Dying?!?

Almost a week ago, my mom came home from their summer vacation at norway. I didn’t get the chance to go with them due to lack of interest, time and tardiness. So there I was, right after they arrived, I became their bell boy. Went with every place they wanted to go and carried the luggage. Of course it whould be normal since I’m the only guy on our family [with my dad working abroad]. Bad part was, I wasn’t able to do anything while they were around.I became a bell boy the for the whole week that I lacked time to fix some bugs on grouperz or other stuff that I neede to do. Worst! while meeting up with them on the day they arrived, I left my cellphone on the cab we rode.

Well anyways, It was a tiring week and they finally left for Iligan yesterday. Giving me my dayoff today [Again I wasn't able to attend NSTP2 coz I slept the whole day]. Lucky, I was able to get my cellphone back and things turned out pretty much fine. But a bummer thou, there was a time that while we were off at SM shopping for stuff. Can’t explain why, but my head felt like it was about to explode! We went to Kenny Rogers for dinner and I wasn’t able to eat well cuz of the headache. Then just a day before they left [yesterday and today], I head a toothache. The migraine was so painfull that I had to force myself to sleep, just to pass the pain out [I have really bad teeth since a was a kid due to candy and chocolates].

On the same day that I had my first toothache for the week, my ulcer also gave a show and had me crawling like hell for the pain and agony. With all that, right after they headed for home [Iligan], I went to an optometrist to have my eye check. Tests were taken and yeah on the part where you get to read with one eye, I wasnt able to read 2 lines above the red line [weird thing was, everything was so clear with both eyes]. Un surprisingly, I had -.75 and needed glasses. Thou still not sure when, I wanna have a general checkup maybe this month or so. I still got my studies to finish, a job to work on and a son to raise. I don’t wanna die till my son get’s to finish college [which is a long way ahead].

Free Hugs!!

Just last week, after fiddling on FaceBook‘s Groups feature I found a group named Free Hugs. Being ignorant of it, I read the comments. Not getting what they were talking bout, tried searching for a site on it. And there I found the official site of the Free Hugs Campaign. Went through the story, watched the vid. After that I got so hooked up that I wanna start our own Free Hugs here on our place. I even downloaded the soundtrack.

After a while, I pondered on what made me attracted with the movement. Sure there are lots of others out there, but there’s just something on Free Hugs that will move your heart and want you to join in. What is it? It’s the empty feeling in your heart. It’s the need for a hug. There’s something inside you that longs for a hug even if it came from a complete stranger. And for people like me being in an almost hopless country full of corruption and problems, It’s just what we need right now.

Anyways, here’s the story of how it all began and the official Video of Free Hugs which foretells the story of Juan Mann itself. Sound track by Sickpuppies intitled “All the Same“.

How it all started:
I’d been living in London when my world turned upside down and I’d had to come home. By the time my plane landed back in Sydney, all I had left was a carry on bag full of clothes and a world of troubles. No one to welcome me back, no place to call home. I was a tourist in my hometown.

Standing there in the arrivals terminal, watching other passengers meeting their waiting friends and family, with open arms and smiling faces, hugging and laughing together, I wanted someone out there to be waiting for me. To be happy to see me. To smile at me. To hug me.

So I got some cardboard and a marker and made a sign. I found the busiest pedestrian intersection in the city and held that sign aloft, with the words “Free Hugs” on both sides.

And for 15 minutes, people just stared right through me. The first person who stopped, tapped me on the shoulder and told me how her dog had just died that morning. How that morning had been the one year anniversary of her only daughter dying in a car accident. How what she needed now, when she felt most alone in the world, was a hug. I got down on one knee, we put our arms around each other and when we parted, she was smiling.

Everyone has problems and for sure mine haven’t compared. But to see someone who was once frowning, smile even for a moment, is worth it every time.

Vid:

Story content and Video from the Free Hugs Campaign.
Video Hosted by: YouTube.

Grouperz?!?

Since tis just something new, most don’t really know much bout it. Well here’s my short review about the mentioned site.

Naming names?
Grouperz [Group Peers(z)] was a name suggested by the codedspirit community after the owner of the said community decided to creat a socialnetworking site much like Friendster and MySpace today. Of course the first thing in mind was to create the site for but not limited to pinoys. Most may not know that I am from the original development team of grouperz [Core Dev's]. But due to certian events, something annoyed me and so decided to leave.

So what does grouperz have to offer?
Grouperz was initially created to be a site where friendster users who are tired of the constant patches can create, customize and present a profile with their wildest imagination. Of course with it comes great risks of diffrent scales. With grouperz, users can embed videos from larger networks like YouTube, Google Vids, etc.. they can Blog, create polls for other users to answer, upload pictures and chat/interact with the other users.

Grouperz today?
Not much has happened with grouperz since I left, there may be developments. But most are pretty much useless [The Grouperz Team Forum]. Possible reason for one to choose grouperz would be, cause their friends are using it

Why Grouperz?
I myself would not really want to recomend the site as it is [not that I have a grudge on it or anything]. The features are still too common and there is even a security flaw on the site that puts the users at great risk. One of it would be users may have their profile details changed w/o owner permission, leading to presentation of false information, the possibility of inflitrators using grouperz as a phishing site and the list goes on.

So what did you have in mind?
I wanted grouperz to stand out, there are already pinoy based socialnetworking sites that tend to imitate friendster as it is, but they lacked features and ideas. Grouperz on my own was supposed to be diffrent. Something that offers great user interaction, less lags, rich features that may rival Friendster or even FaceBook and supposedly, security and privacy for users. But sadly, the owner didnt have the same thing in mind.

Well that’s it for my review, Not that I intend this to have a negative effect on the site. But I just want the Current Dev’s [If there's still any] to put in mind that you may never offer a site good enough for users to keep noted on if you won’t try and look at things from the users point of view.

Grouperz FAQ’s

A guest asked what the gpGen is. And to my stupidity, I just realized that I never made an intro or description of it

What the faq is gpGen?
gpGen – Short for Grouperz Overlay Generator [Ubberlay] is a tool that encodes your HTML/CSS/JavaScript source using Base64 to be placed into your Grouperz Profile. It is a tool for you to create a very detailed/customized profile to your own liking. Of course by using the generator, you would need to have knowledge in HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

And what the faq is Grouperz?
Grouperz is a new Social Networking site (much like most flaoting around nowadays) that supports full Profile Customization, to suit the users Style, Fasion and Taste by means of Custom CSS or via Overlaying [Ubberlay].

More info by visiting:
http://www.grouperz.com

Who the faq got the Overlaying Idea?
The overlay idea was first thought of by Mr. Marky Lorreto [markyctrigger] to customize Friendster Profiles through the use of JavaScripts and XSS holes. Much like the gpGen’s concept, it allows friendster users to customize their profiles to their wildest imaginations.

For more info about the Friendster Overlay Generator, please visit:
http://markyctrigger.com

The site also supports Overlaying for Multiply, Xanga and Downelink.

What about faqing user privacy and security?
Of course with the use of Overlaying, since it enables JavaScripts it would pose great risks to the users. But with it, rest assure that we are thinking of ways on how to solve the case. Candidates for solutions are: Disable Internal/External JavaScripts/JavaScript Events and the CSS expression function.

What the faq is with the word Ubberlay? and how the faq is it diffrent from Overlay?
Actually there isn’t any. Ubberlay is just a term I use for the Overlaying of Grouperz Profile so don’t confuse yourself

Please use the TagBox on the Contacts Page for more questions. 

Site Updates

Just yesterday morning, I understood about openID and other methods. So starting today, site will support openID to have easier way of commenting and site interaction to people. I’m also accepting link back’s now, so anyone wanna have a blog link back is free to drop a word on the tag box at the contact page.

Also, someone asked if gpGen is working. It’s not fully working for now and has lots of bugs in it so don’t expect something from it yet. I’m also gonna collaborate with tweakersplace.com to place the gpGen generator and support there.

gpGen or Grouperz Ubberlay Generator will be enabled and active with in a month or two, depending on life activities and stuff.

Edit:
Brought down the Generator till I can fix everything up since it was causing strange problems with my site. Will bring it back up again after the full renovation of tweakersplace.com and a few edits on Grouperz.

My Site, My Life

I initial made this site for my thoughts to be spurted out, but due to my self consciousness and fear of being seen as a self centered person it rendered the site useless.

Just yesterday night, we went out to drink. We drank and drank and had fun, but deep inside I was crying. Deep inside I had a problem so deep that I wasn’t able confide to anyone. My family and wife’s at Iligan and only family I have here is my aunt who I’m living with right now, but I can’t seem to open up everything to her since I’m too shy to talk about it. I have a close cousin that lived with us since I was in 5th grade till 3rd year high but she’s too busy with her college life that It’s hard to even contact her.

So yesterday, I barfed and cried my problems out. You may laugh and make fun of the situation saying I was drunk or something. but actually I just had no output to my family problems that we’re affecting my studies. Seen the coke advertisement where the girl was fetched by her father coz her parents weren’t together anymore for some reason? It’s one of my greatest fear. I’m afraid something would come to the point where I’d be only able to play my son by fetching him. Why? He grew up on his Lolo and Lola’s care [wife's side], I really never was there to support him.

My mind’s really confused right now on what to do. Jake yesterday worsened my fear, he told me bout how hard it would be to get my son out of my in-law’s hands. It’s like you really wanna be there for your son but can’t actually do anything cause if you don’t finish your studies, it would be useless. I’m even confused on what to do first, study or go home and take care of my own family.

Chapter 4.2 : Steps in Normalisation

• First normal form (1NF). Any repeating groups have been removed, so that there is a single value at the intersection of each row and column of the table.
• Second normal form (2NF). Any partial functional dependencies have been removed.
• Third normal form (3NF). Any transitive dependencies have been removed.

Note: If a relation meets the criteria for 3NF, it also meets criteria for 2NF and 1NF. Most design problems can be avoided if the relations are in 3NF.

4.2.1 First Normal Form
Example:

4.2.2 Second Normal Form

A relation is in 2NF if:

• It is in INF, and
• all non-key attributes are fully functionally dependent on the primary key and not on only a portion of the primary key.

Steps to transform into 2NF:

• Identify all functional dependencies in INF.
• Make each determinant the primary key of a new relation.
• Place all attributes that depend on a given determinant in the relation with that determinant that depend on a given determinant in the relation with that determinant as non-key attributes.

All the functional dependencies in this case are:
ORDER-NO –> DATE, CUST-NO, CUSTNAME, CUST-ADDRESS
PART-NO –> PART-DESC
Note : In this case, we say that PART-NO is only partially functional dependent on the key.
(ORDER-NO, PART-NO) – - > QTY-ORDERED, QUOTE-PRICE

The partial functional dependency in
ITEM (ORDER-NO, PART-NO, QTY-ORDERES, QUOTE-PRICE)
creates redundancy in that relation, which results in anomalies when the table is updated.

• Insertion anomaly. To insert a row for the ITEM table, we must provide the part description information too.
• Deletion anomaly. If we delete a row for the ITEM table, we may lose some PART information.
• Modification anomaly. If a PART’s description changes, we must record the change in multiple rows in the ITEM table.

Example:

Chapter 4.1 : Basic Concepts

Normalization is a process for converting complex data structures into simple, stable data structures.Why normalisation is necessary ?

• The database design must be efficient (performance-wise).
• The amount of data should be reduced if possible.
• The design should be free of update, insertion and deletion anomalies.
• The design must comply with rules regarding relational databases.
• The design has to show pertinent relationship between entities.
• The design should permit simple retrieval, simplify data maintenance and reduce the need to restructure data.

Figure 1 on the left show the steps in normalization.

4.1.1 Functional Dependency
Normalisation is based on the analysis of functional dependence. A functional dependency is a particular relationship between two attributes. For any relation R, that attribute B is functionally dependent on attribute A if, for every valid instance of A, that value of A uniquely determines then value of B. This is usually represented by an arrow, as follows:
A –> B
An attribute may be functionally dependent on two (or more) attributes, rather than on a single attribute. For example, in the following relation:
ORDER (ORDER-NO, PART-NO, NO-ORDERED, PART-DESC, QUOTED-PRICE)
ORDER-NO, PART-NO –> NO-ORDERED, PART-DESC, QUOTE-PRICE

In this case, the attribute on the left-hand side of the arrow is called a determinant.
For examples:
CUST-NO – - > CUST-NAME, ADDRESS, COMPANY
INVOICE-NO – - > INVOICE-DATE, CUST-NO, ORDER-NO
CUST-NO and INVOICE-NO examples of determinants.

4.1.2 Keys
An attitude (or field), K, is the primary key of a table if:

• All columns (all the fields in the table) are functionally dependent on K.
• Each value is unique.
• If K is a composite/concatenate key then it must comply with the following conditions:
  • No portion of the key should be a primary key.
  • All attributes that make up the key are not null.

Chapter 4 : Normalization

Chapter Objectives

At the end of the chapter, you should be able to:

• understand the purpose of normalization;
• perform first, second and third normalization;
• merging relations (view integration);
• transforming E-R diagrams to relations.

Essential Reading

• Modem Database Management (4th Edition), red R. Mcfadden & Jeffrey A. Hoffer (1994),
• Benjamin/Cummings.[Chapter 6, page 199 - 237]

Lazyness

There are times in life where you’d feel lazy doing something, then there’s when you can’t stand not doing anything… Dunno why, but my life’s been nothing but a waste. Most of the time I’m just plain lazy, I might have priorities but I just can’t seem to work on something I don’t have an interest in. Here’s the story.

Last year, I took up CS115 and CS114 which requires me to pass a documentation. Since I was a child I’ve been bad with writing, I’ve read every single book in our house which takes up most of my time on my childhood years, but never have I liked writing. If I liked writing as much as reading, I would’ve finished the documentations ages ago. But sadly, my lazy self doesn’t work that way. You might wanna ask “So what’s with writing? can’t you just type it in the computer and print?”. Yeah I’ve been asking that dozens of times, but I just can’t seem to work on something I lack interest in. I’ve coded tones of scripts which require logic and patience, but I can’t seem to place that patience on making docs. If ever I get an idea on something, I’d turn my pc/laptop on and start coding. Spending hours and hours of sleeplessness for something unproductive. Then just right after I’ve started on a worthless project, another idea pops and I’d leave the previous one and start on the new idea. Making all the time I exerted, worthless. I know most would say “Hey I also got into that feeling but was able to control it and focus on my priorities!” . Well mines, a lil different. when it comes to others needs, I’d be able to pop up something or do something for that someone, even if we don’t have a close relationship. But if it’s stuff that’s related to me, first thing that would come up to my mind would be “Nah I can do it tomorrow anyways!”. If any of you would have a cure for this sickness if it can be called that way, please inform me. I’d love to hear your story too.

Anyways, just yesterday, I was able to setup a new site with the URL of flashpress.info. It’s a site for our school’s journalism, so if anyone would find time, do visit us

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