I came across a simple fix for an odd MySQL issue. We recently had a MySQL server that needed to be restored from backups. After reinstalling all the essentials and importing the data, the database engine wouldn’t start. The log file indicated the following error.
[ERROR] Error message file '/usr/share/mysql/english/errmsg.sys' had only 481 error messages,
but it should contain at least 641 error messages.
After some googling, I found that some of the official RPM packages for MySQL actually contain the incorrect errmsg.sys files. The recommended fix listed on several sites was to either recompile from scratch or, vaguely, to “replace it with the correct errmsg.sys file.” I decided to try the vague reference and make it more specific here.
First, determine the version of MySQL installed. In our case it was 5.1.56
Second, locate a zip file of the raw uncompiled tar.gz of that version. I used http://mysql.llarian.net/Downloads/MySQL-5.1/mysql-5.1.56.tar.gz
Third, download and extract the file to a location of your choosing. cd /usr/local/src
wget http://mysql.llarian.net/Downloads/MySQL-5.1/mysql-5.1.56.tar.gz
tar -zxf mysql-5.1.56.tar.gz
Fourth, backup the existing errsg.sys file. mv /usr/share/mysql/english/errmsg.sys /usr/share/mysql/english/errmsg.sys.old
Fifth, copy the errmsg.sys file from the extrated source code to the live location. cp /usr/local/src/mysql-5.1.56/sql/share/english/errmsg.sys /usr/share/mysql/english/errmsg.sys
After that’s done, MySQL should start normally unless it encounters other errors.
A recent episode of ‘Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?” featured a woman who did not know how many feet were in a yard. Her closest guess was 352 ft. When my friend told me of this now viral video I was shocked. I thought, how could anyone who grew up and was educated in the United States not at least know how many feet were in a yard? But I immediately realized the danger in this line of thought.
As Senior Systems Administrator, an employee of 1-800-HOSTING for over 7 years now, and a worker in the IT industry for 2 decades, I tend to take a lot of things for granted as common knowledge. To me, thinking that one should check the windows registry of a known working server against one that is faulty to check for differences is common knowledge. This fact is lost on many who are not veterans of windows administration. Many other esoteric bits of knowledge are like that for me, and probably for others with similar experience. However, experts from other fields will have a completely different realm of “common knowledge.”
One of my long time friends is a car mechanic. He is a credit to his craft being highly skilled and knowledgeable. We often have very interesting conversations that involve our not-often-overlapping esoteric magisteria. He has no clue how a SQL server works and I have no clue how a flywheel works. We use these discussions to fine tune our customer interaction skills. Because we are both fairly ignorant of the other’s craft, we can ask questions and practice giving answers that are not esoteric. This also helps me reset my expectations of what “common knowledge” of my field is to the common man.
I think it is important to follow this kind of exercise from time to time. However, I still think that 3 feet should be the common knowledge answer to how many feet are in a yard. Just don’t ask me how many feet are in a mile.
The video linked above shows a man connecting to the internet via a circa 1964 analog modem. This video demonstrates how far we have come in internet technology in terms of speed and sophistication. The most mesmerizing piece of information in this video is the complete lack of digital parts in the modem. The box contains a simple analog tone generator that is oscillated when data is sent from the PC over the RS232 cable.
The sound of a dialup modem connecting to an ISP conjures up grand nostalgia. For me it started with the local BBS’s I would get a list of from the local library. How many text based games did I waste away on? I also could access the internet through my father’s work. Eventually, the Fort Worth Star Telegram had a gateway service called STARTEXT which finally allowed me use web browsers to view HTML pages. That’s right, the Internet wasn’t always web pages and that fact is commonly forgotten or unknown! (Also, boo if you must, I was a Netscape user and fan).
I would probably never go back to those days, however. Just watch the video and see how painfully slow 300 baud is and know that 14.4k was not much better. Also, waiting 5 or more minutes to just connect to the internet was a grinding torture. I like my always on, instantly available setup now. If my laptop is hibernating it takes me less than a minute to turn it on and start browsing the web or playing an online game.
Three of my life’s passions are anime, music, and technology. I started watching anime over a decade ago and, according to my most recent estimate, have watched over a month’s worth of anime shows, movies, and specials. As for music, aside from being a fan of almost every genre of music, I have been in bands, choirs, and produced music as a DJ. Obviously, technology is my job and I got into the field because of my love for it. In recent years an industry has evolved that has incorporated all three of these passions into one. The word for it is Vocaloid.
At the core Vocaloids are virtual voice synthesizers. There are several voice synthesizer software packages out there, but the craze was made famous and gets its name sake from the VOCALOID software from Yamaha. This software basically allows a musician to put lyrics into the program, assign notes, adjust pitches and vocal effects and create a human sounding voice singing the lyrics. Several packages exist to fit certain voice styles. These voices are molded after actual singers and voice actors using samplings of their voices. The majority of these voices are Japanese and can only poorly sing in English (it does sound like a Japanese person speaking English, so at least it’s accurate for that). These voice packages have a digital persona to accompany them. That’s where the term Vocaloid begins to apply. The most popular of Vocaloids is Hatsune Miku. Miku is a teenage girl with long turquoise hair and matching black and turquoise outfits. Her voice is high and youthful. This is where the technology and music marry with anime. The Vocaloid community has created the Miku Miku Dance studio which animates Miku as well as other Vocaloids to create dance videos to coincide with the songs made by that Vocaloid. Some users have even created a tie-in for Microsft Kinect to allow real dancers to directly input moves for the Vocaloids to execute.
The most interesting thing about Vocaloids, to me, is that the songs they sing are community projects. One person may write the lyrics, another write the score, another will create the music video, and someone else will encode the English translations. The end product will have been an indirect collaboration between various people. Some of them may be well known musicians and producers some may be armatures. The band Supercell is one famous collaboration that has created many of Miku’s most popular songs including “World is Mine” and “Heartbreaker.”
Vocaloids have now taken a step out of the computer screen and onto the performance stage. Miku and friends have performed at several concerts in Japan. This past Independence Day weekend the Vocaloids took stage at the Anime Expo 2011 in Las Angeles, California. I was sadly unable to attend, but it was an event much anticipated by Vocaloid fans across the continent. At these concerts, the Vocaloids sing and dance in a projected holograph-like form on stage to the music of a live band. The video at the end of this post shows some highlights from the concert. My favorite Vocaloid is Megurine Luka. Her voice is a bit lower and more mature than Miku’s and she sports long pink hair. Her voice sounds more natural, in my opinion, but she is not as popular as Miku and has fewer songs using her voice. My personal favorite Luka song is “Just Be Friends.”
I find this technology to be fascinating and entertaining. I think it allows the creativity to flow directly from the creative minds to the desiring ears without the need to hunt down a skilled singer. I personally don’t think Vocaloids could ever completely replace the human voice. There are times in Vocaloid songs where the Uncanny Valley is breeched and can make one feel a bit repulsed. The technology is improving and Yamaha has announced the upcoming release of VOCALOID 3.
Last week, whilst on vacation, I attended a performance of Spamalot. Spamalot is a Tony award winning comedy musical based on the comedy movie “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” The performance was excellent and the show was quite hilarious. However, I noticed the disturbing trend of inappropriate cell phone use in theaters had crept its way into musical theaters as well.
In recent years, it has become common place, though not any less annoying, to see someone plop out a cell phone in the middle of a concert, movie, or any place or event really. The not-so-subtle glow of smart phone screens invading your eyes as you are trying to enjoy a movie is simply unavoidable these days. It isn’t any less rude to use your phone now than it has in the past. Yet, people continue to do it and seemingly at increasing rates.
I had hoped that theater and musical theater were the last remaining bastions of phoneless entertainment. I was robbed of this delusion when a woman three rows in front of me interrupted my enjoyment of the whimsical Knights of the Round Table with her Lady Gaga ringtone. Rather than do the decent thing and ignore the call and turn off the ringer, she instead answered it, had a brief conversation, and then proceeded to play with her phone for several minutes. I know it was for quite a while because I missed an entire scene being distracted by her and trying to materialize my annoyance and hurl it at the rude lady. I was not successful and now I don’t know what joke I missed that had the audience uproariously laughing.
I know smart phones are common place in our society and their use is wide spread. I’m also ok with many social situations having phone use injected. I’m on mine quite a bit for both work and pleasure in many situations where such behavior was previously unacceptable. I do, however, take a stand when it comes to movies and theater. There is just no way for phone use in these situations to NOT be inconsiderate of others. So I implore everyone to please consider turning your phone off completely before entering a theater or cinema. This way you can completely resist the temptation to annoy those around you.
Issues quickly resolved, smooth sailing now. 5 months ago
There is a power related issue affecting a portion of the servers at the data center. We are working diligently to... http://fb.me/DUYu87GQ5 months ago
