Category: Archive

Hooray! Something vaguely technical – at last. My new client is hot on software licence compliance and what seemed a minor issue to me reared it’s slightly ugly head this week. When connecting to our 10.2.0.2 database instances using sqlplus, the version banner displays options that we aren’t using, for example Data Mining and OLAP.… Continue reading Re-linking oracle

Dammit, I’m going to have to start writing about Oracle again! Even worse, it’s not technical but (cough) opinion and analysis 🙁 I saw Justin Kestelyn’s blog last week and my immediate reaction was slightly sympathetic, but I decided to sit back for a few days and watch the fun develop, particularly as I’m spinning… Continue reading Oracle and Community Involvement

It’s been all change this week as I’ve donned collar and tie and walked to work in the offices of one of the bigger finance companies in Scotland. A few interesting little experiences :- Using a 3270 terminal emulator for the first time in ages to login to a mainframe and use TSO! I hasten to add that… Continue reading First Week

When I decided to stop working with Pythian, I was particularly disappointed about a couple of things. I’ve mentioned missing the friends I’ve made already, but I was also disappointed that I would have to abandon the ‘Dirty Dozen’ blog series. Although they’d proved more difficult to write than I expected, I don’t like not… Continue reading Not Quite Leaving Pythian

The latest mind-reading tool for Oracle questions! Thanks to Andy Campbell for that one 😉

Thomas Presslie sent me a draft agenda for the Miracle Scotland Database Forum over the weekend and I found myself being more excited by it than I expected. So, here it is. Although I’m sure there’ll be the odd last-minute change, it looks like two days worth of learning for me. Here I was thinking… Continue reading MSDBF Agenda Online

Well, I never. They’ll let anyone in these days! I suppose a sexy photo helps … 😉 I can’t wait for the presentation ceremony!

For the latest in a (hopefully short) series of Burns screw-ups, I just need to cast my mind back to last Saturday. I’d finished my final on-call weekend at Pythian the weekend before but, in a bid to give my team lead a night’s sleep and take advantage of our different time-zones, I grabbed the… Continue reading Something you never want to see in your Inbox

Yeah, I wish. When I was young, before I saw my first computer, I wanted to be either a journalist or a lawyer 😉 However, Tony Davis (who used to be an editor at Apress) is now responsible for this website and actually paid me real money for this article! It’s based on a blog… Continue reading I’m a writer!

I received this email from Toon Koppelaars yesterday about a book I’d been hearing about for a while. Lex de Haan and myself started writing a book entitled “Applied Mathematics for Database Professionals” (AM4DP) at the end of 2005. Finishing this book took a bit longer than anticipated, but I’m relieved that I can finally… Continue reading A Shameful Attempt to Accept a Bribe of a Free Book