Oracle – Adding Fixed String To Column Data

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by Lisa

I had a request to drop data from a SQL query into an Excel spreadsheet — the initial request had a column that included different text depending on row data. Since Box::Spout deals well with huge volumes of data (I write millions of rows in some reports), I use it pretty exclusively. Writing data to each column individually means I’ve got to retain a list of column names, and I would rather not do that. I can dump the column names into a header row then dump the entire database row into the next spreadsheet row. This works since a 1:1 correlation between database rows and Excel rows. I’ll go through after the fact and update a specific cell based on data in other cells, but I don’t want to insert a column.

Luckily, there’s an easy way to add a placeholder column to my database output:

SELECT DISTINCT MAX(DLR1.ISSUE_NBR) MAX_ISSUE_NBR, DLR.ISSUE_NBR, ‘MatchIndicator’ as “MatchIndicator”, DLR.EQUIPMENT_ID, EQ.EQUIPMENT_ID, C.CIRCUIT_DESIGN_ID, C.EXCHANGE_CARRIER_CIRCUIT_ID, C.STATUS, C.RATE_CODE, C.SERVICE_TYPE_CATEGORY, C.SERVICE_TYPE_CODE, NL.LOCATION_ID, NL.CLLI_CODE, DLR.LOCATION, DLR.BLOCK_IND

Monolithic Extremism

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by Lisa

From The Nation:

‘The report did warn that individuals from a far-right social media group had “called for far-right provocateurs to attack federal agents, use automatic weapons against protesters.” (The Nation is withholding the name of the group in order to not disrupt any potential law enforcement investigations.) ‘
 
The report basically says they’ve not found any evidence that Antifa is involved in the rioting. I guess we have the monolithic communism theory applied to extremist organizations. Monolithic extremism? Other non-entities are equally not involved — alt-right is a loosely defined association of a bunch of different groups to … it itself probably doesn’t have coordinated involvement in anything.
While they cannot link Antifa to the riots, the FBI did find a far-right group promoting violence. That is a logical extension of ‘Bernie Bros” — it’s not like a protest verifies the identity and online history of every participant to ensure they’re legitimately concerned about racial equality and/or police practices. But someone within a couple blocks of your protest loots Macy’s & you’ve become Antifa rioters to the MAGA crowd.

CowPots

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by Lisa

I purchased CowPots to start seeds — a giant box of 330 tall #4 pots was 60$ in 2017, and I have enough for next year still. Four years of seed starting comes to around 15$ a year (it looks like the giant box is now 80$, so more like 20$ a year). I love the things because they’re made of compost – no peat, no paper. And they claim that roots grow through th pot walls and the entire thing breaks down incredibly quickly once in soil.

I can attest that roots grow easily through the pots — I’ve started seeds and seen the roots break through (yeah, I should have gotten those things out to the garden sooner!). But I’ve always been curious how quickly the pots decompose in soil. Hard to tell, since it’s in soil. I’ve had some pots sit outside for over a year, so I suspected the “quick” decomposition wasn’t so speedy. The pots that had been sitting outside in the weather for over a year? I turned them into my compost pile. They’ve been there for about a week now. Which substantiates my suspicion that they don’t fully decompose in a few short weeks. Doesn’t really matter, since the plant roots are readily growing right through the pots … but we’ll see how long these things remain visible in the middle of a hot compost pile.

Garlic Yogurt Salad Dressing

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by Lisa
Garlic Yogurt Salad Dressing
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Garlic Yogurt Salad Dressing

Recipe by LisaCourse: SaladsCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy
Servings

4

servings
Prep time

15

minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 cups Greek yogurt

  • Juice from 1/2 lemon

  • 2 Tbsp olive oil

  • 1 clove garlic, finely minced

  • 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper

  • 1-2 tsp salt

Method

  • Combine all ingredients and mix well – adding salt to taste.

Notes

  • Served over a combination of romaine lettuce, onions, and cucumbers.

Non-shared Experience

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by Lisa

Arnold Schwarzenegger published an article in The Atlantic today that includes the following passage that vividly demonstrates the different experience people have in America:

    “My friend Erroll Southers, who has spent his career in law enforcement and served in my administration’s homeland-security department, wrote today: “I still get nervous when I receive the unexpected phone call at an odd hour, hoping my son, brother or relative has not become the next hashtag.”
    Think about that. Erroll Southers is a professor at USC, a former FBI agent, an upstanding man in every sense of the word, and because of the color of his skin, when his phone rings in the middle of the night, his first thought is that his son or brother might be the reason for the next march.
    I can’t even fathom that experience. If my kids FaceTime me late at night, it brings me joy, or maybe if they’ve been at a party, a laugh. It is completely unjust that for much of our population, those family calls bring anxiety.”

Even if a late night call brings anxiety, it’s not the same thing. My family had a “don’t call after 9PM unless it is an emergency” policy, but my thoughts when the phone rings at 10PM run toward natural causes, accidents … years ago, there was the possibly of a friend picked up on drunk and disorderly needing bail.

Update: Garden Expansion

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by Lisa

We had a few extra large blocks left over, so we expanded the first bed — now there are a few extra feet of growing space.

We used the smaller blocks to build a second bed to the south of the first one.

And filled both the new bed and the extra space in the first bed with dirt.

Today, we finished assembling the third bed. We’ll get the fourth bed together and fill them both with dirt.

One giant leap for profiteering

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by Lisa

I cannot help but see NASA’s use of private companies for space travel as a giant leap for profiteering. I’ve never thought government should be run like a business — businesses are, quite often, run quite terribly and the entire point is to make money. Government should be run like a non-profit. Farming out government functionality to non-profits makes a modicum of sense, but for-profit prisons?! For-profit health insurance!? For-profit military equipment/manpower?! Any of these seem to ensure some powerful lobby wants to expand demand — more people in prison, more sick people (don’t cure something, develop a drug that costs a couple hundred bucks a month), and INVADE!!! Reusable first stage rockets are a great advance in space travel — but there’s no reason NASA couldn’t have designed one. The only “progress” we made today is that some private company can profit from my tax dollars going toward space travel and research.