With Statement in SQL

-- With statement use in incorporating playcount and join tables with songs.

With play_count AS (SELECT song_id,

   COUNT(*) AS 'times_played'

FROM plays

GROUP BY song_id)

Select songs.title, songs.artist, play_count.times_played from songs join play_count on play_count.song_id = songs.id;

--Delete when students cannot enrolled 2 courses at the same time.

DELETE FROM statistics_students
WHERE id in (
  SELECT id
  FROM history_students);

--Subquery sample to find the number of students from drama = the same grade as a particular student with the id =20

select * from drama_students where grade = (select grade from band_students where id=20)

-- To find student details from band who are not in drama club.

select first_name, last_name from band_students where id NOT IN

(select id from drama_students);

-- to find out the grades that are in both band and drama club.

select grade from band_students where exists (select grade from drama_students);

-- to find the top 2 , always think of order in desc + limit, mssql can use top 2

select * from cars order bytrip_completed limit 2;

Priority of order in Syntax for where, group by, having, order by

There are particular sequence in sql syntax as per follows: 

SELECT ...

WHERE..

GROUP BY..

HAVING

ORDER BY...DESC

Example 

SELECT strftime('%H',timestamp) as Hours , round(AVG(score),0), COUNT(*) as Count_of_Stories FROM hacker_news 

where timestamp is NOT NULL

GROUP BY 1 

ORDER BY 1 

UNION VERSUS UNION ALL IN MSSQL

 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN UNION AND UNION ALL

Union All shows all 9 fruits while Union will filter out repeated fruit names in both tables. 

Shubby Sweets

Located near bedok chai chee 42

If you are thinking of a sweet treat, then do check out the shubby sweets.

It is a neighbourhood shop and i often check out that area when visiting my sister. 

It eels very nice brownie and definitely sweet to the fullest. Therefore, if u need occasional treats for yourself or your family, here is a pastery shop to recommend. The price ranges $7.50 -$10 and u get 4-5 pastries. It can be a little “jelak” in Malay for some, meaning excessively sweet. But the brownie is in the right small portion to place all or at least half in your mouth. Prepare lotsa beverages, preferably non-sweetened ones to go with it. 

The operating hours are Wednesday to Sunday, 2pm-7pm or until sold out. Monday to Tuesday are closed.

 I believe it is halal.. so muslims should try out too! 

 

Definition of Fashion

 What is Fashion?

Fashion in my opinion is an expression of an individual's preference in apparel/dressing. It can also be an art and serves as a testimonial of time.

It is the result of the evolution from primitive needs for protection against weather conditions to a significance of wealth and social status to just a individual's freedom expression of character and beauty standards.

In Singapore, we do not enjoy 4 seasons, only summer or closer to spring (in air-conditioned environment) This limits our fashion variety but also wastage of resources. In view of covid-19, the needs for winter clothing are made redundant.

Singapore is never a place for fashion runway as we are mainly under influence of other countries Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, UK and US. They influence in the form of social media, celebrity like Korean Girls/Boy Band. We do not really have designs that can be called "from Singapore". However, we do have an evergreen culture in wearing T-shirts and Jeans (shorts). It has never gone out-of-fashion as per say.

One of the fashion founder, Coco Chanel once said " Dress Shabbily and they remember the dress. Dress impeccably, they remember the woman". How did Coco Chanel becomes so popular? in my opinion, she is a fashion statement on her own and she has the network to display her works. In today's world, we have no issue on platform in view of internet. We have issue in accessing the rich's network and gain their appeal in our work. What motivates the rich in buying our stuff? Probably a huge differentiating element or a statement of social status. Just like the reason why many of us like to buy LV, Dior, Celine, YSL, Hermes or Chloe. Why the general masses prefer Coach, Kate Spade or Agnes B? Both brands appeal to different audience with differing budget for fashion.

In Singapore, I would say most Singaporean are still in pursue of fashion but still in the shadow of the designers in other countries. We have not walked out and carve a path on our own in the fashion space. Probably there are already Singaporean-born designers, e.g. Ashley Islam (https://youtu.be/SWMKt1IwjOM) gaining some recognition in the international platform. However, we need more people like him. We need his apparel to gain fame beyond as a designer but also apparel chains like Zara and Mango so Singaporeans are able to wear the prideful brand made from our homegrown talent.

In my opinion, every expression of fashion should be respected but may differ in popularity over time. 

Popularity would usually center around a touching story. Our world has been greatly exposed to different stories. The design may need to be uniquely refreshing, never seen before in order to be impeccable in the current age and time. The design may need to draw inspirations from familiar items in our memory lane. 

The next big question is how to achieve above. There are various strategies. Once is to design and keep designing non-stop and volume-based. Hopefully one will takes the liking of a person. Another strategy is to design one and tell a story on it, hoping to touch the heart that one customer to buy into your designs. The next one is to gain access to the right platform and audience. To show them the designs and increase the chances. Finally, leave the design in the hands on the individuals. Since it is the expression of the individual, the best designer are the individuals themselves. We facilitate the right tools and empower the individuals to do customization. What is more convincing and touching story than their own? A custom-made design on T-shirt or bag for their special one. The time and effort spent what made the design special and memorable. 

I personally employed all the strategies above. Personally I am not designed trained. To contribute in the space would require leveraging. Therefore, I thought of applique. It offers a lot of flexibility and empowers a person to apply design to almost everything they own/wear i.e. bags, t-shirts, hair accessories, sneakers, heels and etc. 

Appliques fulfil the idea of empowerment. Especially the expression of individual's perception of beauty are more prevalent in the current era. 

Designer Bag - Macaroon Dessert

 

I created the design above and it was inspired by a youtuber i.e. bellagemanails. I have included her link. 

https://youtu.be/12vQcwZVmaQ

She used whipped cream glue to create a design on a Chanel designer dupe bag. I love all her bag designs mainly because they were so creative, easy-to-learn and pretty. Her idea instantly glams up a bag with much lesser budget. This makes me feel everyone can own and deserve beauty. Beauty can be achieved in everyone’s budget, not necessarily have to be measured by monies spent.  

Nevertheless i get real designer bags myself too and i still feel they deserve the price tag. It is just about spending monies within budget of the person at that point in time. 

I chose macaroon colour for this designer dupe bag because my little one loves all sorts of dessert 🧁, 🍨, 🍮 🍬 and macaroons. The pastel colours especially is attractive to even a young mind. I too love macaroons colours. We can imagine how big the influence of colours can be - transcends beyond age limits. It is made of top grain leather according to supplier. 

The colour combination against the forest 🌳 green makes it even more outstanding and suits even Asian skintone. 

If you are interested in getting the whipped cream glue, or resin figurines, please feel free to comment below. I must say it is highly catchy and instagrammable. 

Review on China Logistics Company, "陶多多集运"

If you had wanted to try engage external logistics vendors instead of official TAOBAO logistics. Hold your horses first. Please read my experience with Tao Duo Duo Ji Yun before you decide to engage them. This is definitely worth the read. (If you do not have patience to read the story from top to bottom, please read the summary at the end of the article).

陶多多集运 was advertised on Facebook and i chanced upon their adverb. I decided to give it a try. Basically, they will give you an address to divert the shipment to them. Prior to that, we need to understand what is the current rates Taobao official logistics are giving to access if it is worth switching to 陶多多集运.

 

They are highly responsive in replying the messages especially when comes to giving them screenshots of what we bought to them. The delivery order numbers for each item u bought. 

For official Taobao logistics, they do not allow purchase of Covid-19 related resources supplies such as masks, shield, sanitizers and etc. Therefore, part of the reason i sourced externally was  hoping to purchase some of these (i.e. masks) so it is out of the system. However, i made the wrong call.

I purchased a total of 18 items. While waiting i requested to deliver 16 items to me first because it consists of a watch which is a gift for my family. I needed it to be in time for the occasion. The delivery order number for the mask is with the 2 items that are still in their warehouse. This is when hiccups develops. 

She charged me 468 yuan for 12kg (16 items). This works out to be 39 yuan per kg. She explained this is because the 16 items consists of an item - mask and therefore additional charges apply. 2 explanations I needed from her. Firstly, I ordered masks but they are not in the mentioned parcel. Secondly, out of 16 items, assuming one item is mask, the entire parcel are calculated at 39 yuan per kg because it is classified as restricted items. This does not sound like a right calculation isn't? They should however separate the parcels into those containing mask and those without, and charge separately. 

When I enquired why they didn't do so, they said I didn't instruct them.  At the point when I enquired her if they can deliver mask, she also did not disclose it will involve different rates.   As customer, how would I know about the rates charged for different items? If I had known, I would instruct them accordingly. I replied, "Did you inform me on the difference in rates?" She remained dead silence.

Currently her proposed solution is to wait for the parcel to come, should there be no mask, she will refund me the difference in shipping rates. 

Although i am pretty sure no mask inside, i would not depend on that as you would not know if they would deliberately put one mask in to justify the entire load as covid sensitive resource. In the first place, she should take responsibility over her non-disclosure. So i stated my request for the rate to remain at 25yuan/kg. The next parcel for the remaining 2 items needs to be sorted and calculated based on respective rates. 

I hope we can get better resolution otherwise Taobao sea shipment is the best and I would stick with that in future.

For air freight, no doubt it was more affordable but I feel the "people" is a strong factor in every business and it really depends how they are resolving it for my case. I will update in this post for what their resolution to give this a closure.

Thank you for your patience in reading this far.

Updates on the first parcel received. Basically i did a video and uploaded in Youtube as an evident that to TaoDuoDuo that there is no mask inside.

You can refer to the link below: https://youtu.be/u4AqxR1p8Gk

After receiving the first parcel, i have contacted them for  a refund of monies. They computed that there is an overcharge of 168 yuan.

Then comes the second parcel. I shall cut the chase to the point. Their calculations are as per below.

When the second parcel arrives, i deliberately measured the item. they were incorrect.

The actual measurements for the mask are incorrect. The actual is 31 by 29 by 22 so they actually deliberately increase width by 10cm so they can charge 79.7 yuan more which is equivalent to SGD$16 more. 

Summary

In summary,  陶多多集运 is highly unprofessional logistic service company. They committed the following: 

1. Without checking with you first, they will assume air freight because they probably earn more from it.
2.  They did not inform customer on the existence of cost differential for those with mask and without mask at the point of enquiry. 
3.  They comingle goods with mask and without mask together to compute the shipping fees on the higher side. They do not work on the customer's interest which is to separate the goods between covid sensitive goods and non-covid sensitive goods
4. When confronted on their service lapse, their attitude remained unremorseful and do not make efforts on doing any service recovery.

In the nutshell, I would NOT recommend 陶多多集运 unless you want to suffer financial and time losses like me.