Podcasts about vb6

This week Seth Paridon and Jon Parshall take a look at some really, really cool National Archives archival footage. The guys dig into the records of Hollywood director John Ford's Field Photographic Unit that operated on Oahu, mainly at Kaneohe and Pearl Harbor from February-May 1942. In a startling, but super cool, discovery, the guys find footage of VB6's SBD B-15 in flight, one of two SBDs still in Yorktown's hangar to this day. A major portion of this episode focuses on footage that Ford shot of the resurrection, repair, and refloating of the US Navy's battleships at Pearl Harbor. USS California (BB-44), USS West Virginia (BB-48) and USS Nevada (BB-35) are all shown in various stages of having water pumped out, refloated, repaired and put in dry dock. The shots of West Virginia's torpedo damage is stark to say the least. Views of USS Arizona (BB-39), as well as the Big E, USS Enterprise (CV-6) in all her glory are also seen. Give this one a view--you won't be disappointed. National Archives Reel Numbers: 428npc47614, 47615, 47616, and 47617 428npc47620, 47621 428npc47623 428npc47625, 47626, 47627, 47628, and 47629 428npc47631 428npc47634, 47635, 47636 All NARA footage shown is public domain.  #wwiihistory #wwiihistory #ww2 #usnavy #usa #usarmy #medalofhonor #enterprise #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #cv6 #midway #wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #worldwar2 #usnavy #usnavyseals #usmc #usmarines #saipan #usa #usarmy #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #battleship #battleships #ussenterprise #aircraftcarriers #museum #essex #halsey #taskforce38 #wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #usnavy #usa #usarmy #medalofhonor #enterprise #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #cv6 #midway #wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #worldwar2 #usnavy #usnavyseals #usmc #usmarines #saipan #usa #usarmy #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #battleship #battleships #ussenterprise #aircraftcarriers #museum #hollywood #movie #movies #books #mastersoftheair #8thairforce #mightyeighth #100thbombgroup #bloodyhundredth #b17 #boeing #airforce wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #usnavy #usa #usarmy #medalofhonor #enterprise #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #cv6 #midway #wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #worldwar2 #usnavy #usnavyseals #usmc #usmarines #saipan #usa #usarmy #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #battleship #battleships #ussenterprise #aircraftcarriers #museum #hollywood #movie #movies #books #oldbreed #1stMarineDivision #thepacific #Peleliu #army #marines #marinecorps #worldwar2 #worldwar #worldwarii #leytegulf #battleofleytegulf #rodserling #twilightzone #liberation #blacksheep #power #prisoner #prisonerofwar #typhoon #hurricane #weather #iwojima#bullhalsey #ace #p47 #p38 #fighter #fighterpilot #b29 #strategicstudying #tokyo #boeing #incendiary #usa #franklin #okinawa #yamato #kamikaze #Q&A #questions #questionsandanswers #history #jaws #atomicbomb #nuclear #nationalarchives #nara #johnford #hollywood

Fredrik får besök av Daniel Nilsson som berättar om hur han och Hogia jobbar med att ta in nyanställda och LIA-studenter. Daniels viktigaste tips: ta med de nya som vanliga medlemmar i teamet på de vanliga arbetsuppgifterna. Fördelar med att vara produktbolag snarare än konsultbolag. Låt LIA ta tid, det ger mest för alla då. Daniel berättar också hur man intervjuar och tar in nyutexaminerade, med en månads introduktion där man lär sig hela Hogias stack och bygga en applikation i stacken. Skillnaden mot LIA är egentligen att man får en större introduktion till företaget som helhet, medan LIA kanske handlar mer om att komma in i ett team. Konsultbolag är fegare med att ta in studenter och nya än vad de borde vara? Stereotypen om utvecklare stämmer inte längre - det handlar mycket mer om kommunikation idag. Ett stort tack till Cloudnet som sponsrar vår VPS! Har du kommentarer, frågor eller tips? Vi är @kodsnack, @thieta, @krig, och @bjoreman på Mastodon, har en sida på Facebook och epostas på info@kodsnack.se om du vill skriva längre. Vi läser allt som skickas. Gillar du Kodsnack får du hemskt gärna recensera oss i iTunes! Du kan också stödja podden genom att ge oss en kaffe (eller två!) på Ko-fi, eller handla något i vår butik. Länkar Daniel Nilsson Tidigare avsnitt med Daniel Hogia På meetupen spelades också snacket med Woody Zuill in LIA - lärande i arbete Mobbande - mobbprogrammering, ett arbetssätt i grupp som används ganska mycket på Hogia Parprogrammering Stöd oss på Ko-fi! VB6 - en klassisk version av Microsofts Visual basic Nösnäs teknikcollege Titlar Vi jobbar ju så fort vi hinner Hyfsad korvstoppning Superdjupa i backend En liten tunn grund Han är på fyra bolag Hela poängen med LIA Det är okej att göra fel Som vem som helst i teamet Kravlöst Jag har inga förväntningar Det får ta tid

I was working with a customer recently and they said they didn't want to set up a pipeline. Somehow they wanted magically to see changes that developers made to their database appear in their production database without making any effort to build or configure a pipeline in a tool like Octopus Deploy. As I was thinking about how to find them a solution they would accept, I realized that I've always had a pipeline for software. Early on, this was a copy of all the files in a folder sent to the client for Clipper and dBase apps. Later, my pipeline was copying around all the VB6 files from a .zip file and executing a few SQL scripts that were sent to me in emails. Read the rest of You Always Have a Software Pipeline

Mark Bittman has been writing about food since 1980, and has been a leading voice in global food culture and policy for more than a generation. He has written thirty books, including the How to Cook Everything series, Food Matters, VB6 (the first popular book about part-time veganism), and, in 2021, Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food from Sustainable to Suicidal, which The New York Times called “epic and engrossing.”   Bittman spent three decades at the Times, where he created “The Minimalist” – a weekly column that ran for thirteen years without interruption – and had a five-year stint as the Sunday Magazine's lead food writer. At that same time – 2010 to 2015 – he became and remained the country's first weekly opinion writer at a major publication to concentrate on food. His influence on mainstream attitudes about food and agriculture during that period is immeasurable, and he is still consulted frequently by politicians, policy-makers, academics, NGO and non-profit leaders, and others concerned about the future of food.   He continues to produce books in the How to Cook Everything series, the general cooking bible for a quarter-century, and has hosted or been featured in four television series, including the Emmy-winning Showtime series about climate change “Years of Living Dangerously” and “Spain ... On the Road Again,” with Gwyneth Paltrow. He has won countless awards for journalism, books, and television. .   Bittman was a regular on the Today show from 2005 to 2010 (and still appears occasionally, as recently as this past October), and has been a guest on countless television and radio programs. His 2007 Ted Talk, “What's wrong with what we eat,” has been viewed five million times, and he was among the opening speakers at this year's Aspen Ideas Institute, where he spoke about Community Kitchen. He is a fellow at Yale and is on the faculty of Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health. Bittman is currently the editor-in-chief of The Bittman Project, which produces a newsletter, website, and the podcast “Food, with Mark Bittman.”   Mark lives in the Hudson Valley of New York with his partner, Kathleen Finlay, who runs the Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming and is the founder of Pleiades, a national network of women leaders addressing environmental and social justice. He is the founder and current leader of Community Kitchen, about which more information is forthcoming months.  On this episode, Mark joins host Mitchell Davis and discusses improving the industrial food system in America, developing a national network of non-profit restaurants, and why nutritious food is a human right. Follow Mark on Instagram @markbittman, Facebook @markbittman and Twitter @bittman For more on Mark and his work, visit:  www.markbittman.com

The month of August 1942 has had its ups and downs so far as the campaign for Guadalcanal is concerned. The invasion of Guadalcanal, Tulagi, Tanambogo and other outlying islands in the area initially went very well. Marines occupied the islands rather quickly and eliminated Japanese resistance to a man in most places.  On August 21, Marines from the 1st Marine Regiment utterly destroyed the first major Japanese counter strike on land at the Tenaru River.  On land, the campaign was succeeding.  At sea, however, it was not. The debacle at Savo Island, the worst defeat in US Navy history, left a bitter taste in the mouths of every person in and around the seas of Guadalcanal that wore an American or allied uniform.   Because of the defeat at Savo, among other reasons, Admiral Fletcher pulled his precious carriers away from the immediate vicinity of Guadalcanal to preserve their ever so valuable flight decks.  However, because of the Tenaru battle, Fletcher was compelled to reverse course and send his flattops back to the waters of Guadalcanal to protect and support the Marines against any further Japanese efforts ashore.    Unbeknownst to Fletcher, the Japanese had deployed a strong naval force under the command of Chuichi Nagumo, of Midway fame, to support Japanese land efforts and destroy any US ships in the area.  Over the next few days, that being August 24, 1942, the US fleet and the Japanese fleet groped for each other, and eventually became entangled in the third carrier battle of 1942, what history would call, the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. Talking Points: Japanese Intentions:For the most part, Japanese counteroffensives ashore at Guadalcanal, were almost always tag-teamed with a naval supporting operation.  This is the first “significant” Japanese effort to eliminate the Marines ashore and the USN offshore by a combined arms operation.The Japanese had sent another troop convoy under Admiral Tanaka towards Guadalcanal with the remainder of Colonel Ichiki's 2nd echelon.  We will hear from them again at Edson's Ridge…The deployed Japanese fleet would both protect the convoy and destroy any American shipping in the area. Yamamoto knew that US carriers were in the area supporting the Guadalcanal landings, he did not know specifically where they were, but he figured that they had to be in the area. As a result, he deployed the two fleet carriers at his disposal, Pearl Harbor and Coral sea veterans Shokaku and Zuikaku as well as a light carrier Ryujo.Aside from the CVs, which were the long ranged striking arm, the fleet that was deployed consisted of two other task forces.The Advanced Force under Admiral Nobutake Kondo had 5 CAs, 1 CL, 8 DDs and 1 BB.The Vanguard Force under Admiral Hiroaki Abe consisted of 2 BBs, 3 CAs, 1 CL, and 6 DDs.The Japanese actually sent Ryujo ahead of the main striking force as a screen.   Yamamoto's plan called for the destruction of the American CVs that he figured to be in the region thereby allowing the Japanese naval forces the ability to destroy any other US and Allied shipping in the area and isolate and destroy the Marines ashore. Again, like at Midway and Coral Sea, the Japanese divided their forces thereby spreading their AA capabilities, which were not that great anyway, thin. The advantage of spreading their forces, at least here, is that as we shall see, not all of the coveted targets were sighted or attacked by American aircraft. The Japanese forces were laid out as such: Japanese transports were supposed to land reinforcements on August 24  US disposition:To counter any Japanese move in the area, the US had at its disposal, essentially, the same force that it had at the outset of WATCHTOWER, minus the cruisers sunk at Savo of course.Just before the battle, the US had 3 CVs at sea.  CV6, CV3, and CV7.On August 23, Fletcher detached USS Wasp, as she was critically low on fuel , and because of this, she missed the battle The US forces were split into two Task Forces, all under Fletcher's command. TF11 centered around CV3 and included an escort of 2 CAs and 5 DDs. TF16, under the command of Admiral Thomas Kinkaid, centered around CV6 with an escort consisting of 1 CA, 1 CL (AA CL Atlanta), and 6 DDs. A conspicuous presence amongst this TF was the new fast battleship USS North Carolina (BB-55)This was the first time a fast battleship would operate with US CVs in a battle, and as such would also be the first time one of the new fast battleships would unleash their vast array of anti-aircraft weaponry, which would go on to play a vital role in the upcoming battle. August 24 Beginning on August 22, both US and Japanese forces started sending out search aircraft in order to locate one another.USN PBY Catalinas had reported on incoming Japanese warships, and spotted the incoming light carrier Ryujo   By morning, Fletcher was getting itchy.  He was aware that Japanese forces were in the area, but as yet, had not spotted them himself having relied on PBY contacts.   Around 1240, CV6 launched 22 sets of scouts in a fan shaped pattern that covered a 180 degree area north of Fletcher's flattops to visually sight Ryujo and the other fleet carriers Fletcher knew would be there as well One of those pilots was a gentleman named Birney Strong.Strong was an SBD pilot from VS5 aboard CV6 and was scheduled to scout the area 320-340 degrees from Big E.Like most Naval aviators, Birney Strong was confident in his abilities.  As he reached the flight deck, he told his rear seat gunner, “It's our job to find the japs, and I know exactly where they are. We are going to get there, circle them, and report on their position before they find us.”Strong was a VS5 vet, having flown from CV5 in the hit and run raids as well as Coral Sea Fletcher, keenly aware of his mistake at Coral Sea, when he sent a deckload strike from 2 CVs at Shoho, decided to hold CV3's deckload until the distance closed and the location of the enemy was fixed. Thinking he had been sighted by the numerous Japanese snoopers that had been shot down all day (he had not), he finally elected to launch CV3 strike at 1340, despite not knowing a fixed position on Ryujo, or knowing if more Japanese CVs were present. CDR Don Felt aboard CV3 was launched at 1340, however, on the last known sighting of the only Japanese CV spotted thus far, Ryujo.His strike was 29 SBDs, 8 TBFs, and no fighter escortThe fighters were being held back as CAP against a possible Japanese strike. Enterprise searchers had been groping for the target for over an hour when at 1440 hours, just as he had predicted, Birney Strong visually sighted the carrier Ryujo in the 330-340 degree sector of the search grid. Strong approached to within five miles of Ryujo and ordered his contact report sent.  It was an agonizing six minutes before Enterprise acknowledged the sighting, leaving Strong and his wingman to circle the enemy that entire time.Curiously, he neglected to attack the enemy ship At 1510, another CV6 scout, piloted by Yogi Jorgenson of VS5 spotted Ryujo again, elected to attack but were driven off by Japanese CAP.  As the Americans departed the area, they ran into CV3's strike group under CDR Felt and radioed them their newest, hottest location on Ryujo. Finally, around 1500, a VB6 scout piloted by CO Ray Davis spotted the fleet carrier Shokaku.  Radioing its position, he and his wingman elected to attack the big flattop below.Both he and his wingman, Robert Shaw, missed their target by a mere 30 feet as Shokaku was twisting and turning violently to avoid them.Davis' contact report was never heard as there apparently reception was poor this day.Thus, the strike from CV6 that Fletcher had been saving for just this moment, was wasted. What neither pilot knew was that Shokaku had just launched a deckload strike at the last location of Enterprise, having just learned of her location.  RyujoFelt's group closed to within visual range of Ryujo and coordinated their attack at 1536 The poor radio reception that plagued the CV6 airmen all day also plagued Felt, as he did not hear the radio report of Shokaku's sighting just minutes before. Coral Sea all over againFelt sent 21 SBDs to hit Ryujo along with the 8 TBFs that were also a part of the strike.The first fist full of SBDs missed the rapidly turning carrier, but a 1,000 pounder dropped by Jim Sauer hit her on the stern.Syd Bottomly, of Midway fame, noticed that Ryujo seemed to be getting away and redirected his strike back towards the carrier.Bottomly, among the last group to dive on Ryujo chased the ship to almost suicidal low altitude before he dropped his bombHis bomb, hit dead center of Ryujo's deck and exploded…a killing blow.Roy Isaman, another Midway vet hit her again, as did CDR Felt. Ryujo was afire and smoking from under her flight deck when VT-8 approached in their TBFs.Bert Earnest, also a Midway veteran, approached Ryujo from her starboard side with 3 other TBFs and dropped his fish under intense AAA fireNo one knows exactly who hit Ryujo, but Japanese records state that one torpedo hit and exploded on the starboard side, and one passed under the starboard stern and failed to explode.The one that did hit, wrecked her engine room and steering and essentially killed the carrier.Last seen by American eyes, she had drifted to a stop, was afire from stem to stern and had a 25 degree list to starboard.She was the sixth Japanese CV sunk in 42, and would be the last sunk until 1944 Task Force 16 At 1632 radar aboard CV3 reports, “Many bogies range 88 miles bearing 320”CV6 and CV3 launch every fighter available to repel the attack they know is inbound55 F4F Wildcats are aloft to repel the attack, that now appears to be heading directly for the Big E.  CV6 is also screened by 2 cruisers, 6 DDs and BB-55 At 1700 hours the bogies are now bandits and are headed for CV6CAP attempts to intercept, but AGAIN, radio issues force them to scatterFDOs have too many contact reports and the fighter pilots are chattering wildly, thus blocking the FDO from issuing vector orders  Despite having an overwhelming CAP, most of them do not engage, but what CAP does engage, absolutely wreck the JapaneseAs the Vals from Shokaku arrived over CV6, they are engaged by VF6 CAP that chase them down through their divesVF6 pilot Don Runyan attacked and downed 3 Vals and a Zero, chased another 2 Vals away and damaged another, in mere minutes.CAP claims 44 kills against 5 losses.  Actual numbers are 25 shot downA 43% loss rate As CV6's CAP engages, the Japanese do slip some Vals through the fighter umbrella and they approach CV6 and her escortsIt is at this time that the value of the fast battleships that will be arriving soon comes into view…Gliding along at the rear of the formation is North Carolina.  She is making 27 knots and grinding for anything extra she can get.  The massive ship is kicking up a rooster tail as she pours on the power to keep up with CV6 that is hauling ass at 30 knots.When the Japanese strike force appears overhead, North Carolina prepares to fire…Her AA power is awesome.  No other word can describe it.LCDR John Kirkpatrick is the AA gunnery officer and at his fingertips are:40 50 cal machine guns40 20mm Oerlikons4 quad 1.1 inch mounts20 5 inch dual purpose mounts As the Japanese line up over CV6, BB-55 cuts loose…At Kirkpatrick's order to commence firing, all AAA mounts aboard BB-55 open fire simultaneouslyThe noise, smoke, flame and sheer chaos unleashed actually rattles the gunnery officer who briefly thought his guns had set his ship afireTF16 CO Admiral Kinkaid radioed North Carolina to ask, “Are you afire?”The volume of AAA fire by “The Showboat” rattles the Japanese as they line up on CV6 shooting down a great number, and causing many to miss in their dives Despite the CAP and the screening vessels AAA fire, Vals appeared over CV6 and broke into their divesVals came down on CV6 at 7 second intervalsCaptain Arthur Davis maneuvered his ship brilliantly, causing many bombs to splash into the sea behind the great shipAt 1714 a 500 pound bomb crashed through Enterprise's flight deck near her after elevatorIt punched through five decks before exploding, killing 35 men immediately30 seconds later, another bomb hit Enterprise, only 15 feet from the first strike, exploding in the starboard 5 inch gun gallery wiping out the crewmen stationed there, burning them to a cinder at their gun positions, killing all 38 men in a blinding flashEnterprise, like her sister Yorktown, was a tough girl allowing CAPT Davis to continue to maneuver her at high speed despite the 2 heavy hits she had taken and throwing up an impressive AA screen of her ownSome 14,000 rounds of ammunition were fired by Enterprise in that strike alone2 minutes after the first two bombs hit, a third hit the Big E up forward, doing minimal damage. Enterprise is hurt, but far from deadShe retires to Pearl for damage repairs and buries her dead, some 78 KIA and a further 90 woundedWe will see the Big in the seas around Guadalcanal again End of day/end of battle By the end of the day, after word finally reached Fletcher of the whereabouts of Shokaku, it is too late to launch a strike, especially with CV6 hurt. The Japanese think (naturally) that they have heavily damaged or sunk 2 US CVs, when they only attacked 1 Aware of their high casualties from attacking the US fleet, and the loss of Ryujo, compels the Japanese under Nagumo to retire The incoming troop convoy under Tanaka is seemingly left to its own devices and it comes under heavy air attack from Henderson Field the following day 1 DD is sunk, another is damaged, a cruiser is heavily damaged, a transport is sunk and another (or 2) are damaged forcing Tanaka to turn his convoy around and NOT reinforce the island Because of this action, and the fact that the Ryujo was sunk at no US shipping losses, Eastern Solomons is seen as a US strategic and tactical victory. Though a victory, it had little in terms of long reaching effects on the Guadalcanal campaign, which is why it is probably the least known carrier battle of 1942

CBS. 1983-86. One of the greatest game shows of all time gets the deepest dive LiLaGS can possibly give. Granted, given the state of the fandom for three of the four hosts here on the show, it's to be expected. It's May. It's Press Your Luck. Tonight, it's the OG, as we discuss the Peter Tomarken (RIP) years. Our Salute to Javan Hamilton is in thanks to some of the footage shown here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tDFRrGZkmc&t=10s While you're here, also please join us on our Discord where we will be talking about and posting all of the stuff we can't air on stream all month long at https://discord.gg/aydMgvUN9d You can also view the video version of the show on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/1l2fAr6q-lM

CBS. 1983-86. One of the greatest game shows of all time gets the deepest dive LiLaGS can possibly give. Granted, given the state of the fandom for three of the four hosts here on the show, it's to be expected. It's May. It's Press Your Luck. Tonight, it's the OG, as we discuss the Peter Tomarken (RIP) years. Our Salute to Javan Hamilton is in thanks to some of the footage shown here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tDFRrGZkmc&t=10s While you're here, also please join us on our Discord where we will be talking about and posting all of the stuff we can't air on stream all month long at https://discord.gg/aydMgvUN9d You can also view the video version of the show on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/1l2fAr6q-lM

Watch the live stream: Watch on YouTube About the show Sponsored by us: Check out the courses over at Talk Python And Brian's book too! Special guest: Dr. Chelle Gentemann Michael #1: rClone via Mark Pender Not much Python but useful for Python people :) Rclone is a command line program to manage files on cloud storage. Over 40 cloud storage products support rclone including S3 object stores Rclone has powerful cloud equivalents to the unix commands rsync, cp, mv, mount, ls, ncdu, tree, rm, and cat. Brian #2: check-wheel-contents Suggested by several listeners, thank you. “Getting the right files into your wheel is tricky, and sometimes we mess up and publish a wheel containing __pycache__ directories or tests/” usage: check-wheel-contents [[HTML_REMOVED]] <wheel or dir> ex: (venv) $ pwd /Users/okken/projects/cards (venv) $ check-wheel-contents dist dist/cards-1.0.0-py3-none-any.whl: OK Checks - W001 - Wheel contains .pyc/.pyo files - W002 - Wheel contains duplicate files - W003 - Wheel contains non-module at library toplevel - W004 - Module is not located at importable path - W005 - Wheel contains common toplevel name in library - W006 - __init__.py at top level of library - W007 - Wheel library is empty - W008 - Wheel is empty - W009 - Wheel contains multiple toplevel library entries - W010 - Toplevel library directory contains no Python modules - W101 - Wheel library is missing files in package tree - W102 - Wheel library contains files not in package tree - W201 - Wheel library is missing specified toplevel entry - W202 - Wheel library has undeclared toplevel entry Readme has good description of each check, including common causes and solutions. Chelle #3: xarray Where can I find climate and weather data? Binary to netCDF to Zarr… data is all its gory-ness Data formats are critical for data providers but should be invisible to users What is Xarray An example reading climate data and making some maps Michael #4: JetBrains Remote Development If you can SSH to it, that can be your dev machine Keep sensitive code and connections on a dedicated machine Reproducible environments for the team Spin up per-configured environments (venvs, services, etc) Treat your dev machine like a temp git branch checkout for testing PRs, etc They did bury the lead with Fleet in here too Brian #5: The XY Problem This topic is important because many of us, including listeners, are novices in some topics and ask questions, sometimes without giving enough context. experts in some topics and answer questions of others. The XY Problem “… You are trying to solve problem X, and you think solution Y would work, but instead of asking about X when you run into trouble, you ask about *Y.” From a Stack Exchange Answer Example from xyproblem.info [n00b] How can I echo the last three characters in a filename? [feline] If they're in a variable: echo ${foo: -3} [feline] Why 3 characters? What do you REALLY want? [feline] Do you want the extension? [n00b] Yes. [feline] There's no guarantee that every filename will have a three-letter extension, [feline] so blindly grabbing three characters does not solve the problem. [feline] echo ${foo##*.} Reason why it's common and almost unavoidable: Almost all design processes for software I can achieve A if I do B and C. I can achieve B if I do D and E. And I can achieve C if I do F and G. … I can achieve X if I do Y. More important questions than “What is the XY Problem?”: Is it possible to avoid? - not really Is it possible to mitigate when asking questions? - yes When answering questions where you expect XY might be an issue, how do you pull out information while providing information and be respectful to the asker? One great response included Asking Questions where you risk falling into XY State your problem State what you are trying to achieve State how it fits into your wider design Giving Answers to XY problems Answer the question (answer Y) Discuss the attempted solution (ask questions about context) “Just curious. Are you trying to do (possible X)? If so, Y might not be appropriate because …” “What is the answer to Y going to be used for?” Solve X Also interesting reading Einstellung effect - The Einstellung effect is the negative effect of previous experience when solving new problems. Chelle #6: kerchunk - Making data access fast and invisible S3 is pretty slow, especially when you have LOTS of files We can speed it up by creating json files that just collect info from files and act as a reference Then we can collate the references into MEGAJSON and just access lots of data at once Make it easy to get data! Extras Michael: Xojo - like modern VB6? 10 Reasons You'll Love PyCharm Even More in 2021 webcast Users revolt as Microsoft bolts a short-term financing app onto Edge Chelle: Why we need python & FOSS to solve the climate crisis Joke: Spacebar Heating

Ant is a consultant, community organizer, and co-founder of Homeschool from Senzo. He also founded and currently runs the Serverless User Group in London, is part of the ServerlessDays London organizing team and the global ServerlessDays leadership team. Previously Ant was a co-founder of A Cloud Guru, and was responsible for organizing the first ServerlessConf event in New York in May 2016. Living in London since 2009, Ant's background before Serverless is primarily as a Solution Architect at various organisations, from managed service providers to Tier 1 telecommunications providers. He started his career in 1999 doing Y2K upgrades in his native South Africa, and then spent 5 years being paid to write VB6. His current focus is Serverless, GraphQL and Node.js. Twitter: @IamStan Homeschool from Senzo: https://homeschool.dev ServerlessDays: serverlessdays.io For organizer information: organise@serverlessdays.io

When Jen Stirrup speaks, she speaks softly.  The meaning of her words, however, speak loudly!  Jen is CEO of Data Relish, a UK-based consultancy that delivers real business value through solving all manner of business challenges.  You don't earn the nickname the Data Whisperer without knowing a great deal about Business Intelligence and AI.  Jen certainly knows not only those topics, she knows SO much more! References in this episode: Data Kind The Art Of War Blade Runner Tears Scene Episode Timeline: 4:30 - The human element of data, Bias in data, implications of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, and COVID data 27:00 - The BI goal is Business Improvement, escalation and taking principled stands, Data-Driven vs Data Inspired 46:00 - Seeing the hidden costs of some business strategies, the value of even small successes, Diversity and Inclusion, and online bullying 1:29:30 - Jen's mugging story (!) Episode Transcript: Rob Collie (00:00:00): Hello friends. Today's guest is Jen Stirrup. Jen and I have had one of those long-running internet friendships that are so common these days, especially in the data world and in certain communities. But we've also had the opportunity to meet in person several times at those things that we used to do called "in-person physical conferences." She's an incredibly well-seasoned veteran of the data world, but if you're expecting us to be talking about things like star schema and DAX Optimization, that's not really what we talked about. You know that our tagline here is "data with the human element," and we definitely leaned into that human element in today's show. Now, we do talk about some of the important human dynamics about data projects. For example, how the business intelligence industry kind of lost its way in the past and forgot that it's all about improvement and how we're as an industry waking back up to that today. Rob Collie (00:00:54): We also talked about the value of having even one signature success in a large organization that other people can look at to become inspired. And she has some very interesting and well-founded semantic opinions about terms like "data-driven" and why maybe, "data-inspired" is better. Similarly, she prefers the term "data fluent" to "data literate", and she explains why. But we also touched repeatedly on the themes of ethics and inclusivity in the world of data. Now, I have a personal idea that I haven't really shared on this show before that I call "radical moderation." It's the idea that you can be polite, you can be reasonable, while at the same time advocating for sharp change. Now, this is personally what I would like to see emerge in our political sphere, for instance, a form of polite radicalism. We need to change, but we need to be nice. Rob Collie (00:01:52): There aren't many readily available examples that I could point to if I wanted to show you "this is what radical moderation looks like." But now if someone asked me for that, I can point them to this conversation we have with Jen. She is soft-spoken, she is polite, she is open-minded, including the open-mindedness that she might not always be correct. And yet, underneath all of that, is a very firm conviction that we need to be better. And I think that's the best introduction I can give this because I don't want to spoil anything upfront. So, let's get into it. Announcer (00:02:28): Ladies and gentleman, may I have your attention please? Announcer (00:02:32): This is the Raw Data By P3 Adaptive Podcast, with your host, Rob Collie, and your co-host, Thomas you know. Find out what the experts at P3 Adaptive can do for your business. Just go to p3adaptive.com. Raw Data By P3 Adaptive is data...with the human element. Rob Collie (00:02:56): Welcome to the show, Jen Stirrup. It is such a pleasure to see you again, virtually, talk to you. I'm really glad we were able to do this So, thrilled to have you here. Jen Stirrup (00:03:06): Thank you so much for having me. I'm glad we made it work in the end. Diaries, schedules, everything else, but I'm really glad to be here and it's great to speak to you. Rob Collie (00:03:15): I know bits and pieces of the Jen Stirrup story and I know bits and pieces of what you're up to. How do you describe yourself on your LinkedIn profile? Jen Stirrup (00:03:23): So I would describe myself as really trying to help people make their data better. I've just finished a post- COVID data strategy for a healthcare organization in the US and in the UK. The reason I'm doing that is to try and have a big impact. I believe in that, I think COVID has brought around a real stress and a lot of technical architectures, and a lot of data architectures as well, and there're all sorts of pressures. So I've just finished that, which has been a nice piece of work. I've been working with a religious organization on their data as well. A lot of people are accessing their services as part of a recovery from COVID. I think it's been a very difficult, challenging time for a lot of people in terms of mental health, and I like to think that by solving these problems you're actually helping people, in a way to contact, some of whom you may never meet, but that's okay. That's really what I like to do, I think, it's a way of connecting, I think. Rob Collie (00:04:22): We subtitled the show 'Data With The Human Element,' you think of the data field is like this cold, analytical, sanitary, and it's not, right? If you're doing it right, you're having an impact in the human plane, and it's a leveraged impact because you can really sort of touch a lot of people's lives via the central hub that is data. And you've got to keep the human beings in mind, even to be successful at the quote-on-quote "cold, calculating data stuff." If you don't keep the humans sort of first and foremost in your mind, you're not going to design, for example, a good data strategy, like what you just finished. Jen Stirrup (00:05:02): That's right. So I believe that the information ladder is quite important. So we start off with data, then we need to turn that into information, but then we need to turn it into knowledge and then wisdom. And I think COVID has taught us many things. I think it's maybe taught us a sense of purpose, it's something that can help drive all of us. Data can be part of that and I think that data in some ways has been replacing some of the bigger-purpose questions that perhaps we should ask ourselves more often as human beings. With artificial intelligence, particularly, I'm finding that people are replacing data with, perhaps, information, knowledge, or wisdom and say "what does the data see?" and that's fine, but we have to have the context to the data as well. Jen Stirrup (00:05:47): I think in some ways with artificial intelligence, what people are trying to do is build a little box of data and it's becoming this oracle that people are going to touch and say: "So, what does the data say?" It's like we are taking this box and we're trying to turn into some sort of God that we can touch, and it's going to give us all the answers, but if we're going to do that, it has to be a God that we are comfortable to live with, and it's one that we can choose, and one that fits in with people's ethics and their sense of purpose. So, I see data as part of fitting something that can make us all better in so many different ways, whether that is healing or bringing people together. Jen Stirrup (00:06:29): So I think if we could solve these problems where people are feeling that they are not interconnected, then we could start to try and look at that and perhaps think about making people feel whole and feel more together. Because I think what COVID has done is really helped us to focus a lot on data but perhaps not about how we could do things better. It seems that we have an opportunity to decide what goes back in to make the new normal or the next normal. And I'm worried I suppose that I don't see that happening as much as I would like. So yeah, data is important. Absolutely. We wouldn't be here without it and the fact people are struggling with it does pay my mortgage. I still would like us to ask ourselves the bigger questions as well as something that's important to me. Rob Collie (00:07:14): Let me check here. Oh yeah yup, it pays my mortgage as well. We're here for a reason that's for sure. I loved you talking about the AI, this box, that we're going to sort of elevate to the status of a God or that's how a lot of people are viewing it subconsciously. Of course, it's a box that we built. Jen Stirrup (00:07:33): Yeah. Rob Collie (00:07:33): We fed it with our context. It got fed with our assumptions and also our blind spots and now if it makes decisions, that thing starts making judgments and decisions that impact people's lives. It's a tricky proposition, it's one that's best approached very carefully. Jen Stirrup (00:07:55): I agree and I think that's why the bigger questions are important. So say for example, you may have seen the Netflix information series. It was called 'The Social Hack' or something like that. I've forgotten the name, but it was talking about the role of bias in data. One of the researchers found that their facial recognition algorithm didn't recognize a face. And the reason for that was that she's black and for me, I just thought, that's such a preventable issue and how much time do you spend looking at preventable issues? And perhaps not very much. I still see the magpie problem a lot in technology. Companies are happier buying a new technology that they see that's going to solve all their problems, but actually it's not doing that. It's maybe replacing as a bad answer to a different question. We can't see that right now in artificial intelligence. Jen Stirrup (00:08:48): There's some research going on, which will decrease the size of data sets that AI needs in order to create its algorithms and that sounds fine. It's a good piece of research, but what I'd like to see is more researches on collating datasets which are less biased, so that we can think about focusing and trying to make the algorithms fewer rather than focusing on making them smaller. Jen Stirrup (00:09:13): I know a few years ago, you probably remember, everyone talked about big data. Big data was the thing but we didn't ask ourselves if this was the right data. It might be big, but if it's missing out large sections of the population, then that's building an inequality before we get started. I think, even if you don't have the answers, asking these questions is a good thing. I don't have all the answers. There's people working in this field much much smarter than me and they all live and breathe this stuff and I read it, the things that they're doing and talking about, and I think this is such an important part of what we do every day. I think it's really important. I don't know what you think, but there's so much going on in the world of data at the moment that it feels hard to keep up sometimes. Thomas Larock (00:09:58): So first I want you both to remember in case you've forgotten, but you can purchase the Azure Data Box, that does exist. Rob Collie (00:10:07): We will just call it God in a box. Thomas Larock (00:10:09): Azure Data Box, it's actually for shipping storage to an Azure data center, but that's what they chose to call it and I said: "You put your data in the box or it gets the hose again." Right? So- Rob Collie (00:10:20): No no, Tom, it's one: "Put your data in the box." Thomas Larock (00:10:26): So, I mean, that does exist. The first point I wanted to make that you danced around, like Rob you were talking about how we're building this thing and it comes with all of our failings. And I know Jen, she leads discussions on diversity, inclusion, equality and I try to emphasize why that's so much more important and especially seeing the rise and I saw the Netflix special as well, and the Data Justice League. The idea is we need to have those programs in order to have better models. We have to be aware of the bias inherent in the stuff that has already been built. And I think there's a lot more awareness over the last 18 months regarding the products that are on the market that are already failing us because they were built with these biases. And that's a difficult thing to overcome now that you have police departments or governments deploying this technology, thinking, as Jen said, it's this God that is just going to give you all the answers. Thomas Larock (00:11:35): Jen, you also hinted on the thing about the question. So, you're replacing one problem with another, and that made me think of how vital it is that you understand the question you need answered and a lot of times that gets kind of shifted, it's fluid almost. It's like: "Oh, well we were doing this thing we think this next thing we'll solve for it." But the next thing you're getting is actually answering a completely different question than what you thought you were doing and it leads to a huge, huge disconnect. And I think the last thing I would say Jen, I've seen that research about the data sets. I'm encouraged by the idea that we could get people to understand that it's not the volume of data that makes a better model. It's the data that was chosen to be collected in the manner in which it's collected. Thomas Larock (00:12:30): So I know the research on building these models and they're saying: "Yeah, you don't need a billion rows. The accuracy tails off at some point after, say, a million rows." At some point more data doesn't make this model any more accurate but the inherent problem is how was it collected? What were the biases and how was it collected? What was missing? Was it missing at random? Was it missing not at random? The analysis necessary to conduct that research, I think is where we are sorely lacking in business. I know it exists in academia, but those people, they don't scale. There's only so many of those, and there's a lot more businesses trying to get the job done so I think that's fairly important. Jen Stirrup (00:13:13): There is a huge gap between academia and business. I guess there always has been, I do speak to academic institutions from time to time and it's clear that they are doing so much work. They really are, but how that is getting out? I am not sure. Maybe that's why they asked me to come and talk to them so I can talk to other people about what they're doing and I don't mind doing that. I think there needs to be more of that, because I think these scientists, these academics are working in this, have to get access to each other as well and the multidisciplinary aspect of it is really interesting. I did a Postgraduate in Cognitive Science about 20 years ago, and suddenly it's back round again, and it's about philosophy, linguistics, psychology, AI. And why did that go away? Jen Stirrup (00:14:03): It should never have really gone away. I think we got as an industry perhaps Goldstone and such technologies which these things were re-badged as, and we got derailed by the marketing efforts. But I think that there's real room for doing these things in a better way. I don't know if you see this, but I see, or maybe it's my age now, I've been around in the industry for a long time, but I see that people are doing and making mistakes that I first saw 20 years ago, data collection, which you rarely mentioned, Tom, that's been there for a long time and then it seemed to go away. Jen Stirrup (00:14:36): I think that's why academia does help because it gives us maybe more of that consistent backgrounds than perhaps we get from marketing noise, which was goes round in cycles and trends as people are under pressure to purchase these licenses or whatever it happens to be. I wish I had better answers for all of this, I think sometimes it's about just asking these questions, blogging, talking about them, putting them on social media so that when people are thinking, "what do I do about data strategy?" That these things are part of this. I saw a study recently saying that companies are decreasingly likely to include ethics and these questions and bigger societal questions as part of the data strategies as you're trying to get the link. But it disheartens me because I thought I could see that the voices are getting squeezed out. Rob Collie (00:15:25): Decreasingly likely, like we're trending- Jen Stirrup (00:15:28): Trending down. Rob Collie (00:15:28): You know, it'd be one thing to be flat, right? I mean that would also be disheartening, but to be decreasing, decreasingly likely to be factoring in ethics into a data strategy. Now we've been talking a lot and I think it's a good thing to continue to talk about the implications of AI and machine learning in this space, the business intelligence industry isn't particularly fraught with this kind of problem, right. Transactions happened, or they didn't, you know, and it was the number of six or a seven. I mean like, you can get it wrong, you can have bugs, right. But there isn't any like objective debate about what, there shouldn't be any way about what actually has happened. But the decider systems, are a completely different game, like where should we route this patient? This is going to have a huge impact on their life. Rob Collie (00:16:21): That's a very, very, very different game and we've been talking about sort of like, the completeness of the data that is used to train these systems, but I think it's really instructive just to stop for a moment and go, you know what, even if we were able to feed these systems a 100% comprehensive picture of today's world, we still have to accept the fact that we're telling it that today's world is what we want. Right. And maybe we don't, you know and there's always a judgment in training these systems, we tell it what is a success and what isn't a success. Our unintentional biases can leak into this stuff in a million different places, even if you suddenly had God-like comprehensive powers to feed it, quote-on-quote, all the data, right. It's still leaky. It's still fraught. Jen Stirrup (00:17:13): Yeah and actually, I think it's an extension of their problem that we see just when we're building a data warehouse. Sometimes I'll go into a customer and they'll say, "you know, we want to see our data and see our latest vendor here," and then I'll say, "well, is it preserving the data or is it just, you know, been reamed out the other end, what you're doing with it? Where you're storing it?" And then the argument against the data warehouse as well. It's not going to capture everything in the possible universe of possibilities in my business, so I don't want to do it. And I find the argument goes something like, "there's an edge case that it won't cover." Others, "this edge case, it won't cover here." And then you have to say, "well, you know okay. So it's not going to cover all the possible edge cases, but it will cover 80% of what you need, and the rest, can go to shadow IT or shadow data systems or wherever they happen to be." Jen Stirrup (00:18:03): And I think we're still trying as it's a bigger picture perhaps trying to control everything that happens around our business, but we have to be flexible enough to cater for these scenarios. We haven't seen this before. I think that's what makes the AI so difficult actually, as we have more than one type of AI, we have a general artificial intelligence, which is more like Terminator, you know, these kinds of things. Rob Collie (00:18:29): Innocuous stuff like that. Thomas Larock (00:18:30): Harmless. What's the worst that could happen. Rob Collie (00:18:32): Yeah. I mean. Jen Stirrup (00:18:35): Well, I think as humans, we do enough damage to ourselves, most of the time we don't need a Skynet. Thomas Larock (00:18:38): That's true. I agree. That's often my reaction to, well you know, like self-driving cars, like what if it makes this mistake? Okay yeah but the human being track record behind the wheel, we're not trying to be perfect, we're just trying to be better than people, which is a little bit more achievable perhaps. Jen Stirrup (00:18:56): Exactly and it's all a bit context, which is how to program. You probably remember a few years ago, at SQLBits say Tom, Steve Wozniak visited. I don't know if you were there for that SQLBits but Steve Wozniak is one of the team that founded apple. You must know who he is, but he's talked to us about the Wozniak test for AI, the testers will have an artificial intelligence sought of robot come into your house and make you a coffee from scratch. Now that involves a lot of contextual knowledge. They have to find your kitchen, they have to get your ingredients and get a cup, you know all that kind of thing and that requires context. And that's more general AI, that's more difficult to program. But if we're to think with CEI being more successful for businesses automation productivity, and it's just trying to do something, one thing really, really well, something that will help a human to make better decisions faster. Jen Stirrup (00:19:51): Such as perhaps parceling out x-rays, which don't show any presence of a tumor as an example, but we then get the 10% of x-rays that makes sure something and passing those onto a human to look at. So there's plenty of rooms for defining what success looks like for us for artificial intelligence I think. With business intelligence, your right, we should have one version of the truth. People are still living so much in Excel and Google sheets and things of empires away, and that are sitting in their laptop. How do you move that to the cloud? So you move them perhaps to office 365 or a Google work space, and then you're trying to encourage people to rethink the processes about, Hey why do we save stuff in the cloud? Or why do we make our decision making more apparent? And it seems a bit difficult to ask AI to make its decision-making more apparent, when actually a lot of people spend time hiding or umpiring the knowledge anyway. Jen Stirrup (00:20:49): I don't know if you think this, but I often think business intelligence problems are change management problems in disguise. It just happens to be showing up in the data that there's a problem. Thomas Larock (00:20:59): Yeah. Rob Collie (00:20:59): Ultimately it's not about knowing, it's about improving. Knowing that there's a problem and even knowing what's causing it is really just the beginning. Very often it's like okay, now what? This is going to be a really difficult problem to address operationally. Jen Stirrup (00:21:16): I think we forget the process of optimization and business intelligence. And I wonder if that's the reason why AI is becoming so prevalent at the moment, because it is much more clearly talking about optimizing and improving processes and automating. I think in business intelligence, we have almost stopped talking about optimizing business processes. I don't see it quite as much, I wonder if we get sort of caught up in data visualization, you know Tableau came along and then power BI and everyone started chasing after that. We're perhaps forgetting that actually we're doing all that for a purpose, which is to make something better somewhere. I don't know if you find this but, I obviously run [inaudible 00:21:54] business and it's very hard to get customers to agree to a case study because they don't want to show that actually they were in a bad place and they don't want to show the competitors that they were in a bad place. Everyone's ashamed of the data. So it's really tough. Rob Collie (00:22:07): I've seen sort of multiple facets of that. So first of all, yes, everyone thinks that they are uniquely broken, everyone's organization that they feel a level of sort of like discomfort and shame about where they're at today or where they were yesterday. They feel like they're the only ones, but we see so many organizations per year, especially the kinds of projects and the pace at which we move the world is very much uniformly broken. No one's really behind, everyone's way behind of where you'd sort of like as a dispassionate observer, you'd expect people to be a lot further ahead than they are, but no, no, really the basics are still not sorted out universally. We're still kind of in a dark age, in a way. Jen Stirrup (00:22:51): Yeah. Something, I see really basic issues of one customer example of talking about where they were calculating the mean incorrectly for two years. And then two years before that, for another two years, they were calculating the median incorrectly in Excel. What they were doing was it were taking the middle value of a column. So of course, if you sorted the column next to it, the value changed. And they said that that was the median. And I said, "okay, so you've got a column of 20 items. Are you telling me that whatever's a number 10 is the mean?" And they said, "well, yes, that's in column B." What happens if you change the order in column E from perhaps alphabetical order to reverse alphabet order, the values can be changed, right? And they looked at me and I said, "why did you calculate it like that?" Jen Stirrup (00:23:41): And they said, cause we can calculate the mean using Excel formula. So eventually I said, "why are you using the mean," because it's quite sensitive to outliers the median's better. and then they said, "well we've tried that but we couldn't calculate the median either." I said, so okay "for four years you've been trying to calculate the mean and the median incorrectly in this one spreadsheet. Can you tell me about the rest of your spreadsheets? How often are you trying to use the median or the mean all of it incorrectly?" And I think it's probably the only time in my 20 plus year career, I've seen a customer actually punch himself in the face and it was just absolutely stunning. And he said, "I'll go and speak to the statisticians." And I thought, you've got statisticians working here. I'd love to meet them. Jen Stirrup (00:24:26): I wonder what they're telling you. And that was my second deal in sight, I was on the on and off for six months. And that was just the first problem I found. So I know we talked about data literacy. I'm not a fan of that phrase. I prefer fluency or something along those lines. So I don't want to assume people are data illiterate. Because I don't think that they are, I think we're born naturally within us an innate sense of numbers in a way, we can tell more from less, right? My dog can do it, right. So if I got five treats in my hand, he knows I've got others. If I just give them one, he's not stupid, he has a sense of quantity. And I think it's about, we need to get better in industry, perhaps explaining results, findings, conclusions, and context to people instead of just throwing dashboards at people and expecting them to understand it. Jen Stirrup (00:25:16): If somebody recently sent me a scientific article which was all about COVID and some testing that they did in mice, and I could read it, but I couldn't understand it because I don't have a background in medicine. I read the abstracts and I read the last paragraph and the first paragraph, but I didn't read the rest of it because I thought this is way beyond me. I don't understand what they're trying to say. But I think for me that highlighted a problem with data literacy, I could read it, I couldn't understand it, and I certainly couldn't act on it. And I don't want to give other people who are trying to consume business intelligence products in some way, whether they're dashboards or even dumps from Excel, that they just don't understand what they're getting. How we do that, I think is perhaps focusing in data translation. Jen Stirrup (00:26:03): How we do that, I think, is perhaps focusing in data translation. I had a woman who worked for me, she actually was a qualified librarian. So, her insights about information retrieval were very interesting. I learned a lot from her, because that was a little bit the data. And she would say things like, "Jennifer, Google is not the only search facility in the world. We can use so much more," because she's accessed all their library systems around the world. And there's so much information we don't access because we can't, usually. But the point being that what I learned from her was about translating things, where they were easier to understand for other people. And I think it's an incredibly valuable lesson, and the world needs more librarians. Rob Collie (00:26:43): There's a lot here, right? Business intelligence was always a means to an end, but because it was so difficult, it was just so incredibly difficult to even get a halfway-competent system instilled, built, configured. When something is that hard for that long, it becomes its own goal after a while. It's easy to habituate to the idea that this is the goal, intelligence is the goal, knowledge is the goal. No, no, no. Improvement was always the goal. What's really been fascinating for us is, when we see our clients, the people we work with, when we see them start to get the BI problem under control for the first time ever, their gaze immediately sort of zooms back and they start thinking completely unbidden by us. We don't have to seed this conversation. It just happens. They start looking at the bigger picture now and going, "Oh, okay. So, now this information needs to feed into better decision loops and optimization and things like that. And how do we facilitate that?" Rob Collie (00:27:53): And from the beginning, we try to counsel everything being built around that "taking action" thing. You can build an incredibly informative dashboard that is intelligent, it's a work of art in many ways, on many levels, and it can be useless. It can be factual, it can be impressive, and it can be useless because you can't use it to make any improved decisions. I've been guilty of this. I have built things like this, like, "Ta-da." And the client doesn't even have the language to push back. Jen Stirrup (00:28:30): It's something I've tried to keep in mind now is the utility of what I'm actually doing, because people just want data for the sake of data, and they get that. I think, sometimes, they don't know what to ask for, so they take something because it's better than nothing. And they'll say things like, "Right, I want the last five years of data and 191 columns, I want it all on the same page, and I want to be able to print it." And then you have to say, "Well, let's think about how feasible that is. You'll get five years of data, it's not going to fit in one page. 191 columns is going to be really small. So, let's have a..." People ask that because they don't know what they want. Jen Stirrup (00:29:06): About a dashboard recently, a health and safety dashboard, it was using power apps as well. So, the company, if they saw a health and safety priority issue, they could use the app, if they were health and safety professionals, and the app would record data, you could upload a photograph, and then that would go into a system which you could then see in Power BI. And the nice thing about that was you could see improvements over time because people could get their health and safety issues resolved more quickly, so things like boxes stacked against fire exits, slip and trip hazards. Jen Stirrup (00:29:43): Now, it may not seem very interesting, but actually, the reason that project had happened was because someone that had been in a health and safety incident and it had not been tracked properly, and the idea being that they were trying to improve the process. But sometimes, I think data problems and data solutions happen because of two things. One is you need an executive sponsor, and the second thing is a crisis. And together, the executive sponsor and the crisis will engender change somewhere. And that change management process so often turns into a business intelligence solution. And nothing is an industry. It's something I'm personally trying to always keep in mind is: what's the purpose? What's the optimization? What problem am I trying to solve? Rob Collie (00:30:30): Yeah, one time, I was asked by a client to help debug a report that was really slow. So, this is great because this is an example of a report that I didn't build, right? I can use an example that wasn't one of my own families, but I'll tell my own as well if you want. But I go, "Okay, I'll take a look at it." I'm expecting some sort of DAX or data modeling problem or something like that. And they show me the report, and it is a 100,000-row pivot table. The pivot table has a 100,000 rows in it. There's DAX behind it. It's a DAX data model behind the scenes, but the report itself, the output is 100,000 rows. And before I even engage, I just turn and look at them and say, "Oh, my God, who was using this? You don't have a performance problem. It's..." And they're very insistent. "No, no, no, no, no. This is the thing. We need this." I'm like, "All right." Rob Collie (00:31:21): So, I start looking at it, and it's crazy how many columns there are. And it was a list of every employee and every location that they have in the country, which was hundreds of locations and thousands of employees. And for each employee, their scheduled time-in and their scheduled time-out, and their actual time clocked in and actual time clocked out. I turned back at him again and I go, "Okay, really? What are we doing here?" And they're like, "Okay. So, we have all these regional managers that are looking at this multiple times a day, probably eight times a day or more, to try to figure out if any of their stores are empty, aren't staffed because people didn't show up." And I just smacked my forehead and I go, "You don't need the timecard report," which is what they called this thing, the timecard report, "You need the empty store detector." Rob Collie (00:32:18): And I mean, there was no way to make this thing faster. I mean, this thing was such a gross misuse of technology. I just went to the whiteboard and I sketched what the empty store detector could look like, and they're like, "Oh, that's great. We'll never get our managers to switch over to using it, so let's just go back to fixing this other piece of junk." Jen Stirrup (00:32:37): Yeah, because something that I struggle with, personally, is the idea of surveyance reports. It's something that really bothers me. I've pushed back on a few customers to see, "Are you micromanaging or are you surveying? What is it you're trying to do?" On occasions, I have escalated it to say, "Look, this report is probably been used to hit people for the head, and I'm not comfortable with this because I think this has gone beyond micromanaging." And we had set the scope of the project of the thing we were supposed to deliver. So, I'm going to escalate this because I want to understand better the purpose. And if I'm wrong, we will deliver it." Jen Stirrup (00:33:12): And normally, when I go back and see that, even in that particular instance, I showed the senior management and I said, "Your middle management want to do this." And they said, "No. We are not spending time doing that. We need to understand the wider context. If there is any issues going on with staffing, then this is probably a symptom rather than the cause of the issues, if people are being watched like that." So, I think some teams escalating, as much as I don't like to do it, sometimes is the best way forward. Rob Collie (00:33:44): It takes a lot of professional courage to do something like that. For example, have you ever taken one of those principled stands and ended up no longer working for that client because they basically fire you for not staying in your lane? That's a risk, right? Jen Stirrup (00:34:01): Yeah. It is. I've never been fired for that, but I have said, "Uncomfortable, and I'm we going to stop delivering services, and we need to decide on an exit strategy." There's different ways you can do that, right? So, you deal with the current project. You then say that you're busy for the next century when we come back to you for other work. I don't like doing that because I often feel like you should give them an alternative to say, "Well, here. I can't deliver it, but I know someone who can." And then I recommend one to my network. But the thing is, when I make these quite principal stands, people back down often, or they back down and they just asked me to do it. But when I've gone back to people like that customer, who come back to me for extra work, I've done some investigating work and I've found that they have not implemented a thing that I've been worried about or concerned about. Jen Stirrup (00:34:49): So, I think, sometimes, if you do speak up, people are maybe surprised by it. It's maybe different who it comes from. And I think, perhaps, even a soft Scottish accent, smiling sweetly at them and saying, "Can you explain to me a bit more about the reasoning behind this? Because your team want to do this thing, but I have some discomfort because it's outside scope." And they're not telling them, and they're very direct. Wait at first, but they start to get their message. Jen Stirrup (00:35:16): A former boss of mine years ago, he said I had a soft rein approach. I actually think that's a nice way of putting it, where, as much as I might be tempted to go in all guns blazing, I'm trying to gently bring it up and then bring it up again a bit more firmly, and then, suddenly, people are starting to understand better. But that's me having to probably, sometimes, exert a huge amount of self-control as well. But I think that's part of the consulting game. It's very tough. But I think seeing something like that happen, I think the reason it happens is because people aren't thinking about it longer-term. And me as a consultant, it's easier, perhaps, for me to think about it long-term and also a bit more closely as well, because you are thinking about the consequences of what you're trying to do, the purpose. Rob Collie (00:36:04): Yeah. If you're good at data and you're experience with it, you spend a lot of time with it, that allows you to put some of those things a little further down in the subconscious, and the rest of your human faculties can resume working, whereas, I think, for people who data is still this arcane thing, it's not the thing that they've spent their lives with, it's just really easy to get target-fixated on the data, data, data, data, right? "It's not about the people, we're trying to figure out the data," right? "And inform me," and all of that. Rob Collie (00:36:33): And I think it's like when you're first learning to drive, I couldn't have the radio on. The radio was really distracting. And you certainly couldn't have a conversation with someone next to you. So, all you can do just to make sure that you're turning the wheel the right amount and all this kind of stuff. It's just overwhelming. But once you internalize all that stuff and you build the muscle memory and all those sorts of things, now your brain is free to do some other things. Like this data fluency thing we were talking about, it's neat how, as you climb that slope, you're never there, it's a perpetual journey, the other parts of the equation like the human things, right? They can come back. Rob Collie (00:37:12): An example, even just from our own business, we do a lot of internet advertising. And sometimes, when people at our company are thinking about this, now the wrong way to do it is to go and like, "Oh, let's go look at the ad words API and let's get fascinated by the tech around this." And I'm always trying to remind people that, no, no, no, we're trying to scale a human interaction. That's what we're trying to do. We're trying to reach people with our humanity- Jen Stirrup (00:37:43): I think that's so true. Rob Collie (00:37:43): ... and we're using a technological system to do that. It's a tool for the other thing. Jen Stirrup (00:37:50): You're so right. I think we should be using technology empower and enable. And I think my personal mission is about helping people. I find that rewarding, personally. I like things with a purpose, so that's why I do charity work with organizations like DataKind, because when you get someone crying because you've solved a problem for them and you've helped them, you know how incredibly grateful they are. But I think, for me, that's why diversity and inclusion, equality, and intersectionality more recently has become really important to me. Jen Stirrup (00:38:21): I'll just give you a few examples that's in my head. I did a project recently, and there was a woman of color in my team, and I felt that she was being talked over. I'm used to being talk over, softly spoken. But I could see it with her. And I just made a conscious effort to say, "I'm sorry, but I don't think she's had the opportunity to speak, and I can see she's tried to have some input." So, some of it's a bit like that. But some of it is directly saying, "What do you think? Sorry, we haven't heard from you," and pulling people out. And you know what? She was and is still incredibly insightful. And sometimes, the best data scientists I work with are people who can't code. And I think about her and I think about another woman of color as well that I work beside. Jen Stirrup (00:39:06): Fantastic data scientists, they both know Excel, but they can't write a line of code. And the reason they're so good is because they are such fantastic questions. That means the rest of us who can code have to then go and get the answers. And I think the knack of asking the right questions is such a gift, it's such a skill, and it's something that I am consciously trying to improve myself on. And I think diversity, inclusion, and equality is really important, but we wouldn't get anywhere with any of that if we're not allowing people space either to talk or we're not able to give them the space to ask the right questions. Jen Stirrup (00:39:42): Now, I am constantly learning every day. And to do that, I'm having to learn to get better at asking questions. And it is a skill to ask, but I think, when we're dealing with data, it's about helping people not to feel stupid if they're asking questions, because I think, with these particular cases, it's very easy to feel diminished in a conversation where other people are understand the technology, they can code, you can't, but you've got an insight. I know we talk about data-driven, but I like the term "insights-inspired," and I wish we had more of that because that, I think, gives us room for other people who perhaps don't understand the technology but do have business insights that I would never get, because they help me interpret the code or the data to make it better. Thomas Larock (00:40:28): So, you said data-driven, but you prefer insights-inspired. I think those are still two different things because, when I think of data-driven, I actually think of that in terms of, "I'm going to make a decision based upon what the data's telling me, not upon my feelings." The insights-inspired, to me, is how I get to the question I want answered, right? But I'm still data-driven. I think there's some overlap, but I also think there's a lot of space there where they are distinct, because I do believe in data-driven because I've been in those meetings where somebody's like, "Yeah, I don't really care. We're going to do what I think is right." "But the data says something completely opposite." "Yeah. That doesn't matter to me." And lots of those cultures exist. I love insights-inspired, and I'm going to steal that. Jen Stirrup (00:41:16): That's fine. I think we need both, actually. I'm sorry if I wasn't clear. But you're right, there is a good impetus for people to think, "What does the data say?" And I like that. I think the "insights-inspired" piece will help us to understand if the data's right. And I'll give you an example of something that I did. So, I was doing some work for the national health service and there's some data missing for a hospital, and it was not an insignificant amount of data. It was for about five years, the data. And I searched for it all morning, and I was just about to ,arch down the corridor to go and corral a DBA to ask him, Have we lost any data? Because I cannot find this." Jen Stirrup (00:41:55): And then, when [inaudible 00:41:56] was passing, she said, "How are you doing?" I said, "Oh, have you ever worked at this hospital?" I won't mention which one it is. And she said, "Oh, I was there until it closed for five years and it merged with another hospital." And I thought, "Oh, you've just answered my question. Right." Because I was sweating beads because I thought, "We've lost five years' worth of data." And I thought, "We've done that. We are in so much trouble," because it's a lot of data. It's a lot of patient data. No, no, no, no. They went somewhere else. And there was a very good explanation that I would never have got by the data. I could have hugged her. Jen Stirrup (00:42:31): And to this day, I still feel the palpable relief, because I was walking in the hospital, thinking we need a really good explanation for this. But according to the data, it was not there. So, I think, when I look at data-driven, I think they're two sides of the same coin, because insights will tell you what the nurse said, "Well, actually, it's like this," and they will add to the interpretation. Jen Stirrup (00:42:54): I just sat in a meeting once where one of the leaders said, "All right. So, we've got the data now?" I said, "Yes, everything's fine." And in front of four of his team members, he said, "So, we can get rid of the business analysts then, because we've got the data now." And even when I mention this, I still, at this point, feel my blood pressure rising, which is not good for me. I am well over the age of 40. And actually, I was stunned. I said, "How are you going to understand the data if you don't have your business analysts. Who's going to tell you what it means? "Oh." I said, "Are you really thinking that you can just throw your data at a wall, see what sticks, see what's left, and that's going to drive a business? Because, pretty much, that's what you're doing, if you are not involving the people who understand the business." Jen Stirrup (00:43:43): And after the meeting, I mean, some of them were crying, saying, "He was talking about me losing my job." And the people impact was terrible. So, this is where I've got my principals coming in. So, I went and I escalated that afternoon, and he was taken off the project the next day. That was due to happen. That was just outrageous. And if any of you who are listening and this is you, I love that team, their insights were incredible and I learned so much from them. And to the leader in that organization, please listen to your team members. You will get so many many great insights. Rob Collie (00:44:23): Wow. Jen Stirrup (00:44:24): Sorry, this is very cathartic for me. I'm glad you've brought me on today. Rob Collie (00:44:33): I mean, just watching your face as you told that story, I can see the emotions that you're feeling, right? Jen Stirrup (00:44:37): He's going to get this. Rob Collie (00:44:38): And it's a mix, right? It's a mix of the beauty of some of these people that you worked with, right? Contrasting with like this horrible, horrible attitude, at the same time, from this one individual. When you have all those feelings at the same time, it's like you need a new name for it. It's like, "What is this feeling?" Jen Stirrup (00:44:56): And I think the industry is like a pendulum, so we go towards data-driven. And for some organizations, they need good data-driven, so Tom's given a great example. But sometimes, it goes too far and they say, "Yeah, I read that buzzword. I'm going to do that." And then, there's an expense, something has to give. And that, unfortunately, was his team. Like you said earlier, Rob, it's about the people. We should be there to help people by helping people do their jobs better, not necessarily replacing them. That was not ever on the menu. Rob Collie (00:45:29): Yeah. It's counterintuitive. Sometimes, when your data system gets better, the right move is to have more analysts because there's more ROI in having them. Even just hiring a data professional services firm such as yourself, the reason to do it is because the ROI can be massive. Jen Stirrup (00:45:51): Yes. There's lots of unseen costs. I worked with an accountant last year who spent four out of five days a week merging Excel together. And I sat with her, I got to know her pretty well, I mean, remotely because of COVID. And eventually, she said, "Oh, I'm looking for a new job." And I said, "Oh, really?" And she said, "I did not incur a graduate debt to sit and do something that I could have done without my degree." She'd put a lot of effort and, same in the US, lots of student loans to do a degree. And she said, "Technically, my job title is accountant, but I'm not accounting. I am munging data around in Excel." And one of the projects I had recommended was data integration, right? And they wouldn't go forward it. They kept saying, "No, no, no. We've always done it this way. So-and-so om accounts does all that." But they never asked her what she wanted. Jen Stirrup (00:46:43): So, she left, and I was not a bit surprised because she said, "I want to be an accountant. I want to account." And I know that it's not my personal lifestyle. It wouldn't be my choice of a job, but for her, she just loved that, and she wasn't getting to do. So, sometimes, the causes are quite unseen if you're not looking after the processes or the data, because that incurs hiring costs, then, on staff onboarding costs that don't get included often as part of these business strategy projects. When I'm doing a data strategy, I try to include them, to say, "But what happens if you change? But what happens if you don't?" And you're going to lose people because your people, very often, want to be skilled in the later technology. Jen Stirrup (00:47:25): And I'll give you an example. One customer I worked with said to me, "We need your help with reporting services, SQL server." So, "Okay, good. I like reporting services." Then, they talked to me and I said, "What version are you using?" And they said, "2005." And I said, "Why?" "Because the application that's using it requires SQL server 2005 and we can't upgrade." Said, "So, what was the application written in?" "VB6," which you may have heard of that technology. It was around in 1999. It was last century. So, the data state was antique. I had no idea that it was that bad. But then, the application came up, and Microsoft still do a version of a Visual Basic. You can go to the site, the latest version... But the point being that the staff and that place had settled for VB6, they'd settled for 2005. That doesn't mean that you're getting the best team members. And when we worked, it was recommended an architecture. Said it was not touching it with our [inaudible 00:48:30]. Rob Collie (00:48:30): I'm still very fluent in VBA6, so maybe after we finished this show, can you give me the information of this organization? I might go apply. The last place on earth that VBA6 fluency is... Actually, that's not true. It's still being used everywhere. It's just not being used centrally. Jen Stirrup (00:48:53): Yes. I did say to them, "I am not touching any software that was not built in this century. So, if it's in the last century, you've no chance." So, re-architected, actually, we're using the Azure Cosmos... Thomas Larock (00:49:04): It's a good rule. Jen Stirrup (00:49:05): ... and dot... Yeah, it's a good rule. It's a rule to live by, you can quote me on that. I use no software built in the last century. In fact, I'm going to make that my new company advertising strapline. That's great. I like that. So, they're happily in Cosmos and .NET. And we used that because the developer said, "Hey, does that mean we get to modernize?" I said, "Yes. And you will either modernize or I will leave. Your bosses are going to have to modernize." So, they did. But again, that soft Scottish accent comes up. "Well, why don't we use software that's built in this century?" Rob Collie (00:49:42): It's a devastating maneuver. If we were making a card for you in a trading card game, that would be one of your two power moves, right? Soft Scottish accent. And the description of the power is something like, "Removes all defensive screen cards from opponent." Thomas Larock (00:50:07): Disarming. Jen Stirrup (00:50:10): Absolutely. Yeah. It's just funny how the data problems are really throwing up what's wrong with the organization. Obviously, they did that, but two years ago, I went to visit them again, just before COVID last year. They'd implemented a data science team and they just wanted some strategic consulting. And I was really pleased with how they turned around. So, sometimes, if you just find a problem like that, a small success, building those small successes, and they were allowed to up. I don't know if you see this, but big thing of what I'm doing when I'm in organizations is change management, but also a lot of that's people. And people tend to align themselves with success. So, if you can just show one small success, people get on board with it. Rob Collie (00:50:53): Yeah. I mean, it's everywhere in humanity, right? We're fundamentally pattern-matchers. And if you haven't given a population any positive patterns to match, no examples, it's amazing how stuck you can be. But one success, right? We have an infinite percentage increase in our population of successful examples. We went from zero to one. Like you say, the dog knows that there's five treats in your hand, right? We're not dumb. If there can be one success, there can be more. But if there's zero successes, that's powerful. Jen Stirrup (00:51:25): Yeah. And I don't know if you see this problem, but it's something I see a lot is people think maybe Tableau or Power BI, they buy this, it's going to give them a success. And it does, until the data starts to get hard. And then they either have to scale up in DAX, which is fine, but sometimes they don't have room or bandwidth to do that, so they get almost a bit depleted because they realize, actually, data's hard. We've never really nailed data as the human race. Rob Collie (00:51:55): It's always hard. Unfortunately, to sell software, to a certain extent, you have to sell the lie. If you're a software vendor, you have to se... Rob Collie (00:52:03): ... have to sell the lie. If you're a software vendor, you have to sell the lie that this tool is the magic fix, that it's going to make data easy. And I do actually, in a weird way, I kind of like blame Tableau for making this worse, but while at the same time, being very grateful to Tableau that they made interactivity a must have. Jen Stirrup (00:52:24): Yes. Rob Collie (00:52:24): I think they were actually, more than any one entity, responsible for us breaking this notion that reporting services and similar tools were it. Jen Stirrup (00:52:34): Yes. I remember the first time I saw Tableau. I had been hired as a developer for SQL server [inaudible 00:52:40] services and my boss said, "I think this is a future, this stuff, Tableau. Here's the download link. Tell me what you think". 10 minutes I was completely hooked and it changed my career because otherwise I would have probably stayed in the database reporting world and I suddenly thought there's a whole world here with stuff. So I love what they did. I really, really think it was groundbreaking. Thomas Larock (00:53:01): At what point did a report just become synonymous with the word "Tableau"? I have a limited experience and maybe it's an outlier, but to me, I always hear people say, "I'm going to run a Tableau report". I mean, it's just a report. I worked with Crystal and BusinessObjects, same thing I guess. And do people always qualify the type of report they're running as if that makes it more special or do people always say, "I'm going to run a power BI report"? Why is it always a qualifier? And in my case, I always hear, "I'm going to go run the Tableau report". I'm like, "It's just a report. It doesn't really matter what's the software that's doing it. It's just data. It's just a report". But I hear that a lot. I just figured I'd ask you two if that's the same experience? Jen Stirrup (00:53:43): Yeah. I think I'm hearing that more and more and I actually think it's almost going the other way, where people are only wanting interactivity, they're only wanting things they can click and tick. And what they're not wanting as much is a SQL server, mahogany red, forest green, slate gray, corporate template, because that was the what, about four templates you got with reporting services. So I see that more and more apart from the finance world. They still very much want it. But what I'd still see is a big need for tables. People still want to export to Excel. And I think it was you, Rob, who actually said this years ago, that the third most common button in Tableau is something like "export to CSV". Thomas Larock (00:54:26): Yeah. Rob Collie (00:54:28): Yeah. The third most common button in any data application is "export to Excel". Thomas Larock (00:54:32): Yeah. Rob Collie (00:54:32): Behind "OK" and "Cancel". That's the joke. And what it is, is an acknowledgement of, again, the human plane that this report, this app, does not meet your needs. It's in a way like if you could instrument your organization and find all of the "export to Excel" buttons that are being worn out, those are like the hotspots for you to go and improve things. That button being, click, click, click, click, click, click, click all day long, is telling you that there's a tremendous opportunity for improvement here, both in terms of time saved, but also quality of result. Quality of question that's even formulated. You mentioned questions earlier, asking good questions. Here's the problem. The ability to execute on answers and the inability to execute on answers, the friction, the inertia, that works its way upstream into the question- forming muscles. The question-forming muscles atrophy to a level where they fit the ability to execute on the questions. And so when you suddenly expand the ability to answer questions, it actually... You've got to go back and re-expand your question-asking muscles to be more aggressive, to be more ambitious. Jen Stirrup (00:55:52): Yes. I think sometimes the data-driven piece is trying to, in a way, subtly bring that back into play. It's okay to admit that we don't have all the answers and it's okay to admit that we need to ask questions. I think there should be more of that. Something that, certainly earlier in my career, asking questions was discouraged. It meant you didn't know it. It meant that you were vulnerable in some way. And I think as an industry, we need to encourage people to ask questions. I think with the diversity inclusion piece, try and make a conscious effort. If I think someone in the meeting is being quiet, regardless of the background, but at least I'm trying to watch out for that now, whereas maybe 20 years ago, I wouldn't have realized it, but sometimes people do sometimes need that extra help to speak up and speak out. They often don't know what to say or how to beckon to a meeting and say something. It's quite difficult. Jen Stirrup (00:56:51): Especially if you were being measured in your performance. I think sometimes people see things very confidently. And actually when you start to pick it apart, you think, "I need to as a person, stop believe in confidence and maybe thinking is that right, not how it's being delivered". I think they're stolen for quiet voices, hopefully like mine, who are trying to say things but I do find that harder to get heard. I think it's good that you do podcasts like this because I think it gives people the opportunity to talk about different ideas and how they impact people because that is important. There's loads of vendor podcasts that will talk all about the technology but we need to know better how to apply it. Rob Collie (00:57:31): When we were talking about starting this show, it was pretty clear we did not need another tech show. People who are working in tech, but are human beings, like yourself, and who are focused on helping other human beings. We weren't sure if it was going to work. It was one of those like, "Are people are going to listen?". Thomas Larock (00:57:45): We're still not sure. Rob Collie (00:57:50): We knew that we were going to like it, but yeah, it's building an audience. I've enjoyed it. And plus, it's an excuse to get together and talk with people such as yourself. If we just pinged you out of the blue and said, "Hey, you want to get on a two hour Zoom call with us and just catch up?". That's going to get pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed, but, "Oh a podcast? Oh, well, yeah. That's exciting". Jen Stirrup (00:58:14): Yeah. I know what you mean. It's good to, I think, to try and translate data and technology into something people feel is within their reach because I think there is still an element of people who are almost being scared of working with data. I deal a lot with CTO's, CIO. I was busy CTO and some way reports sent to their CFO because their CFO is over all of it, keeping costs down. The CTO has to work really hard to justify them. And I think what they want, ultimately, is not to appear stupid or not to know what they're doing. So some of these leadership conversations I have are about people saying, "Explain these terms to me. I don't know what a data lakehouse is. Do I need one? How's it different from a data lake? What about the warehouse? Is that going away or is that rebranded as well?". I know Microsoft talked about data hubs recently. If you're a data vault person, a data hub means something quite specific. It's been a term around for 30 years to mean something else. But I think sometimes people get very confused with the terms. Rob Collie (00:59:16): Like for example, the noun "dashboard" in Power BI, right? It's just a head clutching frustrating mistake. I mean a Power BI report is probably best described as a dashboard. The multi-visual, interactive experience, lowercase D dashboard is what I always want to describe it as, but no, no, no, no. We repurposed that word. Jen Stirrup (00:59:41): I know, and customers don't always understand it because they say, "Well, actually my report looks exactly like the dashboard. So I don't understand this publishing thing". So I have to try and explain that actually, we can take data from [inaudible 00:59:55] here and you can extra things. I'm interested to know actually, how much Power BI users spend actually making dashboards as opposed to making reports. And I just wish we'd ever the answer to that because sometimes you just want to get reports that they can run in their desktop or not always sometimes use a browser and just have the reports and have them open on the actual dashboards higher up. So I feel that's a bit of a separation that maybe wasn't required to have. But Tableau does something similar, doesn't it in a way? But I think with Tableau, it's a bit more clear that you're putting these things together. Rob Collie (01:00:29): Well, we were talking at the beginning about the importance of comprehensive training sets. Well, let me just tell you, we only need one data point here. I, as a Power BI user, have never once created an actual Power BI dashboard. So let's just conclude that that's it. No one uses them. But yeah, I've never felt compelled to need one. I tend to put together, what I need in the report. Jen Stirrup (01:00:56): Yes. And that's what I do because I'm trying to get the customer from A to B. I'm trying to do it quickly and I can see that they've reached on that tool ceiling of where they want to go and then they've got this other thing they need to do and they don't understand why. So sometimes it's a battle I just don't have because I just think, "You know what? These often been through so much to get to that point in the first place, cleaning data and getting access to the data and all the things that are hard and even understanding what they want in the first place". I try and work out where the fatigue is. Rob Collie (01:01:28): Yeah. I think there's a certain hubris just in the idea that a user will go around and then harvest little chunks out of other reports and take them completely out of context. Anyway, we didn't come here for cynicism today but- Jen Stirrup (01:01:43): I have plenty of that. Rob Collie (01:01:43): But it's still there. We can't really help it. So it's come up a few times and I want to make sure we actually make some time to talk about it specifically. So you've mentioned a number of times, inclusion and diversity and already a few anecdotes within your own professional organization, within your own firm. Outside of your own data relish organization, what are you up to in this space around the diversity and inclusion as a cause? You're very active in the community in this regard. Can you summarize for us what all you're up to? Jen Stirrup (01:02:15): Yeah. I've started there to talk more about intersectiona

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Vitamin B6 deficiency enhances the noradrenergic system, leading to behavioral deficits Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, May 27, 2021 Schizophrenia is a heterogeneous psychiatric disorder characterized by positive symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions, negative symptoms such as apathy and lack of emotion, and cognitive impairment. We have reported that VB6 (pyridoxal) levels in peripheral blood of a subpopulation of patients with schizophrenia is significantly lower than that of healthy controls. More than 35% of patients with schizophrenia have low levels of VB6 (clinically defined as male: < 6 ng/ml, female: < 4 ng/ml). VB6 level is inversely proportional to severity score on the positive and negative symptom scale (PANSS), suggesting that VB6 deficiency might contribute to the development of schizophrenia symptoms. In fact, a recent review has shown the decreased VB6 in patients with schizophrenia as the most convincing evidence in peripheral biomarkers for major mental disorders. Additionally, we recently reported that high-dose VB6 (pyridoxamine) was effective in alleviating psychotic symptoms, particularly the PANSS negative and general subscales, in a subset of patients with schizophrenia. Although a link between lower VB6 level and schizophrenia is widely hypothesized, the mechanism behind this remains poorly understood. VB6 is not synthesized de novo in humans, but is primarily obtained from foods. In the present study, to clarify the relationship between VB6 deficiency and schizophrenia, we generated VB6-deficient (VB6(-)) mice through feeding with a VB6-lacking diet as a mouse model for the subpopulation of schizophrenia patients with VB6 deficiency. After feeding for 4 weeks, plasma VB6 level in VB6(-) mice decreased to 3% of that in control mice. The VB6(-) mice showed social deficits and cognitive impairment. Furthermore, the VB6(-) mice showed a marked increase in 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG) in the brain, suggesting enhanced NA metabolism in VB6(-) mice. We confirmed the increased NA release in the prefrontal cortex and the striatum of VB6(-) mice through in vivo microdialysis. These findings suggest that the activities of NAergic neuronal systems are enhanced in VB6(-) mice. Furthermore, VB6 supplementation directly into the brain using an osmotic pump ameliorated the hyperactivation of the NAergic system and behavioral abnormalities. indicating that the enhanced NA turnover and the behavioral deficits shown in the VB6(-) mice are attributed to VB6 deficiency in the central nervous system. In addition, the ?2A adrenergic receptor agonist guanfacine also improved the hyperactivated NAergic system in the frontal cortex and behavioral disorders. These results show that the behavioral deficits in VB6(-) mice may be caused by an enhancement of NAergic signaling. Schizophrenic patients with VB6 deficiency, who account for more than 35% of all patients, present with relatively severe clinical symptoms and treatment resistance. Our findings suggest that a new therapeutic strategy targeting the NAergic system might be effective for these patients. They will also provide evidence based on pathophysiology for a new therapeutic strategy called "VB6 treatment for schizophrenia," which we are currently conducting clinical research on.     Families with a child with ADHD can benefit from mindfulness training Radboud University Medical Center (Netherlands), May 27, 2021 Children with ADHD are generally treated with medication and/or behavioral treatments. However, medication-alone is insufficient in a quarter to a third of the children. For that reason, the scientists investigated whether a mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) would have a positive effect on children who did not respond sufficiently to other ADHD treatments. MBIs can elicit positive effects on psychological symptoms and behavior of children and parents.  In the study, two groups of children between the ages of eight and sixteen were compared. One group received only regular care (CAU, care-as-usual), and the other group also received MYmind, the mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) with at least one parent. They did this training for a period of eight weeks. A striking result was that parents especially benefited from this training. There was an increase in mindful parenting, self-compassion and an improvement in mental health among the parents. These effects were still visible six months after the end of the training. In the children, there were some effects on ADHD symptoms, anxiety, and autistic traits, but effects were small. Yet, a subgroup appeared to benefit: One in three children reliably improved on self-control following MYmind, whereas only one in ten improved when following only regular care. Professor of Environmental Sensitivity in Health and psychologist Corina Greven of Radboudumc, the Donders Institute and Karakter says that usual interventions for children with ADHD typically do not target mental health of parents, although they often struggle with parenting stress, anxiety or own ADHD symptoms. "While effects in children were small, we still found effects in the parents. Interviewing families , our team also discovered that many families reported important improvements in family relationships and insight in and acceptance of ADHD. We need to go broader than just looking at whether an intervention reduces symptoms, and include additional outcomes that families find important." The study was conducted in collaboration with the Radboud Center for Mindfulness.     Sweet cherry anthocyanins support liver health Zhei-Jang University (China), June 1, 2021 Anthocyanins from sweet cherries may protect against diet-induced liver steatosis, or excessive amounts of fat in the liver’s tissue, says a new study with rats.  The study , published in the journal Nutrition, built upon the abundant existing literature on the beneficial role anthocyanins have as an antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and anti-hyperlipidemic component. Specifically, the cyanidin-3-glucoside variant “[has] been reported to ameliorate hepatic steatosis and adipose inflammation,” the researchers wrote. The condition known as liver steatosis is a common non-alcoholic fatty liver disease usually treated with drugs, but according to the researchers, some drug used for treatment “are usually accompanied by some adverse effect.” For 15 weeks, the researchers investigated the effects of sweet cherry anthocyanin supplementation have on alleviating high-fat diet-induced liver steatosis in rodents to explore the possibility of a none-drug treatment for the liver condition. Preparing the mice and the sweet cherry anthocyanins The sweet cherry anthocyanin was extracted and pulverized, with one mg of the anthocyanin measured to contain amounts of cyanidine-3-rutinoside and pelargonidin-3-rutinoside, among other things. Thirty male rodents were used for the study. The animals were housed five per cage and randomly divided into three groups: 10 rodents fed a low-fat diet, 10 rodents fed a high-fat diet, and 10 rodents fed a high-fat diet supplemented with sweet cherry anthocyanins. The supplementation was given in liquid form at 200 mg/kg orally at the same time daily for 15 weeks, and the body weights and food intakes were monitored weekly. Observations The mice were sacrificed at week 15 after a half-day fast. Blood samples were collected and livers collected, rinsed with cold saline, and then weighed. An automatic biochemistry analyser was used to measure total cholesterol, triacylglycerol, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. They found that at week 15, mice fed a high-fat diet supplemented with sweet cherry anthocyanins “displayed a significant reduction in body weight, liver weight, and liver index” compared to the mice that were only given a high-fat diet without supplementation. They also found the serum levels for tricylglycerol, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in high-fat diet mice to be substantially higher than those fed a low-fat diet, but the group supplemented with the anthocyanin resulted in a significant reduction in these serum parameters.” According to the researchers, the results demonstrated how sweet cherry anthocyanins may be developed into a supplement to “protect from high-fat diet-induced hepatic steatosis in mice,”leading to a suggested potential for the anthocyanin’s application in the “treatment of hepatic steatosis and other obesity related metabolic disorders.”     Healthy lifestyle linked to better cognition for oldest adults -- regardless of genetic risk New study suggests importance of maintaining healthy lifestyle even after age 80 Duke University & Kunshan University (China), June 1, 2021 A new analysis of adults aged 80 years and older shows that a healthier lifestyle is associated with a lower risk of cognitive impairment, and that this link does not depend on whether a person carries a particular form of the gene APOE. Xurui Jin of Duke Kunshan University in Jiangsu, China, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine. The APOE gene comes in several different forms, and people with a form known as APOE ε4 have an increased risk of cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. Previous research has also linked cognitive function to lifestyle factors, such as smoking, exercise, and diet. However, it has been unclear whether the benefits of a healthy lifestyle are affected by APOE ε4, particularly for adults over 80 years of age. To clarify the relationship between APOE ε4 and lifestyle, Jin and colleagues examined data from 6,160 adults aged 80 or older who had participated in a larger, ongoing study known as the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey. The researchers statistically analyzed the data to investigate links between APOE ε4, lifestyle, and cognition. They also accounted for sociodemographics and other factors that could impact cognition. The analysis confirmed that participants with healthy lifestyles or intermediately healthy lifestyles were significantly less likely to have cognitive impairment than those with an unhealthy lifestyle, by 55 and 28 percent, respectively. In addition, participants with APOE ε4 were 17 percent more likely to have cognitive impairment than those with other forms of APOE. A previous study suggested that in individuals at low and intermediate genetic risk, favorable lifestyle profiles are related to a lower risk of dementia compared to unfavorable profiles. But these protective associations were not found in those at high genetic risk. However, the investigation showed the link between lifestyle and cognitive impairment did not vary significantly based on APOE ε4 status which represented the genetic dementia risk. This suggests that maintaining a healthier lifestyle could be important for maintaining cognitive function in adults over 80 years of age, regardless of genetic risk.  This cross-sectional study emphasized the importance of a healthy lifestyle on cognitive health. While further research will be needed to validate these findings among different population, this study could help inform efforts to boost cognitive function for the oldest of adults. In the next step, the team will explore this association using the AD polygenetic risk score (AD-PRS) and explore the interactive relationship between AD-PRS and lifestyle on cognition with the longitudinal data.     Study shows BPA exposure below regulatory levels can impact brain development University of Calgary (Canada) June 1, 2021   BPA disrupts development of the mouse brain sleep centre (outlined), image on right. The change can impact behaviour. The control image on the left ("CON") shows sleep centre without BPA. Credit: Kurrasch lab, published in Science Advances Humans are exposed to a bath of chemicals every day. They are in the beds where we sleep, the cars that we drive and the kitchens we use to feed our families. With thousands of chemicals floating around in our environment, exposure to any number is practically unavoidable. Through the work of researchers like Dr. Deborah Kurrasch, Ph.D., the implications of many of these chemicals are being thoroughly explored. "Manufacturers follow standards set by regulatory bodies, it's not up to the manufacturers to prove the chemicals in consumer products are safe," says Kurrasch, a researcher in the University of Calgary's Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI) and Alberta Children's Research Institute at the Cumming School of Medicine. "Scientists play a critical role and do the meticulous work of determining where the risks lie." Kurrasch's research over the past decade has focused on a chemical that is broadly recognizable: Bisphenol A, also known as BPA. This chemical is commonly found in plastics, canned food linings, and even thermal receipts. Studies from Kurrasch's lab contribute to the collective research that shows the harms of exposure to this industrial compound. The latest study out of Kurrasch's lab, published in Science Advances, suggests that continued vigilance is needed. A postdoctoral researcher in her lab, Dr. Dinu Nesan, Ph.D., examined the impact of low levels of BPA exposure to pregnant mice and the brain development of their offspring. "Our goal was to model BPA levels equivalent to what pregnant women and developing babies are typically exposed to," says Kurrasch. "We purposefully did not use a high dose. In fact, our doses were 11-times and nearly 25-times lower than those deemed safe by Health Canada and the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration), respectively. Even at these low levels, we saw effects on prenatal brain development in the mice." Using this BPA exposure model, Nesan found striking changes to the brain region responsible for driving circadian rhythms, the suprachiasmatic nucleus, located in the hypothalamus. When prenatally exposed to these low levels of BPA, the suprachiasmatic nucleus failed to develop properly. This change can have implications for sleep, activity levels, and other behaviors. "Previously we showed embryonic exposure to low-dose BPA can affect the timing of when neurons develop in zebrafish, but it was unclear whether a similar effect would be observed in a mammalian model with more similarities to humans," says Nesan, first author on the study. When neurons develop, they rely on proper signals to guide them. If neurons develop too early, the cues they experience are different, which can lead to developmental errors such as migrating to the wrong location, becoming the wrong type of neuron, or forming inappropriate connections. These errors can lead to altered behaviors later in life. "Our study shows that in pregnant mice, prenatal exposure to BPA affects the timing of neuron development in the fetal brain, which has lasting effects on behaviors. Offspring that are exposed to BPA during gestation are awake longer and exhibit hyperactivity. The prenatal BPA exposure seems to change the brain's circadian cues, causing the animals to have elevated energy levels and spend less time resting," says Nesan. The researchers are hopeful their findings will add continued pressure on regulatory bodies to keep revisiting their determinations around safe levels of BPA. "We think there's an incredible abundance of data showing BPA exposure guidelines are not yet at the appropriate level, which includes even the EU (European Union) who is leading on this front, but their 'safe' levels are still twice the dose we used in our study" says Kurrasch, "We hope our research serves as a reminder that low dose BPA is still capable of causing changes that are measurable and significant." Her message of how to interpret this research is simple: Limit your exposure to BPA the best you can.  Maintain smart practices with plastics in your kitchen, for example not heating them, and using glass or stainless steel when possible. This research was conducted in collaboration with Dr. Michael Antle, Ph.D., professor of psychology and member of the HBI.   Selenium plus CoQ10 intake associated with reductions in D-dimer and cardiovascular mortality Linköping University (Sweden), June 2, 2021 Findings from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, published on April 17, 2021 in the journal Nutrients,revealed a reduction in D-dimer levels among older Swedish men and women who received selenium and coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), as well as a lower risk of mortality from cardiovascular disease in individuals having higher D-dimer levels at baseline.  Coenzyme Q10 is an antioxidant involved in the mitochondria’s production of energy. It has been estimated that the body’s production of CoQ10 at the age of 80 years is approximately half that of someone who is 20 years old.  Selenium is a trace element necessary for normal function of human cells. Dietary intake of this mineral may be insufficient in areas of the world that have low soil selenium levels. Selenium also is necessary for the function of many antioxidant enzymes, including one which recycles CoQ10, and has anti-inflammatory activity. D-dimer is a fragment of degraded fibrin and is commonly used to assess for the presence or degradation of potentially dangerous blood clots (venous thromboembolism or pulmonary embolism). It also reflects the activity of peripheral artery disease and has been shown to be associated with endothelial dysfunction and inflammation even in the absence of thromboembolism. The current investigation included 213 men and women aged 70 to 88 years who did not have conditions known to influence D-dimer concentrations (e.g., atrial fibrillation, malignancies). Participants received a placebo or 200 micrograms selenium plus 200 milligrams CoQ10 daily for four years.  Blood samples collected from the subjects upon enrollment in the trial and at 48 months were analyzed for levels of D-dimer. Although D-dimer levels were not significantly different between groups at the beginning of the trial, it was noted to be significantly associated with age. At 48 months, a significantly lower level of D-dimer was found among those who received selenium and CoQ10 in comparison with the placebo, which was maintained after adjustment for co-variates that might influence D-dimer (such as C-reactive protein).  When participants with D-dimer levels that were above the median of all participants at baseline were analyzed, an association was found between intake of selenium and CoQ10 and a lower risk of cardiovascular mortality. Among those whose D-dimer levels were higher than 0.21 mg/L at the beginning of the study, one person among 53 who received selenium and CoQ10 died during a median 4.9-year follow-up period compared to 8 of the 52 who received a placebo. Mortality from all causes was also lower in the selenium and CoQ10 group; however, the reduction failed to reach statistical significance. This group also reported a larger study, which didn’t exclude individuals having conditions known to increase D-dimer, finding that in the older Swedish citizens the combination of selenium and CoQ10 significantly increased heart systolic function, lowered NT-proBNP (which is elevated during heart failure) and decreased risk of cardiovascular mortality, defined as death from myocardial infarctions, cerebrovascular lesions, cardiac arrythmias, heart failure or aortic aneurysms.1 “[Intake of] selenium and coenzyme Q10 in a group of elderly low in selenium and coenzyme Q10 prevented an increase in D-dimer and reduced the risk of cardiovascular mortality in comparison with the placebo group,” concluded first author Urban Alehagen and his colleagues. “The obtained results also illustrate important associations between inflammation, endothelial function and cardiovascular risk.”     Effect of Korean Red Ginseng on Cognitive Function and Quantitative EEG in Alzheimer Patients Seoul Medical Center  (Korea) June 1, 2021 Researchers detail new data in Neurodegenerative Diseases. According to news reporting originating in Seoul, South Korea  research stated, "Korean red ginseng (KRG) has a nootropic effect. This study assessed the efficacy of KRG on cognitive function and quantitative electroencephalography (EEG) in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD)." The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from Seoul Medical Center, "Fourteen patients with AD (mean age, 74.93 years; 11 women and 3 men) were recruited and treated with KRG (4.5 g per day) for 12 weeks. Cognitive function was assessed by the Korean Mini-Mental State Examination (K-MMSE) and the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB). EEG performed before and after treatment were analyzed with quantitative spectral analysis. The FAB score improved significantly after 12 weeks of treatment. In the relative power spectrum analysis performed according to responsiveness, alpha power increased significantly in the right temporal area of the responders. The increments of relative alpha power in the right temporal, parietal, and occipital areas were significantly higher in the responders than the nonresponders." According to the news reporters, the research concluded: "This study indicates the efficacy of KRG on frontal lobe function in AD, related to increasing relative alpha power."

We share the details of our days from Tuesday, September 15th. We did a similar episode two years ago if you’d like to see how our days have changed. Things we mentioned:BlueyThe Penderwicks by Jeanne BirdsallCalm sleep stories (HP’s favorites are Wonder, the Night Train, and the Christmas Train)Blue light glassesLife latelySarah has creatures roaming her duct work and Abby is loving Blueland for plastic-free household cleaners and soaps.Reading latelySarah loved the ending of Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane and Abby listened to Augustus Burroughs’ memoir, Dry.Eating latelyAbby and her mom made homemade truffles.Sarah’s family enjoyed a Moroccan potato salad from Mark Bittman’s cookbook, VB6.If you’d like to join in the conversation, please leave us a comment on our show notes, email us at friendlierpodcast@gmail.com, or find us on Instagram @friendlierpodcast. Thanks for listening! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.07.08.192906v1?rss=1 Authors: Kazuya Toriumi, Stefano Berto, Shin Koike, Noriyoshi Usui, Takashi Dan, Kazuhiro Suzuki, Mitsuhiro Miyashita, Yasue Horiuchi, Akane Yoshikawa, Yuki Sugaya, Takaki Watanabe, Mai Asakura, Masanobu Kano, Yuki Ogasawara, Toshio Miyata, Masanari Itokawa, Genevieve Konopka, Makoto Arai Abstract: Methylglyoxal (MG) is a cytotoxic α-dicarbonyl byproduct of glycolysis. Our bodies have several bio-defense systems to detoxify MG, including an enzymatic system by glyoxalase (GLO) 1 and a scavenge system by vitamin B6 (VB6). We know a population of patients with schizophrenia impaired MG detoxification systems. However, the molecular mechanism connecting them remains poorly understood. We created a novel mouse model for MG detoxification deficits by feeding Glo1 knockout mice VB6-lacking diets (KO/VB6(-)) and evaluated the effects of impaired MG detoxification systems on brain function. KO/VB6(-) mice accumulated MG in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), hippocampus, and striatum, and displayed schizophrenia-like behavioral deficits. Furthermore, we found aberrant gene expression related to mitochondria function in the PFC of the KO/VB6(-) mice. We demonstrated respiratory deficits in mitochondria isolated from the PFC of KO/VB6(-) mice. These findings suggest that MG detoxification deficits might cause schizophrenia-like behavioral deficits via mitochondrial dysfunction in the PFC.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.View Full Text Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info

Jim Spellos is the President of Meeting U., whose mission is to help people become more productive and comfortable with technology. Holly talks with him about the past ten years or so that they’ve known each other and how a health crisis helped Jim implement a routine of meditation, exercise and a new eating lifestyle. As mindfulness returned, he supported it with technology and apps that helped him find restaurants and places that were conducive to his new healthy lifestyle. He and his wife implemented their new eating regimen based on Mark Bittman’s book, Vegan Before 6pm (VB6). Jim also shares that he is building a community through Patreon.com. He offers courses for subscribers for $5 a month. He shares various content to help subscribers stay up to date with changing technology, through his Minute Tech video education series. Check it out at https://www.patreon.com/jspellos.  One support tool that Jim is particularly passionate about is In Case of Emergency or I.C.E. apps. He encourages listeners to download one ASAP so that first responders have critical information that is easily accessible in the event of an emergency.  Jim encourages people to not be afraid of using technology to balance their lives.  Jim delivers over 150 keynote and educational sessions annually on how to use technology more efficiently. In 2015, Jim was named one of the Meeting Industry’s trendsetters by Meetings Focus magazine. He is a faculty member at New York University, teaching in the School of Professional and Continuing Studies since 1990. He has been honored with both their Award for Teaching Excellence and their Outstanding Service Award. With a passion for helping people and companies understand what’s new in current and future technology including the latest information about virtual & augmented reality, and artificial intelligence. Find out more about his work at https://www.meeting-u.com/.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

tamales, new equipment, Whole 30, tequila shots, database administration, who you know vs what you know, Merlyn Temple, Googling yourself, professional growth, learning the hard way, programming jobs, compromising standards, database forecasting, AI jobs, managing six kids, starting Twitch, Among The Sleep, dance games, tap dancing, River Dance, ballet feet, Tesla customer service woes, self-driving cars, direct-to-consumer sales, team collaboration, VB6 is trash, douche canoe, don't sweat the small stuff, bubble wrap memories, dos and don'ts of software dev, Windstar

Panel: Charles Max Wood Guest: Jonathan Carter This week on My JavaScript Story, Charles speaks with Jonathan Carter. Jonathan is a PM at Microsoft and has been a web developer for over 15 years. At Microsoft, he’s had the opportunity to work on tooling, platform pieces for JavaScript applications, and many other things. He first got into programming when his uncle let him shadow him and the IT department he had working for him, and this is where he was first introduced to software and the idea of working with computers as a career. They talk about his proudest accomplishments within the JavaScript community as well as what he is working on now. In particular, we dive pretty deep on: Jonathan intro Asure How did you first get into programming? Interest in creating a website Dual enrollment in high school at local community college Started off with VB6 Uncle was very active in his programming start .net Scrappy boredom mixed with curiosity led to him actually getting into software Everyone comes into programming differently Your past is important in explaining where you have ended up Node.js on Asure How did you get into JavaScript? Worked at a newspaper in the software division Ajax jQuery Wanted to write better apps CodePush Stayed in JavaScript community because it brings him inspiration and excitement Likes to be able and look back on his past projects App development for fun Is there anything that you are particularly proud of? Profiling tools Liked building tools that meet people where they are at and simplify their jobs Qordoba React Native And much, much more! Links: JavaScript Microsoft Asure Node.js jQuery CodePush Qordoba React Native @LostinTangent Jonathan’s GitHub Picks Charles Anti-Pick: Intellibed Tuft and Needle Jonathan Notion Doomsday by Architects

Panel: Charles Max Wood Guest: Jonathan Carter This week on My JavaScript Story, Charles speaks with Jonathan Carter. Jonathan is a PM at Microsoft and has been a web developer for over 15 years. At Microsoft, he’s had the opportunity to work on tooling, platform pieces for JavaScript applications, and many other things. He first got into programming when his uncle let him shadow him and the IT department he had working for him, and this is where he was first introduced to software and the idea of working with computers as a career. They talk about his proudest accomplishments within the JavaScript community as well as what he is working on now. In particular, we dive pretty deep on: Jonathan intro Asure How did you first get into programming? Interest in creating a website Dual enrollment in high school at local community college Started off with VB6 Uncle was very active in his programming start .net Scrappy boredom mixed with curiosity led to him actually getting into software Everyone comes into programming differently Your past is important in explaining where you have ended up Node.js on Asure How did you get into JavaScript? Worked at a newspaper in the software division Ajax jQuery Wanted to write better apps CodePush Stayed in JavaScript community because it brings him inspiration and excitement Likes to be able and look back on his past projects App development for fun Is there anything that you are particularly proud of? Profiling tools Liked building tools that meet people where they are at and simplify their jobs Qordoba React Native And much, much more! Links: JavaScript Microsoft Asure Node.js jQuery CodePush Qordoba React Native @LostinTangent Jonathan’s GitHub Picks Charles Anti-Pick: Intellibed Tuft and Needle Jonathan Notion Doomsday by Architects

Panel: Charles Max Wood Guest: Jonathan Carter This week on My JavaScript Story, Charles speaks with Jonathan Carter. Jonathan is a PM at Microsoft and has been a web developer for over 15 years. At Microsoft, he’s had the opportunity to work on tooling, platform pieces for JavaScript applications, and many other things. He first got into programming when his uncle let him shadow him and the IT department he had working for him, and this is where he was first introduced to software and the idea of working with computers as a career. They talk about his proudest accomplishments within the JavaScript community as well as what he is working on now. In particular, we dive pretty deep on: Jonathan intro Asure How did you first get into programming? Interest in creating a website Dual enrollment in high school at local community college Started off with VB6 Uncle was very active in his programming start .net Scrappy boredom mixed with curiosity led to him actually getting into software Everyone comes into programming differently Your past is important in explaining where you have ended up Node.js on Asure How did you get into JavaScript? Worked at a newspaper in the software division Ajax jQuery Wanted to write better apps CodePush Stayed in JavaScript community because it brings him inspiration and excitement Likes to be able and look back on his past projects App development for fun Is there anything that you are particularly proud of? Profiling tools Liked building tools that meet people where they are at and simplify their jobs Qordoba React Native And much, much more! Links: JavaScript Microsoft Asure Node.js jQuery CodePush Qordoba React Native @LostinTangent Jonathan’s GitHub Picks Charles Anti-Pick: Intellibed Tuft and Needle Jonathan Notion Doomsday by Architects

In this episode Greg and Martin talk about VSTS Checkboxes (really), VSTS Build and VB6 (really), Azure DevTest Labs, SonarQube, TFS Dev's in a GitHub World, PI Build Lights, dotnetconf and more. For feedback contact radiotfs@outlook.com, call +1 425 233-8379 or visit http://www.radiotfs.com

In this episode Greg and Martin talk about VSTS Checkboxes (really), VSTS Build and VB6 (really), Azure DevTest Labs, SonarQube, TFS Dev's in a GitHub World, PI Build Lights, dotnetconf and more. For feedback contact radiotfs@outlook.com, call +1 425 233-8379 or visit http://www.radiotfs.com

Hoje, Giovanni Bassi (@giovannibassi) nos conta sua trajetória, dos primórdios do VB6 no cd da banquinha até se tornar sócio da Lambda3. Uma história incrível e com grandes lições valiosas. Embarque nessa jornada com @femontanha e @raymonsanches ;)

Carl and Richard talk to Francesco Balena about migrating VB6 applications to .NET. Yes, that's still happening! With Microsoft ending support for Windows XP in April 2014, folks that have been hanging onto old platforms and applications are taking another look at migrating. Francesco makes an amazing tool called VB Migration Partner that analyzes VB6 apps to identify what parts of an application can be converted into VB.NET (or C#) and what parts need to be rewritten. While migration is never simple, Francesco provides great advice on how to make it possible. Still got some VB6 in your life?Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/net-rocks/donations

Carl and Richard talk to Francesco Balena about migrating VB6 applications to .NET. Yes, that's still happening! With Microsoft ending support for Windows XP in April 2014, folks that have been hanging onto old platforms and applications are taking another look at migrating. Francesco makes an amazing tool called VB Migration Partner that analyzes VB6 apps to identify what parts of an application can be converted into VB.NET (or C#) and what parts need to be rewritten. While migration is never simple, Francesco provides great advice on how to make it possible. Still got some VB6 in your life?Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/net-rocks/donations

Подкаст о суровых реалиях китайского украинского аутсорсинга. Рассказывает об этом наш хороший приятель Александр Кондуфоров. Саша работает архитектором в аутсорсинговой (кто бы мог подумать да?) компании AltexSoft, ввиду чего совмещает обязанности программиста, консультанта и менеджера проектов, в том числе. Хочется отметить, что его выделяет именно сильная программисткая сущность, он действительно шарит, а не просто рулит проектами.В выпуске:как получить проектна что не стоит тратить времякак убедить клиента перейти с VB6 на HTML5как правильно оценить проектесть ли жизнь при скраметреканье времени - да или нетстоит ли продавать одного MVP специалиста нескольким клиентамP.S. Рестута в момент записи находился в горячей точке, поэтому звучит не так как все =)

In this show we get some updates on TechEd, tfspreview.com, the new Team Explorer in Visual Studio 11, VB6 with TFS and Martin goes off on a tangent about TFS Proxy servers. For feedback contact radiotfs@gmail.com, call +1 425 233-8379 or visit http://www.radiotfs.com

In this show we get some updates on TechEd, tfspreview.com, the new Team Explorer in Visual Studio 11, VB6 with TFS and Martin goes off on a tangent about TFS Proxy servers. For feedback contact radiotfs@gmail.com, call +1 425 233-8379 or visit http://www.radiotfs.com

VB6 hosts its first special guest: Maggie Cavanaugh! Maggie expresses her distaste for Bryan, while Joe gives reviews for the first three installments of the Fast & Furious film series - a perfect preface for any who intend to see the fourth in theaters! Also, the groundbreaking (pun intended) parody novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies inevitably comes up. Surrender your brain!

Francesco Balena talks about his groundbreaking work in migrating VB6 applications to VB.NETSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/net-rocks/donations

Chicago Regional Director Jon Rauschenberger shares his secrets for converting VB6 applications to .NET using a toolkit that he helped the Microsoft VB team develop.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/net-rocks/donations