God is one's true friend
"I am the seed of all living beings", says the Lord in His Gita. This very seed has grown into a gigantic cosmic tree with many branches. Crores of creations have emerged out of this tree and they are like fruits, each of them containing the seed of Divinity. Sages disseminated this message to all corners of the universe and took all efforts to protect and safeguard this cosmic tree.

Explaining further, Swami Sathya Sai Baba, in a lecture, referred to the Lord's another declaration: "The eternal soul in everyone is a part of Mine". Hence Divinity is present in every individual. Many are obsessed with the doubt "Who is God and does He really exist at all?" Even thousands of years ago, child-devotee Prahlada had said, "Never entertain the feeling that God is here and not there. Wherever you search for Him, He will be there".

No one can deny the existence of the all-pervasive God. A question may be asked as to how can He be present in every object. When a seed is sown it grows into a huge tree bearing a large number of fruits, each one of which will contain the seed that was sown. Names and forms may vary, but God is one. The powers to see, taste, think and to utter words are all God's gifts. Since a person cannot hold the air, which is not visible, in his hand, he cannot refuse to believe in its very existence because inhaling and exhaling are facts. God has been described as the "embodiment of sound, mobility, light, speech, protection, bliss, delusion and wealth." He cannot be understood by experiments (as science demands) but only be experienced.

When a person fills his heart with love towards every other creation, he will see God. "Doubt is like the cataract that blurs one's vision". Everyone should develop faith that God is everywhere and remember that He alone is a believer's true friend. "Deposit the money of faith and pure love in the Divine Bank and you can get the wealth of Divine Grace."

- By V. Venugopal, Admin Officer (Shares) Source : Daily : THE HINDU

External Tables:-
Oracle can read any external file as long as you can define its structure with a SQL*Loader control file. An API is provided by Oracle so that other vendors can define their own external table interfaces

Benefits

reads can be done in parallel
Reduced space requirements - only one copy of the data is kept.

Operations

1. You can create statistics using DBMS_STATS (but not analyze)
2. SELECT, join or sort.
3. Create Views and Synonyms.
4. Parallel Query

1.. You can alter the External Table to point to a different file.
2.. SQL,PL/SQL and Java operations are permitted on the table

Limitation

Read only
You cannot index an External Table

Implementation

1.. You must use the CREATE DIRECTORY command to specify an alias for the OS directory where the data file (and log file and bad files) is located.
(E.g..) CREATE DIRECTORY external_tables AS 'c:\oracle\oradata\external';
2.. You must grant appropriate read/write permissions on the directories that the files are located in to the user that is going to create the External Table
3.. Create the External Table using the CREATE TABLE ... ORGANIZATION EXTERNAL command.
(E.g..)

CREATE TABLE EMP_EXT
(
EMPNO NUMBER(4,0),
ENAME VARCHAR2(10),
JOB VARCHAR2(9),
MGR NUMBER(4,0),
HIREDATE DATE,
SAL NUMBER(7,2),
COMM NUMBER(7,2),
DEPTNO NUMBER(2,0)
)
ORGANIZATION EXTERNAL
(
TYPE oracle_loader
DEFAULT DIRECTORY external_tables
ACCESS PARAMETERS
(
RECORDS DELIMITED BY NEWLINE
BADFILE external_tables:'bad_emp_ext.txt'
LOGFILE external_tables:'log_emp_ext.txt'
FIELDS TERMINATED BY ','
MISSING FIELD VALUES ARE NULL
)
LOCATION ('emp.txt')
)
REJECT LIMIT UNLIMITED;

- By Budhi Dasaradi, Software Engg.

	Long before computers were in almost every office and home, science fiction writers, with great imaginations, have been writing about computers and robots and their zest to take over the world. A few years ago these ideas may have appeared to be far-fetched, but today computers and robots work in homes, hospitals, and in dirty, dangerous environments like tunnels under New York City streets. Perhaps most significantly, they populate military bases around the world, where the next generation of unmanned aerial and ground vehicles is currently being battle tested. Robotics firms are trying to combat the shortage in healthcare workers with creations like "Elvis." Elvis is a 600-pound, five-foot-tall cabinet on wheels that transports blood samples and medicine to any directed location. Elvis can operate elevators and maneuver around obstacles and people. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has created " Wakamaru" is a three-foot-tall, yellow faced robot with beady black eyes designed to serve as a home caretaker for the elderly. It can talk, hug, and send e-mail if something seems wrong. It carries a price tag of $10,000.
Robots are getting into some dirty situations also. Roomba is the name of a disc shaped vacuum cleaner that moves in an ever-widening spiral. It roams throughout your home detecting changes in floor coverings and amount of dirt. It detects furniture and other obstacles, like the family pet, and moves around them harmlessly. The torpedo-shaped Wisor navigates its way through the dirty, dangerous twists and turns of the New York City water system. It finds, cleans and repairs holes in the pipes. Wisor is equipped with five cameras to assist in its journey through the sewers. The U.S. Military is also pushing the robotics envelope with its success with the remote-controlled Predator surveillance drone in Afghanistan. The Army plans to spend $1.14 billion in the next six years on research for unmanned vehicles such as Boeing's X-45, a tailless, stealthy plane designed to attack enemy air defenses from 40,000 feet in the sky. Sony has come out with a robotic dog named Aibo. Aibo starts out as a helpless puppy. However, as you interact with it, a counter keeps track of seconds of "quality time" spent playing with the toy dog. Built in software then will allow the dog to automatically acquire new skills. Software upgrades will ensure that Aibo becomes a well trained adult-like dog companion. So can computers think? Obviously not, but with research and through trial-and-error computers and robots can be enhanced to augment human intelligence and make our daily lives a little easier. So silently, without a fight, robots may have already taken over the world.

- By Kishore Kumar, Software Engg. Site Referred - http://ed.tsud.edu/tcubed

SUPER "DESKTOP" COMPUTER - Power Mac G5
The Power Mac G5 is the world’s fastest personal computer and the first with a 64-bit processor released by APPLE & IBM which means it breaks the 4 gigabyte barrier and can use up to 8 gigabytes of main memory.

The Power Mac G5 also introduces a host of leading-edge standards to the Mac platform,making digital production,scientific solutions,and everyday work dramatically faster and more manageable.

Whether you are a film director,a musician,a graphic artist,or a scientist,the PowerMac G5 is your path to enhanced creativity and unparalleled productivity.Discover how you can accomplish things you never dreamed possible.

3D gaming involves complex visualizations and rapid movements that require maxi-mum processor performance and top-of-the-line graphics capabilities.The Power MacG5 provides a robust platform that not only supports the latest in 3D technology,butalso delivers a great gaming experience.

- By: Anand, Sr. Software Engg.

MY CAREER
I started my career,
With a small piece of hardware.
I went to many places,
Got some experience dealing with computer users.
With the summer heat wave condition,
I started thinking of a new position.

My interview call was a real thrill,
And finally got the position inside a mill.
Here I gained lot of stuff,
But surviving here was really tough.
Hence I brought my confidence up,
And moved on to make a new setup.

Now I feel I am over weight,
And have started reducing my weight

- By: R. Nagaraj System Administrator CG-VAK Software and Exports Limited Coimbatore.

A Ode to Peace
The fields are colored with grass turned red,
What was once paradise, is now a death bed

Flowers now faded, and fallen by the way,
Like the countless bodies that litter the field each day.

Parents taken, and their innocence lost,
The children are the sufferers at war's cost.

Revenge and hatred is on all lips,
Silent curses are spewed at those gun-ships.

Tolerance is on the ebb, and Violence holds sway,
Plucking new lives, and leading all astray.

When will this mindless war stop? When can we learn to live together as one;
And understand that we are all God's chosen children, living under the same sun.

Please give peace a chance and rebuild the bonds of human brotherhood and love
So that one fine day we can all reserve our places for eternity, in heaven above

- By: Antonio G Stevens

A WINDOWS NT EASTER EGG
Here's a neat Easter Egg. Right-click on the desktop and choose Properties. Click on the Screen Saver tab and then choose 3D Text (Open GL). Click on Settings and type in Volcano. Now the screen saver will display the names of famous volcanoes. To see how it will look on your screen, select Preview. When you're finished, click on OK.

- By: Antonio G Stevens

1). Tech Support:: "I need you to right-click on the Open Desktop." Customer "Ok." Tech Support: "Did you get a pop-up menu?" Customer: "No." Tech Support: "Ok. Right click again. Do you see a pop-up menu?" Customer "No." Tech Support:: "Ok, sir. Can you tell me what you have done up until this point?" Customer: "Sure, you told me to write 'click' and I wrote 'click'."

2) Customer:: "I received the software update you sent, but I am still getting the same error message." Tech Support:: "Did you install the update?" Customer: "No. Oh, am I supposed to install it to get it to work?"

3).Customer:: "I'm having trouble installing Microsoft Word." Tech Support:: "Tell me what you've done." Customer: "I typed 'A:SETUP'."! Tech Support:: "Ma'am, remove the disk and tell me what it says." Customer:: "It says '[PC manufacturer] Restore and Recovery disk'." Tech Support:: "Insert the MS Word setup disk." Customer:: "What?" Tech Support: "Did you buy MS word?" Customer: "No..."

4).Customer:: "Do I need a computer to use your software?" Tech Support:: ?!%#$

5).Tech Support:: "Ok, in the bottom left hand side of the screen, can you see the 'OK' button displayed?" Customer: "Wow. How can you see my screen from there?"

6) Tech Support:: "What type of computer do you have?" Customer:: "A white one."

7). Tech Support:: "Type 'A:' at the prompt." Customer:: "How do you spell that?"

8). Tech Support: "What's on your screen right now?" Customer: "A stuffed animal that my boyfriend got me at the grocery store."

9). Tech Support:: "What operating system are you running?" Customer: "Pentium."

10). Customer: "My computer's telling me I performed an illegal abortion."

11). Customer: "I have Microsoft Exploder."

12).Customer: "How do I print my voicemail?"

13). Customer: "You've got to fix my computer. I urgently need to print document, but the computer won't boot properly." Tech Support: "What does it say?" Customer: "Something about an error and non-system disk." Tech Support: "Look at your machine. Is there a floppy inside?" Customer: "No, but there's a sticker saying there's an Intel inside."

14). Tech Support: "Just call us back if there's a problem. We're open 24 hours." Customer: "Is that Eastern time?"

15). Tech Support:: "What does the screen say now?" Customer: "It says, 'Hit ENTER when ready'." Tech Support:: "Well?" Customer: "How do I know when it's ready?"

16). A plain computer illeterate guy rings tech support to report that his computer is faulty. Tech: What's the problem? User: There is smoke coming out of the power supply. Tech: You'll need a new power supply. User: No, I don't! I just need to change the startup files. Tech: Sir, the power supply is faulty. You'll need to replace it. User: No way! Someone told me that I just needed to change the startup and it will fix the problem! All I need is for you to tell me the command. 10 minutes later, the User is still adamant that he is right. The tech is frustrated and fed up. Tech: Sorry, Sir. We don't normally tell our customers this, but there is an undocumented DOS command that will fix the problem. User: I knew it! Tech: Just add the line LOAD NOSMOKE.COM at the end of the CONFIG.SYS. Letme know how it goes. 10 minutes later. User: It didn't work. The power supply is still smoking. Tech: Well, what version of DOS are you using? User: MS-DOS 6.22. Tech: That's your problem there. That version of DOS didn't come with NOSMOKE. Contact Microsoft and ask them for a patch that will give you ! the file. Let me know how it goes. 1 hour later. User: I need a new power supply. Tech: How did you come to that conclusion? User: Well, I rang Microsoft and told him about what you said, and he started asking questions about the make of power supply. Tech: Then what did he say? User: He told me that my power supply isn't compatible with NOSMOKE

- By: Budhi Dasaradi, Software Engg.

- By: V Venugopal, Admin Officer(Shares)