Sunday, October 26, 2014

Weekly Update




1. Quote of the Week
Q: What's the key technical skills for Data Modeling? 
A: Erwin or Rational or phycial [sic] modelling or conceptual modelling or Logical modelling. --LinkedIn.com 
NULL means data is not available, nothing more...--LinkedIn.com
In case you were wondering.


2. To Laugh or Cry?

Oldie, but goodie from old dbdebunk:
On a Pile of ... what?

3. Online debunkings

4. Elsewhere

5. And now for something completely different
CDC blames cuts for Ebola response, pays millions in bonuses

About The PostWest:
Never again? Think again: they're at it again, to finish the job.
The Bible's Buried Secrets
Fascinating.



Sunday, October 19, 2014

Precision, Procedurality and SQL, Part 1



 by Erwin Smout and Fabian Pascal

"To be as precise as we possibly can is not a luxurious mannerism that the academic prig can afford himself in his (supposedly!) sheltered environment; for people facing the problems of "the real world" it is a Must." --E.W. Dijkstra, An Open Letter to L. Bass


From In Some Cases illustrating drawbacks of SQL in data computing and analytics
The computing power of SQL for mass structured data is complete, that is to say, it is impossible to find anything that SQL cannot compute. But its support layer is too low, which can lead to over-elaborate operation in practical application.
One of the four aspects of this "over-elaboration" is "computation without substep", but before we comment on it, the article glosses over an important matter.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Weekly Update



Housekeeping: I have added FUNDAMENTALS links on HOME page to:

 1. Quote of the Week
I am teaching a database design course next year. What do you think should be covered in an introductory course? --LinkedIn.com
I have a requirement for an ERwin data modeler (Logical, Physical, 3NF and Star Schema). --LinkedIn.com

2. To Laugh or Cry?
What would be key entities in Automotive Industry MDM

3. Online debunkings

4. Must read elsewhere
Out of the Tar Pit

5. And now for something completely different
Ig Nobel Prize Winners
Cry, don't laugh.
Hey There Little Electron, Why Won't You Tell Me Where You Came From
Fascinating.
Israel is holding back channel talks with the 'Palestinian Authority' relating to Gaza, in which it is making concessions and receiving nothing in return.
The Tower cites a Wall Street Journal report that indicates that Western negotiators are so desperate for a deal with Iran that they are offering more significant sanctions relief for a deal that would not stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
Why the West is PostWest: The Blackmailer Paradox (Aumann is Nobel laureate in economics).




Monday, October 6, 2014

Tools Too Good to Be True



My October post @All Analytics

The Wired article Ex-Googler Shares His Big-Data Secrets With the Masses touts a new tool that "mimics the way web giants like Google and Facebook rapidly analyze enormous amounts of online information." The article calls the tool "simple for analysts to query data from anywhere in a company with a single tool, regardless of where that data is stored, without the need to learn new programming languages."

Read it all. (Please comment there, not here)



 






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