Y2K - 10 years on

New Year 2010 is here - in just about 5 days!!

Well, this new year is special - just because it signals the end of the first decade of the 21st century!!

A little over 10 years ago, as the 21st century was about to be heralded - Y2K was the buzz word!!

Y2K was a critical computer problem - related to the fact that "years" in computer systems were stored in 2 digits. On 1 Jan 2000, the "year" was expected to roll over from 99 to 00.

With this, it was estimated that the systems would not be able to distinguish between the year 2000 and 1900. Many organizations across the world spent millions of dollars trying to fix the problem. The net result was highly successful - with very very few errors reported across the world!!

Catch all the details here!!

And one comment by Alan Greenspan in 1998 highlighted how programmers across the world underestimated their capabilities on developing long running computer systems!!

"I’m one of the culprits who created this problem. I used to write those programs back in the 1960s and 1970s, and was proud of the fact that I was able to squeeze a few elements of space out of my program by not having to put a 19 before the year. Back then, it was very important. We used to spend a lot of time running through various mathematical exercises before we started to write our programs so that they could be very clearly delimited with respect to space and the use of capacity. It never entered our minds that those programs would have lasted for more than a few years. As a consequence, they are very poorly documented. If I were to go back and look at some of the programs I wrote 30 years ago, I would have one terribly difficult time working my way through step-by-step. ”

—Alan Greenspan, 1998

What is Boxing Day??

Well, for the last 15 years - almost since the time I've known cricket - I have heard about the Boxing Day Test. The Boxing Day Test starts on the next day after Christmas.

This made me think that 26th Dec is always referred to as Boxing Day. And how wrong i was!!

Boxing Day - in the simplest terms - is the first weekday after Christmas!!

Considering this, it can either be on 26th Dec or 27th Dec or 28th Dec!!

As per Wikipedia, the name derives from the tradition of giving seasonal gifts, on the day after Christmas, to less wealthy people and social inferiors, which was later extended to various work people such as laborers and servants.

Misconstrued Laws

On Thursday 24th Dec 2009, just about every newspaper in India had a news headline declaring that Indians could now fly their National Flag even at night!!

The first two lines of the article are mentioned below

==

Indian citizens can now fly the National Flag even at night. This is subject to the condition that the flagpole is really tall and the flag itself well-illuminated.

==

This made me wonder what kind of laws are we making?

Laws which can easily be misconstrued!!!

What is the meaning of "really tall"? Is it 1 feet or 100 feet?

And what is "well-illuminated"? Illuminated with a 0 watt bulb or a 100 watt bulb?

Its high time we started making intelligent laws. Laws which have only one clear meaning. This will make our legal system more strong and prevent any misuse in the loopholes of such laws!!

Intelligent Mind

Once in a while we come across a person whose thought process is quite different from the people we meet daily.

Or many many times, the same old people think differently - making you appreciate their intelligence!!

Well, all this is linked to their mind - who at times or maybe always tries to think at a different level altogether!!

Here is one article which tries to explore this behavior. Quite interesting I would say!!

And if the article is to be believed, we can ourselves build a intelligent mind - just like we are developing a skill!!

The Russian Mentality

Heading towards Russia? Or planning to interact with the Russians?

Well, this is one article which may help you - a bit!!

World Cup 2010 Draw!!

The FIFA Football World Cup 2010 will kick off in South Africa in little over 7 months!!

 

The draw was held a few days back in South Africa and the battle lines are already drawn!!

In my opinion, all the groups are equally balanced - with none of the groups having more than 2 strong teams. With this, unless there are some upsets, we can see a strong line up the Last 16 stage leading to some good action.

The match schedule is as below.

Within a short span of 2 weeks, we will know who will have a shot at the Cup.

As of now, Spain is the current favorite with odds 5 1/2. Only time will tell who will win the World Cup, the first to be held in Africa!!

What Why When Where How??

What Why When Where How??

What's on the the top of the mind of most people ??

Check it out below (courtesy Google)

Mexican Wave

Well, you must have seen the Mexican Wave at sporting events - be it cricket matches, football matches or the Olympics!!

It has been 28 years since the Mexican Wave - A wave effect formed when crowds in stadium rise up and down from their seats in succession - made its origin.

The first appearance of the wave was a section by section cheer at a Major League Baseball game that was led by professional cheerleader Krazy George Henderson in Oakland, California on October 15, 1981, in an American League Championship Series game between the Oakland Athletics and the New York Yankees.

Catch some action here

Finland - Broadband Internet a Legal Right

Internet - since its inception in the 1960's - has made a substantial progress in terms of penetration.

Approx 1.6 billion people across the world have access to the net. In absolute terms, this is a huge number. But in relative terms, only 24% of the world population has access to the internet.

Catch the stats here

In Finland - a country in northern Europe with a population of 5.3 million - around 96% of its people have access to the internet. 

With such a good start, Finland has gone a step ahead and has made Broadband Internet a Legal Right. It is the first nation to enact such a law!!

The law mandates telecommunications companies will be obliged to provide all Finnish residents with broadband lines that can run at speeds of at least 1 megabit per second!!

Hope that broadband access to the internet becomes a reality for people across most of the countries!!

Olympics to Rio

A few days back - the Olympics committee decided that Rio De Janeiro, Brazil will be hosting the 2016 Olympics!!

Rio faced stiff competition from Madrid(Spain), Chicago(USA) and Tokyo(Japan) - but finally managed to win the bid, becoming the first city in Latin America to host the Games!!

Take a look at the citities which have hosted the Olympics over the past 113 years.

Rio will be the 24th city which will be hosting the Olympics and we all hope that 7 years down the line, they manage to put a fantastic show!!

BBC News Countdown

If you have seen the BBC news channel , you certainly must not have missed this!!

And i'm talking about the NEWS countdown theme. I like the music in this theme a lot!!

And needless to say, within a short span of 60 seconds - it takes you on a trip across the world - right from Wall Street in NY, the White House in Washington, the monastaries in Tibet, the battlegrounds of Afganistan and Iraq, Red Square of Moscow, across India, Hollywood, Africa, China, Australia, South America et all!!

Catch some of the versions below

Battle for Waziristan

Waziristan is a small part of the North West Frontier Province in Western Pakistan!!

And if this article from Dawn News is to be believed, Pakistan is planning to launch a major war on the Taliban militants in the coming days!! 

Army officials say that it may last upto 4 weeks - but if history is to be considered, it may extend for a much longer time.

 

Only God knows where is Pakistan is heading :(

Silly Thoughts

This is before!!
And this is after!!

And I'm thinking about boiling eggs!!

Staying away from home, eggs have recently being an integral part of my diet.

Recently while cooking egg curry, a silly thought shot across my mind - do we have a machine which can remove the egg shell?

Well, a quick search online - and the answer is Yes!!

Someone somewhere has filed a patent for an Egg Breaking machine and an Egg Breaker device!!

Well, these machines might be useful for mass operations. But for removing the shells of a couple of eggs, I will still have to rely on my hands!!

Fall of Communism in Central and Eastern Europe

1989 - It is a landmark year in the history of Central and Eastern Europe!!

Almost 20 years back - in 1989 - Central & Eastern Europe broke away from the shackles of Communism!!

This is how CEE looked way back in 1989.

And this how it looks now!!

A complete change on the face of the world map!!

Catch this excellent article - with nice graphic content - from the BBC - which charts the fall of Communism in CEE.

And this article from the US Department of State gives a nice gist of the events between 1989-1991 which triggered this massive change!!

Hrvatski

Being in Zagreb, Croatia for the last few weeks, I have been listening to and reading a bit of Croatian (or Hrvatski) - This was necessary to travel around the city!!

The language is almost similar to English - with only a few words different!! Its the national language of a few countries - Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina among them.

Learn the basics of Hrvatski here!! This site is quite useful!!

And a brief snapshot of some of the Croatian alphabets and tips for pronouncing them!!

Adriatic Sea

Looking for Croatia on the world map, it was a pleasant surprise to know that it was bordered by the Adriatic Sea!! 

Now, I had never heard of Adriatic Sea... neither did they teach us about her in the geography classes!!

Probably, thats because the Adriatic Sea is considered as an extension of the Mediterranean Sea!! It surrounded by Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania!!

The word Adria probably derives from the Illyrian word adur meaning "water" or "sea"!!

As it is with all seas, its extremely beautiful!!

Visiting the beautiful beaches of the Adriatic Sea is considered as a good holiday by many Italians and Croats!!

Croatia - Neckties and Ball-point Pens

Well, I wear a necktie at least 2 days a week - at work!! But never in the last 5 years did I wonder when and where did these neckties originate!!

Being in Zagreb now, came across an interesting piece of Croatian history.

Croatia is the birth place of the Necktie (Cravat in Hrvatski) !! Now that was a real surprise!!

Catch a small excerpt from Wiki

The necktie traces back to the time of Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) when Croatian mercenaries from the Military Frontier in French service, wearing their traditional small, knotted neckerchiefs, aroused the interest of the Parisians. Due to the slight difference between the Croatian word for Croats, Hrvati, and the French word, Croates, the garment gained the name "Cravat". The new article of clothing started a fashion craze in Europe where both men and women wore pieces of fabric around their necks. In the late seventeenth century, the men wore lace cravats that took a large amount of time and effort to arrange. These cravats were often tied in place by cravat strings, arranged neatly and tied in a bow.

And the ball point pen was also invented by Slavoljub Penkala in Zagreb back in 1906.

Makes me wonder - how these 2 small things have changed the way we work!!

Barcodes

Well, Google is a website which I visit almost daily.

On 6th October, 2009 - I was in for a surprise - the Google website logo was unreadable!!

Or shall I say - machine readable!!

Google was celebrating the 57th anniversary of Barcode!!

And for the last many years, bar-codes have become an integral part of our lives!! 

Most commonly and universally, they are used for checking out goods at supermarkets. 

They make the process simple - reading the commodity being sold, the cost etc etc. This automation helps the quicken up the selling process and also helps in maintaining upto date inventory!!

 

The name of my blog - in the long and thin lines - would look like this.!! 

Check out the free bar code generator below - its interesting!!

by Barcodes Inc

Being Busy

An interesting picture from the recently concluded London Fashion Week!!

( Picture courtesy - BBC © )

People are so busy back stage preparing for the super-models for a cat walk!! And the news article said that almost 6 people are dedicated towards preparation for a single model!!

Just shows the kind of hard work that goes into the glorious world of fashion!!

60 Years of China

On 1st of October 2009, China celebrated it's 60th Anniversary of nationhood. 60 years back, the iconic Chinese leader - Mao Zedong - founded the People's Republic of China!!

China is one of the biggest country in the world in terms of area. Approx. 1.3 billion people call China their Home - thats almost 19% of the world population!!Needless to say, the celebrations of such an event were really big.

Catch some interesting pictures as China prepared for the celebrations!!

This one - The National Grand Theater in Central Beijing - caught my eye!!

And a bird's eye view of the actual celebration on 1st October, 2009!!

First Wives

Well, all of us have heard of this quote.

Behind every successful man, there is a woman!!

And this picture conveys the very essence of it!! The men are grabbing all the attention while the wives are quietly staying backstage!!

While Barack Obama is the president of the United States of America, Michelle Obama is a lawyer. She played a key role in Obama's presidential campaign in 2008!!

Nicholas Sarkozy is the president of France, while his wife Carla Bruni is a ex-supermodel. She has played a key role in enhancing the Sarkozy's public image in his presidency!!

Well, in the next pictures - the first wives take center stage!!

Dust Storm hits Sydney

Well, I had heard of dust storms hitting the deserts - raking up a lot of sand as they go along.

But today we had a surprise as a huge dust storm hit Sydney early morning. Red Dust covered the entire city!!

Catch some spectacular pictures below - of the Sydney Harbor Bridge during the storm and right after it!!

This picture itself shows the intensity of the storm!!

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said a major cold front in New South Wales state caused severe thunderstorms and gale-force winds, which whipped up the dust from the drought-stricken inland and spread it across Australia's most populous state.

Catch some new articles, pictures and a video below

The Times of India

The Daily Mail

Usain Bolt - 200m - World Record - 19.19 Secs

Usain Bolt is on a world record breaking spree!!

After running the 100m dash at the Berlin World Championship in 9.58 seconds, Usain was on track to win the 200m race too.

He did it in style - cross the finishing line in only 19.19 seconds - a cool 0.11 seconds off his last world mark.

Catch the race below

Only God and Usain Bolt know where the world record for 100m and 200m are heading!!

Travel Tales

By God's grace, I have traveled to some really wonderful places - across India and the World!!

Here is a glimpse of some pictures (some of which i may not have taken) - but are here because they depict the beauty and magic of the place in the best possible way.

Starting with Shanghai, China. - Here's a view of Shanghai and its magnificent Pearl Tower situated on the bank of the Huangpu River.

Then to Mauritius, a great country with amazing beaches and superb blue water!!

A voyage to Russia - to the eastern city of Moscow. Got a glimpse of the famous Red Square, The Kremlin and The St. Basil's Cathedral.

And to the Indian cities of Nainital and Agra.



And here's a quote which summarizes it all

"Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quiestest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey." - Pat Conroy

Usain Bolt - 100m in 9.58 Seconds

Usain Bolt - of Jamaica - created a World Record yesterday by running the 100m dash in the Berlin World Championship in 9.58 seconds.

With this, he became the first man on earth to run sub 9.6 seconds. This is no extraordinary feat considering that a decade back the World Rcord was the 9.85 seconds mark!!

Needless to say, he had great competiton in the final from Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell - and great competitors propel athletes to great heights.

Catch the Videos here

A short and sweet 100 m dash


And a slightly detailed version


Usain bolt however thinks that he can cross the ultimate barrier for humans - running sub 9.5 seconds!!