Thread: Why the elephant?

Why the elephant?

From
Gabriele Bartolini
Date:
Hi guys,

   I am trying to get sorted out the PostgreSQL flyers for the Italian
Community. Unfortunately, we do not have a list of companies that use it
that we can print on the second page. Therefore we have some free space.
I was wondering, given that everyone who is new to PostgreSQL asks met
that, if we can put a small frame in the second page that explains why
the symbol of PostgreSQL is an elephant.

   I came up with this issue on the IRC channel a few days ago and I had
a few answers. Also I looked on wikipedia and have come up with a few items:

1) an elephant never forgets
2) the elephant is the strongest animal on earth
3) the elephant has a long life
4) the elephant is the largest land animal
5) symbols of wisdom in Asian cultures
6) famed for their exceptional memory and high intelligence

   Am I off track? Please let me know, I am sure it would be nice to add
such a foot note on the flyer.

Ciao,
Gabriele

--
Gabriele Bartolini: Web Programmer, IWA/HWG Member
Current Location: Prato, Tuscany, Italy
gabriele.bartolini@gmail.com | www.gabrielebartolini.it
"If I had been born ugly, you would never have heard of Pelé", George Best


Re: Why the elephant?

From
Michael Fuhr
Date:
On Fri, Jun 08, 2007 at 03:17:03PM +0200, Gabriele Bartolini wrote:
> I was wondering, given that everyone who is new to PostgreSQL asks met
> that, if we can put a small frame in the second page that explains why
> the symbol of PostgreSQL is an elephant.

Here are some early messages suggesting an elephant for the reasons
you've already found:

http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/1997-04/msg00094.php
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/1998-07/msg00306.php

--
Michael Fuhr

Re: Why the elephant?

From
Oleg Bartunov
Date:
On Fri, 8 Jun 2007, Gabriele Bartolini wrote:

> Hi guys,
>
>  I am trying to get sorted out the PostgreSQL flyers for the Italian
> Community. Unfortunately, we do not have a list of companies that use it that
> we can print on the second page. Therefore we have some free space. I was
> wondering, given that everyone who is new to PostgreSQL asks met that, if we
> can put a small frame in the second page that explains why the symbol of
> PostgreSQL is an elephant.


"elephants can remember",
in the 1997 year David Yang has proposed elephant after
http://www.pgsql.ru/db/mw/msg.html?mid=1238939

>
>  I came up with this issue on the IRC channel a few days ago and I had a few
> answers. Also I looked on wikipedia and have come up with a few items:
>
> 1) an elephant never forgets
> 2) the elephant is the strongest animal on earth
> 3) the elephant has a long life
> 4) the elephant is the largest land animal
> 5) symbols of wisdom in Asian cultures
> 6) famed for their exceptional memory and high intelligence
>
>  Am I off track? Please let me know, I am sure it would be nice to add such
> a foot note on the flyer.
>
> Ciao,
> Gabriele
>
>

     Regards,
         Oleg
_____________________________________________________________
Oleg Bartunov, Research Scientist, Head of AstroNet (www.astronet.ru),
Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Moscow University, Russia
Internet: oleg@sai.msu.su, http://www.sai.msu.su/~megera/
phone: +007(495)939-16-83, +007(495)939-23-83

Re: Why the elephant?

From
Lukas Kahwe Smith
Date:
Gabriele Bartolini wrote:
> Hi guys,
>
>   I am trying to get sorted out the PostgreSQL flyers for the Italian
> Community. Unfortunately, we do not have a list of companies that use it
> that we can print on the second page. Therefore we have some free space.
> I was wondering, given that everyone who is new to PostgreSQL asks met
> that, if we can put a small frame in the second page that explains why
> the symbol of PostgreSQL is an elephant.
>
>   I came up with this issue on the IRC channel a few days ago and I had
> a few answers. Also I looked on wikipedia and have come up with a few
> items:
>
> 1) an elephant never forgets
> 2) the elephant is the strongest animal on earth
> 3) the elephant has a long life
> 4) the elephant is the largest land animal
> 5) symbols of wisdom in Asian cultures
> 6) famed for their exceptional memory and high intelligence

that last one sounds a bit redundant ..

additionally Elephants are known to be gentle to their surroundings.

regards,
Lukas

Re: Why the elephant?

From
Jim Nasby
Date:
On Jun 8, 2007, at 9:05 AM, Lukas Kahwe Smith wrote:
> additionally Elephants are known to be gentle to their surroundings.

Huh? Is that before or after they've knocked trees down to feed? :)
--
Jim Nasby                                            jim@nasby.net
EnterpriseDB      http://enterprisedb.com      512.569.9461 (cell)



Re: Why the elephant?

From
Bill Moran
Date:
In response to Jim Nasby <decibel@decibel.org>:

> On Jun 8, 2007, at 9:05 AM, Lukas Kahwe Smith wrote:
> > additionally Elephants are known to be gentle to their surroundings.
>
> Huh? Is that before or after they've knocked trees down to feed? :)

After.  Once they get that out of their system they're very mellow.

--
Bill Moran
http://www.potentialtech.com

Re: Why the elephant?

From
Lukas Kahwe Smith
Date:
Jim Nasby wrote:
> On Jun 8, 2007, at 9:05 AM, Lukas Kahwe Smith wrote:
>> additionally Elephants are known to be gentle to their surroundings.
>
> Huh? Is that before or after they've knocked trees down to feed? :)

An elephant is very able to not step on things he cares for. This is
going by high school documentary knowledge :)

regards,
Lukas


Re: Why the elephant?

From
"Joshua D. Drake"
Date:
Jim Nasby wrote:
> On Jun 8, 2007, at 9:05 AM, Lukas Kahwe Smith wrote:
>> additionally Elephants are known to be gentle to their surroundings.
>
> Huh? Is that before or after they've knocked trees down to feed? :)

Considering they can run 20 miles an hour (faster than the average
human) they can knock down as many trees as they want, as long as they
aren't chasing me.

Joshua D. Drake


> --
> Jim Nasby                                            jim@nasby.net
> EnterpriseDB      http://enterprisedb.com      512.569.9461 (cell)
>
>
>
> ---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
> TIP 4: Have you searched our list archives?
>
>               http://archives.postgresql.org
>


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Re: Why the elephant?

From
Bill Moran
Date:
In response to "Joshua D. Drake" <jd@commandprompt.com>:

> Jim Nasby wrote:
> > On Jun 8, 2007, at 9:05 AM, Lukas Kahwe Smith wrote:
> >> additionally Elephants are known to be gentle to their surroundings.
> >
> > Huh? Is that before or after they've knocked trees down to feed? :)
>
> Considering they can run 20 miles an hour (faster than the average
> human) they can knock down as many trees as they want, as long as they
> aren't chasing me.

Based on the responses to this, perhaps we should add to the list of
reasons: "Because elephants kick ass!"

I can see the TV commercial in my head, Elephant is stomping on a dolphin,
announcer says, "PostgreSQL, because elephants kick more ass than
dolphins."

--
Bill Moran
http://www.potentialtech.com

Re: Why the elephant?

From
Josh
Date:
On Mon, 11 Jun 2007, Bill Moran wrote:

> I can see the TV commercial in my head, Elephant is stomping on a dolphin,
> announcer says, "PostgreSQL, because elephants kick more ass than
> dolphins."

All kidding aside, we might want to be sensitive for areas where this
really occurs:

http://www.antara.co.id/en/arc/2007/2/27/tens_of_elephants_run_amuck_in_jambi/

Cheers,
-J


Re: Why the elephant?

From
David Fetter
Date:
On Mon, Jun 11, 2007 at 01:25:03PM -0400, Bill Moran wrote:
> In response to "Joshua D. Drake" <jd@commandprompt.com>:
> > Jim Nasby wrote:
> > > On Jun 8, 2007, at 9:05 AM, Lukas Kahwe Smith wrote:
> > >> additionally Elephants are known to be gentle to their
> > >> surroundings.
> > >
> > > Huh? Is that before or after they've knocked trees down to feed?
> > > :)
> >
> > Considering they can run 20 miles an hour (faster than the average
> > human) they can knock down as many trees as they want, as long as
> > they aren't chasing me.
>
> Based on the responses to this, perhaps we should add to the list of
> reasons: "Because elephants kick ass!"
>
> I can see the TV commercial in my head, Elephant is stomping on a
> dolphin, announcer says, "PostgreSQL, because elephants kick more
> ass than dolphins."

MySQL hasn't ever been PostgreSQL's competition.  Oracle and MS-SQL
Server are.

Cheers,
D
--
David Fetter <david@fetter.org> http://fetter.org/
phone: +1 415 235 3778        AIM: dfetter666
                              Skype: davidfetter

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Re: Why the elephant?

From
Bill Moran
Date:
In response to David Fetter <david@fetter.org>:

> On Mon, Jun 11, 2007 at 01:25:03PM -0400, Bill Moran wrote:
> > In response to "Joshua D. Drake" <jd@commandprompt.com>:
> > > Jim Nasby wrote:
> > > > On Jun 8, 2007, at 9:05 AM, Lukas Kahwe Smith wrote:
> > > >> additionally Elephants are known to be gentle to their
> > > >> surroundings.
> > > >
> > > > Huh? Is that before or after they've knocked trees down to feed?
> > > > :)
> > >
> > > Considering they can run 20 miles an hour (faster than the average
> > > human) they can knock down as many trees as they want, as long as
> > > they aren't chasing me.
> >
> > Based on the responses to this, perhaps we should add to the list of
> > reasons: "Because elephants kick ass!"
> >
> > I can see the TV commercial in my head, Elephant is stomping on a
> > dolphin, announcer says, "PostgreSQL, because elephants kick more
> > ass than dolphins."
>
> MySQL hasn't ever been PostgreSQL's competition.  Oracle and MS-SQL
> Server are.

In the eyes of the educated, yes.  But we're not talking about educated
people, here.  We're talking about MARKETING!

And, in the eyes of MySQL, PostgreSQL is often considered competition.

--
Bill Moran
http://www.potentialtech.com