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Jonathan Lewis

@jloracle.bsky.social
258 followers 47 following 557 posts

Nearly-retired Oracle performance specialist. 50 years using computers, 40 years self-employed, 35 years as a freelance Oracle specialist.

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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
I've just got back from the Yvonne Arnaud in Guildford after the matine performance of "12 Angry Men". Brilliant script, with excellent performances all round. End of run, unfortunately, but starts again in Feb at the Richmond Theatre.
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
When I spent some time commuting to London I used to wonder why there was always at least one storming furiously up the platform at Waterloo. Then I did the arithmetic and stopped being surprised. (It wasn't due to conditions on the train.)
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I went to a really good lecture at the Royal Institution last night, www.rigb.org/whats-on/sto... Fun fact - in the Q&A at the end - there are two broad classes of dinosaur, lizard hipped and bird hipped. Guess which class birds evolved from. Yes, the "wrong" one.
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Nice note. That's the type of investigation that should happen for every new feature affecting the optimizer and the run-time engine.
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
How could I have missed: Snow White and the dwarf Ocean's one
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
A bride for a brother The one dollar brain A wedding and a funeral
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
If you've ever owned an Osmiroid fountain pen (a line discontinued about 30 years ago) did you realise the name was derived from the names of the elements included in the special alloy used for the nib? Osmium and Iridium.
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Now reading: Periodic Tales - The Curious Lives of the Elemnts Author: Hugh Aldersey-Williams Lots of bits of fascinating and entertaining history (et al.) but a slow read for me because I keep stopping every couple of pages to jump around the internet collecting related background information.
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
We'd had about 7mm by 8:30 am, maybe about 25mm by 4.00 pm. I'd set up a rain trap on top of my compost bins and it managed to collect about 50 ltr, which I was quite pleased with.
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
So, @martinwidlake.bsky.social , has any rain landed near you in the last 8 hours, or did I get all of it?
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
After #poug2026, the only other user group conference I speak at now, the UKOUG:
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Big thankyou to @pougorg.bsky.social for organising #poug2026. Great event, greate choice of city, great speakers.
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
(The bit about the nuclear alarm might be an urban legend.)
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Could be worse - it might beep every 10 seconds to let you know it's still working. (Fun fact - the raditation alarm at (some of) the British nuclear reactor sites is (used to be) a constant steady and loud honk honk honk. It was only when it went silent that you ran like hell.)
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Never thought about it before but time zones (in the real world) are very messy!
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Just checked for an old SQLServer note I wrote some time ago (16 years) where I said I'd like to see the INCLUDE option in Oracle Two reasons: included columns as "carried data" wouldn't/shouldn't affect the clustering_factor, and wouldn't make index entries move (possibly only logically) on update
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
datediff() deciphers date differences differently ?!
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
I'm sure that the sentiment could be worked very elegantly into the Santayana "quotable quote": "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
On the plus side, your lawn still looks like it’s flat and unbroken. I don’t understand how mine can dry out AND heave up and crack at the same time. Shouldn’t things shrink when you remove the water ? The first crack is a foot long and 8 inches deep, and the line extends about 8ft across the “lawn”
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
The sad thing is that it wouldn't necessarily help. With rain (hail) like that the water would run away before any of it could soften up the ground and soak in. My biggest problem at present is watering the crops slowly enough to get the roots damp. Turns a 90 minute task into a 5 hour labour.
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Once you've addressed the initial error, though, you may find (in principle) that you're now exposed to an ORA-01002 run-time error.
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Okay, spotted it (probably)
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
The local flower show is on this Saturday - and I've put entries into 6 classes. Now I just have to figure out how to work around the three days at 30+ that lead up to it.
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Reposted by Jonathan Lewis
Doug Burns @orcldoug.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Domain gone, database gone, files gone — but the Wayback Machine had it all. I've (actually Claude) rebuilt oracledoug.com from the archive, post by post. Back at orcldoug.com: 700+ Oracle posts & comments, the old white papers, and my '80s Speccy games playable in-browser. 🕹️ orcldoug.com
orcldoug.com
Home - Doug Burns Oracle Resources
Welcome to oracledoug.com The primary purpose of this site was always to distribute various Oracle-related papers I’ve written and presented at User Group conferences over the years. Alongside those y...
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Addressing the aspect of what goes into the Thames (or other British rivers) there is a petition running to collect 100,000 UK signatures to ensure that new sewage handling mechanism meet higher standards. If the TW proposal worries you, please sign: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/76...
petition.parliament.uk
Petition: Ensure new sewage treatment infrastructure meets higher standards as in the EU
We urge the government to review the regulations for new sewage treatment infrastructure and introduce new legislation to ensure high international standards are met; to safeguard people’s health, bet...
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
3/N Coincidentally 75Ml is roughly 13% of current leakage,,and the time to go live is roughly the same as the time since the baseline figure on wastage. Given the health and ecological concerns, fixing leaks faster looks like a better idea than pumping (partially treated) water into the Thames ...
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
2/N There are concerns about the potential on human health, and on the ecology of the river and its surroundings. The project is likely to go live in 2033. Currently TW loses 575Ml/day in leakage of clean water - a figure that is roughly a 13% reduction since 2019/2020 (AGM notes 2026) ...
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
1/N A request for UK readers: Thames Water has proposed building a "drought relief" system that will extract 75Ml per day from the Thames above Teddington lock, and replace it further downstream with "partially" (though, one hopes, pretty well) treated waste water further down stream. ...
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Eat you, sir! With a gammy leg!
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Just got back from @rigb.org and an excellent presentation by Astronomer Royal Michele Dougherty on the Galileo and Cassini missions to Jupiter and Saturn respectively. What they did, why and how the did it, and some of the excitement, drama and dedication driving the missions..
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Terrific program - pencilled in 24 events over the next 12 months; resisting temptation on a few others but I may add some of them in as they become bookable.
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Reposted by Jonathan Lewis
Gresham College @greshamcollege.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Our 2026–27 lecture programme is here! 🎉 Join us live, online or in person – always free! 📅 👉 gres.hm/whats-on From our astronomical future and #AI to marvellous #medicines, global #film, #music, #LGBTQ histories & staging #Shakespeare, there's something for everyone! #GreshamCollege #EduSky
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Ted Stryk @tedstryk.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Today in 1976, 50 years ago, the Viking 1 lander touched down on Chryse Planitia, Mars, and became humanity's first long term outpost on another world (the Venera Venus landers lasted an hour or two, Viking 1 lasted over 6 years).
A view from Viking 1 in 1976, showing Martian dunes  and the boulder "Big Joe."
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
No problems with the Dwarf French beans - but they get a little more shade for parts of the day and there are some "bee-friendly" plants nearby.
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
I've been nurturing my runner bean plants for the last couple of weeks. Plenty of foliage, lots of flowers, but virtually no beans setting. Is it too hot for the plants, do they drop the flowers too soon? Is it too hot for the bees (or other pollinators)? Aren't there enough bees around any more?
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Just had the members' email from @rigb.org with their Autumn timetable - and find that I want to book 14 events Unfortunately the very first event on my list (Genetic Discoveries) collided with one I've pencilled in from the @greshamcollege.bsky.social (Results from Vera Rubin) Too much choice!
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Now there's a suspicious coincidence. I lost a set of pliers just like those a couple of weeks ago - been searching for them ever since.
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
So every time I place an order I have to go through the rigmarole of cancelling prime If I've selected "not interested in prime" I don't expect to be told I have to take it so that I then have to cancel it If I take it they may ask a month later if I want to continue, but they don't say that
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
As far as I can tell I can't stop Amazon from "giving" me a month of Prime "free" with my order - but I can't find anything that says they won't start charging a monthly fee after that month is up So no orders from Amazon ever again until they make it clear that FREE means "no strings attached"
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
2/2 At the end of each year dig out the old pit before reusing it - at which time it was supposed to be good soil enrichment. I don't recall seeing any comments about human pathogens - but maybe there was something said about the effects of a year composting killing them off.
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
1/2 Intresting. The website has changed significantly from when my offspring bought me a twinned toilet for Christmas. Then the design was 2 pits, with a housing and movable seating. Use the left pit this year, then use the right pit next year. ...
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Is there a mechanism for extracting fertiliser or do you have to get the tank pumped out from time to time? Contemplating ideas of allotment toilets similar to the "twin a toilet" type - two tanks and housing to switch tanks annually: toilettwinning.org
toilettwinning.org
Toilet Twinning - Find your toilet’s other half
Twin your toilet and fund a project in a community that helps families to build their own basic toilet, access clean water and learn about hygiene – a vital combination that saves lives.
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
I think it's Robert De Niro in "Meet the parents" who quotes the mantra of minimising water wastage: "If it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down."
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Maybe I should have started my question with: "don't take this personally but ..." The answer was Gordon R. Dickson, in a short story published in the September 1965 issue of Analog Science Fiction magazine. The title was "Computers Don't Argue"
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Just discovered a good use for AI searches: "Who wrote a short story about a man who borrowed a library copy of "Kidnapped" and ended up executed for kidnapping a minor thanks to computer errors?" The AI produced the right answer, with synopsis, despite various inaccuracies in the description.
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Not during the next 24 hours, presumably.
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Personally I would have made sure the new one was in and working before removing the old one - but you know what IT people are like with the newest tech.
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Things you find when you're not looking for them. Oracle has had a "cursor_sharing_exact" hint for many versions - at least back to 11.1.0.7, but probably further. Oracle 23ai finally introduces its inverse, the statment level hint: cursor_sharing_force
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Jonathan Lewis @jloracle.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Forgot to mention that I'd written a blog note about Oracle's savepoints (as in "rollback to savepoint" yesterday; to which I've add the explanation of the observed behaviour today (although several comments had already addressed that point adequately). jonathanlewis.wordpress.com/2026/06/26/s...
jonathanlewis.wordpress.com
Savepoint Funny
Here’s an example that makes perfect sense if you know how Oracle handles data locking. It’s one that I thought I’d published years ago, but it’s not on the blog and the onl…
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