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Use singular nouns for database table names

Use singular nouns for database table names A common debate in relational database circles is whether the names of tables should be singular or plural. If you have a table that stores users, should the table be called user or users ? The arguments for plural are straightforward: The table is storing more than one user. It reads well in the FROM clause: SELECT id , name FROM users ; The arguments for singular are more subtle: Strictly speaking, we’re not naming a table, we’re naming a relati

The Hunt for a Fundamental Theory of Quantum Gravity

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. Two blind spots torture physicists: the birth of the universe and the center of a black hole. The former may feel like a moment in time and the latter a point in space, but in both cases the normally interwoven threads of space and time seem to stop short. These mysterious points are known as singularities. Singularities are predictions of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity. According to this theory, clumps of matter o

A New Geometry for Einstein's Theory of Relativity

Kunzinger and Sämann wanted to use their new way of estimating curvature to determine whether these singularity theorems would still be valid if they no longer assumed space-time is smooth. Would singularities persist even in rougher, more realistic-looking spaces? It’s important to find out if the smoothness condition can be waived, Sämann said, because doing so would bring the theorems closer to physical reality. After all, he added, “we believe non-smoothness is an inescapable part of the nat