So what do you know?
Very interesting. Some Australians have managed to find a way to make pork halal for Muslims.
Really great job; given that pork is one of the ultimate non-halal items on earth.
Kind of makes you wonder how halal the other labeled stuff is…
[Update: Just to clarify something, this post was meant as sarcasm from my part, because Pork is not Halal, and never will be. There’s just no way around it.]
[Via: 2:48AM]
I just finished reading “The Zahir” by Paulo Coelho. The first book I read by him was “The Alchemist“, which I found to be a very inspiring book that I really enjoyed; after that I’ve been going back to read one of his books every now and then.
The Zahir feels a bit different from his other books, maybe because it feels closer to reality, takes place in a modern day setting and all, but it still has the same inspiring style that makes you take a step back to look at your life, certain aspects of it, evaluate yourself and think of where you’ve gone wrong and where you’ve been right.
This book handles the issues of love, belonging, obsession, relationships and understanding; taking the reader on a pretty incredible ride with the story of a couple in love who grow apart leaving the husband in a sea of loss, obsession, heartbreak and misunderstanding, on a journey to understand himself, his wife, relationships and life.
Throughout this journey with the main character, the reader finds himself looking at his relationship with his loved one, analyzing it, connecting with the character on some points, understanding it, knowing where he might be going wrong and how he might correct certain things.
I’ve read many blog posts by people who think Paulo Coelho’s books are overrated, uninspiring and even mediocre; but maybe it’s just that they didn’t relate to the topic or that they didn’t pick up on the small ideas he presents for further thinking and development.
Personally, what I enjoy about his books, more than the story, the characters, the places and everything else, are the lines of thought that I go on on my own at different points of the book.
I do recommend this book, especially for people who are in a relationship, because even if their relationship with their loved one is going perfectly, this book and the thoughts in it could help them understand it better and avoid certain mistakes as it goes along.
Between yesterday and today, I basically received every possible bill in our letter box. From the water bill to the telephone bill to the electricity bill and what not. Each one greeting you with a number even bigger than the other amidst the rising global prices for everything.
It’s the same case with everyone, and it is really a big hit to anyone’s budget to have all these bills fall upon them at once, draining their budget enormously.
What I can’t understand is why all these services don’t try to be more considerate of the citizens and try to have their bills sent out in different months so as to not put any additional strain on their budgets.
I remember I heard talk about this some years ago and I thought it was a good idea, but over the years I’ve continued to receive all my bills together, so maybe it was another project or idea that never saw the light of day, maybe it wasn’t well implemented or even well thought out. All I know is that every time the flood of bills starts I know my budget and bank account are going to take a big hit. It’s really frustrating and throws any saving plans out the window.
Anyway, hoping that things will get better in this area, I’ll just have to balance my budget once again to cover these bills as usual.
A lot of people go through life like they are rowing a boat. They look at where they have been (the PAST) rather than where they are going (the FUTURE).
The other day at work, I don’t know what re-opened the whole code generation tools discussion.
Personally, I have a strong conviction that no code generator, no matter how advanced or good it is, can match the quality of code well written by a good developer, full stop.
I’ve believed in that for years and years, and will believe in it for years to come. And I’m not talking theoretically, I’ve been in the field long enough to see the results of different code generation tools, varying from the disastrous to the quite good and pretty clean.
But the thing is that it’s a code generator after all, so it’s pretty much generic, which could be good enough if you’re just working on some simple form that won’t do much more than insert some contact info into a database or something of the sorts, but once you get a bit deeper, its generic solutions just aren’t enough, you need someone good to work out the logic and to optimize the code, …etc etc etc.
One thing to keep in mind though is the importance of having a good developer who can write good code.
Anyway, this morning while driving to work, the issue popped up in my head again, with a rather interesting analogy that I think really explains the difference between generated code and human written code.
The analogy is with cars; human written code is pretty much a stick shift car, and generated code is an automatic.
If you were to enter a race, you’d actually have more control over the car with a stick shift, over when you change gears, how much power it gives you and when, thereby giving you an edge that would help you win the race.
Automatic gear doesn’t give you all that flexibility, it just lets you drive, with different levels of control, according to how advanced the automatic gear is, but never equaling that of a manual gear.
The driver and how good he is is also a factor here, because it takes a good one to know how to control a car well and get the most out of it to win the race.
To me, this analogy perfectly illustrates the difference between developer-written code and generated code, and shows why the first is superior to the latter; it all lies in the results: quality, flexibility, optimization and robustness.
What is it that stands between us knowing what we’re supposed to do and actually doing it?
In many cases in our everyday lives, whether personal or professional, we find ourselves in a situation where we know what we’re supposed to do to reach a certain goal, to become better, to move forward, but still for some unknown reason we just don’t do it.
We know what is needed to finish off this projet or that… to become better husbands/wives/fathers/children… to move forward in our careers… to ameliorate our incomes… to live happier… to do whatever it is we want to do.
But it stops there, we know, yet we don’t actually take the steps to do.
Why?
Is it just plain old procrastination at work?
But procrastination is the act of putting off things for the future, delaying them, and it’s mainly a psychological mechanism for coping with the anxiety associated with starting or completing any task or decision.
So even though it may apply to a bunch of the projects/actions we have in mind, I don’t think it covers them all.
When you really want to do a certain something like become a better husband/wife/father/child for example; there you’ve got all the good will to do it, you know it’s something that will make you happy in the end, the outcome is positive no matter what, and you know what you have to do; but you’re just not doing it.
Maybe it boils down to something like the difference between theory and practice. You know or learn a lot of things in theory, but you don’t always go on and practice them.
Are we taking some of our decisions in theory but lacking the courage, will or whatever else it is to carry them out in practice?
I found a simple quote by a certain Dr. Robert Anthony that goes as follows: “It is not enough to know what to do, you must do what you know.”
And even though that is clear, and everyone would agree on it, a lot of us are not applying that simple, logical rule.
Unlike procrastination where we can actually come up with sets of different absurd reasons why we’re putting off something, in these cases we ask ourselves and find no answer. We just don’t know why we’re not doing what we have to do; there are no reasons.
So, what is it that stands between us knowing what we’re supposed to do and actually doing it?
Freedom is not the absence of commitments, but the ability to choose–and commit myself to–what is best for me.— Paulo Coelho, The Zahir
I just came across this interesting bit of news about something that took place in Tunisia this past weekend on the National Tree Day…
The establishment is equipped with refrigerated rooms capable of hosting 200,000 samples of genetic resources, notably seeds, tissues or pollens as well as research laboratories and scientific units specialised in collecting, conditioning, classifying and grafting tissues.
[Source: allAfrica]
Well that’s good news; with all the genetic engineering and chemicals being used in the agricultural world today, with everything looking better but losing its taste and uniqueness, it’s good that we’re thinking of saving some of our pure seeds to conserve them and extend their existence to future generations.
Tunisia 21, has now become the fourth Tunisian satellite TV channel, and the second public one, after its recent re-launch.
The channel was originally a terrestrial tv channel called “Canal 21” (Channel 21), which was launched in the 90’s; the name is a reference to the 21st century, emphasizing its target audience: youth.
It started as a channel that was broadcast a few hours a day in the afternoon, on the same frequency that French channel “France 2” was terrestrially transmitted on in Tunisia, thereby over-riding the French youth programming with a local one.
It wasn’t really such a success at the beginning, taking away programming that we had gotten used to and enjoyed and replacing it with a bunch of mediocrely produced shows.
Anyway, with time people got used to it, and when “France 2” re-transmission was cut, Channel 21’s programming was slowly expanded over the years, more shows were added and some of them started getting a better viewership.
Still, the channel was always more or less a sidekick for the main public channel “Tunisia 7”, or at least that’s the way it felt for me.
Now, the channel has been relaunched as a satellite TV channel, becoming a third outlet for Tunisia. Its name and logo have been changed, and it will be more of a general information channel, but it still hangs on to the “21” bit to emphasize its roots and future as a youth-oriented channel.
Personally, I think it’s great whenever a new Tunisian TV channel or radio station goes on air, enriching the audio-visual scene in the country, and in the case of internation satellite tv or radio channels giving the country more exposure and reaching out to people beyond its boundaries.
Hopefully with the channel being relaunched as a satellite channel it will get more resources and that the quality of its broadcast and programming will be ameliorated to really enrich the Tunisian offering in terms of audio-visual material.
A show I’ve been enjoying a lot recently is NBC’s “My Name Is Earl“.
It’s a light comedy show that takes the main character’s interesting simplistic definition of Karma: “You do good things, and good things happen to you. You do bad things, and bad things happen to you.”, and makes a really cool show out of it.
In order to turn his life around, Earl makes a list of all the bad things he did in his life to try and set them right in order to get on Karma’s good side. A bunch of funny situations and stories follow on from that point on.
Other than it being a really fun and light show to end a full work day with, I also like its simplistic approach to things, I myself am a fan of breaking things down to a simple straight-forward formula; I don’t like all the complicated weaving of words to make something sound sophisticated and well thought out, a great idea/conception is a great one no matter how you say it, in fact it’s even greater if it’s so simple to explain.
Anyway, today while out doing our shopping, a question occurred to me, inspired from the tv show: If I created a list of bad things I did in the past and that I had to set right, how long would the list be? What would be in it?
Fortunately for me, I’ve been a pretty good person in my past, and I still try to be one in my present, but that only means that my list isn’t such a long one, still it does exist. Maybe the things on it aren’t that bad, including stuff like not attending a friend’s wedding when I could, or not calling someone I should have, or other stuff of that caliber; but still if it’s there and I can set things straight in one way or another, maybe I should at least try to.
What do you think? Have you ever remembered some of the things you’re not so proud of from your past and thought of correcting them? Or do you think that what’s buried in the past should remain that way? Do you believe in karma? Do you believe that what goes around comes around?
