Quality is important when there is enough of quantity.

If you have not yet started doing something, start doing it and then think about making it better.

Think about the quality of your articles only after you start writing. Before that your concern should be about starting. Think about scaling your web application after you get enough traffic. Before that think of ways to get good traffic.

With this I announce the opening of Kerala, a website/blog which I will be co-authoring. We intend to open it to all bloggers soon. We are working on the details.

So I started something; what have you done today?

In your web application test for the second condition too. This way you can find illegitimate keys and block illegal copies of your software from auto-updating. You can also try to disable those copies.

You will have to blacklist even original keys which are being used by many users at a time (this happens when someone shares/publishes his key).

(1)  There are many people (typical persons) around us who do not read books, blogs or anything else. They don’t want to learn anything new and they are happy as they are. They actively refuse reading or learning anything new and doing anything great. Is it possible to educate them better? How do you tell those people about the best practices in their respective fields? What do you do to make them learn new stuff?

(2)  Telecom companies, large retail store networks or other very big corporations are enjoying huge monopolies in their respective markets so that they no more care about customer satisfaction. Greed is what they are driven by. Many times I have seen telecom companies over-billing customers. I am yet to see an incident where a lower than actual bill was given. I am yet to see a bug in their systems by which I am charged less amount.
Seth Godin once described the story of a New York restaurant. Even if the restaurant pisses of every single customer who comes there, they will get enough new customers every day. My question is: how do we deal with these big guys? How do we make them serve the customers better?

What you are looking at is the complete details of the voters list in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Complete details means every single thing the state knows about you.

Anyway I will tell where I got this data from. I did not hack into the secure servers of AP. I did not crack the pass-phrase of the DBA. Apparently the authorities sold their waste papers to a vendor. Incidentally this vendor made paper plates using these and sold it a local cafe. I got the paper plates whenever I ordered something from there.

I took some more samples from there. Then came another shocking truth. Among the data there was data corresponding to the details of the customers of a famous bank. Looking at the samples it was obvious that the papers contained data of all the customers of the bank from all parts of India.

I don’t know how to react to this. Just wanted to let you know that the next time you are doing business with anyone, ask them what they do with their waste papers.

At least we all know what caps lock key is used for. What about the scroll lock key?

The scroll lock key is a remnant from the original IBM PC keyboard. In the original design, scroll lock was intended to modify the behavior of the arrow keys. When the scroll lock mode was on, the arrow keys would scroll the contents of a text window instead of moving the cursor. In this usage, scroll lock is a modifier key like Alt and Shift (which modify the function of other keys) and, more specifically, a toggling lock key like Num Lock or Caps Lock, which have a state that persists after the key is released. Today, this particular use of scroll lock is rare. Only a few modern programs still honor this behavior, such as Microsoft Excel (in the behavior of arrows — when scroll lock is on, the selection does not move), Lotus Notes and Forté Agent. In modern GUI environments, scrolling is usually accomplished using means such as scrollbars or scroll wheels. Therefore scroll lock can be regarded as a defunct feature in almost all modern programs and operating systems; some keyboards lack scroll lock altogether.

Here is the result of an online poll:

Many people are not using scroll lock key any way. Why not save some keyboard real estate by removing this key?

Even though some people with specific applications use caps lock key, usually people use the shift key for the occasional capitalization of letters. Many people are pressing for removing the CAPS Lock Key from the keyboard. There is even a google group for this.
What is the optimum solution? In my opinion, remove the scroll lock key, and move the caps lock key there.

When your perspective differs from my perspective, we can discuss and exchange ideas.

When your goal is different from my goal, it is better we part ways.

If your work is more fun, chances are that you are more productive. If your business is more fun, chances are that you are doomed.

How to do your work best is a subject researched by people for years, and they have thought of many ways to make your work fun and easy. But business can be done only in a single way - the right way - the hard way. It is how it has been done for thousands of years of human history.

Make your work fun and take your business seriously.

In your home

1. Turn off equipment like televisions and stereos when you are not using them.
2. Choose energy-efficient appliances and light bulbs.
3. Save water; some simple steps can go a long way in saving water. E.g.: you should always turn off the tap when you are brushing your teeth. And try to collect the water used to wash vegetables and salad to water your house plants.
4. Let clothes dry naturally. Avoid dryer.
5. Keep lids on pans when cooking to prevent your cooker having to work extra hand. Prefer to use gas ovens, Geysers etc in place of the electric ones.
6. Recycle your paper, glass, plastics and other waste.
7. Plants emit Oxygen. So take home these earth saving friends to live with you.

While on the road

1. Less traffic is less pollution and less petrol consumption.
2. Follow traffic rules and leave left lane, tomorrow we might be the one in ambulance caught in traffic jam
3. Prefer to share your ride to reduce traffic jams and pollution.
4. Prefer to use public transport.
5. Set an example by not littering and cleaning litter.
6. Keep a litter bag in your car and bring one with on day trips in case no waste bins are available.
7. Prefer to turn off engine at traffic signals.

Save wood and paper

1. Always use both sides of a sheet of paper.
2. Use email to stay in touch, including cards, rather than faxing or writing
3. Reuse envelopes. Always reuse paper for making scribbling pads.
4. Share magazines with friends and pass them on to the doctor, dentist or local hospital for their waiting rooms.
5. Use recyclable paper to make invitation cards, envelops, letter pads etc.

Reuse and recycle

1. Use washable nappies instead of disposables if you can
2. Give unwanted clothes, toys and books to charity shops or jumble sales.
3. Use mains electricity rather than batteries if possible. If not, use rechargeable batteries.
4. Use a solar powered calculator instead of one with a battery.
5. Instead of a plastic ballpoint, use a fountain pen with bottled ink, not plastic cartridges.
6. Store food and other products in ceramic containers rather than in plastic wrap.

At your workplace

1. Use printers that can print on both sides of the paper; try to loom into this option when replacing old printers.
2. Use the back of a draft or unwanted printout instead of notebooks. Even with a double sided printer there is likely to be plenty of spare paper to use!
3. Always buy recycled paper – for your business stationary and to use in your printers.
4. Switch off computer monitors, printers and other equipment at the end of each day. Though in standby mode they are still using power – and that adds to global warming.
5. Always turn off your office lights and computer when you go out for lunch or to a meeting.
6. Prefer green roofs, gardens and natural plants in your office.

While shopping

1. Prefer carrying your own bags and avoid plastic usage. Prefer paper or jute bags.
2. Prefer on-line shopping, bill payments and reservations as this will reduce fuel consumption and pollution by not driving to shops/offices.
3. Purchase solar powered products.
4. Send e-cards if you can, rather than buy paper cards.

Bloggers

You can copy this text to your blog to spread this message. No attribution/link-love is needed.

That is what the great Roger Federer did when he lost to the impeccable Rafael Nadal in the (grandest ever) Wimbledon championship final last night.

I felt like Federer was saying: “All these years I never had a chance to grab a runners up trophy in Wimbledon”. Of course, he was the champion there for the last five years.

Being the best in your profession is very, very difficult. Still, it is not impossible. It is worth trying.

while(1)

{

      if(condition)

      {

            break;

      }

      ... ... ... ... ...

}

I was prompt in asking about a simpler while loop:

while(condition)

{

      ... ... ... ... ...
}

“Oh. That is also fine. You can use it either way” was the response.

I still don’t know how he got to teach in the institution. These guys are really dangerous. They make bad software engineers. Generations of them. Atleast now I know where the Daily WTF codes come from.