How to access your website at your new web host before DNS propagates

Often when switching hosts or signing up at new host you’ll have to set your domain’s name servers to your new website host’s name servers. This step is necessary because it allows your new host’s servers to receive and serve requests for your website from your visitor’s browsers. However the Domain Name System (DNS) is such that it takes time for this new mapping between your domain name and your host’s servers to propagate across the Internet.

Depending on your new host’s DNS servers and your Internet Service Provider it can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days before you will be able to access your website via the domain name. If, in the meantime, you want to upload files to your website and test it you will need to edit your HOSTS file to manually map your domain name to your web host’s IP address.

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The greatest cricket series

World Cup trophyThe Cricket World Cup 2007 starts today at around 7:00 PM Pak time when Windies take on Pakistan. 16 teams from around the world will be vying for cricket’s greatest prize. Pakistan is abuzz with cricket mania as the tournament nears. As a cricket fan I will be writing about the tournament and my favourite team Sri Lanka on my cricket blog.

Although the tournament starts today , the real competition begins with the Super eight sometime in April. The tournament will conclude on the 28th of April and I hope to see Sri Lanka lift the World Cup on that date.

Western hypocrisy

The level of western hypocrisy is mind boggling. Western countries like to lecture the world about a lot of things that they themselves are guilty of.

Consider the hypocrisy over freedom of speech. America and other western countries love to lecture the rest of the world about freedom of speech yet their own media is extremely fond of toeing the government line. We saw how the US media helped delude its citizens about Iraq before the invasion and now we see how it continues down the same path as it helps demonize Iran just like the US government wants it to. The western media clearly endulges in self censorship and has an obvious bias especially against Muslims. The BBC, for example, openly talks about racial profiling of Muslims as if institutionalised racism against Muslims is perfectly okay.

Recent news stories suggest that things are much worse in the new colonies of Iraq and Afghanistan. The raid on the offices of an Iraqi journalist’s union and the destruction of a freelance cameraman’s footage in Afghanistan are just the the most recent examples.

Then there is the rampant intolerance. The west loves to lecture the rest of the world about the need for "moderation" and tolerance while it launches ever increasing attacks on Muslim countries around the world. People in the west can’t even tolerate Muslims living on the same planet as them much less those living in their own countries. So much for "freedom" and tolerance!