Open Source Software of the Month - SQL Explorer

Category: Database
License: LGPL
Website: http://www.sqlexplorer.org/
Description: Eclipse SQL Explorer is a thin java based SQL client that allows you to query and browse any JDBC compliant database. It supports plugins with specialized functionality for individual databases (Oracle, DB2 and MySQL) and can be extended to include specialized support for other databases.

The application that I am currently engaged with connects to numerous different database servers. Every time there was a requirement to connect to a new database server that was not already supported by my app, I was forced to install a compatible client to query the DB. I had to go through the painful process of getting approvals, raising all the necessary tickets, following up with all the concerned parties, are just some of them. These are circumstances when you start questioning yourself “There is got to be a better way of doing things?”
Necessity is the mother of all invention, luckily in my case I didn’t have to invent anything. A little bit of googling did the trick. That’s when I was introduced to SQL Explorer. I used the standalone version and it worked like a charm. I could connect to all the servers that I needed to, in a single IDE. I could connect to SQL Server, Sybase and Oracle in a familiar looking Eclipse IDE. Some of its impressive features are
1. Exporting query results to html/csv/xls formats
2. Stores all the queries run successfully. These can be easily searched or filtered.
3. Saves all DB server connects, you can check the option to reconnect on start up.
4. Database explorer to view all objects created on the database

The SQLExplorer will humble an arrogant SQL Server Client or any other paid client out there. I would strongly recommend SQLExplorer.
Cost Comparison of other SQL Clients TOAD: $595.00


“A Penny Saved is Worth More Than a Penny Earned”

David Guetta's Sexy Chick SoundBoard

Dreams

Ok enough of the recession crap; let’s talk about something that’s more common. Something that occurs involuntarily everyday in our lives. Something that is fun, scary, mysterious and insightful depending on the way you perceive it. Let’s go gung ho over Dreams. Not day dreaming silly, thou sometimes day dreaming is entertainment in our otherwise monotonous tasks. These are the series of images you see while sleeping; where rules of reality don’t apply.

Sleep States

Sleep is mainly categorized into two states, Rapid Eye Movement (REM) and Non Rapid Eye Movement (NREM). During a normal sleep cycle a person alternates between these two sleep cycles. Non REM sleep is again split into four stages. An adult usually spends 75% of his sleep cycle in Non REM sleep out of which 15% is in the 4^th stage of NREM which is deep sleep. The remaining 25% is in the REM state. REM state is where dreaming takes place. Brain activity in this state is similar to an awakened state.

Dream Analysis

What you lack in intelligence you can make up in analysing your dreams ;) You can learn a lot about yourself from your dreams. Your environment, health, mental situation, feelings etc become very clear if you understand your dreams. Your dreams can give you more insight about the current state of your mind. Correlate your dream with anything that’s disturbing you or causing any anxiety.

Dreams are means of your subconscious mind talking to you, so listen to it. Just as you physical body needs cleaning up, dreams are means to clean up you mental/emotional body.

The toughest part about dream analysis is actually remembering your entire dream. The best way to remember your dream is; upon awakening lie on the bed for a few moments with your eyes closed. Try replying the entire dream sequence in your mind. This will help you remember more details of your dream. You can also have a pen and paper besides you and immediately write down your dream when you wake up.

Following are some interpretations of common dreams

• Falling Dreams, symbolizes fear of failure or loss of control
• Naked Dreams, symbolizes that you’re afraid of being exposed
• Chase Dreams, symbolizes your running away from difficulties
• Nightmare Dreams, symbolizes real life trauma and situations
• Flying Dreams, symbolizes your on top of the situation

Sometimes I look at dreams as movies you watch when you are sleeping (I know many of you are going, ya rite next time I wanna watch a movie, I’ll just go to sleep). The difference between watching a movie and dreaming is that, in a dream you are mostly the central character in that movie and your brain makes you feel that the events that your dreaming of, is really happening in your conscious life. In the case of a movie, you can select what you wanna watch, that is something you may not be able to do in the case of a dream or can you?

Lucid Dreaming

Lucid dreams are dreams when the sleeper is aware that he is dreaming. The first thing that makes me realise that I’m lucid dreaming is when I start wondering while lying on the bed, if I’m dreaming or thinking about something and then I realise that this thing is too weird for me to be thinking about. The best thing about lucid dreaming is that you can control what you’re dreaming. You can fulfil your weirdest adventure or your wildest fantasy.

Food For Thought

Dreams are so real that you cannot distinguish between the dream world and the real world when asleep, imagine if there is a scientific/spiritual way to program what you can dream about, would you want to dream about something nice for a few days?

Would you want to face some difficult phases in your life or just sleep them off dreaming about something nicer?

I'm sure there are times when you have twitched in your sleep dreaming about jumping or falling from a height. If you brain is made to believe that your dream is so real that it can actually send signals to your muscles to move, imagine the possibilities. Imagine dreaming about exercising or swimming, you never have to hit the gym again.

Leave a comment if I have changed your perception about Dreams or if you have anything to say about the food for thought section. Criticisms are also welcome.

Recession – Causes and Solutions

This blog is my understanding on why the United Stated/World is in recession. I have tried to keep this as simple as possible and explained financial terms wherever used.

Causes

Sub Prime Mortgage Crisis:

Sub Prime Mortgages is the root cause for the economic meltdown. Subprime mortgages simply mean mortgages that do not meet prime standards. It is a financial term which involves financial institutions lending money to home owners without ensuring borrowers credit ratings1, ratio of borrower’s debt to income2 and/or reasonable documentation that meet underwriting3 guideline.

Booming US economy and housing market coupled with growing competition between financial institutions lead to institutions following subprime standards to ensure borrowers get the loans quickly and with the least documentation. Most of these borrowers have low FICO4 scores and/or excessive debt, history of missed payments etc. Subprime lending led to easily available loans fuelling the housing market boom thus driving housing prices up. Finally the housing bubble had to burst when most of the home owners started defaulting their payments which led to foreclousers5.

Securitization:

Securitization is the process of converting cash flow producing financials assets to securities6 that can be sold to investors. Mortgage loans cannot be traded in the secondary market hence financial institutions (investment banks, government agencies) started purchasing these loans from banks/Mortgage companies and converted them to securities. These securities are called Mortgage backed securities (MBS). These loans are converted to MBS or other securities called CDO’s7 and then sold out to the investors. The investors then receive their monthly payments indirectly by the home owners who make payments against their mortgage.

Securitization also led to transferring the risk of mortgages from banks to investors. This made financial institutions offer more loans and transfer a part of the risk to these investors. Such securities are traded across the world. Financial institutions that issued these securities also retained most of them for investment purposes. Once home owners started defaulting investors/investment banks/mortgage lenders who invested in them, which was most of the world’s leading financial institutions, started booking losses. This wiped out most of the institutions assets/cash reserves and some of them had to file for bankruptcy.

Credit Default Swaps (CDS):

CDS is a contract between two parties whose purpose is to either hedge8 from the risk of default or to profit from speculation. These contracts can be compared to insurance against an asset. It’s similar to the insurance you take against your car (underlying instrument/asset), i.e. you pay the insurance company a premium and if anything happens to the car the insurance company pays you for the damages. In a CDS contract the buyer pays a premium to the seller for insuring the underlying instrument and in turn the seller pays the buyer if the instrument defaults.

During the end of 2007 most of the financial institutions realized that they have huge amounts of risky instruments such as MBS/CDOs/Bonds9 in their books. They created CDS contracts to hedge this risk. With the bankruptcy of major companies such as Lehman brothers, Washington Mutual etc there were billions of dollars to be paid by CDS sellers, which further created holes in the deep pockets of financial companies.

Government Regulations:

CDS/MBS and other such credit instruments are very lightly regulated by the government. The market has no transparency and all of the contracts are negotiated privately. Moreover these instruments are traded over the counter i.e. there is no exchange that monitors/facilitates these trades. Due to this the credit market grew exponentially and was one of the reasons leading to the demise of companies.

Credit Rating Agencies:

There is lot of criticism surrounding the formulas used by rating agencies that rate credit instruments. Most of these instruments where given high ratings thus encouraging investors to invest more into them. During the end of 2007 the rating agencies lowered ratings on MBS after home owners started defaulting and housing prices started crashing. Due to this the financial companies had to acquire additional capital through the issue of fresh stocks thus lowering the existing share prices and fuelling their existing financial problems.

Losses and Unemployment:

Financial institutions started announcing losses due to all of the above reasons. They started laying off employees and postponing projects to cut costs. Since banks did not have cash reserves other sectors started feeling the pinch. Unemployment and the fear of being laid off kept employees from buying less, spreading the downturn to the other sectors. Credit crunch clubbed with lower purchasing power further fuelled the recession.

Solutions

The governments across the world have taken steps to combat recession. They have announced huge bailout packages to companies (mainly mortgage companies, banks and auto sector) and also secured toxic/bad assets. Government passed fresh immigration and outsourcing laws to increase employment within the country. They are also considering tax reliefs and helping distressed home owners.

1. Credit ratings – Ratings computed by agencies to assess borrower’s probability to repay the loan.

2. Ratio of borrower’s debt to income – Amount the Borrowers has in debt compared to his income

3. Underwriting – It is the process that a large financial institution uses to assess the eligibility of a customer to receive their products

4. FICO – Fico scores is the best know credit scoring system in the US. They are calculated based on complex formulas that weigh the amount of debt you carry to your available credit, the timeliness of your payments, the type of debt you carry, and other factors.

5. Foreclosures – Process by which the holder of a mortgage seizes the property of a homeowner who has not paid interest and/or principal payments on time.

6. Securities – Instruments that are traded and represent some financial value.

7. CDO’s – Collateral debt obligations are asset backed securities whose value is derived from the underlying asset. A pool of underlying assets is assembled and securities called CDO’s are created out of them.

8. Hedge – Offset

9. Bonds – Is a security where the bond issuer pays the bond holder interest on a periodical basis and repays the principal amount on the maturity of the bond.