Should one invest in Lithium related stocks?

Well, if you have not, it is the right time. Use of Fossil fuel sources for power generation and automobiles will soon be history. Even some traditional energy companies are seeing the light of the day. 

 Lithium is a scarce element. Because of its reactivity (number 3 in the periodic table after Hydrogen) it is not found in nature except with compounds that are a product of reaction of lithium with other elements. 

According to one source (https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-top-lithium-producing-countries-in-the-world.html), Australia, Chile, China, Argentina, Zimbabwe, Portugal and Brazil.   

In the US, Nevada seems to have some lithium(http://www.lithiummine.com/lithium-mining-in-usa).

According to (https://auto.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/lithium-reserve-found-in-mandya-near-bengaluru/74183545), reserves of lithium, a rare metal critical to build batteries for electric vehicles, have been discovered in Mandya, 100 km from Bengaluru. Not too far from where I was born!

2021 to 2025 will be the years of Lithium and you should not miss out. 

Here are some Lithium related stocks:

LIVENT CORPORATION(LTHM)

Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA(SQM)

Albemarle Corp., (ALB)

What is the difference between SQL and DAX?

 They are not the same. They are different but both of them have to do with working with data. DAX is Microsoft specific but SQL is not. They share some vocabulary.

Structured Query Language (SQL)

"SQL is a domain-specific language used in programming and designed for managing data held in a relational database management system (RDBMS), or for stream processing in a relational data stream management system (RDSMS). It is particularly useful in handling structured data, i.e. data incorporating relations among entities and variables."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL

Data Analysis Expressions (DAX)

"Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) is a library of functions and operators that can be combined to build formulas and expressions in Power BI, Analysis Services, and Power Pivot in Excel data models."

Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) Reference - DAX | Microsoft Docs

Are you allergic to substances and vaccines?

  As I have had severe food related allergic reaction 9twice several years apart) which was diagnosed as 'anaphylaxis', this warning is very timely, although I am certain to be asked about my allergies. The reaction is nasty as it creates an obstruction to breathing and swallowing. You feel as if you have swallowed a box of stabler pins.

Severe reaction to Pfizer's vaccine was first reported in the UK. 

So far, 2 cases in Britain and one in Alaska, USA has been reported. In all these cases there was a severe anaphylaxis reaction that needed hospitalization. 

The following site may be accessed to report any such reaction:

https://coronavirus-yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk/

The British regulatory agency has issued the following:

"....

Any person with a history of anaphylaxis to a vaccine, medicine or food should not receive the Pfizer/ BioNTech vaccine. A second dose should not be given to anyone who has experienced anaphylaxis following administration of the first dose of this vaccine.

“Anaphylaxis is a known, although very rare, side effect with any vaccine. Most people will not get anaphylaxis and the benefits in protecting people against COVID-19 outweigh the risks...."

The above is copied from the following:

"https://www.gov.uk/government/news/confirmation-of-guidance-to-vaccination-centres-on-managing-allergic-reactions-following-covid-19-vaccination-with-the-pfizer-biontech-vaccine"

A health care worker was hospitalized after experiencing serious allergic reaction to the Pfizer vaccine in Alaska. The person is still in the hospital. It appears her allergic reaction (anaphylaxis) is believed to be the similar to that suffered by the two in Britain. The patients in Britain carried with them EpiPen-like devices to counteract the allergic reaction. 

In USA, federal regulators authorized with the following warning,

"Health care providers were warned not to give the vaccine to anyone with a “known history of a severe allergic reaction” to any component of the vaccine, which they said was a standard warning for vaccines".

More here:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/health-care-worker-had-serious-allergic-reaction-after-pfizer-s-covid-vaccine/ar-BB1bYU3e?ocid=msedgntp

Anaphylaxis:

Anaphylaxis: First aid - Mayo Clinic

When do I get my pandemic related stimulus check?

 You might have already gotten yours. If not, when you try to access 'Get My Payment' page you may see this.

And following the links you may get to this page. 

It looks like you can claim this in your 2020 Tax return. However, since the process is slow you may still get a check by December 31, 2020.

Good luck!

How does 'Drag to flash fill' works in MS EXCEL?

 The first two columns have the 'first' and 'last' names in them. Now I want to flash fill column C. I am not going to use a function or another way of concatenating the 'first' and 'last' names to come up with the last name in column C.

The icon shown in the next image will be useful for flash filling.

Now type a pattern such as 'Jay Krish' in the first row of Column C. Note this is just a pattern. 

Now place your cursor in column C's first row and click the icon shown previously.

The rest of the rows follow the pattern of the first row. You also see the flash fill icon on your data row.

How does dragging to fill rows of a column work in MS Excel work?

 Microsoft Excel is built for productivity and dragging the mouse on an Excel sheet is one such trick that increases the productivity.

It is better that I explain with examples.

In this example, you just place a number in a cell.

Drag down as suggested.

Well, this is not interesting. It just COPIED the starting cell.  This is because, the default drag-down operation is COPY.

In the above if you choose the option Fill Series, it will fill the consecutive numbers starting from 1.

Another example here. I just entered the first date as 1/1/2021 and dragged down and this is what I get.

Here is another example.

Well, here is an example. In the first column I have the first name of a client, in the second I have the last name. In the third column, I use the CONCAT () function to fill the first name. I just have to do this for the first row. 

After evaluating the function, I just DRAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG! Voila, it fills the rest.

Instead of CONCAT (), the following also works.

Click here to see how 'flash fill' works.

https: //How does 'Drag to flash fill' works in MS EXCEL?

How much (number of doses) of the COVID-19 vaccine does India need?

 India needs 1.6 billion doses to cover 800 million people and achieve 'herd immunity' according to this article.

India has purchased so far,

• 500 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine
• 1 billion of US's NOVAVAX
• 100 million doses of Sputnik V from Russia's Gamaleya Laboratory

This above is as of November 30 according to data gathered by Duke University Global Health Innovation Center.

According to Aljazeera news there are three priority groups in India:

10 million healthcare workers

20 million front-line workers (police, military, Firefighters etc.)

270 million other vulnerable people (Age>50, etc.)

How do you use logical operators in Google Sheets?

 All you need is to use the category 'Function->Logical' in the drop-down of the Insert Menu item shown here:

   

You can choose the operator you want such as 'AND'

AND operator takes two arguments and provides the result. Read the explanation that shows up as a drop-down.

Exaample 1: I have three numbers in three cells as shown

In the above you can see B1 is > than B2 and the answer is true.

Example 2: You need not give cell references to evlauate the result of an AND operation as shown below. Obviously, the result of 1>100 is 'false'

The following from the link 'Learn more' above.

AND function

The AND function returns true if all of the provided arguments are logically true, and false if any of the provided arguments are logically false.

Sample Usage

AND(A2 = "foo", A3 = "bar")

AND(TRUE,FALSE,TRUE)

AND(A1:A10,B1:B10)

AND(0,1,2,3)

Syntax

AND(logical_expression1, [logical_expression2, ...])

• logical_expression1 - An expression or reference to a cell containing an expression that represents some logical value, i.e. TRUE or FALSE, or an expression that can be coerced to a logical value.

• logical_expression2, ... - [ OPTIONAL ] - Additional expressions or references to cells containing expressions representing some logical values, i.e. TRUE or FALSE, or expressions that can be coerced to logical values.

Notes

• The number 0 is logically false; all other numbers (including negative numbers) are logically true.

See Also

OR: The OR function returns true if any of the provided arguments are logically true, and false if all of the provided arguments are logically false.

NOT: Returns the opposite of a logical value - `NOT(TRUE)` returns `FALSE`; `NOT(FALSE)` returns `TRUE`.

Examples

Returns TRUE if all arguments are TRUE, returns FALSE if any element is FALSE, accepts both logical_value and range parameter.

How to add text strings in MS Excel?

Actually, it is very easy. You just need to use the 'text related function CONCATENATE. This same is also used in SQL Server (all versions).

Here are three screen shots which are self-explanatory.

Bringing up the functon CONCAT in Excel.

Inserting the variables 'Jay' and ',Krishnaswamy' into the function.

 The result of evaluating the function

More here,

CONCAT function - Office Support (microsoft.com)

Is it OK to get teeth cleaned during this COVID-19 season?

 This question must be on everybody's mind. It is up to the dental service providers to help us out. They are principally guided by the 

Dental association:

https://success.ada.org/en/practice-management/patients/infectious-diseases-2019-novel-coronavirus?utm_source=adaorg&utm_medium=VanityURL

And they in turn depend on CDC and OSHA as they should be.

Despite these recommendations, patients are not too happy to walk in to get their teeth cleaned as the dentist's office are small and sealed due to weather related conditions. Also, there is the question of waiting for the dentist/hygienist to be free to attend you.

I could not get answers on the ADA site and I have sent these questions:

I will share, if I get an answer.

How can we convert the Excel data table to Access?

 Excel Table is Excel data converted to a table.

Excel application allows you to export excel data in an Excel sheet in two ways.

1. Create PDF/XPS Document

2. Allows you to change the File Type

The following filetypes are possible:

There is no direct way you can go from Excel to Access but there are a number of ways you can do.

Here is a simple procedure of taking Excel data to Access.

We start with a simplest data in a sheeet. Use File|SaveAs and save it as a CSV file shown here.

Create a new database from Access

Now all you need to do is to import into an Access application.

Open the Access database and click on External Data. Now click New Data Source as shown and from going to submneu you can get data from a file saved in several formats incouding CSV. Click on File|Excel.

This opens up 'Get External Data-Excel Spreadsheet'. Browse and select the CSV file you created and accept the default for import, Import the source data into a new table in the current database.

Huh! Editor sucks!!

Click OK. The Import Spreadsheet Wizard comes up showing your data in the Excel sheet.

Click Finish. Your data is in an Access table as shown.

If you need to bring in your data, follow the steps. For problems contact me.