I was disheartened to read the post that shows we have three candidates for three positions this year. Started with six, two opted out (this is not uncommon as candidates sometimes realize they are not well enough prepared) and it seems one was rejected. Rejecting someone is unusual and not done lightly especially when it […]
Read more "The No-Election PASS Election"The call for applications for the Nominating Committee closes on Sep 10th. If you care about the future of PASS its a great way to engage. I’ve served on the committee a few times and it’s really interesting work.
Read more "Volunteer for the PASS NomCom"I’m a little late getting to this, but I think both of these are worth reading: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/open-letter-pass-group-leaders-sql-saturday-steve-rezhener-mba/ https://medium.com/@SteffLocke/sqlsaturdays-shouldnt-give-up-pass-money-a478a97ee0c7 Suggest you post any thoughts on them to the appropriate post. I’m working my thoughts about them for a post tomorrow.
Read more "Two Posts About PASS"I just finished reading The Perfect Machine about the construction of the Hale Telescope at Mount Palomar (here is a pretty good picture). Fascinating story with regard to both the people involved and the engineering. It took 21 years from getting the funds to when the first images were captured. Lots of interesting pieces; the struggle […]
Read more "Good Seeing"Wanted to share a few things I came across recently with regards to benefits for veterans: You can get a printed VA card now by signing up via ID.me (ID.me also comes in handy for things like qualifying for incentives from car manufacturers). The card does not have your social security number on it, so it’s […]
Read more "Benefits for Veterans"This year we held our fourth Student to IT Pro Seminar for the students at Seminole State College. It runs from 9 am to 1130, concurrent with SQLSaturday but in a different building. Here is the schedule from this year: Time Description 8:30 to 9:00 Check-in & Informal Networking 9:00 to 9:05 Opening Remarks 9:05 […]
Read more "SQLSaturday Orlando 2017 Notes – Part 3"We’ve haven’t had a good solution for managing money for SQLSaturday and our groups here in Orlando. In the early days I’d put the money in my business account, keep the receipts, figure out what was left to accrue for the next year, and let the accountant do the rest. It worked, but it was […]
Read more "SQLOrlando"The Murder Accountability Project is worth a look. It’s a reminder that gathering good data is hard, but once you have the data you can do interesting things – like identify serial killings. The site says 220,000 unsolved homicides in the US since 1980. A big number, but not big data – doesn’t always take […]
Read more "Murder Data"Posting this mostly in case I need it again. I needed a merge tool for Git, Kdiff is free and useful, but you have to get all the switches set up if you want full functionality (three way merge). I found the answer on this blog post (a reminder to us all to share stuff we […]
Read more "Configuring KDIFF With Git"I think it was 2003 or 2004 when someone from PASS came to Orlando and helped start what became OPASS. They stressed the need to find speakers each month and the need to have multiple people involved so that the group wouldn’t die if someone moved on. The formula was find a sponsor, find a […]
Read more "Thinking about Chapters (aka Groups)"
SQLAndy 