Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Buy Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate for $59

Students now can buy Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate for only $59 (That’s %91 off regular price of $679.95). What you need is that you must have a valid e-mail address at an educational institution ending with the domain suffix .EDU (ie, leina@contoso.edu) AND
You must be a student at a U.S. educational institution and must be actively enrolled in at least 0.5 course credit and be able to provide proof of enrollment upon request.

This is a great deal since it is including every office product.


Word 2007 Groove 2007
Excel 2007 Publisher 2007
PowerPoint 2007 Access 2007
Outlook 2007 InfoPath 2007
OneNote 2007 Accounting
Express
2008

Do not miss this!

http://www.microsoft.com/student/discounts/theultimatesteal-us/default.aspx

Encarta no more

Microsoft announced yesterday that they will stop further development of Encarta. I loved this program, I probably had various versions since the first one we had, Encarta 97.

http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE52U1WA20090331?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews

I guess sites like Wikipedia put the final nail on Encarta’s coffin.  Encarta Japan will continue to be active until December 31st, 2009 while all other versions will be discontinued on October 31st, 2009

Monday, March 30, 2009

Backup your SQL Database using SSH

I just found out about this very easy, efficient and incredibly fast way to back up SQL databases. Instead of trying to back up each table/database one by one into separate .sql or .zip files, I just access my web server using SSH via PUTTY and just use the following structure to dump each database into my root in .dump format:

mysqldump -h [hostname] -u [username] -p[password] [databasename] > [outputfile]

EXAMPLE:
mysqldump -hdbxxx.perfora.net -udbo1xxxxxx -pxxxxxx dbxxxxxxxx >OutputFile.dump

Later on when it is time to recover or move my database to another new Database or SQL Server, I just do the opposite using mysql instead of mysqldump:

mysql -h dbxx.perfora.net -u dboxxxxxxxx -p dbxxxxxxxx < dump_file.sql
Enter password:
mysql>

Thursday, March 26, 2009

K-Rock is Gone… (From Standard FM)

Last month K-Rock, the radio station I sometimes listen, just went dark, instead, in its place was Now FM, with cheap programming and mostly music with no advertisement, probably because they don’t have anyone confident enough to pay to advertise on this brand new radio station. Their current programming is made up pretty cheap phone calls, and most of them sound like it is same 5-6 girls and two guys changing their voices and calling in leaving messages. There aren’t many live call-ins at all..

Today I found out K Rock is still on the air, but only in HD-RADIO. It is free, but we would need to buy HD Radio receiver…

http://www.krockradio.com/
http://923now.com/

Tiny Tetris

http://sovietrussia.org/f/src/tetoris.swf

This is incredible. Tiny Tetris, there are bunch of small tetris pieces falling and it is almost impossible to make a complete line with these small pieces. I will keep hitting space to see how long it takes to fill up the screen until it is Game Over!

Oh Man

Check these Jiffy Lube videos.. I knew about these videos and problems with J.L. but I still went there..


I hope my car runs fine.. The dude tried to keep me busy while they were changing the oil, though. He pulled me into the little office and started talking B.S. like additive, battery service, etc.. I said Yah, Yah, Yah.

Jiffy Lube

I wonder if Jiffy Lube jibbed me? The price was already jacked up, but I was already running 2100 miles behind on my oil change! I pulled in and the dude said it is $39.99.. It was expensive for an oil change, but they throw in a free car wash coupon at a near by car wash station.. What’s interesting was when I went there I got Regular Exterior wash, as opposed to Full Service wash which was on my free ticket.. Oh well, the truth is I just had my vehicle washed the other day anyway. :)

Jiffy lube really lubes & changes oil in a jiffy, but I think they are using some old oils and cheapest oil filters…

I should be sleeping

Yes, I should be sleeping but I decided to drop a line and post the latest (or earliest) blog entry I did on any given day…

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Golden Section

In mathematics and the arts, two quantities are in the golden ratio if the ratio between the sum of those quantities and the larger one is the same as the ratio between the larger one and the smaller. The golden ratio is an irrational mathematical constant, approximately 1.6180339887.

At least since the Renaissance, many artists and architects have proportioned their works to approximate the golden ratio—especially in the form of the golden rectangle, in which the ratio of the longer side to the shorter is the golden ratio—believing this proportion to be aesthetically pleasing. Mathematicians have studied the golden ratio because of its unique and interesting properties.

So everything we think that is beautiful is explained by mathematics. Pretty cool.

Teacher's Have It Hard

I am an undergrad TA for organic chemistry and I can finally understand why teachers get angry at students for not being able to answer their questions. I get some really dumb questions that if only the students would read the textbook they would know the answer. It's really trivial and I refuse to answer such questions. When they really don't understand the material or the questions I am happy to answer it but please people put in some effort. I can't do all your work for you.

Some Turkish History

This is for all those who are trying to divide Turkey(Yes that mean's you, Kurds.) Please let's learn to live peacefully. We did not win back our country easily so let's keep in mind how valuable it is.

Learn some Geography please

People say Americans are stupid and video's like this show why people say that.I've noticed that most American's are very weak in geography and I remember hearing something that 60% of the Americans can't point out Iraq on a map.

Good Laugh

www.failblog.org This is just a website to show that when you say "can someone actually be that stupid?" this website shows "yes they can". Whenever I need a laugh, I go to failblog.org.

Stem cell research

President Obama has lifted the ban on stem cell research and it makes me very happy. With this ban gone, more research will go into finding cures for diseases that couldn't be cured. Stem cells are really amazing. Stem cells are cells found in most, if not all, multi-cellular organisms. They are characterized by the ability to renew themselves through mitotic cell division and differentiating into a diverse range of specialized cell types. So they can become anything that you want them too. So if a person has a failing kidney, you could already have grown one that matches the person. The opportunities with stem cells are endless and to have had the ban on it really limited potential treatments. Again this is because of the religious groups thinking that using stem cells means killing babies and a former president that supported those views. That's no more, GO OBAMA!!!!

more on this topic here:
http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=obama-ends-embryonic-stem-cell-rese-2009-03-09

Secularism in Turkey

As a Turk, I am concerned about the threat of destroying secularism in Turkey. The current prime minister and president are leaning towards an Islamic regime and ending democracy. With the elections coming up, I hope that the tide turns against the AKP(current majority party and the party of the president and prime minister) and they no longer weild power. I don't want people thinking that I am against Islam. I support my religion fully and practice it as much as I can, but I believe that when religion gets involved in government, the outcome is not good.

Fantasy Sports

I believe everyone should be playing fantasy sports. It is a great way to interact and meet new people that share common interests with you. It's a fun process starting from the drafting of players to the fierce competition of making the playoffs. My favorite part of the game is the trash talking that goes on between the people participating. If you are playing with your friends, it makes the experience much more fun. If you are dominating the league then when you see your friends, you can brag and gloat straight to their faces. Of course if you lose and you've been talking too much and pretty much being an ass to everyone, expect to get some pretty nasty remarks back.

http://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy---play it :)

Shaq the Bowler

Did you see Shaq’s opening bid? Is it an answer to LeBron? I think it is interesting, check it out yourself:

Rating doctors online is causing headache to doctors…

Just like Rate my Professor which I posted below, there are also many websites where patients can rate their experience with a certain doctor, or post their reviews of the office visit, etc. One of those sites is http://www.ratemds.com/social/ 

I read in the news that many doctors are forcing their patients sign a letter stating they will not post reviews or ratings about this particular doctor online.. Here is the news article: http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20090304/ap_on_hi_te/med_gagging_patients

I wonder if teachers and professors will start doing the same thing? I think nobody should sign this type of agreement, and everyone has a right to post their experiences with a certain doctor or professor and warn others if they see something wrong, or feel they are being cheated…

Finished Movie

I have finally finished the movie I was making using Windows Movie Maker. I think this one definitely tops the last one. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did while making it.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Rate My Professor

This site is absolutely brilliant. It has yet to fail me while picking classes for the semester. I just look at all the classes I need and pick the teachers that are the best(and easiest) at teaching the class. I suggest this website to any college student picking classes because it is absolutely crucial that you make a good choice when picking classes. The wrong choice is the difference between an A and a C.

Follow the link to the site:
http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/

Free Stuff…

 

Today there is a report on Yahoo, showing you how & where to find free stuff… Below are some of those items, for the rest of them, check out this report:

  • Log onto Freecycle and other reuse groups to search listings of items being given away by people in your town.
  • Craigslist has a whole category dedicated to "free stuff" for each of its participating cities. Find everything from cardboard boxes to electric sewing machines to computer games.
  • Search for free reusable items with the Local Reuse application on your iPhone.
  • CouchSurfing connects travelers with hosts around the globe. The result: You get both a free place to stay and locals to hang out with for an inside glimpse of other cultures.
  • Want free accommodations while travelling, but aren't up for sleeping on a couch? Use Digsville, Home Base Holidays, HomeExchange.com, and HomeLink to find traditional home-exchange opportunities.
  • Favorpals is all about helping you trading skills and favors. Clean someone's house in exchange for dog walking when you're at work or for tutoring your kid in math. Or offer painting services and get help with designing a website.
  • You can trade anything from babysitting and calligraphy lessons to pianos and foosball tables to cars and boats at U-Exchange.

Read the rest (Yahoo)

DSi might have virtual Game Boy

Earlier today I posted some information about the new Nintendo DS (dubbed DSi) and posted a video of the features. On that video, where the user was scrolling through the applications, there were a lot of spaces, which made everyone assume that we would have ability to add applications, etc..

Now, the reports & rumors arrive that DSi might have Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance players coming up, just like NES, SNES and N64 on Wii. So, if you own DSi and Wii you would be owning every Nintendo system made.

Very cool..

Letters & Documents

Did you ever find yourself trying to type up a professional letter to follow up that big job interview, or struggling to find things to say in response to that hefty bonus you received from your boss? Whatever the situation is, it is always best if you answered them professionally in writing.

When I was looking for a sample letter on the internet, I found this website:

http://insiderreports.com/resources/library/searchletters.asp?Query=old&qu=thank+you&FreeText=&RankBase=&pg=4&QType=w&SubjCatID=&prvbtn=-1&docsfnd=yes

Most of the letters are free, and with hundreds to choose from, you would be surprised to see some interesting ones among those.

Hospitals in New York City

 

I found this listing of all hospitals and their specialty, it is not the list of ALL hospitals, but it is updated continuously

http://www.citidex.com/468.htm

Nintendo DSi

Nintendo is upgrading its handheld gaming device DS to the next level, DSi. It has a lot of cool features and huge potential. I already have a DS, and it is debatable if I would get the new one… But check out these features:

Food myths

Today during dinner I was in a hurry and ate my food very fast. My mom told me to slow down because eating fast will make me gain weight. There are some myths such as the one my mom said, or if you eat late you gain more weight. I think most of these myths are false and here are 10 myths that are proven to be false. The info was obtained from http://www.womenfitness.net/top10_foodmyths_facts.htm

Top 10 Food Myths and Facts

Have you heard the one about the fat-forming carbohydrate? Food & Nutrition is continually faced with the challenge of dispelling common myths about calories and weight management, ten such myths have been covered below:


Myth: Eating most of your calories in the evening promotes weight gain.

Fact: No matter when you eat them, you gain weight when you eat more calories than you burn off. However, mindless munching in front of the TV at night can push calorie intake over the top.



Myth: Fat free is calorie free.

Fact: Some people indulge in extra-large servings of fat-free foods, such as cookies, cakes and crackers, without realizing that these foods may contain the same amount or even more calories than regular versions. Get the facts on fat-free foods by checking food labels for the serving size and number of calories per serving. Fruits and vegetables are naturally low in fat and calories. However, other low fat or no fat foods may still contain a lot of calories. To make such foods taste better, extra sugar, flour, or starch thickeners are usually added. These ingredients are high in calories and may lead to weight gain.



Myth: Carbohydrates (or sugars) cause weight gain.

Fact: Carbohydrates do not cause weight gain unless they contribute to excess calorie intake. The same holds true for protein and fat. Findings from the National Weight Control Registry show that people who successfully maintain weight loss tend to eat diets that are higher in carbohydrates and lower in fat, in addition to watching their total calorie intake. However, some people who eat a diet that is extremely high in carbohydrates and low in protein and fat get hungry sooner, which may trigger overeating.




Myth: High-protein diets cause ketosis, which reduces hunger.

Fact: Ketosis occurs when fat is used as an energy source instead of carbohydrate during a high-protein diet. Ketone bodies are produced, which turn your breath a bad “fruity” odor. Ketone bodies do not reduce appetite, however, eating sufficient protein for your body type can help reduce hunger and support weight loss.

These diets may help you lose weight fast – but most of this weight that you lose would constitute water weight and lean muscle weight instead of fat. The best way to lose weight and keep it off without harming your body is by following a reduced-calorie diet that is well balanced between carbohydrates, proteins, and fats.



Myth: Yoghurt is the perfect diet food. Many dieters swear by it, but some yoghurt can be as fattening as ice cream. Greek yoghurt has 10 pc fat.

Fact: Yoghurt is good for people of all ages. Yoghurt is also important for those wanting to lose weight. As a milk product, yoghurt is naturally rich in calcium. Research shows that calcium helps reduce weight gain. Even small changes in the calcium levels of fat cells can change signals within the cell that control the making and burning of fat. What needs to be remembered is no one food is going to prove magic, it is a combination of effective diet and exercise plan that will really work. Avoid yoghurt that contains added sugars or sweetened fruit, as these upset the delicate chemical balance that allow the cultures to thrive. Sugars also feed the growth on unwanted yeasts, so you’re better off without it!



Myth: Exercise makes you eat more. Often people shy away from doing exercise using this excuse.

Fact: However, research has shown that after 20 minutes of exercise people ate no more than those who had done nothing. The only difference was that those who had exercised thought the food tasted better.


Advertise Here


Myth: Extra protein makes you strong.

Fact: The body has tremendous reserves and is very adaptive. The idea that you have to eat specified foods in specified amounts every day to maintain performance is unsound. You do not need to starve yourself to lose weight. When we are active, our body uses its own fat and carbohydrate for fuel. A diet that includes animal and vegetable protein supplies all the body needs to replenish its stores. There is no superdiet for super performance. Besides, high protein diet often lack key nutrients found in carbohydrate foods. You need every kind of food. Avoiding any kind of food is just as wrong as ingesting food supplements.



Myth: Lettuce makes your figure slim.

Fact: The theory adopted behind this fact is that, you can eat a food with low energy density, such as lettuce, and consume a huge amount for few calories. This belief is true to some extent as lettuce leaves practically do not contain calories. A tablespoon of butter has the same number of calories as 10 cups of leaf lettuce. However, generally they are not eaten alone and most lettuce sauces are high in fat.

Research suggests that losing ½ to 2 pounds a week by making healthy food choices, eating moderate portions, and building physical activity into your daily life is the best way to lose weight and keep it off. By adopting healthy eating and physical activity habits, you may also lower your risk for developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure.


Myth: You can burn fat by eating certain foods, like grapefruit and cabbage soup.

Fact: The grapefruit diet
require you to eat half a grapefruit before every meal to reap the benefits of the fruit's so-called fat-burning enzymes. Calories typically are limited to fewer than 800 a day, although some versions require that you eat until you are full. Grapefruit has no fat, is low in calories and sodium, and is packed with vitamin C. But the very low calories — and deficits in protein, fiber and several important vitamins and minerals — can make this diet dangerous. Similarly, the cabbage soup diet proponents report feeling lightheaded and weak because the diet is too low in protein, vitamins and complex carbohydrates. You may lose weight, but you'll probably be too queasy to enjoy it. Remember, no foods can burn fat. Caffeine-rich foods may speed up your metabolism rate for a short time. However, they do not cause any weight loss. The best way to lose weight is to reduce the number of calories you eat and increase your physical activities.



Myth: Processed foods are not as nutritious as fresh foods.

Fact: Many processed foods are just as nutritious or in some cases even more nutritious than fresh foods depending on the manner in which they are processed.
Frozen vegetables are usually processed within hours of harvest. There is little nutrient loss in the freezing process so frozen vegetables retain their high vitamin and mineral content. In contrast, fresh vegetables are picked and transported to market. It can take days or even weeks before they reach the dinner table and vitamins are gradually lost over time no matter how carefully the vegetables are transported and stored.

Some processed foods, such as breads and breakfast cereals, have vitamins and minerals added for extra nutrition. In fact, the growing interest in health and nutrition has spurred the production of a whole new range of foods with added health and nutritional benefits (called "functional foods") such as fat spreads with added fibre to lower cholesterol.

Processing can also make some nutrients more available. For example, removing phytic acid from grain foods by removing the bran helps to improve the absorption of iron from a food. Processing tomatoes into a tomato paste or sauce increases the amount of lycopene (an antioxidant) that is available to the body.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Magic and Illusions

I ran into this website the other day, and they are selling bunch of interesting items: http://www.grand-illusions.com/

The ones I really liked were the Dragons
Check out the video:

and this moving wheels (Click to see them in action)

Check the other stuff here: http://www.grand-illusions.com/acatalog/

Windows Movie Maker

There is this really cool program called Windows Movie Maker. It allows you to drag audio, images, and video and combine them all into a movie. I thought I would give it a whirl and came up with something. This is just a first draft, I will work on it a little bit more but I thought it's pretty decent.

Cool Text Effects

Using this site, you can make bunch of cool text effects, banners, animations and buttons:

toglas blog fancy blog its hot metal works not welcome

Click on each one to see them full size.
The service is provided by: http://cooltext.com/

Crude Oil Pricing

The price of oil has been dropping and I follow the trend on this website, in fact they have a little gadget I can add to my own website to follow the prices:

Above chart is updated continuously, and you can over over month/quarter/year/5year trends to see the changes in crude oil prices.

Build a Cheap Mac computer

Did you know you could have your own basic Macintosh computer for less than $240.

02imac_hero_f2There is a barebone computer called MSI and it makes a low profile computer and it comes with basic processor, motherboard and a few other goodies.

Here is a tutorial for building your own Mac for a very good price:
http://www.uselessninjas.com/guides/msiwindosx/

I like the way Macintosh computers look, I almost bought an iMac a few years ago, only if the programs and games I wanted were available on them, I would have bought one by now.

WikiMapia

Wikimapia is a google mash-up where everyone can just add anything they like on a map of any area they prefer, it is community driven website and it is very helpful.

For example, check this area:

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=40.7449485&lon=-73.9223027&z=16&l=0&m=a

You can zoom out to see more areas.

Create your snowflake!

This is a lot of fun, and the possible combinations are endless, if below does not work, click on the link right underneath:

http://www.zefrank.com/snowflake/

Shoe Collection



I am an avid shoe collector. I don't know why I do it but I just love shoes. Especially signature shoe's of my favorite athlete, Kobe Bryant. I collect his shoes and wear a different pair every day. Here are some pictures of my shoes that I own. I am part of an online community of shoe collectors and these pictures were for posting on the forum.

Windows Mobile 6.5

Do you like Windows Mobile? Do you not care about it? Are you WM hater and iPhone lover? Well, I am not into the phone/OS wars, but Windows Mobile has been around with same and even more features than iPhone for over 10 years. Unfortunately they did not know how to utilize the strength and power of Windows Mobile (back then was called Microsoft Pocket PC 2000 and 2003).

I have a Windows Mobile 5 phone, T-Mobile Shadow.

Now, they are catching up, even though the bare bone is same, they are trying to make it look more appealing to the crowd, with new Windows 6.5, take a look at these:

[Javascript required to view Flash movie, please turn it on and refresh this page]


Click on the small box next to volume control to view it full screen.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Easy to do Shadow Puppets

 

Here are some easy to do, yet very cool hand shadow puppets. I tried some of them and they look amazing, however some of them are just too darn hard to get right. Make sure you are doing them in complete darkness with a strong and steady light behind your hand, otherwise it is hard to see the subtle sections like eyes, noses, ears etc.. Also, move your hand away from the wall back and forth to catch the best size for each one.

Enjoy!

Illusions are nice…

And this one is one of the nicest ones, as you can see there is one checker marked A, and another checker marked B. If I told you that these two were the same color, you would think I was joking…

samecolorillusionnu6

Joking, I am not. They are the same color. Get your eyedrop tool ready and start comparing RGB values of both checkers and see for your self.

Clearest UFO Pictures

Do you believe in aliens or live beyond Earth? I do, I mean I am not one of those who go out and put up a sign saying “Welcome” or go visit Area 51 in search of weird people and claim they are aliens in human suits, but I believe there has to be something out there that is not human or anything humans know of… It could be microscopic or gigantic, but there has to be something else out there, considering our Solar System is the size of a sand grain in a sand box, and each galaxy on space is size of a sandbox on Earth…

Anyway, long story short, I ran across this website:
http://www.ufocasebook.com/bestufopictures.html

Recession is upon us, pinch the penny, make sandals out of blown tire

 
This is an interesting way to create your own footwear, it might even catch on and become the new fashion accessory. Check it out:

81386144 45710416 90985332 77812700

75621635 

85804823 37825373 41427314 47285947  18995254 26722467 51852572 

I will be sure to post pictures of the sandals I make out of the next blown tire I find on the highway, and put them next to my squirrel and moose head.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Soccer

I absolutely adore soccer. I guess me being European has a lot to do with that. Europeans pretty much all love soccer. For some reason fans of soccer are also exceptionally loyal. They feel that they are a part of the team as well. They are so loyal and they are willing to fight the fans on the other team, sort of like this guy. I'm guessing they get into a dispute about the game...

Piri Reis


In 1929, a group of historians found an amazing map drawn on a gazelle skin.
Research showed that it was a genuine document drawn in 1513 by Piri Reis, a famous admiral of the Turkish fleet in the sixteenth century. The Piri Reis map shows the western coast of Africa, the eastern coast of South America, and the northern coast of Antarctica. The northern coastline of Antarctica is perfectly detailed. How Piri Reis managed to draw such an accurate map of the Antarctic region 300 years before it was discovered is debated greatly. I believe it to be the work of aliens. The alien theory is just one of the speculated theories but I find it to be the best one. How could he have possibly drawn it in such detail without the help of aliens.

More Comics








The comic life program is quite catchy as I have been working on it some more. Here is more of my work. Enjoy....

Friday, March 20, 2009

More Sketchup




Some more sketch-up stuff. This program is definitely a good skill to have. Pretty soon, there are no longer going to be 2D drawings of buildings. It will all be 3D, and not only can you make the building, you can take a tour inside by zooming in and walking through.