Well, THIS saved me a lot of hastle

Oracle SQL Developer, rather inexplicably in my view, doesn't come out-of-the-box with a good facility to set the schema.  Even the set active schema command gets ignored.

This extension provides a handy drop-down box that allows you to set the active schema.  Brilliant :-)

http://javaforge.com/project/schemasel

Opening files in SSMS as query files when they don't have .sql as extension

SSMS (SQL Server Management Studio) will happily load a *.sql file and execute it as a SQL Script.
However, we store our DDL files as .DDL.

I was able to convince SSMS to treat these as sql scripts in the following way:

Tools -> Options
Expand Text Editor
Select File Extension
Add an extension.  NOTE: Make sure to select "SQL Query Editor" in the "Editor" drop-down.

And, voila!

DB2 Refrential Integrity

I was going to write a post about DB2 referential integrity, but I cannot imagine writing anything better than the very good, thorough treatment of the topic found here:
http://ibmdatamag.com/2011/01/how-well-do-you-know-the-rules/

Trouble installing oracle on Windows

So, while installing Oracle on Windows 7 (64-bit), the Oracle installer would just sort of shut down unceremoniously.

I found a log file C:\Program Files\Oracle\Inventory\logs.  It wasn't, however, very revealing.  The last message was simply "INFO: Get view named [QuickInstallUI]"

So, poking around on the internet lead me to a thread over at forums.oracle.com that discussed this issue, but the only thing that worked for me was to create another user and run the install as that user.

Crazy. But it worked.  Wanted to pass it along.

DB2 Backup Naming convention

I had a hard time finding this on the internet, so I thought I'd post after I found it in a book.

The naming convention for a DB2 file system backup will be:
Alias.Type.Instance.Node.Catalog_Node.MonthHourSecond.Sequence
Example:
MyDB.0.DB2INST.NODE00000.CATN0000.20131015131259.001
   ↑       ↑        ↑                ↑                   ↑                ↑   ↑  ↑     ↑   ↑     ↑
Alias     |    Instance          |           Catalog Node     |    |   |      |    |      |
       Backup Type       Node                              Year  |   |      |    |      |
                                                                            Mon  Day  |  Sec   Seq
                                                                                           Min

Reference:
Understanding DB2: Learning Visually with Examples Second Edition
Page 745
14.4.6 The Backup Files
Raul F. Chong (Author), Clara Liu (Author), Sylvia F. Qi (Author), Dwaine R. Snow (Author)

Christ and the Environment

http://losalamitos.patch.com/groups/weather/p/climate-change-study-permanent-unbearable-heat-expected-in-southern-california-by-2047_44f0b316

So many things are weird to me. I think this is the last thing I'll say for a while, but here's this one.

Christians are Republican. No, don't even argue that you're not, I've seen your glee over the glitches in Obamacare, which I cannot see in any other context.

But that's OK, I get that. You picked a team over an issue that was important to you, and I completely respect that. Now you want your team to win, and that's completely natural.

I guess, if I had a wish, though, it would be that you could start pressuring your team to have more Christ-like opinions on issues outside your main one.

For instance: what would Christ say about the environment?

Would Christ say, well, Bush 41 ended acid rain by creating a market for sulfur and letting his market based solution solve this problem, but that same idea is applied by that Kenyan Muslim Terrorist AntiChrist black-man in the white house, it's the most evil thing ever?

Would He say Boy, despite the opinion being held by literally all of your best scientists, there's a possibility that they're wrong, so why advance the human race by creating cleaner more renewable sources of energy that will reduce costs and improve standard of living for everyone, particularly the poor?

Would He mock the environmentalists who, whether they're right or wrong, have the best interest of His creation at heart?

Would He say, Hey, having an environment that supports human life and happiness is important, but I'd hate to see profits hurt by some sort of effort to make a change?

Would He even say, Hey, you can't put people out of work? Or would He say, man, do everything you can not to put people out of work, and if you DO put people out of work, support them, retrain them, pray for them, feed and clothe them until they're back on their feet again? And, oh, btw, develop of carbon sequestration technology, and you don't have to put people out of work?

The only way that I can understand the Christian position on a variety of issues is through the psychology of teams. Our minds are designed to make us join a team, make us love us and hate them, and blind us to obvious Truth.

BUT, we are the disciples of The One who is the Way, the TRUTH, and the life. Truth is important. Perhaps more important than anything. Wanting our team to win at the cost of Truth is a terrible, terrible shame.

My next note will be this same sort of thing, but about health care ...

It's Sad

It's sad.

I'm listening to the radio, and I hear some preacher literally preaching against big government, as if the bible says that.


After a few moments of listening in stunned silence, I turn the channel to another Christian station, where they're talking about how changes in government policies are driving out Christian heritage.


You'd swear that Christians can't worship God or follow the teachings of Christ without the approval of the state of Iowa, or that (Beware: The following is sarcasm:) Kenyan Muslim Terrorist AntiChrist in the white house.

There's a hideous idol standing in the middle of our sanctuary, and on it's head are two horns. On one is written "the culture wars", and on the other, "Republican politics".

It's a comforting idol, for sure. It allows us to exercise our basest human instincts to divide into us and them, love us, and hate them, and do it all in the name of something higher, something pure, something good. 

Except that it's not any of those things. It boils with the wretchedness of racism that the perpetrator can't even see,much less acknowledge. It drips bile towards those who have legitimate differences in opinion. It intoxicates decent, generous, kind people into demonizing the very people to whom you should be reaching out, convinced that they are the enemy of your "Christian nation".

And hidden behind this abomination is the cross of Christ, quietly calling you to the real, difficult, demoralizing, frustrating work against nature; the remaking of yourself in Christ's image. The Cross of Christ calling you to deny yourself, to deny these basal, tribal instincts, to put aside the psychology of teams, and to begin the journey of a genuine disciple of Christ.

Wake up.