So I have these two little databases...

... in these databases are some tables, database A contains table A..a and database B contains table B..b, the schemas for A..a and B..b are identical. The data stored in them is sequential, that is, table A..a contains the first half of the data and table B..b contains the second half of the data. Sound familiar? Probably does, this is a fairly common archive arrangement, you put all that data from each month / year / decade / whatever into a new db to keep the size manageable... yeah yeah, not ideal, but hey, these things are everywhere.

So now I want to run queries across the full depth of A..a and B..b in one go - don't ask why, I just want to ok? (hint: no clean logical way to decided which db will contain the data you want) Create a view you say, a union all kind of arrangement? Take advantage of the fact that both tables are nicely indexed? Nice idea, but no. Might work on small tables with a few gb in each one... but what if they have a few hundred gb? You better have a monstrous tempdb even to do something simple like:
set rowcount 100;
select * from AB_view;

So, what do you do? Surely there has to be some better way than freeing up a mega amount of space and bcp'ing the data out of one table, putting it into the other one, then re-indexing, that will take a considerable amount of time. I want to be able to just grab hold of the table objects in the db and tell them to join together "vertically". I'm sure there's many reasons why doing that isn't practical, but I don't care... at all.

Databases suck sometimes... And don't even bother asking me about DBArtisan... Surely there must be a good DB query tool out there somewhere that is light weight and, well, works? Someone could make a crap load of money if they built one...

Its hard to do anything without a monitor.

A few weeks ago my funky 256mb graphics card stopped working. Not pleased. Luckily I still had an old 128mb one lying around, so a quick swap and computer was back to life... several weeks pass by... and few days ago my trusty 17 inch LCD monitor stopped working too. Bugger, I don't have a spare monitor lying around. Luckily the computer in the lounge room is hooked up the the huge wide screen TV... hmm wide screen...

So, feeling in need of new toys anyway (especially after phone call to a certain sneakygeek, yes, you know you are to blame), its off to Akihabara. And a short time later after browsing though a couple of department store sized computer shops I now have a nice new 22 inch wide screen monitor. Oh and a funky new 512mb graphics card to add to the fun.

Oblivion looks good at 1680x1050. Next up? I think its time to replace the ten year old IBM, home brew improved, LED encrusted keyboard...

It's Asimo!

I saw Asimo today!

It (he? she?) lives in Miraikan which is the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo (Odaiba to be exact). He came out for a ten minute demonstration. I don't know why, but I expected him to be bigger, and to be sort of "clompy" when he walks. But he's actually silent when he's walking. After walking around a little bit and doing some funky arm waving and such, he decided to go for a little jog... well more like a full on sprint. Now that was amazing. While he's running both his feet actually leave the ground at the same time, just like a real person. Considering he's now 7 years old, its pretty damn impressive.




The rest of Miraikan is also really cool. It is just like the Power House Museum in Sydney, not as big but it is much more interactive, and a whole heap cheaper (only $5 for an adult). Apart from robots they also have a lot of other interesting science stuff ranging from info about KEK and other particle accelerators, through to biology, chemistry, deep sea exploration and general technology. And the huge globe made out of LCD panels with a rotating image of the earth is awesome. All in all a very cool place. We will be going back.

Typhoony... is that a word?

It should be a word if it isn't, because that's what it is outside.

That big swirly thing, i.e. Typhoon Fitow is going over the top of us right now.

Getting home was interesting... a rather exciting taxi ride. People walking down the street we fairing much worse though, some were getting dragged away by their umbrellas, and some people are almost wrapped up in their umbrellas as the wind folds them around them.

Schools and such all closed at midday today, and are closed again tomorrow... unfortunately I don't get a day off work, I have heard that we would have a great view of the "flying futons" from our house. Oh well, maybe it will still be windy on Saturday.

Oh and we cant open the doors to our balcony, the wind is pushing them so hard. Lucky the glass is like an inch thick.