Are the posted questions getting worse?

  • wolfkillj (1/29/2014)


    Ed Wagner (1/29/2014)


    Greg Edwards-268690 (1/29/2014)


    GilaMonster (1/29/2014)


    Ed Wagner (1/29/2014)


    GilaMonster (1/29/2014)


    Could use some of that chill down here. We had a couple of weeks of 35 C+ (high for JHB). Seriously unpleasant.

    That sounds seriously unpleasant - that's 95 F. We're on opposite ends of the spectrum right now.

    It's cooled down since. Fortunately.

    Houses here don't typically have built in heating or air conditioning, the weather isn't usually extreme enough to need it.

    Speaking of weather, Gail, I saw a documentary on strange weather phenomenon a couple days ago and they talked about one that occurs in either Cape Town or Johannesburg. Have you ever seen the mountain where the clouds stay near the top and continuously roll downwards? I think it was called a table cloud. It looked really cool.

    Table Mountain, Cape Town.

    I have seen over 100 F, and under -30 F here, so it's hard to imagine no heater or air conditioning.

    And with Alaska hitting 62 F yesterday, when our high was 0 F, makes me question why do I live here.

    I'll have to look for Table Mountain, sounds very interesting.

    I've seen a similar temperature range here and it does make life interesting. As for Alaska, I heard they just had their first daylight in a while. They go for a couple months without daylight and then a couple months in the summer without darkness. I think that would get old fast if I lived there.

    If you get the weather channel, the program was called "Strangest Weather on Earth", but I'm sure you can find something about it online. It was beyond cool.

    My brother was stationed at Ft Wainwright (near Fairbanks, in central Alaska) when he was in the army. On the winter solstice, that area gets less than four hours of daylight. He said his first winter was VERY stressful - the dark and cold took a toll on a guy who was born in Texas and lived in Tennessee and Florida for his entire life.

    But the summers make up for that in spades. I lived outside of Anchorage for year and the winter was horrible. Dark and damn cold most of the time. However, the summer was amazing. The sun was up all the time and the temps averaged right around 70 for most of the day. The only downside of the nice weather is avoiding the Alaska state bird (aka mosquito).

    _______________________________________________________________

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    Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 2) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69954/

  • Greg Edwards-268690 (1/29/2014)


    Jack Corbett (1/29/2014)


    The weather here in New England has been odd this winter. We'll have a decent sized snow storm roll through (6+ inches), then we'll warm up to close to 50 F, lose most of the snow, and then the cold blast comes through (wind chill's ~-20 F) and ices up all the roads that have the snow melt.

    On another note, I only see one threadizen has submitted a session to SQLSaturday #293 - Maine (June 28) thus far. This is a first-time city/state and the city of Portland, ME is considered one of the more interesting small cities in the US. Several microbreweries and good restaurants. As an incentive, I'll let you know that we are considering a lobster dinner for the speaker/volunteer dinner as that is something very Maine, and something that tends to be very expensive in other areas, but not too expensive in Maine, so a lot of people like to get lobster when they visit.

    Maine is a place I'd like to visit something.

    From what I have seen, similar to northern MN.

    I'll have to keep that SQL Saturday in mind as it gets closer.

    Fortunately for us, it has stayed cold.

    That freeze / thaw / freeze can be very ugly.

    It has an ocean!

    --------------------------------------
    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

  • Was 12F when I woke up, cold, needed a hat.

    By 3:00pm, it was about 25, but no wind and a light jacket, no hat was OK.

    By 9:00pm it was back to 10F, no wind, but after a few minutes outside, it was cold.

  • Sean Lange (1/29/2014)


    wolfkillj (1/29/2014)


    Ed Wagner (1/29/2014)


    Greg Edwards-268690 (1/29/2014)


    GilaMonster (1/29/2014)


    Ed Wagner (1/29/2014)


    GilaMonster (1/29/2014)


    Could use some of that chill down here. We had a couple of weeks of 35 C+ (high for JHB). Seriously unpleasant.

    That sounds seriously unpleasant - that's 95 F. We're on opposite ends of the spectrum right now.

    It's cooled down since. Fortunately.

    Houses here don't typically have built in heating or air conditioning, the weather isn't usually extreme enough to need it.

    Speaking of weather, Gail, I saw a documentary on strange weather phenomenon a couple days ago and they talked about one that occurs in either Cape Town or Johannesburg. Have you ever seen the mountain where the clouds stay near the top and continuously roll downwards? I think it was called a table cloud. It looked really cool.

    Table Mountain, Cape Town.

    I have seen over 100 F, and under -30 F here, so it's hard to imagine no heater or air conditioning.

    And with Alaska hitting 62 F yesterday, when our high was 0 F, makes me question why do I live here.

    I'll have to look for Table Mountain, sounds very interesting.

    I've seen a similar temperature range here and it does make life interesting. As for Alaska, I heard they just had their first daylight in a while. They go for a couple months without daylight and then a couple months in the summer without darkness. I think that would get old fast if I lived there.

    If you get the weather channel, the program was called "Strangest Weather on Earth", but I'm sure you can find something about it online. It was beyond cool.

    My brother was stationed at Ft Wainwright (near Fairbanks, in central Alaska) when he was in the army. On the winter solstice, that area gets less than four hours of daylight. He said his first winter was VERY stressful - the dark and cold took a toll on a guy who was born in Texas and lived in Tennessee and Florida for his entire life.

    But the summers make up for that in spades. I lived outside of Anchorage for year and the winter was horrible. Dark and damn cold most of the time. However, the summer was amazing. The sun was up all the time and the temps averaged right around 70 for most of the day. The only downside of the nice weather is avoiding the Alaska state bird (aka mosquito).

    Ah, but Anchorage and Fairbanks have very different climates, mainly caused by the HUGE moderating influence of the Pacific Ocean. Anchorage has four months with subfreezing average high temps; Fairbanks has seven. Anchorage has zero months with sub-zero (F) average lows; Fairbanks has five. It gets a LOT colder in Fairbanks, plus the 3+ degree difference in latitude means that Anchorage gets over an hour more daylight than Fairbanks in the depth of winter. As my brother put it, people in Anchorage have to deal with winter; people in Fairbanks have to survive winter.

    My brother also said that as nice as the long daylight in the summer could be, having less than four hours of darkness a day can really mess with one's circadian rhythm. He felt chronically sleep-deprived over the summer.

    Jason Wolfkill

  • wolfkillj (1/29/2014)


    Sean Lange (1/29/2014)


    wolfkillj (1/29/2014)


    Ed Wagner (1/29/2014)


    Greg Edwards-268690 (1/29/2014)


    GilaMonster (1/29/2014)


    Ed Wagner (1/29/2014)


    GilaMonster (1/29/2014)


    Could use some of that chill down here. We had a couple of weeks of 35 C+ (high for JHB). Seriously unpleasant.

    That sounds seriously unpleasant - that's 95 F. We're on opposite ends of the spectrum right now.

    It's cooled down since. Fortunately.

    Houses here don't typically have built in heating or air conditioning, the weather isn't usually extreme enough to need it.

    Speaking of weather, Gail, I saw a documentary on strange weather phenomenon a couple days ago and they talked about one that occurs in either Cape Town or Johannesburg. Have you ever seen the mountain where the clouds stay near the top and continuously roll downwards? I think it was called a table cloud. It looked really cool.

    Table Mountain, Cape Town.

    I have seen over 100 F, and under -30 F here, so it's hard to imagine no heater or air conditioning.

    And with Alaska hitting 62 F yesterday, when our high was 0 F, makes me question why do I live here.

    I'll have to look for Table Mountain, sounds very interesting.

    I've seen a similar temperature range here and it does make life interesting. As for Alaska, I heard they just had their first daylight in a while. They go for a couple months without daylight and then a couple months in the summer without darkness. I think that would get old fast if I lived there.

    If you get the weather channel, the program was called "Strangest Weather on Earth", but I'm sure you can find something about it online. It was beyond cool.

    My brother was stationed at Ft Wainwright (near Fairbanks, in central Alaska) when he was in the army. On the winter solstice, that area gets less than four hours of daylight. He said his first winter was VERY stressful - the dark and cold took a toll on a guy who was born in Texas and lived in Tennessee and Florida for his entire life.

    But the summers make up for that in spades. I lived outside of Anchorage for year and the winter was horrible. Dark and damn cold most of the time. However, the summer was amazing. The sun was up all the time and the temps averaged right around 70 for most of the day. The only downside of the nice weather is avoiding the Alaska state bird (aka mosquito).

    Ah, but Anchorage and Fairbanks have very different climates, mainly caused by the HUGE moderating influence of the Pacific Ocean. Anchorage has four months with subfreezing average high temps; Fairbanks has seven. Anchorage has zero months with sub-zero (F) average lows; Fairbanks has five. It gets a LOT colder in Fairbanks, plus the 3+ degree difference in latitude means that Anchorage gets over an hour more daylight than Fairbanks in the depth of winter. As my brother put it, people in Anchorage have to deal with winter; people in Fairbanks have to survive winter.

    My brother also said that as nice as the long daylight in the summer could be, having less than four hours of darkness a day can really mess with one's circadian rhythm. He felt chronically sleep-deprived over the summer.

    Very true about the temps. I was about an hour North of Anchorage well outside the city and far from the coast so the temps we not as moderate Anchorage. Still nothing like Fairbanks of course. The change from the Kansas City area where I grew up to even the lesser extremes of Alaska was pretty intense. I also had the advantage of living a cabin in the mountains and there were 2 rooms with no windows so sleeping was a bit easier since it was so dark in there. We avoided those rooms like the plague in the Winter though.

    _______________________________________________________________

    Need help? Help us help you.

    Read the article at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/ for best practices on asking questions.

    Need to split a string? Try Jeff Modens splitter http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Tally+Table/72993/.

    Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 1 – Converting Rows to Columns - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/T-SQL/63681/
    Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 2 - Dynamic Cross Tabs - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Crosstab/65048/
    Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 1) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69953/
    Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 2) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69954/

  • Sean Lange (1/29/2014)


    wolfkillj (1/29/2014)


    Sean Lange (1/29/2014)


    wolfkillj (1/29/2014)


    Ed Wagner (1/29/2014)


    Greg Edwards-268690 (1/29/2014)


    GilaMonster (1/29/2014)


    Ed Wagner (1/29/2014)


    GilaMonster (1/29/2014)


    Could use some of that chill down here. We had a couple of weeks of 35 C+ (high for JHB). Seriously unpleasant.

    That sounds seriously unpleasant - that's 95 F. We're on opposite ends of the spectrum right now.

    It's cooled down since. Fortunately.

    Houses here don't typically have built in heating or air conditioning, the weather isn't usually extreme enough to need it.

    Speaking of weather, Gail, I saw a documentary on strange weather phenomenon a couple days ago and they talked about one that occurs in either Cape Town or Johannesburg. Have you ever seen the mountain where the clouds stay near the top and continuously roll downwards? I think it was called a table cloud. It looked really cool.

    Table Mountain, Cape Town.

    I have seen over 100 F, and under -30 F here, so it's hard to imagine no heater or air conditioning.

    And with Alaska hitting 62 F yesterday, when our high was 0 F, makes me question why do I live here.

    I'll have to look for Table Mountain, sounds very interesting.

    I've seen a similar temperature range here and it does make life interesting. As for Alaska, I heard they just had their first daylight in a while. They go for a couple months without daylight and then a couple months in the summer without darkness. I think that would get old fast if I lived there.

    If you get the weather channel, the program was called "Strangest Weather on Earth", but I'm sure you can find something about it online. It was beyond cool.

    My brother was stationed at Ft Wainwright (near Fairbanks, in central Alaska) when he was in the army. On the winter solstice, that area gets less than four hours of daylight. He said his first winter was VERY stressful - the dark and cold took a toll on a guy who was born in Texas and lived in Tennessee and Florida for his entire life.

    But the summers make up for that in spades. I lived outside of Anchorage for year and the winter was horrible. Dark and damn cold most of the time. However, the summer was amazing. The sun was up all the time and the temps averaged right around 70 for most of the day. The only downside of the nice weather is avoiding the Alaska state bird (aka mosquito).

    Ah, but Anchorage and Fairbanks have very different climates, mainly caused by the HUGE moderating influence of the Pacific Ocean. Anchorage has four months with subfreezing average high temps; Fairbanks has seven. Anchorage has zero months with sub-zero (F) average lows; Fairbanks has five. It gets a LOT colder in Fairbanks, plus the 3+ degree difference in latitude means that Anchorage gets over an hour more daylight than Fairbanks in the depth of winter. As my brother put it, people in Anchorage have to deal with winter; people in Fairbanks have to survive winter.

    My brother also said that as nice as the long daylight in the summer could be, having less than four hours of darkness a day can really mess with one's circadian rhythm. He felt chronically sleep-deprived over the summer.

    Very true about the temps. I was about an hour North of Anchorage well outside the city and far from the coast so the temps we not as moderate Anchorage. Still nothing like Fairbanks of course. The change from the Kansas City area where I grew up to even the lesser extremes of Alaska was pretty intense. I also had the advantage of living a cabin in the mountains and there were 2 rooms with no windows so sleeping was a bit easier since it was so dark in there. We avoided those rooms like the plague in the Winter though.

    Yeah, for those of us who grew up anywhere south of the 41st parallel, the differences in climate of various parts of Alaska are basically academic - it's just freakin' cold everywhere up there.

    Jason Wolfkill

  • All this reminds me of my weirdest day regarding the weather (all in Mexico so under the 41st parallel:-P). I had to leave Chihuahua at 6am with -4°F(-20°C), arrived to Mexico City at 59°F(15°C) and took a plane to a beach at the south of Mexico which was 86°F(30°C) at 7pm.

    I love to read all this differences from the places where the threadizens live.:-)

    Luis C.
    General Disclaimer:
    Are you seriously taking the advice and code from someone from the internet without testing it? Do you at least understand it? Or can it easily kill your server?

    How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help: Option 1 / Option 2
  • I like that we are heading to summer. There is still daylight left when I get back from work. I did not see much daylight for the last two months.

    Sun is even warming during the day. At the moment t we have -10C during say and -20C at night. Have to heat fireplace everyday to save on energy bill. Luckily I got my own wood.

  • I created and used my first extended events session last week, and it was great - easy and extremely helpful. I just posted about it on my blog, if you're interested in reading about my experience:

    BLOG: Extended Events - As Cool as I Thought They'd Be

    Jason Wolfkill

  • wolfkillj (1/29/2014)


    I created and used my first extended events session last week, and it was great - easy and extremely helpful. I just posted about it on my blog, if you're interested in reading about my experience:

    BLOG: Extended Events - As Cool as I Thought They'd Be

    Thanks Jason - I've been on the lookout for something like this.

    “Write the query the simplest way. If through testing it becomes clear that the performance is inadequate, consider alternative query forms.” - Gail Shaw

    For fast, accurate and documented assistance in answering your questions, please read this article.
    Understanding and using APPLY, (I) and (II) Paul White
    Hidden RBAR: Triangular Joins / The "Numbers" or "Tally" Table: What it is and how it replaces a loop Jeff Moden

  • Another awesome SQL Spackle from Jeff today.

    Cheers Jeff!

    Rodders...

  • ChrisM@Work (1/30/2014)


    wolfkillj (1/29/2014)


    I created and used my first extended events session last week, and it was great - easy and extremely helpful. I just posted about it on my blog, if you're interested in reading about my experience:

    BLOG: Extended Events - As Cool as I Thought They'd Be

    Thanks Jason - I've been on the lookout for something like this.

    Thanks for the feedback, and I hope my experience can help you get started with extended events. I found extended events to be pretty intimidating from the outside, but realized how simple it can be once I tried it. If you haven't read Jonathan Kehayias's article that I linked in the post, I highly recommend it.

    Jason Wolfkill

  • Serious Doh! Moment today.

    SSIS process has failed this morning. Business noticed before the support guys. Error says a problem with a column - the files uses ; as a delimiter, so I thought maybe there's an extra one there or something wrong with the file.

    After a couple of misses with coping the package and importing into SSDT - it's 2008 on the server. I finally got it to run on my test system and it works...

    Strange...

    Went to talk to one of the Prod DBA's as my access on the server is limited, and he spots that the server has run out of space! Doh!

    Nothing wrong with the package or job, other than the error message sent me on a wild goose chase! <facepalm>

    Rodders...

  • rodjkidd (1/30/2014)


    Another awesome SQL Spackle from Jeff today.

    Cheers Jeff!

    Rodders...

    Thanks Rodders. This one was aimed mostly at helping newbies to SQL Server understand the problem especially since there have been a fair number of similar questions in the past several months. I remember the first time I had to solve this problem in T-SQL. It wasn't pretty. :blush:

    --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)

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