There are open-source datasets out there but by their nature they can harbour crap data.

I know of an occassion where someone didn't like the way that the Balleric Islands were...

When I started off the most junior position was analyst/programmer. This meant we had to sit infront of people who would eventually use our product. that was nearly...

Well the size is half the size of the GUID.

I'm not sure how GUIDs are generated but I'm willing to be there is substantially more calculation involved albeit highly efficient...

To answer a few points raised in this discussion thread: -

Good spot on the 84,400. It is a typo but the figure for 4 and 40 years respectively are...

Pascal Declercq (9/15/2011)

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Quote: "What happens after 40 years (well actually nearer 60 years)? Well, it will be job security for my great-grandchildren so I'm not going to worry about...

I used to work for a company supporting other peoples software. I remember one of my colleagues looking at the original implementation of .NET and viciously asserting that "this...

Gail,

I believe that it isn't simply a case of truncating on checkpoint for simple mode. I could be wrong but I thought it was a case of the truncation occuring...

I'm only half joking. Of course it isn't all bank employees, it appears to be mainly the investment bankers.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12131092

It's a tired old rant but I object to paying extra...

Grant Fritchey (8/10/2011)

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That's a huge topic. I'd like to suggest you take a look at a book, SQL Server Team-Based Development. It's free (unless you want to get a printed...

If you want to get benefits, work for a bank. Screw up the entire economy, bank post a multi-billion loss? Have a 7 figure bonus because we don't...

One guy we interviewed had a rant on his blog complaining that interviewers didn't read his blog! Boy did we have some fun with that one!

Is now the time...

The problem seems to be that the underlying objects for the query are system views.

If you take an exact copy of sp_spaceused and create your own copy in the master...

One thing that puzzles me about Azure is that fundamentally, under the hood, it is SQL Server. The traditional bits that are not exposed to cloud subscribers still have...

the original article was written using SQL2005 but there appears to be subtle differences in SQL2008.

I'll have a look into it ASAP.

Rutulian (8/12/2011)

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One of the more fun interviews I have had:

You are standing on the bank of the Thames.

How can you find out the flow rate, assuming the internet doesn't exist?

(10...