Plaxico Burress

Plaxico Burress of the New York Giants has to turn himself into New York police after accidentally shooting himself in the thigh. This comes exactly one year after Sean Taylor, strong safety for the Washington Redskins, was murdered after a botched robbery attempt. Sean Taylor was shot in the thigh as well. Taylor died as his femoral artery was struck and he suffered massive bleeding. Fortunately Burress did not suffer life threatening wounds. However, I don't understand why he would put himself in such a position. He obviously did not have a permit for the gun he was carrying. That is the reason why he must turn himself in. New York supposedly has tough gun laws. It would only be right that Burress be subject to these laws as anyone else. He has a responsibility to family, fans, the New York Giants organization, and himself. Instead he is spending his time armed in nightclubs. I just don't understand. He will lose large amounts of money as this is a major breach in his 35 million dollar contract. He was shot in the leg and now he may face time on this felony gun charge. Thats a triple whammy.

Database Administrator Skills

I found some required skills and experience for a Database Administrator

VB Script
AJAX
ADO.Net
COM/COM+/DCOM
JavaScript
ASP.Net
Web Service / SOAP / XML development
HTML, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)
SQL Server 2000 – 2005
Internet Information Services
Working experience with BI tools such as MicroStrategy, COGNOS. Actuate a plus.

Someone that has experience implementing such a tool on top of a SDL database would be a real plus.

Other Qualifications
Creative thinking with an ability to develop innovative solutions
Strong communication and presentation skills
Strong interactive skills and team player
Result oriented and highly focused with eye on detail, data accuracy and communication
Proven project management experiences a plus.

Wow! thats alot

Database Improves Healthcare

IBM's new data server, Viper, has the ability to help clients manage all types of information such as documents, audio, video, images, web pages, and digitally signed XML transactions. This is achieved through the ability to store data relationally in tables. Viper will reduce the time that's required for for programming by either vendors or customers. XML data will be stored in the relational databases, therefore the hierarchical qualities can be shown via XML tags. This new tool will better management and utilization of clinical information. The improved XML handling will make it easier for organizations to exchange information. This is a very common practice between health care organizations. No longer will you have to wait while someone walks up and down the filing room searching for you health records.

Database Joins

Simple Definitions for Joins
Inner Join - returns only those rows from the left table where they have a matching row in the right table based upon the join criteria.

Left Join- returns all rows from the left table even if there are no matching rows where found in the right table. Any values selected out of the right table will be null for those rows where no matching row is found on the right table. Left Joins tend to be more portable and easier to read

Right Join- Same as a left join, but from opposite direction. This will return all rows in the right table regardless of matching rows in the left table.

Gang Database

MassGangs will soon be launched a database that will store information on violent street criminals by describing such factors as associates, criminal history, and tattoos that indicate gang affiliation. This new statewide computer tracking system called is going online the first week of January and will be used by every law enforcement agency in the state.
This database will give officers on the street the freshest information that's available on gang members. The database will be used by the Department of Correction, which monitors activities by security threat groups within the prison system. Access to the system is limited to law enforcement agencies.

I find that MassGangs will be a far more effective tool and will provide law enforcement with necessary information at quick speeds. Even if it does not live up to its expectations I am pretty sure that it will be more effective than the current system. It is simply an online forum for Massachusetts law enforcement. Anybody can access this information and see what cops are posting just as I have.
http://www.masscops.com/forums/history/topic.php/4577-1.html

Database Security

Many organizations experience security vulnerabilities as there is no higher level system administrator overseeing the system administrator. Someone needs to ensure that the system administrator is following appropriate guidelines, applying the lastest patches, and testing the security of the database.

Database security is often broken down into four particular segments.

1.) Server Security

Database servers are the most important servers your company owns. They store client details, financial information, human resource details - all the data that keeps your company in business and, as such, they need to be secure. Server security limits actual access to the database server.

2.) Trusted IP addresses

Servers should be configured to only allow trusted IP addresses. You should know who is communicating with your database server.

3.) Database Connections

Be cautious of allowing users to to make updates to the database via a webpage. Make sure each user is authenticated and remove SQL code from user input.

4.) Restricting Database Access

One should prevent open access from the Internet and each database system should have it's own set of unique features.

Database Tips

Design may be one of the most important aspects of a database. I have discovered a couple of helpful tips to assist in the creation of a database.

Do's

1.) Create relational data tables Unless you are doing only one very simple task, such as entering a list of names and addresses, you will need more than one table of data to track your information correctly.

2.) Rules for data entry should be consistent: The organization should make decisions which identify the business rules. Then the database designer can build in ways to enforce consistency at the user level.

3.) Enter information in the proper field:If the data entry person cannot find the right place for a piece of data, perhaps the database needs some work. The answer is not to enter information randomly in an empty field.



Don'ts

1.)Create one flat file: A flat file means that all your data goes on one data table. Flat files make it difficult to create statistical reports.

2.)Use too many Yes/No fields:If you are using a large number of yes/no fields, you may need to re-examine the design of your database.

3.)Enter data inconsistently:If some users enter "donor" and others enter "contributor," database queries will be hard to run accurately.

Captcha

Computer visual recognition has become very popular. This is due to the large number of bots running around on the internet, setting up bogus accounts, spamming chatrooms, and email accounts. To combat these bots, Yahoo was determined to administer a test that humans could pass, but computers could not. Therefore, Luis von Ahn, a 28 year old professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon, wrote a program that generates four random lerters and numbers, distorts them, and places them on a fuzzy background. The user then types in the four characters correctly and is granted access. He coined this test the "Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart" thus...CAPTCHA. Yahoo, AOL, and Microsoft have adopted Captachas into their systems. I have come across these captchas sometimes when i attempt to send a message or friend request on facebook and myspace. I guess the system wants to make sure I'm not a bot.

Von Ahn took this idea a step further and created a game where two players must agree on which of two pictures is prettier. The database is comprised of 100,000 photos. Through this game "Matchin" humans are tricked into teaching the computer what constitutes prettiness. This same type of logic hs been used for the Google Image Labeler. In turn Google's database of images has become better and smarter.

Video Searching

I probably watch videos online more than I actually watch television. However, search engines can't index video files as easily as text. Therefore, the race is on to see who will become the GOOGLE of video search. Several search engines are implementing different techniques in order to index these videos. One technique is to scan the script. Everything said in a clip is tracked through voice recognition soft-ware, closed-captioned information, or a combination of the two. Blinkx and TVEyes have tested this technique. However, just because someone or something's name is included in a script doesn't mean that thing is in the actual clip. Another popular technique is to analyze links and metadata. Dabble and Google are testing this technique out. Here conventional search spiders scan the text around a video and the pages that point or link to that page. This is probably the most effiecient way to index videos.

As for searching for a particular video, I "youtube it" and cross my fingers..lol

Hollywood goes 3-D

50 years ago Hollywood introduced

MS Access Can Handle Millisecond Time Values

Manipulating time values with millisecond precision in Access requires some crafty programming. You need the help of a couple of API calls, which you wrap in functions that mimic the standard timing functions in Access. In Access, the built-in timing function with the highest precision is Timer(), but the resolution is only 1/64 second, or about 16 milliseconds. You need a custom timer function to achieve a higher resolution. An essential trick that makes this possible is the conversion between native and linear time. I was wondering what needs to measured in milliseconds. Maybe Olympic races?

A SQL Monitor by Red-Gate Software

Monitoring is a continual process of a database administrator. This helps ensure quality and efficiency of a system. To assist dbas with this task Red Gate has created a product known as SQL Response. This tool allows DBAs to monitor multiple SQL Servers at the same time. The monitoring of the SQL Servers are provided through alerts. There are three types of alerts within SQL Response.
1.) Server alerts
2.) Job Alerts
3.) Process Alerts.
The alerts are color coded on the SQL Response interface to make it easier for the DBA to notice problems or alerts. Red symbolizes a high alert, yellow symbolizes a medium alert, and blue symbolizes low alerts. This also helps the DBA prioritize the alerts. The alerts are in turn stored in an Alert Repository. There are two methods for configuring the Alert repository. The first option is to configure the repository on a server other than the SQL Response client. The second option is to configure the repository on the same servers that the SQL Response client is installed. Alert information remains within the Alert Repository for six months.

Easily Access Remote Data Using SQL Server Views

Sometimes data you are trying to retrieve is not on the particular database that you are on. Fortunately you can access remote data from other databases with SQL Server. The use of views enable this procedure. Views store instructions that servers need in order to retrieve and access data. Views are similar to queries, but they do not store any data. They simply return the data according to the instructions. Views are not part of the physical schema. They are virtual tables created from data within a database. Limitations can also be placed on the amount of data that is carried over the network.

Database on-the-go

Recently DDH Software developed a relational database application that is compatible with iPhone. The application is called HanDBase and includes over 2000 database templates. Just about any data that needs to be stored or converted into information can be input to this database. With the combination of this database application and the touch-screen features of an iPhone, creating a new database can be achieved in seconds. The user simply gives the new database a name, assigns it to a category, and define the fields that they want to be included in his/her database. Each database can have up to 100 fields including field types such as integer, text, date, time, image, unique, and much more. The web interface is very user friendly for downloading files. Of course, security features such as password protection are added to this application as well

Who needs a personal planner when you can create your own database within seconds? lol

NBA 2K9

As i mentioned, I am sort of a gamer. When it comes to NBA 2K9 I would consider myself a fanatic. This wasn't the case 3 years ago. I was more of an NBA Live fanatic. If you don't know NBA Live and NBA 2K are arch rivals in the basketball video game industry. Every since NBA Live 95 was released on the sega genesis console 13 years ago i was hooked. However, as I became older I desired a more realistic, simulation style basketball video game. That is where a parted ways with NBA Live and picked up NBA 2K. It's been 3 years and the game keeps getting better and better. It is now more realistic than ever and the game-play is incredible. I have been playin basketball my entire life, competitively at a collegiate level. I must say when I play NBA 2k9 it feels like I am in the actual game.

I had trouble finding competition in this video game, so I registered for XBox 360's online service called XBox Live. Through XBox Live, I establish an online connection with an opponent and play a game against them. It's very exciting and gets very competitive as I play people from all around the country. At my peak I was ranked in the top 2 percent of online gamers.

What adds to NBA 2k9 authenticity is their new introduction of "Living Rosters". When the Living Rosters feature is activated and a gamer signs in online, the game automatically checks for Living Roster updates in order to download the latest real-life player information in a seamless process behind the scenes. Gamers will have an option to either have Living Rosters automatically update their in-game roster information, or they can choose to download new roster data manually. Once Living Rosters has successfully completed an update, NBA 2K9 fans can then review the different player and gameplay updates from the NBA 2K Insider – a real person working behind the scenes, pouring over the stats and spreadsheets, and interacting with the community and fans for update suggestions. No longer do you have to wait for NBA 2K to update their database with this new information. The data is available for upload everyday mimicking what is happening in the actual National Basketball Association.

Spore

I was at work last week and National Public Radio (NPR) was playing on the radio. The broadcast included Will Wright, the creator of a new video game called "Spore". I initially paid no attention to the radio, but after Wright went into further detail about the game my ears were open. Apparently Spore is a video game where the user creates a life form that starts out as a a microscopic cell. This life form that the user creates, eats other cells and survives until it evolves into some unique creature. After exploring land and feeding on other creatures you will further evolve. These creatures eventually form and create groups which grow into civilizations. These civilizations can grow into large cities and possibly planets. The game will be available on PC, MAC, and game consoles such as Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

If played online, the user can download items from the Spore Database. The database is compliled of creations from other users. Anything that is created by a user is sent to the Spore Database and other users can download that uploaded item. Users are constantly downloading from the Spore Database and this enables them to develop and populate their civilzations, cities, and planets. The number of creatures available for download have grown exponentially since the games release.

IT 450 Database Concepts

My name is Cameron Brown and I am a Senior at Old Dominion University majoring in Information Technology. I am creating this blog as an assignment for my IT 450 class, Database Concepts. Here I can spread and increase my knowldedge and perspective of relational databases among other topics. My professor claims that future employers will be impressed that I have a blog. I'm not too sure that my current boss would be impressed, lol... However, my future employers may like the fact that I'm a blogger. I will be graduating at the end of this semester. It feels like a have been in school forever and it will be a big relief once I am done. I currently juggle my time between school and work. I work for the Real Estate Information Network as a Technical Support Representative. Some of my job responsiblities include training certified classes, handling technical support calls, and processing tax data into our system.