Are the posted questions getting worse?

  • Jeff Moden (4/23/2013)


    Heh... to complicated. Just take Jason.A to work and let him entertain the kids with stories of GPO's as if they were dragons. 😛

    Throw in a parameter-sniffing vampire and you just might have something there.

  • Steve Thompson-454462 (4/24/2013)


    Jeff Moden (4/23/2013)


    Heh... to complicated. Just take Jason.A to work and let him entertain the kids with stories of GPO's as if they were dragons. 😛

    Throw in a parameter-sniffing vampire and you just might have something there.

    Only if that vampire has one facial expression for every emotion possible in every movie she does.

    Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
    _______________________________________________
    I have given a name to my pain...MCM SQL Server, MVP
    SQL RNNR
    Posting Performance Based Questions - Gail Shaw[/url]
    Learn Extended Events

  • Okay. I don't even remember the last time I was on here. I'm not even going to try to catch up. Just based on the mentions of Dragons and Vampires in the latest posts tells me not much has changed here. 😛

  • jcrawf02 (4/24/2013)


    Lynn Pettis (4/23/2013)


    L' Eomot Inversé (4/23/2013)


    Jeff Moden (4/23/2013)


    Heh... to complicated. Just take Jason.A to work and let him entertain the kids with stories of GPO's as if they were dragons. 😛

    That's too risky; if the kids have been reading the wrong stuff they'll be seeing the GPO's as heroic dragons and the DBAs as foul thread.

    Safer would be to present the sysadmins as evil sorcerors casting foul black magic spells upon the system's GPO defenses to make them betray their purpose and harm the system instead of defending it.

    How many others caught the reference to the Dragon Riders of Pern??

    Is the inference that Anne McCaffrey is "the wrong stuff"?

    Yes, but only in the sense that if the kids had read her it would make the "evil dragons" story seem a bit odd. That of course would be a good thing, since a dragon is a man's best friend and reading McC would give the kids some defence against corruption by stories of nasty dragons because they would know that all dragons are nice, wouldn't it. :Whistling:

    Tom

  • jasona.work (4/24/2013)


    Jeff Moden (4/23/2013)


    Steve Thompson-454462 (4/23/2013)


    Brandie Tarvin (4/22/2013)


    Hey guys, I need your help please. On Wednesday we're having a "bring the kids to work day" and I'm helping out. I've been asked to "train" the kids on my job. It's a small group of 8-12 year olds and I need 30-45 minutes worth of fun activities that give them an idea of what I do.

    Anyone have any thoughts?

    A lot of games need a data layer. Maybe you could work with them to design a back-end for a 20 Questions-like game. The database would need to store data on famous people and using the answers to Yes/No questions whittle down the candidates. May not be do-able in that time frame, but it's a thought.

    Heh... to complicated. Just take Jason.A to work and let him entertain the kids with stories of GPO's as if they were dragons. 😛

    Gather 'round little children, and let me spin you a tale of the near past future...

    A tale of a great and powerful wizard people called "DBA" who had to venture forth against the horrific and evil dragons known to all as the "GPOs."

    These GPOs were attended and guarded by their vicous and uncaring minions, the "SysAdmin" clan...

    😀

    BWAAA-HAAA!!!! See? Not so difficult to do! 😛

    --Jeff Moden


    RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
    First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
    ________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

    Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.


    Helpful Links:
    How to post code problems
    How to Post Performance Problems
    Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

  • L' Eomot Inversé (4/24/2013)


    jcrawf02 (4/24/2013)


    Lynn Pettis (4/23/2013)


    L' Eomot Inversé (4/23/2013)


    Jeff Moden (4/23/2013)


    Heh... to complicated. Just take Jason.A to work and let him entertain the kids with stories of GPO's as if they were dragons. 😛

    That's too risky; if the kids have been reading the wrong stuff they'll be seeing the GPO's as heroic dragons and the DBAs as foul thread.

    Safer would be to present the sysadmins as evil sorcerors casting foul black magic spells upon the system's GPO defenses to make them betray their purpose and harm the system instead of defending it.

    How many others caught the reference to the Dragon Riders of Pern??

    Is the inference that Anne McCaffrey is "the wrong stuff"?

    Yes, but only in the sense that if the kids had read her it would make the "evil dragons" story seem a bit odd. That of course would be a good thing, since a dragon is a man's best friend and reading McC would give the kids some defence against corruption by stories of nasty dragons because they would know that all dragons are nice, wouldn't it. :Whistling:

    Ha! Gotcha.

    ---------------------------------------------------------
    How best to post your question[/url]
    How to post performance problems[/url]
    Tally Table:What it is and how it replaces a loop[/url]

    "stewsterl 80804 (10/16/2009)I guess when you stop and try to understand the solution provided you not only learn, but save yourself some headaches when you need to make any slight changes."

  • Does whoever has my crystal ball want to give this a try? http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1446457-392-1.aspx

    Gail Shaw
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
    SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

    We walk in the dark places no others will enter
    We stand on the bridge and no one may pass
  • Had my article published here today and I'm very nervous about comments.

    --------------------------------------
    When you encounter a problem, if the solution isn't readily evident go back to the start and check your assumptions.
    --------------------------------------
    It’s unpleasantly like being drunk.
    What’s so unpleasant about being drunk?
    You ask a glass of water. -- Douglas Adams

  • GilaMonster (4/25/2013)


    Does whoever has my crystal ball want to give this a try? http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1446457-392-1.aspx

    Sweet - Gail is a pedant when she has no crystal ball.

    Looking at the question, there was not enough information. A solution could be guessed as was done. But I wouldn't lay money that it was correct or incorrect.

    Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
    _______________________________________________
    I have given a name to my pain...MCM SQL Server, MVP
    SQL RNNR
    Posting Performance Based Questions - Gail Shaw[/url]
    Learn Extended Events

  • Guys,

    The flowchart thing worked wonderfully. The kids had a blast.

    The first thing I said was "How many of you play video games?" The answer, of course, was all of them. And then I said, "You know all those trophies, coins, and treasures you get during the game? A database stores this information. My job is to track how many the game has available and what you have in your inventory."

    I had them eating out of my hand at that point.

    I showed them how the flow chart process works by "programming" a burger. Then I gave them individual sheets and asked them what they wanted to program. We programmed pizza and an ice cream sundae. The girl in the group loved it so much that she wanted to do another one, so we programmed her gymnastics class starting at home and all the things she had to do to get to class, do during class, and getting home. She even let me show her how to use the decision diamond.

    All I used was a flip chart (needed big pages for the drawing) and multiple colored markers. I did copy the 5 most common symbols into a word doc and print out copies so the kids had something to refer to. The girl even took her symbol sheet home with her.

    She had such an energy to her when she went to work on that chart. I think we have a programmer in the making now.

    Brandie Tarvin, MCITP Database AdministratorLiveJournal Blog: http://brandietarvin.livejournal.com/[/url]On LinkedIn!, Google+, and Twitter.Freelance Writer: ShadowrunLatchkeys: Nevermore, Latchkeys: The Bootleg War, and Latchkeys: Roscoes in the Night are now available on Nook and Kindle.

  • Brandie Tarvin (4/25/2013)


    Guys,

    The flowchart thing worked wonderfully. The kids had a blast.

    The first thing I said was "How many of you play video games?" The answer, of course, was all of them. And then I said, "You know all those trophies, coins, and treasures you get during the game? A database stores this information. My job is to track how many the game has available and what you have in your inventory."

    I had them eating out of my hand at that point.

    I showed them how the flow chart process works by "programming" a burger. Then I gave them individual sheets and asked them what they wanted to program. We programmed pizza and an ice cream sundae. The girl in the group loved it so much that she wanted to do another one, so we programmed her gymnastics class starting at home and all the things she had to do to get to class, do during class, and getting home. She even let me show her how to use the decision diamond.

    All I used was a flip chart (needed big pages for the drawing) and multiple colored markers. I did copy the 5 most common symbols into a word doc and print out copies so the kids had something to refer to. The girl even took her symbol sheet home with her.

    She had such an energy to her when she went to work on that chart. I think we have a programmer in the making now.

    Awesome!

    --------------------------------------
    When you encounter a problem, if the solution isn't readily evident go back to the start and check your assumptions.
    --------------------------------------
    It’s unpleasantly like being drunk.
    What’s so unpleasant about being drunk?
    You ask a glass of water. -- Douglas Adams

  • Brandie Tarvin (4/25/2013)


    Guys,

    The flowchart thing worked wonderfully. The kids had a blast.

    The first thing I said was "How many of you play video games?" The answer, of course, was all of them. And then I said, "You know all those trophies, coins, and treasures you get during the game? A database stores this information. My job is to track how many the game has available and what you have in your inventory."

    I had them eating out of my hand at that point.

    I showed them how the flow chart process works by "programming" a burger. Then I gave them individual sheets and asked them what they wanted to program. We programmed pizza and an ice cream sundae. The girl in the group loved it so much that she wanted to do another one, so we programmed her gymnastics class starting at home and all the things she had to do to get to class, do during class, and getting home. She even let me show her how to use the decision diamond.

    All I used was a flip chart (needed big pages for the drawing) and multiple colored markers. I did copy the 5 most common symbols into a word doc and print out copies so the kids had something to refer to. The girl even took her symbol sheet home with her.

    She had such an energy to her when she went to work on that chart. I think we have a programmer in the making now.

    I told my wife how well it went. She wants to know if you'll write it up as a blog post so she can link to it for her library. She's a YA librarian and would love to share this with her kids.

    --------------------------------------
    When you encounter a problem, if the solution isn't readily evident go back to the start and check your assumptions.
    --------------------------------------
    It’s unpleasantly like being drunk.
    What’s so unpleasant about being drunk?
    You ask a glass of water. -- Douglas Adams

  • Evil Kraig F (4/22/2013)


    Jason/Wayne: Belated clap from the back of the room when some dude finally took his earphones off and asked the guy next to him why the applause was so loud. Gratz guys.

    Thanks Craig!

    Wayne
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server 2008
    Author - SQL Server T-SQL Recipes


    If you can't explain to another person how the code that you're copying from the internet works, then DON'T USE IT on a production system! After all, you will be the one supporting it!
    Links:
    For better assistance in answering your questions
    Performance Problems
    Common date/time routines
    Understanding and Using APPLY Part 1 & Part 2

  • That's great Brandie! Sounds like the kiddies learned and enjoyed, and you get a great feather in your cap.

    (Start planning now for next year!)

    Wayne
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server 2008
    Author - SQL Server T-SQL Recipes


    If you can't explain to another person how the code that you're copying from the internet works, then DON'T USE IT on a production system! After all, you will be the one supporting it!
    Links:
    For better assistance in answering your questions
    Performance Problems
    Common date/time routines
    Understanding and Using APPLY Part 1 & Part 2

  • Yesssss...another geek girl to add to the fold...:w00t:

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