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Since we are in the test week, i decided its time to learn a few things, while reading some slide, i really started questioning my humanity…. for example:

Operational vs. Declarative Query Languages

• Operational language specify the objects by means of the way to obtain it.

• TRC queries just specify the objects

• Relational algebra queries are typically longer than declarative queries

• The expressiveness of relational algebra is a subset of TRC, including all safe queries

• RA is always safe in TRC unsafe queries are possible

• RA is difficult to write by humans, but easy to evaluate by computers
  <Holy crap, that’s where i start thinking, wtf, I write RA as if it is natural and logical for me, the first time i saw RA i instantly found myself at ease with it.>

• TRC is easy to write for humans, but difficult to evaluate by computers
  <TRC is easy to write for humans?? Bullshit, after months and months of trying to understand how to write in TRC i still can’t find any logic in using those existential and universal quantifiers>

So am i human or are those ‘rules’ biased?

Anyways good luck for those who will be having a long test week.

[catching up 15 weeks in 6 hours here :p]

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Popularity: 5% [?]

This is an interesting article posted by Glenn A.Fester in the facebook group DestinyMaker

Epilepsy

Contents of this Page
Types of Epilepsy
Causes
Diagnosis
Treatment
Famous People
Organizations
Epilepsy is NOT contagious and people with epilepsy are NOT “crazy.” The word “epilepsy” comes from a Greek word meaning “to possess, seize or hold.” Because the brain uses electrochemical energy, any disruption of the electrical processes in the brain may cause abnormal functioning. Unfortunately, this is what happens during epilepsy: neurons in the cerebral hemispheres misfire and create abnormal electrical activity. People with epilepsy have seizures that are a bit like an electrical brainstorm. The seizure prevents the brain from:

interpreting and processing incoming sensory signals (like visual, somatosensory and auditory information).
controlling muscles. That is why people with epilepsy may fall down and twitch.

Types of Epilepsy
There are many types of epilepsy. Each type of epilepsy has different behavioral effects and is treated with different methods. In some cases, people know they are about to have a seizure because they see or hear something, or feel dizzy, nauseous, or “strange.” This is called an aura. An aura can act as an “early warning system” telling a person that a seizure is about to happen. The person can therefore minimize a possible injury by taking precautions such as sitting down.

Generalized seizures – uncontrollable discharge of neurons on BOTH sides of the brain. This is the most common type of epilepsy. The seizure starts in one area of the brain and spreads across the brain. These seizures produce muscle twitches, convulsions and loss of consciousness. People with this type of epilepsy do not remember having a seizure.
There are several types of generalized seizures:

Tonic-clonic (“grand mal”) seizure – This seizure occurs when there is a massive discharge of neurons on both cerebral hemispheres. The body becomes rigid and there is also jerking of the body. “Tonic-clonic” means “stiffness-violent.” “Grand mal” means “great sickness.”

Absence (“petit mal”) seizure – This seizure is nonconvulsive. However, a person may become unaware of his or her surroundings and may stare off in space or freeze. This seizure lasts only 5-30 seconds.

Myoclonic seizure – This seizure involves the motor cortex and causes twitching or jerking of certain parts of the body.

Atonic seizure – This seizure is characterized by the loss of muscle tone and causes a person to fall down.

Status epilepticus – This seizure is characterized by frequent, long-lasting seizures without regaining consciousness between attacks. This condition requires immediate medical attention.

Partial Seizures – This type of seizure is characterized by abnormal electrical activity involving only a small part of the brain. Sometimes a partial seizure can spread to the whole brain.
Two types of partial seizures are:

Simple partial seizures (also called “Jacksonian” or “focal” seizures) – Short-lasting seizures without loss of consciousness. People with these kinds of seizures often see, hear or smell something strange. Also, only part of the body may jerk.

Complex partial (psychomotor) seizures – A seizure with a change, not a loss, in consciousness. People may hear or see things or memories may resurface. Feelings of deja vu may also occur.

Causes
Many (50-70%) cases of epilepsy have no known cause. For the remaining cases, there are many other events that may cause epileptic seizures:

Head injuries, such as a car accident or a fall.
Brain tumor
Stroke
Arteriosclerosis (fatty plaque build-up in arteries)
Brain injury before birth caused by infection or lack of oxygen to the brain
Infection, such as meningitis or encephalitis
Brain damage resulting from these events may cause a “scar” on the brain. This is where an epileptic seizure starts. At this time it is not known why a scar starts a seizure. There may be a genetic link for some types of epilepsy, but this is usually NOT the case. Sometimes a seizure will be started (“triggered”) by:

stress
lack of sleep
flashing lights or sounds (like from a video game or TV)
low blood sugar

Diagnosis
A doctor will want to find out several things before a diagnosis of epilepsy is made. The doctor may want to know the answers to the following questions:

How often do the seizures occur?
When was the first seizure?
Was there a head injury?
What are the seizures like?
Were there any unusual sensations (smells, sounds, lights)?
Is there any memory of the seizures?
An electroencephalogram (EEG) is often used to help in the diagnosis of epilepsy. The EEG of people with epilepsy often shows large spikes. Sometimes the EEG must be recorded for a whole day in the hospital or at home because a short test does not always pick up the abnormal activity. However, the EEG does not always work because about 5% of people without epilepsy have “abnormal” EEG activity and about 20% of people with epilepsy have normal EEG activity.
Brain imaging methods (magnetic resonance imaging [MRI] or computer tomography [CT] scanning) may also be used to find the location of a scar or damaged brain tissue. Sometimes positron emission tomography [PET] is used to examine brain blood flow.

Treatment for Epilepsy
Drugs
Antiepileptic Drugs
Chemical Name Common Trade Name
Carbamazepine Tegretol
Clobazam Frisium
Clonazepam Rivotril
Diazepam Valium
Divalproex sodium Depakote
Ethosuximide Zarontin
Gabapentin Neurontin
Lamotrigine Lamictal
Phenobarbital many names
Phenytoin Dilantin
Valproic acid Depakene
Sometimes seizures stop without treatment. Many people take antiepileptic (also called “anticonvulsant”) drugs to control seizures. These drugs, however, do not cure the disorder. Rather, these drugs control the symptoms and are effective in 60-80% of the cases. Antiepileptic drugs work by reducing the abnormal firing of cortical neurons. These drugs may change the activity of neurotransmitters responsible for seizures or alter the way ions flow in and out of neurons. Unfortunately, many of these drugs have side effects such as drowsiness, dizziness and nausea so doctors must balance these undesirable effects with seizure control. It is also important to remember that different drugs are used to treat different types of seizures.

Surgery
When medication fails and the area of the brain where the seizure occurs is known, surgery may be performed to treat epilepsy. There are several types of surgery that have been used:

Temporal Lobe Surgery – This is performed to remove brain tissue where the epileptic seizure starts. This type of surgery often removes part of the cortex of the temporal lobe, hippocampus and amygdala. [Brain mapping during surgery]

Corpus Callosotomy (“Split Brain” operation) – The corpus callosum is cut to separate the right and left cerebral hemispheres. This procedure is done to prevent the spread of the seizure from one side of the brain to the other.

Hemispherectomy – One cerebral hemisphere is removed. The procedure is not performed very often. Children who have this surgery CAN function quite well although they often have trouble using their arm on the side of the body opposite to the surgery. In some surgeries, only specific lobes of the brain are removed.

Hemispherectomy

Experimental Treatments
Several treatments for epilepsy are still under investigation. How and if they work is still controversial.

Ketogenic Diet – a high fat, low protein/carbohydrate diet
Biofeedback – people trained to control EEG patterns to shorten seizures
Counterstimulation
Exercise
Relaxation Techniques
Vagus Nerve Stimulation – an electrical stimulator is implanted to stimulate the vagus nerve (cranial nerve X)
Vitamin and Mineral Supplements

Epilepsy is a fairly common neurological disorder. It occurs in about 1 in every 100-200 people. Throughout history there have been many famous people who have had epilepsy:
Famous People with Epilepsy
Julius Caesar – Roman Statesman (100-44 B.C.) Napoleon Bonaparte – Emperor of France (1769-1821)
George Frederick Handel – Composer (1685-1759) Vincent van Gogh – Painter (1853-1890)
Fyodor Dostoevski – Writer (1821-1881) Pius IX – Pope (1792-1878)
Peter the Great – Russian Czar (1682-1725) Lord Byron – Poet (1788-1824)

Did you know?

Saint Valentine is the patron saint of epilepsy.

Epilepsy Organizations
American Epilepsy Society National Society for Epilepsy Epilepsy Foundation of America
British Epilepsy Association Epilepsy Canada Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan
Epilepsy Foundation of Southern California Epilepsy Foundation of Victoria Epilepsy Toronto Online

For more information on epilepsy, see:

An Epilepsy Education
EpiCentre
Epilepsy and Everyone
Epilepsy and GABA
Epilepsy: Taming the Seizures, Dispelling the Myths – from the U.S. FDA
Epilepsy – World Health Organization (WHO)
Epilepsy Treatment – WHO
Epilepsy History- WHO
Epilepsy – Social/Economic – WHO
Epilepsy Fact Sheet- from NINDS, NIH
Epilepsy Surgery – includes images of EEG and MRI; photographs during surgery

Did you know?
$
The estimated annual national cost of epilepsy is reported to be approximately $12.5 billion. [Source: Epilepsy Foundation of America]

Popularity: 3% [?]

UPDATE: fire started on ~ friday 12:30, i am doing this update not at saturday 17:40, the fire is still raging onm posing a great problem to the fire fighters and surrounding areas.

UPDATE 18 oct 08, the lady the people saved died, life sux sometimes
Please scroll down for the video of that sad day.
Today is a sad day for lescalier, the tissue factory where a lot of locals use to work had a major fire that could have proved fatal for one lady working there.

Well being present there, i have recorded a few of those scary moments.

First of all sorry for the low quality image and sound [and curse words, since there were lots of people around and i don't have control on their language].

Secondly, i was unable to record the moment when the lady was rescued, because i was too busy trying to find a way to help with others the lady who was trapped in the fire, though i wasn’t of much use , am happy she got saved though, i really feared the worst and was damned fucken happy when the guys managed to get her out].

Anyways, here’s the full news.

I was playing pool when i heard some women shouting and crying, i rushed out and saw smoke coming from the factory, i was casually walking down there to see what the problem was when i heard even more cries, which made me hurry the pace, i was by then joined by some other friends.

When i got there i was in shock, most of the workers were out on the road and the factory was burning in a hell of a fire. I tried to find what i can do and asked around if there were still people around, in all those shouts a few managed to say yes there’s a lady still trapped there (“pas facile sa bann madam la o liE zot p dir kinn arivE, zot p bour pli boukou tapaz.”), it was then that the youngsters in the villagestarted to try to find a way to get her out [i was running around to find some secure way in, but hell there was no way in ].

Finally, some people started to break the metal “linposte” stuffs to try to get the woman out, and while doing so some were throwing in buckets of water inside [in the hope of keeping the fire away from the lady (still the smoke was the great threat)]. In the mean time another group [i was in the group] were orderred to circle the building  and find if there were other persons inside the building, thankfully, there was no one.

Finally one pane of metal was broken, due to the unbearable heat the lady wanted to get out, which made the rescue even more complicated, since the people breaking the metal panes could potentially hurt her if she was there, then a dude [a moron.. ohh well i guess he was trying to help], wanted to pull the woman by force through those metal panes, ofcourse that might have kill the woman. Thankfully the youngsters managed to tell him to f*ck off and they started to break the metal panes with care and finally managed to extract the lady successfully [i was happy, coz i was hell scared]

but seeing her condition i was soon again worried if it was too late, she was unconscious and seemt in bad shape, her pulse was checked and immediately she was taken to the nearest hospital by the factory’s security.

“Tout les temp L’escalier, surtout La sourdine ti ena 1 gro problem ar bann droguerr seki ena parti laba, always being seen in a bad eye, mais zordi, c parmi la majoritE bann premier sur les lieu(apart ceux ki y travaille) )et kinn aide sap lavie sa mamzel la…. nou vraiment kapav dir zordi ‘NU FIERE DE MEME NU BANN DROGUERR!’ ”

After everything all this, and after a roll call was made, everyone waited for the fire services to come … and for the police to come while watching the flames eat the once proud building [am sadddd, i liked that place]. It was then that i started recording a few video clips of the day and taking some pictures.

Sure there were a few people who after everything was done now starts to as if give orders and explain “ahh wi, sa ti bizin fer cumsa cumsa etc..”.

ena meme ki ti p rod prend credit pou inn sap sa mamzel la, mais mo ti p dir franc moi, monn trouvE kii ki  piti inn sap mamzel la, alor pa vinn bez kout bass.

WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT, there was no exit door at the back of the factory! this caused quite a trouble.

Finally the firemen came, then the cops, and soon the cries and shout gave place to lots of questions etc.. A huge crowd was around, and when the MBC and journalists started to appear, i saw a few people go home to take a shower and come back in lightning speed dressed in great clothes …

There were even people who were not here since the beginning who started to give lots of description of what happenned [we really do have a lot of oracles here who can see both in the past and the future]

The village has sufferred quite a lot with this, many will be jobless, and well.. please come and invest in lescalier, probably you’ll help in providing new jobs and help those who went through this and lost their jobs because of an accident.. [am pretty sure the factory is not going to open up again here.. i have my reasons to believe so.. but then, hunch are hunch]

more pics:

http://thegodof.net/images/dife6.jpg

http://thegodof.net/images/dife7.jpg

http://thegodof.net/images/dife8.jpg

http://thegodof.net/images/dife10.jpg

Sorry for the foul languages and sometimes jokes and laughs of the public, some people seem to find that as a “gamattt”

the Fire started at around 12:30, i am writing this post at 18:28, the fire fighters are still fighting the fire, it is still undefeatable as of yet..

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Popularity: 12% [?]

Enough is enough, ever since i started doing some efforts in maths, i seem to be having some quite good enough success with it, but unfortunately as most of you all know i kind of always escaped classes when i was in sc or hsc, [specially when they were working on logs] so here after trying to learn a bit about it, here’s something that hopefully might help others.

so let’s get this done…

we shall start by taking an example…

2³=8, (in words we say two to the power of 3 equals 8, 2x2x2=8).

in log terms we will say..

log₂8=3 , (in words we shall say the logarithm to the base 2 of 8 is 3)

that is, 2 to the power of WHAT will be 8? hence in this case it is 3. [You may use your calculator to verify that 2³ is infact 8]

so the general form is

a^b = c and log_ac=b

now let’s get some practice:

1.) Find the Value of log₅25 ?

Now, most people who [like me] never went to those log maths class or who have been sleeping like a log when they were in that class would try hard as hell to try to figure out how the heck to change the base of log in their calculator so as they can computer it directly on their calculators, but heh, don’t tire yourself, most probably there isn’t [atleast in the calculators that you are allowed to bring in exams]

there are only two things log related in the calculators, log, which is base 10, and ln which is base e, we’ll use log.

SO,

back to the question, basically we are asking 5 to the power of WHAT gives 25??

• [step1.] place it in the form a^b = c
  

we are given log₅25, in the form log_ac=b, it will be log₅25=b, hence the unknown here is b

a=5, c=25, b=?

5^b=25

• Solve the equation 5^b=25

5^b=25

b log 5 = log 25

b=(log 25) / (log 5)      [use calculator]

b=2

et voila! we got the answer.

Simple isn’t it? [i really wonder why i really hated that then] … probably coz i always found alternatives

With that you shall be able to solve any logarithm related equations, just find and replace. Till then, good luck and well, feel free to comment and add suffs, that’s how it works, coz am sure there;s a lot more to that. My next post will probably be on jacobi’s convergence or solving recurrence relations :p.

http://www.blogged4ever.com/2008/09/19/logarithm/

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[note i still hate maths because i don't find it useful and soo illogical while programming is soo natural and soo logical]

ps. lemme know in case of errors.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Hello people, as you most probably know i am reknowned to be very bad at maths [worldwide], i was almost beginning to believe that i was dumb, but then something changed, i realized that one can work ok in maths if we put lots of efforts [ ohh hell yes ], am normally the sort of dude who is lazy lazy lazy, since i am used to most of the things that we do in computer science and stuff, i usually never had any problems with most of the subjects, since i just had start reading on the eve of the exams [which is something i won't recommend]. Anyways, for my own sake and for the sake of many others who are like me, i hope i’ll be able to write a few series of notes that will help me and hopefully others like me to try to understand how to work out those problems…

note. most probably i am not going to be able to explain the “whys” but tleast i’ll try making it clear about the “hows”… while i always like to know the “whys” of things… i am on a race against time, i check the “whys” only at night, so if you find something that you feel you can explain, you are welcomed to comment [and who knows if i am free i'll copy add your explanation and credit you on it].

Hope we’ll have some fun with maths.

ps. don’t laugh, i need to make this effort to teach myself :p

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Popularity: 4% [?]

Its not that I have nothing else to do other than complaining about how people park their cars, but its mostly that its in my nature to get pissed up at things.

Anywayz, check out this picture, a nice example to follow of our police force force!

(click to get larger image)

Here’s a zoom

And it is those people who will torture you with fines when you parked your car wrongly somewhere. I guess save better learn manners first.

Ohh well, the pics were taken right after the presentation of our fyp, everyone were in a drunken state :p.

catch up with ya later.

+$3|v3n

Popularity: 3% [?]

bon avant tou, :p mo pena narien contre bann blonde, mais sa joke la tro bon!

——————————————————————————————————–

Cher fils,

Je t’écris ces lignes pour que tu saches que je t’écris. Alors, si tu reçois cette lettre c’est qu’elle est bien arrivée. Si tu ne la reçois pas tu me préviens pour que je te la renvoie. Je t’écris lentement parce que
je sais que tu ne lis pas très vite. L’autre jour, ton père a lu que selon les enquêtes la plupart des accidents
arrivent à 1 km de la maison, ainsi nous nous sommes décidés à déménager plus loin. La maison est superbe ; elle a une machine à laver, mais je ne suis pas sûre qu’elle fonctionne. Hier, j’ai mis le linge dedans, j’ai
tiré la chasse et je n’ai plus vu le linge depuis, mais bon.

Le temps ici n’est pas trop mauvais. La semaine dernière il a plu seulement deux fois. La première fois, la pluie a duré 3 jours, la deuxième 4. A propos de la veste que tu voulais, ton oncle Pierre m’a dit que si nous te l’envoyions avec les boutons, comme ils sont lourds, ça coûterait plus cher; alors, nous avons enlevé les boutons et les avons mis dans la poche.

Nous avons enfin enterré ton grand-père ; nous avons trouvé son corps lors du déménagement. Il était dans l’armoire depuis le jour où il a gagné en jouant à cache-cache.

Je te raconte que l’autre jour il y a eu une explosion à gaz dans la cuisine, et ton père et moi sommes sortis propulsés dans l’air au dehors de la maison ; quelle émotion !, c’est la première fois que ton père et moi sortons ensemble depuis des années. Le médecin est venu à la maison pour voir si nous étions bien et il m’a mis un tube en verre dans la bouche. Il m’a dit de la fermer pendant 10 minutes, ton père lui a proposé
de lui racheter le tube.

Et puisqu’on parle de ton père, je t’annonce qu’il a du travail, il en est fière, il travaille au dessus d’à peu près 500 personnes. Il l’ont pris pour couper le gazon dans le cimetière.

Ta sœur Julie, celle qui s’est mariée avec son mari, elle a enfin mis au monde, mais on ne sait pas encore le sexe, je ne saurais pas te dire si tu es oncle ou tante. Si c’est une fille, ta sœur va l’appeler comme moi. Ce
sera étrange d’appeler sa fille “maman”.

Ton père a demandé à ta sœur Lucie si elle est enceinte, elle lui a dit que oui, de 5 mois déjà ; mais là , ton père a demandé si elle était sûre qu’il était d’elle. Lucie lui a dit que oui. Quelle fille solide, quelle fierté, tel père telle fille.

Ton cousin Paul s’est marié et il prie tous les jours devant sa femme, parce qu’elle est vierge. Par contre, on n’a plus revu l’oncle Isidore, celui qui est mort l’année dernière.

Ton chien Pouky nous inquiète, il continue à poursuivre les voitures à l’arrêt. Mais ton frère Jeannot c’est pire. Il a fermé la voiture et il a laissé les clefs à l’intérieur. Il a dû aller chez lui chercher le double pour pouvoir nous sortir tous de là.

Bon, mon fils, je ne t’écris pas l’adresse sur la lettre, je ne la connais pas. En fait la dernière famille qui a habité ici est partie avec les numéros pour les remettre dans leur nouveau domicile.

Si tu vois Marguerite, passe lui le bonjour. Si tu ne la voies pas, ne lui dis rien.

Ta mère qui t’adore

Christine

P.S. J’allais te mettre quelques sous, mais j’ai déjà fermé l’enveloppe.

Popularity: 3% [?]

There are days like that when I really believe that a few people really lacks humanity in them.

As you all know, there was a huge rainy weather today, due to which univ was released earlier (and some even got their exams canceled).

The ministry of education released a communiqué to free all students from courses etc..

As always, it seems that everyone panicked and rushed and there was a huge traffic jam, which lead to unavailability of buses in reduit. There was a huge crowd of people in the bus stops, so going there was just plainly insane as the bus shelter was full to the max and couldn’t shelter more person from the rain. In such a case it is normal that students and others will wait for the rain to subside a bit and until there’s space in the bus shelter so as they can get a bus to go home. So in the mean while, since the UoM student’s common room was already closed, students crowded the univ’s cafE, it wasn’t THAT crowded, besides i believe that they were even making more profit since by waiting there, the students/other people are just potential customers. But of course, lack of humanity in those sonofbitches (or maybe they lack some grey matter), they just rushed everyone out (carrement, inn pouss bann zenfant dehor, i would say… “inn bour bann zenfant la dehor”). What kind of manners are that? Don’t those people have kids? Can’t they see that they are just pushing everyone outside to the rain and cold???

Damned, it wasn’t even 16hr ot 17hr, it was 14hr!! where they in SUCH a hurry to go home?? (in a traffic jam that was sooo locked that you can almost be sure nothing was moving).

Bein bann zenn, hereusement ena MIE so cafetaria, nou inn all kass 1 poz laba, et ti meme p gagne manzE laba :p …

B bizin montrE cafetaria ki c la mass ki control li, et non li ki control la masse, :p, mo esperE ki zot pou fer la bonne decision next time ki zot all astE kitsoz pou manzE… remember who kicked you out in the rain!

So, lemme know what you think about how UoM cafe sux :p am all ears :p and also :p on this blog, most of the time moderation is on relaxed mode :p

pps. mo ti content konE si ena kit raison valid pou linn fer sa :p

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Popularity: 17% [?]

Well, some genius found the proper way :p

hehe, definitely a good engineer must be able to use what s/he has at hand to solve any problems :p

anwayz hope that cheers you up a bit before the exams at univ.

Goodluck for the exams btw.

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Popularity: 3% [?]

Hello people, the blog is back up and running, was a bit caught up lately, anyways, its working now.. yupeee.

i’ve been watching a lot of bleach lately, have to wait 2 more weeks for more episode.

Currently in a test week.. am supposed to be revizing… lol.

Well the rest is.. life life life.. had a lot of things to say.. too bad the blog was down.

anywayz, did i mention that i am now writting my first blog entry using my new imac? …ohhh you gotta love the sexy design of the mac… but ohh well.. as far as osx is concerned… i still prefer my FreeBSD system as before… but ohh well… osx is based on bsd and i discovered it has port also .. so i am trying to survive on osx for some while… more on this later.

[nilish thanks for correecting the link ]

Popularity: 2% [?]