This Week I Learned - Week #24 2022

This Week I Learned - 

* Azure SQL migration extension for Azure Data Studio enables you to assess, get Azure recommendations and migrate your SQL Server databases to Azure.

* The Microsoft Offensive Research & Security Engineering (MORSE) team’s charter is to ensure that Microsoft ships the world’s most secure operating systems, cloud platforms, and edge devices. It is responsible for secure design reviews, code reviews, penetration testing, developing frameworks and rules for automated static analysis and fuzzing, and creating platform-wide vulnerability-class mitigations.

* Face recognition systems use computer algorithms to pick out specific, distinctive details about a person’s face. These details, such as distance between the eyes or shape of the chin, are then converted into a mathematical representation and compared to data on other faces collected in a face recognition database. The data about a particular face is often called a face template and is distinct from a photograph because it’s designed to only include certain details that can be used to distinguish one face from another. Some face recognition systems, instead of positively identifying an unknown person, are designed to calculate a probability match score between the unknown person and specific face templates stored in the database. These systems will offer up several potential matches, ranked in order of likelihood of correct identification, instead of just returning a single result. - EFF

* The SmartClick age detection API documentation reveals that their API is based on a regression model algorithm using deep learning techniques. A deep learning model is trained on a large database with the faces of humans and the age they are at the time when the picture was taken. Using a regression technique, the model learns to predict age.

* Python is executable pseudocode - Randall Munroe, xkcd

* Blood transfusion is required only if the platelet count drops below 10,000 or is less than 20,000 accompanied by bleeding manifestation. In dengue, platelet count itself doesn’t have much of a role. Patients need to be concerned only in serious cases of dengue, wherein there is multi-organ failure, fall in blood pressure and the capillaries start leaking water. This happens in 0.5 to one per cent of dengue cases.

* World Vitiligo Day takes place on June 25. Vitiligo (vit-ih-LIE-go) also called leucoderma or White Leprosy, is a disease that causes loss of skin color in patches. The discolored areas usually get bigger with time. The condition can affect the skin on any part of the body. It can also affect hair and the inside of the mouth. Normally, the color of hair and skin is determined by melanin. Vitiligo occurs when cells that produce melanin die or stop functioning. Vitiligo affects people of all skin types, but it may be more noticeable in people with brown or Black skin. The condition is not life-threatening or contagious. It can be stressful or make you feel bad about yourself. Vitiligo can start at any age, but usually appears before age 30. It's difficult to predict how this disease will progress. Sometimes the patches stop forming without treatment. In most cases, pigment loss spreads and eventually involves most of the skin. Occasionally, the skin gets its color back. Vitiligo has no cure. It may be related to: 

• A disorder of the immune system (autoimmune condition) 
• Family history (heredity)
• A trigger event, such as stress, severe sunburn or skin trauma, such as contact with a chemical

* Hansen’s disease (also known as leprosy) is an infection caused by slow-growing bacteria called Mycobacterium leprae. It can affect the nerves, skin, eyes, and lining of the nose (nasal mucosa). If left untreated, the nerve damage can result in crippling of hands and feet, paralysis, and blindness.

* Happiness is not absence of suffering. It comes with acceptance and gratitude for the conditions of life.

* A weeb is a derisive term for a non-Japanese person who is so obsessed with Japanese culture that they wish they were actually Japanese.

* Most planets rotate on their axes in an anti-clockwise direction, but Venus rotates clockwise in retrograde rotation once every 243 Earth days—the slowest rotation of any planet. 

* Live Transit Updates is a feature within Google Maps that provides users with realtime transit information. GTFS Realtime is a feed specification that allows public transportation agencies to provide realtime updates about their fleet to application developers. It is an extension to GTFS (General Transit Feed Specification), an open data format for public transportation schedules and associated geographic information. 

* There are over 200 cities in the world that have a metro system. London’s Metro is the oldest, operating since 1863. Shanghai Metro’s network with nearly 750km is the world’s largest today. Kolkata has a metro system since 1984. India’s first modern metro opened in Delhi in 2002. Delhi metro has expanded very fast and is currently the largest metro system in India.  Hong Kong and Tokyo easily make profits without even relying on any estate development since their ridership is very high. Their ridership is very high for one or more of these reasons: difficult city terrain, high cost of fuel, high cost of vehicle ownership, long commuting distances, lack of big city motorways, costly tolls etc that are natural barriers for use of private transport. 

* The President of India is elected by an electoral college comprising 776 Members of Parliament and 4896 Members of State Legislatures. 

* There is no party whip on voting for a Presidential candidate. Mrs Indira Gandhi set the precedent of conscience vote when she opposed the Congress official candidate Sanjiva Reddy to help the election of V.V. Giri. He was an independent candidate.

* Raymond Group is a 97-year-old family business. Vijaypat Singhania told Money Control in December 2020 that he did not choose to retire, but was kicked out of the business, adding that giving his son control of it was a mistake. The Economic Times reported that Gautam laughed off the comments, saying you “can’t mistakenly” gift a business to someone. Father and son have been locked in other long-standing legal battles too, including over JK House, their mansion on the same street as the Ambani family’s famous skyscraper home, Antilia. Gautam Singhania is the founder of the first Super Car Club in India. He  developed vitiligo when he was 31 years old.

* Project Anuvaad has been conceptualised to provide translation capabilities for Indic languages.

* Bhashini aims to enable Indians to access all content and services in their own language by building a National Public Digital Platform by leveraging the power of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.

* “One must have command over the grammar of classical music to experiment. I use this grammar in my cross-cultural collaborations” - Mahesh Vinayakram, son of legendary Ghatam exponent Vikku Vinayakram