onfocus

Handy query to get a quick inventory of a database.

This is a free ePub book about SQL indexes. Loaded up on my iPad for light reading.

This article includes an interesting use of social media for identity obfuscation. "...we create bogus individuals around client names. One person could be a photographer, one person could be a chauffeur, or whatever. We develop about 15 to 20 web sites and create all these social media sites around you. Now if you are traveling somewhere and someone puts your name in, they are going to locate those 20 other people before they get to you, depending on how much information is known about you."

Crowdsourced documentary about life across the world on a single day: July 24th, 2010.

"Dennis Delimarsky compared several weather APIs and decided that Google’s is best, despite having no documentation or support from the company." Looks nice!

A bit outdated, but full of good advice for tuning SQL Server applications.

"Eligible Kindle books can be loaned once for a period of 14 days. The borrower does not need to own a Kindle -- Kindle books can also be read using our free Kindle reading applications for PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android devices." It's a start!

"...the Pro users of yesteryear’s products, the people with the biggest investment in old technologies, are not the people who should be calling the shots in the design of their successors." Let Beginner's Mind have a shot! [via torrez]

J.D. has some good Oregon weather rules that sound right to me. I guess it really is eight months of rain, wow.

Another SQL-based log analyzer from Microsoft.

This handy tool lets you query apache logs with SQL. (Had to install on Ubuntu.) Much handier than awkward awk commands for me.

Good notes about moving ntext columns to nvarchar(max) and how storage changes.

"AskMe anything, in moderation." Jessamyn on the life of a MeFi moderator.

Looks like a nice stand for a MacBook or MacBook Air.

Saving this handy list of SQL Server shortcuts for reference. Needed to look up how to indent a block of highlighted code: [Tab]!

Oliver Sacks on Migraine Auras: "I was playing in the garden when a brilliant, shimmering light appeared to my left -- dazzlingly bright, almost as bright as the sun. It expanded, becoming an enormous shimmering semicircle stretching from the ground to the sky, with sharp zigzagging borders and brilliant blue and orange colors." I've had these and it's always amazing to read that others have experienced the same thing. [via Ironic Sans]

Helpful step-by-step guide to fixing deadlock problems in SQL Server 2005.

How to move SQL Server full-text catalogs to a different drive.

This is a lot easier than whatever I've been doing.

"Differences between Republican and Democrats exist...but those differences are often dwarfed by the differences between those entrenched in and dependent upon the Washington Establishment and...American citizens -- who are not." [via rc3]

"The U.S. Senate this afternoon passed the FISA Amendments Act...granting retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that participated in the president's illegal domestic wiretapping program." Discouraging.

This is going to change my life.

nice instructions for calculating proximity with SQL Server.

Ze Frank on creativity, etc. [via MeFi]

handy stored procedure for SQL Server that might save your wrists someday.

Hex the Mac color picker

handy tip for quick access to color picker, especially when combined with the HexColorPicker add-on

buy these geek shirts. !!! sudo buy these geek shirts.

There's a new version of SQL Server client tools that has better query integration (no more moving over to query analyzer). I'm still getting to know it, but so far I'm impressed.