This Week I Learned - Week #34 2021

 This Week I Learned -

* SQL Database and SQL Managed Instance both run on the latest stable version of the SQL Server database engine and Windows operating system, and most users would not notice that upgrades are performed continuously.

* The Oracle CPU (OCPU) unit of measurement for x86 OCPUs is worth at least two vCPUs. 

* Reading Progress is a free tool built into Microsoft Teams designed to support and track reading fluency. Languages supported by Auto-detect can be used with Reading Progress.

* Google Cloud Shell Editor is powered by the Eclipse Theia IDE platform and supports Go, Java, .Net, Python and NodeJS.

* MapmyIndia is a digital mapping company whose data powers Apple Inc.’s Maps and Amazon.com Inc.’s Alexa in India. The Okhla, Delhi-headquartered company sells its technology and geospatial information to a broad range of global brands, including Uber Technologies Inc., Mercedes-Benz, McDonald’s Corp. and e-commerce rivals Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart. The market for geospatial data and services in the country is one of the fastest-growing in the world, estimated by the government to be worth about $14 billion by 2030.

* Humans are short-term focused, so the present looms very large to us. Investment inertia is like benign neglect and even willful blindness. The more uncertain your environment feels, the stronger this “status-quo bias" will be. So parcel out big decisions into smaller pieces.

* Neobank is a term fintech firms that provide banking services  use  to  describe themselves. These firms provide services such as savings accounts, instant loans, credit cards, mutual funds and fixed deposits. They do this via tie-ups with RBI-licensed banks. In the case of products such as wealth management, neobanks generally get investment adviser licences.

* The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford. Established in 1903, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. Its founder, Cecil John Rhodes, wanted to promote unity between English-speaking nations and instill a sense of civic-minded leadership and moral fortitude in future leaders, irrespective of their chosen career paths. Initially restricted to male applicants from countries that are today within The Commonwealth, Germany and the United States, the scholarship is now open to applicants from all backgrounds and from across the globe.

* McDonald's is bigger than Burger King due to the larger quantity they own and supply.

* Michael "Misha" Glenny is a British journalist and broadcaster, specialising in southeast Europe, global organised crime, and cybersecurity. In McMafia (2008), he wrote that international organised crime could account for 15% of the world's GDP.

* Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay was an Indian social reformer and freedom activist. She was a part of the seven member lead team, announced by Mahatma Gandhi, in the famous Salt Satyagraha (1930), to prepare Salt at the Bombay beachfront, the only other woman volunteer of the team was Avantikabai Gokhale. She is most remembered for her contribution to the Indian independence movement; for being the driving force behind the renaissance of Indian handicrafts, handlooms, and theatre in independent India; and for upliftment of the socio-economic standard of Indian women by pioneering the co-operation. In 1974, she was awarded the Sangeet Natak Academy Fellowship, the highest honour conferred by the Sangeet Natak Academy, India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama. Several cultural institutions in India today exist because of her vision, including the National School of Drama, Sangeet Natak Akademi, Central Cottage Industries Emporium, and the Crafts Council of India. She was conferred with Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan by Government of India in 1955 and 1987 respectively. She was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1966 for Community Leadership. Shantiniketan honoured her with the Desikottama, its highest award. She married Harindranath Chattopadhyay was an Indian English poet, a dramatist, an actor, a musician and a member of the 1st Lok Sabha from Vijayawada constituency. He was the younger brother of Sarojini Naidu. Kamaladevi and Harin's divorce was the first legal separation granted by the courts of India. 

* "Worse than being blind, is to see and have no vision"  - Helen Keller

* "These gadgets, already ominous in 2007, have now immersed us in a virtual reality far denser, more absorbing, and even more dehumanizing. I am confronted every day with the complete disappearance of the old civilities. Social life, street life, and attention to people and things around one have largely disappeared" - Oliver Sacks on mobile phones