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1.
If the industry spent 10% of its time and effort dedicated to deal with NULLs on understanding and implementing a theoretically sound missing data solution, it would have put a stop to the endless stream of exchanges like the one posted on the LAUGH/CRY? page, from which nothing is ever learned.

2.
A link to an online discussion I participated was posted to the FP ONLINE page.

3.
I have long deplored the "magic wand" fad-to-fad modus operandi of the IT industry: (a) an ad-hoc "new paradigm" that accumulates over time prohibitive problems prompts (b) an ad-hoc "new paradigm" to solve them that accumulates over time prohibitive problems which prompts (c) an ad-hoc... You get the idea. This is a systemic and business culture problem that no individual or organization alone can solve.

Consider the new Quote posted on the QUOTES page in this context.

4.
In all the excitement about the Cloud little thought is given to its nefarious implications. Here's just one:

Genetic information stored anonymously in databases doesn't always stay that way, a new study revealed, prompting a debate on how much privacy participants in scientific research can expect in the Internet era.
--Researchers Identify Anonymous DNA Donors, Wall Street Journal.

The Cloud is a form of outsourcing. Letting others do the work seems attractive if one focuses on expediency and upfront dreams of savings in money and effort and ignores the negatives associated with long-term loss of control. In the context of poor foundation knowledge and ad-hoc tools and practices, loss of control will exacerbate those negatives and defeat the initial purpose.
The Boeing Debacle: Seven Lessons Every CEO Must Learn, Forbes.

5.
Poor foundation knowledge can be addressed only by education. [O]nline courses [may be] inevitable, but that is likely to exacerbate the trend of substituting true education--intellectual development--with occupational training, rather than stop and/or reverse it.