I landed here in US a couple of months back and noticed that the Americans want themselves to be different. I observed that many a times and here is something that I will write and keep on updating as time goes.
You call it "Cold Drink" they call it "Soda"
You call it "Petrol" they call it "Gas"
You call it "Pin Code" they call it "Zip Code"
You measure it in "Kilometer" they measure it in "Miles"
You call it "Squash" they call it "Racket Ball"
You "Courier" it they "FedEx" it
You call it "Red Signal" they call it "Stop Light"
You call it "Overtaking" they call it "Passing"
You call it "Curd" they call it "Yogurt"
You send an "Email" they send a "Note"
You take a "Bath" they take a "Shower"
You call it "Accelerate" they call it "Step/Push on the Gas"
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Friday, September 28, 2007
Leap Year
I work on SAS and Teradata. Some kind of databases. I was reading data from Teradata into SAS and figured out that dates or leap years to be precise are treated differently on both systems. To my surprise, year 4000, 8000 or years divisible 4000 are not leap years in SAS but they are in Teradata. I could find a fix but then I 'wiki'fied leap year and found this.
The Gregorian calendar, the current standard calendar in most of the world, adds a 29th day to February in all years evenly divisible by four, except for centennial years (those ending in -00), which receive the extra day only if they are evenly divisible by 400. Thus 1600, 2000 and 2400 are leap years but 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200 and 2300 are not. If the Year qualifies the following condition then its a leap year (Wikipedia)
The Gregorian calendar, the current standard calendar in most of the world, adds a 29th day to February in all years evenly divisible by four, except for centennial years (those ending in -00), which receive the extra day only if they are evenly divisible by 400. Thus 1600, 2000 and 2400 are leap years but 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200 and 2300 are not. If the Year qualifies the following condition then its a leap year (Wikipedia)
(Year mod 4 = 0 AND Year mod 100 <> 0 ) OR Year mod 400 = 0
By this logic year 4000 and 8000 do qualify as leap years. Should I open a ticket against SAS? ;-)
Time, Quality and Globalization
It's been 18 years since I joined Volvo, a Swedish company. Working for them has proven to be an interesting experience. Any project here takes 2 years to be finalized, even if the idea is simple and brilliant. It's a rule.
Globalized processes have caused in us (all over the world) a general sense of searching for immediate results. Therefore, we have come to posses a need to see immediate results. This contrasts greatly with the slow movements of the Swedish. They, on the other hand, debate, debate, debate, hold x number of meetings and work with a slowdown scheme. At the end, this always yields better results.
Said in other words:
1. Sweden is about the size of San Pablo, a state in Brazil.
2. Sweden has 2 million inhabitants.
3. Stockholm has 500,000 people.
4. Volvo, Escania, Ericsson, Electrolux, Nokia are some of its renowned companies. Volvo supplies the NASA.
The first time I was in Sweden, one of my colleagues picked me up at the hotel every morning. It was September, bit cold and snowy. We would arrive early at the company and he would park far away from the entrance (2000 employees drive their car to work). The first day, I didn't say anything, either the second or third. One morning I asked, "Do you have a fixed parking space? I've noticed we park far from the entrance even when there are no other cars in the lot." To which he replied, "Since we're here early we'll have time to walk, and whoever gets in late will be late and need a place closer to the door. Don't you think? Imagine my face.
Nowadays, there's a movement in Europe named Slow Food. This movement establishes that people should eat and drink slowly, with enough time to taste their food, spend time with the family, friends, without rushing. Slow Food is against its counterpart: the spirit of Fast Food and what it stands for as a lifestyle. Slow Food is the basis for a bigger movement called Slow Europe, as mentioned by Business Week.
Basically, the movement questions the sense of "hurry" and "craziness" generated by globalization, fueled by the desire of "having in quantity" (life status) versus "having with quality", "life quality" or the "quality of being". French people, even though they work 35 hours per week, are more productive than Americans or British. Germans have established 28.8 hour workweeks and have seen their productivity been driven up by 20%. This slow attitude has brought forth the US's attention, pupils of the fast and the "do it now!".
This no-rush attitude doesn't represent doing less or having a lower productivity. It means working and doing things with greater quality, productivity, perfection, with attention to detail and less stress. It means reestablishing family values, friends, free and leisure time. Taking the "now", present and concrete, versus the "global", undefined and anonymous. It means taking humans' essential values, the simplicity of living.
It stands for a less coercive work environment, more happy, lighter and more productive where humans enjoy doing what they know best how to do. It's time to stop and think on how companies need to develop serious quality with no-rush that will increase productivity and the quality of products and services, without losing the essence of spirit.
In the movie, Scent of a Woman, there's a scene where Al Pacino asks a girl to dance and she replies, "I can't, my boyfriend will be here any minute now". To which Al responds, "A life is lived in an instant". Then they dance to a tango.
Many of us live our lives running behind time, but we only reach it when we die of a heart attack or in a car accident rushing to be on time. Others are so anxious of living the future that they forget to live the present, which is the only time that truly exists. We all have equal time. No one has more or less. The difference lies in how each one of us does with our time. As John Lennon said, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans".
Congratulations for reading till the end of this message. There are many who will have stopped in the middle so as not to waste time in this globalized world.
Source : A Forwarded Mail
Globalized processes have caused in us (all over the world) a general sense of searching for immediate results. Therefore, we have come to posses a need to see immediate results. This contrasts greatly with the slow movements of the Swedish. They, on the other hand, debate, debate, debate, hold x number of meetings and work with a slowdown scheme. At the end, this always yields better results.
Said in other words:
1. Sweden is about the size of San Pablo, a state in Brazil.
2. Sweden has 2 million inhabitants.
3. Stockholm has 500,000 people.
4. Volvo, Escania, Ericsson, Electrolux, Nokia are some of its renowned companies. Volvo supplies the NASA.
The first time I was in Sweden, one of my colleagues picked me up at the hotel every morning. It was September, bit cold and snowy. We would arrive early at the company and he would park far away from the entrance (2000 employees drive their car to work). The first day, I didn't say anything, either the second or third. One morning I asked, "Do you have a fixed parking space? I've noticed we park far from the entrance even when there are no other cars in the lot." To which he replied, "Since we're here early we'll have time to walk, and whoever gets in late will be late and need a place closer to the door. Don't you think? Imagine my face.
Nowadays, there's a movement in Europe named Slow Food. This movement establishes that people should eat and drink slowly, with enough time to taste their food, spend time with the family, friends, without rushing. Slow Food is against its counterpart: the spirit of Fast Food and what it stands for as a lifestyle. Slow Food is the basis for a bigger movement called Slow Europe, as mentioned by Business Week.
Basically, the movement questions the sense of "hurry" and "craziness" generated by globalization, fueled by the desire of "having in quantity" (life status) versus "having with quality", "life quality" or the "quality of being". French people, even though they work 35 hours per week, are more productive than Americans or British. Germans have established 28.8 hour workweeks and have seen their productivity been driven up by 20%. This slow attitude has brought forth the US's attention, pupils of the fast and the "do it now!".
This no-rush attitude doesn't represent doing less or having a lower productivity. It means working and doing things with greater quality, productivity, perfection, with attention to detail and less stress. It means reestablishing family values, friends, free and leisure time. Taking the "now", present and concrete, versus the "global", undefined and anonymous. It means taking humans' essential values, the simplicity of living.
It stands for a less coercive work environment, more happy, lighter and more productive where humans enjoy doing what they know best how to do. It's time to stop and think on how companies need to develop serious quality with no-rush that will increase productivity and the quality of products and services, without losing the essence of spirit.
In the movie, Scent of a Woman, there's a scene where Al Pacino asks a girl to dance and she replies, "I can't, my boyfriend will be here any minute now". To which Al responds, "A life is lived in an instant". Then they dance to a tango.
Many of us live our lives running behind time, but we only reach it when we die of a heart attack or in a car accident rushing to be on time. Others are so anxious of living the future that they forget to live the present, which is the only time that truly exists. We all have equal time. No one has more or less. The difference lies in how each one of us does with our time. As John Lennon said, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans".
Congratulations for reading till the end of this message. There are many who will have stopped in the middle so as not to waste time in this globalized world.
Source : A Forwarded Mail
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Twenty20 Cricket
Life has become faster these days. We are getting into habit of doing things quick and fast. Cricket is no more an exception. People raise their eyebrows when they are being told a game of cricket can last for 5 days without a result!!! But now you a new version of game of cricket which is more exciting, a bit biased and you just have to spend three hours of your life and you are guaranteed an outcome as well!!
Its called Twenty20 Cricket.
Its simple! 20 Overs per inning per side(some time saved). First team will score runs and set the target. The second team will chase it. You will not have long breaks between, only 10 minutes break (some more time saved). After a wicket goes down, the new batsman wont come out right from the dressing room. Instead there are dug outs next to the boundary line as you have in baseball (some extra time saved). However, the new version of the game is bit biased and favors batsmen. Most of the times the bowlers are butchered as the rules are very tight for bowlers. The margin for error for bowler is minimal or I would say its zero. If a bowler bowls a front foot no ball the very next ball he bowls is called a free hit where in a batsman can not get out except for run out.
I think they should find something like this in bowler's favor as well. For example, two runs are cut down from team's total if a wicket goes down except for a run out or if a wicket goes down then the next ball should be counted without its being actually bowled.
Its a matter of creating a balance between batting and bowling. All and all this form of cricket will get popular in the countries like US where normally the team games finish in 4-5 hours. Let hope that cricket excites more and more countries and it becomes a truly global game.
Its called Twenty20 Cricket.
Its simple! 20 Overs per inning per side(some time saved). First team will score runs and set the target. The second team will chase it. You will not have long breaks between, only 10 minutes break (some more time saved). After a wicket goes down, the new batsman wont come out right from the dressing room. Instead there are dug outs next to the boundary line as you have in baseball (some extra time saved). However, the new version of the game is bit biased and favors batsmen. Most of the times the bowlers are butchered as the rules are very tight for bowlers. The margin for error for bowler is minimal or I would say its zero. If a bowler bowls a front foot no ball the very next ball he bowls is called a free hit where in a batsman can not get out except for run out.
I think they should find something like this in bowler's favor as well. For example, two runs are cut down from team's total if a wicket goes down except for a run out or if a wicket goes down then the next ball should be counted without its being actually bowled.
Its a matter of creating a balance between batting and bowling. All and all this form of cricket will get popular in the countries like US where normally the team games finish in 4-5 hours. Let hope that cricket excites more and more countries and it becomes a truly global game.
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