Jonathan Lewis
jloracle.bsky.social
Jonathan Lewis
@jloracle.bsky.social
Nearly-retired Oracle performance specialist. 50 years using computers, 40 years self-employed, 35 years as a freelance Oracle specialist.
Are you sure it’s not a replacement for one of the Didcot power station cooling towers?
December 13, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Possibly just very slow. Maybe you need to log in to MOS before you try using the link. I waited on my first attempt for a couple of minutes, then logged in and tried again - and got connected in less than 30 seconds (!)
December 13, 2025 at 11:09 AM
True story:

One site I did some work for bought a load of new hardware then found that the power supply to the building wasn't big enough to run the airconditioning in the server room if they powered up all the new servers.
December 11, 2025 at 9:21 AM
I had to write a note for myself to make sure I said what I meant with method_opt. , You need one more example because the "obvious" extrapolation from one column is not correct. What's the method_opt to gather histograms on just 2 (3,4..) columns:

jonathanlewis.wordpress.com/2018/01/18/c...
December 9, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Serious answer: someone uses sticky tape to stick a heavy and potentially life-threatening decoration to the ceiling.

"Surely no-one could be that stupid" - possibly the most commonly used IT "post-mortem" observation.
December 2, 2025 at 9:41 AM
So when are you arriving - it'll be 6C max on Sunday, feeling like freezing until 11:00 am according to the current forecast from the UK met office:
weather.metoffice.gov.uk/forecast/gcq...
Birmingham (West Midlands Conurbation) weather
Birmingham 7 day weather forecast including weather warnings, temperature, rain, wind, visibility, humidity and UV
weather.metoffice.gov.uk
November 26, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Worst case is when someone adds a comment to tell you that you publish the same article 5 years previously!
November 25, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Reminding yourself ... first you have to remind yourself that you HAVE written about the problem before, then you have to find the note that you wrote.
☹️
November 25, 2025 at 9:35 AM
Some disappointing results, and some fantastic ones. Most of the dahlias I grew from seed have produced a respectable set of tubers, and the old non-productive potted plants my wife binned have recovered dramatically on splitting and planting out. Sadly a couple of my prize plants got some rot.
November 24, 2025 at 3:49 PM
But if you don't have the courage to make the hypothesis and build the investigation you'll never learn anything new, and you'll never learn how to review "proofs".
November 22, 2025 at 7:36 PM
What a shame they didn't label the low point the "Slough of despond"; poetic, a background of wry humour, and so accurate.
November 21, 2025 at 10:30 AM
What would the AI "natural language" to SQL predicate do with those two.

(New abbreviation: WWAID".)
November 19, 2025 at 10:22 AM
But will the AI ask you to clarify the question when you give it some natural language that is (humanly) ambiguous, or will it take the text as given?

(Thinking messy combination of ANDs and ORs - will the AI simply use logical precedence, or will it ask for clarification on bracketing?)
November 18, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Unfortunately it's not documented and the suggestive "reset_value" column was blank for all the options I tried - but at least the names are there.
November 10, 2025 at 9:57 AM