“Value cannot be null. Parameter name: encoder” when importing with Toad for MySQL

I’ve been working on importing some data sets for a project tonight and keep coming across the error message “Value cannot be null.  Parameter name: encoder” when using Toad for MySQL v.4.1.  The files I’m importing are comma separated text files where strings (text) are not enclosed in any quotation characters.  As an aside, I’ve [...]

Excel Sparklines

About a month ago I upgraded to Vista Enterprise and Office 2007 Professional on my desktop computer and boy howdy have I been seeing this message frequently!

Grrrrr…another shutdown!

This has not been a fully random experience but occurs when modifying data series and axes in graphs.  Some days I don’t experience a shutdown at all while [...]

Business haiku

On change

“We need above all to know about changes; no one wants or needs to be reminded 16 hours a day that his shoes are on.”
- David Hubel

On torturing data

“Given the magnitude of the challenge, systems for knowledge creation and use will be obviously pushed, perhaps to their limits. It is important, however, not to push them too hard and too far. To draw on an analogy from statistical analysis, it is one thing to torture the data until they confess; it is something [...]

One of the processes I follow

“Hallo!” said Piglet, “what are you doing?” …
“Tracking something, ” said Winnie-the-Pooh very mysteriously.
“Tracking what?” said Piglet, coming closer.
“That’s just what I ask myself. I ask myself, What?”
“What do you think you’ll answer?”
“I shall have to wait until I catch up with it,” said Winnie-the-Pooh.

From A.A. Milne’s classic.  Paul Velleman puts this snippet at [...]