Links for the Week of 2009.10.30

These are a day late. Sorry about that. It’s been one helluva week. Also, November 1st marks the beginning of National Novel Writing Month. So, if you’ve had a story inside you waiting to get out, wait no further!

SQL Server

• Find the complete call tree for a stored procedure – Linchi Shea shares a perl script that will attempt to determine the full call stack of a single stored procedure.
• SQL Server gets an ANSI compliant unique index … sort of – Using filtered indexes, it is now possible to get SQL Server to behave as if it supported ANSI compliant unique indexes.
• Cloud-based database thoughts before #SQLPass – Brent Ozar offers his thoughts on Amazon’s new MySQL Cloud offering: Amazon RDS. I have to say, this looks like it’s very tempting to play around with – stand up a linux compute node, put Ruby on Rails on it, use the MySQL RDS for the back end. Boom! Instant production environment.
• Easy monitoring of high-severity errors: create Agent alerts – Set up SQL Agent alerts to notify you when horrible horrible things happen to your database. You can even use this to catch for problems and then run jobs to diagnose or fix the problem.

Development

• git-svn, SvnBridge and TFS Source Control – Javier Lozano shows how you can work on your favorite codeplex project and still use git for your SCM.
• 55+ Extremely Useful Online Generators for Designers – I love avoiding work, especially when it comes to creating artwork. Generators play a huge role in getting these things done and can cut hours out of a design task.
• Maruku – Maruku is an improved version of Markdown, combine it with the Plain Text Wiki for TextMate and you have some cool stuff.
• Plain Text Wiki ← Mark Reid – A new plain text wiki for TextMate that offers syntax highlighting.
• NHibernate parameter sizes controversy: history of the issue – While I do, on occasion, advocate the use of ORMs, this is why I caution people about them. Thanks to Grant Fritchey for stirring up this hornet’s nest.

Stuff & Things

• How Stanley Kubrick’s Editing Conveys a Horrifying Supernatural Vision in The Shining / AdamPolselli.com – Kubrick’s editing is so important in The Shining. Adam Polselli analyzes a set of shots in The Shining and talks about how they make the movie. The Shining has been one of my favorite movies since the very first time I saw it. Kubrick’s is completely on top of his game here, and I love how Polselli breaks it down perfectly.
• 11 Scariest Horror Movies of All Time – Page 1 – The Daily Beast – I love horror films, I love Scorsese’s films. I’m intrigued to see the movies in this list.
• Travel Tips for Non-Frequent Flyers – Travel can be incredibly stressful, take a look at Brent Ozar’s travel tips to make your life easier.
• How to Give Yourself to Whatever the Moment Brings, and Forget Stress – The only times when I feel incredibly stressed are the times when I try to plan too much of my life.
• Living on $500,000 a Year | The American Scholar – F. Scott Fitzgerald’s income comes out to $500,000 in modern money. He kept meticulous personal records of his expenses and income. The entire story is pretty fascinating.
• On (the undying topic of) copying ~ Authentic Boredom – Good designers copy, great designers steal. I stole that quote. Cameron Moll stole it.
• The DumbLittleMan Guide to Comma Use – The comma can be a tricky little critter. I see a lot of authors misuse it; their writing suffers as a result. Learning to use the comma properly might not spice up your writing, but it will prevent it from seeming choppy and unwieldy.
• Portion Size, Then Vs. Now – DivineCaroline – Terrifying
• «Architectural Fantasies», 1925-1933 – 202 design studies in architecture.
• Garage Collections: This is not a manifesto — towards an anarcho-design practice – You thought design was all about being pretty, right? Think again. Design is a way to change the world around you and, like anything else, can be used for good or evil. Just ask the author of this manifesto.
• The Unbearable Lightness of Things – Dematerialization 1 | Quiet Babylon – When does a possession stop being a possession and start being a thing? Given the presence of a backup, is the destruction of an object really a loss?
• Fossil Reactors – Fission reactions were going on under the surface of the earth thousands of years ago. Interestingly, the reactions were self-contained by the earth and the nasty byproducts have long since vanished through natural processes.
• Film Posters – a set on Flickr – Mmmmmm vintage movie posters