Month: October 2009
Chess, Uncomfortability
“Yeah, there are too many Jews in chess. They seem to have taken away the class of the game. They don’t seem to dress so nicely, you know. That’s what I don’t like.”
(Found on Portrait of a Genius As a Young Chess Master)
Blog News
Last month, the Reassembler blog wanted his reader(s) to vote for what he should blog about next. And we clamored for #4: The debatable value of trying too hard to win.
Not wishing for good topics to go to waste, Wahrheit took the initiative in creating #3: Link love. (And I have to give a special shout-out to Wahrheit: since mentioning Donnie’s “improving” FICS rating, Donnie hasn’t won, slapping him back to reality. You don’t know how tiring it was to hear him brag about “I’m almost 1900!” every single meeting.)
And this e-mail I got from Mrs. Reassembler gave me a perfect opportunity to create a post for #6: Put a sock in it, Slater!
Dear Mascot,
I need your help. My husband is normally a wonderful man, but there is one thing that’s driving me crazy! HE NEVER PUTS HIS DIRTY CLOTHES IN THE LAUNDRY BASKET. I have to gather up his clothes off the floor everytime! Help!
Thanks,
Mrs. Reassembler
This is a tough one. For the first cycle in your husband’s training, we’ll start him off with socks, then we’ll work up to shirts and jeans.
Step 1: Take off a dirty sock
Step 2: Walk over to the laundry basket (Warning: can require effort if you don’t happen to be close by)
Step 3: Put a sock in it!
Bad Ads, Computer-fu, Entertainment
Unless you don’t watch any TV whatsoever, you’ve undoubtedly seen those Mac vs PC commercials. I like them; they tend to be funny:
With the recent release of Windows 7, Mac has launched a counter-campaign, reminding people Microsoft that they keep promising to fix whatever was wrong with their last OS–and failing:
Microsoft’s OS problem
Certainly Windows ME was horrible, and Vista suffered from dreadful launch (although if you waited until Service Pack 1, it was fine). But XP was a good product, and this is Microsoft’s biggest problem. XP works so well for most people, there’s not much motivation to upgrade.
Apple’s commercial problem
Understandably, Apple can’t say in their commercials Windows XP was good, but the most recent attack feels a bit unfair. But there’s a bigger problem with the Mac vs PC campaign:
The PC guy is funny and interesting. The Mac guy is not.
Mac stands there, supposedly hip and cool. Occasionally he has a snappy one-liner. But you know PC is going to be driving the entertainment…you laugh with (or at) PC…subconsciously, good times and feelings are being associated with PC. Mac feels too aloof and arrogant.
Random
A common money-saving tip is “Don’t go grocery shopping on an empty stomach, because you’ll buy more food.”
Based on experience, this is true. But unless you buy nothing but perishable food, doesn’t this just mean it’ll take longer before you have to go grocery shopping again?
Chess, Monday Fighter!
I hope they didn’t change it yet: Simple Simplification
If you can’t solve it, neither could it? Click “Solution” to see the amazing final move.
Sports, Weaksauce Losers
“At this rate, Singletary is gonna run out of body parts to show his team”
So one of the wittier ESPN commenters says as San Francisco is down 21-0 at halftime to Houston.
(Referring to this story if you have not been fortunate enough to see it yet.)
Computer-fu
I’ve never used Dynamic SQL before yesterday.
If you used to, still do, or think you will use it, the article The Curse and Blessings of Dynamic SQL seems to be an excellent write-up on some important aspects. Including defending against dreaded SQL injection attacks.
On help forums where someone responds “Use Dynamic SQL!”, there’s a good chance there will an example like the following:
DECLARE @SQL nvarchar(2000)
SET @SQL = 'SELECT * FROM TableName WHERE Server = ''' + @ServerID + ''''
EXEC (@SQL)
However, simply using EXEC is not a very good practice. Instead sp_executesql can be used to allow a more secure parameterized query:
DECLARE @SQL nvarchar(2000)
SET @SQL = 'SELECT * FROM TableName WHERE Server = @ServerID'
EXEC sp_executesql @sql, N'@ServerID nvarchar(100)', @TableName
For some reason, the syntax created a mental image of a du-rag clad Darius N’ServerID rapping about the virtues of Dynamic SQL.
Monday Fighter!
It’s not clear whether the Angus burger is doing the hiring, or whether McDonald’s is hiring someone to become an Angus burger. Either way, it must be a heck of an interview.
