If the header of this post seems weird, check Microsoft's answer to problem XL97: Data Not Returned from Query Using ORACLE Data Source:

Between two resolution methods which at least sort of make sense, there's the following gem:

Method 2: Move Your Mouse Pointer

If you move your mouse pointer continuously while the data is being returned to Microsoft Excel, the query may not fail. Do not stop moving the mouse until all the data has been returned to Microsoft Excel.

NOTE: Depending on your query, it may take several minutes to return the results of your query to the worksheet.

In other news, Oracle users suffer significantly more RSI if they're also working with Excel.

The news today are full of the Irish scandal of ongoing horrific child abuse by the institutions of the Catholic church. Examples include about the full catalogue — ask the sickest mind to tell you what it can imagine, it probably happened.

Originally, I had planned to quote some examples of the findings here. I have quickly realised that while reading even only the executive summary, the amount of things that made me go “Whaaaaat?” was far exceeding the quotable. The summary — and indeed the full report — can be found at the relevant Website. Be warned though: This is about as far from light reading as you'll get.

Many people seem to be especially annoyed and disgusted that this was covered by the higher echelons of the church — up to bishops as far as I heard. The perpetrators were simply relocated to another parish, where they would often be free to continue their abuse.

Thinking about it for a bit, I have concluded that this is really the logical path for a bishop to take. After all, I see the church as an institution that seeks to perpetuate its power over its subjects by any means possible. Where else can you find an institution today that still has the nerve to claim absolute infallibility of its supreme leader?

I am convinced that this (perpetuating power, not abusing children) has been — and still is, to some extent — the prime purpose of religion. Many commandments and suggestions as to how to act and behave which would probably garner a cheerful “Feck off” if they came from a secular institution suddenly become law just because they are said to come from a higher being who doesn't directly communicate with his subjects, but uses a host of interpreters who, by convenient coincidence, are also those who hold power in the institution.

It's high time people stopped listening to them… But I'm convinced the Catholic church will escape the scandal, yet again, unscathed. Established power dies hard.

More information about the case can be found on the website of the Irish Child Abuse Commission

use restaurant::parc::cafe;

Right. Let's start the renewed blogging with a small pseudo-psycho-test. These seem to be all the rage on certain unmentioned social networking sites.

1. Ooh, a café. I think I'll go have a cuppa.
2. That certainly is a large amount of punctuation
3. Hold on a sec, this regex will never work.

If you chose number 3, I don't have to explain anything. If you didn't, you wouldn't understand even if I did. If you say “What? There's no negative lookbehind assertion in this regex”, you'd be absolutely right, of course.

Right - after a long break, it's time to get this blag back up.

One of the reasons why there was a long silence is that I was never quite happy with the way the various blog engines handled things, so I decided to write my own one instead. This took considerably longer than I planned, but hey… here it is.

So, you can expect more things I've seen, heard, smelled, eaten or rode my bike over… eh… past.

Seeing that the big machine will be switched on next Wednesday:

Anyone who thinks the LHC will destroy the world is a twat.

Prof. Brian Cox, Manchester University

Originally found in The Telegraph.

Edit: That's interesting — since I put up this quote, the Telegraph have changed their version to read “…is a T- - -”. I saw it when it was still written out, so I have it on authority it's not “Tune”, “Tank” or “Tent”.

In the age of the internet, attaching a famous name to your personal opinion to give more weight to it is a very valid strategy.

Benjamin Franklin

I have just realised it's been nearly two months since my last post on here. That's quite a long time.

If you have missed this page over the last two days - it was gone. It's now on yet another new server… and this time it's not an old PC that I happened to have lying around, but a custom-built, proper machine. Should be a bit faster - once I manage to migrate the rest of the stuff off the old machine. At the moment, you're coming in over a reverse proxy on… eh… an old PC i happened to have lying around.

For those who are having an “ey?” moment: The server is now black instead of white. That means it's new.

Note: Unlike the last server rebuild, the address and everything else stay the same this time. The only thing changing to you is that you've now read this post.

Just saw in the news that Aleksei Tolstokozhev has been murdered. Apparently, he has been shot several times, with one last bullet to the head - the signature style of the Russian Mafia. Tolstokozhev was the man behind up to 30% of our beloved Viagra/Megadik/Penis Enlargement spams.

Seems this Spamassassin thing is even more effective than I thought.

Edit from later on: It seems like the story was a hoax. Ah well, it being on The Register and Slashdot leant it enough credibility for me to believe it. Besides, it seemed plausible enough…

copyfree

As Mr. Häck would say: The dumbest volunteer at 20 Minutes, a free Swiss newspaper (and worth every penny!), strikes again…

Now, what Amazon are offering is music without any Digital Restrictions, so without copy protection. And what, pray tell, does one call that? Of course: Copy-free music! Can we therefore assume that whoever wrote this doesn't use protection? I know, cheap joke, but it's before my 2nd morning coffee. You might well find that post edited later.

(Note for the Görmen speakers out there… it should be “Kopierschutzfrei”…)