[thelist] way OT -- keyboard woes

[spinhead]

Before you by a new keyboard (keep in mind, folks, that $12US is
$120,995.84CN) try this:

Disconnect the keyboard. Go somewhere you don't mind spilling (the driveway,
or the neighbor's vegetable garden.) Pour a liberal amount of rubbing
alcohol in the keyboard. Swirl, as if panning for gold. Pour it out and let
it dry.

If it's still dead, buy a new one. Or, if you can find a genuine IBM from
about fifteen years ago (with the 10 pound steel backing plate) grab that
and use it forever. They don't die.

spinhead


----- Original Message -----
From: "rudy" <r937 at interlog.com>
To: <thelist at lists.evolt.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2001 8:23 PM
Subject: [thelist] way OT -- keyboard woes


> a couple of the keys on my keyboard have died from overuse
>
> i've pried the caps off to see if there's an accumulation of grunge under
> them, but that's not the problem, and it looks like there's a rubber
> thingie under the cap, so maybe the electrical contact is grungy under
> that?  i don't want to pry the rubber thingie up, in case i rip it, but
> before i take the keyboard apart from the bottom, perhaps someone can
> advise whether i should even bother -- have i just pounded the key to
> death, or can it be fixed?   by me?
>
>
> <tip type="sql">
>
> want to display a total line as well as detail records from your database?
> don't do it in your server script (asp, php, cold fusion, whatever)
because
> hey, life's too short to code needlessly, and even if you write real nice
> tight code, the database can always do it faster and more reliably...
>
>    select "detail line:"
>         , col1
>         , col2
>         , (col1 + col2) as rowsum
>      from yourTable
> union all
>    select "total line:"
>         , sum(col1)
>         , sum(col2)
>         , sum(col1) + sum(col2)
>      from yourTable
> order by 1, 2
>
> the entire result set (from both subqueries) is sequenced by the first and
> second columns -- the "detail/total" literal, and then the value of col1
>
> it is a convenient coincidence that "detail line:" sorts ahead of "total
> line:"
>
> also, note once again that it's "union all" instead of just union, since
> you know there will never be any duplicate rows generated by the two
> subqueries, so the sort to detect dupes is not necessary
>
> if you're accessing mysql, you may need to issue two queries -- slightly
> slower, and perhaps you'll then want to program the buckets yourself, but
> you must resist the temptation, because it is far far less upwardly
> compatible that way...  mysql plans to support union some day...
>
> </tip>
>
>
> rudy
>
>
>
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