It's official -- the Dog Days of summer are here. It is hotter than blazes here in Colorado (and I imagine just about everywhere else). So I thought a bit of cool trivia was needed. Who knows the origin of Dog Days? If you do, post a comment with the information. If no one posts a definition, I'll post an "official" one in a few days -- after I recover from heat stroke.

Here are some things to know about Dog Days though...

I just finished reading an interesting article in the latest TDWI newsletter (dated today)titled "Data Cleansing versus Auditability: Achieving Competitive Advantage in a Cautious Era" It was written by Michael Mansur, Simon Terr, and David Stanvick from HP Services' Information Management Practice. It got me to thinking about the notion that there may be times when we destroy the usability of data by fixing it up too much...

If you are interested in reading their article, click here and sign up for the newsletter. It is worth reading.

It's June -- My birth month. I always require humor at these times. And have I got one for you...

I got the following gem from my good friend, Shelley S - a long-time Oregon resident. Turns out Oregon is one strange state... or at least has some very strange ideas about "waste disposal". The "powers that be" most definitely needed an injection of BI analytics before they decided on how to dispose of a dead whale...

OK -- So MANY of you enjoyed the "Snake Eats Alligator and Explodes" blog that I just couldn't resist another one of these... My husband sent me this gem and it just made my day. The comments by the videographer are priceless!

In the category of weird news stories, my husband sent me the following YouTube video. Ever worked with someone who was just plain annoying?