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Has “comprised of” become the new standard usage, or is there still hope? #grammar
Jeff Garretson
Latest posts
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Finally made the leap and moved my site to Micro.blog.
Meta Work
Meta Work is my term for everything from leadership strategies to individual GTD and PKM workflows—the stuff that transcends any particular domain of work. Meta (from the Greek μετά, meta , meaning “after” or “beyond”) is a prefix meaning “more comprehensive” or “transcending.” Things associated with Meta Work: “Big picture” thinking The…
Some Thoughts on Report Usability
A usable report meets a specific need , clearly presenting the facts in a way that’s appropriate for the user’s context . As an analyst you’re an arbiter of facts and the context necessary to understand those facts. — Unknown Meets a specific need To make a usable report, we have to understand its purpose. What is the business need we’re trying to address? What problem are…
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We love spending time on the Oregon Coast, and Yachats (pronounced like yaw-hots) is one of the best places.
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Apple has a bug in a beta version of iOS that pops up an annoying message periodically, and the whole Internet lights up, and it’s fixed in a couple of days, and we all know about it the moment it’s fixed. Meanwhile, Microsoft breaks SSIS deployment in an official release of Visual Studio, and it stays broken for weeks, and when they finally release a fix, the only way I know about it…
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For certain use cases, BIML is pure magic. The best kind of power tools!
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Good grief, Samsung—this TV has power and Wi-Fi 24/7, but you have to wait to install updates when I want to watch something? Why?!?!?
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This morning’s silly dad song: 🎶 “Banana ooo na na, half of my breakfast is banana ooo na na…” 🎶
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I just can’t get enough of “Super Love” by Zero Venture ft. Natalia Natchan. It’s EDM + J-pop + NES. It’s nerdy, sweet, and just so much fun!
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iOS 11.3 Beta 2 says battery capacity is at 87%, but it has shut down due to insufficient juice and is being throttled. So what—I’m just stuck? Even if I’d gladly pay $29 for a replacement? D’oh!
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I just figured out that the Scroll Lock key actually does something on Windows! Made me want to scream and burn Excel to the ground, but hey—I learned something new today!
Why We Encrypt
Bruce Schneier : Every time you use encryption, you're protecting someone who needs to use it to stay alive. This is the clearest statement I’ve seen of the case for ubiquitous, on-by-default encryption.
UK government quietly rewrites hacking laws to give GCHQ immunity
Ars Technica : The UK government has quietly passed new legislation that exempts GCHQ, police, and other intelligence officers from prosecution for hacking into computers and mobile phones.
I'm Terrified Right Now
Derick Bailey: I want this horrible, sick feeling because it means I care about what I’m doing. It means I understand that I can really screw this up, and I really don’t want to. It means I care enough to make sure I have every detail right… This gut-wrenching sick feeling that I have right now, means I am growing in some new way and doing something new and potentially amazing … and potentially…
You do not need permission
Brooke Allen : You do not need permission to do the right thing. No one can give you permission to do the wrong thing.
The Reward For Good Work
Derick Bailey : For me, my work and my reputation are tied together. I’m not known for social graces, being easy to work with, or having the best bed-side manner when helping others. But I am known for quality work, for pushing others to do better, and for clearing a path on which others can travel. Sometimes my technical ability makes up for my lack of empathy. My experience exactly. I would add…
How a Microwave Should Work
I have strong opinions about the proper UI design for a microwave oven: The number buttons should just be numbers. Pressing the 2 button should not immediately start cooking for 2 minutes. If I want 2 minutes, I’ll hit 2-0-0-Start. I should not have to find a Time Cook button, or anything like that, before I can heat my food. There should be a +30sec or +1min button. I don’t really…
One in a million is next Tuesday
Larry Osterman : Gordon’s response was simply: “In our business, one in a million is next Tuesday”.
What I Want From Tech Support
I’ve been working with a software vendor on the same support case for 15 days now, and it’s driving me crazy. It would be unprofessional to rag on the vendor here, but I will share a few thoughts on what I want from tech support that I consistently don’t get. Listening By the time I open a support case, I have usually done my homework and have a pretty good idea of what the…
Windows Batch Gotcha: Use REM Inside IF Blocks
Normally I comment out lines in a Windows batch script by prefixing them with “::"—it just looks better to me than “REM”. But today I found out the hard way (of course) that you can’t do that inside an IF block, or the script dies with… The syntax of the command is incorrect. http://www.petri.co.il/forums/showthread.php?t=43604
SSIS Conditional Expressions (Lightbulb:On)
I’ve often been confused and frustrated by conditionals ( … ? … : … ) in SSIS expressions. The concept is straightforward enough, but the syntax made it really hard for me to keep track in nontrivial cases. Then yesterday I had an epiphany: it’s much easier to keep them straight if you write them on multiple lines. So this… A == 1 ? "One" : A == 2 ? "Two" :…
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I just ran across this great bit of advice I got back in 1995 from Larry Wall, creator of Perl: Don't get brainwashed by your education into thinking that all the answers have to come from teachers.
Connection: Wiretap Laws
Ed Felten, yesterday: CALEA II: Risks of wiretap modifications to endpoints Today I joined a group of twenty computer scientists in issuing a report criticizing an FBI plan to require makers of secure communication tools to redesign their systems to make wiretapping easy. We argue that the plan would endanger the security of U.S. users and the competitiveness of U.S. companies, without making it…
A Haiku
I have had a thought. This is the content thereof. Disappointed yet?