Author: Imran Saeed

Too old for technology… NOT!

You are never too old to learn a new skill or hobby.

by Sherri Meinke

This winter, I had one of my computer students attempt to teach me to knit. Needless to say, I was dropping stitches, pulling the yarn too tight… it windows was an absolute nightmare. I was frustrated that I could not master the simple skill of a basic knitting stitch. It definitely humbled me and made me think of how many of my students get frustrated in class with computers. Do I left click or right click? How many times do I click? It enlightened me to be more patient when the same student asks the same question over and over and over. The statement “I’m too old to learn” is hogwash!! Help is out there! I can attest, I love working with my senior citizen students more than any other demographic.

Click the link below to read the full article.

via Too old for technology… NOT!.

What is the origin of the phrase “thinking outside of the box”?

There is a famous puzzle. 9 dots arranged in a square, like this

Your job is to connect all of the dots using only 4 straight lines without lifting your hand off the paper, crossing each dot only once. The only way to do it is to extend at least one of the lines beyond the perimeter of the “box”.

This solution never occurs to most people. They see a box, and their thinking is limited by that.

Click below to check out the book by Mike Vance.

outside_of_the_box

Typing ‘ﷺ’ in MS Word and MS Office Documents

To type ﷺ in MS Word or any MS office Document:

(1) Type FDFA.

(2) Type ‘Alt+x’. (Hold on to ‘Alt’ key and press ‘x’ key.) As soon as you type ‘Alt+x”, ‘FDFA’ is converted to ﷺ

Unicode for ‘ﷺ’ is ‘FDFA’.

Below table gives Unicode Values of common Arabic Words/Phrases:

Arabic Phrase/Word English Transliteration Unicode
ﷲ Allah FDF2
ﷺ Sall Allāhu ʿalay-hi wa-sallam FDFA
ﷴ Mohammed FDF4
ﷳ Akbar FDF3
ﷶ Rasool FDF6
ﷻ Jallajalaalahu FDFB
ﷹ Salla FDF9
ﷸ Wa-salam FDF8
ﷷ Alayhe FDF7
ﷵ Salam FDF5
ﷱ Qala FDF1
ﷰ Salla FDF0

For example, if you want to type ﷲ, then

(1) Type ‘FDF2’.

(2) Type ‘Alt + x’ (Hold on to ‘Alt’ key and press ‘x’ key). MS Word or any Office document will then convert FDF2 to ﷲ.

For the Unicode for all the Arabic characters, refer to this link.

Note: This technique works for all MS Office products. In case, due to some issue, if it doesn’t work for you, then add ‘U+’ to the Unicode and repeat the steps mentioned above. For example, for typing ﷺ, type ‘U+FDFA’ and type Alt+x.

To know the general techniques for inputting characters via Unicode in Windows, Mac, Linux, etc., check this Wikipedia link. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode_input).