SAST Wingees

Google web toolkit (GWT) – A big move for Ajax

Google released GWT which automatically converts a Java based UI to Ajax last week. This obviates the need for the developer to learn Javascript – a key ingredient of Ajax.  This could significantly accelerate the move to Ajax especially for Enterprises which have a lot of J2EE app developers. Excerpt from Internet News:

By way of example, it took Google, which has a sizable share of JavaScript programmers, more than a month to get Google Maps working properly in Apple’s Safari browser, even though it worked just fine in Internet Explorer and Firefox, said Taylor.

GWT works with any standard Java IDE (define) to convert a full-blown Java application to JavaScript, while paring down the application and removing classes and functions not allowed in
the more restricted browser environment. JavaScript applications, for instance, don’t have access to the computer’s file system, while Java does.

The problem of developing of cross-browser compatible apps in javascript has always been a big pain for web developers and GWT promises to eliminate that. All in all, this could be a tipping point for Ajax? References:
1. Just so you don’t get carried away, check out the comments on this Ajaxian post. Helps build some perspective. 2. Arstechnica on GWT comments that this is similar to Microsoft’s Atlas Toolkit for .NET.
3. Google also has started a blog dedicated to GWT.

Elephants go on vacation annually in Tamilnadu, India

Myself and Priya Raju were at the famous Thiruvanaikka Temple in Trichy recently. With the help of the mahout, we interacted with the temple elephant  “Shanthi” (donated by renowned actor Sivaji Ganesan in honor of his daughter who has the same name). We bought some food and fed the elephant. It is a very friendly elephant and the mahout seemed to really love the animal. On our way back, I was lamenting about keeping animals away from their habitats, domesticating them and making them do work. Doing this to any animal is bad.  Its particularly bad to see an elephant in such circumstances.  During this discussion, Priya Raju mentioned that she had heard that temple elephants in Tamilnadu go on a vacation every year. I thought that was very interesting and dug up some material on it.  The outgoing Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha instituted this program in 2003 and has been on for the past 3 years. It has been a great success as the elephants get to commune with other elephants in their natural habitat in Mudumalai. Mahouts also are given training to care for the elephants better. You can see from the report below, that the elephants do come back rejuvenated. There was some controversy in the first year because elephants refused to board the trucks used for transporting them and they were pushed onto the trucks using some cruel methods. Overall, it seems like a great program. Interestingly, it is patterned after a similar program that has been going on in neighboring Kerala for a few years before this one. I will be really happy when a law banning any further induction of elephants for temple work is promulgated. But  for now, I am happy that they are taking care of these magnificent animals well. References:
1.  The Hindu report on the original order setting up the annual rejuvenation camp for temple elephants of Tamilnadu.
2. The Hindu commenting on the 2 elephants of the Madurai Meenakshi temple coming back from the most recent rejuvenation camp.
3. Kim Woodbridge’s elephant blog covering the latest camp. You can read this blog for more information on elephants if you are interested.
Technorati Tags: elephants, animal rights, vacation

Kilkenny Cats, Kola Nuts and Antimatter Rockets

Wondering what the connection is? Priya Raju came across these interesting things in the past week. 1. To fight like Kilkenny Cats This is a type of battle where both opponents ultimately destroy each other. Excerpts from worldwidewords:

This refers to an old story about two cats that fought to the death and ate each other up so that only their tails were left. It’s a battle that goes on until both sides have been destroyed, an all-out, no-holds-barred fight to the finish. It’s often used figuratively of two people who are vehemently opposed in attitudes or opinions to the extent that they will never agree and will spark fire off each other whenever they meet. The idea has been summed up in this limerick: There once were two cats from Kilkenny
Each thought there was one cat too many.
   So they fought and they fit
   And they scratched and they bit
And instead of two cats, there ain’t any!

[You may, incidentally, like to note the use here of fit, the dialectal past tense of fight.]

Where the expression comes from in one sense is easy enough: everyone’s agreed that it refers to the ancient town of Kilkenny, on the River Nore in south-east Ireland. There are three stories in modern books about how the expression grew up in connection with the town; all of them repeat submissions to the British publication Notes & Queries in the Victorian period.

2. Kola Nuts – their claim to fame is the fact that an extract from Kola nuts is a key ingredient in Cola drinks including Coca Cola. But in Africa, where Kola nuts originated, it has a lot more significance than that.

Excerpt from Congocookbook: [Caution: lot of popups on this site]

Kola nuts are important in many African societies, particularly in Western Africa. Besides the fact that Kola nuts contain caffeine and act as a stimulant and anti-depressant, they are also thought to reduce fatigue and hunger, aid digestion, and work as an aphrodisiac. In some parts of Africa, kola nuts are given as gifts to visitors entering a home, usually with some formal ceremony. Offering the kola nut is a gesture of friendship and hospitality. The kola nut ceremony is similar to the traditional American Indian peace pipe or breaking bread in a religious context. Elsewhere, before a marriage, a bag of kola nuts are often given by a groom to the parents of the bride. Kola nuts are a used in rituals performed by religious healers.

3. Antimatter powered rockets are on the anvil (Via Nationalgeographic News) A New Mexico company has just completed its initial studies of an antimatter-powered rocket that it hopes will someday take astronauts to Mars in 90 days or less. Apparently, Antimatter as a possible power source for rockets was suggested first by Austrian engineer Eugene Sanger in the 1950s and the idea was popularized by Star Trek (Enterprise is supposedly powered by Antimatter) and other TV serials and books. Before you make plans to be on an antimatter powered rocket, you may want to listen to Roger H. Miller, a professor emeritus of physics at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. He says [from the same National Geographic article linked above]:

“I think it is worthwhile to point out that in the mid-1950s, knowledgeable people thought useful controlled [nuclear] fusion power generation [which, in contrast to nuclear fission—commonly used in power plants—generates energy by combining hydrogen atoms to create helium] would be achieved in about 25 years. Today it is still believed to be about 25 years away.”

What do you do when writings inflame you ? – Go Direct

Updated May 16, 2006: Christian Science Monitor talks about this issue which we covered April 11, 2006. Please see below for more details.
 

Dave Gray wrote this insightful post “Go Direct” to explain how to handle situations when someone upsets you. Excerpt:

So what do you do?

1. Take a minute. Cool down.
2. Pick up the phone, or walk over to the person’s desk. Don’t send email.
3. Tell them what you are concerned about.
4. Ask them what you can do
5. Listen.

Its a very powerful technique and works very well. When I started thinking about how many times “hurt” happens, I realized that it happens more often due to some email that someone wrote or a blog post that someone wrote or a comment on a blog that someone wrote. Maybe the frequency is correlated with the dramatic increase in electronic communication and most of it is of the text kind (email, blogs, discussion forums, IM chats, SMS messages).

So the question is, why is textual communication generating more “hurt” ?

The answer comes from Chris Allen’s insightful post “Flames: Emotional Amplification of Text“:

Since text is lacking tonal and visual context, we have a tendency to over-interpret any emotional content that does exist.

Additionally text comes devoid of body language as well. In sum, text can be misinterpreted. In fact, Chris quoting from research published in the Wired magazine says that we only have a 50-50 chance of interpreting tone correctly.

He goes on to explain how the misinterpretation generates a seething response which in turn begets more seething responses setting off a vicious cycle.

Chris also gives some very good ideas on how to avoid this by following some simple rules:

Thus I now find that now there are certain words and phrases that I avoid using when responding to people online. I have to be very careful with irony and sarcasm, and when I use them I include symbols such as smilies to such give the emotional context that is missing from the text. I find that even the slightest hint of blame will be over-interpreted. I avoid the words “should” and “didn’t”, never tell someone that they forgot something, etc.

These simple rules will help us avoid generating misinterpretations. But if you are the one that is misinterpreting someone else’s writings, use Dave Gray’s Go Direct method, don’t send emails. 

Updated:

Christian Science Monitor carried an article on “Why emails are so misunderstood“.  (Via slashdot).  Its an interesting article worth a read. The graphic below from the article, corroborates what we wrote before:

References:

1. Also read Chris’s excellent post “Extrapolative hostility in the online medium” for additional information on this topic.

Discrimination rampant in the corporate world in India

Lack of awareness about what constitutes discrimination is widespread in the Indian corporate world and elsewhere.  In interviews, you get asked about your age, marital status, number of children and other personal details.  Your grade in high school (i am serious) or for that matter, any criterion the management deems important. Probably because we have so many applicants for any job, we can use any yardstick. If  the yardstick is discriminatory, who cares? I was shocked to see job advertisements in the newspaper, openly saying that if you are not in a particular age band, you are not eligible.  Here is an example which asks for a sales executive below the age of 40 years.  Gender insensitivity, you ask? Case in point –  a recent interview given a SVP of HR of a leading IT company.  <Via Desipundit/Emma> Just to be sure that this is not an anomaly, here is another interview given by a VP of a Hospitality Company. I think, these are just examples that are symptomatic of the overall attitudes prevailing. Is it any surprise that we need affirmative action? If you think this is restricted to the corporate world, wait till you here about school admissions all the way down to kinder garten. Recently, Delhi high court has banned interviews of students and/or their parents for kinder garten admissions. There are some elite schools in Chennai (this is anecdotal, i have heard it from several sources and i believe its true) which impose some draconian conditions:  the student’s parents need to have professional degrees, mom has to be stay-at-home, grandparents need to be educated, parents should subject themselves to an interview… the list goes on. Yet, parents still want to get their childdren into these elite schools.
Technorati Tags: discrimination, human resources, gender sensitivity