Rajesh's Blog

It’s been an Year…

2012-02-10T18:16:00.001+05:30

It’s been almost an year since my last post, being busy with important happenings in real-life, the longevity of no internet days are the reasons for this paucity. Though didn’t write anything throughout the year, my mind never stopped thinking about writing, out of those hundreds of ideas/incidents only few are worth sharing like “My Encounter with Talking Dog”, “The Night I Traveled with Super Woman”, “The Alluring Dreams” and “An Untitled Thriller”. I definitely share these incidents with blogger world sooner.

Meanwhile, I kept myself busy with reading books, learning new technologies in professional life, enjoying sitcoms like never before, and as usual balancing my diet and work-outs.

Reading Books: Throughout the year couple of my friends’ suggested me wide variety of readings. These guys influenced me so strong that I wanted to read 1000 books. Current book shelf score is 60/1000 hope one day I reach the mark. Malcolm Gladwell’s “Blink” and Sigmund Freud’s “Interpretation of Dreams” are among the best readings of the year.

Enjoying Sitcoms: I used to watch over 200 movies per year during the salad days of MUMBAI life. But due to the catchy phrases, mind-boggling comedy timings, and short and sweet length of the episodes made me watch sitcoms almost daily. Now I am a regular follower of CBS comedies “HIMYM”, “The Big Bang Theory” and “Two and a Half Men”. Thanks to STAR WORLD for acting as INDIA’s CBS. Apart from these sitcoms I got the privilege to watch Stan Lee’s Spider-Man and The HULK. These anime gave lot of insights on many things that I barely knew in childhood.

Diet and work-outs: Completely kept myself away from gym throughout the year. But sporadically pushed myself in skipping and jogging. Cycling is something I want to try very fondly, waiting for better time and place. Coming to diet, increased the intake of Carb’s, gradually reduced the intake of Milk from 3/4ltrs per day to NILL and replaced it with Coconut water and Chaas.

Anticipate on tenterhooks for next post. Hakuna Matata.

Cipher...

2011-02-28T22:15:00.000+05:30

di-dit dah di-di-dit, dah-di-di-dit dit dit dah-dit, di-dah-di-dit dah-dah-dah dah-dit dah-dah-dit, dah di-dit dah-dah dit, dah di-di-di-dit di-dah dah, di-dit, di-di-di-dit di-dah di-di-di-dah dit, dah-dit dah-dah-dah dah, di-di-dit di-di-di-dit di-dah di-dah-dit dit dah-di-dit, dit-dah dah-dit dah-di-dah-dah dah di-di-di-dit di-dit dah-dit dah-dah-dit, dah-dah-dah di-di-di-dah dit di-dah-dit, di-di-di-dit dit di-dah-dit dit. dah-di-di-dit dit di-dit dah-dit dah-dah-dit, dah-dah-dah dah-di-dah-dit dah-di-dah-dit di-di-dah di-dah-dah-dit di-dit dit dah-di-dit, di-dit dah-dit, dah-dah dah-di-dah-dah, dah-dah-dah di-dah-dah dah-dit, di-dah-dah dah-dah-dah di-dah-dit di-dah-di-dit dah-di-dit, di-di-dah-dit dah-dah-dah di-dah-dit, dah di-di-di-dit dit, di-dah-dah-dit di-dah di-di-dit dah, di-di-dah-dit dit di-dah-dah, dah-dah dah-dah-dah dah-dit dah di-di-di-dit di-di-dit, di-dah dah-dit dah-di-dit, di-di-dit dah-dah-dah dah-dah dit, di-dit dah-di-dit dit di-dah di-di-dit, di-dat di-dah-dit dit, dah dah-dah-dah dah-dah-dah, dah-dah di-di-dah dah-di-dah-di di-di-di-dit, di-dah-dah-dit dit di-dah-dit di-di-dit dah-dah-dah dah-dit di-dah di-dah-di-dit, dah dah-dah-dah, dah-di-dit di-dit di-di-dit dah-di-dah-dit di-di-dah di-di-dit di-di-dit, di-dah di-dah-dit dit, dah di-di-di-dit dit, di-dah-dit dit di-dah di-di-dit dah-dah-dah dah-dit di-di-dit, di-di-dah-di dah-dah-dah di-dah-dit, dah di-di-di-dit di-dit di-di-dit, dah-dah-dit di-dah di-dah-dah-dit. di-di-di-dit dah-dah-dah-dah di-dah-dah dit di-di-di-dah dit di-dah-dit, dah di-dah-dit dah-di-dah-dah di-dit dah-dit dah-dah-dit, dah dah-dah-dah-dah dah-di-dah-dit dah-dah-dah dah-dah dit, di-di-dah di-dah-dah-dit, di-dah-dah di-dit dah di-di-di-dit, di-di-dit dah-dah-dah dah-dah dit, di-dah di-dah-dit dah di-dit dah-di-dah-dit di-dah-di-dit dit di-di-dit, di-di-dit dah-dah-dah dah-dah-dah dah-dit dit di-dah-dit. Dah di-dit di-dah-di-dit di-dah-di-dit, dah di-di-di-dit di-dah dah-dit, dah-di-dah dit dit di-dah-dah-dit, dah-di-dit di-dah-dit dit di-dah dah-dah di-dit dah-dit da-dah-dit, di-dah dah-dit dah-di-dit, di-dah dah-di-dah-dit dah, dah dah-dah-dah, di-dah dah-di-dah-dit di-di-di-dit di-dit dit di-di-di-dah dit, dah di-di-di-dit dit, dah-di-dah-dit di-dah-dit dit di-dah dah-dah di-di-dit.

11

2010-09-05T05:10:00.001+05:30

Off late, one of my friends shared this link about confidence in Facebook; I was going through other related searches and then I saw this video. Sadly, sometimes algebra makes people skeptical but simple tricks and practice can make everyone certain. So I wanted to share couple of tricks regarding timeses and divisions w.r.t number eleven.

The first one is about the timeses of 11. For example, if you want to find 11 times of 532

i) your answer consist of right most digit as it is (here it is 2) then

ii) add on its immediate left hand side (LHS) digit to it(i.e. 2+3= 5)

iii) and place it towards the LHS in result(i.e., 52) repeat the same process with all the remaining digits towards LHS, one by one, and at the end you will get the result as 532*11=5852

See it below in detail:

First take the right most digit i.e., 2,
Then immediate LHS digit is 3, sum it up with earlier digit i.e., 2, sum is 2+3 =5, place it to the LHS of previous result i.e., 52
Next immediate LHS digit is 5, sum it up with earlier digit i.e., 3, sum is 3+5=8, place it to the LHS of previous result i.e., 852
Repeat the same steps till you reach the extreme right digit of the given number and you get 5852 as final result.
Key step in this trick is, if there is no carry-forwards, we will go ahead with simple addition of adjacent digits, if there is any carry-forward from previous addition (take an example of 11 times of 2365, when we are adding digits 5, 6 we get the total 11, then place the units digit value (here it is 1) to the LHS of previous result set (here it would be 15) and carry-forward the remaining digit to the next step. The end result of the example is thus 26015.

The second one is about whether a given number is divided by 11 or not. It’s very simple and indeed we can calculate it faster than the machine sometimes!!!

If the sum of the odd positioned digits is equivalent to sum of the even positioned digits of the given number, then it is divided by 11.

For example in the above result 26015, the even positioned digits are 6, and 1; their sum is 7. And the odd positioned digits are 2, 0, and 5; their sum (2+0+5=7) is 7, which is equivalent to the sum of the even positioned digits. So the given number is divided by 11.

We can imply the same trick with little modifications to the operations related to the numbers 22, 33, 44, so on and so forth.

Travelogue: Ramoji Film City

2010-07-14T17:25:00.003+05:30

My friend Simon and I have had unsuccessful plans to visit Ramoji Film City (RFC, the largest film studio complex in the world) in the past. All those times it was a wild goose chase for us as someone or the other from our friend circle couldn’t make it on time, eventually we scrapped all the plans.

Last week I have been to home for vacations. And this time Simon and I managed to visit RFC. There are ample of packages to visit RFC nonetheless we opted for a regular one-day trip offered by a private travels. We covered the below events in exact order.

Eureka
Caterpillar show
Vintage bus tour
Photoshoot
Lunch @ Alampana
Kripalu caves
Spirit of Ramoji Show and
Stunt show

The trip was enthralling and worth sharing.

My Turn-ons of the trip:

Hoola-hoop twirled by a lady performer was Stupendous. I couldn’t capture the stunt but this is what it was like.
Delicious hyderabadi biryani was available at regular restaurant rates.
Spectacular locations and
Pollution free air.

My Turn-offs of the trip:

Potty rooms @ the entrance (can’t compete with the counter parts of multiplex locations, huge scope for improvement) and
Hot sunny weather.

P.S: Apart from RFC trip I felt titanic difference in pollution (excessive use of motor-bikes, people in Hyderabad prefer motor-bikes to bicycles to go to next street) this time in Hyderabad. I became ill because of the pollution and I am bit scared to relocate in Hyderabad now because of the pollution.I may come up with another article in regard of my contribution towards conservation.

Travelogue: Janjira Fort and Kashid Beach

2010-06-19T01:59:00.060+05:30

As monsoon season began in Mumbai, my friends suggested for a trip to one and only impregnable fort of Maharashtra, i.e., Janjira fort and a beach near by the town called Kashid. And we have been to the place last weekend. I wanted to share my experiences of the trip with the blogger world.

My Turn-Ons of the tour:
   My Gang
   Long journey in cab and boat
   Videos captured with my N97 mini
   and Below snaps

My Turn-Offs of the tour:
Humidity through out the tour
and Sun burns

P.S.: Bridget is the trigger for this article.

Evolution...what???

2010-05-22T15:38:00.001+05:30

During Aurangabad tour, my friend asked me, “What could be the reason for moon-phase?” I have asked the same question to many of friends, but nobody could answer the exact reason, except this. That befuddlement, lead me to learn the rudiments of EARTH. So I dipped into “A Brief History of Time” that ignited an interest to know about our (human) evolution so I skimmed “Human Evolution and its Uniqueness”.

Stephen Hawking in his book “A Brief History of Time”, discussed about how the earth formed from solar nebula, the probabilities of “Big Bang”, nature of “Black Holes”, evolution of earth w.r.t “Space Time” and composition of earth with various factors of Universe, how human beings formed from the star dust, probability of life on outer-space and nevertheless existence of GOD!!! Apart from the book he wrote, the author himself is an inspiring persona to know about.

C.V.Rao, specialized in physics from Andhra University, presented the human evolution on a large canvas with broad strokes about the evolution of mankind, in his “Human Evolution and its Uniqueness”. The book dealt with the concept of “cosmic evolution”, “origin of life on earth”, various phases of human evolution like “Homo Erectus”, “Neandertals”, ”Cro-Magnon”, “Homo Sapiens” and about their respective living conditions, life style in a detailed manner.

There may be ocean full of concepts about evolution of Universe, these books lead me to understand a tiny drop of it and increased my interest in anthropology.

Feeling-->Interest-->Hobby-->???

2010-04-17T02:07:00.003+05:30

It starts out as a feeling, then it grows into an interest,

It starts out as an interest, and then it grows into a hobby.

Yes, I wanted to share about my hobbies and interests with the blogger world. I have always been inquisitive to learn the unknown through out my life. That zeal is the genesis for lots of my interests, which eventually grow into hobbies.

Coin collection,

Drawing,

Reading,

Traveling,

Social networking,

and Blogging almost all of them, started as interests and turned out as hobbies.

Now if I retrospect, the memories of how I used to save my pocket money to purchase GLUE to stick all the cricketer’s stills in a notebook (It was my first hobby), are like patterns seen through a teleidoscope and there are many more memories I can cherish for lifetime. I am glad that I met the most enthusiastic and empathetic people, who also share hobbies and interests as that of mine. : )

P.S.: Poem in the beginning of the article is inspired by Regina Specktor’s “No need to say Goodbye”.

2009 readings...

2010-03-12T17:32:00.000+05:30

During the salad days of blogging, i thought of sharing one of my Google docs in blog. Today, i made that thought into action. I shared a spreadsheet, that embodies the volumes i read in the year 2009. I am planning to read more volumes in the year 2010.

P.S.: Yep, I do read with sluggish speed. I am planning to improve it.

Not a Gordian Knot, but....

2010-02-20T13:28:00.004+05:30

“Whenever you come across a new chapter, before learning it, ask your teacher, how is it going to help you in real life.”-One of my Mathematics teachers quoted at a class room in the late 90's. At that moment i didn't ask him the question popped in my mind, "how trigonometry, matrices, geometry, or reasoning is going to help me in real life?"
Recent past i came across through a puzzle, which took couple of minutes to solve. But later it reminisced me my teacher's quote, the concepts i read so far and how/where i am employing them in real life. I don't want to get into the nitty-gritty of my thoughts in this regard here. But the intension of this article is
1) to let you think how the stuff that you read/learn in schools/colleges/post academics is helping/helped you in real life,
2) to allure you to solve the puzzle, though its not a Gordian Knot, and
3) to have regularity in blog posts.

The so hyped conundrum is as follows:-

XX
*X
-----
XX
+
XX
-----
XX
-----
Use numeric values 1 to 9 in place of 'X', each digit must be used only once.
Do the math, happy thinking....aloha.... :)

Filler...

2010-01-30T13:00:00.002+05:30

I have been cerebrating about my next post after my travelogue. I have had few thoughts to write about “being GOD”, a puzzle that I come across, an innocent doubt of my friend about Moon Phase that freaked me out for almost fifteen days, and my (learning) experience as a PL/SQL panel member for ||||||||||| walk-ins. But being occupied with “A Brief History of Time”, “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes”, and “living”; I couldn’t post them so far. I felt I need more space-time to post them. But I am sharing/organizing information in FB, Reader and Twitter regularly. I am realizing the pros and cons of these applications now more than ever (I wonder why I feel the same every time). Hope to come up with another article soon.

Travelogue:Tour De Aurangabad....

2010-01-04T13:27:00.011+05:30

Traveling is one of my interests. From long time I am planning to post an article about a travelogue. Off late I have been to Aurangabad, to cover Bibi Ka Maqbara (aka Replica of Taj), Ajanta, and Ellora Caves. With this tour I have covered all the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Maharashtra.

Ajanta Caves are rock-cut cave monuments dating from the second century BCE, containing paintings and sculpture considered to be masterpieces of both "Buddhist religious art" and "universal pictorial art". My friend tried to capture beauty of Ajanta and Ellora in the below clips.

Clip1: @Ajanta

Clip2:@Ajanta

At Ellora Caves temples and monasteries were built between the 5th century and 10th century. The 12 Budhist (caves 1-12), 17 Hindu (caves 13-29) and 5 jain (caev 30-34) caves, bulit in proximity, demonstrate the religious harmony prevalent during this period of Indian History.

Clip3:@Ellora

P.S.: Uploading the videos to blogger is a nice learning experience. And its funny to watch myself from behind.

The One

2009-12-17T11:19:00.001+05:30

From the past 20 years, I have been searching for THE ONE, my perfect match. Legend says many a men live their entire life without finding THE ONE. Few, compromise with “ONE or MANY” they got and few, assume that the ONE they have is THE ONE. But whenever I find a ONE, back in my mind, behind the curtain, the little fella sitting on the stool, asks “is this THE ONE????” Till last weekend it was always the other ONE. But last weekend, a miracle happened. I have been to shopping and I find a ONE at the mall. And today when we are together for the first time, I realized that I met THE ONE of my life. Every step I took with THE ONE on the aisle was like a swing in the clouds. From morning my heart is beating with a rhythm of jubilant feeling, my soul is doing salsa all the time. It’s awesome to be with THE ONE.

Weekend Buzz....

2009-12-08T17:21:00.003+05:30

I have been to Ind-SL third test match(day-4) at Breborne last weekend. I would like to share the trivia here.

Sad: Sachin fielded at deep cover point/backward (who was farthest from our stands :( )

Happy: Where as Sehwag/Sreesanth fielded in deep mid wicket/square leg (who was closest to our stands :) )

Boost: Sreesanth was interactive with audience (waving at them, giving thumbs up to them)

Dismay: Where as Sehwag was very dissociated with audience.

Observation: Sreesanth’s run-up was almost equal to the radius of the stadium, where as Zaheer’s was around 50% of that of Sreesanth's.

Deny: Almost 20,000 audiences appealed for an lbw to Harper whose response was a negative.

Phenomenon: SL lost five wickets on day-4. Out of which, one was before we stepped in the stadium, and one was after we stepped out of the stadium.

Comfort: Indian team was much disciplined in the ground. And eventually won the match :) :) :)

Mis(s)take...

2009-12-01T13:09:00.001+05:30

OK, yes it's a mistake. I know it’s a mistake, but there are certain things in life where you know it’s a mistake but you don’t really know its mistake because the only way to really know it’s a mistake is to make the mistake and look back and say ‘yep, that was a mistake.’ So really, the bigger mistake would be to not make the mistake, because then you’d go your whole life not really knowing if something is a mistake or not. And damn it, I made no mistakes! I’ve done all of this; my life, my relationship, my career, mistake-free. Does any of this make sense to you?

It's Awesome Times Awesome...Awesome Square...

2009-11-28T16:04:00.007+05:30

Ever since I was a kid, I have been passionate towards English language. I still can’t figure out the instinct that ignited impetuosity towards English language in me, and which made me a logophile!! There are umpteen people, movies and friends I adore; for their profound way of speech/dialogues and for their (creators) commanding knowledge on English language.

Till the first week of Oct’09, this movie stood right on top of my favorites list because of this character’s dialogues. But (I wonder why there is a BUT for everything in life?) in the first week of Oct’09 I met “How I Met Your Mother” aka “HIMYM” and it reached the top of the chart because of this character’s dialogues.

It’s a sitcom aired by CBS. The plot is about the main character Ted Mosby; in the year 2030 recounts to his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting their mother (which explains the title), about his friends and the stuff they did in NY.I give two reasons why this TV series has reached the top of my favorites chart and why it has taken a place in my blog.

1) Few dialogues, metaphors, and clichés used in this program are lame but the way they presented them are awesome and rib tickling.

2) Characterization; the characters Ted, Lily, and Marshall are loosely based on the characters of the show creators, which gave them, ease in chalking out the characters very natural and realistic.

Being a logophile, I asked many people “what could be the most beautiful word in English?” Finally this show answered me. It’s AWESOME.

Random thoughts about land contentions....

2009-11-14T14:15:00.020+05:30

During my journey towards Hyderabad last week, I saw “హైదరాబాద్ మాది రా, ఫ్రీ జోన్ ఎక్కడిది రా” (Hyderabad is ours, its not a freezone), a red and bold sentence on a wall. That reminded me few incidents about contentions for land and my thoughts in regard. viz.,

1) In my childhood, my teacher told me that "Andhra Pradesh (AP) consists of three regions namely Telangana, Rayalaseema and Kostha Andhra". I didn’t ask “Why there are three regions within a single state?” (This was one of those thousands of questions that bugged my brain for longtime in childhood). In the intervening years, new parties germinated in AP with the Separate Telangana concept and made news all over the world. But teachers are still teaching that "AP consists of three regions". :). I deem, People, who knew the story about Berlin-Wall, may not encourage the segmentation of a state into multiple states and erect barriers.

2) Years passed and I joined in an IT company, in Mumbai. One day a friend of mine told me that a local party members created rampage in Shiridi against the people from AP, because those people were migrants. That incident reminded me the strifes about,

(*) MUMBAI name: formerly Mumbai was called as Bombay ( few months back a local party threw stones on BombayDyeing show room for not changing its name to MumabiDyeing...yet!!!),

(*) And the turmoil of migrants from UP, Bihar and southern parts of

INDIA to Mumbai

I want to torch light on one thing here; “The Likes of Gandhiji, Nethaji, and Alluri faught for the freedom of

INDIA

, not for the freedom of Gujarat, Orissa or AP”. Then in independent

INDIA

what these local parties are fighting for? And what they did when NSG (includes guards from different states of

INDIA

, not only Maharashtra) rescuing TAJ victims on 11/26?

3) Globalization happened (and is happening) in every field, so is in my observation. When I was watching “RAW is WAR” in my adolescent age (a famous wrestling program) I didn’t realize why people in that Madison Square Garden booing a wrestler, carrying a Canadian Flag. And in the recent past I saw a sitcom where a New Yorker disparaging a Canadian,

Canada and even New Jersy!!!.

I realized that

America

is also not saved from the contentions for land. (I need not mention anything about Jerusalem, NY-NJ conflicts exclusively here.)

The response of Saladin in conversation with Balian from the film Kingdome Of Heaven, “Nothing. [walks away, then turns around with a pained look] Everything!” soothes me whenever I think about these contestations.

P.S.: I know my HK friend has his say about this article.

Waving.....

2009-10-31T15:24:00.006+05:30

I have been anticipating the Google Wave invitation from September 30^th (ever since the day it’s launched). Finally I got the invitation from a twitter friend couple of days ago. I tried to encapsulate few features of Wave in this article.

Google Wave is a web application that lets you easily communicate and collaborate with others. By Google Wave we can use the web to have conversations, share photos and files, work with others on documents, chat in real time, organize our information, post to blogs and more. It features tagging waves, dockable labels, personalized folders, Map gadgets, Yes/No/Maybe gadgets, Doctor Wave and many more.

Extension Gallery: A Google Wave extension (gadget) lets you add rich content and integrate with other systems. There is a provision to install few extensions namely Wave Sudoku, Conference, Video Chat Experience, Trippy, AccuWeather.com, and etc.

Trippy: is an itinerary, where we can create and scheduled our trips, dates and share them friends. A sample trip to New Delhi in February is given below.

Sudoku Gadget:

There are many features, which I need to reconnoiter in Wave. I am willing to post more articles about the features of Wave in future. Meanwhile I would like to finish this article by a coinage often used by my friend. i.e., “Google is the best thing that has happened to us in this 21^st century”. :)

P.S.: I will invite my friends to Wave, as soon as I get the credentials.

2 hours @hospital...

2009-10-27T16:49:00.009+05:30

I came to the office this morning half-hour early and started my routine work. Few minutes later one of my colleagues (mentioned as struggler henceforth) came (apparently languish) and expressed that he was agonized by severe stomach-pain (@lower abdomen). I tried to console him, told him to lie down on the desk and take deep breaths. With a sweaty face he cried that the pain was unbearable and complained that he never experienced such hazardous pain in his life time. I googled about the "pain in stomach" and it showed the horrifying results related to appendicitis. I probed him about few symptoms of so called appendicitis, but his response was negative. Then I catechized whether he had suffered from problems related to kidney stones in the past. “Alien thing to me” was his response still holding the lower abdomen tight. I couldn’t see him suffer more, so went to security guard and took a “Cyclopam” pill as first-aid. He had the pill. After couple of minutes two more colleagues came, doubted the pain might be due to appendicitis carnage inside the stomach. And suggested a visit to Doctor will better the situation.

Within minutes, the struggler, a helper and I were in “G****j Memorial Hospital”. I was in queue at out patient departure (OPD) for fifteen minutes, and then receptionist told me to fill a form as it is being our struggler’s first visit to their hospital. I was completely astonished, and recollected the memories of a famous film dialogue “form bharna jaroori hai kya?” (Is it mandatory to fill the form?). Having no choice, filled the form and paid the registration fee. Meanwhile, magical pill started doing wonders inside struggler’s stomach; he has been relieved greatly by then. We three sat near by door #3, where DR.X -the surgeon, was supposed to attend our struggler. The doctor’s name plate included a minimum of ten alphabets of English language; I remember only the last three letters U.S.A. A few minutes later, a house nurse came and suggested us to head towards casualty. By the time we entered the casualty, our struggler was no more a struggler. The doctor (I better address him as an RMP) in there couldn’t find who the patient among the three was. I helped him showing up the struggler. He did some normal check-ups and few stunts with BP APPARATUS confirmed the impish pain was beyond his limitations and referred us again to the surgeon at door #3. We three waited there for almost one-half hour. Meanwhile I recollected my past memories related to hospitals, Sidney Sheldon’s novel “Nothing Lasts Forever”, George Clooney’s television drama “ER”, and etc.

At around 11:00AM our surgeon at door#3 arrived, checked his patient and suggested to get couple of pathology reports and the magical “Cyclopam” pill again incase of future stomach-ache.

Then we three returned to the office and the rest his history.

P.S. Mr.Chetan Bhagat was inspiration of the title.

Experiments with My SQL....

2009-09-20T14:28:00.031+05:30

Of late I am working with My SQL server, so wanted to share my hands-on experience with blogger world.

Topics covered:
1) How to check My SQL server is up or not and how to start the server.
2) Various command to login to the My SQL server.
3) How to change/reset/recover the root/user passwords.
4) How to take the dump of a My SQL database to a file and how to import it from a file.
5) Executing queries from shell.

Start and Stop….
1) You can check whether My SQL server is up or not by simple unix command given below.
$ ps –ef|grep mysql
The command will show the mysql process running or not.

If the My SQL server is not running, it is very simple to start, execute the following commands in shell prompt.
a) $cd /etc/init.d
b) $./mysql start
The above commands make the My SQL server up.

To stop the My SQL server use
$etc/init.d/mysql stop

Logging in….
2) We can login to the server by any of the below given commands.
a) Without database argument:

$mysql –u root –p
In the above command –u signifies the option USER (in the command it is “root”) and –p signifies the option “database to be selected” (in the command we have not passed any argument). We will receive the prompt “Enter password:” give the corresponding password. Once we logged into the server it prompts “mysql>”, which is default, we can set the prompt to our desired one by the below command
mysql> prompt demo$
Prompt will be changed as shown below.
demo$

NOTE: In this article I have used default prompt for easier understandability.

We can see what are the databases existing in the server by following query.
mysql> show databases;

+--------------------+
| Database |
+--------------------+
| information_schema |
| mysql |
| test1 |
+--------------------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)
Now we can select any database by the following query.
mysql> use [databse_name];

Example:

mysql> use test1;

b) With database argument:

$mysql –u r oot –p test1
We will receive the prompt “Enter password:” give the corresponding password. Here in this command database to be selected is given at command prompt only.

c) Now we see the single line login to My SQL server:
$mysql --user=[user] --password=[password[ [databse]

Example:
$mysql --user=root --password=abc123 test1
Note: “double hyphens” (--) are required in mentioning the arguments, no spaces are allowed before and after “equal to” (=) symbol and the value passed after the password (abc123 in this example) is taken as database to selected, which is optional.

Passwords….
3) If we have not set the root password for My SQL, the server does not require a password at all to login. To set the password for the first time use the following command in shell prompt.
$mysqladmin –u root password NEWPASSWORD

If we want to change the password, use the command given below
$mysqladmin –u root –p ‘oldpassword’ password NEWPASSWORD

The same command can be used for changing the password for any user by mentioning the user id instead of “root”. For example to change the password for user “USER1” the command is as followed.
$mysqladmin –u USER1 –p ‘oldpassword’ password NEWPASSWORD

Or we can reset the password of any user using My SQL command prompt as shown below.
a) Login to the My SQL server
$mysql – u root –p
b) Select the databse
mysql> use mysql;
c) Change the password for user USER1
mysql> update user set password=PASSWORD(“NEWPASSWORD” )where user=’USER1’;
d) Reload the priviliges
mysql> flush priviliges;
mysql> exit

Even if we forgot the root password to login to My SQL database, we can login to database without the password, in the following way.

a) Stop the My SQL server process in shell
$/etc.init.d/mysql stop
b) Start the MySQL (mysqld) server/daemon process with the --skip-grant-tables option so that it will not prompt for password
$mysqld_safe –skip-grant-tables &
c) Connect to mysql server as the root user
mysql –u root
d) Setup new root password
mysql> use mysql;
mysql> > update user set password=PASSWORD(“NEWPASSWORD” )where user=’root’;
mysql> flush priviliges;
mysql> exit
e) Exit and restart MySQL server
$/etc.init.d/mysql stop
$/etc.init.d/mysql start
And now we can login to database with the new password we just set.

Taking the database Backup….
4) There is one simplest way to take the back up of a database by the below given command
$mysqldump –u [user] –p [databse] > backupfile.sql
Example:
$mysqldump -u root -p test1 > Mysql_backupfile.sql
By the above command we take the back up of “test1” database to a file “Mysql_backupfile.sql”.

To restore the database from a file is quite easier. Use the command below
$mysql –u [user] -p [database_to_be_restored] < Mysql_backupfile.sql
Example:
$mysql -u root -p test1 < Mysql_backupfile.sql

Executing queries from shell….
5) We can execute the insert/update queries from command prompt by using the following command.
$mysql [databse_name] < [filename] -u [user] -p
Example:
$mysql test1 < file1 -u root -p
Here in the file “file1” we can write our desired insert/update queries. (Each query terminated by a semicolon (;) and the next query in a new line). Execution of the command, prompts for the “root” user password, enter the corresponding password, the data in the “test1” database will be altered or inserted according to the queries given.

You can refer this link or contact me for any assistance in My SQL.

Do not revert/return 'back’

2009-09-08T12:32:00.005+05:30

We very often hear people using the word ‘back’ with both ‘revert’ and ‘return’. ‘We will be returning back to Hyderabad on the 20th.’ ‘The software company has asked us to revert back to the older version.’ In both these sentences, the word ‘back’ is unnecessary. When you revert to something, you are ‘returning’ or ‘going back’ to it. There is no need to use the word ‘back’ with ‘revert’.

*The new schedule is creating too many problems. Should we revert to the old one?

In legal contexts, the word ‘revert’ can be used to mean ‘to become the property of a person again.’

*If I lose the case, the property will revert to my brother.

SOURCE: THE HINDU

Google Street View

2009-08-19T13:26:00.015+05:30

Of late two of my friends have been to US. One has been to Philadelphia \fi-lə-ˈdel-fyə, -fē-ə\ (derived from Greek philein, to love, plus Greek adelphos, brother, i.e., the city of “Brotherly Love”). And the other one has been to Phoenix \fē'nĭks\ (A mythological bird, said to be the only one of its kind, which lives for 500 years and then dies by burning to ashes on a pyre of its own making, ignited by the sun. It then arises anew from the ashes).

Being inquisitive, I checked, how their respective flats/apartments looks like, in Google street view (GSV). GSV gives the omniscient feeling of any place in US, UK, NZ etc; especially if you are anticipated to visit the place. Though Google has launched this feature long time ago, this article is intended to let you know how to use GSV (if you are not familiar beforehand) and to show my friends’ apartments in U.S. :)

How to Use:

Step 1: Login to your Google account and click on "Maps" tab. If you don’t have Google account, you can use GSV from here. Give your desired address in the textbox displayed. Then it gives the destined location with a balloon mark (approximate location) as shown in the below screen shot.

Step 2: Double clicking on the navigation lines (white/green/yellow in color) leads you to the street view of that particular location as shown below screen shot.

Step 3: Drag and drop the stickman in the bird eye view map given at the extreme right hand corner, to navigate directly.GSV allows you to have 360° horizontal and 290° vertical panoramic views from a row of positions along the street, and 2X to 4X zoom of the ambience depending on the availability.

There are many buttons and tabs, privileged to be reconnoitered by you. Enjoy the panorama of the streets.

NOTE: Street View is not available in INDIA and many other countries till date.

Courage: The joy of living dangerously

2009-08-10T12:18:00.010+05:30

Prologue:
Frank Lucas a drug lord from America, Frank Abagnale Jr an American security consultant and former check forger, and Osho a spiritual guru, are the people whose way if thinking was utterly out of the box.
Usually I don’t follow the spiritual lectures and practices, but on 10th July, I saw this book, titled "Courage" written by Osho, in our office library. I thought of giving it a try and see what’s in it.

After couple of days, a friend of mine showed me a vedio of Osho’s addressing to his disciples. It was first time that I heard a speech about a particular English word by a spiritual guru, which left me stupefied.

About the book:
“Life is uncertain and insecure” this is what I heard from many people, but Osho addresses it in the other way. He says “Don’t call it uncertainty - call it WONDER”, “Don’t call it insecurity – call it FREEDOM”. He elucidates about courage and how to live life courageously/dangerously. He discusses about the importance of love, meditation, morals, ethics, dos and don’ts of human life. He addresses about the life before one’s birth, and the views of different communities/religions on how life will be after one’s death, with dainty examples. He also tells us (as in most of the other self-help books) to always get ready to accept the change when it knocks on your door, even if it leads you from bad to worse, you should be ready to accept and embrace the change (read book to know why).

I liked the following example regarding how we need to embrace the change. “When a human being is in mother’s womb, he/she gets everything from mother - food, breath and warmth. It is the best place in the world that a human being can ever live with out toiling much. But we can’t stay there for our lifetime, we have to accept the change and come out of the womb to face this world, where he/she has to strive for their endurance”.
There are few titillating stories like how George Bernard Shaw sold his books, how danger it is to ask time to a Punjabi at 12’o clock.

Few Lines from the book:
A boy was constantly scratching his head. His father looked at him one day and said, “Son why are you always scratching your head?”
“Well,” the boy responded. “I guess because I am the only one who knows it itches.”
The above four lines are enough to depict Osho’s wit and astuteness.

Epilogue:
On the whole I enjoyed the book.

Hand-me-up and hand-me-down

2009-08-01T01:54:00.013+05:30

Does the expression ‘hand-me-up’ exist?

Believe it or not, it does. People who have older brothers or sisters will certainly know what ‘hand-me-downs’ are. They are usually clothes which the older child has outgrown, and which the parents give to the next in line. If the clothes are still in good condition, they get handed down to the unfortunate third child. Sometimes, a child grows up wearing hand-me-downs! A ‘hand-me-up’ is the opposite of ‘hand-me-down’. In this case, it is the younger generation which passes things on to the older generation: parents, grandparents, etc. Young people today are very fond of gadgets: computers, IPods, and cell phones are some of the things they must have. They cannot survive without them. Once a particular model becomes outdated, some people immediately go to the market and buy the latest version. What do the youngsters do with the old gadget? Many choose to hand it over to their less tech savvy parents or grandparents. This handing over of used gadgets to the older generation is called ‘hand-me-up’.
*I got this laptop from my daughter. It’s a hand-me-up.

SOURCE: THE HINDU

WordWeb Dictionary

2009-07-23T17:03:00.004+05:30

Couple of months back, one of my friends was carrying “Word Power Made Easy”, the book which is accompanying me for the past fifty odd months, unfinished yet. The book deals with the etymology, pronunciation, and the usage of words. Since that day i am craving a bit more to learn new words. And whenever I encounter a new word, I check it in WordWeb Dictionary. Though it doesn’t deal with etymology, it beguiles with pronunciation and usage. Its my privilege to introduce you the "WordWeb Dictionary" in this post.

Quick look at WordWeb:-

The WordWeb contains, a text box where you can enter the word you are looking for, navigation buttons (highlighted in rounded rectangular) to check previous words, and a shortcut to web browser(second next button to navigation buttons). ). Two separate compartments, one to show which part of speech the given word belongs to, pronunciation of the word, meaning of the word, and the other to show "Nearest”, “Type of”, “Types of” “similar”, “synonyms”, “antonyms” and “see also” (few or all depending upon the availability) tabs.

The Tabs, Wikipedia and Wiktionary sails you through the contents of the current word's respective web pages.

And the last tab “WordWeb Online” will take you to the web page http://www.wordwebonline.com/, i.e., online Wordweb dictionary. The below highlighted tab “Translations” is very interesting, because it translates any given word to Spanish, French, German, or Italian and vice-versa.

There are many buttons and tabs, privileged to be reconnoitered by you.

How to get it??

Retrofitting WordWeb to your PC/lappy is as simple as it gets. Free WordWeb "exe" file is available here.

Key board Shortcut: Ctrl+Alt+w

Have fun time with the WordWeb dictionary.

Clipboard Hack Problem

2009-07-11T13:07:00.001+05:30

I have been cerebrating from day one i started blogging, that i should post technical articles which will be useful for everyone. In January 2008, one of my friends forwarded me an e-mail, which contained the risk involved in using Ctrl+C (used for copying text). And again couple of days ago, I received an e-mail from my office Infrastructure Services team, containing the same information. I felt the information is worth to share with everyone; the same ardor dragged me towards my office desk on a weekend. The content of the mail is condensed as below.

" Please be very careful when u press Ctrl+C ..

Here is some useful information for all.
Ctrl+C may be the most important work we do everyday. But it's not a very
safe thing to do. What happens when you press Ctrl+C
while you are On-line? We do copy various data by Ctrl + C for pasting
elsewhere.
This copied data is stored in clipboard and is accessible from the net by
a combination of JavaScript's and ASP.

Just try this:
1) Copy any text by Ctrl + C
2) Click the Link: < http://www.sourcecodesworld.com/special/clipboard.asp >
3) You will see the text you copied was accessed by this web page.

Do not keep sensitive data (like passwords, credit card numbers, PIN etc.)
in the clipboard while surfing the web. It is extremely easy to extract
the text stored in the clipboard to steal your sensitive information.

Solution is here...

To avoid Clipboard Hack Problem, do the following:
1. Go to internet options->security
2. Press custom level
3. In the security settings, select disable under Allow paste operations via script."

Now the contents of your clipboard are safe.. :)

My Favorite Dialogues...

2009-07-08T22:46:00.002+05:30

Most of my friends knew that i use some famous punch lines from films to make the conversations' luscious. In all,I like the dialogues of "Pirates Of The Caribbean" film series most. I will come up with one more post with all my favourite lines from the series. As of now, i tried hard to get the top 10 favourite dialogues i like in other films.

1) “Why so serious?”

- Joker, The Dark Knight

2) "This is John Connor. If you are listening to this message, you are the Resistance."

- John Connor, Terminator Salvation

3) “If you're going to point a gun, you'd better be ready to pull the trigger.”

- Marcus Wright, Terminator Salvation

4) “Did Caesar actually live here? “

- Alan Garner, The Hangover

5) "Koo-koo-ka-choo got screwed”

- Wolverine, X-Men Origins: Wolverine

6) "We are brothers JIMMY, brothers look after each other"

- Victor, X-Men Origins: Wolverine

7) “There's nothing like a first kiss.”

- Lucy, 50 first dates

8) "I'm listening"

- Frank Martin, Transporter

9) “Autobots, roll out!”

- Optimus Prime, Transformers

10) "I will be back"

- I know...you know this. :)

May be...

2009-07-04T02:40:00.001+05:30

I always enjoyed “MAY BE…” story.

I thought many times, to post this story but deep in my heart, I have a feeling that people "MAY BE..." thinking “Does this guy always tell stories?”

Lot of hullabaloo happened in my mind for a long time, and the result is... yet again one more story for you.

Many moons ago a thief lived in a kingdom. He was punished couple of times for pick-pocketing. He was produced in The King’s court again for the same crime. The king and the courtiers wanted to teach a lesson to all the thieves in the kingdom, so they verdicted death sentence to the thief.

The thief beseeched The King in many ways but, The King didn’t plead him.

Thief being wily tried one more trick.

“My lord, if you hang me to death, you will loose a great opportunity to ride a horse that can fly in the clouds”(praying to god in the heart to make everybody believe in his words).

The King and the courtiers were left in silence for few seconds and lost in their own imaginations about “the flying horse”.

“You can’t imagine what people think about you when you hold your inner ostrich egg right”
Darrel Bristow-Bovey said in “I Moved Your Cheese”.

“How?” The King asked by making a knot with his eye brows.

Being sensed that his plan started working, the thief told “My lord, provide me a black, healthy, Kladruber horse, and one month time with all the food I ask, I will feed the food to the horse and let it grow big wide wings on its back, so that it can fly. Then you can have the horse and hang me if you want”.

The King frenzied with his imagination about “the flying horse”, ordered courtiers to provide a separate cell and the horse that have all the attributes mentioned by the thief.

The thief in his special cell along with the Kladruber horse started enjoying a royal life from the next day.

The whole kingdom was waiting for the day to come. Especially the imaginations of the security guard of the thief’s cell was beyond the extremity of J.K.Rowling and George Lucas.

He was peeping into the cell every now and then, but there was no sign of a single feather germinated from horse’s back. He served variety food items ordered by the thief, with a curiosity of the end result. As the days were passed his curiosity got better of him. One day he asked the thief who was ready to take a nap, that “Three weeks over and you are hardly left over with less than ten days, I didn’t find anything special that make the horse fly?”

Thief cackled and told the security guard “it was a trick to defer my execution”.
Flabbergasted guard said “But on the thirty first day if horse doesn’t fly, you can’t elude the execution” with a perplexed sigh in his face.

“May be” (thief shrugged his shoulders)….. “May be!!!!?”(Security guard popped his eyes widely)

“May be...

May be, The King may change his mind and forgive me in these thirty days….
May be, my friends may plan, come and rescue me from jail…..
May be, I may get an opportunity to escape from the jail…..
May be, The King’s enemies may declare a war on our kingdom, and the King may forget about me, being busy in war...
May be...
May be...
May be... the horse may fly...” said the thief and went for his nap.

So friends "Hope is the only thing with FEATHERS, with which we can fly miles high", "never loose your hope in adverse conditions,and just try to trick the world around" :) :) :) !!!!...

Dream...

2009-06-15T15:29:00.001+05:30

I went to mirror to comb my hair….
The other side of the mirror…..

A knight neither elegant nor witty
Passing days in the army to meet his destiny,
To meet an angel…

One day an angel fell down to earth
After wounded in a fight with daemons

The knight looked after the angel.

He never knew she was an angel!!
He never knew she was his destiny!!

Days passed…angel’s wounds got healed.

She showered eternal love on the knight,
She introduced crying smiles,
She introduced laughing tears
To the knight… neither elegant nor witty.

He never knew she was an angel!!
He never knew she was his destiny!!

He enjoyed the good times and the bad times,
In the presence of the angel who never revealed her identity.

Who came from heavens!!
Who was his destiny!!

One day gods from heaven came and
Asked the angel to go with them

She looked at the knight…
Expecting….
“Stay with me forever”
From him.

He never knew she was an angel!!
He never knew she was his destiny!!

But the knight said nothing.

And…………….

The angel left him forever.

After decades of loneliness…
He realized……..
She was his destiny,
The angel he was waiting for…..

Now…..
Neither the angel can comedown to earth,
Nor the knight can go to heaven.

Other side of the mirror…
A knight neither elegant nor witty
Passing the days in the army to meet his destiny
(To meet his death, realizing that…
Death is the only way he can reach her….)

I have had many recurring dreams in sleep, but this SPECIAL DREAM always made me awake rest of the night…..
Date& Time: Sunday June 14, 2009 1:30 AM

"A New Religion? H+" Review

2009-05-23T11:51:00.001+05:30

The "H" in the title stands for Happiness, Humour, Help, Hope, and Health. Author (Edward De Bono) introduces us what is H+, how it is a religion, what are the similarities and disparities of A New Religion(H+) with few famous religions in the world.

Then he explains the importance of all the above H's in human life in this book.. His main emphasis is on the third "H" i.e., "HELP". As he is famous for explaining all his ideas with various new concepts, in this book he explains a new concept called "pons" based on "pontoons".He explains whole concept of "pons" wonderfully with real time examples.

He defines a new signal(unique action code) to identify the people who follows this "New Religion" as in other religions people have unique dress codes or unique identifications.

The author is famous for coining new words; In this book, he introduces us with few new words like "woligion", "waffo" and "warm form"

On a whole the book is worth reading once and if you follow the New Religion definitely there will be self satisfaction.

My first Post...Mosquito bit me…..

2009-05-10T02:08:00.003+05:30

I thought of so many articles for my first post, like “The Hope Story”, “Unix Scripting”, “Books I Read”, “My Domain”, etc….but this article was already prepared few days back, so as a starter I am posting the “Mosquito bit me”.

Mosquito bit me…..

“For the past two days I think a RAT might be biting me in the night while I was in sleep…” I said showing couple of scratch marks on my hands to my friend.

“No those marks are left by MOSQUITOES” my friend told by giving a glance as an entomologist to those scratches on my hand. That reminded me an old story I read in a news paper long back. Immediately I started telling the story to my friend, he listened to the story with patience though we were in a hurry to canteen to have lunch…The story went like this….

Long back a fisherman used to lead a miserable life. His wife being greedy never happy with the income they were getting. She dreamt of having Queens’ life in luxurious palaces.

A saint used to live on a mountain top near by. One day wife came to know about the powers possessed by the saint, with which he can give anything if one impresses him and if he feels they deserve it. Since then she used to bug her husband to go to the saint and beseech for wealth. But the husband being honest never went to the saint.

One day fisherman came home in the evening from fishing; he found that his wife was badly ill, he took her to the doctor but doctor said that there was no medicine to cure her illness and GOD only can save her. The word "GOD" reminded him the saint who lived on the mountain. So he decided to take her to the saint and plead him to cure her illness.

The fisherman took his wife onto his shoulders and started climbing the mountain. As it was getting darker his journey towards the top of mountain was becoming harder yet he tried hard and reached the top of the mountain. The whole road towards the top of the mountain was very harsh and with full of sharp edged stones. But to his surprise on top of the mountain, it was beautiful green field with so many heavenly flower plants, that no man could have ever seen. He went to the saint and asked him to cure his wife’s illness. The saint impressed by fisherman’s love towards the wife. The saint asked the fisherman to drop three drops of blood on the tongue of his wife. So did the fisherman. Immediately his wife became well. They thanked the saint and went to home.

For the next couple of months they lived in happiness but the greedy wife started showing her true colors again. She was not happy with his income, started bugging the fisherman again for more money.

One day fisherman came from fishing and found his wife was not in home. He inquired the neighbors about her. They told him that a king from distant oceans came and asked her to marry him, she felt happy and left with the king. The fisherman felt very sad. So he started journey to meet his wife. After travelling for more than two months, he reached the King’s place. He went to the palace where his wife was residing. She was plucking flowers in the garden, wearing huge jewelry and heavily hand worked gown. She looked at him and asked why he came there. He didn’t answer her. She asked him to take some money and never come back. He said he will go and never come back but demanded his three drops of blood. She felt that three drops of blood can avoid the memories of her old tragic life forever, so she cut her thumb and dropped three drops of blood in fisherman’s hands. Immediately she turned into a mosquito and started buzzing in fisherMAN’s ear for blood.

“From then on wards all female mosquitoes buzz in MENS’ ears for three drops of blood, and bites. The quench of the blood for female mosquitoes is not fulfilled till date it seems…so they are biting me in the night” I said to my friend.

Both of us fell into laughs and proceeded in the queue for lunch.