Geshan's Blog

Load Shedding Schedule Kathmandu Nepal 27 February 2012 again reduced to 10 hrs/day

2012-02-26T11:17:00.000+05:45

After some good news of an incumbent minister getting jailed for corruption first time in Nepal lets hope Nepal sees better days like this. But I have read some recent news which are not really positive as such. Another good news is load shedding is decreasing and its 10 hrs / day now, the new schedule is below:

Click to view large version

The experimental table is given below:

Experimental Live table:
alt : Live Load Shedding Schedule

Jai Nepal !!! May load shedding decrease day by day and come to 0 hrs/day.

Load Shedding Schedule Kathmandu Nepal 13 February 2012 now its reduced to 12 hrs/day

2012-02-13T15:19:00.001+05:45

May be its the rain, may be its nothing. Whatever the case the load shedding in Kathmandu, Nepal has been reduced in negligible amount. Still its 12 hours per day without electricity. The new schedule effective from 13 February 2012 is given below:

You can veiw the live load shedding schedule below:

Experimental Live table:
alt : Live Load Shedding Schedule

Update

Just saw this video by Lamps Nepal, may be the government will listen (but it will be music to deaf ears I sense).

Jai Nepal !!!

Git introduction and hands on usage guide for windows with msysgit

2012-02-12T14:28:00.000+05:45

Git is a free & open source, distributed version control system which can be used for projects of any size and complexity. I have been using git for more than past 2 and half years, you can even see my github and I find git essential for most of the projects I have been involved in. If there are multiple developers (be it one developer and one front end developer) you should consider using git. It is a developer's best friend and even helps you go back to history and see how your code/website looked like may be 2 months back (provided you do regular commits).

Git was developed by Linus Travolds yes the guy who coded linux kernel. He says "I'm an egotistical bastard, and I name all my projects after myself. First Linux, now git." May be true but git is free and a great tool to have in your development tool set. Git is more for the command line person so its not very easy to get started with windows. Now using the Msysgit you can git yourself quite easily in windows, so the slides below may be the icebreaker you were looking for to start git in window. (I am using windows 7 - 64 bit)

I hope this helps you to get started with git on windows.

Load Shedding Schedule Kathmandu Nepal - 16 January 2012, 12 Hrs/day

2012-01-24T18:41:00.001+05:45

Yet again the government of Nepal has new surprise for us, after fuel price hike and other news the load shedding does not seem to be under control. Here is the latest schedule as of 16-Jan-2012.

Click for full view

I just update the live load shedding schedule as well you can view it below:

Experimental Live table: alt : Live Load Shedding Schedule

Jai Nepal !!!

Load Shedding Schedule Kathmandu Nepal - 20 December 2011, its 10 Hrs/day

2011-12-19T19:22:00.000+05:45

Welcome to load shedding land, the government is busy in other thing and the so called 'responsible' political party not in the government is busy enforcing 'peaceful' bandh/banda whatever you call it. Banda for any cause is never justified and never good but they happen.

Load shedding has again come up as per the bi-weekly government planning. Every fortnight till some months government will gift us with more power cuts and we will accept it. No more to say have a look at the latest schedule (soon in next 2 weeks we will get a new one)

(Click on image for full view)

The file in PDF version, official government release:

I hope the government would do something about it but it will be my unfulfilled hope as usual.

Experimental Live table:

alt : Live Load Shedding Schedule

Jai Nepal !!!

Kolaveri Di the viral sensation - 4 different versions

2011-12-11T17:19:00.001+05:45

Kolaveri Di is a song from a tamil flick named "3", it released on 16-November-2011 and became viral in social media mainly the videos on Youtube. Without doubts, it is a sensation that has more than 1.1 million views/listens on youtube in less than 3 weeks. Kolaveri Di means “why do you have this murderous rage against me?” as per the composer Anirudh Ravichander who is doing his debut.

The song is an easygoing, bindass, baal chhaina kind song. It has the feel good factor about it but when you listen to it for the first time it seems bad. Similar to Shehar from Rockstar at first you think the song is not good but it takes over you after some listening. The lyrics are mad but the tune is catchy. But this post is not just about Kolaveri, it is about the different version you will find below after the original version:

Kolaveri Di Original Version

Female Version

Give me Milk Version by Naveen Nigam

One Random Remix

Bonus

R n B Flavored English Version

I hope you like it and yes Kolaveri Di

Load Shedding Schedule Kathmandu, Nepal 5 December 2011 - now its 6 hrs/day

2011-12-05T13:44:00.001+05:45

Hello Kathmanduites, Baburam Bhattarai climbed up in popularity very quick and the nose dive to being hated by public with wrong decisions was even quicker. Anyways, the long standing problem of Load Shedding is taking pace again. I hope Mr. Gokarna Bista can save us again but it is again a distant dream. Below is the Load Shedding Schedule of Kathmandu, Nepal for 5 December 2011.

(Click to view full image)

I hope we can solve this problem of load shedding sooner than later.

Update:-- Even the groups are changed this time see and download it below:

Load Shedding Schedule Kathmandu 5-Dec-2011

Jai Nepal.

Drupal 7 must have modules, content type config and views intro [Slides]

2011-11-21T21:46:00.001+05:45

Here is the part 3 of the series, in this part I explain about the must have modules for Drupal 7 from ones included in core to some essential contrib modules. Then I elaborate on content types, how to create them and how many. There is a starter guide to building a recipe of a Brochure site but some content types are left for you to complete. Finally there is a basic introduction to views 3 without going into the full interface of views so as not to scare you.

The intro to views is quite basic and other information is also targeted towards developers, so these slides may be a little difficult to grasp but practice makes perfect ;).

The slides are below:

Drupal 7 basic setup and Contrib Modules - Brochure Website Recipie - View on Scribd

I hope it give you some idea on how a Drupal website is built.

How to Install Drupal 7 and basic configs [Slides]

2011-11-18T11:26:00.001+05:45

Drupal 7.9 released around a month back and it was when I created theses slides. Its very basic but focuses on linux (Ubuntu) it should not be very different from windows ;). It was developed for YIPLites.

The Slides:

I hope it helps you get started with Drupal 7 ;).

Drupal CMS a technical introduction

2011-10-31T19:38:00.000+05:45

I am back and back to Drupal. Even after doing information analysis, data modeling, verbalizing requirements, some Business intelligence I like doing Drupal. Drupal is simply the best content management system and Drupal 7 has a lot of things to offer and I am experiencing some of these first hand.

In this context, we at YIPL are trying to start Drupal training again (only to YIPLiets) and below is the first presentation which introduces Drupal. Even before YIPLiets have seen this I'm making it public on my blog ;) hope you like it:

And the slide are below:

Drupal Rocks

Europe travel of the past year (Amsterdam, Paris, Brussel etc)

2011-09-25T23:41:00.000+05:45

Without doubts it was a very tough master which did not allow any extra time or holidays, but still I managed to travel 4 countries and more than 15 cities. Good :).

Below is the video of this subtle Europe experience. (Best watched full screen)

12 Months - 4 Countries - 15+ Cities Slideshow: Geshan’s trip from Kathmandu, Nepal to 16 cities Parijs, Amsterdam, Brussel, Düsseldorf, Antwerpen, Rotterdam, Den Haag, Delft, Arnhem, Nijmegen, Den Bosch, Volendam, Lisse, Wageningen, Marken and Baarn was created by TripAdvisor. Create your own stunning slideshow with our free photo slideshow maker.

I hope I can come back in future and see more of Europe ;)

5 + 5 very useful websites for every expat in the Netherlands

2011-09-11T16:03:00.001+05:45

Its been almost a year now I have been here in Arnhem, Netherlands, though people mistakenly call this country Holland it is not. Why is Holland wrong get the differences here. Moreover my stay here has been good, I like the green all round, fresh air, the on time and very well connected transportation system, the fast internet, the confident people and many other things. Some things I am not very fond of is the tough masters course we had to go through and all Dutch language everywhere. I don't even remember filling a form in English in the Municipality which are meant to be filled by expats like us. So the first suggestion is "Learn Dutch" and even the government says so. And yes I'm blogging after a long time, I was wound up in my master thesis.

The Websites

Ok lets get started with the websites that will come to your aid almost everyday you spend here in the Netherlands. There are sites ranging from different things but here are some that were very useful for me and hope it will be useful to you as well. Please be advised Google translate is your good friend as most sites are Dutch only (so Chrome is recommended). I would recommend using a English version of a Dutch site as the real English version of a site may lack facilities provided in the Dutch site. These websites will help you save time and money :-D.

1. NS.nl

So you landed in Schiphol and you reached your destination then after a rest day the next thing you want to do is go back to Amsterdam ;) (the fun Capital, the political is Den Haag - The Hague). If you want to go by taxi it will burn a hole in you pocket so the best way to travel in the Netherlands is by train, tram and bus. Then you don't know the timing and the cost of the tickets to Amsterdam Centraal (not Schiphol again). This is where NS.nl the official site of Dutch Railways comes to your service. You can plan your journey by train in any part of the Netherlands with train timings and cost for your travel. Its amazing and very handy. If you don't have a bank account take note that the ticket machine only accept coins so make your pockets heavy.

An extra website to add here is the OV-Chipkaart website, The OV-chipkaart is a contactless smart card system which is in the process of being introduced on all public transport in the Netherlands, including train, metro, tram and bus. And buy the personal one and add the 40% discount for train travel in it for around 55 Euros you enjoy 40% discount on all train travels after 9 AM on weekdays and all day on weekends and all day in summer time. Be informed that public transport like bus and tram only accept OV-Chipkaart in Amsterdam and other metro cities. The paper tickets for buses are fading away and paper tickets for trains will be stopped completely by December 2012 if the plans are rolled out right and on time.

2. 9292OV.nl

Yet again you want to travel but you don't know where the bus station is do you need to take bus, train. tram or ferry. Then 9292OV.nl is the site that you need. It also features a journey planner but it gives you the maps to stations, the change time between your means of transport and if you use the Dutch version it will also give you the cost of your travel (estimated I guess but quite close). They call it the door to door planner and I agree it lives up to its name. How to use it is simple and for yourself to try :) and yes it has an English version as well.

3. Weer.nl

It is believed that the conversation starter here in the Netherlands is weather, the Dutch are very good at complaining about the weather and I don't blame them for that. At least at the time of writing this post there is sun in so called summer after 3 days. The rain here is very unpredictable and if you don't carry an umbrella then be prepared to be pampered by some rain water. In my experience December was all white due to snow and we experienced cold up to -10 C at Arnhem. Therefore everyday before you go out check the weather in your city at Weer.nl. (PS: it also shows weather of non Dutch cities and its quite accurate)

4. MarktPlaats.nl

Then in some days you are accustomed to the weather and you need to buy things for you room (not house). You can search for second hand shop if you like, we had one around a kilometer far from the university. Or you can do some searching online. Just visit MarktPlaats.nl and you can get all the things you need from an oven to a cycle. So here you can buy, bid or even sell you extra things. (But you may need a bank account or Paypal for some online transactions.)

5. DagArtikel.nl

Then after some weeks you are settled, you have your bank account may be you have done your TB test. Now it time to get some good offers for things, DagArtiken.nl is the right website for you which aggregates all the best offers for the day. You can get offers and bargains from solar chargers to a vacation in Paris. This is a website you should check daily with a news site like Dutchnews.nl.

Knowingly I have given some extra website links above, I know it will help you make your days easier here in the Netherlands. Below are some more bonus links with short description

Bonus Websites

1. Tours-tickets.com

Best tours company in Amsterdam, I got all my Amsterdam tours and tour to Belgium from them.

2. MediaMarkt.nl and DynaByte.nl

I got all my electronics from Media Markt and some from DynaByte. Media Markt has good daily offer as well. I got my printer for cheap :).

3. AH.nl and Aldi.nl

If you are wondering where to buy food and groceries. Aldi has great prices, Albert Heijn (AH) has a lot of variety. SuperCoop is not a place I go to very often. You can even check the prices of things before you arrive to the Netherlands to plan how much you spend on eating. And don't forget to the the free bonus card from Albert Heijn. For other various things like bags, printer etc check out Kijkshop.nl.

4. Undutchables.nl

If you are looking for jobs, many things have agencies here and this is a well know recruitment agent.

5. D-reizen.nl

If you want to travel to Paris, London, Berlin, Prague by bus tours with Dutch guide :-P they speak some English if there are people who don't understand Dutch but very less. If you own a car then its a different story. You can try Effeweg.nl or Stipreizen.nl for other tours but I have not traveled with them.

Most of the websites mentioned above have mobile version apps, I have used some. So if you want to take full advantage on a 3G network then it might be very useful. And yes for mobile offers Mobiel.nl and Studentmobiel.nl are my recommendations.

I hope these websites will help you a lot, if you are a Dutch Expat or a Dutch please do add other website links in the comments. :)

Load Shedding Schedule Kathmandu, Nepal 6th May 2011 - still 11 hrs/day

2011-05-05T15:33:00.004+05:45

I don't know what is happening to our country, I had seen a video some days back with a guy showing text on paper like "No Peace", "No Constitution" .... "No Electricity" ... so whats next. I can't say. The video is below:

There is a hint of good news that load shedding is decreasing from tomorrow, here is the new schedule:

(Click on picture for big version)

Jai Nepal.

As always I hope it ends sooner than later.

Load Shedding Schedule Kathmandu, Nepal 24th March 2011 - still 12 hrs/day

2011-03-25T04:45:00.002+05:45

Happy S.L.C special load shedding to Kathmandu and to whole Nepal. The notice reads "यस प्रयासमा सबै ग्राहकहरुबाट सदा झैँ सहयोगको अपेछ्या गरिएको छ | " I found this line very funny they expect support from people who are not getting electricity for 14 hours a day, it is the height of not being ashamed. Some one rightly said No Electricity Production Always Loadshedding (NEPAL) its turning out to be true. Anyways below is the "new" load shedding schedule:

Click on image for larger view.

Full PDF File:

But I still hope and pray it ends sooner than later.

Facebook has 12 times more photos than flickr [InfoGraphic]

2011-02-21T03:51:00.001+05:45

Facebook has become a part of our daily life, some use it wisely, some are addicted to it but you use it. It was not of a big surprise that facebook has more photos than Flickr but more than 12 times was a surprise for me. And if you go by the predictions Facebook will have even more photos than what it has now.

Other highlights about the photos on facebook are the number of photos uploaded on weekends are higher than week days, 6 billion photos are uploaded every month, obviously women upload more photos than men on facebook. Full list of things in the info-graphic below:

Facebook has 12 times more photos than Flickr

Facebook Engineers must have a tough job to keep the servers up and running in this amount of load. But what can you do when the company is valued at around $ 50 billion now.

Load Shedding Schedule Kathmandu, Nepal 7th February 2011 - 14 hrs/day

2011-02-06T14:37:00.000+05:45

Congratulations to Mr. Jhala Nath Khanal for being elected the 34th Prime Minister of Nepal. You need a tight slap on the face to become the Prime Minster of Nepal. But a thing I did not like one bit is the CA members speaking in Hindi, why in the world do they have to do that. And yes as soon as he becomes the Prime Minister there is gift of 2 hours of added load shedding.

Click on image to get a bigger version

What else can be done, Kantipur even has a Lantern bulletin, its utterly shameful : see below:

Hope it gets better.

Load Shedding Schedule Kathmandu, Nepal 16th January 2011 - 12 hrs/day

2011-01-15T13:47:00.000+05:45

Happy Maghe Sankranti and Happy "official" Nepal tourism Year 2011, in my opinion the load shedding will also be a tourist attraction for Nepal. I don't think there is any country with a government or some political stability like our country with 12 hours of load shedding. We are record holder and should be very proud of it. Anyways here is the latest gift from NEA on the occasion of Maghe Sankranti andd Nepal Tourism Year 2011 commencement:

Click Image for bigger version.

And in PDF version:

Nepal ko Jai hos.

How to limit the time you spend on Facebook (FB)

2011-01-01T04:09:00.001+05:45

Its been more that 3 months I've been here in a new country, far from home, family and friends the first thing I do as soon as I wake up is get hooked on to Facebook and read some news about my country Nepal. Back home I was not a very active Facebook user but now its different.

Facebook is undoubtedly my medium to get get connected with whats happening back home, other friends round the world and also friend here near by. But the problem is, at times I and we as well don't get off this web of content put online by our near and dear ones. Some of my friends say I can't get off Facebook, I'm getting addicted to it. Other people are also kind of addicted to games and other social apps that Facebook has to offer. So how do we limit ourselves using Facebook then?

Stats Speak

Some one told me to batch the work, do it only once or twice a day like check your email only in the morning and in the evening and the same with Facebook, but I don't know if that works for me. Recently I read "Facebook users uploaded more than 2.7 million photographs, shared 1 million links and “liked” 7.6 million pages every 20 minutes in 2010, according to the company." - in an article from Mashable. So we are among the people in that 20 minutes that like the things, post links and photos and do other things on our beloved FB. How do we limit this then?

Way Out

I found a extension for Google Chrome, its called Chrome Nanny. This is a very cool extension, with this extension you can specify the time of day you want to block a website and the days of a week you want to block it. You can also pinpoint the maximum time you want to spend on the website in a day in the hours it is not blocked. This makes it good so that you are reminded that you spent say 30 minutes on Facebook today and its enough for today.

You can even see how much time you spent on the blocked website on the time you did not block it so it is a good extension to have. There is a similar extension for Firefox as well called Leech block I think it works in a similar manner. If you try to access Facebook (or other blocked site) in the given time or after you crossed the time limit for the day it shows you a white page with some text no the homepage of the site you are looking for. To users of the non standard compliant browser (Internet Explorer) god save you all from Facebook Addiction.

When you add a site to be blocked be very careful about the settings because when you try to edit or delete the blocked site it give a 64 character captcha kind of thing that never matches I don't know why. You can see the statistics on the time you spent on the websites you want to block in the hours they were not blocked. But if you really have to treat yourself with Facebook you can disable Chrome Nanny ;) (not suggested though). Similarly you can use Minutes Please to get the number of minutes you want to use a website like Facebook.

After the specified time the tab/window closes so you cannot use it anymore. May be this is also an option to know how long you want to spend time on Facebook.

More Things

I am not against Facebook but sometimes you need to be aware that you are spending a lot of time on it. Not only Facebook but you might be spending too much time on other websites like YouTube or some other website that you visit very frequently and loose the track of the time spent on it. So you can add those websites in Chrome Nanny and let the Nanny take care of it for your good.

Conclusion

Facebook rocks, its a great way to get connected and it has ample reasons to get the 500 million user it has now. But we don't have all the time in the world so to manage our time efficiently this might be a hard but practical way to keep things in control. So if I don't reply your comments on Facebook please blame Chrome Nanny for it. Blogging after so long feels good but time is very less now a days.

Happy New Year 2011, hope you use Facebook only as much as you want this year.

Load Shedding Schedule Kathmandu, Nepal 29th December 2010 - 10 + hrs/day

2010-12-28T14:55:00.001+05:45

Merry Christmas, happy boxing day and a Happy New Year 2011, NEA has a very special gift for us almost half of each day without any electricity. Thanks the the great Nepal Government they just released the Machine Readable Passports (MRP) and now we have a bad news of 10 + hours of load shedding a day. Yet again lets hope it ends soon, Jai Nepal.

Click on Image for a bigger view

Lets welcome Visit Nepal 2011 with candles.

Load Shedding Schedule Kathmandu, Nepal 15th December 2010 - 8 hrs/day

2010-12-15T14:22:00.001+05:45

Seems like I'm just updating the load shedding schedule, yes its getting very busy. Here again NEA has a gift for SinterKlaas and Christmas for all of us Nepalis 7 hours per day of no light. With fuel prices hiked up and no electricity we are heading to the ice age. But all is well, this will end one day, (dont ask me when? :-P).

By now you all know your groups for sure.

Document in PDF format:

Jai Nepal

Load Shedding Schedule Kathmandu, Nepal 17th November 2010

2010-11-15T16:54:00.002+05:45

Though we have bad roads, load shedding, Nepal Bandh and all the other political, social and misc problems we are a great country. Our laid back way of working is somewhat good but lets always hope our country Nepal will be better:

Hope it will end some day.

View Fullscreen.

Jai Nepal.

How about business intelligence at Bhat Bhatini

2010-10-18T15:41:00.001+05:45

When I was in Kathmandu, Nepal there was one place I liked to shop, par comparison it was a my first choice to buy things. No points for guessing it was Bhat Bhatini super market. Two days back I was studying data warehousing and Business Intelligence (BI) it has a typical example of a retail shop with departments, category of products and promotions (with a capital P) I thought why can't Bhat Bhatini arguably the oldest and the best super market in Nepal use it to maximize its profit.

I have never seen effective promotion schemes anywhere in Nepal, specially the consumer market has a big scope for it and with information that Bhat Bhatini has it well be great to see the patterns that come out of the data warehousing and data mining analysis. Bhat Bhatini has a computerized system so with data like which products bundle together, which products sell what which time, with information from Bhat Bhatini Club card even the customer dimension can be included it will be amazingly beneficial for the company.

When I was in the UAE, I went to CarreFour every now and then they had offers, mainly printed paper you could carry back home and see what you want in your own time then come back and get it for cheap prices. (See below).

And even here in Arnhem, Netherlands in places like Albert Heijn and others they have the same process of promotions almost every week. How do they do it, its simple they have a very efficient data warehouse and sophisticated data mining techniques that tell them amazing facts and patterns to improve their business intelligence.

They even know what two things to place in the adjoining racks so that sale of one compliments the other. They have knowledge of patterns like who (what age group) buys what products in which season by this they can have the optimal level of stock saving lots of money. Because of all this important processed data as valuable information they give discount and bundle together things ultimately for a better return.

Luckily Bhat Bhatini has a website, but misery that its a static website with almost never updated content. Leave the online selling (which can be a big plus, for people abroad Bhat Bhatini can deliver things to their homes where Nepali living outside can order things for their family) it does not even have mentions of offers like the Albert Heijn or CarreFour site has.

I know comparing Bhat Bhatini with CarreFour or Albert Heijn is not fair but we should look at progressing, at least have data about the things we offer and prices. I guess Bhat Bhatini has discounts now why because its Dashain not thoroughly calculated discounts, promotions and offers based on historical data and extracted intelligent patterns. Yes it may be a big investment to get a data warehouse like the one I'm referring to but on the long run it will surely pay off is what I believe.

Bhat Bhatini was just an example, Business intelligence with Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) and data warehouses should help all the executives come up with better managerial decisions. I even know things are not computerized but for Banks, Insurance Companies etc where they have the data should go for it and come up with mind boggling promotions and offer that will really help to edge out the competition.

Let's hope for a brighter technological future in our country. Change wil not come in a day but we should start from the bases we have. If we can't bring in all the expensive hardware we can surely start from the software front.

Drupal a non technical introduction at BarCamp Kathmandu 2010 #barcampktm

2010-08-28T18:10:00.000+05:45

After some research and getting my head banged on the wall I could not find any non technical introduction to Drupal. So I decided to cut the jargon out and do it on my own for BarCamp Kathmandu 2010 . So I'm just done with the session/presentation that was not scheduled. Thanks to the one presenter who got lost and I jumped in his time slot.

Below is the presentation:

Drupal A non technical Introduction

View more presentations from Geshan Manandhar.

The response was good. The whole experience today was great. Happy Barcamping everyone.

No questions were allowed due to time but I answered some in twitter. See the trend at #barcampktm

Chicken and egg problem with technology and development of a nation

2010-08-04T21:51:00.000+05:45

Can you look into the mirror? Can you open your eyes bigger? Yes like that. Thank you. As soon as I landed and took some steps these were the words the security guard at the Airport told me after I scanned my eyes (retina may be) on the scanner as was a first time visitor. I guess they collected this data for security reasons but the technology used is amazing.

Amazing Dubai

Dubai as they say it is with doubts the fastest growing city in the world and for many it might be a surprise that its not a country but and emirate/state of the United Arab Emirates. With many superlative landmarks attached to it like the tallest building in the world - Burj Khalifa , the biggest mall in the world - Dubai Mall, One of the biggest airports in the world - Dubai international airport , longest running automated metro in the world - Dubai Metro, largest musical fountain in the world - Dubai Fountain and others, the city has totally transformed itself in the last two - three decades.

Some technologies used in U.A.E

Not only Dubai the neighboring Sharjah has also advanced in the use of technology. The camera fitted traffic signals, the streets under CCVT there are lots of things that are new to me. An interesting fact is that you can't use cash to use public transport in Dubai (except Taxi), to use the bus, metro (train) and the water bus you must buy smart cards produced by NOL . All the roads and transportation fall under the RTA (Road and Transport Authority) management. I had heard of plastic money but this is my first encounter with plastic ticket. RTA has done a commendable job but more is to be done like use of smart cards in places out of Dubai like Sharjah, Metro link from Dubai to Sharjah and adjoining states/emirates are some of my suggestions.

Other interesting technology

Defying the forces of nature they are building man made islands on the sea, after completing Palm Jumeriah now the world is being built. With extensive use of Global Positioning System (GPS) and other high end technology UAE is advancing in unprecedented pace. May be there are so many other things and technologies I'm not aware of.

You can top up your NOL cards with a machine that sucks money I mean you put in a bill/note and it adds the balance to your card. You can even deposit the money to your bank account from a ATM like machine and even transfer the balance of a cheque to your account without any human contact. When will HSBC come in Nepal?? General Online services and online banking services are great. 3G internet is in your pocket and you can even surf in the metro that goes underground in a tunnel. All your holidays, leaves and schedules are on the internet for you to check anytime anywhere.

full Image here.

From small things like censors/tags on the items in the shop that beep when you pass the door (very simple technology) to the RTA buses where you tag the card to check in when you come in the bus and tag it again to check out that calculates the distance and deducts the fare technology is used to the optimum at every step.

My Confusion

After experiencing all this first hand a question raised in my mind is "Are developed nations developed because they use technology so good or because they are developed they use the technology?" - simply put technology first or development first.

I don't know but my friend suggested its people and education that drive the change. Its enlightenment and will to do that make things better. I believe in that.

From a nation where political stability is a myth and that had 9 governments in 10 years in the past decade I don't know what to expect. With incomparable potential like having the second largest water resource in the world and still facing up to 16 hrs per day of load shedding I can't say what to expect from our political leaders.

Conclusion

If people really believe, unexpected visions can turn into reality. I really hope some day Nepal will be as developed. All the things are man made here but we have so much given to us by nature, such natural beauty and resources are scarce. We don't have to fight the 46 C heat in summer neither do we have to clear the snow on the street in the winter (in the major cities) but still we lag behind.

Hope is very important, may be one day I'll blog about technologies unheard of being used in Nepal.

Load Shedding Schedule Kathmandu Nepal, 2 August 2010 - Its 8 hrs/day

2010-08-03T16:20:00.001+05:45

Again the load shedding increases, now its 8 hrs a day. I don't know though how much I cuss the leaders, the political situation and the government this situation is not gonna change. Anyways here is the gift of Republic of Nepal Government to its citizens below:

Click for full image

Uploaded Elsewhere:

Load_Shedding_Schedule Kathmandu 2 August 2010

Update
It was just for 1 week now its 2 hrs/day from 9 Aug 2010: http://myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=22012

Hope this situation ends soon, very soon.