Confounding Variables from Historical Bias

Note: co-authored with Christine Assaf, originally published in the now-defunct PASS Blog.
Historical data analysis that is naïve to past discrimination is doomed to parrot bias. How do we combat bias in our...

Prepping the local SSD D: in an Azure VM for SQL Server TempDB

One of the few good, safe uses for the local SSD D: volume of an Azure VM is for SQL Server TempDB data and log files. There's a gotcha....

All-Day at Virtual Houston Tech Fest 2020

It's a full day at Houston Tech Fest 2020 for us. Speaking at Houston TechFest is an decade-long annual tradition interrupted only by a hurricane and one year where I...

New Microsoft Azure Certifications presentation at BRSSUG

Hi internet! 
Thanks to the surprising number of you who joined our first ever virtual meeting of the Baton Rouge .NET and SQL Server User Groups tonight!
I presented on the...

Measure Ethical Data Analysis by Outcomes, Not Intent

Note: co-authored with Christine Assaf, originally published in the now-defunct PASS Blog.
In January 2020, Robert Williams was arrested on his front lawn in a suburb of Detroit, Mich., after police...

SQLSaturday Auckland: Certification Exams Inside Out this Weekend!

Looking forward to virtually presenting at SQLSaturday Auckland 2020 this weekend! I'll be presenting at 10:45AM Auckland time on Saturday, but that's 5:45pm Friday evening where I am in Central...

On Dynamic Ports, Named Instances, and Firewalls

Recently I had a client and their vendor trying to configure a firewall for a new installation of SQL Server 2019 on Windows Server 2019.Connections to the SQL Server...

Ethics in Modern Data at the Houston SQL Server and BI User Groups, July 2020

On July 14, Christine and I presented at the Houston SQL Server and BI User Groups' virtual meeting. Our joint presentation is one of our favorites to present, Ethics in Modern Data. 

Thanks...

Presenting on Ethics in Modern Data at Houston HASSUG/SQL BI Group July 2020 Meeting

Looking forward to presenting with my wife Christine Assaf our talk on Ethics in Modern Data at the Houston Area SQL Group and BI Group's virtual meeting on Tuesday...

SOLVED! Untrusted SAS certs after SQL startup

If you've tried doing Backup to URL with SQL Server using a Shared Access Signature (SAS) certificate and received this error: Error: 18204, Severity: 16, State: 1.BackupDiskFile::CreateMedia: Backup...