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Monthly Archive July, 2007

Compare table contents with the ‘minus’ SQL operator

Jon Emmons discusses a technique for comparing database table records that I have been using at work. We transform data between stages in our data mart with and ETL tool. I have been writing SQL that compares the target table to the source tables. Basically, we verify the ETL by implementing all the business rules a second time in SQL. Makes for fairly easy to use automation of the testing.

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FlexiSnake

This thing really works like a charm to pull out those nasty hair clogs. I like it so much better than just pouring chemicals down the drain. The sink in the picture has a stopper that is particularly hard to remove, so blasting a clog with water also does not work too well. I just bought one and have used it three or four times, washing and sanitizing each time with Lysol. It’s worth the money.

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200 Bad Comics

turtles

by Nedroid via anil

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The Taxonomy of Logical Fallacies

At work, I am frequently in a position where business or program area people are communicating requirements for a system they need to get their work done. Often these discussions involve other technical people, and invariably misunderstandings arise over the use of specific terms. So this page that catalogs and discusses logical fallacies interests me. I never realized that there is a distinction between ambiguity and vagueness!

The Taxonomy categorizes all of the fallacies in these files by fallacy and subfallacy. For example, instead of grouping together “fallacies of relevance”, there is one most general such fallacy—namely, Red Herring—and all fallacies of relevance are subfallacies of it. Red Herring is itself a subfallacy of Informal Fallacy, which is a subfallacy of the most general logical fallacy of all: Logical Fallacy. Logical Fallacy is not shown in the Taxonomy, though it has an entry in the files, but every fallacy in the Taxonomy is a subfallacy of it. Thus, the subfallacy relationship is like a tree with a trunk―Logical Fallacy―which branches until it reaches leaves, that is, fallacies which have no subfallacies―for example, Appeal to Celebrity.

The Taxonomy of Logical Fallacies via dedrop

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“It’s art for people who think that artists are charlatans.”

An exploration and critique of Banksy from The Guardian.

Also, and older article from the New Yorker.

BANKSY - B-Boy Mouse (London 4/2/2005)
BANKSY - B-Boy Mouse (London 4/2/2005) by 14-2-1

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My Simpson’s Movie Avatar

Simpson’s Movie Avatar

http://www.simpsonsmovie.com/

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