I recently read a heated debate on the age-old argument: should I use RAID 5 or RAID 10 for my database? I noted a particularly relevant treatment of the topic (read it here), and figured like any good DBA I'd chime in with my thoughts.

The basic premise for the argument (which was, oddly, from a business guru...NOT a tech geek) was that given a required performance level and budget, what setup would provide better data safety?

"Any DBA would ask you to give them...

I like OpenBSD. Minus about 2 tiny details, it really is (IMHO) the most superior OS on the planet. Sure, I'm a fanboy, I admit it freely =)

One of those "2 tiny details" is the lack of a flash player for OpenBSD. I mean, sure, there's the opera-linux-emulation-crapola that's hovering between vaporware and "our project admin died and we forgot to tell you" (it's still flash 7...flash 10 is out now!). Blarg. There must be a better way.

Some...

It's been said that learning from other's mistakes is truly the "divine" way to learn, as you don't have to experience the pain of the mistake firsthand. While I agree with this to an extent, I also believe that nothing can take the place of firsthand experience. A wise man once told me that you learn more in 10 minutes of playing guitar in front of a crowd than you do in 10 hours of playing guitar in your bedroom (thanks, RS). The difference? When you're playing for a crowd, there...