Google Calendar: Add Country Holidays

Google Calendar with holidays of your country; is this something you are not quite familiar? Does colleagues from other countries schedule meetings on holidays of your country? If it is, no one else is there to blame (other than you); they are not aware of those holidays unless otherwise you notify them. The simplest way is to mark those days as holidays in your calendar, but it is not practical to add all of those manually. 

Importing Holiday Calendars

You are not required to add each of those manually. With few clicks, you can import the holiday calendars of your country into your Calendar. Out of the box, Google supports a number of country holiday calendars; 41 countries as of today, hopefully it will grow further.



You must open your Google calendar from a browser, and click on the
'Other calendars' - > 'Browse Interesting Calendars' on left panel as shown above.

This shows a page with holidays of each country, and you can subscribe to any number of those as per your interest. After you subscribe, those will be shown in your calendar. If you are working with colleagues in multiple countries, I suggest you to subscribe to their country calendars so that you will no longer be scheduling meetings on their holidays as well.

My County is not there in Holiday Calendars

If your country is not found in holiday calendars, we need to use an alternative approach. As you can see from the above screen, there is another item named 'Import Calendar'. When you click on that, Google Calendar allows you to upload iCalender or CSV file which has events. You will have to search the internet and find such an event file with holidays and upload.

2013 Sri Lankan Holiday Calendar

You can find the 2013 - Sri Lankan holiday Calendar here, click on the 'Download' link on top of that page and save the calendar2013sl.ics.txt file on to your disk, then import using the above popup window. It will add 26 events into your calendar, and following is how you will see the holidays.

As Google Calendar has become the defacto standard of meeting schedules in many organizations, my belief is that it is the right time for you to spend 2-3 minutes to import holiday calendars into yours (if you have not done it yet). The advantage is obvious, meeting organizers always notice if you are not available.

Firefox: Dramatic change in release version patterns

History of Firefox starts in 2002, when a new flavor of Mozilla was released under the name Phoenix. With the release of 0.6 it was renamed as as Mozilla Firebird, but it lasted only for two releases. This most popular name "Firefox" was introduced with the 0.8 release, and it continues as of the time of this post. Initially, Firefox made a major release every two years with minor releases in between.

Two yearly
Version 0.1 - 2002
Version 1.0 - 2004
Version 2.0 - 2006
Version 3.0 - 2008

However in 2011, the release pattern completely changed which resulted in major releases within every one or two months duration as shown below.

 Monthly
 4.0 - 2011/03
 5.0 - 2011/06
 6.0 - 2011/08
 7.0 - 2011/09
 8.0 - 2011/11
 9.0 - 2011/12
10.0 - 2012/01

Particularly within first 6 months of 2013, there were 5 major releases (18.0 to 22.0).

So it is worth finding the reasons for this dramatic change in the release process. As per my understanding, this change had a direct relationship with the new comer Chrome browser in 2008. First major release of Chrome (1.0) was done few months after the Firefox 3.0 release. However in early 2010 Chrome started making major releases every few months and when Firefox 4.0 was out in 2011 March, latest Chrome release available was 10.0.

Mozilla team seems to have identified a potential problem when introducing Firefox over Chrome; release number of Chrome is way beyond Firefox (which may look as related to number years of existence by someone). So Firefox releasing pattern also seemed to follow this fact track, but the latest Firefox version 22.0 while Chrome is 30.

As a side note, I think it is worth mentioning a summary on this battle.
When Firefox was so popular in around 2006, Google funded Firefox and in return became the Firefox's default search engine. Interestingly, 2008 born Google owned Chrome became the most popular browser sending once most popular Firefox into the third position behind Internet Explorer. I personally believe Google did it perfectly, they had a great plan and won the battle well ahead where as Firefox team could not resist a lot.

Which software (geek) monkey worth the most?

An interesting conversation!!!

A tourist walked into a pet shop and was looking at the animals on display. While he was there, another customer walked in and said to the shopkeeper, "I'll have a C monkey please." The shopkeeper nodded, went over to a cage at the side of the shop and took out a monkey. He fit a collar and leash, handed it to the customer, saying, that'll be $5000." The customer paid and walked out with his monkey. Startled, the tourist went over to the shopkeeper and said, "That was a very expensive monkey. Why did it cost so much?" The shopkeeper answered, "Ah, that monkey can program in C very fast, tight code, no bugs, well worth the money."

The tourist looked at the monkey in another cage. "That one's even more expensive! $10,000!What does it do?". "Oh, that one's a C++ monkey; it can manage object- oriented programming, Visual C++, even some Java. All the really useful stuff," said the shopkeeper. The tourist looked around for a little longer and saw a third monkey in a cage of its own. The price tag around its neck read $50,000. He gasped to the shopkeeper, "That one costs more than all the other put together! What on earth does it do?"

The shopkeeper replied, "Well, I haven't actually seen it doing anything, but the other monkeys call him the project manager."

Is this true? Can we work on huge software projects without project managers? Who would do estimations and resource utilization? To be frank I can not agree 100% with this, but there are so many people who survive being a non-working project manager. They usually come to work early, but does nothing for the sake of his team members. Some of them even have no idea about the responsibilities of their role in a software development process. Which type of a project manager are you?

Related Articles

• Don't dance so fast

Decipher the code to check your eyes

Try to read the following code. Even though this image looks like an ordinary one, it has a hidden message. But you won't be able to read it if you have good eyes.


Couldn't you read that? You can see the answer below but try it again if you could not. Don't directly go and see the answer. Don't show that you have bad eyes. Try again.

To see the answer click here.

Code is: BAD EYES

Now try again to see it yourself.

[I don't know who is the owner of this creation, but a nice work.]

Do not complain on what you haven't got

As human beings we always tend to complain on what we haven't got. Many people forget to appreciate the things that they have received; even they forget that they have so much to appreciate on their living status than looking at the negative sides.



For example think how you feel when your (expensive) meals are little less tasty than how it used to be. You get so annoyed, right?

Have a look at the images as they tell a lot on the above topic.





See how much you are fortunate to have this type of a life (even having a chance to have access to computers to do internet surfing while some people do not have a chance to get a drop of water.

(I have no idea on who is the owner of these images, but thanks for the nice images).

"I tried" Vs "I did"

< in a court >

Judge : You have tried to kill him, and trying to kill is same as killing. So you have done a crime. I demand you to pay money of Rs: 1,000,000/=.

(Verdict thinks for a while.... Put his hand into his bag. Count cash and take Rs: 1,000,000/= to his hand and try to give it to the officer who waits to collect money. Then puts that money back into his bag).

Judge : Why? Don't you pay money? You have to pay it !

Verdict: (Softly) I tried to give him the money which is same as giving money.

Judge: (puzzled !!!!)

Even though this story is a bit debatable, there's something to learn.

I think TRYING IS CONSIDERABLE, BUT NOT IMPORTANT AS MUCH AS DOING SOMETHING.

So better to avoid saying "Yes I tried, but ...".
Say "Yes, I did it".

What do you feel?

Today's To Do List

This is a To Do list that matches many people who stay infront of a computer for the whole day. "Playing Solitaire" can be changed with what ever the game you play so that it can exactly match you. At the end of the day if you think a bit, you'll recognize that you haven't done anything valuable but just wasted the day.

If you are one of those, it's time to change the list and add something important to the list.

But this do not apply to all of you.

Four liquid stages of life

This is how life goes from birth to death of many people in this world.

06:06:06 06/06/06

If you check the date and time today at 06:06:06 in the morning, you will see that it's full of sixes.

06:06:06 06/06/06

This will appear again only after 100 years. If you were living at that time (2106), better to add a comment saying this blog is 100 years older.

Related Posts:
01:02:03 04/05/06

WWW (Which Wolf Wins?)

A valuable story...

One evening an old grandfather told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.

He said,
"My son, there is a battle between two wolves inside all of us.
One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret,greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false, pride, superiority, and ego.
The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather,
"Which wolf wins?"

The old grandfather simply replied, "The one you feed."

01:02:03 04/05/06

On the 4th of May (today), at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 in the morning, the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06.
That won't ever happen again in our lifetime.

It is said that, it will be approximately 400 generations before it happens again!!!

A Rare coconut tree

The 20 dollar's bill

This is a story with a valuable advice which I read today.

---

A well known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked:

"Who would like this $20 bill?"
Hands started going up. He said:
"I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this."
He proceeded to crumple the dollar bill up.

He then asked:
"Who still wants it?"
Still the hands were up in the air.
"Well," he replied, "what if I do this?"
And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty.

"Now who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air.

"My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson.
No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20.
Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless.

But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. To those who love you, you are priceless.
The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know but by who we are!

Don't dance so fast

Today I received a mail with a nice but advising thoughts. So I thought of adding it here. As the mail explained, this poem was written by a terminally ill young girl in a New York Hospital.

Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Do you run through each day
On the fly?
When you ask How are you?
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Ever told your child,
We'll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time
To call and say, "Hi"
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

When you run
so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift....
Thrown away.
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

Update:
Today I got to know that the author of this poem is Mr. David L. Weatherford. Thanks for such a nice poem.

Related Articles

• Which software (geek) monkey worth the most?

Creative Clock

Check how nice this clock works. A creative idea. ClockBlock

A poem by an African Man

Dear White fella............ Couple of things you should know.....

When I born, I Black,
When I grow up, I Black,
When I go in Sun, I Black,
When I scared, I Black,
When I sick, I Black,
And when I die, I still black.......

And you White fella,
When you born, you Pink,
When you grow up, you White,
When you go in Sun, you Red,
When you cold, you Blue,
When you scared, you Yellow,
When you sick, you Green,
And when you die, you Gray.................

And you calling me Colored ???????????

Quite correct but innocent idea. I love this poem very much.

By concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it

Today I found a nice little story which reminds us that we have a great life to live.

---

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old University of Notre Dame lecturer.

Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the lecturer went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups: porcelain, plastic, glass, some plain-looking and some expensive and exquisite, telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the lecturer said: "If you noticed, all the nice-looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the better cups and are eyeing each other's cups." "Now, if Life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change." "Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."

---

But I'm still wondering how we could spend the life if we do not think of those tools that hold and contain Life. How do you feel?

What's Special About This Number?

What's Special About This Number?

Nice job. His home site has much more interesting stuff.