A long day tuning SQL queries using Siebel 7.8 and Oracle 10gR2… We used the Siebel recommended settings (TechNote 582). We used the Oracle recommended settings. We gathered table statistics. We gathered index statistics. We gathered column histograms. We dropped statistics on empty tables (Alert 1162). We set some miscellaneous (magic) underscore parameters to encourage CBO to use the correct index. We poured over 10053 trace files. We used a 15 year old, deprecated, desupported optimizer technology to reduce a complex 27 table (outer) join query with a subquery to subsecond from an hourglass. ...

So farewell then, Graham Poll. Your lifelong dream of officiating in the World Cup final is dead. However, you only have yourself to blame. Counting the number of yellow cards awarded and to whom is a fundamental part of your job and you failed.

In August 2002, I visited Florida on holiday. In return for what seemed like 7 successive days at theme parks in sweltering weather, my family kindly allowed me a visit to the Kennedy Space Center which was a fantastic day out. As luck would have it, a shuttle launch was actually scheduled during our stay so I planned to drive out to the highway to watch it. Unfortunately, the initial launch was postponed due to inclement weather conditions so I sporadically checked the TV and radio for the rearranged launch date and time. ...

Poor old Spain. After their fans roundly booed the French anthem, I was almost rooting for them to prevail over France last night. However, I don’t like Luis Aragones. I think he is an arrogant racist so I was quite pleased that France beat them. Well, no, hang on a minute, actually no I wasn’t that pleased because I also think Thierry Henry is an arrogant cheat. Let’s just hope Brazil beat France on Saturday.

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