Kevlar Point of Sale (Unbreakable)

Spar DC Integration

2010-10-22T15:55:00.002+02:00

We recently integrated our suggested order system into the Spar DC system.
Our clients are now able to order goods electronically from Spar DC and have them process the order through their system, completely unaware of the fact that its not "their software on the other side".

Suggested Order System

2010-10-22T15:51:00.003+02:00

While we have always had suggested, order quantities and cover days, we have recently been investing heavily in the Science of stock replenishment.
The new suggested order system is a thing of great beauty. It can analize vast ammounts of data in under 2 seconds and produce views of the product replenishment cycle that take all the guesswork out of Retail.

Last Man Standing

2009-10-23T09:41:00.002+02:00

I had a dream this morning, and it really made me think.

As I approach middle age, there are fewer old people in my world.
My dad, and my father in law are the few remaining tiers that exist above me in the family tree.

I have known a few truly funny and amazing old men, some of whom have passed on. WE took their brand of humor for granted, but I see now that when they are gone, the current generation who are far more Westernized, and English centric, are a completely different sort.

It came to me that all subsequent generations have lost their mother tongue and that special charismatic way that was unique to a particular period in history.

While the wheel of life turns and new generations will replace old ones and man will always find things to talk about and jokes will always be funny, in any language, the world will be a poorer place for having lost these amazing old men who live only in my memory.
They are irreplaceable and when they are gone, the space they occupy will be vacant, forever.

Google SideWiki. An excellent idea

2009-09-26T23:06:00.001+02:00

Instead of keeping up with a million logins on a million forums, this is a really great idea.
Backed by the power of Google, this could be the best thing since sliced bread.

in reference to: Audiobooks: buy AUDIO books online at Audible.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

Mr Mehboob, of DJ College Karachi. An amazing man

2009-08-20T20:55:00.003+02:00

It was our first year in Karachi. Twenty five young South Africans, all aged nineteen and all experiencing the freedom of living in a hostel, and playing at being grown up for the first time.
We organized the mess and hired a cook and when we were so proud of our little piece of home we invited Mr Mehboob to supper. He by the way was the Principal of DJ College and our warden in the hostel.
After we had all had a lovely meal some of the boys decided that we should entertain Mr Mehboob with stories and jokes, and we all had a great time. Just in the best part, my friend Faizal Jassat (who is now a doctor) insisted that I sing a song to Mr Mehboob. He insisted that I sing the Joan Baez song Bangladesh to him. It was an innocent enough request and I resisted for as long as I could and then I sang. It was after all a lovely song.
Mr Mehboob sat through the whole song and when I got the the tear jerking end, he motioned me to come close to him and he told me in my ear, "be careful where you sing that song".
And I laughted it off not knowing what he meant.
Years later I learnt the history of Bangladesh and East Pakistan and I knew that the song described the bloody atrocities that Pakistan committed in Bangladesh, and the terrible, terrible soldiers that the song referred to were Pakistani Shock troupes.!!
Almost thirty years later, I truly understand the measure of the man, who was able to sit there through the song, listening intently, and have the presence of mind to take me aside and give me a friendly warning.
I was so young and naïve, and he was so wise. I wish I had seen this sooner and had the time to really sit down and speak to him.
Life is about timing. Often we only appreciate the advice and wisdom of others after they are gone. Bad timing I suppose. But in truth, that incident lives in my memory, and what can one really hope for at the end, but to live in the memories of those we leave behind.
Mr Mehboob, where ever you are, I thank you.

Google Over the air syc is amazing!

2009-02-10T21:23:00.000+02:00

Heard about Google's over the wire sync on Buz out Loud Podcast this morning and after upgrading my First Gen iPhone to firmware 2.2 I gave it a spin.
I found that I had to disable contact sync as it slowed the searches down, and as I was very happy with the regular gmail on the iPhone, I activated calendars only. Truly fantastic.

NTS: Find files linux

2009-01-30T17:26:00.000+02:00

--
.................................
M. Parak
CAD RETAIL SYSTEMS

mo@cad.co.za
http://www.cad.co.za
http://www.cadretail.com

Files can be found under Linux in many different ways. Using the find tool is one of the best ways to find files. The find tool has a huge number of parameters which can be set so that Linux finds exactly those files that you were searching for. Many users use the find tool with just the basic parameters. They get the results that they were looking for. Unfortunately most of the users don't spend time to learn all about find. If they do, they can make excellent use of this tool and I am sure you would be surprised at the possibilities.

In case you just want to know where a particular file exists on your system, and nothing else is required, then use locate tool. Article No.20 explains how to use locate.

Here are a few ways to use find

-

$ find / -name 'program.c' 2>/dev/null
$ find / -name 'program.c' 2>errors.txt

/		Start searching from the root directory (i.e / directory)
-name		Given search text is the filename rather than any other attribute of a file
'program.c'		Search text that we have entered. Always enclose the filename in single quotes.. why to do this is complex.. so simply do so.

Note : 2>/dev/null is not related to find tool as such. 2 indicates the error stream in Linux, and /dev/null is the device where anything you send simply disappears. So 2>/dev/null in this case means that while finding for the files, in case any error messages pop up simply send them to /dev/null i.e. simply discard all error messages.

Alternatively you could use 2>error.txt where after the search is completed you would have a file named error.txt in the current directory with all the error messages in it.

-

$ find /home/david -name 'index*'
$ find /home/david -iname 'index*'
The 1st command would find files having the letters index as the beginning of the file name. The search would be started in the directory /home/david and carry on within that directory and its subdirectories only.
The 2nd command would search for the same, but the case of the filename wouldn't be considered. So all files starting with any combination of letters in upper and lower case such as INDEX or indEX or index would be returned.

-

$ find -name met*
The above command would start searching for the files that begin with the letters 'met' within the current directory and the directories that are present within the current directory. Since the directory is not specified as the the second parameter, Linux defaults to using the current directory as the one to start the search in.

-

$ find /mp3collection -name '*.mp3' -size -5000k
$ find / -size +10000k
The 1st command would find within a directory called /mp3collection, only those mp3 files that have a size less than 5000 Kilobytes ( < 5MB)
The 2nd command would search from the / directory for any file that is larger than 10000k (> 10MB)

-

$ find /home/david -amin -10 -name '*.c'
$ find /home/david -atime -2 -name '*.c'
$ find /home/david -mmin -10 -name '*.c'
$ find /home/david -mtime -2 -name '*.c'

The 1st commmand searches for those files that are present in the directory /home/david and its subdirectoires which end in .c and which have been accessed in the last 10 minutes.
The 2nd command does the same but searches for those files that have been accessed in the last 10 hours.
The 3rd and the 4th commands do the same as the 1st and 2nd commands but they search for modified files rather than accessed files. Only if the contents of the files have been modified, would their names be returned in the search results.

-

$ find / -mount -name 'win*'
This command searches for files starting with the letters 'win' in their filenames. The only difference is that the mounted filesystems would not be searched for this time. This is useful when you have your Windows partitions mounted by default. And a search for 'win' might return many files on those partitions, which you may not be really interested in. This is only one use of -mount parameter.

-

$ find /mp3-collection -name 'Metallica*' -and -size +10000k
$ find /mp3-collection -size +10000k ! -name "Metallica*"
$ find /mp3-collection -name 'Metallica*' -or -size +10000k
Boolean operators such as AND, OR and NOT make find an extremely useful tool.
The 1st command searches within the directory /mp3-collection for files that have their names beginning with 'Metallica' and whose size is greater than 10000 kilobytes (> 10 MB).
The 2nd command searches in the same directory as above case but only for files that are greater than 10MB, but they should not have 'Metallica' as the starting of their filenames.
The 3rd command searches in the same directory for files that begin with 'Metallica' in their names or all the files that are greater than 10 MB in size.

-

The exec option is probably the most important feature of the find tool. The exec command allows you to execute a particular command on the results of the find command. A simple demonstration of this feature is shown below. Its upto your imagination to make maximum use of this feature. Suppose you wanted to see the details of the files (read, write, execute permission, file size, owner etc..) that have been returned as a search result you could do the following

$ find / - name 'Metallica*' -exec ls -l {\}\ \;

This command would find all the files on your system that begin with the letters 'Metallica' and would then execute the 'ls -l' command on these files. So basically you would be able to see the details of the files that were returned according to your search criteria.

The words following the -exec option is the command that you want to execute i.e. ls -l in this case.
{\}\ is basically an indicator that the filenames returned by the search should be substituted here.
\; is the terminating string, and is required at the end of the command

DISCLAIMER

NOTICE: This electronic mail and any attachments ("message") contain privileged information intended only for the addressee(s) use. If you are not the/an intended recipient, you may not disclose, review, disseminate, retransmit, copy, use or take action in reliance upon or otherwise deal with or publish this message, which is subject to copyright ("Use"). You may not use this message for anything other than the purpose for which it is intended. If you have received this message in error, you are required to notify the writer and delete it. CAD RETAIL / CAD / THE CAD TRUST & Computers and Design accept no liability whatsoever as a result of any losses arising from persons placing reliance on any information contained in this message or and Use thereof. The views expressed in this message are those of the individual transmitting it, unless they are expressly stated to be those of CAD RETAIL / CAD / THE CAD TRUST & Computers and Design. It is the recipient's obligation to scan this message and ensure that it contains no viruses or other malicious programs and the recipient is warned that, notwithstanding reasonable checks performed by sender, viruses and harmful programs may be contained in this message and CAD RETAIL / CAD / THE CAD TRUST & Computers and Design accept no liability whatsoever for any loss, damage, or liability of any nature, whether direct or indirect, resulting from the recipient accessing or Using this message or any files attached to it.

But it's such a small mistake!

2008-08-16T22:11:00.003+02:00

Recently I got my receptionist (doesn't work here any longer) to fill out my firearm permit application form. When she brought it to me to sign, I scanned through the text, and chanced on a section of previous criminal offences and incidents.

The question was "Have you ever been convicted of a violent offence involving a firearm. If so state the details." to this she answered "Yes - Armed Robbery" and quoted a Police incident number!!!.

The next question was "Have you ever lost a firearm. If so state the details"!!!!

Often all it takes is "just a little error" to totally mess things up.

CAD RETAIL PRESENTATION

2008-08-10T00:01:00.003+02:00

Dear Diary

2008-07-24T09:36:00.000+02:00

For my birthday this year, my daughter (the dear) purchased a week of personal training at the local health club for me.
Although I am still in great shape since being a high school cheerleader 43 years ago, I decided it would be a good idea to go ahead and give it a try. I called the club and made my reservations with a personal trainer named Brad, who identified himself as a 26-year-old aerobics instructor and model for athletic clothing and swim wear. My daughter seemed pleased with my enthusiasm to get started! The club encouraged me to keep a diary to chart my progress.

MONDAY:

Started my day at 6:00 a.m. Tough to get out of bed, but found it was well worth it when I arrived at the health club to find Brad waiting for me. He is something of a Greek god - with blond hair, dancing eyes and a dazzling white smile. Woo Hoo!! Brad gave me a tour and showed me the machines..

I enjoyed watching the skillful way in which he conducted his aerobics class after my workout today. Very inspiring! Brad was encouraging as I did my sit-ups, although my gut was already aching from holding it in the whole time he was around. This is going to be a FANTASTIC week-!!

TUESDAY:

I drank a whole pot of coffee, but I finally made it out the door. Brad made me lie on my back and push a heavy iron bar into the air then he put weights on it! My legs were a little wobbly on the treadmill, but I made the full mile. Brad's rewarding smile made it all worthwhile. I feel GREAT-!! It's a whole new life for me.

WEDNESDAY:

The only way I can brush my teeth is by laying the toothbrush on the counter and moving my mouth back and forth over it. I believe I have a hernia in both pectorals. Driving was OK as long as I didn't try to steer or stop. I parked on top of a GEO in the club parking lot.
Brad was impatient with me, insisting that my screams bothered other club members. His voice is a little too perky for early in the morning and when he scolds, he gets this nasally whine that is VERY annoying. My chest hurt when I got on the treadmill, so Brad put me on the stair monster. Why the hell would anyone invent a machine to simulate an activity rendered obsolete by elevators? Brad told me it would help me get in shape and enjoy life. He said some other sh#t too.

THURSDAY :

Brad was waiting for me with his vampire-like teeth exposed as his thin, cruel lips were pulled back in a full snarl. I couldn't help being a half an hour late, it took me that long to tie my shoes. Brad took me to work out with dumbbells. When he was not looking, I ran and hid in the restroom. He sent some skinny bitch to find me. Then, as punishment, he put me on the rowing machine -- which I sank.

FRIDAY :

I hate that Brad more than any human being has ever hated any other human being in the history of the world. Stupid, skinny, anemic, anorexic little #@*. If there was a part of my body I could move without unbearable pain, I would beat him with it.
Brad wanted me to work on my triceps. I don't have any triceps! And if you don't want dents in the floor, don't hand me the damn barbells or anything that weighs more than a sandwich. The treadmill flung me off and I landed on a health and nutrition teacher.
Why couldn't it have been someone softer, like the drama coach or the choir director?

SATURDAY :

Brad left a message on my answering machine in his grating, shrilly voice wondering why I did not show up today. Just hearing him made me want to smash the machine with my planner. However, I lacked the strength to even use the TV remote and ended up catching eleven straight hours of the Weather Channel.

SUNDAY :
I'm having the Church van pick me up for services today so I can go and thank GOD that this week is over. I will also pray that next year my daughter (the little sh#t) will choose a gift for me that is fun -- like a root canal or a hysterectomy. I still say if God had wanted me to bend over, he would have sprinkled the floor with diamonds
________________________________________

Average Cost. Elegant and Simple… By Mohammed Parak

2008-06-13T08:30:00.001+02:00

I woke up this morning with a revelation on Average Cost. While I have been playing with numbers in the retail sector for one and a half decade, what came to me this morning convinced me that there are huge gaps in my knowledge.

We have traditionally always chosen “last cost” as the indicator of the cost of an item. It worked well in establishing the most accurate current reckoning of the total value of ones stock holding. The fact that it is the most recent value meant that it was also the closest thing to replacement cost. What constantly irked our clients was that in a market where they occasionally buy goods cheap the last cost often overstated the entire stock holding by the current high, or understated it the current cost was lower, as the case may be.

Clients often stated that they received new items at a higher value, but existing stock was purchased at a lower value or visa versa. The Last cost method Inflated, or deflated the value of the stockholding.

We at CAD RETAIL evolved a line of faulty logic where we told clients that the “last cost” was actually the “evolutionary practical average cost”. As new prices could theoretically go higher, or lower, we spun the theory that that the difference between the overstating stock and undervaluing stock would “come out in the wash”. In reality prices generally only went one way and on that basis the yarn could easily come undone. Surprisingly, no clients called us out on this one. Possibly because they did not want to burst our bubble of being so apparently knowledgeable in matters “retail”.

Anybody who defended the last cost method was in my book hiding his inability to vouch for the quantity on hand. To explain this is to understand that average cost is calculated by taking the value of existing stock (Units on hand X “Past Cost”) and adding it to the value of current purchase ie: (Units purchased X “Todays cost”). Add these two and divide by the total number of units and you will get the “average cost”. Companies that have little regard for the accuracy of the units on hand, are skeptical of their ability to accurately calculate this value. If the on_hand is wrong, or worse still “negative” then the resulting average would be catastrophic. The on_hand figure may even be correct in the system, but incorrect as a result of theft, resulting in the same distortions.

This logic, I find is the prevailing logic amongst all retailers and software vendors. This deduction is not, as my recent revelation reveals, entirely accurate. It is possible to track average cost in two other ways that could still be accurate, even if the stock on hand were compromised.

Before I go on I may add that ironically, this thought only occurred to me at a time when we resolved all technical difficulties with accurately tracking stock on hand. These arguments would have been infinitely more useful to us in the past, when we had inaccuracies to contend with.

The First method, I call “Historical Purchase Average” .
In this method one simply takes the cumulative past Purchase value (total excl) and divides by cumulative quantity purchased. The resulting figure is truly the most accurate average cost in the business, and the current state of the system quantity on hand and the actual number that remain on the shelves are insignificant to this calculation. I am amazed that in all of the years that I have dealt with this issue that something so simple eluded me and the “super brains” that it has been my pleasure and privilege to work with.

The second method I call simply “Period Average”
In this method we simply take all the various “unit” costs between any given period and run the classic AVG function on them to derive the average. Note that this method uses individual costs of individual items, not the total value derived from cost times quantity. This could give a different figure based on the size of the period in question. More recent averages may be higher that older averages. This would indeed be an interesting average to consider, as the purchase period would be used to derive the result.

Clearly one could use other methods in calculating the Historical Purchase Average and instead of using cumulative figures, one could use purchase information for a given period and calculate Historical purchase average, on a targeted cross section by date. Finally on could take the unit cost from day one and use the AVG function to achieve the resulting average.

Which of these is a more accurate average? The question should rather be what do we want to do with the cost? If one needs to assess the value of your stock holding then clearly the accuracy of the stock on hand one of the two key factors. Cost and stock on hand. If either one of these is inaccurate then the resulting valuation would be flawed. The client needs to embrace one or other of the cost values, ie replacement (Net realizable value), last cost, or the various type of averages, and the problem is easily solved.

For the proposes of the profitability of a sale, the quantity on hand is not significant. Which ever cost calculation method the client embraces, is simply cast against the quantity sold and assessed against the selling price. (excluding VAT).
This may help explain why many retailers ponder why they appear to make a good GP (Gross Profitability) on a daily basis but appear to be making a loss in their financials. The inaccuracy of the stock takes, and stock on hand figures may skew the fiancials, but not the apparent profitability of sales.

Ansible and Virtual Airtime two new plugins

2008-06-04T20:50:00.000+02:00

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

CAD RETAIL have recently released the long awaited interface with Comm_Express, virtual airtime, and would like to introduce all our valued clients to “Ansibel” a product that is more than a little ahead of its time.

Now you can expand your product offering to include Virtual Airtime from Vodacom, MTN, Cell C, Virgin and even Telkom prepaid.
All of these amazing services without having to purchase upfront, or manage any stock.
Airtime can be provided on consignment and billed on a daily basis, as you sell.

Any till in your organization is able to print a virtual voucher, using your existing equipment and infrastructure. All PIN numbers are stored using TDES (Triple DES) encryption. (One of the most secure methods of encryption on the planet).

Field trials began a while ago and the system has proven to be secure and able to reconcile vast volumes of sales down to the cent!. To find out more about integrating Virtual Airtime, Credit Cards, loyalty programs and Bill Payments into your Point of Sale application, please do not hesitate to call us for a “no strings” demonstration.

“An ansible is a hypothetical machine capable of superluminal communication.” Wikipedia

The greatest challenge facing any Multi store Point of Sale collection device is the reliable collection and storage of huge numbers of records. The second, is to be able to transmit this “clean” data across great distances, reliable and in cost effective way.

With the most powerful and versatile database in the world , and leveraging the communications skill of Linux our software developers at CAD RETAIL have outdone themselves, with an automated product that Milks the stores in real time. No other commercially available point of sale solution can claim to move the kind of numbers that we have over the past year, with Zero failure rates.

Ansible brings sales back to the head office as they happen. All new items, and price changes are sent out to the stores in Real time as well. Any store in the group is able to able to query stock, budgets and sell off rates of any item, by size and colour. Studies by Department, supplier, category, size, colour, style, season are just a few of the amazing interactive indicators that the new technology has made possible and even common place.

One very special client planted the seed of the “Buyers Assessment” module (B.A.Module) and to him (he knows who he is) we are grateful. The BA Module allows an organization to go beyond the OTB (Open to Buy) studies and assess the profitability of the products brought in by the various buyers. Their spending, is monitored against their stock holding, Sales, profitability and seasonal markdowns. The resulting indicator is a remarkable tool that allows one to allow the buying team to focus on the Trade and not on the mundane IT details that seem to bog down most large companies.

We take this opportunity to thank you, our valued clients for the input and, often for all of the friendly criticism that has made all of this possible. Your pursuit of excellence, was the whip and the carrot that drove us to do better, and your patience gave us hope allowed us to perform not at our best but at a level that puts us technologically ahead of the pack. But for your support we would surely have given up, or settled for meritocracy.

Thank you, for staying with us, even when it looked like the long overdue retail suite seemed like an unachievable dream.

Accurate Sales, Multi store reporting, Size and colour matrixes, Client server databases, Slice and Dice business intelligence, amazing speed, Unbreakable Bullet proof POS and above all, secure and pure, data.

We share this achievement with the hundreds of clients who have touched our lives. You have all made this moment possible, and this is as much your moment too.

While we have come a long way, our insatiable need to invent a “better mouse” trap drives us to constantly explore new frontiers. When all software is able to use today’s amazingly powerful hardware to produce brute force results, the leaner and more efficient systems will prevail.

--
Posted By M Parak to CAD Retail on 6/04/2008 11:43:00 AM

Ansible Finally up and running

2008-04-20T17:56:00.005+02:00

Ansibel:. A device that enables users to communicate instantaneously across great distances.

When we planned to have the store databases feed everything to central Operations Center, it was decided that we would move away from the traditional methods.

In the retail sector most applications work with a "day end" package at the stores. This package is produced by a process that is triggered by the the day end reports. In push models this typically zipped archive is sent to head office by FTP or some similar transport layer. In the Pull environment the transfer process is initiated from the central head office as the store is sequentially polled for the zip file.

The archive is extracted at head office and text files / data files imported into a head office database, that represents the reconstruction of the aggregation of stores.

Our model is very different, yet in broad strokes can still be described in the Push / Pull categories.

Can a man really change another...

2007-10-29T21:47:00.000+02:00

About a year ago at a family wedding all the 'boys' were talking about how they went for this seminar. Went in as smokers and came out non-smokers.

Allen Carr's Easy Way.

I was intrigued by this for several reasons. When my cousin's wife asked me for ideas to help her son give up smoking, I said that there was no way to get him to stop. My dad had tried every argument, and it was wasted on me. I knew all the horror stories and it had no effect on me as a smoker. I told her that there was nothing she could do and that he would give up when he had reached 'his moment'.

That one could be exposed to some guy talking about giving up smoking, and go on to actually give up, was inconceivable. What could he be saying to all those people to make them wasn't to give up?

The real reason that I was intrigued was that I had secretly fallen off the wagon.
My secret smoking was beginning to become an obsession.
Life was defined by just making it to the next secret smoking opportunity.
I smoked on weekends, and only at home.
Soon I smoked at home, pretty much all the time, and nobody knew, (or so I assumed).

Deep within me was a wish to get back on the wagon, and get my SMUG back.
Ex smokers are very smug.
I could not bear to think of myself as a failure, again.

I planned to quit (again) during Ramadan 2007 and everything went according to plan.
The fact that I got the Audio book (courtesy of Prof Simjee)Mid Ramadan, was an incredible coincidence.

Allen Carr. The man was incredible. From the vantage point of a chain smoker, he delivered a series of flawless augments that worked to break the assumptions that all smokers operate under. Smoking is fun, is rewarding, and difficult to give up.

When he was done one realizes that to "give up" implies that one had something. To quit is to give up an addiction. He goes on to prove at length that "addiction" is exactly what the dependence on nicotine is.

I am once again a non-smoker and an ex-smoker, but this time around I am not moping, or holding out with the will power method. It really is easy with the Easy Way.
Sounds like an add, but even my naturally cynical outlook could not deny the results.

Pareto vs Long Tail

2007-03-28T13:51:00.000+02:00

In 1906, Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto created a mathematical formula to describe the unequal distribution of wealth in his country, observing that twenty percent of the people owned eighty percent of the wealth. In the late 1940s, Dr. Joseph M. Juran inaccurately attributed the 80/20 Rule to Pareto, calling it Pareto's Principle. While it may be misnamed, Pareto's Principle or Pareto's Law as it is sometimes called, can be a very effective tool to help you manage effectively.

Product variety is an important component of consumer welfare, yet many markets have historically been dominated by a small number of best-selling products. The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, describes this common pattern of sales concentration. However, by greatly lowering search costs, information technology in general and Internet markets in particular have the potential to substantially increase the collective share of niche products, thereby creating a longer tail in the distribution of sales.

The phrase The Long Tail was first coined[2] by Chris Anderson. The concept drew in part from an influential February 2003 essay by Clay Shirky, "Power Laws, Weblogs and Inequality"[3] that noted that a relative handful of weblogs have many links going into them but "the long tail" of millions of weblogs may have only a handful of links going into them. Beginning in a series of speeches in early 2004 and culminating with the publication of a Wired magazine article in October 2004, Anderson described the effects of the long tail on current and future business models. Anderson later extended it into the book The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More (2006).

New Stock Take Module

2007-02-09T23:17:00.000+02:00

A thing of beauty.
All the usual bells and whistles you have come to expect from the people who brought you Ydesign, with a few interesting extras.

Altbarcodes.
R2 Point Of Sale allows unlimited barcodes to access the same items. This is usefull in the case of pack and case. (corny)
Anyhow, you can scan the internal item reference, barcode, supplier ref, or just about anything.

Download from portable batch mode scanners and a host of other really neat features.

The man called Jet.

2007-01-26T16:11:00.001+02:00

Many years ago when I had the supermarket in Umlaas Road, I had the good fortune to meet a most amazing character. Jet was somewhere between 75 and 80 and he lived on a nearby farm with his new bride of twenty. We looked forward to his daily visit and laughed at his crazy ways and even crazier stories.

Eid was a very hard time for us, as everyone in the area took advantage of the fact that we had a butchery section with a cold room. I had dozens of sheep to store and slice and pack and deliver and all of this was done free of charge. We were normally quite glad when the end was in sight and life returned to normal.

It was in the thick of one of the Eids that I had a visit from my good friend Jet. He asked if I would store a piece of meat for him and feeling sorry for the old man I agreed on condition that he not leave it too long. We got a monthly visit from the health inspector and three random inspections from the Meat Board, and they surely would have a problem with my having privately slaughtered meat in the cold room. Jet agreed and proceeded to bring in the biggest hind quarter of beef that I have ever seen! I swallowed hard and made place for the monster.

A week passed and I did not hear from Jet. All the other meat was delivered and my butcher shop looked neat as a pin, except for Jets hindquarter. When he finally came to buy cigarettes I reminded him about the meat and he went into the cold room and came out with a chunk of steak! From this day on, Jet came daily and went home with a slice of steak for his supper. It was clear that at this rate it would last for a year!.

Some time later I had the dreaded visit by the inspector of the Meat board. This really nice guy took one look at the unmarked, blackened (from age) hindquarter and I knew I was in trouble.

When I tried to explain that some old guy had left it with me, he said “Eid was more than a month ago” there was no doubt that I was in deep doo doo.

Due to the apartheid restrictions on my opening a store in Umlaas Road I was forced to use the name of a white as a front. Mr Adriaan Moore (the local lawyer) was my nominee. When I realized that I was in trouble, and I called Mr Moore and asked him to speak to the inspector. Secretly I hoped that two white men would exchange the secret hand shake and laugh the matter off, over a beer and braai (barbeque).

I was not that lucky. The Meat Inspector’s face began to turn red and then got even darker. I was afraid that he would have a seizure. Mr. Moore was clearly telling this guy what he could do with his threats. This did not look good for me. When he put the phone down Mr Meat board looked like he was ready to eat me raw. He stomped into the cold room and came out with the hindquarter wrapped in some kind of cloth, cited me for a bunch of offenses. The kicker was that he revoked my license to trade as a butcher!

When that afternoon Jet came to the store, to collect his piece of steak I told him how his stupid hindquarter had cost me my license, and he was appropriately sad, but I was sure that he was thinking more of the meat he had lost than my license.

A week later I made the trip to Durban to the Meat board head office. Farm boy that I was, I found Durban a little intimidating. Having addressed all of the issues in the citations and paid all the fines. I met the same Meat Board Inspector, who it turned out was in good spirits. I pleaded with him to re-issue my license and he did so. Just like that.
Then he said “I had a visit from your friend the priest” I looked at him, not understanding. “What priest” I asked. “The guy they call Jet, he came with his papers proving his appointment as a moulana, I though it only fair that I return his meat” !!??

Jet had gone to Durban, and using faked papers convinced the Meat board that he was a Moulana and gotten his meat back!. The fact that I got my license back was secondary. While I was intimidated by the thought of the daunting trip to Durban, Jet had actually gone there and kicked ass.

Now I knew why they called him Jet!

Ships in the night

2006-12-25T17:41:00.000+02:00

The most influential business connections that we have had, all have one strange fact in common. They were all incredible chance meetings that were clearly meant to be.
Let me explain with one example.

Some years ago my brother in law calls asked me to call on one of his acquaintances. It seems that this company was "going retail" and would need to computerize. To please my brother in-law, if not for any other reason, I setup the meeting.

When I met the client, it was clear that our software would be overkill. The client was a “owner run” entrepreneur importer and wholesaler and completely wrong for us. Our client profile at the time was the multi store clothing Mass Discounter. This client was late for the meeting, and in the middle of a meeting with somebody else. He asked me to quickly give him my sales pitch so he could go on with his other meeting. He also asked if the other gentlemen could remain in the office while I did my presentation, and I said “why not?”.

As my “spiel” progresses I was not surprised to find that all the ideas and concepts flying way over his head. The observer however stopped me regularly and asked me the “right questions”. I was intrigued and when I found out that he represented a group of clothing stores that fitted my profile I hooked up with him and did one of the most amazing deals ever. The stranger in the room was the late Mr Ebrahim Lorgat (Nala Bhai) of Lorsons and the rest is history.

John Coltrane

2006-12-21T23:28:00.001+02:00

Reading Micheal Connelly and the exploits of Harry Bosch I was constantly reminded of Harry's love for John Coltrane and Thelonius Monk.
I downloaded a few tracks and find them very pleasant. I am always open to a new musical experience.

Searched for the The Heart asks for pleasure first, theme The Piano (Micheal Nyman) and bought it from iTunes.
Takes me back to when I saw the movie.
Really beautiful.....

Croc Dundee

2006-12-13T17:12:00.001+02:00

A rich white guy decided that he wanted to throw a party and invited all
of his buddies and neighbours.

He also invited Philamon, the token black guy in the neighborhood.

He held the party around the pool in the backyard of his mansion.

Everyone was having a good time drinking, dancing, eating shrimp, oysters
and BBQ and flirting with the women.

At the height of the party, the rich white dude said,
"I have a 10 ft. man-eating crocodile in my pool and I'll give a
million bucks to anyone who has the balls to jump in."

The words were barely out of the rich white dude's mouth when there was a
loud splash and everyone turned around and saw Philamon in the pool!

Philamon was fighting the croc and kicking its ass!

He was jabbing the croc in the eyes with his thumbs, throwing punches,
doing all kinds of things like head butts and chokeholds, biting the croc
on the tail and flipping it through the air like some kind of Japanese
Judo Instructor.

The water was churning and splashing everywhere.Both Philamon and
the croc were screaming and raising hell.
Finally Philamon strangled the croc and let it sink to the bottom like
a sick goldfish.


Philamon then slowly climbed out of the pool.


Everybody was just staring at him in disbelief.

Finally the rich white guy says,


"Well, Philamon, I reckon I owe you a million bucks."

"No, that's okay. I don't want it," said Philamon

The rich white dude said,

"Man, I have to give you something. You won the bet. How about half a
million bucks then?"

"No thanks. I don't want it.", answered Philamon.

The white dude said,

"Come on, I insist on giving you something.That was amazing. How about
a new Porsche and a Rolex and some stock options?"

The brother said no. The confused rich white guy said,
"Well, Philamon, then what do you want?"
Philamon answered,

"I want the name of the muthaf*cker who pushed me in the pool!"

Telkom NNOC (National Network Operation Center)

2006-12-07T22:55:00.000+02:00

Today we went on the Grand tour of Telkom's NNOC in Centurion. It promised to be a real "Eye popper" and surely did not disappoint.
We walked into the most amazing and huge building, into a curved boardroom that was really huge. The presentation (on big screens) told how the operations center was rated number one in the world in the past, but had in recent times fallen to number three. USA and Belgium being one and two.
Nokothula who was doing a wonderful job of the presentation pressed a button and the silver blinds along the length of the boardroom rolled up revealing the fact that we were in a mezzanine level over looking the NNOC. It was stunning.!! Wow.
You can't help but marvel at the sheer magnitude, the gigantic proportions of the place.
All the data networks including the new VPN's are monitored from this point.
Thousands of PCs and a bank of the worlds largest high resolution big screens gave one an idea of what it would be like at NASA control centers.
Cable theft featured highly on the list of "Catastrophic events listed on the giant screens", one fault affected more than 3000 phone lines!..

Green Beans

2006-11-24T16:16:00.000+02:00

My Grandfather (S.A.Parak of Camperdown) once offered to show me the "miracle of creation".

He helped me plant "magic beans" in the garden and went on to explain that if I worked hard, and tended to the budding life, with water and love, it would grow into a beautiful plant. A plant that would produce a many beans.

I was so excited that I often tossed and turned all night dreaming of the amazing magic beans that we had planted, in a Jack and the bean stalk like fantasy.

Sure enough the plant grew tall and green, but bore no fruit.

No amount of love and water would coaxe the beans from the plant.

Dada promised me that if I slept on it one more day, I would wake up and see the truth of creation. I went to bed, beliving him as only a child can believe his Dada.

The next morning the plant was covered in green beans. Huge and fully formed.
It was the best day of my life. I called everyone out to see and was so thrilled that I did not notice their laughter.

Only as an adult did I figure out why all the beans were attached to the plant with green thread. I knew then that Dada had spent the night in the light of a torch attaching the beans, so his grandson would see the power of creation, and BELIEVE.

This is a true story that I often share with others. My grandfather was a great man, who left his mark on many people. He helped so many less privalaged people, contributed to many charities, but I remember him as my Dada who gave me "magic beans".

I wish that when I leave, I am remembered by one person, with even once such story. Then my life would have meaning.

Faulty Logic, a lesson from my late Grandpa

2006-11-03T09:26:00.001+02:00

My mother's dad Mr Amod Vanker (now deceased) had a story that he loved telling. I have used it often in my presentations to illustrate the power of faulty logic.

In planning retail systems I often encounter the entrepreneur who flies by the seat of his pants. I hear him saying things like "we unloaded 3, 40 foot containers, with 3000 units in each, sold 34 dozen, and gave 10 packs to our agents in the Cape. Two boxes were returned and that leaves us with .......em..." .

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I then smile at the memory of a little boy sitting on the porch in Manderston with his Nana, waiting for the inevitable story, and the Nana goes..... (with a gleam in his eye)

Three friends eat at a restaurant and the bill comes to 27 rands. They split it evenly and each pay with a 10 rand note, expecting a rand change each. (3 X 9 = 27).
The owner of the place has no change, so he hands the waitor a 5 rand coin saying "give them this, tell them its a discount, they look like nice boys".
Our waitor realizes that the boys are not expecting a discount, so he pockets the 5 rand and gives each of the boys a rand from his pocket. They get the change they expected and leave.
The waitor has profitted by 2 rands.

If the boys spent 9 rands each (10 - 1) which totals 27 rands and the waitor made 2 rands in this deal. (27 + 2 = 29) .
Why is there one rand missing, and who has it?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If anybody out there is interested in this, and wants to discuss the solution, send me mail and I will explain it to you, and show how this is relevant.

M Parak CAD Durban
http://www.cad.co.za/index.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Consultants

2006-11-01T11:27:00.001+02:00

A timeless lesson on how consultants can make a

difference for an organization.

Last week, we took some friends out to a new

restaurant, and noticed that the waiter who took our

order carried a spoon in his shirt pocket. It seemed a

little strange. When the busboy brought our water and

utensils, I noticed he also had a spoon in his shirt

pocket. Then looked around saw that all the staff had

spoons in their pockets.

When the waiter came back to serve our soup I

asked, "Why the spoon?"

"Well," he explained, "the restaurant's owners

hired Andersen Consulting to revamp all our processes

. After several months of analysis, they concluded

that the spoon was the most frequently dropped

utensil. It represents a drop frequency of

approximately 3 spoons per table per hour. If our

personnel are better prepared, we can reduce the

number of trips back to the kitchen and save 15

man-hours per shift."

As luck would have it, I dropped my spoon and he was

able to replace it with his spare. "I'll get another

spoon next time I go to the kitchen instead of making

an extra trip to get it right now." I was impressed.

I also noticed that there was a string hanging out of

the waiter's fly. Looking around, I noticed that all

the waiters had the same string hanging from their

flies. So before he walked off, I asked the waiter

"Excuse me, but can you tell me why you have that

string right there?

"Oh, certainly!" Then he lowered his voice. "Not

everyone is so observant. That consulting firm I

mentioned also found out that we could save time in

the restroom. By tying this string to the tip of you

know what, we can pull it out without touching it and

eliminate the need to wash our hands, shortening the

time spent in the restroom by 76.39%."

"After you get it out, how do you put it back?"

"Well," he whispered, "don't know about the others, but

I use the spoon."

http://www.cad.co.za/index.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Left handed Handshake

2006-10-31T18:41:00.001+02:00

If somebody sticks out their hand to greet you, you are expected to stick out your right hand to shake theirs. When you discover that they have given you their left hand you have two options.

Stick out your left hand instead.
Ask your friend to give you the correct hand.

If you apply both of the above, you will have the same original problem, in reverse.

Ie: You have your left hand out and he has his right.

This ludicrously simple example illustrates a lapse in logic that accounts for at least half of the problems that are bungled by a badly managed call center.

When LPT 1 port fails to address the printer. The possibilities are as follows:

Printer is currently connected to LPT2 (another port).
Software is sending the job to LPT2 and not LPT1.
Other.

As in the Left-handed Handshake example if both of the Printer is moved to another port and the software is told to send to print job elsewhere, the technician has recreated the left-handed syndrome.

Sounds so silly, but I have seen it happen to many good people.

Lebo - a South African Legend.

2006-10-30T09:33:00.000+02:00

We in South Africa recently lost Lebo, a musical phenomenon of our age. She was buried this weekend, after a fatal accident last week.
South Africans are mourning this Diva, this goddess, who walked amongst us, and all those who are not hooked into the street culture are asking, "why did we, who read the papers, and follow popular music not know about this legend, until she died?."

Having said this I see now that the media frenzy upon her death, is so sad.
The same media that failed to share her life with us, is now trying to gain milliege from her death.

I hope that the lesson to our Media is that we have so many diamonds in the rough, and we need to identify and polish them, in their lifetime, not when they are gone.

R2 Point of Sale

2006-10-30T09:29:00.000+02:00

After months of agonising over the name, and the fact that Kevlar was a reserved trademark, we decided that "less is more" and decided to run with "R2 Point Of Sale".

"GOOD LUCK, MR. GORSKY."

2006-10-25T11:27:00.001+02:00

ON JULY 20, 1969, AS COMMANDER OF THE APOLLO 11 LUNAR MODULE, NEIL ARMSTRONG WAS THE FIRST PERSON TO SET FOOT ON THE MOON IS FIRST WORDS AFTER STEPPING ON THE MOON, "THAT'S ONE SMALL STEP FOR MAN, ONE GIANT LEAP FOR MANKIND," WERE TELEVISED TO EARTH AND HEARD BY MILLIONS.

BUT JUST BEFORE HE REENTERED THE LANDER, HE MADE THE ENIGMATIC REMARK "GOOD LUCK, MR. GORSKY."

MANY PEOPLE AT NASA THOUGH IT WAS A CASUAL REMARK CONCERNING SOME RIVAL SOVIET COSMONAUT. HOWEVER, UPON CHECKING, THERE WAS NO GORSKY IN EITHER THE RUSSIAN OR AMERICAN SPACE PROGRAMS.

OVER THE YEARS MANY PEOPLE QUESTIONED ARMSTRONG AS TO WHAT THE "GOOD LUCK, MR. GORSKY... STATEMENT MEANT, BUT ARMSTRONG ALWAYS JUST SMILED.

ON JULY 5, 1995, IN TAMPA BAY, FLORIDA , WHILE ANSWERING QUESTIONS FOLLOWING A SPEECH, A REPORTER BROUGHT UP THE 26-YEAR-OLD QUESTION TO ARMSTRONG. THIS TIME HE FINALLY RESPONDED.

MR. GORSKY HAD DIED, SO NEIL ARMSTRONG FELT HE COULD ANSWER THE QUESTION.

IN 1938 WHEN HE WAS A KID IN A SMALL MID-WEST TOWN , HE WAS PLAYING BASEBALL WITH A FRIEND IN THE BACKYARD. HIS FRIEND HIT THE BALL, WHICH LANDED IN HIS NEIGHBOR'S YARD BY THE BEDROOM WINDOWS.

HIS NEIGHBORS WERE MR. AND MRS. GORSKY. AS HE LEANED DOWN TO PICK UP THE BALL, YOUNG ARMSTRONG HEARD MRS. GORSKY SHOUTING AT MR. GORSKY. "SEX! YOU WANT SEX?! YOU'LL GET SEX WHEN THE KID NEXT DOOR WALKS ON THE MOON!"

TRUE STORY.

Vanilla Ice Cream that puzzled General motors!!!!

2006-10-08T12:27:00.001+02:00

Vanilla Ice Cream that puzzled General motors!!!!

An Interesting Story

Never underestimate your Clients' Complaint, no matter how funny it might seem!

This is a real story that happened between the customer of General Motors and its Customer-Care Executive. Pls read on.....

A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors:

'This is the second time I have written to you, and I don't blame you for not answering me, because I sounded crazy, but it is a fact that we have a tradition in our family of Ice-Cream for dessert after dinner each night, but the kind of ice cream varies so, every night, after we've eaten, the whole family votes on which kind of ice cream we should have and I drive down to the store to get it. It's also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and since then my trips to the store have created a problem.....

You see, every time I buy a vanilla ice-cream, when I start back from the store my car won't start. If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just fine. I want you to know I'm serious about this question, no matter how silly it sounds "What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get any other kind?" The Pontiac President was understandably skeptical about the letter, but sent an Engineer to check it out anyway.

The latter was surprised to be greeted by a successful, obviously well educated man in a fine neighborhood. He had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time, so the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store. It was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came back to the car, it wouldn't start.

The Engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, they got chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got strawberry. The car started. The third night he ordered vanilla. The car failed to start.

Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this man's car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged, therefore, to continue his visits for as long as it took to solve the problem. And toward this end he began to take notes: He jotted down all sorts of data: time of day, type of gas uses, time to drive back and forth etc.

In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy vanilla than any other flavor. Why? The answer was in the layout of the store. Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at the front of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavors were kept in the back of the store at a different counter where it took considerably longer to check out the flavor.

Now, the question for the Engineer was why the car wouldn't start when it took less time. Eureka - Time was now the problem - not the vanilla ice cream!!!! The engineer quickly came up with the answer: "vapor lock".

It was happening every night; but the extra time taken to get the other flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When the man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the vapor lock to dissipate.

DIAMONDS AND RUST

2006-09-21T19:11:00.000+02:00

DIAMONDS AND RUST
(Words and Music by Joan Baez)

Well I'll be damned
Here comes your ghost again
But that's not unusual
It's just that the moon is full
And you happened to call
And here I sit
Hand on the telephone
Hearing a voice I'd known
A couple of light years ago
Heading straight for a fall

As I remember your eyes
Were bluer than robin's eggs
My poetry was lousy you said
Where are you calling from?
A booth in the midwest
Ten years ago
I bought you some cufflinks
You brought me something
We both know what memories can bring
They bring diamonds and rust

Well you burst on the scene
Already a legend
The unwashed phenomenon
The original vagabond
You strayed into my arms
And there you stayed
Temporarily lost at sea
The Madonna was yours for free
Yes the girl on the half-shell
Would keep you unharmed

Now I see you standing
With brown leaves falling around
And snow in your hair
Now you're smiling out the window
Of that crummy hotel
Over Washington Square
Our breath comes out white clouds
Mingles and hangs in the air
Speaking strictly for me
We both could have died then and there

Now you're telling me
You're not nostalgic
Then give me another word for it
You who are so good with words
And at keeping things vague
Because I need some of that vagueness now
It's all come back too clearly
Yes I loved you dearly
And if you're offering me diamonds and rust
I've already paid

Maputo for the weekend, again

2006-09-08T13:50:00.001+02:00

New Girl Friday

2006-09-07T13:13:00.000+02:00

When I first placed an add asking for a "Girl Friday" we were literally swamped with a flood of CVs. What I soon discovered was that none of the candidates even knew why the position was called a "Girl Friday" and how it came about.

When Finally I found one that did, I assumed that the cream had risen to the top and that we had finally found a `smart` girl for the position.
It seems that hiring a `smart` girl to do a mindless repetitive job is almost as bad as hiring a silly one.
My problem is that I often ignore the ideal candidate, in the face of a superior candidate, and this leads to discontent. The ambitious girl will outgrow the position very quickly. And be bored.

Burning Man 2006

2006-08-26T20:26:00.001+02:00

The first time I heard about the Burning Man was when I read "The Google Story" and it sounded like a really Bohemian artistic place that attracted the free spirited people of the world. This was in 2005 and I decided that I would go.
Life happens, and I have been so busy with the final touches to Kevlar and I haven't even been to the Burning Man site to check on the countdown to the day the Man burns.
Anyway I went today and found that the event starts in two days and the Man burns in seven.
It is literally not possibleto make this year. Looks like it will have to wait.... for another year.
Once I became aware of the concept, I began seeing references to the event everywhere. All the TV shows and movies mention it and I wander how musch else is not clear to me now, that will one day be clear when I have been exposed.

Kevlar, Ready for Clothing Stores, and Supermarkets.

2006-08-26T11:51:00.000+02:00

While the admin modules and Backoffice ERP modules are still being ironed out, the application is currently bieng used in multi-store clothing stores and supermarkets.
Some of these stores have single servers, with separate kiosks operating within their walls. Cell phone counters, etc.. All of this is up and running.

We recently update the application to pick up Company settings from the server.
This was fine excpet for the Kiosks, where the store code is meant to be different.
The existance of c:\kiosk.txt identifies these unique scenarios and deals with the issues.

Recent Add for Girl Friday in ECR.

2006-08-25T14:51:00.000+02:00

While all our regular adds for new staff run in the conventional media, I tried to do something different this time around in dropping a little snippet in the East Coast Radio Classifieds.
The add called for any well organised, lady with good organisational skills, with an eye for detail to send us email. It went on to say no CVs please, or something like that.

The response has been extremely interesting.
Some candidates took the time to point out the flaws in my grammer and spelling as an effort to prove how retentive they were. It was clear tro them that the winner here was the one who "nit picked" the most.

I must say that I have not had this much fun with a new position since......, since......, I dont't know since very long ago.

Anyway we have just had the first real rain of the season and I hope that this does not bring a deluge of daily rain yet as my renovations at home have left the house a little exposed to the elements.

Currently searching for Pre-Existing ERP solutions

2006-08-13T23:43:00.000+02:00

I have been burning the ether, looking for ERP solutions. Open Source, and Commercial.
The more popular software, so far appears to be:

Opentaps
Openbravo
Compiere

The real questions are, can we interface to these ERP suites, and are they any good?
Having said that the process of downloading, setup, testing and integration testing is
an exhaustive process, and I hope we are up to this.

Pizza Hut

2006-08-13T12:27:00.000+02:00

On a recent visit to the Limpopo Province, as lunch time approached, my client asked what I would like to eat. I did not want to put him out, so I asked him what the options were. He rattled off a list of local watering holes, and I stopped him at the mention of "Pizza Hut". He smiled at his friend and we headed off to lunch.
After driving through several farms, we came upon a clearing marked "Pete se Gat".
In Afrikaans "Gat" means hole and is pronounced with a guttural, throat clearing "ghat".

Oom (Uncle) Piet, was quite famous for the fact that he had never ever worn shoes, decided to open a pub on his farm, and the locals referred to this watering hole as Pete se GAT.
Said out load it sounds exactly like Pizza Hut!.

CNG - in India

2006-08-01T11:42:00.000+02:00

This Note was on my web page and while it is quite old, was reposted on my blog.

just got back from a "holiday" in Dubai / India. As usual I need another holiday to recover! The thing that impressed me the most was the fact that Delhi, the most polluted city in the world is getting it's act together. While in 1997 when I was there last there was talk of eliminating the motor driven rickshaws from the cities, the solution that they have finally implemented is the most amazing thing ever. They have replaced Petrol / diesel with CNG (Compressed Natural Gas)!!! The implications for this are astounding and I am totally dumbfounded that the media of the world has largely ignored such a fantastic innovation, and its successful implementation.

The logistics of something this huge are mind boggling. One would need to first research and proof an alternate fuel. One would then have to find a cost effective kit to convert existing vehicles to use the new fuel. The entire implementation would clearly need to have a reliable and sustainable supply in the form of CNG filling stations, etc... All of this in a densely populated city like Delhi, is so hectic that it makes their success even more commendable. "Well done folks".

Interbase, makes me want to scream.....

2006-08-01T07:16:00.000+02:00

I recently made the transition to MySLQ in the Kevlar project and am getting along nicely with what has to be the best supported database, with the most active opensource community.
When I was asked to do some changes to an older app, I was faced with Interbase ver 5, and it's limitations.

Can't handle files larger that 2 gig.
Slow connect speeds.
Very restricted SQL language.
Inability to handle Nulls in a ifnull() way as in MySQL.

I upgraded the site to Firebird and had to deal with the fact that Firebird was a host of reserved field names that are allowed in Interbase.
What we needed to do was to roll a 2005 database to 2006 and as neither Interbase or Firebird allowed me to do a clean SQL update that took values from one table and updated fields in another. I was forced to iterate through the tables. This was such a hectic procedure that the average PC ran out of memory half way through the process.

I found that the MySQL "limit" switch which restricted the select results had an equivalent in Firebird and this really helped in reducing the size of the task.

Anyway, after a hectic week in which every road seemed to lead to "out of memory" I finally broke the process into manageable chunks and all was fine.

In the process, I have come to the following realization. MySQL is still King. The wide range of it's SQL language and maturity of the developer base makes it a far superior product to work with.

Bottom line, Choose MySQL, It Works

Video, online. A whole new world.

2006-07-28T10:46:00.000+02:00

I was recently introduced to You Tube as in youtube.com and I am amazed at how responsive it actually is. With Mozilla and the latest Videodownloader 2.0 one is able to download video from You Tube and Google Video for your offline viewing.

The content on both sites are largely the boring uploads of a mindless generation, but every so often one lands a Gem. For me I am so amazed at the very concept of streaming video that the content issue hasn't really caught my attention. I can just imagine all sorts of new possibilities.

Anyhow, having watched the trailers for Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill2 and Pirates (with Johnny Depp) for the eleventh time, I think I will give it a rest and release the bandwidth for the rest of the continent.

Really Cool Logo - Ghandi Museum New Delhi

2006-07-26T13:58:00.000+02:00

To do List, Kevlar Project

2006-07-26T10:23:00.000+02:00

Riaz (Checkout) wrote
New items with zero cost are causing problems with GRN. Please prevent them from being created with zero cost.
GRN printout replace dashes with underscore.
text mode print from admin module. Activate.

CNG - in India

2006-07-26T09:35:00.000+02:00

This Note was on my web page and while it is quite old, was reposted on my blog.

Blender, Open source 3D Application

2006-07-25T09:08:00.000+02:00

Downloaded Blender and begun tinkering with it. Found the interface quite intimidating. Will keep at it.
I am told that it is not only free. open source, but able to produce TV, Production quality animations.

mp@cad.co.za

2006-07-24T12:41:00.000+02:00

Check this out

2006-07-19T08:11:00.000+02:00

http://www.opendns.com/

The Last Question

2006-07-16T22:21:00.000+02:00

The Last Question

By Isaac Asimov

This is by far my favorite story of all those I have written.

After all, I undertook to tell several trillion years of human history in the space of a short story and I leave it to you as to how well I succeeded. I also undertook another task, but I won't tell you what that was lest l spoil the story for you.

It is a curious fact that innumerable readers have asked me if I wrote this story. They seem never to remember the title of the story or (for sure) the author, except for the vague thought it might be me. But, of course, they never forget the story itself especially the ending. The idea seems to drown out everything -- and I'm satisfied that it should.

The last question was asked for the first time, half in jest, on May 21, 2061, at a time when humanity first stepped into the light. The question came about as a result of a five-dollar bet over highballs, and it happened this way:

Alexander Adell and Bertram Lupov were two of the faithful attendants of Multivac. As well as any human beings could, they knew what lay behind the cold, clicking, flashing face -- miles and miles of face -- of that giant computer. They had at least a vague notion of the general plan of relays and circuits that had long since grown past the point where any single human could possibly have a firm grasp of the whole.

Multivac was self-adjusting and self-correcting. It had to be, for nothing human could adjust and correct it quickly enough or even adequately enough. So Adell and Lupov attended the monstrous giant only lightly and superficially, yet as well as any men could. They fed it data, adjusted questions to its needs and translated the answers that were issued. Certainly they, and all others like them, were fully entitled to share in the glory that was Multivac's.

For decades, Multivac had helped design the ships and plot the trajectories that enabled man to reach the Moon, Mars, and Venus, but past that, Earth's poor resources could not support the ships. Too much energy was needed for the long trips. Earth exploited its coal and uranium with increasing efficiency, but there was only so much of both.

But slowly Multivac learned enough to answer deeper questions more fundamentally, and on May 14, 2061, what had been theory, became fact.

The energy of the sun was stored, converted, and utilized directly on a planet-wide scale. All Earth turned off its burning coal, its fissioning uranium, and flipped the switch that connected all of it to a small station, one mile in diameter, circling the Earth at half the distance of the Moon. All Earth ran by invisible beams of sunpower.

Seven days had not sufficed to dim the glory of it and Adell and Lupov finally managed to escape from the public functions, and to meet in quiet where no one would think of looking for them, in the deserted underground chambers, where portions of the mighty buried body of Multivac showed. Unattended, idling, sorting data with contented lazy clickings, Multivac, too, had earned its vacation and the boys appreciated that. They had no intention, originally, of disturbing it.

They had brought a bottle with them, and their only concern at the moment was to relax in the company of each other and the bottle.

"It's amazing when you think of it," said Adell. His broad face had lines of weariness in it, and he stirred his drink slowly with a glass rod, watching the cubes of ice slur clumsily about. "All the energy we can possibly ever use for free. Enough energy, if we wanted to draw on it, to melt all Earth into a big drop of impure liquid iron, and still never miss the energy so used. All the energy we could ever use, forever and forever and forever."

Lupov cocked his head sideways. He had a trick of doing that when he wanted to be contrary, and he wanted to be contrary now, partly because he had had to carry the ice and glassware. "Not forever," he said.

"Oh, hell, just about forever. Till the sun runs down, Bert."

"That's not forever."

"All right, then. Billions and billions of years. Ten billion, maybe. Are you satisfied?"

Lupov put his fingers through his thinning hair as though to reassure himself that some was still left and sipped gently at his own drink. "Ten billion years isn't forever."

"Well, it will last our time, won't it?"

"So would the coal and uranium."

"All right, but now we can hook up each individual spaceship to the Solar Station, and it can go to Pluto and back a million times without ever worrying about fuel. You can't do that on coal and uranium. Ask Multivac, if you don't believe me.

"I don't have to ask Multivac. I know that."

"Then stop running down what Multivac's done for us," said Adell, blazing up, "It did all right."

"Who says it didn't? What I say is that a sun won't last forever. That's all I'm saying. We're safe for ten billion years, but then what?" Lupow pointed a slightly shaky finger at the other. "And don't say we'll switch to another sun."

There was silence for a while. Adell put his glass to his lips only occasionally, and Lupov's eyes slowly closed. They rested.

Then Lupov's eyes snapped open. "You're thinking we'll switch to another sun when ours is done, aren't you?"

"I'm not thinking."

"Sure you are. You're weak on logic, that's the trouble with you. You're like the guy in the story who was caught in a sudden shower and who ran to a grove of trees and got under one. He wasn't worried, you see, because he figured when one tree got wet through, he would just get under another one."

"I get it," said Adell. "Don't shout. When the sun is done, the other stars will be gone, too."

"Darn right they will," muttered Lupov. "It all had a beginning in the original cosmic explosion, whatever that was, and it'll all have an end when all the stars run down. Some run down faster than others. Hell, the giants won't last a hundred million years. The sun will last ten billion years and maybe the dwarfs will last two hundred billion for all the good they are. But just give us a trillion years and everything will be dark. Entropy has to increase to maximum, that's all."

"I know all about entropy," said Adell, standing on his dignity.

"The hell you do."

"I know as much as you do."

"Then you know everything's got to run down someday."

"All right. Who says they won't?"

"You did, you poor sap. You said we had all the energy we needed, forever. You said 'forever.'

It was Adell's turn to be contrary. "Maybe we can build things up again someday," he said.

"Never."

"Why not? Someday."

"Never."

"Ask Multivac."

"You ask Multivac. I dare you. Five dollars says it can't be done."

Adell was just drunk enough to try, just sober enough to be able to phrase the necessary symbols and operations into a question which, in words, might have corresponded to this: Will mankind one day without the net expenditure of energy be able to restore the sun to its full youthfulness even after it had died of old age?

Or maybe it could be put more simply like this: How can the net amount of entropy of the universe be massively decreased?

Multivac fell dead and silent. The slow flashing of lights ceased, the distant sounds of clicking relays ended.

Then, just as the frightened technicians felt they could hold their breath no longer, there was a sudden springing to life of the teletype attached to that portion of Multivac. Five words were printed: INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANSWER.

"No bet," whispered Lupov. They left hurriedly.

By next morning, the two, plagued with throbbing head and cottony mouth, had forgotten the incident.

Jerrodd, Jerrodine, and Jerrodette I and II watched the starry picture in the visiplate change as the passage through hyperspace was completed in its non-time lapse. At once, the even powdering of stars gave way to the predominance of a single bright shining disk, the size of a marble, centered on the viewing-screen.

"That's X-23," said Jerrodd confidently. His thin hands clamped tightly behind his back and the knuckles whitened.

The little Jerrodettes, both girls, had experienced the hyperspace passage for the first time in their lives and were self-conscious over the momentary sensation of insideoutness. They buried their giggles and chased one another wildly about their mother, screaming, "We've reached X-23 -- we've reached X-23 -- we've --"

"Quiet, children." said Jerrodine sharply. "Are you sure, Jerrodd?"

"What is there to be but sure?" asked Jerrodd, glancing up at the bulge of featureless metal just under the ceiling. It ran the length of the room, disappearing through the wall at either end. It was as long as the ship.

Jerrodd scarcely knew a thing about the thick rod of metal except that it was called a Microvac, that one asked it questions if one wished; that if one did not it still had its task of guiding the ship to a preordered destination; of feeding on energies from the various Sub-galactic Power Stations; of computing the equations for the hyperspatial jumps.

Jerrodd and his family had only to wait and live in the comfortable residence quarters of the ship. Someone had once told Jerrodd that the "ac" at the end of "Microvac" stood for ''automatic computer" in ancient English, but he was on the edge of forgetting even that.

Jerrodine's eyes were moist as she watched the visiplate. "I can't help it. I feel funny about leaving Earth."

"Why, for Pete's sake?" demanded Jerrodd. "We had nothing there. We'll have everything on X-23. You won't be alone. You won't be a pioneer. There are over a million people on the planet already. Good Lord, our great-grandchildren will be looking for new worlds because X-23 will be overcrowded." Then, after a reflective pause, "I tell you, it's a lucky thing the computers worked out interstellar travel the way the race is growing."

"I know, I know," said Jerrodine miserably.

Jerrodette I said promptly, "Our Microvac is the best Microvac in the world."

"I think so, too," said Jerrodd, tousling her hair.

It was a nice feeling to have a Microvac of your own and Jerrodd was glad he was part of his generation and no other. In his father's youth, the only computers had been tremendous machines taking up a hundred square miles of land. There was only one to a planet. Planetary ACs they were called. They had been growing in size steadily for a thousand years and then, all at once, came refinement. In place of transistors, had come molecular valves so that even the largest Planetary AC could be put into a space only half the volume of a spaceship.

Jerrodd felt uplifted, as he always did when he thought that his own personal Microvac was many times more complicated than the ancient and primitive Multivac that had first tamed the Sun, and almost as complicated as Earth's Planetarv AC (the largest) that had first solved the problem of hyperspatial travel and had made trips to the stars possible.

"So many stars, so many planets," sighed Jerrodine, busy with her own thoughts. "I suppose families will be going out to new planets forever, the way we are now."

"Not forever," said Jerrodd, with a smile. "It will all stop someday, but not for billions of years. Many billions. Even the stars run down, you know. Entropy must increase.

"What's entropy, daddy?" shrilled Jerrodette II.

"Entropy, little sweet, is just a word which means the amount of running-down of the universe. Everything runs down, you know, like your little walkie-talkie robot, remember?"

"Can't you just put in a new power-unit, like with my robot?"

"The stars are the power-units. dear. Once they're gone, there are no more power-units."

Jerrodette I at once set up a howl. "Don't let them, daddy. Don't let the stars run down."

"Now look what you've done," whispered Jerrodine, exasperated.

"How was I to know it would frighten them?" Jerrodd whispered back,

"Ask the Microvac," wailed Jerrodette I. "Ask him how to turn the stars on again."

"Go ahead," said Jerrodine. "It will quiet them down." (Jerrodette II was beginning to cry, also.)

Jerrodd shrugged. "Now, now, honeys. I'll ask Microvac. Don't worry, he'll tell us."

He asked the Microvac, adding quickly, "Print the answer."

Jerrodd cupped the strip or thin cellufilm and said cheerfully, "See now, the Microvac says it will take care of everything when the time comes so don't worry."

Jerrodine said, "And now, children, it's time for bed. We'll be in our new home soon."

Jerrodd read the words on the cellufilm again before destroying it: INSUFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANSWER.

He shrugged and looked at the visiplate. X-23 was just ahead.

VJ-23X of Lameth stared into the black depths of the three-dimensional, small-scale map of the Galaxy and said, "Are we ridiculous, I wonder in being so concerned about the matter?"

MQ-17J of Nicron shook his head. "I think not. You know the Galaxy will be filled in five years at the present rate of expansion."

Both seemed in their early twenties, both were tall and perfectly formed.

"Still," said VJ-23X, "I hesitate to submit a pessimistic report to the Galactic Council."

"I wouldn't consider any other kind of report. Stir them up a bit. We've got to stir them up."

VJ-23X sighed. "Space is infinite. A hundred billion Galaxies are there for the taking. More."

"A hundred billion is not infinite and it's getting less infinite all the time. Consider! Twenty thousand years ago, mankind first solved the problem of utilizing stellar energy, and a few centuries later, interstellar travel became possible. It took mankind a million years to fill one small world and then only fifteen thousand years to fill the rest of the Galaxy. Now the population doubles every ten years --

VJ-23X interrupted. "We can thank immortality for that."

"Very well. Immortality exists and we have to take it into account. I admit it has its seamy side, this immortality. The Galactic AC has solved many problems for us, but in solving the problem of preventing old age and death, it has undone all its other solutions."

"Yet you wouldn't want to abandon life, I suppose."

"Not at all," snapped MQ-17J, softening it at once to, "Not yet. I'm by no means old enough. How old are you?"

"Two hundred twenty-three. And you?"

"I'm still under two hundred. --But to get back to my point. Population doubles every ten years. Once this GaIaxy is filled, we'll have filled another in ten years. Another ten years and we'll have filled two more. Another decade, four more. In a hundred years, we'll have filled a thousand Galaxies. In a thousand years, a million Galaxies. In ten thousand years, the entire known universe. Then what?"

VJ-23X said, "As a side issue, there's a problem of transportation. I wonder how many sunpower units it will take to move Galaxies of individuals from one Galaxy to the next."

"A very good point. Already, mankind consumes two sunpower units per year."

"Most of it's wasted. After all, our own Galaxy alone pours out a thousand sunpower units a year and we only use two of those."

"Granted, but even with a hundred per cent efficiency, we only stave off the end. Our energy requirements are going up in a geometric progression even faster than our population. We'll run out of energy even sooner than we run out of Galaxies. A good point. A very good point."

"We'll just have to build new stars out of interstellar gas."

"Or out of dissipated heat?" asked MQ-17J, sarcastically.

"There may be some way to reverse entropy. We ought to ask the Galactic AC."

VJ-23X was not really serious, but MQ-17J pulled out his AC-contact from his pocket and placed it on the table before him.

"I've half a mind to," he said. "It's something the human race will have to face someday."

He stared somberly at his small AC-contact. It was only two inches cubed and nothing in itself, but it was connected through hyperspace with the great Galactic AC that served all mankind. Hyperspace considered, it was an integral part of the Galactic AC.

MQ-17J paused to wonder if someday in his immortal life he would get to see the Galactic AC. It was on a little world of its own, a spider webbing of force-beams holding the matter within which surges of submesons took the place of the old clumsy molecular valves. Yet despite its sub-etheric workings, the Galactic AC was known to be a full thousand feet across.

MQ-17J asked suddenly of his AC-contact, "Can entropy ever be reversed?"

VJ-23X looked startled and said at once, "Oh, say, I didn't really mean to have you ask that."

"Why not?"

"We both know entropy can't be reversed. You can't turn smoke and ash back into a tree."

"Do you have trees on your world?" asked MQ-17J.

The sound of the Galactic AC startled them into silence. Its voice came thin and beautiful out of the small AC-contact on the desk. It said: THERE IS INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER.

VJ-23X said, "See!"

The two men thereupon returned to the question of the report they were to make to the Galactic Council.

Zee Prime's mind spanned the new Galaxy with a faint interest in the countless twists of stars that powdered it. He had never seen this one before. Would he ever see them all? So many of them, each with its load of humanity. --But a load that was almost a dead weight. More and more, the real essence of men was to be found out here, in space.

Minds, not bodies! The immortal bodies remained back on the planets, in suspension over the eons. Sometimes they roused for material activity but that was growing rarer. Few new individuals were coming into existence to join the incredibly mighty throng, but what matter? There was little room in the Universe for new individuals.

Zee Prime was roused out of his reverie upon coming across the wispy tendrils of another mind.

"I am Zee Prime," said Zee Prime. "And you?"

"I am Dee Sub Wun. Your Galaxy?"

"We call it only the Galaxy. And you?"

"We call ours the same. All men call their Galaxy their Galaxy and nothing more. Why not?"

"True. Since all Galaxies are the same."

"Not all Galaxies. On one particular Galaxy the race of man must have originated. That makes it different."

Zee Prime said, "On which one?"

"I cannot say. The Universal AC would know."

"Shall we ask him? I am suddenly curious."

Zee Prime's perceptions broadened until the Galaxies themselves shrank and became a new, more diffuse powdering on a much larger background. So many hundreds of billions of them, all with their immortal beings, all carrying their load of intelligences with minds that drifted freely through space. And yet one of them was unique among them all in being the original Galaxy. One of them had, in its vague and distant past, a period when it was the only Galaxy populated by man.

Zee Prime was consumed with curiosity to see this Galaxy and he called out: "Universal AC! On which Galaxy did mankind originate?"

The Universal AC heard, for on every world and throughout space, it had its receptors ready, and each receptor led through hyperspace to some unknown point where the Universal AC kept itself aloof.

Zee Prime knew of only one man whose thoughts had penetrated within sensing distance of Universal AC, and he reported only a shining globe, two feet across, difficult to see.

"But how can that be all of Universal AC?" Zee Prime had asked.

"Most of it," had been the answer, "is in hyperspace. In what form it is there I cannot imagine."

Nor could anyone, for the day had long since passed, Zee Prime knew, when any man had any part of the making of a Universal AC. Each Universal AC designed and constructed its successor. Each, during its existence of a million years or more accumulated the necessary data to build a better and more intricate, more capable successor in which its own store of data and individuality would be submerged.

The Universal AC interrupted Zee Prime's wandering thoughts, not with words, but with guidance. Zee Prime's mentality was guided into the dim sea of Galaxies and one in particular enlarged into stars.

A thought came, infinitely distant, but infinitely clear. "THIS IS THE ORIGINAL GALAXY OF MAN."

But it was the same after all, the same as any other, and Lee Prime stifled his disappointment.

Dee Sub Wun, whose mind had accompanied the other, said suddenly, "And is one of these stars the original star of Man?"

The Universal AC said, "MAN'S ORIGINAL STAR HAS GONE NOVA. IT IS A WHITE DWARF"

"Did the men upon it die?" asked Lee Prime, startled and without thinking.

The Universal AC said, "A NEW WORLD, AS IN SUCH CASES WAS CONSTRUCTED FOR THEIR PHYSICAL BODIES IN TlME."

"Yes, of course," said Zee Prime, but a sense of loss overwhelmed him even so. His mind released its hold on the original Galaxy of Man, let it spring back and lose itself among the blurred pin points. He never wanted to see it again.

Dee Sub Wun said, "What is wrong?"

"The stars are dying. The original star is dead."

"They must all die. Why not?"

"But when all energy is gone, our bodies will finally die, and you and I with them."

"It will take billions of years."

"I do not wish it to happen even after billions of years. Universal AC! How may stars be kept from dying?"

Dee Sub Wun said in amusement, "You're asking how entropy might be reversed in direction."

And the Universal AC answered: "THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER."

Zee Prime's thoughts fled back to his own Galaxy. He gave no further thought to Dee Sub Wun, whose body might be waiting on a Galaxy a trillion light-years away, or on the star next to Zee Prime's own. It didn't matter.

Unhappily, Zee Prime began collecting interstellar hydrogen out of which to build a small star of his own. If the stars must someday die, at least some could yet be built.

Man considered with himself, for in a way, Man, mentally, was one. He consisted of a trillion, trillion, trillion ageless bodies, each in its place, each resting quiet and incorruptible, each cared for by perfect automatons, equally incorruptible, while the minds of all the bodies freely melted one into the other, indistinguishable.

Man said, "The Universe is dying."

Man looked about at the dimming Galaxies. The giant stars, spendthrifts, were gone long ago, back in the dimmest of the dim far past. Almost all stars were white dwarfs, fading to the end.

New stars had been built of the dust between the stars, some by natural processes, some by Man himself, and those were going, too. White dwarfs might yet be crashed together and of the mighty forces so released, new stars built, but only one star for every thousand white dwarfs destroyed, and those would come to an end, too.

Man said, "Carefully husbanded, as directed by the Cosmic AC, the energy that is even yet left in all the Universe will last for billions of years."

"But even so," said Man, "eventually it will all come to an end. However it may be husbanded, however stretched out, the energy once expended is gone and cannot be restored. Entropy must increase forever to the maximum."

Man said, "Can entropy not be reversed? Let us ask the Cosmic AC."

The Cosmic AC surrounded them but not in space. Not a fragment of it was in space. It was in hyperspace and made of something that was neither matter nor energy. The question of its size and nature no longer had meaning in any terms that Man could comprehend.

"Cosmic AC," said Man, "how may entropy be reversed?"

The Cosmic AC said, "THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER."

Man said, "Collect additional data."

The Cosmic AC said, 'I WILL DO S0. I HAVE BEEN DOING SO FOR A HUNDRED BILLION YEARS. MY PREDECESORS AND I HAVE BEEN ASKED THIS QUESTION MANY TlMES. ALL THE DATA I HAVE REMAINS INSUFFICIENT.

"Will there come a time," said Man, 'when data will be sufficient or is the problem insoluble in all conceivable circumstances?"

The Cosmic AC said, "NO PROBLEM IS INSOLUBLE IN ALL CONCEIVABLE CIRCUMSTANCES."

Man said, "When will you have enough data to answer the question?"

The Cosmic AC said, "THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER."

"Will you keep working on it?" asked Man.

The Cosmic AC said, "I WILL."

Man said, "We shall wait."

The stars and Galaxies died and snuffed out, and space grew black after ten trillion years of running down.

One by one Man fused with AC, each physical body losing its mental identity in a manner that was somehow not a loss but a gain.

Man's last mind paused before fusion, looking over a space that included nothing but the dregs of one last dark star and nothing besides but incredibly thin matter, agitated randomly by the tag ends of heat wearing out, asymptotically, to the absolute zero.

Man said, "AC, is this the end? Can this chaos not be reversed into the Universe once more? Can that not be done?"

AC said, "THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER."

Man's last mind fused and only AC existed -- and that in hyperspace.

Matter and energy had ended and with it space and time. Even AC existed only for the sake of the one last question that it had never answered from the time a half-drunken computer [technician] ten trillion years before had asked the question of a computer that was to AC far less than was a man to Man.

All other questions had been answered, and until this last question was answered also, AC might not release his consciousness.

All collected data had come to a final end. Nothing was left to be collected.

But all collected data had yet to be completely correlated and put together in all possible relationships.

A timeless interval was spent in doing that.

And it came to pass that AC learned how to reverse the direction of entropy.

But there was now no man to whom AC might give the answer of the last question. No matter. The answer -- by demonstration -- would take care of that, too.

For another timeless interval, AC thought how best to do this. Carefully, AC organized the program.

The consciousness of AC encompassed all of what had once been a Universe and brooded over what was now Chaos. Step by step, it must be done.

And AC said, "LET THERE BE LIGHT!"

And there was light --

Recent Add - For the Formal Launch of Kevlar 2007

2006-07-15T00:36:00.000+02:00

Recent Article in the Business Day - SA Exporter Suppliment

2006-07-15T00:20:00.000+02:00

Mica Maputo as I first saw it,

2006-07-15T00:14:00.000+02:00

Google Rocks

2006-07-13T19:03:00.000+02:00

I have been recently quite amazed at the Google Story. Not jus tthe book (it was great too) but the whole Google experience. The Gmail is a winner, Calender sharing is amazing, and the search is legend. While Microsoft found them selves in an unasailable position as the Kings of the OS game, Google just did an amazing thing, Move the game to your home court. the Google spreadsheet is case in point. Now Microsoft is caught with pants down, (Let me savour this image a while) and Google brings their genius the the Web.
By the way does anybody out there remember that Bill Gates, first edition of the Road Ahead had to be Largely rewritten, as Bill did not forsee the advent of the (wait for this) the Internet!.

Ydesign Support Issues

2006-03-06T10:51:00.000+02:00

2006-03-06T10:24:00.000+02:00

We recently launched the complete semi Online version of Kevlar II and found that it took the pressure off our help lines.
The choice of MySQL as the Database has proven to be a very good one as it has turned out to be a resilliient and dependable Database.

Ydesign Windows POS, Releases Kevlar II (Bullet Proof POS)

2005-06-08T20:23:00.000+02:00

We recently had a request for Indestructible POS and found that it simply did not exist. While so many Software houses tried to create an application that practically guaranteed up-time, few deliver.