A Menu Popped Up While I Was Writing. I

How does your Tamil handwriting look like?

My Tamil handwriting is really really good. If you want to know how good then you have to read this story.I was a kid who loved Tamil grammar, who was able to write proper Tamil poems, who read books like Iniyavai Narpathu on my own interest. Everyone thought I would do my bachelor’s in Tamil literature. My Tamil teacher had a hope that I would get state rank in Tamil. So she asked me to practice writing everyday in a two-ruled notebook. Yes, you read it write. My handwriting was so horrible that I was made to write a handwriting note in 12th standard. When other students were seriously studying core subjects ditching Language papers, I was practicing Tamil handwriting. It helped a bit, I scored 99/100 in first paper (the amount of writing involved is very less in paper 1 and I managed to write slowly and neatly) but I got only 90/100 in second paper (paper 2 involves a lot of writing, my original handwriting popped up in the last 30 mins and I lost marks).I always had a suffocating feel during my school days because of my messy handwriting. For speech competition my mom or my friends helped me taking notes (I never participated in any competition which involved writing), because after few days I would not be able to read what I wrote. Scored less whenever the teacher gave importance to handwriting instead of the content (unfortunately in India many teachers do that).Thanks to digital technologies, I am at ease now. On the first day when I used Azhagi to type in Tamil, it felt too good. Nowadays I write without the fear of leaving the reader struggling to read. My handwriting never improved. A few years back I tried Google handwriting app, the app was struggling to decode what I wrote.Starting from my grocery checklist to stories, I don't write anything in paper. One of my friends asked me to write and give a content for making a video. Few days later he asked me “Have you completed that Subha?”Me “ Yes. I wrote that in a paper. I am not finding time to type and send.”He “ Okay then send the photo of that paper. That will do”I sent him the photos. He called me and said “ I will wait Subha, please type and send when you can”. He waited for more than 3 months.Now you can guess how good my Tamil handwriting looks.Note: My English handwriting is messy too.

What's the best studying tips and tricks for the night before the exam?

Yeah!,this is the question I had been hunting for ages to come up with a solution,a question so vivid and magnificent that its scope is not merely limited within the domains of Engineering or Medical studies,but is wide enough to encircle concepts like productivity and efficiency too!Since you haven't studied for the whole year/semester,so I suggest you first of all to accept the fact that you know nothing,this acceptance would get you rid of the self-sufficiency hypothesis and would instead promulgate you to make a realistic plan.Get a plan!, You need to know the portions which you wish to cover,so just give a cursory glance to your syllabus,watch out the previous papers,filter the most valuable content,which will fetch you the most marks and get going!Less is more,the more you focus on scoring and easy topic,the eaiser it is to score more marks.Study with complete focus and shut off all the distractions,you never want to cry for the rest of your nights in life in the regret of not studying that specific single night.Make short notes,keep them crisp and clear!Revise,revise and revise,whatever you have read till now.Have a good night sleep,it will ensure that you remain focused during your examination.Presentation,well you know well that you haven't studied much for the exam,so why not focus on presenting whatever you have read in a better fashion,things sell well when they are presented well!These are some of the strategies which may help you ace an exam overnight,yet these strategies are not highly recommended,it is better advised to study daily in small chunks so as not to overexhaust your brain and body a night before the exam.Nothing can match pure consistency and hardwork and nothing ever will!

What did you find while snooping that you wish you had never found?

Brace yourselves folks. This one is a doozy.Picture me - 16 years old, brought up in a Catholic household, with two loving parents and two younger brothers.My friend at school suggested I start going through my Mum’s things. She had been doing it and came across love letters between her parents.That night, I waited until Mum was in the bath (so I knew she couldn't catch me) and I went up into the cupboard and pulled out her box of goodies.Love letters were there between her and Dad.Then there was one letter that didn't make sense.It was written by my mum.To someone she called Ben.The first line “Dear Ben, if you are reading this letter please know I am your mother and I love you very much.”Oh my goodness. What on earth had I just uncovered? The shock set in immediately - I could not stop crying.Huh? Mum had another son? Nooo- she couldn't have - she was married at 19.I read on. She named her son’s father, talked about how she put him up for adoption at 17 and named the father in her letter (not my Dad). She spoke of her three kids (my brothers and I) in the letter and how much she loved us.Well, I got everything I deserved.I had no idea this was the kind of thing you could find when snooping. The guilt was huge. Not only did I feel so so sad for my Mum - but I couldn't do anything about it because I knew I would get in trouble for going through her things.All those years of my life when Mum cried on St Patrick’s Day suddenly made sense.I started to understand why Mum and Dad were so protective over me.I couldn't stop crying. I was so sad for my Mum.The pain was so real in the letter.I had to put it away. And get on with life without letting her know I knew.That didn't last very long. At 16, I clearly wasn't as good as her at keeping secrets - I told her rudely one night mid argument that she didn't need to be so strict on me - I wasn't going to get pregnant.That let the proverbial cat out of the bag. Mum and Dad had to tell my brothers too.That was almost 20 years ago now.Mum has a relationship with the son she put up for adoption. She met him in 2005. She lost my brother in 2013. I admire her for being so strong.Keep that in mind folks - if you go looking, you will always find. Be mindful you may not be prepared for what you find.

I'm considering buying a computer to run Linux, what computer should I get?

The first thing I would suggest doing is to take your existing Windows machine and configure it for dual booting into Linux. If you want to make a clean break from Windows, just install Linux.If you still want to buy a new machine for Linux…Linux will run on almost anything.An Intel/AMD-based PC? Sure. There may be some driver problems if you are using obscure or bleeding-edge hardware like newer video cards or other custom cards. But most devices have drivers that work find out-of-the-box. If you have a choice, I would recommend getting a large SSD and lots of memory over a gargantuan spinning hard drive or a gamer-level video card.A Mac? Same deal as above.A $5 Raspberry Pi Zero? It comes with Linux pre-installed. Nearly useless as a development machine, but it’s a Linux computer.An older, PowerPC-based Mac? You’ll have to search around for a distribution that will support it (Debian is a good choice), but it’s a fine choice.An even older, 68050-based Mac? I strongly suspect so.Old Sun Workstations? Yep, got you covered.You get the idea. If there’s some piece of hardware out there that is physically capable of running Linux, someone has probably made a port of it.But seriously…My advice is to get a top-of-the-line machine made last year. Linux is not a heavy-weight system, so it’ll run like a charm on even low-end hardware. By getting last year’s best machine, you save a bunch of money. For a development machine, you want to max out your memory if you can afford to, and get a decent sized SSD. An SSD and lots of memory will speed up your system better than any processor.Other suggestions all depend on the style of development you are doing. If you are doing graphics development, get a top-nothc video card you are going to be developing for. If you are doing web development, you don’t need a top-notch graphics card, a $30 cheapy with HDMI output is more than sufficient (or use the integrated video on your motherboard). If you are doing something processor-intensive, it may make sense to splurge on a faster processor, but in general development is limited by how fast you can think, not by how your processor is.

While recording a song or album, do you believe the artists realize when they have a hit on their hands?

Not always.My favourite artists, Deep Purple, planned in 1971 to record an album in a casino in Montreux. The casino burned down and they spent a couple of weeks moving from place to place to find a new room to record.They ended up at the Grand Hotel, which was empty, cold and bare, but with the Rolling truck Stones thing just outside making their music there. With a few red lights and a few old beds, they made their place to sweat.Well.You may know the song I’m quoting. But that was not the hit they had in mind.Two songs were already being tested on tour for a few months in the 1971 tour over Europe: “Lazy”, a blues shuffle, and “Highway Star”, a fast-paced song first introduced on German TV in July 1971:(In the 1972 tour, in Copenhagen, Gillan introduced it saying “What we got is a new song! And it’s likely to remain as our opening number for the next year or so!” Last Purple gig I went, in 2017, it was still their opening number.)Those two songs were perfected in Montreux, including the signature soloes in “Highway Star”.The other five songs that got in the LP, and a sixth that became a b-side on a single (“When a Blind Man Cries”), were created under those dire conditions of the Grand Hotel.Upon finishing the recording. the Deep Purple guys were sure they had a hit:“Never Before”.When they took the album to Warner, though, the managers had a different idea about it.The hit, managers said, was a song almost left out of the album. Its recording had been interrupted by the police banging on the first venue's door due to excessive noise. The riff was very simple. The lyrics were improvised, telling the story of the recording. Every other song in the album had more craft put in. Were they sure the simpler one was the hit?Yes. Because it was simply “Smoke on the Water”, the song they have been known for in the last half a century. And it was almost left out of the album!When they played Japan, the reaction of the audience left no doubt. And the Made in Japan version became its own hit single.

What is the worst punishment you have received from your parents, but taught you a valuable lesson?

A2AMy parents were really chill. My old man, when not teaching, was always up to another scheme or other. When he wasn’t up to a scheme, he was out of the country doing God knows what in Africa.My mom was more of a disciplinarian, but she was kind of small so after I hit my growth spurt in junior high any attempts at more direct punishment were obsolete.There was this time when I was working at Target that I was spending a lot of money. I mean a lot. I had all the Jordans, numbers 1–23. On top of that, she’d see tags on my shirts and jeans that were appalling to her.Remember, my parents are immigrants and the kind of money you may spend on a good time was obscene to her for a while.My mom couldn’t understand that I was making money from my part time job and my side hustle.She would always tell me what do you know about starting and running a business? Look at where that got your dad.It always went like that so eventually, I started to hide the fact that I was a hustler.Anyways. Things finally came to a head after I bought the Jordan countdown pack of the 10 and 13.Usually, I’d split the cost in half with one of my friends, but both these pairs were too beautiful to pass up. I was a true sneakerhead. Anyways, this combo pack cost about $250 if I remember correctly. That should have been my two week paycheck.That wasn’t what really what brought everything to a head. The next week, I bought these beauties.That was another $200+My mom was not having it.We got into the biggest fight over the way I spend money. She wanted me to save, I told her I was young, I’d save when I was old.We went back and forth. In the end, she imposed some very strict sanctions on my money.I was basically reduced to spending $30 a week on nothing but gas and lunch at school.I went from a baller to a pauper overnight.Moral of the story: Just because you have it doesn’t mean you have to flaunt it. You’ll likely never see me post a picture of my home, my cars, or my jewelry unless it’s absolutely necessary to move the story forward.I won’t answer questions about financial freedom or what it’s like to not have to worry about money.I learned my lesson. The more you flaunt wealth, the more people dislike you for it. This was my mother, she loves me more than herself, how would acquaintances and “friends” feel about it?The trolls would have a field day too.Connect with me on Quora and Twitter

What are some cool WhatsApp tricks?

This trick can be used to send absolutely anything over whatsapp.Lets take an android application as an example. Now whatsapp allows video, audio and image file sharing but not something like an android application.(ext. .apk)here it goes:Go to file manager. And locate the file which you want to share here eg. Quora.apk​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Now rename this to Quora.apk.mp4​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Go to whatsapp->share-> video and select quora.apk.mp4And message the recipient to rename the file and delete ".mp4" from the name.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Voila.now You can successfully transfer anything over Whatsapp.I have a trick to transfer any file of any size too. Let it be of something like 1.3gb, you can transfer that too. No root required. Drop a comment if you want to know.Edit:To share file of any size over Whatsapp:This is not so much as a "trick". but it's just a way that I figured out.The basic idea is splitting the file into 16mb smaller files. (16mb because it is the maximum size of video that can be directly shared over whatsapp.)To split any file. download "free file splitter" (a freeware)Its pretty simple. select source file-> destination folder-> set the 'size of a chunk' to custom i.e. 16mb​​​​​So if your file is of 1.3GB, you will have 82 files of 16mb size. now using above method. rename each file's extension to '.mp4' and upload all 82 of them following the same procedure as above.How to receive that 1.3 GB file:now that you have sent all 82 files to your friend all he needs to do is rename and delete ".mp4" from each one of them. and keep all of the files in the same folder. then your friend will need "free file splitter" installed in his system.next step is pretty straightforward Join Files-> select source-> Select destination-> Join.​​​​​breakfast is served.lengthy isn't it?do tell me if you have any better solution.Video which shows splitting and joining of 317mb file into 16mb chunks.screencast on how to rename and share the file:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...EDIT 2:If you want to know how to make your own whatsapp emoticons let me know in the comment section.For example.​​​​​We needed this emoticon for so many reasons.Edit: step by step guide:loudtechie. com/how-to-add-or-edit-whatsapp-custom-emoticons/(remove the "space" before com, for some reason i can't add any more links to my answer.)

What cool things can one do with an iPhone and iPad that most people don't know about?

I'm surprised no-one mentioned Accessibility feature. 1. Guided Access: Introduced in iOS 6 (I think), it's a good solution to use when you are giving your iPod, iPad or iPhone to someone to use (especially kids). Guided access forces the end user to use the iDevice in the specific app or way.It can be enabled by going into Settings --> General --> Accessibility.You can enable guided access by pressing the home button thrice (triple click).(Images not my own)Once you triple click, you will see this screen and then you can select an area on the screen which you want to disable. This area may contain buttons or anything.You can also disable the touchscreen completely, disable the hardware home button and disable motion.The Guided Access can be stopped upon entry of a password.This feature opens up quite a few possibilities for usage of the iDevice like teaching, POS, interactive apps for malls, shopping centers, experience zones.Now you can hand your iPad to your child to read a book and can make sure that he is doing that. ;)2. ZoomIf you have trouble viewing the screen at its current zoom level, you can zoom the screen in to make everything bigger. This trick is pretty useful for people with eye troubles.After enabling it, just press on the screen twice with three fingers and the screen will zoom in.3. Assistive TouchIf you have a broken home button or have trouble touching the screen. Once you enable it from Accessibility settings, you will see a big white dot on the screen.Touching it reveals quite a few features.and it has more features.