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User: Ora*DBA

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Comments · 64

  1. No autonomy for developers on Ask Slashdot: What's the Best Working Environment For a Developer? · · Score: 1

    A word from an infrastructure manager, who happens to be the technical architect for his firm. I spend a significant amount of time rolling back (declining to deploy) submitted code and database changes. Our developers (mostly young) are not supervised closely enough in their design phase, which leads to lots of "It's the only way I can get it to work" defenses. Forcing people to use shared databases without table creation privileges, for example, means that there won't be the type of architectural divergence that results eventually in piles of manure that are impossible to perform impact analyses on. While I have seen some wonderful velocity with a Scrum approach, I have recently seen some laissez-faire management that produces code that lacks quality simply to meet dates. Senior developers have the smarts to understand the importance of adhering to architectural guidelines (and how careful one must be about exceptions); younger cats need to be herded. With this in mind, I will not give full autonomy to the development staff; their problem-solving is too short-sighted.

  2. Oracle was there first on PostgreSQL 9.5 Does UPSERT Right (thenewstack.io) · · Score: 2

    Oracle has included the 'merge' command for several iterations now, which does the same thing. It is a rich command - those interested can check the documentation at https://docs.oracle.com/database/121/SQLRF/statements_9016.htm#SQLRF01606

  3. Oracle will not be primarily a database company on Ask Slashdot: What Tech Companies Won't Be Around In 10 Years? · · Score: 1

    They've been saying that for years, but can't get away from the cash cow any more than Microsoft could stop producing operating systems; but, as their large corporate mainstay customers outgrow the relational database, they will either have to drastically rework their licensing or lose out to highly polished Hadoop stacks like Pivotal's. Oracle's alliance with Cloudera is all well and good, but Impala still needs work. Between Siebel, Peoplesoft and E-Business suite, they will definitely be around, just not the automatic safe choice for a database that they once were.

  4. SSO for the school district on Ask Slashdot: How To Keep Students' Passwords Secure? · · Score: 1

    The school imposes this burden; the school should shoulder the work of the solution. Set up a federated authentication IDP (using ForgeRock or some other OSS); store the passwords for each child in there, a central site maintained by the school district. Then the children need only one username/password for their time in the school district. Incidentally it will encourage the school district to streamline the process :-).

  5. Release the Kracken! er, EFF! on Comcast Allegedly Asking Customers to Stop Using Tor · · Score: 1

    It's called jawboning. They assert a position that is legally unproven and adopt an aggressive stance. This is tailor-made for the EFF.

  6. NJ joins CA as a Republik on New Jersey Supreme Court Restricts Police Searches of Phone Data · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    It's a stealth thing, but NJ has become the most left-leaning justice system in the country; more so than Cali if one reads the decisions. They have a large, predominantly low-income, urban population and lots of judges in affluent suburban counties, so one would think they would go conservative, but the opposite is true. Must be where all the hippies moved after law school.

    Heaven help you if you are a male getting divorced there. Just leave the state, or commit to shooting judges. You will be raped and left for dead.

  7. It's the parents' fault! on Teens Drug Parents To Get Web Access · · Score: 1

    All they had to do was set a schedule in the router. Guess they were too lazy to read the manual...

  8. Money for nothing and her chicks for free on One Musician's Demand From Pandora: Mandatory Analytics · · Score: 1

    So Pandora, Spotify et al are supposed to spend money on analytics as well as pay for the privilege of broadcasting her music? ROFLMAO! Classical musicians have always been coddled, spoiled brats.

    Better yet, perhaps they should do this analysis for themselves, then, armed with GeoIP data, renegotiate the royalties. "Oh, you still insist on $1 per play? You know that concert you're playing in NYC next month? Noone in a 50-mile radius is going to be able to hear your music for the month preceding. But don't worry, we'll make sure you get your royalty check." Market that, idiot.

  9. Should distros bother considering the 'masses'? on Linus Torvalds Will Answer Your Questions · · Score: 1

    There are several distinct classes of computer users, with different preferences for a desktop manager. The largest segment (which I think of as the ID10T crowd) is easily (perhaps primarily) influenced by aesthetics - yet the only Linux-oriented project I see anywhere near the mainstream that provides an experience anywhere within hailing distance of OS X/BSD is Enlightenment - C++-based, fast and *light* (as opposed to Unity or Gnome 3) and pretty. Why, with all the talk by enthusiasts over the years of spreading the Linux desktop 'religion', do you think so little emphasis has been given to this by, for example, shops like Red Hat or Netware (SuSE)? In the commercial world, is it your opinion that Linux belongs primarily in the data center, with perhaps a small desktop population of technical users? What do you think a desktop manager heavily influenced by UI-savvy engineers would look like?

    (p.s., I don't use Enlightenment as my desktop manager - but still recognize the project for its accomplishments)

  10. Re:Article is wrong on Senator Pushes For Tougher H-1B Enforcement · · Score: 1

    How, exactly, did you compile the list of industry contacts and relationships that helped you get your business off the ground in India? Working in India? Obviously not. You are yet another ingrate incapable of attributing your success to anyone but yourself.

    I am a skilled, certified, educated American citizen who has seen his consulting rates steadily eroded because of the waves of H-1B workers brought in by big consulting companies and Fortune 500 corporations. I see 'mafias' of nationals form in these companies, promoting their own over more deserving workers (not necessarily US citizens, either). I have seen, time and time again, Indian or Chinese consultants taking a lower rate to get a spot, then telephoning fifty or a hundred friends to get recipes to actually attempt to do their job. Hiring managers know this is going on, but do it anyway to keep costs down.

    The problem is not necessarily the H-1B program, it is the abuse of these regs and the willingness of US corporate management to tolerate the lower-quality workforce in order to hit their quarterly numbers. Me? I'm getting steadily more profitable trading currency pairs. That's my future. Corporate Amerika can go to h*ll.

  11. It's the camel's nose - don't give in on FBI Hunt For Child Porn Thwarted By Tor · · Score: 1

    Once a mechanism is in place to penetrate Tor, every asshole in law enforcement will manufacture a reason that they, too, should be allowed in. This is a place to defend our civil liberties in the US. There has long been an adversarial relationship between the police and the public. My parents taught me that the police were our friends; boy was that illusion shattered when my ex-wife had me arrested for some made-up b.s. to get me thrown out of the house when she decided she wanted a divorce.

    It is true that slimeballs will take advantage of Tor; but they tend to cluster among themselves. Why let the slimeballs with badges in? I say "No".

  12. This is news?! on Judge Finds Cisco, US Authorities Deceived Canadian Courts · · Score: 1

    Prosecutors and police routinely lie - to judges, suspects, people they want information from - with no sanctions whatsoever. Someone, somewhere has to enforce the notion that the end does not justify the means in our legal process. Go ACLU! (btw, I consider myself conservative) While they're at it, perhaps they could bring a constitutional lawsuit against NJ, Illinois, Virginia et al. for trying to make an end run around Sixth Amendment protections in domestic violence cases.

    Our government is an inch from outright socialism, our justice system an inch from outright fascism. I own guns for a reason.

  13. The got the timeframe wrong on NYTimes.com Reports 100k Subscribers · · Score: 1

    An NYT online subscription is worth twenty dollars per *year* to me, not per month. It is the same story as e-book publishers - It simply doesn't cost as much to publish online as in print, so there is no justification for trying to jack up their margins. Until the NYT recognizes that the public is savvy enough to realize this and lower their fees to something reflecting cost-plus-reasonable margin (say, 20% without subsidizing costs from the print operation) I will continue to ignore the paywall.

  14. Did you send her to OS X class? on Ask Slashdot: How Do You Choose a Windows Laptop? · · Score: 1

    Apple has class packages specifically for folks like your wife. They aren't expensive and forestall a lot of frustration. I have a neighbor who is bipolar (so concentration problems) who converted from Windows XP to OS X; her husband enrolled her in the class and now she is completely comfortable with OS X. It is difficult to impossible to teach a spouse for host of psychological reasons. If she is open to it, buy her a class package and encourage her to bring her questions to class.

  15. Re:Big whoop - successful author leverages his nam on Best-Selling Author Refuses $500k; Self-Publishes Instead · · Score: 1

    Ah, I speculate that you've never been divorced. horror-comedy-action describes it handily.

  16. Re:Big whoop - successful author leverages his nam on Best-Selling Author Refuses $500k; Self-Publishes Instead · · Score: 1

    Yeah, tough to believe the guy responsible for 'Buffy' was also responsible for 'Firefly'.

  17. Re:Big whoop - successful author leverages his nam on Best-Selling Author Refuses $500k; Self-Publishes Instead · · Score: 1

    Check out Amanda Hocking - she is to whom I was referring earlier.

  18. Re:Big whoop - successful author leverages his nam on Best-Selling Author Refuses $500k; Self-Publishes Instead · · Score: 1

    :-) My point was that a known, popular author disintermediating a publisher is a non-event. Someone like the blogger in Minneapolis who segued that into being a popular chick-lit e-book author (six-figure sales) - she gets props.

  19. Big whoop - successful author leverages his name on Best-Selling Author Refuses $500k; Self-Publishes Instead · · Score: 1

    While one applauds Mr. Eisler's decision to disintermediate his publisher (thus contributing to joblessness for his own gain), one cannot help but notice that his sales problem will be one of distribution; i.e., like him or not, he has his audience and, once they realize they can e-borrow his books from the library, he will retain his volume. For those authors new to the marketplace, this option is a problem - how does one get their book publicized, reviewed and on to the big sites like Barnes & Noble and Amazon?

  20. Time to start stocking up on Head & Shoulders on Making the Case For Microscopic Life In Meteorites · · Score: 1

    Anyone seen Julianne Moore's t-shirt?

  21. Not a true test of cognitive abilities on Watson Wins Jeopardy Contest · · Score: 1

    One of Jeopardy's rules is that one cannot buzz in until the moderator finishes reading the question. That gave an infinite advantage to Watson. I have no doubt that Rutter and Jennings would have made a much better game of it if that rule had been waived; then it would have been a real test of man against machine for comprehending and answering the questions. Ah well, I'm sure IBM funded the whole thing. As far as I am concerned it was an expensive ad, not a contest.

  22. Just jam wifi at the lecture center on Should Colleges Ban Classroom Laptop Use? · · Score: 1

    There have always been distractions at lectures (the girl in the next row, for example). The best one can do is make it easier for those who want to learn, to do so. Jamming wifi in the lecture hall will remove one major distraction; requiring attractive men and women to wear monks' robes to class will remove another.

    Seriously, people who want to do the work will find a way to do so. It's called self-discipline.

  23. Shades of Oakland on The Bus That Rides Above Traffic · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Someone should send them pics of the Oakland freeway that collapsed in an earthquake - back in the 90's, was it? During a World Series. Isn't much of China an earthquake zone?

  24. Bruce saw this coming. on US Unable To Win a Cyber War · · Score: 0

    Live free or die hard!

  25. Throw it against the wall and see what sticks, eh? on US Colleges Say Hiring US Students a Bad Deal · · Score: 0

    The Johns Hopkins site states that converting a J-1 to an H-1B does not take a job away from a U.S. citizen. What a load of codswallop! Of course converting a temp to a perm closes out the slot.

    It offends me that my tax dollars (in the form of federal grant money) are given to an institution that openly works against the best interests of the people who keep its doors open by distributing such misinformation. The $chool$ $hould be $anctioned in the only language their admini$trator$ under$tand.