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  • LIBGDX "parsing error emitter" with 2 or more emitters [on hold]

    - by flow969
    I have a problem with the use of particle effect of LIBGDX with 2 or more emitters. After using ParticleEditor to create my .p file, I use it in my code BUT...when I use only 1 emitter it's fine but with more than 1, not fine ! :( Here is my error code in java console : Exception in thread "LWJGL Application" java.lang.RuntimeException: Error parsing emitter: - Delay - at com.badlogic.gdx.graphics.g2d.ParticleEmitter.load(ParticleEmitter.java:910) at com.badlogic.gdx.graphics.g2d.ParticleEmitter.<init>(ParticleEmitter.java:95) at com.badlogic.gdx.graphics.g2d.ParticleEffect.loadEmitters(ParticleEffect.java:154) at com.badlogic.gdx.graphics.g2d.ParticleEffect.load(ParticleEffect.java:138) at com.fasgame.fishtrip.android.screens.GameScreen.show(GameScreen.java:313) at com.badlogic.gdx.Game.setScreen(Game.java:61) at com.fasgame.fishtrip.android.screens.MainMenuScreen.render(MainMenuScreen.java:71) at com.badlogic.gdx.Game.render(Game.java:46) at com.badlogic.gdx.backends.lwjgl.LwjglApplication.mainLoop(LwjglApplication.java:206) at com.badlogic.gdx.backends.lwjgl.LwjglApplication$1.run(LwjglApplication.java:114) Caused by: java.lang.NumberFormatException: For input string: "- Count -" at sun.misc.FloatingDecimal.readJavaFormatString(Unknown Source) at sun.misc.FloatingDecimal.parseFloat(Unknown Source) at java.lang.Float.parseFloat(Unknown Source) at com.badlogic.gdx.graphics.g2d.ParticleEmitter.readFloat(ParticleEmitter.java:929) at com.badlogic.gdx.graphics.g2d.ParticleEmitter$RangedNumericValue.load(ParticleEmitter.java:1062) at com.badlogic.gdx.graphics.g2d.ParticleEmitter.load(ParticleEmitter.java:866) ... 9 more And here is my particle effect .p file : Blanc - Delay - active: false - Duration - lowMin: 3000.0 lowMax: 3000.0 - Count - min: 0 max: 200 - Emission - lowMin: 0.0 lowMax: 0.0 highMin: 250.0 highMax: 250.0 relative: false scalingCount: 1 scaling0: 1.0 timelineCount: 1 timeline0: 0.0 - Life - lowMin: 500.0 lowMax: 500.0 highMin: 500.0 highMax: 500.0 relative: false scalingCount: 3 scaling0: 1.0 scaling1: 0.47058824 scaling2: 0.0 timelineCount: 3 timeline0: 0.0 timeline1: 0.51369864 timeline2: 1.0 - Life Offset - active: false - X Offset - active: false - Y Offset - active: false - Spawn Shape - shape: point - Spawn Width - lowMin: 0.0 lowMax: 0.0 highMin: 0.0 highMax: 0.0 relative: false scalingCount: 1 scaling0: 1.0 timelineCount: 1 timeline0: 0.0 - Spawn Height - lowMin: 0.0 lowMax: 0.0 highMin: 0.0 highMax: 0.0 relative: false scalingCount: 1 scaling0: 1.0 timelineCount: 1 timeline0: 0.0 - Scale - lowMin: 0.0 lowMax: 0.0 highMin: 70.0 highMax: 70.0 relative: true scalingCount: 2 scaling0: 1.0 scaling1: 0.0 timelineCount: 2 timeline0: 0.0 timeline1: 1.0 - Velocity - active: true lowMin: 0.0 lowMax: 0.0 highMin: 30.0 highMax: 300.0 relative: false scalingCount: 1 scaling0: 1.0 timelineCount: 1 timeline0: 0.0 - Angle - active: true lowMin: 220.0 lowMax: 320.0 highMin: 220.0 highMax: 320.0 relative: false scalingCount: 2 scaling0: 0.0 scaling1: 0.98039216 timelineCount: 2 timeline0: 0.0 timeline1: 1.0 - Rotation - active: false - Wind - active: false - Gravity - active: true lowMin: 0.0 lowMax: 0.0 highMin: 0.0 highMax: 0.0 relative: false scalingCount: 1 scaling0: 1.0 timelineCount: 1 timeline0: 0.0 - Tint - colorsCount: 3 colors0: 0.50980395 colors1: 0.7647059 colors2: 0.7921569 timelineCount: 1 timeline0: 0.0 - Transparency - lowMin: 0.0 lowMax: 0.0 highMin: 1.0 highMax: 1.0 relative: false scalingCount: 4 scaling0: 1.0 scaling1: 1.0 scaling2: 1.0 scaling3: 1.0 timelineCount: 4 timeline0: 0.0 timeline1: 0.36301368 timeline2: 0.6164383 timeline3: 1.0 - Options - attached: false continuous: true aligned: false additive: true behind: false premultipliedAlpha: false pre_particle.png Bleu - Delay - active: false - Duration - lowMin: 3000.0 lowMax: 3000.0 - Count - min: 0 max: 200 - Emission - lowMin: 0.0 lowMax: 0.0 highMin: 250.0 highMax: 250.0 relative: false scalingCount: 1 scaling0: 1.0 timelineCount: 1 timeline0: 0.0 - Life - lowMin: 500.0 lowMax: 500.0 highMin: 500.0 highMax: 500.0 relative: false scalingCount: 3 scaling0: 1.0 scaling1: 0.47058824 scaling2: 0.0 timelineCount: 3 timeline0: 0.0 timeline1: 0.51369864 timeline2: 1.0 - Life Offset - active: false - X Offset - active: false - Y Offset - active: false - Spawn Shape - shape: point - Spawn Width - lowMin: 0.0 lowMax: 0.0 highMin: 0.0 highMax: 0.0 relative: false scalingCount: 1 scaling0: 1.0 timelineCount: 1 timeline0: 0.0 - Spawn Height - lowMin: 0.0 lowMax: 0.0 highMin: 0.0 highMax: 0.0 relative: false scalingCount: 1 scaling0: 1.0 timelineCount: 1 timeline0: 0.0 - Scale - lowMin: 0.0 lowMax: 0.0 highMin: 70.0 highMax: 70.0 relative: true scalingCount: 2 scaling0: 1.0 scaling1: 0.0 timelineCount: 2 timeline0: 0.0 timeline1: 1.0 - Velocity - active: true lowMin: 0.0 lowMax: 0.0 highMin: 30.0 highMax: 300.0 relative: false scalingCount: 1 scaling0: 1.0 timelineCount: 1 timeline0: 0.0 - Angle - active: true lowMin: 220.0 lowMax: 320.0 highMin: 220.0 highMax: 320.0 relative: false scalingCount: 2 scaling0: 0.0 scaling1: 0.98039216 timelineCount: 2 timeline0: 0.0 timeline1: 1.0 - Rotation - active: false - Wind - active: false - Gravity - active: true lowMin: 0.0 lowMax: 0.0 highMin: 0.0 highMax: 0.0 relative: false scalingCount: 1 scaling0: 1.0 timelineCount: 1 timeline0: 0.0 - Tint - colorsCount: 3 colors0: 0.0 colors1: 0.7254902 colors2: 0.7921569 timelineCount: 1 timeline0: 0.0 - Transparency - lowMin: 0.0 lowMax: 0.0 highMin: 1.0 highMax: 1.0 relative: false scalingCount: 6 scaling0: 0.0 scaling1: 1.0 scaling2: 1.0 scaling3: 1.0 scaling4: 1.0 scaling5: 0.0 timelineCount: 6 timeline0: 0.0 timeline1: 0.047945205 timeline2: 0.34246576 timeline3: 0.6712329 timeline4: 0.94520545 timeline5: 1.0 - Options - attached: false continuous: true aligned: false additive: true behind: false premultipliedAlpha: false pre_particle.png BleuFonce - Delay - active: false - Duration - lowMin: 3000.0 lowMax: 3000.0 - Count - min: 0 max: 200 - Emission - lowMin: 0.0 lowMax: 0.0 highMin: 250.0 highMax: 250.0 relative: false scalingCount: 1 scaling0: 1.0 timelineCount: 1 timeline0: 0.0 - Life - lowMin: 500.0 lowMax: 500.0 highMin: 500.0 highMax: 500.0 relative: false scalingCount: 3 scaling0: 1.0 scaling1: 0.47058824 scaling2: 0.0 timelineCount: 3 timeline0: 0.0 timeline1: 0.51369864 timeline2: 1.0 - Life Offset - active: false - X Offset - active: false - Y Offset - active: false - Spawn Shape - shape: point - Spawn Width - lowMin: 0.0 lowMax: 0.0 highMin: 0.0 highMax: 0.0 relative: false scalingCount: 1 scaling0: 1.0 timelineCount: 1 timeline0: 0.0 - Spawn Height - lowMin: 0.0 lowMax: 0.0 highMin: 0.0 highMax: 0.0 relative: false scalingCount: 1 scaling0: 1.0 timelineCount: 1 timeline0: 0.0 - Scale - lowMin: 0.0 lowMax: 0.0 highMin: 70.0 highMax: 70.0 relative: true scalingCount: 2 scaling0: 1.0 scaling1: 0.0 timelineCount: 2 timeline0: 0.0 timeline1: 1.0 - Velocity - active: true lowMin: 0.0 lowMax: 0.0 highMin: 30.0 highMax: 300.0 relative: false scalingCount: 1 scaling0: 1.0 timelineCount: 1 timeline0: 0.0 - Angle - active: true lowMin: 220.0 lowMax: 320.0 highMin: 220.0 highMax: 320.0 relative: false scalingCount: 2 scaling0: 0.0 scaling1: 0.98039216 timelineCount: 2 timeline0: 0.0 timeline1: 1.0 - Rotation - active: false - Wind - active: false - Gravity - active: true lowMin: 0.0 lowMax: 0.0 highMin: 0.0 highMax: 0.0 relative: false scalingCount: 1 scaling0: 1.0 timelineCount: 1 timeline0: 0.0 - Tint - colorsCount: 3 colors0: 0.0 colors1: 0.7294118 colors2: 1.0 timelineCount: 1 timeline0: 0.0 - Transparency - lowMin: 0.0 lowMax: 0.0 highMin: 1.0 highMax: 1.0 relative: false scalingCount: 4 scaling0: 1.0 scaling1: 0.0 scaling2: 0.0 scaling3: 1.0 timelineCount: 4 timeline0: 0.0 timeline1: 0.001 timeline2: 0.5753425 timeline3: 0.79452056 - Options - attached: false continuous: true aligned: false additive: true behind: false premultipliedAlpha: false pre_particle.png For the "- Image Path -" missing it's normal if I let them in it doesn't work even with only 1 emitter PS : I've already updated my lib to the last release

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  • Dependant care account, is it working for you?

    - by heshamelsaghir
    Well, NO.  my little three years old boys are very sick so I need to get them out of the day care.  they keep getting ear infection so bad even the ear tube is not working.  so, now do I give my $5000.00 to the government as a donation or keep my kids in the day care and loose the hearing?  what is going on? I was told I can change this Dependant care account ONLY in the case of a life change!  well, is not this a life change?  when a member of the family is very sick and has to go through an operation "Ear Tube", the operation does not work and keeps getting sick.  Would not this be a life change?

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  • What is realism?

    - by eversor
    Beyond the obvious something that seams real, realism in games is a hard feature to hit. In some cases, things that are completely impossible in real life are seen as realistic by gamers. For instance, in some FPS you can survive being hit by a fair amount of bullets when in real life one is enough, Newton-defying car drifts, etc. So, in some cases, reductions of life-like actions or consequences implies a bigger sense of realism. The root of this pseudo-philosophical question lies in: I am going to create a engine for battles in an online (browser-based) strategic game. Browser-based means that the battle would not be seen. And i do not know how to approach this realism issue.

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  • How much time do you need in between large projects?

    - by Mattio
    You've launched a large project at work, something that's been in progress and taken up large chunks of your life for more than 6 months. The post-launch triage is over. Tech support isn't calling you every hour because they don't know how to troubleshoot an issue. Your hours drop from 60+/wk to whatever is normal in your organization (which is hopefully less than 60+!). How much time do you (or your team) need before the next large project begins? I was asked this question at work and I think the ideal minimum is two weeks -- one week to clear your desk and inbox + one week to clear your head and remember what it's like to have a life outside of work. I'd frankly acknowledge that just being asked this question is a huge boon to work/life balance. But I do think it's possible to go too long in between.

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  • SQL SERVER – 3 Challenges for DBA and Smart Solutions

    - by Pinal Dave
    Developer’s life is never easy. DBA’s life is even crazier. DBA’s Life When a developer wakes up in the morning, most of the time have no idea what different challenges they are going to face that day. Of course, most of the developers know the project and roadmap, which they are working on. However, developers have no clue what coding challenges which they are going face for that day. DBA’s life is even crazier. When DBA wakes up in the morning – they often thank that they were not disturbed during the night due to server issues. The very next thing they wish is that they do not want to challenge which they can’t solve for that day. The problems DBA face every single day are mostly unpredictable and they just have to solve them as they come during the day. Though the life of DBA is not always bad. There are always ways and methods how one can overcome various challenges. Let us see three of the challenges and how a DBA can use various tools to overcome them. Challenge #1 Synchronize Data Across Server A Very common challenge DBA receive is that they have to synchronize the data across the servers. If you try to manually write that up, it may take forever to accomplish the task. It is nearly impossible to do the same with the help of the T-SQL. However, thankfully there are tools like dbForge Studio which can save a day and synchronize data across servers. Read my detailed blog post about the same over here: SQL SERVER – Synchronize Data Exclusively with T-SQL. Challenge #2 SQL Report Builder DBA’s are often asked to build reports on the go. It really annoys DBA’s, but hardly people care about it. No matter how busy a DBA is, they are just called upon to build reports on things on very short notice. I personally like to avoid any task which is given to me accidently and personally building report can be boring. I rather spend time with High Availability, disaster recovery, performance tuning rather than building report. I use SQL third party tool when I have to work with SQL Report. Others have extended reporting capabilities. The latter group of products includes the SQL report builder built-in todbForge Studio for SQL Server. I have blogged about this earlier over here: SQL SERVER – SQL Report Builder in dbForge Studio for SQL Server. Challenge #3 Work with the OTHER Database The manager does not understand that MySQL is different from SQL Server and SQL Server is different from Oracle. For them everything is same. In my career hundreds of times I have faced a situation that I am given a database to manage or do some task when their regular DBA is on vacation or leave. When I try to explain I do not understand the underlying the technology, I have been usually told that my manager has trust on me and I can do anything. Honestly, I can’t but I hardly dare to argue. I fall back on the third party tool to manage database when it is not in my comfort zone. For example, I was once given MySQL performance tuning task (at that time I did not know MySQL so well). To simplify search for a problem query let us use MySQL Profiler in dbForge Studio for MySQL. It provides such commands as a Query Profiling Mode and Generate Execution Plan. Here is the blog post discussing about the same: MySQL – Profiler : A Simple and Convenient Tool for Profiling SQL Queries. Well, that’s it! There were many different such occasions when I have been saved by the tool. May be some other day I will write part 2 of this blog post. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)Filed under: MySQL, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL Utility, T SQL Tagged: Devart, SQL Tool

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  • What I've Gained from being a Presenter at Tech Events

    - by MOSSLover
    Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/MOSSLover/archive/2014/06/12/what-ive-gained-from-being-a-presenter-at-tech-events.aspxI know I fail at blogging lately.  As I've said before life happens and it gets in the way of best laid out plans.  I thought about creating some type of watch with some app that basically dictates using dragon naturally speaking to Wordpress, but alas no time and the write processing capabilities just don't exist yet.So to get to my point Alison Gianotto created this blog post: http://www.snipe.net/2014/06/why-you-should-stop-stalling-and-start-presenting/.  I like the message she has stated in this post and I want to share something personal.It was around 2007 that I was seriously looking into leaving the technology field altogether and going back to school.  I was calling places like Washington University in Saint Louis and University of Missouri Kansas City asking them how I could go about getting into some type of post graduate medical school program.  My entire high school career was based on Medical Explorers and somehow becoming a doctor.  I did not want to take my hobby and continue using it as a career mechanism.  I was unhappy, but I didn't realize why I was unhappy at the time.  It was really a lot of bad things involving the lack of self confidence and self esteem.  Overall I was not in a good place and it took me until 2011 to realize that I still was not in a good place in life.So in about April 2007 or so I started this blog that you guys have been reading or occasionally read.  I kind of started passively stalking people by reading their blogs in the SharePoint and .Net communities.  I also started listening to .Net Rocks & watching videos on their corresponding training for SharePoint, WCF, WF, and a bunch of other technologies.  I wanted more knowledge, so someone suggested I go to a user group.  I've told this story before about how I met Jeff Julian & John Alexander, so that point I will spare you the details.  You know how I got to my first user group presentation and how I started getting involved with events, so I'll also spare those details.The point I want to touch on is that I went out I started speaking and that path I took helped me gain the self confidence and self respect I needed.  When I first moved to NYC I couldn't even ride a subway by myself or walk alone without getting lost.  Now I feel like I can go out and solve any problem someone throws at me.  So you see what Alison states in her blog post is true and I am a great example to that point.  I stood in front of 800 or so people at SharePoint Conference in 2011 and spoke about a topic.  In 2007 I would have hidden or stuttered the entire time.  I have now spoken at over 70 events and user groups.  I am a top 25 influencer in my technology.  I was a most valued professional for years in a row in Microsoft SharePoint.  People are constantly trying to gain my time, so that they can pick my brain for solutions and other life problems.  I went from maybe five or six friends to over hundreds of friends in various cities across the globe.  I'm not saying it's an instant fame and it doesn't take a ton of work, but I have never looked back once at my life and regretted the choice I made in 2007.  It has lead me to a lot of other things in my life, including more positivity and happiness.  If anyone ever wants to contact me and pick my brain on a presentation go ahead.  If you want me to help you find the best meetup that suits you for that presentation I can try to help too (I might be a little more helpful in the Microsoft or iOS arenas though).  The best thing I can state is don't be scared just do it.  If you need an audience I can try to pencil it in my schedule.  I can't promise anything, but if you are in NYC I can at least try.

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  • PC to USB transfer slow

    - by Vipin Ms
    I'm having trouble with USB transfer,not with external hard disk. Transfer starts with like, for the transfer of 700MB file it starts with 30mb/s and towards the end it stops at 0s and stays put for like 3-4 mins to transfer the last bit. I have tried different USB devices, but no luck. Is it a bug? Another important point is, in Kubuntu there is no such issue. So is it something related to Gnome? I'm using Ubuntu 11.10 64bit. Somebody please help, it's really annoying. Here are the details. PC all of my drives are in ext4. USB I tried ext3,ntfs and fat32. All having the same problem. Here are my USB controllers details: root@LAB:~# lspci|grep USB 00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 03) 00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 03) 00:1a.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6 (rev 03) 00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 03) 00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03) 00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03) 00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03) 00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 03) Here is an example of one transfer. I connected one of my 4GB usb device. Nov 24 12:01:25 LAB kernel: [ 1175.082175] userif-2: sent link up event. Nov 24 12:01:25 LAB kernel: [ 1695.684158] usb 2-2: new high speed USB device number 3 using ehci_hcd Nov 24 12:01:25 LAB mtp-probe: checking bus 2, device 3: "/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb2/2-2" Nov 24 12:01:26 LAB mtp-probe: bus: 2, device: 3 was not an MTP device Nov 24 12:01:26 LAB kernel: [ 1696.132680] usbcore: registered new interface driver uas Nov 24 12:01:26 LAB kernel: [ 1696.142528] Initializing USB Mass Storage driver... Nov 24 12:01:26 LAB kernel: [ 1696.142919] scsi4 : usb-storage 2-2:1.0 Nov 24 12:01:26 LAB kernel: [ 1696.143146] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage Nov 24 12:01:26 LAB kernel: [ 1696.143150] USB Mass Storage support registered. Nov 24 12:01:27 LAB kernel: [ 1697.141657] scsi 4:0:0:0: Direct-Access SanDisk U3 Cruzer Micro 8.02 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS Nov 24 12:01:27 LAB kernel: [ 1697.168827] sd 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0 Nov 24 12:01:27 LAB kernel: [ 1697.169262] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] 7856127 512-byte logical blocks: (4.02 GB/3.74 GiB) Nov 24 12:01:27 LAB kernel: [ 1697.169762] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off Nov 24 12:01:27 LAB kernel: [ 1697.169767] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 45 00 00 08 Nov 24 12:01:27 LAB kernel: [ 1697.171386] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] No Caching mode page present Nov 24 12:01:27 LAB kernel: [ 1697.171391] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through Nov 24 12:01:27 LAB kernel: [ 1697.173503] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] No Caching mode page present Nov 24 12:01:27 LAB kernel: [ 1697.173510] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through Nov 24 12:01:27 LAB kernel: [ 1697.175337] sdb: sdb1 After that I initiated one transfer. lsof -p 3575|tail -2 mv 3575 root 3r REG 8,8 1719599104 4325379 /media/Misc/The Tree of Life (2011) DVDRip XviD-MAXSPEED/The Tree of Life (2011) DVDRip XviD-MAXSPEED www.torentz.3xforum.ro.avi mv 3575 root 4w REG 8,17 1046347776 15 /media/SREE/The Tree of Life (2011) DVDRip XviD-MAXSPEED/The Tree of Life (2011) DVDRip XviD-MAXSPEED www.torentz.3xforum.ro.avi Here are the total time spent on that transfer. root@LAB:/media/SREE# time mv /media/Misc/The\ Tree\ of\ Life\ \(2011\)\ DVDRip\ XviD-MAXSPEED/ /media/SREE/ real 11m49.334s user 0m0.008s sys 0m5.260s root@LAB:/media/SREE# df -T|tail -2 /dev/sdb1 vfat 3918344 1679308 2239036 43% /media/SREE /dev/sda8 ext4 110110576 60096904 50013672 55% /media/Misc Do you think this is normal?? Approximately 12 minutes for 1.6Gb transfer? Thanks.

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  • Transportation Web App - utilizing google or bing map api

    - by BillS
    I am working on a transportation web app and I am having a bit of a problem. First, I want to be able to define a shipping corridor, say like I-95 between Baltimore MD and Richmond VA. And store what parameters I need to define this route. Users will then use a web interface and can select various routes, in this case, I-95. Vendors will be posting constantly changing pickup locations in the application database which have a shelf life of about 2 days. Some of these locations maybe along this route. I am storing the LAT and LONG for the specific location right now. If any of these points ARE along or within 2 mile of the route (just off the highway basically - the ideal check would based on an actual highway exit but at this point anything would work), I want them to show up in my search results. Any ideas or suggestions?

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  • Why it may be good to be confused: Mary Lo Verde’s Motivational Discussion at Oracle

    - by user769227
    Why it may be good to be confused: Mary Lo Verde’s Motivational Discussion at Oracle by Olivia O'Connell Last week, we were treated to a call with Mary LoVerde, a renowned Life-Balance and Motivational Speaker. This was one of many events organized by Oracle Women’s Leadership (OWL). Mary made some major changes to her life when she decided to free herself of material positions and take each day as it came. Her life balance strategies have led her from working with NASA to appearing on Oprah. Mary’s MO is “cold turkey is better than dead duck!”, in other words, knowing when to quit. It is a surprising concept that flies in the face of the “winners don’t quit” notion and focuses on how we limit our capabilities and satisfaction levels by doing something that we don’t feel passionately about. Her arguments about quitting were based on the conception that ‘“it” is in the way of you getting what you really want’ and that ‘quitting makes things easier in the long run’. Of course, it is often difficult to quit, and though we know that things would be better if we did quit certain negative things in our lives, we are often ashamed to do so. A second topic centred on the perception of Confusion Endurance. Confusion Endurance is based around the idea that it is often good to not know exactly what you are doing and that it is okay to admit you don’t know something when others ask you; essentially, that humility can be a good thing. This concept was supposed to have to Leonardo Da Vinci, because he apparently found liberation in not knowing. Mary says, this allows us to “thrive in the tension of not knowing to unleash our creative potential” An anecdote about an interviewee at NASA was used to portray how admitting you don’t know can be a positive thing. When NASA asked the candidate a question with no obvious answer and he replied “I don’t know”, the candidate thought he had failed the interview; actually, the interviewers were impressed with his ability to admit he did not know. If the interviewee had guessed the answer in a real-life situation, it could have cost the lives of fellow astronauts. The highlight of the webinar for me? Mary told how she had a conversation with Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger who recalled the US Airways Flight 1549 / Miracle on the Hudson incident. After making its descent and finally coming to rest in the Hudson after falling 3,060 feet in 90 seconds, Sully and his co-pilot both turned to each other and said “well...that wasn’t as bad as we thought”. Confusion Endurance at its finest! Her discussion certainly gave food for thought, although personally, I was inclined to take some of it with a pinch of salt. Mary Lo Verde is the author of The Invitation, and you can visit her website and view her other publications at www.maryloverde.com. For details on the Professional Business Women of California visit: http://www.pbwc.org/

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  • The Loneliest Road in America and the OTN Garage

    - by rickramsey
    Source I never told anyone how the image of the OTN Garage on Facebook came to be. I took the Facebook picture on Route 50 in Nevada, USA, in October of 2010. I was riding from Colorado to Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco, so it was probably October. Route 50 is known as "The Loneliest Road in America." There are roads across Nevada that have even LESS traffic, but Route 50 still one. desolate. road. Although I have seen stranger things while riding along Nevada's Extraterrestrial Highway, I still run across notable oddities every time I ride Route 50. Like the old man with a bandolero of water bottles jogging along the side of the highway in the middle of the day, 50 miles from the closest town. First ultra-marathoner I'd seen in action. He waved at me. Or the dozen Corvettes with California license plates driving toward me, all doing the speed limit in the middle of nowhere because they were being tailed by half a dozen Nevada state troopers. #fail. I don't remember which town I was in, but I noticed the building when I stopped at the gas station. While standing there pouring fuel into the Harley, the store caught my eye. So I pulled the bike in front and walked inside. The owner is a little old lady, about 100 years old. Most of the goods she had on the shelves looked like they had been placed there during WWII. She was itty bitty and could barely see over the counter, but she was so happy when I bought a bar of Hershey's chocolate that she gave me a five cent discount. I took a few pictures and, when I got back, Kemer Thomson, who sometimes blogs here, photoshopped the OTN Garage and Oil Change signs onto it. The bike is a 2009 Road King Classic with a Bob Dron fairing and a Corbin heated seat. The seat came in handy when I rode home over Tioga Pass. The Road King is a very comfy touring bike with a great Harley rumble. I'm kinda sorry I sold it. When I stopped for fuel about 75 miles down the road at the next town, I peeled back the chocolate bar. I had turned into powder. Probably 50 years ago. - Rick Website Newsletter Facebook Twitter

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  • Underwriting in a New Frontier: Spurring Innovation

    - by [email protected]
    Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";} Susan Keuer, product strategy manager for Oracle Insurance, shares her experiences and insight from the 2010 Association of Home Office Underwriters (AHOU) Annual Conference, April 11-14, in San Antonio, Texas    How can I be more innovative in underwriting?  It's a common question I hear from insurance carriers, producers and others, so it was no surprise that it was the key theme at the recent 2010 AHOU Annual Conference.  This year's event drew more than 900 insurance professionals involved in the underwriting process across life and annuities, property and casualty and reinsurance from around the globe, including the U.S., Canada, Australia, Bahamas, and more, to San Antonio - a Texas city where innovation transformed a series of downtown drainage canals into its premiere River Walk tourist destination.   CNN's Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta kicked off the conference with a phenomenal opening session that drove home the theme of the conference, "Underwriting in a New Frontier:  Spurring Innovation."   Drawing from his own experience as a neurosurgeon treating critically injured medical patients in the field in Iraq, Gupta inspired audience members to think outside the box during the underwriting process. He shared a compelling story of operating on a soldier who had suffered a head-related trauma in a field hospital.  With minimal supplies available Gupta used a Black and Decker saw to operate on the soldier's head and reduce pressure on his swelling brain. Drawing from this example, Gupta encouraged underwriters to think creatively, be innovative, and consider new tools and sources of information, such as social networking sites, during the underwriting process. So as you are looking at risk take into consideration all resources you have available.    Gupta also stressed the concept of IKIGAI - noting that individuals who believe that their life is worth living are less likely to die than are their counterparts without this belief.  How does one quantify this approach to life or thought process when evaluating risk?  Could this be something to consider as a "category" in the near future? How can this same belief in your own work spur innovation?   The role of technology was a hot topic of discussion throughout the conference.  Sessions delved into the latest in underwriting software to the rise of social media and how it is being increasingly integrated into underwriting process and solutions.  In one session a trio of panelists representing the carrier, producer and vendor communities stressed the importance to underwriters of leveraging new technology and the plethora of online information sources, which all could be used to accurately, honestly and consistently evaluate the risk throughout the underwriting process.   Another focused on the explosion of social media noting:  1.    Social media is growing exponentially - About eight percent of Americans used social media five years ago. Today about 46 percent of Americans do so, with 85 percent of financial services professionals using social media in their work.  2.    It will impact your business - Underwriters reconfirmed over and over that they are increasingly using "free" tools that are available in cyberspace in lieu of more costly solutions, such as inspection reports conducted by individuals in the field.  3.    Information is instantly available on the Web, anytime, anywhere - LinkedIn was mentioned as a way to connect to peers in the underwriting community and producers alike.  Many carriers and agents also are using Facebook to promote their company to customers - and as a point-of-entry to allow them to perform some functionality - such as accessing product marketing information versus directing users to go to the carrier's own proprietary website.  Other carriers have released their tight brand marketing to allow their producers to drive more business to their personal Facebook site where they offer innovative tools such as Application Capture or asking medical information in a more relaxed fashion.     Other key topics at the conference included the economy, ongoing industry consolidation, real-estate valuations as an asset and input into the underwriting process, and producer trends.  All stressed a "back to basics" approach for low cost, term products.   Finally, Connie Merritt, RN, PHN, entertained the large group of atttendees with audience-engaging insight on how to "Tame the Lions in Your Life - Dealing with Complainers, Bullies, Grump and Curmudgeon." Merritt noted "we are too busy for our own good." She shared how her overachieving personality had impacted her life.  Audience members then were asked to pick red, yellow, blue, or green shapes, without knowing that each one represented a specific personality trait.  For example, those who picked blue were the peacemakers. Those who choose yellow were social - the hint was to "Be Quiet Longer."  She then offered these "lion taming" steps:   1.    Admit It 2.    Accept It 3.    Let Go 4.    Be Present (which paralleled Gupta's IKIGAI concept)   When thinking about underwriting I encourage you to be present in the moment and think creatively, but don't be afraid to look ahead to the future and be an innovator.  I hope to see you at next year's AHOU Annual Conference, May 1-4, 2011 at The Mirage in Las Vegas, Nev.     Susan Keuer is the product strategy manager for new business underwriting.  She brings more than 20 years of insurance industry experience working with leading insurance carriers and technology companies to her role on the product strategy team for life/annuities solutions within the Oracle Insurance Global Business Unit  

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  • I need help on methodologies for information system project [closed]

    - by Neenee Kale
    Basically I will be developing a student information system for parents and I am confused on what type of methodology I can use. Please recommend me a methodology which involves use cases the system development life cycle. I'm confused on what a methodology is as I've read loads of books and researched but I still don't seem to understand. I was going to use system development life cycle but I found out that this is not a methodology.

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  • SQL Server 2008 R2: StreamInsight changes at RTM: AdvanceTimeSettings

    - by Greg Low
    For those that have worked with the earlier versions of the simulator that Bill Chesnut and I constructed for the Metro content (the Highway Simulator), changes are also required to how AdvanceTimeSettings are specified. The AdapterAdvanceTimeSettings value is now generated by binding an AdvanceTimeGenerationSettings (that is based on your adapter configuration) with an AdvanceTimePolicy setting. public class TollPointInputFactory : ITypedInputAdapterFactory < TollPointInputConfig >, ITypedDeclareAdvanceTimeProperties...(read more)

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  • Beyond the Great Wall

    This highway is traversed everyday by roughly 338 million Chinese Internet users. With the largest population in the world of 1.3 billion, the increase of Chinese Internet users in the next years would undoubtedly be viably incremental. Reaching out to an established and growing target market of that size and potential at a relatively lower cost of advertising makes for a lucrative ratio.

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  • practical use of knowledge vs tutorials [on hold]

    - by Lauris Skraucis
    I DONT NEED FACTS,I NEED OPINIONS FROM OTHER DEVELOPERS! Which would be more useful, spend more time on tutorials than on practical use of knowledge or spend more time making real life apps? Like I do everything 50/50 or better I spend all time practicing and putting my knowledge in real life things (php, jQuery, AngularJS)? This is a big pain, I learnt jQuery, then Angular, then php, but didn't practice and forget the code, now I watched basic and intermediate tutorials to refresh knowledge, so what do you think what is the best?

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  • I have found an inheritance.

    <b>Technology & Life Integration:</b> "You may not know me as I received your attention from a browser link. This is very important so please continue reading. This letter has the possibility of changing your life. With your help we can realise that dream."

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  • "Windows detected a hard drive" issue in Windows 7 x64

    - by Jasiu
    I upgraded to the OCZ-Agility3 120GB from a 60 OCZ Vertex2 SSD. I cloned the drive from the Vertex to the new Agility. Everything seemed to have gone well and have not had any problems. Recently in the passed month I have gotten this error: I downloaded teh OCZToolboxMP and ran the SMART utility and don't see anything wrong: SMART READ DATA ModelNumber : OCZ-AGILITY3 Serial Number : OCZ-Y1945X77438P4NU6 WWN : 5-e8-3a-97 ebea5ba76 Revision: 10 Attributes List 1: SSD Raw Read Error Rate Normalized Rate: 70 total ECC and RAISE errors 5: SSD Retired Block Count Reserve blocks remaining: 100% 9: SSD Power-On Hours Total hours power on: 968 12: SSD Power Cycle Count Count of power on/off cycles: 28 171: SSD Program Fail Count Total number of Flash program operation failures: 0 172: SSD Erase Fail Count Total number of Flash erase operation failures: 0 174: SSD Unexpected power loss count Total number of unexpected power loss: 11 177: SSD Wear Range Delta Delta between most-worn and least-worn Flash blocks: 0 181: SSD Program Fail Count Total number of Flash program operation failures: 0 182: SSD Erase Fail Count Total number of Flash erase operation failures: 0 187: SSD Reported Uncorrectable Errors Uncorrectable RAISE errors reported to the host for all data access: 4145 194: SSD Temperature Monitoring Current: 30 High: 30 Low: 30 195: SSD ECC On-the-fly Count Normalized Rate: 120 196: SSD Reallocation Event Count Total number of reallocated Flash blocks: 100 201: SSD Uncorrectable Soft Read Error Rate Normalized Rate: 120 204: SSD Soft ECC Correction Rate (RAISE) Normalized Rate: 120 230: SSD Life Curve Status Current state of drive operation based upon the Life Curve: 100 231: SSD Life Left Approximate SDD life Remaining: 100% 241: SSD Lifetime writes from host lifetime writes 893 GB 242: SSD Lifetime reads from host lifetime reads 968 GB Does anyone have any ideas of what might be wrong and or how I can go about fixing this? Please let me know if there is other information I can provide. Thanks for your help Windows 7 x64 SP1 AMD Phenom II X4 940 8GB RAM

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  • 2011 The Year of Awesomesauce

    - by MOSSLover
    So I was talking to one of my friends, Cathy Dew, and I’m wondering how to start out this post.  What kind of title should I put?  Somehow we’re just randomly throwing things out and this title pops into my head the one you see above. I woke up today to the buzz of a text message.  I spent New Years laying around until 3 am watching Warehouse 13 Episodes and drinking champagne.  It was one of the best New Year’s I spent with my boyfriend and my cat.  I figured I would sleep in until Noon, but ended up waking up around 11:15 to that text message buzz.  I guess my DE, Rachel Appel, had texted me “Happy New Years”, because Rachel is that kind of person.  I immediately proceeded to check my email.  I noticed my live account had a hit.  The account I rarely ever use had an email.  I sort of had that sinking suspicion I was going to get Silverlight MVP right?  So I open the email and something out of the blue happens it says “blah blah blah SharePoint Server MVP blah blah…”.  I’m sitting here a little confused what?  Really?  Just about when you give up on something the unexplained happens.  I am grateful for what I have every day. So let me tell you a story.  I was a senior in high school and it was December 31st, 1999.  A couple days prior my grandmother was complaining she had a cold and her assisted living facility was not going to let her see a doctor.  She claimed to be very sick.  New Year’s Eve Day 1999 my grandmother was rushed to the hospital sometime very early in the morning.  My uncle, my little brother, and myself were sitting in the waiting room eagerly awaiting news.  The Sydney Opera House was playing in the background as New Years 2000 for Australia was ringing in.  They come out and they tell us my grandmother has pneumonia.  She is in the ICU in critical condition.  Eventually time passes in the day and my parents take my brother and I home.  So in the car we had a huge fight that ended in the worst new years of my life.  The next 30 days were the worst 30 days of my life.  I went to the hospital every single day to do my homework and watch my grandmother.  Each day was a challenge mentally and physically as my grandmother berated me in her demented state.  On the 30th day my grandmother ended up in critical condition in the ICU maxed out on painkillers.  At approximately 3 am I hear my parents telling me they don’t want to wake me up and that my grandmother had passed away.  I must have cried more collectively that day than any other day in my life.  Every New Years Even since I have cried thinking about who she was and what she represented.  She was human looking back she wasn’t anything great, but she was one of the positive lights in my life.  Her and my dad and my other grandmother constantly tried to make me feel great when my mother was telling me the opposite.  I’d like to think since 2000 the past 11 years have been the best 11 years of my life.  I got out of a bad situation by using the tools that I had in front of me.  Good grades and getting into a college so I could aspire to be the person that I wanted to be.  I had some great people along the way to help me out. So getting to the point I like to help people further there lives somehow in the best way I can possibly help out.  This New Years was one of the great years that helped me forget the past and focus on the present.  It makes me realize how far I’ve come since high school and even since college.  The one thing I’ve been grappling with over the years is how do you feel good about making money while helping others out.  I’d to think I try really hard to give back to my community.  I could not have done what I did without other people’s help.  I sent out an email prior to even announcing I got the award today.  I can’t say I did everything on my own.  It’s not possible.  I had the help of others every step of the way.  I’m not sure if this makes sense but the award can’t just be mine.  This award is really owned by each and everyone who helped me get here.  From my dad to my grandmother to Rachel Appel to Bob Hunt to Jason Gallicchio to Cathy Dew to Mark Rackley to Johnny Ennion to Lee Brandt to Jeff Julian to John Alexander to Lori Gowin and to many others.  Thank you guys for all the help and support. Technorati Tags: SharePoint Community,MVP Award,Microsoft Community

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  • Lesi, from Graduate Trainee to Territory Manager

    - by Maria Sandu
    Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 It’s the final year, University is now coming to an end. A new chapter now awaits my arrival. This part of my life is called “Looking for a Job”. With no form of experience whatsoever, getting a job at a well renowned IT company is something that every IT student dreams about. CV: v, Application form: v, interviews: v. Acceptance Call, “Lesi I’m pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to be part of the Oracle Graduate Program for 2012”. Life would never again be the same. Being Part of the Graduate Program Going into the Graduate program, I felt like a baby seeing candy for the first time. The Program gave me the platform to not only break in to the workplace but also to help launch my career. Over the next 3 months, I went through various trainings / workshops / events / coaching / mentorship sessions. Like a construction worker building a solid foundation for a beautifully designed architecture, a clear path to build my career was set. With training out the way, it was now time to start working closely with my team. For the rest of the year, it was all about selling. Sales, Pipeline, Forecasting and numbers soon became the common words in my career. As the saying goes, “once a sales man, always a sales man”. There was no turning back now, a career in sales was the new hustle in my life. I worked closely with my mentor & coach (Ibrahim) who was heading up Zambia and Malawi. This was to be one of my best moments in the program as I started engaging with customers and getting some hands on experience in the field. By the end of the program all the experience, hard work, training and resources came in handy as I was now ready and fully groomed to be a sales rep. Life after the Graduate Program I’m proud to say that now I’m a Territory Manager, heading up Malawi, selling Technology, Middleware & Applications across all industries. I’m part of the Transition Cluster Team, a powerful team headed by the seasoned Senior Director. As a Territory Manager my role is to push for coverage, to penetrate the market by selling Oracle from end- to- end to all accounts in Malawi. I now spend my days living out of a suitcase, moving from hotel to hotel, chasing after business in all areas of Malawi. It’s the life of a Sales Man and I’m enjoying every minute of it. I’m truly fortunate and grateful to have been part of such a wonderful graduate program. I owe my Sales career to the graduate program, and I truly hope that the program will continue to develop and to groom new talent amongst the youth of this world. If you're interested in joining the Graduate Program in South Africa keep an eye on our CampusatOracle Facebook Page page to get the latest updates! /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}

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  • Disable of discrete/native graphics on MacBook Retina when using apps like VMware, VLC, etc

    - by badkitteh
    I got a MacBook Pro Retina a few months ago and I'm really happy with it. However, since I do a lot of work in different environments/OSes, I make heavy use of VMware to have them with me when I'm on the road. The MBPr has a great battery life - as long as integrated graphics are being used. Unfortunately as soon as I launch VMware, the MacBook switches to discrete graphics and battery life is effectively halved. I noticed that after installing gfxCardStatus, and now I'm wondering if there is a way to force the integrated graphics being used all of the time, so I can enjoy maximum battery life. Thanks.

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  • SQL SERVER – Guest Post – Jonathan Kehayias – Wait Type – Day 16 of 28

    - by pinaldave
    Jonathan Kehayias (Blog | Twitter) is a MCITP Database Administrator and Developer, who got started in SQL Server in 2004 as a database developer and report writer in the natural gas industry. After spending two and a half years working in TSQL, in late 2006, he transitioned to the role of SQL Database Administrator. His primary passion is performance tuning, where he frequently rewrites queries for better performance and performs in depth analysis of index implementation and usage. Jonathan blogs regularly on SQLBlog, and was a coauthor of Professional SQL Server 2008 Internals and Troubleshooting. On a personal note, I think Jonathan is extremely positive person. In every conversation with him I have found that he is always eager to help and encourage. Every time he finds something needs to be approved, he has contacted me without hesitation and guided me to improve, change and learn. During all the time, he has not lost his focus to help larger community. I am honored that he has accepted to provide his views on complex subject of Wait Types and Queues. Currently I am reading his series on Extended Events. Here is the guest blog post by Jonathan: SQL Server troubleshooting is all about correlating related pieces of information together to indentify where exactly the root cause of a problem lies. In my daily work as a DBA, I generally get phone calls like, “So and so application is slow, what’s wrong with the SQL Server.” One of the funny things about the letters DBA is that they go so well with Default Blame Acceptor, and I really wish that I knew exactly who the first person was that pointed that out to me, because it really fits at times. A lot of times when I get this call, the problem isn’t related to SQL Server at all, but every now and then in my initial quick checks, something pops up that makes me start looking at things further. The SQL Server is slow, we see a number of tasks waiting on ASYNC_IO_COMPLETION, IO_COMPLETION, or PAGEIOLATCH_* waits in sys.dm_exec_requests and sys.dm_exec_waiting_tasks. These are also some of the highest wait types in sys.dm_os_wait_stats for the server, so it would appear that we have a disk I/O bottleneck on the machine. A quick check of sys.dm_io_virtual_file_stats() and tempdb shows a high write stall rate, while our user databases show high read stall rates on the data files. A quick check of some performance counters and Page Life Expectancy on the server is bouncing up and down in the 50-150 range, the Free Page counter consistently hits zero, and the Free List Stalls/sec counter keeps jumping over 10, but Buffer Cache Hit Ratio is 98-99%. Where exactly is the problem? In this case, which happens to be based on a real scenario I faced a few years back, the problem may not be a disk bottleneck at all; it may very well be a memory pressure issue on the server. A quick check of the system spec’s and it is a dual duo core server with 8GB RAM running SQL Server 2005 SP1 x64 on Windows Server 2003 R2 x64. Max Server memory is configured at 6GB and we think that this should be enough to handle the workload; or is it? This is a unique scenario because there are a couple of things happening inside of this system, and they all relate to what the root cause of the performance problem is on the system. If we were to query sys.dm_exec_query_stats for the TOP 10 queries, by max_physical_reads, max_logical_reads, and max_worker_time, we may be able to find some queries that were using excessive I/O and possibly CPU against the system in their worst single execution. We can also CROSS APPLY to sys.dm_exec_sql_text() and see the statement text, and also CROSS APPLY sys.dm_exec_query_plan() to get the execution plan stored in cache. Ok, quick check, the plans are pretty big, I see some large index seeks, that estimate 2.8GB of data movement between operators, but everything looks like it is optimized the best it can be. Nothing really stands out in the code, and the indexing looks correct, and I should have enough memory to handle this in cache, so it must be a disk I/O problem right? Not exactly! If we were to look at how much memory the plan cache is taking by querying sys.dm_os_memory_clerks for the CACHESTORE_SQLCP and CACHESTORE_OBJCP clerks we might be surprised at what we find. In SQL Server 2005 RTM and SP1, the plan cache was allowed to take up to 75% of the memory under 8GB. I’ll give you a second to go back and read that again. Yes, you read it correctly, it says 75% of the memory under 8GB, but you don’t have to take my word for it, you can validate this by reading Changes in Caching Behavior between SQL Server 2000, SQL Server 2005 RTM and SQL Server 2005 SP2. In this scenario the application uses an entirely adhoc workload against SQL Server and this leads to plan cache bloat, and up to 4.5GB of our 6GB of memory for SQL can be consumed by the plan cache in SQL Server 2005 SP1. This in turn reduces the size of the buffer cache to just 1.5GB, causing our 2.8GB of data movement in this expensive plan to cause complete flushing of the buffer cache, not just once initially, but then another time during the queries execution, resulting in excessive physical I/O from disk. Keep in mind that this is not the only query executing at the time this occurs. Remember the output of sys.dm_io_virtual_file_stats() showed high read stalls on the data files for our user databases versus higher write stalls for tempdb? The memory pressure is also forcing heavier use of tempdb to handle sorting and hashing in the environment as well. The real clue here is the Memory counters for the instance; Page Life Expectancy, Free List Pages, and Free List Stalls/sec. The fact that Page Life Expectancy is fluctuating between 50 and 150 constantly is a sign that the buffer cache is experiencing constant churn of data, once every minute to two and a half minutes. If you add to the Page Life Expectancy counter, the consistent bottoming out of Free List Pages along with Free List Stalls/sec consistently spiking over 10, and you have the perfect memory pressure scenario. All of sudden it may not be that our disk subsystem is the problem, but is instead an innocent bystander and victim. Side Note: The Page Life Expectancy counter dropping briefly and then returning to normal operating values intermittently is not necessarily a sign that the server is under memory pressure. The Books Online and a number of other references will tell you that this counter should remain on average above 300 which is the time in seconds a page will remain in cache before being flushed or aged out. This number, which equates to just five minutes, is incredibly low for modern systems and most published documents pre-date the predominance of 64 bit computing and easy availability to larger amounts of memory in SQL Servers. As food for thought, consider that my personal laptop has more memory in it than most SQL Servers did at the time those numbers were posted. I would argue that today, a system churning the buffer cache every five minutes is in need of some serious tuning or a hardware upgrade. Back to our problem and its investigation: There are two things really wrong with this server; first the plan cache is excessively consuming memory and bloated in size and we need to look at that and second we need to evaluate upgrading the memory to accommodate the workload being performed. In the case of the server I was working on there were a lot of single use plans found in sys.dm_exec_cached_plans (where usecounts=1). Single use plans waste space in the plan cache, especially when they are adhoc plans for statements that had concatenated filter criteria that is not likely to reoccur with any frequency.  SQL Server 2005 doesn’t natively have a way to evict a single plan from cache like SQL Server 2008 does, but MVP Kalen Delaney, showed a hack to evict a single plan by creating a plan guide for the statement and then dropping that plan guide in her blog post Geek City: Clearing a Single Plan from Cache. We could put that hack in place in a job to automate cleaning out all the single use plans periodically, minimizing the size of the plan cache, but a better solution would be to fix the application so that it uses proper parameterized calls to the database. You didn’t write the app, and you can’t change its design? Ok, well you could try to force parameterization to occur by creating and keeping plan guides in place, or we can try forcing parameterization at the database level by using ALTER DATABASE <dbname> SET PARAMETERIZATION FORCED and that might help. If neither of these help, we could periodically dump the plan cache for that database, as discussed as being a problem in Kalen’s blog post referenced above; not an ideal scenario. The other option is to increase the memory on the server to 16GB or 32GB, if the hardware allows it, which will increase the size of the plan cache as well as the buffer cache. In SQL Server 2005 SP1, on a system with 16GB of memory, if we set max server memory to 14GB the plan cache could use at most 9GB  [(8GB*.75)+(6GB*.5)=(6+3)=9GB], leaving 5GB for the buffer cache.  If we went to 32GB of memory and set max server memory to 28GB, the plan cache could use at most 16GB [(8*.75)+(20*.5)=(6+10)=16GB], leaving 12GB for the buffer cache. Thankfully we have SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2, 3, and 4 these days which include the changes in plan cache sizing discussed in the Changes to Caching Behavior between SQL Server 2000, SQL Server 2005 RTM and SQL Server 2005 SP2 blog post. In real life, when I was troubleshooting this problem, I spent a week trying to chase down the cause of the disk I/O bottleneck with our Server Admin and SAN Admin, and there wasn’t much that could be done immediately there, so I finally asked if we could increase the memory on the server to 16GB, which did fix the problem. It wasn’t until I had this same problem occur on another system that I actually figured out how to really troubleshoot this down to the root cause.  I couldn’t believe the size of the plan cache on the server with 16GB of memory when I actually learned about this and went back to look at it. SQL Server is constantly telling a story to anyone that will listen. As the DBA, you have to sit back and listen to all that it’s telling you and then evaluate the big picture and how all the data you can gather from SQL about performance relate to each other. One of the greatest tools out there is actually a free in the form of Diagnostic Scripts for SQL Server 2005 and 2008, created by MVP Glenn Alan Berry. Glenn’s scripts collect a majority of the information that SQL has to offer for rapid troubleshooting of problems, and he includes a lot of notes about what the outputs of each individual query might be telling you. When I read Pinal’s blog post SQL SERVER – ASYNC_IO_COMPLETION – Wait Type – Day 11 of 28, I noticed that he referenced Checking Memory Related Performance Counters in his post, but there was no real explanation about why checking memory counters is so important when looking at an I/O related wait type. I thought I’d chat with him briefly on Google Talk/Twitter DM and point this out, and offer a couple of other points I noted, so that he could add the information to his blog post if he found it useful.  Instead he asked that I write a guest blog for this. I am honored to be a guest blogger, and to be able to share this kind of information with the community. The information contained in this blog post is a glimpse at how I do troubleshooting almost every day of the week in my own environment. SQL Server provides us with a lot of information about how it is running, and where it may be having problems, it is up to us to play detective and find out how all that information comes together to tell us what’s really the problem. This blog post is written by Jonathan Kehayias (Blog | Twitter). Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: MVP, Pinal Dave, PostADay, Readers Contribution, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL Wait Stats, SQL Wait Types, T SQL, Technology

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  • Oracle’s AutoVue Enables Visual Decision Making

    - by Pam Petropoulos
    That old saying about a picture being worth a thousand words has never been truer.  Check out the latest reports from IDC Manufacturing Insights which highlight the importance of incorporating visual information in all facets of decision making and the role that Oracle’s AutoVue Enterprise Visualization solutions can play. Take a look at the excerpts below and be sure to click on the titles to read the full reports. Technology Spotlight: Optimizing the Product Life Cycle Through Visual Decision Making, August 2012 Manufacturers find it increasingly challenging to make effective product-related decisions as the result of expanded technical complexities, elongated supply chains, and a shortage of experienced workers. These factors challenge the traditional methodologies companies use to make critical decisions. However, companies can improve decision making by the use of visual decision making, which synthesizes information from multiple sources into highly usable visual context and integrates it with existing enterprise applications such as PLM and ERP systems. Product-related information presented in a visual form and shared across communities of practice with diverse roles, backgrounds, and job skills helps level the playing field for collaboration across business functions, technologies, and enterprises. Visual decision making can contribute to manufacturers making more effective product-related decisions throughout the complete product life cycle. This Technology Spotlight examines these trends and the role that Oracle's AutoVue and its Augmented Business Visualization (ABV) solution play in this strategic market. Analyst Connection: Using Visual Decision Making to Optimize Manufacturing Design and Development, September 2012 In today's environments, global manufacturers are managing a broad range of information. Data is often scattered across countless files throughout the product life cycle, generated by different applications and platforms. Organizations are struggling to utilize these multidisciplinary sources in an optimal way. Visual decision making is a strategy and technology that can address this challenge by integrating and widening access to digital information assets. Integrating with PLM and ERP tools across engineering, manufacturing, sales, and marketing, visual decision making makes digital content more accessible to employees and partners in the supply chain. The use of visual decision-making information rendered in the appropriate business context and shared across functional teams contributes to more effective product-related decision making and positively impacts business performance.

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  • Go Big or Go Home

    - by user12601034
    For those who don’t know, Oracle sponsors a group called “OWL” – Oracle Women’s Leadership - and the purpose of the group is to create local and global opportunities that support, educate and empower current and future women leaders at Oracle. This week, I had the opportunity to attend the Denver OWL roadshow, and I was really impressed with the quality of speakers and interactions that I experienced. One theme that arose throughout the day was that of “Lean In.” In a nutshell, “Lean In” requires you to take advantage of the opportunities that you’re given. One of my personal mantras is “Go big or go home."  That is, if you’re not willing to give it your all, don’t do it at all. Regardless of how you phrase it, it’s a life lesson that I believe needs to be tossed in our face every so often simply, if for no other reason, to get our attention. You are given a finite amount of time in your life; in your job role; in your interactions with others. Do you make the most of the opportunities given to you every day? Or do you believe that life just happens, and you have to deal with whatever is handed to you? I have a challenge for you. Set aside any concerns or fears you have about something and Lean In. Make the most of an opportunity presented to you…or make your own opportunity! If you start with just one thing, you’ll start building a mindset to make the most of additional opportunities. Not only will you be better for leaning in, but I’m betting that those around you will be better for it as well.

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