Might come in handy again

The table amgp_release associates UPC codes (amgp_upc) with album IDs (amgp_a_id). You'd think that this would be a one-to-one relationship, but apparently multiple IDs can share the same UPC code. Question: What are the UPCs that are associated with multiple IDs? Query:

select count(*), amgp_upc 
    from (select distinct amgp_upc, amgp_a_id from amg.amgp_release) tbl
    group by amgp_upc 
    having count(*) > 1

'N Sync

At this shop, a developer uses a Windows laptop to shell into a virtualized machine running Linux where the source code is compiled into a web application. Most of us use Eclipse as a development studio. I had set up my Eclipse to edit my working copy of the code base directly on the virtual machine, mounting it as an SMB network drive. But over time, I found that some serious latencies would occur sporadically--Eclipse would take several minutes to open a short file of JavaScript, that sort of hassle. So, after some cajoling from colleague Jared, I followed his lead and moved my setup so that my working copy is on my laptop's hard drive. So now, instead of an edit-build-test-think cycle, I have an edit-rsync-build-test-think cycle, but the edit step is much faster.

But I was faced with a new annoyance. Every rsync or ssh to the VM required me to type my password. (The other way with SMB, I just left a shell window open already logged in to the VM.)

(Hunh. I suppose I could have set up rsync to pull from the VM rather than push from the laptop. Never thought of that.)

Anyway, the team's wiki links to a helpful crib on how to make RSA keys to perform an automatic login with ssh, but my first efforts failed. Colleague Harold provided the missing piece. He checked /var/log/auth.log on the VM and found an error message that indicated the file permissions on my home directory were too open. We did a chmod 755 on my home directory, and I was in!

As simple as possible, but no simpler

Greg Grothaus pens a gentle introduction to one of my favorite tools, AWK.

(Link via The Code Project.)

Work in progress

I started to draw these page flow diagrams with the tool that's integrated with our wiki. But sometimes there's just no substitute for a whiteboard and a camera.

Not to mention shortening URLs

W (double U) has, of all the letters in our alphabet, the only cumbrous name, the names of the others being monosyllabic. This advantage of the Roman alphabet over the Grecian is the more valued after audibly spelling out some simple Greek word, like ἐπιχοριαμβικός. Still, it is now thought by the learned that other agencies than the difference of the two alphabets may have been concerned in the decline of "the glory that was Greece" and the rise of "the grandeur that was Rome." There can be no doubt, however, that by simplifying the name of W (calling it "wow," for example) our civilization could be, if not promoted, at least better endured.

—Ambrose Bierce, The Cynic's Word Book (1906)