Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Wow!!! Morpheus to Neo

Morpheus: Do you believe in fate, Neo?
Neo: No.
Morpheus: Why Not?
Neo: Because I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my life.

Gas in the Digestive Tract

Gas in the digestive tract is not a subject that most people like to talk about, but the truth is that all of us have it and must get rid of it in some way. Normally, the gas passes out through the rectum or is belched through the mouth. These are both necessary functions of the body that allow us to eliminate gas.

When gas does not pass out of the body easily, it can collect in some part of the digestive tract, causing bloating and discomfort. Even normal amounts of gas in the body can bother people who are sensitive to this pressure. Although gas usually is not a sign of a medical problem, it can be. So if you have persistent or extreme gassiness (flatulence), mention it to your doctor when you have a checkup.

What Causes Gas?

A common source of upper intestinal gas is swallowed air. Each time we swallow, small amounts of air enter the stomach. This gas in the stomach is usually passed into the small intestine where part of it is absorbed. The rest travels into the colon (large intestine) to be passed out through the rectum.

In some people, part of the gas is belched out instead of being passed from the stomach into the intestine. This happens for several reasons. People under a lot of stress often swallow large amounts of air. Some people swallow air frequently because they have post-nasal drip, chew gum, or smoke. Rapid eating or poorly fitting dentures also may cause too much air to be swallowed. Also, drinking beverages that contain carbonated water may increase gas in the digestive tract. These drinks contain carbon dioxide, which can produce large amounts of gas when warmed in the stomach. People with a gas problem should avoid carbonated or "sparkling" drinks.

What Causes Repetitive Belching?

Some people experience frequent belching. This might occur after a person has swallowed air without realizing it. Sometimes belching accompanies movement of stomach material back up (reflux) into the esophagus (swallowing tube). To clear material from the esophagus, a person may swallow frequently, which leads to more intake of air and further belching.

Another cause of repeated belching is gastritis (inflammation of the stomach). There are many causes of acute or chronic gastritis, but the most common cause is infection with a bacterium called Helicobacter pylori. When this organism gets into the stomach, it can produce bloating. This condition usually can be diagnosed by a specialist in digestive diseases (gastroenterologist). The doctor may detect the infection with a breath test or a blood test. The doctor also may take a sample of tissue (biopsy) from the stomach, using a lighted, flexible tube (endoscope) that is inserted through the mouth. For Helicobacter pylori infection, physicians can prescribe a treatment plan.

Do Any Foods Cause Gas?

The foods we eat can be a factor in the production of gas in the lower intestine. Some foods such as cauliflower, brussels sprouts, dried beans, broccoli, cabbage, and bran are not completely digested in the small intestine. When the undigested bits of food reach the colon, they are fermented by the bacteria that live in the colon, causing gas.

Today, many people are trying to improve their nutrition and health by eating more fiber. However, some people discover that adding large amounts of fiber to their diets causes gassiness. This can happen when someone begins eating more whole-grain cereals such as whole bran, oatmeal, or oat bran, or whole-grain breads or fresh fruits, and vegetables. They get a feeling of being bloated when they first begin the high-fiber diet, but within three weeks or so, they may adapt to it. Some people, however, don’t adapt, and the bloating from eating a lot of fiber can be a permanent problem.

A common cause of excess lower intestinal gas is that a person’s body may not have enough lactase, an enzyme normally found in the small intestine. Lactase is needed to digest lactose, the sugar found in milk and other dairy products. When this sugar passes undigested into the colon, it is fermented by bacteria, and gas forms. This can be a cause of excessive flatulence.

If lactase deficiency is suspected of causing your gas, your doctor may tell you to stop eating dairy products for a while to see if you will have less gas. The doctor also may give you a blood test or a breath test to find out if you are lactose intolerant. The breath test detects hydrogen that is released by the bacteria as the undigested lactose ferments in the colon.

How Much Gas Does the Body Produce?

The amount of gas that people produce varies. Most people produce between a pint and a half gallon of gas each day. Oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen from swallowed air make up a large part of flatus. Fermenting foods in the colon produce hydrogen and methane as well as carbon dioxide and oxygen. All of these components of flatus (gas) are odorless. The unpleasant odor of some flatus is the result of trace gases, such as hydrogen sulfide, indole, and skatole, which are produced when foods decompose in the colon.

What Causes Abdominal Pain and Bloating?

Eating a lot of fatty foods can cause bloating and discomfort because the fat delays stomach emptying, allowing gas to build up. This problem can be avoided by eating less fatty meals.

The feeling of bloating in the abdomen may increase during the day and become most severe after a large meal. Many people think the bloated feeling after eating is caused by large amounts of gas. Researchers, however, have not found any connection between this symptom and the total amount of gas in the abdomen. Studies show that in some people even modest amounts (one ounce to one-half pint) of gas in the intestine can cause spasms, especially after eating.

Gas in the upper abdomen often is relieved by belching. Sometimes people try to swallow air to make themselves belch. This doesn’t work, however, because it only adds to the amount of gas in the stomach and does not reduce the discomfort.

Gas can collect anywhere in the lower intestine. Often it collects on the left side of the colon, and the pain can be confused with heart disease. When gas collects on the right side of the colon, the pain can be like that caused by gallbladder disease or even appendicitis.

A bloated feeling is probably not anything to be concerned about, but it can be a symptom of a more serious problem, such as an intestinal obstruction. If your problem is chronic, or if you are experiencing a severe increase in gassiness, you should talk to your doctor.

Is Gassiness Caused by a Disease?

If excess gas is your only symptom, it is probably not caused by a disease. The problem may occur simply because you swallow air or digest food incompletely. It could be that your intestines have the kind of bacteria that produce a lot of gas. You could have a sluggish bowel that does not get rid of air readily. You might have an irritable bowel, often called spastic colon, which means that you cannot tolerate gas accumulation inside of the intestines, so even small amounts of air feel uncomfortable.

Do Over-the-Counter Drugs Relieve Gas?

Many claims are made for over-the-counter drugs intended to relieve gassiness. Often people find that these drugs do not help much, but some of them do help some people. Simethicone, activated charcoal, and digestive enzymes, such as the lactose supplement lactase, are among those doctors often recommend. Sometimes doctors prescribe a treatment plan to help move gas through the intestines more readily and which may help relieve gassiness in some cases.

PREVENTION OF GAS

If you are bothered by excessive belching or flatus, and your physician has determined that you have no serious disease, the following suggestions may be helpful:

  • Check with a dentist to make sure dentures fit properly.
  • Avoid chewing gum or sucking on hard candies (especially sugarless gum or dietetic candies that contain sorbitol).
  • Eliminate carbonated beverages from your diet.
  • Avoid milk and milk products if you have lactose intolerance.
  • Eat fewer gas-producing foods such as cauliflower, brussels sprouts, bran, beans, broccoli, and cabbage.
  • Walking, jogging, calisthenics, and other exercise help to stimulate the passage of gas through the digestive tract.
If your symptoms persist or worsen, see your doctor to make sure that the condition is not caused by abnormalities in your digestive tract.

Additional Reading:

Clayman CB, ed. The American Medical Association Encyclopedia of Medicine. New York, NY: Random House; 1989. Reference guide with sections on digestive tract gas and other digestive problems. Available in libraries and bookstores.

Jain NK, Vela JS, Pitchumoni CS. "Intestinal gas: insights into an ancient malady." Pract Gastroenterol. 1987; 11(6):32-44. Review article for physicians discusses the causes, evaluations, and treatments for gas. Available in medical libraries.

Larson DE, ed. Mayo Clinic Family Health Book. New York, NY: William Morrow and Company, Inc; 1996. General medical guide with section on intestinal gas. Available in libraries and bookstores.

microsoft word, how to format for a book

I have used this excerpt from Microsoft and it works pretty well. The only thing you will want to do next time is to create the blank book and then type the content in. Will save you a lot of layout headaches.

When you select Book fold for your page setup, Microsoft Word prints two pages on one side of the paper. When you fold the paper, it opens like a book. This option is intended for documents that have more than two pages.

1. Set up your document as a booklet.
When you create a booklet, it's best to start with a new, blank document so that you have better control over the placement of text, graphics, and other elements. You can add a book fold to an existing document, but you may have to reposition some elements once the book fold is in place.
A. Start a new, blank document.
B. On the File menu, click Page Setup, and then click the Margins tab.
C. In the Multiple pages list, select Book fold.
If your document is not set to landscape orientation, Microsoft Word sets it to landscape.
D. In the Inside and Outside boxes, type or select the amount of space you want for the inside and outside margins (margin: The blank space outside the printing area on a page.).
If you need even more space along the fold to accommodate binding, type or select the amount of space you want in the Gutter box.
E. In the Sheets per booklet list, select the number of pages you want to include in a single booklet.
If the number of pages in the document exceeds the number of pages you select for a booklet, Word prints the document as multiple booklets.
F. Select any other options you want in the Page Setup dialog box.
G. Add text, graphics, headers or footers (header and footer: A header, which can consist of text or graphics, appears at the top of every page in a section. A footer appears at the bottom of every page. Headers and footers often contain page numbers, chapter titles, dates, and author names.), and other elements to your document as usual.

2. On the File menu, click Print.

3. Set options for printing on both sides of the paper.
If you're using a duplex printer (one that automatically prints on both sides of the paper)
Click Properties, and then set the options you want. If you have a choice of setting the page orientation and duplex options, select landscape orientation, and flip the document on the short edge or short side.

If you aren't using a duplex printer
In the Print dialog box, select the Manual duplex check box. Word will print all of the pages that appear on one side of the paper, and then prompt you to turn the stack over and feed the pages again.

4. Select the page range you want to print.

If you click Current page or Pages, Word prints the page you indicate, plus the three other pages that belong on the same sheet of paper.
If you click Selection, Word prints your selection using the default page layout instead of booklet layout.
__________________

Airtel mobile bills can now be paid through SMS

Airtel mobile bills can now be paid through SMS using mChek services. If you have a Mastercard or a Visa credit card, you can now pay your Airtel mobile bill anytime and from anywhere.

Airtel and mChek guarantees the safety of your transaction and assures the user that the information provided during the transaction will be secure. The registration for mChek can be done through SMS or through the mChek website.

The registration via SMS is very simple:1. SMS ‘MCHEK’ to 121
2. Enter any 4-digit numeric PIN of your choice
3. Enter your credit card details
4. Re-enter your PIN
5. You are registered!

Now, there are two more steps involved for the payment procedure. Every time the user wishes to make payment:

1. SMS ‘PAY AIRTEL’ to 121 or just 'MCHEK' to 121 if you wish to pay the whole of your last pending bill.
2. Enter your 4-digit numeric PIN

You will get an instant payment receipt through SMS.

To promote this scheme Airtel is offering 50 free SMS to users who use mChek facility to pay their mobile bill for the month of October and November and also a chance to win free holiday packages.

We say
All these new and innovative facilities clearly denote that our rapidly growing telecom industry is at par with the global telecom companies; it shows the changing scenario of the ‘Indian Telecom Environment’. mChek is a tremendously fascinating payment option as it provides you the ease to pay your mobile bill anytime and anywhere.

These services reminds us of past days when postpaid customers used to wait hours in mobile galleries to pay their mobile bills. But now revolutionary technologies like mChek can do the same work in seconds.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer

Recently a friend shared the following talk of Mr. Steve Jobs which is really awesome. You may like to go through the same and feel inspired.

Stanford Report, June 14, 2005
'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says

Printable Version
This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Extending the Distance of Entry Level Wireless Network

Recently I had to extend the wireless coverage in a 3 storied building and it was a nightmare to make the system work. The various possibilities and connectivity between various protocols added further complexity to the problem in hand. The following article provided too good a help in overcoming the same.

Extending the Distance of Entry Level Wireless Network.

Extending the range of Entry Level Wireless depends on many Environmental variables, thus there is no one simple solution. Implementing any solution necessitates additional work and material (i.e. more money) in top of the initial buying of the Entry Level hardware.


There are many ways to extend distance of Wireless Hardware; the following is a primer for Extending the Wireless Coverage in all directions Indoor.


Scenario 1: One floor house, the living room has a cathedral ceiling, and all the rest of the house is basically around the Living room.

A Ceiling Antenna was installed a few feet bellow the Apex of the ceiling. The result Wireless coverage of the whole house and 60' around the outside. (The Wireless Router is near the computer, the Antenna is connected with extension coax).

Cost: $20 - $40 for an Antenna + $15 - $35 for coax cable.

Link to: Reasonable priced selection of aux. Antennae, Cables, and Hardware.

Note* This type of solution works well when it is one big open space with single rooms around. It is not advisable for an environment with multi levels and serious of rooms (one after the other) separated by walls.


Scenario 2: A "normal" two floors house. The Internet Modem and the Router are in the Den and the signal can not cover the whole house, it usually covers the Computer room and the direct rooms next, sideway, and above.

Additional Access Point was installed and physically put on a high pedestal near the staircase in the hallway. The AP was connected to the den's Wireless Router with a long CAT5 cable. The result a total converge of all the house with good Wireless signal.

As oppose to the solution in Scenario One, putting a better Antenna on the Wireless source in a multi level multi room environment, would not benefit as much as adding a second unit in a better location.

Cost: $20 (on sale) for Wireless Router (used as an Access point) + few $$ for CAT5e cable.

Since the price of Wireless Routers is much lower than the price of Access Points.


Many people extend the coverage by connecting a second Wireless Router, configured as an Access Point, to the primary Wireless Router that is connected to the Internet modem.

Here you would find configuration Instructions. Using a Wireless Cable/DSL Router as a Switch with an Access Point.

In general Access Points have more configuration Modes than Wireless Cable/DSL Routers. Read this to make sure that you choose the right piece of hardware.


Repeater solution. - This solution is similar to Scenario 2. However by using a Repeater it is not necessary to connect the AP via CAT5 to the Wireless Source.

What is a Repeater? Link to: Wireless Network - Configuration Modes.

Wireless Repeater actually cuts the Bandwidth by half. (Since it has to Flip-Flop between Transmit, and Receive with a single Radio). However if used correctly it will increase the Distance.

To be configured the Repeater the unit has to be attached to a computer. Once it is configured it can stand by itself and need only power, no CAT5 connection is necessary.

Typical cost of an Entry Level Access Point that can be configured as a Repeater is about $50-$90.


Antenna and extension coax are relatively expensive thus the cost of adding an Access Point or extending Antenna is in same “ballgame”.

Indoor, Access Point (Repeater) might yield better Extension of the Wireless Coverage than a fancy Antenna.


The following is for illustration purpose, actual numbers in your settings could be totally different than the following.

Let say you get Wireless "Speed" of 1Mb/sec. (1Mb/sec. is probably the limit for a working Internet connection) at 80'.

Assuming that the bandwidth at 60' is 2Mb/sec. You put a Repeater at 60', it cuts the bandwidth but it will transmit it for another 60-80' so all together you will get the 1Mb/sec. at about 150'.


Note*** Since the price of Wireless Routers is much lower than the price of Access Points, many people extend the coverage by connecting a second Wireless Router to the one connected to the modem, and put it in a second location at the site.

here you would find configuration Instructions. Using a Wireless Cable/DSL Router as a Switch with an Access Point.