PL/SQL is Oracle's proprietary procedural language extension to SQL. It is used to create stored procedures and triggers inside Oracle databases. Using PL/SQL, a lot of application logic can be moved into the database, an approach with a number of advantages: Improved performance, because PL/SQL gets compiled right into the database server, uses native types and does not need to ship data across the network. Finer access control, as it becomes possible to explicitly specify how the database objects can be used and by whom. Better error detection and tracking of dependencies, because the code is not scattered among numerous middle-ware modules in host languages that cannot even check SQL syntax. PL/SQL itself is a rather old-fashioned language (nowhere as elegant as Perl) but its tight integration with SQL and the Oracle platform make it an easy-to-use and powerful tool for server-side programming.

Hero is the tale of four assassins in ancient China who set out to kill a brutal king. It is also a Mandarin language movie, which would normally prevent me from watching it here, since Japanese subtitles are not all that helpful either. Fortunately, the recently opened Virgin Roppongi Hills Cinemas offer screenings subtitled in English, too. Another thing that sets the Virgin Cinemas apart from other cinemas in Tokyo is that those wonderful discount advance tickets that are sold all over town are not valid here, a fact I found out only after having bought a pair. But because this is Japan, they let us in anyway.

7 points

It has been itching me for some time now to say this, and now that I saw a cartoon about him in the taz (Ingo, thanks for the subscription, must be insanely expensive to ship it to Tokyo every day) this morning I can no longer keep quiet: I know this man!

Bert Rürup is currently running a German government task force (named after him, which puts him en par with Walter Riester and Joachim Gauck) in charge of reforming the German social insurance systems. He is probably quite a hate figure among senior citizens at the moment. But he has also been my professor at university for a year: Everything I know about public finance I know from him. I remember I attended every of his lectures, even though he himself did not (he was already busy with government work at that time) and was often (inadequately) substituted by his teaching assistant. I also remember an embarrassing performance at the final exam, where I knew almost nothing, but still got an A, maybe because of my high attendance at this sparsely visited course.

I reckon this clearly beats my previous number-one brush with the powers, which consists in Gerhard Meyer-Vorfelder holding the speech at my army oath-taking ceremony.

*********

Wed Aug 20 15:11:15 2003


panic(cpu 0): lockmgr: pid 564, thread 0x 2291b0c,
not exclusive lock holder pid 567 thread 0x 28644bc unlocking, 
    exclusive count 1
Latest stack backtrace for cpu 0:
      Backtrace:
         0x0008581C 0x00085C4C 0x000287B4 0x001DF058 
         0x1AA35EE8 0x1AA35CC0 0x1AA35F14 0x1AA36704 
         0x1AA35AAC 0x1AA405BC 0x1AA37FB4 0x000BEBB8 
         0x001ED81C 0x0020F3CC 0x00092970 0x0002F76C 
      Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
         com.apple.filesystems.smbfs(1.1.2)@0x1aa27000
Proceeding back via exception chain:
   Exception state (sv=0x12625A00)
      PC=0x900044EC; MSR=0x0000F030; DAR=0xE0147000; 
      DSISR=0x42000000; LR=0x00005D70; R1=0xBFFFEBE0; 
      XCP=0x00000030 (0xC00 - System call)

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 6.6:
Thu May  1 21:48:54 PDT 2003; root:xnu/xnu-344.34.obj~1/RELEASE_PPC



*********

To use Google's built-in calculator function, simply enter the expression you'd like evaluated in the search box and hit the Enter key or click the Google Search button. The calculator can evaluate mathematical expressions involving basic arithmetic (5+2*2 or 2^20), more complicated math (sine(30 degrees) or e^(i pi)+1), units of measure and conversions (100 miles in kilometers or 160 pounds * 4000 feet in Calories), and physical constants (1 a.u./c or G*mass of earth/radius of earth^2). You can also experiment with other numbering systems, including hexadecimal and binary.

Is there anything they cannot do? What will happen to the Internet if Google folds? Is Google getting too important?

I used to be quite a gamer (more offline than video) in school and university, and one of the most important games was the card game Tichu, which I introduced to basically everyone I met. I used to organize and play in tournaments as well. Now, one of things we have always been wondering about is the truth about its proclaimed Chinese origins (it is produced by a Swiss company). According to Cissy, there is in fact a very similar card game (called Going up-stream), but the graphical design of Tichu cards is very strange to her: The Chinese characters on the back side of the cards are mirror images and form no meaning. The characters on the box read packaged, non-packaged refridgerator. The words on the first page of the manual are more philosophical and translate as These words have meaning.

GaiaX used to be a very chaotic company with ever-changing internal organization and regulations. In preparation for IPO a lot of things are getting much more formal now (although we still seem to reorganize quarterly) and during my vacation the paid leave policy was introduced. Turns out I only have ten days of paid holiday this year, which I already totally spent on our European trip. I thought I was clever when we scheduled that trip to contain a national holiday, which should have brought the count down to nine. Unfortunately, it also included a biweekly Saturday's meeting, which according to the new rules has to be counted as well and brings the count back to ten.

I am not totally out of luck, because I was given an extra five days for honeymoon, which I can use to attend my November wedding party in Shanghai. Of course, November, 1st is likely to be another meeting Saturday, so I will have to arrange something for that sixth day. Probably overtime.

Michael Moore uses his latest book to point at a number of unpopular truths about the present-day United States and especially its president. While it is of course rather one-sided and polemic he has a lot of facts and numbers to make his points. The topics covered are the circumstances of the election of George W. Bush (which took a number of recounts and court orders), the personality of Bush himself, corporate greed, racism, the education system, exploitation of natural resources, sexism, the global political situation and US foreign policy, the American judical system and the death penalty, the Democratic Party not being an alternative, the treatment of unborn life, and Moore's role in the Nader presidential campaign (whose votes could have put Al Gore in the White House instead).

I had my first tooth pulled yesterday. The experience was much less painful than I feared after hearing many horror stories about wisdom teeth and about Japanese dentists. In fact, it was not painful at all, just a little uncomfortable afterwards. All seems well now, although I have not tried to eat real food again yet.

The language problem also turned out to be a non-issue. I selected the dentist I went to based on the service directory's assertion that he speaks English, which turned out to be incorrect: he just offered to call his wife on the phone to act as a translator. But that was not necessary, so my Japanese is maybe getting better. On a related note, he could say after meals in German.

A newly opened attraction in Giessen is the Mathematikum, a museum of mathematical games. It has immediately become a favorite for school classes (or maybe just their math teachers) and as a drop-out math student I can recommend everyone to visit it. The Mathematikum has mirrors, scales, rulers, dices, slides, soap, and everything else one needs to have fun with math. You can also find out where your birth date shows up within the digits of π, and my 2307 is right at the 64th position. A casual examination seems to suggest that this is the best position possible:

3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307
81640628620899862803482534211706798214808651328230664709384460955058
223172535940812848111...