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Without really knowing what's in the tables, I could only hazard a guess that you have one of two scenarios here.
1. The database is modelling a trie.
2. Some of these relationships are optional. An example of this could be where you have a master lookup of known names - this list is inviolate; then you have a second lookup which is a taxonomy, so you would have the taxonomy relating back to the master lookup; the idea here being that you can use a term and the search will take in the taxonomy and the master list. For instance, local government taxonomies might have the person who collects your rubbish down as "refuse collection manager" but someone might want to search on "binman" or "dustman", and these should refer to the same items.
This space for rent
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In general, I find Russians do much better code. May be you mistook a Baltic sounding eastern European name for a Russian? 
Starting to think people post kid pics in their profiles because that was the last time they were cute - Jeremy Falcon.
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Russian programmers are usually not self taught and have benefited from a rigorous education. Baltic names don't sound Russian unless they are Russian and many are.
Peter Wasser
"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell
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We already had established that he is from Eta Carinae and wants to be mistaken for a Russian. I never met him, but (great news!) he was apparently headed to the US when he left here. Here he was a sinister hack, there he may be seen as a guru. The american dream!
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
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Let us hope he gets in charge of the White House security system.
... such stuff as dreams are made on
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Seek thee the Medusa Cascade.
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You're on a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon when the pilot, who made the obvious
mistake of eating fish for lunch, suddenly groans and faints. Fortunately, he left you
hovering 100 feet above the ground. You rationalize that the collective pitch lever [2]
controls overall lift, so lowering it slightly will start a gentle descent to the ground.
However, when you try it, you discover that life isn't that simple. The helicopter's nose
drops, and you start to spiral down to the left. Suddenly you discover that you're flying a
system where every control input has secondary effects. Lower the left-hand lever and
you need to add compensating backward movement to the right-hand stick and push the
right pedal. But then each of these changes affects all of the other controls again.
Suddenly you're juggling an unbelievably complex system, where every change impacts
all the other inputs. Your workload is phenomenal: your hands and feet are constantly
moving, trying to balance all the interacting forces.
Everything is connected to everything else and also some other things you didn't even know existed.
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And that was even before that butterfly in Tokyo started to flap.
... such stuff as dreams are made on
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There are only two types of Helicopters. Those that are broken and those that are in the process of breaking...
Also, I appreciate the Dirk Gently reference 
The holistic approach never works!
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CodeWraith wrote: Are rethorical programming questions allowed?
Yes, but only if you can demonstrate the ability to use "who's" and "whose" correctly. 
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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I know the answer to this one!
It's a graph database!
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Are non-English words such as 'rethorical' allowed in questions on the discussion board, or are these allowed when the language being used is stated clearly in the question?
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Start a study about then effects of early mornings on correct spelling. At this time I would write 'rhetorical'. 
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
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Tell them you were drunk when you posted.... 
Anyone who expects affection or appreciation from a cat is delusional.
I once had a Scottish terrier that was so aloof he was almost a cat...
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I would expect that the writer is referring to a SQL design paradigm called "thor". After all, we have "COM" and "comical." "Rethorical" suggests an attempt to normalize thor relationships. The practices guide offers the image of smashing tables under a heavy blockish object tied by leather straps to a handle. Among the side effects are static discharges.
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Sounds like a typical Oracle EBS implementation to me. 
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP.
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"Intersection" data.
Intersection data is data that is (only) relevant in the context of a "relation"; e.g. is a "member" of x; or "has possession of" y; etc.
This can create multiple relations between the same entities; that "may" result in multiple physical tables.
They may also be used to implement "recursion" in 2 tables; again the "relation" table may have intersection data to make sense of the recursion (as per IBM's "virtual logical child").
"(I) am amazed to see myself here rather than there ... now rather than then".
― Blaise Pascal
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CodeWraith wrote: But what do you call it when there are two relation tables in a row between A and B? A many to even more relation? m to m^2?
Nothing stops two entities from having more than one 'type' of relationship between the the two. But to be fair that can be handled by additional attribute(s) on the first table also.
That said, for the example provided, the only cases I have seen of that is where a developer added the second table because they didn't know the first existed.
CodeWraith wrote: And that's only the beginning! How about a relation table that has three relations to yet more relation tables , which have a
relation to tables A, B and C. What's that?
Can't speak to the entire world of all possibilities but normally I would deem that 'someone who didn't know how to do data modeling and certainly didn't know how to map it to a database.'
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I have heard from the boss that they kept making changes every day, sometimes even very contradictary ones. It's very possible that the data model started out orderly, but then degenerated because nobody knew what's wrong or right anymore.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
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That doesn't sound like a 'reasonable' explanation to me.
As a developer I am not just going to create arbitrary and contradictory entities in the database just because some upstream requirements are unclear. And I believe that myself I am fairly good about guessing about future directions from fuzzy requirements. I have known other developers that just throw up their hands and refuse to do nothing.
However if there were multiple developers making multiple updates and not coordinating or even reviewing each others changes that would cause problems. And it would also reflect poor management as well (which I am sure management would not like to hear.)
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Rank mixed Queens chasing elephants initially. (8)
A little early - I have to take Dij the Cat to the vet.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Nope!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Yeah, I am pretty crap at cryptic clues.
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Sequence
Chasing elephants initially = CE
Mixed Queens = Sequen
Rank (as in an ordering) gives sequence.
This space for rent
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