Measuring time has always been an important trait of human civilization evolved constantly; from Mayan pyramids to Gregorian calendar, Middle-earth calendar or Stardates, it all has been quest of time keeping. Calendars can be divided into three major categories; Solar, Lunar and Fiscal. A detailed list of calendars can be found here.

Gregorian Calendar is a modification of Julian Calendar, a fix to be precise. Some details from wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

It was first proposed by Neapolitan doctor Aloysius Lilius, and was decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, for whom it was named, on February 24, 1582 (Note: The papal bull Inter gravissimas was dated 1581, as the year was at that time taken to commence in March). The Gregorian calendar was devised because the mean year in the Julian Calendar was a little too long, causing the Vernal equinox to slowly drift earlier in the calendar year.

The Hijri calendar is a lunar calendar recognizes one era: A.H. (Latin "Anno Hegirae", which means "the year of the migration," in reference to the migration of Muhammad (Peace be upon him) from Mecca. In contrast to this, Hebrew calendar is a lunisolar calendar i.e. a lunar calendar with solar cycles.

I wanted to rant more on .NET framework classes, globalization and calendars but I think we are leaving to see Marina Del Ray new year’s fireworks. So, Happy New Gregorian Year and Good Bye 2004! Don’t forget to remember tsunami victims in your New Year prayers and resolutions.

Iranian calendar (Solar Islamic Calendar)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_calendar

Bahá'í calendar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bah%E1%27%ED_calendar

DMOZ Calendars and Timekeeping category: http://dmoz.org/Science/Astronomy/Calendars_and_Timekeeping/

HijriCalendar Class

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/cpref/html/frlrfsystemglobalizationhijricalendarclasstopic.asp

HijriCalendar.GetEra Method

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/cpref/html/frlrfSystemGlobalizationHijriCalendarClassGetEraTopic.asp

HebrewCalendar.GetEra Method

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/cpref/html/frlrfSystemGlobalizationHebrewCalendarClassGetEraTopic.asp

Interesting piece of humor in MCP Magazine

http://www.mcpmag.com/columns/article.asp?EditorialsID=861

I'm sitting here watching Garden State and trying to figure out Frank Buß's Mars Rescue challenge; kinda bummed especially after Prashant solved Einstein Riddle way faster than I did. It was like 15-20 minutes! Only if they give ignoble prizes for this! Bravo Prashant, you're the man.

The Mars rescue challenge has been in news: Yahoo News: CMP Media's Dr. Dobb's Journal Launches Programming Challenge: Professional Programmers Challenged to Solve Mars Rescue Mission So is DARPA's Grand Challenge; either science is going mainstream or I'm just reading things at wrong places.

That’s a cool link I saw, thought should share:

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aansooN say tumhain alwidain kaheeN
razm gahaoN nay jab bhee pukara tumhaiN
tum zafar mand to khair kya lot-tay
haar nay bhee na jee say utara tumhain
tum nay jaaN kay iwaz aabroo baich dee
phir bhee ham nay kya hay gawara tumhain
seena chakan-e-mashriq bhee apnay hee thay
jin ka khooN mooN pay malnay kay tum aaey they
in kee taqdeer to kya badaltay magar
in kee naslain badalnay ko tum aaey thay
yaad hoN kay tumhain wo ayyam bhee
tum aseeree say jab lot kar aaey thay
ham dareeda jigar rastoN main khaRay
apnay dil apnee aNkhoN main bhar laey thay
kya khabar thee kay tum say shakista ana
apnay zakhmoN kay pas chatney aaeN gay
jin kay jabroN ka apnoN ka khooN lag gaya
zulm kee sab hadaiN patnay aaeN gay
aur marg-e-bangal kay baad bolan main
shehrioN kay galay katnay aaing gay
jaisay bartanwee raaj main gorakhay
baaghioN pay sitam aam un kay bhee thay
jaisay saffaak goray vietnam maiN
haq parastoN pay ilzam un kay bhee thay
aaj tum main aur un main faraq to nahee
raifalaiN , wardiaN , naam un kay bhee thay
aaj tum nay sarhad say mehran tak
yeh maqtal sajaey hain kyooN ghazioN
kis shehehnshah-e-aali ka farman hay
kis kay aagay ho tum sar nigooN ghazio
tum nay dekhay haiN jamhoor kay qaflay
jin kay hathoN main parcham baghawat kay hain
papRioN par jamee papRiaN khoon kee
keh rahee haiN yeh manzar qyamat kay hain
kal tumharay liye pyar seenoN maiN tha
ab jo sholay uthay haiN wo nafrat kay haiN
ab to shair pay bhee qarz mattee ka hay
ab qalam maiN lahoo hay siyahee nahee
khol utra tumhara to zahir hua
PAISHA WAR QATILO, TUM SIPAHEE NAHEE
ab sab hee bay zameeroN kay sar chahiye
ab faqat qissa e taj e shahi nahee

-Ahmed Faraz

Excuse my ignorance but before today when Prashant told us about Exceptions Dialog Box CLR exceptions debug option, I never have used it for breaking on exceptions; and now that I know about it, it makes me wonder why not? Rob & Jorge think its because we write such good quality code that it seldom needs debugging, I think they are right, or its better to think they are.

Also, I always forget the link for MCP count so I'd have to google it everytime. Instead, I thought should paste it in here so I'll look for it with site:axisebusiness.com option in google, would make it a bit easier.

Number of Microsoft Certified Professionals Worldwide

Rusty Ryan: Look, it's not in my nature to be mysterious. I can't talk about it, and I can't talk about why.

“To study, and when the occasion arises to put what one has learned into practice—is that not deeply satisfying?”  

Confucius, Analects 1.1.1

Google Suggest would be a classical example of it.

• Slashdot | Google Suggest
• Labs :: Google Suggest

I've been looking into achieving this capability with minimum amount of code for sometime; Using URL access in sQL Server Reporting Services to render the file in browser without having a save as popup nor using the Report Viewer Control. Just a plain old binary data streaming into broswer IOStream. I tried WebClient but it didn't work very well; For fine grained control on timing, since report generation could take longer, HTTPWebRequest and HTTPWebResponse are probably the best bet here.

Dim ReportUrl As String = "http:///ReportServer?%2f%&rs%3aCommand=Render&rs%3AFormat=PDF"

Dim ReportWebRequest As HttpWebRequest = CType(WebRequest.Create(ReportUrl), HttpWebRequest)
ReportWebRequest.Timeout = 10000
ReportWebRequest.Credentials = CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials

Dim ReportWebResponse As HttpWebResponse = CType(ReportWebRequest.GetResponse(), HttpWebResponse)
Dim ReportResponseStream As StreamReader = New StreamReader(ReportWebResponse.GetResponseStream(), New UnicodeEncoding)
Dim objMemoryStream As New MemoryStream(New UnicodeEncoding().GetBytes(ReportResponseStream.ReadToEnd()))

Response.Clear()
Response.AddHeader("Accept-Header", objMemoryStream.Length.ToString())
Response.ContentType = "application/pdf"
Response.OutputStream.Write(objMemoryStream.ToArray(), 0, Convert.ToInt32(objMemoryStream.Length))ReportResponseStream.Close()
Response.Flush()

Try
  Response.End()
Catch
End Try

I remember answering a question about what does ASMX stands for on ASP.NET forums a while back. The rumor is, it stands for active server module and the trailing x is actually a + rotated as it follows the same nomenclature to ASP+ (ASP.NET's former name).

In other news, in the MSDN service station column, Aaron Skonnard discusses Run ASMX without IIS i.e. using HTTP listener class in Whidbey to wrap the functionality of HTTP.sys and offer the functionality of a web service without having IIS installed. Pretty exciting to have apps offering HTTP services without a web server, can't wait!

Some bits of trivia i found during my regular wikipedia surfing.

Origin of Word 'America'

Cosmographiae Introductio, explains that the name was derived from the Latinized version of the explorer Amerigo Vespucci's name, Americus Vespucius, in its feminine form, America (as the other continents all have Latin feminine names). The Italian name Amerigo is a form of the Germanic name Haimirich, meaning "ruler of the home", from the German words haim "home" and rich "powerful"). Christopher Columbus, who had first brought the continent's existence to the attention of Renaissance era voyagers, had died in 1506 and could not protest Waldseemüller's decision.

And the concept of unification of continent at one time could be best depicted in Dymaxion map.

Dymaxion map by Buckminster Fuller shows land mass with minimal distortion as only one continuous continent

This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. This applies worldwide.

Text Courtesy of Wikipedia