Are the posted questions getting worse?

  • For those of you that knew him, Gareth Swanepoel passed away on Friday - https://twitter.com/SQLBalls/status/1347722916700557319

    He was a passionate member of the SQL community and a fellow speaker I've known for years.

    SQL Memorial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4EhnbnsaS4&feature=youtu.be

  • Steve Jones - SSC Editor wrote:

    First, I welcome the discussion in a respectful manner. I know we will all disagree about different things, but please be respectful as if we were friends in the same room with each other.

    I don't know that I think this debate needs a separate thread, but if anyone feels strongly, I'd ask others just create another thread in this same forum, otherwise, I don't mind it continuing here.

    Apologies, hadn't intended it to become political and polarised, it was a genuine concern for those of you the other side of the pond. Came back after the weekend and I seem to have unleashed a bit of a beast.

    "Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it. When we enquire into any subject, the first thing we have to do is to know what books have treated of it. This leads us to look at catalogues, and at the backs of books in libraries."
    — Samuel Johnson
    I wonder, would the great Samuel Johnson have replaced that with "GIYF" now?

  • No apology necessary David, this was a good demonstration of the answer.

    1. We disagree with each other. Emphatically. On many issues surrounding politics, personal and state responsibility, character of our leaders and neighbors, etc.
    2. We are (many of us) educated, rational people. Which makes it confusing as to why we disagree so completely.
    3. After four years of this administration and almost a year of COVID activity, if we don't agree now, arguing won't change anybody's mind.

    Can we continue and heal with this mindset? I don't know. Is there an alternative to years and years of civil unrest and agony? Again, don't know.

    I'd move to Scotland, but honestly not sure that's going to be much better post-Brexit. And Canada isn't far enough away.

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  • Certainly no apology needed. I think the discussion and debate is healthy. I might question if it belongs in another thread, but it's not that much of an issue.

    I tend to agree with Jonathan that changing minds is hard. I doubt many of us are that far apart, but I also think that communication and succinct expression is hard(er) in writing a debate between people. Often because we do not behave the same as we do in person.

    I would move to New Zealand if I went anywhere. Still might at some point, but they won't have me for now. However, I love Colorado, and I don't know that I want to leave.

     

  • Steve Jones - SSC Editor wrote:

    For those of you that knew him, Gareth Swanepoel passed away on Friday - https://twitter.com/SQLBalls/status/1347722916700557319

    He was a passionate member of the SQL community and a fellow speaker I've known for years.

    SQL Memorial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4EhnbnsaS4&feature=youtu.be

    Lordy... another good person down.  Thanks for the heads-up, Steve.

     

    --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)

  • My uncle tested positive in December for Covid, I know 3 people that are friends of my father in law that have it.  I can't say for sure if they wore mask or not, but based on my perception of all of them(R), I would bet they were NOT wearing masks.

     

    And I thought this thread was for anything NOT SQL related.

    -------------------------------------------------------------
    we travel not to escape life but for life not to escape us
    Don't fear failure, fear regret.

  • Michael L John wrote:

    The baffling thing to me is why are these amazing conspiracy theories so believable, and spread so fast, when the simple answers are staring people in the face? Occam's Razor.

    Trump's playbook has been used before, although he has taken it to a much higher level. In the 40's and 50's Joe McCarthy used the lie, lie again, and deflect strategy to, in most cases, falsely accuse Americans of Communism.

    The common thread between McCarthy and Trump was Roy Cohn.

    This strategy has become the norm worldwide.  And people fall for it day after day.

    What an interesting character! I have a new rabbit hole to explore!

    I'm fascinated by history. Heck we're making history right now, people will be dissecting the last few years for quite a while, I've already purchased many books on you know who, no matter what, this entire episode has produced plenty of conversational fodder, but I can certainly understand some folks distaste for the topic.

     

  • Happy New Year, Threadizens.

    It's been ages since I had enough time to visit here and actually post something, and I wasn't sure if I'd have time today but there were a few items which caught my eye and one or two which had me jump out of this uncomfortable seat. So here are some notes from an old geezer on our small island.

    Way back in March, around the second week, the CEO of the small company I work for sent all but essential staff home from the London office. He'd seen the writing on the wall and made the right decision. Since then I've been back to the office only once, for a meeting in September, finding out whilst there that of the 50 occupants of that office there had been five individuals off work with COVID-19 in the third week of March, including me. When I had it  I thought it was flu, same as the other four, not this exotic new disease - and I didn't know for sure until I registered as a "convalescent plasma donor", gave a pint, then got quickly recalled to do it again. The others were determined positive by testing. Our experiences of the disease were similar. So yes, I know people who have had the disease, it's not a myth and neither is it a "Plandemic".

    Masks are cheap and effective - but not so much for you as who you are talking to.  Wear your mask when you're around other people, or likely to be. Please. There's abundant evidence to support mask wearing and those who choose not to because of some warped idea about freedom deserve to be shamed.

    Avoid this new disease. Too many viruses have a vicious sting in the tail:

    Chickenpox -> shingles

    Measles -> SSPE (about 1/1500 cases die of encephalitis some years after infection)

    Hepatitis B and C -> liver cancer

    HPV -> oral and genital cancers

    Polio -> can't remember but it's unpleasant

    Get the vaccine at your first opportunity. It's your best defence against this disease. Millions of recipients vs a few hundred adverse reactions, it's thousands of times safer than the disease - which could kill you. The allergic reactions are easy to treat, Covid is not.

    I understand this stuff. It's years since I did a Microbiology degree and followed it up with a PhD in Biochemistry, but neither the interest nor the knowledge ever wane. Our Medical microbiology lecturer, a chap called Hugh Pennington (who used to be dragged in front of the cameras during flu epidemics) often reminded us that a severe pandemic was long overdue, and this is it.

    I can't find anyone in my circle of friends, or even Facebook acquaintances, who sees former POTUS Trump as anything other than an international joke, a lying clown hell bent on self aggrandisement, putting himself before the country he's supposed to represent. A dark chapter in the history of the USA is coming to an end and in a week or two (if things go as planned because the mad cretin could yet screw things up) the entire world will breathe a collective sigh of relief as your new POTUS is sworn in.

    This year will be so much better than last year!

     

     

     

    • This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by  ChrisM@Work.
    “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

  • Well said ChrisM@Work, well said.

     

    On a different note.  ROLL TIDE!!!!!

    -------------------------------------------------------------
    we travel not to escape life but for life not to escape us
    Don't fear failure, fear regret.

  • Congrats, Alabama (again)

  • ChrisM@Work wrote:

    This year will be so much better than last year!

    There are many similarities when comparing a naive query to last year, let's tune this one properly!

    😎

  • So we have this third party shipping system that is...well...user hostile at best. To add insult to injury for the users the system has been suffering increased performance problems over the last several months. I opened a ticket with the vendor in July and have not received anything resembling a resolution. Just empty hope and increased irritation from our shipping department. Well yesterday I decided enough was enough and I was going to try to tackle this thing myself. I have access to the database and all the folders where there software resides. I discovered the source of the issue and fixed it myself. But the response I got from the shipping department is the kind of encouragement that people in our position need from time to time.

    Whatever you did, it is an insane difference. Orders are now running in seconds instead of long minutes. Sweet!!

     

    _______________________________________________________________

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    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 wrote:

    So we have this third party shipping system that is...well...user hostile at best. To add insult to injury for the users the system has been suffering increased performance problems over the last several months. I opened a ticket with the vendor in July and have not received anything resembling a resolution. Just empty hope and increased irritation from our shipping department. Well yesterday I decided enough was enough and I was going to try to tackle this thing myself. I have access to the database and all the folders where there software resides. I discovered the source of the issue and fixed it myself. But the response I got from the shipping department is the kind of encouragement that people in our position need from time to time.

    Whatever you did, it is an insane difference. Orders are now running in seconds instead of long minutes. Sweet!!

    Nice job, Sean. Yeah, hearing from the end users that you made their life better is a nice thing to hear every once in a while.

  • Sean Lange wrote:

    So we have this third party shipping system that is...well...user hostile at best. To add insult to injury for the users the system has been suffering increased performance problems over the last several months. I opened a ticket with the vendor in July and have not received anything resembling a resolution. Just empty hope and increased irritation from our shipping department. Well yesterday I decided enough was enough and I was going to try to tackle this thing myself. I have access to the database and all the folders where there software resides. I discovered the source of the issue and fixed it myself. But the response I got from the shipping department is the kind of encouragement that people in our position need from time to time.

    Whatever you did, it is an insane difference. Orders are now running in seconds instead of long minutes. Sweet!!

    Did you find some indexes were missing?

  • Ed Wagner wrote:

    Sean Lange wrote:

    So we have this third party shipping system that is...well...user hostile at best. To add insult to injury for the users the system has been suffering increased performance problems over the last several months. I opened a ticket with the vendor in July and have not received anything resembling a resolution. Just empty hope and increased irritation from our shipping department. Well yesterday I decided enough was enough and I was going to try to tackle this thing myself. I have access to the database and all the folders where there software resides. I discovered the source of the issue and fixed it myself. But the response I got from the shipping department is the kind of encouragement that people in our position need from time to time.

    Whatever you did, it is an insane difference. Orders are now running in seconds instead of long minutes. Sweet!!

    Nice job, Sean. Yeah, hearing from the end users that you made their life better is a nice thing to hear every once in a while.

    It's always good to hear that you've made the users' lives better.  "I don't know what you did, but it's so much faster now".  Of course, every so often the silent response from me is "I don't know what I did because I haven't touched it but if you're happy, I'm happy."

    • This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by  Neil Burton.


    On two occasions I have been asked, "Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?" ... I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.
    —Charles Babbage, Passages from the Life of a Philosopher

    How to post a question to get the most help http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537

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