I was trying to use the MyMaps function to help organize the places to visit for my vacation.
Mymaps works on google earth app on iphone. However, it doesn't work on google map.
Google earth is not very useful for your travel needs.
Here is a wonderful workaround i found from this site:
http://www.skiptotheend.com/blog/2008/08/29/planning-holidays-with-google-mymaps-an-idiots-guide/
It has to do with building the my map, using the kml of the my map to send to a script at:
http://maps.taurich.org/cgi-bin/print-kml.cgi
which formats the map to a useful format and you can then print a pdf of it to view in the iphone.
This is much more functional for viewing the map itself.
However, if you want all the details of the places that you added (their address, etc.) the above instruction wont work. You have to print the map into a pdf and email it to yourself and view it in the iphone. So i ended up using the pdf+email workaround.
Google maps user interface around the map is rough around the edges and leaves much to be desired.
You could book mark the locations in Yelp and Yelp works very well by integrating the Location awareness of iphone. But all these apps are walled gardens. Once you put information in there you need to stay within the features of the app. They do not allow to export out the data to another app for exploiting the strengths of another app.
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Friday, December 25, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Dido's Lament
One of my new discoveries in concert music is Dido's Lament.
The aria is pretty simple and is sung when Dido commits suicide and is about to die and she sings it to her maid:
When I am laid, am laid in earth, May my wrongs create
No trouble, no trouble in thy breast;
Remember me, remember me, but ah! forget my fate.
Remember me, but ah! forget my fate,
The instrumentation is a Passacaglia with descending bass which gives a sense of enormous pathos to the aria. The best version i have heard so far is Susan Graham's.
If you are feeling sad or depressed you want to put your arms around it and give some realization or visualization for the depression, this song and Susan's rendition of it is your best bet. She wrings the pathos out of the words and music which seeps out slowly and takes enormous shape around you in your ears and in your minds eye.
The words "Remember me" reinforces and etches the sadness in your feeling, ensuring it is not brushed away or ignored and hence it pacifies and assuages the dark feeling. At the same time, the words "No Trouble" and "forget my fate" rings again and again it is going to be okay after all.
And all of this is reinforced by the ground bass lines. While they paint a deep blue as they ominously start going down, they resolve each time at a comfortable place where it is dull but it is not so dark. This passage from dark to dull each time consoles the heart and gently pats the soul to reconciliation. The train that started descending down to the abyss in the beginning of the aria come to a gentle stop at the end of the aria.
Wonderful music!
The aria is pretty simple and is sung when Dido commits suicide and is about to die and she sings it to her maid:
When I am laid, am laid in earth, May my wrongs create
No trouble, no trouble in thy breast;
Remember me, remember me, but ah! forget my fate.
Remember me, but ah! forget my fate,
The instrumentation is a Passacaglia with descending bass which gives a sense of enormous pathos to the aria. The best version i have heard so far is Susan Graham's.
If you are feeling sad or depressed you want to put your arms around it and give some realization or visualization for the depression, this song and Susan's rendition of it is your best bet. She wrings the pathos out of the words and music which seeps out slowly and takes enormous shape around you in your ears and in your minds eye.
The words "Remember me" reinforces and etches the sadness in your feeling, ensuring it is not brushed away or ignored and hence it pacifies and assuages the dark feeling. At the same time, the words "No Trouble" and "forget my fate" rings again and again it is going to be okay after all.
And all of this is reinforced by the ground bass lines. While they paint a deep blue as they ominously start going down, they resolve each time at a comfortable place where it is dull but it is not so dark. This passage from dark to dull each time consoles the heart and gently pats the soul to reconciliation. The train that started descending down to the abyss in the beginning of the aria come to a gentle stop at the end of the aria.
Wonderful music!
Saturday, November 21, 2009
How to Listen to and Understand Great Music - by Robert Greenberg
This is the first teaching company course that i took and it was absolutely fabulous. I finished all 48 lectures of it. The instructor is a very good teacher and his voice and his lecturing style are very suitable for the audiobook. This is not a book that gives you drowsiness as you listen to it and on the other hand it keeps you very attentive.
The course is a combined music history and music appreciation course. I learnt a lot of subject matter from this course. The only complaint i have is that the author sometimes has an edgy sense of humor so this course is perhaps not sharable with small children. But the subject matter itself is very accessible for children too, especially if they have some musical background.
The course is a combined music history and music appreciation course. I learnt a lot of subject matter from this course. The only complaint i have is that the author sometimes has an edgy sense of humor so this course is perhaps not sharable with small children. But the subject matter itself is very accessible for children too, especially if they have some musical background.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Book Reviews: Patrick Lencioni's Business Fables
I read the following books from: Patrick Lencioni
In general, I hate business or philosophy books that are structured as fables. The following books just made me cringe:
Who Moved My Cheese?
Our Iceberg is Melting
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Books But Patrick's way of storytelling is a bit different and less cringe inducing when the book is well written. However, when he uses the same style for all of his books, soon they get old and as annoying as other fables. Having said that, his concepts are very good and very usable. If you want to cut to the chase and save yourselves from those fables, you can read the methods from his website.
Here are my reviews:
Three Signs Of a Miserable Job
This book talks about how the root of misery in workplace is rooted to 3 things: Immeasurement (lack of measuring one's progress in the job),
Anonymity (when people are not known, recognized and appreciated for what they are and what they bring to the job)
Irrelevance (People need to know how their works matters to someone or a group of people).
I liked the fable part which was actually instrumental in illustrating the above 3 concepts. The fable was about an old executive trying to revive a clunky pizza place using the above 3 concepts.
The Five dysfunctions of a Team
More than the concepts, you need to read the fable which illustrates how an executive revived a team and helped them function well. The five concepts are too many to remember crisply, however, here is how it stuck in my mind.
When you have a team of people, they need to function in such a way that they are accountable to each other. They should expect open criticism from their team and should not feel vulnerable because they could be criticized. So you could have conflicts and you should not be afraid of facing such conficts. Conflicts need to be played out and resolved instead of trying to achieve artificial harmony which does not resolve the underlying conflicts. After having such conflicts and the decisions are made, everyone needs to stick to their commitments and be accountable for those commitments. And the team must pay attention to the results of the team. So individual goals should give way to the goals of the team.
Death By Meeting
This book is when the fable structure stopped working for me. Essentially this book talks about how the meetings must be like performances. They should have drama and conflict and they have to be played out and resolved. Just like the different forms of performances (ex: sitcom, serial drama, movie, etc.) you should have different types of meetings: daily checkins, weekly meetings, monthly strategic and quarterly offsite reviews.
Three Big Questions For A Frantic Family
This fable was the most boring. But the concept was interesting. It asked families to make a value statement for themselves embodying what made their family unique. Then it asked families to identify their most urgent rallying cry (like: buying a new home, getting the child into college, etc.) for things they should do in the next 2 to 6 months. Then it asks to identify defining objectives, the way they will achieve the rallying cry. Then it asks to outline the standard objectives, i.e. standing responsibilities. This is a good framework for families.
I liked all these books but the above order indicates my ranking for this series.
In general, I hate business or philosophy books that are structured as fables. The following books just made me cringe:
Who Moved My Cheese?
Our Iceberg is Melting
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Books But Patrick's way of storytelling is a bit different and less cringe inducing when the book is well written. However, when he uses the same style for all of his books, soon they get old and as annoying as other fables. Having said that, his concepts are very good and very usable. If you want to cut to the chase and save yourselves from those fables, you can read the methods from his website.
Here are my reviews:
Three Signs Of a Miserable Job
This book talks about how the root of misery in workplace is rooted to 3 things: Immeasurement (lack of measuring one's progress in the job),
Anonymity (when people are not known, recognized and appreciated for what they are and what they bring to the job)
Irrelevance (People need to know how their works matters to someone or a group of people).
I liked the fable part which was actually instrumental in illustrating the above 3 concepts. The fable was about an old executive trying to revive a clunky pizza place using the above 3 concepts.
The Five dysfunctions of a Team
More than the concepts, you need to read the fable which illustrates how an executive revived a team and helped them function well. The five concepts are too many to remember crisply, however, here is how it stuck in my mind.
When you have a team of people, they need to function in such a way that they are accountable to each other. They should expect open criticism from their team and should not feel vulnerable because they could be criticized. So you could have conflicts and you should not be afraid of facing such conficts. Conflicts need to be played out and resolved instead of trying to achieve artificial harmony which does not resolve the underlying conflicts. After having such conflicts and the decisions are made, everyone needs to stick to their commitments and be accountable for those commitments. And the team must pay attention to the results of the team. So individual goals should give way to the goals of the team.
Death By Meeting
This book is when the fable structure stopped working for me. Essentially this book talks about how the meetings must be like performances. They should have drama and conflict and they have to be played out and resolved. Just like the different forms of performances (ex: sitcom, serial drama, movie, etc.) you should have different types of meetings: daily checkins, weekly meetings, monthly strategic and quarterly offsite reviews.
Three Big Questions For A Frantic Family
This fable was the most boring. But the concept was interesting. It asked families to make a value statement for themselves embodying what made their family unique. Then it asked families to identify their most urgent rallying cry (like: buying a new home, getting the child into college, etc.) for things they should do in the next 2 to 6 months. Then it asks to identify defining objectives, the way they will achieve the rallying cry. Then it asks to outline the standard objectives, i.e. standing responsibilities. This is a good framework for families.
I liked all these books but the above order indicates my ranking for this series.
Interesting program in KQED forum this morning
Interesting forum program : Astronomical Update
I need to check out the book from:
* Ken Croswell, astronomer and author of "The Lives of Stars"
More info:
* View images from the Hubble Telescope : at HubbleSite.org
Need to check out the book and the website.
I need to check out the book from:
* Ken Croswell, astronomer and author of "The Lives of Stars"
More info:
* View images from the Hubble Telescope : at HubbleSite.org
Need to check out the book and the website.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Theodore Rex [ABRIDGED] [AUDIOBOOK] (Audio CD)
I listened to this book about 2 years ago. A fine book detailing the life of Teddy Roosevelt one of the great American Presidents. This was a man with a great appetite for everything in life. His hunting was big, his political career was supersize, his dedication to his causes and what he got done for them were big too. You can learn a lot about the way American politics is run in this book through his life. Although times have changed some of the basic workings of political life has not changed much. This was the first guy who understood the power of the bully pulpit, which still defines an important way in which the presidency operates, even in this era where anyone having an internet connection can have a pulpit. Here is also a president who sowed the seeds of American imperialism, which is still an important tendency of American foreign policy. Here is also a hunter and a conservationist who did so much to the cause of environment. American presidents still reach over to conservation initiatives for defining their legacies and Teddy set the blueprint for the grand presidential conservation initiatives. Here is also a Republican who started out representing the interests of the rich and the powerful and who turned into a polar opposite of a progressive minded populist reformer. For me, while this book illustrated all of the above points about Teddy, the essence of what i got from this book was a portrait of a man of BIG ambition, BIG actions, BIG appetite, BIG impact and BIG legacy.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Book Review: Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time (Paperback)
Recently finished the audiobook version of this book.
Engrossing book for me, combined elements of History, Technology, Governance, Politics, Nautical science, technology, astronomy in this story of how Longitudes were "discovered" or more correctly how they were established. A great account of how the nautical and navigational technology advanced through the active involvement of monarchy and the royal institutions in Britain. This is another example of how the original inventors only partially benefit from their hard work and innovation and how others exploit them and make profits from them. One more lesson is how the academic group think can hinder innovation and how practical techniques often overtake other techniques that are considered to be technically purer. In this case, the "Lunar method" of finding the longitude was considered technically more accurate by the academics, but in practice it was impossibly difficult. Meanwhile, the chronometer based method was much more easier. However the astronomy establishment looked down upon the chronometer method and threw all kinds of roadblocks at it. However, the practical chronometer method succeeded.
Engrossing book for me, combined elements of History, Technology, Governance, Politics, Nautical science, technology, astronomy in this story of how Longitudes were "discovered" or more correctly how they were established. A great account of how the nautical and navigational technology advanced through the active involvement of monarchy and the royal institutions in Britain. This is another example of how the original inventors only partially benefit from their hard work and innovation and how others exploit them and make profits from them. One more lesson is how the academic group think can hinder innovation and how practical techniques often overtake other techniques that are considered to be technically purer. In this case, the "Lunar method" of finding the longitude was considered technically more accurate by the academics, but in practice it was impossibly difficult. Meanwhile, the chronometer based method was much more easier. However the astronomy establishment looked down upon the chronometer method and threw all kinds of roadblocks at it. However, the practical chronometer method succeeded.
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Last 12 months in SQL query
After some researching i found the way to query for last 12 months in sql:
The following expressions can be used:
select add_months(trunc(current_date, 'MM'), -12), trunc(current_date, 'MM')-1 from dual;
here trunc function truncates current date by the granularity of month so the returned date out of current date is the first date of current month.
add_months function is used to subract 12 months out of that date. Using interval was not recommended for this purpose according to asktom:
http://asktom.oracle.com/pls/asktom/f?p=100:11:0::::P11_QUESTION_ID:1157035034361
This code bit retrieves the DAY of the first month (sunday or monday, etc.)
select to_char( trunc(current_date, 'MM'), 'DAY' ) from dual;
This link gave a good overview of all available oracle sql functions:
http://www.ss64.com/orasyntax/functions.html
Using these expressions in OBIEE
I was trying to use these in OBIEE Answers report. But had no luck. Still has to figure that out.
If i used these i get the following OBIEE error:
Error getting drill information:
The following expressions can be used:
select add_months(trunc(current_date, 'MM'), -12), trunc(current_date, 'MM')-1 from dual;
here trunc function truncates current date by the granularity of month so the returned date out of current date is the first date of current month.
add_months function is used to subract 12 months out of that date. Using interval was not recommended for this purpose according to asktom:
http://asktom.oracle.com/pls/asktom/f?p=100:11:0::::P11_QUESTION_ID:1157035034361
This code bit retrieves the DAY of the first month (sunday or monday, etc.)
select to_char( trunc(current_date, 'MM'), 'DAY' ) from dual;
This link gave a good overview of all available oracle sql functions:
http://www.ss64.com/orasyntax/functions.html
Using these expressions in OBIEE
I was trying to use these in OBIEE Answers report. But had no luck. Still has to figure that out.
If i used these i get the following OBIEE error:
Error getting drill information:
Error Codes: YQCO4T56:OPR4ONWY:U9IM8TAC:OI2DL65P
Odbc driver returned an error (SQLExecDirectW).
State: HY000. Code: 10058. [NQODBC] [SQL_STATE: HY000] [nQSError: 10058] A general error has occurred. [nQSError: 27002] Near <(>: Syntax error [nQSError: 26012] . (HY000)
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Book Review: Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity (Paperback)
I read this book during the beginning of last year (2008) and have been practicing this method for getting organized for about an year. I can totally vouch for its effectiveness. The take away for me is that organize your work into a simple system consisting of file folders and a prescribed way to label and organize your folders. Then bring all your work items into that system. Then crank this system periodically by processing the items that come into the system. The premise is that if you have this operating system for your work, you will not get items piled up on your desk but you will be processing the items efficiently.
I have to admit that i am rather poor follower. The author's advice about using a good filing system to organize your workstuff is spot on. Labelling your files, making them easily accessible are all valuable advice. I have switched over to the plain manilla folder system instead of hanging folders. One practical tip i found out is that, if you want to use plain manilla folders, the best way to keep them standing up inside your filing cabinet is using bookends, especially the heavy tall magnetic bookmarks do the job admirably well. Authors advice to put everything into paper and organizing the folders instead of keeping anything inside your brain is very valuable. Surely by doing this, you reduce the stress. The only thing is that you need to visit your filing system periodically. That is the issue that keeps stumping me and I keep telling myself to go back to visiting my inboxes and processing my incoming stuff.
I have to admit that i am rather poor follower. The author's advice about using a good filing system to organize your workstuff is spot on. Labelling your files, making them easily accessible are all valuable advice. I have switched over to the plain manilla folder system instead of hanging folders. One practical tip i found out is that, if you want to use plain manilla folders, the best way to keep them standing up inside your filing cabinet is using bookends, especially the heavy tall magnetic bookmarks do the job admirably well. Authors advice to put everything into paper and organizing the folders instead of keeping anything inside your brain is very valuable. Surely by doing this, you reduce the stress. The only thing is that you need to visit your filing system periodically. That is the issue that keeps stumping me and I keep telling myself to go back to visiting my inboxes and processing my incoming stuff.
Book Review: ENIAC, the triumphs and tragedies of the world's first computer / Scott McCartney.
History of computing is full of unsung geniuses and hard work put on by so many people who are not given enough credit for their work. Eckert and Mauchly are these 2 great inventors of the first electronic computer who were not given enough credit for the invention of computer. This book claims that the computer scientist: John von Neumann stole away the credit for a lot of the ideas (especially the memory device) from the ENIAC team. History is kind to those who articulated and popularized an idea rather than the original minds who conceived an idea. The book also vividly illustrates how many of the inventions, especially those as complex as a computer do not occur out of the blue, but they are the result of a long tradition and history of ideas proposed around them and happen when various other conditions become favorable and the right people with prepared minds happen to be at the right place to take advantage of all those favorable factors to push the invention out. Also once an invention comes into being, it gathers momentum of its own and soon enough the envelope gets pushed so far ahead that the original invention appears so far removed and ancient. ENIAC is a fitting example of that where a light switch has more computing power than the 30 ton ENIAC.
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