I am a Quinquaganerian

And proud of it.

Isn't that an amazing word? It's worth playing Scrabble, just to discover words like this one (in the dictionary where I am looking up a word in vain hope that it actually is a word).

So: quinquaganerian:

adjective
50 years old, or between the ages of 50 and 60
noun
a person of this age

I am 52 years old and so I am a quinquagenarian.

Announcement of Prize Winners at Oracle Develop / Oracle Open World

The three-day contest at Oracle OpenWorld and Oracle Develop on the PL/SQL Challenge has now ended!

We have analyzed the answers from everyone who played the daily quiz over the last three days and also checked the box indicating they were in San Francisco and could pick up their prizes.

Winners of the Oracle OpenWorld and Oracle Develop prize pool can, in fact, pick up their prizes by visiting the Mason Street Tent Thursday, September 23, anytime between 7:00 am - 4:30 pm to pick up your prizes at the Oracle Technology Network info desk. Steven Feuerstein will be present from noon to 1 PM to congratulate you, sign books, and join you in a celebratory photo - if you so desire. If you do not claim your prize Thursday, September 23 by 4:30 PM it will be forfeit. So much for the fine print. Let's get to the Big News!

Congratulations to everyone who is listed below (note: the names displayed are those chosen by the PL/SQL Challenge player). We hope that you will all continue to play the PL/SQL Challenge each day and tune up your PL/SQL skills and knowledge even further.

Warm regards,
Steven Feuerstein

First Place

Tim Lindemulder placed first with a score of 1171 answering 3 quizzes in 238 seconds and wins:  an Amazon Kindle.

Second Place

Rob van Wijk placed second with a score of 1154 answering 3 quizzes in 285 seconds and wins:  a $100 Amazon.com gift card.

Winners of  O'Reilly Media Oracle PL/SQL bundle: Oracle PL/SQL Programming 5th edition, Oracle PL/SQL Best Practices 2nd edition, Oracle PL/SQL Pocket Reference, 4th edition

Bjoern Rost placed 3 with a score of 1110 answering 3 quizzes in 419 seconds

poelger placed 4 with a score of 1104 answering 3 quizzes in 440 seconds

Patrick Wolf placed 5 with a score of 1098 answering 3 quizzes in 459 seconds

John W. Schultz placed 6 with a score of 1095 answering 3 quizzes in 286 seconds

Justin Cave placed 7 with a score of 1084 answering 3 quizzes in 498 seconds

Winners of Oracle PL/SQL Programming 5th edition

Ralf Koelling placed 8 with a score of 1073 answering 3 quizzes in 532 seconds

Greg Belliveau placed 9 with a score of 1061 answering 3 quizzes in 566 seconds

Iloon Ellen placed 10 with a score of 1031 answering 3 quizzes in 476 seconds

Alison placed 11 with a score of 940 answering 3 quizzes in 376 seconds

Jonathan Hart placed 12 with a score of 877 answering 2 quizzes in 368 seconds and wins

Winners of $50 Amazon.com giftcard

John Jeunnette placed 13 with a score of 797 answering 3 quizzes in 462 seconds

shra1 placed 14 with a score of 766 answering 2 quizzes in 702 seconds

Winners of your choice of O'Reilly Media Oracle PL/SQL bundle: Oracle PL/SQL Programming 5th edition, Oracle PL/SQL Best Practices 2nd edition, Oracle PL/SQL Pocket Reference, 4th edition (some books may not be available)

Craig Robinson placed 15 with a score of 725 answering 3 quizzes in 496 seconds

Nuno Ornelas placed 16 with a score of 716 answering 3 quizzes in 520 seconds

Fuad Arshad placed 17 with a score of 714 answering 3 quizzes in 155 seconds

Roel Hartman placed 18 with a score of 607 answering 3 quizzes in 27033 seconds

steve aho placed 19 with a score of 601 answering 3 quizzes in 697 seconds

Rob Dawson placed 20 with a score of 436 answering 2 quizzes in 193 seconds

phowells placed 21 with a score of 342 answering 2 quizzes in 295 seconds

Texas placed 22 with a score of 302 answering 2 quizzes in 595 seconds

KevinZhang placed 23 with a score of 268 answering 2 quizzes in 698 seconds

TigerFan placed 24 with a score of 237 answering 2 quizzes in 1117 seconds

Coleman Leviter placed 25 with a score of 219 answering 2 quizzes in 287 seconds

Ara placed 26 with a score of 217 answering 1 quizzes in 99 seconds

Eric Tegenfeldt placed 27 with a score of 215 answering 1 quizzes in 104 seconds

John Flack placed 28 with a score of 207 answering 1 quizzes in 128 seconds

Lori  Townsend placed 29 with a score of 204 answering 2 quizzes in 138 seconds

Gonzalo  Segarra placed 30 with a score of 155 answering 1 quizzes in 104 seconds

PeaellSlashSeaquell placed 31 with a score of 148 answering 1 quizzes in 307 seconds

Dennis Ruane placed 32 with a score of 143 answering 1 quizzes in 142 seconds

C. Scyphers placed 33 with a score of 140 answering 2 quizzes in 1261 seconds

diggitydog placed 34 with a score of 121 answering 1 quizzes in 387 seconds

mnrbradley placed 35 with a score of 40 answering 2 quizzes in 272 seconds

PL/SQL Challenge Prizes You Can Win During Oracle Open World Week

Here's a recap of all the prizes you can win this week playing the daily quiz. The first table shows what you could win if you are attending Oracle Open World or Oracle Develop. The second table shows the fantastic prizes available to anyone playing around the world.

Good luck to everyone!

For those attending Oracle OpenWorld or Oracle Develop:

Rank	Prize
1	Amazon Kindle ebook reader ($260)
2	$100 Amazon.com giftcard
3-7	O'Reilly Media Oracle PL/SQL bundle: Oracle PL/SQL Programming 5th edition, Oracle PL/SQL Best Practices 2nd edition, Oracle PL/SQL Pocket Reference, 4th edition ($120 value)
8 - 12	Oracle PL/SQL Programming 5th edition ($70 value)
13-14	$50 Amazon.com giftcard
Raffle	5 Oracle PL/SQL Programming 5th edition 15 Oracle PL/SQL Best Practices 2nd edition 15 Oracle PL/SQL Pocket Reference, 4th edition

For those not attending Oracle OpenWorld or Oracle Develop:

Rank	Prize
1	Complimentary registration to the ODTUG Kaleidoscope 2011 conference, a US$1775 value.
2-3	Complimentary registration in your choice of the Oracle PL/SQL Programming/APEXposed conferences, a US$600 value
Raffle	Complimentary membership in the ODTUG organization, a US$175 value

Win Many Great Prizes at Special PL/SQL Challenge Competition during Oracle Develop 2010

PL/SQL Challenge (a daily quiz for PL/SQL developers) will be holding a special challenge during the week of Oracle OpenWorld and Oracle Develop. From September 20 through September 22 (with start and end of days determined by UTC time), you take the daily quiz through the PL/SQL Challenge website: www.plsqlchallenge.com. We will have two prize pools; one for Oracle OpenWorld and Oracle Develop attendees (with prizes provided by PL/SQL Challenge and O'Reilly Media)and another for non-attendees (playing from anywhere in the world).

If you are attending Oracle OpenWorld or Oracle Develop when you submit your answer, be sure to check the box labeled "I am at Oracle OpenWorld/Oracle Develop and can pick up my prize at the Mason Street Tent."

After the quiz ends on Wednesday, September 22^nd, prizes will be awarded both for top ranking (highest scores for the three days of quizzes) and prizes will be raffled off for all those who took at least one quiz (the more you take, the greater your chance of winning).

We will announce the winners no later than midnight in San Francisco, 22^nd September, with the list available on the PL/SQL Challenge blog, the Oracle Develop blog, Steven Feuerstein's blog, and on the PL/SQL Challenge website.

Winners of the Oracle OpenWorld and Oracle Develop prize pool then visit the Mason Street Tent Thursday, September 23, anytime between 7:00 am - 4:30 pm to pick up your prizes at the Oracle Technology Network info desk. I will be present from noon to 1 PM to congratulate you, sign books, and join you in a celebratory photo - if you so desire. If you do not claim your prize Thursday, September 23 by 4:30 PM it will be forfeit.

For those not attending Oracle Open World or Oracle Develop, the PL/SQL Challenge celebrates this enormous gathering of Oracle technologists by offering a set of special prizes for the week starting September 20. Instead of the usual two prizes for high rank and participation in that week, you could win any of the following:

• Complimentary registration to the ODTUG Kaleidoscope 2011 conference, a US$1775 value.
• Complimentary registration in your choice of the Oracle PL/SQL Programming/APEXposed conferences, a US$600 value
• Complimentary membership in the ODTUG organization, a US$175 value.

Remember: you do not need to attend Oracle OpenWorld or Oracle Develop to participate in this special competition, but if you are in San Francisco, you could win a special, attendee-only prize -so be sure to check that box when you submit your answer!

Fantastic PL/SQL Training Conferences: Dallas and Brussels

Since 2005, ODTUG has sponsored annual PL/SQL-specific conferences, which are now organized in conjunction with an APEX conference: OPP and APEXposed.

This year, we will for the first time hold the joint conference in Europe, specifically in Brussels, on October 27-28.

The U.S. conference will be held in Dallas on November 10-11.

The OPP conference offers the best training value on PL/SQL around. Two days, three tracks of presentations (including almost two full days of training by me), expert presenters, including in Dallas the PL/SQL Product Manager, Bryn Llewellyn.

If you are looking for ways to get "trained up" in PL/SQL and also meet and talk with some of the best PL/SQL developers in the world, I urge you attend the OPP-APEXposed conference.

Sign up for my Fall 2010 Webinar Trainings!

Looking for a way to strengthen your PL/SQL skills without leaving your cubicle? Then I encourage you to talk to your manager about enrolling in or more of the following Quest-sponsored webinars:

Back by popular demand! Steven Feuerstein, Quest Software’s PL/SQL Evangelist and one of the world’s leading experts in the language, will conduct a third series of webcasts that will put you on the fast track to maximizing your understanding and use of Oracle PL/SQL. Attend this Quest-exclusive series of webcasts delivered by Steven and gain invaluable techniques and insights that you can put to work immediately. You will learn how to make the most of PL/SQL to dramatically improve the quality and performance of your programs. Steven will also answer questions from attendees during a live Q&A session at the end of each webcast. Each webcast lasts approximately two hours.

Session 1: Programming with Collections

Monday, September 27, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern ($200.00 US)

Collections (array-like structures in PL/SQL) are critical data structures that are used in some of the most important features of PL/SQL. Every PL/SQL developer should have a deep familiarity with collections and the wide range of features that Oracle has implemented for them over the years. This session introduces collections and quickly moves on to detailed explanations of collection methods, how to leverage string indexing in associative arrays, multi-level collections, set-level operations on nested tables and more. The session will run for approximately two hours.

Session 2: Say Goodbye to Hard-Coding in PL/SQL

Wednesday, October 6, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern ($200.00 US)

Everyone knows that hard-coding is a bad idea. Too many developers, however, only think in terms of literal values when they think of hard-coding. There are, unfortunately, many ways that hard-coding manifests itself in our programs. This webinar offers a comprehensive look at all the types of hard-coding that can appear in your programs, from literals to explicit declarations to exposed formulas, and offers specific techniques to get rid of the hard-coding. The result is code that is much easier to read and to maintain. The session will last approximately two hours.

Session 3: Dynamic SQL in Oracle PL/SQL

Wednesday, October 20, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern ($200.00 US)

Dynamic SQL (construction, parsing and execution of SQL statements and PL/SQL blocks at runtime) has become a common and critical element of most modern applications. PL/SQL offers two distinct methods for dynamic SQL: native dynamic SQL (NDS) and DBMS_SQL. This webinar focuses primarily on the capabilities of native dynamic SQL: how to use EXECUTE IMMEDIATE to execute dynamic query, DML, and DDL statements. We will also go beyond the basics and delve into when to use DBMS_SQL (method 4 dynamic SQL), and new Oracle Database 11g features for dynamic SQL (most importantly, interoperability between DBMS_SQL and NDS. The session will last approximately two hours.

Register Now!

Giving thanks to the inventor of 71D

71D - the digits and letter have a beautiful ring to them - because I just [well, over a week now - I just remembered I had not posted this entry!] flew back from Sydney on a massive A380 passenger jet, and I was not able to upgrade to business class.


How is that I, American Airlines Executive Platinum all-around Special Flyer, could not get an upgrade? Because AA handed over all their Australia flights to Qantas and even though my EP status on AA gets me into Qantas First Class Lounges (and that lounge in Sydney is truly fantastic), it does not get me anywhere when it comes to upgrades.


So I had to fly for 15 hours in economy. How about the exit row or bulkhead? Nope, they don't even assign those till day of flight....but somehow my friends at American Airlines were able to reserve seat 71D for me. "So what?" you ask. So...let's visit seatguru.com and see what they have to say about 71D. First, the picture:

Ah...notice the lovely green color on 71D - it is something every seasoned flyer looks for. That means something good, actually positive, is going on in that seat. What could it be?

Class: Economy
Seat Type: Recliner
Power: AC Power
Video: Personal TV
Review: Seat 71D has extra legroom since there is no seat directly in front of it.


Frabjous joy! Extra legroom! AC Power! And they aren't kidding. 71D is an incredible seat. There must have been five FEET of open space between my seat and 70D. And, yes, I could plug in the power cord of my laptop. So what did I do with my lovely seat? Well, let's see, I managed to sleep for perhaps one hour of the 15 hour flight. And probably for another ten hours, I worked on my laptop.

A whole bunch of quizzes for the PL/SQL Challenge, bug fixes for Code Tester V2, blog postings, specifications for this and that....then I decided, what the heck, watch a movie on their fine high def personal video system. So I picked out Iron Man 2, heavily branded with Oracle Corporation silliness.

What a poor excuse for a movie. I actually felt a little embarrassed for Larry Ellison for being in it and, well, me for watching it. What I don't get is how film companies can spend so much money on these productions and still do such a piss-poor job of plot construction and dialogue.

But it did pass the time, and then I was home - not a bad flight at all, all things considered - and all because of the inventor of 71D!

Feedback on idea for comments and tracing from newsletter

In my latest PL/SQL newsletter (if you don't yet receive it, visit www.stevenfeuerstein.com and enter your email in the yellow box on the left side of the home page), I passed on a tip I got during a training, namely:

Tech Tip: A New Place for Your Comments?

I just gave a two-day, "Best of Oracle PL/SQL" training to a team of developers in Winona, MN, home of the Sugar Loaf Bluff, which I climbed after the first day of training.

One of the development managers, Jason McClellen of Fastenal, offered the following suggestion when I talked about the importance of application tracing or instrumentation:

Comments are usually added to code as "static" text, visible only when you open up and look at your source code. Instead of hiding away your comments, include them in the calls to your tracing mechanism. That way, whenever tracing is enabled, you not only see values of data being manipulated by the program, you also read information that informs your understanding of that data.

I think this is a fantastic idea, and I plan to start doing this in my own code. In Quest Code Tester for Oracle, I use a variation on the Quest Error Manager to do my tracing, so a trace call (preceded by a comment) might look like this:

/*
Simple datatypes require an initial value. This "value"
includes the assignment operator to simplify template construction.
*/
IF qu_runtime.trace_enabled
THEN
   qu_runtime.
    trace (
      'set_placeholders typename'
    , outcome_in.result.attribute.datatype_declare
   );
END IF;

In the future (in fact, right now - I will "refactor" this code), my tracing will look like this:

IF qu_runtime.trace_enabled
THEN
   qu_runtime.
    trace (
      'set_placeholders'
    , 'Simple datatypes require an initial value. This "value" '||
        'includes the assignment operator to simplify template construction.'
   );
   qu_runtime.
    trace (
      'set_placeholders typename'
    , outcome_in.result.attribute.datatype_declare
   );
END IF;

I then asked readers to tell me what they thought. Several people wrote in and I will post this in a reply. Feel encouraged to add your own thoughts.

PL/SQL Challenge players finds doc bug in STANDARD package

The PL/SQL Challenge recently (6 August) offered a quiz on the INSTR function. I showed everyone the header of this function from the STANDARD package in which it is defined:

-- Find nth occurrence of str1 in str2 starting at pos
function INSTR(STR1 VARCHAR2 CHARACTER SET ANY_CS,
   STR2 VARCHAR2 CHARACTER SET STR1%CHARSET,
   POS PLS_INTEGER := 1,
   NTH POSITIVE := 1) return PLS_INTEGER;

Jean Xu reported a problem with the comment above the header. It should say "of str2 in str1"! I'd never noticed this, with all the times I've looked at the STANDARD package. I let Bryn Llewellyn, PL/SQL Product Manager, know about this, so hopefully the next release of Oracle will include a correction.

Yet another benefit of playing the PL/SQL Challenge: you can help improve the quality of the PL/SQL language itself!

So if you are not yet one of the more than 2400 developers who have been taking the quiz in the last month, register and start playing today!

PL/SQL Challenge Live event in Melbourne, Australia

Quest Software and AUSOUG sponsored a PL/SQL Challenge Live quiz at the Insync 2010 conference on 16 August (which took place just 3 hours after I arrived from a very long odyssey from Chicago). This is the second live quiz I have done (the first was at ODTUG's Kaleidoscope conference in June), and it went much smoother than the first, since I built a PL/SQL procedure to automatically compute winners (manual processes really are things to avoid whenever possible!).

Forty-two developers played the quiz and I am pleased to announce that Jeff Kemp, currently ranked #5 in this quarter on the daily quiz, took first place with a score of 37 points out of a possible maximum score of 43. He wins a $100 giftcard from Westfield Mall. Here is list of the top 20 scorers in the competition:

01 Player JEFF KEMP = 37
02 Player STUART WATSON = 34
03 Player INDU NEELAKANDAN = 33
04 Player TREVOR TRACEY-PATTE = 33
05 Player BRETT MCBRIDE = 32
06 Player MARIA DE MESA = 32
07 Player KHOI NGUYEN = 32
08 Player IAN CORKHILL = 31
09 Player MARC THOMPSON = 31
10 Player ROHAN MILTON = 31
11 Player SWEE KEONG TAN = 31
12 Player RAY FEIGHERY = 31
13 Player GARETH OWEN-CONWAY = 30
14 Player TIM DANIELL = 30
15 Player ASHOK SHOKKANNAA = 30
16 Player THOMAS WENDE = 29
17 Player PANKAJ DADOO = 29
18 Player ROGER SCHNEIDER = 29
19 Player ANTHONY BRUMBY = 29
20 Player R F = 29

Hopefully they will all register at and play the daily quiz of the PL/SQL Challenge as well. They clearly have lots of promise! And if you are not yet playing the daily quiz of the PL/SQL Challenge, well please do join the other 1400 developers who play almost every day, learning more about PL/SQL and winning weekly and monthly prizes.

Finally we were lucky enough to have Tom Kyte in attendance at the live quiz. He was kindly pointed out two subtle problems with the quiz, so I cleaned those up for the other quizzes this week. One point will also result in a minor change in our assumptions.

Fall 2010 Webinar Series Sponsored by Quest Software

I will be conducting a third series of webcasts for Quest Software that will put you on the fast track to maximizing your understanding and use of Oracle PL/SQL. Here are lots of details and links for registration. I hope to "see" you there!

Session 1: Programming with Collections
Monday, September 27, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern ($200.00 US)
Collections (array-like structures in PL/SQL) are critical data structures that are used in some of the most important features of PL/SQL. Every PL/SQL developer should have a deep familiarity with collections and the wide range of features that Oracle has implemented for them over the years. This session introduces collections and quickly moves on to detailed explanations of collection methods, how to leverage string indexing in associative arrays, multi-level collections, set-level operations on nested tables and more. The session will run for approximately two hours. 
Register 

Session 2: Say Goodbye to Hard-Coding in PL/SQL
Wednesday, October 6, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern ($200.00 US)
Everyone knows that hard-coding is a bad idea. Too many developers, however, only think in terms of literal values when they think of hard-coding. There are, unfortunately, many ways that hard-coding manifests itself in our programs. This webinar offers a comprehensive look at all the types of hard-coding that can appear in your programs, from literals to explicit declarations to exposed formulas, and offers specific techniques to get rid of the hard-coding. The result is code that is much easier to read and to maintain. The session will last approximately two hours.
Register

Session 3: Dynamic SQL in Oracle PL/SQL
Wednesday, October 20, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern ($200.00 US)
Dynamic SQL (construction, parsing and execution of SQL statements and PL/SQL blocks at runtime) has become a common and critical element of most modern applications. PL/SQL offers two distinct methods for dynamic SQL: native dynamic SQL  (NDS) and DBMS_SQL. This webinar focuses primarily on the capabilities of native dynamic SQL: how to use EXECUTE IMMEDIATE to execute dynamic query, DML, and DDL statements. We will also go beyond the basics and delve into when to use DBMS_SQL (method 4 dynamic SQL), and new Oracle Database 11g features for dynamic SQL (most importantly, interoperability between DBMS_SQL and NDS.  The session will last approximately two hours.
Register

Update: Eli as Programmer

Almost three weeks ago, my son Eli started working for me as an APEX programmer - with absolutely no background in software. He'd focused mainly on being a musician for the last five+ years (guitar, songwriting, etc.). So: minimal mathematics education; no knowledge of SQL or PL/SQL; no experience with HTML, Javascript....what were we getting ourselves into?

I am very pleased to report that Eli has made rapid progress. He is now building basic APEX applications, writing queries and other SQL statements, making changes to the PL/SQL Challenge application (very simple changes for now!), learning HTML.

He whips through APEX design pages so quickly, I start to get dizzy trying to follow him. It looks like this is going to work out very, very well.

Eli told me that while he hadn't written software, he had lots of experience with creating and manipulating music in his head. We agreed that this would likely help with programming and I would say that this is now well established. While Eli had not experience with SQL syntax, his brain seems to be very nicely trained to work with a large number and highly complex abstractions. So the switch from music to logic/code seems to be a smooth one.

In addition, while Eli is not video game fanatic, he has certainly spent time on various game consoles from a relatively early age. I think back to a 10 year old Eli playing a game that involved choosing and arming characters for a quest, solving puzzles on the screen, quickly paging through menus and options....and then I look at him "playing with" the APEX interface.

I realize that for a person who has trained his or her brain to work with a rich UI found in video games, in which most of your activity is point-and-click rather than typing, an environment like APEX is "child's play" - a relatively crude and simplified interface.

So I now declare myself happy that Eli played video games, to prepare himself for the "real world."

Eli, it has been a real pleasure to work with you and I look forward to lots more of it in the future!

"Liberal media" what a laugh!

I have always found it both amusing and alarming to hear the right wing of this country blast the mainstream media for its liberal bias. What a joke. Sure, lots of journalists might be left-leaning or centrist. But the content and direction of the media is determined by its owners, and what this means (among other things) is that the quality and quantity of critiques of corporate mis-behavior are minimized.


Also, the coverage of non-right wing activity in this country is pitiful and most clearly demonstrates how the media is biased towards the right.


Case in point: the tea party movement holds a meeting of several hundred people, and the national media are all over it, live interviews, commentary, blah blah blah. 


Compare that to the scene in Detroit in late June, when the US Social Forum held a convention to discuss and plan ways to increase the quantity and quality of justice and equality in this great nation of ours. Over 18,000 progressives, lefists, whatever label you want to apply to them, gathered together for five days.


18,000 people gathered to talk politics, to challenge the tea party ideas, press Obama and Congress to do more. That's pretty amazing, isn't it? Certainly worthy of some basic, minimal media coverage on every mainstream outlet. 


So who from the major media were present? Venezuela's TeleSur and Al Jazeera English.


That's just pitiful, and an incredible disservice to the millions of people in this country who are angry at the status quo and are looking for alternatives. 


How can you call the media "liberal" when it so clearly promotes and highlights right-wingers while ignoring those on the left?

My Son, Eli, Takes on APEX

My youngest son, Eli (23), has spent the last several years honing his skills as a guitarist and composer. He's very talented, but it's hard to make a living as a musician, especially in the current economy.

Much to my delight, Eli has decided that he would like to try his hand at being a software developer. He has a basic foundation of mathematics, but no programming experience. He has, on the other hand, well-developed powers of abstraction, used to conceptualize and organize music and songs. He is excited about diving into the world of software.

I've decided to have him learn Oracle fundamentals and APEX 4, as the quickest path to making him productive. I have lots of work to be done in APEX for my various projects.

I will also take this opportunity to deepen my familiarity with APEX; it certainly makes sense given that PL/SQL is the foundation technology. I've just been hard-pressed to date to make time for learning a new technology. So we will learn together.

Having said that, it will be very helpful for Eli to have some mentors in the APEX world, someone who knows the product well and would be willing and able to provide some advice.

So if anyone reading this knows APEX well (I doubt he will be utilizing APEX 4 features for quite a while) and would be willing and able to answer the occasional question from Eli, please send me a note at steven@stevenfeuerstein.com. I would be most grateful, as would Eli.

A little bit of corporate sanity and hope

I read an article in the NY Times today regarding an apparel factory in the Dominican Republic that, according to the Times, "is a high-minded experiment, a response to appeals from myriad university officials and student activists that the garment industry stop using poverty-wage sweatshops. It has 120 employees and is owned by Knights Apparel, a privately held company based in Spartanburg, S.C., that is the leading supplier of college-logo apparel to American universities, according to the Collegiate Licensin." 

There have been efforts in the past to pay a "living wage" to workers, but it usually led to high costs to the consumer and very limited distribution. In this case, Knights Apparel has a market-leading position and support from many universities. This could really work, and lead the way for future, similar initiatives.

I will, from this moment forward, be on the lookout for Knights Apparel products and purchase them, instead of the products of their competitors, such as Nike. I hope you will consider doing the same.

The moratorium on deepwater drilling and human arrogance

I am stunned at the pressure mounted by Gulf Coast-area politicians and businesspeople on the Obama Administration to allow resumption of deepwater drilling.

Without a doubt, this moratorium has clear and profound impacts, in terms of loss of jobs and revenue and more. So I can understand the immediate reaction to be one of "The BP disaster is a once-in-a-lifetime event! Drilling is overwhelmingly safe! Let us get back to it!"

What is missing from such a response is an understanding of the concept of unacceptable risk.

Sure, it would be really nice to avoid the financial impact of the moratorium. Sure, it is very, very unlikely that another disaster will occur anytime soon. But that's just statistics. Then there is the real world, in which corporate negligence and corner-cutting, plus the unpredictability of weather and ocean, can clearly lead to outcomes whose impact could be catastrophic.

I would feel far better about lifting the moratorium if the oil companies openly acknowledged that they have spotty maintenance histories, that BP clearly took shortcuts to improve profitability. I would feel like we have learned from this disaster if the government launched a thorough investigation of all deepwater rigs, examining all company records and the rigs themselves, verified that we don't have any other disasters waiting to happen.

In other words, we need to make as sure as possible that this entire industry isn't a disaster waiting to happen. After 8 years of Bush and "hands off" regulation, we should have no reason at all to think that these companies and their equipment can be trusted.

Big day for me - and at least a few PL/SQL developers

Today (in one hour in fact, 10 AM Chicago time), 48 developers will compete in the first-ever PL/SQL Challenge quarterly championship, with a grand prize of US$1000, second prize of US$500 and third prize of an ebook collection of all O'Reilly Media Oracle books.

It has been a long three months from the launch of the PL/SQL Challenge on 8 April. I have learned so much from the many developers who have played - and critiqued - my quizzes. I have been very pleased with the response of so many developers to the Challenge: enthusiasm, increased interest in the PL/SQL language, eagerness to compete...

Hopefully all will go well and smoothly. OK, back to preparations....

PL/SQL Challenge taking off - 1000+ daily players

The PL/SQL Challenge is rapidly gaining momentum. We are in our second 1000+ player day (I think we will break 1200), and the fourth 900+ player day in a row. I am very excited. I have this feeling that the PL/SQL Challenge will soon be a key gathering site for PL/SQL developers, and the only way for them to demonstrate through public rankings their expertise in the language.

Many players have shared with me  their enthusiasm for the daily quiz, and how much they are learning  about PL/SQL from the quizzes.

Who knows? Perhaps references to PL/SQL Challenge rankings will start to appear in resumes!

We will be holding our first quarterly championship next week, awarding the US$1000 and US$500 prizes for the first time since we started the Challenge in April 2010.

If you haven't yet started playing the daily quiz, now is a great time to start. It's only the fourth day into a new quarter, so you can certainly still rank up near the top and qualify for the next quarterly championship if you start playing today.

Just visit www.plsqlchallenge.com, register or login, and take the quiz. It's free and easy!

Meant to be?

Don't get me wrong (or get me as wrong as you'd like), I am very happy that the US won their latest World Cup game, and will advance to second stage. And I am very happy for Landon Donovan, who scored the winning goal. I like the game of football (soccer) very much, used to play and then referee kids' games.


But I found Donovan's statement about the victory and its meaning a bit hard to take. He said (according to the Chicago Tribune): "It makes me believe in good in the world and if you try to do things the right way, it' good to see it get rewarded."


This idea that something was "meant to be" or a "reward" for previous good behavior is of course very widespread. And I can see how this belief can help people get through hard times. I don't believe the same thing; at least, I suppose I am "theoretically" open to the possibility that in fact there is some grand design that invests meaning and intent in things that happen.These days, though, I mostly hold to the viewpoint that "stuff just happens" and the only meaning events and outcomes have is the meaning we inject into it.


Having said that, OK, you believe what you believe, I believe what I believe. But, c'mon, Landon - you seem to be implying that all those other soccer players who are losing have not done things "the right way" and whose loss is a "good in the world." 


And that, dear reader, is really hard to believe.

Can BP "speed it up"?

I just caught this headline at Yahoo:

Coast Guard to BP: Speed it up, stop the spill (AP)

"Crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill washes ashore in Orange Beach, Ala., Saturday, June 12, 2010. Large amounts of the oil battered the Alabama coast, leaving deposits of the slick mess some 4-6 inches thick on the beach in some parts. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)AP - The Coast Guard has demanded that BP step up its efforts to contain the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico by the end of the weekend, telling the British oil giant that its slow pace in stopping the spill is becoming increasingly alarming as the disaster fouled the coastline in ugly new ways Saturday."

And I find myself wondering: could it really be possible that BP is not expending all possible effort and expense, that they are not working as hard and as smart as they can to fix the problem?

They've certainly been trying some massive, difficult things - and failing.

I tend to see things this way: we've reached a dangerous and awkward point in our evolution and development as a species. We have at our disposal incredible technical skills, allowing us to do all sorts of amazing things. But we haven't yet developed a sufficiently sophisticated moral framework in which to apply our awesome skills.

As a result, we now find ourselves doing things to ourselves and our world that are beyond our capabilities to fix.

Well, in that case, I hope that BP has in fact been slacking all this time and now they will work harder and fix the problem. Yeah, right.

New presentation available for download: Golden Rules for Developers

I presented for the first time ever "Golden Rules for Developers" at the NYOUG general meeting on June 9, 2010.

Click here to download the presentation in PDF form.

And here's the description of the presentation:

We all want to write better code: fewer bugs, faster algorithms, readable blocks. Yet again and again our best intentions are thwarted by...all sorts of people and things: ourselves, our managers, our users, crazy deadlines, lack of tools, and more. We have, unfortunately, control over only so much of our professional lives. We generally can't do much about our managers or our users. We usually can't change the deadlines. So we have to look at what each of us can do individually to move to the next level of software developer. This session offers a set of "golden rules" that we all can agree on and will definitely improve our code - and then offers some practical advice to help you follow them.

What other nation besides Israel....

• Could drop a bunch of highly trained, elite commandos onto a boat carrying humanitarian supplies and hundreds of people who they know are very angry at the Government of Israel, and then complain when those commandos are actually attacked?
• Could claim that it was "self defense" when these commandos kill and injure dozens - on a boat they boarded in international waters?
• Would so carelessly toss away their relationship with the only majority-Muslim nation in the world willing to be some kind of friend to Israel?
• Would embroil its key (perhaps all too soon, only) ally, the United States, in yet another crisis, at a time when the U.S. is flailing about with a massive, uncontrolled oil spill, a war in Afghanistan, a devastated economy? [hey, maybe that's precisely why they did it now!]
• Could insist that they can carry out their own "impartial" investigation into this debacle and, yes, massacre?

Imagine if the "tables were turned".

Imagine a boatload of Jews heading to the Promised Land, with nothing but food, cement, medical supplies and some metal bars on board the ship. Then the ship is boarded by heavily armed and well trained commandos. Do the Jews on board simply give up? No! They have learned their lesson. They will fight back valiantly, with few weapons, but a strong sense of righteousness. Miraculously, the commandos are forced on the defensive, and then they unleash deadly weapons fire on the ship passengers, killing and wounding dozens. And the Jews or more specifically in later versions of these stories, "Israelis" (meaning: Israeli Jews) are heroes.

This is precisely the kind of story told over and over again (at least in Jewish families like mine and to members of synagogues), from the founding of the State of Israel: courageous, outgunned Jews performing miraculous, virtuous acts as they stand up for their ideals and those among them who are unable to defend themselves.

The parallels and contradictions between those "Jews as victims-no-longer" stories and the events of the last few days are striking and disturbing. And of course Israel cannot be seen as the persecutor in such tales - Israel is always on the side of good and right, it never does anything wrong. It only defends itself. Yeah, right. Save it for...American Jews.

The Government of Israel complains about how they are singled out for criticism, how they face "existential" challenges from states like Iran. It seems more and more clear, quite sadly, though, that the worst enemy faced by Israel today is its own militarized, ultra-right government, its fundamentalist, extremist political organizations (currently in control of the government) - and the American Jews who believe Israel can do no wrong, and will provide political and financial cover for every red line the GofI crosses.

Soon, Israel will be widely regarded as a true rogue state - precisely because the Government of Israel insists on taking rogue actions.

A blog for the PL/SQL Challenge

We have created a new blog (just what the world needed?) specifically for the PL/SQL Challenge.

The developers playing the daily quiz are very engaged, to say the least, and they often have lots to say about the questions and answers. When a player has an objection to a quiz, we will now publish an entry about it, so that everyone can comment and read the threads.

In fact, Finn published some very interesting results from his research into UTL_FILE and its handling of newline characters. I encourage you take a look.

I also wanted a soapbox from which I could talk about why I created the PL/SQL Challenge and where I plan to take it into the future.

Interesting keynote speaker for ODTUG

I just received a note "pre-announcing" the ODTUG Kaleidoscope 2010 keynote. Not someone from Oracle, not someone deep into the technology itself, like me. No, instead, a person who is paying attention to how the Internet and computing in general can have a profound (and not necessarily positive) impact on our lives. Check it out - and register for the conference! Here's a chunk from the announcement:

"The Oracle Development Tools User Group (ODTUG) is pleased to announce that Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Research Center s Internet & American Life Project, will deliver the Keynote Address at ODTUG Kaleidoscope 2010 on Monday, June 28. The Pew Internet & American Life Project is a non-profit, non-partisan "fact tank" that studies the social impact of the Internet. The Project has issued more than 200 reports based on its surveys that examine online activities and the Internet's role of the Internet in our lives.

"Lee is a co-author of Up for Grabs, Hopes and Fears, and Ubiquity, Mobility, Security, a series of books about the future of the Internet, published by Cambria Press and based on Project surveys.  He is also co-authoring a book for MIT Press about the social impact of technology, with sociologist Barry Wellman, which will be published in late 2010. The working title is Networked: The New Social Network Operating System. Click here for more information on Lee Rainie and the prestigious Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project.

"This very timely Keynote Address is just one more reason for attending ODTUG Kaleidoscope 2010, June 27- July 1 at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C. Do not delay in Registering. Also, the hotel is filling up quickly, so make your overnight reservations as soon as possible. The cut-off for the conference rate is June 9. We cannot guarantee that the conference rate will be available after that date."

PL/SQL Challenge not useful if you're not on Oracle11g?

I just received the following email from a person who tried out the PL/SQL Challenge:

"I don't have 11g installed on my home computers, and my workplace hasn't upgraded to it (not until 2011). So not having had a chance to use it or any reason to study the documentation, I'm not going to answer any 11g questions. I'd like to recommend the PL/SQL Challenge to people where I work. My principal professional focus, however, is improving the general SQL and programming (PL/SQL) skills of developers, rather than improving folks understanding of the esoterica of PL/SQL. While I personally do appreciate the PL/SQL challenge (especially in regards to the frustrating quirks of the language), I cannot at this time recommend it for a general audience in the industry I work (Financial Services)."

I found this reaction fascinating on several levels and sent the developer this reply:

I will remove your user account from the PL/SQL Challenge, but please read my response below first and then confirm that you want nothing further to do with it.

I can certainly understand your frustration at being confronted with an 11g question, which generally would seem to be completely irrelevant to what you are doing.

First, allow me to point out that the vast majority of our questions are based on a 10.2 platform; it would surely be hasty to reject the Challenge as a whole because of this question's 11g dependency.

Second, oddly enough, this question is a great example of why the PL/SQL Challenge could be so important for developers who are precisely in your position: not yet on 11g, but surely you know it is coming your way (and for your industry).

The function result cache is an incredibly powerful and important 11g feature; it is definitely not "esoterica."
 
In fact (1), it is so powerful and important that once you learn about it, it should change the way you write your applications right now, in order to be prepared to take smooth and rapid advantage of it when you upgrade.

In fact (2), I have been presenting for over a year now a presentation titled " Why you should care about Oracle 11g now" (available here) to drive home precisely this point.

Bottom line: I hope you will reconsider, continue playing and encourage others to do so.

And for everyone else: the Challenge is now being played regularly by over 700 developers each day. I hope that you will give it a try yourself. You could learn an awful lot about PL/SQL and you could win some excellent prizes!

PL/SQL Challenge Hits 800 Players!

On Thursday, Oracle sent out its Database Application Developer Newsletter and included this paragraph:

Take the PL/SQL Challenge
Oracle ACE Director Steven Feuerstein has started up a new contest for PL/SQL Developers: the PL/SQL Challenge. The Challenge is free and simple: you play the quiz each weekday, exercising your knowledge of the language. Every three months, the top-ranking players compete in a quarterly championship to award first, second and third prizes. But that's not all: Every month, Steven will raffle off other prizes to anyone who played the quiz that month. So visit the PL/SQL Challenge and start playing. You've got nothing to lose and lots to gain!

Well....that worked out very nicely. Over 300 people registered at the PL/SQL Challenge and today we broke through the 800 player "barrier". Very exciting!

Thanks, Oracle!

Come Monday, players will also see many enhancements to the website, including improved rankings information and the ability to invite friends to play the PL/SQL Challenge. 

If you are a PL/SQL developer and you are not yet playing the PL/SQL Challenge, pay us a visit and check it out. You will have fun and could win some excellent prizes. Here's what a few people have recently said about the PL/SQL Challenge:

"I love the PL/SQL Challenge. It is getting our team talking about PL/SQL on a daily basis."

"I wait eagerly every morning for the next question. It's become a part of my warm-up ritual at work, in addition to making tea."
 

Brian Daniels Graduates from Averett University

I have just come back from a wonderful weekend in Danville, Virginia, home of Averett University. My wife, Veva, organized a family reunion/graduation celebration there, because our nephew, Brian Daniels, graduated from Averett on Saturday with a Bachelors of Science. Congratulations, Brian!

Brian is the first member of his family to attend, much less, graduate, from college.

He made this possible through dedication, discipline, hard work (hard, hard work) and a quiet strength that kept him going through many obstacles. And, of course, the unswerving support of his family.

Brian attended Averett on a football scholarship and I hope to soon announce the next step in his incredible journey regarding Brian and the game (or should we say "business") of football.

After the graduation ceremony, we held a party for Brian at Mary's Diner that was very tasty, exciting and moving. Many friends and relatives spoke of their pride in his accomplishments, and the traits that have made him both so successful and so loved.

Brian is a born leader and a true friend and role model to many. We all look forward to his future accomplishments.

Shortcut to expertise?

I received this request today:

"I want to learn PL/SQL but doubt I can; I want to understand,write and fix other's code, but where do I begin? I do not like sticking to code for hours; my head hurts. But I would like to go from complete ignorance to be like you!"

That set back in my Swopper chair for a moment. He wants to go from complete ignorance to being "just like Steven" without sticking his head deep inside code for hours.

Hmmm....

Well, first of all, to anyone wanting to learn PL/SQL: do not doubt yourself! You can do it. PL/SQL is a relatively easy language to learn, especially compared to Java.

Second, I don't think are a whole lot of shortcuts you can take. That is, if you want to be an expert programmer, you will stick your head into code for hours. But:

1. Take lots of breaks! You don't have to get headaches.

2. Certainly learning from obsessive people like me can accelerate you along that learning curve to expertise.

In fact, you may want to consider attending one (or more) of my Fast Track PL/SQL webinars, sponsored by Quest. There is one more this month, and then we will likely plan another series soon.

Beyond that, I offer the following advice to "newbies" and others seeking assistance on PL/SQL:

http://tahiti.oracle.com - Oracle documentation available online
http://www.oracle.com/technology/tech/pl_sql/index.html - OTN PL/SQL information
http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/columns/plsql/index.html - links to articles on OTN
http://oracle-developer.net - detailed explorations into various PL/SQL topics by Adrian Billington
http://forums.oracle.com/forums/forum.jsp?forum=75 - the PL/SQL forum at Oracle
http://asktom.oracle.com - the amazing Ask Tom column

In addition, there are a number of "beginner books", including:
 
Learning Oracle PL/SQL http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596001803 (I am a co-author on this one)
Oracle PL/SQL for Dummies http://www.amazon.com/Oracle-SQL-Dummies-Michael-Rosenblum/dp/0764599577

Finally, I also encourage you to play the PL/SQL Challenge ( www.plsqlchallenge.com ) - a daily PL/SQL quiz with cash and other prizes!

Challenging myself and others

I am a compulsive workaholic. That is the only explanation for my inability to stop coming up with new ideas and trying new things. My latest "little project" is the PL/SQL Challenge, a daily PL/SQL quiz that culminates quarterly in a championship playoff. Top prize: $1000 USD. Not a bad prize, simply for knowing PL/SQL, right?

Ah, so easy to come up with ideas, so challenging to deliver them as functional products or websites.

First, I had to design a database to hold all my content and serve it up to consumers. Then I needed to create the content for the quiz: hundreds (and hopefully eventually thousands) of questions and answers (and have an application built to allow me to do that). My friend, Joel Finkel, was instrumental in enabling this earliest phase of the PL/SQL Challenge.

Next, more or less, I needed to have the public site built in which people could take the quizzes, see their rankings, and so on. Chris Shaw of Shaw Marketing came up with the logo and overall web design. From there, my fine friends at Apex Evangelists (Sumneva), most especially John Scott and Paul Broughton, committed many, many hours of their lives to building, tweaking and then deploying the website. Gentlemen, I am forever in your debt.

Recognizing the limitations of my incredibly narrow specialization in PL/SQL (and thus not even having a solid grasp of the total Oracle technology stack), I also decided to partner on this whole initiative with Finn Ellebaek Nielsen. Finn is an outstanding Oracle generalist, who has also decided to focus on and promote automated testing solutions for PL/SQL and Oracle. We'd been working together on Quest Code Tester for awhile, and he was a natural choice to work with me on the PL/SQL Challenge.

And this is how I have managed to drag several more human beings into the endless, mad and ever-expanding churn of activity that defines my professional life. Sorry about that, Finn and Apex Evangelists! I hope there are not major regrets (yet).

And now what I need are players, lots of players. During the first two days of the Challenge, we had over 400 people visit and answer the quiz each day. That's a fine start, but just a start.

If you are a PL/SQL developer or work with PL/SQL in any way, you owe it to yourself (and me, that's right. You owe me - it's the least you can do after I sacrificed so much of my life to help PL/SQL developers. Aw, just kidding. I didn't sacrifice. I benefited!) to visit PLSQLChallenge.com and give it a try.

Win prizes, see your name "up in lights" on the website demonstrating your proficiency in PL/SQL. Show same to your manager. Get a promotion and a raise. Succeed professionally beyond your wildest dreams - all by playing the PL/SQL Challenge.

Well, maybe not. But it's certainly a possibility.

The PL/SQL Challenge is open for business

At 00:01 UTC 8 April 2010 (7 PM Chicago time, 7 April), the PL/SQL Challenge will be open for business - which means that PL/SQL developers can now register or login and then take their first ever daily PL/SQL quiz.

Why would someone do that? Because, among other things, you could win $1000 in our quarterly championship. Not bad for knowing some stuff about PL/SQL, don't you think?

You might also want to play the PL/SQL Challenge to demonstrate your expertise to the world. User accounts are ranked publicly (don't worry, you don't have to use your real name if you don't want to).

Give it a try. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes of your day. Why not have a bit of fun as you wrestle with - and solve - serious and complex application challenges?

So welcome to the PL/SQL Challenge and best of luck in the competition!

Oh frabjous joy, a victory!

I don't think very much of the health care reform bill. The insurance companies lie at the heart of the problem with the "health care industry." This bill means that we will fork over massive amounts of our tax dollars directly to those companies as part of "mandatory insurance."


Having said that, I am so glad that Obama won this battle and got his bill passed. If he had failed, I think that could have been a very early death knell for his presidency. What could he have gotten done after losing this confrontation with the No Party?


Now he has political momentum on his side - especially with the quick follow up of an agreement with Russia on nuclear weapons. Hopefully the fall elections will now not lead to the House or Senate falling to the Republicans (they have been purely and utterly disgusting throughout this entire period).


Go, Obama, go!

I Support Hillary Clinton

There I said it. That wasn't so hard.

But why did I say it, and what do I mean? Because I just read the following in Haaretz:

"In a telephone call to Netanyahu last week, Clinton laid out U.S. expectations from Israel including a rollback to the housing plan, a gesture of good faith to the Palestinians and an express statement that all issues dividing Israel and the Palestinians, including the fate of divided Jerusalem, remain part of the negotiations."

And it struck me: this is a really amazing moment. Our Secretary of State is telling Israel it has to explicitly accept that Jerusalem is still a negotiable issue (this is, formalistically, the case, in terms of the state of "peace negotiations", but the reality is that the Government of Israel states over and over again that Jerusalem will not be dividied - and is the capitol of Israel). This is an incredibly explosive issue among the hard-liners in Israel, a red line of their own, and could bring down the government.

I am stunned to see where this row over settlements has gone. Perhaps if Netanyahu and his truly fanatical, extremist coalition members hadn't been utterly disrespectful, disdainful really, in the way that they treated Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton, there wouldn't be so much push-back. But they got careless, which is understandable. They hadn't been challenged in such a long time. The Israeli leadership has became casually arrogant.

And this is just the latest in a series of demonstrations of their arrogance since Obama was elected President.

Remember that Israel invaded Gaza in January 2009 and waged a brutal war against, officially, Hamas, but more accurately a trapped civilian population? The Israeli Defense Forces (considered one of the most competent in the world) killed hundreds of children. Think about that one for a moment. That is a fact. But my point here is actually more that they did this awful thing right on the eve of Obama's inauguration. As Obama was preparing to become the first President of color in history, Israel was killing Palestinian children and destroying the infrastructure of one of the most densely populated areas on earth.

Predictably, Israel pulled out of Gaza just days before the Inauguration, thereby avoiding a direct collision with Obama. Whew, that was a close one - but, still, a real slap in the face to Obama. Since then Obama said "No settlements, just stop it." And Netanyahu's administration just mocked him and ignored him, with words and actions.

And now here they are, their backs up against the proverbial wall, with no escape route. Suddenly, they will have to make a real sacrifice to demonstrate their commitment to the peace process. Namely, they will have to admit to the possibility that they might have to accept a divided Jerusalem. That's it. Doesn't seem like much, but I am not at all convinced Netanyahu can do this and still keep his government intact. 

Maybe someday soon President Obama will even tell Israel that it must join the IAEA and allow its nuclear weapons facilities to be investigated and monitored, like all other nuclear states.

Now that would be a signal day, a day to finally say to ourselves: perhaps there can be a peaceful and reasonably just solution to this conflict.

In the meantime, Hillary Clinton will be speaking at the upcoming AIPAC conference. Again, from the Ha'aretz article:

"Clinton said she expects to see Netanyahu in Washington next week, where both are to address the annual gathering of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee."

Clinton may possibly be facing an extremely hostile audience at the AIPAC event, which is also startling to contemplate. And there will be enormous pressure on her and Obama to back down. She needs our help.

It seems to me that all the peace groups, like Jewish Voice for Peace, Brit Tzedek, American Jews for a Just Peace, AFSC, the massive End the Occupation coalition, you name it, should be getting together to organize the biggest possible support march for Hillary Clinton outside the AIPAC event.

That should be the single focus of the gathering: Support Hillary Clinton. Assuming her position hasn't by then changed. Support what she is calling for. Keep it simple and direct. Keep it pro-our government, not anti-Israel or anti- anything else. And if it could get really big, it could give Clinton the backup she needs to speak with a righteous voice.

To face Israel down at this critical juncture.

To change history.

C'mon peace and justice activists, organizations, coalitions: this is why you are in existence. To take moments like this to activate all the people who are hungry and frustrated but have never had a focus that could make a difference.

This could really make a difference.

Beta Testing Starts for the PL/SQL Challenge!

The PL/SQL Challenge is a daily quiz that culminates every three months in a championship tournament to determine the most knowledgeable PL/SQL developers in the world. You could win cash, O'Reilly Media books and other goodies - but only if you play!

From March 15 to March 26, we will be running a beta test of the PL/SQL Challenge website - and I hope you will help us. Visit beta.plsqlchallenge.com, register and start playing (use real registration information - it will be valid for the real PL/SQL Challenge as well). A link to instructions for beta testing is right on the home page. Cruise around the website and let us know if anything should be fixed.

Please note that for the beta test we will be displaying nonsense Q&As (can't afford to "waste" any real questions!), so that part won't be very interesting. Please make sure to read the beta testing instructions before you get started.

During beta testing only, you are also allowed to register yourself more than once (but you will need to use a unique and valid email address). Why might you do this? So you can test the quiz-taking more than once per day - and be enrolled in our beta test raffle (giving away free copies of the ebook version of for each quiz you take, increasing your chances of winning!

PL/SQL Challenge Discount for ODTUG Kaleidoscope

There is going to be a fun, new activity at the Kaleidoscope conference this year:  "PL/SQL Developer, Quiz Thyself!" This is a live quiz on PL/SQL topics, co-sponsored by ODTUG and the PL/SQL Challenge. There will be cash and other prizes. It should be lots of fun.

ODTUG has generously agreed to offer a discount of $50 off the current registration fee for Kaleidoscope to developers who are playing the PL/SQL Challenge. Simply type "PLSQLCHALLENGE" into the Registration Code field as you go through the registration process. Early Bird Registration ends March 24, so register today for the lowest possible price.

What has Toyota actually proven here?

Interesting article in the Chicago Tribune today: "Toyota rebuts claims of SIU professor: In webcast, consulting firm re-creates electronic glitch in other vehicle brands".

First, David Gilbert demonstrates to Congress a way to cause sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles.

Then Toyota countered his demonstration as follows: "Using similar methodology, engineers at Toyota's facility on Monday duplicated the results on camera in seven other vehicles, including a Chevrolet Malibu, Honda Accord and Ford Fusion. Officials said the results, though not maligning other manufacturers, show that the methodology was essentially flawed."

Gee, I don't know. It seems like you could just as legitimately conclude that the problems experienced by Toyota owners could well be showing up in other vehicles.

I must admit that as a programmer, it scares me to think that my safety (and the safety of my family members) when driving is so dependent on software.

Any pizza, any crust, any toppings, just $10? REALLY?

Pizza Hut is advertising (hard) its new recession-proof pricing: "Any piza. Any size. Any crust. Any toppings. Just $10." See? They say so right here:

 

But wait! Is that fine print at the bottom? Yes, it is! And what does it say?

"ADDITIONAL CHARGE FOR STUFFED CRUST PIZZA"

Now, I must admit: $10 for a pizza that is loaded up with a bunch of stuff is a good deal (unless you simply won't buy food at a place like Pizza Hut because it will also be loaded up with high fructose corn syrup and other "food products"). That's not what bothers me.

What really bothers me is the blatant manipulation and assumption that we are all rather dumb. They come up with a marketing line that is very powerful - but a lie. It's not "any pizza, any crust".

Why oh why can't everyone be as logical and straightforward and honest as a software programmer?

My idea for an iPhone app

I get kind of sad sometimes, watching people disappear into their mobile distraction devices. iPhones and their like certainly offer new opportunities for community and entertainment, but mostly it seems to me that they lead to isolation in one's physical context (aka, the real world) and lack of introspection.

So here is my idea for a truly useful iPhone app: Basta! (which means "Enough!" in Spanish)

Basta would allow you to request disabling of specific features of your iPhone (or all of it, just turn it into a black slate) for a given period of time.

Basta makes it easy for you to answer questions like: "Can I go 10 seconds without reading/writing texts?"

But the really exciting, Web 2.0 feature of Basta is that your friends (via Facebook, etc.) can challenge you to specific Basta restrictions: "I bet Steven can't go more than an hour without sending a tweet." and so on. All dares - proposed, accepted, denied and the results - are posted to your Facebook page and can be seen by others.

So you can build reputation and status around your ability, willingness, discipline to step away from devices and instead interact more with real live, breathing humans.

Or just watch more TV.

Anyway, that's my idea of a really great app!

An unknown Olympic athlete?

Sometimes I just have to laugh out loud at the media and the way things are reported. Consider this photo and tag line on the front page of the Chicago Tribune today:

 

 It says "Stunning run by an unknown - American Byron Wilson comes out of nowhere to snag the bronze in moguls."

What I find so odd about this is the idea that any of the athletes who are competing in the Olympics could be "unknown." You only get to the Olympics if you are the best of the best, verified through a multitude of contests. In fact, Wilson won the U.S. Championship in 2009 to secure his spot on the "B" OIlympics team, and was a former Junior World Champion.

The only way that any of these Olympic-quality athletes could be considered "unknown" is by the Tribune deciding that they weren't worth "knowing" - until they won a medal.

Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

On January 13, we buried my father, Sheldon Feuerstein. On January 25, we buried my sister, Laurie Feuerstein Walsh. It has been a horrible couple of months (December and January). I can only hope that the rest of 2010 is better for all of us.

I feel very strongly that both Dad and Laurie had health problems contributing to their deaths that came from the foods they ate and the toxic environments in which they, we all, lived (any urban environment saturates us with toxins). Those same foods are likely causing problems for the rest of us, too. I have lately been struck by how ridiculous it is that food has become such a complicated and treacherous affair, that we seem to need nutritionists and scientists and politicians to decide what is good for us to eat. Isn't that strange? Humans have been finding, growing, preparing and eating food for thousands of years - and surviving quite well, thank you - without all this "assistance." And in the US, where the nutritionists reign supreme, we are getting fatter and sicker with each year. Something is so deeply wrong with this picture.

Fortunately, I think the solution to this problem is very simple: "Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

That is the mantra of a man named Michael Pollan. He has just published a book called Food Rules, which I urge you to purchase and read immediately (only $5 from Amazon!).  This small, very accessible book offers simple, practical advice regarding food that can help all of us regain control of our bodies and our health.

Here is what I have decided so far from reading this book: I am going to stop purchasing packed, processed food products (not the same as food) as much as possible. No more Ritz crackers (absolutely yummy with PBJ), no more ramen noodles (I love those with a generous helping of sauteed brussel sprouts).

NO MORE HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP at all. I will check every package. I am now convinced more than ever that that stuff is a poison (or at the very least a drug) that operates at a very deep level on our physiology, making us fat and sick.

If you are sick or you have a family member who is sick; if you are affected by any of the four "Western diseases" (obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes or cancer); if you simply don't feel all that great (low energy, acid reflux, etc.) - then please, please, take a serious look at a serious change to your diet. It could make all the difference.

In Loving Memory: Laurie (Feuerstein) Walsh, 1963 - 2010

My sister, Laurie Walsh, died on Saturday, January 23, 2010, at the age of 46. She was a sweet, generous, loving mother, wife, sister, daughter, aunt and friend. She leaves behind an 11 year old son (and light of her life) and a husband.

Over 150 people attended Laurie's funeral service on January 25, on a day of truly horrible weather (pouring rain and driving winds). The outpouring of love for Laurie was overwhelming. We, her family, always knew how special she was, but we had no idea how much she had touched the lives of so many others.

Here's how I see it: Laurie was a true American hero. She believed in and dedicated herself to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Life: Laurie did not have it easy. For the last ten years of her life, she was ill, fighting auto-immune diseases and other challenges. But she refused to let it stop her or dissuade her from doing the things she wanted and needed to do for her family and for herself. She was always cheerful and positive with friends and family. She was determined to live her life as fully as she could.

Liberty: Laurie was her father's daughter. She did not want to depend on others, whether physically or financially - and like her father she was very stubborn. What this meant was that Laurie was always ready and willing to pay a long term price (with her medicines, for example) so that in the short term she could keep going, stay functional, maintain as normal as possible a life for her son.

And then...the "long term" became the now...and she paid the ultimate price.

Pursuit of happiness: Laurie was all about love, especially love of children, love of being with children, taking care of children, making children laugh and making sure they knew how special they were, each and every one. But there were two people in the world who were the very wellspring of happiness for Laurie: her son and her husband. I am so thankful that Laurie met her husband and that her son came into this world to give intense purpose and focus to Laurie's life.

Laurie struggled with learning in conventional ways in school, but she was an incredibly determined fighter - once she set an objective for herself, she never let up until she achieved her objective. And so it was that she graduated with a B.S. in microbiology from Stonybrook University on Long Island and took a job as a medical technologist and phlebotomist at NYU Medical Center. Her friend Susan told us that the doctors at NYU would seek out Laurie to do the testing for their patients because she was so competent and dependable.

When she became pregnant, she had to quit the job and always missed it greatly. She could have gotten the job back, but it would have required working nights and/or weekends, and she refused to compromise on spending time with her son. Her son arrived early and required lots of diligent mothering, from which Laurie never shirked. And from her son's birth to Laurie's death, children (first and foremost her son, of course) became the central theme of Laurie's time and effort.

Laurie was the president of the Parent's Association at her son's school, ran the Scholastic book program, and volunteered for any and every job. She taught herself how to use the computer and Internet to make cards and menus for events, keep track of payments and volunteers, and so much more. Her friends begged her to do less, to take it easy, but she refused with indignation to let up in any way.

Laurie worked as a teacher's assistant at the Central Queens Y, surrounding herself with children - and every single one of them was special to her, was greeted with a big smile. One teacher told me how a parent would arrive with a child who was upset, hysterical with crying, her nose running - a real mess. Kind of disgusting - but not to Laurie. She would welcome that child as if no one in the world could ever make her happier, as if she would rather do nothing else than wipe that kid's nose and give a big hug.

As a Feuerstein, Laurie inevitably harbored strong creative inclinations. She did a lot of drawing when she was young, but as an adult she found her artistic medium of choice in scrapbooking. She made the most wonderful scrapbooks, and she made everything from scratch - no shortcuts for her! She also loved to take photographs - of family events, of activities at school, of (more than anything and anyone else) her son. Shelley, a teacher for whom Laurie worked, told us that Laurie had a special gift: she could capture in her photos the inner life of a child, that you could see in her photos what a child was thinking, feeling, hoping for their lives.

[I hope to be able to post these photos and also scrapbook pages on the Internet at some point so we can all appreciate her work.]

My father died on January 9. He lived a long, full, life (for more about Sheldon Feuerstein click here) and while I miss him greatly, his death made sense in a way. It was part of a normal course of life and death.

But Laurie? I cannot make sense of Laurie's death. Her life was too much of a struggle, her death came much too soon and left too much pain and suffering in its wake.

But if she were here now, reading this, she would scoff at me. She would tell me that you play with the cards you are dealt and you make the most of what you are given in life. So that is what we will do: make the most of and with the life of her smart, funny son with a big, bright smile.

And, you know, I find that I can sum up Laurie's life in one word: love.

She was all about love: giving it in great abundance, taking it from others in every possible moment and form, shining her incredible smile on the children around her, making them feel special - and loved.

Laurie Feuerstein Walsh - we loved you and we will always miss you.

[Laurie was a member of Young Judea and greatly enjoyed a school year spent in Israel as part of that program. We ask that donations in her memory be made to Hadassah's Young Judea program.]