Codes are omnipresent! Some were written by the greatest writer of all - God! Most of the time we mortals fail to recognise them or understand their import; forget about making any improvements in them. All the software that runs our modern world, right from our mobile phone to our laptop, traffic lights, billboards, smart TV, online shopping, the mysterious world of finance; you name it, are all based on various code that people like you and I have written. On reflection discount me since I have not written a single line of code ever. I can't do it even if my life depended on it! Ironically life can actually depend on a code!
In the IKEA store code 99 is announced to alert all employees if a kid is wandering. Considering there are all those hiding places it can mean the difference between a lost child and one united with parents. In the Walmart store, code 99 is a little starker. It tells all employees of an emergency and for the male staff to drop everything and rush to the spot to deal with it. Reportedly Police use code 99 to report 'reckless operation'. Stopping it can surely save lives.
The importance of this code was brought home to me the other day as I was watching a report from inside an emergency room of a hospital. During the forty-odd minutes, the correspondent was in there, code 99 was announced six times. What it means in an ER is for physicians to rush and provide immediate help to a patient needing resuscitation. In plain speak, it means a patient in dire straits struggling to breathe! Its critical nature is highlighted by the fact that catastrophically four of the six patients were lost during those forty minutes! Code 99! Life does depend on it!
According to the largely unreliable Wikipedia 9 out of the 10 most polluted cities are in India. Obviously breathing is not as easy as it should be. I do not know who answered code 99 but recent reports in the media suggest that Dauladhar mountain range is visible from Jalandhar city, some 213 km. away. It is a first time such an event has happened in the living memory. Air is so crisp and clean. India's capital Delhi is perennially choked with dust and particulate matter. One of worst places to be for individuals with respiratory challenges. Haze is sometimes so thick that the airport has to halt operations and divert flights because of poor visibility. Someone has answered code 99 there and friends are reporting clear blue skies. The kind they have never seen! Pollution? What is that?
World is in a lockdown mode. One little unfamiliar pathogen has brought the mighty human race to its collective knees. Human race is in the ER in more ways than one. When they go out and buy entire shelves of food leaving nothing for others, and when they come to fisticuffs over a roll of toilet paper, someone needs to shout out code 99. Human selfishness is chokingly nauseating There are stories that entire group of infected people callously and at times criminally spread this pathogen to others. Spitting on food, on currency and on people. Hid their contagious state and gathered in public! If it is not being in a moral, mental and ethical ER than tell me what is it?
Most people are doing alright with a lot less on one hand and a lot more on the other. Less jobs, less money, less going out, less partying. There is more stress, more fear, more uncertainty but more time for the family. Gas is cheaper than it has been in decades and there is no where to go. However there is that blue sky and being thankful for what you have - a life.
According to the largely unreliable Wikipedia 9 out of the 10 most polluted cities are in India. Obviously breathing is not as easy as it should be. I do not know who answered code 99 but recent reports in the media suggest that Dauladhar mountain range is visible from Jalandhar city, some 213 km. away. It is a first time such an event has happened in the living memory. Air is so crisp and clean. India's capital Delhi is perennially choked with dust and particulate matter. One of worst places to be for individuals with respiratory challenges. Haze is sometimes so thick that the airport has to halt operations and divert flights because of poor visibility. Someone has answered code 99 there and friends are reporting clear blue skies. The kind they have never seen! Pollution? What is that?
World is in a lockdown mode. One little unfamiliar pathogen has brought the mighty human race to its collective knees. Human race is in the ER in more ways than one. When they go out and buy entire shelves of food leaving nothing for others, and when they come to fisticuffs over a roll of toilet paper, someone needs to shout out code 99. Human selfishness is chokingly nauseating There are stories that entire group of infected people callously and at times criminally spread this pathogen to others. Spitting on food, on currency and on people. Hid their contagious state and gathered in public! If it is not being in a moral, mental and ethical ER than tell me what is it?
Most people are doing alright with a lot less on one hand and a lot more on the other. Less jobs, less money, less going out, less partying. There is more stress, more fear, more uncertainty but more time for the family. Gas is cheaper than it has been in decades and there is no where to go. However there is that blue sky and being thankful for what you have - a life.
These are very challenging times indeed but it too shall pass! To come out smelling like roses from this mess we need to call out code 99 ourselves and respond to code 99 ourselves; for our own sake. Human society must learn to thrive with a lot less consumption, a lot less pollution, less greed and a lot more compassion. We will get over this hump but must always remember these times when political power, untold riches, designer brands, luxury yachts, sports car on the driveway and material things meant nothing when gasping for a breath of air!
Code 99 , Code 99 !
Code 99 , Code 99 !
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