Data Guy (Me)

Sharing a passion for people, bringing joy to work, and data. Perpetual newbie. #LetsLearnTogether

You are here: Home / Archives for JegErAlan

JegErAlan

A Quick Word About HostGator

by Leave a Comment

HostGator splash pageLast year I had some trouble with a web hosting provider. Although I paid for their more (I think most) expensive shared hosting plan, the kept complaining I was hitting limits. I did everything I could to reduce resource usage (and did bring it down by turning off back-ups, blocking IPs, and even removing at least one site), but you have to understand that I just dabble on the web. This blog may have the most traffic, but it only has double-digit views each day. (Although, I think my Bowflex C6 Indoor Cycle review may have almost hit 400 views one day.) If I was butting up against limits, it wasn’t from popularity. 🙂

Either way, this unnamed provider basically was extorting me to move to a much more expensive VPS solution, which made no sense since I am a dabbler, not a serious web content provider. (Extorting me in the sense that they were going to shut down my service.)

Enter HostGator. All I can say is that I couldn’t be happier. Within my budget I was able to sign up for their Cloud Business hosting, which is significantly faster than the old host and the second web hosting provider I have. They provide all the same “unlimited” features we’ve grown to expect from these less extensive all-you-can-eat offerings, but without taking a hit on speed, having my WordPress back-ups (via the Duplicator plugin) fail, difficult DNS configuration, etc. They have none of the issues I had (and have) with other companies. [Read more…] about A Quick Word About HostGator

Power BI Nibble #3: Showing the Refresh Time

by Leave a Comment

This week’s Power BI Nibble is about showing a refresh date/time, with the bonus of how to control the time zone it is shown for.

Plus, some advice on its usage (e.g. generally you shouldn’t).

Although you can watch the video below, please visit it on the Nibbles Wiki for more written advice, code samples, etc.:

Power BI Nibble No. 3: Showing the Refresh Time - Nibbles Wiki
How do show a refresh time in Power BI, including controlling the time zone it is displayed in...

So you want to watch it here, eh? 🙂

Are Shared Libraries Bad?

by Leave a Comment

Counterintuitive IT™ logo This e-mail response from Linus Torvalds (think: Linux kernel) is worth a read if you do any programming with shared libraries (he comes out against them):

Subject: Re: Very slow clang kernel config ..

On Fri, Apr 30, 2021 at 8:33 PM [EDITED OUT] <[EDITED OUT]@redhat.com> wrote:
>
> Yes, it’s intentional. Dynamic linking libraries from other packages is
> the Fedora policy[1], and clang and llvm are separate packages (in Fedora).

Side note: I really wish Fedora stopped doing that.

Shared libraries are not a good thing in general. They add a lot of
overhead in this case, but more importantly they also add lots of
unnecessary dependencies and complexity, and almost no shared
libraries are actually version-safe, so it adds absolutely zero
upside.

Although never as my primary job, as a programmer, I always thought shared libraries were good. So, at least for me, Torvald’s advice is counterintuitive.

Sharing Truth

by 1 Comment

Leo Tolstoy book coverGreat point:

People very often do not accept the truth, because they do not like the form in which the truth is presented to them.

Great advice:

If you know the truth, or if you think that you know the truth, try to pass it on to the others, as simply as you can, along with the feeling of love for those persons to whom you pass it.

— A Calendar of Wisdom: Daily Thoughts to Nourish the Soul, Written and Selected from the World’s Sacred Texts by Leo Tolstoy (translated by Peter Sekirin)

(Cross-posted on my Nibbles Ninja blog.)

Just Do It

by Leave a Comment

Book coverI’ll be up front, I am not a fan of Nike (for multiple reasons). However, as this quote from a devotional I read from John C. Maxwell implicitly notes, their “Just do it” tag line is wise:

The trick to acting on your goals is getting started. President Franklin D. Roosevelt remarked, “It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.” That’s good advice. You don’t have to be perfect; you only need to make progress. Or as the Chinese proverb asserts, “Be not afraid of going slowly; be only afraid of standing still.”

— The Maxwell Daily Reader: 365 Days of Insight to Develop the Leader Within You and Influence Those Around You by John C. Maxwell (image from Amazon)

Kudos to Microsoft

by Leave a Comment

Microsoft 365 for Business

If I told you that for $5 a month you could have full-fledged Microsoft business service (e.g. Exchange, SharePoint, and so on), would you believe it? That for $12.50 per month you could have that and the Microsoft Office 365 suite…would you believe it?

And that it would be simple to set-up?

Well, you should believe it.  Although, ‘cause it was so cheap, I have had the account for a bit…on Sunday I finally set things up and I was amazed at just how easy it was.

Microsoft 365 Business plansSo, if you e-mail me via the info on my contact page, it is going through a full-fledged cloud Exchange server (which supports features like shared mailboxes). Additionally, I can publish Power BI reports (and use files on SharePoint Online as a data source), I can set up Teams meetings…and lots ‘o other things.

Finally, on a Power BI community work call today someone asked if we had a development space for people to play with Power BI…and I said, “Hey guys, would you believe that for $5…”

🙂

Okay, maybe that isn’t an exact quote, but you get my drift. If you are a small business or just a gal or guy wanting to be able to play with professional tools…

Regardless of the plan you choose, Microsoft 365 for Business is a steal.

In a good way. 🙂

Kudos to you Microsoft!

P.S. Apologies for the lousy screen shot of features by price, I had to pinch the screen on iPad Pro and hit the power and up volume buttons at the same time, and the web page ended up looking a bit…well…yuck.

The 30 Second Rule

by Leave a Comment

When most people meet others, they search for ways to make themselves look good. The key to the 30-Second Rule is reversing this practice. When you make contact with people, instead of focusing on yourself, search for ways to make them look good.

— The Maxwell Daily Reader: 365 Days of Insight to Develop the Leader Within You and Influence Those Around You by John C. Maxwell

The Hidden Cost of Cost Cutting

by Leave a Comment

I’m slowly getting through Sooner Safer Happier: Antipatterns and Patterns for Business Agility by Jonathan Smart (with Zsolt Berend, Myles Ogilvie, and Simon Rohrer)…

And I should note the “slowly” is on me, not the book. 🙂

Either way, it notes something “counterintuitive,” but so true that everyone in business needs to hear it:

There is a hidden cost to cost cutting.

Obviously, there are times we are forced to immediately reduce the financial bleeding, but I’d suggest that is likely the exception, not the rule.

You should grab the book, but here is a bit more from that section: [Read more…] about The Hidden Cost of Cost Cutting