It is shown that cardinals below a real-valued measurable cardinal can be split into finitely many intervals so that the powers of cardinals from the same interval are the same. This generalizes a theorem of Prikry [9]. Suppose that the forcing with a κ-complete ideal over κ is isomorphic to the forcing of λ-Cohen or random reals. Then for some τ<κ, λτ2κ and λ2<κ implies that 2κ=2τ= cov. In particular, if 2κ<κ+ω, then λ=2κ. This answers a question from [3]. If (...) A0, A1,..., An,… are sets of reals, then there are disjoint sets B0, B1,..., Bn,… such that BnAn and μ*=μ* for every n<ω, where μ* is the Lebes gue outer measure. For finitely many sets the result is due to N. Lusin. Let be a σ-centered forcing notion and An ¦n<ω subsets of P witnessing this. If P, An's and the relation of compatibility are Borel, then P adds a Cohen real. The forcing with a κ-complete ideal over a set X, ¦X¦κ cannot be isomorphic to a Hechler real forcing. This result was claimed in [3], but the proof given there works only for X of cardinality κ. (shrink)