text:
East 2008 Talks
A Flock of PLs
David Fetter
Talk Type: 45-Minute Talk
Experience Postgres's ever-growing group of internal programming languages!
Postgres is more than just an excellent database server. It's also a programming environment, and you can write programs that run inside in your favorite language, at least if your favorite language is C, Java, Javascript, LOLCODE, Perl, PHP, Python, R, Ruby, Scheme, Shell, SQL or Tcl. The list keeps growing. We will go over some examples in some of the programming languages showcasing Postgres's unique capabilities.
A Simple Database API for Queuing Background Tasks
Michael Bryzek
Talk Type: 45-Minute Talk
One strategy for scalability involves offloading as much processing as possible from live systems to background systems. This presentation will discuss a simple API to a complex record queuing system implement in the database.
We'll present production quality software used to support data denormalization, data warehousing, and full text search indexing, including an overview of when background processing applies and the types of problems it is particularly good at solving.
The talk will highlight the use of database constructs (triggers and plpgsql functions) to implement this lightweight queuing system.
Best Practices of PostgreSQL on Solaris
Jignesh Shah
Talk Type: 45-Minute Talk
If this is your first time of using PostgreSQL on Solaris, then the presentation helps you to start with a proven way of setting up PostgreSQL to avoid general pitfalls commonly observed with PostgreSQL on Solaris deployments. We will also discuss why it helps to go with this approach. We will also discuss monitoring options of identifying bottlenecks with PostgreSQL on Solaris using PostgreSQL and Solaris tools.
Big, Bad, Broken, PostgreSQL
Robert Treat
Talk Type: 45-Minute Talk
Early in 2008, we crashed our TB PostgreSQL instance. We'll go over the timeline of crash, discussing "the perfect storm" that got us there, how we got the server running again, and what was involved in getting back to a production state, including some really wierd things we saw along the way.
Build a Better PostgreSQL Driver: Ruby-pg
Jeff Davis
Talk Type: 45-Minute Talk
This talk is for application developers who need a richer interface, or community members who want to contribute PostgreSQL and their language of choice at the same time.
Using ruby-pg as an example, I'll discuss: interacting with the application developer community, programming style, how to offer the incredibly rich feature set of libpq in a matching style, making application developers want to use PostgreSQL, and getting the code distributed.
Cloning an elephant
Greg Sabino Mullane
Talk Type: 45-Minute Talk
Postgres by design has no "built-in" replication solution. Some consider this a good thing, as replication is means many things to many people. Learn just what replication can mean, whether you should consider using it, and all of the various free and commercial options available today.
Replication solutions discussed will include pg_dump, DRBD, log shipping/warm standby, hot standby, Skytools, Slony, pgpool-II PGCluster, Bucardo, Mammoth Replicator, uni/cluster, Daffodil Replicator, and
Community Round Table - Video
Joshua Drake, Magnus Hagander, Bruce Momjian
Talk Type: 90 Minute Round Table
An ad-hoc round table where attendees of the conference were able to ask any non-technical question. The round table was a success in understanding how the general community sees our development process and where the process needs to be improved.
Deploying PostgreSQL in a Windows Enterprise - Video
Magnus Hagander
Talk Type: 45-Minute Talk
This talk will outline some of the challenges to overcome when installing PostgreSQL in a Windows enterprise environment. Examples include mass-deployment, Active Directory integration for authentication and authorization, data exchange with existing systems. Both deploying the Windows version of the PostgreSQL server and integrating a Linux/Unix PostgreSQL in the existing infrastructures will be covered.
Great Steps in PostgreSQL History
Bruce Momjian
Talk Type: 45-Minute Talk
This talk explores the challenges faced by the PostgreSQL community over the years. The challenges often seemed insurmountable, but everything came out well in the end.
Inside the PostgreSQL Shared Buffer Cache
Greg Smith
Talk Type: 45-Minute Talk
Properly utilizing the PostgreSQL shared buffer cache is vital for optimizing database performance, but most recommendations don't go beyond just giving a rough guidelines for how big it should be. Starting with an introduction to how the cache is structured and operates, this talk goes deep into using the pg_buffercache tool to monitor what in your database your applications are using the cache for. It finishes off with suggestions for using this information for tuning how big the cache is and the related background writer parameters. This talk is mainly aimed at UNIX-like platforms.
Interprocess Coordination and Communication -- Postgres to the Rescue - Video
Damjan Pelemis
Talk Type: 45-Minute Talk
In addition to using postgres for data storage and retrieval needs, we used it to direct and coordinate a set of disparate workers. These workers represent collection of different programs that are parts of problem solution, operating cooperatively on the same large data set that is stored in the database. These programs are executed on different computer systems and rely on the DB to signal the direction and current state of progress. This approach allowed us to quickly adapt the system to changing requirements without the need to transform the programs and more importantly apply these changes with virtually no down time. Instead of the traditional approach where database plays a side-role in the blackboard architecture pattern, in our solution postgres is the key component. It provides a communication channel through notification events as well as a means to coordinate work. Each work component goes through the process of selecting an available worker, requesting its attention, instructing it to execute a part of work, and ultimately writing back the part of the solution, or the solution itself. This approach in combination with postgres as its engine allowed us to build up and scale our solution to a parallel system running in redundant modes with a self-correcting scheduler.
IPC techniques used will include communicating through data--leveraging Postgres atomicity features--as well through the LISTEN/NOTIFY mechanism.
The State of the Community - Video
Joshua D. Drake
Talk Type: 45-Minute Talk
Explores the current status of the community, growth over the last few years, and specific strategies to keep the momentum going. Other topics to be discussed is the rise of the Regional groups and how Education is key to community survival.
Large table joins: how big and how slow
Barry Fox
Talk Type: 45-Minute Talk
When dealing with joins, table size can become critical regarding speed. Postgresql provides a set of variables that can be modified (depending on system resources) to help the performance.
The goal of this talk is to provide some initial benchmarks given the default configuration over a set of joins (each using an increasing number of rows), and contrasting those results with a series of tuned parameters (using the same queries on the same hardware).
This will help provide some information as to what impact can be hoped for, as well as provide some information as to when a table becomes 'too big'.
Logic and Databases - Video
Jeff Davis
Talk Type: 45-Minute Talk
The relational model, on which all SQL DBMSs are based, is founded on both logic and sets. Relational operators like JOIN and UNION have a direct logical meaning, and you can use those operators to answer complex questions from your data unambiguously. Not only can you provide unambiguous answers, but you can translate SQL queries into the language of logic, which can be understood by people outside of IT.
Equally important is the utility of logic working backwards to help find meaning in disorganized (or perhaps undocumented) data sets. Nearly every inherited data set is less than perfectly documented, and often inconsistent. Changes to (or replacement of) the application require this data to be migrated. By iteratively making assertions and then testing them using the rules of logic and the convenience of sets, you can find exceptions and contradictions that help you refine the meaning of data, and possibly correct inconsistencies.
Monitoring PostgreSQL with ptop
Selena Deckelmann
Talk Type: 45-Minute Talk
Ever wanted a command-line tool for monitoring PostgreSQL? ptop is the answer! Derived from the UNIX utility top, ptop automates some of the most common troubleshooting queries. This talk will provide an introduction to PostgreSQL monitoring, supported features in ptop, and plans for future development.
Features include:
* List of currently running queries
* Viewing query plans
* Viewing locks
* View current user table and index statistics
* Deltas on statistics at configurable intervals
Development is active, and the tool is currently supported on *BSD and Linux, with a Mac OS X port on the way.
Portable Scale-Out Benchmarks for PostgreSQL
Robert Hodges
Talk Type: 90-Minute Mini-Tutorial
The last few PostgreSQL releases have made great strides in scaling up PostgreSQL performance on single hosts. However, you can also increase performance by scaling out horizontally across multiple copies of data on different hosts. This talk digs into scale-out designs and shows benchmark results using a set of portable scale-out benchmarks. Based on the data we can draw some conclusions about performance trade-offs of the different approaches.
The talk consists of the following parts:
* Introduction. Discussion of scale-out approaches for PostgreSQL including SLONY, pgpool, and middleware replication using Sequoia. Overview of key measures of scale-out performance: read and write scaling, query latency (for proxy approaches), large vs. small transactions, and effects of datatypes like text and BLOBs.
* Introduction to the Bristlecone performance test tools. Evaluator creates mixed loads that stress system resources like CPU. Benchmark runs focused benchmarks with systematic variation of test input parameters. Each tool includes "portable benchmarks" that can be run within a few minutes of downloading, plus you can write more.
* Off to the Races. Results of running the portable benchmarks against a few of our favorite scale-out configurations. For fun we'll throw in some MySQL results.
* Summary. Discussion of the trade-offs between different database scaling approaches and when scale-out makes sense versus scale-up.
PostgreSQL and Benchmarks
Jignesh Shah
Talk Type: 45-Minute Talk
Benchmarks are often used to help new customers to figure out the following * How a particular database stacks up compared to other databases available * Helps size up configurations required to do particular tasks * Helps identify "configurations" which can help deliver the metrics required by customers * High water mark benchmarks helps identify problems before actual customers hit into those issues
We will discuss what we found as strengths and limitations with current versions of PostgreSQL while using them with such benchmarks. These often reflect real life scenarios of what customers face while using PostgreSQL as their primary database platform.
PostgreSql and Java
Brent Friedman
Talk Type: 90-Minute Mini-Tutorial
Overview of Java/JDBC versions, and how they impact usage with PostgreSql. Code samples and interactive demonstration of basic connectivity (jdbc) and advanced connectivity (connection pool). Discussion of the ability to throttle or control speed of query execution for J2EE applications, via a 'gatekeeper' java bean, based on current system load and database performance. Walk-through tutorial on connection gotchas, configuration steps, how to verify connections, accessing stored functions (procedures), etc.
PostgreSQL Operations: looking under the hood on Solaris
Theo Schlossnagle
Talk Type: 90-Minute Mini-Tutorial
Running PostgreSQL on a production server is nothing new. However, PostgreSQL lacks many of the detailed performance analytics exposed by its commercial counterparts. In this talk we'll explore how to perform systemic analysis of performance issues using DTrace. We'll also tour some clever hacks to bend PostgreSQL to your need in large scale environments.
Postmodern PostgreSQL Application Development
David Sankel
Talk Type: 90-Minute Mini-Tutorial
This transformative tutorial debunks old ideas of database application programming and replaces them with a framework that includes some of the best Open Source tools available.
Goals Set. We'll start with an overview of the problems we wish to solve and the goals we wish to achieve. Among them are platform independence, completely open-source tools, good looking graphical interfaces, and simple deployment.
Choices Made. Several choices need to be made among the vast sea of open source tools. We'll explain how we came to decide on PostgreSQL for our database back-end, Python for our programming language, SQLAlchemy as our PostgreSQL library, GNU Make as our development environment, and PyQt as our GUI.
The Journey. The journey will be the creation of an example application using the outlined framework. Roughly it will follow these stages:
* Design of the Makefile.
* Creation of the database tables using PostgreSQL statements.
* Sample Data made using SQL.
* Design of the user interface.
* Implementation of the UI with SQLAlchemy.
* Creation of the installer makefile rules (this will include installation of PostgreSQL server from within another installer).
* Making of a pretty SVG Icon quickly.
* (if there's extra time) Using JSON as a file format for partial PostgreSQL database dumps.
The sample application built will be a simple customer management application, but the same techniques are applicable to other software including web applications.
Query Execution Techniques in PostgreSQL
Neil Conway
Talk Type: 90-Minute Mini-Tutorial
Specific topics will likely include:
* a brief summary of the lifecycle of a query in PostgreSQL and the role of the query optimizer
* the "iterator model", which is the interface used to communicate data and exchange control flow in the query executor
* scan evaluation
o sequential scans and index scans
o bitmap scans
o predicate evaluation
o materialization
o evaluating subqueries and set-returning functions
* join evaluation
o nested loops, hash joins, sort-merge joins
o outer joins
* aggregate evaluation
o grouping via sorting
o grouping via hashing
* how to understand the output of EXPLAIN
Rapid development as a denial of service threat
Andrew Sullivan
Talk Type: 45-Minute Talk
Users of PostgreSQL often choose it because of the serious way it treats the data it receives. At the same time, many PostgreSQL users are under tremendous pressure to deliver desired features to the users very quickly. Development periods are short, and testing periods are often close to non-existent.
This talk presents some lessons the author learned in an environment of too-short deadlines where software was to be presented to the world. Some of these remarks are PostgreSQL specific, and some are just tips for how to play nicely with those whose SQL skill you think needs some help.
SQL/XML For Developers
Lewis Cunningham
Talk Type: 90-Minute Mini-Tutorial
Whether we like it or not, XML has become a part of our development lives. There are very few non-trivial applications that don't require some kind of XML interface. Even though Postgres has supplied XML functionality for many years, as an add on, there are still many developers who don't know the XML basics. Full SQL/XML support is now natively supported and Postgres 8.3 also supports a native XML data type.
This presentation will explain, in developer terms, what XML really is, what XML really is NOT and how to use SQL/XML to generate XML. Topics discussed will be:
Quick Overview of XML
The XML data type
SQL/XML Functions
When XML makes sense
When XML does NOT make sense
Slony-I: Evolution of a Replication System
Christopher Browne
Talk Type: 45-Minute Talk
This lecture will discuss:
* Things Slony-I inherited from eRServer
* Things Slony-I improved on over eRServer
* Subsequent enhancements
* Aspects of the software lifecycle for this system
* Observations on aspects that may be worth improving on in future replication systems
Strategies and Compromises in PostgreSQL-powered Application Development
John Rogelstad and Gil Moskowitz
Talk Type: 45-Minute Talk
This talk will discuss the various development decisions made by xTuple (formerly OpenMFG) over the past six years with its PostgreSQL-centric applications, and look to the next-generation architecture currently in the planning stages. We will discuss:
* Putting business logic into the database via PL/PGSQL and constraints
* Where/how best to handle errors
* Designing updatable views for the API and data import
* To normalize or denormalize?
* Why build Yet Another Report Writer?
* Tools to check for data problems before upgrading
* GUI or Web: does PostgreSQL care?
* Scaling with PostgreSQL: where's the ceiling?
* Future-safe scripting that lives in the database
* A more extendable, modular future
The Magic of MVCC - Video
Greg Sabino Mullane
Talk Type: 90-Minute Mini-Tutorial
MVCC is one of the strengths of Postgres, but can be difficult to fully understand. We'll learn exactly what MVCC is and how Postgres implements it, and give you a clear understanding of snapshots, two-part commits, transaction ids, isolation levels, the problem with indexes, and what vacuum really does, among other things. This will be light on the math and computer science, and heavy on analogies and real-world examples.
The Need for Speed: Case Study of Table Partitioning
Vivek Khera
Talk Type: 45-Minute Talk
One of postgres' mechanisms for dealing withe extremely large database tables is to partition them into smaller sub-tables which appear logically to your application as a single table. The naÃ&hibar;ve approach without modifying your application at all may result in significant performance degradation.
The most commonly written about technique for table partitioning is to split data using a date field. This turned out to not be beneficial at all to our use case. By splitting our data based on an ID number field, we were able to significantly improve the performance of the database and thus our application.
In this presentation, we will present a case study of the steps we took to increase the speed of a critical portion of our application by a factor of two. We will cover:
0) Identifying the application bottleneck 1) The analysis of the application's use of the large table 2) Determining the best partition scheme for this usage 3) How to ignore consultants who want to do what is easy for them 4) Testing the partition performance
5) Planning the migration with minimal (under 5 minutes) application downtime 6) Deploying the application changes and migrating the data
Along the way, we will cover tips and tricks we learned about partitioning tables which are not obvious from reading the manual, and which make migration easier than one might expect.
The Zen of Postgres, or How to become a Happy Hacker
Andrew Dunstan
Talk Type: 45-Minute Talk
The process of contributing can be intimidating for people not used to it. The talk is intended to provide helpful advice for those who wish to become successful PostgreSQL hackers. The focus will be more on social and community aspects than technical tools, although technical apects (CVS, make, debuggers etc.) will also be mentioned.
Using PostgreSQL In Web 2.0 Applications
Nikolay Samokhvalov
Talk Type: 45-Minute Talk
The talk addresses the problems that arise in modern web applications (so-called Web 2.0) development. Today, most developers choose Open Source to build new Internet startups. Being the most powerful Open Source database system, PostgreSQL provides a wide range of excellent capabilities to meets web developers needs, which continue to grow due to various reasons. Among such reasons the following ones can be distinguished:
* growing number of competitors on the market;
* extreme level of business requirements inconstancy;
* increasing level of quality requirements;
* larger volumes of data;
* exponential style of major numbers growing (registered users, online users, pageviews, TPS).


text:
Friday, February 24, 2012
Life is FULL of important CHOICES.
41 comments:
- Carrie Vintage said...
very nice t-shirt!
- February 24, 2012 at 7:26 AM
Those are seriously gorgeous shoes!
- February 24, 2012 at 7:41 AM
- Julia M said...
You are so awesome.. THANK YOU VIRGIN, for the best blog ever.
Love from Denmark
- February 24, 2012 at 7:43 AM
- janna666 said...
haha cool shirt! ;D i love ur blog, style and attitude! how could i say it in english...i wouldn't piss you off... or i wouldn't fuck with you! and i don't mean it THAT way.. tough chick! ;)
t. usa-fan from finland:)
- February 24, 2012 at 7:48 AM
- Lucy Rance said...
Wooooooow! what a lucky girl you are. Amazing shoes!
- February 24, 2012 at 7:50 AM
- Twins said...
Waouw!! Lucky girl!!
Christine is right, honestly, you are the perfect model and representer for UNIF!!
Love your style xx
- February 24, 2012 at 7:57 AM
- red city said...
cool t-shirt :)
- February 24, 2012 at 7:57 AM
Love those boots a s that shirt is awesome kinda like a drinking mans Andy whorhal lol also in the top row is an Iron City and that makes me smile because it's from my home town l you rock I love your style wish I lives near you so we could thrift together
- February 24, 2012 at 8:04 AM
- Jacqueline From Da Block said...
Friggin love the beer sweatshirt. Awesome gift too! UNIF rulezz
xx Jacqueline
- February 24, 2012 at 8:17 AM
- Bespoke Biddie said...
Fuck yeah! I'm stoked you're getting recognized for your epicness in such kickass ways honey dip stay one hot mama
- February 24, 2012 at 8:18 AM
- Jenna said...
Hella cool sweatshirt! And you are incredibly lucky to get those Hellbounds in a second color!!!!! I would like some too!!! hahaha
- February 24, 2012 at 8:27 AM
- Dom said...
Congratulations on the new AMAZING shoes! Your tshirt is also pretty awesome.
- February 24, 2012 at 8:57 AM
- Mercedes said...
I love those booties! in red they´re great! will look good with some yellow fluorescent shoe laces!
Kiss Kiss Mercedes
- February 24, 2012 at 8:58 AM
- Peti said...
Yeah, that's right and I'm absolutely in love with your wedges.. <3
- February 24, 2012 at 9:31 AM
- Mexiquer said...
I hate beer I just don't like the taste of it. At least I'm not in risk of getting a beer belly ehehe besides this I would definetly wear that shirt! So cool! And I only need a word to describe those hoes - awesoooooooooooooome!*
- February 24, 2012 at 9:45 AM
- Ria :) said...
i loveee ur shoes :) x
- February 24, 2012 at 9:55 AM
- EXECUTION STYLE said...
That sweatshirt is the story of my life.
- February 24, 2012 at 9:58 AM
- Tegan said...
there's a poster like that on my housemate's bedroom door from when my brother lived here! love it in jumper form, and those are just GORGEOUS. xo
- February 24, 2012 at 10:12 AM
- "coy" colleen said...
amazing gift!! i love unif, those shoes are great
and that shirt is the tits
- February 24, 2012 at 10:18 AM
- Yth said...
Ah, that's totally awesome how she sent you these shoes. I'm jealous! These kind of actions remind me again how friendly people CAN be in the blogosphere and how lucky I am to be a little part of it. The sweater is fucking hilarious. I want to drink all the beers on it & then quit forever, haha!
- February 24, 2012 at 11:45 AM
- Fiona said...
Thoe shoes are so cool! Love your blog
- February 24, 2012 at 12:59 PM
- Superblondeep said...
cool sweatshirt and those boots are amazing
- February 24, 2012 at 2:06 PM
- Amber Nefertari said...
Your style is so sick girly thank you for sharing your awesomeness with us. You are probably tired of hearing this but it is cool to see someone of color looking less cookie cutter like myself. Much success to ya! P.S. love the hell raiser shoes <3
Warm regards,
- February 24, 2012 at 4:28 PM
- Magnet said...
aah, that's awesome, you're so lucky! and that's really nice of Christine, I wish someone would send me the pink hellbounds haha.
- February 24, 2012 at 4:34 PM
- Angela DiGiacinto said...
i totally need to have that vintage sweatshirt!!
xx A
- February 24, 2012 at 6:22 PM
You're so lucky getting a free pair of shoes! Awesome sweatshirt too, so funny.
- February 25, 2012 at 1:35 AM
- Mimi Fresh! said...
You totally deserve it!
- February 25, 2012 at 1:46 AM
- - D - said...
gimmme those shoesss! jealous doesnt cut it xx
- February 25, 2012 at 3:56 AM
- Caetera said...
Found kind of the same picture on a poster at Biarritz this summer, it made me laugh because I so damn like beer ! Oh, c'mon, you have all your life to lose your beer belly, you're young and beautiful, you can enjoy beer too !
Btw, if I was shorter, I'd looooooooooove to wear those shoes ! Congrats !
- February 25, 2012 at 5:02 AM
- Sarah said...
Awesome t-shirt! And those shoes are so rad! I adore UNIF! You're so lucky to have been sent them xxx
- February 25, 2012 at 6:49 AM
- Laura. said...
lucky you - i want some of those shoes so badddd
- February 25, 2012 at 6:52 AM
- Jay said...
yesssssssssssss... it is fucking AWESOME duh :P
- February 25, 2012 at 8:42 AM
- Linda said...
Lopve the shoes and the tee together! Mixex to die for!
/ Linda from sweden
- February 25, 2012 at 8:52 AM
- rachel said...
umm... YES the shirt is way beyond awesome. sweet combo with the shoes, as well.
- February 25, 2012 at 10:31 AM
- couturing said...
I got my shirt from the giveaway today! Thanks <3 you look lovely on it.
- February 25, 2012 at 12:02 PM
- Beginning Boutique said...
IM so jealous of your hell bounds! We didn't get them in Australia this season. xx Sarah
- February 25, 2012 at 5:20 PM
- Princess Pink said...
Just discovered your blog! Love your style!! Im getting the Red hellbounds delivered in the next few days, I have the black ones to and I love them. Following now. Check out my blog! xxx
- February 25, 2012 at 5:31 PM
- mercurymoonshineDutchess said...
when i read your blog i feel like im spinning into a whirlwind of washed away dreams glitter dust flowers lost fairies and complete magical atmosphere it brings me into a calm wave i love your posts keep it up X Mercury Moonshine Dutchess
- February 26, 2012 at 7:50 AM
Hello, I became a reader of your blog, I hope that u'll do it too;)
Also i have a video blog (VLOG) and write posts about fashion, and so on. (my video blog is in russian)
I will be glad to see you in my MUSE galaxy)
with love, Polina
- February 26, 2012 at 8:52 AM
- IamXcessP said...
The shirt and shoes are really nice
- February 26, 2012 at 6:55 PM
- Taylyn said...
That's so awesome! You wear them so well it's no wonder they'd love for you to have another pair. I'd love to see how you combine the shoes with that sweatshirt.
- February 26, 2012 at 8:17 PM

subset: commoncrawl


text:
- Carousel button
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Soludos® for J.Crew espadrilles
Prices do not include taxes.
Product Details
When it comes to summer footwear, Soludos proves there's life beyond flip-flops. Nick Brown, a Londoner who moved to New York, realized his adopted city was severely lacking in classic espadrilles. Having grown up wearing the centuries-old sunny-day style, he set out to create his own, replicating the easy fit and lightweight construction of the originals, down to the jute soles and cloth uppers, but improving their comfort by offering a true left and right foot (old-school espadrilles have an identical left and right). Soludos's exclusive-to-J.Crew version features a color designed by us, a chambray lining and a one-of-a-kind cotton body that's washed for a slightly sun-faded look.
- Available exclusively at J.Crew.
- Cotton upper.
- Rubber sole.
- Import.
- Online only.
- Item G3323.


text:
This is a totally wild plant that has established itself from behind the scratchy plant.
Now that I have cut back this area im hoping that the Gardenia will flourish a bit more. It got trampled on by the cable person but as you can see, its very well established with a solid base. Now that the area is clear and that i'll keep it clear I might get some success out of it.
Apparently it flowers. I know it gets affected by frost, hopefully it will become hardier as it gets older.


text:
I'm hoping this won't devolve into a discussion of the Affordable Healthcare Act (so-called "Obamacare"). Let's do that under a more specific topic.
Rather let's discuss the current system in America, what's wrong with it and what's right, whether it needs fixing, and how to fix it. Non-Americans are encouraged to chime in.
Here's my take:
1) There is no healthcare system on a national level beyond Medicare and Medicaid. Any other systems are local to some degree or other.
2) Pretty much everyone who doesn't have their head up their hind end can see that the current way of handling healthcare is not sustainable. within a decade or two, assuming costs continue to rise, healthcare will become unaffordable for most Americans.
3) Healthcare isn't a normal market where competition functions to lower cost. Yes, insurance companies exclude certain high-risk, high-cost people in an effort to maximize their profits and keep their rates down. However, that doesn't work because for the excluded people the local ER becomes the primary care provider. Somebody has to pay for this care, so it's passed along to the people who are insured through their insurance company. This is one reason why hospital Tylenol can cost $25. The marketplace actually RAISES costs.
4) Do you think it's ethical to throw 30+ million under the healthcare bus in order to keep rates low for those with insurance, especially considering that it ends up (as explained in the 3rd point) making costs higher anyway.
5) 30+ million people need affordable healthcare, and indigents need free healthcare. Is it so bad to have socialized healthcare for them, especially if it will function to bring costs down for the rest?
Views: 739
That's an interesting problem. I might be ok with that ruling. Once a drug is generic, I expect it to automatically meet a generic standard that doctors and pharmacists should be familiar with, and patients should become familiar with.
A generic drug should get just one, approved, standard, generic label, no matter who's the manufacturer. The manufacturer should just be responsible for quality manufacturing, unless they're also publishing or approving additional research on the drug.
At the consumer level, I want my pharmacist and doctor to understand that generic label and be able to answer my questions, and educate their other patients to the extent they can be educated.
cautions are given to u by the pharmacists exactly as they are with a brand name drug. for example quinolones come with a warning for knee joint rupture and stuff and pharmacies give u a monograph explaining everything, even simple stuff like skin sensitivity to sunlight is on there too. all u have to do is read.
One can't be sure.
I didn't say pharmacies, I said shelves, where the average person chooses what to buy. (I'm just pointing out how ignorant most people are about medicine in general.)
and u can just go politely to the pharmacy counter and ask the question for free.
ER problem is fixed with urgent care centers for simple sniffles, routine monitoring of blood work for diabetes, cholesterol etc. even pharmacies are pitching in where a CNP is available to help with chronic condition maintenance and also ear aches and stuff like that. the problem lies in personal responsibility. when u make it free for some, the free loaders don't think where they go and how much it costs the other people for a simple visit to ER for a minute reason which could easily wait till the next day. Just ask yourself a question, assuming u have insurance, that if u have a runny nose or a headache and u can buy stuff for it OTC and take care of symptoms now and can call the doc in the morning, and not have to foot a bill for $400 for a visit to ER, i think u will wait till AM, but on the other hand if u know, the meds will be free and u don't pay shit and u can go the ER and get the Rx, u get my drift......if u don't believe it just go the nearest ER and find for yourself or ask any pharmacist as they see all those scripts on the weekend. the other biggest expense for rise in hospitals expense is end of life care. another biggest hurdle is why should others pay for your bad lifestyle, like a person with asthma who smokes, why aren't their penalties with this stuff(the only penalties are for folks who pay for their insurance, i think utah was implementing something like that but haven't brushed up on it lately), there are only rewards like women on medicaid in ohio get vouchers for different shops just for keeping the appointments with ob/gyn. even with this said i like the law, for a variety of reasons like keeping kids on parents insurance till 26 etc.
I'd say our healthcare system obviously needs fixing, that shouldn't even be up for debate. How to do it is the real discussion. Where to start? I'd say the cost of is pretty much the dominant issue of the system itself. I think it's absurd that we allow anyone to make money off of sick people, be it hospitals, insurance companies, pharma companies, etc. Perhaps they could be regulated like utilites where they only make a certain percentage profit? I'd like to see a single payer system so that people could get the preventative care they need to avoid the costly care down the road from untreated conditions. Ultimately though, the best prevention is better nutrition. That is really why we are spending so much money at the doc. But just think if everyone started being healthy, how many people would that put out of a job? Our economy is so dependent on people being sick how do we reverse without collapsing everything? I kjnow quite a bit of what we spend is on the seniors, but what the hell do we do there? Only thing I can figure is to start with one generation and make them healthy and pave the way to less healthcare in general.
When the automobile was invented, 99% of all blacksmiths were out of a job - we adjust, we re-educate, and we move on.
This conversation is one that really gets me heated. I honestly believe that if you're for a system where one person can go bankrupt because they or someone in their family got a disease or was involved in an accident they had no control over and another person is ok because they have the money to pay to take care of that same disease or accident, you're a borderline psychopath. I mean, really? How many years of evolution and we're still at "Thag can't swing club, Thag should go into woods and die"? Even at the highest (state) minimum wage in the country ($9.04 in Washington) working a 40 hour week yields $18,803.20 (before taxes). Who the hell is going to be able to take care of a family member who gets something like cancer with that amount of money? Who is going to be able to take care of a family member who gets something like cancer with *twice* that amount of money? So the solution is "just let 'em die"? The inability to show empathy and sympathy in these cases; the inability for someone to say "what if someone said that to me about my family member or friend?" is why I have no problem saying that people who feel this way are borderline psychopaths.
This isn't a question of business or economy, this is a question of basic human necessity and basic human dignity. There are plenty of other countries that understand this. It's too bad America can't be one of them.
Wow, powerful words, wonderfully put together, and such an important message - thumbs up X 10!
Thank you very much Heather!


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Jennifer Hadley
I am a December 2008 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee distance education MLIS program as a member of their DOIT (Diversity in the Organization of Information and Technology) project, which was funded by a grant from the Librarians for the 21st Century program of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).
I also have a B.A. in music and an M.A. in World Music (and am A.B.D. in ethnomusicology) from Wesleyan University, in Middletown, CT. From 1988-1990, I studied music and dance in Java and Bali, Indonesia as a Fulbright scholar. Since returning to Middletown in 1991, I've been a library assistant in the Scores and Recordings/World Music Archives department of the university's Olin Memorial Library. As a smaller branch library within the the main library, it has been a great place to get a variety of experience -– we handle our own access services, cataloging, sound preservation, and reference. One aspect that I love about a career in libraries and the academic environment is the continuous push to learn and share resources with patrons in new and better ways. I've been active on local library committees and in the community (e.g., grant writing for an elementary school and organizing events), but not yet on the library regional or national level. I'm looking forward to this opportunity to meet and work with you all. I am also excited about making the transition to my first "professional level" job sometime soon.
My husband is a music teacher, and we have three great children, 7, 12, and 16, who keep me busy. When I can eke out a few minutes for myself, I like reading and crossword puzzles, and dreaming about house projects.


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On Sunday, the congregation of the Amagansett Presbyterian Church will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Rev. Robert Beecher Stuart's ordination as minister of word and sacrament. Late last month, Mr. Stuart, pastor of the church from 1981 to 1998, traveled to Princeton Theological Seminary, where he marked the anniversary with his classmates.
In a wide-ranging discussion at his house in Springs this week, Mr. Stuart looked back on 50 years, noting some profound changes in the church and the larger world over the past half-century.
At Princeton last month, "I saw several men whom I had known rather well. I say 'men' because at the time, our Presbyterian Church was just in the process of having women be ordained to ministry, but it would take a while for them to get into the seminary," he said.
Born in Minneapolis, Mr. Stuart grew up in suburban St. Louis. He earned a master's degree in American history at the University of Wisconsin. Being drafted, he recalled, was the catalyst for an unexpected turn in his life. While his parents were elders in the Presbyterian Church, he said, "no one in my family had been a minister. I hadn't given it a thought."
As a conscientious objector, he was drafted into civilian work in a Kansas City, Kan., hospital, where he served for two years as an attendant in the psychiatric ward. "It was just a great experience," he said. "That was a turning point. I decided to change direction and go into the ministry. That's how I went to Princeton Seminary in the fall of 1959."
Mr. Stuart led congregations in Wheeling, W.Va., where he married, and Ringwood, N.J., where he spent 15 years. He had one son, divorced in 1979, and then filled a one-year interim position in Bellingham, Wash. At the time, "I didn't know anything about Amagansett or, for that matter, much about Long Island," he recalled. "I was flown out for an interview, got the job, and all of my belongings were in storage in New Jersey so it was not hard for the church to move me here. It turned out to be the perfect move, just wonderful."
Leading the church in Amagansett, he recalled, was richly rewarding. "I loved calling on people, going to their homes. I would do that when there was a crisis, or somebody was sick, and of course visit them in the hospital if that was the case. Most afternoons, I would be out calling on people in the congregation. I heard all these wonderful stories of older residents in Amagansett that come from the old families. I enjoyed that socially as well as religiously."
A proponent of a church that is active in the community, Mr. Stuart became involved in President Lyndon Johnson's anti-poverty programs in the 1960s and '70s, which was met with some criticism. In Amagansett, his professional and personal lives became more deeply entwined with his involvement in H.I.V./AIDS work. He became a pastoral volunteer for the Long Island Association for AIDS Care, and got the church involved as well.
"As a corollary, I got involved with gay rights issues, and I'm gay myself. I came out to myself in 1985, not because of the AIDS situation so much, but that was a part of the picture as it was developing. That was an important part of my ministry in terms of community organization and involvement here," he said.
"With my heavy involvement with H.I.V./AIDS and gay advocacy, there were a few people in the Amagansett church that were a little nervous. But they were never hostile. When I learned that there were a few people talking and upset about that, or wondering where I was going with this, I had them over to the house for coffee one afternoon, and we talked it out. The point is, sometimes there are bumps in the road, and I always felt as a leader, the best way to deal with that is to confront it. I always found people responsive, even when they differed with me in what I was saying or doing."
A member of the Ashawagh Hall Writers Workshop for the past 30 years, Mr. Stuart is at present writing a memoir about his religious vocation and sexuality.
In retirement, Mr. Stuart remains active as an officer at Christ Episcopal Church in Sag Harbor, where he teaches a Bible class and assists at the altar. His involvement in a mission partnership with the Presbyterian Reformed Church of Cuba has taken him to that country several times, and he will attend a conference there next month. "This has become a very rich part of my life in my retirement," he said.


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6:51PM EST December 1. 2012 - The U.S. Military Academy's Cadet Chapel at West Point hosted its first same-sex marriage Saturday.
Penelope Gnesin and Brenda Sue Fulton, a West Point graduate, exchanged vows in the regal church in a ceremony conducted by a senior Army chaplain.
The ceremony comes a little more than a year after President Obama ended the military policy banning openly gay people from serving.
The two have been together for 17 years. They had a civil commitment ceremony that didn't carry any legal force in 1999 but had longed to formally tie the knot.
The couple live in New Jersey and would have preferred to have the wedding there, but the state doesn't allow gay marriage.
"We just couldn't wait any longer," Fulton said.
Guests at the wedding posted photos on Twitter while it was under way and afterward. Fulton said the Cadet Chapel on the campus at West Point was a fitting venue.
"It has a tremendous history, and it is beautiful. That's where I first heard and said the cadet prayer," Fulton said.
Fulton said that when she requested the West Point chapel, she was told that none of the chaplains who preside there come from a denomination that allowed them to celebrate a gay marriage. Their marriage was officiated by a friend, Army Chaplain Col. J. Wesley Smith of Dover Air Force Base.
Fulton, a veteran and the communications director of an organization called OutServe — which represents actively serving gay, lesbian and bisexual military personnel — confirmed in an e-mail to USA TODAY Friday night: "We will be the first same sex couple to wed at the Cadet Chapel at West Point."
The wedding was the second gay marriage West Point has hosted. The first was a small, private ceremony last weekend between two of Fulton's friends in a smaller venue on the campus.
Read the rest here.
I have to thank A|N's own Steve Shives and his YouTube series, "And Now the Good News" for putting me wise to this little tidbit. Whether Penelope and Brenda Sue are atheists or not isn't the point here. The point is that the military has gotten shut of an old and ignominious tradition of discrimination and, indeed, pulled a full 180 on it.
I think this is spectacular news ... though I long for the say when such events are so common that they aren't news at all.
Views: 124
I agree whole heartedly, and look to the day when all communities can welcome same-sex couples into their congregations and communities. That day will come, probably not soon, but at least the movement is in the right directions. Thanks Loren.
Glad for any evidence of further acceptance, even in the halls of privilege and traditional discrimination.
The hell of it is, while we have that positive, we still have the negative of religion in the military, to the point where an atheist cadet was moved to leave West Point because of the overbearing presence of religion at that academy.
The pattern continues: two steps forward, one step back.
Thanks, Loren, for this report. The author's statement bares repeating:
"reform is necessary. There are many cadets and many academies and really all throughout the military that struggle with a climate of religiosity and lack of support for nontheistic beliefs.
"West Point's provision of nontheist alternatives to chaplains time, their changing of the 'Crusader' motto of company C-1, and the official recognition of the West Point Secular Student Alliance (SSA) are all moves in the right direction.
"Next steps should include equal support for trips and supplies for the SSA and an Academy (and Army) review of resiliency programs to better accommodate atheists like Blake. There must be continued progress in opening hearts and services to nontheists at all Academies and the military at-large. Failing that, we will continue to have a divided military where atheist leaders may not stay."
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When he first got on a mountain bike 20 years ago, Fred Schmid could barely pedal up the 100-foot hill leading to his house. Today the 82-year-old Schmid logs 200-mile training weeks on the dirt roads around his home in Waco, Texas, and is working toward his ultimate goal: to be the first 80-plus-year-old to complete the annual Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race in less than 12 hours.
A retired surveyor who wasn't particularly athletic before taking up cycling, Schmid has a resume packed with age-group titles. "I feel like I'm at the forefront of older athletes competing," he said, "and it looks like there's a whole tsunami of athletes following me."


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Plotinus, (born 205 ce, Lyco, or Lycopolis, Egypt?—died 270, Campania), ancient philosopher, the centre of an influential circle of intellectuals and men of letters in 3rd-century Rome, who is regarded by modern scholars as the founder of the Neoplatonic school of philosophy.
Origins and education
The only important source for the life of Plotinus is the biography that his disciple and editor Porphyry wrote as a preface to his edition of the writings of his master, the Enneads. Other ancient sources add almost no reliable information to what Porphyry relates. This must be mentioned because, though Porphyry's Life of Plotinus is the best source available for the life of any ancient philosopher, it has some important deficiencies that must necessarily be reflected in any modern account of the life of Plotinus that does not use a great deal of creative imagination to fill in the gaps. The Life is the work of an honest, accurate, hero-worshipping, and serious-minded friend and admirer. Apart from a few fascinating scraps of information about the earlier parts of the life of Plotinus, Porphyry concentrates on the last six years, when he was with his master in Rome. Thus, a fairly complete picture is available only of the last six years of a man who died at the age of 65. It is the elderly Plotinus, as it is the elderly Socrates, who alone is known. Plotinus's own writings contain no autobiographical information, and they can give no unintentional glimpses of his mind or character when he was young; they were all written in the last 15 years of his life. Nothing is known about his intellectual and spiritual development.
According to Porphyry, Plotinus never spoke about his parents, his race, or his country. Eunapius, a late 4th-century writer, and later authors wrote that his birthplace was Lyco, or Lycopolis, in Egypt, either the modern Asyūt in Upper Egypt or a small town in the Nile delta. Though this may be true, there is no real evidence in the Life or in his own writings to suggest that Plotinus had any special knowledge of or affinity with Egypt; the fact that he later studied philosophy in the great cosmopolitan city of Alexandria is not necessarily evidence that he was an Egyptian. His name is Latin in form, but, in the 3rd century ce, this gives no clue to his ethnic origins. All that can be said with reasonable certainty is that Greek was his normal language and that he had a Greek education. For all his originality, he remains Hellenic in his way of thinking and in his intellectual and religious loyalties.
In his 28th year—he seems to have been rather a late developer—Plotinus felt an impulse to study philosophy and thus went to Alexandria. He attended the lectures of the most eminent professors in Alexandria at the time, which reduced him to a state of complete depression. In the end, a friend who understood what he wanted took him to hear the self-taught philosopher Ammonius "Saccas." When he had heard Ammonius speak, Plotinus said, "This is the man I was looking for," and stayed with him for 11 years.
Ammonius is the most mysterious figure in ancient Western philosophy. He was, it seems, a lapsed Christian (yet even this is not quite certain), and the one or two extant remarks about his thought suggest a fairly commonplace sort of traditional Platonism. A philosopher who could attract such devotion from Plotinus and who may also have been the philosophical master of the great Christian theologian Origen must have had something more to offer his pupils, but what it was is not known. That Plotinus stayed with him for 11 years is in no way surprising. One did not enter an ancient philosophical school to take courses and obtain a degree but rather to join in what might well be a lifelong cooperative following of the way to truth, goodness, and the ultimate liberation of the spirit.
Expedition to the East
At the end of his time with Ammonius, Plotinus joined the expedition of the Roman emperor Gordian III against Persia (242–243), with the intention of trying to learn something at first hand about the philosophies of the Persians and Indians. The expedition came to a disastrous end in Mesopotamia, however, when Gordian was murdered by the soldiers and Philip the Arabian was proclaimed emperor. Plotinus escaped with difficulty and made his way back to Antioch. From there he went to Rome, where he settled at the age of 40. That a Greek philosopher, especially at this period, should be interested in Eastern thought is not extraordinary. Plotinus's own thought shows some striking similarities to Indian philosophy, but he never actually made contact with Eastern sages because of the failure of the expedition. Though direct or indirect contact with Indians educated in their own religious-philosophical traditions may not have been impossible in 3rd-century Alexandria, the resemblances of the philosophy of Plotinus to Indian thought were more likely a natural development of the Greek tradition that he inherited. That Plotinus was able to join the expedition of the senatorial emperor Gordian, that he went to Rome (an unusual place for a philosopher to settle), and that Porphyry found him, 19 years later, at the centre of a circle of friends and disciples—many of whom were members of the senatorial aristocracy—has been interpreted (probably erroneously) as meaning that he or his family had strong personal connections with Roman senators.
Life in Rome
Whatever may have been the circumstances of Plotinus when he first came to Rome, by the time Porphyry made his acquaintance in 263 he was living in dignified and comfortable conditions, though maintaining a considerable degree of personal austerity. His reputation in society was excellent and earned by practical activity as well as by teaching. He acted as an arbitrator in disputes without ever being known to make an enemy, and many of his aristocratic friends, when they were approaching death, appointed him guardian of their children. "His house," Porphyry says, "was full of young lads and maidens," and he most conscientiously fulfilled his obligations under Roman law as their guardian, taking care of their education and their property. Like other great contemplatives, he had plenty of time for other people and could attend to their worries (sometimes quite trivial) without losing his inward concentration. He heard a boy's lessons, found who had stolen a lady friend's necklace, or noticed that Porphyry was in a state of depression and contemplating suicide and so sent him away for a change of scenery and companionship. "Present at once to himself and others" and "gentle and at the disposal of all who had any sort of acquaintance with him" are ways in which Porphyry described him. He was, it seems, a man who gave the impression of being in touch with the eternal without losing awareness of the earthly needs of his many friends.
His circle of friends was cosmopolitan, including men from the eastern half of the empire as well as Roman senators, their wives, and widows. Among those who venerated Plotinus, according to Porphyry, were the emperor Gallienus (reigned 253–268) and his wife, Salonina, and this led Plotinus on one occasion to attempt practical activity on a larger scale. He asked the emperor to restore a ruined city in Campania and endow it with the surrounding land; the restored city was to be called Platonopolis, and its citizens were to live according to the laws and customs of Plato's ideal states. Plotinus promised that he would go and live there himself with his friends. That a philosopher who shows in his writings such a total lack of interest in the political side of Plato's thought and who preached withdrawal from public life should have made such a proposal is interesting. He may well have thought it his duty as a Platonic philosopher to attempt the foundation of a Platonic city, if opportunity offered—however personally disinclined he might have been to such activity. The emperor refused his request, and, in the political circumstances of the time, there was no chance of its being granted. Gallienus and the Senate were not on good terms. He had excluded members of the senatorial order from all military commands, and they took their revenge by successfully blackening his memory after his death. However much he might have respected Plotinus personally, the emperor would inevitably have regarded Platonopolis as a most undesirable senatorial strongpoint and a centre of intrigue against his authority.
Plotinus's teachings and writings
The main activity of Plotinus, to which he devoted most of his time and energy, was his teaching and, after his first 10 years in Rome, his writing. There was nothing academic or highly organized about his "school," though his method of teaching was rather scholastic. He would have passages read from commentaries on Plato or Aristotle by earlier philosophers and then expound his own views. The meetings, however, were friendly and informal, and Plotinus encouraged unlimited discussion. Difficulties, once raised, had to be discussed until they were solved. The school was a loose circle of friends and admirers with no corporate organization. It was for these friends that he wrote the treatises that Porphyry collected and arranged as the Enneads. Some, it seems from their complexity, were destined for an inner circle of his closest friends and philosophical collaborators, such as Porphyry, Amelius Gentilianus from Tuscany (the senior member of the school), and Eustochius, who was Plotinus's physician and who may have produced another edition of his works, now lost.
Some stories in the Life, and some passages in the Enneads, give an idea of Plotinus's attitude to the religions and superstitions of his intensely religious and superstitious age, an attitude that seems to have been unusually detached. Like all people of his time, he believed in magic and in the possibility of foretelling the future by the stars, though he attacked the more bizarre and immoral beliefs of the astrologers. His interest in the occult was philosophical rather than practical, and there is no definite evidence that he practiced magic. A person called Olympius was reported to have once tried to use magic against Plotinus, but he supposedly found that the malignant forces he had evoked were bouncing back from Plotinus to himself. Plotinus was once taken to the Temple of Isis for a conjuration of his guardian spirit; a god, Porphyry stated, appeared instead of an ordinary guardian angel but could not be questioned because of a mishandling of the conjuring process which broke the spell. What Plotinus himself thought of the proceedings is not known, but apparently he was not deeply interested.
His attitude toward the traditional pagan cults was one of respectful indifference. Amelius, his closest friend and coworker in philosophy, was a pious man, addicted to attendance at sacrifices. Plotinus refused to join him in his devotions but seems to have thought none the worse of him. Despite his rather aggressive piety, Amelius remained Plotinus's friend and collaborator. Some members of Plotinus's circle of friends were gnostics (heretical Christian dualists who emphasized esoteric salvatory knowledge), and they provoked him not only to write a vigorous attack on their beliefs but to organize a polemical campaign against them through the activities of Porphyry and Amelius. Plotinus's reasons for detesting gnosticism also would have applied, to some extent, to orthodox Christianity—though there is no evidence that he knew anything about it or that he had any contact with the church in Rome. Gnosticism appeared to him to be a barbarous, melodramatic, irrational, immoral, un-Greek, and insanely arrogant superstition. Plotinus's own religion, which he practiced and taught with calm intensity, was the quest for mystical union with the Good through the exercise of pure intelligence.
Last years
In his last years Plotinus, whose health had never been very good, suffered from a painful and repulsive sickness that Porphyry describes so imprecisely that one modern scholar has identified it as tuberculosis and another as a form of leprosy. This made his friends, as he noticed, avoid his company, and he retired to a country estate belonging to one of them in Campania and within a year died there (270). The circle of friends had already broken up. Plotinus himself had sent Porphyry away to Sicily to recover from his depression. Amelius was in Syria. Only his physician, Eustochius, arrived in time to be with Plotinus at the end. His last words were either "Try to bring back the god in you to the divine in the All" or "I am trying to bring back the divine in us to the divine in the All." In either case, they express very simply the faith that he shared with all religious philosophers of late antiquity.A. Hilary Armstrong
Learn More in these related Britannica articles:
Christianity: Introduction of Neoplatonic themes…characterized by the Neoplatonic philosopher Plotinus as the "Son" who goes forth from the Father. The next step by which the transcendent God becomes self-conscious consists in the appearance in the divine
nousof the divine world, the idea of the world in its individual forms as the content of…
Hinduism: Questions of influence on the Mediterranean world…
Enneadsof the Neoplatonic philosopher Plotinus (205–270) and that of the Yoga-sutraattributed to Patanjali, an Indian religious teacher sometimes dated in the 2nd century ce. The Patanjali text is the older, and influence is probable, though the problem of mediation remains difficult because Plotinus gives no direct evidence of…
Western philosophy: Neo-Pythagoreanism and Neoplatonism…only through his famous disciple, Plotinus (205–270). But Plotinus did not publish anything either. His philosophy is known through the
Enneads, a collection of his writings arranged by his disciple Porphyry (234–305), who also wrote a biography of Plotinus.…
epistemology: St. Augustine…a visual metaphor inherited from Plotinus (205–270) and other Neoplatonic thinkers. According to that view, the human mind is like an eye that can see when and only when God, the source of light, illumines it. Varying his metaphor, Augustine sometimes says that the human mind "participates" in God and…
time: The individual's experience and observation of time…among the Greeks, Plato and Plotinus, all held that life in the time flow, though not wholly illusory, is at best a low-grade condition by comparison, respectively, with the Buddhist nirvana (in which desires are extinguished) and with the Platonic realm of forms—i.e., of incorporeal timeless exemplars, of which phenomena…
More About Plotinus19 references found in Britannica articles
Assorted References
- association with Porphyry
- In Porphyry
- use of allegory
concept of
- God
- Great Chain of Being
contribution to
- art criticism
- Greek literature
- Platonism and Neoplatonism
influence on
- Augustine


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Colts coach Chuck Pagano is making an inspirational comeback from his battle with cancer.
But a man who was in a similar situation worries that Pagano's pushing himself a little fast.
Indianapolis Star columnist Bob Kravitz caught up with Denver Nuggets coach George Karl, who doesn't know Pagano and hasn't talked to him about his own two battles with cancer. But Karl wondered if the fact this was Pagano's first head coaching job was causing him to come back from three rounds of chemotherapy before he was truly ready. Pagano's plan is to come back Monday to prepare for the Colts' regular season finale against the Texans.
"I don't know, I understand the value of him coming back, but my advice would be to go slowly," Karl said. "Don't jump back into the fire full speed. Pick and choose your opportunities to jump in and let the people who supported you, and have done a pretty damned good job from what I can tell, let them do their jobs and then you be their support system. . . .
"All I know is, one month after my last radiation treatment, I wasn't really healthy. There's no way I could have coached. My instincts, my reactions and my mind was cloudy. Having to make quick decisions, figure out things before they happen — things coaches have to do — I think that would have been very difficult."
It was four months after his final round of radiation before he returned to the Nuggets bench. During that time, his team lost in the Western Conference Finals to the Lakers, something they might have done with or without him. As Pagano has, Karl tried staying in touch with his assistants, doing what he could. But he eventually decided he had to be a little selfish, to take care of himself before he worried about how to game-plan against Kobe Bryant.
So as much as he respects Pagano's desire to make things normal again, he fears that might be an unattainable goal.
"Sometimes with younger people, their passion sometimes blinds them," Karl said. "But if he's got clearance from his doctors, sometimes getting back to work makes you healthier. I know getting back was a good thing for me. I needed to be committed and clear up the what-ifs I had in my own mind.
"But sometimes it comes down to looking selfishly at your own health. He's got to be worried totally and completely about his health. Because getting distracted and coming back too early and putting undue stress on your immune system before it's ready, that would be a silly mistake."
The Colts are in the middle of an incredible run. And football coaches are conditioned to know how precious such a run can be.
But the hope is that Pagano stays mindful of how precious a gift he's truly been given, and does the most to extend that one.


text: From: John Hearns [mailto:hearnsj at googlemail.com] Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2008 9:40 AM To: Lux, James P; beowulf at beowulf.org Subject: Re: [Beowulf] MS Cray . When mainframes first entered the halls of academe, I'm sure the same sort of discussions arose. Heck, it's why computers like the PDP-8 were invented. Jim Just let me correct you there. Surely PDP-8s were calculators or Data Processing whatchamacallits, and emphatically NOT Computer Systems. (A history lesson is called for here - I cannot remember the exact terminology which allowed PDPs to be sold to individual labs and departments) --Sort of like when we buy PCs for the lab, they're "instrument controllers".. Jim


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November 2013 Fellow Feathers Meeting
In attendance:
David Kiesling, Rob Johnson, Duane Cromleigh, Rick Hawkins, Kathy Org, Raffy Lavin, Chuck Kranz, Chris Carrillo, Emily Hutchinson, Steve Morris, Zac Majors, Chris Ellis, Wyatt John, Mike Soultanian, George Artz, Brian Porter, Darrel Robbins, Van Pelham, Tim West, Tracey Story, Tom Rust, Jay Granzella
Our VP reported that 2014 stickers are available.
Our Tech Officer reported that he's been working on technology issues.
Our Safety Officer reported that four 1 week suspensions were issued since October's club meeting: Two were for a H2 soaring. The H2 may also have launched in winds significantly higher than the 15 mph our rules allow. Both the H2 and his sponsor were suspended. The other 1 week suspensions were for two pilots who launched while non-pilot spectators were in the launch area.
The rule that restricts us from launching when there are spectators in the launch area was discussed. Suggestions were made as to how we can help ensure that the rule is followed. All pilots on the ground are asked to watch for spectators in the launch area when a pilot wants to launch and to assist in making sure the area is free of spectators before a pilot launches. Additionally, when we chat with spectators regarding our not being able to launch if they are in our launch area, we must do so in a courteous manner.
Steve R. and Zac reported on the discussions that ensued at the 11/6/13 BAPA meeting regarding PGs and HGs soaring north of the stable's launch. 7 Fellow Feathers HG pilots attended that meeting. BAPA's members were friendly and courteous and a detailed discussion of flying etiquette for both HGs and PGs ensued which included the following:
Fellow Feathers pilots requested that while we don't own airspace, we ask for safety reasons that BAPA's members support our request that they not fly north of the stable's launch. BAPA pilots in turn requested that HG pilots treat them with courtesy as well, which includes not intentionally waking them or flying close to them on their launches at the dumps. It was requested/discussed that HG pilots only fly in front of the dump launches if they need to in order to scratch back from Pacifica.
Also discussed though, was that HG pilots launching and landing at the dumps may increase so their proximity may be closer on take offs and landings.
Some BAPA members said they will ask other PG pilots who fly from the dumps, to honor the mutual courtesy agreement between our clubs.
A discussion ensued that it would be beneficial for both clubs to post the request for mutual courtesy on our club's respective websites.
Having our two clubs get together for events such as BBQs or holiday events was discussed and widely supported.
Appreciation for BAPA's support of mutual courtesy/etiquette was expressed. It was noted that they do not have an obligation to do so.
Tracey reported on a call she'd had with the GGNRA a couple of weeks prior in which our GGNRA Business Office Liaison mentioned that if the Occupy Fort Funston event had happened that a pilot was initially trying to gather support for, the GGNRA would have revoked our SUP over it. Fortunately once that pilot was made aware of the possible ramifications to our club he discontinued plans for the event.
Tracey brought up that it might be best for our club to have the next few monthly club meetings offsite to reduce our burden on the GGNRA. A discussion ensued. A show of hands indicated overwhelming support for holding our next few meetings off site. The Moose Lodge has been reserved for our monthly meetings through March 2014.
Nominations were put forth for December executive committee election which included:
President - Tracey Story, Rob Johnson, Tim West, Zac Majors. Rob declined the nomination.
Vice President - Rob Johnson, Tom Rust.
Secretary - Tom White, Chris Carrillo
Treasurer - Van Pelham.
Safety Officer - David Kiesling. Dave replied that he wasn't sure yet if he'd accept the nomination.
Tech Officer - Chuck Kranz
A hat was passed to cover the donation to the Moose Lodge for allowing us to use their facility for this meeting.
Meeting adjourned.


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News Feature
Originally published in The Weekly Packet, June 9, 2011 and The Weekly Packet, June 22, 1961
ReMEMBER WHEN Excerpts from The Weekly Packet, June 22, 1961
Herrick returns, joins father's firm
The Weekly Packet, Celebrating our 50th year
After nearly 17 years of absence, Malcolm Herrick has returned to Blue Hill to be associated with his father, A.B. Herrick, contractor.
Herrick spent most of that time with Stromberg Carlson radio and television as chief engineer and later as assistant to a vice-president of the company. More recently he was president of Leaming Industries, manufacturers of plastic products.
He has sold his holdings in Leaming, but continues on the board of directors.
Herrick and his wife, the former Mary Glasow of Rochester, N.Y., have purchased the Blue Hill home of the late Rebecca Hayes.
Herrick is a licensed professional engineer in the state of Maine.


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The Men's Market
Go to your local bookstore and peruse the marketing section. Look for books on "gender marketing" and what you will find is quite amazing. There is an entire shelf providing insight and advice on marketing to women but very little regarding marketing to men. Move to the Internet and the results are similar. Perhaps the reason for this void in research is because men were the primary individuals being marketed to for so long that the subject doesn't make for "salable" material. Still, better understanding how to market to men is an important issue for any club operator. On average, 48 percent of all health club members in America are men.
In January's column, we discussed how and why women need to be marketed to and sold differently than men. In this month's column we will explore the same issues as they relate to marketing to men. Of course, being a woman, this poses a certain level of risk because my analysis and suggestions could possibly offend some male readers. Therefore, I wish to present my defense before I build my case. In writing this article I have relied on three things: available research, male input and my personal experience with the male species. If all goes well, I won't receive too many e-mails from opposing opinions.
In his article "Marketing to Men," Rodman Sims tells advertisers that there are only three things that matter to men. The first is sex, the second is toys, and the third is freedom. Sims goes on to say that when trying to successfully market to men, advertisements should utilize these three themes.
As it relates to men two great examples of sex and marketing Sims gives are shop-tool calendars and beer commercials. Both feature drop-dead gorgeous women wearing sexy outfits, bikinis or less. Of course men logically know there is no real association between either beer or tools and women, but because they like the sexual images, they hang up the calendar and buy the beer.
"Toys" Sims states, rate a close second in terms of a male's primary focus. Simply put, men love gadgets and machinery. Put a monster truck or a Formula One racing car into a parking lot and watch men of all ages flock to it. Give a man a small back yard and he will come up with an excuse for buying the deluxe riding mower. Even their obsession with the remote control is a simple, yet universal, symbol of men's love of gadgets. Noting an old saying, Sims reminds the reader that, "The only difference between a man and a boy is the price of his toys."
When it comes to freedom, a man's third primary focus, Sims states that, "Inside all of us is the desire to be free from the shackles that keep us who we are as men." What Sims is referring to here is the fact that today's society still expects a man to do certain things like get a good job and support a family, while a woman has the choice of staying at home without criticism. Although they may not be verbally complaining, it is the "have to" expectations that wear men down. As a result, men are constantly searching or at least dreaming of a "way out" of their day-to-day routine where they can ride into the sunset with the sexy woman at their sides. This is why, Sims says, men often fall for get rich quick schemes but women rarely even look into them.
How do these observations relate to advertising? For one, it certainly helps to understand why this industry, which was predominantly managed by men in the past, has been using advertising images that show women in scant clothing standing next to the shirtless, rippling young man. More importantly, though, it provides insight into creating content for marketing pieces designed to attract men. The moral of Sims' article was, "Market to men but do not try and change them!"
If one applies what Sims advocates, marketing pieces directed toward attracting men should continue to have scantily clad women, show and describe the latest and greatest technology in available equipment and promote the club as the place to go to "get away from it all." Some of these things, however, are in stark contrast to the key elements in marketing to women. Therefore, the challenge for health club operators is in designing a marketing piece that attracts men but does not offend women. Better yet is one that attracts both men and women.
The article, "Marketing to Men in the Millennium," published by Research International, provides some insight into how this balance might be accomplished in advertising efforts. They suggest using the following guidelines when creating advertising geared toward men:
Use originality, creativity and humor, including ads with unexpected and surprising outcomes. (This element was deemed the most influential across every age group of men.)
Use images of fatherhood — especially ones depicting fun and free-time sharing situations with children.
Project success and achievement by combining both material and emotional benefits.
Capitalize on nostalgia and life changing events.
Combine images of sensitivity along with confidence.
Avoid any portrayal of men as objects or stereotypical masculine traits in show-off or arrogant ways.
Certainly, with effort one can design marketing pieces that can be used in general distribution without offending women. However, care should be taken during the design phase to analyze the elements of both, marketing to women and men. Further, visually testing an ad on 50 or more subjects who will provide honest feedback can go a long way to making a successful ad while ensuring nothing offensive or fatally flawed is in the design.
Just as there are differences in the advertising focus of men and women, adjustments in the selling approach need to be taken as well. When noting how men and women behave so differently in their thought patterns and focus, many authors (and comedians) go back to caveman days when a man's responsibility was hunting, which is one-dimensional, while a woman's responsibility was gathering, requiring multi-tasking. It is often suggested that these vastly different roles have influenced the shopping patterns and experiences for men and women. Where women enjoy the process of gathering, which may require hours of collecting and evaluating, a man only goes out to hunt when he "needs" an item.
Once a member, men can be low maintenance to integrate into the facility. Whereas women will take longer to become loyal to a brand, men aren't usually skeptical with a product until something goes wrong. Even after a poor customer service moment, men are more apt to forgive and forget than are women. Of course, men are more apt to express their unhappiness and, as a result, vent and get resolution. Inviting all new members to a club orientation is important; just remember that the women usually far outnumber the men at these events.
Perhaps the most important integration tool for men is the standard practice of offering them fitness workouts to learn how to use the equipment properly. Remember that men gravitate toward "toys" and mechanical things. They, as a whole, appreciate machinery and will be more interested in how the equipment works rather than the personal instruction on their form.
Another aspect of the new member integration that men enjoy is fitness testing. Where women usually don't want to know their weight and body fat when they begin, men are more curious as well as interested in the testing technology. Men don't mind knowing where they are starting from and they enjoy a goal to work toward.
Although the comment doesn't bode well for the women, as a general rule male members are easier to keep happy than female members. For one, men are not as particular as the décor and overall attractiveness of a club than women. This isn't to say that a man doesn't like a well decorated attractive facility, they do, but they are much more forgiving about the locker room that needs updating, the gym bag scrapes on the walls of the entry and the outdated colors of the fitness or cardop rooms.
There are things, however, that are more important to men than simply having a clean, updated structural facility, such as convenience items. Men are much more apt than women are to shower at a club after their workout. Therefore, having soap, shampoo and toiletry items available to them is a big plus. More important is offering a towel service — even if there is a small charge for it. Along the same convenience lines, offering men permanent locker rentals not only will make them happy but will also generate extra revenue for the club.
Contrary to popular belief, in addition to convenience items, men enjoy a clean and organized locker room that offers enough dressing benches and keeps the traffic flowing. Designers often forget that during peak times there will be a lot of traffic in the men's locker rooms, many of which will be taking showers. A well thought out locker room can make for a more comfortable environment in busy times.
Men have been members of fitness facilities for centuries. Because of this and the constant focus on bringing "special populations" into a club, often the subject of marketing to and catering to male members is forgotten. Taking some extra time to focus on new marketing and advertising campaigns, specific sales skills and creative member integration and service issues specifically designed for male members that will help you add new memberships — and keep existing ones — to your clubs' roster.
Male Sale
Because men are outcome focused — not process oriented — club salespeople need to use a number of sales strategies when selling to men.
- A no-nonsense approach to selling must be taken. This means that upon meeting the client salespeople need to let them know, "I'm going to find out what you are looking for, then I'll show you the club and finally, if you like it, we'll go over memberships. If not, you can be on your way."
- In addition to a no-nonsense approach, salespeople need to maintain open and direct lines of communication with male prospects. If a question is asked, answer it succinctly. When desiring feedback from the male prospect, ask it directly. Men typically appreciate brevity, honesty and directness (if it is done professionally).
- During the needs analysis, instead of spending a lot of time on discussing the past, salespeople should focus the male prospect to talk about goals, which are outcomes.
- During the tour, salespeople should spend time with the male prospect talking about the club's equipment and showing them how things work. Be certain to bring attention to any new equipment technology and allow male prospects to try them out. (These are the toys!)
- Finally, as it relates to closing skills, although no one likes the "hard-sell," men are more tolerant of sales skills because they understand and appreciate that the salesperson is working toward an outcome.


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July 20, 2012
WORKING-FOXHILLS, Great Britain – After sitting out her freshman year as a member of the Florida State women's tennis team, Daneika Borthwick is taking strides on the court as she earned a berth in the quarterfinals of the main draw at the AEGON GB Pro-Series Foxhills this week in Great Britain.
"I'm so happy for Daneika and the great summer she has had thus far," head coach Jennifer Hyde said. "She had to sit out all of last season, which was hugely frustrating for her at times, and she focused solely on her training for months. Now, she is seeing the result from all of her hard work, earning some significant wins against top 300 and 400 world ranked opponents."
In the rounds of 32, Borthwick defeated Chiaki Okadale from Japan 6-1, 6-4. She followed that outing with another commanding performance against Isabella Shinkova of Bulgaria, 7-6 (5), 6-3. Both of those wins for the Aspatria native were over players ranked inside the top 500 in the world. Before the tournament, Borthwick was listed outside of the top 1,000 however with those two victories; she will most likely top her highest ranking of 933.
"I'm really pleased with two back to back wins against two very experienced players, and hope to take this form into my next match," Borthwick said. "I've had a really good year training at Florida State, where it's great to train all year round outdoors in the sun."
Although Borthwick was one of three Great Britain natives to reach the final eight, she dropped her quarterfinal match to Sarah Gronet of Germany 6-2, 6-1.
"I know when she comes back to FSU in the fall, she wants to take full advantage of the endless opportunities she will have during our fall season. She will have matches against many top ranked players, opportunities to set herself up for the crucial spring season. The future looks very bright for Daneika, and I'm so excited for her and all of the success she has had back home in the UK this summer."


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Perform your own yearly maintenance on a Bert Racing transmission
You won't find anything like it on a street car, but the qualities that make a Bert transmission unique also make it nearly perfect for dirt racing. Simplicity is the name of the game here. Bert Transmission's two-speed trannies are all about cutting down on the number of parts involved and reducing rotating weight. Most significantly, the clutch is actually inside the transmission housing, eliminating the typical clutch and throwout bearing assemblies. There are also only two forward gears and a reverse, and the gears themselves are physically a lot smaller than what you might be used to seeing in a typical four-speed. The net result is a lot less rotating weight burdening your engine as you power out of the corner.
Of course, if you race Late Models or Modifieds on dirt, you probably already know this. Maybe what you don't know, however, is just how easy a Bert transmission is to rebuild. Yes, it is quite a bit different from just about everything else out there (a Brinn transmission is built on the same design principles), but its simplicity also makes it easy to maintain and rebuild.
Gear specialist Jim Cook, of Jim Cook Racing, says barring accident damage or severe abuse, a Bert transmission should last a complete season, or even two, between rebuilds. During a visit to his shop in Concord, North Carolina, Cook showed us how simple it is to inspect and rebuild a Bert using the company's rebuild kit. Because of time constraints, we tore down one customer's transmission and rebuilt a different unit that Cook had waiting for us. To improve efficiency and durability, Cook had the shafts and gears REM polished. He says this won't take a Fifth-Place car and send it to Victory Lane, but it will help reduce friction losses and keep oil temperatures down.
So, if you've got a Bert tranny that needs to be rebuilt, stop making excuses and get to work!
Don't Forget the Splines
Because the rear ends in dirt cars often see extreme articulation, many racers use Bert's ball-spline tailhousing. This innovation allows the tailhousing shaft to extend several inches without allowing dirt and sand to invade the housing when the shaft slides back into place. Cook recommends disassembling and cleaning the ball-spline shaft and housing after every two to four races.


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Among the top 10 causes of death by disease, Alzheimer's is the only one that cannot be cured, treated, or slowed down. But that may be about to change - and a vaccine could soon be at hand.
Alzheimer's disease
Article Index
- Is This Drug the Key to an Alzheimer's Cure?
- This Alzheimer's "Pacemaker" Could Be the Bridge to a Cure
Is This Drug the Key to an Alzheimer's Cure?
This Alzheimer's "Pacemaker" Could Be the Bridge to a Cure
This news comes at an opportune time. Just last summer, the whole effort suffered a major setback.
That's when three Big Pharma firms said they were halting development of Alzheimer's compounds because the medicines simply didn't work. No doubt, that was a blow for both patients and investors in Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE:LLY), Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE), and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ).
But this month we learned that a research team at Johns Hopkins has for the first time implanted a promising device into the brain of a U.S. Alzheimer's patient. It seems to combat the effects of Alzheimer's by providing deep-brain stimulation. It works very much like the pacemaker that's normally used in the heart.
Over the next year or so, a total of 40 patients will receive the implants under a federally funded trial.
This is a big move with very promising potential. You see, doctors have used a similar device to control Parkinson's disease for about the past 15 years, with some 80,000 patients receiving the implants. They report having fewer seizures and needing less medication.
I believe this very well could be the bridge technology we need until a true "cure" for Alzheimer's is found. Right now, the chances look good that this interim step will succeed.
"This is a very different approach, whereby we are trying to enhance the function of the brain mechanically," says Dr. Paul B. Rosenberg. "It's a whole new avenue for potential treatment for a disease becoming all the more common with the aging of the population."
As high-tech investors, we need to keep an eye on this research and be ready to pounce when a medical-device maker gets it to market.
I don't know just when that will happen. But when it does, you can bet that I'll drop you a line.
Meantime, I have four more fascinating developments to share with you today.
Take a look...
To continue reading, please click here...


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When people call the technology business fast-paced and competitive, I have to laugh. Unless you grew up in the high-tech industry, you really have no idea just how volatile it can be. The Big Bang was less chaotic.
Continue Reading Below
One day you're a viral success story, the next day you're yesterday's news. Companies that spent decades building market share fall apart at the seams overnight. Entire competitive landscapes are remade in the blink of an eye.
If you're into roller coaster rides and have a strong stomach, you'll love the tech industry. Still, it is possible to make it over the long haul. The key is learning to reinvent yourself. That goes for tech leaders and their companies. And it's way harder than people imagine.
Just ask current and former CEOs of companies like HP (NYSE:HPQ), Sony (NYSE:SNE), Nokia (NYSE:NOK), Dell (NASDAQ:DELL), Blackberry (NASDAQ:BBRY), Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO), even Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT). Ask Howard Stringer, Stephen Elop, Michael Dell, or Thorsten Heins how companies that once dominated their industries can suddenly run right into an impenetrable wall. Ask them how hard it is to turn them around. They'll tell you.
That said, a few somehow managed to pull it off. Here are seven chief executives of technology companies that did the near impossible by reinventing their companies and positioning them for decades of success. They earned our respect the hard way – and somehow made it look easy.
Steve Jobs, Apple
The only thing that eclipses Steve Jobs's miraculous turnaround of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is the man's personal turnaround after getting fired from the company he co-founded. After that humiliating public defeat, Jobs somehow went on to found NeXT and Pixar. When he returned to a nearly bankrupt Apple, he more or less gutted the company and got arch rival Bill Gates to invest $150 million. Then he taught the company to Think Different and launched a string of groundbreaking iProducts that would make Apple the most valuable company on Earth.
Lou Gerstner and Sam Palmisano, IBM
So much has been written about Lou Gerstner's remarkable turnaround of IBM (NYSE:IBM), how he got an elephant to dance and all that, I don't want to trivialize it here with a brief paragraph. Changing the consummate big iron computer company into a global IT services provider was nothing short of a once-in-a-lifetime masterpiece of strategy and execution. And yet, nobody talks about how Sam Palmisano spent a decade completing the transition. Quite an encore performance, if you ask me.
Andy Grove, Intel
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) was more or less run by Andy Grove from the beginning, but he executed a remarkable transformation along the way. When Grove became CEO in 1987, the semiconductor industry was dominated by a host of Japanese companies. Intel was a distant 10th in sales, sandwiched in between Mitsubishi and Matsushita. That's when Grove made the call to focus on PC or x86 microprocessors. Five years later, Intel became the world's biggest chip company, a position it's never relinquished. Grove was without a doubt one of America's greatest business leaders and managers.
Lee Kun-hee, Samsung
Lee Kun-hee became chairman of Samsung Group in 1987, just weeks after his father and company founder Lee Byung-chull died. At the time, Samsung was known more or less as a low budget provider of everything from food and clothing to a broad range of electronics products. Seeking to transform the company's staunchly Korean-style management into a more flexible and fast-paced international business culture, Lee famously said, "Change everything except your wife and children." He focused the company on innovation and quality and created a world leader in wireless phones, liquid crystal displays, and semiconductors. Today, Samsung is arguably Asia's most powerful brand name.
Irwin Jacobs, Qualcomm
I used to call Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) the most important tech company that nobody's ever heard of. With a $100 billion market cap and its technology in most of the world's cell phones, I can't really say that anymore. Still, it was a long road for founding CEO and wireless communications pioneer Irwin Jacobs. To make its CDMA technology an industry standard, Qualcomm had to develop the chips, software, base stations, even the phones. It also had to protect its intellectual property in numerous court battles. Today, Qualcomm ranks as the third largest semiconductor company in the world and a dominant patent holder in advanced 3G and 4G wireless technology.
Larry Ellison, Oracle
The only reason that Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) has somehow managed to fend off brutal competition from the likes of software giants Microsoft and IBM to become the king of enterprise software comes down to the fierce competitive nature of one man, co-founder Larry Ellison. Back in 1990 the company nearly went belly up. Today, Oracle's an undisputed leader in the exploding database, middleware, and application segments of the enterprise software industry. Its share price has been on a tear since the internet boom began, giving Oracle an improbable $150 billion market cap and making Ellison the third richest man in America.
These days, it's become popular to denigrate CEOs and business leaders. I guess I'll never understand that. These people and others like them have without a doubt created priceless value for their employees, their shareholders, and most importantly, their customers. To me, they're what the technology business is all about. To me, they're true heroes.