An older book review on Ted Neward’s blog reminded me to hold forth on the subject of database tuning. Any application that has a relational database at its heart requires performance tuning. The development team needs to either hire or cultivate the skills required to extract the most out of the database, skills that go far beyond the basic select/insert/update/delete statement that most OO programmers know. This skillset is just as important as the analysis and “regular” programming skills that are obvious requirements for the team. For some reason we software folk tend to minimize the importance of database knowledge, at our obvious peril.
Monthly Archives: April 2004
But this time, it’s not from begging
After suffering about three months of increasing post-run pain in my left knee, I finally made it to the orthopedist this week. He diagnosed me with an inflamed medial plica – annoying, but less serious than some other potential problems that exhibit similar symptoms, such as patellofemoral syndrome.
Andrew catchup
The site has been down for a while, but we’re back up and I have a couple of Andrew video clips ready. The first is from the St. Michael’s Easter Egg Hunt WMV (3 MB) QT (4 MB). The second is from this weekend’s trip to Drumlin Farm – Andrew checks out the pigpen WMV (3.5 MB) QT (3 MB).
Andrew is very much enjoying the warmer weather; he loves to run around in the back yard. Sometimes it’s a struggle to get him into pants before we leave the house, but we’re working on him.
Jeff Graduates
JeffJournal: I really need more cowbell
According to a quick IM session this morning, Jeff Squyres’s thesis defense went well and he’s going to walk in May. Only took ten years, thanks to a couple of long hiatuses courtesy of the green machine.
All hail Dr. Jeff!
Yes, this is a weak excuse to try out the trackback mechanism, but it apparently works.
Pedaling squares
Some people just talk about pedaling squares, and other people go do it! What a stellar example of a geek’s pursuit of knowlege for its own sake.
Vectored from nycbikes.com
April Fool’s Roundup
Here are my favorite April Fools stories for this year:
- Work for Google on the moon.
- ThinkGeek is selling a PC Easy-Bake Oven. Mmmm….caffeinated meatloaf!
- An exposé from VeloNews on the mutant sunflowers planted in rural France along the Tour de France’s routes. This is the best one I’ve read this year – a classic for its subtlety. I was drawn in until the very end.
For a historical perspective, here’s the Museum of Hoaxes’ all-time top 100 list.