Petrol vs CNG vs Diesel….What type of car to go for?

http://economydecoded.com/2013/01/petrol-vs-cng-vs-dieselwhat-type-of-car/

How to enable FINEST logging of SQL Server JDBC Driver

Add following code snippet in constructor of your class that serves as interface to the SQL Server JDBC driver which is typically where you pass the connection credentials of your SQL Server database.
===============
        java.util.logging.Logger jlogger = java.util.logging.Logger.getLogger("com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc");
        java.util.logging.FileHandler jfh;

        try
        {
            // This block configure the logger with handler and formatter
            jfh = new java.util.logging.FileHandler("C:/temp/java-sqljdbc-driver.log");
            jlogger.addHandler(jfh);
            java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter jformatter = new java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter();
            jfh.setFormatter(jformatter);
            jlogger.setLevel(java.util.logging.Level.FINEST);

            // the following statement is used to log any messages
            jlogger.info("MY FIRST TEST LOG MESSAGE");
        }
        catch (SecurityException e)
        {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        catch (IOException e)
        {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
===============

In above example the logging level is set to FINEST, but it can be set to FINE and FINER as well. On execution of your test program FINE level logging to file "C:/temp/java-sqljdbc-driver.log" is enabled. This file comes handy for debugging issues due to bugs in JDBC driver.

FileBot v4.7 The ultimate tv renamer / subtitle downloader / sfv validator

http://www.filebot.net/

E-book: How to retire early in India

Excellent - download the pdf ebook and take a look!
http://freefincal.com/e-book-retire-early-india/ 

Some home truths: Highs and lows of the realty sector

 Read more: http://forbesindia.com/article/real-estate-special/some-home-truths-highs-and-lows-of-the-realty-sector/43175/1#ixzz494tgYh3Z

CPI in India from 1980 to 2015: 8.23

Interesting data - the average consumer price inflation (CPI) in India from 1980 to 2015 comes out to be 8.23. Useful data for personal financial planning.

https://data.oecd.org/chart/4x2A

Tax savings for Home loan interest under Section 24 B

Good article: https://savers.moneylife.in/blog/tax/article/tax-savings-for-home-loan-interest-under-section-24-b/399.html

Even the worst ELSS outperformed PPF over 15 years

This was an eye opener. Thanks MoneyLife!

https://savers.moneylife.in/blog/article/even-the-worst-elss-outperformed-ppf-over-15-years/1512.html

Is India a Tolerant Nation

https://www.quora.com/Is-India-a-tolerant-nation/answer/Balaji-Viswanathan-2?srid=iXZG&share=ef24de90

India – A Nurturing Sanctuary for Judaism

http://www.lassiwithlavina.com/features/faith/india-a-nurturing-sanctuary-for-judaism/html

How Lenovo named their smartphone series

Lenovo officials explained how they came up with the K, S, P and A series names for their phones. 

"K" is derived from the word "GeeK", which indicate these are high-end phones meant for geeks. 

The series "S" indicates "Style", fashion and trendy! 

"P" series stands for "Professional", indicating these phones are professionals and business people offering a long battery life and dual SIM capability. 

Finally, the "A" series stands for "Affordable", which are price sensitive, budge phones.

Source: http://www.techulator.com/resources/7891-Lenovo-launches-series-new-smartphones-India.aspx

Should you worry about debt fund risk?

http://www.livemint.com/Home-Page/hzMh5HFJ2NvrvwVaSJNXhM/Should-you-worry-about-debt-fund-risk.html

आभा भागवत यांची कला या विषयावरील उत्कृष्ठ लेखमला

लेख क्र ७ - खास शिक्षक - १९ जुलै २०१५



लेख क्र ६ - कलेविषयी कळकळ असणारी माणसं - १२ जुलै २०१५



लेख क्र ५ - चिमुकल्यांची भित्तीचित्रांची कार्यशाळा - ५ जुलै २०१५



लेख क्र ४ - भिंतीवरची चित्र - २८ जून २०१५



लेख क्र ३ - सौंदर्यदृष्टी आणि सौंदर्यानुभव - २१ जून २०१५




लेख क्र २ - बालचित्रकलेतील अभिव्यक्तीचे टप्पे - १४ जून २०१५



लेख क्र १ - अभिव्यक्ती स्वातंत्र्याचा राजमार्ग - ७ जून २०१५

When do financial institutions file AIR (information return to income tax department)

https://endeavorconsultants.wordpress.com/2010/12/19/air-annual-information-report-with-it-return/

6 Easy Steps to Your Financial Plan

https://www.moneylife.in/promotion/6easysteps_financialplan/index.html

Website to get details about shell script parameters - explainshell.com

NPS vs Mutual Funds- Which is Better Retirement Investment?

http://www.knowledge.fintotal.com/article/NPS-vs-Mutual-Funds-Which-is-Better-Retirement-Investment/6416

Ninite: Excellent tool to Install and Update All Your Programs at Once

Ninite

Best websites for electronic, mobile reviews, comparisons and price deals

Compare

Very detailed comparison can be done here: http://www.smartprix.com/mobiles/compare.php?ids=2335%2c3202%2c1101l70o9bl%2c11014p2rete. The highlight of this comparison is that it has a line about significance of each metric being compared and why having lower or upper value is good.

Review

Very detailed reviews can be found here: http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_m-review-973.php. Especially interesting is page 5 which has detailed performance reviews against its peers.

Search for best deal

Best deal can be found here: http://www.mysmartprice.com/mobile/sony-xperia-m-dual-msp2999?utm_medium=search&utm_source=Sony+Xperia+M+Dual. While this site is a deal aggregator, we can also observe trend. One observation is that things get cheap late evening on Friday every week (probably has something to do with weekly quotas...).

Buy! :)

Sources of free audiobooks

This is a source of free audiobooks

English language:
Subscribe to newsletter from http://www.learnoutloud.com and they offer about one book for free per week.
http://librivox.org: community donated and copyright expired audio books

Marathi language:
http://boltipustake.blogspot.in/2011/01/blog-post.html : collection of community recorded audio books.

"राज्य मराठी विकास संस्था" :http://rmvs.maharashtra.gov.in/

Blog posts having more information:
http://www.digitaltrends.com/lifestyle/best-websites-for-free-audiobooks/

Quotables Quotes on Life

Faith is "Realizing" that you will always get what you need.

Drop things consciously that are low priority

Budget your time, time-box it.

Top 10 Gandhi Inspirational Quotes that Give You Power to Change the World

Are you inspired by Mahatma Gandhi? Gandhi quotes inspired millions of Indians to act in non-violent protest against British oppression. His own wisdom and philosophy can always inspire us. Here are the Gandhi’s Top 10 inspirational quotes that give you power to change the world.

1

First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.

2

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.

3

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

4

A 'No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.

5

A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.

6

A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes.

7

A nation's culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.

8

Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.

9

An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it.

10

An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.

Great quotes on medicine

Cure rarely, comfort mostly, but console always - Hippocrates 


“One kind word can warm three winter months”—a Japanese saying


“Art” wrote, Henry David Thoreau, “is that which makes another man’s day”


“Know your patient better than his disease” was the opinion of the father of modern medicine, Hippocrates


“Patient care is caring for the patient!” This is the motto of Massachusetts General Hospital and was coined by Sir Francis Peabody


Platt had written in 1949 that “if one were to listen to the patient long enough, the patient would give away his/her diagnosis.”

The study showed that 80% of the accurate final diagnosis and 100% of the future management strategies could be arrived at, at the end of listening to the patient and reading the referral letter. This could only be refined 4% more by all the physical examinations and only 8% by all the investigations including the PET scanner! 


Courtesy: http://www.moneylife.in/article/bedside-medicine-a-forgotten-art/25067.html

Very good information on various regex special characters for java

http://www.leepoint.net/notes-java/data/strings/40regular_expressions/25sum-regex.html

Strange article in moneylife.in

I saw this strange article: http://www.moneylife.in/article/fidelitys-exit-a-slap-on-sebis-face/23340.html in moneylife today: I have always thought moneylife to be small investor's advocate. However this article seems to have confused me. I have given the comment given below to the article
===========================================================
Can moneylife explain why a lot of new AMC's are opening up MF businesses in India and only Fidelity is quitting it?

The article seems to show that moneylife has some grudge against SEBI (and unfortunately small investors)

I completely disagree with moneylife. I feel the statement "Investment advisors are neutral and usually give unbiased information" is about distributors. I do not agree to it. I have frankly never met an eager distributor who was unbiased. They used to keep on asking people to shuffle funds, always recommending selling of a fund bought sometime back and using the proceeds to purchased upcoming IPO's. Removing entry loads stopped misselling to a very large extent. In fact the AUM of good AMC's are increasing with regular investments from SIP (which are mostly long term).

The fact that on removal of entry load the distributors (IFA) moved to misselling of ULIP is ample proof of their intentions.

What proposal does moneylife have  to stop misselling of MF even in presence of entry load?

Welcome to firstgearjobs.com

Welcome to firstgearjobs.com

Quick HOWTO : Linux Networking

A fantastic document on Linux networking is available here: http://www.linuxhomenetworking.com/wiki/index.php/Quick_HOWTO_:_Ch03_:_Linux_Networking

Best 11 questions Gallup scientists have found to ask customers anywhere in the world

Source: http://gmj.gallup.com/content/149168/Secure-Jobs.aspx?utm_source=email&utm_medium=112011&utm_content=morelink&utm_campaign=newsletter#2

Leaders have yet to learn that relationships trump price in almost all business circumstances, from hair salons to high-tech consulting. He who most deeply understands the customer's needs tends to win and always gets the highest margins. That's why talent and relationships can almost always beat low price -- they inspire customer engagement. To measure customer engagement, these are the best 11 questions Gallup scientists have found to ask customers anywhere in the world:

CE1. Taking into account all the products and services you receive from them, how satisfied are you with (Company) overall?

CE2. How likely are you to continue to do business with (Company)?

CE3. How likely are you to recommend (Company) to a friend or associate?

CE4. (Company) is a name I can always trust.

CE5. (Company) always delivers on what they promise.

CE6. (Company) always treats me fairly.

CE7. If a problem arises, I can always count on (Company) to reach a fair and satisfactory resolution.

CE8. I feel proud to be (a/an) (Company) customer.

CE9. (Company) always treats me with respect.

CE10. (Company) is the perfect company/product for people like me.

CE11. I can't imagine a world without (Company).

I think this is indeed a very good compilation!

Quotable Quotes on Money

Sep 29, 2012 - 5 minute wrapup
"Yearly figures, it should be noted, are neither to be ignored nor viewed as all-important. The pace of the earth's movement around the sun is not synchronized with the time required for either investment ideas or operating decisions to bear fruit." - Warren Buffett's 2010 letter to shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway

October 19, 2011 - 5 minute wrapup - 

"It takes character to sit there with all that cash and do nothing. I didn't get to where I am by going after mediocre opportunities." - Charles Munger 

20-Oct-2011 - 5 minute wrapup - 

"As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do." - Andrew Carnegie 

29-Oct-2011 - 5 minute wrapup  - 

"Here's one truth that perhaps your typical investment counselor would disagree with: if you're comfortably rich and someone else is getting richer faster than you by, for example, investing in risky stocks, so what?! Someone will always be getting richer faster than you. This is not a tragedy." - Charlie Munger

29-Oct-2011 - Market Musings (M2) - 

"As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do." - Andrew Carnegie

5-Nov-2011 - 5 minute wrapup - 

"If past history was all there was to the game, the richest people would be librarians." - Warren Buffett 

30-Apr-2011 5 minute wrapup - 

"Investing in stocks is an art, not a science, and people who've been trained to rigidly quantify everything have a big disadvantage. If stock picking could be quantified, you could rent time on the nearest Cray computer and make a fortune. But it doesn't work that way. All the math you need in the stock market you get in the fourth grade." - Peter Lynch

A simple counter/timer code in Java

It is a very common requirement to measure time taken by a particular method/function or block of code. The following simple timer can come handy:

long startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
// Code block or method/function to time.
long endTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
System.out.println("Time taken: " + (endTime - startTime) + " milliseconds");

The accuracy of results can be improved by using System.nanoTime().

How to execute HTTP command in Linux on command line

curl is a command line utility to execute commands in protocols like HTTP, FTP, etc on Linux.

Example: curl -k --user admin@abc.xyz.com:password "https://abc.xyz.com:8080/api/data"

where:

-k : disable SSL (when server doesn't enforce SSL authentication)
--user: authentication credentials of format "username:password"

How to print time taken in milli seconds by a command on UNIX

Just replace "" in one line script below with your command and it will output the time taken by the command in milli seconds

You can also manipulate the dividing factor (1000000 in command below) to get output with varying degrees of precision

START=$(date +%s%N); ; END=$(date +%s%N); DIFF=$(( $END - $START )); echo "It took $(( $DIFF / 1000000)) milli seconds"

How to type in "Marathi" (devanagari) in Windows?

There are various ways of doing it and I have listed them below:

Option 1: Unicode (using transliteration software/websites)

You will have to type in Unicode format (more details if interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode).  Unicode being an international standard makes it usable without requiring to install any fonts. All browsers support Unicode, which may at most need to be enabled. Currently Gmail offers typing and reading mails in Marathi this way. Other way is to use Google transliteration that is available here: http://www.google.com/transliterate/indic/MARATHI. The only disadvantage of this is that you need an active internet connection.

Option 2: IME (Input method editor)

Google also gives an interesting tool called Google IMEI (http://www.google.com/ime/transliteration/) which allows you to type Marathi characters represented in Unicode in any application on Windows (notepad, directory names, file names, practically anything...).  How to install and use Google IMEI is given here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRy3_Gmt5ak&feature=mh_lolz&list=FL_5qtqa6_rBw. Installation of it requires interenet connection. However, the biggest advantage is that once installed it can be used without active internet connection. If you want to install on a PC that does not have internet connection, please check this link: http://shashigokhale.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-to-install-google-ime-without.html

Option 3: Font files

You will have to install the specific font on the computer. This basically means copying the font file (typically of extension of ttf or fon) into C:\Windows\Fonts.

 

My choice: Option 2!

How to install Google IME without internet connection

This is a very common problem faced by Google IME users in India (where internet penetration is still growing). I found these links, where people have find various ways of getting the offline installer to solve the problem. The links are given below:

http://hi.fi.vc/2010/07/google-transliteration-ime-offline.html
http://www.trishtech.com/internet/google_transliteration_ime_offline_installer.php

So, go ahead and enjoy typing in your mother tongue.

10 calcuations for calculating worth of investments

Very good information about such 10 formulae is available at: http://specials.rediff.com/money/2008/jul/22slde01.htm

SIP returns calculator: http://www.indiainfoline.com/personalfinance/calculators/mutualfunds/systematic-investment-plan-returns

Numerous calculators: http://www.indiainfoline.com/personalfinance/calculators/

XML parsing

Below is a list of very helpful links that I found related to XML parsing.

How to convert Document to String (source:  http://www.theserverside.com/discussions/thread.tss?thread_id=26060)

import java.io.*;
import javax.xml.transform.*;
import javax.xml.transform.dom.*;
import javax.xml.transform.stream.*;

//method to convert Document to String
public String getStringFromDocument(Document doc)
{
    try
    {
       DOMSource domSource = new DOMSource(doc);
       StringWriter writer = new StringWriter();
       StreamResult result = new StreamResult(writer);
       TransformerFactory tf = TransformerFactory.newInstance();
       Transformer transformer = tf.newTransformer();
       transformer.transform(domSource, result);
       return writer.toString();
    }
    catch(TransformerException ex)
    {
       ex.printStackTrace();
       return null;
    }
}

How To Pretty Print Xml With Java   (source: http://www.coderanch.com/how-to/java/HowToPrettyPrintXmlWithJava)

Examples of XML Transformer OutputKeys (source: http://www.javadocexamples.com/javax/xml/transform/javax.xml.transform.OutputKeys.html#STANDALONE)

How to change hostname in Linux

1. Edit file /etc/sysconfig/network using your favourite editor. For vi enter vi /etc/sysconfig/network
2. Look for HOSTNAME=xxxxxx
3. Change the xxxx to the name you wish to set for your computer. (ex: HOSTNAME=hula.com)
4. Save the file and restart the xinetd service. (ex: type service xinetd restart in your shell)

Reference: http://www.techiecorner.com/99/how-to-change-hostname-in-linux/

Recharge your prepaid mobile phone online

Service providers:
==============
Vodafone: http://www.vodafone.in/online_prepaid_recharge/online_recharge_mobile.aspx
BSNL: http://portal.bsnl.in/rc/aspxfiles/login.aspx


Banks:
======
HDFC Bank: http://www.hdfcbank.com/personal/payments/prepaid_refill/pre_refill.htm
ICICI: http://www.icicibank.com/Personal-Banking/onlineservice/online-services/PrepaidMobileRecharge/prepaid-mobile-recharge.html

Third party (I have personally not used any of them, but looks good)):
==========
http://www.rechargeitnow.com
http://www.onestoprecharge.com
http://rechargemobilephones.com/india/online-recharge-mobile/

Hope this information is helpful.

Mumbai suburban local train time table

is available here: http://www.go4mumbai.com/

Fixing Master Boot Record (MBR) in Windows XP without the recovery console (equivalent of fdisk /mbr on XP)

The solution to this problem is given here: http://eivind.dataweb.no/?p=13. In essence the solution is to use a utility named MBRFix available here: http://www.sysint.no/products/Download/tabid/536/language/nb-NO/Default.aspx

Howto for CPPUNIT

Good information about using CPPUNIT is available at:

http://blog.csdn.net/snowphy/archive/2004/10/22/146766.aspx
http://www.uow.edu.au/~nabg/222/Lectures/P3UnittestingforC++.pdf

An important point is to using macros with which you can specify custom message for describing the error. In the following example, use the second macro instead of the first and so on:

• CPPUNIT_ASSERT(condition)
  Assertions that a condition is true.
• CPPUNIT_ASSERT_MESSAGE(message, condition)
  Assertion with a user specified message.

I deleted Linux partition and now Windows XP does not boots

I am just getting a grub prompt. Tried to use Windows setup disk, but it went forward and gave blue screen. The following steps found at: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-software-2/booting-windows-from-the-grub-prompt-275446 fixed the problem.

root (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader --force +1
boot

Solution to how to write/print String to file in Java

http://www.daniweb.com/forums/thread94567.html

### characters in a cell in Excel

I have been seeing the problem when ### characters are shown in a cell in Excel since a long time. I found a solution to this problem here:

http://blog.contextures.com/archives/2009/03/31/show-more-characters-in-an-excel-cell/

wikipedia

I donated to wikipedia foundation today. The message I put on their message board for the question: what does wikipedia means to you was the following:


Dear wikipedia (Jimmy Wales),

I have tremendous curiosity for things happening around the world. I know that I can get information about all these things on wikipedia for sure. Hence, I visit your site everyday without fail.

My father laid down the tradition of buying books that help build personality of children. He bought "World Book Encyclopedia" for me and my sister back in 1986 when we were 6 and 3 years respectively for about INR. 10,000 when we purchased our house costing about INR. 1,25,000 i.e. about 8% of cost of residence. This set an excellent example of importance of knowledge in human life.

I have a three year old son. I plan to expose him to wikipedia as soon as he learns to read. I am confident that he will be a learned and sophisticated person if he starts gaining knowledge available in wikipedia from his early childhood. wikipedia is far more than any printed encyclopedia available in market. The strength of wikipedia is its liveliness. It is just hours before information of any event is available. And the cream on the cake is that it is FREE! I had never imagined in my life that such a plethora of knowledge could be available for the whole mankind for free.

Jimmy, you have the blessings of the mankind. God bless you!

Thanks a ton.

Yours,
Shashibhushan Gokhale

PS: I request you to please forward this mail to Mr. Jimmy Wales. I very heartily want to convey my thanks to him.

I am posting their information below:

PMI - Project Management Professional (Pmp) Certification Study Guide

is available at: 

http://www.slideshare.net/robsonnasc/pmi-project-management-professional-pmp-certification-study-guide?from=email&type=suggest_download&subtype=1

SCDJWS 5 Study Notes by Ivan A. Krizsan

is available at: http://www.slideshare.net/krizsan/scdjws-5-study-notes-3085287?from=email&type=suggest_download&subtype=0

Debug Java applications remotely with Eclipse

A very good article about debugging Java applications remotely using Eclipse is available here: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/opensource/library/os-eclipse-javadebug/index.html

Using Rational Purify to memory profile Java code

Following environment variable must be set to use Rational Purify for memory profiling of Java code

set _JAVA_OPTIONS=-XrunPureJVMPI:Purify -Xbootclasspath/a:c:\PROGRA~1\rational\PURIFY~1\Rational.jar;D:\workspace\stdlib\activation.jar;D:\workspace\stdlib\axis-ant.jar;

The above command should contain all dependency jars for the Java code separated by semi colon.

A welcome customer friendly step by SEBI: SEBI bans ULIP

This is a very very positive step taken by SEBI with common investor's interest in mind. I would like to thank SEBI for the initiative.

I would also like to register my protest against IRDA for taking the side of insurance companies promoting ULIP which is completely against customer interest.

Very good articles have been posted on this on valueresearchonline.com. They are:

(Alert Investors Already Know the Truth About ULIPs) http://new.valueresearchonline.com/story/h2_storyview.asp?str=101348

I have posted comment on a one-sided article published by Sakal on the issue: http://www.esakal.com/eSakal/20100411/5641531933567981687.htm

I have also communicated by concerns to editor of Sakal since I could not post my message in "vachakancha patravyawhar" due to technical snag in website of Sakal.