--- title: "Interesting datasets to play with" publication: "DB Weekly" issue: 357 published_at: "2021-06-04" canonical_url: "https://dbweekly.com/issues/357" --- Plus Firebird 4.0, and 12 common misconceptions about DynamoDB. | #​357 — June 4, 2021 [Read on the Web](https://dbweekly.com/issues/357) ✍️ It's still several issues away but as of July we're placing DB Weekly on hiatus for a while due to refocusing our efforts at [Cooperpress.](https://cooperpress.com/) We'll explain more over this month, but didn't want it to be too big a surprise! As part of this, we'll be revisiting some of the biggest stories we've covered, most useful tools we linked to, and sharing some of the backlog of items we've not yet been able to share. __ _Peter Cooper, editor_ Database Weekly [![\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/w_1280,e_sharpen:60/ao56prz1tqcuyw2xpkej.jpg)](https://firebirdsql.org/en/news/firebird-4-0-is-released/) [Firebird 4.0 Released](https://firebirdsql.org/en/news/firebird-4-0-is-released/) — Firebird 4.0 ([release notes](https://firebirdsql.org/file/documentation/release_notes/html/en/4_0/rlsnotes40.html)) has been in the pipeline so long that even two years ago they were giving talks about [the road to v5.0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NDGpwCTlEs). But that’s one of the great things about it - it’s steady, solid, open source, and mature, having originated as a fork of InterBase 6 back in 2000 (but broadly rewritten since). Firebird Team [Lakehouses Prevent Data Swamps, Bill Inmon Says](https://www.datanami.com/2021/06/01/lakehouses-prevent-data-swamps-bill-inmon-says/) — Bill Inmon coined the term ‘data warehouse’ back in 1992 so if anyone’s going to opine on lakehouses, data swamps, and whatever other metaphors are doing the rounds these days, let him be the one to do so! He also explains why he’s not a fan of ELT compared to ETL. Alex Woodie [![\](https://copm.s3.amazonaws.com/f1441920.jpg)](https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=reg20.jsp&referrer=&eventid=3208245&sessionid=1&key=4443B44349B6F945D961E201E7834F52®Tag=&V2=false&sourcepage=register%3Fpartnerref%3Dcooperpress&utm_source=cooperpress_db_weekly&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=q2_dev_awareness) [Virtual NoSQL Event for Java Database Developers](https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=reg20.jsp&referrer=&eventid=3208245&sessionid=1&key=4443B44349B6F945D961E201E7834F52®Tag=&V2=false&sourcepage=register%3Fpartnerref%3Dcooperpress&utm_source=cooperpress_db_weekly&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=q2_dev_awareness) — Java is one of the most popular programming languages in the world. Join our free virtual event to learn how to bring the full power of Java and NoSQL together. Secure your spot. Couchbase sponsor [Links to 1211 (and Counting) Interesting Datasets](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wZhPLMCHKJvwOkP4juclhjFgqIY8fQFMemwKL2c64vk/edit#gid=0) — A wide variety of delights from datasets of [every death in Tarantino’s movies](https://github.com/fivethirtyeight/data/tree/master/tarantino) and [cruise ship inspections](https://github.com/marks/cdc-cruise-ship-inspections) to [the coins in 22,500 French wallets](https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/f257j67ym6/2). Data Is Plural [PolarDB: Another Postgres-Based Database](https://github.com/alibaba/PolarDB-for-PostgreSQL) — Out of Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba comes a new Postgres-based database that aims to provide global data consistency, ACID across nodes, and to be more distributed generally. Think something like _Aurora_ but open source. It’s rather early days, but there’s [a roadmap](https://github.com/alibaba/PolarDB-for-PostgreSQL/blob/master/doc/polardb/roadmap.md) if you want to see where they’re headed with it. Alibaba Group - Cloudera, best known for their Hadoop distribution and platform, is going private [in a $5.3bn buyout](https://www.datanami.com/2021/06/01/cloudera-to-go-private-in-5-3-billion-buyout-by-wall-street-firms/). - SQLite can now drink in the US – it's just turned 21 years old. [Free CKAD Study Guide Excerpt](https://www.cockroachlabs.com/guides/certified-kubernetes-application-developer/?utm_campaign=cooperpress-2021-Q2-&utm_source=db-weekly&utm_medium=sponsor&utm_content=db-weekly-certified-kubernetes-application-developer-0604) — The CKAD exam is not multiple choice. You need to demonstrate your k8s skills in sample exercises. This study guide prepares you for those exercises. Cockroach Labs sponsor [PostGIS at 20](http://blog.cleverelephant.ca/2021/05/postgis-20-years.html) — [PostGIS](https://postgis.net/), the popular set of geospatial extensions for Postgres, has turned twenty years old. This post covers a little of the early history. Paul Ramsey [12 Common Misconceptions About DynamoDB](https://dynobase.dev/dynamodb-11-common-misconceptions/) — DynamoDB’s approach is different enough to most other databases that it’s not surprising there are a variety of common misconceptions. Rafal Wilinski [Aurora vs. RDS: An Engineer's Guide to Choosing a Database](https://www.lastweekinaws.com/blog/aurora-vs-rds-an-engineers-guide-to-choosing-a-database/) — Learn about the difference between two approaches for running relational databases in AWS. Alex Chan [pgSCV: A Metrics Exporter for Postgres](https://lesovsky.medium.com/pgscv-metrics-exporter-for-postgresql-not-only-7345f7bdbaa0) — A new tool that attempts to go beyond what postgres_exporter offers by making it easy to collect ‘almost all metrics’ from Postgres with as minimal configuration as possible. [GitHub repo.](https://github.com/weaponry/pgscv) Alexey Lesovsky [SQLite Data Starter Packs: Public Data Packaged Up in SQLite Databases](http://2016.padjo.org/tutorials/sqlite-data-starterpacks/) — A collection of public datasets conveniently packaged as SQLite databases to practice on. Public Affairs Data Journalism at Stanford Jobs [DevOps Engineer at X-Team (Remote)](https://x-team.com/remote-devops-engineer-jobs/?utm_source=cooperpress&utm_medium=email-ad&utm_campaign=db) — Join the most energizing community for developers and work on long-term projects for Riot Games, FOX, Sony, Coinbase, and more. X-Team [Find Data Engineering Jobs with Hired](https://hired.com/join/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=sponsor&utm_campaign=%28b2c%29%28l-all%29%28r-all%29%28cooper-dbweekly%29&utm_content=5-minutes) — Take 5 minutes to build your free profile & start getting interviews for your next job. Companies on Hired are actively hiring right now. Hired A **[Cooperpress](https://cooperpress.com/)** publication. [Change your email address](https://dbweekly.com/edit_subscription/*|UID|*) or[Stop getting this newsletter](https://dbweekly.com/leave/*|UID|*) © Cooper Press Ltd · Fairfield Enterprise Centre, Louth, LN11 0LS, United Kingdom