Turning Archive-log mode on and off
You can check what mode the database is in with:
1 | SELECT LOG_MODE FROM SYS.V$DATABASE; |
If you do not specify an archive-log location, it will end up going to a directory like $ORACLE_HOME/dbs - which can be quite a mess.
Check where it's going:
1 | SHOW PARAMETER log_archive_dest; |
It would be good practice to set the location if it doesn’t show one.
To turn archive-log-mode on or off:
shutdown database:
1 2 3 | SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE
STARTUP RESTRICT
SHUTDOWN |
Mount the database:
1 | ALTER DATABASE MOUNT; |
Then issue one of the following:
1 2 | ALTER DATABASE NOARCHIVELOG; ALTER DATABASE ARCHIVELOG; |
If the location hasn’t been set yet:
1 | ALTER SYSTEM SET LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST = "/ARC_LOCATION"; |
Then open the database:
1 | ALTER DATABASE OPEN; |
There might also be archivelog related entries in your PFILE, which you should also make changes to.
Listing key Oracle Database files
To get a list of all datafiles, redo-log files and control-files, run the following in SQL*Plus (database must be mounted):
1 2 3 | SELECT MEMBER FROM V$LOGFILE; SELECT NAME FROM V$DATAFILE; SELECT VALUE FROM V$PARAMETER WHERE NAME = 'control_files'; |
An easier way of displaying your control-files is:
1 | SHOW PARAMETER control_files; |
Stop WordPress from adding p and br tags
Even without the visual-editor, WordPress has a habit of adding <p> and <br/> tags
Add this to your templates/pages/whatever and it should take care of the problem.
<?php remove_filter('the_content', 'wpautop'); ?>
Create bevelled text
I might be superfluous in my method here, but it works well for me 
Add some text
Search through files for a string (Linux)
To search a directory recursively for specific text or a string, use:
find . -exec grep "string to find" '{}' \; -print
Surrealism “Propaganda”
I had this idea for a couple of days and finally decided to do it yesterday. This was the process (very very roughly)
Step 1: Getting the initial photos
This is the embarassing part. You'll look silly almost no matter what - trying to get a self-portrait in a suitable position that you envision. A camera on tripod, remote control and bounce-flash later though (thanks, I like my bedsheets too):
Got some stock-photography from Pierre on DeviantArt
Step 2: Putting the 2 together
I had to give the photo a bit more room at the top, so I photoshopped some more wall there. With composites, sometimes I'll mask out the individual parts as precisely as I can initially and save the respective masks in my channels. In this case, I put them together first and then masked it all together. I think that's a mistake and I should have masked the subject first (me) then masked the television. Could have saved myself quite a bit of time afterwards.
Step 3: Magic
OK, so I skipped a lot of steps - my bad - I didn't take any screenshots. I was too busy wondering "how the hell am I going to get this to blend". I guess there's always a point in these highly-processed photos where I say "I should stop right now, this is just not working", but I keep on going because it's taken so much effort already. Eventually, there's a point where I say "oh, I might have something here". I suppose that makes it all the more rewarding in the end.
I use a lot of different filters and textures and try to burn-and-dodge a lot.
Step 4: Colouring and painting light
I hate masking and I love "painting-light" and manipulating it. I think that if I actually loved masking, I could have some really amazing work.
At this point, I also did a bit of liquifying and stretched/distorted parts of the photo.
Almost 3 hours later, this was the final shot:
