HPC (High Performance Computing) and Coffee

Today while reading an e-paper on HPC, I came across this humor. Loved it and sharing it.

Creating a good tasting coffee may be art, but keeping it fresh is a science. A leading food packager has found that instead of metal cans, plastic containers maintain coffee freshness longer after they're opened. The simple solution was to switch to plastic coffee containers right? Well not so fast. Plastic created

another problem. Coffee continues to release gasses after packaging.  A metal container can easily sustain the pressure, but a metal container doesn't keep the coffee as fresh. The solution was to design a check valve that releases the pressure that builds up in the plastic coffee container. This solution, while fixing the first problem, created a second issue. When the coffee is shipped to the stores, the truck can take mountainous routes where the outside pressure becomes quite low. Gases exit the container via the check valve, but when the pressure increases the container implodes. To avoid "crushed coffee" the company

applied HPC technologies to engineer a container that would, for lack of better words, "implode gracefully." Using some clever design and HPC, they were able to create canisters that can travel far and wide yet still maintain their shape and keep the coffee fresh after it is open. This may be a good time to mention that

there is often lots of coffee-drinking involved in the world of HPC too — good to the last FLOP. 

[tags computing, technology]

[category computing, technology]

 

trip to hyderabad. Humvee sightings.

Right about when people are discussing black water, and other things, i am quite sure that company is non existant by now, and some other operative is changed, i sighted some humvees on the way.

Hyderabad trip. Abstract. Part 1

There is biryani available in terms of weight. I wonder how does his costing comes. Still as a customer point of view, it is quite inexpensive. It is 20 ruppees per 1/4 kg. Meaning 80 ruppees per kilo, which is quite ok for 3 - 4 persons. And in karachi we get one biryani plate for one person for 80 ruppees. A stark difference. Hyderabad is one awesome place.

Movie Review :: Outsourced.

I grabbed the last hour of this movie on Star movies yesterday. It is about the american call centers being set up in india and how the different cultural things influence the working of an organization. The small cultural differences and their effects are conveyed to the user in an effective manner. A light comedy movie to watch, I would say.

rating: 4/5
Storyline: 3/5
IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425326/

My current Addictions :: Knight Rider

One of my current addictions are now adays, Knight Rider series. I just don't know why? May be it's because of the movie, Knight rider or the golden oldie TV Series, back in the old days when I use to Watch NTM.

Still, can't get enough of watching this TV Series.

movie review :: a scanner darkly

This movie is like a cross between a real life and an animated flick. Its like the movie was shot first and then a photo shop effect was applied. An awesome movie to watch and keep its dvd. Starring wenona rider and Keanu Reeves.

Rating. 8 by 10
Story. 5 by 10
Animation. 8 by 10

New Coolest UBUNTU Themes

I was looking for some of the darker themes of Ubuntu. I really had a hard time working on white backgrounds  and when you look at them at night, they come on right to your face. Did some search and our very old freind Google, and low and behold, there it was. A nice looking Grey /  Black theme, which will  make my working on UBUNTU more fun and more less WINDOWY. See the screen shots.


Last one the screen shot fo this email.

THIS IS CHEKCING BLOG ENTRY FROM UBUNTU :: EVOLUTION.

Today, a new address book is imported from Gmail to Evolution. It does have spell check and all the bells and whitlese of an email cleint. Let's see how can I perform the blog now.

Attaching a Screen shot I took when Playing Street Fighter 3. This game is addictive. !.

Ubuntu :: Post Blog Entry.

another tool discovered in Ubuntu. It goes by the name of Post Blog Entry. Just a click away. All I had to do it to click it's shortcut and then type my thoughts, and WALLA. The thoughts are posted.

Again, thanks to the Ubuntu.

Ubuntu :: Discovery

I have recently discovered Ubuntu and more I am discovering it, more I am getting accustomed to it. The fonts, the lovely desktop effects everything is so perfect. And the best thing is that it is for FREE. I mean, I have recently installed some of the coolest games in UBUNTU and they work.

I am seriously planning to switch to Ubuntu, once and for all.

More coming soon.

Time Management Issue.

A lot of Organizations have an irony of policy of coming office on time। Some choose on picking employees as "Employee of the month"। They provide extra training sessions for the employees who come on time। Our prestegious Organization, well, the organization has documented that everyone should be up @ 0900 hours but the non-documented culture of the office is such that people usually turn up @ 1000 hours। But they do move out of office once their work is finished। Usually, the culture is a bit loose, and people do balance their work life issues well। Excep for one department. which is a customer support department, whose rules are set like it's a sub organization / subsidory working under another organization. Let's talk about the rule which is getting way out of heads, hall we.

The rule: Since the time to reach / Sign In is 0900 hours, you need to be here @ 0915 hours। If you are late for 15 Minutes, that is you are coming after 0915 hours and before 0930 hours, you need to pay 50 bucks। If you are coming after 0930 hours, you need to pay 100 bucks। Now this payment can be cancelled if you can inform your boss prior to coming Office। And this payment can be waived only twice a month.

Seriosly, I ask all my fellow readers, is this good way to entice people to come @ 0900 / 9 o'clock? I mean, are we still living in the days of where people are used to cut wages in case we did any mistakes। We learn from our mistakes, not pay for them। Heck, we are working in a white collar environment but actually working under a blue collar job रेगिमे I mean, there should be other ways implemented to entice people to come @ 0900 hours। Another thing, I truly would like to mention is that, BOSSES, YEAH BOSSES, they need to look at their sub ordinates and think "Why the hell is he not coming on time?" Did he has a break up with her girl freind, did he fight with his wife or is he simply not interested in his job? I mean, these are quite personal questions, but bosses do become personal don't they?

I mean, I get petrified on the thought that bosses don't even think about why the person is not coming on time, instead they just blindly ask the money.

I ask my fellow readers। Is this the correct way to entice employees to come on time. I mean, the Team leads, Project Managers, (most of them) are coming on time, it's the lower workers who are not coming on time. Also, there are lots of other factors which need to put in mind before chargining money। I would like to highlight those factors now.

House Hold Chores. - Things like submitting papers work in our government offices - Things like doing those work, which can only be done in office timings.

Another factor that gets a hit big time is the motivation to stay productive। Whenever, I get an email asking for the late comer's fee, my motivation to work drops। I mean, what I working for, My Career, My ability to come on time?

I think bosses, these days, should see the ability of the person to work and compare it with HOW or WHAT QUALITY is being delivered by that person। Not by just being on time.

I mean Mosqitos are squished because they SUCK blood from humans, while Bees are priased becuase they make Honey, but by SUCKING blood from flowers. They are both doing the same thing.

-- Salman, Khwaja

My thoughts. Random thoughts.

I have been thinking about how do I go with the main essense of a microsoft and a true spirit of an open source software. The Microsoft has the following benefits

• I have been working on it for so long aprox 5 years.
  
• If anything goes wrong, it could be solved for like in a matter of minutes. If I don't know about it, I will have to look up to the Internet

The open source has following benefits

• No VIRUS. Wow that gives a relief. Ain't it.
• No installation after every 6 months or so
• new grounds, therefore, there would be a steep learning curve
• if anything small think goes wrong, I will definately have to have an internet connection to look up things.
  

Now from above points, I really feel that I should go for... I don't know. Can anybody help me out here.???

Countries where Mobile phones are banned

http://www.orbitz.com/shared/pagedef/content/air/airportCodes.jsp?popupsDisabled=false#international

--
"If we expended as much energy teaching good testing skills to new testers
as we do in writing down bad test cases, we would have better testing."

Salman, Khwaja.

QA Analyst,
Verticity Inc..
Http://www.Verticity.com

8 Careers to Help Lower Your Stress Meter

This is a very old link, I would like to share with you. Accountant Job is
at number one. So... Anyone having second thoughts to change to
calculation field? I do wonder why HR is not at top?

<URL:

http://education.yahoo.net/degrees/articles/featured_8_careers_to_help_lower_your_stress_meter.html

>

Type Racer

I came across a fun URL for checking out the Word per minute. At least you
get to know your typing speed.

<URL: http://play.typeracer.com/ >

Mine ranges from 43 - 49 WPM. What's your?

Should I be using Blogger or Word Press?

After a lot of thought process, I have finally decided that
" I will be using and sicking to Blogger."

Why. Simple. I love writting emails, and publishing your diary entries is
one concept which swept me even though the Word Press has cooler design
templates. This one decision has bought me to think that I will be
blogging my thought in this small world and perhaps make the world a
better.... Do I really need to write it?

INBOX :: XOBNI.

Welcome to the world of messy Emails.

People, I was surfin' around in my office and came across this fabulous
tool. Thought I should share. What is it? Who is it for?

It is for those poeple who are extensively relying on Outlook Email,
Probably, because their office has left them no choice to switch to other
email cleint. ( In my previous office, I transferred all my Mails to GMAIL
!!. A bliss.) Anyway, so if you are stuck at outlook or you love it just
for the sake of Microsoft, do give tool a whirl.

It is an Outlook Add on, which lets you search emails, search attachments.

The Links are

http://www.xobni.com/
http://www.xobni.com/press/coverage
http://www.xobni.com/learnmore/
http://www.xobni.com/learnmore/getthedigits
http://www.xobni.com/learnmore/letsmeet
http://www.xobni.com/learnmore/inbox_search
http://www.xobni.com/download

Lastly, you may download the User Manaul, if you are that reader.
http://www.xobni.com/media/xobni_user_manual.pdf

Enjoy your (arranged) Email.

10 Things I Hate About Testing :: An article I read..

10 Things I Hate About Testing - SD Times On The Web

10 Things I Hate About Testing By Edward J. Correia March 18, 2008 — Almost since I began as editor of Software Test & Performance magazine in Oct. 2006, I’ve been trying to find someone willing to contribute a feature article that might have a title similar to “X Things You Didn’t Know About .” The X would equal some number of the author’s choosing and could be their subject of choice, the only requirement being that it involve software testing. This is not that. But quality control specialist Prakash Sodhani has given me a pretty interesting list of gripes, grievances, nits and pet peeves that many of you probably share. Some of this overlaps with my May 4 newsletter “Testers Are Idiots,” which covered common misconceptions about testers and prompted some of you to write in. Let’s see if you also share some of the same dislikes.

1. The phrase: “Testing is easy and anyone can do it” “One of the most frustrating aspects of working as a tester is that most of the time you don’t get the respect you deserve,” says Sodhani, who works for a Texas-based IT services company. “I am surprised to look at what testing teams have been reduced to nowadays. And in so many teams, most of the people I see don’t have any career objectives and are only there for the paycheck.” Throughout his career, Sodhani says, many of his former coworkers chose testing because it’s the only work they could find. “I don’t have a problem with the career objectives of others. But the situation becomes so frustrating that even if you mention something worthwhile, everyone looks at you like, ‘What does this guy know?’ ” He sympathizes with qualified testers who are motivated and ambitious, but “find themselves in a situation where no one cares about their careers.”

2. Running around to gather requirements Sodhani’s next pet peeve came to exist in a company that defined agile development as a practice under which no requirements were documented. That’s right. No requirements documents. “Everything was verbal. I still remember always being so scared when my boss put out the testing assignment list.” The first thing he would look at was not the part of the app being tested, but the developer he was assigned to work with. “If I knew that the developer was one who would answer all my questions, I felt relieved. I didn’t care about the requirement, but how comfortable I was with that developer,” because the necessary testing can be done once that critical requirement information is known.

3. Developers dictating how to test This one is best illustrated with an example. “I was working on a project related to back-end testing and needed to verify things in some of the database tables.” But since he wasn’t aware of the table names and schema, he had to query the developer. “He immediately said, ‘Let me send you the queries I have, and you can run them. That’s all you’ll need.’ I stood there trying to understand what he just said.” It seemed that the developer was telling him to run the same queries for the testing as were being executed by the code. The developer confirmed this was the case. “He said that that’s how it’s been done until now. So I thought, ‘What am I testing?’ I’ll be looking at the same data the developer probably unit-tested and say, ‘It looks great.’ But that’s not what I want.” All he wanted was to know the table names and their relationships so he could write his own test queries. The developer had other ideas.

4. Salary disparity If you read the May 4 newsletter, you’ll recall that Cisco’s Jeff Feldstein characterized pay parity between testers and developers as critical for attracting and retaining talented testers. “Based on my experience, I have found that testers are not in the same category in the pay scale as developers.” And when he has inquired with bosses as to the reasons for this, “I’ve never gotten a convincing reply. Most of the answers indicated that testers don’t do as much as developers.” File that statement under statement no. 1. Sodhani compares salary disparity in IT departments with that of a professional sports team. “When any [sports] franchise hires a great talent, they offer him the best possible contract so that he doesn’t leave.” While that franchise may never win a championship, having talented players on the team gives it hope and keeps players motivated. “The same is the case with testing. If you have a tester who is very skilled and you put him on a same pay scale as some other tester and don’t provide opportunities to advance, you are asking for your star tester to leave.”

5. Too much focus on manual testing As if acknowledging some truth about statement no. 1, Sodhani says, “Manual testing doesn’t require too much technical skill. As long as you have willingness to break stuff, you will do fine.” But, as he explains with anecdotes from two former jobs, a little knowledge—in this case of test automation—can go a long way toward fulfillment. “In Job A, I was a load-test engineer with a manager knowledgeable about the [automation] tools I was using. He understood what I was talking about, we had great technical discussions and I learned a lot of things in the process. In Job B, the members of my team had hardly any automation background and were not interested in learning anything new. We were never able to focus on automation; it just kept being postponed.”

He was further frustrated by not being able to talk to anyone about technical issues. “No one talked about anything but family matters.” This high degree of repetitive, manual testing and stagnation “made me realize how important team members can be to job satisfaction.” Next week I’ll bring you Things I Hate About Testing numbers six through 10, starting with “Getting everything at the last moment.”

Scribe Fire:: A publishing Assistant

ScribeFire: Fire up your blogging » Getting Started

ScribeFire is an extension for the Mozilla Firefox Web browser that integrates with your browser to let you easily post to your blog: you can drag and drop formatted text from pages you are browsing, take notes, and post to your blog.

HR :: should they be working in Tandem with Religious Holidays for all the people

I mean gone are the days when there were people from the same religion, same locality and same country were in one orgnanization. We are living in globalisation, where by people from different races are working on the same organization. What I mean to say is that in one organization, there are different people from different religious backgrounds are working.The People from majority of religion enjoys their holiday. For example, Organizations working in Pakistan are off on Islamic holidays. This is very good for muslims but what about the non-muslims working in Pakistan. A Chinese working in Pakistan won't be getting a chinese new year holiday, while the same chinese will be getting this holiday in Singapore.Well in Singapore, there are holidays provided for Muslim Community, Chinese Community and Indian Community, probably because they are the ones in Majority.So this takes us where???No Matter which country you are residing, if you are residing in a country in which your comminity is the one or having a share in Majority, the organization is bound to provide you the holiday according to your religious beliefs.One this proposition, where does democracy comes when its time to play fair for the one in minority?

I mean, these days, we are living where by a everywork is a project. Every Project, there is plan and schedule, and for every schedule, there are different people working. Do you see where I am getting at?

Well simple, if a schedule is being made, could the scheduler schedule the project while keeping in mind the different religious background? Well I think the schedulers can provided if they are backed up by HR.

What is HR then? Nothing its in our minds. Because the poeple in HR are humans like us. We just have to convince them like I have tried to convince you.

Leaving my first post on this thought. Am open for comments.

Issue about opening Multiple instances of any DESKTOP Application.

I was just thinking about this. Thought I would like to have your comments.

What is the issue about opening Multiple instances of any DESKTOP Application? Please keep in mind that I am talking about a single desktop on single machine. I am not going in intricacies of having multiple desktops on multiple / single machines.

 

We are in the middle of making a desktop app and it's is allowing to open multiple instances of itself. How to Reproduce the behaviour.
 

1. Double click the shortcut which open the application.
   
2. Once the application is loaded in Memory or is visible, Double click the same short cut again.
   

If it allows (Multiple Instances) then another instance will be opened. If it does not allow (Multiple Instances), then same instance will be displayed as in Step 1, or will be focused.

Now, Winamp, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer opens multiple instances.

Unlikely, MSN messenger, Yahoo Messenger and Google Talk DOES NOT allow to open Multiple Instances of themselves. They all do have log in Dialog. Probably that's why.

Mozilla, Winamp, IE don't have Log in Dialog. However, Winamp does offer the choice to restrict to open only one instance.

On the other hand, Microsoft Word (older one) used to open Multiple instances, but if we are talking about this, we have to include MDI (Multiple Document Interfaces) Like Visual Studio, Macro media Dream weaver, Adobe. They do NOT allow to open other instances, however one can open multiple documents in one instance, hence Multiple document interface.

My question, if the app is having a log in dialog, should it allow to open Multiple instances? Probably that means that if we do allow it, then that is giving the user opportunity to log in from same Computer using same / different User Accounts? Probably that's why Multi MSN came about.

What I think, if any application does have Log in Dialog, then it should NOT allow to open multiple instances, by any chance.

Your comments please.

By the way, Happy New Year to all of you. Any Resolutions?

Friday, December 16, 2005

MSN Live is up and running.

The all new outlook email of MSN on web for beta testers is up. All you have to do is sign up with the your MSN email address. I am afraid that this beta testing is taking place in some of the countries which are listed
Anyway, MSN live ideas is here. Hurry go for the quick sign up.

http://ideas.live.com/
http://ideas.live.com/mainpage.aspx
http://ideas.live.com/programpage.aspx?versionId=5d21c51a-b161-4314-9b0e-4911fb2b2e6d

Gmailing Yahoo and MSN

With the Gmail's AJAX functionality, one wonders when will YAHOO and MSN be catching up. Now they have.
MSN Kahuna Preview.
http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/msn_kahuna_preview.asp

Slide Show for MSN Kahuna
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-9696_7-6352460-1.html?tag=txt

Screen Shots
http://www.winsupersite.com/images/reviews/mail_beta_preview_02.jpg
http://www.winsupersite.com/images/reviews/mail_beta_preview_03.jpg
http://www.winsupersite.com/images/reviews/mail_beta_preview_04.jpg
http://www.winsupersite.com/images/reviews/mail_beta_preview_06.jpg
http://www.winsupersite.com/images/reviews/mail_beta_preview_05.jpg
http://www.winsupersite.com/images/reviews/mail_beta_preview_07.jpg

Yahoo Mail Beta Review
http://www.ajaxian.com/archives/2005/09/yahoo_mail_beta_1.html
http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/Yahoo_Mail_Beta/4505-9236_16-31518025-2.html?tag=sub
Screen Shots

http://patcavit.com/2005/09/14/y-mail-beta-impressions/
http://tivac.com/images/ymail/contacts.png
http://tivac.com/images/ymail/drag.png
http://tivac.com/images/ymail/nodrag.png

Yahoo Mail Beta and MSN Kahuna Beta are nothing but Yahoo mail and Hotmail mail meeting OUTLOOK interface. The difference...Yahoo mail is working on Cross Browsers, while Microsoft's Hotmail till now, IE only.

Oh yeah, those who are having email address as YahooID@yahoo.com they can sign up for the beta testing of Yahoo Mail Beta. A call for QA guys. The Beta testing for Yahoo is granted ramdomly to it's Email users. MSN, they are not asking for Beta Testers YET.

To sign up,
    http://surveylink.yahoo.com/wix/p0473306.aspx
Best regards,  

Pst: Did anyone notice, I have used GMAIL as verb in subject?

Who Am I?

An analogy
A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things
were so hard for her.She did not know how she was to make it and wanted to
give up.She was tired fighting and struggling.It seemed as one problem wa
solved and a new one arose.
Her mother took her to the kitchen.She filled three pots of water.In the
first,she placed carrots,in the second she place eggs and the last she
placed ground coffee beans.She let them sit and boil without saying a word.
In about twenty minutesshe turned off the burners.She fished the carrots out
and palced them in a bowl.She pulled the egss out and placed them in a
bowl.The she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a mug.
Turning to her daughter,she asked," Tell me,what do yo see?"
"Carrots,eggs and coffee,"the daughter replied.
She brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots.She did and noted
that they were soft.She then asked her to take the eggs and break it.After
pulling the shell,she obseverd the hard boiled egg.Finally,she asked her to
sip the coffee.The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma.
the daughter then asked," What's the point,mother?"
Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same
adversity-boiling water-but each reacted differently.The carrots went in
strong,hard and unrelenting.However after being subjected to the boiling
water,it softened and became weak.the egg had been fragile.Its thin outer
shell had protected its liquid interior.But,after sitting through the
boiling water,its inside became hardened.The ground coffee beans were unique
however.After they were in the boiling water they had changed the water.
"Which are you?" she asked her daughter."When adversity knocks on your
door,how do you respond? Are you a carrot,an egg or a coffee bean?
THINK OF THIS; WHICH AM I?
Am I a carrot that seems strong,but with pain and adversity,do I wilt and
become soft and lose my strenght?
Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart,but chages with the heat?
Did I have a fluid spirit,but after a death,a breakup,a financial hardship
or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look
the same,but on the inside am I bitter and tough with the stiff spirit and a
hardened heart?
Or am I like the coffee bean? the bean actually changes the hot water,the
very circumstances that brings the pain.When the water gets hot,it releases
its fragrance and flavor,If you are like the bean,when things are at their
worst,you get hte better and change the situation around you.
when the hours are the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate
to another level? How do you handle adversity.
ARE YOU A CARROT,AN EGG ,OR A COFFEE BEAN?