Last Sunday as our family was spending a lazy afternoon in the living room, we chanced upon an interesting documentary on PBS. We were actually watching the previous show, a documentary about America’s Civil Rights Movement (itself a very interesting documentary), but when I saw the next documentary, I couldn’t help but watch it. The title was “The Rape of Europa”–a reference to the rape of the woman Europa by Zeus, disguised as a bull, in Greek mythology–also very apt considering its subject: the systematic plunder of the Nazis of Europe’s art treasures.

I didn’t even catch all of it, but what struck me the most was the systematic way that the Nazis did it. One thing I recall from it was when Hitler visited Italy upon the invitation of Mussolini, and was very impressed with Renaissance artwork such as those by Leonardo da Vinci. Upon returning to Germany, Hitler decided to make his hometown in Austria the site of what would be the world’s foremost cultural site, home of the largest collection of art and cultural pieces. Plans were drawn up and a very detailed list of artworks to be included was prepared. This is the scary part: in addition to the names of the artworks, the location of these artworks were also listed. These locations reflected the countries that Hitler invaded, BEFORE they were invaded. In other words, you can make the case that the reason those countries were invaded was to plunder their artworks!
Poland, one of the hardest hit of the artwork plunder, has a catalog of the missing treasures. They list 59,000 missing pieces, and these are just the one they can identify. Of the most important pieces was a painting by Raphael, owned by a Polish nobleman. Its estimated value today is at least 100 million dollars. Someday they hope to find it again, once the children, or grandchildren, of the current owners decide to sell them without knowing the story behind the painting.

A few months back Google had a special to promote one of their products. It was for Google Storage, their service that allows you to increase your online storage for Google products, such as Gmail, Picasa and Google Docs. Currently, Picasa only offers up to 1 Gb of storage for your photos. If you’re like me who takes lots of pictures (especially of my son) and likes to share them with family and friends, 1 gig goes by real fast, even at low resolutions. Gmail offers around 7 gig, but you can only use them for Gmail and not for other Google services.

Google had been offering extra storage for a yearly fee, but initially I thought they were a little pricey. I was already paying for web hosting for my websites so I could just use my storage there. But then Google offered 200 gb of storage for $50, along with a free Eye-Fi card, which made me reconsider. An Eye-Fi card by itself was already selling for around $80, so this was a really good deal. My plan was to get the deal, then after a year downgrade to 20 gb of storage which would only cost me $5 a year. This would be plenty of space for me, even for full-resolution pictures.

For those not familiar with Eye-Fi, it is basically an SD card with Wi-Fi capability built-in. It is intended to be used with a digital camera so that after taking a picture, it gets automatically uploaded to a server or an online photo sharing site, such as Picasa (assuming you have a Wi-Fi signal available that you can connect to). In addition, the Eye-Fi card geo-tags your photos using Wi-Fi triangulation, giving you an estimate of your photo location. Normally the service for uploading to an online service will incur a fee, but as part of the promotion, Google will waive the fee as long as you subscribe to Google storage.

Using the Eye-Fi card has been good so far. Whenever we take pictures at home they are automatically uploaded to Picasa and to my file server. The main drawback is that you can’t turn off the camera right away because it takes a few minutes for the pictures to be uploaded. And you can forget about videos, you’ll probably drain your battery just to upload one video. But this is because the card that was bundled was a wireless-b card; Eye-Fi now has a wireless-g card that should upload much faster. I hope Google bundles that next time

Lent is one of the most important and widely-observed seasons in the Philippines. I would say that next to Christmas, Lent is the next biggest religious practice that Filipinos are known for. A lot has to do with the customs that we inherited from the Spaniards. Starting from Ash Wednesday when ashes are put in Catholics foreheads (to remind us that from dust we came and to dust we shall return), all the way to Easter Sunday when Jesus Christ is resurrected from the dead.

Holy Week–the week that starts on Palm Sunday and ends on Easter Sunday–traditionally holds fond memories for me, just like other Filipinos, while growing up. When I was young, Holy Week meant eating nothing but fish and seafood for the whole week (until Saturday). It also meant, from time to time, outings with the whole family because this coincided with summer vacation for school and a whole week off (if you took Monday and Tuesday off) from work. If you stayed home, Friday to Saturday would be spent not watching TV because nothing would be on except for The Ten Commandments and other religious movies.

Easter Sunday though is when everything goes back to “normal” and the whole of Christendom celebrates Christ’s triumph over death.

March 13, 2010 finally arrived last Saturday and for Filipino boxing fans everywhere, this meant sitting in front of their (or their friend’s) widescreen HDTVs and watching the Pacquiao-Clottey fight on HBO pay-per-view. As I mentioned in my previous posts, this was supposed to be the biggest fight of our generation, Pacquiao vs. Mayweather, but as fate would have it, we were dealt with Clottey instead.

Which wouldn’t necessarily disappoint boxing fans because Clottey is a respectable fighter, except that once your boxing appetite has been whetted by Manny vs Money, everything else pales in comparison.

Still, almost 50,000 people packed the Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, Texas, the third biggest crowd to watch a boxing match in the U.S. ever. Even though people had to spend close to $100 just to be on farthest seats, they were at least compensated by state-of-the-art electronics provided by the stadium–notable two 80-yard (yes, YARD) widescreen monitors. Televisions wider than a football field and almost as long! And the resolution was so crisp that even when focused on the camera, it was still clear!

However, the size of the crowd and the stadium were sadly the highlight of the evening, as the match between the two fighters was lacking in excitement, most of which to blame was Clottey. From the start of the fight all the way to Round 12, Clottey had his hands up, barely punching back. Pacquiao was the complete opposite as he was his usual attacking self, punching away at Clottey’s body. The outcome was expected–an uneventful runaway victory by unanimous decision for Pacquiao. So lopsided was the punching statistics that at the end, Pacquiao threw about 1,200 to Clottey’s 400–for every punch Clottey threw, Pacquiao was throwing three!

Some say Clottey was afraid, but some say Clottey was smart; he had already won $1.25 million the minute he signed up, he just needed to last the 12 rounds and not get hurt.

As uneventful as the fight was, we still had some excitement at least for a few minutes, courtesy of a touching rendition of the Star Spangled Banner by three of the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders.

After all my other posts, I thought I’d do a technical one this time. Having used SQL for the past 14 years, you tend to pick up some useful tips here and there. I’d like to share one that I read in an online article some years back (would’ve linked back to the article but couldn’t remember where I read it).

Any programmer who has worked with databases would (hopefully) know at least basic SQL. And, as with other programmers, they would typically construct their SQL queries “from the top down”, meaning they would start with SELECT and end with ORDER BY. Although this method follows your flow of reading, it doesn’t really follow the flow of logic. Think for a second–how many times have you started writing a query but had to stop in the middle to regroup your thoughts? This other method that I read about aims to minimize those instances.

The key to this alternate method is the sequence of how you write the query. In a nutshell, you write the query clauses in the following order:

1. FROM
2. WHERE
3. SELECT
4. GROUP BY (if applicable)
5. HAVING (if applicable)
6. ORDER BY

At first glance, it seems a bit disorganized, doesn’t it? But there’s good reason behind the ordering–it makes completing the query easier and helps you spot potential errors too.

1. FROM

Why start with FROM? Because before you even think about what columns to select, you first need to know where they are coming from. This gives you a good idea of the scope of your result set which will help you later with joins and aggregates. Plus, many SQL tools will typically “auto-complete” column names as you type them, but it can only do that after you have identified the tables.

2. WHERE

Next is WHERE, because you want to immediately (1) join your tables, and (2) filter your data set. (Note that I am not using the JOIN clause here, but you can; I’m just old school). An important rule here: if you have X number of tables, then you should have at least (X – 1) join lines so you don’t end up with a cartesian product. For example, for 4 tables you’ll need at least 3 joins. It doesn’t matter how the tables are related to each other; you will always end up with a cartesian product if you don’t follow this rule. After finishing the joins, add the other WHERE clauses to filter your data set. Having started with earlier versions of Oracle (7.x) that still required optimizing, we were taught to construct WHERE clauses in a particular order: join all tables first, then add each filter based on the number of records it filters out, from the most to the least. Nowadays though Oracle’s optimizer has gotten to the point where it’s not necessary to do this anymore, but it’s still good discipline to do so.

3. SELECT

Only now do you put in the columns to select. By doing it at this point, you minimize any errors with ambiguity because you have already laid out your tables. Also, as mentioned above, your SQL tool will probably auto-complete your column names, saving you time. If you’re doing any grouping, you’ll also include your aggregates here.

4. GROUP BY

Because you have already laid out your SELECT columns, you won’t need to think of what columns you need to group; you can just copy your SELECT columns, excluding any aggregates.

5. HAVING

This is where you filter your data set based on any aggregates, which is easy because you’ve already listed your aggregated columns.

6. ORDER BY

Finally you order your data set. This has typically been the last step anyway, but the key here is that you get a better idea of how to sort your result set after you have defined it.

Of course there are always exceptions, but for the most part this method has made it easier for me to conceptualize and construct SQL queries. I hope this makes it easier for you too

Last Monday, we thought of visiting this place for toddlers in Latham called Tumbling Tykes. My wife had seen it in one of the blogs she reads and she said it had gotten good reviews. One of our friends also attended a birthday party that was held there and she said that we should check it out because our son might like it.

So Monday being a holiday, it was perfect timing for us because they were open the whole day, whereas during the weekend they are only open in the morning. The fee is seven dollars, which is good for the whole day. The place has adequate space, probably 30 by 100 feet give or take, and has lots of toys and activities. One corner is dedicated to children below two years old, so they have toys there like the push toys and musical instruments. The rest of the room is for the older kids, with toys of different kinds. There are at least three slides of different heights and slopes. There is balance beam about a foot from the floor. There are two trampolines, one small and one big. There is a small monkey bar and a big monkey bar. There are two mini-cars that go up and down a mini-roller coaster. There are at least four little tykes cozy coupes. There is an incline (made with soft padding) where kids can roll down. And there are also many different kinds of little toys and costumes.

They also offer different kinds of classes for different age groups. We thought the atmosphere was good and the quality of the toys and environment was good, plus it’s nearer than Treepaad!

Last weekend I read this interesting article about the Philippines. It was about karaoke–a favorite pastime in the Philippines–and how deadly it can be. As you know, there are as many karaoke bars in the Philippines as there are Starbucks in the US. Actually, maybe more. And over the years, there has been one song that Filipinos consider to be the “national anthem” of songs: “My Way” (Frank Sinatra’s version). As it turns out, this song is so sacred that anyone who sings it out of tune is putting their life in danger.

If I were back home and reading it in a local newspaper, I wouldn’t have given it much thought. I would probably smile at the silliness, shrug and move to the next column. But having lived in the United States for almost a decade and absorbed some of its cultural persona, I can now absolutely understand why this sort of news would be considered weird or ridiculous.

Let me try my best to explain: Music is a big part of life in the Philippines. Filipinos growing up in the Philippines have imbibed music into their lives, whether consciously or unconsciously. From the time Filipinos are born (lullabies), to childhood (children play songs), to teens (boyfriend/girlfriend theme songs), to marriage (wedding songs), to the time they are laid to rest (funeral songs), music is a part of their daily lives.

Most households will have at least one musical instrument. A family may be poor and may have to find ways to provide for the next meal, but most probably they will have an old guitar in their home.

Music, along with humor, is what allows Filipinos to temporarily escape their daily predicaments and feel good about themselves and the world in general. So if you ever find yourself in a karaoke bar in the Philippines and plan on singing My Way, you better have the voice to back it up. If not, I really hope for your sake that you know karate.

Last Friday our family went to The Palace Theater in Albany to watch “Sesame Street Live: When Elmo Grows Up”. This was a show featuring the most popular and recognizable muppets in Sesame Street, like Bert and Ernie, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, Grover, and of course Elmo. Over the last decade or so, Elmo has sort of dominated the Sesame Street landscape by virtue of being the most popular among pre-school kids; thus the subtitle “When Elmo Grows Up”.

This wasn’t always the case. First of all, Sesame Street is a relatively old show–it celebrated its 40th anniversary recently. Elmo wasn’t introduced until 1979, after kids my generation have already outgrown Sesame Street and so have never been acquainted with the red muppet until we finally met him (up close and personal) as parents. And so watching kids go ga-ga over Elmo, while our own favorites growing up–Bert & Ernie, Cookie Monster, Grover–are relegated to the background, I can’t help but feel a Sesame Street generation gap.

Some parents my age actually are not that fond of Elmo. Their biggest complaint is that because Elmo refers to himself in the third person (”Elmo wants to know, don’t you?”), their kids have picked up on it and are now speaking in the third person. I can certainly see how frustrating/irritating that can be as a parent. After teaching your child how to properly speak and formulate sentences, here comes a muppet that ruins everything just from 30 minutes of exposure.

Well, good thing our son hasn’t picked up on the habit yet. Later maybe, but if he does, that’s it with watching Elmo

Today, being January 25th, should have been a typical winter day. By “typical”, I mean it should have been maybe in the 20s or 30s throughout the day, maybe even snowing. However, Mother Nature threw us a curveball and gave us a 55-degree day in the heart of winter. It felt like spring, and with all the rain, it reminded me of Manila.

Rains are a big part of life in Manila. Growing up in the Philippines, you learn to live with rainy weather at an early age. As kids, we would go outside to play when it rained very hard. I remember me and my brothers would play with mud and create makeshift dams on the side of the roads where the water flowed (the culverts). These were way before the so-called acid rains, of course.

Along with the rains come also the floods. The Philippines being a tropical country gets about 30 typhoons a year. That meant that as a student, you were assured of at least a few days of no classes because of typhoons. It was good if they declared schools closed in the morning, because you wouldn’t have to get up early. But sometimes the storms would hit in the middle of the day and you would already be in school. One time my brother picked me up from school and we had to wade through knee-high water in the streets. You weren’t a full-fledged graduate until you experienced this at least once in your student life.

Last time I wrote about some snags in the ongoing negotiations for the fight between Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao and Floyd “Money” Mayweather. It all centered around Mayweather’s demand to use Olympic-style blood testing for the fight. Well, a few developments have happened since then:

• Pacquiao pushed through with the defamation suit against the Mayweather camp–Floyd Jr., Floyd Sr., Roger Mayweather, Oscar De La Hoya and Richard Shaefer (of Golden Boy Promotions). Pacquiao is not suing for the money–he’s basically asking for the minimum amount for a defamation suit, and besides, he has tons of it–he’s suing because he wants to clear his name. He doesn’t want people to think that he is indeed using steroids. His success is the result of years and years of hard work and discipline. Short of a public apology, this is the venue for reclaiming at least some of your tarnished reputation.
• The impasse with the negotiations went to an arbitration with a retired judge. They tried negotiating for a few days, and the negotiators for both sides agreed on a compromise: Pacquiao and Mayweather would take the blood tests 24 days before the fight. Pacquiao was ok with this, but Mayweather wasn’t. This was the end of the negotiations. The next day, Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter, declared the fight dead and said he was looking for a new opponent for Pacquiao.
• After looking at different fighters, Pacquiao has decided to fight Joshua Clottey next. This should be an interesting fight, because Clottey is strong, but of course this is not the fight that everyone was clamoring for.

We’ll see what happens in the next few weeks. Maybe a miracle will happen and the fight pushes through. If not, we can only hope it happens later this year.