2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 38,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 14 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Beadboard in a Cemetery

So how is it that you find yourself walking through a cemetery on a dark night with two 4 by 4 panels of beadboard?

It started up innocently enough actually. My wife and I went to Home Depot to pick up some home improvement (that’s a very hopeful word when you’re not the best wood worker) supplies last night. So we take our paint, brushes and a 8 by 4 foot beadboard and there we stand a little confused as we look at our new Chevy Cruze in the parking lot and then back at the beadboard. Hmmmmm.

So we head back in and have the helpful guy with the orange apron cut the panel in two — we need two panels anyway. When we get our noisy trolley back to the car we still can’t fit them in. After sending my wife to the next stop in hommage to our money pit I returned to the store for the third time. I purchased some work gloves, as it was a cold night, and then embarked on my way home.

It was only a few kilometres to get home anyway. In fact, a leg of the trans-Canada trail happens to pass right by the Home Depot in Guelph starting beside a railway line. I’ve biked this path many times. And only a few metres from the road the trail dekes into the Woodlawn Cemetery along one of the narrow roads through it that parallels the railroad.

So there you go. That probably explains a lot actually. I could say I didn’t know about the van a friend of mine told me I could rent there to bring stuff home. Or I could probably have had it delivered. Or called a friend. But not me. I chose a different path, through a dark cemetery on a cloudy night.

Anathem

Anathem by Neal Stephenson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It’s hard to encapsulate a book that is so large in scope and so enjoyable to read. Your intellect revolts at trying to peg it down by mere description and emotionally… well… I just didn’t want the thing to end. When I found, on his site, someone had actually been inspired enough to create music (http://nealstephenson.com/anathem/music….) for Anathem I was amazed but, now that I’m done, I understand.

What can I say that you can’t read elsewhere. I might warn you that Stephenson is a master world builder and so it takes effort to get out of this world and into his. But, by God, it’s worth the effort!

View all my reviews

SQL Server database file size

Keeping track of database size and growth is a critical part of a DBA’s job which I wrote about in an earlier blog post. But now I have improved my scripts that reveal the status of all my db files (I say ‘files’ as each SQL Server database is made up of at least two files).
Many of my db’s are set to autogrow but I also have maximum sizes that I allow these to grow. This is important to me because I want to know about out of control database growth and not just let them fill up my storage. So I need to know, periodically, where my db’s are at. The 25% is arbitrary, you can pick any number that works for you. Also, if you have HUGE db’s you may need to adjust the decimal precision for the output.

Here’s my script:

--all dbs over 25% full with sizes too
select db.name as [db_name], mf.name,
'dbSizeinMB' =
cast (cast (mf.size*1.0/128 as decimal(9,2)) as nvarchar(30)),
'MaxSizeinMB' =
case mf.max_size
when 0 then 'no growth is allowed.'
when -1 then 'autogrowth is on.'
when 268435456
then 'log file will grow to a maximum size of 2 tb.'
else cast (cast (mf.max_size*1.0/128 as decimal(9,2)) as nvarchar(30))
end,
'PercentageSize' =
case mf.max_size
when 0 then 'no growth is allowed.'
when -1 then 'autogrowth is on.'
else cast (cast(((mf.size*1.0)/(mf.max_size*1.0))*100 as decimal(9,2)) as nvarchar(30))
end
from sys.master_files mf, sys.databases db
where mf.database_id = db.database_id and ((mf.size*1.0)/(mf.max_size*1.0)*100) > 25.0
order by db.name

Of course you don’t always have time to run a script to check up this so I have a maintenance plan set up with this content that e-mails be the report every day at 6AM:

--all db files over 25% full with sizes too
DECLARE @tableHTML NVARCHAR(MAX) ;

SET @tableHTML =
N'<H1>db file Percentage Size Check</H1>' +
N'<table border="1">' +
N'<tr><th>db_name</th><th>name</th>' +
N'<th>dbSizeinMB</th><th>MaxSizeinMB</th><th>PercentageSize</th></tr>' +
CAST ( ( SELECT td = db.name, '',
td = mf.name, '',
td = cast (cast (mf.size*1.0/128 as decimal(9,2)) as nvarchar(30)), '',
td = case mf.max_size
when 0 then 'no growth is allowed.'
when -1 then 'autogrowth is on.'
when 268435456
then 'log file will grow to a maximum size of 2 tb.'
else cast (cast (mf.max_size*1.0/128 as decimal(9,2)) as nvarchar(30))
end, '',
td = case mf.max_size
when 0 then 'no growth is allowed.'
when -1 then 'autogrowth is on.'
else cast (cast(((mf.size*1.0)/(mf.max_size*1.0))*100 as decimal(9,2)) as nvarchar(30))
end
FROM sys.master_files mf, sys.databases db
where mf.database_id = db.database_id and ((mf.size*1.0)/(mf.max_size*1.0)*100) > 25.0
order by db.name
FOR XML PATH('tr'), TYPE
) AS NVARCHAR(MAX) ) +
N'</table>' ;

EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_send_dbmail
@profile_name ='My Profile',
@recipients=N'me@provider.com;you@provider.com',
@subject = 'MyServer db files over 25% max size',
@body = @tableHTML,
@body_format = 'HTML' ;

This applies to SQL Server 2005 and newer.

Cryptum

Cryptum by Greg Bear

I admit I am a Halo fan but since his novel Eon I’ve been a Greg Bear follower. I was surprised but sceptical to see these two put together but I was willing to give it a chance.

The first few chapters didn’t make sense at first since it implied space-faring humans were involved with Forerunners 100,000 years ago. But eventually that was explained and the idea grew on me.

It’s no Eon, but that may not be fair as it isn’t a pure Bear invention. I certainly enjoyed it enough to want to read the next in the trilogy. I liked the revelation at the end.

Even so, I’d say this is only for diehard Halo fans.

View all my good reads reviews

using LaTeX in WordPress

Let’s see if this works:

Awesome. The code for that can be seen by hovering over it with a mouse. Here it is in text if you want to try it (you need a ‘dollar sign’latex’space’ in front of it and a ’dollar sign’ after):

\huge\sum_{t=1}^{+\infty}\frac{1}{n^2}

I learned I could add in at the Polymath blog but the WordPress announcement can be found here.

Jessica’s Farm

Josh Simmons picked an interesting way to write a graphic novel, not to get it over with but to stretch it out. Over a long time.
Jessica’s Farm is 96 pages long and each page, we’re told, was drawn over the course of a month in the eight year span between January 2000 and December 2007. Josh plans to continue on until 2050 when the entire 600 page book can be published. But he has published Jessica Farm 1 now and will publish part 2 in 2016.
Jessica seems to be a child in an abusive situation but either she’s found how to stay sane within her own imaginary world with a host of friends or she’s found a way to fight back. I’m not sure if her courage is a shield or a weapon.
An interesting life project and I think, well worth a read. Even though it only takes an hour or so to get through 8 year’s worth.

The Bird Can’t Fly

The Bird Can’t Fly (2007) is, at first, a strange movie to absorb. So much is unexplained and you wonder if the steep learning curve is worth it. I’m writing this to say, emphatically, YES.
This is the first directing effort of Threes Anna (she also co-wrote it) from the Netherlands and I look forward to her next film Silent City and all future endeavours.
When you let this film in, it begins to haunt. You have to see it again almost immediately because there is so much you missed. I don’t want to explain too much of the plot since experiencing it for yourself is so crucial, so I’ll give some impressions.
First, the beautiful acting. Every member of the cast, even the children, are fabulous. Barbara Hershey superbly plays Melody who appears so serene and controlled, almost inhumanly so, at the opening of the movie but changes so dramatically by the end. Yusuf Davids (Melody’s grandson River) is riveting. When he’s on the screen (especially in his ‘Lord of the Flies’ element) you have to watch him. All the characters are unique from all the strong women which fill this movie to the skill of Tony Kgoroge (Scoop) and John Kani (Stone) who are the adult men.
Fairlands, South Africa, is the setting of most of the film. This was a diamond mining town which is being progressively buried by desert. The resort hotel, where Melody once worked, has only it’s roof and sign still exposed. The people still living there exist in huts that are drab at first but become more colourful as we learn more about the people who live in them. A truth most travellers learn.
One of the most beautiful transitions that I missed the first time (but Karen spotted right away) was the little girl’s doll. I’m not sure who the actor is (perhaps Amanda Dilma?) but what an amazing performance from such a young and beautiful girl. River demands rope of his feral band of conspiratorial children and this girl, whose seeming only possession is a doll, pulls it’s hair out and braids it. Then she replaces the hair with ostrich feathers. Doll with hair, Doll with no hair, Doll with feathers. It’s easy to miss but… wow, it’s a gorgeous symbol for the loss and then rejuvenation that we’re witness to here!
Very highly recommended. An important movie for anyone sensitive.

Wonder

WWW: Wonder by Robert J. Sawyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sawyer bills his WWW trilogy as the story of an optimistic singularity event. Where an AI achieves awareness but doesn’t go bad. Of course, it’s never so simple in a story by Canada’s dean of science fiction. Webmind has ‘his’ (he seems a him to me) growing pains especially when the powers that be in China decide to sever him again with a firewall.
I think it’s appropriate that the first e-book I have ever purchased is excellent science fiction like this. The formatting on the kobo app on my iPad had many faults but this final book of this series was such a page turner I found myself not caring.
This book is well worth the price of admission.

View all my reviews

Eat Pray Love

I haven’t read the book, I’ve only seen the movie, but if it is anything like this waste of DVD plastic then I don’t want to. Ever.
It was such a disappointment to see the quest of this incredibly selfish woman to ‘find’ herself. I expected something deep but Liz Gilbert (the main character played by Julia Roberts) could have saved all the cost and effort with the following simple forumula:

1. order in a good pizza and eat it
2. say the following mantra: “Hallelugah I’m me!”
3. kiss the shallow person in the mirror

Or just read a good book. I can’t believe this was so popular. Who’d be taken in by this sham?
At one point she is imagining a conversation with her former husband who still loves her. She tells him ‘So Love Me’. Wow! That’s empathy for the ages alright.
Definitely not recommended.