It's a Dangerous Universe -- Wear a Helmet

(title unknown)

2011-02-07T08:24:00.000-06:00

Fantastic.

Day9 Drinking Game

2010-11-19T15:53:00.002-06:00

Been watching a lot of Day9's awesome Starcraft II analysis. He tends to make a lot of the same harmless mistakes during the cast so I've been trying to work out a drinking game. Here's what I have so far:

Day9 Drinking Game

1 shot:

Forgets the sound is off
Forgets the daily number
Knocks the camera
Accidentally misplaces the SC2 window
(advanced) Makes wrist-whip snap
(advanced) Says "ballin"
(advanced) Takes a drink of his beverage on camera

2 shots:

Spills his beverage
Forgets to set his status to Away

Root DNS Servers

2010-11-19T10:54:00.002-06:00

Recently I heard of someone being asked how many root DNS servers there were for an interview. A pretty tough question for a programming position, I thought, but hey, sounds interesting. The correct answer, this guy found out, is 13, or at least said the Google hiring rep he was speaking with. I dug into the matter and found out that there aren't actually 13 root servers.

http://blog.icann.org/2007/11/there-are-not-13-root-servers/

Oh and sweet God this feels so nerdy to type out loud. I can't believe this type of thing interests me. I never thought I was actually this bad. I'm going to take a long, hard look in the mirror.

Enabling Internet on Android Emulators

2010-09-15T09:12:00.004-05:00

Every Android emulator I'd create and test would not have internet. Digging into the issue it seems to be some of the features I was adding like GSM modem support so I created one without any features and internet worked fine.

Also, another handy trick is using an HTTP proxy so you can view all of your web traffic easily. Sure you could just fire up wireshark but this is a little cleaner looking:

http://aurirahimzadeh.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!F5CF78DEA3328162!3717.entry

Smali syntax highlighting

2010-07-22T00:19:00.007-05:00

I've been doing a lot of Android APK hacking lately and that means reading a lot of code created by smali, the dex format disassembler. Since it's not that popular I could not find any syntax highlighting or smali editor anywhere so I created my own.

This is a wordfile for UltraEdit that provides some much needed syntax highlighting. I dug around the Smali code as much as I could to make sure everything was good. It handles all the keywords and operations.

Here's my code:

// Last updated 7/21/2010
/L20"Smali" Nocase Line Comment = # String Chars = " File Extensions = SMALI Escape Char = \
/Colors = 0,8421376,8421376,8421504,255,
/Colors Back = 16777215,16777215,16777215,16777215,16777215,
/Colors Auto Back = 1,1,1,1,1,
/Font Style = 0,0,0,0,0,
/Open Brace Strings = "{" "(" "["
/Close Brace Strings = "}" ")" "]"
/Open Fold Strings = ".annotation" ".field" ".method"
/Close Fold Strings = ".end annotation" ".end field" ".end method"
/Indent Strings = "{" ".method"
/Unindent Strings = "}" ".end method"
/Delimiters = " $(), +.:;=>{}~
/C1"Keywords 1" STYLE_KEYWORD Colors = 16711680 Colors Back = 16777215 Colors Auto Back = 1 Font Style = 1
.annotation .array-data
.catch .catchall .class
.end .enum .epilogue
.field
.implements .line
.local .locals
.method
.packed-switch .parameter .prologue
.registers .restart
.source .sparse-switch .subannotation .super
annotation array-data
field
local
method
packed-switch parameter
sparse-switch subannotation
/C2"Keywords 2" STYLE_KEYWORD Colors = 32768 Colors Back = 16777215 Colors Auto Back = 1 Font Style = 0
abstract annotation
bridge
constructor
declared-synchronized
enum
final
interface
native
private protected public
static strictfp synchronized synthetic system
transient
varargs volatile
/C3"Instructions" Colors = 33023 Colors Back = 16777215 Colors Auto Back = 1 Font Style = 0
add-double add-float add-int add-int/2addr add-int/lit8 add-int/lit16 add-int/lit32 add-int/lit64
add-long add-long/2addr aget aget-boolean aget-byte aget-char aget-object aget-short aget-wide and-int
and-int/2addr and-long aput aput-boolean aput-byte aput-char aput-object aput-short aput-wide array-length
check-cast cmpg-double cmpg-float cmpl-double cmpl-float cmp-long const const/16 const/4 const/high16v0 const-class const-string const-string-jumbo
const-wide const-wide/16 const-wide/32 const-wide/high16
div-double div-float div-int div-int/2addr div-long double-to-float double-to-int double-to-long
fill-array-data filled-new-array filled-new-array-range float-to-double float-to-int float-to-long
goto goto/16 goto/32
if-eq if-eqz if-ge if-gez if-gt if-gtz if-le if-lez if-lt if-ltz if-ne if-nez iget iget-boolean iget-byte iget-char iget-object iget-short
iget-wide instance-of int-to-byte int-to-char int-to-double int-to-float int-to-long int-to-short invoke-direct invoke-direct/range invoke-interface
invoke-interface-range invoke-static invoke-static/range invoke-super invoke-super/range invoke-virtual invoke-virtual/range iput iput-boolean
iput-byte iput-char iput-object iput-short iput-wide
long-to-double long-to-float long-to-int
monitor-enter monitor-exit move move/16 move/from16 move-exception move-object move-object/16 move-object/from16 move-result move-result-object
move-result-wide move-wide move-wide/16 move-wide/from16 mul-double mul-float mul-int mul-int/2addr mul-long mul-long/2addr
neg-double neg-float neg-int neg-long new-array new-instance nop not-int not-long
or-int or-int/2addr or-long
packed-switch
rem-double rem-float rem-int rem-int/2addr rem-long return return-object return-void return-wide
sget sget-boolean sget-byte sget-char sget-object sget-short sget-wide shl-int shl-int/2addr shl-long shr-int shr-int/2addr shr-long
sparse-switch sput sput-boolean sput-byte sput-char sput-object sput-short sput-wide sub-double sub-float sub-int sub-int/2addr
sub-long sub-long/2addr
throw
ushr-int ushr-int/2addr ushr-long
xor-int xor-int/2addr xor-long
/C4"Keywords 3" Colors = 16744448 Colors Back = 16777215 Colors Auto Back = 1 Font Style = 0
true
false
null
/C5"Keywords 4" Colors = 4210816 Colors Back = 16777215 Colors Auto Back = 1 Font Style = 0
build
runtime
system
/C6"Section 1" Colors = 33023 Colors Back = 16777215 Colors Auto Back = 1 Font Style = 0
** : ...
/C7"Section 2" Colors = 4227200 Colors Back = 16777215 Colors Auto Back = 1 Font Style = 0
** $ ...
/C8"Delimiters" Colors = 16711680 Colors Back = 16777215 Colors Auto Back = 1 Font Style = 0
=
:

I'll keep an updated version here.

Smali syntax highlighting

2010-07-22T00:19:00.005-05:00

// Last updated 7/21/2010
/L20"Smali" Nocase Line Comment = # String Chars = " File Extensions = SMALI Escape Char = \
/Colors = 0,8421376,8421376,8421504,255,
/Colors Back = 16777215,16777215,16777215,16777215,16777215,
/Colors Auto Back = 1,1,1,1,1,
/Font Style = 0,0,0,0,0,
/Open Brace Strings = "{" "(" "["
/Close Brace Strings = "}" ")" "]"
/Open Fold Strings = ".annotation" ".field" ".method"
/Close Fold Strings = ".end annotation" ".end field" ".end method"
/Indent Strings = "{" ".method"
/Unindent Strings = "}" ".end method"
/Delimiters = " $(), +.:;=>{}~
/C1"Keywords 1" STYLE_KEYWORD Colors = 16711680 Colors Back = 16777215 Colors Auto Back = 1 Font Style = 1
.annotation .array-data
.catch .catchall .class
.end .enum .epilogue
.field
.implements .line
.local .locals
.method
.packed-switch .parameter .prologue
.registers .restart
.source .sparse-switch .subannotation .super
annotation array-data
field
local
method
packed-switch parameter
sparse-switch subannotation
/C2"Keywords 2" STYLE_KEYWORD Colors = 32768 Colors Back = 16777215 Colors Auto Back = 1 Font Style = 0
abstract annotation
bridge
constructor
declared-synchronized
enum
final
interface
native
private protected public
static strictfp synchronized synthetic system
transient
varargs volatile
/C3"Instructions" Colors = 33023 Colors Back = 16777215 Colors Auto Back = 1 Font Style = 0
add-double add-float add-int add-int/2addr add-int/lit8 add-int/lit16 add-int/lit32 add-int/lit64
add-long add-long/2addr aget aget-boolean aget-byte aget-char aget-object aget-short aget-wide and-int
and-int/2addr and-long aput aput-boolean aput-byte aput-char aput-object aput-short aput-wide array-length
check-cast cmpg-double cmpg-float cmpl-double cmpl-float cmp-long const const/16 const/4 const/high16v0 const-class const-string const-string-jumbo
const-wide const-wide/16 const-wide/32 const-wide/high16
div-double div-float div-int div-int/2addr div-long double-to-float double-to-int double-to-long
fill-array-data filled-new-array filled-new-array-range float-to-double float-to-int float-to-long
goto goto/16 goto/32
if-eq if-eqz if-ge if-gez if-gt if-gtz if-le if-lez if-lt if-ltz if-ne if-nez iget iget-boolean iget-byte iget-char iget-object iget-short
iget-wide instance-of int-to-byte int-to-char int-to-double int-to-float int-to-long int-to-short invoke-direct invoke-direct/range invoke-interface
invoke-interface-range invoke-static invoke-static/range invoke-super invoke-super/range invoke-virtual invoke-virtual/range iput iput-boolean
iput-byte iput-char iput-object iput-short iput-wide
long-to-double long-to-float long-to-int
monitor-enter monitor-exit move move/16 move/from16 move-exception move-object move-object/16 move-object/from16 move-result move-result-object
move-result-wide move-wide move-wide/16 move-wide/from16 mul-double mul-float mul-int mul-int/2addr mul-long mul-long/2addr
neg-double neg-float neg-int neg-long new-array new-instance nop not-int not-long
or-int or-int/2addr or-long
packed-switch
rem-double rem-float rem-int rem-int/2addr rem-long return return-object return-void return-wide
sget sget-boolean sget-byte sget-char sget-object sget-short sget-wide shl-int shl-int/2addr shl-long shr-int shr-int/2addr shr-long
sparse-switch sput sput-boolean sput-byte sput-char sput-object sput-short sput-wide sub-double sub-float sub-int sub-int/2addr
sub-long sub-long/2addr
throw
ushr-int ushr-int/2addr ushr-long
xor-int xor-int/2addr xor-long
/C4"Keywords 3" Colors = 16744448 Colors Back = 16777215 Colors Auto Back = 1 Font Style = 0
true
false
null
/C5"Keywords 4" Colors = 4210816 Colors Back = 16777215 Colors Auto Back = 1 Font Style = 0
build
runtime
system
/C6"Section 1" Colors = 33023 Colors Back = 16777215 Colors Auto Back = 1 Font Style = 0
** : ...
/C7"Section 2" Colors = 4227200 Colors Back = 16777215 Colors Auto Back = 1 Font Style = 0
** $ ...
/C8"Delimiters" Colors = 16711680 Colors Back = 16777215 Colors Auto Back = 1 Font Style = 0
=
:

I'll keep an updated version here.

11 Yr Old Teacher! Amazing!!

2010-07-21T13:11:00.000-05:00

Always interested in seeing new ways of teaching and I know for a fact public education could be improved. This is a class being taught by an 11 year old using some "power-teaching" method. I will only make judgement on how effective it is based on hard data, you know, numbers and statistics and such, but encouraging kids to use hand gestures and communicate with each other on a problem seems like it would be really handy.

I wonder if the students take turns teaching the class.

tek Tip - Outlook Duplicating E-mails

2010-07-09T13:35:00.004-05:00

Within the past month I've seen three hard drives go bad. I think it has something to do with the weather being so humid, but that's just a guess. One of the drives belonged to a client so I had to get him up and running on a new computer which means I had to migrate his e-mails over. Luckily they were all on the server -- all 11 thousand of them, so I thought "Bonus." and started Outlook downloading them. I'll spare you the long story, but the bottom line was: ANY time there was an error of ANY kind Outlook would forget it had downloaded all of the e-mails it just downloaded, so when it started again it would get duplicates.

So for example if it downloaded 5 thousand messages in one go before having an error it would have to redownload all of those messages again. If you cancelled it and started again it would remember it just fine, so I did that every few hundred or thousand until I found an e-mail that would always give this error:

Task 'SomeAccount - Receiving' reported error (0x800CCC0F) : 'The connection to the server was interrupted. If this problem continues, contact your server administrator or Internet service provider (ISP).'

I finally got around it in Outlook 2003 by doing Tools -> Send/Receive -> "SomeAccount" Only -> Download Inbox Headers. Oh, and because there were so many mails I was downloading headers anyway. It's not like he needed his 1.5 gigs of e-mails from two years ago.

When it was all done I removed all of the duplicates with this handy little free tool http://accuratesolution.net/AccurateOutlookDuplicateRemover.htm. It worked and it worked for free when nothing else would.

Brain Drugs and my Quest for Sapho Juice

2010-07-05T17:31:00.002-05:00

Does the idea of giving your brain a safe and effective boost as good or better than caffeine sound good to you? Are you a student or just enjoy using your brain all the time? "Well hell yea woaw!" is my answer for all those questions. It's all done using a newly emerging type of brain drugs called nootropics.

So I've been listening to a lot of the Dune audio books and fell in love with the idea of sapho juice. It's an imaginary tonic that the highly-trained mind-like-a-computer mentants would drink to improve their cognitive capacity. It was a bitter, cranberry-tasting drink that stained the lips. Anyway, I started digging around trying to come up with ideas for my own recipe and I found this post:
http://www.imminst.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=6018&st=0&p=56900&hl=sapho&fromsearch=1&#entry56900

I hadn't heard of nootropics but they seemed to be exactly what I wanted. Further Wikinvestigation turned up some valuable knowledge:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nootropic

Nootropics are a class of cognitive-enhancing drugs that are either highly nontoxic or neuroprotective. That's right. They're either really safe or good for you. Now, granted, we have to have higher standards of evidence to be absolutely sure, and it's not safe to just start trusting everything you read on Wikipedia. However, too many people are using this stuff and claiming to get real results and it's not obviously a scam. (I did some searches for that, too.)

I played around in the nootropic subform for a few days, getting some ideas. Then I went over to Ebay and purchased 60 grams of the most well known and widely used nootropic piracatam and 25 grams of the fat-soluble version called aniracetam, which some people claim is more potent. I figured I'd just mix them together and swirl 'em up. I also read you needed lots of choline to make the drugs more bio-available, so I tried to find a good source of choline. All of the supplements were too expensive for me, but consider the fact that I'm cheap and didn't want to go all out on some strange white powders I'd be buying online and ingesting. So I settled on lecithin, which is actually quite good for you and has been used as a food additive for a while.

Once everything came in, this is what I used for my first sapho juice recipe:
1 small cup of kombucha brewed with green tea and yerba mate (for the caffeine)
~1g piracetam
~400mg aniracetam
2 tea spoons lecithin

The flavor was.. terrible. I figured if I was going to have terrible tastes, I should mix them together and let them fight it out. The result was better than you'd expect, with the kombucha over powering everything else.

The results were quite good. Concentration was more intense and focus was easier. I'm quite sensitive to caffeine and this taken in the morning made me hyper productive until about 3 o'clock, which is when I normally start misfiring in my head. Coming up and while it was rocking my thoughts came quite easily and I was VERY chatty. It was QUITE enjoyable without being too enjoyable. The coming down was surprisingly mild. I just felt a little extra tired after work. Taking it in the evening was great. I enjoyed the extra desire to talk with my girlfriend and I slept just fine and woke up in the morning feeling normal.

All in all, with my dosages and tolerances it's about like half a cup of coffee or more with much less jitters and much less of the 5-minute experience of full-body-omg-I-can-FEEL-the-universe I get. The entire adventure so far has been about 40 bucks but I bought more and have played with different recipes which I'll write about in the future.
I'd also suggest playing around this forum for a bit to get some other ideas: http://www.imminst.org/forum/index.php?showforum=169

Science -- A Different Perspective

2010-01-26T20:33:00.001-06:00

I thought I'd share a funny quote about science I found here:
http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/01/26/0231205/China-Will-Lead-World-Scientific-Research-By-2020

"It's much worse than that! My extensive research has revealed the existence of a vast network of 'scientists' of all nationalities, operating (like the Illuminati and the Bilderberg Group) with little regard for conventional geo-political boundaries. Despite often working in laboratories funded by national governments (or even so-called 'charities'), these sinister 'researchers' have for decades (even centuries!) made the results of their arcane 'experiments' available in communistic fashion to other members of the cabal. To protect their work from the 'unenlightened', these results are usually presented (much like the treatises of the medieval alchemists) in highly cryptic language that is largely unintelligible to anyone who has not been suitably indoctrinated. This 'training' process usually takes the form of an extended apprenticeship to an individual further up the hierarchy who, as in most cults, holds out the promise of greater enlightenment and an elevation in status in return for performing often menial tasks at unsociable hours while being exposed to mind-bending concepts. The final initiation process, the esoterically titled 'viva voce' ('living voice') ritual is particularly dreaded." - RDW, Slashdot.org

Torrents - The Only Way To Download

2009-06-17T14:03:00.004-05:00

If you are not downloading with torrents then you are missing out on most of the internet. I download about 20 gigabytes in audio or ebooks, lectures and learning programs from the History, PBS, BBC or Discovery channels. Having nearly unlimited access to everything is the only way to fly, and if you're not on this magic carpet ride already, this is how you set it up.

Step 1.
Get a torrent client. I suggest http://www.utorrent.com. Download, install and follow the instructions. The hardest part will be setting up your router so you can accept incomming connections, but it's getting easier all the time and there are websites out there with specific instructions on how to do it. Don't be afraid. You wont break anything.

Step 2.
Learn some websites (aka "trackers") that host torrents. Some are public and some are private, and private ones are more reliable, but all you really need is Google and http://thepiratebay.org.

Step 3.
Start downloading all the delicious goodies from the vast store houses of Internet land.

Additional Info
If you want an in-depth explanation of how torrents work I suggest Googling "how torrenting works" and only reading websites with pretty graphs and brightly colored page layouts. If it's a wall of text, it's probably borring. Hit back on your browser and go somewhere else!

The way it works is if someone wants to host a file, they go to
Now there's just a little terminology you should learn to aid in your torrenting experience.

tracker - The server that hosts the .torrent files
torrent - A file telling your computer which tracker to talk to
seeder - Someone that has the entire file and is uploading it to everyone else
leacher - Someone that only has part of the file but is still sharing what they have with everyone else
swarm - Refers to everyone downloading a particular torrent

Now get out there and start downloading!

Spread Thin

2008-12-22T13:39:00.003-06:00

It's getting to the point where I'm forgetting too many ideas! I have too many and like a kid with too many toys, I don't appreciate them all as much as I should. My Dad made me realize this when we talked about how he started writing. He said creativity is something you can lose, and I never realized it. I've never lost it! Now I'm going to start writing all my ideas down, some place, some where. I hope that by doing so I'll get better at conveying my ideas and processing them.

What does it mean to be better at conveying ideas? My objective is to share. I have learned much from exposing myself to a constant stream of new ideas and information--from people sharing their ideas. Why should I care about sharing? Think about this: The difference between humans now and humans tens of thousands of years ago is virtually nothing, and then think about just how different we are. Many people are unaware of how difficult and insanely violent life was up until very recently. Always on the hunt for safety and food. In some cultures and times infanticide was socially acceptable because new children would but a drain on resources. Women were treated like property and everyone behaved much more like a wild animal than we do today. What changed? We didn't evolve better brains. The main difference is ideas--memes. Our ideas make our society and our civilization. Our ideas have evolved and created this relative paradise we're only just now experiencing and only in some parts of the world.

But I'm not saying that it's just the good ideas that spread. The ideas that spread the best spread the most. Cults are examples of spreadable ideas that are not necessarily good. So for millions of years life evolved and life was not in control. For thousands of years ideas have evolved in humans but we were still not in control because we still have dangerous and violent ideas spreading like viruses. And now, for a variety of reasons, namely a distinct lack of environmental stresses, people are turning more and more to rational thought for determining the ideas that control them. My goal is to have every thought and every action arise from a consciously planned and cultivated framework of ideas because I think this offers the most freedom from suffering and confusion. If I share my ideas, maybe I could help someone else be less confused.

But why help people? Why is it good to care? When you get used to questioning everything you believe and think, you will invariably come across some virtue and be forced to question it. I have my answer but I don't want to give it all away too soon. If you're reading this, it's because I want you to think about it yourself. I've learned the most effective and permanent way to share ideas is to share them like seeds. Seeds are undeveloped, tiny, simple little things that grow differently depending on their environment. It's also much easier to give someone seeds and have them live longer than it is to give them a picked flower.

I'll stop here for now.

Building a Computer

2008-02-08T10:40:00.000-06:00

My friend built what can technically be described as a computer. Check it out: Z80 Test Circuit

Even has a dimly lit video showing it off!

It uses a Z80 processor and he refers to it as Thomas Scherrer's testing circuit.

Dropping Replicated Columns For SQL Server 2000

2007-11-12T17:37:00.000-06:00

I'm sure all of us have tried, at some point, to delete a column from a table on a replicated database in Enterprise Manager only to be greeted with an error message:

Error 5074: The object 'DF__SomeTable__somec__71CF15EB' is dependant on column 'somecolumn'.
ALTER TABLE DROP COLUMN somecolumn failed because one or more objects access this column.

So you figure, I'll just delete the constraint and everything will be OK. But wait, that constraint is on every single replicated server, so you'll have to delete it there too. If there is a lot of latency between you and the other node, it is like waiting for a Christmas that will never come. Oh yeah, spoiler alert: Added bonus - Each one is named slightly differently. So while you may delete it from your main server, none of the syncs are happening or at least the snapshots are failing because you're missing a constraint that everyone has but you. If only there were some way to programaticly determine the randomly-named constraint and delete it. That's where I was today, so I hacked this together for Microsoft SQL Server 2000:

Use YourDatabaseHere
GO

-- Ad-hoc queries require this because sysobjects is just that important.
SP_CONFIGURE 'ALLOW UPDATES', 1
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE
GO

DECLARE @parent_id INT
DECLARE @table_name NVARCHAR(255)
DECLARE @column_name NVARCHAR(255)

SELECT @table_name = 'SomeTable'
SELECT @column_name = 'somecolumn'
SELECT @parent_id = (SELECT sysobjects.id FROM sysobjects WHERE sysobjects.name = @table_name AND parent_obj = 0)

DELETE FROM sysobjects
WHERE parent_obj = @parent_id
AND (SELECT syscolumns.name FROM syscolumns WHERE syscolumns.id = @parent_id
AND syscolumns.colid = (SELECT sysconstraints.colid FROM sysconstraints
WHERE sysconstraints.id = @parent_id AND sysconstraints.constid = sysobjects.id)) = @column_name
AND xtype = 'D'
GO

-- Turn it off when we're done.
SP_CONFIGURE 'ALLOW UPDATES', 0
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE
GO

If you are not familiar with system tables, I heartily recommend you check them out and learn them. Very handy for doing tricky things like this and it will make the above script seem less like magic and will lessen the chances you break something.

For SQL Server 2000: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa260604(SQL.80).aspx

For SQL Server 2005: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms179932.aspx

If you ARE familiar with system tables, and you find an error in the above script, please let me know in the harshest way possible, so I wont forget (within reason).

Now to run this command on all subscriber databases... For more info on that, check out this link:
http://doc.ddart.net/mssql/sql2000/html/replsql/replimpl_5t9d.htm

Replication Procedures Accidently Added to Publication

2007-06-21T12:56:00.000-05:00

We have merge replication configured for about 20 field computers, and 4 servers on our local network. While trying to fix a problem, all articles on the distributor were added to a publication. This includes about 700 procedures generated by SQL server. We weren't able to uncheck them once the changes were applied, probably because the snapshot was created and to uncheck them would invalidate the snapshot.

This caused a lot of problems because we couldn't create any more snapshots because we kept getting the error:
Cannot drop replicataed procedure 'sp_sel_BD87AFD5144A4C7FEE4B86FD60AC49F3_pal' because it is being used for replication.

So I had to write this script to remove them from the publication programaticly:

DECLARE @proc_name NVARCHAR(100)
DECLARE @pub_name NVARCHAR(100)

SET @pub_name = 'PublicationName'

DECLARE cGetRepProcs CURSOR FOR
SELECT ROUTINE_NAME
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.ROUTINES
WHERE ROUTINE_TYPE='PROCEDURE'
AND ROUTINE_NAME LIKE '%_%_pal'

OPEN cGetRepProcs
FETCH NEXT FROM cGetRepProcs INTO @proc_name
WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
EXECUTE sp_dropmergearticle @pub_name, @proc_name,1,0,1

FETCH NEXT FROM cGetRepProcs INTO @proc_name
END

CLOSE cGetRepProcs
DEALLOCATE cGetRepProcs

Failed to enumerate changes in the filtered articles.

2007-05-15T09:37:00.000-05:00

If you have Microsoft SQL servers setup for merge replication and you can't sync from the enterprise manager because of the following error:

Failed to enumerate changes in the filtered articles.

Then try syncing from the command line using replmerg. Not only does it, strangely, have a higher chance of working correctly, but it also shows you valuable information that can be used for debugging. To use replmerg, right click on the publication and go to Agent Properties. Then click the Steps tab and there should be a job called "Run agent.". Select that step and click Edit. There should be a long line of text in the command box. Highlight it all and copy it (ctrl+a, ctrl+c), then open a command prompt (windows key+r, cmd) and issue this command:

cd \Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\80\COM

Now type: replmerg and then right click on the command prompt to paste. If you can't paste, go to the command prompt properties (alt+space, p) and make sure Quick Edit is checked (q) then apply and try again.

Soya Dangers

2007-05-11T07:27:00.000-05:00

If you ingest many soy products, you should read this:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,,1828158,00.html
http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/index.html

In the first link:

On breast cancer, they decided that "despite the suggested benefits of phyto-oestrogens in lowering risk of developing breast cancer, there is also evidence that they may stimulate the progression of the disease". The lower risk of certain cancers among Asian populations might be due to other factors - their high consumption of fish, for example. They advised caution. On the effects on menopause symptoms, the evidence was inconclusive, the experts ruled. On bone density, the committee thought there might be some protective effects, but the data was unclear. The evidence on prostate cancer was mixed. Since isoflavones cross the placenta, the implications of pregnant women eating large quantities of soya were unclear. There was some evidence that soya-based products had a beneficial effect on the good HDL cholesterol but they were not sure that was down to the isoflavones. On the other hand - reassuringly - they judged that a study linking soya consumption to decline in cognitive function was not convincing.

Normally I don't read any websites about "diets", but this was insightful because I've been contemplating the nature of foods, and studying the subtle changes in my mood and vitality after eating certain types of foods:
http://www.yogachicago.com/jan05/diet.shtml

Musings

2007-05-10T16:08:00.000-05:00

Here's something I do, but have never articulated it this well:

When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I think only of how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong. (R Buckminster Fuller)

Unreplicated Creativity

2007-05-09T08:02:00.000-05:00

If you run Microsoft SQL Server 2000 or 2005 and you get a copy of a database that has merge replication and you want to remove it, for whatever reason, try this:

sp_removedbreplication

This takes a few minutes for my database, which has about 20-30 million rows on 3o or 40 tables. You'll then also want to remove replication constraints, which do not seem to be removed, unfortunately, when you issue the above command. Use this script:

declare @table nvarchar(500), @constraint nvarchar(500), @sql nvarchar(500), @t_catalog nvarchar(500), @t_schema nvarchar(500), @i integer

select
table_name,
constraint_name,
table_catalog,
table_schema
into #IdentityConstraints
from information_schema.table_constraints
where constraint_name like 'repl_identity_range_sub_%'

select @i = (select count(*) from #IdentityConstraints)
while @i > 0
begin
select top 1
@table='['+table_catalog+'].['+table_schema+'].['+table_name+']',
@constraint=constraint_name
from #IdentityConstraints

set @sql = N'alter table '+@table+' drop constraint ['+@constraint+']'
exec sp_executesql @sql
print 'Dropped:'+@constraint+' table:'+@table

delete from #IdentityConstraints where constraint_name=@constraint

select @i = @i - 1
end

drop table #IdentityConstraints

On a completely different topic, check out this neat lifehack.org article:
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/how-to-become-a-creative-genius.html

Before you go out making mind maps, be sure and read:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map

I'm not saying I'm a creative genius, but it is nice to know that I'm not wasting my time with all of these weird habits I've had since childhood. They forgot one thing though:

Legos, etc...
Parents: Buy your kid legos. There is no need for the expensive name-brand stuff. They are more of a cheap advertising gimmick now. Get large quantities of the knock-off stuff. Optionally, you may also remove all of the TVs in the house. If your kid doesn't like legos, tell them that they're not "old enough" and it's for "big kids only". That should jump-start things. I don't know why but my earliest memories are of hours and hours spent in quiet solitude, tinkering with my legos. I no longer own legos (read: I have a little brother.), but they lead me to discover the joy of creation which I still pursue.

The Music Makers

2007-05-08T15:59:00.000-05:00

Normally quote pages are full of pithy, over-used and only marginally funny quotes that you probably have read before, but this page is different.
http://www.sysprog.net/quotpgmr.html

Some of my favorites include:
To many managers, getting rid of the arrogant, undisciplined, over-paid, technology-obsessed, improperly-dressed etc. programmers would appear to be a significant added benefit. (Bjarne Stroustrup)

Mostly, when you see programmers, they aren't doing anything. One of the attractive things about programmers is that you cannot tell whether or not they are working simply by looking at them. Very often they're sitting there seemingly drinking coffee and gossiping, or just staring into space. What the programmer is trying to do is get a handle on all the individual and unrelated ideas that are scampering around in his head. (Charles M Strauss)

It is overwhelmingly comforting to know that there are people out there that understand this.

The programmer, who needs clarity, who must talk all day to a machine that demands declarations, hunkers down into a low-grade annoyance. It is here that the stereotype of the programmer, sitting in a dim room, growling from behind Coke cans, has its origins. The disorder of the desk, the floor; the yellow Post-It notes everywhere; the whiteboards covered with scrawl: all this is the outward manifestation of the messiness of human thought. The messiness cannot go into the program; it piles up around the programmer. (Ellen Ullman)

This actually describes my working environment, right down to the whiteboard not 3 feet from my head covered in inane scribbles.