geraldew - Network

When I get home I'll try to find some old photos of architectural malevolence from when I still lived in Perth.But using Google Street...

When I get home I'll try to find some old photos of architectural malevolence from when I still lived in Perth.

But using Google Street map, here is an example of those.

If ever there was a sign that a developer's response to a heritage requirement was just "eff you", it is this one.

Ah: Perth, Western Australia. A city with so much historical integrity and a rich visual delight from all angles. Nah, just kidding;...

Ah: Perth, Western Australia. A city with so much historical integrity and a rich visual delight from all angles.

Nah, just kidding; here's two example new buildings right where the city meets the majestic Swan river at Elizabeth Quay.

Such rectangular boxes tell you all you need to know about the architectural vision here - i.e. none at all.

If you've never heard of this Wikipedia page then let it be a Sunday gift as something to read. In short, I enjoyed...

If you've never heard of this Wikipedia page then let it be a Sunday gift as something to read. In short, I enjoyed it.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Lamest_edit_wars

And if it doesn't please you, then perhaps go edit a random page somewhere.

Recent family IT support activity:- fix an obscure bug/issue in Thunderbird on Windows 8.1- show relative how to edit the list of payees in...

Recent family IT support activity:
- fix an obscure bug/issue in Thunderbird on Windows 8.1
- show relative how to edit the list of payees in their online bank (different bank to mine) (no actually I just did it for them and told them how I did it) (but you guessed that right?)
- fix their inkjet printer having paper feed problems ... by lying on the floor with the printer upside down on a chair above me so I could coax out the pen that they'd dropped inside of it.

Today's version of being on holiday (from work as a data analyst):- listen to some podcasts from the backlog;- read an ABC article of...

Today's version of being on holiday (from work as a data analyst):
- listen to some podcasts from the backlog;
- read an ABC article of electoral analysis;
- analyse the analysis and write about 1,300 words on its flaws and how it could have been better done.

Probably didn't help that one of the podcasts was based on Microsoft database maltech so I came out of that somewhat in a critical mood and ranty.

Sometimes I fear that if/when I do retire that's what all my days will be like.
#data

To add some example details: - good optimisers can "see through" view definitions and just ignore extra column derivations that...

To add some example details:
- good optimisers can "see through" view definitions and just ignore extra column derivations that aren't used - so using views of views of views defers such judgements;
- on some platforms, even quite large CASE expressions will get distributed to nodes and outperform a lookup join (e.g. even a hundred WHEN clauses)
- conversely, a WHERE IN clause may force a bottleneck but a JOIN will get distributed execution.

Of course other platforms might do the opposite.

Tech life is rarely dull. Partly because so many "great advice" articles I see don't accord with my experiences.For example,...

Tech life is rarely dull. Partly because so many "great advice" articles I see don't accord with my experiences.

For example, in one of my feeds is a piece: "SQL Query Optimization for Data Engineers" of which half the things in it would be bad advice in my work.

Data engines and query optimisers vary so much that many "expert" assumptions prove false on them.

There's really no substitute for:
- understanding how your platform really works;
- trying out multiple ways.
#datawork #SQL

Just a quick note that I'll be somewhat indisposed over the next few weeks, so activity here will be minimal during that time.In...

Just a quick note that I'll be somewhat indisposed over the next few weeks, so activity here will be minimal during that time.

In particular my series of #BookOnMyShelf posts will be paused.

Any pending account and host decisions will also be adjourned until I have full access to resources again.

#BookOnMyShelfThis is Sweden CallingbyDes Mangan(c) 2004It was Des Mangan commentating the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest onsite for SBS that...

#BookOnMyShelf
This is Sweden Calling
by
Des Mangan
(c) 2004

It was Des Mangan commentating the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest onsite for SBS that converted our household into watching the competition.

This book followed and is a delightful combination of facts and the Mangan wit - he was already known for comedy rescripting of old movies and presenting quirky films on SBS.

See article at https://www.aussievision.net/post/des-mangan-australia-s-first-commentator-at-eurovision

From 2009 the Australian onsite presence at ESC has been continuous.
#Bookstodon

#BookOnMyShelfComputer Related RisksPeter G. Neumann(c) 1995Something of an eye opener this book, to say the least.As I was by that point...

#BookOnMyShelf
Computer Related Risks
Peter G. Neumann
(c) 1995

Something of an eye opener this book, to say the least.

As I was by that point working in IT for a large organisation, gaining insights into how computers could be abused by those saw a chance to do so was an important shift in my thinking.

While I don't directly reference it any more, the things I learned in this book have played into many a "but what if.." point in work meetings across the decades.
#Bookstodon

#BookOnMyShelfIron CagebyAndre Norton(c) 1974 (p) 1975This is my only book of hers, but that's because I mostly read them via the local...

#BookOnMyShelf
Iron Cage
by
Andre Norton
(c) 1974 (p) 1975

This is my only book of hers, but that's because I mostly read them via the local public library throughout the 1970s.
I remembered this title so well that I bought this old hardcover copy sometime in the 2000s.
Others I recall are: Breed to Come, Crosstime Agent, Victory on Janus

She wrote so much, they must surely vary in worthiness, but I only remember joyful reading (if sometimes a bit scary).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Norton
#Bookstodon

#BookOnMyShelfOne-act Plays for Secondary Schools - Book 3Compiled byColin Thiele & Greg Branson(c) 1964 (p) 1969For a generation of...

#BookOnMyShelf
One-act Plays for Secondary Schools - Book 3
Compiled by
Colin Thiele & Greg Branson
(c) 1964 (p) 1969

For a generation of Australian school children, this book series will be familiar.

I don't remember which of these plays we "did" (i.e. read out or acted) but for me the standout was "The Fall of the City" by Archibald MacLeish, which I merely read by myself.

I thought I also had Book 1 but must have disposed of them both as this copy is a 1990s re-purchase.
#Bookstodon

#BookOnMyShelfMagritte - The True Art Of PaintingbyHarry Torcyzner(c) 1979I have a few art books on/of Magritte, but this one is definitely...

#BookOnMyShelf
Magritte - The True Art Of Painting
by
Harry Torcyzner
(c) 1979

I have a few art books on/of Magritte, but this one is definitely my favourite.

Written by someone who knew him personally it is full of anecdotes about both René and Georgette, which over the whole book provide an insight (or perhaps the illusion of one) into the artist's mind.

Fitting I guess, as maybe surrealism is the most "mental" of the art movements.
#Bookstodon

#BookOnMyShelfThe CyberiadbyStanislaw LemA personal favourite, I was introduced to these stories by another book on my shelf - more about...

#BookOnMyShelf
The Cyberiad
by
Stanislaw Lem

A personal favourite, I was introduced to these stories by another book on my shelf - more about that later sometime.

Having read the Asimov robot stories in the 1980s maybe I expected something similar, but these are both more subtle and more intellectually playful.

The human/robot dichotomy is absent as the two main characters are themselves capable of constructing all kinds of things.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cyberiad
#Bookstodon

#BookOnMyShelfThe Light That Never WasbyLloyd Biggle Jnr(c) 1972 (p) 1980This was the first book I read by this author. My database says I...

#BookOnMyShelf
The Light That Never Was
by
Lloyd Biggle Jnr
(c) 1972 (p) 1980

This was the first book I read by this author. My database says I have six of them.

While he definitely wrote science fiction, all his novels are notable for having some aspect of art or culture as a theme.

I do think one of the others is his masterpiece, so more about that some other time, but clearly this one was good enough to make me want to read more from this author.
#Bookstodon

#BookOnMyShelfThe Incredibly Strange Film Book - An alternate history of cinemabyJonathon Ross(c) 1993 (p) 1993My memory is that I saw the...

#BookOnMyShelf
The Incredibly Strange Film Book - An alternate history of cinema
by
Jonathon Ross
(c) 1993 (p) 1993

My memory is that I saw the TV series of this (on SBS Australia) and then bought the book.

I had a period in the 1990s where, having a VCR and a "video library" at the end of my street, I trawled all they had of the vampire movie genre.

I thereby understood the fascination Jonathon Ross had for these various backwater niches of film making.
#Bookstodon

#BookOnMyShelfMathematical Puzzles and DiversionsbyMartin Gardner(c) 1959 (p) 1982Martin Gardner's columns in Scientific American were a...

#BookOnMyShelf
Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions
by
Martin Gardner
(c) 1959 (p) 1982

Martin Gardner's columns in Scientific American were a touchstone for my interest in mathematics, very much in parallel with what I learned in school.

Intersections with the magazine were sporadic so in adulthood I bought the books of collected columns whenever I saw them.

I think this was the first I got - but I only ever got five of the fifteen that he put out (alas one is now missing).
#Bookstodon

#BookOnMyShelfColeridge - Selected PoemsbySamuel Taylor Coleridge(c) 1965 (p) 1965I wouldn't say I'm a big fan of poetry and...

#BookOnMyShelf
Coleridge - Selected Poems
by
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
(c) 1965 (p) 1965

I wouldn't say I'm a big fan of poetry and probably haven't bought any since my twenties.

However I did take a liking to Coleridge, and his experiments with meter. I bought this book - second hand - in order to have and to read ".. Ancient Mariner" - already knowing "Kubla Khan" from a high school book.

But it was "Christabel" that I discovered herein and became my favourite poem of his.
#Bookstodon

#BookOnMyShelfChaosbyJames Gleick(c) 1987 (p) 1988While I'd love to claim I already knew this stuff, like many people, that was really...

#BookOnMyShelf
Chaos
by
James Gleick
(c) 1987 (p) 1988

While I'd love to claim I already knew this stuff, like many people, that was really via the cover article of Scientific American in August 1985.

But it was this book a few years later that gave me a thorough grounding in it all.

Like many books of that (pre-Internet access) time, I read and re-read it a lot.

Much of the content has informed my understanding of both physics and (importantly) data ever since.
#Bookstodon

#BookOnMyShelfA Tolkein BestiaryDavid Day(c) 1979 (p) 1989While I'm not changing my hashtag, this is really "should be on my...

#BookOnMyShelf
A Tolkein Bestiary
David Day
(c) 1979 (p) 1989

While I'm not changing my hashtag, this is really "should be on my shelf" - because I haven't seen it since the move from Perth to Melbourne (whole other story).

Anyway, this was the book that really helped me make sense of Tolkein's created world. And is why I was then able to read both The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales.

A friend had this and I liked it so much I bought myself a copy too.
#Bookstodon