Yearly Archives: 2013

Hi, can you enlighten me on why this repost is cut off ? https://m.facebook.com…

Hi, can you enlighten me on why this repost is cut off ? https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10151758256246594&id=574601593&refid=17

I tried looking around for a setting to not do this / show the whole post in the repost. But I haven't been able to find it (if there's any)

Do let me know. Thanks :)

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Toleransi Sejati

:: Seperti biasa, setiap mendekati Natal, kembali kita menyaksikan polemik seputar ucapan selamat Natal. Biasanya sih cukup membuat senyum saja. Namun, kali ini saya sangat dikejutkan dengan pertunjukan intoleransi dari para pendukung ucapan selamat Natal / penentang para pendukung larangan ucapan selamat Natal (euh panjang sangat ya 🙂 )

Di berbagai forum & artikel, saya membaca berbagai caci maki kepada mereka yang tidak setuju dengan ucapan selamat Natal. Padahal biasanya cuma sekedar sindiran atau bahasan yang rasional. Bahkan kali ini tidak sedikit yang sangat agresif dalam menanggapinya. 

Seharusnya, semuanya bisa dilakukan dengan baik.

Yang tidak setuju dengan ucapan selamat Natal, sampaikan dengan baik, tanpa kata-kata yang provokatif.

Yang tidak setuju dengan itu juga bisa menyampaikannya dengan baik. Bukan malah mencaci maki yang malah akan makin meningkatkan reaksi kontra dari pihak lainnya. 

Apalagi ada pula yang sampai menghina Islam. Joko Sembung, alias, tidak nyambung, Anda tidak setuju dengan tindakan penganutnya, eh  malah agamanya yang disalahkan.

KONTEKS, KONTEKS, KONTEKS

Dalam soal fiqih Islam, semua itu ada konteks / latar belakangnya. Melenyapkan konteks dari suatu aturan / fatwa akan menyebabkannya jadi terlihat  aneh.

Contoh : konteks dari fatwa MUI soal Natal itu adalah karena Buya Hamka, salah satu Ulama paling toleran yang pernah ada di Indonesia, menyaksikan bahwa umat Islam malah sudah sampai ikut merayakan Natal. Dan rezim Orba juga ketika itu memberikan contoh serupa / mendorongnya – berbagai instansi pemerintah mengadakan perayaan Natal, dan PNS muslim ada yang terpaksa ikut walaupun tidak menginginkannya. Gejala Sinkretisme mulai muncul cukup jelas. 

Maka beliau mengeluarkan fatwa tersebut. 
Walaupun kemudian beliau jadi musti turun dari jabatannya sebagai Ketua MUI, namun fatwa tersebut tetap tidak pernah beliau cabut sampai akhir hayatnya. 

TOLERANSI SEJATI

Saya cukup beruntung pernah menikmati hidup dalam masyarakat yang sangat toleran, yaitu ketika sedang pergi merantau untuk bekerja di Inggris. 

Di kantor saya, SEMUA orang merayakan Natal – Kristen, Sikh, Atheis, dan bahkan kolega-kolega saya yang muslim 🙂 (1) 
Hanya saya sendirian yang, bukan cuma tidak merayakannya, namun bahkan tidak mengucapkan selamat Natal. 

Mudah-mudahan cukup terbayang bagaimana kontrasnya antara mereka dengan saya ketika itu 🙂 dan, cukup membuat jantungan juga tentunya – saya hanya sendirian, pendatang baru, asing, dan malah nekat berbeda sendiri pula. 

Terharu bukan main ketika ternyata para kolega saya itu tidak ada satu pun yang mempermasalahkannya !

Mereka menghormati kepercayaan saya. Dan bahkan hampir semua tidak mau mengusik saya dengan sekedar menanyakan alasannya (kenapa saya tidak merayakan + tidak mengucapkan selamat Natal). 
Hanya ada 1 kolega yang bertanya, dan setelah saya jelaskan, dia tetap menghargai keyakinan saya (walaupun belum tentu dia sepakat).

Dari mereka saya banyak belajar tentang menghargai orang lain. Saya pun tidak keberatan sama sekali ketika ada yang lupa mengucapkan "Happy Eid !" kepada saya. It's not a problem at all. 
Saya bekerja keras, berusaha membantu siapa saja yang membutuhkan bantuan saya. Dan setiap Natal, semua orang makin senang dengan saya; karena berkat saya, mereka semua jadi bisa mengambil cuti Natal, karena masih ada saya yang datang ke kantor 😀 dan demikian seterusnya; mereka semua memberikan contoh yang baik, dan saya selalu berusaha membalasnya dengan lebih baik lagi. 

Dan itu semua menghasilkan kejutan terbesar di hari terakhir saya bekerja – lazimnya, semua orang di kantor akan mengumpulkan uang sebagai hadiah perpisahan untuk rekan kerja yang keluar / pindah kerja. Demikian pula ketika mengetahui bahwa saya akan kembali ke Indonesia, mereka segera urunan untuk mengumpulkan uang hadiah bagi saya. 

Saya kaget bukan main ketika Nenek Christine, sekretaris di departemen saya, menyerahkan uang hadiah tersebut. Saya lupa bahwa ada tradisi itu 🙂
Makin terkejut ketika dia tersenyum lebar dan berkata, "This is be biggest collection we have ever had, Harry. Well done!" – baru kali ini ada terkumpul uang sampai sebanyak itu untuk seorang rekan yang akan pergi. 
Terharu ketika menyadari bahwa ternyata saya berhasil meraih hati & simpati mereka. Sambil terbata, saya ucapkan banyak terimakasih, dan pamit kepada mereka semua. 

Kembali ke Indonesia, sambil membawa banyak oleh-oleh pelajaran hidup dari mereka.

(1) belakangan saya baru tahu, bahwa Natal di Inggris sudah dianggap sebagai perayaan budaya / komersial, bukan / tidak terlalu religius lagi. Namun, tetap saja ketika itu saya cukup kaget 🙂

KLARIFIKASI

Para pembaca yang bermata tajam pasti sudah sadar bahwa ternyata tidak ada larangan mengucapkan selamat Natal di fatwa MUI :) 
Fatwa MUI hanya membahas mengenai larangan ikut serta merayakan Natal bersama. 

Namun, tetap saja banyak orang mengatasnamakan MUI dalam menolak mengucapkan selamat Natal.
Dan demikian pula dengan para penentang mereka, malah menyalahkan MUI / Buya Hamka atas hal tersebut. 

Sama-sama error 🙂

Dalam soal ini, mengucapkan selamat Natal, ada berbagai pendapat ulama. Ada yang membolehkan, ada yang tidak. 
Lebih lengkapnya bisa dibaca misalnya disini : http://samardi.wordpress.com/2012/12/24/fatwa-fatwa-tentang-selamat-natal/

PENUTUP

Toleransi sejati tidak membutuhkan basa-basi. Dia berasal dari hati, dan menjadi hasil yang hakiki. Dan perbedaan keyakinan yang bagaimana pun tidak akan bisa meluluhkannya. 

Saya belum tentu setuju dengan keyakinan Anda, namun saya menghormati keyakinan Anda tersebut, sebagai bagian dari hak Anda sebagai manusia.

Sebagaimana telah dinyatakan di dalam Al-Qur'an : "Lakum dinukum wa li ya diin" = Untukmu agamamu, dan untukku agamaku.

Bersama-sama, semoga bisa kita wujudkan toleransi sejati di Indonesia ini. Aamiin !

REFERENSI

http://www.kaskus.co.id/thread/50d83a920975b4692b0000a9/sejarah-fatwa-mui-tentang-natal-1981/

Berbagai fatwa seputar ucapan selamat Natal : http://samardi.wordpress.com/2012/12/24/fatwa-fatwa-tentang-selamat-natal/

http://www.islampos.com/buya-hamka-mengundurkan-diri-dari-mui-karena-natal-34291/

Buya Hamka Mengundurkan Diri Dari MUI Karena Natal – Islampos
  PADA 30 Mei 1981, Majalah Tempo melaporkan:  Mengapa Hamka mengundurkan diri? Hamka sendiri pekan lalu mengungkapkan pada pers, pengunduran…

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Life in Space : QA session with Chris Hadfield

d. :: this popular ISS astronaut was online in Reddit for a QA session, and I found the questions & answers to be most interesting.

Hint : try finding the question about propelling oneself within ISS (International Space Station) by using fart. Yes, that smelly stuff 🙂 😉

Enjoy !

Reshared post from +Chris Hadfield

Reddit AMA (Q&A) happening now. Come ask me anything!

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1s4l7v/i_am_col_chris_hadfield_retired_astronaut/

Embedded Link

I am Col. Chris Hadfield, retired astronaut. : IAmA
I am Commander Chris Hadfield, recently back from 5 months on the Space Station. Since landing in Kazakhstan I’ve been in Russia, across the US and …

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Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus

:: the following articles are another scientific proof that men & women are, indeed, very much  different :

Brain wirings : http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/dec/02/men-women-brains-wired-differently

Muscular differences : http://charltonteaching.blogspot.ca/2013/09/how-much-stronger-are-men-than-women-in.html

But this does not mean that men are better than women, or vice versa. 

Instead, we should see this as another proof that men & women complete each other. The other sex complete us, and enable us to be a better us.

As Ruben Gur, a co-author on the study, said : "It's quite striking how complementary the brains of women and men really are"

Some quotes :

"women's brains are suited to social skills and memory, men's perception and co-ordination"

Ragini Verma, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, said the greatest surprise was how much the findings supported old stereotypes, with men's brains apparently wired more for perception and co-ordinated actions, and women's for social skills and memory, making them better equipped for multitasking."

"Until a few days ago, I did not realize that the difference between strength in men and women was quite so extreme, so qualitative."

"…the take-home message is clear: the statement "men are much stronger than women" is not just true on average, but is close to being true as a generalization"

Male and female brains wired differently, scans reveal
Maps of neural circuitry show women’s brains are suited to social skills and memory, men’s perception and co-ordination

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bigls : process millions of files with ease

:: I have had to deal with millions of files in a single directory, and if you ever experienced it, you'll already know that it's always a major pain. 

So I created a simple PHP script, which will do :

# List millions of files with no problem

# default output : machine parseable, for easy post-processing

# human-readable output option also available

The result turned out to be quite powerful. I used it to process tens of millions of files, no sweat.

An example : 

cd /mnt/tmp/tmp1 ; bigls.php | while read OUT ; do cond=20130901 ; x=`echo $OUT | cut -b 1-8` ; f=`echo $OUT | cut -b 10-255` ; if [ $cond -ge $x ]; then mv  $f /mnt/tmp/tmp2/ >> /tmp/files-moved.log ; fi ; done

That single line of commands will move all files created before 1 Sep 2013 from /mnt/tmp/tmp1/ to /mnt/tmp/tmp2/

Again, pretty powerful stuff 🙂 now we can process million of files with no problem.

So here it is, enjoy !

bigls : https://raw.github.com/sufehmi/bigls/master/bigls.php

bigls website : https://github.com/sufehmi/bigls

note: you'll need at least PHP 5.3.0 to run bigls

bigls

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RIP Paul Walker – Penolong Nelayan Mentawai

:: Kaget sore hari ini membaca berita bahwa aktor Paul Walker, dikenal sebagai salah satu tokoh di film "Fast & Furious", tewas karena kecelakaan mobil yang dikendarai oleh kawannya.

Paul Walker adalah salah satu pendukung petisi "Stop Bom Laut di Mentawai" : https://www.change.org/id/petisi/hentikan-bom-ikan-di-mentawai

Berkat bantuannya, dan tentu juga para penanda tangan petisi lainnya, kapal-kapal ikan asing lenyap dalam waktu hanya 24 jam. Dan ketika kemudian ada yang berani kembali, 2 kapal mereka langsung diburu & ditangkap  oleh kapal perang TNI AL Indonesia. 

Terlampir adalah email ucapan terimakasih dari koordinator kampanye "Stop Bom Laut @ Mentawai" ini.

Selamat jalan Oom Paul Walker. Terimakasih untuk semua kontribusi Anda untuk Indonesia.

==============
Harry –

Tahun lalu, kapal-kapal bom dari luar datang ke Mentawai (Sumbar) dan mengebom terumbu karang dan biota laut untuk menangkap ikan. Bukan hanya keindahan laut yang terancam, tapi kelangsungan hidup dari masyarakat lokal, yang hidupnya dari laut.

Satu bulan menghubungi pihak berwenang, tidak ada kemajuan. Kami memutuskan mengunggah dokumentasi pengerusakan di Youtube dan memulai petisi di Change.org.

Video dan petisi tersebar dimana-mana. Hingga di tweet oleh Paul Walker (Pemeran Fast & Furious) dan di blog oleh Richard Branson (Virgin). Para target petisi pun mendapat ribuan email mengenai keadaan di Mentawai. 

Dalam 24 jam, semua kapal ilegal HILANG! Dalam 1 minggu, kami diundang rapat oleh Kementerian Kelautan dan Perikanan. Kesimpulannya: Sumbar & Kep. Mentawai kurang sumber daya untuk melawan pengrusakan ini.

Pemerintah meminjamkan “Kapal Hiu”, 1 dari 8 kapal perang di Indonesia, ditambah bahan bakar untuk patroli perairan Sumbar. Saat Kapal Hiu di sana, kapal-kapal bom itu tidak muncul, kapal hiu pun pulang. 

November 2013, mereka mulai muncul lagi. Kami mulai menghubungi yang berwenang untuk menindak kriminal-kriminal ini. Sekarang, tanpa harus memulai kampanye besar, penegak hukum langsung merespon, dan berhasil menangkap 2 kapal bom beserta krunya dalam waktu 3 hari!

Kami menyadari, kemenangan kampanye kami di Change.org bukan saat kapal perang datang, itu solusi jangka pendek. Kemenangan sesungguhnya adalah terbukanya kanal komunikasi dan akuntabilitas antar pemerintahan kabupaten, propinsi dan nasional. 

Tentu, masih banyak kendala untuk mengamankan perairan Mentawai. Sumber daya perlengkapan dan aparat masih kurang. Kami akan teruskan perjuangan. Untuk sekarang, kami senang suara kami didengar, terumbu karang  dan penghidupan masyarakat Mentawai dilindungi. 

Bagi Anda yang merasa perlu ada perubahan, JADILAH perubahaan itu sendiri. Mulai petisi atau apapun itu, dan selesaikan. Jangan menyerah.

Tim Stop Bom Laut, Mentawai

http://www.theverge.com/2013/11/30/5161638/fast-and-furious-actor-paul-walker-dies-in-car-crash-tmz-reports

‘Fast and Furious’ actor Paul Walker dies in car crash
Paul Walker, known for his role in the ongoing The Fast and the Furious series, died this afternoon in a car accident. According to TMZ, Walker’s car lost control and crashed into a tree….

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Freicoin : uang digital anti riba :: tidak sangka sama sekali akan menemukan yang…

Freicoin : uang digital anti riba :: tidak sangka sama sekali akan menemukan yang seperti ini 🙂 seperti Bitcoin (saat ini 1 Bitcoin = sekitar USD $ 800), Freicoin ini adalah uang digital. Namun, Freicoin dibuat dengan beberapa desain yang mencegah terjadinya riba / interest / usury.

Sekilas mengenai fitur utama Freicoin yang mencegah riba : http://freico.in/

Demurrage fee : setiap tahun, nilai Freicoin turun sebesar 5%. 

Ini berdampak antara lain mendorong perputaran uang, dan melenyapkan "opportunity cost" sebagai salah satu dasar dari interest / bunga.

Yang menarik, ternyata, Islam sudah menerapkan Demurrage fee ini sejak dulu 🙂 yaitu dalam bentuk Zakat : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demurrage_%28currency%29#Current_examples

Karena uang & harta yang didiamkan akan terus turun nilainya, maka, umat Islam jadi terdorong untuk menggerakkan uangnya. Pada gilirannya ini membantu membuat ekonomi lebih bergairah, dan kesejahteraan jadi lebih merata.

Zero interest rate : salah satu tujuan demurrage fee adalah hilangnya riba, seperti dijelaskan dengan panjang lebar di halaman ini : http://freico.in/about/

Halaman tersebut juga menyinggung contoh kasus dalam Islam, yaitu Islamic banking; dimana investasi adalah berbagi profit dan resiko. 
Tidak hanya cuma profit saja.

Terimakasih kepada Satoshi Nakamoto yang telah menyediakan software Bitcoin sebagai open source, kini kita juga jadi bisa menikmati mata uang yang benar-benar dari rakyat & untuk rakyat, dan bertujuan untuk menghapuskan riba.

Tentu saja jadinya kini komputer-komputer saya sudah beralih untuk menambang Freicoin :) 

Semoga tujuan yang mulia ini bisa tercapai, dan menjadi inspirasi bagi pihak-pihak lainnya juga. Semoga sukses, Freicoin !

freico.in/static/images/logo-footer.png

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Bayer versus Manusia :: aneh memang, seperti mereka bukan manusia saja – namun, begitulah…

Bayer versus Manusia :: aneh memang, seperti mereka bukan manusia saja – namun, begitulah sifat tamak. Mampu merubah manusia menjadi sesuatu yang sangat mengerikan.

Beberapa produk Bayer, pestisida tipe neonicotinoid, ternyata membunuh lebah dalam skala yang massal. Ini adalah masalah yang sangat serius – tanpa lebah, bisa terjadi kekurangan pangan = kelaparan massal, karena, berbagai tanaman pangan jadi tidak menghasilkan.

Tekanan dari berbagai organisasi massa berhasil menekan EU (European Union) untuk melarang produk-produk Bayer tersebut.

Coba tebak apa yang dilakukan oleh Bayer ? Ya, mereka menyerang Eropa #edan, dan menuntut agar larangan tsb dicabut.

Ini baru di Eropa, padahal, mereka masih merajalela di Kanada, Amerika, dst.

Mari kita bantu teman-teman kita di Eropa untuk melawan Bayer. Caranya mudah, yaitu dengan mengisi petisi terlampir; nama, email, negara, dan kode pos, itu saja : http://action.sumofus.org/a/bayer-bees-lawsuit/

Juga isi petisi dari Avaaz, yang ini skalanya Internasional, bukan hanya Eropa saja : https://secure.avaaz.org/en/save_the_bees_global/

Bersama-sama, kita bisa selamatkan dunia dari ketamakan sebuah institusi bisnis.

Terimakasih untuk bantuan Anda.

Bayer is suing a whole continent for saving the bees?
And it says a ban on its bee-killing pesticides is “disproportionate”?!?

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Jalapeno : 5 GH/s Bitcoin Miner

:: To be honest, I've already forgot that I ordered this 🙂 it's been so long. But let it be known : Butterfly Labs delivers ! Albeit very, very LATE. But that's a lesson for me to learn. Now, onto the Jalapeno !

First, I was not happy when I first turned it on & heard very noisy sound from inside the unit. I guessed that a cable got into the cooling fan, and I was right – after I disassembled the unit, clearly the fan's own power cable was stuck into itself. That's rather sloppy .
Anyway, after that it runs with no problem.

Actually, it ran at 110% of its advertised speed :) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BXajykXCAAAI_BD.png:large

Pretty nice !
Now with Bitcoin at USD$ 200, definitely looking forward to start seeing the mining results of this machine 🙂

It's pretty easy to setup too, especially in Ubuntu. 
Just follow this tutorial : https://forums.butterflylabs.com/showwiki.php?title=Tutorials:ASIC+Mining+on+Ubuntu+and+other+Linux+distros

With two additions to that :

# Before compiling cgminer, install libudev : sudo apt-get install libudev-dev

# If you encountered error -3 with cgminer, even after doing all the instructions there, then try running cgminer as root.

That's all.

Let's mine ! :)

pbs.twimg.com/media/BXagtBwCUAA6TEl.jpg

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Dog & Human

:: I've been puzzled that in Islam, we're basically prevented to be able to enjoy dogs as pet. The way I see it, dogs are better than cats – we can train them better, they're more caring, etc.

Reading this quote from Mark Twain, made me think; could it be because they (dogs) are indeed too good ?

I've known people who prefer dogs than people. And I'd probably have adopted some dogs myself too (if it's allowed).

Also, in many developed countries, more people chose to stay single, causing the native population to decline. 
In many cases, the country's population & birth rate is still normal, however most of them are from immigrants, not from the native people.

Dogs can help accompany these people to stay single. They are loving & loyal companion. Unlike many people. 

However, it may help us to drive ourselves into extinction.

Some more readings :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24614830

http://schirachreport.com/index.php/2012/01/27/europe-especially-italy-and-greece-going-towards-population-decline/

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/magazine/29Birth-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/feb/05/europe-not-heading-for-population-collapse

http://www.pewhispanic.org/2008/02/11/us-population-projections-2005-2050/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_decline

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/719423.stm

weknowmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/the-more-i-learn-about-people-mark-twain.jpg

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Bahaya Obat Herbal

:: Tulisan yang sangat bagus, dan menjelaskan dengan gamblang berbagai kesalah pahaman seputar penobatan "herbal" dan "thibbun nabawi" : 

"Ada anak kawan saya sudah positif demam tifoid (tifus) menolak antibiotic karena zat kimia, tetap diobati herbal terus masuk kondisi memburuk… Akhirnya takdir Allah pun berlaku, ia wafat. Innalillah… "

"Barangsiapa berpraktik kedokteran padahal ia belum dikenal menguasai ilmu kedokteran, maka ia harus bertanggung jawab." 
(HR. Abu Dawud, Ibnu Majah, an-Nasai)

"Apakah pengobatan modern itu mengandung zat kimia? Ya, tapi, herbal juga zat kimia.

Nasi, air, gula, kopi, susu, semua zat kimia. Yang penting obat modern itu halal, tidak mengandung zat-zat yang diharamkan. Bahkan pada obat modern, dosis, efek samping, reaksi alergi sudah diketahui

Tapi sebagian besar herbal tidak diketahui dosis, efek samping, reaksi alergi. Selalu dianggap aman dan dianggap bukan zat kimia…

Saya tidak anti herbal, setiap malam saya makan garlic (kapsul bawang putih). Tapi bila kena infeksi bakteri saya akan minum antibiotika.

…saya yakin penyebab kesembuhan saya bukan pada garlic atau antibiotika, hanya Allah yang menyembuhkan hamba-hamba-Nya" (melalui obat & ikhtiar tsb)

Pilih Resep Nabi atau Resep Dokter?
Pernahkah Anda dengar orang bicara seperti ini: “Mau pilih resep Nabi apa pilih resep dokter?”, “mau herbal apa obat kimia?”, “mau vaksin apa ASI eksklusif?”, dan lain-lain. Seolah kedua hal tersebut kontradiksi dan hanya boleh memilih salah satu. Ya hanya boleh salah satu pilihan saja. Begitukah Islam mengajarkan? Mengapa itu bisa terjadi? Ya tidak tahu kenapa. Tapi saya ingin bahas sedikit ke muara ilmu pengobatan ya.

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Pragmatism : The Actual Reason Why We're Using Open Source

:: Several days ago, somebody questioned my decision to use MariaDB on several servers, and subtly implied that the decision was "political"; related to the rivalries between Oracle (MySQL) versus SkySQL (MariaDB).

I was having a headache, and didn't took it very well 🙂 I ended up emailing him pages of detailed explanations for that decision 🙂
Later I sobered up, created a much shorter email, basically summarized that it was for technical reason. 

Then I found the following comment by a Reddit user, which was very similar to my own experiences, and my main reason to utilize open source software :  http://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/1okbdb/oracle_attacks_open_source/ccsuvu0

Basically, contrary to popular opinion, actual support for proprietary software really sucks in a lot of cases. 

As a system implementator, sometimes your manager / client demanded that you deliver the (massive) project on time; while having your hands tied.

An example; they may have enormous budget available for said project, however, that budget must go through the internal procurement bureaucracies, before you can spend it on external consultants / the support that you needed.

That takes time, which means the project will be running without support & encounter a lot of problems, while speedily getting closer to the deadline.   

Even after you acquired the external support, your hands are still tied. 

Sometimes you need to make quick changes due to an emergency, and the next morning, the consultant found it out & commented, "oh we can't support that, it wasn't done by us". 
A reasonable comment by and on itself, but when considering the context, it's actually a really lazy response.

So, sounds familiar to you ? I've had these unpleasant experience several times, and indeed it was painful & stressful. 

With Open Source Software, pretty much everything is within your control.

I've modified LibreOffice installer when it didn't work, with zero previous experience, all done in about 20 minutes. 
When I encountered problems on an open source software, I just googled it, and the solutions came in less than a second. This is because the user base is so big, chances are pretty excellent that someone else had already encountered the problem and solved it.

Compared to the tied-hands situations before, it's heaven. 

Yes, the original reason I used F/OSS is pragmatism. 
It help me making the situation much better for me 🙂

Only much later did I begun to appreciate its various concepts & philosophies.

========
So, back to my reasons to use MariaDB, here it is :

# Installed on NON-critical servers

# Installed on those servers because the queries running there need the better multi-core scalabilities of MariaDB

# MariaDB will be installed on another (again, non-critical) server to utilize its multi-master replication feature.

========
Oracle versus MariaDB

Make NO mistake, feature-wise, there is NO way MariaDB can compete with Oracle.

Anyone stating otherwise is just pronouncing his/her ignorance to everyone. 

However, it's unwise to judge a software just by its features. 
You'll need to also consider a lot of other factors : the project's actual requirements, documentation, internal support, external support, license cost, implementation cost, infrastructure support, exit cost, etc.

Considering all these, in many cases, open source software is the right answer. 

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segfaultzen comments on Oracle attacks Open Source
Let me preface this by stating that I have nothing inherently against commercial or closed software. It’s a different business model. I prefer Open So…

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MySQL : Make Your Query Runs (at least) 16800% Faster

:: One of our data analyst was asked to analyze a bunch of data from 2 tables. One of it  contained nearly 200 million records, and the other about 120 million records. The query to run against this dataset is doing several JOINs on non-unique fields, causing the resultset to be estimated at trillions of records.

As some of you may have already guessed – a week went by, and the query still hasn't finished 🙂

I was asked to help, so I tried almost every trick that I knew, including (but not limited to) :

# vertical partitioning : split the columns into a table each
# horizontal partitioning : splitting the table into 10 smaller tables
# putting the tables on fast SSDs
# putting the tables on RAM disk : on several occasions, I actually managed to saturate the memory bandwidth……
# enlarging the JOIN buffers : up to tens of gigabytes.
# etc, etc.

Still no joy. The query just won't finish. And I've been sleeping on my work desk for almost a week.

One day before the deadline (just like in the movies, huh?), another of our data analyst suggested that I hashes the fields being compared, and then compare the hashes instead.

To my surprise, it works GREAT. It's like a miracle.

The query which wasn't finished in a week, now finished in an hour. 
We got the job done, at the very least, 16800% faster.

Mind = Blown 🙂

So, here's how it's done, hopefully you'll find it useful too later.
Enjoy !

======
ORIGINAL QUERY

SELECT a.f1, a.f2, b.f1, b.f2  
FROM t1 AS a, t2 AS b 
WHERE a.f1=b.f1 AND a.f2=b.f2 AND a.f3=b.f3 AND a.f4=b.f4 AND a.f5=b.f5;

======
CREATE THE HASHES FROM EACH TABLE

CREATE TABLE hash1 (KEY(uid), KEY(hash)) ENGINE=MyISAM AS 
(
SELECT uid, MD5(CONCAT(f1,f2,f3,f4,f5)) AS hash  
FROM t1 
)

CREATE TABLE hash2 (KEY(uid), KEY(hash)) ENGINE=MyISAM AS 
(
SELECT uid, MD5(CONCAT(f1,f2,f3,f4,f5)) AS hash  
FROM t2 
)

======
COMPARE THE HASHES 
This is where the magic happens :) 
we compare the hashes, and then we store the uid related to those hashes.

CREATE TABLE hash_result (KEY(uid1), KEY(uid2)) ENGINE=MyISAM AS 
(
SELECT a.uid AS uid1, b.uid AS uid2 
FROM hash1 AS a, hash2 AS b 
WHERE a.hash=b.hash 
)

======
CREATE THE END RESULT  
Collect the records with the corresponding uid :

CREATE TABLE end_result ENGINE=MyISAM AS 
(
SELECT a.f1, a.f2, b.f1, b.f2 
FROM t1 AS a, t2 AS b, hash_result AS c 
WHERE a.uid=c.uid1 AND b.uid=c.uid2 
)

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MariaDB : Faster Index Creation

:: I've had to create indexes for tables with hundreds of millions records in it. Anyone who has tried it will already knew the pain 🙂

With MariaDB, you can have this process done faster. Here's the settings that you'll need to set :

myisam_max_sort_file_size
myisam_sort_buffer_size

Ensure these 2 variables are bigger than each index that's going to be created. In a server with 128 GB of RAM, I set this to 50 GB. Indexes are always created very quickly 🙂

Otherwise, the index creation process will show as "Repair with keycache". This is really slow. 

When these 2 variables are set with big enough numbers, then you'll see "Repair by sorting", or, when you set the following variable : "Repair with X threads" 

myisam_repair_threads

When this variable is bigger than 1, MariaDB will utilize more than 1 cpu core in the index creation process. 

The bigger the number, more cpu core may be used, so it'll be potentially faster. However, this will result in more usage of cpu (of course) and RAM. 

NOTE: using this setting in MySQL is not advised, there are still bugs : http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/server-system-variables.html#sysvar_myisam_repair_threads

Hope this helps someone else.

Embedded Link

MySQL :: MySQL 5.7 Reference Manual :: 5.1.4 Server System Variables
The MySQL server maintains many system variables that indicate how it is configured. Each system variable has a default value. System variables can be set at server startup using options on the command line or in an option file. Most of them can be changed dynamically while the server is running …

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MySQL : Notifikasi jika Query sudah selesai

:: kadangkala ada query yang berjalan lama & kita tidak ingin cuma duduk bengong menanti query tsb selesai. Lebih baik kita gunakan waktu tersebut untuk mengerjakan hal yang lainnya bukan ?

Caranya mudah sekali :

1. Pasang putty : sudo apt-get install putty

2. Jalankan putty

3. Pilih menu Terminal – Bell; dan lalu pastikan bahwa opsi "Make default system alert sound" sudah dipilih

4. Login ke server & jalankan query

5. Ketikkan perintah berikut ini :

while mysqladmin -h 127.0.0.1 processlist | grep QUERY > /dev/null ; do sleep 10; done ; while true; do echo -e "a"; sleep 2; done

6. Ganti string "QUERY" diatas dengan perintah query yang ingin Anda pantau

Maka, ketika query tersebut sudah selesai, terminal Putty tersebut akan berbunyi & berkedip setiap 2 detik 🙂

Semoga bermanfaat.

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Waspada : Lampu LED Philips

s. :: tidak sangka menemukan posting soal lampu LED Philips dari Linus Torvalds 🙂 seperti biasa, informatif + sangat menghibur #LOL  

Linus mengganti semua lampu di rumahnya karena dia tidak suka dengan lampu Halogen / CFL. Pilihannya ketika itu adalah lampu LED buatan Philips.

Ternyata dia perlu menggantinya lagi, kali ini dengan lampu LED merk Cree, karena, walaupun masih berfungsi, namun lampu LED merk Philips tersebut sudah drop outputnya menjadi hanya sekitar 25%.

Linus, um, "tidak terlalu gembira" dengan hal ini  🙂

"But today I've been walking around changing out the Philips bulbs that are just a couple of years old.

"40,000 hours" my ass.

Sure, they still "work" – but actual light output is maybe a quarter of what it was when new"

Ternyata di berbagai forum Internet juga sudah mulai bermunculan komplain soal LED Philips ini. Misalnya : http://www.kaskus.co.id/thread/521adacd19cb178421000001/iklan-led-philips-menyesatkan/

Dikutip : "benar ada tulisanya "Last up to 15Years" …. dengan pemakaian sehari 2.7 Jam.. WTF!!!"

Duh.

Anyway, kembali ke posting Linus — yang lebih menarik adalah diskusi di komentarnya, saya kutipkan beberapa :

"Sounds like insufficient heat sinking in the design itself. Heat ages LEDs fast"

Linus : "Irony alert: the crappy bulbs are called "EnduraLED". Model number 8E26A60 in case anybody cares"

"I did the same, changed all the spot lights in the house with LED, but almost all of  them died less than a year later.

The problem is NOT the LEDs, they are very reliable and working perfectly,

the problem is the electronic circuits driving them are so badly made, they blow up very quickly making the whole thing a VERY expensive failure."

"We've gradually been switching from fluorescents to Panasonic LEDs. We have a dozen by now, with the oldest ones three years old and have yet to have any burn out pr go visibly bad. And the light quality is pleasant, much better than the fluorescents and incandescents they're replacing"

"All big manufactures suck in LED technology. I also replaced every light here with LED, bought at Amazon. Good stuff is from LumenTec for example. Almost 100Lumen per Watt"

"Personally, I find it disturbing that most lighting products available in retail stores are 3000-4000 k, which provide horrible color rendering in a home environment. (should be 2700k)"

"At work we use LED fixtures by Dialight, 72 watt, replacing 400 watt HID. They run cool. They run cool due to the massive heat sink"

"If you want cheap LED lights buy them off AliExpress.  You can get down light for about $2.50 for approx 600 lumen at 3-4 watts. You can get B22(bayonet)/E37(screw) type LED globes for about $3. Free postage too to major World locales."

"I  ordered mine directly from manufacturer somewhere on aliexpress.com. My choise is corn bulbs with 5630 LED which has 50lm ouput each according to the datasheet. 60x on one lamp gives like 120w incandescent light output and they are actually doesn't require additional heat dissipation as they are distributed over the lamp."

"I  use CREE bulbs bought from china…they seem good-working even after a couple of yrs, the brightness didn't decrease"

"hope you didn't throw those bulbs away +Linus Torvalds .  probably just the voltage regulators went soft.  LEDs are fine." — menarik, berarti bisa di reparasi.

"I attended a Facilities Conference with the Cree reps and have seen their tech. THEY are the global pioneers of LED technology and have the best warranty and Guaranty. Not only will their products last for a long time, they promise that you will not lose lumens."

Reshared post from +Linus Torvalds

Philips: your LED lights suck.

I've replaced most of the lights in our house with LED's, because I detest those nasty CFL's. 

And in general, things are working out pretty well. I'm particularly pleased with the 6" EcoSmart recessed lights you can get at Home Depot (not a bulb replacement – it replaces the whole trim kit).

But today I've been walking around changing out the Philips bulbs that are just a couple of years old. "40,000 hours" my ass. Sure, they still "work" – but actual light output is maybe a quarter of what it was when new.

I'm hoping the new Cree bulbs are better. Cree is the manufacturer for the LED module for the EcoSmart recessed lights, so I have some reason to be hopeful that a couple of years down the line I won't curse at them.

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