My 2016 new year's resolutions

I decided to put some of my new year's resolutions down in a post. These are non professional goals, here is what my goals are

Learn a new language

I want to learn a new language in 2016. I already know Croatian and Dutch, in addition to those I can understand most of German, I also have some knowledge of Italian and Spanish. The more languages you know, the easier it is to learn another language. To make it more difficult for me, I am picking a non European language. I decided to try to learn Chinese this year. 

When I say learn, what I mean is that I must be able to communicate with a person in Chinese as well as being able to watch a movie in Chinese while understanding 80% of the movie. By Chinese, I mean Mandarin, it would be really funny if I picked a movie in Cantonese and then couldn't understand anything. 

I work with a bunch of people from China and Taiwan, so I can always check with them to see if I am pronouncing words correctly.

If learning the Chinese language goes well, I want to then learn these 4 languages the next 4 years following 2016: Greek, Japanese, Portuguese, Korean. 

Read 30 books

In 2015, I read 20 books, this year I want to read 30 books. I want 5 of those books to deal with American history, I have been living in the US for 20+ years and most of the history books I read were about European history or World War i and World War II history. I also want to read more technical books, so 6 of those books should be technical.

Do a handstand, walk 30 feet on my hands

I can barely hold a handstand for 2 seconds, this year, I want to try to improve on that. My goal is to be able to do a handstand and hold it for 30 seconds. I also want to be able to walk 30 feet on my hands.

Improve on lifts

I would like to be be able to bench press 200 pounds, squat 300 pounds and deadlift 400 pounds by the end of the year. All of the lifts should be raw.

Blog more

I want to write 100 blog posts in 2016, this should not be that difficult, it is only 2 fricking posts per week, but sometimes I don't write anything for 6 months straight. In 2016 this will change, one thing that will make this easier is I will document the progress of my goals, this will be mostly focused on my progress learning the Chinese language.

So there you have it, that is my list, seems very doable and I will keep you and me posted on the progress of these lofty goals.......

What I tweeted this past week, 20151016 edition

Here is some of the interesting stuff I tweeted about this past week

Compile Big Gateway Policy changes in SQL Server 
SQL Server will automatically determine the number of concurrent queries that will be allowed in the Big Gateway depending on the Target Memory. Meaning, SQL Server will allow one query per 25GB of memory up to 80% of target.
The upper limit is only enforced by the medium gateway limit since all queries in big gateway would have first passed through medium gateway. For example, on a system that has 24 physical/48 logical cores and 64GB RAM, the new behavior allows for two large 25GB query compilations up to 48 concurrent compilations (as allowed by the medium gateway) if queries do not need 25GB for compilation. This is a dramatic improvement in number of large compiles compared to earlier versions.


Your first step in dealing with SQLState = S1000 I/O error while writing a BCP data-file 
What should be your first course of action when you encounter this error


Cloud Computing Finally Gets Some Startups
For years, getting into the business of renting out extra computing power through the cloud has been a bit like getting into the business of nuclear power

That formula is changing as cloud startups such as DigitalOcean and Backblaze begin to compete for customers with the likes of Amazon.com, Microsoft, and Google. The startups have managed to underbid the giants in certain markets by keeping expenses relatively low, either by writing their own versions of the software needed to run a cloud or by handcrafting the hardware needed to house one. “All the tools we’re using really pay dividends,” says DigitalOcean Chief Executive Officer Ben Uretsky. “I think that gives us a leg up.”

Computer science is now the top major for women at Stanford University
Computer science has for the first time become the most popular major for female students at Stanford University, a hopeful sign for those trying to build up the thin ranks of women in the technology field.
Based on preliminary declarations by upper-class students, about 214 women are majoring in computer science, accounting for about 30 percent of majors in that department, the California-based university told Reuters on Friday.
Human biology, which had been the most popular major for women, slipped to second place with 208.
If more women majored in technological fields like computer science, advocates say, that could help alleviate the dearth of women in engineering and related professions, where many practitioners draw on computer science backgrounds. 

Some reasons your tSQLt test is not executing

This post explains why some of your tSQLt unit tests might not be running even though it might look correctly.


Finished:  The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
This is a book written by Erik Larson about the Chicago World Fair and a serial killer who was active at the same time the fair was happening.


Execution Comparison Tool released with latest SSMS
With the recent release of CTP 2.4, some of you might have noticed something new shipped with SSMS – a Plan Comparison option. The purpose is to provide side-by-side comparison of two different showplans, for easier identification of similarities and changes, that explain the different behaviors for all the reasons stated above, which may include regressions or sudden query performance changes.

The #MH17 investigation points to a revolution in open-source intelligence
A group of Internet sleuths who trawled social media and other open sources in the days after the July 17, 2014, downing and were able to establish that pro-Russian separatists had done the deed. Their remarkable forensic achievements are just the latest example of a citizen-driven open-source intelligence revolution that democratic policy makers must learn to welcome, even when it is a source of embarrassment.

Are you going to watch Ash vs Evil Dead?
Starz is premiering a new show based on the Evil Dead series of movies of the 1980s

Nasa Open Datasets available

NASA has opened up a bunch of datasets, code repositories and APIs.
In terms of data, they have the following categories:

Aerospace
Applied Science
Earth Science
Management/Operations
Space Science

You can also filter on type of data, these are the types that are available right now:
Data Lens
Tabular Data
Charts
Maps
Calendars
Filtered Views
External Links
Files & Documents
Forms

Here is what Meteorite Landings looks like, I just searched for the landings in New York

The cool thing is that you can export this data in a variety of formats, here is what it looks like

As you can see, you can export to csv, JSON, pdf, xls etc etc

So what are you waiting for, head over to the NASA site to start exploring and playing with this data. The link to the site is the following: https://open.nasa.gov/open-data/

Here is the link to the main site, here you can get to all the other stuff: https://open.nasa.gov/

Star Wars Stamps to be released October 20th in the UK

The Royal mail has released a bunch of Star Wars stamps. This issue celebrates Star Wars: The Force Awakens and the role that Britain’s world-leading film industry has played. This is pretty cool and I am sure that they will sell a lot of these stamps.  

From all of these Kylo Ren is my favorite character

You can check it all out here: http://www.royalmail.com/starwars

Recruiting gem of the week

Got this email from a recruiter the other day. I have many times received interesting emails from recruiters but this one has to be one of the worst.


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Good Morning,


Please go through the requirement below & if you are interested kindly forward your resume for immediate consideration.


Title: Database Engineer
Location: Manhattan,NY
Duration: 6 months


A database engineer who has experience creating a database from stage one to completion. Need someone that can handle either setting up or dealing with some sort of server to working with the team to create it.


Basically we have all of this sales/financial information and need to compile it into one place that's easily accessible to everyone.


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  Really... some sort of server, what does that even mean?

Sorry to inform you, zombie series Fear the Walking Dead won't make it past the first season

I just started to watch the new series Fear the Walking Dead on AMC. Some people said the first episode was slow, I liked it and can't wait for the rest of the episodes. This is the first tv show I am watching on network tv in a long time. Most of the series I watch are on HBO and Showtime. The reason I mostly watch HBO and Showtime is because no matter what show I pick on non premium tv tv it gets cancelled the same season I start watching it.
Here is a list of the shows I started to watch only to have them being cancelled

The Street
Jericho
The Event
Almost Human
Helix

Jericho is probably my favorite of that list, the network actually did create 6 or so more episodes to finish the story after an uproar by fans


But all is not lost, Vikings another show I watch, is still going strong and a new season will be on tv sometimes this winter

So hopefully Fear the Walking Dead will turn out to be good and we will have many seasons ahead like Vikings instead of The Event.....

What is your prediction...will Fear the Walking Dead make it or not?

Trying out SquareSpace

I decided to give SquareSpace a try, you can find the continuation of this blog here: http://denis-gobo.squarespace.com

 I promise I will blog more as well See you there