1992 UN Earth Summit Speech by Severn Suzuki

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severn_Cullis-Suzuki

When working with “tar” one may come across the message of “tar: Removing leading ‘/’ from member names” while using tar. I wondered why this was happening and how I could stop it. I will first start off by explaining why this is happening and then some possible solutions that one may consider taking.

Why “tar: Removing leading ‘/’ from member names”?

By default GNU tar drops the leading slash (‘/’) on input and output as a precaution. This is done to ensure the archive is compatible with a non-GNU tar
program(s) otherwise there will be some difficulty at extraction time. So what this means is that all member names are striped of the leading slashes when putting members into an archive therefore allowing the extraction of individual files to where one desires. An example of this would be if one would add the file “/home/foo/foo” to an archive it would be done but the member name will be “home/foo/foo”. If the stripping of the leading slash was not done then at an extraction time the files would be extracted to there absolute path. So again if the member name of was “/home/foo/foo” it would be extract out to that exact location start from the root of the file system.

Solutions

So this brings one to, how do I get rid of this message? There is a few solutions to that as I will explain below however it shall be warned that this message is important and ignoring it could cause some serious issues later.

Solution One – add the GNU tar option –absolute-names (-P) to archive or extract files relative to the root directory.

Solution Two – Redirect messages to no where by doing $ tar -c -f archive.tar /home 2> /dev/null. Be warned this is a dangerous solution.

Solution Three – Change to the root (“/”) directory first and then avoid absolution notation. $ (cd / && tar -c -f archieve.tar home) $ tar -c -f archive.tar -C / home

Source: GNU Tar: Absolute File Names

Every time one types an email address or name in the message window fields of “To”, “Cc” and “Bcc” of Microsoft Outlook 2003/2007/2010, a list will appear offering suggestions of users and email addresses that one can choose from to save on typing. This feature is known as “Auto-Complete” and Outlook automatically builds the list of suggestions according to the a given users activity and saves it into a file with a “NK2″ extension.

The “Auto-Complete” suggestions can be cleared, edited, or disabled by using one of the follow solutions below.

Solution – Clear Auto-Complete Suggestions

1. Open Outlook.
2. Click on the menu “File” -> “Options”.
3. Click on “Mail” at the top left side of the “Outlook Options” dialog.
4. Then scroll down to where you see a heading of “Send messages”.
5. Click on “Empty Auto-Complete List”.
6. Click on the “OK” button.

Solution – Edit Auto-Complete Suggestions

Please follow the instructions and information provided at the author’s web site when using NirSoft’s NK2Edit.

NirSoft NK2Edit

Solution – Disable Auto-Complete Suggestions

1. Open Outlook.
2. Click on the menu “File” -> “Options”.
3. Click on “Mail” at the top left side of the “Outlook Options” dialog.
4. Then scroll down to where you see a heading of “Send messages”.
5. Uncheck “Use Auto-Complete List to suggest names when typing in the To, Cc and Bcc lines”.
6. Click on the “OK” button.

I will explain how to resolve the following error message when trying to merge/import a Windows registry file.

“Cannot import C:\foobar.reg. The specified file is not a registry script. You can only import binary registry files from within the registry editor.”

Solution

1. Open the registry file in a text editor.
2. Change the encoding to “ANSI”.
3. Save the file.

Note: If you are not aware how to change the encoding, the simplest solution is to open the registry file within Microsoft Windows’ Notepad and then save it.

Source: “The specified file is not a registry script” – How encoding can ruin your morning

The progress of a task in TaskFreak! is shown as a percentage value and is not exactly visually appealing to quickly spot the progress. With a few minor alterations we can show the percentage completed bar that fills as the task progresses and a gradient bar indicating the progress along with the percentage value.

This solution was posted by Searcher at Re: Taskfreak Customizing Status.

Solution

1. Edit at line #268 as shown below.
   

   Cod Before

   268	<th width="<?php echo FRK_STATUS_LEVELS * 2; ?>%" onclick="freak_sort('statusKey')" colspan="< ?php echo FRK_STATUS_LEVELS ?>" class="sortable">< ?php echo (FRK_STATUS_LEVELS == 1)?'X':$langForm['status']; ?></th>

   Code After

   268	<th width="80" onclick="freak_sort('statusKey')" class="sortable">< ?php echo (FRK_STATUS_LEVELS == 1)?'X':$langForm['status']; ?></th>

2. Edit at line #382
   

   Code Before

   < ?php
                       $s = $objItem->itemStatus->statusKey;
                       for ($i = 0; $i < FRK_STATUS_LEVELS; $i++) {
                           $j = ($i < $s)?(FRK_STATUS_LEVELS - $i):0;
                   ?>
                           <td id="est<?php echo ($i+1).$objItem->id; ?>" class="sts< ?php echo $j; ?>"< ?php
                           if ($objUser->checkLevel(14) || $objItem->checkRights($objUser->id,8,true))  {
                               echo ' onclick="freak_sts('.$objItem->id.','.($i+1).')" style="cursor:pointer"';
                           }
                       ?>>&nbsp;</td>
                   < ?php
                       }
                   ?>

   Code After

   <!-- status bar update -->
             <td>
               <table width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
                 <tr>
                   < ?php
                   $s = $objItem->itemStatus->statusKey;
                   for ($i = 0; $i < FRK_STATUS_LEVELS; $i++) {
                     $j = ($i < $s)?(FRK_STATUS_LEVELS - $i):0;
                     ?>
                     <td width="10" onmouseover="this.style.cursor='pointer'" id="est<?php echo ($i+1).$objItem->id; ?>" class="sts< ?php echo $j; ?>"< ?php if ($objUser->checkLevel(14) || $objItem->checkRights($objUser->id,8,true))  { echo ' onclick="freak_sts('.$objItem->id.','.($i+1).')" style="cursor:pointer"'; } ?>>&nbsp;</td>
                     < ?php } ?>
                     <td style="border:0"></td>
                     <td id="status_perc_<?php echo $objItem->id; ?>" style="border:0; font-size:8px; color:#000" align="right">&nbsp;< ?php echo ($s*20)."%"; ?></td>
                   </tr>
                   <tr><td style="border:0; height:2px"></td></tr>
                   <tr>
                     <td colspan="7" style="border:0"><img id="status_bar_<?php echo $objItem-/>id; ?>" src="skins/status.jpg" height="5" width="< ?php echo ($s*16); ?>" /></td>
                 </tr>
               </table>
             </td>
   <!-- status bar update -->

3. Download the status gradient bar image file from “http://demofreak.dracon.biz/skins/status.jpg” and the copy image file to the /taskfreak/skins/ directory.

Source: Taskfreak Customizing Status

Source: Dilbert – October 2, 2011

I will explain how to create a script that will run Rhythmbox Music Player at startup, enqueue a playlist and then begin playing.

Note: I have only verified this method to work on Ubuntu v10.04.

Solution

1. Using your favorite text editor copy and paste the following code below.
2. You may need to replace “–play” with “–play-pause” depending your environment.
3. Replace the following “/home/foo/playlist.pls” to where the playlist is saved (previously created).
4. Save the script to a safe location such as a user directory (e.g. /home/foo/.rhythmbox-startup.sh).
5. Using the “Terminal” under “Applications -> “Accessories” type the following without double quotes, “sudo chmod +x /home/foo/.rhythmbox-startup.sh” to grant the file execute permissions.
6. Close the “Terminal”.
7. Go to the menu “System” -> “Preferences” -> “Startup Applications” and then click on “Add”.
8. Enter the following into the corresponding dialog fields without double quotes, Name: “Rhythmbox”, Command: “/home/foo/.rhythmbox-startup.sh” and Comment: “Runs Rhythmbox with a playlist”.
9. Click “Add” and then “Close” buttons.

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#!/bin/bash
sleep 10 &&
rhythmbox-client --hide &&
sleep 5 &&
rhythmbox-client --enqueue /home/foo/playlist.pls &&
rhythmbox-client --play

Source: Rhythmbox Startup Script for Ubuntu
Source: Rhythmbox – Community Ubuntu Documentation

Thank you to those that made these videos possible and providing the opportunity to allow these great innovative business leaders the opportunity to speak.

Steve Jobs at Stanford (2005)

Jeff Bezos at Princeton (2010)

Source: Words to Live By: 5 of the Best Commencement Speeches Ever

Source: DuckDuckGo: The Privacy-centric Alternative to Google
Source: DuckDuckGo

I will explain how to convert a DATETIME (data type) value in Microsoft SQL Server to Unix timestamp and how to convert Unix timestamp to DATETIME. A Unix timestamp is a integer value of seconds since January 1, 1970 at midnight. For further explanation of Unix timestamps refer to Wikiepedia, UnixTimestamp.com or http://unixtimesta.mp/.

Note: This solution only work on dates prior to 2038-01-19 at 3:14:08 AM, where the delta in seconds exceeds the limit of the INT data type (integer is used as the result of DATEDIFF). See source for further details as I have not verified a solution to this problem.

Solutions

Convert Datetime Value to Unix Timestamp (today)

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SELECT DATEDIFF(s, '19700101', GETDATE());

Result: 1305630800

Convert Datetime Value to Unix Timestamp from two Values

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SELECT DATEDIFF(s, StartTime, EndTime) AS Duration FROM Programs

Result: 3600

Convert Unix Timestamp Value to Datetime Value

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SELECT DATEADD(s, 123456789, '19700101');

Result: 1973-11-29 21:33:09.000

Source: How do I convert a SQL Server DATETIME value to a Unix timestamp?
Source: DATEADD (Transact-SQL)
Source: DATEADD
Source: DATEDIFF (Transact-SQL)
Source: DATEDIFF

APRICOT — A Short Film by Ben Briand from Moonwalk Films on Vimeo.

Winner of Community Choice Award
Voted Best Narrative on Vimeo by it’s users
Written & Directed by Ben Briand
www.benbriand.com
twitter.com/ben_briand

Produced by Matt Dooley, Michele Bennett, Alexis Bensa, Gaspard Chevance
www.moonwalk-films.com, www.cherubpictures.com.au

Cast: Ewen Leslie, Laura Gordon, Alice Zahalka, Joshua Rozzi
Music: www.basilhogios.com.au

A MAC address is a unique identifier assigned to network interfaces (network cards/NICs) for network communications. For the most part we don’t need to know what the MAC address is but at times it is necessary to know for instance when one wants to create a DHCP reservation.

Solutions

Note: In each solution one must know what your network interface device name is, in order to get the correct MAC address .

Linux/Unix – Command Line

Using the following command look under the network interface device name and just after “HWaddr” you will see your MAC address.

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# ifconfig

The alternative would be using the following series of command to only return the MAC address for a given network device name.

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# ifconfig eth0 | grep HWaddr | awk '{print $5}'

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu) – GUI

1. Go to the menu Applications > System Tools > Network Tools.
2. Under the “Devices” select a “Network device”.
3. Under Interface Information you will see the MAC address after “Hardware address”.

Windows NT/2000/ME/XP/Vista/7 – Command Line

After running the below command look under the network device name and then just after “Physical Address” you will see the MAC address.

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ipconfig /all

Windows 7 – GUI

Open the Network and Sharing Center > Local Area Connection > Details > Physical Address.

Mac OS X – GUI

1. Go to “System Preferences…” from the Apple menu.
2. Then select “Network.”
3. Double-click on “Airport” or “Built-in Ethernet” depending on how you access the Internet/network.
4. Your MAC Address will be shown under “Airport ID” or “Ethernet ID”.

Mac OS X – Command Line

Use the same method shown above under “Linux/Unix”.

Source: Wikipedia – MAC address
Source: Working with MAC addresses
Source: How to Find the MAC Address of Your Computer

This how to will explain how to view all email messages in plain text format, how to convert an HTML formatted email message to plain text format and how to convert an email in plain text to HTML while using Microsoft Outlook 2007/2010.

Solution – View All Emails in Plain Text

1. In the menu/tab left mouse click on the “File”.
2. Left mouse click on “Options”.
3. Left mouse click on “Trust Center” and then “Trust Center Settings” button towards the right.
4. On the left hand side left mouse click on “E-mail Security”.
5. Under the heading “Read as Plain Text” left mouse click to place a check mark on “Read all standard mail in plain text” and “Read all digitally signed mail in plain text”.

Each time you view an email message no matter what the format is the message will be viewed in “plain text”.

Solution – Compose/New Email – Chang Email Format

1. Create/compose a new email message.
2. Under the menu “Format Text” left mouse click on the desired email format, “HTML”, “Plain Text” or “Rich Text”.

Solution – While Viewing an Email Change from Plain Text to HTML

1. Open an email message.
2. In between the menu/ribbon bar and “From” you may see an message “This message was converted to plain text”. Left mouse click on this message and then click on “Display as HTML”.

Source: Read e-mail in plain text
Source: How to Convert Plain Text Email Messages to HTML

This applies to Microsoft Visual Studio/Express 2010 and as far as I know 2008 as well.

Solution

1. Go to the menu “Tools” -> “Options”.
2. In the Options dialog go to “Text Editor” -> “All Languages” or pick a specific language.
3. On the right hand side under “Display” place a checkmark on “Line Numbers”.
4. Click on the “OK” button.

Example of Result Set Returning One Row

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$szDBConn="DRIVER={SQL Server};SERVER=SQLServerNameHere;DATABASE=DatabaseNameHere";
$szDBUsername="UsernameHere";
$szDBPswd="PasswordHere";
$szDBQuery="SELECT FooBar, Foo_Bar, Foo_ID FROM FoobarSubscribers WHERE FooID=777";
$rDBConnect = odbc_connect($szDBConn, $szDBUsername, $szDBPswd);  
$rDBRes = odbc_exec($rDBConnect, $szDBQuery);
$szLastCheck = odbc_result($rDBRes, "LastCheck");
odbc_free_result($rDBRes);
odbc_close($rDBConnect);

Example of Result Set Returning Multiple Rows in an Object

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$szDBConn="DRIVER={SQL Server};SERVER=SQLServerNameHere;DATABASE=DatabaseNameHere";
$szDBUsername="UsernameHere";
$szDBPswd="PasswordHere";
$szDBQuery="SELECT FooBar, Foo_Bar, Foo_ID FROM FoobarSubscribers";
$rDBConnect = odbc_connect($szDBConn, $szDBUsername, $szDBPswd);  
$rDBRes = odbc_exec($rDBConnect, $szDBQuery);
while($obRows = odbc_fetch_object($rDBRes))
{
	print $obRows->ColumnName1."<br />";
	print $obRows->ColumnName2."<br />";
	print $obRows->ColumnName3."<br />";
}
odbc_free_result($rDBRes);
odbc_close($rDBConnect);

Example of Result Set Returning Multiple Rows in an Array

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$szDBConn="DRIVER={SQL Server};SERVER=SQLServerNameHere;DATABASE=DatabaseNameHere";
$szDBUsername="UsernameHere";
$szDBPswd="PasswordHere";
$szDBQuery="SELECT FooBar, Foo_Bar, Foo_ID FROM FoobarSubscribers";
$rDBConnect = odbc_connect($szDBConn, $szDBUsername, $szDBPswd);  
$rDBRes = odbc_exec($rDBConnect, $szDBQuery);
while($saRows = odbc_fetch_array($rDBRes))
{
        print $saRows['ColumnName1'];
        print $saRows['ColumnName2'];
        print $saRows['ColumnName3'];
}
odbc_free_result($rDBRes);
odbc_close($rDBConnect);

Comments/description of Example

Line #1

Database connection string to define the driver, server host name and database name.

The “server host name” is the server name or IP address of your database server. If your host has multiple instances the “host” value would be formatted like so “foo\bar”. If your using SQL Server Express the “host” name locally would be “.\SQLEXPRESS”.

Line #2-#3

Database login credentilas; username and password.

Line #4

SQL query.

Line #5

Connect to the database defined by Line #1, Line #2 and Line #3.

Line #6

Prepare and execute an SQL statement.

Line #7

Fetch results returned back from the SQL statement. I use a while loop to enumerate through each row of results returned. If you know only one row is going to be returned the while loop is not necessary.

odbc_free_result()

Close database connection.

odbc_close()

Close database connection.