Tech Talk with Toni

  When I think of joins, I think of quilts. Let’s be real— JOINS are not always simple . Especially when your tables don’t have a primary key. Or when the data model is not documented anywhere and you’re just trying to make sense of it all. Picture this: You’re at your desk, staring at your screen (remember to blink). You’re writing a query to count the number of employees per department.  It should be simple Two tables: employees and departments . A quick JOIN, a simple GROUP BY , and done. Right? You hit "Execute" Boom— 5,732 rows . That can’t be right. Your company only has 200 employees. You frown. You try DISTINCT . Still too many rows. You tweak the join condition, change the table order, throw in a LIMIT just to see something normal—but nothing works. It’s still chaos. Welcome to the world of SQL joins—where your logic seems sound, but your results make no sense. Why This Happens Joins are powerful—but they’re picky. If you join on the wrong column, or if your...

Boston Dynamics created a robot dog named Spot that can dance Is it okay to kick a robot dog? It’s a funny question on the surface. It’s not alive . It doesn’t feel pain. So… who cares? Lately I’ve been reading a book on AI Ethics by philosopher Mark Coeckelberg, the book is filled with tricky questions that make you stop and rethink our relationship with machines—especially the smart ones. Let me walk you through a few of them, with a few everyday examples to help make sense of it. Q1: Should We Hold Robots Responsible for Their Actions? Imagine this: a self-driving car runs a red light and causes an accident. Who do we blame? The car? (It was the one driving!) The engineers who built it? The company that sold it? Mark brings up a similar question in the book: “We don’t hold very young children responsible for what they do because they don’t know better—should the same be done for AI?”  Q2: What are the things that should only be done by humans? Let’s say AI gets really, really...

People swipe on their phones an average of 2500-5000 times per day   With the TikTok ban looming in the U.S. amidst national security concerns, I believe we should also be asking a deeper question:  What are we allowing to capture our attention? Social media isn’t just profiting from our data—it’s also draining our limited time and energy! Isn’t it funny how we all wonder why we can’t get things done, yet we constantly allow ourselves to be distracted? As someone who recently deactivated their Instagram account, I’ve realized how much passively consuming endless videos— ones I never even searched for —has negatively impacted my well-being. Whether it was comparing my life to those who could afford trips to Europe or staying up late searching for something to share with friends, I realized I was consuming content without purpose. In a time of shrinking attention spans, the ability to focus and take action is more valuable than ever. Now, I’m not saying entertainment is bad, but...

What's 10 x 10? I started this blog on February 4th, 2023—almost two years ago (wow, I just checked!)—and I must say, writing consistently is a challenge that I gladly took on. Writing has been a constant theme in my life. It got me through my rebellious teen years and straight into adulthood (which, to be honest, I still have a hard time accepting). Many people ask me, "How do you do it?" To that, I say: I enjoy it, and I have a great support system. Today, I want to take a moment to reflect and give thanks—to those who read my posts, those who point out my typos, and especially to my dad, who always asks, "Toni, did you post yet?" But let’s be real: doing 100 of anything is difficult—whether it's 100 pull-ups or developing 100 apps. Even when you’re passionate about something, there are days when you just don’t have the energy or inspiration. And that’s okay! You just have to keep pushing forward—through the valley of despair, even when no one is watchin...

This is an acoustic guitar Today’s post is inspired by my childhood dream of learning to play the guitar. For years, I’d daydream about strumming chords and creating melodies, but it always felt like something I’d do “someday.”  That day finally arrived when I jokingly shared this dream aloud, and my dad decided it was time to make it a reality. Yesterday, he surprised me with my first guitar—a sleek, acoustic guitar with nylon strings. The moment I picked it up, I was both excited and intimidated. I immediately started tuning it and spent an hour practicing E-minor and A-minor chords.  My fingers quickly grew sore, and faint ridges were left behind from pressing on the strings—but I didn’t mind.  There was something unexpectedly soothing about the vibration of the strings resonating through the guitar, as if the instrument itself was encouraging me to keep going. Learning a new skill is a reminder of how persistence pays off. I know that mastering the guitar will take ti...

Stack: a pile of objects, typically one that is neatly arranged. Conversations about tech preferences tend to get heated, whether it’s Apple vs Android, Windows vs macOS, or the eternal debate about pineapple on pizza. But lately, I’ve found myself drawn to something : data stacks. Specifically, why do organizations choose Microsoft, Amazon, or Google as their cloud platform? Microsoft has quietly become the stack of choice for many enterprises, but why? What’s the real difference between AWS and Azure, and is one easier to learn than the other? More importantly, are we so locked into these proprietary tools that we’re missing out on better, open-source alternatives? Learning a new tool takes time, and that time investment often keeps us tethered to one ecosystem. But with so much innovation happening, it’s worth asking: Are we keeping our minds open to what’s out there? To answer these questions, it helps to ...