The Ji Village News

季庄新闻–Haidong Ji’s Blog

I talked about how to install ZiGuang Chinese input software on an English Windows machine here in this post.

Recently I came across InputKing, which allows Chinese input on ANY machine that has Internet access through a web interface. This is perfect for people to try different input methods, playing around, and enter Chinese in many different places. I’ve tried it and it is just awesome.

I am curious about different input methods and their advantages and disadvantages. My Chinese input speed is pretty slow. I am a self-trained touch typist so my English typing speed is decent. I have ZiGuang pinyin on my laptop. I like ZiGuang pinyin because for common phrases, I just need to type the Sheng Mu (声母) and ZiGuang would give me the list of words for me to choose from. However, not knowing other input methods, I am not sure if I miss out on something better.

What is your favorite Chinese input method and why? What tricks and/or shortcuts do you use? Pinyin, Wubi, Microsoft Pinyin, ShuangPin, and/or others? I’d appreciate it if you let me know by commenting below, either in English or Chinese. Thanks.

PS. I highly recommend touch typing. It can make such a big impact on your life, given that most of us use computers everyday. I didn’t touch a computer until when I was in my early 20s so my typing speed was pretty bad for a long time. I taught myself touch typing in 2003. I am so glad I did that. It is very liberating when inputting text is not a hindrance. There are a lot of typing programs available on the web. TypingMaster is one of the best.

I am co-writing another book on Sql Server 2005. This book will focus on administration. I’ve been busy with a lot of technical work lately, and will not post as often as before.

Long time readers know that I co-wrote a book on Sql Server Integration Services. It has brought me fame from all over the world, although my worries about tabloids and paparazzi have been proven to be unfounded.

Thanks again Brain for the opportunities!

Like osql, if you use up and down arrow, sqlcmd will cycle through sql statements you ran earlier. This can be handy. You can also invoke your editor for command editing, as I discussed here.

In a previous post, I mentioned that it may be a good security practice to rename sa to something else.

However, if you did that and later on decided to make the server a distributor in replication, you will get the error message below:

Cannot find the principal ’sa’, because it does not exist or you do not have permission.
‘distribution’ is not configured as a distribution database.
Changed database context to ‘master’. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 15151)

Solution: rename it back to sa, proceed with replication distribution setup, then rename sa to something else.

Terrorists have successfully waged a campaign on that island rented from Cuba and it is a brilliant PR move on their part, according to generals supervising the facilities there. The weapon of their choice, surely not the kind Saddam was accused to have that is commonly referred to as weapons of mass destruction, is made out of bed sheets and clothes.

“They have no regard for human life, neither ours nor their own. I believe this (suicide) was not an act of desperation but an act of asymmetric warfare against us” - Navy Rear-Admiral Harry Harris, Guantanamo Bay base commander.

The three had also conducted hunger strikes before. Little is known about them, except that they are called evil terrorists.

There is a link to a news report article here.

It was determined a few years back by the administration that the Geneva Convention does not apply here.

Here is how to find out the version number of Sql Server Reporting Services on your machine:

Go to http://MyServerName/ReportServer. The version number is listed at the bottom of the page, like this: Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services Version 8.00.1038.00

Danny Howard related experience of his recent divorce here.

Before that, he shared his notes on avoiding divorce here.

Yesterday, he wrote about his ways of overcoming suffering.

I also remember some time back Danny blogged about marriage advice from his uncle. So I did a string search and found it.

Man, these are powerful stuff. I learned a lot from them.

Danny, I cannot exactly say I know what you feel but surely it is agonizing and painful, and I admire your way of handling it. You came out of this a stronger and better human being. I enjoy and admire your writing and the clarity of your thinking.

No matter what kind of circumstance you find yourself in, make the best out of it. It starts with having the right attitude and doing those little things. I shall do the same.

Migrant workers held major rallies across the US on May 1st. May 1st is Labor Day for a lot of countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and some European countries. China calls May 1st International Labor’s Day (I suspect a few other countries give it the same name) and people usually get the day off. US has a Labor Day holiday that falls in September every year. It usually marks the end of summer, whereas Memorial Day usually marks the beginning of it.

The rally turnout in Chicago was pretty impressive. Police estimated around 300,000 people participated. I walked to Jackson Boulevard during lunch hour and witnessed part of the demonstration. There were indeed a lot of people. It is amazing that so many people of Mexican origin (majority) and other Latin American countries (minority) live in the Chicago metropolitan area. I see many of them in my daily life.

I am confused and don’t know what to make of those rallies. Immigration is a very complex issue. Here are some of the pictures I took that day.

A few more pictures here if you are interested.

In both Sql Server 2000 and Sql Server 2005, you can create server aliases on your client machine. When you connect to the database server from this client, you can use the server’s alias, instead of its real name. This can be handy at times. For example, if you have a DTS / SSIS package that needs to get or put data into different servers at different times, you can just use one package and change the server alias at run-time to simplify things.

Here is how you can do it with Sql Server 2005:
1. Program Files -> Microsoft Sql Server 2005 -> Configuration Tools -> Sql Server Configuration Manager;
2. Expand SQL Native Client Configuration;
3. Right click on Aliases, pick New Alias…
4. Define alias, network protocol, port number when necessary, real server name here. Click OK and you are done.

Alias setup for Sql Server 2000 is similar. The only big difference is that you will use a program called Sql Server Client Network Utility to do that.