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Follow the bouncing ball part 2

So for nearly a decade, I have ignored the dripping faucet in the downstairs bath despite having a brand new faucet in a box beside the sink. On December 28th, I actually broke down, removed the old faucet, and put on a new one. Only, I didn’t reattach the drain or the hot and cold water feeds. So now, when the washing machine runs, it backs up into the cabinet under the sink. A one gallon bucket catches all the water from one wash load. Since this is getting old, today’s task was to replace the galvanized steel pipe with PVC pipe. Off to Home Depot!

Now, Home Depot and I have a love/hate relationship. I will actually swoon while walking its majestic aisles. Once I went to return something and ended up spending $100. For that matter, $100 is my magic number for Home Depot. See, I believe every store has a magic number. For instance, Kroger’s magic number is 50; I can’t go into Kroger without spending $50. Home Depot used to be 100. I couldn’t drive past Home Depot without a C-note blowing out the window. I love walking through Home Depot and imagining all the great things I could do if I only had the time, and the money, to spend on the materials.

Tommy made arrangements to be at a friend’s house at 2pm so that gave me an excuse to go get my PVC pipe. I walk into Home Depot and immediately see some pretty flowers that I think will make Cathy’s day if I plant them near the front door. Done. Remarkably, I find the plumbing aisle next and realize I didn’t collect enough information to make an informed purchase so after consulting with the expert employee, who this time actually knew his stuff, I was ready to replace all galvanized and wrought iron plumbing in the house; a total plumbing upgrade! Wisely, I decided that would require more planning. Next I explore the fire place supplies to see if they sell the wire brushes I need to clean the flue. Nay. I find myself in the insulation aisle pondering using solid foam on the cider block in the basement than losing living space by adding studs and R-13 or R-whatever. Skip. Finally I arrive at the dry wall aisle. Standing Home Depot rule: Don’t leave without drywall board if you are alone and have the van. That’s the nice thing about a Dodge Grand Caravan; it holds a 4×8 piece of board perfectly with the seats folded down and the driver’s seat slid all the way to the dashboard. Makes for interesting driving too. I head to the exact opposite end of the store and buy 25 pounds of grass seed, the plants, and the drywall and totally skip the reason I went there in the first place. I couldn’t leave the parking lot without buying 4 yellow LEDs from Radio Shack.

Got home and Evan and Amy helped me plant. I had some organic planting soil stored away and a bag of mulch from last season that was never opened and still in great shape. In 7 days, our muddy pit might actually have grass!

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Follow the bouncing ball

I was on the computer and decided I need to accomplish something for the house. Something tangible. We bought a glow in the dark basketball net for the neighborhood kids (our kids never use our basketball goal) so I thought I’d take a few moments and hang it. So I went in the bedroom to get my pocket knife since there is tape holding part of the old net on. Seeing the Roomba I decided that it would be good to have it cleaning the floors while Evan is away wife the grandparents and I am outside. This required cleaning the Roomba and because the Christmas ornaments are on the kitchen table I had to do it on the kitchen counters which reminded me that I haven’t had breakfast. So I started cooking bacon for Cathy, Tommy and myself and remembered I needed something downstairs. Once I got downstairs I couldn’t remember what it was so I decide to write this post. Oh! It was the MP3 player so I could either listen to A Buddhist Podcast or some music. Since I’m down here I suppose I should get the Christmas buckets upstairs so we can put those ornaments and tree away. Now what was that tangible thing I was going to do?

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Is Yellowstone about to kill a lot of the world’s population?

Well, maybe…

it’s been 600,000-ish years since Yellowstone’s supervolcano has gone off full blast…
Picture 1,000 Mount Saint Helenses…
A supereruption could kill tens of millions.
More than half the U.S. will experience ashfall, potentially fatal if inhaled.
…could devegetate a third of the lower 48 (including some of the world’s most productive farmland) for years or decades, leading to mass starvation…
Within 10 to 50 miles of the next Yellowstone vent, you’ll be Pompeiiized…
What’s the chance of a supereruption anywhere in the world in the next 50 years? Estimates range from one chance in 1,000 to one in 10,000 — hardly cause for panic.

[Source, The Straight Dope, Is Yellowstone Park sitting on a supervolcano that’s about to blow?]

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Today’s Technical Brain Cloud

Having a stupid moment and maybe you can help. I’m trying to count how many times an employee is scheduled using MySQL. I would like to have a column that for George says "3" and for Lucy says "2" but if I group on EmployeeID and use count(e.EmployeeID) I end up with 2 rows instead of 5. How do I retain the 5 rows of data and still get a count of 3 for George and 2 for Lucy? My output will show that George has schedule Sat-Mon, Tues-Fri, and Wed-Sun and will say "George is scheduled 3 times."

CompanyID AffiliateID EmployeeID EmployeeName Schedule
1   23   11   George   Sat-Mon
1   23   11   George   Tues-Fri
1   23   11   George   Wed-Sun
1   23   15   Lucy   Sun-Mon
1   23   15   Lucy   Thur-Fri

SELECT c.CompanyID,
     a.AffiliateID,
     e.EmployeeID,
     e.EmployeeName,
     s.Schedule
FROM companies c
LEFT OUTER JOIN subscription s
     ON c.CompanyID = s.CopmanyID
LEFT OUTER JOIN affiliates a
     ON a.AffiliateID = s.AffiliateID
LEFT OUTER JOIN employees e
     ON ae.AffiliateID = a.AffiliateID
LEFT OUTER JOIN schedules s
     ON s.EmployeeID = e.EmployeeID
          AND s.CompanyID = c.CompanyID
          AND s.AffiliateID = a.AffiliateID
WHERE (s.StartDate <= FROM_UNIXTIME(1227243599)
     AND s.EndDate >= FROM_UNIXTIME(1227157200))
     AND c.CompanyID = 1
ORDER BY c.CompanyName, s.AffiliateID ASC

I know this is not a complex SQL problem. I’ve done this in the past but today I am being dense and am stumped.

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Hurricane Creek Keeper tells of Gestapo Style TVA Police

My friend had a similar experience:

TVA’s private security detained our friend as (TVA’s words) an “environmental activist.” Cathy asked last night, what does one fear from an environmental activist at a toxic waste site? Are they afraid they’ll pull out a paper towel and start cleaning?

TVA’s private security, described as dressed in dark uniforms with no clear insignia, took our friend’s picture, took personal and professional contact information, recorded the license plate, commented on the contents of the vehicle, commented on the environmental bumper stickers, and kept our friend detained in the car for a half an hour. Our friend had turned onto a side road but not crossed any fence, barricade or posting of any kind.

Read more about the Tennessee coal sludge spill on Wikipedia.

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The morning thus far

We have guests visiting. Noah had a friend spend the night last night and Tommy had a friend spend the night. So this morning, between coding efforts, I have made two batches of cinnamon rolls, answered guest questions, woke the dead, intervened several times between the six year old (Amy) and the three year old (Evan), and unclogged one stuck toilet. Mornings like this are why I get up before everyone else to code, code on the weekends, and code at night. Excuse me, I have to take a few minutes to have my Lego figure ride a Brio train.

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Oh Dem Picky Eaters

On days like today, I wish the kids would just let me buy mass quantities (anyone remember mass quantities?) from Taco Bell. Oh thing is I’d end up eating it all myself and they’d starve. Of course, if I do homemade tacos most of them will eat.

I really want to bring some variety to the table but am torn between going with the safe bet and getting food into them versus working hard on a new dish to have noses upturned while everyone turns to Ramen. I’ll end up doing one experimental dish every week or two just because I’m motivated to get away from the same ol’ same old. Think I need to run to the store and at least buy tea.

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Social Rules in the Digital World

We have social rules in society. For instance, we don’t sneeze into our hand then immediately shake someone else’s hand. Some people have difficulty understanding social rules in real life. To further complicate these social rules, they vary from culture to culture. Now, introduce the Internet and it’s latest craze, social media. To be in, hip, popular, and just not ignored on the Internet right now, you must be "social." For businesses, this means engaging your customers.

A great example is Comcast’s Frank Eliason and his use of Twitter. Frank created the Twitter account @ComcastCares and started using keyword searches with tools like Summize to find customer’s complaining about Comcast’s service and he tackled these problems directly, one on one. Rather than the customer reaching out to Comcast, Frank reached out to the customer and redefined customer service on the Internet. Now many companies use Twitter and blog searches to engage customers, retain customers, and repair their corporate image.

Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh took the Zappos core value #6 "Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication" to an extreme by encouraging staff to embrace Twitter and blogging. Tony tweets as @zappos and blogs under the Zappos CEO and COO Blog. Even though he is a busy CEO, he takes time to respond to people like me. That’s engagement!

So what of social rules online? Just read comments at a major media outlet such as Knoxnews.com and see how the power of apparent anonymity can turn the uninitiated Internet neophyte, what I would assume is a normally decent human being, into a royal ass. I see horrible comments in such forums that I cannot imagine a person having the audacity to utter in mixed company in person. Twitter is undeniably one of the best examples of social media on the Internet. In 140 characters, you share with your followers (and the world if your Tweets are not set to private) the mundane in your life, the news, announcements, or whatever suits your mood. Seems simple enough, but there are unwritten, social rules which have formed around the service. Genuine Jeremy Floyd polled his followers and published Rules of the Road-Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Twitterverse. If you feel his list needs expanding, head over to his blog and add your social rules in his comments. You can also send him a message through Twitter @jfloyd.