Thursday, September 13, 2007

General Motors Reply to Bill Gates

Got this in a forwarded email. It was a fun read!



At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated,

"If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon."

In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating:

"If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics (and I just love this part, esp 7th point and 10th point):"

  1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.
  2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.
  3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.
  4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.
  5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would ! run on only five percent of the roads.
  6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single "This Car Has Performed an Illegal Operation" warning light.
  7. The airbag system would ask "Are you sure?" before deploying.
  8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.
  9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.
  10. You'd have to press the "Start" button to turn the engine off.

Monday, September 10, 2007

List of Windows Keyboard Shortcuts

I personally get very annoyed with the mouse sometimes while using the computer. Keyboard comes in the picture as a blessing at that time. Over the past few years, I have collected all different shortcuts that I came across. Thought of sharing these with fellow keyboard lovers. If you think I missed any or you know more, please do share. I'd appreciate it.

Happy keyboarding!


General

  • Alt + Esc - Shuffles through the open windows
  • Alt + F4 - Close the working window
  • Alt + G - Google Toolbar (if you have it installed)
  • Alt + Print Screen - Copies just the active window/dialog box
  • Alt + Space + N - Minimize the selected window
  • Alt + Space + X - Maximize the selected window
  • Alt + Space - Upper left corner System menu displays (in any window)
  • Alt + Tab - Shuffle open windows on desktop
  • Alt + Enter - When done this on an icon, it displays the ShortCut tab of Properties window

  • Ctrl + A - Select all items on page
  • Ctrl + Alt + Del - Opens the Windows Security dialog box
  • Ctrl + C - Copy items to clipboard
  • Ctrl + End - Go to bottom end of file
  • Ctrl + Esc - Same as a click on Start button
  • Ctrl + F4 - Close the top most file in working window
  • Ctrl + Home - Go to top of file
  • Ctrl + Mouse wheel spin - Increases or decreases the zoom of the text
  • Ctrl + O - Opens the Open File dialog box
  • Ctrl + S - Saves page
  • Ctrl + Tab - Shuffle files open in the same window
  • Ctrl + V - Paste items from clipboard
  • Ctrl + W - Closes the active file in the current window
  • Ctrl + X - Cut and copy items to clipboard
  • Ctrl + Y - Redo last action
  • Ctrl + Z - Undo last action
  • Ctrl + Print Screen - Copies entire screen, then you can do Ctrl + V in Paint of MS Word to create a screen shot.

  • F1 - Display Help file
  • Tab - Toggle forward through page items
  • Down Arrow - Scroll down
  • Up Arrow - Scroll up
  • Print Screen - Copies entire screen
  • Shift + Delete - Deletes a file/an object permanently without it appearing in the Recycle Bin
  • Shift + Tab - Reverse Tab

  • Win - Same as a click on Start button
  • Win + D - Show desktop (Minimize All/Undo Minimize All)
  • Win + E - Opens My Computer/Windows Explorer
  • Win + M - Minimizes all open windows
  • Win + Pause - Brings up the Systems Properties window
  • Win + R + Calc - Opens the Calculator
  • Win + R + cmd - Opens the MS-DOS prompt window
  • Win + R + Excel - Opens MS Excel application
  • Win + R + http://www .com - Typed URL Website in IE
  • Win + R + Mspaint - Opens the MS Paint application
  • Win + R + Notepad - Opens the notepad
  • Win + R + view-source:http://www .com - Typed URL source code in notepad
  • Win + R + WinWord - Opens MS Word application
  • Win + R + WordPad - Opens the WordPad application
  • Win + R + www. - Launches the IE window with www. in the address bar
  • Win + R - Opens the Run dialog box same as Start -> Run
  • Win + Tab - Shuffle through taskbar windows without opening them


    Internet Explorer & Mozilla Firefox, My Computer, Windows Explorer

  • Alt + D - Jumps to the address bar and selects the text
  • Alt + Home - Return to your homepage
  • Alt + Left Arrow - Move backward to a previous page
  • Alt + Right Arrow - Move forward to a previous page
  • Backspace - Back button on IE/FireFox, or View the folder one level up (used for My Computer and Windows Explorer)
  • Ctrl + F5 - Refresh from the server and bypass the local cache
  • Ctrl + F6 - Brings cursor to the Address Bar
  • Ctrl + B - Open and organize favorites list
  • Ctrl + D - Add current page to favorites list
  • Ctrl + F - performs a find on the current page
  • Ctrl + H - Opens the History
  • Ctrl + I - Shows the favorites
  • Ctrl + L - Brings cursor to the Address Bar or displays Open dialog box
  • Ctrl + N - Opens a new window
  • Ctrl + P - Opens the Print dialog box
  • Ctrl + R - Refresh a web page
  • Ctrl + T - Opens a new tab
  • Ctrl + Tab - Move forward between frames
  • F6 - Highlights the address bar
  • Shift + F10 - Displays the pop-up menu (Right click pop-up menu). The third button to the right from Space key between the Windows and ctrl button.
  • Shift + Left mouse click - Opens the link in new window
  • Shift + Mouse wheel spin - Forward and backward through the pages you have visited
  • Ctrl + Enter - Puts http://www. and .com around the word in address bar. If your OS and/or IE are another language other than English, then it will add the appropriate extension. E.g. for Japanese version it will add .co.jp at the end instead of .com.
  • Esc - Stop downloading/loading current page
  • F4 - Pull down the Address Bar site list
  • F5 - Refresh page


    Mozilla Firefox Only

  • Ctrl + Shift + Enter - Puts http://www. and .org around the word in address bar
  • Shift + Enter - Puts http://www. and .net around the word in address bar


    MS Word Only

  • Alt + F5 - Resizes the MS Word window(makes it smaller)
  • Shift + F3 - Toggles between Lower Case, Capitalize, Upper Case in MS Word and other selected applications


    KVM Switch Only

  • Scroll Lock + Scroll Lock + 2 - Switches to computer connected on port 2 of your switch. This is when you have one set of monitor, keyboard, mouse and multiple CPUs connected to it via a KVM switch. Here the third numeric value entered is the port number of the switch.
  • C'era Una Volta

    In Italian, "C'era Una Volta" means Once Upon A Time.

    If you really want to impress someone (e.g. take someone on a date, take your hiring manager for lunch ;), etc.), this is the place to go. Fine Italian dining is what I call it. The place is nice and cozy and the location is hidden from the main street so not visible if you drive past on the 1300 block from the Park street. Got a chance to dine there when a friend got surprise proposal party there. The restaurant parking is accessible from the parallel street named Park Avenue. Reservation is a must.

    The food was quite good and the staff is very friendly and polite. That's what you can expect when you are paying that kind of money to dine at such a fine place.

    They do have a selection of veg. dishes. I personally love mushroom so enjoy anything with mushroom in it.

    Starting with salads they have two we can pick from. Insalata Dell’Orto is mixed greens topped with seasonal vegetables and olives and Insalata di Spinaci has baby Spinach with walnuts and zesty onion dressed in a warm balsamic vinaigrette and topped with goat cheese.

    Cannelloni di Spinaci is rolls of traditional pasta fresca filled with fresh Ricotta and delicate Spinach.

    Gnocchi is potato dumpling pasta served with your choice of pesto, gorgonzola or meat sauce. This one you have to request the vegetarian version. It is very creamy and rich so quite filling dish.

    And I got to try the Ravioli di Porcini that has porcini mushroom ravioli with mushroom cream sauce. It was quite delicious if I say so myself and not too filling.

    Ravioli di Spinaci has ravioli filled with spinach and ricotta. This was quite good as well.

    The Melanzane alla Parmigiana has delicate slices of Eggplant layered with Italian Cheeses and a light Pomodoro Sauce. Quite large portion even for dinner.

    The place is closed on Mondays and their menu changes with seasons so not all of these items might be available throughout the year. They also host a (paid) monthly meeting of regional culture, food and wine.

    My rating: 4.5/5


    Name: C'era Una Volta, Caffé Enoteca Ristorante
    Type: Italian
    Average Price: $15-20/person (Dinner)
    Address: 1332 Park Street, Alameda, CA 94501
    Phone: (510) 769-4828
    Website: http://www.ceraunavolta.us/


    Here I'd like to share an interesting piece of information. Here in the US generally speaking it is a norm that when you go to an Italian restaurant, you are served bread and butter/sauce before you get your main course. They usually don't charge the guests for this bread and you can request for more, if you want more. This is true for certain Mediterranean, German and American restaurants as well. But what I found out recently was that in Italy, the guests actually pay for the bread also, along with their meals.