Copy the codes below and paste them to your theme where you want to display recent posts:

				     < ?php
    global $wpdb;

    $sql = "SELECT DISTINCT ID, post_title, post_password, comment_ID,
    comment_post_ID, comment_author, comment_date_gmt, comment_approved,
    comment_type,comment_author_url,
    SUBSTRING(comment_content,1,30) AS com_excerpt
    FROM $wpdb->comments
    LEFT OUTER JOIN $wpdb->posts ON ($wpdb->comments.comment_post_ID =
    $wpdb->posts.ID)
    WHERE comment_approved = '1' AND comment_type = '' AND
    post_password = ''
    ORDER BY comment_date_gmt DESC
    LIMIT 10";
    $comments = $wpdb->get_results($sql);

    $output = $pre_HTML;
    $output .= "\n
";
    foreach ($comments as $comment) {

    $output .= "\n
".strip_tags($comment->comment_author)
    .":" . "ID) .
    "#comment-" . $comment->comment_ID . "\" title=\"on " .
    $comment->post_title . "\">" . strip_tags($comment->com_excerpt)
    ."

";

    }
    $output .= "\n
";
    $output .= $post_HTML;

    echo $output;?>

I hope this tip is useful for you!

Copy codes below and paste to your theme:

< ?php function popular_posts($no_posts = 5, $before = '
', $after = '', $show_pass_post = false, $duration='') {
global $wpdb;
$request = "SELECT ID, post_title, COUNT($wpdb->comments.comment_post_ID) AS 'comment_count' FROM $wpdb->posts, $wpdb->comments";
$request .= " WHERE comment_approved = '1' AND $wpdb->posts.ID=$wpdb->comments.comment_post_ID AND post_status = 'publish'";
if(!$show_pass_post) $request .= " AND post_password =''";
if($duration !="") { $request .= " AND DATE_SUB(CURDATE(),INTERVAL ".$duration." DAY) < post_date ";
}
$request .= " GROUP BY $wpdb->comments.comment_post_ID ORDER BY comment_count DESC LIMIT $no_posts";
$posts = $wpdb->get_results($request);
$output = '';
if ($posts) {
foreach ($posts as $post) {
$post_title = stripslashes($post->post_title);
$comment_count = $post->comment_count;
$permalink = get_permalink($post->ID);
$output .= $before . '' . $post_title . ' (' . $comment_count.')' . $after;
}
} else {
$output .= $before . "None found" . $after;
}
echo $output;
} ?>
< ?php most_popular_posts(); ?>

You can change the number of posts you want to show by change the “5″ in “$no_posts = 5″. Enjoy it!

Just add the codes below to your sidebar or anywhere you want:

< ?php $rand_posts = get_posts('numberposts=5&orderby=rand');
foreach( $rand_posts as $post ) : ?>
< ?php the_title(); ?>

< ?php endforeach; ?>

The 5 in the codes above is the numble of those posts will display. Yes, it is very easy!

[via WordPress Codex]