Monday, August 09, 2010

In Soccer News...

Not a good week for soccer coaching in the household. First DC United fires their coach (he was pretty ineffective, not much to complain about other than the nagging feeling that he didn't exactly have top-flight talent on board), and now Martin O'Neill out at Aston Villa.
Aston Villa is the reason why I find the premiership watchable -- solid, workmanlike teamwork, they compete hard every week, and their effort has generally been rewarded.
So does Bob Bradley take the reins? So close to the beginning of a season? With the clear indication that the core talent of the team in MF is about to be shipped away for cash?

Sunday, August 01, 2010

Journalism

"Unless you're an IT specialist with a top secret clearance working for a defense contractor or in some other high-demand job, chances are your paycheck didn't get a whole lot bigger this year."

Imagine, price being determined by supply and demand. They might have to come up with a whole new branch of science to study this phenomenon.
"Large salary increases tended to be reserved for workers with specialized skills in positions most critical to the employers' operation and growth."

Really. I have not the words. I can't imagine why newspapers are struggling.

Thursday, July 08, 2010

Steven Pearlstein's Free Business Consultancy

I read Steven Pearlstein regularly, and really enjoy it at the price of $0.
Would I pay more? Well, what do you think the following advice is worth?
...However, I am a small business owner. While things have picked up slightly, I am sure not hiring anyone. Why? I am uncertain what health-care reform will cost me and what new/ increased taxes are on the way. If there was a more positive, pro-small business environment out there (meaning, in Washington), I would hire more people. I currently employ 12 and could go to 15 or 16, but I won't with the uncertainty. Also, every (and I mean EVERY) small business owner I know is feeling the same and making similar decisions.

Steven Pearlstein writes:

Health care reform cuts lots of different ways for small businesses....Until that sorts itself out, you and other small business owners may face uncertainty -- there is no doubt about that. But you have to understand that there really isn't any good time to do such a reform...It's a one time change, it involves some disruption and uncertainty, but before long the costs and benefits will be known, people and businesses will adjust and the economy will move on.

That said, I remain somewhat skeptical of the notion that you have some great business oppportunity out there that would justify your expanding your staff by 25 percent but you are not going to do it because you might have to pay several thousand dollars more for health insurance in the future. First of all, you can fire people as easily as you can hire them -- that's one of the great "advantages" of the U.S economy. And if the profit margins on the incremental business are so thin that even a few thousand dollars is the difference between making money and losing it, then maybe there is more at issue here than public policy.


Now I don't own a business myself, but it doesn't take a lot of thinking to react really negatively to someone's suggestion that "I think you need to cowboy up and take a risk with your business in the hope that things won't go south". The failure rates for small businesses, even in good times, are somewhat daunting. The focus on health care as the source of uncertainty is also something I find miscast... it's the combination of health care, expected tax increases, and the fact that "every other small business owner I know is feeling the same..." that makes one pause. Steve calls this "group think". I'd call it "canvassing your compatriots, business partners, and customers", and I'm really sorry that everyone's caution interferes with Steve's idea of how to jump start the recovery.
I also deeply appreciate how easy it is for Steve to fire people. I don't know how often he does it, but I generally associate myself with people who I like, trust, and want to keep around, and consider it fairly gut-wrenching to have to let someone go when their performance and attitude are good.

The attempt to browbeat businesses (large and small alike) into "doing more" is a pretty laughable strategy, in my mind. Bottom line is that many/most CEOs can justify their inaction because of the uncertainty, and any attempt by shareholders and Boards to force some sort of forward progress can be answered by a savvy CEO using Mr. Obama's own metric of "company valuation created or saved". "Yes, the stock isn't moving higher, but no, the bottom hasn't dropped out either."
If the Dem's fall strategy is to claim that "we didn't get the stimulus right because the economy was much worse than we thought" and "it's not getting better because everyone's obstructing us", I think they'll get the spanking they deserve.

Mr. Obama's choice between "being a mediocre two-term president or a great one-term president" is missing what looks to be his other other option -- a mediocre one-term president. (Lest you think I'm cheering for this, I'm looking at the loss of a million man-hours of work that you can never get back, and another four years to make it harder to solve the core problem of "everyone's getting to retirement and no one's working to pay for it".)

Thursday, May 06, 2010

Ernie Harwell

Proof that sports is such an integral part of late childhood/early adulthood is the outpour of respect at the news of Ernie Harwell's passing.
Whether it was listening on the kitchen radio while doing homework, on the incredibly garish white-and-teal AM radio in my room, or even the scratchy transistor with earpiece that I could sneak into bed to listen to those late-night west coast games, listening to the Tigers was one of those things you could count on through the years.

Friday, February 12, 2010

SQL*Plus Configuration Settings

I run sql*plus in text mode a lot. You can always count on it being there, the functionality is consistent from version to version, and it doesn't require a lot of infrastructure to be running before it can successfully connect.
But there are a few settings I want to have set up on startup. This is reasonably straightforward, just use a script file that contains your preferences, and call it as part of startup.
So here are my oracle settings (stored in a file orasettings.sql):

set termout off
set linesize 140
set pagesize 1000
set long 5000
set timing on
column D22 new_value VAR
select lower(username) || '@' || '&_CONNECT_IDENTIFIER> ' D22 from user_users;
set sqlprompt '&&VAR'
set sqlnumber on

col text format a80 word_wrapped
col st_sectiontext format a80 word_wrapped

set termout on


Now, for how to call it. From the OS command processor (i.e., windows "cmd" command prompt):
sqlplus username@service @orasettings
The other way to "reconnect" is to "modify" the connect command using a script file "conn.sql":

connect &1
@orasettings


and then from a SQL> prompt, you execute
SQL> @conn username@service
enter password:
connected.
username@service>

The last trick, at least on Windows, is to make sure these two files are placed in the location that sqlplus is looking for. That location is stored in the registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\\SQLPATH.
I usually add the root "c:\oracle" as the sqlpath and store the files there, but that's mainly because I have multiple accounts with little in the way of consistency as to paths and locations I can store these things, and I have little interest in figuring out some clever way to remember where to look.
Even this post is meant more for me to be able to grab the settings I use from anywhere in the world than to enlighten the masses. But feel free to use it if you want.