(*REVISED FOR 10.6

Details found at – http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20060322202753429

Written by © Mark Hunte – 2009*)

tell application “Address Book”

set biglist to {}

set theGroup to “Dupilicate Entries”

if not (exists (group “Dupilicate Entries”)) then

make new group with properties {name:”Dupilicate Entries”}

save

end if

set the_names to name of people

repeat with i from 1 to number of items in the_names

set theName to item i of the_names

if theName is not in biglist then

copy theName to end of biglist

else

set counter to (people whose name is theName)

if (count of counter) > 1 then

repeat with i from 1 to number of items in counter

set this_item to item i of counter

add this_item to group theGroup

end repeat

save

end if

end if

end repeat

end tell

These are some of my recent thoughts on Cheating Online – Academic Dishonesty posted elsewhere as part of my learning to be an online instructor. I felt compelling enough to be shared with the rest of the world. So here it is. 

As part of some of the online learning courses that I’ve completed in the past – my experience states that, if the instructor and a student have a fair bit of understanding about where they are coming from and where they wanna be at, then, policing and monitoring takes away that “learning” discipline – where the students and instructors are considered to be part of a democracy.

If the course structure and organization is such that – that it makes the student think on their feet rather than their text book then “Cheating Online” will become a rarity as it will lack research & material available to them, and will discourage such a lure behavior.  

The emphasis should be given more to the “learning” aspect rather than the assignment completion. What am I learning today or as part of this group is certainly not well judged by how quickly and efficiently I complete my assignments but what value as a student I bring to a particular course for myself and others to take away as “learning”.

Thus, the key facts should be – greater level of interactivity – between students and instructors, opportunity to mentor and be a mentee (within student groups), elimination of text book based assignments, introduction of project based work group exercises, team exercises, focus on independent research and collective analysis, more use of online and social media tools, and the ability to self-measure against the learning plan that student creates with the help of the instructor.

Understanding that certain online policing tools will help in bringing some discipline in assignment submissions, but the whole point of distance education or online learning is to create a unique set of educational framework that is very distinct from the classroom behavior and self-sustains an educational responsibility between the student and the instructor.

I’m not against such tools, but I am for discovering new means of educating students that brings collaboration, self-responsibility and self-realization of “learning” amongst them. 

Innovation and Social Media. Both have been around for many years. Think about the discovery of the newspaper, or the telephone or just about one of the daily devices or appliance we are so used to now.Hard to believe isn’t it. What various newspapers, magazines, SW & MW channels on the radio were to my grandfather the new media including feedreaders, Twitter, and other social media channels are the same for me today. There nodifferent than the newer ones have the ability to cut the time traveled and the agility with fancy delivery. Same thing.

What’s different then? We have more means today then we can ever imagine. We have more resources that we could possibly think of. And the world is like a small village to us. Access to people and resources is hand-distance away. How could you possibly be not innovating all the time? How can you resist the innovation with so many ideas and opportunities floating around.

Impossible I would say. Both innovation and social-media today are bringing the change faster than we can even think of. Its at a point where we cannot really imagine the life what it will be like tomorrow.

It’s only German cars for me. It’s simple, it’s not only about the efficiency of the factories, reliability or anything like that – it’s also about how the car makes you feel. I’ve yet to drive a Japanese car that would give me the same feeling of quality and consideration for the needs of the user.

As someone rightly said, a man is nothing without his car.

With the recent advent of Toyota’s glitch in Camry and now Prius, the Japanese should learn a thing or two about safety and reliability from the Germans. Not everything cheap and eco-friendly is the best. Lessons in lean manufacturing and Kaizen are great theories, cutting costs and bringing affordable cars to people is a great effort but not at the costs of peoples lives who trust Japanese cars and drive them.

I respect how reliable Japanese products are but still prefer German cars!

The reason I like German cars because of a certain thoroughness to their design and their consideration for the user’s aesthetic in a way that Japanese cars don’t quite fit the bill. I often find that Japanese build their cars with ruthless efficiency, and they most often miss out on small features like air conditioning air flow adjustment for each vent, illuminated door courtesy lights, and air vents for the rear passengers in the back of the center console/tunnel. I feel Japanese design is purely functional and that’s it, while German design is functional, reliable, built to last, different and has a look of it’s own.

And it was the Germans who invented the automobile. The idea of reliability and quality isn’t some that had to do particularly with autos, but with German products in general. The Germans often set standards where the other cars are judged. Germans have been undoubted kings of reliability and have always come ahead of anyone else, in terms of Engineering innovation. And that’s why they’ve earned greater respect, than any other motoring industry around the world.

I respect how Japanese products are built but prefer German cars over reliability, safety, engineering and aesthetics. Its just those little things, that make German cars for car enthusiasts, IMO.

And finally, on the recent Toyota’s debacle – German cars don’t have throttle pedals that get stuck, here’s an interesting video I’d like to share:

It’s only German cars for me. It’s simple, it’s not only about the efficiency of the factories, reliability or anything like that – it’s also about how the car makes you feel. I’ve yet to drive a Japanese car that would give me the same feeling of quality and consideration for the needs of the user.

As someone rightly said, a man is nothing without his car.

With the recent advent of Toyota’s glitch in Camry and now Prius, the Japanese should learn a thing or two about safety and reliability from the Germans. Not everything cheap and eco-friendly is the best. Lessons in lean manufacturing and Kaizen are great theories, cutting costs and bringing affordable cars to people is a great effort but not at the costs of peoples lives who trust Japanese cars and drive them.

I respect how reliable Japanese products are but still prefer German cars! I think I contradicted myself here, what I wanted to say instead that I respect the way Japanese make their products but automobiles might not be their best strength to date.  

The reason I like German cars because of a certain thoroughness to their design and their consideration for the user’s aesthetic in a way that Japanese cars don’t quite fit the bill. I often find that Japanese build their cars with ruthless efficiency, and they most often miss out on small features like air conditioning air flow adjustment for each vent, illuminated door courtesy lights, and air vents for the rear passengers in the back of the center console/tunnel. I feel Japanese design is purely functional and that’s it, while German design is functional, reliable, built to last, different and has a look of it’s own.

And it was the Germans who invented the automobile. The idea of reliability and quality isn’t some that had to do particularly with autos, but with German products in general. The Germans often set standards where the other cars are judged. Germans have been undoubted kings of reliability and have always come ahead of anyone else, in terms of Engineering innovation. And that’s why they’ve earned greater respect, than any other motoring industry around the world.

I respect how Japanese products are built but prefer German cars over reliability, safety, engineering and aesthetics. Its just those little things, that make German cars for car enthusiasts, IMO.

And finally, on the recent Toyota’s debacle – German cars don’t have throttle pedals that get stuck, here’s an interesting video I’d like to share:

© Manoj Khanna/Open Source World/rapidblog.com 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 Powered by Dextrus Prosoft, Inc.

Well I’ve been searching for definitions on now commonly used Twitter symbols and terms a while ago, and thought of them again so decided to post them here for easy reference.

The @ symbol
@ symbol is used as a public reply to or mention of another person on Twitter. In more simpler words, by putting an @ before a person’s username>> you reply to something that they said or you mention that person in your tweet.

To find out where you got mentioned or replied to, log into your Twitter account, on the right hand side of your home page you can click to find when others within the Twitter-O-sphere used @your_username to mention you or replied to your posts.

Some examples,

@khannamanoj hi, what r u in town for?

or

@khannamanoj I’m at myname @ someurl dot com.

The hashtag (#)
# (the hashtag) is used to designate a topic, and topics can be created by anyone. So if I was Twittering on SaaS and Strategy , my Tweet will look something like:

Why You Need A Software As A Service (SaaS) Strategy — http://bit.ly/6i7tvG via #SaaS #strategy #technology #management

The hashtag (#) allows other Twitter users to search for the topic “strategy”, “SaaS”, etc. If you want to be tracked via a hash tag, then you can follow follow http://twitter.com/hashtags. You can also search for hashtagged real-time post on http://www.hashtags.org – it shows all of the posts that have been tagged with hashtagged keywords. For my example above, see the screenshot from hashtags.org for #saas & #strategy, and see where my post lies within the Twitter-O-sphere realm:

Some other sites and tools for hashtag and @ search include, http://www.hashtweeps.com/, http://hootsuite.com, and then there are several iPhone apps and such – the one I use currently is Twitterrific. In any case, you can find more with Google.com.

RT (retweets)
RT or retweets occurs when you re-tweet someone else’s Tweet, and essentially you’re giving credit to the original source. For example, if you take the Tweet above about SaaS strategy and wanted to re-tweet it, you would Tweet:

RT @khannamanoj Why You Need A Software As A Service (SaaS) Strategy — http://bit.ly/6i7tvG via #SaaS #strategy #technology

Happy Twittering!!

Well I’ve been searching for definitions on now commonly used Twitter symbols and terms a while ago, and thought of them again so decided to post them here for easy reference.

The @ symbol
@ symbol is used as a public reply to or mention of another person on Twitter. In more simpler words, by putting an @ before a person’s username>> you reply to something that they said or you mention that person in your tweet.

To find out where you got mentioned or replied to, log into your Twitter account, on the right hand side of your home page you can click to find when others within the Twitter-O-sphere used @your_username to mention you or replied to your posts.

Some examples,

@khannamanoj hi, what r u in town for?

or

@khannamanoj I’m at myname @ someurl dot com.

The hashtag (#)
# (the hashtag) is used to designate a topic, and topics can be created by anyone. So if I was Twittering on SaaS and Strategy , my Tweet will look something like:

Why You Need A Software As A Service (SaaS) Strategy — http://bit.ly/6i7tvG via #SaaS #strategy #technology #management

The hashtag (#) allows other Twitter users to search for the topic “strategy”, “SaaS”, etc. If you want to be tracked via a hash tag, then you can follow follow http://twitter.com/hashtags. You can also search for hashtagged real-time post on http://www.hashtags.org – it shows all of the posts that have been tagged with hashtagged keywords. For my example above, see the screenshot from hashtags.org for #saas & #strategy, and see where my post lies within the Twitter-O-sphere realm:

Some other sites and tools for hashtag and @ search include, http://www.hashtweeps.com/, http://hootsuite.com, and then there are several iPhone apps and such – the one I use currently is Twitterrific. In any case, you can find more with Google.com.

RT (retweets)
RT or retweets occurs when you re-tweet someone else’s Tweet, and essentially you’re giving credit to the original source. For example, if you take the Tweet above about SaaS strategy and wanted to re-tweet it, you would Tweet:

RT @khannamanoj Why You Need A Software As A Service (SaaS) Strategy — http://bit.ly/6i7tvG via #SaaS #strategy #technology

Happy Twittering!!

© Manoj Khanna/Open Source World/rapidblog.com 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
Powered by Dextrus Prosoft, Inc.

It was a tough vacation going out and coming in, but the rest in between (without Delta) was just heavenly. I am beyond belief that how such a large airline employ so many incompetent, irresponsible and incapable workforce. From Atlanta to Calgary, no one in Delta customer service is either knowledgeable and nor helping. This is the second time around Delta lost our checked-in bags on the same trip. After waiting at the customs for few hours past the midnight hour, and that too after a gruesome 10 hour in-flight-and-transit journey we finally gave up and came back with filled delayed-bags-forms at the customs (courtesy Customs and Air Canada rep as Delta folks were missing-in-the-F-action). It is our third day without any bags in our site or at our doorsteps, and no follow-up and courtesy call from Delta’s reps yet of what happened and what is going to happen next. Is Delta doing this on purpose or is it in its business nature well embedded in? In any case, someone’s gotta give at Delta on this, and yes, some price we paid for the trip to make it this memorable. I hope someone ‘s listening at F%@$!^$ Delta!!

It was a tough vacation going out and coming in, but the rest in between (without Delta) was just heavenly. I am beyond belief that how such a large airline employ so many incompetent, irresponsible and incapable workforce. From Atlanta to Calgary, no one in Delta customer service is either knowledgeable and nor helping. This is the second time around Delta lost our checked-in bags on the same trip. After waiting at the customs for few hours past the midnight hour, and that too after a gruesome 10 hour in-flight-and-transit journey we finally gave up and came back with filled delayed-bags-forms at the customs (courtesy Customs and Air Canada rep as Delta folks were missing-in-the-F-action). It is our third day without any bags in our site or at our doorsteps, and no follow-up and courtesy call from Delta’s reps yet of what happened and what is going to happen next. Is Delta doing this on purpose or is it in its business nature well embedded in? In any case, someone’s gotta give at Delta on this, and yes, some price we paid for the trip to make it this memorable. I hope someone ‘s listening at F%@$!^$ Delta!!

© Manoj Khanna/Open Source World/rapidblog.com 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
Powered by Dextrus Prosoft, Inc.