A New Word: Vicarous

Posted on July 26, 2024 by way0utwest

vicarous – adj. curious to know what someone else would do if they were in your shoes, eager to watch another actor put their own spin on the character of YOU – carrying your body differently, speaking in a tone you never use, saying and doing things you didn’t even know were an option – a performance that might well end in disaster but would at least remind you that there are many different ways to play this role, even though you tend to assume you’re just reading the lines as written.

I am not an actor. I haven’t participated in theater or movies, though I have learned a bit about what it’s like from various presentations, promotions, and interviews I’ve done. While I’m always me, I don’t always feel as happy as I may appear.

That being said, I do think that I am just reading my lines by being me. My approach to life and work changes over time, somewhat like a rewrite of a character in a show, but these are the choices I make for a better life, career, relationship, whatever.

I don’t usually wonder how someone else might approach my life, though certainly I do wonder if others might perform better in things I do at work. Or coaching. I think about how another presenter might deliver my talk, or

I sometimes wish I were a better character in my personal life, but I don’t ever think about someone else would play my role. That feels too weird.

I mostly think about how I could learn to be better by watching someone else play their role.

From the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

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Updating dbatools–Fixing the Certificate Failure

Posted on July 24, 2024 by way0utwest

I was trying to update my dbatools install to test something and go this error.

2024-06-27 13_23_12-C__Users_Steve (Admin)

I fixed it with a little help.

The Fix

The short answer from Chrissy LeMaire is to run this:

install-module dbatools  -Force –SkipPublisherCheck

That worked.

2024-06-27 13_35_36-C__Users_Steve (Admin)

Why?

Chrissy explained this, but essentially it’s a certificate approval thing. Certificates work by verifying each other in a chain. One cert checks another, which checks another, etc.

In this case, Microsoft changed some things and while the dbatools goes through some of these things, the update-module is doing extra checks. Supposedly MS will fix this.

In any case, if you need an update, you need to bypass things for now.

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Thinking About Technology

Posted on July 24, 2024 by way0utwest

Technology has dramatically changed the world over time. The advent of cars dramatically changed the US, as people could go places and meet others in a way that was difficult and slow before. The telephone let us communicate with people all over the world at a pace that was previously impossible. Computer technology has furthered this at a truly amazing pace, especially since the adoption of mobile devices by so many people. The flexibility in how we can integrate computer technology into our lives has been incredible.

However, each technology change brings about plenty of negatives and potential problems as well. I ran across a piece from L. M. Sacasas that has some questions we might ask about any technology, including the software we build. The start of the piece is that most of us don’t think about how our work might be misused, which can lead us to dismiss security risks or moral misuse risks. We often don’t consider the malicious ways people view applications.

The piece is interesting to read, but it ends with several questions that we might ask ourselves as we build something. I think a lot of these questions might not apply to our work with databases or corporate technology, but some do. I think many of them might apply if we think about the tools we use, especially AI.

Most things many of us build are re-hashes of something else. We might smooth the flow of work with better UX in an application. We might rewrite code to more efficiently use resources. We might implement features or reports in response to a business request, but we often are lightly evolving our software not changing it. We do, however, build things that others might misuse, either accidentally or maliciously.

The list of questions is interesting, but I also think we need to consider that others might use your system differently, not just from a UX perspective. Consider how they might exploit your software to achieve other aims. We may not be security experts, but others are experts and there are plenty of tools available to scan code and identify vulnerabilities. Use these tools with the knowledge that just because you wouldn’t use the software in a particular way doesn’t mean others won’t.

Steve Jones

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THAT Conference 2024 in Wisconsin Dells

Posted on July 23, 2024 by way0utwest

THAT ConferenceI’m headed back to Wisconsin Dells next week for THAT! Conference 2024. This is my second time in Wisconsin and third THAT overall. This time I didn’t submit, but Redgate is sponsoring the event and they asked me to deliver a session. I’ll be talking about Best Practices for Seamless Database Deployments on Tuesday morning, but there are a bunch of other good sessions taking place on Tue-Thur.

Each time I’ve gone, it’s been an enjoyable experience, learning about various developer and database technologies from others. It’s a fun family atmosphere and I recommend this conference as one to consider if you want to learn about any development topics.

Last year I learned about Rust and hummus in one talk, about containerized builds, and TDD. I also learned about Mind Over Milkshakes, which inspired that piece.

If you’re near Madison, this is a short drive. It’s worth checking out THAT and trying the conference if you want a family friendly developer event.

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