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by Erwin Smout

[FP: Two weeks ago I posted a debunking of an article blaming some SQL sins. Erwin has some additional comments.]

1. Multisets

From the original article:

It is beyond any doubt that set is the basis of mass data computation. Although SQL has the concept of set, it is limited to describing simple result set, and it does not take the set as a basic data type to enlarge its application scope.

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Housekeeping: I have added a link to Nijssen's paper The Entity-Relationship Model Considered Harmful to FUNDAMENTALS on the HOME page. UPDATE 2: The paper is fine if read with a PDF viewer other than
Adobe Reader XI (11.0.09).


1. Quotes of the Week

Platfora’s mission is to empower customers to transform their businesses into fact-based enterprises. Platfora's Big Data Analytics Platform masks the complexity of Hadoop, making it easy for customers to understand all the facts in their business... --Platfora.com

Q: I don't know what the different between detect inference in database and prevent it, any help?
A: Why would you want to prevent inferences that a DMBS makes? That's where the power of it is. --LinkedIn.com

2. To Laugh or Cry?

Graphs: A Better Database Abstraction

3. Online debunkings

• Should the move from a fixed schema truly be to “no schema”
• The fine line between “informality” and “loss of intellectual rigor

4. Interesting elsewhere

You Too May Be A Victim Of Developaralysis

H/t Will Sisson.

5. And now for something completely different 

• Must watch: State Legislatures and ALEC

• Fascinating: Ebru Art,Sand Art

• About The PostWest

If they do this:

Fatah official calls for blood to 'purify' Jerusalem of Jews

PA airs 'anti-Semitic' film as tensions mount in Jerusalem

Four killed in terror attack at Jerusalem synagogue

then obviously we should do this:

Croatia likely to recognize Palestine as a state MidEast

Sweden To Recognize State Of Palestine

Spanish Parliament Calls on Rajoy to Recognize Palestine

UK lawmakers vote to recognize Palestine as a state

and this

EU threatens 'further action' to protect two-state solution

EU considering 'sanctions' against Israel over settlements

Makes perfect sense. So what else is new?

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See:

• Data Sublanguage Parts 1-2

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My November blog post @All Analytics:


I have shown in previous posts that reliance on sheer visual inspection of database tables for data analysis is a risky proposition, with high probability of misinterpretation. All the more so when databases are complex, with wide and/or long tables. The analyst needs to know table interpretations -- their real-world meaning derived from the business rules with which the database must be consistent. The problem is that they are left out of the tables because DBMSs do not understand them, nor are they usually documented in the database (as they well should be), because database professionals underestimate their importance.

Read it all. (Please comment there, not here)

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1. Quote of the Week

Those who argue for natural keys typically do so from a position of philosophical purity, as is the case in the Simple Talk article you cited. In my (25+) years of experience, people who argue from this position are long on education and short on real-world experience. In the real world just about every natural key I've ever come across is subject to duplication and/or redefinition. There are very few cases outside of smallish code tables where it is practical to take the philosophical high ground regarding natural keys. --StackExchange.com

2. To Laugh or Cry?

R2G a Tool for Migrating Relations to Graphs

H/t Erwin Smout.

3. Online debunkings

• Using tools without foundation knowledge will mislead
• Inheritance in relational database

4. Interesting elsewhere

The Delusions of Big Data

Must read.

5. And now for something completely different

Ebola-- Failures of Imagination

Not to worry, America, Ebola will go to India first.

Can you detect the stealth animals hiding in all these pictures?

Fascinating.

About The PostWest:

• Baby killed as car rams crowd in Jerusalem terror attack
• Palestinians pelt Jerusalem kindergarten with rocks

Jihadism is OK as long as it kills Jews. Nice people. Let's ...

Irish parliament calls on government to recognize Palestine

... give them a state. Really?

Pat Condell: 'Boo Hoo Palestine'

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1. Quote of the Week

Q: What's the key technical skills for Data Modeling? 
A: Erwin or Rational or phycial [sic] modelling or conceptual modelling or Logical modelling. --LinkedIn.com 

NULL means data is not available, nothing more...--LinkedIn.com

In case you were wondering.


2. To Laugh or Cry?

Oldie, but goodie from old dbdebunk:

On a Pile of ... what?

3. Online debunkings

• Paper #6 has been published
• Which NF is violated if subtype attributes are rolled up into the Supertype?
• Weak Entities, Referential Constraints & Normalization

4. Elsewhere

• An open letter to L.Bass by E.W. Dijkstra
• Zeno's Tortoise by D. McGoveran

5. And now for something completely different
CDC blames cuts for Ebola response, pays millions in bonuses

About The PostWest:

• Mob vandalizes Crown Heights kosher market
• France to host Palestinian unity government
• Talk of 'Jewish lobby' surfaces during UK Palestine vote
• Israel fails to tie rebuilding Gaza to disarming Hamas
• 'Post-sanctions' Iran conference in London

Never again? Think again: they're at it again, to finish the job.

The Bible's Buried Secrets

Fascinating.