Ping Pong

OK, I've always just accepted that "ping" is onomatopoeia for the sound a bullet makes when it bounces off something... but where does it *really* come from? And where did "pong" come from??? Did "ping" and "pong" enter our language before their use as a nickname for table tennis? And how old an invention *is* table tennis anyhow - and when was it first called "Ping Pong"?

Watched Pot

Why is it that when I sit down to try and actually write down any of the two-hundred-and-sixty-three questions that ran through my head in the last few days, I can't remember a single one?

Database Abstraction Layers

An ORM abstracts an application's interaction with a database to interactions with objects represented by data in the database. Traditionally these databases have been table-based relational systems using SQL... but lately I keep seeing a lot of non-traditional systems getting press. These systems each offer a different set of strengths and capabilities and often non-SQL interfaces.

What I wonder about is, how difficult is it going to be to use these new databases effectively with existing ORMs? I understand that some are already "transparent" object stores, but even then there are always decisions to be made by the programmers as to how often to persist, what composes a transaction, how many records/objects to retrieve for a request...

Is there any existing ORM that can handle all these needs with both traditional SQL databases and the "new breed" of column/document/object/whatever databases?

Animal people

Some people seem to just be "animal people" while others, well, do not.

Is the ability to treat animals right something inherent to some people or does it have to be taught? Can it be forgotton/unlearned?

What is this?

I have a lot of questions running through my head, all the time. I spend far too much time on the internet trying to answer those questions. I have so many questions I often forget them before I have a chance to even look for an answer.

Often times I don't *really* care about the answer, but the information I discover looking for it is fascinating in itself!

A lot of these questions will probably seem stupid... and they probably are.

I can live with that.