I'm not ashamed to admit that I've read this problem and the solution several times, as well as the corresponding BOL topics, and I still can't make heads or tails of it. This question has easily made me feel more thick-headed than any other I've seen here, so well done, Honza! Ultimately I had to pick an answer at random just so I could get to the forum thread, where hopefully my head will be pulled from my a** with a resounding POP! 😀
-----
a haiku...
NULL is not zero
NULL is not an empty string
NULL is the unknown