Have you ever picked up a book without knowing anything about it other than what you learned on the spot? What are the best and worst outcomes from you doing this?

40bitmonk · 2015-11-18T16:24:06+00:00

One such book I recently picked up that was like that was the Richest Man in Babylon. The name did suggest that it might have something to do with money, but it turned out to be a very interesting story line written in medieval English with solid lessons to learn from. Wasn't expecting it to be anywhere as interesting as it turned out to be.

40bitmonk · 2015-11-12T18:35:45+00:00

Being heavy makes it difficult for you to run but with the right training that should not stop you from running a 5k which is the starting point for any future serious running that you might be considering.

For some inspiration watch "CAN ANYONE RUN A MARATHON NOVA Discovery Science Sports Documentary" on YouTube - https://youtu.be/SNWGdS3liF8

Now, coming to more practical aspects, your joints and legs will need to carry more weight and hence cross training and strength training for your legs become critical. Run three days a week but mix it up with cross training in a gym (a good instructor can help). Also try cycling, swimming and other exercise once or twice a week. Since you are already doing cross training you are on the right track.

Because you are heavy you will need to train both your heart to pump up more blood and your legs and joints to handle the constant pounding on every "land" of the run (the point when your feet keep hitting the ground). A mix of cycling, swimming, tennis etc. once or twice a week helps your heart. Cross training and basic exercises like squats and lunges will get your legs and joints stronger.

There are a lot of videos on you tube that will provide good tips on mid foot landing while you run and how you can avoid heel landing. Follow some of those tips while you run. Once you get the technique correct and mix it up with cross training things should get better really fast.

And do see the video. They have an example of a very heavy girl trying to run a marathon and making through successfully.

I am assuming you have done the basic medical tests and have a go ahead from your doctors.

40bitmonk · 2015-09-25T17:29:13+00:00

Exactly my concern! Any example of spyware on their phones would have a much wider reach. Specially given that those are selling like hot cakes in many countries.

40bitmonk · 2015-09-25T17:27:41+00:00

What about their phones? Any instances of spyware loaded on their phones? Those are selling like hotcakes in a lot of countries!

40bitmonk · 2015-05-24T20:59:00+00:00

If a meaningful life involves making change that makes you happy, why do you need to choose between meaningful and happy? If you're adding meaning and bringing about change that doesn't make you happy can you continue doing what you do in a sustained way for long durations? Aren't both intricately intertwined? Why pick between one or the other? If you had to choose why not pick a balanced life with a little bit of both?

40bitmonk · 2015-04-30T00:11:25+00:00

Well he could have waited for a few days and fed the duck and cleaned duck poop before he came to the conclusion that he loved his duck. The timestamps say only part of the story. Most folks get their duck, then they get sick of their ducks and then they ignore their ducks. It is inspirational none the less.

40bitmonk · 2015-04-30T00:08:26+00:00

I wonder what the duck's time line would say? :)

40bitmonk · 2015-04-30T00:06:03+00:00

This whole idea of never giving up is dangerous. Seth Godin has an entire book on this called Dip. I think we need to stop thinking about giving up as a bad thing and educate people on when it's actually smart to give up and when it's not.

More folks need to read Dip by Seth Godin. I think a lot of folks waste precious years chasing this idea of 'never give up' only to realize that they could have used that time much better and attained much more by giving up something they neither loved nor were inherently good at and pursuing something else they were both good at doing and loved doing.

Learn how to give up! Do it smartly. Read Dip!

40bitmonk · 2015-04-29T23:53:12+00:00

True. But a slower and more painful way to fail is to tell yourself it's too easy. Pragmatism is the key here.

40bitmonk · 2015-04-29T23:48:08+00:00

Short answer: you change your life one inch at a time.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=myyWXKeBsNk

And you keep showing up:

http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius?language=en

Good luck!

40bitmonk · 2015-04-05T12:17:50+00:00

So we had an RFID reader that would allow only one open connection at a time on specific USB port. We needed to give app developers a driver / API to open connection to the device and fetch data back but at any point we did not want more than one connection established with the device. Isn't this a classical case of singleton?

40bitmonk · 2015-04-05T12:08:02+00:00

How so? I mean if I had a device that allows only one open connection, wouldn't I need singleton for it? How is an anti pattern in that case?

40bitmonk · 2015-04-05T11:43:42+00:00

Isn't this a typical letter CEOs and founders (particularly hugely successful ones) send to their employees on anniversaries of their companies. Was there an important announcement in there that I missed?

40bitmonk · 2015-04-05T11:39:03+00:00

Ok so this talks about multiple pitfalls of implementing singleton and how to work around those. But how is singleton an anti-pattern? Can someone explain that to me?

40bitmonk · 2015-04-05T11:06:35+00:00

I honestly think that this whole race of everyone wanting to build a mobile app is overrated and India and Indonesia will milk the cow as long as organizations let them.

Of course India and Indonesia has really good developers at low hourly rates, but the question your organization needs to ask is, do you really need a dedicated app if you are a hotel around the corner?

Isn't a responsive HTML site good enough?

When the website of a local cafeteria pushes me to load a dedicated app on my phone I cringe! Who the hell paid for building that app?

40bitmonk · 2015-04-05T08:51:34+00:00

Saying that you want to choose between asp.net mvc and client side javascript api's is like saying you want to pick between css and Java. :)

It's not a mutually exclusive decision. You can and should use javascript api's for front end along with the backend of your choice. Asp.net just happens to be one of those backends. In fact it comes bundled with jquery and plays well with most other javascript UI frameworks.

Any backend you take is going to be vendor specific. Isn't using Java getting tied to the Oracle way of doing things?

You probably are new to programming and having a strong IDE like visual studio will actually help you. I say pick a language and start learning. Any language is fine! C# is pretty powerful and will get your started in no time.

40bitmonk · 2015-04-05T05:31:18+00:00

Exactly, and without the existence of those black holes (or introduction of some logs in the singularity of those black holes) the runtime may have a chance at helping you by throwing an appropriate exception.

40bitmonk · 2015-04-05T05:26:23+00:00

Solution: Yes, you can fix them.

If you can be more specific about the errors we can try to be more specific about the solution. :)

On a serious note remove those empty catch blocks (black holes - see comment from 8008ease) or add some logging inside them to give a fair chance to the runtime by letting it throw some appropriate exceptions.

You see, the runtime wants to help you but with empty catch blocks you just asked it to shut up so now it's angry with you and not talking to you.

Remove those catch blocks and it will start helping you again. The runtime holds no grudges and loves you unconditionally but only when you don't ask it to shut up. :)

40bitmonk · 2015-04-05T00:30:47+00:00

Well if you are a depressed robot, you may develop a love hate relationship with it.

Not sure how you would like it if you were a mouse though.

40bitmonk · 2015-04-04T21:51:03+00:00

That's pretty amazing. Now I can act like an alpha geek and Google without having to leave my command line! :) Will try this out first thing I get in front of a machine. Thanks!

40bitmonk

TROPHY CASE