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Saturday, March 16, 2013

Virus'operation: The Sermon analogy

Photo credit: Shutterstock
Imagine you are at a Church service.
The priest/pastor (i.e. user) steps up to give his homily/sermon -- he needs your (i.e. legitimate program) full attention.

A sudden cool breeze (i.e. virus) blows over you, and causes you to doze off just as the sermon begins.

You 'fall' into a trance. (i.e. Idle moment while virus executes)

The sermon ends. You snap out of your 'slumber'. (Virus terminates and allows programme ton run)

Service continues.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Ghana, when Mobitel was the only telco

In the early '90s, almost all wireless handheld communication devices I saw were -- to me -- walkie-talkies. (Or so I think)

Ghana Telecom (now Vodafone) was the sole telecommunication network in the country. Most people had fixed lines, and that was the bomb.

Then Mobitel happened. In 1992. It officially became Ghana's first cellular phone telco, offering customers the ease of portability with respect to their communication devices (mobile phones).

By the end of 1992, about 19,000 Ghanaians owned mobile phones. The fever had caught on but it was still a 'preserve' of the affluent in society.
The mobile phones were 'huge' in size and weight, as compared to the sleek models floating on the streets of Accra and Kumasi today.
Customers couldn't access the Internet on the network, but were glad to have seamless connectivity with their friends, customers and business associates.

A lot has changed since more telcos entered the market in Ghana, but the era of Mobitel (now Tigo) is a milestone in the country's history.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Typing foreign language accents in a word processor

So I've been trying to study the (Brazilian) Portuguese language for some time now -- still need to learn a LOT! The masculine/feminine articles makes it confusing but interesting. So also is the placement of nouns before adjectives.

I however had a problem when I needed to type Portuguese text in a word processor, until a couple of days ago.

In this post, I share some keyboard short cuts one can use to type accents without resorting to inserting symbols and such.

To do that, one has to use the modifier keys, Ctrl and/or Shift, plus the character that represents the accent, plus the letter which needs the accent.

This is also helpful to those who also study other languages like French, and wish to type words in such languages seamlessly.

Enough said, here are some examples:
Ctrl + , + c = ç.
Ctrl + ' + e = é
Ctrl + Shift + ^ + u = û
Ctrl + ` (under the Esc key)  + e = è
Ctrl + Shift + ~ (under the Esc key) + a = ã
Ctrl + Shift + : + i = ï
Ctrl + / + o = ø

I would like to know your experience. If you have any tricks up your sleeves, do comment below.
I will also like to know your experience with respect to studying a second language.

Obrigado!

PS: I also stumbled upon this tutorial that has more information on the typing of accents in word processors. Enjoy