This Week I Learned - Week #11 2021

This Week I Learned - 

* To use an Azure file share with Windows, you must either mount it, which means assigning it a drive letter or mount point path, or access it via its UNC path. Unlike other SMB shares you may have interacted with, such as those hosted on a Windows Server, Linux Samba server, or NAS device, Azure file shares do not currently support Kerberos authentication with your Active Directory (AD) or Azure Active Directory (AAD) identity. Instead, you must access your Azure file share with the storage account key for the storage account containing your Azure file share. A storage account key is an administrator key for a storage account, including administrator permissions to all files and folders within the file share you're accessing, and for all file shares and other storage resources (blobs, queues, tables, etc) contained within your storage account.

* While a blob is in archive storage, the blob data is offline and can't be read or modified. To read or download a blob in archive, you must first rehydrate it to an online tier. Rehydrating a blob from the archive tier can take several hours.

* Azure Arc is Microsoft’s hybrid and multi-cloud platform. It has three components – Arc enabled servers, Arc enabled Kubernetes clusters, and Arc enabled data services. 

* Functionality initially released through APIs will be represented in the portal within 180 days of initial release.

21 Google Cloud products—each explained in under two minutes.

* The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has approved Google Cloud for public sector use at the central and state level in India.

5 Roles every Data Science Team needs to have - Data Science Whiteboards 

Oracle Linux is free & 100% application binary compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux

* Kaomoji emoticons are similar to smileys, but they often incorporate Japanese characters. Press Windows logo key + period (.) to open the emoji panel in any app in a Windows 10 PC.

* In addition to working with UML and architecture styles, architects have to ride the Architect Elevator from the penthouse, where the business strategy is set, to the engine room, where the enabling technologies are implemented.

* If you work in tech, you surely know you’ve committed yourself to a lifetime of learning

* Going forward, thriving and navigating extreme change and uncertainty will be a critical, if not the most essential, leadership skill. Our brain is a prediction machine designed to constantly predict what will happen next. It also has a threat scanning apparatus that is relentlessly scanning for external threats. Whether we "sink or swim" depends in part on our individual resilience and mental habits. Here are four simple habits to train the brain - 1) When you next experience the instant activation of fear, anxiety or another mental or physical response, build a habit of acknowledging that “this is just my brain tech.” It will help you de-personalize and detach from the experience, take it less seriously and get back to the bigger picture. 2) Cultivate wellbeing and resilience habits. Prioritize proven habits such as regular sleep, attention to nutrition, hydration and exercise. Research shows that other habits like regular mindfulness practice, cultivating meaningful relationships and gratitude and spending time outdoors help our brain to build resilience scaffolding 3) Empower your prediction system: Choose the signal, not the noise. Your brain’s prediction system is using your past experiences and the information you consume to connect the dots and predict future possibilities and outcomes. As our ecosystem continues to disrupt, what you input into your brain today will fuel your prediction system and drive the outputs, the pivots and the preparedness you have tomorrow. 4) Build a pivot mindset: Get comfortable with the uncomfortable in order to develop an internal narrative of, “I play well in uncomfortable situations.”. Change and uncertainty are uncomfortable to the human brain. - Forbes

The closer you live to the Equator, the worse the effects of climate change will be. Rich and middle-income countries are causing the vast majority of climate change. A warmer world will be problematic for relatively well-off farmers in America and Europe, but potentially deadly for low-income farmers in Africa and Asia. It’s deeply unfair that the people who contribute the least to climate change will suffer the worst from its effects.

* Opium is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy Papaver somniferum. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which is processed chemically to produce heroin and other synthetic opioids for medicinal use and for the illegal drug trade. The latex also contains the closely related opiates codeine and thebaine, and non-analgesic alkaloids such as papaverine and noscapine. In modern times, much of the thebaine, which often serves as the raw material for the synthesis for oxycodone, hydrocodone, hydromorphone, and other semisynthetic opiates, originates from extracting Papaver orientale or Papaver bracteatum. 

* The physician Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi of Persian origin ("Rhazes", 845–930 AD) maintained a laboratory and school in Baghdad. He made use of opium in anesthesia and recommended its use for the treatment of melancholy in Fi ma-la-yahdara al-tabib, "In the Absence of a Physician", a home medical manual directed toward ordinary citizens for self-treatment if a doctor was not available. The Ottoman Empire supplied the West with opium long before China and India. Compared to other chemicals available to 18th century regular physicians, opium was a benign alternative to the arsenics, mercuries, or emetics, and it was remarkably successful in alleviating a wide range of ailments. Due to the constipation often produced by the consumption of opium, it was one of the most effective treatments for cholera, dysentery, and diarrhea. The standard medical use of opium persisted well into the 19th century. US president William Henry Harrison was treated with opium in 1841, and in the American Civil War, the Union Army used 175,000 lb (80,000 kg) of opium tincture and powder and about 500,000 opium pills. During this time of popularity, users called opium "God's Own Medicine". A medical panacea of the 19th century, "any respectable person" could purchase a range of hashish pastes and (later) morphine with complementary injection kit. 

* Britain's All-India Opium Act of 1878 formalized ethnic restrictions on the use of opium, limiting recreational opium sales to registered Indian opium-eaters and Chinese opium-smokers only and prohibiting its sale to workers from Burma. China had a positive balance sheet in trading with the British, which led to a decrease of the British silver stocks. Therefore, the British tried to encourage Chinese opium use to enhance their balance, and they delivered it from Indian provinces under British control. The illegal sale of opium became one of the world's most valuable single commodity trades and has been called "the most long continued and systematic international crime of modern times". Opium smuggling provided 15 to 20 percent of the British Empire's revenue and simultaneously caused scarcity of silver in China. In India, its cultivation, as well as the manufacture and traffic to China, were subject to the British East India Company (BEIC), as a strict monopoly of the British government. Indian farmers were forced by the British East India company to grow poppy against their wishes, often using a combination of strong arm tactics and debt. There was an extensive and complicated system of BEIC agencies involved in the supervision and management of opium production and distribution in India.

* After the 1757 Battle of Plassey and 1764 Battle of Buxar, the British East India Company gained the power to act as diwan of Bengal, Bihar, and Odisha. This allowed the company to exercise a monopoly over opium production and export in India, to encourage ryots to cultivate the cash crops of indigo and opium with cash advances, and to prohibit the "hoarding" of rice. This strategy led to the increase of the land tax to 50 percent of the value of crops and to the doubling of East India Company profits by 1777. It is also claimed to have contributed to the starvation of 10 million people in the Bengal famine of 1770. Bengal opium was highly prized, commanding twice the price of the domestic Chinese product, which was regarded as inferior in quality. 

* By 1906, China was producing 85 percent of the world's opium, some 35,000 tons, and 27 percent of its adult male population regularly used opium‍—‌13.5 million people consuming 39,000 tons of opium yearly. From 1880 to the beginning of the Communist era, the British attempted to discourage the use of opium in China, but this effectively promoted the use of morphine, heroin, and cocaine, further exacerbating the problem of addiction. 

* Morphine was the first pharmaceutical isolated from a natural product, and this success encouraged the isolation of other alkaloids: by 1820, isolations of noscapine, strychnine, veratrine, colchicine, caffeine, and quinine were reported. Morphine sales began in 1827, by Heinrich Emanuel Merck of Darmstadt, and helped him expand his family pharmacy into the Merck KGaA pharmaceutical company.

* Heroin, the first semi-synthetic opioid, was first synthesized in 1874, but was not pursued until its rediscovery in 1897 by Felix Hoffmann at the Bayer pharmaceutical company in Elberfeld, Germany. From 1898 to 1910 heroin was marketed as a non-addictive morphine substitute and cough medicine for children. Because the lethal dose of heroin was viewed as a hundred times greater than its effective dose, heroin was advertised as a safer alternative to other opioids.By 1902, sales made up 5 percent of the company's profits, and "heroinism" had attracted media attention. Oxycodone, a thebaine derivative similar to codeine, was introduced by Bayer in 1916 and promoted as a less-addictive analgesic. Preparations of the drug such as oxycodone with paracetamol and extended release oxycodone remain popular to this day.

* A range of synthetic opioids such as methadone (1937), pethidine (1939), fentanyl (late 1950s), and derivatives thereof have been introduced, and each is preferred for certain specialized applications. Nonetheless, morphine remains the drug of choice for American combat medics, who carry packs of syrettes containing 16 milligrams each for use on severely wounded soldiers. No drug has been found that can match the painkilling effect of opioids without also duplicating much of their addictive potential.

* Afghanistan is currently the primary producer of the drug. For farmers, the crop can be up to ten times more profitable than wheat. 

* Chinese inventor Hon Lik invented the e-cigarette

* Turmeric is one of the important spice crops in India with a production of 11.53 lakh tonnes, which accounts for 78% of total turmeric production in the world.

* 22 of the world’s 30 polluted cities are in India; Delhi most polluted capital city globally

* India has recorded the second-highest number of Covid-19 infections in the world after the United States. India launched its vaccination drive on 16 January. The government is spending around $5bn for free doses at state-run clinics, public health centres and hospitals. The country's drugs regulator has given the green light to two vaccines - one developed by AstraZeneca with Oxford University (Covishield) and one by Indian firm Bharat Biotech (Covaxin). India is a vaccine powerhouse: it makes 60% of the world's vaccines and is home to half a dozen major manufacturers. 

Giani Zail Singh (1916 – 1994) was the seventh President of India serving from 1982 to 1987. Prior to his presidency, he was a politician with the Indian National Congress party, and had held several ministerial posts in the Union Cabinet, including that of Home Minister. His presidency was marked by Operation Blue Star, the assassination of Indira Gandhi, and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Zail Singh was elected as Chief Minister of Punjab in 1972. Zail Singh was named Jarnail, meaning “General”, but as a young man, he changed his first name to Zail after being imprisoned several times for opposing the rule of the maharajah of Faridkot. In 1947, with the reorganisation of India along secular lines, he opposed Harindar Singh Brar, ruler of Faridkot State and was incarcerated and tortured for five years. 

* Tamilisai Soundararajan, the current governor of Telangana today was given additional charge as the Lieutenant-Governor of Puducherry till announcement of permanent replacement. Born on June 2, 1961 in Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu, she is the daughter of Kumari Ananthan, a former Member of Parliament and senior congress party leader in Tamil Nadu. Tamilisai Soundararajan completed her graduation at Ethiraj College for Women, followed by pursuing her MBBS at Madras Medical College, Chennai and her obstetrics and gynaecology qualifications at Dr. MGR Medical University, Chennai. Despite her foray into politics in 1999, she lost in all her attempts at becoming an or MLA to date, having contested two Assembly elections and Parliament elections unsuccessfully. In the 2019 Indian general election, she lost against Kanimozhi, daughter of M Karunanidhi - Free Press Journal

Richard Hennessy (1724 — 1800) was an Irish military officer and businessman, best known for founding the Hennessy cognac dynasty, which is today a luxury brand. Cognac is typically more expensive than other spirits. The main reason is that the distillation process itself is more expensive. The spirits base ingredient is grapes, rather than grains, and distilling wine from juice is also an expensive process. Hennessy is rap's most popular liquor. Drinkin' Henny is slang for "drinking Hennessy". Henny has since appeared in countless rap songs. 

Friedrich Sertürner  (1783 – 1841) was the first to isolate morphine from opium in 1804. He called the isolated alkaloid "morphium" after the Greek god of dreams, Morpheus. Morphine was not only the first alkaloid to be extracted from opium, but the first ever alkaloid to be isolated from any plant. Thus Sertürner became the first person to isolate the active ingredient associated with a medicinal plant or herb. The branch of science that he originated has since become known as alkaloid chemistry.

William Staub (1915 –  2012) was an American mechanical engineer who invented and developed the first consumer treadmill for home use, the PaceMaster 600, during the late 1960s. He used the treadmill until two months before his death in 2012. Treadmills as muscle powered engines originated roughly 4000 years ago. Treadmills for punishment were introduced in 1818 by an English engineer named Sir William Cubitt, who was the son of a miller. Noting idle prisoners at Bury St Edmunds gaol, he proposed using their muscle power to both cure their idleness and produce useful work.

* "Raj Reddy (former dean of School of Computer Science at CMU) is a great inspiration - and may have been one of the first successful computer scientists I heard of growing up in India. It was more important that he was successful than that he was famous..."

* Michael Phelps (1985-) is an American former competitive swimmer and the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time, with a total of 28 medals including 23 Olympic gold medals. Phelps retired following the 2012 Olympics, but he made a comeback in April 2014. He announced his second retirement on August 12, 2016, having won more medals than 161 countries. After retirement in 2016, he stated "The only reason I ever got in the water was my mom wanted me to just learn how to swim. My sisters and myself fell in love with the sport, and we decided to swim." When Phelps was in the sixth grade, he was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Phelps trained under Bob Bowman since he was 11 years old. There is a popular myth that Phelps ate 12,000 calories every day, but Phelps has stated it’s been exaggerated and that he didn’t eat so much even in his growing days.

* Wigs made with natural hair can cost up to ₹45,000 depending on the length. Wearing a wig to conceal the loss may restore some sense of normalcy for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and radiation. There are non-profit agencies that make wigs for people with cancer. Guidance for donors - Length of the hair should be at least 10 to 12 inches. The hair should be washed, braided and secured with a rubber band. Cut an inch above the band. - ToI

* “Pessimists are often right, optimists are often happy and wealthy.” - from the internet

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