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Take a walk on the mild side.
April 2009 - Posts
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I have been testing different ASP.Net content management systems. Each one creates tables and stored procedures. Rather than dropping and re-creating the database each time I install a new CMS, I run a couple of short scripts that drop everything.
To drop all tables:
| exec sp_MSforeachtable "DROP TABLE ? PRINT '? dropped' " |
You may have to run the drop tables script several times as tables with foreign key dependencies won't delete until its dependencies have been deleted.
To drop all stored procedures:
declare @procName sysname
declare procCursor cursor FOR
SELECT name FROM sysobjects WHERE type = 'P'
AND objectproperty(id, 'IsMSShipped') = 0
open procCursor
fetch next FROM procCursor INTO @procName
while @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
begin
exec('drop proc ' + @procName)
fetch next FROM procCursor INTO @procName
end
close procCursor
deallocate procCursor
go
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I pass this "No Trespassing" sign every day on my way to work. It always makes me smile.
Whoever thought to add the eyes and nose to the tree right above the sign was a genius. It really looks like the tree is eating the "No Trespassing" sign.
And who wouldn't take heed about No Trespassing in a forest where the trees eat things? Sure the sign threatens "Under Penalty of Law", but I doubt anyone would find the body of someone wondering through this forest.
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I've been dreaming a lot lately about cars, and traffic, and getting into trouble on the road. I have been wondering about where all this dream stuff is coming from. I was in a very bad car accident when I was sixteen years old. I ended up in the hospital with injuries to my face and knee and body. It was quite traumatic for me, as you can imagine. While I was in the hospital my friends and family visited; I was there for quite a while. The strange thing is, I don't remember the accident happening. I certainly remember the aftermath, the pain, the doctors' appointments, the surgical repairs, the worry, and so on, but it is like there is a piece of time missing. I know what happened only from listening to the stories, the hospital stay, and realizing that my car was totaled.
It has been twenty-four years since that terrible event so how can that be the source? To find some sort of answer I consulted Dr. Richard Marsella, an expert in the field of dream interpretation. He had a couple suggestions for me to consider. First, he said that the knowledge of the accident is in my memory but that it is suppressed. This is a natural defense mechanism that we all have so that we don't get terrified. The brain may wait a length of time so that we can retrieve the knowledge when we are more calm and able to deal with the event. Maybe my dreams are the way my brain is releasing the knowledge from twenty-four years ago.
Second, he said that my dreams could represent worries about having car trouble in the future. Since I am on the road so much commuting to work and to the store, the likelihood of an accident may be heightened and I am concerned. My dreams could be a warning to be more careful on the road.
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I came across an interesting article on the CNN website. There is software that a parent can install on their children's cell phones that allow them to monitoring call, text messages, images, and other data. I'm not sure how I feel about this. On one hand, I remember the phone conversations I had as a child that I definitely would not want my parents to hear. On the other hand, if I was a parent, I would want to keep an eye out (or ear out) for potential danger my child might be getting in to. Some parents in the article had installed the software without their children's knowledge. I think if a parent was going to use it, they should inform the child.
Read the full story here:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/04/20/monitoring.kids.cellphones/index.html
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Two employees at a Domino's Pizza place recorded a prank video of one employee doing really disgusting things to the food in the kitchen as it was being prepared for delivery to a customer. They posted the video on YouTube where it was viewed more than a million times. A link to the video showed up in five places on Google's first page when searching for "Dominos". Many people were Twittering about it. The employees were fired, arrested, and now facing felony charges (delivering prohibited foods due to health-code violations). The Dominos company has lost a lot of business. Even when told the video was a prank (the food was not actually delivered according to the pranksters), many customers are hesitant to order from them. Read the full story here.
You see restaurant employees doing bad things to food in movies all the time. It is presented like it is funny and really wouldn't happen in real life. I have been lucky not to have worked in the food-preparation industry. I do wonder what kinds of things really do happen back in the kitchen. My husband is extremely picky about food that is served to him in restaurants and will often send something back and complain long and loudly about whatever the problem was. I wonder and worry if his food is getting unwanted "special" attention before it is brought back out. I also wonder if anything I order might get treated the same way just because I am sitting at the same table. Many is the time when I won't order dessert if my husband has been particularly demanding of the waitress and/or cook during dinner.
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I have only been in a very small plane once. A friend of mine was going skydiving and I went along for the ride. I did not jump out of the plane. I simply rode up in the plane and back down again after everyone (except the pilot) had exited the plane mid-flight. It turned out to be quite terrifying. I was sitting in the back near the door. There were no seat belts. After every one jumped out, the door was left open. The pilot immediately started a nose dive and headed back to the airport. I was holding on for dear life by bracing my arms and legs against the sides of the plane. I was too afraid to reach over and shut the door. I couldn't draw my eyes from the doorway where I could clearly see us rushing towards the ground. The pilot descended so quickly that it forced some nasal congestion up into my ears and I couldn't hear very well for two days. I thought my story was pretty scary until I came across a news item on CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/13/florida.plane.emergency/index.html). The pilot of the small plane died and one of the passengers had to land the plane. It turns out that the passenger had a pilot's license but only knew how to fly a much smaller plane. The story would have been more impressive if someone that had absolutely no flight training could have been talked through the landing process to get the plane down safely. The article quotes a report that says for over 15 million flights in one year, only four pilots died during a flight. That sounds like pretty good odds, but I doubt if I'll ever go on a small plane again.
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I often buy the mini-bags of microwave popcorn for my mid-afternoon snack. I noticed on the Nutrition Facts panel that the total calorie count of the unpopped kernels is 200. If you decide that you don't want to eat the unpopped kernels, and choose instead to pop them first, then the calorie count drops to 160. Why is that?
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A few months ago I made up some new lyrics to the Bobby Darin song, Dream Lover. It was about Adobe's web programming software Dreamweaver. My husband helped me make a short music video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO9D6rSDBGY. It was a lot of fun. Last night we were at a local bar that was having an "open mike" night where anyone can get up and play or sing. My husband arranged for us to perform the Dreamweaver song. I have never sung or performed anything in public before in my life. I was surprised to find myself agreeing to do it. Many of the bar customers were seriously drunk and/or high by this time of the evening. If I was ever going to do it, this would be the best place. Most would not notice if I did not do well, and very likely would never remember my performance at all. I quickly scribbled the lyrics on a paper-towel so I wouldn't forget them when I was in front of the crowd. I think I sang too softly. I doubt I stayed in tune. It was very difficult to hear myself at all. But I did it. All the way through. And I'm told that the next time will be easier.
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Sometimes I can come up with many ideas to put into a blog; they just seem to crowd in on top of each other. Other times, like now, I can't seem to conjure a single thought. Maybe that is a normal thing for us humans, one extreme to the other. It would be nice to just sit down to write something and to have the ideas come easily. I have heard that writers have similar problems. They suffer from what is called "writer's block" and I am talking about the great novelists, not just folks who write a few lines once in a while. Imagine making a living as a writer where you have deadlines for articles in a newspaper or magazine. You must produce or you will not make a living. That's a lot of stress to add on top of the frustrations inherent in the writing process; I am glad that in my job I do not have to work under those pressures.
There is a famous story about one of the great writers from long ago, I don't recall his name right now, but he was asked in an interview about an article that he wrote for publication. He said that in the rereading of the work that he wanted to make it the best piece of writing that he could. So, after the piece was finished, he let it sit for a couple days without looking at it to let his mind rest from the project. Then he got up the next morning and set to work to further improve his article. He later said that on that morning his entire work time from breakfast to lunch was to add a single comma to the article. He then ate his lunch and started once again to make improvements. His entire afternoon's work resulted in him taking out the comma that he installed that morning. Such is the typical day in the field of writing.
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I follow much of the good advice about avoiding identity theft. I use LifeLock's identity theft protection service, keep sensitive materials in a safe-deposit box, burn my papers (statements, receipts) instead of throwing them out, use a post office box, and I have an alarm system installed in the house. Imagine my surprise when I logged in to my credit card company's website to check current activity (also a good thing to do) and discovered big red text at the top of the page with a security warning. I was being sent a new card and the old account was being closed down. I hadn't asked for that. I immediately looked at the current activity and all looked fine. I thought maybe I had triggered one of their alerts because I had used the card to travel with recently and I had made a rather large one-time purchase. However, I've done both of those things in the past and the company would sometimes put a stop on the card until I called them and told them everything was fine, then I could resume use of the card. They had never closed down an account and issued a new card without my requesting it. I called their support number and asked what was going on. They said that my credit card number had been found in a group of numbers that were illegally obtained through a data breach and then sold. Yikes! I do what I can to keep myself safe, but I don't have any control over situations caused by others. This is not a very good feeling.
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I lamented a few weeks back that the Weatherline Forecast Service in our area was being discontinued. I hoped that they would get a last-minute sponsor and be able to continue. However, March 31 was indeed their last weather forecast. I kept calling the phone number each day hoping to hear a forecast, but they only gave the current time and temperature. Today when I tried to call, I discovered that the phone number has been disconnected. No more time and temp either. I still would like to get a weather forecast every morning so I can plan what to wear and whether I'll need a light or heavy jacket or if I need to bring an umbrella. I don't have a fancy phone with internet and I didn't want to boot up my computer every morning just to check the weather. My phone is capable of receiving simple text emails. In my search for a simple text weather forecast sent to a phone, I discovered Google SMS for Phone and www.4info.com. Both of these will send the weather forecast in simple text to your phone. 4Info.com will let you schedule a daily alert. I could have the weather forecast sent to my phone every morning automatically. However, when I requested the forecast from both and compared them with the actual conditions at my house, I discovered the Google service was more accurate. So that is the one I will use. If I want the weather forecast in the morning, I send a message to Google's SMS number, 466453, requesting the weather for my zipcode. Within a minute, a message comes back with the forecast. Very easy to use.
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Someone sent me the link to this in an email. I thought it was entertaining enough to post here. The song "Do Re Mi" from The Sound of Music starts to play over the loudspeaker in a train station and people start dancing. Obviously it was planned ahead and I'm sure they practiced. Very enjoyable to watch and also fun to see the people's reactions.
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 Sunspot activity has had an 11-year cycle from peak to trough for the past 200 years. We currently are in the quiet time of the cycle, but it is really quiet. The last time the cycle was this quiet was back in 1913. The image of the sun shown here was taken on March 31, 2009, and it shows no sunspot activity at all. So far this year, 2009 has had even less activity than 2008. If it keeps up, it will break the 1913 record.
Sunspots are planet-sized islands of magnetism on the surface of the
sun, and they are sources of solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and
intense UV radiation (definition provided by NASA, not me). I know that in the computer industry, we always blame sunspots when the equipment acts up and we don't have any other explanation.
Scientists are excited about the opportunity to study this "deep solar minimum". The equipment available nowadays will let them gather all types of information never collected before.
For the full story on http://www.nasa.gov, click here.
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We've had alot of rain the past week. It culminated in a big storm last night. You could see the flashes of lightning through the windows blinds and the thunder crashes were rattling the windows. Suddenly it sounded like rocks were being thrown at the house from every direction. I ran to the back door and looked out. Hail about the size of marbles had completely covered the backyard. I ran to get my camera. By the time I got back to the door, the rain had melted almost all of the hail stones. The only ones that were left were the ones that had bounced up by the backdoor and under the slight overhang of the roof. I'm sorry to say that the picture of the last hail stones doesn't look very impressive, but it had been a real sight to see.
Today is a beautiful, bright, warm, sunny day. I think we'll be getting a break from the rain for a while. At least two days of sunshine before the next storm moves in.
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I have been dreaming a lot lately about all sorts of crazy things; some are a little scary, others are just weird. I know that everyone dreams most every night but not everyone remembers most of his or her dreams. I decided to investigate a little into the meaning of dreams (especially mine) and so I went to one of the leading experts on psychology and dreaming, Dr. Richard Marsella. He has interpreted dreams for many years and he uses these interpretations to help his clients.
Dr. Marsella helped me interpret many of my dreams and I found it amazing that dreams can take many forms depending upon the circumstances. For example, I discovered that many of my dreams portend the future. If I will be in a new situation where I will not be comfortable, the dreams that I experience will mimic the event. Interestingly, if I even remember the dream, I will not recognize it as a scenario similar to the upcoming event. Through dream analysis techniques, Dr. Marsella pointed out certain elements in my dreams that eventually led to my understanding the meanings inherent in my nocturnal visitations.
I have learned to pay more attention to my dreams lately because much of the activities in my day have already been mentally addressed beforehand. It is like a mental rehearsal for the upcoming events that I will live through. The more I pay attention to my dreams, the more I feel that I am ready for what is to come. There are many more explanations and there are many different types of dreams but I am content to have a handle on at least a little of what the dreams mean in my life. I have also learned to discuss my dreams with a competent analyst.
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