Dennis Meadows receives the 2009's Japan Prize

José Aristodemo Pinotti (20/12/1934--01/07/2009)

Obituary: JOSÉ ARISTODEMO PINOTTI (20/12/1934--01/07/2009)

2004, Helsinki, The Club of Rome Assembly General.

I have been asked to write the obituary of a great man, a Doctor, a Professor, an University President, a President of numerous international organizations, a member of The Club of Rome, a Secretary of State of São Paulo...

...and: an example to be followed; a personal mentor; a friend during the storms. Whenever I have the obituary ready, I will publish it and post a link.

But here follow some of his accomplishments and recognitions (in Portuguese). This week, both the lower house and the Senate did not have sessions in Honor of Dr. José Aristodemo Pinotti.

Numerous organizations have expressed condolences.

==
Professor Titular, UNICAMP, 1972-1982

Reitor, UNICAMP, 1982-1986

Professor Titular, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, 1988-

Deputado Federal (1995-1999; 2003-2007; 2007-2011)

President, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (1988-1991)

President, The International Association of University Presidents, 1983-1984

Secretário da Educação do Estado de São Paulo, 1986-1991

Assessor, Banco Mundial e Nações Unidas, Genebra, Suíça, 1987

Membro, Board of Directors, IPAS, 1993-1995

Editorial Board, The International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics, EUA;

Editorial Board, Archives of Gynecology, Heildelber, Alemanha;

Editorial Board, Argomenti di Oncologia, Milano, Italy.

Membro, Board of Trustees, The Population Council, Colorado, EUA, 1972-1983;

Professor Honorário, Universidad Mayor de San Andres, La Paz, Bolívia, 1977

Professor Honorário, Universidad Mayor de San Simón, Cochabamba, Bolívia, 1977;

Diploma de Honra, Centro Acadêmico Adolfo Lutz, UNICAMP, Campinas, SP, 1981;

Ordem do Ipiranga, Grande-Oficial, Governo do Estado de São Paulo, 1982;

Homenagem, Museu Histórico, Fac. de Medicina, USP, São Paulo, 1985;

Ordem de Rio Branco, Comendador, MRE, Brasília, DF, 1986;

Homenagem, Conselho Cultural Mundial, Heidelberg, Alemanha, 1986;

Membro Honorário do Conselho de Reitores das Universidades Brasileiras, Brasília, DF, 1986-;

Comendador, nell, Ordine al Mérito della República Italiana, Presidente da República Italiana, 1987;

Laurea Honoris Causa in Medicina et Chirurgia, Univ. de Bolonha, Itália, 1988;

Professor Honoris Causa, Fac. de Medicina de Marília, SP, 1988;

Ordem do Mérito Médico, Sociedade Brasileira de Mastologia, São Paulo, SP, 1988;

Menção Honrosa, Academia de Medicina de São Paulo, SP, 1988;

Médico Símbolo de 1988, Capítulo Brasileiro da Associação Médica de Israel, São Paulo, SP;

Secretário do Ano, Comitê de Imprensa, Palácio dos Bandeirantes, São Paulo, SP, 1988;

Medalha de Ouro, Departamento de Obstetrícia e Ginecologia do Instituto Dexeus, Espanha, 1988;

Homenagem, Federação de Obras Sociais, São Paulo, SP, 1989;

Medalha Defesa Civil do Estado de São Paulo, Casa Militar, 1990;

Honoris Causa, Societas Gynaecologica et Obstetricia, Roma, Itália, 1990;

Sócio Honorário, Sociedad Levantina de Obstetricia y Ginecología, Valência, Espanha, 1990;

Medalha Mérito da Ginecologia Italiana, SIGO, Veneza, Itália, 1991;

Prêmio Jabuti-93, Câmara Brasileira do Livro, São Paulo, SP, 1993;

Cidadão Italiano, Comuni di Magnacavallo, Itália, 1993;

Honorary Fellow, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Washington, EUA, 1993;

Sócio Honorário, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Washington, EUA, 1993;

Homenagem, Inst. Italiano para o Comércio Exterior, São Paulo, SP, 1998;

Doutor Honoris Causa, Centro Universitário Ibero-Americano, São Paulo, SP, 1999;

Título Acadèmic de Honori Numeraris, Real Academia de Medicina de Catalunha, Espanha, 2001

Medalha Mérito Profissional em Ciências Médicas, Academia Brasileira de Arte, Cultura e História, São Paulo, SP, 2002.

Membro, The Club of Rome, 2004-

Secretário da Educação do Estado de São Paulo, 2007-

Secretário de Educação, Município de São Paulo, 2005-2006.

Secretário Especial da Mulher, 2008--

Supercomputing goes mainstream

Stories of the day:

As more and more people decry the coming end to Moore's law; GPGPU seems to get more traction each day. Here's some random guy exitedly talking about NVIDIA's Tesla:

NVIDIA Tesla C1060 Computing Processor
by ComputerTV

the 7 magic steps of turning sand into gold

Amazing.

Trolling patent trolls

After IBM's patent of the 40-minute meeting (get it here), I think it's time to troll the patent trolls, by letting them look themselves in the mirror, as they try to make money by destroying value. Nothing against patents per se, but patent abusers should have a chance to see themselves in the mirror find out whether they like what they see. The abuse of patents is the second worst thing in the tech world (second only to this unspeakable disgrace:"twitter, triumph of humanity").

I think the best approach, at least for a powerless author like yours truly, is to edit their wikipedia page, calmly and objectively pointing out how these patents are just plain dumb. Neutral point of view and reliable sources are very welcome.

I did this first when Microsoft applied last year (2008) for the breakthrough of a page-up and page-down button, which would let you scroll documents; hear me out; one page at a time. That was decades old technology, and it's a blatant abuse of a failed patent system. The wording has been changed all over, but it still lies right there at Microsoft's entry:

David Meyer writing on Zdnet.com pointed out that, "Microsoft has a long history of applying for, and being granted patents for, inventions that many argue--and can sometimes demonstrate--were based on earlier work carried out by others, or based on a common, self-evident idea."[109] This was in response to its 2008 patent application for the ability to progress in page-up or page-down increments with a single keystroke -- a method that has been pervasive for decades. [110]

This is from IBM's entry on Wikipedia:

IBM holds more patents than any other U.S. based technology company and has eight research laboratories worldwide

It's only logical and fair to point out how they do it: by abusing the system and stamping out junk. So now is the time to update IBM's page, which I did. But of course it was reverted: "Slashdot is not a reliable source". Dammit CowboyNeal! So here is a gathering of "reliable" sources for IBM's patent abuses.

Here is the "paper or plastic" patent (please please check this link, it's worth it), the "but I only had soup" patent, the offshoring patent, the "who is going to pee next" patent, the "Terry is a boy, Jeena is a girl" patent (from a garbage, "unreliable source", unfortunately).

Dear IBM, may I humbly ask: What is the point of having a record number of patents if they are just plain stupid? Are you really keeping these admittedly schizophrenic policies?

Project Jacuzzi

For those concerned that we won't be able to compute rapidly all that we need to, here are some good news. Project Jacuzzi:

The project delivers Java™-bindings for CUDA. CUDA is a framework by NVIDIA which enables a programmer to use the graphics processing unit (GPU) of a computer for scientific computations or image processing. The current project state is alpha but it might however be useful for you. Browse the javadoc documentation to find out. Everybody is invited to contribute.

That should bring up the immense power of GPGPU (also on wikipedia), and stream processing, even from (slow) java.

We shouldn't worry about such problems now. Maybe in an year or so.