Perfectly Positioned Pelican Spans Sunset Ship Dramatic Dusk D300 Shot Saturday Scene — IMRAN®
Saturday’s spectacular sunset and dusk were made even more dramatic by several cruise ships and a parade of birds gliding through the glowing sky. This perfectly positioned pelican was captured with my 18‑plus‑year‑old Nikon D300 at my blessed Apollo Beach, Florida home last night.
© 2025 IMRAN®
Pinnacle Of Air Travel, Air France Concord At JFK Shortly Before Fatal End Of SuperSonic Era - IMRAN®
Twenty‑five years ago, I captured this stunning Air France Concorde at JFK Airport in Queens — the gateway to my forever American hometown, Manhattan, New York. Behind it, you can see the massive construction work that defined that era. JFK’s Terminal 4 was undergoing its full reconstruction from the late 1990s until its opening in 2001, and anyone who drove in and out of the airport during those years remembers the chaos well.
I shot this from a Boeing 747, never imagining how close we were to a turning point in aviation history. Just months later, in July 2000, Air France Flight 4590 suffered the only fatal Concorde accident in the aircraft’s 27‑year service life. The world's only faster—than-sound passenger fleet returned to service briefly in 2001, but by 2003 the supersonic age had come to a quiet close.
I never got the chance to fly on Concorde — a regret that grows every time I look at this photo. It remains a reminder of a time when commercial aviation dared to break the rules of speed, design, and imagination.
© 2000–2025 IMRAN®
#IMRAN #flying #aviation #history #travel #NewYork #JFK #Concord #SuperSonic
Resilient White Rose At Apollo Beach Home On A Friday Morning — IMRAN®
Grateful for the good fortune I’ve had with roses at both my Long Island and Tampa Bay homes. This particular plant has been a lesson in patience — taking more than a decade to push through the tough ground between two driveways in Apollo Beach where I planted it twelve years ago.
Most of the roses from that era shot up to heights between 6 and 12 feet. Another red rose plant across the driveway is now blooming and nearing four feet. And this one, after years of stubbornly staying small and weak, is finally thriving even though just 2–3 feet tall — a quiet but satisfying victory.
© 2025 IMRAN®
#IMRAN #Florida #TampaBay #ApolloBeach #nature #TGIF #flowers #determination #resilience #patience
Car(s) & Driver: A Legends)ary Connection – Same Porsche Models 31 Years Apart – IMRAN®
These aren’t my cars, but I share an unexpectedly legendary connection to them. Read on, my friends…
I’ve always loved German cars, with Mercedes-Benz being my lifetime choice, followed closely by BMW and others. Porsche cars have long been admired worldwide, but they never quite made it onto my personal wish list. Maybe it was the cramped interior, or perhaps the bug-eyed look of earlier models.
Ferrari, followed by Lamborghini, would be my ultimate objects of desire. Yet in recent years, Porsche’s design language has evolved dramatically, and the newer shapes are undeniably beautiful.
My wonderful neighbor Steve is a true car aficionado, with a collection so extensive I haven’t even seen it all. Yesterday, he had two of his Porsches out. I snapped some photos as he drove one of them. To avoid casting my shadow on the car, I crouched low on the road—but I couldn’t escape the tall palm tree’s shadow stretching across the paint under the setting sun.
These two cars are the same Porsche model, but separated by 31 years of design evolution. Which one would you choose to drive?
The Porsche 911 debuted in 1963, just as I was turning one year old—meaning the car was being created and launched right when I was being born. Two legends, in their own ways, were being shaped at the same time (one only in his own mind, I hear you say!). Over six decades, the 911 has become one of the most iconic sports cars in history, blending timeless design with relentless innovation.
Its fame isn’t limited to the road. The 911 has starred in films like Against All Odds (with its unforgettable street race), Bad Boys (where a black 964 Turbo became a symbol of cool), Atomic Blonde (featuring a 964 Carrera 4), and even a Guards Red cameo in The Martian.
And as a personal homage, I can’t help but think of Robert Redford, an actor I deeply respect. In Spy Game—one of my favorite films—he drove a Porsche 912 that looked nearly identical to the 911. The movie even had scenes set in Pakistan, adding an ironic connection to my own roots. Redford’s understated elegance behind the wheel mirrored the Porsche’s timeless appeal, reinforcing why both man and machine became legends in their own right.
So, what brand, model, or design speaks to you most?
© 2025 IMRAN®
#IMRAN #Florida #TampaBay #ApolloBeach #Porsche #cars #sportscars #design #performance #racing #evolution #red #RobertRedford #SpyGame
GSD K2 Responds To A Song - IMRAN®
But not as much as did to the awesome Houdini by Dua Lipa.
© 2025 IMRAN®
#IMRAN #GSD #GermanShepherdDogs #dogs #music #humor #DuaLipa
Extra‑Stupid Meta AI Image Suggestion & My Movie Star “Career” — IMRAN®
I’m all for people posting their fake AI glam shots, and I can appreciate a good stylized meme now and then. But Meta/Facebook shoving these things into my feed nonstop is just… annoying and dumb.
Ironically, the style is called Arcade, and back in those days my cousins, best friends, and I would spend hours st video arcades. I got to play a lot because fortunately those were owned by some friends.
(Sidebar: Another UET student, civil engineer Umar Ashfaq, literally became the father of the video game arcades industry in Pakistan. He started with 3 expensive imported consoles in a shop called Space Invaders in Fortress Stadium and then became the builder and supplier to arcades nationwide!)
For the record, even back when I was offered a Pakistani Lollywood action‑hero role (Qaatil Key Talash) during my engineering‑university days in Lahore in the early 1980s, I didn’t have that much hair. 😂
The screenwriter, Qazi Mushtaq, actually from UET as well, had based the role on my swashbuckling, Yamaha‑Enduro‑riding BMOC persona at the University of Engineering & Technology, Lahore.
My father would’ve run me out of town—without my motorcycle—if I’d actually taken the role. Another young man, Babar, ended up doing it and became a big star while I was busy studying and then building my life in the United States.
So now, I guess I’ll just have to wait for Hollywood to discover me. Ideally for a role opposite Charlize Theron. Somehow I doubt this Meta‑generated proposed meme is going to land me anything, even if I “submitted” it to Variety or The Hollywood Reporter asking for their help! 😊
© 2025 IMRAN®
#IMRAN #humor #autobiography #movies #Hollywood #Lollywood #Lahore #youth #LastActionHero #meme #AI #IMHO #entrepreneurs
Stranded - IMRAN®
© 2025 IMRAN®
#IMRAN #Florida #TampaBay #ApolloBeach #boat #sailing #sailboat #seaside
Light Rain Drops Look Like Ice Crystals On Red Rose - IMRAN®
© 2025 IMRAN®
#IMRAN #nature #flowers #RedRose
AGENTIC AI: From Automation to Ecosystem Transformation - IMRAN®
(Part 1 of a 4-part series to help guide you to maximum success with Agentic AI).
The Opportunity
Imagine this: You used to spend days mapping out every step of a business process—requisition, vendor selection, invoice processing, payment execution. Now, you simply set a goal, and agentic AI orchestrates the workflow, adapting in real time, escalating exceptions, and freeing your team for strategic work. That’s not science fiction; it’s happening right now in boardrooms and server rooms across the globe.
The New Reality: Agentic AI in Action
At AWS re:Invent 2025, the buzz was all about agentic AI. AWS unveiled new partner categories, agent builder tools, and marketplace innovations, all designed to help enterprises deploy autonomous solutions with just a few clicks. Their partnership with OpenAI—a $38B deal—signals a new era of scale and sophistication. Microsoft, meanwhile, is integrating agentic AI into everything from Windows to Azure, positioning Copilot as the productivity engine for the modern enterprise. Google’s Gemini 3 and Vertex AI Agent Builder are pushing boundaries, making it easier than ever to build agentic solutions for any industry.
But it’s not just the tech giants. Enterprises are using agentic AI to automate contract negotiation, create purchase orders, process invoices, and execute payments. The results? Cycle times slashed by 50–70%, up to 80% touchless processing, and teams reallocated to higher-value tasks. In developer workflows, agents scaffold UI flows, adapt component libraries, and even push code fixes based on customer error reports. Prompt-to-prototype cycles now take minutes, not weeks.
Why Partnerships Matter
Here’s something every CIO should know: The winners in agentic AI are building alliances. OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, AWS, Stripe, Shopify, NVIDIA—these are the names shaping the standards, stitching together fragmented tools, and controlling the future of agentic commerce. Ecosystem fragmentation is real, but strategic partnerships are the glue that holds it all together.
The Challenges (and How to Win)
Of course, it’s not all smooth sailing. Data access wars, trust and accuracy in AI recommendations, payment security, and protocol fragmentation are top of mind for every tech leader. Success requires robust governance, compliance oversight, and new roles—AI supervisors, governance leads, and professionals fluent in Python, RPA, ERP, and AI ethics.
The Leader’s Perspective
Having spent exactly 4 decades in enterprise tech, I’ve seen automation evolve from static scripts to dynamic, goal-seeking agents. What separates agentic AI from the client-server and cutting edge cloud platforms I helped build at great companies like Microsoft and Cisco is intent. These agents don’t just follow instructions—they reason, adapt, and collaborate across ecosystems. Early adopters are already reporting 10–25% EBITDA gains, and the momentum is only building.
Ready to Transform?
Agentic AI isn’t just a technology upgrade—it’s a new operating model. If you’re ready to see how agentic AI can stop just automating tasks and start executing goals in your organization, let’s connect for a 1-hour intro brief. My organizations evertrac.co and cloud9global.net are designed to help you navigate this transformation—whether you’re piloting agentic workflows, building developer tools, or reimagining the future with quantum and telematics. Visit my LinkedIn profile http://linkedin.com/in/imran for more insights and message me to schedule a strategy session.
What's Next?
In my next article, I’ll tackle the critical challenge every leader faces: building trust and governance into agentic AI systems. We’ll dive deep into how organizations can ensure reliability, compliance, and observability as they scale autonomous agents—so stay tuned!
© 2025 IMRAN®
Honoring My Father - Part 1: Dedication, Studying Under Highway Lamps, New Homeland Haveli, 1947 Partition Legacy - IMRAN®
Christmas Day used to be my beloved mother's birthday, whom we lost too young in 1992. The time spanning December 21/22 in 2008 is when we lost my precious father.
When my friend Kyle recently shared his childhood memories of growing up in rural Kansas before electricity reached his family’s farm, it reminded me of my own father’s journey in Pakistan. Kyle’s story of kerosene lamps and battery radios resonated with me because my father too began life in places where electricity was scarce.
My father was a Partition‑1947 orphan. As a preteen, he survived a massacre of Muslims by Sikh mobs during a bus convoy from Jalandhar (now in India) to Gujranwala (now in Pakistan). Our new ancestral lands were about ten miles outside Gujranwala, in a village called Butranwali.
Even the family’s home, their village-landlord Haveli — a manor‑like house — had no electricity. Across the road stood a solitary tall electricity pole, one of few placed many miles apart along the single lane two-way ‘highway’ to Sialkot, a city still famous for its surgical goods and FIFA footballs. Behind the family Haveli were mud and brick huts where the farmhands lived, along with the fields and a twin‑bull‑powered mechanical primitive equivalent of a tubewell that irrigated the land before electric pumps existed.
While his brother and brother-like first cousins played, my father dedicated himself to studies. He would sit under that solitary lamp on the highway, studying late into the night. Each day, he rode his bicycle eight to ten miles to school in Gujranwala. His determination carried him far: he became a civil engineer, eventually rising to Chief Engineer in the Punjab Irrigation Department in the early 1990s, shortly before my mother passed away unexpectedly young, just before what would have been his retirement years to spend with her.
Today, Gujranwala has expanded so much that our ancestral Haveli and village are now bustling housing schemes. The Haveli actually stayed in the family, with my first cousin expanding his business into a real estate local empire. Even our family graveyard a short distance from the home still remains, a place where we pay respects to those who came before us and whom we will meet again one day.
(To be continued: how my parents’ focus on education shaped our lives, and how electricity defined both comfort and struggle in the towns where we grew up…)
© 2025 IMRAN®
PS I am in the AI industry, but have zero interest in people posting fake AI creations as real photographs. I do not mind using it to create infographics or images to accompany articles or blog posts. Since I do not have any photos of that time in my father's life, I used AI to create an image and then worked on it myself as homage to his dedication to which my family and I owe everything.
#IMRAN #Pakistan #autobiography #family #parents #electricity #history #India #Partition #Punjab #education #development
Complex Clouds, Magnificent Magical Tantalizing Textures, Span Sunset - IMRAN®
Words can barely capture the incredibly complex cloud textures and tones that spanned the early August sunset over Tampa Bay. Earlier rain had made the pavers around the pool look darker.
This HDR (high dynamic range) panorama was created from about eight handheld shots taken with the Nikon D850, stitched together in Adobe Lightroom Classic CC.
On one side, sharp clouds carved dramatic shapes, while in the middle, higher formations smoothed into silky, fog-like patterns. Even farther above, smaller distant shapes reflected the fading sun’s light, deepening the scene into darker, redder tones.
I chose not to “correct” those hues, because they lend the image an indescribable richness—one that others often chase with filters, but nature gifted me directly.
© 2025 IMRAN®
#IMRAN #Florida #TampaBay #ApolloBeach #Sunset #sky #clouds #nature #seaside Nikon Adobe Creative Cloud Adobe
