Authentically American

While Sitting at a local restaurant in Cairo , Egypt, I deliberated between Subia and Dom Palm to drink. Two adult women, the mother (in-law?) wearing a burqa and the daughter (in-law?) wearing an abaya sat in front of me. The third member of their party was a little girl, wearing a bright pink frock. She was small enough to be placed right on the table. Dom Palm, I decided, will be the “authentic” Egyptian taste for tonight.

Android: Always show toasts on the background thread

I used to call Toast#show() on the UI thread. Then one day, I received notifications related to an ANR (Application Not Responding) error in one of my Android apps . Java 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 at android.os.BinderProxy.transactNative(BinderProxy.java) at android.os.BinderProxy.transact(BinderProxy.java:605) at android.view.accessibility.IAccessibilityManager$Stub$Proxy.addClient(IAccessibilityManager.java:1207) at android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityManager.tryConnectToServiceLocked(AccessibilityManager.java:1804) at android.view.accessibility.AccessibilityManager.(AccessibilityManager.java:606) at android.widget.ToastPresenter.(ToastPresenter.java:138) at android.widget.Toast$TN.(Toast.java:1151) at android.widget.Toast.(Toast.java:259) at android.widget.Toast.makeText(Toast.java:891) at android.widget.Toast.makeText(Toast.java:879) at net.ashishb.androidmusicplayer.util.UiHelper.showToast(UiHelper.java:111) Programmers on StackOverflow are confused about whether it is OK to call Toasts on the background threads. Just like me, they think that Toast must be displayed from the UI thread. Even though there is no reason. ...

Musings of transliteration: Tharman Shanmugaratnam's name

Tharman , the 9th president of Singapore is of Indian Tamil ethnicity. The pronunciation of his first name shows how various languages use Latin alphabets.

No man's Land

Mini Trip to Trinidad and Tobago

The oil-rich twin islands of Trinidad and Tobago are the southernmost island in the Caribbean. The smaller Tobago island is more beautiful, safe, and worthy of spending time on than the bigger Trinidad island. So, if you are short on time, just visit Tobago island. There are 30 USD one-way flights between Trinidad’s POS airport to Tobago’s TAB airport. Day 1 - Port of Spain Stroll through Queen’s Park area, checking out places like Stollmeyer’s Castle, Free Botanical Garden, 30 TTD Zoo, and Ariapita avenue. ...

Book Summary: What I learned losing a millio dollars by Jim Paul

“What I learned losing a million dollars” covers the iconic rise and fall of Jim Paul in the Chicago Mercantile Exchange as a trader.

Real vs Theoretical Engineering Productivity

Some engineering productivity is real. Some are theoretical.

Monolingualism

Modern day United States is weirdly mono-lingual

How to deploy Docker images on Microsoft Azure

There are several ways to deploy Docker images on Microsoft Azure. My favorite one is Azure App Service/Web Application for Containers . This is the closest to Google Cloud Run .

Gardens by the Bay

Singapore in 4 days

Singapore is a small country on the southern tip of the Malaysian peninsula. Thanks to its visionary leader , Singapore is one of the most prosperous countries in the world. Once you get passed the heat and humidity, it is a wonderful place to visit. I had a short stay in Singapore while taking a Royal Caribbean cruise . Here’s my recommendation on what to see in Singapore. Day 1 - Jewel and Sentosa Island Start with the Jewel Airport area. It is gorgeous with an artificial waterfall and a full-fledged shopping mall. ...

Book Summary: Thinking In Bets by Annie Duke

Thinking In Bets is a book by professional poker player Annie Duke. Its a book about better decision making under uncertainty.