Wednesday, August 31, 2011

One-Dimensional Nanostructures

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Monday, August 29, 2011

Data Mining Desktop Survival Guide by Graham Williams

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Advanced Oracle PL/SQL Programming with Packages

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Who would have thought that just one year after the publication of Oracle PL/SQL Programming, a 916-page tome on "everything PL/SQL", I'd end up writing a second book about the PL/SQL language? Although back in September 1995 I wasn't arrogant enough to think that I knew all there was to know about PL/SQL, I also underestimated how much more I had still to learn!
I am firmly of the belief that one never stops learning -- as long as one is open to learning. The area of PL/SQL in which I needed lots more education turned out to be packages. In my first book I explained how to build and use packages. I even provided lots of examples of package construction. But I started to realize that this wasn't enough. Over the past year, I have been designing and developing a set of packages to help me build PL/SQL-based applications. This was a thoroughly selfish effort: I wanted to be as productive as possible, and I wanted to overcome a number of weaknesses -- however transient -- in the PL/SQL language. In the process of writing this software, I learned a good deal about the best ways to build PL/SQL code, especially regarding packages. I also discovered some very interesting techniques that can make packaged software more maintainable, accessible, and easy to use.
As my thinking on the construction of packages crystallized, I began to view all of my packages as a library of code that could be used by any PL/SQL developer. I also realized that I wanted to share the new techniques and lessons I had uncovered. The result? This book and the PL/Vision product.
How often do you find yourself writing a program and simultaneously thinking: somebody must have done this before! You feel certain that you are reinventing the wheel. Worse, if you are sufficiently honest with yourself, you will also admit that someone else has probably spent more time on the problem and has already come up with a better solution than you are likely to develop for your specific application.
Often, you know you should take the time to "genericize" a program so that you can use it again and again in different circumstances. Somehow, however, you never find the time -- and the mental space -- to take your code to that higher level of abstraction.
So you limp along, accepting a relatively low level of productivity and reusing a truly minimal amount of code. You write the same things over and over and simply push aside the feeling that you are wasting your time.
Oracle developers are fortunate to be able to use an advanced, robust language like PL/SQL. PL/SQL developers are, on the other hand, less than fortunate (at least as of September 1996) to find that the supporting environment for PL/SQL is still very immature. Where are the debuggers, the code formatters and generators, the toolboxes of reusable programs and objects? When will we have a powerful editor that knows about PL/SQL syntax and -- more importantly -- the stored code available for execution?
When, you might also ask, will this guy stop complaining? It is acceptable to identify weaknesses. It is constructive to analyze areas for improvement. At some point, however, you have to stop whining and start improving things for yourself. Best yet, keep on whining but engage in self-improvement at the same time!
This book will help you write better packages. It will also show you how to use the "prebuilt" packages of the PL/Vision software product -- my attempt to change the "situation on the ground" for PL/SQL programmers. Finally, I hope that it will, via examination of my source code and the way I separated functional areas in PL/Vision, offer a blueprint for PL/SQL developers to discover how to take full advantage of PL/SQL packages in their day-to-day programming.

PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES Design and Implementation

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PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES Design and Implementation

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PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES Design and Implementation BY TERRENCE W. PRATT

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Microeconomics for MBAs: The Economic Way of Thinking for Managers

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Business Economics: A Contemporary Approach

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Drupal 6 : Ultimate Community Site Guide by Dorien Herremans

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CAT Replaces JMET for MBA Admissions in IITs

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As notified earlier CAT replaced JMET for MBA admissions in IITs, earlier JMET was the entrance test required to be eligible to apply for MBA admissions in IITs. From 2012 onwards one can apply with a valid CAT score, IIT Madras was supposed to conduct JMET in the year 2012.
IIT Madras website notified as ” The Joint Management Entrance Test (JMET) stands discontinued. Admission to the Post Graduate Management Degree Programmes (MBA/M.Mgmt) for 2012 – 2014 in six IITs (Bombay, Delhi, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras, Roorkee) and IISc (Bengaluru) will be based on CAT 2011 score in place of JMET score. Further details regarding eligible educational qualifications and other criteria will be available in the website of Department of Management Studies IIT Madras.”
IITs being autonomous like the IIMs have the leverage to choose CAT entrance exam as a criteria, however IITs will have their own selection criteria which is independent and IIMs will not play any role in the selection criteria. JMET is replacing CAT in view of reducing burden on the student in taking multiple entrance exams, form filling, application cost etc.
If IITs consider CAT score it will only better the selection process and IITs can compete with IIMs in management education. Over the decades IITs are known for its quality education offerings in technical courses, it’s time IITs are thinking to have a double edge by bringing quality education in management as well.
What is your opinion? Did IITs made a correct decision by scrapping JMET? Leave your thoughts!

Girls Exempted from IITJEE 2012 Application Fee

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To increase greater diversity by encouraging girl students participation in Indian Institutes of Technology, the application fee for JEE is exempted from 2012 for girls. However, the application fee for boys would be hiked by Rs. 800/- from the current Rs 1,000/-. Which means boys will have to pay Rs. 1800/- for the application fee for the prestigious Joint Entrance Examination conducted by IITs.
With the Right to Information act being stressed repeatedly by the supreme court, applicants of IITJEE-2012 will be able to take home a copy of the OMR (optic response sheet). The OMR carry will have the responses marked by the applicant, which will enable him to tally with the answer keys once the key is released. Other change announced is about the use of pen for marking responses on the OMR sheet.
A total of seventeen colleges use JEE as a sole criterion for admission to their undergraduate programs. The seventeen colleges include the seven old and eight new (2009) Indian Institutes of Technology, IT-BHU Varanasi, and ISM Dhanbad. Starting in 2007, newly established institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research at Kolkata, Pune, Bhopal & Thiruvananthapuram, Indian Maritime University and Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology are also admitting students through the JEE (Extended Merit List). You can learn more about courses offered by each college here.
This year IIT Delhi will be conducting the exam (IIT-JEE), last year over 500,000 students appeared for IIT-JEE.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Working With Colors and Establishing a Color Palette in Photoshop

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Final Product (What you'll be creating)





Photoshop is an excellent tool for manipulating photographs but it can also be used as a means to create stunning digital art. This tutorial is part of a 25-part video tutorial series demonstrating everything you will need to know to start producing digital art in Photoshop. Digital Art for Beginners, by Adobe Certified Expert and Instructor, Martin Perhiniak will begin by teaching you how to draw in Photoshop. At the conclusion of this series you will know all you need to produce your own concept art and matte paintings in Photoshop.
Today’s tutorial Part 6: Working With Colors and Establishing a Color Palette in Photoshop will explain a bit of traditional and digital color theory and then put it into practice by establishing a color palette in Photoshop. Let’s get started!


Sketching the Human Form in Photoshop

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Photoshop is an excellent tool for manipulating photographs but it can also be used as a means to create stunning digital art. This tutorial is part of a 25-part video tutorial series demonstrating everything you will need to know to start producing digital art in Photoshop. Digital Art for Beginners, by Adobe Certified Expert and Instructor, Martin Perhiniak will begin by teaching you how to draw in Photoshop. At the conclusion of this series you will know all you need to produce your own concept art and matte paintings in Photoshop.
Today’s tutorial Part 5: Sketching the Human Form in Photoshop will demonstrate how to create your sketches digitally in Photoshop with a focus on how to draw the human form (with or without a reference). We will also point out some resources that you can use to help you out along the way. Let’s get started!Editor’s note: This tutorial includes some nudity meant to help you draw human forms.



How to Set Up Your Photoshop Documents: Composition

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Photoshop is an excellent tool for manipulating photographs but it can also be used as a means to create stunning digital art. This tutorial is part of a 25-part video tutorial series demonstrating everything you will need to know to start producing digital art in Photoshop. Digital Art for Beginners, by Adobe Certified Expert and Instructor, Martin Perhiniak will begin by teaching you how to draw in Photoshop. At the conclusion of this series you will know all you need to produce your own concept art and matte paintings in Photoshop.
Today’s tutorial Part 4: Composition and How to Set Up Your Photoshop Documents will showcase some excellent examples of well-composed digital art and will explain how you can set up your artwork to make it even more interesting. Let’s get started!




Creating Custom Brushes

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Photoshop is an excellent tool for manipulating photographs but it can also be used as a means to create stunning digital art. This tutorial is part of a 25-part video tutorial series demonstrating everything you will need to know to start producing digital art in Photoshop. Digital Art for Beginners, by Adobe Certified Expert and Instructor, Martin Perhiniak will begin by teaching you how to draw in Photoshop. At the conclusion of this series you will know all you need to produce your own concept art and matte paintings in Photoshop.
Today’s tutorial Part 3: Creating Custom Brushes will explore the true potential of the Brush Panel. We will demonstrate how to draw our own brush tip shapes and save them as custom brushes. We will also learn how to use tool presets to store and quickly select specific options for Photoshop tools, like the brush. Let’s get started!


The Brush Panel and Using a Tablet

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Final Product (What you'll be creating. )





Photoshop is an excellent tool for manipulating photographs but it can also be used as a means to create stunning digital art. This tutorial is part of a 25-part video tutorial series demonstrating everything you will need to know to start producing digital art in Photoshop. Digital Art for Beginners, by Adobe Certified Expert and Instructor, Martin Perhiniak will begin by teaching you how to draw in Photoshop. At the conclusion of this series you will know all you need to produce your own concept art and matte paintings in Photoshop.
Today’s tutorial Part 2: The Brush Panel and Using a Tablet will explain the most important options in the brush palette, explain the differences between a mouse and tablet for digital art, and will also explain the differences between the Wacom line of tablets and which ones are right for you. Let’s get started!


Introduction to Digital Art

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Photoshop is an excellent tool for manipulating photographs but it can also be used as a means to create stunning digital art. This tutorial is part of a 25-part video tutorial series demonstrating everything you will need to know to start producing digital art in Photoshop. Digital Art for Beginners, by Adobe Certified Expert and Instructor, Martin Perhiniak will begin by teaching you how to draw in Photoshop. At the conclusion of this series you will know all you need to produce your own concept art and matte paintings in Photoshop.
Today’s tutorial Part 1: Introduction to Digital Art will provide an overview of digital art in general and will explain the most essential things you will need to know in Photoshop to work efficiently. You will learn how to customize the user interface, create your own panels, and how to work with Layer comps to easily switch between different compositions. Let’s get started!



Anna wins, Fast ends at 10 am tomorrow

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New Delhi:  Surrounded by a sea of flags, Anna Hazare received the news that his three conditions have been unanimously accepted by Parliament. At his protest camp at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi, thousands gathered to celebrate the 74-year-old and his role in helping India take a huge step forward towards a historic new anti-corruption law.

Anna will end his fast at 10 am. Now on Day 12, of his hunger strike he has lost 7.5 kgs; his doctors say they are seriously worried about his health.

"Parliament has spoken. The will of Parliament is will of the people," said the Prime Minister. A letter signed by him was delivered in a moment of drama and political opportunism to Anna on stage at Ramlila Maidan. The letter-bearers included Vilasrao Deshmkuh, who is from Anna's home state of Maharashtra and shares a good rapport with the Gandhian.

"We have won half the battle," said Anna, thanking the thousands of workers and supporters who helped elevate his movement to the top of the country's agenda. "It is your victory," he said. "I will end my fast with you at 10 am" he said to huge applause. "Celebrate what we have won, but please be peaceful," he urged.

The government held its ground and did not conduct a vote, as Anna's associates had demanded in the afternoon. Instead, the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha unanimously adopted a resolution that conveyed "the sense of the House." The resolution was shared by Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee in his speech that concluded today's parliamentary debate on the Lokpal Bill. It is being formally delivered to Anna in a letter signed by the Prime Minister.

Different government leaders said that because the resolution was unanimously accepted, there was no need for a vote. 

The Lokpal is an ombudsman committee that will be set up by a new law to investigate charges of corruption against public servants. Anna wanted it to be born with three must-have powers. These have been cleared today in principle. (Read what Parliament has agreed to)

In Parliament, both Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee referred to the fact that nine times, the Lokpal Bill has been introduced in Parliament but was not pushed through. "I accept the lapse of our governments," said Mr Mukherjee, while concluding the debate. However, he reinforced his party line: "One piece of legislation, however strong and empowered it may be, cannot completely eradicate corruption." Mr Mukherjee also warned, "There is a difference between mobocracy and democracy." Mr Hazare's methods have been criticized by many, including Rahul Gandhi, who delivered a rare speech on the Lokpal Bill in the Lok Sabha on Friday.

So political parties have signed off on Anna's trio of essentials: The Lokpal model will be introduced in states; junior bureaucrats will be accountable to it; and citizen's charters will be displayed in all government offices to publically display that department's duties. These features have been accepted in principle; they will now be reviewed by a parliamentary standing committee which will also check their compatibility with the constitution. The committee will then send the bill back with detailed feedback to Parliament for its consideration. 

The hours before both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Saba voted in favour of Anna's three must-haves were drenched with the tension that has been characteristic of the last few days of negotiations between his group of activists and the government. The Lokpal debate was initiated by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Lok Sabha. A series of impressive speeches followed, topped by BJP leader Sushma Swaraj. "Let us show the country that its representatives can function well and conduct a healthy and mature political debate devoid of partisan acrimony," she urged.

Since last night, the government had been working on a carefully-calibrated plan to find a way to satisfy Anna without undermining Parliament and its right to legislate. Senior ministers consulted last night and again this morning with both Anna's associates and the Opposition. But by 3 pm, the plan, as it has so often in the last few days, fell apart.    

Anna's associates, who arrived at Parliament while the Lokpal debate was underway, said they were also told that instead of a resolution, Parliament would issue a statement to convey "the sense of the House." They said unless there was a vote in both Houses, the deal was off.

"If no resolution will take place or no voting will happen and if this is the response given to Anna Hazare's letter then it is very unfortunate," said Anna's aide, Prashant Bhushan. "It is a clear case of betrayal," said another member of Anna's inner circle, Arvind Kejriwal.

The Prime Minister then met with senior ministers and with the BJP's Sushma Swaraj and LK Advani. The close coordination between the government and the Opposition today was impressive. The BJP announced it would agree to a vote. 

While the debate was being conducted in both the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, Ramlila Maidan was filling up. In the afternoon, actor Aamir Khan addressed the audience and urged Anna to end his fast. He also performed a song from his hit movie, Lagaan. "We have to thank Anna for putting this bill and the issue of corruption in the spotlight." He stressed, "We need to decide as to how we are going to live our lives... Will we give or accept bribes? Will we say no to corruption in our lives?"

Operations Research an Introduction By Hamdy Taha

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Business Communication Letter Writing

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Here's a short tutorial on how to write Business Letters. Please click below to download the pdf.

DOWNLOAD NOW.

A Framework for Marketing Management

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Database Management Systems, Raghu Ramakrishnan and Johannes Gehrke

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Friday, August 26, 2011

A Programmer’s Companion to Algorithm Analysis

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Beginning Algorithms

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Data Structure And Algorithms In Java

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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Facebook Makes Massive Privacy & Tagging Changes

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Facebook is launching one of the largest privacy overhauls in its history. The initiative will make it clearer with whom you’re sharing photos, status updates and locations.
“We want to make it easier to share with who you want, no matter what it is,” Facebook Product Manager Kate O’Neill told Mashableduring a preview of the new features.
The changes, more than a dozen in all, fall into two key areas: privacy changes to user profiles and changes to how users share content. They will roll out during the next few days.
Profile controls will now be embedded right on the profile page. In the past, changing settings such as who can see your photos or musical interests was done through the bulky Privacy Settings page. Now those settings appear on the right-hand side of nearly every section of the user profile when you’re editing your settings.
Facebook has also decided to bring the “View Profile As” feature directly onto the profile page. This feature allows you to view your profile page as one of your friends would see it. It was previously available in the privacy settings section, but will now appear on the top right-hand corner whenever you visit your profile.
The biggest change to profile privacy controls though is the addition to tag reviews. O’Neill told Mashable that users wanted greater control over who tagged them and how those tags appeared on their profiles. Users will now be able to approve or reject tags before they become visible to anybody else. This includes photos, locations and posts.

Changes to Sharing

The second set of changes affect how you share content. The Publisher bar has been modified and now includes three elements: locations, tags and control over who can see that status update.
You can make it so friends can tag you without approval, but you must approve tags from non-friends — which leads to another change to profiles: You can now tag anybody in a post or a photo, regardless of whether that person is a Facebook friend, subject to tag approval. This makes it possible to tag a large group of people from work or an event.
“Because I share an experience with them doesn’t mean I want to be Facebook friends with them,” O’Neill says.
Places has also been integrated directly into the Publisher bar. You can tag a location from the browser or the mobile apps. In addition, the restriction to tag places only a short distance from your GPS location has been scrapped. For instance, if you were at a party but didn’t write about it until you got home, you can now tag that location in your status update.
As a result of this change, the Places icon in the iOS and Android apps have been removed. In its place is a “Nearby” icon that displays recent checkins in your area. Checking into a location happens from the status update. Users can also tag locations to photo albums or individual photos or videos.
Facebook has also made some changes to the status controls. In the past, a lock icon controlled who could see your status update. Now that icon will change based on whether it’s a public update, one meant for friends or a custom update to a friend list or group. The “Everyone” option has been renamed to “Public” for clarity. You also now have the option of changing the visibility of status updates even after they’re published.
The last change to sharing content involves untagging. Facebook says that users were unclear what untagging themselves from photos actually meant, so it has provided more options for when they untag themselves from Facebook content. Now there are three options: untagging yourself from a photo, asking the photo uploader to remove the photo and blocking that person on Facebook.
This range of privacy changes seem to be proactive for a company that has been strongly criticized for its privacy practices. Privacy and safety groups have had a positive reaction to the changes overall. Perhaps at last Facebook will no longer be a company that only reacts when users launch protests.
Check out the screenshots of the changes below, and let us know what you think of the many privacy changes in the comments.
PRIVACY CONTROL : PROFILE EDITING

TAG APPROVALS

PHOTO TAGS APPROVALS

VIEW PROFILE AS

GREATER CONTROL OF STATUS UPDATES



ADDING LOCATIONS TO STATUS UPDATES

MORE CONTROL OVER PHOTO PRIVACY


Engineering Mechanics Statics SI Version 3 edition

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Facebook pays homage to Google+

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Facebook is about to go live with a bucket-load of improvements in a move that brings many of Google+’s most-loved circle-based privacy options to Facebook.
"Today we're announcing a bunch of improvements that make it easier to share posts, photos, tags and other content with exactly the people you want, "announced Facebook's Chris Cox in an August 23 post on the company’s blog.

“You have told us that ‘who can see this?’ could be clearer across Facebook,” he added, “so we have made changes to make this more visual and straightforward. The main change is moving most of your controls from a settings page to being inline, right next to the posts, photos and tags they affect. Plus there are several other updates here that will make it easier to understand who can see your stuff (or your friends') in any context.”








One of the biggest differences users will notice once the changes are implemented is Facebook’s much more prominent Inline Profile Controls. The Inline Profile Controls (which were previously relegated to Facebook’s various settings pages) enable users to choose who they share updates, photos and content with, post by post.


The privacy settings of each post can now be adjusted after posting content if you wake up one morning and decide that sharing your drunken photos with the entire web wasn’t the best idea.
Place check-ins on Facebook have also changed from a smartphone-only activity to all-encompassing location tags that can be added to posts, photos, or updates.
Facebook intends to give users more control over photos and posts they are tagged in too.
“You can choose to use the new tool to approve or reject any photo or post you are tagged in before it's visible to anyone else on your profile,” explained Chris Cox.
Since the arrival of social networking newcomer Google+, both Facebook and Twitter appear to be ramping up their feature list in an effort to retain users and increase the amount of information their users share within the social networks.
Earlier in the week microblogging social network Twitter launched new photo sharing and user gallery features.
Hubspot, however, believes the increasing rivalry between these social networks has much more to do with user information and search share than it does with social media sharing or user numbers.
Facebook users should start to notice this latest set of changes in the coming days.
“When they reach you, you'll see a prompt for a tour that walks you through these new features from your homepage,” said Facebook.
While you wait for the changes to arrive you can check out the full list of Facebook settings and privacy controls that have been moved inline by visiting http://www.facebook.com/about/details/. Facebook has posted a series of videos about the changes on its YouTube page.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Internet Myths & Trivia

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Here is your overview of modern myths that are apparently taken serious by many, but are - most likely - just the result of the rise of the Internet.

The emergence of the world wide web has given a real boost to the creation of new myths about Alexander. "There were two sisters in the US who have written advice columns for decades - Ann Landers and Dear Abby. Whenever there are any letters written regarding epilepsy or being left-handed, Alexander is included in the lists of famous people in the response. The columnists use information from related organizations on the two subjects - but as to where *they* got the info, well that's another matter. But these two women have probably been read by more people than anyone else in the world - I kid you not - and unless challenged, their information is considered *gospel*."

Epilepsy

In 2003 an article in The Times stated that Alexander was epileptic. UK television host Stephen Fry repeated that statement on the IQ Quiz Show. Alexander is frequently mentioned in lists of celebrities with epilepsy. But our historical sources contain no clues whatsoever to back up this claim. (Julius Caesar might have sufferred from epilepsy, as well as Alexander's half-brother Philip Arrhidaeus. But not Alexander.)

Left-handedness

A common myth: Alexander should have been left-handed. We have all heard it, but there is no historical source.

Hair Dye

The only Alexanders known to have dyed their hair are Colin Farrell and Richard Burton.

Cats

Alexander is supposed to have hated cats. You can find this myth all over the Internet. Plutarch (100 A.D.) mentions Alexander had a dog that he was very fond of. But none of our sources mentions even the slightest reference to cats. (Oh, except for lions, which Alexander hunted.)

Alexander the Diabetic

The myth that Alexander was a diabetic has even been copied by scholars and can be found in various books. Again, no evidence in our historical sources.

He Was Gay!

Well, not in the modern sense. The Ancients did not have the same approach to sexuality as modern man. Alexander married to three women (Roxane, Statira and Parysatis), he had a lifelong (love) relationship with his boyhood friend Hephaistion, he had at least one mistress (Barsine) and he might have had an (erotic) affection towards Bagoas the eunuch (a castrated man). Why not read the excellent Sexuality article by Jeanne Reames-Zimmerman?

Mystical Grandchildren

As far as we have evidence from our Ancient sources, Alexander had no grandchildren. His few known children were eliminated at a very young age during the successor wars. Buy yes, those mystical grandchildren are being invented and re-invented everytime someone wants to claim some kind of relation to, or descent from, Alexander. Indeed, there are several families claiming Alexander the Great as an "ancestor", going so far as to put their "family trees" on the Internet... Grandiose ancestral tales, no doubt.

African Safari

Some tales published on the web refer to Alexander as the ancestor of the Turkana tribe, living in the semi-deserts of northern Kenya. It is even claimed that the Turkana themselves see Alexander as their founding father. Pothos.org invites any proud Turkana visitor to this site to confirm this - but I have my strong doubts. This myth fits in perfectly with a long-standing tradition that denies sub-Saharan Africans the ability to achieve anything on their own account. Romantic historians have argued that the Maasai people in Kenya and Tanzania are in fact the descendants of a lost Roman legion. The majestic ruins of Great Zimbabwe in southern Africa were once attributed to King Solomon. The early 20th century Somali fortress of Taleh was thought to have been build by the Ancient Egyptians. Get the picture?

Alexander Was a Freemason

This goes back to the legend of Alexander visiting Jerusalem. There is a sign used in Freemasonry which was "used by Moses" when he came down the from the mount. When Alexander approached Jerusalem he was met by the High Priest who saluted him with this significant sign. "It is a historical fact that Alexander was so much struck with the sight of this procession that he did homage to Gods vice-regent, and it is said, on more questionable authority, that his reverence proceeded from the mutual recognition of the Masonic Brotherhood."
There is also a very high order in the Freemasons known as the Synods of the Ancient and Heroic Order of the Gordian Knot!

The Philosopher's Stone or Emerald Tablet of Alchemy

This myth seems to have originated in medieval records supposedly written by Albertus Magnus though they are believed to be spurious. "Central to the mysteries of alchemy was the belief that ancient texts contained forgotten secrets of nature. The most definitive of these texts was the Tabula Smaragdina or Emerald Tablet, which, according to legend, had been discovered by Alexander the Great in the Egyptian tomb of Hermes Trismegistos (‘thrice-great’), the Greek counterpart of the Egyptian god of wisdom and magic, Thoth. The Emerald Tablet was inscribed with thirteen axioms. Unfortunately, they were rather difficult to understand. The riddle-like language of the fourth is typical: ‘Its father is the sun, its mother the moon; the wind carries it in its belly, its nurse is the earth’. This cryptic style was emulated by the alchemists, who christened themselves sons of Hermes’ or Hermetic philosophers." Another version of the legend suggests that Alexander the Great found the Tabula Smaragdina in the Great Pyramid of Cheops.
Alexander mythology persisted through the entire Near East literally for hundreds of years after his death, and legends of earlier heroes have been subsumed into his mythos: for instance, both Alexander and the Sumerian hero Gilgamesh were supposed to have found the fountain (or rose) of immortality somewhere under the ocean, and both were supposedly unable to bring it back to mankind - foiled by the depth of the waters which kept the treasure safe. Though Alexander's existence is far more documented than (for instance) that of King Arthur, exactly the same sort of folk mythology circulated about both men."
Another quote from Magnus, but the URL has been taken down. "The always victorious Alexander the Great wore a chrysoprase stone in his girdle. One day a snake bit off the girdle and dropped it in the river. From that time forward Alexander never won another battle." (Presumably, these battles were ones fought after Alexander died, as he never lost one in his lifetime!)

The Secret of Secrets

Francis Bacon became immensely interested in a pseudo-Aristotelian text, "Secretum secretorum" (Secret of Secrets), which is thought to have been written by Aristotle for Alexander the Great, his pupil, on kingship. This pseudo-Aristotelian text was one of the most widely read books of the Middle Ages and there were different versions. The first was introduced to medieval Europe by the translator John of Seville in Toledo (Spain) around 1130. The text contained a lot of ethic questions and occult lore ranging from astrology to the magical properties of plants, gems, and numbers, as well as a strange account of a unified science. According to the text, only a person with the proper moral and intellectual background could discover this unified science.

Palmistry

"The ancient Greeks were keen traders and it is believed that palmistry spread there from India. Aristotle wrote on the subject in De Historia Animalium more than 2,500 years ago. Alexander the Great had Aristotle write a book for him on the subject."

Aloe Vera

"Greek and Roman physicians such as Dioscorides and Pliny the Elder used it (Aloe Vera) to great effect and legend suggests that Aristotle persuaded Alexander the Great to capture the island of Socotra in the Indian Ocean to get its rich supply of aloe to heal his wounded soldiers."

Chess

"According to myths persisting to this day, the origin of the game of chess is shrouded in the midst of time. Ever since an archaeologist brought to light a 6,000-year-old Greek manuscript apparently depicting a chessboard, there has been many an overzealous historian eager to date the play of this game to the days of Methuselah. However, modern research suggests that the so-called 'chess board' represented nothing more than a run of the mill battle plan. Today, it is believed that the inspiration for the game dates back to the year 326 BC when Alexander the Great massed his army at the gates of the Orient. Opposing him, stood the four divisions of the Hindu army: chariots, elephants, cavalry and infantry. Almost 1,000 years passed before someone thought to immortalize this memorable battle as a diversion reserved for the rich and powerful."

The Indians Had Firearms!

In the preface to a Code of Gentoo Laws or Ordinations of the Pundits: From a Persian translation, made from the original, written in the Shanscrit language, occurs the following passage: "It will no doubt strike the reader with wonder to find a prohibition of firearms in records of such unfathomable antiquity; and he will probably from hence renew the suspicion which has long been deemed absurd, that Alexander the Great did absolutely meet with some weapons of that kind in India as a passage in Quintus Curtius seems to ascertain. Gunpowder has been known in China, as well as in Hindustan, far beyond all periods of investigation."
It is interesting to note that the same is mentioned by Francis Bacon in one of his essays. He is even more specific, mentioning the Oxydracae as the owners of the guns.

Close Encounters

In the US the A&E's Ancient Mysteries television series has claimed that Alexander saw flying "silver shields" in the sky when he embarked on his campaign to Asia and when he was besieging Tyre. It seems just a matter of time before the first story about Alexander's alleged alien abduction will appear.

True Love

Alexander's one true love should have been a woman called Melissa. Who ever made that up? There is no personality called Melissa in any of the sources.

Snakes

Alexander slept with snakes? This new myth has its origins somewhere in the fiction books of Mary Renault.

Panic Disorder

Apart from epilepsy, left-handedness, diabetic symptoms and fear of cats - according to author Doherty Alexander had a "panic disorder" too, whatever that means.

Alexander Died of Syphilis!

We always suspected this! Quote: "But Alexander was ultimately defeated by epilepsy, syphilis and madness. As his illness progressed, he became more ambitious, greedy and cruel. Bouts of erratic and violent behavior replaced pragmatism. He killed one of his top advisers in a drunken brawl over a trinket or two at a party."

Leprosy

At last: A possible truth here? Hansen's Disease (leprosy) is a good example. This disfiguring bacterium probably originated in Egypt, spreading to India by 600 B.C. But leprosy was apparently unknown in Europe until the return of Alexander the Great's armies from India in 326 BC. Starting in Greece the bacterium rapidly spread throughout the continent. By the time of the Roman Empire leprosy was already considered ancient and was widely feared and discussed.
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