Shortly after Donald Trump was announced as the winner of the U.S. presidential election, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to social media to enthusiastically congratulate him. Meanwhile, the Israeli military continued its violent assault on Gaza, killing multiple Palestinians in strikes on apartment buildings and homes. We speak to Palestinian American journalist Rami Khouri about what we know of Trump’s pro-Israel policies and how Trump beat Kamala Harris for the presidency. “Trump out-dramatized Harris, and that’s how he won,” he says.

Thousands attended a Palestine Festival of Literature event about “America and the War on Palestine” at the historic Riverside Church in New York Sunday, featuring conversations about U.S. complicity in Israeli human rights abuses. The literary festival, known as PalFest, aims to raise awareness of the Palestinian struggle through arts and letters. The acclaimed author Ta-Nehisi Coates moderated the conversations, including one featuring the Palestinian human rights attorney and scholar Noura Erakat. “This is about all of us,” says Erakat. “The fact that Palestinian children have been evaporated, beheaded, killed in NICU, their NICU system, rotted in NICU beds, right? And their parents have had to collect their flesh to weigh it in rice bags in order to bury them, right? At this point, there should have been mercy.”

The release of Apple’s mixed-reality headset raises questions about hours spent in a virtual replacement of our world

As a general rule, if you're using an RDBMS and can solve your problem using SQL, you should solve your problem using SQL. It's how we avoid doing joins or sorts in our application code, which is always a good thing.

But this is a general rule. And Jasmine sends us one where solving the problem as a query was a bad idea.

ALTER   FUNCTION [dbo].[GetName](@EntityID int)

RETURNS varchar(200)

AS

BEGIN

declare @Name varchar(200)

select @Name =
  case E.EntityType
    when 'Application'  then A.ApplicationName
    when 'Automation'   then 'Automated Process'
    when 'Group'        then G.GroupName
    when 'Organization' then O.OrgName
    when 'Person'       then P.FirstName + ' ' + P.LastName
    when 'Resource'     then R.ResourceName
    when 'Batch'        then B.BatchComment
  end
from Entities E
left join AP_Applications A   on E.EntityID = A.EntityID
left join CN_Groups G         on E.EntityID = G.EntityID
left join CN_Organizations O  on E.EntityID = O.EntityID
left join CN_People P         on E.EntityID = P.EntityID
left join Resources R         on E.EntityID = R.EntityID
left join AR_PaymentBatches B on E.EntityID = B.EntityID
where E.EntityID = @EntityID

return @Name

END

The purpose of this function is to look up the name of an entity. Depending on the kind of entity we're talking about, we have to pull that name from a different table. This is a very common pattern in database normalization- a database equivalent of inheritance. All the common fields to all entities get stored in an Entities table, while specific classes of entity (like "Applications") get their own table which joins back to the Entities table.

On the surface, this code doesn't even really look like a WTF. By the book, this is really how you'd write this kind of function- if we were going by the book.

But the problem was that these tables were frequently very large, and even with indexes on the EntityID fields, it simply performed horribly. And since "showing the name of the thing you're looking at" was a common query, that performance hit added up.

The fix was easy- write out seven unique functions- one for each entity type- and then re-write this function to use an IF statement to decide which one to execute. The code was simpler to understand and read, and performed much faster.

In the end, perhaps not really a WTF, or perhaps the root WTF is some of the architectural decisions which allow this to exist (why a function for getting the name, and the name alone, which means we execute this query independently and not part of a more meaningful join?). But I think it's an interesting example of how "this is the right way to do it" can lead to some unusual outcomes.

If you’ve ever wished for “precioussss” versions of Gollum & Sméagol figures that capture every conflicted, crawling moment, look no further! Asmus and Sideshow have just dropped two stunning sixth scale figures, bringing The Lord of the Rings’ most tragic character to life. And thanks to Asmus, this marks an epic return to Middle-earth collectibles after a dark pandemic pause. In the words of Andy Hsu, Director of Asmus Toys: “Characters that were promised, were anticipated, that were wished for, are now back on the menu!”

Starting with Gollum: this 20 cm figure has over 22 points of articulation for all those sinister, slinking poses we know and love. With a smirking expression, rotatable eyeballs, and haired hobbit feet, Gollum is ready to stir up trouble on your shelf. And no Middle-earth journey is complete without provisions – this little guy even comes with wrapped and unwrapped Lembas bread accessories.

Then there’s Sméagol — the tortured soul behind the sneer. Sméagol’s innocent, haunted expression captures the side of him that Tolkien fans cherish. He has the same exclusive Gollum body by Asmus, complete with seamless limbs and multiple hands and legs to bring his story to life.

So, if you’re ready to give these two a home, both Gollum and Sméagol are up for grabs, allowing fans to continue this adventure together with Asmus and Sideshow. And by purchasing through our links, you’ll support TheOneRing.net.

Here's the letter posted by Asmus Director Andy Hsu on Facebook

Have you always wanted to delight hobbit passerby with a beautiful springtime flower display but don't feel confident in your green thumb? Then you're in luck! Kili is here to show you just how easy it is to plant and grow bulbs! Watch the new episode and read her tips below.

Bulb planting tips:

• Plant bulbs in the autumn so that they have time to chill over winter.
• Choose a spot with partial to full sun
• Bulbs need soil that drains well (so they don't turn to mush after prolonged exposure to moisture), so amend clay soil with perlite or other substances to aid drainage
• As a general rule, dig a hole twice as deep as the bulb is tall.
• Plant bulbs in the autumn so that they have time to chill over winter.
• After the flowers have finished, don't prune them off! Allow the plant to continue its lifecycle. The leaves will continue to create and store energy that the bulb will use the following spring! The will die away on their own in mid-to-late summer.

Happy Hobbit has brought Middle-earth to its viewers' daily lives since 2012! Learn more hobbity recipes, crafts, and more by watching new episodes and/or perusing the 10+ years worth of videos on their YouTube channel. ???? New episodes debut every other Saturday, so be sure you are subscribed to Happy Hobbit so that you don't miss out!

Get even more slow-living hobbit content by following Happy Hobbit on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok! If watching the show has left you with an appetite for more, know that Kili (Kellie) has a podcast where Tolkien is often mentioned called Forests, Folklore & Fantasy

Interesting redesign for TAK flour...

Everything you need to know about Rwanda's outbreak of Marburg virus, which has been described as one of the deadliest human pathogens

A nearby star that exploded some 3 million years ago could have removed all dust smaller than a millimetre from the outer solar system

Rival tribes of bacteria armed with poison darts are fighting it out in your gut, with armies of traitors often winning the day

In a small study, women experienced more empathy for strangers who were experiencing pain after an eight-week meditation training programme

Antibiotics can reduce diversity in the gut microbiome, raising the risk of infections that cause diarrhoea - and the effects may last years

A massive undertaking to map cancer tumours is providing new insights into how the disease forms, evolves and develops resistance to treatments

Scientists used AI to transform tourist photos into a 3D digital map of Antarctic penguin colonies – even as researchers debate whether to harness or discourage tourism in this remote region

In order to figure out how something came from nothing, we first need to explore the different types of nothing

Voyager 2 flew by Uranus in 1986, giving us our only up-close look at the planet – but unusual space weather just before the craft arrived has given us a misleading idea about the planet’s magnetic field

13 venues in N. America, 8 venues in Europe, 1 venue each in Singapore, Australia

Happy Tuesday! A bit of a bite-sized Hide Your Wallet this week, with one release leftover from late last week that I neglected to include. I can hardly believe October is nearly over! Time to consult my November TBR pile, so it doesn’t sneak up on me. Which releases are you excited about this week? Let us know in the comments!

Happy Tuesday! It’s a short and sweet release week for us at SBTB HQ! For us, there are only three books that make the list this week. From here on out, things seem to slow down a little bit as we approach the end of the year and the major holiday season. What books are on your list this week? Let us know in the comments!

Welcome back to Hide Your Wallet! Just a small handful of books for us this week. I also wouldn’t blame publishers if they decided to bump release weeks to another Tuesday. We have dark fairytales, cozy fantasy, ponies, and more! Which books are on your radar this week? Let us know what’s on your TBR pile!

Well. This sucks. Currently I’m sitting with two sets of feelings. I’m already so tired, and scared, and discouraged. And tired. We just did this. I have semi-accurate predictions of how this is going to go, and none of it is good. And on the other hand, I know how resilient and compassionate and loving people can be. How loving and compassionate and resilient you are, and me, and all of us. I can grieve and worry … Continue reading We Will Find Our Daily HEAs →

the oldest recorded joke in human history is a fart joke

I'm gonna be at Gencon at booth 1237 this weekend! I'll have some books and stuff and will be doing sketches and complimenting your pet photos. SEE YOU THERE???