Lipstick [joke]

August 18th, 2008

lulzAccording to a radio report, a middle school in Oregon was faced with a unique problem. A number of girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the restroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick, they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints.

Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. She called all of the girls to the restroom and met them there with the maintenance man.

She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night. To demonstrate how difficult it was to clean the mirrors, she asked the maintenance guy to clean one of them. He took a long handled squeegee, dipped it into the toilet and then cleaned the mirror.

Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirrors.

Arithmetic overflow in Procedure sp_MStran_ddlrepl

August 15th, 2008

This was a fun error to encounter when I tried to alter one of my SQL Server views. I searched Google with some very limited results for this one.

Msg 8115, Level 16, State 2, Procedure sp_MStran_ddlrepl, Line 95

Arithmetic overflow error converting expression to data type tinyint.

It happened when I tried to alter an existing view. I was quite confused, because it didn’t happen on our dev box. It didn’t happen on our production box, either. It only happened on our server that has replication enabled. We don’t enable replication for views, so any alters I do have to also be executed on the replicated database.

We didn’t have a stored procedure named sp_MStran_ddlrepl, nor could I find it in the system stored procs. I wasn’t doing any conversions of any kind in the view. So, what didn’t it like?

An innocuous tab character. It was hiding.

ALTER VIEW [FOO]

It was hiding between the word VIEW and the bracket [. When I removed it and put a space there instead, all was magically well again with the world.

I hope this helps someone else, but I still don’t truly understand why it happened. If you can help explain why, I’d really appreciate the comment. Thanks!

What do you do if your dog isn’t food-motivated?

August 14th, 2008

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(photo credit)

Nearly every training article, book, and class you check out will tell you to reward your dog for complying with a command — usually the reward is a treat. What many of them don’t address, however, is that not every dog is motivated by food!

What do you do if your dog isn’t food-motivated?

If you’ve ever watched dogs being trained to do police work, you’ve seen dogs rewarded with non-food items. Tennis balls and tug items are quite popular. For protection dogs, the reward is to get the sleeve. For drug dogs, it’s the scented item (the handler keeps an alternative in the pocket to substitute for real drug finds) or a ball.

When your dog really wants something — ANYTHING — getting it is a reward. Some possible rewards:

  • Squeeky toy tossed
  • A short game of tug
  • Ball tossed
  • Verbal praise
  • Physical praise (pet him)
  • A minute off leash
  • Getting to bark, howl, or “talk” for a minute
  • Jumping around or running for a minute
  • Getting to sit or lie down and relax for a minute

Does the dog want to go outside? Have him sit, then let him out. Letting him out is a reward for sitting first. Does he want your attention? Have him sit or lie down first. You have opportunities all day long to reward him for complying with a command, if you pay attention.

If your dog performs an action and something nice happens, that motivates him to do it again. If he performs an action and something undesirable happens, he is less likely to do that again. A classic example is training your dog to come when called. Many people make the mistake of calling the dog and then making him come in the house, leave the park, get a bath, or go in his crate. The dog comes when called and something bad happens! How long do you think he’ll keep coming when you call him? If instead he comes when you call him and you give him a pat, a toy, or a treat and set him free again, that’s a double reward. He gets the goody AND he gets to go free again. Freedom is a reward because it’s a lot more fun than the alternative.

If you want a dog that is happy to learn and work for you, you HAVE to know what he loves. What motivates THIS dog to work? What is his favorite food? What is his favorite toy? What excites him? Does he prefer fetch or tug? My dog, Ripley, thinks fetch is a chore, but she loves nothing more than a rough game of tug.

You also need to be aware of the environment in which you’re working with your dog. A high distraction environment is going to require a better reward than what you give out in the living room. When Ripley and I practice in the house, Milk Bones are a fine treat. When we’re out at the mall, the dog park, or the pet store, it’s time for the hot dogs and cheese.

All normal, healthy dogs are motivated by something. That something just isn’t always food. It’s up to you to get to know your dog, and learn about him as much as he learns about you.

So, what motivates your dog? Share with us in the comments!

QOTD: The Most Beautiful Mystery

August 12th, 2008
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.”

– Albert Einstein

I can haz Caturday?

August 9th, 2008

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