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Invitation to T-SQL Tuesday #33 – Trick Shots (#tsql2sday)

Aug 7th, 2012
by Mike Fal.

For a while, I was in an amateur pool league.  No, not the one involving water and swimming, but where you try to sink balls into pockets.  It was a lot of fun and is a challenge both for your motor skills as well as your strategy.  I still shoot from time to time, as well as hang out with my old pool buddies.

One thing guys would get into is trick shots.  Two and three rail bank shots, masse shots, or jumping the cue ball to hit the target.  Most of these shots weren’t tournament legal, but they were fun to try and nice to impress the ladies.  More than that, they were a tool to teach you the physics of your pool game.  You could see how throw and English could affect your shot, or how balls would behave after impact.

Just like so many other things I do in my life, the trick shot lessons translate over to SQL Server.  How many times have we built something neat or puzzled out a particular bit of logic that, while it may not have been particularly useful, taught us about how SQL Server behaves.  This month’s T-SQL Tuesday is all about this and the assignment is two-fold:

  1. Show us a cool trick or process you developed, maybe a DMV you used or some reporting logic you created.  It doesn’t have to be useful, just something that you thought was pretty neat.
  2. Tell us what you learned from this trick.  Is it something about an oddity in SSRS?  Maybe with the query processor?  Whatever you did, tell us how it gave you insight in to how SQL Server works.

Now with that out of the way, keep in mind the ground rules for T-SQL Tuesday:

  • Posts must be made between August 14, 2012 00:00:00 GMT and August 15, 2012 00:00:00 GMT.
  • Your post should contain the T-SQL Tuesday logo and a link back to this post.
  • If you don’t see your post in trackbacks (give me ~30 minutes to approve), post a link to your post in the comments of this post.

If you’re on Twitter, you can follow T-SQL Tuesday at #tsql2sday.  Follow it, it’s a great way to see what everyone is writing about!  And if you’re interested, Adam Machanic(b|t) handles the T-SQL Tuesday hosting list, contact him if you have an idea for one.

Posted in: T-SQL Tuesday.
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21 Comments

  1. T-SQL Tuesday Topics – Febuary 2012 « Voice of the DBA says:
    2012/08/08 at 16:31

    […] T-SQL Tuesday #33 – Trick Shot […]

    Reply
  2. Something for the Weekend - SQL Server Links 10/08/12 says:
    2012/08/10 at 05:15

    […] Invitation to T-SQL Tuesday #33 – Trick Shots – Get involved in the community and share your thoughts/stories/insights through T-SQL Tuesday, this month hosted by Mike Fal (Blog|Twitter). […]

    Reply
  3. Adam Machanic says:
    2012/08/12 at 16:58

    Hi Mike,

    The dates in your post are incorrect. It should be August 14, 00:00:00 GMT through August 15, 11:59:59.99 GMT. Hopefully most readers will understand this anyway, but you might want to fix it just in case :-)

    –Adam

    Reply
    1. Mike Fal says:
      2012/08/12 at 17:52

      Whoops! Corrected.

      Reply
  4. Rob Farley says:
    2012/08/13 at 20:25

    Mine’s at: http://sqlblog.com/blogs/rob_farley/archive/2012/08/14/tricks-in-t-sql.aspx

    Thanks for hosting. :)

    Rob

    Reply
  5. T-SQL TuesDay #31 – Trick Shot « SQL from the Trenches says:
    2012/08/13 at 23:34

    […] […]

    Reply
  6. T-SQL Tuesday #33 – Trick Shot « Voice of the DBA says:
    2012/08/14 at 04:31

    […] T-SQL Tuesday time again, and this is my post for #33. The host is Jeff Smith and his topic is Trick Shots, which is an interesting one. I’m not a tricky guy, and I tend to lean towards common, practical […]

    Reply
  7. T-SQL Tuesday #33 – Trick Shots | Jim McLeod says:
    2012/08/14 at 05:50

    […] T-SQL Tuesday again, and this month’s gracious host is Mike Fal (Blog | Twitter), urging us to deliver wonderful stories about SQL Server trick shots. […]

    Reply
  8. T-SQL Tuesday #33 – Trick Shots | OliverAsmus.com says:
    2012/08/14 at 06:06

    […] month’s T-SQL Tuesday is hosted by Mike Fal (Blog | Twitter).  For this edition, the invitation was to show a cool trick you developed in SQL Server and explain how it helped you learn about how […]

    Reply
  9. T-SQL Tuesday #33 : Trick Shots : Schema Switch-A-Roo says:
    2012/08/14 at 06:25

    […] month’s T-SQL Tuesday is being hosted by Mike Fal (blog | twitter), and the topic is Trick Shots, where we’re invited to tell the community about some solution we used in SQL Server that […]

    Reply
  10. Aaron Bertrand says:
    2012/08/14 at 06:26

    http://www.sqlperformance.com/2012/08/t-sql-queries/t-sql-tuesday-schema-switch-a-roo

    Reply
  11. T-SQL #33 - What happens if....? (#tsql2sday) | Art of the DBA says:
    2012/08/14 at 08:02

    […] for joining me this month, where I not only get to contribute but also host T-SQL Tuesday. I’m excited to see what other things our peers can teach us about the things they’ve […]

    Reply
  12. Nigel Peter Sammy says:
    2012/08/14 at 10:25

    My post: http://www.nigelpsammy.com/2012/08/t-sql-tuesday-33-monitoring-log-file.html

    Thanks for hosting

    Reply
  13. Tracy McKibben (RealSQLGuy) says:
    2012/08/14 at 10:26

    http://www.real-sql-guy.com/2012/08/are-we-there-yet.html

    Reply
  14. Chris Shaw says:
    2012/08/14 at 11:20

    My post…

    http://chrisshaw.wordpress.com/2012/08/14/track-your-cluster-failovers-t-sql-tuesday-33/

    Thanks for the question, it was a good one.

    Reply
  15. Rob Volk says:
    2012/08/14 at 17:58

    Great choice Mike, just the kind of thing I like:

    http://weblogs.sqlteam.com/robv/archive/2012/08/14/t-sql-tuesday-33-trick-shots-undocumented-underdocumented-and-unknown.aspx

    Reply
  16. T-SQL Tuesday: Trick Shots (Currency Conversion in SSAS) | Salvo(z) says:
    2012/08/14 at 17:58

    […] is T-SQL Tuesday #33 hosted by Mike Fal.  The topic is SQL Server – Trick Shots.  This assignment involves blogging about a cool process or trick you implemented that is […]

    Reply
  17. Jose L. Rivera says:
    2012/08/14 at 20:36

    My Post: http://www.jlrivmir.com/2012/08/14/t-sql-tuesday-33-trick-shots/

    It was my first one and I really enjoyed the topic!

    Reply
  18. T-SQL Tuesday: Trick Shots (Currency Conversion in SSAS) | Salvo(z) says:
    2012/10/12 at 21:15

    […] is T-SQL Tuesday #33 hosted by Mike Fal.  The topic is SQL Server – Trick Shots.  This assignment involves blogging about a cool process or trick you implemented that is related […]

    Reply
  19. T-SQL Tuesday Topics – December 2012 Update « Voice of the DBA says:
    2012/12/10 at 14:40

    […] T-SQL Tuesday #33 – Trick Shot (roundup) […]

    Reply
  20. 2012 T-SQL Tuesdays – T-SQL Tuesday says:
    2017/02/24 at 08:53

    […] Aug – T-SQL Tuesday #33 – Trick Shot (roundup) […]

    Reply

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