providing a product or service for the benefit of customers

"you should never get so caught up in management and business strategy that you forget that you're providing a product or service for the benefit of customers."

Great great piece of advice!

http://www.businessinsider.com/richard-branson-on-customer-service-2014-9

Advice from the world's longest married couple.

* never keep score
* agree to disagree
* Respect, support, and communicate with each other
* do what was needed for each other and family

Marriage Advice from the World's Longest Married Couple

2 must do steps before selling your Android device

Recently an Internet security company (Avast) bought some used android from eBay and manged to retrieve loads of data even after a factory reset!

Here are 2 must do steps before you sell the android device.

1. Go to settings -> security -> encrypt device.

2. Do factory reset.

In this way, the data get encrypted into meaningless bytes without the encryption key.

More details from this cnet article.

The best way to completely wipe your Android device.
by Dan Graziano

Hundreds of FREE Microsoft ebooks

Largest collection of FREE Microsoft eBooks ever, including: Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Office 2013, Office 365, Office 2010, SharePoint 2013, Dynamics CRM, PowerShell, Exchange Server, Lync 2013, System Center, Azure, Cloud, SQL Server, and much more

O levels Physics Kinematics Gravity and Energy

Question:
A ball of mass 100g is thrown vertically upward with an initial speed of 72 km/hr. Calculate:

(a) time taken for ball to return to the thrower:

1. Make sure that the units of measurements are the same.  Notice that the question gives initial speed as 72 km/hr.

Convert that to meters/second
where:
1 km = 1000 m and
1 hour = 60 minutes and
1 minute = 60 seconds

Therefore:
72 km = 72 x 1000 m = 72 000 m
1 hour = 60 minutes x 60 seconds = 3600 seconds
=> 72 km / hr = 72000/3600 m/s = 20 m/s
=> Initial speed, U = 20 m/s

2. Recall that acceleration is the rate of change of velocity.
=> acceleration = (change in velocity) / time

In this case, when the ball reaches the maximum height, the final velocity is ZERO. => 0 m/s
And the acceleration is acceleration due to gravity ~ 10 m/s/s (seconds square)

So change in velocity is from 20 to zero = 20
acceleration = 10
plug these values into the formula above to get
10 = 20 / t
t = 20/10 = 2 seconds.

So the ball took 2 seconds to reach the maximum height where it's velocity is 0 m/s
It will take ANOTHER 2 seconds to reach back to thrower.

Therefore, time to reach back thrower will be 2 + 2 = 4 seconds.

(b) the maximum height reached:

1. Maximum height reached is area under velocity time graph. Which is the area of the triangle.

maximum height = (20 m/s X 2 s) / 2 = 20 meters

(c) gravitational potential energy when ball is half way up?

When ball is half way up, height = 20/2 = 10 meters

PE = mass X gravitational field strength X height,

Where: 

mass is given as 100g and gravitational field strength is 10 N/kg.  Notice that the mass is given in grams. But the gravitational field strength is in newtons per kg.  So convert 100g to kg = 0.1 kg

Using the formula PE = mgh

PE = 0.1 x 10 x 10 = 10 J

(d) Kinetic energy when ball is half way down.

First, let's find out the potential energy when ball reaches maximum height (which is 20 meters)

PE = mgh = 0.1 x 10 x 20 = 20 J

Recall that at the maximum height, velocity is ZERO therefore ZERO kinetic energy too!

At the maximum height, all the energy is potential energy.

And recall the Law of Conservation of Energy. Where total energy should remains the same and they can only be converted from one form to another.

So.... When the ball is half way down, the potential energy IS THE SAME as when the ball is half way up which is 10 J

Therefore, kinetic energy half way down = Maximum PE - PE half way down = 20 - 10 = 10 J

ALTERNATIVELY:

Calculate using the kinetic energy formula

KE = 1/2 x m x v2

Where the kinematics formula to find velocity using acceleration and displacement is

 v2 = u2 + 2as

v2 = (20)2 + 2(-10)(10) 
*** noted a = -10 because we are taking upwards direction (initial velocity direction) as positive. So a downwards g will be negative ***

v2 = 400 - 200

v2 = 200

Put into the kinetic energy formula:
KE = 1/2 x 0.1 x 200 = 10 J

Sync Android with iPhoto Seamlessly for FREE!

Have been googling for sometime to find an easy way to sync photos taken on my Android with iPhoto on my mac.  Finally, arrive at this super simple, seamless and FREE solution.

1. You have to have a dropbox account.
2. Install dropbox on both your mac and your android.  You will have a dropbox folder after you install dropbox on your mac. 

3. Enable "Camera Upload" from dropbox settings in your android.  So that any photos taken will be uploaded to your dropbox's "Camera Uploads" directory.  If the Camera Upload is ON, you will see that the options available is to "Turn off Camera Upload"
   
   
4. Download this automator script. Unzip it and you will have "AutoImportPhotoFromDropBox.workflow".  Double click on it and automator should open. Save the script within the Automator.
   
   
   This simple script does the following:
   - Check for new photos in Dropbox->Camera Uploads
   - When photo is present, import it into iPhoto.  An album "Synced" will be created.
   - Delete the original photo once it is imported into iPhoto. (** Note, sometimes i have to clean up manually if there are many photos being synced from dropbox, maybe it has to do with how the automator fires up the script.  Feel free to add a comment if you have a better solution)
5. This step seems to be essential for Mac OS Lion and above.  Right click on Dropbox->"Camera Uploads" folder. Select "Services"->"Folder Actions Setup...". Enable folder actions. Check all the required boxes.
   
   
   
   
   
6. Try taking a photo and wait for a few seconds for it to sync to drop box and then gets automatically imported into iPhoto!
7. As a note. Since you started using Dropbox you will find many useful conveniences that it adds to your work online. You can drop any text file into Dropbox and edit the text file from any device anywhere via www.simpletexteditor.com

Lessons from Bill Gates and Warren Buffett

"Invest as much in yourself as you can. You are your biggest asset" ~ Warren Buffett.

Many other interesting points and funny conversation.  Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are a pair of great mentors!

Part 1:

Part 2:

How to get rid of mosquitoes

Finally, there is a way for me to prevent more mosquito bites on my boy!

Say CHEESE!

Yeap! You heard it right, apparently, mosquitoes like the smell of cheese more than human.  Gotta try it out soon!

For more very very interesting information on how the world and get rid of the mozzies, check this video  out.

Samsung Galaxy Note New Firmware Update 2.6.35.7-N7000DXLC2-CL1039404dpi@DELL171#2

Some new stuff that I noticed after my SGN updates the firmware via Wifi:

New firmware : GINGERBREAD.DXLC2

1. There is no longer faint white horizontal lines across my lock screen's black background
2. The entire galaxy note seems to be more responsive
3. Waking up with the power button or the home button is almost instant.
4. Now we can directly tap on a record in the phone's call log to make a call without needing to swipe from left to right.

submit is not a function, error in javascript

Was trying to figure out why i am having this error "submit is not a function" while trying to submit my form within the javascript method.

Spent half a day finally to realized that i have a button that is having the name "submit".
Once i rename it to "submit_btn" the form gets submitted successfully!

So i learned that dom elements should not be named as "submit" =D

Parenting: Are your kids testing your patience?

Getting toddlers to cooperate with us can be a daunting task. Especially when they are starting to recognize themselves as individual.

Regardless if it is meal time, potty time, bath time or bedtime. They can hardly sit through the entire session without getting distracted or suddenly recall that they wanted to do something (or want you to do something), etc...

As parents and care givers, it is unavoidable that we get frustrated, upset or even angry trying to get our toddlers to obey and work within our limits.

Here are some simple practical ideas that I find useful on managing my precious little one.

Right Expectations

Firstly, check ourselves. Are we expecting too much from our toddlers? A 20+ month toddler just do not have the capacity to keep at a singular task for an extended period of time.  So exactly how long is considered too long?  Think about it, a fully functioning and intelligent teenager usually have an attention span of average about 30 to 45 minutes (why do you think lessons taught in schools are usually in periods of about an hour? )

My rule of thumb is this, when our kids start to get restless, protest and stir, the session has lasted too long.  So how do I manage that?  I let my boy go. Before letting him off, I  preempt him that after that, he will have to return and complete the current activity.

Here is the systematic approach:

1. Once the kid start to get restless, offer suggestions on alternate short, non-disruptive activity. Example: my kid loves his machine toys, during mealtime when he start to get restless, I will sometime offer "Do you want to bring your machine toy here to eat with you?"

2. Preempt them that after the "break" they will have to come back. My preempt usually goes like this. "Daddy let you go take one machine, after that you must come back and continue. Ok?" Only after he verbally agrees, then I will let him go.

3. Getting the kid to agree to come back is of course the easy part. The challenging part is getting them to do that. My kid usually gets distracted with other toys or will just run away to some corner and hide there.  This is usually the part that will test our patience to the max.

They will whine, cry, struggle and do anything within their means to escape. For me, it is a chance to hold him to his words and "play" the patience game with him. 

I will point out "Just now you told Daddy that you will take your machine and go back right?"  It is normal that they will get frustrated and cry.  I normally prevent him from playing with any other items and doing any other thing until he is ready to return to his meal.

Personally, I think that it is important that I should be responsible to my kid and myself by holding him to his words.  It is a very emotionally taxing task, seeing the pitiful looks and hearing him cry.  Sometimes I just feel like giving in and let him have his way, but I know that, in the long run that would probably do him more harm than good.

Feel free to cuddle, carry or hug them to sooth them. Love and discipline are not mutually exclusive! In fact, I believe that providing loving support during a discipline episode is extremely crucial so that it will not leave the kid feeling resentful towards us.

4. Be flexible and compromise within reasonable limits.  Normally, by the third step, I would have my kid back at the high chair for his meal.  However, depending on the circumstance, I am flexible to offer additional alternatives.  Which is to go through step 1,2 and 3 again!

KEEP in mind that every kid is different. Whatever strategy we use in parenting, it is important to be aware of our state of mind. I believe that the best results are obtained when we are in a calm, loving and balance state.

Today I finally realized that "Our kids are not testing our patience, they are merely TRAINING OUR PATIENCE."

quota_exceeded_err 22 on Mobile Safari (iOS) when using localStorage of html5

Using localStorage of html5 is pretty straight forward.

var bar = 'this is the value to store';

localStorage.setItem('foo',bar);

localStorage.getItem('foo');

localStorage.removeItem('foo');

Testing was smooth on Chrome, Firefox, desktop Safari...

However when testing on Mobile Safari, i got the following error...
"quota_exceeded_err 22"

Goggled around for the issue to no avail.
Finally came across a blog with the solution to this problem.

Which is to turn "private browsing" off in Safari.

To do that... Go to "Settings"

Scroll to "Safari"

Under "Privacy" group, Set "Private Browsing" to OFF.

Hope this can help you the few hours of googling.

The blog that i found : http://frederictorres.blogspot.com/2011/11/quotaexceedederr-with-safari-mobile.html 

Born To Run ~ Christopher McDougall

Just completed my fifth marathon yesterday. This was the most taxing marathon that i have participated so far. Mainly due to the lack of training. The furthest training that i ran was 10 Km... 3 times a week. And i stopped running 3 weeks before my marathon. Mainly because I was down with flu and I seriously though of giving up this year marathon.

At the back of my mind, I know that without much training, our body may not be able to take the strain of the long race.  I know that can still complete the marathon, it is just how much pain I have to go through both during and AFTER the marathon.  And i seriously prayed to God, Buddha and the Universe to help me complete the marathon safe and sound...

Knowing that i did not clock enough mileage for my training, i constantly remind myself to feel and listen to my body, not to push myself over the limit.  Completing this year race will be good enough for me.  So in the end, i came in 6 hours and 30 minutes...

Got the chance to talk to my friend after the race.  We were chatting about our running gears and i got to know that he was running in Sandals! YES! he ran the marathon in Sandals.. you heard it correctly.  When i queried further, apparently, he read about the Rarámuri or Tarahumara (Native American people of northwestern Mexico) which running a marathon is like an usual affair.  I heard about the book "Born to Run" by Christoper McDougall being reviewed on radio before but did not really pay any attention to it.  Now that i have someone I really know review and highly recommend the book, I am going to get the book and read it... Gonna see how it is going to change my life....

Black "Metal" Like Particles Found in Milk Powder

For all Daddys and Mummys feeding your kid with Gain IQ Stage 3 (from 1 year onwards) milk powder. Please allow your milk preparation some time to settle down and check if there are any foreign object in your milk too!

This was the second time i encountered it. The first, i thought it was from my water. This time round, the water was clear. At first i thought ants have entered into my milk tin. But after taking them out.. they are hard and metal like.. Not ants...

Here are the photos that i have taken


Here are some close up after i have fished out the particles with a spoon.



You can see 2 bigger black seems like metallic pieces and several other naked eyes visible pieces.


I went online to google about Similac recall and black particles in Similac Milk. Apparently, a mummy in USA faced with the same situation posted a warning in babycenter in August 2009.

Also on Similac, in Sep 2010, there was a Similac Recall in the USA dues to some beetles found near the milk production area. You can read more about the similac recall here.

I have already emailed Abbott and AVA about it. Will see if there are any reply from either of the party. [UPDATE 18th Aug 2011: Abbott has contacted me. Will be getting the milk to their lab for testing. Seems like it is scorched particles that is resulted from the manufacturing process.]

[UPDATE 19th Aug 2011: AVA contacted me to follow up on my feedback.

1. Same reason as Abbott gave me that it may be due to the manufacturing process that will result in some scorched particles
2. They do not need to get a sample from me to run a separate test. They have already spoken to Abbott and Abbott is suppose to provide them with the test results within a month.
3. Abbott have already collected the tin of milk powder and it is currently on its way to Ireland for the manufacturing plant to investigate.

Well seems like I am not able to get AVA to perform an independent review, I will have to trust the integrity of Abbott and its staff to provide us with an accurate and non-bias report.

Will update once i have the results. =D
]

Here is how the milk tin look like


The batch and manufacturing date (02554NT MFG 21 FEB 2011), if you are also giving Similac Gain IQ, check if you are having the same batch number... Have to let your milk settle first before giving it to your precious little one.


UPDATES!
A nice lady for Abbott called to provide some possible explanation of the black particles.

1. Scorched particles:

Apparently, there will be some scorched particles as a result of the manufacturing process the article below has some information about it.
http://www.ehow.com/facts_7272542_usda-particle-standard-dry-milk.html

2. Or black particles of lactose emulsion formed after high temperature baking caramel particles.
I found an article about this too. you can read more about it here
http://mybabyformulastore.com/united-states-found-little-black-pigment-powder-particles-miso-milk-food-industry/

Whatever is the case, they will update me once the get the milk powder to the lab for testing.
For now, if you are having some concern, just use coffee filter to filter the milk. For me, i just bought a new tin =D

[Update 19th Aug 2011 : Change title from "Black Metal Like Particles Found in Similac Gain IQ" to just "Milk Powder" because it seems like this may happen to ANY other milk powder. ]

A Very Nice Read About Anger and Love from Paulo Coelho Blog

story sent by Anupam Karn

A master asked his disciples:
‘Why do we shout in anger? Why do people shout at each other when they are upset?’

the disciples thought for a while, and one of them said
‘Because we lose our calm, we shout for that.’
‘But, why to shout when the other person is just next to you? ‘Isn’t it possible to speak to him or her with a soft voice? Why do you shout at a person when you’re angry?’
The disciples gave him some other answers but none satisfied the master.

Finally he explained:
‘When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other through that great distance.’

Then the master asked:
‘What happens when two people fall in love? They don’t shout at each other but talk softly, why? Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is very small…’
And he finally said:
‘When they love each other even more, what happens?
‘They do not speak, only whisper and they get even closer to each other in their love.
‘Finally they even need not whisper, they only look at each other and that’s all. That is how close two people are when they love each other.’

Source:
http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2010/09/23/10-sec-read-why-to-shout/

Windows7 Mouse USB device not recognize

Just had an issue with Windows. Out of a sudden, i have the error pop up about some "Unrecognized USB Devices". After that, my USB mouse stop working. I plugged in my external harddisk and it is still working. Somehow, seems like only the mouse is affected.

Tried to uninstall and reinstall the driver. Did not work.

Tried to use System Restore. Did not work.

After Googling for it, this is what works for me:

1. Shutdown the computer.

2. Unplug the power socket.

3. Remove the battery (if you are using notebook)

4. Wait for about a minute.

5. Plug back everything and it should work just fine after that.

Ways to Cope with Exam Stress

1. Organize and Set Priorities
- List out all the task at hand
- Prioritize each task
- Schedule them and identify what need to be completed when.
- Organized your work area. It makes you feel more in-control of the situation.

2. Exercise
- It has been claimed that exercise releases Endorphines.
- Endorphine is a chemical released in the brain and acts as a natural pain killer.
- The release of endorphines in the body brings about a general feeling of well-being.
To use physical activity to bring down your stress level, you can just do some brisk walking or climbing up and down the stairs.

3. Sleep Well
- When we sleep our body rejuvenates itself and prepare us for the challenges the next day.
- Sleeping well also help us mentally, as the brain is given time to organized itself and absorb and organized the contents that was learned in the day.

4. Food and Nutrition.
- Eating well provides your mind and body with the essentials vitamins and minerals to maintain peak performance.
- It has been shown that eating fish high in omega-3 fatty acids helps in memory function of the brain.

5. Take a break.
- It is equally important to set aside some time to relax and take a break from the studying.
- Most human minds have a limit on the attention span. And timely planned breaks can help in the understanding and absorption of new materials and contents.
- Factor time to do something that you enjoy. Go for movies, catch your favourite TV program or play the ball games that you like.

6. If stress is really bogging you down... TALK TO SOMEONE!
- Talking is a good outlet for everyone. Just find someone to talk will help tremendously.

Letting Go - Story of two monks

I read this story in the book "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle. And here is what i remembered in my own words...

===============
Once there are two monks walking back to their monastery. They came across this girl trying to cross a puddle of water in her kimono.

So one of the monk picked up the girl and help her across the puddle.

Then the two monks continued their journey.

When they reached the monastery about four hours later, The other monk said, "I can't believe that you actually carry the girl, we are not suppose to touch girls."

The monk replied. "I have put her down 4 hours ago, why are you still carrying her in your mind."
===============

How many of us have consciously or unconsciously chose to carry emotional "baggage" with us?
Also, after the event has passed, we chose to replay it over and over in our minds to invoked the same emotions again and again.

It is kind of like, people do it to you once. Then you choose to replay it to your mind, and you do it to your self countless more times.

At times when we catch ourselves reliving some past event to bring about negativity in us. Think about the story of the two monks and think about letting go.

How to Backup NSLU Completely

In relation to the post about NSLU hard drive migration. Similar steps can be taken to backup NSLU completely. There are actually some steps listed on NSLU2 linux dot org web site. However, i find the steps listed here to be simplier and easier to implement.

1. Download Clonezilla live CD. Instructions and link in previous post [NSLU hard drive migration]
2. Attached your USB drive to the computer that you are going to Boot up Clonezilla.
3. Follow on screen instructions to choose language and keyboard layout
4. Select device to image option
5. Choose where you are going to save your image. You have the option of local drive, ssh server or samba server.
6. After that, follow the instruction on screen. Choose to savedisk.
7. Follow the rest of the on screen instructions. if everything is successful, you should get your image in the location where you chose to save the image file in step 5.

More resource using Google Suggest for "Backup hard disk".

Migrating NSLU to bigger capacity Harddisk

Finally, i have managed to migrate all my data from my old hard drive (320 GB) used for my NSLU (unslung) to a bigger hard drive (500GB).

The old hard drive is starting to give me problems. For the past two power down of my NSLU, the old hard drive did not start up properly. I have to leave it running for a couple of days before finally, NSLU can boot from it. Fearing for my data in it. I got an external USB raid enclosure for 2 500GB HDD. The challenge is to migrate it smoothly.

Went to google about it. But did not have a solution that meet my needs. Finally, i was introduced to Clonezilla and GParted. These 2 application made the migration a breeze!
First download the live CD for Clonezilla and GParted. Burn the iso images into 2 CD.

Boot using GParted CD. Attached your USB drive from NSLU and the New harddrive into the computer you are booting from. Check the original partition in your old hard drive.

1. Using GParted, create the SAME number of partition on the new disk as in the old disk
- In my old hard disk, i have 3 partition. (One big ext3, one ext3 of about 120MB and one linux swap partition)
- I created 3 partition in the new disk. (1 linux swap partition, one 150MB ext3 partition, the rest of 500GB goes into the 2nd ext3 partition)

2. Once the partition are created in the new hard drive successfully, Shutdown. Change CD to Clonezilla and boot using Clonezilla CD

3. Using Clonezilla CD. Follow the on screen instructions till you reach the step where you can choose "device-device"

4. Then choose partition to partition. NOTE: When given the option, DO NOT set the target partition as the same as the source partition. If you choose to set target partition to be the same as source partition, you will end up having the same partition structure in your old disk (in my case is only 320GB, the other 180GB "went missing"). Choose to grow partition to the target partition size.

5. Repeat the partition cloning for ALL the partition in your old drive you your new drive.

After you have finish everything, Just plug in your new drive into your NSLU. You will have all your setting and all your data as what you have in your old hard drive, with the new capacity of your new drive.