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I was surprised today to see that the Math package does not provide a method that the calculation of an arbitrary base logarithm, even though it provides a log10() method for base-10 logarithms.

One can easily calculate the logarithm of any base using the following simple equation:



Where logk is the function that returns the base-k logarithm of a number, and it can be any real number.

In terms of Java it can be written like this:

 public class Logarithm
{
public static double logb( double a, double b )
{
return Math.log(a) / Math.log(b);
}

public static double log2( double a )
{
return logb(a,2);
}

public static void main( String[] args )
{
System.out.println(log2(100));
}
}

I suppose that this only happens with NVIDIA cards. Yesterday I just upgraded to Karmic Koala and today I discovered that even though everything seemed normal, video playback appears in false color and in a shade of blue, like this:

I tried to play with the NVIDIA X-Server Settings and I discovered that the Hue parameter under X Server XVideo Settings had a value close to -1000, instead of 0 which is the normal:

If you click the Reset Hardware Settings button all values return to the default (0) and your video will appear in true color again:

To open  the NVIDIA X-Server Settings go to: System → Administration → NVIDIA X-Server Settings.

Certainly this is rather a work-around than a solution, but it allows you to watch video until a bug fix is released.

Oracle provides the ROWNUM pseudo-column to allow someone limit up the number of returned rows in a SELECT statement. However, you should be cautious when using ROWNUM in combination with an ORDER BY clause.

For example, consider the following table:

ColumnName
30
40
50
60
70
80
90

We can easily select the first three (unordered) rows, like this:

SELECT * FROM TableName WHERE ROWNUM <= 3;

ColumnName

30

40

50

Or we can even select the entire data set in descending order, like this:

SELECT * FROM TableName ORDER BY ColumnName DESC;

ColumnName
90
80
70
60
50
40
30

But, how about selecting the three highest values? A common pitfall is trying something like this one:

SELECT * FROM TableName WHERE ROWNUM <= 3 ORDER BY ColumnName DESC;

But this will falsely and not surprisingly return this result this:

ColumnName

50

40

30

What did go wrong? The answer is simple. At first, Oracle select the first three rows from the table in their natural order of occurance. They happen to be 30, 40 and 50. Then, Oracle sorts up the result set and returns it.

Intuitively, someone would think that the sorting and the row limit should occur in the reverse order, and that's correct. This is the proper way to do it:

SELECT * FROM (SELECT * FROM TableName ORDER BY ColumnName) WHERE ROWNUM <= 3;

ColumnName

90

80

70

In general, when you have an ordered result set, and you want to select only the first N rows of it, this is the syntax you should use:

SELECT * FROM (SELECT * FROM ... ORDER BY ...) WHERE ROWNUM <= N;

Are you getting this error after Google Earth's splash screen?

The you are possibly on a freshly installed 64-bit system and you haven't yet installed the lib32nss-mdns package. Run this command:

sudo apt-get install lib32nss-mdns

and then try to run Google Earth again, should be working now.

I have eye floaters...



Jeez, sometimes this can be really annoying...

Check out this outstanding eye floaters simulation.

Copying the image of Virtual Disk (.vdi file) is a convenient way to duplicate the disk, in cases you want to avoid re-installing an operating system from scratch.

However, simply copying the .vdi file into another location will make a verbatim copy of the virtual disk, including the UUID of the disk. If you try to add the copy in the Virtual Media Manager, you will get an error like this:

In this case, you have to do the following:

giannis@giannis-laptop:~$ VBoxManage internalcommands setvdiuuid /path/to/virtualdisk.vdi
VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 2.2.2
(C) 2005-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
All rights reserved.

UUID changed to: 9e89fe14-d010-469e-a737-cd65218c4acb

Since the old UUID is replaced with a new one, you can now add and use the virtual disk.

Please note, that you wouldn't have to follow this procedure if you had used the clonevdi function to copy the virtual disk image, in the first place. The clonevdi function makes sure that the new disk image will have its own unique UUID.

The syntax of the clonedvi goes like this:

$ VBoxManage clonevdi Master.vdi Clone.vdi

If your Firefox suddenly starts to open without window decoration, run this command:

gedit `find ~/.mozilla -name localstore.rdf`

Try to locate the part of the file that looks like this:

<RDF:Description RDF:about="chrome://browser/content/browser.xul#main-window"
width="1280"
height="1024"
screenX="0"
screenY="0"
sizemode="maximized" />

The order and values may vary in your computer but that does not matter.

Now go ahead and completely erase either the width or the height line. Like this:

<RDF:Description RDF:about="chrome://browser/content/browser.xul#main-window"
width="1280"
screenX="0"
screenY="0"
sizemode="maximized" />

Then save the file. The problem should be fixed now.

Hibernate option is not available by default in Windows XP. Follow this instructions to make Hibernate option available in your Turn Off Computer dialog.

Please note that in order to use Hibernate,  the S4 System State (Hibernation) must be supported by your computer's ACPI implementation, othewise you cannot do anything about it.

Go to Start → Settings → Control Panel. Make sure to open the Classic View, and open Power Options:

When the Power Options Properties dialog appears, check if there is a tab labeled Hibernate. It should be the last one:

If you are not able to see the Hibernate tab, then Hibernation is probably not supported in your computer...

On the other hand, if you have a Hibernate tab, that's good news. Open the Hibernate tab and make sure to check the Enable Hibernation checkbox:

Click the Apply or OK button to make the changes take effect.

Now, the next time you want hibernate, in the Turn Off Computer dialog, press and hold down the Shift Key. The Stand By option will change to Hibernate whilst you hold the Shift Key pressed:

With the Shift Key down click on Hibernate.

If lately you have been experiencing a short delay when trying to take screenshots by pressing the Print Screen button (PrtScn), it's most likely because of a delay setting in the screenshot accessory.

Go to Application → Accessories→ Take Screenshot. You should get this window:

Change the delay setting to 0. You should have to take a dummy screenshot for the change to take effect. After you do that, when you press the PrintScreen button you will be getting screenshots without the delay.

This is article describes how to "unlock" a secured PDF file, and gain full access to print it, modify it, and copy selected portions of text from it, without paying anything to buy any of this (so called) "pdf cracking software".

You are going to need the help of the Evince Document Viewer that comes with Ubuntu Linux. If you are already using Ubuntu Linux, good for you! If you are not using it, you can ask a friend of yours with Ubuntu installed to help you. Otherwise, you can dive in deep water and try the Live CD that will do the job for you (no installation required).

A "secured" PDF file will look like this if you open it in Adobe Reader:

Boot in your Ubuntu Linux (or boot from the Live CD if you don't want Ubuntu Linux installed). Open your locked PDF from Ubuntu using the standard document viewer, Evince. From the menu go to File → Print... From the printers list select Print to File:

Enter the output filename and make sure that you have selected PDF as Output Format. Click Print and you will get a verbatim copy of the original file, only this time it will be free of any restrictions. This is one more practical example that demonstrates how Ubuntu Linux can significantly improve your life...