Gary Teh

Jim sent me an email in the morning with a link to the video.

It is here. In the video was this guy that is attacking a particular US representative of the white house who looks up to Mao Tze Dong.

Curious at first, I took a look at what he had to say. After reading the whole scenario, I am seriously of the opinion that he is simply trying to make something out of nothing.

That representative was seeking inspiration from how Chairman Mao managed to establish a country from a territory that has been encrouched by so many foreign powers.

Truth is, he did screw up terribly with his internal policy after he setup the country. And this is the point that Glenn Beck in the video was driving at.

So basically Chairman Mao was referred to under very different context and really there seem no point reason with his whole big brawl.

I had no idea American politics can be so entertaining until recently. Boy and I thought only Taiwan’s was interesting. Haha

Normally when installing a small database on the mysql server, one does not meet much problems simply execute the script in any mysql client would do.

However when installing a big database it suddenly becomes a whole new story all together.

Pumping too much data or too long a query string to the database would result in the failure of the MySql client or the MySQL server to go away.

During such scenarios, one will necessarily have to write up one’s own script. In most cases, it would be written in PHP.

A simple way to do it is as written below.

<?php
//This file holds the functions needed for handling all interactions with the MYSQL database

//These are the details for setting up a connection
define(‘DB_HOST’, ‘localhost’); // database host
define(‘DB_USER’, ‘your_user_name’); // username
define(‘DB_PASS’, ‘your_password’); // password
define(‘DB_NAME’, ‘your_database_name’); // database name

$conn = mysql_connect(DB_HOST,DB_USER,DB_PASS) or die(‘could not connect to database’.DB_HOST);
mysql_select_db(DB_NAME) or die(‘could not connect to database ‘.DB_NAME);

//selects from the database
function connect_query($query){
$rs = mysql_query($query);
if(!$rs){
die($query.'<br>’.’Invalid query: ‘ . mysql_error());
}
else{
return $rs;
}
}

//generic insert
function connect_insert($table_name , $data_array){

$data_keys = ”;
$data_values = ”;

$array_keys = array_keys($data_array);
for($x =0 ; $x < count($array_keys )-1 ; $x++){
$curr_key = $array_keys[$x];
$curr_value = $data_array[$curr_key ];
$data_keys .= $curr_key.” , “;
$data_values .= “‘”.$curr_value.”‘ , “;
}

$curr_key = $array_keys[count($array_keys )-1];
$curr_value = $data_array[$curr_key];
$data_keys .= $curr_key;
$data_values .= “‘”.$curr_value.”‘”;

$query = “insert into $table_name($data_keys) values($data_values)”;
connect_query($query);
}

//returns a row in the results. Use int types as pointers in array
function connect_fetch_row($result){
return mysql_fetch_row($result);
}

//returns a row in the results. Use name as pointers in array
function connect_fetch_array($result){
return mysql_fetch_array($result);
}
function connect_latest_id(){
return mysql_insert_id();
}

$my_sqls = file_get_contents(“sql_file.sql”);
$my_sqls = explode(“;\r\n”, $my_sqls);

$count = 1;
foreach($my_sqls as $curr_sql_statement){
connect_query($curr_sql_statement);
echo $count.” of “.count($my_sqls).” statements executed \r\n”;
$count++;
sleep(1);
}

?>

I have thinking of writing about this post for the longest time. Sometimes while on the train some while working on some problems. Always when I am thinking some things seriously.

I first got in touch with Set theory when I was in Secondary School.

And some where along the way me and this theory went our separate ways. It was only in the university that I came in touch with this long lost friend. It was during this particular module called discrete math where I was once again re-introduced to him. This time, in its no nonsense form. No more does the lecture draw nice looking tables or circles but rather it said hello in crpytic mathematic expressions.

It has been stuck with me ever since.

Now in the real working world dealing with logistic problems everyday, it has become almost an integral part of my life. Each and everyday, I would be presented with real world problems that needed solving.

Each time I would bring out my arsenal of problem solving tactics the first and foremost will always be this trusty friend of mine. Set Theory. Once in a while being lazy, I do try to do it some other way. Always though, the solution I formulated would come crashing down in my face had I not applied this good old friend of mine.

The reason as to why this theory is so helpful is that when applied correctly, the eventually formulated solution will be sound at least within parameters predefined.

Of course in scenarios where the solution fails, it was mainly due to the fact that I mis- identified certain subsets where intersection existed between two different pre-defined groups, hence muddling up the architecture of my solution. It thus demands for the application of the set theory in a more rigorous depth. Seeing what the situation demands, there is no other way but to do as required.

I spoke to Pasha today to brief him on another assignment of which the subset I was passing to him to solve. On the way sending him home, he did raise one very important question which I had to consider.

“You know the thing about being a programmer, there is a definite lifespan being one. It is similar as being an athelete. Somewhere along the way as you grow older your mind become dull and ill-focused. When you reach that stage you should start to realise your days as a programmer as being numbered. ”

Perhaps that might be true if you put it as a physical ability. Then again a skill when practised and honed day in and out especially one that is in the mind, shouldn’t it only get better and better overtime.

Guess it was not supposed to be so. Peter is a feng shui master who analyses the locations of places and proposes the necessary design for that place. He mentioned once back when he was younger he could do it. Nowadays, he mind fails him. Lack of vitality does affects the ability for the brain to perform.

Then what perhaps is a person suppose to do when he does become older and starts losing his edge? Perhaps what he has left then is his ability to relay on his accumulated experience. Then again experiences are not the most reliable of things, especially in this day and age, when everything is in a state of flux.

In this day of extremistan nothing is really reliable and can be considered stable in the long run. What then can we bank on? The ability to delegate task to other then. This is a skill that I am just really beginning to build upon as I am slowly starting to realise the importance of it. One only has 24 hours a day. While time to time, one is required to solve problems that requires an effort more than 24 hours within a 24 hours span. The strenght of one man alone is never enough. These are especially true in real world situations.

The chief of problems then that will increasingly become more and more important over time is to acquire talents and keep them. There are lots of human resource out there in the society really but what the ability to acquire the right kind of talent for the right task is a challenge most of the time.

Recalling on how the warlord Liu Bei acquired and kept the loyalty of Zhang Fei, Guan Yu, Zhuge Liang the pillars of the empire he would eventually build. That seriously was a much more challenging feat than fighting and winning the wars the fought.

Jayan or was it Garis once told me, a man before the age of thirty has little or no people management skills. I do agree him. Our raging hormones, while good as a source of drive to help us conquer anything we set our mind to, often puts us in a rash and sometimes agressive disposition that is not really a good state of mind to maintain and manage a team. In this natural state we are better workers than managers.

I wonder how it do be like when I do pass the age of 35 and where would I land up in. The future remains a mystery still, beyong the realms which I could apply my good friend the set theory.

Lately, I have been feeling a foreboding sense of doom that seem to be impending over the horizon. I wonder what that might be. During less occupied times, I do mentally go through each and everything in my immediate surrounding and project them into the worst case scenarios over time just so as to reassure myself as well as to do some damage control if need be. Still unknowningly this sense sense of dread would creep upon me.

Just the other day, after my meeting with lawrence, I seeked recluse in the Saint Andrew’s cathedral. I did find peace during that one hour. It was much needed.

1 full year of hard work, I realised to myself, I had not the opportunity to take time of and mentally sort out my path and re-center myself. I seriously feel very uncomfortable in this situation.

Without focus and proper centering, it is so easy to overlook stuff and sometime critical ones.

Oh well, IsAllah as my friend Sian usually says. It is all in the hands of God. There is only so far one can look into the future.

I step home today after a long day at work outside. The place was empty, my parents were out, my brother was still at work. I was thankful.

Alena called in the afternoon. I told her I was busy, I was in the midst of a meeting with Linda a photographer from Russia then. Linda though Russian of Nationality seemed more of Mongolian descent, thanks perhaps to the legacy of Genghis Khan.

I met up with Satheesh thereafter to discuss about the hardware procurement we were working on, we stayed at Tiong Bahru till 9pm. He left shortly there after with Amba.

As the taxi left carrying Satheesh and Amba along. I stood there by the side of the road considering what to do next. The thought of squeezing with the rest of the home coming commuting crowd and then perhaps to a house with the television blasting away and the annoying lights blasting away was a major turn off.

I opted instead for the other option. Walking past a grocery store I bought myself a pack of cigarettes and started walking towards the near by park, perhaps for some peace and quiet.

I sat at the far edge of the park. facing away from the main walkway and lit myself a cigarette. Puffing away, I stared at the empty lots that was supposed to be the school field during day time. My mind wandered. Suppose the vacant lot remains but the buildings around it didn’t exist. Instead there were miles and miles of grass land stretching all the way to the horizon, the wind meanwhile gently blowing and howling. A desolate land untouched by human hands. That would have been the perfect place to be for some hiatus.

A cat came running from the open gates of the field then. Light of step, full of life and energy, it seemed happy with life until perhaps the next time it goes hungry. Unlike the cat at home, it knows no boundaries it was free. It trotted along the path beside the other runners, an equal.

A passerby came then to this little corner of the park I was occupying. This inexplicable sense of annoyance aroused within me. Being an overcrowded territory as we have here in Singapore. I had no other choice than to accomodated this unwelcomed presence. I felt like crying then. This fragile little desolate paradise I was building within my mind was shattered within an instance.

I left then slowly trodding towards the nearest MRT station. Standing at the platform awaiting the next train to arrive, I felt a deep sense of dread as I prepared myself for the next on slaught of crowd.

The train soon arrived thereafter, I step into the train and closed my eyes willing myself away from this reality to a far away place. More and more did I felt it was important. I had lashed out at an old man the other day in the train on my way home after a long night and it was deeply regretted. The fault was not his but the lack of space on trains nowadays, my lack of sleep and short fuse.

4 stops left… I momentarily returned to reality when the trained arrived at commonwealth station. I grasped in a lung of air and went back to my own world.

3 stops left… I considered Alena. I had texted while I was at the park asking what she wanted of me. She had replied nothing and asked we should meet tonight. I rejected her offer then.

“I am tired. I wish to be alone by myself” I explained.

“Alrite head home early love” she replied.

I stopped replying thereafter.

I wonder to myself sometimes, why was it that she similar to my mom thinks that it was weird and outlandish to choose being alone.

“You should be thankful I am around or else you would just be here alone at the park so bored and lonely. ” she boasted once when we were sitting in the park. Truth was I would have been more thankful had she not been around. With her or even any one by my side especially during those state of mind I was in would have only added to my level of agitation. My mind during those times would just be imprisoned here and now, when it needed most to be let free to wander and roam down the unknown space and time of the cosmic universe and alternate realities.

“Don’t you ever dream? ” I asked her a few nights ago while we were sitting in the void deck.

“I used to but not anymore ” she replied

“What happened? ”

“I finally realised it was impractical. ”

“What then were you dreaming of?”

“I used to imagine I was a princess or a being of another species. That one day I would fly far far away. Away from this place. It was just not realistic. i stopped dreaming then. ”

“No you shouldn’t because that is what really keep us alive. Dreams. Without them, we would just be machines, soulless.”

Typing away the lock to my door suddenly rattled. So be it! my family has returned so much for my personal space for thoughts. But it was definitely enjoyable for a while to be sitting alone in front of my computer with nothing but the night light on and Jazz music playing in the background.

Darkness, this none entity, I truly love it. It was really like a shroud, an impermiable membrane that separates me and the rest of the world, giving me space to create my own.

Soon if my predictions are correct, mom would step in the room and ask “why is the room all dark?” Thereafter against my protest she would switch the annoying flourescent lamp on and I will of course lash out at her. She is ignorant in this manner.

Sometimes I think to myself, if perhaps one day I do own a property of my parents would be most welcomed to visit once in a while but be definitely banned from ever moving in. Such a act would slowly but surely force me into the mental asylum in the long run.

I like my space as it is, the darkness and the imaginary world residing within.