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| Edgar Codd is the big fish in relational database design. |
In the 1960s and 1970s, Edgar Codd worked out the basics for the relational database concept, which IBM was reluctant and slow to implement.
A flat database, like an address book, is no different from software sorting cards, although that can be quite useful. I used my first flat database, ProFile, to organize address lists, and then to build up the database of quotations, Megatron, that has bedeviled the liars in the WELS, LCMS, and ELS. I learned how that worked by watching Little Ichabod list his Transformers by their attributes and print lists of them sorted by IQ, strength, and so forth. So I printed lists based on authors, subject matter, and Biblical references.
I thought Megatron was gone forever, but I found it preserved on DropBox, where I store many files.
I studied database management long enough to realize how little I was suited for that profession, but I learned enough to be impressed with the possibilities.
A relational database stores entities and can create all kinds of useful data based on those entities. Examples of entities at a school would be lists of:
- Students and all their personal data.
- Classrooms.
- Buildings.
- Calendar
A student's individual schedule is based on relating those lists or tables to each other. If all of that can be related to their DMV records, one could find all the students with unpaid tickets or recent accidents, etc. More data means better results. How many students chew gum and drive Corvettes? Relating the data to shopping records can obtain the result, which is good for placing ads.
Enter Google, incorporated in 1998. The founders rewrote search engines by using published links, so the old problem of clicking on dead links was mostly eliminated.
If you doubt the ability of search engines to store data and relate it, then put your line phone number in Google and search. It might list your phone number, where it has appeared on web pages, names of adults in your household, and the address of the home. Or do a vanity search on your name with some qualifier, like "Lutheran."
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| Google offices are googlesque. |
Blogging and Databases - Search Engine Optimization
I use Google Blogger, which puts the data from each post directly into the search engine. Some of the important material--besides content--includes:
- Labels
- Titles of posts
- Graphics
- Captions of graphics
- Biblical citations
- Names
- Google Plus
- Facebook posting of the URL
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) means moving the post near the top of results in search engines. Each item in the list directly above contributes to that goal. That is why people searching for graphics and topics about Lutherans will find Ichabod so often, and their searches help move up the SEO results.
Going backwards in research is fun, too. When I posted about the nefarious and scrofulous Fox Valley WELS, I always got vicious comments. They came by email, with a time stamp, and I could see who was on the blog with software I installed on the blog.
Taking my cue from the Midway battle in WWII*, I posted a provocative statement about Fox Valley and got an comment with that area glowing red on my map. I checked on the operating system, which also showed on my software. Mac computer - that limited the author to a select few; Mac has a small share of the market, and I knew who used them. (*US intelligence posted a message about the fresh water being broken on Midway, and the Japanese used their code for Midway to relay that information. So it was clear that the US had broken their code wide open.)
Likewise, I received super-nasty comments from Garland, Texas. Who was in Garland? The original guesses were wrong, but it was home for DP-in-Waiting Don Patterson. Did he post when visiting his kin or have someone post for him? The situation was too rich to leave alone, so I voiced my concerns, and the comments disappeared.
Patterson promotes Easter by promising the kiddies live bunny rabbits to pet. I quoted that from his parish website. The next year, it appeared in a separate website, which I found by search Patterson and live bunnies. (The search for Ski and live bunnies was worse, as I revealed.) After that, the bunny posts disappeared at Easter. Doebler promoted them too, which is why he is the Larry Olson Professor of Evangelism at the portable mini-seminary in Asia.
Going backwards in research is fun, too. When I posted about the nefarious and scrofulous Fox Valley WELS, I always got vicious comments. They came by email, with a time stamp, and I could see who was on the blog with software I installed on the blog.
Taking my cue from the Midway battle in WWII*, I posted a provocative statement about Fox Valley and got an comment with that area glowing red on my map. I checked on the operating system, which also showed on my software. Mac computer - that limited the author to a select few; Mac has a small share of the market, and I knew who used them. (*US intelligence posted a message about the fresh water being broken on Midway, and the Japanese used their code for Midway to relay that information. So it was clear that the US had broken their code wide open.)
Likewise, I received super-nasty comments from Garland, Texas. Who was in Garland? The original guesses were wrong, but it was home for DP-in-Waiting Don Patterson. Did he post when visiting his kin or have someone post for him? The situation was too rich to leave alone, so I voiced my concerns, and the comments disappeared.
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| "Enjoy our bunnies at The Core's Easter service." |
Patterson promotes Easter by promising the kiddies live bunny rabbits to pet. I quoted that from his parish website. The next year, it appeared in a separate website, which I found by search Patterson and live bunnies. (The search for Ski and live bunnies was worse, as I revealed.) After that, the bunny posts disappeared at Easter. Doebler promoted them too, which is why he is the Larry Olson Professor of Evangelism at the portable mini-seminary in Asia.
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| I used Google to tie these jellyfish together. They try to hide their work for their Father Below, but they cannot help bragging about themselves. |