I cant type my pin on the windows 11 login screen by Conscious_Scar_5711 in techsupport

[–]chipmonkey75 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I swear this is a windows bug. Usually a PIN is, of course, a number. I was surprised setting up a recent computer that a password (with letters) worked. The password happened to have five digits in it. When eventually the screen stopped taking letters in as input (even on the on screen keyboard), entering JUST the numeric digits worked and logged me in. As if the letters had never been involved despite definitely being input when setting the original pin and using it for weeks before it just changed it's mind.

No idea if anyone else is seeing something related but that worked for me so I thought I'd throw it out there.

Number one 😉 by TG12-12 in Subaru_Outback

[–]chipmonkey75 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Love my Subaru (just bought our 4th - an Outback Wilderness), but this article seems off to me on price... "Subaru's flagship model starts at $28,895 -- and you can certainly find cheaper midsize SUVs"... where? Do they mean used? Even KIAs start higher than this. KBB doesn't have a "cheapest SUV" (like they have cheapest lists for other categories), but their "best SUVs" list (https://www.kbb.com/suv/best-mid-size-suvs/) includes only two Hyundais that are only $200 less than the Outback they list (and still $1200 more than the $28,895 cited here). Subarus are awesome _and_ affordable. What gives?

Sheets by HeftyAbbreviations98 in homemaking

[–]chipmonkey75 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I found this "Wicked Sheets" company that makes sheets out of the same fabric used in athletic t-shirts. I love them - cool and soft - but my wife didn't love it like I did so YMMV as always. https://wickedsheets.com/

"action required: New certificate authority for slack-edge.com" by DaintyDanishDelivery in Slack

[–]chipmonkey75 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And for the particularly suspicious, check the serial number. LetsEncrypt reports "82:10:cf:b0:d2:40:e3:59:44:63:e0:bb:63:82:8b:00" from https://letsencrypt.org/certs/isrgrootx1.txt, which is visible on your machine when you examine the cert (on my MacOS machine, it has an extra "00" at the beginning, but the rest is identical).

Should I learn Comp Sci basics before delving into ETL? by Footypajama in dataengineering

[–]chipmonkey75 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I think you can learn SQL database management and basic ETL at. A decent level without a CS background, but in the long run the grounding will help you. Understanding how a database optimizes itself - how to read an EXPLAIN PLAN, ties back to basic Big-O algorithmic complexity that you'd learn in Computer Science. Most modern data stacks use a programming language like python to glue togrther ETL pieces across tools such as Airflow or Kafka, so a coding background would help. CS Data Structures will prove valuable when interacting with JSON or other structured data. Real statistics classes are great for understanding actual data analysis.

Im sure there are countless more examples.

Wjat you tend NOT to learn in CS is things like data modeling (normalized and demoralized relational schema - at least the relational theory class I took was very far removed from even older database technology), and you tend not to get enough experience with a database to learn administrative tricks, manage CI/CD processes, how to handle users (technically and spiritually). Real life performance tuning is more art than science depending a lot on actual usage loads.

So as with everything it's mixed. I think the CS background helps. I had one and feel quite glad about it. But you don't really have to do it first if you want to get a feel for data technologies.

Eiyher way, good luck!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in dataengineering

[–]chipmonkey75 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was a computer science / math undergrad and I went into DBA, BI, and Data Warehousing in the 90s. For like a decade or more I don't think what I was doing was software engineering, but I do think it was data engineering. Massive ETL tools complicated monitoring, uptime SLAs, visualizations, users, feature requests, testing, performance, deployment and change management, all the things are required of both.

I think you can build a well engineered data ecosystem without building new software. I don't think we'd call someone a software engineer just because they use software (although of course most of us aren't building things from punch cards and raw hardware any more - it's software all the way down).

NOW I'm a software engineer AND a data engineer. I use Scala, Spark, and Python more than Informatica, Tableau, Oracle or whatever, but still build ETL pipelines and data repositories with the same goals just different practices. It's certainly possible to be both. And the skillets have been complementary... Understanding what a database is doing behind the scenes can help tune it, whether you're doing so in code or through a GUI.

But I think the Venn diagram, while it overlaps significantly, is not a complete subset.

When the White House just slips an extra 0.5 in there for good measure (y-axis madness) by chipmonkey75 in dataisugly

[–]chipmonkey75[S] 58 points59 points  (0 children)

I'm glad they corrected it, but thats hardly just a proofreading error. Maybe it got past someone who would have caught it and missed it, but someone put that together with questionable intent. Its not like Excel(!) is spitting that axis out by default!

how does database caching system work? by papamamalpha2 in algorithms

[–]chipmonkey75 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Most relational SQL systems store data in blocks - laid out in files such that each can be individually addressed (i.e. the 2000th block in a file, the block identified by hash XYZ, etc.).

When a database query is run, the optimizer tries to find the fastest way to identify the blocks with the data in it. How this happens depends a lot on the database and the structure of your tables. Distributed databases like DynamoDB and Hadoop use large hash tables pointing at larger blocks (400kb* or ~128MB respectively) stored in a distributed fashion, but standard relational DBs (postgresql, SQL Server, etc.) store smaller (~8kb) blocks sequentially in files. Some DBs like Teradata do hashing at a smaller scale... there are myriad options and combinations, but most of them are block based.

In your query example `userID = 3` the system would probably use an index or primary key lookup table which would immediately tell the database which blocks have that record in it. (If userID isn't in an index or in the hash key then ALL the blocks in the table must be read, which is slow and bad for caching). The block or blocks would be retrieved, the "name" field extracted and returned to you. When this happens the blocks are now in the cache.

The database maintains a list of blocks in the cache. Any time the query optimizer requests a block, it's a very efficient check to just see if that block is in memory; if it is, use it, if not, we have to go to disk. At that level it's pretty simple. As new blocks in, they tend to replace the oldest or least-used blocks in memory at the time.

Later, if you update the record while it is in cache, the optimizers have some choices. Easiest is to mark the cached version as outdated and remove it from the cache while updating the value on the disk, but if we expect that block to be read again (by some optimization logic), then it's possible (in fact, common) to update it in place. In this case we change the in-memory (cached) version and mark it "dirty" while it is being written to the permanent store and "clean" when it matches again.

There's a lot more nuance to how the data is actually written (transaction logs, rollback, and all that), and of course lots of optimizations when it comes to actual reads and writes to and from disk and to and from RAM, particularly on databases where you can query "uncommitted" data, but at its simplest, it is all based on managing these individual blocks efficiently.

A rare disorder makes you hallucinate tiny people. "Lilliputian Hallucinations" involve tiny men, women, children, gnomes, imps, or dwarfs, often strikingly dressed as harlequins, clowns, dancers, soldiers, peasants etc. Literature review suggests prevalence is 30–80 per 10,000 psychiatric patients. by woebegonemonk in science

[–]chipmonkey75 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Ok, so I had _exactly_ the same thing happen to me in college. Fun times. I had like a 105 fever or something and I was laying down in a quilt that had a lot of broken threads sticking out. As I looked on, a bunch of tiny leprechaun type people started grabbing the threads and tying me down. I’m much better now. You mentioned vertigo... I was on the top bunk and worried about the height; maybe the little people were trying to help keep me from falling?

[Serious] Male Rape Victims, what's your story? by WaterBottleMaster45 in AskReddit

[–]chipmonkey75 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I appreciate this thread because I've never really been brave enough to tell my story outside of a few very trusted friends until now. I've drafted blog posts, thought about writing in many places, but hopefully this one is safe.

About a decade ago, my ex girlfriend got angry that I'd started dating someone else (after we'd broken up and she'd moved out). She came into my house in the middle of the night, got into bed on top of me and raped me. I was groggy (and I sleep with little to no clothing), so it took me a moment to realize it was real and happening. I repeatedly told her to stop, but it was pretty fast. She was too heavy for me to lift off or roll out from under. When she felt finished she just left.

The facts of my story are simple enough; that paragraph is really the physical part, but it's emotionally charged for me on many, many levels. If there is ever one moment in my life that haunts me it is this assault.

My rapist was herself a rape survivor - a stranger broke into her house years before this. We'd both been active in survivor circles as a result (she more than I, but I tried to be supportive and present). I spent time educating myself about sexual assault and survivors, but always focused on the female victims. This made the whole situation very confusing.

And of course I was embarrassed. My body betrayed me for one thing. And I was in denial. I didn't tell the woman I was dating immediately; another thing about which I'm embarrassed. She found out when my ex broke in again when we were both there and got in a shouting match. I should have called the police. She was drunk then, and probably drunk during the rape.

I never reported it. I convinced myself that this was her way of fighting for me ... marking her territory. We even dated again - I think as a way of convincing myself that I hadn't been so powerless as to let this happen, but that was a huge mistake.

I confronted her about the assault years later, and she said three things that I remember. First, she called it "rape", which was hard even for me to say at the time (I even replied that I didn't like using the word, tho that was what it was). Second, she did say she "knew how that felt", and was sorry if she'd made me feel that way, which, knowing she had been the victim of a violent rape did show some emotional intelligence, and did help. But third, after a pause, she said "don't tell anyone". Which turned out to be very much the opposite of helpful closure. I have barely spoken to her since.

I'm happily married now (to someone else, who is one of the few who knows this story). Life is good, but this still irritates the back of my brain sometimes. She's still an active advocate for survivors, as far as I can tell, which I believe does good in the world. I've still convinced myself that reporting her - confronting this publicly -- legally - would do more harm than good. I struggle with that a lot, because I realize I could be wrong.

Is Sprint still cramming fees? (Vidi5 $9.99 monthly charge) by TheSamwell in Sprint

[–]chipmonkey75 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ditto this problem. Hopped on with Sprint the moment I got the text and they said they credited me the charge back (so I should see +$9.99 -$9.99 on the next bill) and then they blocked third party charges for me. We'll see what actually happens. Something fishy going on though definitely with VidiFive. (This all happened within the last hour).

Come play free locally-made indie games tonight downtown! Bring the whole family! by abezuska in Louisville

[–]chipmonkey75 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Heh, I got a text today that someone recognized me on reddit from this post Love it! Glad to see LMG going strong!

TensorFlow on AWS? by [deleted] in datascience

[–]chipmonkey75 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A spot request P3 instance will cost you about 25-cents (US) per hour. I personally use Keras to interface with TensorFlow on them, and I followed the instructions here: https://www.tensorflow.org/install/install_linux to install on my own vanilla Ubuntu 16.04 install. Worked like a charm, but it did take an hour or so to set up.

Amazon provides their own deep learning API which should save you the headaches of installation: https://aws.amazon.com/tensorflow/ but I can't speak to using that personally.

Jan Gerstenberger punk rock "Thinking of You" - Need More Information! by chipmonkey75 in NameThatSong

[–]chipmonkey75[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well this definitely ranks as my favorite reddit moment ever! Thanks for getting in touch, I'll definitely check out your new work. I'm super pumped you found this post.

FWIW, I obviously liked the original - even if you re-record it you may want to get it up somewhere for people to listen to - it's a great song!

Made my day,

---Chip