It’s Monday time for this week’s weekly link round-up.  If you want to catch these links “live” (so exciting), follow me on twitter (@StrateSQL).  And see these throughout the day as I tweet out links of things I find interesting.  While these links aren’t the answer to life, the universe, and everything, they often share a few things about SQL Server and related technology topics that others may find useful.

The links included in this summary are those prefixed with ”Reading” and are items I’ve read over the past few days, usually after hours when sharing would be less than useful, and spaced out to avoid spamming.  The content of the links usually pertain to SQL Server, technology, and career topics; which I think others would find useful.

The Most Popular “Reading” Link

The most popular “Reading” item from the technical links is by Paul Randal (Blog | @PaulRandal).  In this post, Paul dissects how allocation units are created and how they can be reverse engineered.  It’s pretty cool to see, really emphasizes how everything in SQL Server just ends up being math, in the end.

Reading: "Inside the Storage Engine: How are allocation unit IDs calculated?" http://t.co/QDAwnGAxFJ #sqlserver

— Jason Strate (@StrateSQL) January 6, 2014

Last week’s top 19 “Reading” Links

Along with the top link, here are the top nineteen items relating to SQL Server, technology and careers that were sent out last week.  If you missed them throughout the week, here’s the opportunity to get caught up on some items that other’s read after I linked them out.  It seems I linked sent out a few less “reading” links than normal this past week.

1. Inside the Storage Engine: How are allocation unit IDs calculated? [20 clicks]
2. Performance tuning be like fun [20 clicks]
3. How Not To Hire Someone [18 clicks]
4. Letter to an 18-year-old on the Career Path Less Traveled [16 clicks]
5. How to Find the Statistics Used to Compile an Execution Plan [15 clicks]
6. DBA JumpStart – A SQL Community Ebook for DBAs [15 clicks]
7. Is there a reason for the friction? [14 clicks]
8. Inside the Optimizer: Constructing a Plan – Part 1 [13 clicks]
9. Files and filegroups survey results [12 clicks]
10. Importance of where you store your backups [11 clicks]
11. In-Memory OLTP Q & A: Myths and Realities [11 clicks]
12. Talk about the problem not the solution [10 clicks]
13. Understanding the VAS Reservation (aka MemToLeave) in SQL Server [10 clicks]
14. The three toxic stooges of the project apocalypse [10 clicks]
15. Inside the Optimizer: Constructing a Plan – Part 4 [9 clicks]
16. Two new courses on Advanced Corruption Recovery Techniques and Maintenance Plans [8 clicks]
17. The Accidental DBA (Day 10 of 30): Backups: Backup Testing for Validation [8 clicks]
18. Database mirroring: avoiding ‘cannot obtain a LOCK resource’ problems [7 clicks]
19. The Accidental DBA (Day 11 of 30): Backups: Backup Storage and Retention [3 clicks]

Other Stuff Shared

Of course, no week would be complete without a few off-topic links.  These have nothing to do with technology or your career, but they are interesting and worth a second look.

1. A Whole Bunch Of People Threw Boiling Water In The Air To Watch It Freeze And Burned Themselves [81 clicks]
2. Neil Patrick Harris Got Wasted in Mexico, Took Some Priceless Photos [68 clicks]
3. Man Turns Wife’s Shopping Trips Into Hilarious Game [39 clicks]
4. Finally, a Pope that acts like a Pope… [34 clicks]
5. Space gets miniaturized with tilt-Shift photography and the results are stunning [27 clicks]
6. 5 Hilariously Awkward Meltdowns Hidden on DVD Commentaries [24 clicks]
7. Colorful ‘Hand of God’ phenomenon is spotted in space [20 clicks]
8. This Woman Just Set The Record For Fastest Time Eating An Entire 72 Oz. Steak [20 clicks]
9. The 21 Coldest Colleges In The Country According To College Prowler [18 clicks]
10. Redheads Protest Wendy’s [15 clicks]
11. Doctor Who: The First and Last Lines of Each Doctor [15 clicks]
12. We all have choices. It’s our choices that make us fat not McDonald’s [15 clicks]
13. Are You Making These Mistakes With Your Sleep? [15 clicks]
14. Earn Faster Gold Status at 27 Airlines Through One Miles Program [14 clicks]
15. Alabama fan comes in like a wrecking ball at the Sugar Bowl [13 clicks]
16. Japan Wants To Build A ‘Super’ Train Running From Baltimore To Washington DC In 15 Minutes [13 clicks]
17. Now this would be a fun gardenning project [11 clicks]
18. How to Build The Perfect Body: A Discussion on Body Image [9 clicks]
19. The Odd (And Effective) Routines of Famous Minds like Beethoven, Maya Angelou, and Francis Bacon [8 clicks]
20. A productivity gap [7 clicks]
21. 35 Things From Your Childhood That Are Extinct Now [7 clicks]
22. The Justin #Belieber Wrapping Paper Cubicle Prank [7 clicks]
23. Everyone deserves a high five [6 clicks]
24. Don’t call Canadians ‘American’ or smile at the French, British hoteliers told [6 clicks]
25. Billy Crystal – You Look Marvelous [3 clicks]
26. Family Gatherings: The Ultimate Mindfulness Training Ground [2 clicks]

Got something you think I should read and share, leave a comment below.  Also, if you want to see all of the links that were tweeted out last week?  Then follow the links on my tumblr blog or subscribe to it’s RSS feed.