Comments for dougzuck.com

Comment on SQL – Differential Backup Size Prediction by doug

doug — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:13:01 +0000

Glad you’re finding it as useful as I do. Thanks for the comment.

-Doug

Comment on Michael Buble is disgraceful for ripping off Sara Bareilles by doug

doug — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:09:44 +0000

Thanks for the thoughtful comment, James. As a matter of fact, not only have I taken a philosophy class, I actually majored in philosophy in college. :-)

I think most of what you said is fair and correct. However, a couple things for both (all) of us to keep in mind… First, Bublé didn’t actually write “Haven’t Met You Yet.” He co-wrote it with Alan Chang and Amy Foster-Gilles (according to Wikipedia). In the modern world of music, when a song is co-written, it generally means that the “artist” didn’t have a ton to do with the actual song. It’s extremely likely that Alan Chang wrote the piano riff and the melody. Amy Foster-Gilles is a lyricist, so it’s probably safe to assume that she wrote the lyrics. Buble would have come in after the song was virtually complete. At that point the 3 of them would have worked out the kinks together to make it a song that flowed well for Buble, which probably included some minor lyrical and melodic changes. That’s probably the extent of it.

It’s true, in a certain sense, that most music is derivative in some way or another. However, I disagree with you when you say that it’s not reasonable to call out a rip-off based on a simple piece of a song. I actually think it’s completely appropriate and reasonable to do so. Do I think that Sara Bareilles should sue Buble or anything like that? No. There wouldn’t be much of a case because Haven’t Met You Yet definitely has its own unique characteristics. Nevertheless, I think many students of music would have to agree that the opening riff was at the very least “inspired” by Love Song. If I choose to call that a rip-off but you prefer to call it something else, that’s fine.

Lastly, there is no head-tearing going on here. Frankly, it’s just fun to get a juicy conversation going on the web because people feel compelled to defend the honor of their camp. I stated my opinion, and now you’ve stated yours. We’re both smiling, I’m sure. I’m amused by all the comments on this posting, and I’m glad you took the time to put in your two cents.

-Doug

Comment on Michael Buble is disgraceful for ripping off Sara Bareilles by James

James — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:14:42 +0000

Buble’s live performances are actually more impressive than his album tracks. There’s a lot more heart put into the music and a huge amount of energy that just can’t be conveyed after hours in a recording studio. Doug, I understand that you are entitled to your opinion, but merely because he samples from other artists or is influenced by them does not mean it is a rip off.

One of the best quotes my trumpet teacher ever told me was “There is no such thing as original music.” He was right. All music is taken from a chromatic scale and arranged in different ways. If you’ve ever taken a philosophy class, it may interest you to ponder the idea that thought, too, is a an arrangement of various experiences taken from life. Thus, two people that have similar experiences may come to the same conclusions without ever meeting each other. Sara and Michael have similar musical styles and it’s possible they could have listened to the same music growing up. They’re both young and most likely have similar influences.

Ergo, it’s not a stretch to come to the conclusion that they compiled their songs based on their chosen style of music. The piano riff is a pretty simple one and I don’t think it’s reasonable to say that one simple piece of a song is grounds for calling it a rip off.

I love Michael Buble and I respect Sara Bareilles immensely and I doubt either of them would like their fans tearing each other’s heads off. It’s just as pointless as arguing over the quality of Beethoven over Mozart. Enjoy the music and respect both as true artists.

Comment on SQL – Differential Backup Size Prediction by John Danley

John Danley — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:26:02 +0000

Awesome, thank-you thank-you thank-you. Glad I found this post. This saved me time and a headache. I have been meaning to start testing to see if a Full + Diffs would improve my backup scenario but have run into the situation where the Diff was often as big as the full backup. Now I can conditionally perform a full or diff backup based on the the predicted change percent. Seems to me this should be part of the native SQL Server functionality!

Comment on The Truth about Fruit Allergies and How to Make them Go Away, for Good. Really! by Pippi777

Pippi777 — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 09:07:56 +0000

I am gluten intolerant, dairy effects my asthma when I have too much, Haddock fish, grass, weeds, cottonwood trees, dogs, cats and rabbits. I’ve recently developed allergies to strawberries, raspberries, mangoes, pomegranates, red and purple grapes (green are okay) and either pineapple or cherries (not sure which, it was a dark cherry jam made w/pineapple juice). I’m sorry, but I already can’t eat so many things, I can’t even fathom cutting out all meat, too. I only eat meat 2, sometimes 3, times a week. And it’s usually chicken or turkey. Thus I’m already semi-vegetarian already. The only one I’ve actually been tested for are the pets and outdoor stuff, the rest I’ve found out just by realizing a reaction after eating them. The food stuff is a major trigger for my asthma, as well. They make the inside and outside of my mouth itch and give me a major, nasty, long-lasting rash. Due to the fact that I have no insurance, it’s around $800 dollars to get tested. I’ve already had to cut out so many different foods, that I’m almost scared of food at this point. And since I’m down to so few foods I know I can have, I’m not willing to give up some of the few things I know I can actually have without having a guarantee that it will help.

Comment on Michael Buble is disgraceful for ripping off Sara Bareilles by L

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 08:57:52 +0000

As the story goes, he actually asked his pianist to write something like that song after hearing it and and then they would add some kind of trumpet solo to add a beatles thing to the song (to make it more original?). Why would someone pick a popular song and copy it? Precisely because it was popular. This happens everyday and no one who listens to radio either knows or cares. It’s definitely not a coincidence and the reason I know is because I know the people who wrote it personally. This is the way the music business works, thats why its a business. Why would a radio station play it? Because they all follow the leader and MB, with the help of Warner Bros., pays ungodly amounts of money to position their music so it doesn’t matter if anyone likes it. You will hear it enough that you will have to like it. It is a sad state of affairs

Comment on The Truth about Fruit Allergies and How to Make them Go Away, for Good. Really! by doug

doug — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 22:35:57 +0000

Thanks, Maddie. If you have any new revelations in the future, please do share with us.

-Doug

Comment on The Truth about Fruit Allergies and How to Make them Go Away, for Good. Really! by Maddie

Maddie — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 20:45:30 +0000

Hi, I found your post while looking for input on my own choice to go vegan and the odds for improving my allergy situation (mostly hay fever, but also some unpleasant tingling in mouth with apples, for example).
It’s too soon to say if there has been any beneficial effect on my allergies, but I thought I would throw another factor into the mix for those of you interested in expanding your food and nutrition knowledge. We all know about the dangers of pesticides and hormones in our foods, but until recently I was unaware of the “danger” of dairy foods and animal protein in general. Animal protein has been linked in many studies for several decades to any number of diseases in our “civilized” world (check out The China Study for only one example of an exceptionally well-researched work on nutrition). Though this point is not addressed in detail the book, I would not be surprised if the development of many common allergies is also linked to the amount of animal protein is consumed.
As it’s not my intention to sell books or make good press for any one author or view, I suggest you just look into the subject yourself if you are interested. One really fascinating thing that got me thinking my choice to go vegan was right is that physiologically our intestine is that of a herbivore (plant eater). Meat eaters have shorter colons and the inside is smoother, hence less animal protein is absorbed by their bodies. You can choose to believe it or not, but it’s a very interesting subject, I find.

Comment on C# .NET – UI Threading Example by doug

doug — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 20:59:07 +0000

Raj – thanks for the comment. I am definitely not an expert, but I don’t think we need a lock here. In fact, you’ll find numerous articles on the web that specifically state to never lock(this).

Additionally, I think it’s the case that when we use this.Invoke, we actually automatically put ourselves in a thread-safe situation. The Invoke method executes the method on the control’s thread, which I think means that even if you have 20 different threads simultaneously use this.Invoke, they will all get executed sequentially and safely. However, again I admit that I’m not an expert on the subject. Nevertheless, I’ve never run into a problem with the method used in the above code, so I feel pretty good about it being a safe/good way to handle the textbox update.

I’m always open to learn new things, so if anyone has additional light to shed, please do.

-Doug

Comment on Michael Buble is disgraceful for ripping off Sara Bareilles by doug

doug — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 00:26:13 +0000

Very interesting. Initially I would have said that it’s probably just a coincidence, but after watching them both all the way through, I have to admit that they are indeed quite similar. Similar enough to make me wonder if you’re on to something. Thanks for the comment, Ana.