Lyrics: http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/obrotherwhereartthou/illflyaway.htm

This is another multi-track recording, mixed down with Audacity.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I do not in any way condone the use of cocaine. I happen to like bluegrass, I happen to be a fan of Old Crow Medicine Show, and I happen to like the song “Tell It To Me.” I happened to record it and it was fun.

DOWNLOAD

It’s an old-timey song, but Weezer does a cool cover.

My Evaline (my Evaline)
Say you’ll be mine (say you’ll be mine)
Won’t you come and let me whisper in your ear
Way down yonder in the old corn field
For you (for you)
I’ve pined
Sweeter than the honey
To the honey bee
I love you
Say you love me
Meet me in the shade
Of the old apple tree
Eva-Iva-Ova-Evaline

create or replace function gc_dist (lat1 IN number, lon1 IN number, lat2 IN number, lon2 IN number) RETURN number

is

A_lat number;
A_lon number;
B_lat number;
B_lon number;
delta_lat number;
delta_lon number;
pi number;
earth_radius number;
gcdist number;
distance number;

begin

pi := 3.14159265358979323;
earth_radius := 3963.189;

A_lat := (lat1 * pi) / 180;
A_lon := (lon1 * pi) / 180;
B_lat := (lat2 * pi) / 180;
B_lon := (lon2 * pi) / 180;

delta_lat := A_lat - B_lat;
delta_lon := A_lon - B_lon;

-- find great circle distance
gcdist := power(sin(delta_lat / 2), 2) + cos(A_lat) * cos(B_lat) * power(sin(delta_lon / 2), 2);

distance := ROUND(earth_radius * 2 * atan2(sqrt(gcdist),sqrt(1 - gcdist)), 1);

return distance;

end;

I found the “exact” Earth radius on Wikipedia. phpZipLocator was used to get it working with the site. I had to modify the functions a little to suit the specific needs of the application.

Using something like this requires a database of zip codes along with the corresponding latitude and longitude for each. One can be found on the phpZipLocator site, but I don’t think I ended up using that one. I did a lot of research to find the best free one, but unfortunately I don’t remember which one was used (here’s another). As far as commercial solutions, I thought this one looks like one of the better ones. I’ll likely get back into it at some point and look this stuff up again.

Here’s an example usage of the function:

1. Extract the latitude and longitude from the given zipcode:

   SELECT lat, lon FROM zipcodes WHERE zip = :ZIP

   “:ZIP” is the specified zipcode and “zipcodes” is the name of the zipcode table.

2. Build the first part of the query sans the WHERE clause. In the WHERE clause we’ll specify the radius

   SELECT gc_dist(zipcodes.lat, zipcodes.lon, :LAT, :LON) AS distance FROM zipcodes

   “:LAT” and “:LON” represent the returned values from the first query

3. Use phpZipLocator’s inradius function to build the WHERE clause that will restrict the results within the specified radius of the specified zipcode. Here is what’s inside the function (I don’t remember what I modified in the function so I’ll just paste the main part):

   WHERE (POWER((69.1 * (lon - :LON) * COS(:LAT / 57.3)), 2) + POWER((69.1 * (lat - :LAT)), 2)) < (:RADIUS * :RADIUS);

   “:LON” and “:LAT” were found in the first query, and “:RADIUS” represents the specified radius in miles.

4. Put them together and run the query!

Wikipedia has taken a lot of heat with accusations that it’s just a subpar source of information. It has a GIGANTIC database of articles, stored with MySQL using an InnoDB engine. It’s one of the top ten most visited websites in the World.

One of the co-founders of Wikipedia, Larry Sanger, has started his own initiative called Citizendium. It is based on the Wikipedian editing model and also run on MediaWiki but does not allow anonymous editing. It also has special features for experts in particular fields. In essence it could be considered a more “reliable” version of Wikipedia. Hopefully we’ll finally be able to use it as a source in school research papers!

In comes the Google Mini. Needless to say, its shade of cerulean blue really sticks out in the racks. When you first fire it up it takes about 10 minutes to boot. Once it’s booted you interface it with a laptop using a crossover cable (it comes with some cables). We used my work laptop to set it up. I got to type in the configuration settings for it, but unfortunately I had to pass the computer to David when it came time to set the password

The Google Appliance will soon replace the current Google Custom Search the site is using. Having an in-house search appliance will exponentially increase the flexibility, alowing us to tightly integrate current databases such as those for faculty directories, courses and calenders. The possibilities are endless. The operating system internals of the Google Mini are locked down pretty tightly; they still don’t want people finding out how their actual search algorithms work or what kind of database system they are using.

I took some pictures of the installation process and will probably post them at some point.

It came with a Google T-Shirt! At the next Web Group meeting they’re going to announce who gets it. *crosses fingers*

Since I deal mostly with PHP/MySQL/Oracle, I’ll just be talking about PHP/MySQL/Oracle.

PHP has a built-in MySQL function called mysql_real_escape_string(). If that’s the injection-prevent method you go with, any time user-provided data from a URL query string is going into a database query it should be passed through that function.

If you’re using Oracle, the best and most elegant bet is to take advantage of the data binding features.

An example from the Wikipedia article on SQL injection (modified to fit the Oracle syntax):

$query = $sql->prepare("select * from users where name = :NAME");
$query->execute($user_name);

The execute member function here takes the value of $user_name and “binds” it to “:NAME” in the query. In other words it replaces the data stored in $user_name with the bind variable “:NAME.” However, before dumping it into the query it makes sure that the data in $user_name is not SQL. Regardless of the contents it treats it as query-safe data. When using native Oracle binds there is no need to use other functions such as mysql_real_escape_string().

function char_entities($data) {
	for ($i = 126; $i < = 255; $i++) {
		if ($i != 160) {
			$badchars[$i]  = chr($i);
			$goodchars[$i] = "&#$i;";
		}
	}

	// Normalize quotes and em dashes (e.g. - MS Word crap)
	$goodchars[145] = '\'';
	$goodchars[146] = '\'';
	$goodchars[147] = '"';
	$goodchars[148] = '"';
	$goodchars[151] = '-';
	// We don't want to convert spaces!
	unset($badchars[160]);
	unset($goodchars[160]);

	return str_replace($badchars, $goodchars, $data);
}

As a side note, it seems that WordPress throws a “503 Service Temporarily Unavailable” error when submitting posts that contain the following string (possibly any use of chr()):

chr($i);

I had to escape it in order to get it to work:

chr($i)

Anyway, the point of this post is Google Base. I guess the aforementioned things will eventually be related since it’s only a matter of time before the concept is copied by another company.

It’s a simple database that anyone can utilize via the web! With Google’s philosophy and goal of cataloging knowledge and data, it’s no surprise that the user-provided data can in some cases be searched via certain Google searches. Users can enter any kind of data about things. First you choose a category, then you add items and choose your own attributes! It’s just like creating a regular database but it’s set up in a way where the average user can easily figure it out. If a predefined category is chosen then attributes are automatically added which makes it even easier. You can add images and AdWords as well.

I posted a “Swingline Stapler” as a test!

ALL YOUR GOOGLE BASE ARE BELONG TO US!

Oracle continues to dominate the database software market, but challenges lie ahead from open source, analysts say […] The biggest threat to Oracle’s dominance of the market could be open-source competitors like MySQL.

According to the article, MySQL is one that they may need to keep an eye on. I’ve been a fan and user of MySQL for a long time. Part of the reason is my fondness for the spirit of Open Source. MySQL is free to download and use, so of course it was an amazing resource for me over the years gaining experience with database design and application. Furthermore, open source technologies tend to be exceptionally well-documented. When I run into an error with MySQL or PHP, it’s pretty odd for me to take longer than a few minutes actively searching the Net for solutions.

As an RDBMS, I’m not sure that it could be argued that Oracle has a lot more potential power for someone who knows the ins- and outs of its features. For me personally, I don’t use a fraction of what it can do, so MySQL suits my needs just fine.

MySQL certainly won’t move Oracle off the map, but it’s gained a decent stronghold in the market. There’s a quite impressive list on Wikipedia with some companies that use MySQL for some of their applications. The list includes Apple, Nokia, Yahoo, Amazon.com, and Google (not for the search of course… Lord knows what they use for that).

I’ll continue to be a supporter of MySQL (I’ll admit it’s a lot to do with its $0 price tag), but I have learned some very impressive things about Oracle in Database Concepts class. They truly seem to be unsurpassed innovators in the market, and will likely remain the RDBMS of choice for large enterprise applications.