Prince & Princess

Posted by:Humble Maid-Anson

Animator vs Animation

The best animations that i have ever seen... hahaha... =) really amazing! my eyes have been glued to the screen for hours already... Enjoy!

Animator vs Animation by *alanbecker





Animator vs Animation II by *alanbecker

Men Are Just Happier People

Another something abt gender differences. It's cute.

Men Are Just Happier People -- What do you expect from such simple creatures?

1. Your last name stays put.
2. The garage is all yours.
3. Wedding plans take care of themselves.
4. Chocolate is just another snack.
5. You can be President.
6. You can never be pregnant.
7. You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park.
8. You can wear NO shirt to a water park.
9. Car mechanics tell you the truth.
10. The world is your urinal.
11. You never have to drive to another gas station restroom because this one is just too icky.
12. You don't have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt.
13. Same work, more pay.
14. Wrinkles add character.
15. Wedding dress $5000. Tux rental-$100.
16. People never stare at your chest when you're talking to them.
17. New shoes don't cut, blister, or mangle your feet.
18. One mood all the time!
19. Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat.
20. You know stuff about tanks.
21. A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase.
22. You can open all your own jars.
23. You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness.
24. If someone forgets to invite you,he or she can still be your friend.
25. Your underwear is $8.95 for a three-pack.
26. Three pairs of shoes are more than enough.
27. You almost never have strap problems in public.
28. You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes.
29. Everything on your face stays its original color.
30. The same hairstylelasts for years, maybe decades.
31. You only have to shave your face and neck.
32. You can play with toys all your life.
33. One wallet and one pair of shoes -- one color for all seasons.
34. You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look.
35. You can "do" your nails with a pocket knife.
36. You have freedom of choice concerning growing a mustache.
37. You can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives on December 24 in 25 minutes.

No wonder men are happier.

Feel free to add on to the list. I'm sure there's more. *grins*

~Fiona

Turkey Pictures

Chinese Wedding - Dos & Donts

friends that i have known in sec sch, jc and uni are either
1. planning their marriages (i have already received notification of their ROM dates for year 2008/2009.. cos they want to 'book' me early... faint!! really too advanced notice lah...) ; or
2. married but yet to hold the customary dinner (point finger at xinyi... hahaha) ; or
3. married and happily (i hope so lah) with kids

this is insane lah!! to get married at such a young age (definition of young: married before 25 years old)... hahahaha... but i guess different ppl have different perspective of life, pros and cons for early marriage, and etc... so... whatever.

aniwae, if you have been to a chinese wedding ceremony/dinner, have you ever wondered why the bride/groom/everybody need to do certain things in a certain way?? *insert curious looks and thinking heads*... hahah... so, to save everyone's time, i have googled for the answer and posted it right here....

(yesh, google is the next best thing to happen after doughnut... errhh, is it doughnut? or is something else? those with powderful english pls confirm, hahaha)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Proposal & Betrothal
In Chinese Culture, a marriage is considered the joining of two families. Thus the parents of the bride's and groom's get involved in their wedding planning from very early on. Two families pick an auspicious date as the Betrothal Day. This is a formal meeting between the parents of the perspective bride and groom. The groom's family presents various proposal gifts that represents fertility and prosperity in Chinese culture, which is also known as "Grand Gift" or "Guo Da Li". All gifts should come in even numbers, meaning "good things double" in Chinese culture. Thus, the two are considered officially engaged.

Chinese Wedding Cakes
After the betrothal meeting, both families will make wedding announcement to their relatives and friends by sending out "Double Happiness Cakes" along with wedding invitations. This is the Chinese style wedding cakes also known as "Dragon & Phoenix Cakes". These are baked cake with dragon and phoenix imprint on the surface. Some styles have fillings made of lotus seed paste, red bean paste or green bean paste.

The wedding cakes are usually presented to the bride's family by the groom's family as part of the proposal gift. Bride's family will then present some of the cakes to worship their ancestors and send the rest of cakes to friends and relatives along with wedding invitations. Quantity of cakes to be sent depends on seniority of guest or relationship with the family. Nowadays, the wedding cakes are usually served to the guests at the wedding instead of the western style wedding cakes.

Chinese Wedding Dowry
The bride's family then prepares dowry and give a list of the dowries to the groom's family. Dowry is mostly composed of daily necessities for the new home, such as bedding, linen and dining set, etc. In the old Chinese culture, girls start learning needle work at young age, and prepare plenty of shoes, socks, table cloth etc, as part of her dowry. This is also an opportunity for the bride's family to display their love for their daughter as well as their wealth.

Bridal Bed Setting (An Chuang) Ritual
A few days before the wedding, the bride's family send dowry to the groom's family, or the couple's new home nowadays. The groom's family will invite a respected female relative or friend to "set the bridal bed" at the new home.

Chinese Wedding Decorations
The two families decorates the bridal house and the reception site for the upcoming wedding ceremony. Lots of lively colors, red in particular, is used in Chinese wedding decoration. Red banners used for wedding is called "happiness banners", which is an essential part of the wedding decorations. It's decorated on both sides of the doors of the newlywed's home and the reception site. The Chinese writing on the banners are rhythmic poem praising the adorable couple and the perfect marriage.

Wedding Day Ceremony
In the morning of the wedding day, "hair dressing" (Shang Tou) ritual is performed for the bride. A "good luck woman", woman with living parents, spouse and children, will come to help dressing up the bride's hair. The woman should also say auspicious words while tying up her hair in a bun, a style of married woman. The groom's family perform "capping" (Jia Guan) ritual for the groom at their home. These rituals in Chinese culture symbolize that they are entering adulthood.

Chinese Wedding Door Game
Then the groom sets out to the bride's home, and he will inevitably be blocked at her door by her friends, and the bridesmaids will play door game with the groom and his attendants.

Door game originated from ancient time which implies that the bride is a lovely girl and her family and friends do not want to marry her away. The groom will be blocked at the bride's door, and her friends will try to stop him from entering by asking questions about the bride, a way to test if he really cares about her. They may also do other tricks to delay the bride's leaving. The groom will try to buy his way in by presenting "Li Shi", token money wrapped in red envelops. Door game is a joyous and good-natured "bargain" game essential in Chinese wedding.

yeah! good reasons for us to have very difficult/challenging games for the groom... we REALLY do not want to marry our friend away...

When the bride finally goes out to ascend the car, a bridesmaid will hold a red umbrella over her head, meaning "raise the bark, spread the leaves." Other relatives will scatter rice, red bean and green bean on her. The red umbrella protects the bride from evil spirit, and the rice and beans are to attract the attention of the gold chicken.

When the bridal sedan, equivalent of motorcade nowadays, arrives the groom's home, firecrackers and music with gongs and drums greets the bride. The bride will leap over a iron basin with lit charcoal inside. It is a ritual to bring prosperity and keep evils away.

Chinese Wedding Tea Ceremony
Then at the official ritual that equals to the wedding vow in western wedding, the newlyweds kneel three times, to the heaven and earth, to the ancestral tablets and their parents, then to each other. The kneeling part has been replaced with bowing in modern Chinese wedding. The bride then present tea to the parents and relatives in sequence of seniority. Those who receive the tea usually give the bride gifts such as jewelry or Li Shi money wrapped in red envelope. Thus it's the end of the ritual and the wedding proceeds to the banquet venue.

Chinese Wedding Food
Certain types of food are commonly served at the Chinese wedding banquet, which include fish, roast suckling pig, pigeon, chicken cooked with red oil, lobster and desert bun with lotus seeds stuffed inside. The pronunciation of fish is the same as "abundance", meaning the newlyweds will have plentiful of wealth. Roast suckling pig is usually served whole, a symbol of the bride's purity (virginity). Pigeon implies peaceful future. Chicken also means phoenix, cooked in red oil to symbolize the wish for a prosperous life ahead for the newlyweds. Lobster is literally called "dragon shrimp" in Chinese. Having lobster and chicken together at wedding banquet indicates that the dragon and the phoenix are hormones together, and the Yin and Yang elements in this family is balanced.

Chinese Wedding Dress
The color red is considered good luck, a strong color that can drive away evil spirits. The traditional Chinese wedding dress in northern China usually is one-piece frock named Qi Pao, embroidered with elaborate gold and silver designs. Brides from southern China usually wear two-piece dress named Qun Gua, Kwa or Cheongsam, also elaborately adorned with golden phoenix and dragon. In the old days, a piece of red veil is part of the bride's costume to cover her face during the wedding ceremony. Newlyweds would see each other's face for the first time in their lives at their wedding night.

In modern Chinese wedding, the bride changes dresses at least 3 times at the wedding day. She would start with western style white wedding gown for a church for civil ceremony. Then at the tea ceremony, she would change to traditional Chinese bridal dress, which she will wear to the reception too. Before the end of the banquet, she would change into a cocktail dress, and great the guests, and then see them off at the door, thus this dress is also called "Song Ke" (See Guests Off) dress.

i pity the bride lor... only get to eat the first 2 dishes for the whole dinner event... starving already lah... hahaha

Chinese Wedding Night Ritual
The night of the wedding, the bridal room will lit dragon and phoenix candle to drive away the evil spirit. This is a Chinese version of unity candle. The newlyweds will drink wine from two cups tied together with a red string, arms crossed from each other. This is the formal wedding vow in Chinese culture. Then the bride will be offered dumplings that's boiled half-raw. The pronunciation of "raw" is the same as giving birth to children, a indication of family prosperity.

Post-wedding Customs
The next morning of the wedding, the bride should get up early and make a meal for the groom's family to demonstrate that she is well-nurtured. Three days after the wedding, the groom and bride will go back to visit the bride's parents.

aniwae, this is the reason why the couple has to change at their new house and return to the groom's and bride's house in the afternooon... who's going to wait for 3 days right? hahaha... just do everything in the same morning/afternoon

Trip to Turkey

Pre-trip

The adventure to Turkey begins with an adventure (attempted) adventure to Tibet. My friends and I (Lucretia, Peiyi, Cecilia, Julie- Korean, Benny and myself- auditors and ex-auditors) decided to go somewhere unconventional and exciting.. We started off with planning for a trip to Tibet, Lhasa, which is about 4,000m above sea level. After the doctor jokingly informed one of my friends that she has a 5% chance of dying in Tibet due to the high altitude (she has a weak heart) and another doc informing another person that he will probably take 3 days to acclimatise (due to low blood count) we abandoned the idea and opted for Nepal instead.

And so we approached the agent for to book tickets to Nepal, aiming to go Bungee jumping (the Korean was so excited, but we suspected we probably have to push her off cliff, while she was screaming “why on earth did I say I want to do that”), water rafting, hiking etc. But due to limited seats, 2 of us were put on the waiting list. And when we heard that Kathmandu (Capital) had riots and that there were people being burnt alive, we were like “woah. That means no one will want to go Nepal and we can go!” (A bit abnormal rite?) Unfortunately, it didn turn out that way, we were unable to get the tix up to one week b4 the trip.

And so we decided to go turkey at the last moment. 3 days before the flight, we booked the tix. And so one day before the trip, I rushed to buy winter clothings.

The trip

Right before the flight, at Changi Airport, our dearest Korean decided to take a photo with Cindy Crawford (actually its Crawford’s “cupboard poster”), but it looks like her.

1^st April to 3^rd April 2007 - Istanbul:

After a 10 hours flight, we arrived in Istanbul feeling refresh and ermm… hungry. So why not fill up our stomachs in the first Turkish café we see as we are searching for the Metropolis Hostel. But little did we suspect that this was going to be the start of our “Breakfast 1, Breakfast 2, Lunch 1, Lunch 2…” eating escapade for the next 10 days.

We asked a Mr Moon (Turkish name) for directions to the hostel, and he kindly escorted us to the hostel. On the way, we were gossiping that Luc and Mr Moon looked really like a couple. On our way, we passed by Istanbul’s most famous monument, Aya Sofya. It was a church built in 537 but was later converted into a mosque in 1453. From the outside, it looked amazing. The interior however, did not live up to our expectations. There were a number of mosaics and paintings, but unfortunately, most were not well preserved. Nonetheless, it was still quite an experience. A huge structure, built solely but manpower so many years ago, cannot fail to awe.

The only planning we did for this trip was to book a tour to Cappadocia and Ephesus over the internet. Well, the travel agency is called “Pride” and yes… it was a gay and lesbian travel agency. The signboard was even in signature gay rainbow colours. The girls were highly amused when we walked into the travel agency to confirm our tour and even more tickled as the gals started imagining how the boys will react when surrounded by a truck load of pretty boys. Fortunately the tour we hooked up with was as normal and straight as the tours you would go with your folks.

Our first lunch was kebabs at a restaurant around the corner (Julie’s choice). It was delicious, mouth watering and damn… extremely expensive. We paid an exorbitant 20 YTL (about S$23, expensive by Turkish standards) each and the familiar cry of Roberts started creeping back into our heads. Why? Why are we always listening to the Korean (biggest Robert)? (Btw, the hostel staff called our Korean, Julia, Julia ROBERTS!)

We then decided to take it easy for the day and get ourselves acquainted with the city by walking to Taksim Square (their version of orchard). Along the way, we stopped by at the Bosphorus river for Lunch 2 – fish sandwiches and pickles. The time difference between Lunch 1 and Lunch 2 was approximately 2 hours.) There we took our first Lomo pictures, and incidentally it was also there where the Lomo (a manual speed camera) Girls (Peiyi, Julie and Cecilia) were formed. A trademark of the Lomo Girls is flapping your hands like seagulls in public. Our walk took over 2 hours as we were lost, and we subsequently discovered that Taksim square is actually about a 15 min walk from our hostel.

We spent our second day at the Topkapi Palace followed by a shopping spree in the Grand Bazaar. The palace was not as fascinating as what the Lonely Planet has described, but being “strange people”, we still managed to entertain ourselves by frolicking in the palace gardens, i.e. Lomo Girls rolling on the grass, Peiyi and Julie having a quickie that was caught on video, and taking “college pictures”. We even tried to re-enact what an Ottoman Sultan would do in the Harem until the security guard chased us away. As usual, we had 2 lunches. Lunch 1 was kebabs at the Topkapi Palace and Lunch 2 was kebabs at a local eating place.

The Grand Bazaar is a massive labyrinth with alleys and alleys of shops selling everything a Robert would want to buy. I bought only one T-shirt (it shrunk after washing and I cant wear it anymore!) the rest bought bowls, teacups, apple tea, Turkish eyes, shawls etc…. We ended our second day with drinks (Local beer is called Efes and alcohol is called Raki) at a pub (Cheers) near our hostel and befriended an extremely irritating Turk. He will be mentioned again later.

Summary of our third day – Julie realizes she is in love with Borat (owner of the Metropolis Hostel), a 15 seconds prayer for DBS AGM at the Blue Mosque, the largest and grandest mosque in Istanbul. (For your information, all the mosques in the Istanbul are very grand. On our first day, every mosque looked like either the Aya Sofia or the blue mosque to us) We revisited Taksim Square (up a very steep slope), ate more Kebabs, and took a 14 hours overnight coach ride to Cappadocia.

4^th April to 5^th April 2007 – Cappadocia:

Ah… Cappadocia… a land full of huge stone mushrooms and fairy chimneys riddled with ancient churches rustic cave hotels, excellent restaurants serving authentic delights such as Testis Kebabs…Cappadocia… good weather… mountainous rocks… valleys of stone formations resembling a penis…. perfect for CLIMBING! Yes… perfect for climbing. Aside from climbing, we did a 4km trek that lasted 1½ hours. The trek wasn’t really strenuous or challenging so Luc came up with the idea of filming our version of the Blair Witch Project. The only problem was that Luc didn’t bother informing the rest of the party of my plan. Luc wanted it to be spontaneous and she pressed the record button and simply shouted “Hey! I’m recording. Run! Scream!” Strangely enough, We did exactly as told without a moments thought. ANYWAY, the video was fantastic except that you could hear Luc laughing the whole way. Man… I’m really loving this trip now!

Question… What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the words “Turkish Bath”? I think of fat Turks torturing you by slapping your backs with wet towels and scrubbing your whole body roughly with a rock. Well, it didn’t turn out to be the case. In fact, it was hilarious and for some… extremely ticklish. I learnt a baby lingo in Turkey that was put into good use when we had our Turkish Bath. It’s “Bom-Bom” and it means to take a bath. Well, guess what… the 6 of us Bom-Bom together with about 10 other individuals (men and women), and all we had was a towel to cover our modesty. Imagine the girls’ shocked faces when they stepped into the bathing area and saw the boys lounging by the taps. The gals are going to Bom-Bom with the boys! Lost and confused, we just sat by the taps laughing and splashing water at each other. Then we were ushered to a room where we were scrubbed and massaged by 2 Turkish men. Benny was tickled by this big Turkish man, and when he asked the man to stop, the turk simply ignored him, and continued. Haha. Later, Benny and I could later hear the laughter (tickled) of Cecilia. Haha.

Cappadocia is also the birth place of the “Body Tsunami” and “Boon See-rella”. Both were founded by our dear Korean and both are associated with our multi-named ex-auditor, Cecilia a.k.a. Boon See a.k.a. CBS a.k.a. Auntie. It all started when CBS tried to teach one her erotic dance moves to Julie and Peiyi, which is called a “Body Wave”. The wave never surfaced. It just simply erupted into a tsunami. In other words, the 2 girls were doing the most un-sexy, un-glamorous, un-graceful contortion of their bodies. Next is the origin of Boon See-rella. As you can tell, Boon See-rella is actually a result of the combination of Boon See and Cinderella. Before the start of the trip, Julie found out that Cecilia’s name is Boon See and her fascination with the name grew at an accelerated pace. She has since replaced the words “Don’t Cha” with “Boon See” from a song by the Pussycat Dolls, came up with a Chinese New Year jingle with the words “Boon See”, and fabricated a fairytale of Princess Boon See-rella. I think we have to give the Korean credit for creativity at least.

6^th April to 7^th April 2007 – Ephesus / Kusadasi / Pamukkale:

After enduring 12 hours of being slowly roasted by the heater (actually it was Benny who was roasted. He sat next to the heater, complaining it was damn hot. I though it was just him till the other gals complained) in the overnight coach, we finally arrived in Ephesus

Ephesus is known to be the best-preserved Roman city in the eastern Mediterranean and was the site for one of the wonders of the ancient world, the Temple of Artemis (Goddess of fertility, animals). As it was close to the Mediterranean, the weather was much warmer than Istanbul or Cappadocia, and we were actually sun burnt after only walking / climbing for 4 hours. we had a slight disagreement with our tour guide who actually told Julie to hold her silence, which subsequently resulted in us making the decision to break away from the tour group. The scale of Ephesus is indeed staggering and was connected throughout by wide stone roads. It had an ancient 2 story high library (partially preserved), a large amphitheatre. We tested the acoustics of the amphitheatre and found that a person speaking at the stage could be audiblely heard even at the top of the amphitheatre, about 5 stories high I think. Likewise, a person speaking in a normal voice high up at the amphitheatre can be heard at the stage!

After countless nights spent in a room with 5 people and on coaches that treated us like turkeys ready for roasting, we were in for a treat at Kusadasi. Our lodging for the night was in a 5 stars hotel that overlooked the Agean Sea. It was 2 to a room with our own beds, en-suite bathroom, a big balcony with a mesmerizing view, and cable TV.

We had to leave for Pamukkale, also referred to as “Cotton Castle”, the very next day. The bus ride there was torturous because firstly, I had to wake up at 7am. However, we were compensated by a free buffet lunch at another 5 stars hotel. Apparently, Luc was very amused by the apparent sparkle in my eyes when I saw the food. I quote from her blog “ I must say that this guy is really easily satisfied. Just throw him a few loaves of bread and he’ll resemble the laughing Buddha.” Anyway, Pamukkale is famous for its gleaming white calcium travertine filled with warm mineral water. There is a legend surrounding the water. Supposedly a lady attempted to end her miserable life by jumping off the cliff because she was so upset about her appearance. She didn’t succeed and landed in the water whereby she lay unconscious for 3 days. Coincidentally, a prince found her and he fell deeply in love with her because she suddenly became beautiful. Hence, the Romans built the city, Hierapolis, above the pools to take advantage of the water’s curative powers. The story is pretty disbelieving but I changed my mind when everyone wanted to take a picture with Boon See-rella and Julie. They were hot stuff in Pamukkale! And all we did was soak our feet in the water for 10 minutes! Btw, Julie attempted to drink some of the water downstream while we had a break before ascending to the city. When we got up, we saw hordes of people immersing their feet in the water upstream! (She said she didn put the water but I though she did. Haha.)

Hierapolis is built above the pools. In ancient times, it was a place where the sick came for a miracle cure, but the size of the necropolis (cemetery) suggests that the success rate was pretty low. Anyway, the necropolis was massive, with many different types of tombs. A rather educational trip but the walk there stole our time for the visit to the Roman theatre, although we tried our best to run up the slope in the bloody heat towards the theatre.

8^th April 2007 – Istanbul:

We took a flight back to Istanbul after our Pamukkale excursion, and arrived around midnight. The plan was to put our stuff down in our new hostel and head straight for the club called Crystal. After all, it is widely acclaimed that Istanbul is one of the top European clubbing city, and we had to see it to believe it. However, everyone was completely shacked out and initially we were not keen to go clubbing in such a state BUT we had to share the hostel room with 2 other strangers and the place didn’t look the least bit inviting. It was so different from our previous hostel. Julie kept on shouting Borat Borat hoping that he will appear and give us our comfortable room in the Metropolis Hostel. What a shame for it didn’t work. Anyway, we figured that sleep won’t come so easily that night, and decided to visit the pub across the street. We were lured into it because it was playing the type of music that the Lomo Girls liked.

I hope you still remember that I mentioned an irritating Turk. He came into our lives again that night. Basically, he was in love with Luc’s 10 years old torn and tattered jeans. He couldn’t let go of her and kept on trying to persuade me to swap jeans with him. He was so persistent and downright annoying that the girls had to pretend to be lesbians in a bid to shake him off. Big mistake because the word lesbian got him even more interested, and I had to endure another hour explaining to him that I have no intentions of making out with a girl in front of him for his pleasure. It was a real test of my patience and I had to hide in a corner behind the Lomo Girls in the end. Now… the real reason why we only left at 5.30am was because of the Lomo Girls. They were doing their erotic dance moves again. We spent most of the night watching waves and waves of Body Tsunamis, and episodes of lap dancing. It was hilarious but Benny and I were so tired that it didn hold our interest for long.

SQL Outer Joins

An outer join does not require each record in the two joined tables to have a matching record in the other table. The joined table retains each record—even if no other matching record exists. Outer joins subdivide further into left outer joins, right outer joins, and full outer joins, depending on which table(s) one retains the rows from (left, right, or both).

Left Outer Join

The result of a left outer join for tables A and B always contains all records of the "left" table (A), even if the join-condition does not find any matching record in the "right" table (B). This means that if the ON clause matches 0 (zero) records in B, the join will still return a row in the result—but with NULL in each column from B.

A left outer join returns all the values from the left table, plus matched values from the right table (or NULL in case of no matching join predicate).

Example of a left outer join:

SELECT *
FROM   employee
     LEFT OUTER JOIN department
        ON employee.DepartmentID = department.DepartmentID

Emp.LName	Emp.DeptID	Dept.DeptName	Dept.DeptID
Jones	33	Engineering	33
Rafferty	31	Sales	31
Robinson	34	Clerical	34
Smith	34	Clerical	34
Jasper	36	NULL	NULL
Steinberg	33	Engineering	33

Right Outer Join

A right outer join closely resembles a left outer join, except with the tables reversed. Every record from the "right" table (B) will appear in the joined table at least once. If no matching row from the "left" table (A) exists, NULL will appear in columns from A for those records that have no match in A.

A right outer join returns all the values from the right table and matched values from the left table (or NULL in case of no matching join predicate).

Example right outer join:

SELECT *
FROM   employee
     RIGHT OUTER JOIN department
        ON employee.DepartmentID = department.DepartmentID

Emp.LName	Emp.DeptID	Dept.DeptName	Dept.DeptID
Smith	34	Clerical	34
Jones	33	Engineering	33
Robinson	34	Clerical	34
Steinberg	33	Engineering	33
Rafferty	31	Sales	31
NULL	NULL	Marketing	35

Full Outer Join

A full outer join combines the results of both left and right outer joins. The joined table will contain all records from both tables, and fill in NULLs for missing matches on either side.

Example full outer join:

SELECT *
FROM   employee
     FULL OUTER JOIN department
        ON employee.DepartmentID = department.DepartmentID

Emp.LName	Emp.DeptID	Dept.DeptName	Dept.DeptID
Smith	34	Clerical	34
Jones	33	Engineering	33
Robinson	34	Clerical	34
Jasper	36	NULL	NULL
Steinberg	33	Engineering	33
Rafferty	31	Sales	31
NULL	NULL	Marketing	35

SQL Inner Joins

I will attempt to offer a simple explanation of SQL join queries. Refer here for the original reference. Further additions and corrections will be added at a later time and denoted in a different colour. Please leave any queries in the comments section...=> Check here as well, Link 1


A JOIN clause in SQL combines records from two tables in a relational database and results in a new ("temporary") table, also called a "joined table". SQL specifies two types of joins: inner and outer.

A programmer writes a join predicate to identify the records for JOINing. If the predicate evaluates true, then the combined record is inserted into the joined (temporary) table; otherwise, it does not contribute.

The following 2 tables will be used to explain the SQL query strings.

Dept Table

DeptID	DeptName
31	Sales
33	Engineering
34	Clerical
35	Marketing

Emp Table

LName	DeptID
Rafferty	31
Jones	33
Steinberg	33
Robinson	34
Smith	34
Jasper	36

Inner Join

The SQL-engine computes the cross-product of all records in the tables. Thus, processing combines each record in table A with every record in table B. Only those records in the joined table that satisfy the join predicate remain.

Example of an explicit inner join:

SELECT *
FROM   employee
INNER JOIN department
 ON employee.DepartmentID = department.DepartmentID

Example of an implicit inner join:

SELECT *
FROM   employee, department
WHERE  employee.DepartmentID = department.DepartmentID

Explicit Inner join result:

Emp.LName	Emp.DeptID	Dept.DeptName	Dept.DeptID
Smith	34	Clerical	34
Jones	33	Engineering	33
Robinson	34	Clerical	34
Steinberg	33	Engineering	33
Rafferty	31	Sales	31

Types of Inner Joins

EquiJoin

An equi-join uses only equality comparisons in the join-predicate. Using other comparison operators (such as <) disqualifies a join as an equi-join. The query shown above has already provided an example of an equi-join:

SELECT *
FROM   employee
INNER JOIN department
 ON employee.DepartmentID = department.DepartmentID

The resulting joined table contains two columns named DepartmentID, one from table Employee and one from table Department.

Natural join

A natural join offers a further specialization of equi-joins. The join predicate arises by comparing implicitly all columns in both tables that have the same column-name in the joined tables. The resulting joined table contains only one column for each pair of equally-named columns.

The above sample query for inner joins can be expressed as a natural join in the following way:

SELECT *
FROM   employee NATURAL JOIN department

The result appears slightly different, however, because only one DepartmentID column occurs in the joined table.

Emp.LName	DepID	Dept.DeptName
Smith	34	Clerical
Jones	33	Engineering
Robinson	34	Clerical
Steinberg	33	Engineering
Rafferty	31	Sales

Using the NATURAL JOIN keyword to express joins can suffer from ambiguity at best, and leaves systems open to problems if schema changes occur in the database. For example, the removal, addition, or renaming of columns changes the semantics of a natural join. Thus, the safer approach involves explicitly coding the join-condition using a regular inner join.

Cross Join

A cross join or cartesian join provides the foundation upon which all types of inner joins operate. A cross join returns the cartesian product of the sets of records from the two joined tables. Thus, it equates to an inner join where the join-condition always evaluates to True. (In layman terms, a cross join produces every possible combination)

If A and B are two sets, then cross join = A X B.

The SQL code for a cross join lists the tables for joining (FROM), but does not include any filtering join-predicate.

Example of an explicit cross join:

SELECT *
FROM   employee CROSS JOIN department

Example of an implicit cross join:

SELECT *
FROM   employee, department;

Emp.LName	Emp.DeptID	Dept.DeptName	Dept.DeptID
Rafferty	31	Sales	31
Jones	33	Sales	31
Steinberg	33	Sales	31
Smith	34	Sales	31
Robinson	34	Sales	31
Jasper	36	Sales	31
Rafferty	31	Engineering	33
Jones	33	Engineering	33
Steinberg	33	Engineering	33
Smith	34	Engineering	33
Robinson	34	Engineering	33
Jasper	36	Engineering	33
Rafferty	31	Clerical	34
Jones	33	Clerical	34
Steinberg	33	Clerical	34
Smith	34	Clerical	34
Robinson	34	Clerical	34
Jasper	36	Clerical	34
Rafferty	31	Marketing	35
Jones	33	Marketing	35
Steinberg	33	Marketing	35
Smith	34	Marketing	35
Robinson	34	Marketing	35
Jasper	36	Marketing	35

The cross join does not apply any predicate to filter records from the joined table. Programmers can further filter the results of a cross join by using a WHERE clause.

Pictionary Quiz

had a very fun dinner at cartel tonight!! hahahaha... cos we (me, fiona and andrew) played pictionary after our main courses... laughed till our stomaches ached lor... cos the drawing was so so so funnie when the answer was revealed... hahaha...

aniwae, here's what we have drew... i have labeled them accordingly, everyone can guess what the item is k.... hahaha.. must think simple =) will post the answers really soon... (depending on responses bah)... so in the meantime, do not ask for any hint/answer yah!!

Quiz 1: Topic = Food (by the 3 of us)

easy easy for some items... other items may be a bit question mark... hahaha... number 14 is drawn after number 12; though related in some way, it is not lah...

Note: number 14 is not food related topic... someone just drew it out of inspiration after we teased someone abt number 12.

Quiz 2: Topic = Animal (by andrew)

super funnie lah.... you confirm cannot guess correctly what he is drawing lor... hahaha...

post your answer in the comment k!!

Know your drinks...

Common terminology that you should know:

• Call Drink - A liquor and mixer, of which the liquor is a defined brand. (ie. Tanqueray and Tonic, Bacardi and Coke)
• Chaser - A mixer that is consumed immediately after a straight shot of liquor to create a different taste.
• Cocktail - Any of various alcoholic beverages consisting usually of brandy, whiskey, vodka, or gin combined with fruit juices or other liquors and often served chilled.
• Neat - The consumption of a spirit as a straight, unaccompanied shot.
• On The Rocks - A wine or liquor poured over ice cubes.
• Punch - A party-size beverage consisting of fruit, fruit juices, flavorings and sweeteners, soft drinks, and a wine or liquor base.
• Shooter - A straight shot of whiskey or other kind of spirit taken neat.
• Sling - A tall drink made with either brandy, whiskey or gin, with lemon juice, sugar and soda water. It is served both hot and cold.

Know the containers:

• Beer mug - The traditional beer container. Typical Size: 16 oz.
• Champagne flute - This tulip shaped glass is designed to show off the waltzing bubbles of the wine as they brush against the side of the glass and spread out into a sparkling mousse. Typical Size: 6 oz.
• Cocktail glass - This glass has a triangle-bowl design with a long stem, and is used for a wide range of straight-up (without ice) cocktails, including martinis, manhattans, metropolitans, and gimlets. Also known as a martini glass. Typical Size: 4-12 oz.
• Coffee mug - The traditional mug used for hot coffee. Typical Size: 12-16 oz.
• Margarita/coupette glass - This slightly larger and rounded approach to a cocktail glass has a broad-rim for holding salt, ideal for margarita's. It is also used in daiquiris and other fruit drinks. Typical Size: 12 oz.
• Old-fashioned glass - A short, round so called "rocks" glass, suitable for cocktails or liquor served on the rocks, or "with a splash". Typical Size: 8-10 oz.
• Punch bowl - A large demispherical bowl suitable for punches or large mixes. Typical Size: 1-5 gal.
• Red wine glass - A clear, thin, stemmed glass with a round bowl tapering inward at the rim. Typical Size: 8 oz.
• Sherry glass - The preferred glass for aperitifs, ports, and sherry. The copita, with it's aroma enhancing narrow taper, is a type of sherry glass. Typical Size: 2 oz.
• Shot glass - A small glass suitable for vodka, whiskey and other liquors. Many "shot" mixed drinks also call for shot glasses. Typical Size: 1.5 oz.
• White wine glass - A clear, thin, stemmed glass with an elongated oval bowl tapering inward at the rim. Typical Size: 12.5 oz.

due to time constraint (as fishmonger is going back soon), lesson will end here.. hahaha... anyway, entry was inspired by last night at Ddl O... fun night!! =) back for more??

Ddl O on next wed, 7 Nov 2007

Since next thursday is a public holz, the gals (me, emi, bk and wen) have decided to go down to Ddl O on wednesday night, 7 nov 2007... (it's ladies night btw. dont think a lot of ppl bah, even though the next day is a public holz... hahaha) anyone else interested?? all are welcome!!

1. plan for the night: dinner at tiong bahru hawker first ; proceed to Ddl O.

2. meet 6.45pm at tiong bahru mrt control station =P

3. for more details, refer to http://www.dbl-o.com/

Peanut, Butter and Jelly

Introducing the one and only, Peanut, Butter and Jelly....

haha. Hua, Bk and myself got them slightly less than a year ago at my PUB Family Day. They were won in some game stalls. Peanut belongs to Hua, Jelly to BK and Butter to myself. Peanut was the name on its tag so it started from there. PBJ. hmm, can form group already.

so that's the story. anyway, after fixing up butter and jelly (they are wooden crafts whereby u have to piece them together, without glue), i was hooked. so i went to buy a more challenging one. so i present to you:

Salt and Pepper, the dragon and phoenix.