This represents...

...the growing clout of India, methinks.
Tata to Land Rover and Jaguar

In this age...

...of ubiquitous electronic devices, all accompanying chargers usually work over the 100-240 V voltage range. The plug shapes and sizes may not work directly in different countries of the world, but it is very easy to find cheap adapters which allow plugging in the plugs of chargers in different types of sockets.

However, I have a PS2, used by my children, which I had bought in 2003 in Germany. It somehow only works at 220V. Now I had got that "chipped" when I took it with me to Lahore, which means getting additional hardware installed which allows running bootleg chinese PS2 CDs. These CDs, as one can well imagine, are very cheap, to say the least. One thing should be mentioned here, which is that one cannot but have a chipped PS2 in Lahore, since original CDs are just not available; one can only get the pirated ones.

I have now brought this PS2 with me to Canada, along with the few games that the children play. However, I haven't found a voltage converter which steps up the voltage from 110 to 220 volts at any of the big electronics stores I have visited so far. One sales rep at FutureShop, however, recommended visiting a chinese store to get one, and also at a much cheaper rate. This I did today, and brought one for 15 dollars from a chinese store, but unfortunately it did not work. I guess this is the risk you have to take if you get cheaper devices.

The PS2 I have has a power consumption of 50W, and the converter I have also has the same wattage. Maybe tomorrow I will go and get that changed, and possibly get one with more wattage. I don't know, though, whether the store will replace the device, since I have no record of the sale; the salesman would accept only cash, to save "me" tax, though I guess the reason was to keep his sale undocumented :-)

There is a...

..new prime minister in Pakitan. The judges sacked and imprisoned by the beloved president are free, at least according to news reports. And, important, and perhaps also ominously, John Negroponte and Richard Boucher are visiting Pakistan for a short trip.

Of God's chosen...

...people, viels over the hearts, and acknowledgement that Christ is the saviour of all men:

Leading German Rabbi Condemns Pope's Good Friday Prayer

In the past...

...almost six weeks, I have been in Canada for 3 weeks, in Pakistan for 2 weeks, and now back in Canada again since a few days. To start a new phase of life. Lets see how things work out.
Travelling from Pakistan to North America is a big deal, though. Specially if you have to travel economy class.