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1. Quote of the Week

According to Wikipedia, Amazon's Redshift is a modified version of Postgres.
Maybe its speed redshifted data integrity into a bloody mess.

It has no primary keys, foreign keys or unique constraints. It just has optimizer hints in the DDL that *maybe* the data behaves that way. If they want to put hints in the DDL, OK, but don't call those hint PRIMARY KEY, FOREIGN KEY or UNIQUE.
--Unsupported PostgreSQL Features - Amazon Redshift

I don't think any version of Postgres lets you say Create Table Foo (Bar Int PRIMARY KEY) and then let you do

INSERT INTO Foo (BAR) Values (42)
INSERT INTO Foo (BAR) Values (42)
INSERT INTO Foo (BAR) Values (42)

That might be fine for a one time only static data warehouse, but an ongoing data update system is going to break the integrity rules, it is just a matter of time. That would make for some surprises when someone decides to migrate their data and lots of application code from a relational DBMS to Redshift.
--Jeff Winchell

2. To Laugh or Cry?

Now Powered by PostgreSQL

Quote: The thing that defines these apps as modern is rich data structures that don’t fit neatly into rows and columns of traditional databases." -- Kelly Stirman, VP of Strategy at MongoDB.

Online comment: I'd like to see an explanation or example for this oft-repeated nonsense. How is a collection of key:value pairs not logically equivalent to rows and columns? What is this data that is too rich for a relational database to represent? Also see the part where the author says PostgreSQL is in "fierce competition" with MongoDB and finally catching up with the NoSQL tools.

3. Online Debunkings

The Big Data Modeling Question...and Beer

4. Elsewhere Of Interest

• How to enforce a constraint over multiple tables
• Big Data Doesn’t Exist
• Dont believe the hype about Hadoop usage

5. And now for something completely different

The PostWest (Western civilization: Its future is all behind it)

• Immigration officials prohibited from looking at visa applicants' social media (political correctness condamning Americans to death)
• US army chief says efforts to counter jihadi propaganda failing
• Assad can stay for now, Kerry says, accepting Russian stance
• With change of tone, EU warms to Turkey, Serbia membership bids
• Ernst & Young Doesn't Require Degrees -- Why Do You?
• Los Angeles schools shuttered after email bomb threat
• At debate, rivals pile on Trump over Muslim comments (morality is not a suicide pact)

"Fuck the Jews" (The only acceptable racism)

• US official: Anti-Semitism cannot be eradicated, must be diminished (imagine saying this about blacks or even Hispanics)
• Swedish FM accuses Israel of 'extrajudicial executions'

Pinch me

• Saudis announce Muslim military coalition to fight terror (Wahabbism and "Arab unity" against terror -- we're saved)

Book of the week (order via this link to support this site)

Ross, D., DOOMED TO SUCCEED: THE U.S.-ISRAEL RELATIONSHIP FROM TRUMAN TO OBAMA

Video of the week

Islam: What the West needs to know (must watch!)