stevenfeuerstein.com: Fiction by Feuersteins

Like something I said? Hate something I said? Do you think I should "go back to Russia"? Do you think that Bill Clinton should be impeached for killing over 500,000 children in Iraq? Don't keep it to yourself! Send me an email. And then hopefully after a while, I will give you a way to post your views directly on this site...

Where do I start?

My last diary entry was in May 1999. That is just totally ludicrous, but there you have it. Now, there are many reasons for my lapse and, as I think about it, I really don't have to explain anything, not a single thing, right? Right! So instead, I am going to get back into it lazily -- I will pull out emails that I have sent and put the text here. I will also reproduce my FeuerThoughts content in my diary.

What is FeuerThoughts, you are wondering. Well, it's all about ego, I suppose. The idea behind FeuerThoughts is, well, to take advantage of a platform to put out my viewpoints on the Oracle PL/SQL language, Oracle Corporation in general, the world and the way humans treat other humans, challenges faced by programmers, etc. Of course, no one has to listen to what I have to say or even receive the emails to begin with. I expect to send no more than one message a week, and it will probably even be less than that. FeuerThoughts is not a discussion group. You can certainly respond to me and in almost every case I will pass that response on to the list.

To view my FeuerThoughts, click on the links to the right of this text. To sign up for FeuerThoughts, click HERE!

April 17, 2000

I don't usually get into any sort of bragging whatsoever about my material possessions, but this one sure is fun. My new Honda Insight, a hybrid vehicle: gasoline-electric powered. It is supposed to get 60MPG in the city and 70 on the highway. So far I have not got it quite up there, but I am easily doing 45MPG in very short bursts of city driving (like 2 miles to my place of work and so on). It is a really well engineered car. I had it up to 90 MPG on the highway (which brought the mileage all the way done to 43) and it didn't even feel like I was driving fast -- which is all the more remarkable considering that this is a SMALL and LIGHT vehicle. Aluminum body.

To me, the Insight looks like a silly science fiction car from a movie like Woody Allen's Sleeper, which is fine with me. I don't mind having a quirky looking car at all. There are compromises: it is a 2 seater (I've sure never bought one of THOSE before!) and you are not supposed to carry more than 325 lbs of people and gear. So it is very much designed to maximize mileage, and I love it!

June 4, 2000

Eli played lots of soccer this weekend for the league tournament, and I did lots of referreeing. Bottom line: his team went undefeated through the three qualifying matches (in fact, three shutouts), then swept the finals and are the champions of U14B, under 14 boys. This is Eli's first championship in 8 years of AYSO. Great fun, a really fine team of players, a wonderful coach. Eli is one of the stars (tho they have many). He scored the winning goal in the first game, scored in the second. I watch him on the field and am just amazed at what he can do. I was NEVER EVER able to play soccer at even half his level of proficiency. He does all sorts of fancy kicks, heads the ball all over the place, dribbles around people at will and can really BOOT that ball. I expect that he will easily make the high school soccer team and continue to improve.

June 25, 2000

We just put Eli on a big comfy bus for a 3 hour ride to Wisconsin and a 3 week respite from his parents -- Harand Camp. He was so so about going, but there is no question that he will enjoy it tremendously. He immediately hooked up with some friends from a year ago, while Jeffrey, his close friend here in the city and entre to the camp, drifted to HIS friend. They might not see much of each other over the next 3 weeks, as they are VERY different folks and probably end up in different circles.

I started off this hot day right. Got a call at 7 Am (I got up at 630, which was kind of late for me; lately I have been up at 5 or 6, with a mind busily thinking over matters) from my friend and dentist, Bruce Scheff (aka, the Red Dentist), to let me know a group was leaving at 745 for the Botanic Gardens, about 17 miles north of the city. Great! So off I went and it was very nice, except that the pace was too slow; when I ride I like to push it a bit, enjoy the surroundings but also get some exercise). I fixed that, though, since I had to be back at the house for a pre-camp-sendoff brunch...I rode back by myself going fast enough to WANT to get off the bicycle by the time I got to New York Bagel and Bialey.

I want to do more riding. I realized recently that I equate bicycle riding with youth and freedom. When I was around 12, I discovered 10 speeds, got myself a cheap one and started riding all over the place, all by myself. I would just get on the bike and ride somewhere on Long Island. Not sure what Mom thought about that, me just disappearing for a day. Maybe I was older. But it was just a wonderful sense of freedom off by myself, go where I want, not even necessarily know where I was going and how I would get there -- which had some disadvantages, since I had to look at a map, now and then. On one trip, I believe down to the south shore of the island, I was riding up a street, looking at the map, which was stuck into a little handlebar mounted pack..and SMACK! I rode ride into the front of a parked car. How embarrassing! I flew onto the hood and could barely see straight or figure out what had hit me before this woman came running out of her house screaming at me about her car. Nice lady!

I got up, all dazed, hopped on my cycle and wobbled off, my front wheel badly bent.

Veva is out back working hard on her 3D sculpture project -- transforming a big block of plaster into a shape rendered originally from paper and a groucho marx nose thingie. This class finishes in two weeks, then she takes a 6 week English class, then one semester of some art classes, then graduation in December!

July 22, 2000

Our enormous little boy spent three weeks away from home and was just BEGGING to come home -- so he could play Diablo II, of course. No, really, he did seem to miss us. Photo attached of Veva and Eli at the camp (actually a college preparatory school in Wisconsin). Spent the first week back home almost full time on his video games, guitar and TV...now we are working on normalizing the situation. Today, he joined our Bally fitness center and worked out with me, so we will be doing that regularly now to guarantee a minimum of exercise. Hopefully he will reignite his interest in soccer soon...we just had our roof replaced by a very interesting, friendly but also semi-literate named Bobby M. He dictated the first version of the quote to me cause he wasn't very good at writing. I literally sat on my couch taking dictation from him, adding up the numbers, etc. Strange.

Anyway, he did a nice job and now I need to paint the trim around the garage. Guy stuff. Which I do not do very often. Other news...I am now using a truly remarkable Sony Vaio laptop -- 3 pounds, skinny, 600 Mhz processor. I am hoping it can replace my wonderful but very heavy Dell lap-paralyzer. Veva continues to work away on her scultpure and pottery.

We had three kittens in the house recently. Chris and Veva found them in the alley. We took them in to pass them on to a no-kill shelter, but in the end I gave them away to employees at Starbelly, though Eli really wanted to keep the last one, a little black kitten we tentatively named Baby. Now is he Rocky and off with his new owner.

FeuerThoughts 1

FeuerThoughts
#1
August 2000

Hmmm. I should probably spend some time really thinking through how to format the content of this stuff...or, hey, I could just "wing it"! That
sounds easier and probably more interesting for all of you. So for the first FeuerThoughts, anyway, we'll just see how and where it goes.

To kick of FeuerThoughts, I would like to give you a better sense of who I am by talking about what some things that make me happy. This is
actually not a straightforward thing for me to figure out or acknowledge (besides the "big ticket" items like my family and satisfying work and
ending poverty and so on). As Veva, my wife, likes to tell me, I have a martyr complex. I like to deny myself things. Why? Aw, let's not get into
that...

Libraries

I really like libraries a lot. I love to read, I have a "cheap gene" luring me to "free books", and most importantly the library is a wonderful example
of the kind of "public space" that can and should be created by governments for the benefits of its citizens. Libraries give us a living glimpse of how so much more of our society in the US could work: tax-funded community center, making available resources (books, computer access, language classes, etc.) to everyone that would otherwise be hard for many to acquire. Instead, we have endured for the past 30 years in particular, the shrinking of our public space, as it is "bought up" or basically stolen through bribery (AKA "political contributions") by corporations. Candlestick Park? Try 3M Park. Rosemont Horizon? Now it's Allstate Arena. But libraries remain a sanctuary for the citizens of our nation, where we do not have to live as CONSUMERS.

Donating blood

For the past twenty years or so, I have been donating platelets (not whole blood). Here's the way this works: They put a need in each arm. The
blood is pulled from one arm, the platelets are extracted and the blood is then put back in the other arm. It takes about two hours and while I lay
there I get to watch a movie! These platelets are crucial for people with compromised immune systems, such as those with AIDS. So I get to help
save lives and am FORCED to do nothing but watch a movie. This allows my compulsive nature to "give up" and relax. Hey, and afterwards, I get
to eat cookies and popcorn and other snacks.

Solving problems

Well, that sure is general, right? I think it goes to the heart, however, of why I so enjoy programming. Our world is being overwhelmed with very
awful problems: billions of humans live lives of hunger, illness and deprivation; the earth itself is under attack by profit-hungry corporations, and so on...these are not easy problems to solve, but that doesn't mean they don't eat away at me. So it is a tremendous relief to me to be able to turn to a programming problem and know, be very certain, that there is a solution and that I can come up with that solution. And then I do write the code to solve the problem, and that makes me feel great.

Millions continue to starve, though, while so many of us enjoy many luxuries. So I am also on the Board of Directors of the Crossroads Fund, a
Chicago foundation that makes grants to grassroots progressive organizations that attack the underlying causes for so many of the problems we face. We will soon have our website up at www.crossroadsfund.org, so give it a visit, perhaps towards the end of September.

Babies

I find children so much more enjoyable than adults. Maybe that's because I am so bad at small talk ("How about that Jordan?"), and when I try for
"big talk" ("How can we strengthen democracy in the United States?"), people often get uncomfortable. In any case, I really adore children, love to play with them, hold babies and feed them and change them and talk to them. I used to spend Sunday mornings from 5 AM to 7 AM volunteering
at an emergency children's shelter. Very satisfying work, even though it was depressing to be around 30-40 kids who had been taken away from
their families for one reason or another, and likely starting a long stint of institutional custody...I seem to have a knack for communicating with small
children; often, kids (little babies, toddlers, etc.) who don't like to go to strangers will happily let me hold and play with them, which is deeply
satisfying. I especially like holding conversations with 3-6 month old babies. They are just starting to make conscious noises and I find that if I get real close in front of them and burble back sounds at them, they perk up and "talk" to me. You gotta try it sometime!

But enough about "me"...

OK, that was fun. Now for an update on All Things PL/SQL (or computer-related) in my life.

Oracle is just getting their 8.1.7 version out (I think they call it Oracle8i Release 3). From what I have heard, it is mostly composed of
enhancements to the Java implementation -- improved performance and functionality. The next big news for PL/SQL developers will come with
8.2 (I have NO idea what they will call that...Oracle8j?). I have been to led to believe that we can expect to get INHERITANCE for object types,
a CASE statement and expression, the ability to INSERT using a record, native PL/SQL gateway to the web, native compilation of PL/SQL
(!!!!), and bunches more stuff. So if you had any concerns about PL/SQL losing support at Oracle headquarters, put them to rest and keep on
codin'.

You can see the full list as of June 2000 in the RevealNet online newsletter:

http://www.revealnet.com/newsletter/newsletter_0600.htm

Oracle just announced the OTNXchange (http://otnxchange.oracle.com/), "the first-ever targeted skills exchange, designed to provide OTN
members with a collaborative community-based environment to meet, trade, and share skills and projects designed for the Oracle Internet
Platform." In addition to providing a marketplace for sponsors of projects and developers, OTNXchange will offer "community source
projects...Initially, the projects will be the code taken from the sample code section available through the OTN. The OTNXchange community is
encouraged to extend this body of code and share their experiences with their peers."

It's a bit early to tell if OTNXchange will be actually useful to us PL/SQL folks, but it holds lots of promise. Built on a solid foundation of existing
collaboration/open source tools (Collab.net, SourceXchange and others), it should be "technically" sound. Will developers flock to it? It will
probably largely depend on how open it really is to the contributions of others. But I do encourage you in the meantime to register as an
OTNXchange developer.

Another PL/SQL-specific repository effort was recently kicked off by Bill Pribyl, my coauthor on Oracle PL/SQL Programming: PLNet.org.
Briefly (and taken from http://plnet.sourceforge.net/), "PLNet.org is a repository of open source software that is written in PL/SQL or is otherwise for the benefit of PL/SQL developers. Well, that's what it's going to be as soon as it exists. Why we need an open source PL/SQL repository The primary benefit of PLNet.org is to serve as a center of gravity for reusable PL/SQL code, HOW-TOs, and FAQs. While you can find a lot of PL/SQL on the web outside of PLNet, it's scattered all over the place and generally lacks an open source focus. By providing a common repository, a search facility, and a dependency management tool, we hope to improve the day-to-day life of thousands of Oracle developers
around the world."

I encourage you to check it out and support it.

My Pet Projects

utPLSQL

My latest creation, utPLSQL, a unit testing framework for Oracle PL/SQL developers. It is modeled on other unit testing frameworks, such as
Junit (link: http://www.xprogramming.com/software.htm), constructed as part of the lightweight development methodology known as Extreme
Programming (link: www.extremeprogramming.org). By using utPLSQL, I believe that any PL/SQL developer can in a very straightforward way
improve the thoroughness and ease with which they unit test their code, and enhance it over time. I am working with O'Reilly and Associates to
create a home for utPLSQL at:

http://oracle.oreilly.com/utplsql

We hope to have the site up within a month, so please check for it. In the meantime, if you are interested, drop me a note and I will send you a Zip
file.

StdHdr

Asked to put together some PL/SQL coding standards at HA-LO Industries, I came to the topic of using standardized headers for programs.
Rather than simply specify the format of such a thing, I decided to build a package that would GENERATE the standard header, and also allow
you to search stored code for information from the header. So I could, for example, execute a query like this one to show last modification dates
of all my packages:

SELECT object_name || ' stored in ' ||
stdhdr.last_modification_date (object_name)
FROM user_objects
WHERE object_type = 'PACKAGE'

The format of the header follows (loosely) XML syntax.

I will likely post the StdHdr package to the RevealNet PL/SQL Pipeline Archives and PLnet.org in the near future, but if you want to get your hot
little hands on it now, let me know!

The Politics of the Software/Technology World

It truly is a brutish jungle in here. I spent an hour or two surfing the Net the other night and compiled the following items of interest.

Hurray, They're on Our Side!

"At Microsoft, we’re enthusiastic about the Internet for many reasons, not the least of which is the promise it holds to create a more informed
electorate and to encourage the participation of more people -- especially young people -- in our democratic process."

· http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/issues/02-21epolitics.asp

Model Middleman 2000

"In its legal papers, Playboy had objected to Welles's use of these words, arguing that the meta tags unfairly lured surfers who had typed the words
into a search engine, causing the surfer to think that Welles's Web site is either Playboy-sponsored or associated with Playboy - and worse,
potentially limited the number of visitors who might visit an official Playboy web site."

http://www.anneholmes.com/imw/index.asp#FEATURE ARTICLE

The End of An Era

'One reason the agency took such aggressive action was that "there isn't a whole lot the consumer can do," said Paul H. Luehr, assistant director of
marketing practices at the FTC. "They were deceptively driven to these sites and then held there against their will."'

http://www.infowar.com/hacker/99/hack_100999a_j.shtml

Can you imagine? Internet hijacking! Seems like you could just turn off your PC or even better shut down your browser. Poor innocent
surfers...This should be a major first amendment issue: I do not believe that Ford should be able to decide who can and cannot use the word
"Ford" in their metatags.

The New Service Economy

"Now, what the search engines are doing is relying on humans to categorize Web sites." Lycos and the search engines on AOL and the Microsoft Network are adopting this tactic, he said. "It's harder to spam, if you will, a human being," he added. "You can't just flip it past them, because they're smarter than a machine."

http://www.infowar.com/hacker/99/hack_100999a_j.shtml

It Is Well Known

'It is well known that Diana committed herself to help all those that were suffering in the world. She actively sought to eradicate landmines. She
supported AIDS victims. She supported a host of charities. She directed her Publicity towards humanitarian concerns. She provided the world
with a responsible and moral role model.'

"Gallery of Exemplars of Altruism..."

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ruben_hugo/AGall.HTM

Well, there you have it: FeuerThoughts. If you have any thoughts about FeuerThoughts, responses to what I have written, or questions, please send a note to FeuerThoughts@egroups.com or steven@stevenfeuerstein.com

Thanks! SF

FeuerThoughts 2

Here's some stuff to chew on. I am also setting up a POLL at www.egroups.com to find out if you would prefer to get a relatively long email like this or several shorter ones. Thanks for your responses so far (see end of this missive)...

No, it is not an IPO -- it is a a very useful new utility for PL/SQL developers. Quoting from the on-line home of utPLSQL at http://oracle.oreilly.com/utplsql, "utPLSQL is an open-source unit testing framework for Oracle PL/SQL developers. Created by Steven Feuerstein, author of several classic PL/SQL books and a leading PL/SQL trainer, utPLSQL is being developed as part of the lightweight development methodology known as Extreme Programming. As a framework, utPLSQL defines a process and offers a set of packages that PL/SQL developers can use to unit test their code more thoroughly, efficiently and easily than ever before."

Friend and co-author, Bill Pribyl, brought this one to my attention: technology now permits real-time alteration of video images, with results ranging from benign to globally catastrophic:

An extract: "A demo tape supplied by PVI bolsters the point in the prosaic setting of a suburban parking lot. The scene appears ordinary except for a disturbing feature: Amidst the SUVs and minivans are several parked tanks and one armored behemoth rolling incongruously along. Imagine a tape of virtual Pakistani tanks rolling over the border into India pitched to news outlets as authentic, and you get a feel for the kind of trouble that deceptive imagery could stir up."

Does this bother you? It bothers the heck out of me. Thought I have thought about this before: we are at the point where it is impossible to trust any electronically distributed images -- certainly the major media companies (like GE and Westinghouse and Disney!) have the resources to decieve us in any way they like. And soon that technology will be broadly available so that vitually anyone will be able to modify digitized images in undetectable ways.

Is this good or bad? Overall, I think that it might be GOOD, if people are properly and widely informed about this "reality". It could actually undermine public faith in electronic delivery of information, and propel us all back to personal, human contact.

Sometimes I wander around the supermarket, awestruck at the lengths to which corporations will go to make things "convenient for us". Two recent examples come to mind:

* Bacon: You can now buy packages of Hormel pre-cooked bacon, laid out on strips of paper, encased in plastic. No refrigeration necessary. The truly remarkable thing about this product to me was how it promoted itself: It was a 2.8 oz package (net weight of processed pork) and they proudly announced that this was the same amount of bacon as you would get in a 1 pound package of what? POST-cooked bacon? Nah, RAW bacon. OK, so you pick up this hefty package of uncooked bacon -- one solid pound, sixteen ounces -- and now we know thanks to their own marketing that we are actually only getting 2.8 ounce's worth. Whoa!

* Kraft snack packs: we live in such a packaged world. For example, you can buy a big Snicker's bar all by it's lonesome. But then you can also buy bags of small Snnickers bars encased in a plastic bag. Now, I would like to think that with the growing awareness of the destructive impact of humans on our world (for example, I just read about a boat cruise that went up to the North Pole and encountered open water -- NO ICE -- first time ever! Scary!), companies would be getting more conscious and conscientious about excess packaging. Oh, no. Instead, you can now buy "snack packs" from Kraft that are composed of a plastic tray and in the various compartments of the tray different snacks, like a bag of chips with perhaps .001 ounces of edible cnotent, a candy bar and lord knows what else. And all of that is, of course, wrapped in plastic. OBSCENE!

Just back from a four day trip to New York to visit with family and celebrate the marriage of a cousin. We rented a car from Hertz and my 13 year old (Eli) was delighted find a NeverLost attached to the dashboard. NeverLost is Hertz's GPS (global positioning system). I was at first skeptical, but ended up appreciating it immensely. No need for maps or directions from relatives to their house in Port Washington or Old Westbury. Just punch in the address and off we go.

When you specify a destination and request a route, it gives you several options for the type of route, namely:

The third one in the list came in really really handy when we were driving north of New York City to visit my sister, Shari, and her two wonderful kids, Benjamin and Danielle (and of course their Daddy, Darren). The traffic on 684 was AWFUL. Now, usually I would have NO idea about alternate routes and would just suffer through the stoppages. This time, however, I simply asked Eli to choose a new route based on LEAST USE OF FREEWAYS. And off we went. Who knows if it saved time, but it sure gave me a sense of adventure and daring-do.

Those route choices got me thinking...there are lots of other approaches one could take or be offered, such as:

LOSE A TAIL - A route that makes it easier for you to identify and lose a tail (a car following you). This is useful for those of us who read lots of mystery-thrillers and police procedurals. I am constantly aware that, since I am SUCH an important person, it could be that the FBI or some Transact-SQL spies are on my trail. Hey, and that's no idle paranoia about the FBI. They used to sit in a car across the street from my apartment and snap pictures of me going in and out of 3242 N Seminary. I have copies of the photos (obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests) to prove it. So I would love to be able to ask my GPS system to map out a route (including when to make quick lane changes and abrupt turns to expose the tail) that would leave me free to exercise my first amendment rights without an audience.

FEWEST SIGHTINGS OF STRIP MALLS - Many of us are repulsed by the rigid homogeneity of so many of our communities. I drive down a commercial road in Las Vegas and it looks JUST LIKE one in Houston, Chicago, New York, Madison...you name it. You've got your fast food restaurants, your instant oil change drive-ins and the latest development: Baskin-Robbin Dunkin' Donut Duos. And then there are the malls, mile after mile of storefronts surrounded by asphalt. And then there are the dead malls: a strip mall is built in 1970. Twenty years later, it looks old, it has not been kept up, so clearly the answer is: build a NEW strip mall down the street. All the stores move to that one and we, our community, are left with an eyesore. So I would like to ask my GPS system to go easy on my eyes and offer me routes that take me by parks, residential communities, public murals, bodies of water. No malls.

Responses to FeuerThoughts

>I really like libraries a lot. I love to read, I have a "cheap gene" luring me to "free books", and most importantly the library is a wonderful example of the kind of "public space" that can and should be created by governments for the benefits of its citizens.

Our experience in Pittsburgh seems to disprove your theory. In the past, the City of Pittsburgh ran both the Zoo and the Aviary, with city money supporting it. Unfortunately, both institutions ended up being poorly managed and poorly attended, to the point that Sophie Masloff decided to shut them down.

In both cases, people who cared about the institutions banded together to form "Save the Zoo" and "Save the Aviary" committees. Both institutions were privatized instead of being shut down. Both institutions worked hard at raising public awareness and getting grants and support from those wicked corporations of which you speak. As a result, both of them have been able to do much more than they ever did as public institutions, have increased attendance phenomonally, and are among the finest in the country.

I agree with you that some public money should go to support things that benefit all people. However, I have found in these cases that when the government manages things, they tend to MISmanage them.

In terms of shameless advertising and consumerism, I chalk it up to one of the prices we pay for capitalism. But I assume that people aren't mindless sheep who will be forced to purchase products just because some corporation has sponsored their favorite team, but individuals who make choices based on a variety of inputs.

Please don't interpret my disagreement as a flame -- I enjoy debate and am quite happy to hear opinions which differ from my own. "As iron sharpens iron, so does one person sharpen another." (proverb)

I disagree that arenas and ballparks becoming commercialized are "shrinking" public space. The fact that corporate sponsors are required is an economic necessity in these days of million dollar player salaries. Big league sports was transformed into a businesses long before any corporations bought any arena's. So, I guess what I am saying is the space remains public, it just cost's a lot more to occupy.

The power of the Internet is a double edge sword. On the one hand it is good because you can get information to a gazillion people in a mere nanosecond but on the other hand you can also get disinformation to a gazillion people in the same nanosecond. The mentality has changed from "it must be true, I saw it on TV" to "it must be true, it has it's own URL"

Being a cynic I read the caption as "At Microsoft, we're enthusiastic about the Internet for many reasons, not the least of which is the promise that it holds to make us a whack of money and...oh yeah it can educate kids about the democratic process which we support by demonstrating it's alternative!"

People wonder and at times seem annoyed with Corporate sponsorship of ball parks... And it has gone to far - but people seem to feel it is a recent change but don't think about the Wrigley Field and how that name was tied to one of the original owners Wrigley Gum.

FeuerThoughts 3

As of this morning, there are 126 subscribers to FeuerThoughts. My poll asking for preferences between long and short messages attracted a small portion of subscribers, but the preference there was clear: shorter, more frequent messages. So here goes!

Al Gore and Joe Lieberman criss-cross the country expressing their admiration for the "working man" (and woman, I am sure) of the United States. At the same time, two new reports have been issued that show (my phrasing here) how people of wealth in this country have pretty much systematically robbed working poor and lower-middle class of their deserved income over the past twenty years.

One report, Executive Excess 2000 (Insitute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy), shows that "CEO pay now stands at 475 times the pay of the average worker." From 1990 to 1999, CEO pay rose 535%, while corporate profits rose only 116%. Even more dramatic, disheartening and outrageous, average worker pay rose only 32% in this same period. Given that inflaion rose 27% at the same time, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that at a time of explosive economic growth, workers generally saw their pay stagnate while the rich of our country lined their pockets with billions of dollars of excess wealth.

Now, why do I say that wealthy people ROBBED poor people in this country? Because these same people who benefited from their 500%+ increase in pay also lobbied hard and bribed hard (c'mon, let's just call all those soft money donations what they actually ARE) the legislators who write and pass the laws that govern the distribution of wealth. Now, in large part, what the CEOs of GE, GM, Nike, etc. have done is not illegal. Heck no! They take care of that by writing the laws. But is still stealing and it is still wrong.

For more information on excess executive pay and a bunch of really positive stories about companies that are taking the "high road" in paying their employees more equitably, please visit:

Looking outside the borders of the United States for a moment, I encourage you to check out the Nike Wages project at:

This site records the experiences of two Americans, Jim Keady and Leslie Kretzu, who have moved to Indonesia and adopted the lifestyle, diet, customs and culture of the factory workers. They are trying to live/survive on the prevailing wages for Nike workers to better understand -- and record for the entire world -- the reality of Nike life in Indonesia.

You can get additional information about the state of Nike workers in Indonesia at:

Feedback from Previous FeuerThoughts

As much as I enjoy disagreeing with you, I must join with you in decrying "over packaging". I think it's annoying to buy software that comes in a large empty box with only a cd and registration leaflet inside. I say, make a single store display with all the marketing hype, and then sell the CD's themselves in appropriately sized and wrapped packages.

Fast food restaurants bug me as well. I don't need a plastic knife to spread the jelly on my sausage-egg-and-cheese biscuit. I often don't need the "bag" either. Just hand my my sandwich and drink and I'll be fine.

Have you ever fried up a pound of bacon? It is one big mess with grease splattering all over the place and the smoked up kitchen. Then when you put the bacon on a plate, it really does weigh a tiny fraction of that original pound. And what DO you do with all that grease? You're not supposed to dump it in the drain! So if they can produce it in already fried up packages, saving me the hassle, probably even recycling the oil, and I don't have all that cleanup to do, it is not such a bad thing. And think of the savings on shipping costs with the reduced weight.