This Week I Learned - Week #35 2021

 This Week I Learned - 

* The Azure Migrate App Containerization tool offers a point-and-containerize approach to repackage applications as containers with minimal to no code changes by using the running state of the application. The tool currently supports containerizing ASP.NET applications and Java web applications running on Apache Tomcat. The containerization process doesn’t require access to your codebase and provides an easy way to containerize existing applications. The tool works by using the running state of the applications on a server to determine the application components and helps you package them in a container image. The containerized application can then be deployed on Azure App Service or AKS.

* You can peer Azure VNets across subscriptions and across regions.

* The Microsoft Cybersecurity Reference Architectures (MCRA) describe Microsoft’s cybersecurity capabilities. The diagrams describe how Microsoft security capabilities integrate with Microsoft platforms and 3rd party platforms like Microsoft 365, Microsoft Azure, 3rd party apps like ServiceNow and salesforce, and 3rd party platforms like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

* Gartner Top Strategic Technology Trends for 2021:

People Centricity

1. Internet of Behaviors

2. Total experience strategy

3. Privacy-enhancing computing

Location Independence

4. Distributed cloud

5. Anywhere operations

6. Cybersecurity mesh

Resilient Delivery

7. Intelligent composable business

8. AI engineering

9. Hyperautomation

* Google Cloud samples demonstrating the usage of Google Cloud products

* Google Cloud's Architecture Framework describes best practices, makes implementation recommendations, and goes into detail about products and services. The framework describes a foundation for building and improving your deployments using 4 principles:

1. Operational excellence
2. Security, privacy, and compliance
3. Reliability
4. Performance and cost optimization

* Australia's Tammar Wallaby is one of the many animals capable of arresting its pregnancy, a feat shared by other marsupials, bears, rodents, armadillos and weasels.

* Asafoetida, also spelled asafetida is the dried latex (gum oleoresin) exuded from the rhizome or tap root of several species of Ferula, a perennial herb. Asafoetida resin is produced by solidifying juice that comes out of cuts made in the plant's living roots. Chemicals called coumarins in asafoetida can thin the blood.  Asafoetida is also used in products meant to repel dogs, cats, and wildlife. Asafoetida has a pungent smell, lending it the trivial name of "stinking gum". The odor dissipates upon cooking; in cooked dishes, it delivers a smooth flavour reminiscent of leeks or other onion relatives. Asafoetida is also known colloquially as "devil's dung" or "food of the devils". Asafoetida comes in two main forms. The brown powder is the full-strength dried gum that's been ground; it's extremely pungent and must be used in very, very small amounts. It is also commonly available as compounded asafoetida, a fine powder containing 30% asafoetida resin, along with rice flour or maida (white wheat flour) and gum arabic. Asafoetida is eaten by Brahmins and Jains. Devotees of the Hare Krishna also use Hing in their food, as they are not allowed to consume onions or garlic. 

* Bill Watterson is the creator of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, which was syndicated from 1985 to 1995. Like many artists, Watterson incorporated elements of his life, interests, beliefs, and values into his work. Watterson announced the end of Calvin and Hobbes on November 9, 1995 and the last strip of Calvin and Hobbes was published on December 31, 1995.

* Money laundering usually consists of 3 (three) steps [PDF]: 

a. Placement: This is the initial stage and during this stage, the money generated from Illegal/criminal activity such as sale of drugs, illegal firearms, etc. is disposed of. Funds are deposited into financial institutions or converted into negotiable instruments such as money orders or traveller's cheques. For example, cash received by a drug smuggler can be taken to a bank and changed into a money order or traveller's cheque. 

b. Layering: In this stage, funds are moved into other accounts in an effort to hide their origin and separate illegally obtained assets or funds from their original source. This is achieved by creating layers of transactions, by moving the illicit funds between accounts, between businesses, and by buying and selling assets on a local and international basis until the original source of the money is virtually untraceable. Thus, a trail of unusually complex transactions is created to disguise the original source of funds and thereby make it appear legitimate. For example, money can be moved into and out of various offshore bank accounts through electronic funds transfers. 

c. Integration: Once the illegitimate money is successfully integrated into the financial system, these illicit funds are reintroduced into the economy and financial system and often used to purchase legitimate assets, fund legitimate businesses, or conduct other criminal activity. The transactions are made in such a manner so as to appear as being made out of legitimate funds.

Money laundering usually involves complex deal structures or payment patterns that reflect no real business purpose or economic sense.

* The soil of Sriharikota is pure sand, and the island is covered with jungle. - A Manual of the Nellore District in the Presidency of Madras [PDF]

* The Hyderabad Metro is the world's largest metro rail project under the public private partner-ship mode.

* Quite a few great educators have held the position of the ceremonial head of state in India - 

• Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India started his professional life as a teacher. He worked as an English professor at the Langat Singh College of Muzaffarpur in Bihar, and professor of Economics at Calcutta City College.
• Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the first Vice President and the second President of India, had an extensive career as a teacher. He was a celebrated professor of Hinduism.
• Dr Zakir Hussain, who served as the third President, co-founded the Jamia Millia Islamia initially called National Muslim University. 
• Mohammad Hidayatullah, the first acting President on two separate occasions, was also a Law professor at Nagpur University. Our former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao was also his student there, making it a rare case of a President who taught a Prime Minister.
• Shankar Dayal Sharma, the ninth President worked in Cambridge University and Lucknow University and held the position of Vice Chancellor of many institutions when in office as the eighth Vice President.
• KR Narayanan the tenth President, who called himself a 'working President' before assuming office, taught at the Delhi School of Economics during his diplomatic tenure and also served as the Vice Chancellor at Jawaharlal University after he retired from the Indian Foreign Service.
• The People's President, APJ Abdul Kalam, served as the eleventh President. After his tenure he taught at several prestigious institutions like the Indian Institute of Management, Anna University, Banaras Hindu University and International Institute of Information Technology.
• The thirteenth President, Pranab Mukherjee was a lecturer of Political Science at Vidyanagar College, Kolkata before starting his career as a statesman.

* National Institute of Design, India’s premier and first design institute has been active as an autonomous institute under the aegis of the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion,Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India; in education, applied research, service and advanced training in five faculty streams,Industrial Design, Communication Design, Textile, Apparel & Lifestyle Design, IT Integrated (Experiential) Design and Interdisciplinary Design Studies. 

* "It's surprising how hard we'll work when the work is done just for ourselves." - Bill Watterson

* “If knowledge is power, knowing what we do not know is wisdom” - Adam Grant