for people to be able to view in full resolution on their 3D smart TVs with active shutters than with anaglyph which kills sunset colors.

Add me at http://facebook.com/IMRAN.TV

© 2016 IMRAN™

Last Birthday With Abu - IMRAN™

 

Last Birthday With Abu - IMRAN™

As a kid I left home in Punjab, Pakistan, to live with my grandmother in Karachi, for a better education. My mother and siblings would visit during the holidays. Dad would sometimes come with them. His work with the irrigation department meant many holiday periods coincided with floods in areas he was responsible for irrigation and safety of rivers, canals, dams, etc. But it also became a family ritual that he would surprise us by taking a flight and coming to see us in Karachi. 

Keeping the tradition alive later in Lahore, I would sometimes do the same. But it became even more exciting to be able to surprise my family by showing up in Lahore unannounced while giving the impression I was in New York unable to visit. 

Based on Columbia Business School schedules and later pace of life in NY, my attempt was always to go to Pakistan for my birthday, May 23, even though it is brutally hot in summer.

I tried to twice annually. Over time, as my Surprise visits became more predictable, I mixed it up by going for my parents’ birthdays, December 25 & August 22. 

After Mom's unexpected death too young on 2/2/1992 I started going on that day too. Since flights from New York to Lahore were on certain days a week, my family expected me to 'surprise' them on those days. I would counter that by traveling from other cities, like Washington, DC, to take a longer flight from there on different day. (Remind me another day to tell you the most surreal travel story of my life that happened in one such trip).

In 2008 I was working in Miami, unaware that a very tough time was coming up.  One of my loves T and I worked at an organization in Miami, where management was trying to do something definitely unethical and self-serving use of state funds meant for children on welfare. I was working as a CIO but on a consultant, not full time employee, basis. I was asked to come on full time. Certain that if I did that and did what I was being asked to sign off on, one day I would be left holding the bag for their shenanigans. So, we parted ways in April 2008. 

Abu had been paralyzed by a stroke in 2002 but was otherwise in good health and spirits. I had seen him a few months prior, in a typical short surprise trip. This time I decided to spend more time with him, and managed to surprise them all with my arrival in May. 

It was typical hot weather. Because of incompetence and corruption of EVERY ruler in Pakistan, from Sharif to Bhutto to treasonous Army generals, power failures are a daily routine, sometimes for 12-18 hours in some areas!

Even inside the house, it gets hot quickly. You can see the sweat on my face as I had someone take a candid photo with Dad as he was reading a medicine's packaging. 

I am so glad I spent two months with him then. I came back to NY in July but then went back to surprise him on his birthday in August. I stayed another two months, not too worried about going back to work in NY, as I had plenty of money saved up and stocks. Little did I know that within months it would all be gone. 

Every time I used to bid adieu to my father I always soaked it all in; time and feelings, sights and sounds, love and lifelong bond. One never knows when it is the last time you meet a loved one. 

I came back to New York around October. I was going to do a third surprise trip within one year after a long time, for my late Mom's birth date, but Christmas rush meant there were no seats. 

As God would will it, Abu passed away unexpectedly, not from the stroke but from the effects of aspirating some food accidentally. Within weeks of that all I had built up over 20 years living and working in America was lost in the economic meltdown of 2009, starting one of the most difficult times of my life, from which in some ways I am still recovering. 

But, there is not one thing I would change about the four months of 2008 that I was able to spend with Abu.

Happy Father's Day, Abu, every day, in heaven,

 

Imran

© 2008-2016 IMRAN™

 

18000 Feet 5.5KM Birthday SkyDiving Jump #2 In 3D - IMRAN™

While there can be that sense of fate and foreboding that makes one wonder about doing something crazy like another skydive right on one's birthday, the actual statistical risks are obviously the same as any other day.

But then, fate is always the hunter, and destiny always the elusive and submissive mistress, begging to be tamed by a wild raging heart filled with passion and zest for life.

The song selections for this music video reflect that. Enjoy the music and video in 3D on your 3D enabled TV or laptop or with anaglyph (red/cyan) glasses.

Keep me in your prayers, my beloved friends.

© 2016 IMRAN™

# skydiving # flying # adventure # Florida # TampaBay # lifestyle # birthday # airplane # music # video

Is That A "Doctorate" In/And Journalism Degree In Your Pocket? - IMRAN™

Time To FaceTime The Unfiltered Facts! - IMRAN™

Tampa Bay Sunset Before Tropical Storm Colin - IMRAN™

The gentle pastels of early sunset giving way to the vivid brilliance of dusk on Tampa Bay, Florida, seen from my home in Apollo Beach, the day before Tropical Storm Colin lashed the area. © 2016 IMRAN™

18000' Skydiving Birthday Jump #2 - IMRAN™

While there can be that sense of fate and forboding that makes one wonder about doing something crazy like another skydive right on one's birthday, the actual statistical risks are obviously the same as any other day.

But then, fate is always the hunter, and destiny always the elusive and submissive mistress, begging to be tamed by a wild raging heart filled with passion and zest for life.

The song selections for this music video reflect that. Enjoy the music and video.

Keep me in your prayers, my beloved friends.

© 2016 IMRAN™
‪

Cool Dolphin Chills & Swims Inverted Under Drone Overhead - IMRAN™

I am blessed to see these magical ceatures, beautiful dolphins, swim near my home and dock every day. I was flying my Phantom 4 to catch the sunset when I heard a dolphin's telltale sound, so I turned the drone around. Managing to frame the area where the ripples suggested it was, I was able to capture it on camera as it became visible. What fascinated me was how casually it seemed to be chilling and swimming inverted, then turning around to surface, and going back in sideways. I tried but could not risk dropping my brand new drone in the water trying to go lower to chase it while turning it 180 degrees or I would have loved watching and recording this fun creature a little longer. Enjoy! © 2016 IMRAN™ DJI_0014_DolphinFlips.mov

Red Planet Pastel Sky Tampa Bay Florida Sunset - IMRAN™

There is never an ordinary Florida sunset. But some I can predict to be stunning from the cloud formations even from late afternoon. I try to capture those in timelapse videos. Many times I am blessed to experience these magical momens of life, nature, and closeness to God that I love to share with you. Your prayers always appreciated.

© 2016 IMRAN™

What Workloads Should Or Shouldn't Move To The Cloud? - IMRAN

From "It Just Works" To "It May Still Work (After Apple Software Update)"! - IMRAN™

Anyone With Any Brains In The Dumb House At Bright House Networks? - IMRAN™

Forget Public, Private & Hybrid, It Is Time To Reclassify Cloud Classifications

In my life is a private consultant to large clients and later also as an enterprise architect at the world's best software company in my day job, I have been trying to explain to people why Private/Public/Hybrid is not fully accurate in terms of Cloud classifications. (I am not even talking about Community Cloud in this post).

My position on Cloud is that we have Public, Private (including Hosted Private). and two more... What everyone calls Hybrid is what I say really should be called Parallel, and Hybrid should be the name given to a separate type.

By Parallel I am referring to companies using Private cloud for some functions, and Public cloud for other applications. There is likely no interaction between the two. The overall benefit is a compromise between the best of both Public and Private, in a sort of "weighted average" way.

What we SHOULD be calling Hybrid would be the case of enterprise architectures that span public and private clouds for one or a set of interoperating or integrated business applications. For example, if a firm uses private cloud for running its mission critical business application, but that application seamlessly also moves specific parts of its workload to and from a public cloud. Here is a rudimentary example. A stock trading firm uses its own high performance trading applications on its own private cloud platform.  But the private cloud hosted apps ship some parts of their work, e.g. less time critical analysis of large data sets, to a public cloud big data crunching services provider.

You can see that this has far deeper integration between private and public cloud uses and is clearly different from a company running all mission critical applications on a private cloud but, say, simply using outlook.com or gmail for business email. The latter is a good use of Parallel cloud computing.

No Interest In Exploring This Frontier Of Lousy Internet Customer Service - IMRAN™

Did Good News Reporting Get Killed In A Mall Shooting? - IMRAN™

Dramatic Cloud Dusk At Tampa Bay - IMRAN™

Open & Shut Case. That's A Wrap! - IMRAN™

Not Jumping But Pumping Jack The Leaping Lizard? - IMRAN™

I was looking out at the gorgeous day on Tampa Bay when I saw this little critter hop on to the base of the pillar trying to impress another one.  I saw it doing it's throat puffing thing so I slid open the doors to make a video. It saw me and stopped. I waited about 2 minutes before it started doing it again, while keeping a wary eye on me, It was not jumping jack but definitely a little leaping lizard that doesn't know jack about being posted on social media. :-)

© 2016 IMRAN™

Playing The Race Card To Drown The Truth - IMRAN™

Just an average but still dramatic golden red rushing sweet sunset turns into a beautiful pastels and reds dusk seen from upstairs at home on Tampa Bay in Apollo Beach, Florida.   Created completely on a still great Apple iPad 3.



© 2016 IMRAN

NKCG6793

UX Is Not Rocket Science But MacUpdate Makes It That Challenging - IMRAN™

Cold Spring Weekend Sunset At Heron Pointe Home Marina - IMRAN™

Sensual Slice, Tasty Tomato - IMRAN™

(Out Of Control) Without A Control Tower? - IMRAN™

50 Rich People Own Our Freedom & Our Government Thanks To The US Supreme Court - IMRAN™

Solo SoLongAgo. - IMRAN™

Make You Very Cross/Word Game. National Scrabble Day. - IMRAN™

National Pet Day - IMRAN™

 

National Pet Day. Two “bird(s) in hand(s) better than (four) in the bush” they say. But the other four are welcome too!...

 

Posted by

IMRAN

on 

Monday, April 11, 2016

(Inter)National Sibling Day. - IMRAN™

 

(Inter)National Sibling Day. Family is everything. Even though none of my family members are here in the United States...

Posted by

Imran Anwar

on 

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Double Trouble! - IMRAN™

Double Trouble! - IMRAN™ — Dual Dramatic Cloud Formation Over Long Island Home Beach. (Cick to see the full photo). ...

Posted by Imran Anwar on Saturday, April 9, 2016

The Pen… Wait A Sec, The Camera Is Mightier Than The Sword! - IMRAN™

 

The Pen… Wait A Sec, The Camera Is Mightier Than The Sword! There is so much irony in this photo that Tania took of me...

Posted by

Imran Anwar

on 

Monday, April 4, 2016

 

There is so much irony in this photo that Tania took of me during our trip to Spain.

The incredible and beautiful Islamic influence is visible even today, despite Muslims’ rule having ended there centuries ago. It was wonderful to see that and the equally fascinating later Western art, and the craziness of Dali and others, in Barcelona. One of the fun places to visit was Pla del Palau. 

While the news today is of barbarians beheading innocent Muslims, Christians, and non-Muslims around the world supposedly in the name of God, at one time it was Islamic countries, and Muslim societies, that were the centers of art, literature, science, libraries, and many other wonders of civilization.

This photo, taken ten years ago by my then girlfriend Tania, has irony because it is a European Christian soldier character on the streets of Barcelona who is playfully holding me, a Muslim, at the tip of a sword.

I am showing that I will smilingly fight back, although I only have a camera lens (EyeSee 360) to defend myself.

The imagery pen IS mightier than the sword!

Spread Peace and Love, my friends, wherever you go, whoever you meet.

© 2006-2016 IMRAN™
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The Fountain / Head - IMRAN™

 

The Fountain / Head - IMRAN™ — The photo title is derived from the famous book by Ayn Rand, but the reason I walked...

Posted by

Imran Anwar

on 

Sunday, April 3, 2016

"Just Say No" To The Drug Of Easy Lazy Parenting & Messed Up Future Lives Of Children - IMRAN™

Posted on FaceBook on Monday, March 28, 2016

I love and respect incredible single parents who go all out to provide for their kids.

I have known and loved several single moms who were in my life at one time or another, who were more amazing as struggling single parents than a rich two-parent family could be.

But I also sometimes see people, including single parents, thinking that not granting every wish to a kid is some sort of crime or failure.

That is not true. Enough kids who had everything in life end up with messed up lives, and many who had little in childhood later rise to greatness. It is good, loving AND tough parenting, not saying Yes to everything, that sets children's future.

For my 27 years living in America and even in my own relatives in Pakistan, I saw kids basically controlling parents. Here in America I see parents trying to be kids' best friends.

My siblings and I are thankful that we had parents who provided us our every need but did not grant every wish. They went above and beyond, even though we heard No plenty of times.

But, in the long run, they made the most important wish come true and were our best friends. They set us up for lives that, despite the usual ups and downs, could not have been more blessed.

I saw this Share on my beloved beautiful friend Sara's wall and had to share and comment.

What do you think? Let me know here and on the post on FaceBook.

https://www.facebook.com/MyIMRAN/posts/1325132294170425

Approaching CrossWind Landings Without Being Crabby Or SideSlipping The Issue - IMRAN™

I love flying and I love being in the media. But I cringe when I see idiocy in news reporting of aviation topics.

One recent example was the otherwise decent news organization CNN posting a video of what was an excellent crosswind landing by a commercial airliner as “Airplane makes bumpy sideways landing” as if some major accident almost happened.

I wish my aviator & news anchor friend Miles O’Brien was around CNN to educate the idiots in media reporting on aviation, who can’t tell the difference between a well-executed high crab-angle (to compensate for strong crosswinds) landing and a bad bumpy landing.

These reporters would probably report a video of a chef doing a flambé dish as a dangerous kitchen fire almost destroying a home. Idiots!

But that raises another question that one of my followers asked me on my FaceBook post…. Why do pilots use crabbing, versus sideslip, when landing?

Like everything in flying, it is one of those topics that can bring out many different opinions that can even sometimes vehemently agree. Neither is perfect, one is preferred or at least recommended by airliner manufacturers like Airbus, though a combination of both is usually needed.

Keep in mind, I am barely a hobby pilot, much less some sort of aviation expert. But, this topic gets a lot of confusing responses. Only the high-wing versus low-wing debate gets people more riled up (which is just slightly less than the old Mac versus Windows flame wars! {Note: I STILL love MacOS and still despise Windows though it has become much less puke-worthy since W7)}.

Here is my explanation. Let me know in your comments if you agree, disagree, or have more insight to add. 

IMHO, as a perpetual student pilot, there are 2 primary ways to make crosswind landings. Crabbing (nose pointed to the side but body moving in straight line along the runway centerline) appears "more scary" in videos like this but provides wings level. That is the recommended approach from manufacturers like Airbus.

The other option, Sideslip (or cross-control, with the nose pointed straight down the runway centerline) is the wing low approach, because one wing is lower as the plane is not wings-level. More and more planes are designed with their control surfaces and engines seeming to be closer and closer to the ground.

e.g. Thanks to my late beloved father's giving me experiences as a child most people even in developed countries did not have until later in life, I first flew in Pakistan International Airline PIA Boeing B707 (and later derivation B720) airliners as a 6-years old unaccompanied child in 1969, and many major airliners had 4 jet engines then and until much later.

As the designs moved to two much more powerful engines instead of four, their size and closeness to the ground also increased. So in modern planes the bank angle becomes a much greater issue to keep in mind to avoid striking the wingtip, engine, or even control surfaces on the runway.

However, neither approach may be enough to be used alone in strong crosswinds like 30 knots.

In a crab-only landing the crab angle of 10-15 degrees may not be de-crabbed quickly enough to avoid side-loads on the landing gear causing structural damage.

In a sideslip-only landing the 10-15 degrees of bank angle will most likely cause a runway strike. (These angles are given as examples for illustrative purposes only. Please check your own aircraft’s manuals for specific information).

So, in such situations the best pilots are likely using a combination of the two methods based on the plane, the airport, the runway, runway conditions (dry vs wet or contaminated), the approach speed, etc.

I hope that helps explain why we often see commercial planes using wings level crabbing approaches for typical crosswind landings.

Keep in mind I am a perpetual student pilot and do not even play a commercial pilot on TV. Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments below.

Enjoy the story of my aviation journey at: http://imran.com/adventure/flying/flyingnew.php :-)

IMRAN

Snow Fall Ride To Where Sky Falls Into The Sea - IMRAN™

Come share an exciting experience with me during the latest snowfall, riding to where the sky falls into the sea... Durkee Lane is one of the favorite parts of the way to my blessed home on Long Island, NY. 3D Side By Side Half Width version.



#adventure #travel #video

https://youtu.be/8DcxMA5xKjE

Shooting (Into & For The) Stars! - IMRAN™

I love flying. And I love even more visions of the universe, like shuddering lovers and shooting stars. 

So I appreciated the video of a pilot flying over Manhattan capturing a shooting star in front of his plane. But as I was just going to post the video link, I realized something so profound that I shuddered in emotion at the incredible thoughts I felt, which I am sharing with you as they fill my soul.

I am blessed to see shooting stars on a fairly regular basis since I was a kid. But at least twice in my life, both times walking to the beach on the boardwalk of my blessed Long Island home, where I am writing these words, I saw such massive shooting stars, which stayed visible for literally 5-10 seconds each, they left me gasping for breath in amazement and excitement.

The most recent one was experienced while a beautiful beloved and I walked holding hands to my spot of magical memories on the private beach, on a late fall evening recently, when we were stunned by the sight which we were able to soak into our souls, and then commemorate, as two specks of living dust glowing forever, at the beach, under starlight, with our afterglow radiating and filling the vast emptiness of space with an explosive release of sizzling white-hot shooting photons of passion that some distant galaxy’s inhabitants may see one day millions of years in the future, and be amazed at how significantly we mortal human beings, insignificant in the scope of the universe, loved those significant to us.

The universal ultimate in exhibitionism, beyond what the human eye can see or any living voyeur today can experience. Magic stains left on fabric of time and space, for eternity…..

The previous time the shooting star had been even more massive… almost a poetic Armageddon sized fireball. I was on the phone with a then-girlfriend, and I literally was yelling "Oh my God, Oh MY God. Oh my God that shooting star is so massive falling out of the sky…"

Then it actually exploded, in a blaze of glory and left an even longer thinner streak of its probably millions of years of existence erased within seconds for possibly just Me, a mere mortal, to have witnessed in the entire universe at that moment!

What a moment… the infinitely long life of that starry object ending in just a few seconds of my much shorter human lifetime, but etched in my mind for all eternity, burned into the cosmos for even when I am nothing but a streak of light in the sky, when it is my time to turn into dust and starlight, just like the visions and passion of all those deep penetrating unions with my precious beloveds, consummated during hard daylight hours and in moist velvety nights, each a gift from the heavens, unwrapped, unsealed, probed, explored, experienced and resealed with a kiss, at the beach under starlight which will continue to travel through the universe forever, at the speed of love, and light.

God speed to us, my loves.

Imran Anwar
Long Island, NY
Feb 6, 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjlKwv3wM-A

Solar Eclipse By (No Space) Ship - IMRAN™

The more things change, the more they remain the same. Or say they say. I remember in the early days of the Internet how animated GIFs were so popular because they were one of the few ways of showing movement or multiple images in the era of very limited bandwidth. As the Internet's largest use became web sites (in addition to email) animated GIFs tended to fall off the horizon, no pun intended. Now, suddenly they are all the rage again, for some time. Ironically, it is still not easy to make quality animated GIFs, or to share them. FaceBook does not let you upload them, but finally is letting you see them if they are linked from somewhere else. Flickr, that was sleeping while Instagram took over the masses' photo craze market, makes it possible to upload animated GIFs, but the last time I checked they will NOT display, unless you include a separate link to one of the other size versions that Flickr offers. That is why, even though I have been doing Internet video from the time the first release of QuickTime with my then amazing top of the line Apple PowerMac 110 AV, creating postage stamp sized video movies. That has given way to my moving into creating some of the first 4K 3D videos, in addition to other things like time lapse music videos, and more in photography, like 360 and 360x360 spherical panoramas, etc. But Animated GIFs were not a priority. As I recently saw this cruise ship leaving the Port Of Tampa approaching the great ball of fire we call the Sun, as it set over the Tampa Bay horizon, I took several photos. They were taken handheld, not on a tripod, so they could not be totally accurately framed, but I managed to make this as my first official animated GIF. Now the question is to see how many people can see it on Blogger, and on other platforms. Imran

Lights & Shadows - IMRAN™

Lights & Shadows.

Embrace them all, as I embrace them all, my loves. For without their total embrace we would not have these mind blowing visions turn into reality in front of our eyes, filling all our senses, covering even the giant expanse of the sea with reflections like goosebumps as it experiences the blending of the two right above it, reflecting on it, making it even deeper filled with passion to unleash.

Music, time lapse photography, and video I created at tonight's stunning sunset.

Boating, Flying, Sailing, Kayaking, Fishing. You name it, you can do it. Another stunning "winter" weekend on Tampa Bay in mid-January experienced from my blessed home at Apollo Beach, Florida.

Music, photos; Video by Imran Anwar

 © 2016 IMRAN™
 www.imran.com - www.imran.tv

https://youtu.be/B2kRq6RNC2E . Enjoy, like, share to your friends.

Windy Long Island New York Beach Sunset 3D - IMRAN™

Side By Side SBS 3D 360 degrees view of a beautiful sunset at my blessed home's private beach on the South Shore of Long Island, New York.

i/Robot Vs i(Need3)Robot(s)! - IMRAN™

 

Cada vez mais medo desses robôs...

Posted by

Tudo Interessante

on Friday, May 15, 2015

When the lapdog henchmen treasonous military officials under dead dog dictator General Zia had me arrested and court martial(ed) for being a student leader opposed to his CIA-backed, US-funded, fundamentalist-creating, government, I was among several people thrown in Kot Lakhpat Prison, in Lahore, Pakistan… of course after being beaten up quite well by 6 cops, sentenced ostensibly to 2 years hard labor without any defense allowed by some two-bit colonel in Summary Military Court (SMC37), shackled and thrown off a truck on reaching prison…the amazing thing was how my mind immediately started looking forward to making that a positive experience. I immediately decided I would request 3 things to be sent to me.

These would be sheets of paper and some pens so I could write a book (still not done since 1982 LOL), learn to play #music (with the ground breaking Casio VL-1) and, yes, a Rubik's Cube so I could learn to solve it. In the decades since, I wrote a lot but did not actually publish a book, I made a music CD but did not actually learn to play piano or guitar, but one thing I did not even get to try much... the Cube.

Good thing I waited so long, as you can see from this video, when even a rudimentary robot can effortlessly solve it. Auto-Melody and Accompaniment & Tune programs already exist in music, making untalented people like me sound tolerable. Now all I have to do is wait for the one that will take all my writings, organize them and publish a couple of books for me. LOL

Imran Anwar

Day By Day, Life Magically Flies By - IMRAN™

A rich complex ‎cloud pattern can either hide the sun during cold days, or overwhelm the lusty ‎dusk, a juxtaposition of brilliant days and bold nights, blanketing the sunset in disappointments rendering it unseen. Or, if seen and appreciated at just the right angle, just the right clouds can make for stunning ‎sunset colors that most eyes will not see and many souls will not experience --- except those who submit to the masterful ‎god and open up mother ‎nature to receive what he puts forth, regardless of the time of day, people, place, or environment.

If the clouds totally dissipate, things surely become clearer, but a lot of the color opportunities for magic, the shades of gray and million shades of uninhibited passion, unbridled lust, unconditional love, and edgy untamed desire can be lost, just like in life, where extraordinary lives can be surrendered to ordinary mere existences of ordinary people. It is up to you, my incredible gorgeous unique creatures of ‎passion, who can envision the sweet, unimaginable but most definitely achievable juxtaposition of what the world allows and what must be experienced to have made life fully lived, in every sense of every sense, forever.

That takes total surrender to the master of your ‎destiny while you take control of your fate, and write it using whatever soft tip it takes to write on the touchscreen a declaration of total embrace, while gently but firmly guiding any elements of resistance, human or natural, to believe in the beauty of what all will experience in time.

Instead of letting a small, fertile, moist mound not yet fully developed turn into a mountainous obstacle, nurture and develop it into another beautiful lush fertile hill, where the showers of loving rain plant seeds for many flowers to bloom in two sweet valleys alongside each other. May we be blessed with just the right balance of light and shadows, clouds and sun, before the sun finally sets embracing the night forever, when the story ends, not filled with incredible ‎memories, but with unfulfilled ‎dreams and ‎fantasies. Don't let that happen.

The choice is yours. Surrender to dark storm clouds seeming to creep in unexpectedly over a magical scene, or hold the hand of the master and commander you submit to, by your own proud and bold choice, to help you steer around them and embrace the juxtaposition of ‎lights and ‎shadows for magical dusks forever.

Imran Anwar
© 2016 ‎IMRAN

FireBall Sky, Flaming Horizon, Pink Cloud Cruise - IMRAN™

This cruise ship was literally more than 20 miles away when I captured it going past where the #sun was totally behind it and clouds. The Nikon D300 handheld photo at 300/450mm eq. zoom shows the magic even of “dull” sunsets over Tampa Bay, seen from my blessed home at Apollo Beach. The trees to the left are straight across from my home but a long drive to get to at a popular state park, at the edge of the peninsula there. 

© 2015-2016 IMRAN
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Cool Cloud Winter Afternoon Florida - IMRAN™

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYv1G-w0Uis) 

A cool cloud filled day over Tampa Bay Florida as the sun breaks through now and then. Relatively cold but maybe because I'm in a short sleeves shirt.

Does Science Prevent Or Prove The Existence Of God? - IMRAN™

"Afalaa Tatafakaroon". Will You Not Think? That is a line in the Holy ‪‎Quran‬.

I pray Oh God, Help Us Understand The Secrets Of Science & The Universe, So We Understand You!

I am sure other holy books have similar statements about using our minds. But for some reason, a lot that modern organized religions seem to be do is make people close their minds and blindly follow whatever some smooth talking preachers built up as 'The Truth' over the last few centuries. The truth is, we are far from understanding the ultimate truths of the ‪‎Universe‬.

I am sure you are among the many educated people who believe in ‪‎Science‬ but also believe in ‪‎God‬ the Omnipotent Creator. "Science Increasingly Makes the Case for God" is an interesting article though it does not have enough information to fully live up to its headline, but it is a useful point of reference in The Wall Street Journal.

I've always believed that not only is the truth out there, but also that is it not going to be one or other extreme of Science No God versus God No ‪‎Evolution‬ etc. Instead, it will be a combination or the two, or likely, even of things we do not even yet comprehend which do not fall under science or ‪‎religion‬.

The more I studied science and even ‪‎engineering‬, the more ridiculous it seemed to me to believe in pure random creation of the universe, purely randomly leading to ‪‎Earth‬'s creation, purely randomly leading to life and purely randomly leading to humans.

How many times do I have smash some rubber, glass, steel, carbon fiber, and plastic together to create a perfect ‪‎Ferrari‬? I refuse to believe that any of my beloved beautiful loves and their gifts of unconditional love submitted to me, or for that matter, the perfection of Charlize Theron, are random accidents. ;-)

Nor do I blindly believe that some texts collected over the last 2000 years when people did not even understand the nature of science, are somehow the most accurate depictions of the Universe.

They are powerful books with stories to help us ideally be better human beings (if you take out the parts about killing others that almost all the books of the time command).

No, people, the earth is more than 5000 years old, just like the sun does NOT revolve around the earth. There IS evolution that takes place and genetic changes and mutations that are being recorded by science based on our current state of life and the planet. But, no, evolution is likely not the source of the perfect imperfection we call human life.

In their insistence of There Is No God, it seems that even supposedly people gets almost as rabidly fanatical as any Bible-thumping persons who believe that God created the Earth 5000 years ago or something like that, refuting evolution, while believing a man could walk on water and bring the dead back to life, and more.

Many believe in ‪‎angels‬ too. The truth is likely a combination of things is a blend of the two and maybe even more. Maybe God is the Creator of this Universe, as the grand designer of his project... maybe Angels are his engineers, and project managers,... maybe the day he shuts down the project for recycling is the day of judgement.

But, then, who does he work for? Who created HIM? And what giant box does the Universe fit inside that may be part of a larger ‪‎Multiverse‬, which may be one of many in an ‪‎Omniverse‬... and so on.

Knowing the infinite depth of our ignorance, even our inability to fathom the concepts that would entail, is another of the gifts of the Creator, to use our MINDS to even measure what we do NOT know.

We should not just blindly parrot things we were religiously brainwashed into believing as ‪‎children‬. We must, instead, try to figure out the mysteries of science, if we are to ever figure out the mystery of the universe, which in turn may help us get closer to understanding the mystery of the most supreme scientist of all, God!

What do you think?

 

Imran Anwar