Author: Rauf Aliev

It just so happened that I left my suitcase in the airport scanner in Orlando because I am used to traveling with just one bag on the plane, and this time I had an additional “carry-on” attached to my backpack. The airport arranged for mail delivery, which cost about fifty bucks through UPS. They tell me it will be delivered on Thursday or Friday afternoon. And I know I probably won’t be home – work, after all. I asked what happens if the courier can’t find me. Maybe I should stop by your local UPS office? They reply, no need to worry, they will leave it in front of the house if they can’t find me. Or in front of the door, if I’m in an apartment.

I unsuccessfully tried to find out what the courier does with the suitcase when I’m not home. He doesn’t do anything with it. He frees himself from it as soon as he reaches the address. If the address is correct – they will knock first, and if no one is home – the suitcase will appear in front of the house or apartment door, and the courier will leave. The suitcase will wait until the evening.

Back home, I tried to be cautious. After all, there are enemies around, it might get stolen! 🙂 But here, it’s always been like this. I’m gradually getting used to it. I don’t know.. probably, it doesn’t work this safely in all areas.

Interesting, would this scheme work: a consultant is attached to an employee (for instance, a junior) to help with their work for a fee paid by the company?

One might ask, why would a company do this? They are better off hiring someone smart and experienced right off the bat. However, it often happens that an employee excels in one area but is mediocre in another, less essential area. For a simple example, consider a skilled business analyst with poor English skills. Or an excellent manager who needs to learn about a new industry that the company has entered through some partnership.

The uniqueness of this model can be best illustrated with the example of an English teacher with knowledge of a specific field (like IT), “on standby.” This person assists with the work, rather than teaching grammar or idioms. That is, if a letter needs to be written, they help write it, and explain the hows and whys along the way. If it’s necessary to connect on Skype and help with a conversation with some partners from Scotland – easily done (though it might cost more).

Understandably, for such services not to be “golden” priced, this person’s resources must be used very efficiently. Of course, this depends on the position. English can be improved for ten business analysts by one specialist, and a top manager might receive much more personal time. Practically, this could be managed through a public calendar of the assistant or assistants, their constant presence on Skype, an easy system for booking slots, and some guarantee of availability (for example, within half an hour).

The monetization model could be made even more interesting. The company pays a part, but the employee could also pay extra if they exceed limits, or simply have funds for their own development.

The company signs an NDA with such a service, which allows bringing in outsiders into processes, correspondence, and negotiations. This isn’t much different from hiring an external specialist, only here the specialist is remote.

Consequently, the assistants also guarantee a certain level of “service,” with time limits per month, per day, continuous time, etc.

An additional plus is that people get used to good help, personal relationships are established, and companies will be reluctant to cease such services, even if they do not meet their minimum hours in consultations.

Dmitri Voloshin Alexander Gornyi

Listening to my favorite playlist. Here’s a song. Crimea river. I think, what’s this nonsense. There are no rivers in Crimea. There’s only a canal. Was. Went to look up the lyrics. Turns out it’s not like that at all. The song is pleasant. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsalvDqZcFM P.S. Turns out there is a river after all!

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Crimea_River

Read a ton about blockchain (not just Bitcoin and Dash, but blockchain in general). Who else is into this? Share startups, ideas, thoughts

Came across a news item on Alex Exler’s website about an article on the KP site “Stavropol scientists from the Sheep and Goat Research Institute have developed a Microsoft product analog” (https://www.stav.kp.ru/daily/26678/3701936/, also on Regnum https://regnum.ru/news/innovatio/2274999.html). Decided to dig deeper, especially since this creation was supposed to be presented yesterday. Consider the length of the quote and the credentials of the interviewee. Besides being four, sources say he’s also the head of the institute’s IT laboratory. It turns out he’s the developer. Well okay, now let’s get to the point.

The name – Ivan OS. Based on – Linux.

“It took five years and 40 million rubles to develop the Stavropol analog of Windows. A team of seven scientists worked on the product.” – it turns out, the “scientists” received 95,000 rubles/month. “The name, Belov explained, was chosen deliberately. The programmers want to create a brand recognizable worldwide, hence its name emphasizes that it was made in Russia.”.

Belov: “Firstly, the seven people are just the software developers, let’s not forget about the methodologists, accountants, organizers. Secondly, we are presenting not just our own OS assembly, but a technological platform, one of the components of which is IVAN OS. Thirdly, besides the FGBNU VNIIOK, the main owners of the technological platform are two Russian scientific organizations, LLC NPO ‘Cloud Information Systems’ and LLC NPK ‘Etalon’. Fourthly, the per-person cost estimates are inflated. However, wait for the official presentation. It seems like a strange rehashing of rumors.”

I just came across such a question in an English book (“Grammar Rules!”). Can you imagine the same question in a Russian language book?

This is how you should sell a car (Evgeny Romanovsky)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP06gvFWW64

Brought back the SAP hybris Roadmap from Orlando. Published a brief summary of the presentation on my blog. Probably only useful for those in the know.

https://hybrismart.com/2017/05/18/hybris-commerce-roadmap-17/

What else to do on a plane. How to study English grammar. While I was sitting at the airport, I was working on a document for work, and I stumbled upon a banner “a business opportunity open for everyone”. Question – where did the “is” go in the middle? Why is it in the active voice? Just found out why. At the same time, I learned some other useful rules. Can be used not only in headlines, but also in meeting follow-ups, for example.

http://www.englishlessonsbrighton.co.uk/8-grammar-rules-writing-newspaper-headlines/

Here’s a niche for those who want to create a useful utility over the weekend.

Every mobile has apps that allow you to photograph a sheet of paper and automatically correct the perspective. There seems to be no such app for Windows or on the web.

There is only one that allows doing it interactively, not automatically. But it’s extremely buggy. There is a plugin for Lightwave, but LW is paid. There’s ImageMagick, which can fix the perspective based on a template, but it uses the command line and you need to specify the trapezoid in coordinates. It would already be useful if you could click this trapezoid once with a mouse. But ideally, it should detect it automatically.

If someone were to create a simple interface for this ImageMagick and then publish it on the web, it would be a useful tool. You won’t make money off it, but a student would learn something ) @[100001539238582:2048:Dmitry Voloshin] to your inspiration box, just in case it comes in handy.

Look, they almost did it: http://www.fmwconcepts.com/imagemagick/unperspective/index.php