Knowledge is worth as much as gold!

Came across this article and just couldn't resist reposting it. It teaches us lot but most importantly the moral it conveys...

During a robbery in Guangzhou, China, the bank robber shouted to everyone in the bank: "Don't move. The money belongs to the State. Your life belongs to you." Everyone in the bank laid down quietly. This is called "Mind Changing Concept” Changing the conventional way of thinking. When a lady lay on the table provocatively, the robber shouted at her: "Please be civilized! This is a robbery and not a rape!" This is called "Being Professional” Focus only on what you are trained to do! When the bank robbers returned home, the younger robber (MBA-trained) told the older robber (who has only completed Year 6 in primary school): "Big brother, let's count how much we got." The older robber rebutted and said: "You are very stupid. There is so much money it will take us a long time to count. Tonight, the TV news will tell us how much we robbed from the bank!" This is called "Experience.” Nowadays, experience is more important than paper qualifications! After the robbers had left, the bank manager told the bank supervisor to call the police quickly. But the supervisor said to him: "Wait! Let us take out $10 million from the bank for ourselves and add it to the $70 million that we have previously embezzled from the bank”. This is called "Swim with the tide.” Converting an unfavorable situation to your advantage! The supervisor says: "It will be good if there is a robbery every month." This is called "Killing Boredom.” Personal Happiness is more important than your job. The next day, the TV news reported that $100 million was taken from the bank. The robbers counted and counted and counted, but they could only count $20 million. The robbers were very angry and complained: "We risked our lives and only took $20 million. The bank manager took $80 million with a snap of his fingers. It looks like it is better to be educated than to be a thief!" This is called "Knowledge is worth as much as gold!" The bank manager was smiling and happy because his losses in the share market are now covered by this robbery. This is called "Seizing the opportunity.” Daring to take risks! So who are the real robbers here???

How to uninstall Hangout and rollback to talk (GTalk) on Android devices

I feel sad to write this but Google has recently done a very stupid thing - "They replaced Google Talk app for Android (and iOS) completely with the new Hangout app".

I am sure there must be few Hangout fans who might like it but I have my reason's to hate it:

1. I can not see which of my friends are online..In Talk, I used to see a green/red/yellow icons next to their names so that I know their status (available/busy/idle, respectively). With the new Hangout app, I am completely blind about this ..heck, I don't have any idea about who’s online.

2. I can’t set my status (available/busy) in Hangout. Forget about being invisible – that’s not at all possible which means you are exposing yourself to that nagging friend/co-worker of yours!

3. The interface is such that you easily inadvertently move your conversation to archive (left / right swipe).

How do I get back my Talk app?? I can’t find it in Play Store..
Interestingly, this is what some of the people at Google had to say about this. Read it, it is very funny:
“We’re upgrading Gmail video chat to Hangouts for all Gmail users over the course of the next few weeks. If your account has already been upgraded, there isn’t a way to return to the old video chat, as we are now going to be using a more modern video calling technology.
Thanks for your understanding!”
Here’s another one:
“I’m sorry to say but Hangouts is going to replace talk at all once it has been rolled-out globally.
Don’t worry that much about who’s online or offline, the great thing on Hangouts is, your messages are delivered for sure – no matter if the person is online or offline!
However, on your mobile you see friends that are currently not “online” at that time grayed out. Online members are displayed in “full” color and on the web extension you’ll see a green line below their photo.
Hope that helps.”
Yeah, really that was ‘really helpful’.
So, THIS is WHAT you SHOULD do TO GET BACK YOUR TALK APP in ANDROID phone. BTW, I am using and HTC device.
1. Go to Settings and then to Applications.
2. Select Manage Applications
3. Select ‘ALL’ to see the list of all the applications installed in your phone.
4. Scroll down and find the ‘Hangout’ app.
5. Click it
6. Select ‘Uninstall’
7.  You will be asked to confirm your command, say yes.
8. That’s it!!!
Now, go back to where you saw ‘Hangout’ app in your device and voilà!! there the old Talk guy sitting!!

UPDATE:
It is really vexing to see what Google has done with regards to Hangout/gtalk. In Android version Jellybean (4.2.2) and above, the gtalk is completely replaced by Hangout, leaving users without much option to switch back to gtalk. Thus, the option above (uninstall will not really work if you have upgraded your Android).
Then how to get back the gtalk?
1) Go to App manager and, kick out Hangout (disable it). There is no option to uninstall it.
2) If you are rooted then, you can uninstall it using Titanium backup app.
or If you don't have SU rights (not rooted),
2)you can download 'SuperManager' app for free from Playstore. Then, goto settings - "Enable root", then goto apk manager, find Hangout and uninstall it.
3) Download the attached gtalk zip (this is the one am using on 4.2.2).
4) Install it using CWM or TRMP.
or If you don't have SU rights (not rooted),
4) Extract the gtalk APK from the zip and install it...

Enjoy!!!

Whisky - on the rocks please!!!

I am almost two patiala pegs down as I write this...
I've had so many different spirits from various parts of world but, whenever I have "Whisky on the rocks", it just feels like home. Probably because this is one drink that we have often at home (well not on the rocks at home ;))

What is Whisky/whiskey?

It is a type of liquor basically made from grain mash.
Scotch, Bourbon, Rye, whisky are all of same family - Whisky.
There are three main factors which determine the type of whiskey:
1. Where it is made.
2. The type and proportion of grain used.
3. How it's aged/matured.
So, if you see someone drinking Johnny Walker Black Label or Dewars White label and says, "whisky", that's correct. But if someone asks you, "if you'd like a bourbon", and pours Bushmills or Johnny Walker (JW) then he doesn't know about whiskies. Because, Bushmills is Irish whiskey and JW is scotch!.
P.S: Whisky and Whiskey both are valid spellings. In U.K it's spelt without -e and in US with -e.

What is a Scotch whisky?

For a whisky to be called as scotch, it has to be distilled in Scotland and then aged for a minimum of three years in oak casks.
Typically scotch is a malt whisky rather than a grain whisky. Which means malted barley is the main ingredient and not any other grain like corn, wheat or rye. Typically the malted barley used to make the scotch is dried over peat fires, which gives scotch a distinct, smoky flavour you don't find in other whiskies.

What is a bourbon whisky?

For a whisky to be called as bourbon, it has to be made in the U.S and then aged for a minimum of two years in oak casks.
Bourbon is a made from mash which consists of at least 51% corn
Like Scotch, there is blended bourbon and single-malt bourbon, however it's not called as "single-malt", instead it's called "single-barrel".

What is an Irish whisky?

For a whisky to be called as Irish, it has to be made in Ireland and distilled for a minimum of three years in wooden casks.
Like scotch, Irish whisky is almost always malt whisky (i.e. made from barley) but unlike scotch, it isn't roasted over peat. Instead it's roasted over charcoal or in gas kilns, which leaves a cleaner, sweet malt taste.
Also, Irish whisky is triple distilled and scotch is double distilled, which also yields a clearer taste. 

What is a Canadian whisky?

For a whisky to be called as Canadian, it has to be made in Canada and aged for a minimum of three years in wooden barrels but, there is no rule regarding the type of grain.

what is a Rye whisky?

For a whisky to be called as bourb, it has to be made in the U.S and then aged for a minimum of two years in oak casks.
Bourbon is a made from mash which consists of at least 51% corn

Another aspect when we talk about whiskies is, "Single Malt" or ''Blended'.
Every kind of whisky, be it, bourbon, scotch, rye or whatever, can be either single malt/barrel or blended.

Single Malt / Single Barrel:
Single malt and single barrel whiskies come from the same batch at one single distillery. Thus, scotch is single-malt scotch when it is made from a single batch of 100% malted barley, and the same goes for Irish whiskey.
With bourbon it’s slightly different. Like scotch, they call it single-barrel bourbon when it’s from the same batch; however, since bourbon by definitely only has to be just 51% corn (the rest of the mash can be any mix of other grains), single-barrel does not mean it’s 100% corn.
Nevertheless, single-barrel bourbon and single-malt scotch are advanced whiskies. Because they come from a single batch from a single distillery, single-malt/barrel whiskies are very unique and distinctive. The type of water used, the character of the soil in which the grains are grown, the flavors imparted by the wood used for the casks—all of these come through in unblended whiskies. And this is even more the case for single-malt whiskies than for single-barrel bourbons, since they also use only one grain.

Blended:
Blended whiskies are the most popular in the world. All the brands you are most familiar with, are blended: Jameson, Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, Johnnie Walker, VAT69, Chivas Regal, Crown Royal, etc.
Basically, these are whiskies that are made by combining multiple single-malt or single-barrel whiskies. The reason for blending? To create a well-rounded, balanced whiskey that is both lighter and smoother, and thus easier to sip.
Blended whiskies can be either a blend of whiskies made from the same grain but from multiple distilleries from different parts of the world, or they can be made from whiskies made from a variety of grains. Johnnie Walker, for example, is a blend of mostly wheat and corn, while, Seagrams is like the cornucopia of whiskies — a little bit of everything.
The important thing to remember is this: although the term single-malt scotch has come to be considered the epitome of whiskey in recent years, there aint nothing wrong with blended whiskey — so long as it’s the good stuff, like Johnnie Walker or Chivas Regal. Like I said, they blend whiskies to make them balanced and cover all the whisky flavor bases. So if it’s done well, then blended whiskies will give you everything the spirit has to offer.

Last but not the least
Before sipping your whisky give it a sniff, believe me you will love it!
When you sip, don't just throw it inside and swallow. It is not supposed to be taken at one shot! Instead try to keep it in your mouth for a while or make like chewing it, you may get the flavour of sweet, spicy, dried fruit, leather, wood, smoke, earth... you may feel stupid but it works.

2012: The year that was

The leap that made me 30 years of life. Not my best, but an eventful one nevertheless.

A very unusual start…
It's not that often, that I spend my new year's eve away from my family and without booze ;).  However, it was an amazing experience watching the fireworks at the City Hall Square, Copenhagen. for the first time I felt there are people living in this city!

It has been more than a year living in Europe and working for one of the big banks. Did some nice work, not awesome, but am not sulking about my professional life. Made some decent money. Well, now a bit boring though err... not the money making ;), the typical job!

Tough times…
Both my India visits were terrible. Just couldn't imagine how all that happened.

Good times...
The only but blissful vacation to Legoland, Mons Klint, Odense with friends and how can I forget Stege (gosh... that pretty place ;))
First time driving on the right hand side of the roads and shifting gears with right hand haha... (Thankfully the pedals were in the same sequence)
Made some very good friends, learnt lot of interesting card games.
Met some brilliant people round the globe. Inspired.

The way ahead…
If/when my current gig ends, I’ll have worked in most of the areas I’m interested in -technology, finance, strategy, smartphones etc.
New role. Interesting work.
In 2013, I’ll definitely start working on my big idea. One way or the other. In my own startup or someone else’s. Probably the latter. Hopefully the former ;)

2013 to-do:
Keep  myself fit - Physically and Mentally.
Work on my idea/startup.
Travel more round the world.
Sky diving, bungee jumping, ...