Monthly Archives: January 2008

One-lakh car unveiled

Posted on January 10, 2008 by NC

For the last few years, India’s Tata Motors has been working on a “one-lakh” car (e.g., a car to be sold for under 100,000 rupees, which at current exchange rates translates into approximately $2,500). Well, the car (duly christened Nano) … Continue reading →

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Help! MySQL caches my queries

Posted on January 9, 2008 by NC

A question from alt.php.sql: Php generates a query, and the result returned is from a cache, not from the actual mysql db. The data I receive is not up-to-date – to changes I make during this time. I have tried … Continue reading →

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Storing images: database vs. file system

Posted on January 8, 2008 by NC

A question from comp.lang.php: I would like to know what the differences are in terms of security, reliability and resources between storing user-uploaded images in a file or storing them in a mySQL database. The only significant difference is the … Continue reading →

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Paul Krugman on jobs in Europe and the U.S.

Posted on January 8, 2008 by NC

Paul Krugman writes: Another jobs picture — Europe vs. US (updated) While I’m on the employment thing, I thought it might be worth looking at an international comparison. This chart shows the employment-population ratio for the United States (blue) and … Continue reading →

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Importing from Excel into MySQL

Posted on January 8, 2008 by NC

A question from comp.lang.php: A client has sent me a (Windows) Excel Spreadsheet (.xls) file containing a block of data he wants included as a table in a MySQL database in a (Linux-based) PHP/MySQL Web application I’m developing for him. … Continue reading →

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Why and how currency values change

Posted on January 7, 2008 by NC

A question from Yahoo! Answers: Can someone explain to me why the dollar changes value and how it is decided? A currency (including the dollar) changes its value for the same reason other financial assets (such as stocks and bonds) … Continue reading →

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Phishing: a fraud within a fraud?

Posted on January 7, 2008 by NC

Paul Mutton of Netcraft writes: Phishing kits take advantage of novice fraudsters A phishing kit targeting the Bank of America contains an interesting insight into the intellectual hierarchy involved in Internet fraud. At first glance, the phishing kit looks attractive … Continue reading →

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Why Dani Rodrik doesn’t do political economy anymore

Posted on January 5, 2008 by NC

Dani Rodrik writes: Why I don’t do political economy any more In the early part of my academic career, the question that consumed me was: “why don’t governments do what is obviously best for their societies?” Why don’t they not … Continue reading →

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Here comes the rest of our lives

Posted on January 4, 2008 by NC

Title: Best Days Artist: Graham Colton Band Album: Here Right Now I wanted to put this music video in a post, but it turns out the otherwise wonderful video embedding plugin I use doesn’t support AOL Video. Oh well, I … Continue reading →

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Embedding a QuickTime movie

Posted on January 3, 2008 by NC

A question from Askville: I need code to add a Quicktime movie to a website (please see details). I need an answer that isn’t too complex, since my javascript skills are only moderate. I know that Microsoft lost a lawsuit … Continue reading →

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