Christmas 2006 seems to have come and gone faster than each year prior. Mine was very nice. This year had some unique features I thought. It seemed people did a lot more last minute shopping, and in the same spirit, the weather remembered to get cold only the day before Christmas. There was a stronger focus on family over friends and people seemed to look towards the future more than reveling in the present or past. All-in-all, people seemed friendly and the Christmas spirit shined through, which is all we really ask for around this holiday season.
So, Merry Christmas, my blogders, and get ready for your New Year’s celebration!
Okay, everyone should take the “Yahoo Challenge”: try to find something using Google, and then take the same search term and try with Yahoo. Report on which engine gave you better and more pertinent results. I have to say, I am getting less quality with Google these days which has left me to try Yahoo and MSN from time-to-time — they actually are quite a bit better sometimes.
I am a pretty big Google fan (and I’m sure they will come up with another huge revenue stream like they did with AdWords), but Yahoo! et al are coming out with some really nice, user-friendly offerings that are worth noting. And perhaps more importantly, the perception (and perhaps reality, since in business, they are no different), is that Google is not making as many strides as Yahoo!/Microsoft on their core search engine offering.
My opinion: Google will need to hit it fairly big on their next revenue stream bet or we will see them take a hit.
If you haven’t tried it, you really should: http://maps.google.com.
I have been using Google Maps to find businesses for a while now because it is fast and I can see an AJAX-draggable map right when I find them. I used to pick up my cell phone and call them right afterwards, but now, I don’t even have to dial their number. Google Maps will remember my phone number and I can click one button so that Google can connect me with the business. For free. Now, that rocks!
For people that get charged or have limited long distance calls, the soft savings expand to hard savings.
Also, when the call comes into your phone, caller id shows up with the actual phone number of the business you will be speaking with (rather than some random or meaningless number). So, just “add to address book” if you’d like when the call is over. This really is a cool service.
My mind is my own church. – Thomas Paine
We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another. – Jonathan Swift
When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion. – Abraham Lincoln
No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. – Eleanor Roosevelt
Why wouldn’t you do this? People cannot read your mind. I know our society is getting lazier each day, but come on people.
Be a conscious driver at all times, especially on the highway. I can’t stand seeing people lingering in another car’s (or worse, a big rig’s) blind spot. It is dangerous for you and the other vehicle, as well as all the vehicles behind you when/if you get in a wreck going at high speeds.
Even the most skilled drivers cannot out-smart a stop sign.
Scenario 1
You pull up to a stop sign for a right turn and see cars off in a distance. Why stop? Only when you stop can you take time to properly judge how fast cars are coming at you. You can also see if there are people (or other factors, like other people going through their stop sign) preventing you from moving forward.
Scenario 2
You pull up to a stop sign for a right turn and don’t see any cars at all. Why stop? Only when you stop can you properly look around to see cars, people, bikers, animals, etc.
You help me and vica versa. – Colleague of Ashok Aggarwal
…when I heard this, I though to myself ‘that’s a neat trick’: just say “vice versa” wrong (“vica versa”) and you no longer have to recipriocate.
In some cases, I just don’t like the field-by-field logging when creating an audit trail for my database tables. While it might be needed in some cases (and it might make sense), most of the time, I am find that a simple audit table that stores an entire record of fact data is more useful and easier to manage for reporting, etc.
So, instead of a generic audit table that captures all old and new values for many tables, I prefer creating an audit table for each of my important fact tables. Drop me a line if you are struggling with how to implement auditing (on Oracle, SQL Server, or MySQL) and we can chat.
Nothing is impossible. Some things are just less likely than others. – Jonathan Winters
To win, it takes a little more than a good game. – Ashok Aggarwal’s Father
All good people have the same religion…it’s the bad ones who don’t. – Ashok Aggarwal’s Father
