Disqus - Latest Comments for Rob Vollman

Re: 11 Gorgeously Ironic Misspellings In Protest Signs - 11Points.com

Rob Vollman — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:40:41 -0000

Good point by Trevor.

Are right-wingers more likely to make spelling mistakes?
OR
Are we more likely to notice and report mistakes when made by right-wingers?

Or both?

Re: a short history of Oracle blogging - Digging in a Habari sandpit

Rob Vollman — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 17:14:16 -0000

It was actually Niall's blog that got me going.

I remember reading about some dispute between Burleson Consulting and Jonathan Lewis on AskTom. Through that I heard about the Oak Table Network, who had a link to Niall's blog. I thought it was neat. I saw similar blogs by David Aldridge and Howard Rogers and thought "hey, if people listen to these clowns, they're surely listen to me, too!" :)

I read well over 2 dozen Oracle blogs on either a regular or semi-regular basis, and I think it's awesome. The more the merrier!

Re: How might this government fall?

Rob Vollman — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:18:44 -0000

How about passing a resolution that Liberals have to eat poo, and make it a confidence motion. Then the Tories should all abstain, meaning the Liberals:
1. Vote against it, which will defeat the government and trigger an election.
2. Vote in favour to avoid an election, then eat poo.
3. Vote in favour to avoid an election, and then quit the party so they don't have to eat poo (that works too).

Re: The Toronto Star on the US election

Rob Vollman — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:53:49 -0000

I remember when the Tories worked with the Bloc to try to defeat the Martin minority, the headline was "Deal With the Devil." The following week Paul Martin cut a deal with the Bloc to stay in power, the headline read "Martin Outmanouvres Harper."

At least their honest and consistent in their bias, though. Give them that.

Re: NDP launches attack ad

Rob Vollman — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 12:02:17 -0000

The last two election campaigns the NDP told us that a Harper government would ban abortions, remove protections for gay rights, dismantle our health care systems, push Quebec out of this country, get Canada involved in Iraq, and dozens of other things. None of those things happened, or were even mentioned as possibilities (by Conservatives at least). At some point they lose their credibility, no?

Re: On Liberal carbon tax hikes and Conservative excise tax cuts

Rob Vollman — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 11:33:04 -0000

That's why socialism and environmentalism are incompatible. The attempt to lower emissions (with a carbon tax) is going to hit the working class the hardest (in higher cost of public transit).

Don't tax carbon. Tax wasteful carbon. Big difference. Someone taking the bus to work is not wasting carbon - they should be exempt from the carbon tax. Someone driving an RV on a cross-Canada vacation: fine. Someone driving an SUV by themselves to and from work every day: fine. But someone heating their homes to 19 or 20 degrees in the winter? Someone buying fruit and bread that was trucked in to the grocery store? Why does Dion want to tax them?

Re: Who needs the MSM to debate? New media brings populism to political coverage

Rob Vollman — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 11:47:26 -0000

I think the Green Party should be included in the debate.
But I agree that any comparison to the Green Party or even the Bloc Quebecois is faulty.
Perhaps a more appropriate comparison would be to the National Party in 1993: same number of candidates, same level of voter support, also never having one a seat.
Of course, the National Party was also excluded from the debates ......

Re: Elizabeth May on Canadians and their distate for a carbon tax

Rob Vollman — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:01:50 -0000

I'm no forensic expert, but if you listen very carefully you make out Paul Martin offering Gurmant Grewal a bribe to cross the floor.

Re: The mask slips

Rob Vollman — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 12:08:43 -0000

I haven't had that much trouble understanding the words since "Smells Like Teen Spirit" came out.

Re: Garth Turner gets caught

Rob Vollman — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 10:16:22 -0000

Why can't politicians apologise? Is it that damaging to one's career to do so?

Re: Good luck in the debate, Mr. Dion

Rob Vollman — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:02:35 -0000

Why only a windfall profit tax on the oil industry? Why not a windfall profit tax on all industries? I never understood why we wanted to single out and punish the industry responsible for heat and transportation in a big, cold country ...

Re: Green Party releases platform

Rob Vollman — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:58:56 -0000

What does half of that have to do with the environment? This is more a socialist platform than an environmentalist platform. And we already have a socialist party. What is this, NDP Jr.?

P.S. Holy massive spending increase, Batman!

Re: From cold cuts to cold guts

Rob Vollman — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 18:05:04 -0000

As a Hollywood celebrity, Matt Damon has far more authority to speak about politics than you, Stephen. As a millionaire paid to pretend to be other people on camera, he is obviously in a far better position to speak for the common person than you and me.

Re: Abandon Shift!

Rob Vollman — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 21:49:58 -0000

Is he going to rename his dog, too?

Re: Abandon Shift!

Rob Vollman — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 10:41:21 -0000

I'm glad they're dropping it. As long as they promoted a costly environmental plan that only focuses on the least important environmental issue (and in a highly regionalized way), I simply could not even consider voting for them. If they agree to drop it, then maybe I'll listen to their other policies.

Re: Liberals from Alberta jump shift

Rob Vollman — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 17:05:09 -0000

I'm paying 100% for first-year undergrads? This sort of stuff frightens me.

This one little thing doesn't frighten me, but it's part of a pattern. A pattern of more and more people becoming dependent on the government for more and more things.

I don't like the government using money to make us do what they want. If some of these platforms were put in as written, you might have to surrender your children to daycare, your grandparents to a home care, your kids to a certain University (or curriculum). You might have to change jobs, or even industries - or even move! You might have to trade in your vehicle, and even your light bulbs, all because the financial incentives and disincentives the government has imposed to control your behaviour are so great that you can't afford to choose differently.

It's frightening to me. That policy may seem harmless, but it's part of a pattern that quite frankly scares the crap out of me.

Let people go to University, and be dependent only upon themselves, their talents, and their hard work.

Sorry Stephen, I know that wasn't the point of your post but I'm started to get really annoyed with a couple of weeks of politicians offering our money to some people, and taking it away from others.

Re: Teledgi gaffe

Rob Vollman — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:41:38 -0000

I missed this. I was too busy watching CBC, where every night's "Reality Check" concludes that the Conservatives are lying about everything they say.

Re: New Conservative ads - EXCLUSIVE - you saw them here first

Rob Vollman — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:35:50 -0000

Nope, these will backfire.

Don't get me wrong, these are very interesting, but they will backfire. Have to find another way to get this information to Canadians.

Re: The Economist endorses a Harper minority

Rob Vollman — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:38:48 -0000

It's amazing how US economics, over which one has no control, plays the largest factor in a prime minister's electoral fortunes.

Until now, I had no idea that attacking the policies of a neighbouring country was the key to an opposition party's electoral success.

Re: Stephane Dion gets by

Rob Vollman — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 19:37:48 -0000

Admitting he doesn't understand something and asking for help from his team aren't exactly bad qualities.

Then again, understanding so little and needing so much help aren't good qualities.

Re: Media endorsements

Rob Vollman — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 15:38:07 -0000

I'd sooner expect the Liberal party itself to endorse Harper before the Toronto Star would. The only other group that will more dependably support the Liberals is the CBC itself.

Re: Liberal war-room plans “victory party”

Rob Vollman — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 10:55:05 -0000

2008 was the worst Liberal campaign? No way. 2006 was worse. And 1984 Turner is in a whole different ballpark!

Re: Dagger Watch

Rob Vollman — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:12:51 -0000

The obvious thing for the Liberals to do is to unite the four parties of the left.

Re: Liberal Party of Canada endorses US Democrats

Rob Vollman — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:57:45 -0000

It is completely inappropriate for a Canadian federal party to take sides in a foreign election. Completely inappropriate. I'm surprised it's even legal.

It's also curious that they'd cheer on the Democrats when the Liberals just criticized Democrat policies when they were spoken by Liberal opponents in our own 2008 election.

Stephen, you should contact someone in the Liberal party about this - it's simply not appropriate, and wouldn't Stephane Dion agree?

Re: McKenna or LeBlanc?

Rob Vollman — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:02:00 -0000

Don't you consider the use of the term LIEberal as insulting?

Re: “A few thoughts on how the Liberals must face some inconvenient truths”

Rob Vollman — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 13:12:22 -0000

Liberals need to worry less about how to get elected and a lot more on how to become electable.

Stopping the characterization of one's peers as brainwashing propagandists would be a great start.

Re: Quebec as nation policy resolution scrapped

Rob Vollman — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 11:25:07 -0000

We grant Quebec "nation" status, transfer 8.35 billion in equalization payments, and they vote Bloc Quebecois because we stopped increasing the investment into arts the culture? Please!

Re: Adjournment?

Rob Vollman — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 23:28:58 -0000

Agreed. Worst possible move.

Re: Coalition cracks?

Rob Vollman — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 17:02:17 -0000

They agree they want power.
They agree they hate Stephen Harper and Conservatives.

Beyond that, they don't agree on anything!

Layton wants to increase taxes, Dion thinks that's a reckless thing to do going in a recession.
Layton wants to spend $30 billion, Dion just criticised the Conservatives for spending their way into deficit.
Layton wants out of Afghanistan, Dion wants to complete the mission.

Of course, this is politics. And in politics, people change their minds.
Harper changed his mind about taxing income trusts, floor crossing, appointing members to Cabinet, fixed elections dates, etc.
Dion is changing his mind about negotiating with separatists, making distinctions between Canadians and Quebecers being different people, creating coalitions with the NDP, etc.
Duceppe changed his mind about leaving to lead the Parti Quebecois, and whether you can vote on something multiple times if you didn't like the initial result.
Layton is certainly entitled to change his mind about raising taxes in a recession, isn't he?

Re: The role of the Bloc in the coalition government

Rob Vollman — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:26:37 -0000

"Since the recent federal election, it has become clear that the government headed by Stephen Harper has no plan, no competence and no will to effectively address this crisis."

Did they have the plan, competence and/or will during the election?
If yes: What changed in two months?
If no: The voters were obviously comfortable with that, so on what grounds can you replace them?

The coalition really owes the voters answers before doing something so drastic without asking us for a mandate.

Re: Liveblogging the PM’s address

Rob Vollman — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 12:06:48 -0000

Yes, but Dion has the support of all zero Green MPs. What a coup!

Re: CBC Ombudsman findings on Krista Erickson and those planted questions

Rob Vollman — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 22:39:13 -0000

Wait a minute ... Carlin is accusing the 66 complainants of being partisan? Classy! That man is all class!

Also the word "naive" comes to mind. Is he naive enough to think that Erickson is actually unbiased, or is he naive enough to think that we are naive enough to believe it?

Typical CBC. Hey Flaherty, I know something you can sell to save a little money ...

Re: Ignatieff leadership gain of LeBlanc and the scuttling of the Liberal-NDP coalition?

Rob Vollman — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 11:37:02 -0000

"Joining up with the NDP erodes the brand of both parties and upsets each ideological base."

Not necessarily. For a lot of their ideological base nothing is more important that defeating conservatives (like Harper). Working to defeat Harper might be just the glue they need to keep their party together.

Take, for example, the uniting of the right. The glue that brought (and held) the Tories together was a desire to end the Liberal dictatorship. Sure, they lost Orchards, Bachands and Brisons, but mostly survived intact. Why couldn't the left do the same? They certainly hate Harper and crave power at least as much as the Tories/Alliance did.

Re: Buy American to include Canada?

Rob Vollman — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:30:22 -0000

Hush! Obama is perfect in every way! Haven't you been listening to the news???

Re: The Liberal Party policy amendment that’s causing a buzz this morning

Rob Vollman — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 11:04:51 -0000

Unconditionally?

They want to support the Kyoto agreement without any conditions whatsoever? They don't even want "economic viability" as a condition?

I also notice that the large majority of their policy proposals involve taxing Canadians ("provide financial support to" = taxes).

Re: Mike Duffy hints at summer election? Or is the media election-biased?

Rob Vollman — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:14:05 -0000

Over 540 million for an island of only 140,000 people? That's almost $4000 per person!

I'm going to be sick.

Re: NVL2 in Oracle

Rob Vollman — Mon, 04 Jul 2005 14:34:06 -0000

You can also use DECODE, which (as an exception to the normal rule) will say that NULL = NULL

DECODE(COMM, NULL, 'SAL', 'SAL & COMM')

http://thinkoracle.blogspot.com/2005/06/decode....

But, keep in mind that NVL and NVL2 seem to have a performance hit over the more verbose manual NULL check.

http://thinkoracle.blogspot.com/2005/06/nulls-i...

orig article:
http://www.oracledba.co.uk/tips/plsql\_nvl\_cos...
discussion:
http://www.phpbbserver.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?...

Cheers,
Robert

Re: COUNT(*) vs COUNT(1)

Rob Vollman — Wed, 06 Jul 2005 15:24:59 -0000

More:
http://asktom.oracle.com/pls/ask/f?p=4950:8::::...
http://asktom.oracle.com/pls/ask/f?p=4950:8::::...

Connor McDonald:
http://www.oracledba.co.uk/tips/count\_speed.htm

Jonathan Lewis:
http://www.jlcomp.demon.co.uk/faq/count\_rows.html

Cheers,
Robert

Re: Read The Fabulous Manual

Rob Vollman — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 12:29:51 -0000

And burn your favourites onto a CD. Never know when Internet access won't be possible and/or convenient.

http://thinkoracle.blogspot.com/2005/07/oracle-...

Cheers!
Robert

Re: Read The Fabulous Manual

Rob Vollman — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 19:44:08 -0000

I was thinking more of when you're on a plane or behind a firewall or something... :)

Cary Millsap has a great book on Tuning Oracle, but there are other schools of thoughts and methods out there. Here are my thoughts on his book:

http://www.coug.ab.ca/Resources/BookReviews/Mil...

I would recommend reading Oracle's Performance Guide before reading anything. I would also review Anjo Kolk's YAPP, and his web site (http://www.OraPerf.com).

Of course, there's more to Oracle than Performance and Tuning ...

Re: Random string generator

Rob Vollman — Fri, 29 Jul 2005 11:47:50 -0000

Speaking of random numbers, what do you think about this problem of mine:

http://thinkoracle.blogspot.com/2005/05/random-...

Re: Oracle SQLPlus

Rob Vollman — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 14:59:27 -0000

Great article! It works!

I put mine in glogin.sql.

Related links:

Jonathan Lewis' and his FAQ:
http://www.jlcomp.demon.co.uk/faq/sqlplus_promp...

Oracle SQL*Plus FAQ:
http://www.orafaq.com/faqplus.htm

Also, "Setting Up" (Chapter 0) from Tom Kyte's "Expert One-on-One Oracle" and, naturally, the SQL*Plus User's Guide and Reference, available from here:
http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/...

Re: ORDER BY no order

Rob Vollman — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 19:45:02 -0000

Hey, I like the new format of your blog. Very stylish.

I couldn't see your blog links anywhere. Did you take that down? I was so proud to see a link to my blog somewhere. :)

Re: ANY, SOME and ALL in Oracle

Rob Vollman — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 19:49:20 -0000

Interesting.

Since the query optimizer changes these to more traditional queries, I wonder why these keywords exist.

I imagine it was to some community of people to write their queries in a way that was more comfortable or understandable for them.

If so, I wonder in which database or language these key words have their origin.

What do you think?

Re: SYS_CONTEXT in Oracle

Rob Vollman — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 19:51:55 -0000

Yes!

We're on the same page. I discovered this handy thing around the same time:

http://thinkoracle.blogspot.com/2005/07/which-i...

Very handy!

Re: ORDER BY no order

Rob Vollman — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 11:02:54 -0000

Oh hey, I can even move it around! Cool!

I enjoy your blog too, I think we're interested in the same things.

Re: Adding IN parameter

Rob Vollman — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 16:52:08 -0000

Don't need to move it to the end. You can specify your arguments in your procedure calls. That is a good habit to get into anyway.

scott@Robert> create or replace procedure test_proc
2 (param1\_in in number, param2\_in in number := 1, param2\_out out varchar2)
3 as
4 begin
5 param2\_out := 'done';
6 end;
7 /

scott@Robert> declare
2 value\_out varchar2(20);
3 begin
4 test\_proc (param1\_in => 1, param2\_out => value\_out);
5 dbms\_output.put_line(value\_out);
6 end;
7 /
done

"Normally, I do not create procedures. I always use packages."

What do you mean by that? You create packages with stored procedures inside them?

Re: Adding IN parameter

Rob Vollman — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 12:38:19 -0000

Great Feuerstein link, thanks!

Re: SQL PLUS Gotcha

Rob Vollman — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 19:38:09 -0000

Yes! SQL\*Plus has so many quirks.

If you use default settings, and you are not committing manually, you are getting your own personal, private view - until you exit!

Despite the fact that this has caught almost everybody at least once, it's a rather obscure "gotcha" to find on any FAQ or blog. Until now :)

In the SQL\*Plus User's Guide, see "Saving Changes to the Database Automatically", and "Exit" in the SQL*Plus Command Reference. Even then, it's easy to miss.

For version 9, get the doc [here](http://download-west.oracle.com/docs/cd/B10501\_01/server.920/a90842.pdf).

Re: Your SQL tool

Rob Vollman — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 10:44:09 -0000

Did you re-format your blog again? It's nice. I liked the most recent one, too.

I use SQL*Plus. I work on a lot of client's systems, and that is the only common app in all of them. Plus you can use it with just a Unix connection, no need for Windows.

Even in my home development environment I either use SQL*Plus or the worksheet.

Re: SQL problem

Rob Vollman — Wed, 12 Oct 2005 13:32:43 -0000

Great post! That is an interesting SQL puzzler!

Re: DUAL behavior change

Rob Vollman — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 18:17:35 -0000

Eddie, I am missing something. DUAL has just one row, why does it matter if Oracle does a full tablescan of a single-row table (that is very likely in the cache anyway)?

Re: Do SQL ISO standards matter?

Rob Vollman — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 13:07:56 -0000

Good argument Eddie.

However, all things being equal, I believe it is better to choose an approach that fits the standard than not. (Remember: all things being equal).

It isn't unusual to have to develop something against a particular standard, and to document any exceptions. So at the very least using the standard approach will be less documentation work.

If you're like me and have to work with several databases, it is far easier to deal with implementations that are as close to the ANSI standard as possible.

Rob

Re: The OTN Effect

Rob Vollman — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 18:11:44 -0000

Sometimes I notice "Secondary Effects" when a blog that points to mine gets a spike. I noticed it once with Lisa Dobson after UKOUG, and I'm noticing it from your blog now. It's like a ripple effect.

Re: Cool SQL function: EXTRACT

Rob Vollman — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 14:35:06 -0000

Yes, I just used this the other day. I wrapped it in a DECODE to get a text representation of the month.

Re: PLSQL Ranks 12th

Rob Vollman — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 12:57:13 -0000

I think a top-rate PL/SQL programmer is more valuable than a JAJP (Just Another Java Programmer). But yes, a "complete" Oracle programmer probably has to know it.

Re: Char or Car?

Rob Vollman — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 13:15:44 -0000

I'm with William on almost every point.

I spell it out S-Q-L. You know, it used to be ESQL (English Structured Query Language), , and it was still called "ES"-Q-L, although some people called it "esquill"

But, like William, I say "P-L-Sequel"

I pronounce it Linnux because otherwise the Linux nerds thrash me with their pocket protectors and other nerdly items.

The one point where I disagree is on vi. I have never met anyone who doesn't pronounce it "vee-eye" (ie: spell it out). Until now, that is. I didn't even realise there was a debate on this.

Re: Welcome Steven Feuerstein

Rob Vollman — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 17:18:39 -0000

I'm a big fan of Steven Feuerstein, as everyone knows. However, it looks like this is a non-techie blog. Which is fine, I guess, but I'm a fan of his techie thoughts. Occasionally his socio-political thoughts crept into his work, and it usually made him look like a nut, but I digress...

Let me know when there's some techie content.

Re: NVL, NVL2 or COALESCE?

Rob Vollman — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 17:16:52 -0000

I believe this is the article to which David is referring:

http://www.oracledba.co.uk/tips/plsql_nvl_costs.htm

I remember there being another, but I can't find it.

For the record, I use coalesce in Sybase, but in Oracle that's the one I don't use. Don't know why. Probably DECODE is the one I use the most.

Re: blogs.oracle.com: It Worked!

Rob Vollman — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 16:43:06 -0000

Oracle is justifiably proud that it has such a large and active blogging community devoted to its technology. It's entirely possible that there are more steps to encourage and support our community forthcoming.

Re: The order of conditions matters

Rob Vollman — Fri, 03 Mar 2006 13:19:21 -0000

Interesting. But is this behaviour dependable? And, if so, will it remain like this in future versions? And, even if it is, is that necessarily the best coding practise? Especially since you can just do this:

IF (2=1) THEN
IF (IS_GREATER_FUNC(1,2)) THEN
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('TRUE');
ELSE DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('FALSE');
END IF;
ELSE DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('FALSE');
END IF;

That way, your intention (to only check the second case if the first case is true) is clear, and dependable. Sure, it's more lines of code, but easier to maintain.

Rob

Re: Oracle SQL Developer Updated

Rob Vollman — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 15:02:14 -0000

They've produced more tragedies than Shakespeare!!

Re: Are you experiencing the blogger burnout?

Rob Vollman — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 08:54:03 -0000

Is "blogger burnout" any different than, say, "forum burnout" (people that post regularly to a particular forum)?

Burnout is burnout. I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of the bloggers have been sharing their thoughts for years, but maybe they just didn't start using the "blogging" medium until this past year or so.

I don't think there's anything here specific to blogging.

Re: Are you experiencing the blogger burnout?

Rob Vollman — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 11:02:14 -0000

I usually just use one of the many aggregators (including yours Eddie!) and I don't even really notice when one of the 20+ authors I read has gone silent for awhile.

In fact, when you use an aggregator, and read the comments, the blogging community seems exactly like a distributed forum.

Starting a new thread: Posting an article in your blog.
Replying to a thread: Commenting on someone else's article on their blog.
Browsing a forum: Reading through an aggregator.

Going straight to someone's blog, to me, is like searching a forum only for threads started by a particular author.

Re: A binary flag with three values

Rob Vollman — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 12:49:25 -0000

Is it ever possible for the "open_flag" to be irrelevant or not applicable? That would be an appropriate use of NULL for a flag.

Query the table for all cases where open_flag is NULL and look for a common thread. Maybe they're all a special type of order that is never open nor closed. Without knowing more about the business, its hard to really conclude when/if NULL is appropriate.

Re: Fan emails

Rob Vollman — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 13:06:24 -0000

If you can't figure out where/how to download Oracle, then you have no hope of passing a certification exam. Or of finding your way out of the rain, for that matter.

Re: Gasoline Prices Cut 25 Percent…

Rob Vollman — Tue, 02 May 2006 10:30:40 -0000

Here in Calgary, Canada, its 1.09 CDN$/L. I believe a US gallon in 3.785 L and right now with the US$ in the toilet, it is worth 1.11 CDN$.

That means we're paying the equivalent of 3.72 US$/US gallon.

Given that a lot of oil comes from Alberta, that hardly seems fair, but fair has nothing to do with it. I drive less than 4000km/yr because I take the bus to work. If I drove more often, I'd purchase either a fuel efficient car or a hybrid that doesn't burn fuel while idling.

Eventually the price of oil (and thus gas) will get so high that people will trade in their gasoline-powered cars for (say) a hydrogen fuel cell powered car. Then we'll be able to power the fuel cells using whatever we want: coal, natural gas, oil or (increasingly) nuclear power (solar and wind just isn't all that viable yet).

We're not there yet. I figure oil would have to be in the triple digits before it made economic sense to start building fuel cell parts, cars and service stations. That might not happen for 20 years yet.

Re: Gasoline Prices Cut 25 Percent…

Rob Vollman — Wed, 03 May 2006 16:05:23 -0000

Yes, they are racking up massive profits, but they're investing them right back in the land (by exploring for more of it).

Sure, there's little you can do to change the cost of oil, but you can reduce its impact on you (or even get rich from it).

Re: Google Reader Wins

Rob Vollman — Tue, 09 May 2006 15:10:52 -0000

NERD ALERT! :)

Re: Bad Code Costing Oracle Millions

Rob Vollman — Thu, 25 May 2006 18:54:58 -0000

You can get it done cheap, fast, correctly. Pick 2.

Guess which two are usually selected? Oracle is no different than anyone else.

Re: Chinese view Americans as Cowboys

Rob Vollman — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 11:19:46 -0000

Isn't that how everyone views Americans? Even fellow Americans?

Re: Now I know

Rob Vollman — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 14:47:14 -0000

"When you watch a match, you don't watch just two teams playing, you watch two nations."

True. I love hockey, but it's hard to get excited when "the random group of millionaires" hosted in my city beat "the random group of millionaires" hosted in yours. Especially when you trade me one of your millionaires for one of mine.

They should give us fans something when "our" team wins. We should keep our ticket stubs, and get free prizes, or cash. Then we'd have a reason to care when our team won.

Re: Back to basics: self joins

Rob Vollman — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 18:25:25 -0000

What is the difference between using JOIN/ON and just using WHERE?

For example, take your second query, and instead make it
FROM employee e, employee m WHERE e.manager_id(+) = m.employee_id

I've never used the JOIN/ON syntax. Does it have an advantage?

Re: 10 Programming Quotes and Lessons Learned

Rob Vollman — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 13:35:57 -0000

Personally, I think #3 and #4 are often used as cop-outs for lazy programmers who don't want to properly document their code. That doesn't make those points less valid, mind you.

Point #9 reminds me of Ockham's razor. To paraphrase, if you have two solutions for the same problem, is it most reasonable to take the simplest.

By the way, having to create yet another account just to comment on here really sucks.

Re: Oracle PL/SQL Guru Steven Feuerstein Wants to Meet With President Bush

Rob Vollman — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 10:23:30 -0000

Looks like Ken and Michael have said it all.

My issue is that Mr. Feuerstein is completely insincere. I think it is obvious that he views President Bush with contempt, and considers this merely an opportunity to promote and vindicate that contempt. It is not a genuine desire to neither confirm nor verify what the media says about the President.

That being said, I believe most adults know that the image we get from the media is an embellishment of a politician's true character. If Mr. Feuerstein puts that much stock in what the media tells him, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell.

Re: World Population = World Population + 1

Rob Vollman — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 19:46:26 -0000

Congratulations! Best wishes to baby Julie and family.

Re: The Top 10 Beards

Rob Vollman — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 12:49:43 -0000

Well I used to have a beard, for 10 years. Then again, I'm no guru...

I heard David has a beard too.

Re: Blogger of the Year 2006

Rob Vollman — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 10:45:11 -0000

I was robbed!! :)

What? You were all thinking it!

Seriously, great job Eddie - can't think of anyone who deserved it more.

Re: Did you call me?

Rob Vollman — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 17:28:24 -0000

Why not just
EXEC my_proc;
?

Re: Where Are You Women Bloggers?

Rob Vollman — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 16:30:59 -0000

I would presume that one of the attractions of the IT world is that you aren't judged by what you are (for example, a woman), but rather what you do. Well, at least compared to other fields.

For what it's worth, at least 90% of the (techie) blogs I read are written by men.

Nevertheless, it is always beneficial to get as many different viewpoints and perspectives as possible, so a little more diversity would be great. But I'm not going to read something just because it's written by someone different; It has to be interesting and insightful.

Re: A Couple of Podcasts About PL/SQL and Oracle Security

Rob Vollman — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 17:22:17 -0000

Haha - it sounds like Steven wrote his own questions! :)

Or, at least someone who is intricately familiar with exactly what Steven is promoting.

In any event, that doesn't negate the fact that he's a PL/SQL genius.

Re: Bart’s Punishment For Asking Dumb Questions

Rob Vollman — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 11:32:13 -0000

And if you're going to take the time to tell someone to RTFM, tell them which FM to read, and where to find it. Same goes for searching.

Robert

Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Finding Information - How do you find answers to other questions?
http://thinkoracle.blogspot.com/2006/07/finding...>

Thursday, July 14, 2005
Oracle Docs - For when people tell you to RTFM!
http://thinkoracle.blogspot.com/2005/07/oracle-...>

(Hm - July seems to be the time of year this topic bugs me. :)

Re: See How Easily You Can Search Oracle

Rob Vollman — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 15:05:34 -0000

That's all great, but there's a much easier way to get information than searching documentation. Just ask Tim Hall your questions directly without checking the docs. He loves that! :)

Re: Do You Have These Symptoms?

Rob Vollman — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 18:57:38 -0000

In fairness, laziness is rewarded.

One time my only negative tick on a performance review was that I wasn't sensitive to budgetary concerns and insisted on doing everything properly. They said sometimes they just wanted quick and dirty and I was always reluctant to do so.

Our compromise was just for them to go to someone else when they had something (presumably unimportant) half-assed and wanted corners cut, but come to me when they had something they needed done right.

However, the corner-cutters were the stars because of the sheer amount of crap they produced.

In any event, there's good lazy and bad lazy. Good lazy is taking a little extra time to document, test and modularize your code so you can reuse, fix and enhance it later with little effort.

Re: What You Should Not Blog About

Rob Vollman — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 11:55:05 -0000

Lucky devil, I LOVE Lebanese food (grew up in Ottawa, Canada). Now I'm in Calgary and I don't get it as much.

But on topic: yeah. No need to even worry how much you're blogging. That's what aggregators are for. There's always some people blogging a little less, some a little more, and it all works out. Besides, it's not like we're paid for this. :)

Re: What You Should Not Blog About

Rob Vollman — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 14:55:12 -0000

Great! In exchange, if you want to enjoy my type of cooking, you're welcome to visit Calgary. Here are links to the sorts of dishes I prepare...

http://vollman.blogspot.com/2006/12/grilled-cheef.html
http://vollman.blogspot.com/2006/11/french-fry-...>

Re: 10 Things About Computer Programming You May Not Agree With

Rob Vollman — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 10:33:32 -0000

I actually agree with most of those.

Every place I've worked I've seen the same thing. The IT floor is cram-packed with cubicles, and lot of evening and week-end work. We've got the best DBA I've seen in my life, with over 30 years experience, sitting in a crappy cubicle nowhere near a window.

Meanwhile, on other floors, we've got fresh graduates (and even people with no post-secondary education at all) with gorgeous window offices.

IT people are definitely at the bottom of the totem pole, no question.

However, they do make the big bucks. And, if smart, they generally achieve financial independence long before other professions.

Re: 35+ Oracle Subdomains You May Not Know About

Rob Vollman — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 09:22:58 -0000

What about
oracle.oracle.com
:)