Disqus - Latest Comments for Cornan

Re: SQL Server SESSION_CONTEXT() function with examples

Cornan — Wed, 04 Oct 2023 13:58:18 -0000

I've used CONTEXT_INFO in the past and understand the lifetime of the data and how it's affected by connection pooling... but just learned of SESSION_CONTEXT().

None of the sources I've read so far mention the definition or lifetime of the "SESSION".

Re: Star Trek: Picard Review Season 2 Episode 6 – Two for One

Cornan — Sat, 09 Apr 2022 21:17:55 -0000

Anybody know the significance of the numbers on the traffic light countdown at the end of the episode? Looked like 6 14 8 to me.

Re: How to get back your Instagram account when it's disabled, hacked, or deleted

Cornan — Wed, 02 Feb 2022 00:49:56 -0000

I can't use THAT appeal form because my account was deactivated during creation and I can't login to use the form linked in this article.

I was trying to create an Instagram account "using Facebook", and must have entered my long password incorrectly. My "never used" account was deactivated for violating Community Guidelines, even though I never had an account so could not have performed any activity of any kind.

An "Appeal" form with no text box was displayed so I couldn't provide information to "whoever or whatever reviews appeals".

I can't find any Help information AT ALL for problems during account creation.

I've also tried to login "using Facebook" from a web browser, and it says "This username isn't available. Please try another." I can't tell if that is the case because of the problems above, or if somebody else has chosen my unusual username (which I have never had collide with another person... ever).

So if my username is unavailable because of my own efforts, I'd like to "fix it" so that I can have a consistent experience across platforms.

Re: A Brief Literary History of Robots

Cornan — Mon, 20 Jul 2020 19:27:27 -0000

For some years now I have been searching for a movie or television show that I saw many years ago. The story begins with two women - very 1930s or even 1920s feel, think "flapper" or "art deco".

Their conversation begins rather trivially, but then one of them mentions a friend having a baby. A very RARE baby. Human fertility is in decline. And also some discussion of taking a robot / android lover. Giggly "girl stuff".

There is a male protagonist. They talk about the robot "temple", where no humans may enter. They're kind of uncomfortable about it. Just how human ARE the androids?

A male android and the male protagonist talk. The denouement comes when we learn what the androids have been up to. Anti-spoiler: they're not out to destroy us.

This is for me one of the most intriguing android stories I've ever seen, akin to the movie version of I, Robot in exploring the emotional / psychological aspects of the situations. Was it a 30-minute television show? A movie? I would have seen it before 1970, probably before 1965. I bought one of the B&W sci-fi series on DVD just to see if it was one of the episodes. Wasn't.

I enjoyed the Asimov book, too, but it was more cerebral. And as it turns out he is the only celebrity I've ever encountered in public, when he was going to talk about the fourth book in the Foundation Trilogy at a computer conference I was attending (he was a little guy; I'm 6'4" tall)

Re: Working with Variables in SQL Server Integration Services

Cornan — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 13:10:56 -0000

My search found the article with the word "initial", but there really isn't any content about initialization.

For example, if one leaves the Valuefield un-populated, does that mean NULL, or empty string / zero, depending on type?

If I want to set the initial value to NULL, do I have to create an expression and use one of the NULL(<type>) expressions? Or can I put something into the "value" field to set NULL? I'm guessing that entering the letters n-u-l-l for a string would set the string "null", not the indicator NULL.

Of course one can do experiments, but I think this is something a reference article should at least mention (don't know if this one is ever updated).

Re: SSIS Basics: Introducing Variables

Cornan — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 13:08:36 -0000

My search found the article with the word "initial", but there really isn't any content about initialization.

For example, if one leaves the field un-populated, does that mean NULL, or empty string / zero, depending on type?

Of course one can do experiments, but I think this is something a reference article should at least mention (don't know if this one is ever updated).

Re: What to watch for in ABC News' Democratic presidential debate

Cornan — Thu, 12 Sep 2019 19:52:16 -0000

I'm staunchly middle of the road - I don't want to see candidates attack each other, I want to hear how our nation can get something done instead of constantly fighting.

Hint: At least some other nations deal with current issues and move on to other issues. They are now leading the race, not us

Re: Late night television is taking one more summer vacation

Cornan — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 00:04:21 -0000

I was wondering if something is "wrong" with Stephen Colbert - it seems to me that Johnny Carson had been doing his show for 20+ years before the number of breaks got excessive. But if all the shows are doing the same thing, I guess we don't have to search for Stephen at a treatment center somewhere.

Guests hosts would be so much better, or maybe the shows should just take fewer vacations. Stephen is far and away my favorite host. I'm in the Parr - Carson - Letterman - Colbert lineage (okay, I was just a wee lad, but I do remember watching Jack Parr)

Re: Decades Tune-In Tips

Cornan — Sat, 24 Nov 2018 09:07:46 -0000

Who can I contact locally to show support for Decades?
I've got just about every way to watch television from our home midway between the Miami-Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach markets, and Decades was one of the channels we watched (on 4.2). I guess Start TV was a regional downgrade - I haven't watched a single show on Start TV.

Re: Force Taskbar Toolbar to All Users

Cornan — Sun, 18 Nov 2018 07:19:53 -0000

You seem to know something about the "Upgrade" key. In recent months one and only one of my Windows 7 machines has begun to reset the order of icons my "Desktop" toolbar seemingly at random (sometimes when I log off, but I think also while I am using the computer).

I use the "Desktop" toolbar on all of my Windows systems, and when I drag the shortcuts on the Desktop Toolbar their position is remembered until I change them, regardless of logging off, switching users, use of Remote Desktop, etc. Except for one computer.

Re: ASP.NET: Transform Web.config with Debug/Release on Build

Cornan — Tue, 22 May 2018 11:14:11 -0000

What transformation? Are we just talking about substituting one file for another? Or is some actual transformation taking place other than simply copying one of the "alternate" .config files into web.config?

I'm aware that there are actual xslt transforms available but I think this is just a config file swap. Or is it more?

Re: The Best Umbrella

Cornan — Thu, 17 May 2018 22:16:32 -0000

How would I see that the reviews are fake? (... it shows...)

Re: The Best Umbrella

Cornan — Thu, 17 May 2018 22:09:39 -0000

The link to the Standard Unbreakable Umbrella doesn't work (5/17/18)

Re: CONCATENATE Excel Range (with and without separator)

Cornan — Mon, 13 Nov 2017 12:39:27 -0000

Apparently TEXTJOIN is associated with Office 365, NOT Excel 2016.

TEXTJOIN() is NOT available on my desktop version of Excel 2016.

Re: How to set a default template for new workbooks

Cornan — Wed, 19 Jul 2017 17:13:33 -0000

But not in Excel 2016 running under Windows 7.

While my copy of "sheet.xltx" works with Ctrl+N, "neither" sheet.xltx nor book.xltx appear on the "New" page. Only the Microsoft worksheets live there, and "Blank workbook" doesn't use "book.xltx".

https://uploads.disquscdn.c... some people have Excel set to open a new spreadsheet every time it is opened, but I don't do that.

Re: HOLY SH*T! Donald Trump Goes INSANE On Twitter, Praises Putin And Slams Pres. Obama, THIS MAN IS NOT WELL!

Cornan — Mon, 10 Jul 2017 13:58:30 -0000

Not enough to make GW look good, but yeah, Trump has the title.

Re: HOLY SH*T! Donald Trump Goes INSANE On Twitter, Praises Putin And Slams Pres. Obama, THIS MAN IS NOT WELL!

Cornan — Mon, 10 Jul 2017 13:56:46 -0000

People forget that Trump isn't really a Republican in the first place. The chickens are protecting the fox.

Re: FCC probing Colbert’s Trump, Putin joke

Cornan — Sun, 07 May 2017 06:43:48 -0000

Is "The Hill" a right-wing outlet? Seems to me like it takes quite a bit of spin to take a short sentence into being "homophobic" - I would never have thought that if I'd been watching that night.

Or is "The Hill" just trying to report the right-wing backlash? It's hard for me to tell; the tone of the article seems right-wing to me.

I wouldn't necessarily elevate a joke to "controversial" simply because somebody takes offense. If it were a sustained commentary that hammered on that one "prurient" idea a number of times, well, maybe...

Re: Would you buy a refurbished Samsung Note 7?

Cornan — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 06:33:27 -0000

I would absolutely buy that phone - too bad no US sales

Re: Windows 10: Increase Taskbar Transparency via the Registry

Cornan — Fri, 14 Apr 2017 11:54:29 -0000

On my version of Windows 10 Pro, this registry entry does NOT cause the transparency control to appear.

Windows 10 Pro: Version 1703: OS Build 15063.0

Re: How to change fonts on Android

Cornan — Fri, 25 Dec 2015 13:08:53 -0000

But how do I change the font color and size? On my phone, the font is too small and is white with a black shadow, and it just isn't very easy to read. I don't really care much about the font face, mostly color and size.

I did try changing the font size, but it did NOT apply to the Home screen on my Samsung Note II. The font size was larger on other screens, but not on the home and other navigation screens.

Re: Waterfox 40.1.0 Release & Shut Down of Waterfox Charity Search

Cornan — Sun, 06 Dec 2015 05:34:53 -0000

I'm guessing that the new search stepped on somebody's toes; any chance of us learning just a bit more?

Re: MPR's Parent Co. Unloading Deficit-Saddled Classical South Florida

Cornan — Sun, 16 Aug 2015 17:08:57 -0000

The sound quality was never good enough and they never had HD Radio ; maybe that was due to lack of funds. Still, an area this populous should have at least ONE live station with local announcers and some mix of news, "classical" music and jazz.

Re: 6 Ways the 2016 Chevy Volt Has Been Improved

Cornan — Sun, 10 May 2015 05:29:46 -0000

Focus groups? Knobs instead of touch? Bah! No audio hard drive? Bah! "Modernized" menu? I just had a 2015 Volt loaner for a two-day stay at the dealer, and I like the 2012 menu better (the new menu was "prettier", i.e. more conformant to current UI design, but required more eye time away from driving).

My only disappointments with the 2012 are that it doesn't have surround sound (still true in the 2016, I think?), doesn't have HD Radio (still true in the 2016?) and didn't receive a user-interface software update (instead, GM ripped out the audio HDD altogether in later model years).

The 2012 has plenty enough power and still beats all the other PHEVs. If I needed a second Volt right now, I'd buy... another 2012.

(But I'm still happy GM kept the breed alive)

Re: Here’s Why The 2016 Malibu Hybrid Could Launch GM’s New Hybrid Era

Cornan — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 07:40:21 -0000

"Two Mode operation" - pretty vague description - anything better somewhere? All I can find are old references include discontinuance of "two mode" pickups. (I drive a 2012 Volt)