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> Does Premium Vodka's Taste Live Up to Its Price Tag?
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Does Premium Vodka's Taste Live Up to Its Price Tag?
05-24-2007, 17:51
Comments? Chuck?:cool:
05-24-2007, 19:45
I co-authored a vodka article awhile ago. Here is the link. I tasted them all slightly chilled neat.
Jewel of Russia Ultra and Chopin were my 2 favs by far. Both had a creaminess to them that all the others lacked. Skyy90 was not very good. The Jean Marc XO had a really nice cinnamon taste to it.
05-25-2007, 16:03
Famously, the New York Times conducted a tasting and Smirnoff won.
"Vodka tasting" seems almost an oxymoron to me, so it's hard to know where to start.
The ABC News test seemed well done. There are a million ways you could do such a thing. The result doesn't surprise me, just like all the tests that have been done proving Coke loyalists can't tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi.
There's nothing wrong with people drinking vodka, if that's what you like. There is a difference between "bad" vodka and "good" vodka. "Bad" vodka has a very chemical flavor and odor, and costs under $10 for a 1.75 L. "Good" vodka smells and tastes like water and starts at $15-$20 a bottle for a 750 ml.
For all the stuff above that, there are taste differences and you might find one you like better than another, but the price differences have nothing to do with additional quality. They are about provenance, packaging and marketing.
When the actual product cost so little to make, you can spend a lot on all that other stuff and still have enough left over for obscene profits.
If anyone believes a $200 vodka is ten times better than a $20 vodka, they deserve to have their pocket picked.
05-25-2007, 16:46
.... The result doesn't surprise me, just like all the tests that have been done proving Coke loyalists can't tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi......
If anyone believes a $200 vodka is ten times better than a $20 vodka, they deserve to have their pocket picked.
Which tests are you referring to, Chuck. The "Pepsi challenge" paid for by Pepsi-cola, wherein subjects purportedly chose Pepsi as "tasting better" not necessarily indistinguishable. I assure you I can tell the difference. Many has been the time I have ordered Coke (fountain pop) and gotten Pepsi instead, because the establishment only carried Pepsi products, but failed to inform me.
As to the vodka I agree 100%. Super premium Vodka is as silly as "oxygen bars".
05-28-2007, 20:55
Saw the abc story on tv the other night. Loved the woman who hated the taste of her beloved Grey Goose. Makes sense given what vodka is.
I keep a lot of bourbons and scotches around, but am trying to pare down. Realized the other night that I like Knob better than Woodford, but will confirm it with a blind taste test, too.
Like to think that I can tell peaty Lagavulin from smoky Talisker. Harder to tell some of the other regional scotches apart, I think. Even there, I think there is diminishing returns for the 25 yr old and up single malts.
One of the most amusing stories I've seen is on Penn and Teller's BS show. They filled fancy water bottles from a garden hose and had a water sommelier sell people water for up to $$$ per bottle and they thought they could taste differences. They also compared NY city tap to bottled water and people liked the tap. You gotta see this story--it's great.
05-28-2007, 21:20
Saw the abc story on tv the other night. Loved the woman who hated the taste of her beloved Grey Goose. Makes sense given what vodka is.
I keep a lot of bourbons and scotches around, but am trying to pare down. Realized the other night that I like Knob better than Woodford, but will confirm it with a blind taste test, too.
Like to think that I can tell peaty Lagavulin from smoky Talisker. Harder to tell some of the other regional scotches apart, I think. Even there, I think there is diminishing returns for the 25 yr old and up single malts.
One of the most amusing stories I've seen is on Penn and Teller's BS show. They filled fancy water bottles from a garden hose and had a water sommelier sell people water for up to $$$ per bottle and they thought they could taste differences. They also compared NY city tap to bottled water and people liked the tap. You gotta see this story--it's great.
It is no secret that NYC has great tap water. It is one of the city's defining qualities.
05-28-2007, 21:21
Have you seen the Myth Busters episode where they try and run bottom shelf Vodka through a Britta filter to make it taste like a "top shelf" Vodka?
Jamie, Kari, and a guy named Anthony Dias Blue did a taste test. Mr. Blue is listed as a "vodka expert" he is the executive director of the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
They took a bottom shelf Vodka and ran it through britta filters 1-2-3-4-5 and then 6 times. They also had a "Top Shelf" vodka. Mr. Blue did a taste test and was able to put the shots in correct order, from the Un-filtered bottom shelf up through the various levels and then the Top Shelf.
His conclusion was that the extra filtering improves a bottom shelf vodka, but does not make it a top shelf vodka. Maybe a little off track on this thread but I found it kind of interesting.
They said they did a test of the chemical composition of the unfiltered and filtered vodka's and there was no difference between them...even after the 6 extra filtrations.
05-29-2007, 20:51
IMO Premium Vodka is far better than the cheap swill. But with some Vodka prices rising above $60, I could never justify that amount however the better $20-$30 bottling are worth it, (if I were a vodka drinker) because the generic bottlings are no better than terpentine.
05-30-2007, 05:32
I find this post very interesting. Because the vast majority of my friends are vodka drinker's. I can't tell the difference form kettle one, to grey goose, from whatever. Now there may be a little difference from say gordon's, but I would say its a huge difference. Most of my friends swear that kettle one is the greatest vodka ever. Myself, I don't see the reward in drinking something that tastes like nothing. I have however been able to sway at least one of my friends to at least think about drinking whiskey. I took him to a tasting and he is starting to see that there are many more flavor possibilities with whiskey. I gotten him to try and like some Bourbon, he likes some Scotch, and he likes almost all Irish whiskey I have shared with him. Maybe he is starting to see the light. But in this mix drink society we live in, young people(which I am) will probably keep drinking vodka. I try however to share some of my bourbon with those of my friends who are willing to try it. Most are pleasantly surprised.
06-05-2007, 16:48
In a word: no.
06-05-2007, 17:44
Ketel One is very good though.
Pappy's Friend
06-05-2007, 20:12
I find both Ketel One and Chopin to be quite enjoyable (although not in the same league as bourbon!). I used to be a Ketel One on the rocks until I was forever changed in Louisville. I don't think I've had a vodka since I started drinking bourbon!
06-06-2007, 08:59
The vodka craze used to amuse me. Now I am getting irritated. I tire of waiters asking me if I want vodka or gin when I order a Martini. Vodka has only one useful purpose. A Bloody Mary. My answer is no.
06-09-2007, 19:26
I haven't much use for vodka. I drink Martinis with Gin (of course) and even mix my Bloody Mary with Gin! I like many spirits, but I am not sure where vodka fits in as it hasn't much flavor.
06-09-2007, 19:39
Buffalo Trace now distills a vodka called Rain. It is made from organic white corn, and distilled seven times. I guess that is supposed to be a lot. It sells for around $20, and tastes like nothing. I also suppose that is good for a vodka.
09-07-2007, 08:00
This interesting blog entry
http://www.seriouseats.com/required_eating/2007/09/fightin-words-on-vodka.html (http://www.seriouseats.com/required_eating/2007/09/fightin-words-on-vodka.html)
references two recent articles on this subject -- one in Advertising Age and the other in the Weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal. Here is a quote from the Advertising Age article:
Bacardi wishes to sell preposterously expensive ultra-mega-super-premium vodka to showoffs, wannabes and snobs. [ ] It's the hoariest gambit in the world: to flatter customers into imagining they are not conspicuous consumers but discriminating ones. That when they belly up to the bar calling for Grey Goose, they can tell the difference between it and Stoli and Absolut and the rail vodka, because they have rarified tastes that the mere hoi polloi could never understand. That they are, sniff, a cut above.
09-14-2007, 18:40
Buffalo Trace now distills a vodka called Rain. It is made from organic white corn, and distilled seven times. I guess that is supposed to be a lot. It sells for around $20, and tastes like nothing. I also suppose that is good for a vodka.
Vodka, by definition, is supposed to taste like nothing,
09-14-2007, 23:52
Of all the Rums and Bourbons I like, I keep 1 brand of vodka: monopolowa. It's great, high quality and cheap b/c it has zero ad campaign. Won double gold medals and is good in vodka/7's. although I would like to get a bottle of Rain.
09-15-2007, 09:03
When my brother and I did the BT tour, they let us try Rain. I'm one of those that doesn't see the point in drinking vodka, but I had to agree, it was good. Sweeter than a typical vodka, and more oily. Compliments of the corn, I suppose.
I've also had an opportunity to do a couple of blind vodka tastings: Goose, Kettel, Chopin, Stoli, and Absolut. I definitely noticed a difference, subtle though it may be, between the different brands and was able to rank them by preference. I preferred the Absolut. I think I placed Stoli second. Maybe that's because I used to drink those before I discovered a liquor that actually tastes good.
But overall, to me the exercise was something like trying to choose between different shades of off-white to paint a wall, and about as entertaining. Yeah, I can see the difference, and eventually I was able to pick one. But it's not something I want to do everyday.
09-15-2007, 13:12
What amazes me about the vodka wars is that most people drink vodka mixed with something else that makes any taste differences (real or imagined) a moot point.
An example: a few months back I was having a drink (Pappy 20, by the way) in the bar of a high-end hotel in the Midwest. A guy comes into the bar and asks if they have Brand X vodka. The bartender apologizes but says no, and proceeds to list the seven or eight top-shelf vodkas that they do have. The customer (becoming loud and indignant) is adamant... he has to have Brand X.
The bartender, going way above and beyond, calls around to the other bars and restaurants in the hotel and locates one that has Brand X. SHes leaves and goes and gets a bottle. Returning, she asks: "How would you like that sir?" "A cosmopolitan", is the reply.
09-15-2007, 14:23
I was looking through the pages of a liquor store's website the other day, to see what bourbons they have.
They had a 'new' section I decided to check out and I stumbled across Bong Vodka. I bet this is one bottle in Holland that doesn't make the recycling bin!:slappin:
09-15-2007, 19:22
I was looking through the pages of a liquor store's website the other day, to see what bourbons they have.
They had a 'new' section I decided to check out and I stumbled across Bong Vodka. I bet this is one bottle in Holland that doesn't make the recycling bin!:slappin:
The bottle is made thicker where you would drill holes for the bowl post
and carb. The manufacturers do this intentionally so you can't make a real BONG out of it.
09-17-2007, 16:56
Maybe I just have a dirty mind, but my first thought wasn't bong.
09-17-2007, 17:16
Maybe I just have a dirty mind, but my first thought wasn't bong.
You were not alone.
09-17-2007, 18:01
My wife picked up a bottle of Roth vodka recently in New York, this one (like the Ciroc brand) is made from grapes. She said there is buzz in New York about Roth vodka, anyone heard about it or tried it?
09-21-2007, 11:20
Well, I tasted this recently and can say it is very good. It has a very soft, full taste, very neutral of course, yet somehow with the characteristic taste (whatever distinguishes it, dilution water, an additive like sugar, ethanol itself, etc.) of a fine vodka. I tried it at room temperature next to Moskovaya (spelling may not be 100% there!) and Ketel One and they were all noticeably different. Some seemed a little sharper (the Russian one did), some seemed fuller-bodied (Ketel One), but all were similar of course. I was interested that Roth is made from wine (grapes from California). There is no way I could tell that. With Ciroc earlier, a French vodka made from grapes, I thought I could tell, but with Roth it seems (in this respect) like any other very good vodka.
Vodka is one of those ineffable things people will always argue about I think and whose true (objective) merits can never really be pinned down no matter how one tries (blind tastings, chemical analyses, etc.). Some people will always prefer some to others and I don't think that is a completely subjective exercise but in practice it is hard to prove why one's preference is better. Not that I really have a preference but it is interesting I find to sample different ones side by side and they always seem somewhat different to me.
09-28-2007, 00:41
To me, vodka has taken off into a very strange netherworld, an "Emperor's New Clothes" kind of place, where people compete over who can spend the most for a bottle of vodka, with no rationale for why it is multiple-times more expensive than Grey Goose, the one that started it all and which itself costs twice what a genuine premium vodka really needs to cost. How much will people pay for a bottle of neutral spirit?
But this one is made with glacial water.
But this one is filtered through gold dust.
But this one is made from only organic grain.
But this one is placed into low Earth orbit for six months.
But this one is distilled twenty-five times.
But this one is distilled thirty times.
After you've spent $100 for a bottle of vodka, you damn well better think it tastes five times better than a $20 vodka, and you damn well better not just say but believe that nothing else tastes right to you, you'd recognize its taste anywhere. People will adjust their perceptions to match their beliefs, not the other way around.
09-28-2007, 00:50
It is hard to gainsay what is said and yet (and I say this as someone with no great knowledge of or regular interest in vodka) I think quality does reveal itself to those who know and use the product regularly, but not in strict proportion to be sure. Some people too (not me) may be particularly interested in the package and willing to pay for it.
09-28-2007, 07:24
Why pay $35 for a bottle of premium vodka when you can pay $200 for a VINTAGE premium vodka! Ugh.
Kauffman Vodka
09-28-2007, 07:52
The only way to really tell is in blind tastings. I have done this a couple of times and generally the higher price vodkas have won out, but not in strict proportion to their price. When comparing (not blind) Moskovaya, Roth and one other (can't recall name now, maybe Finlandia), the flavours and mouth feel were noticeably different and I preferred the Roth (not sure what it costs). Regular price vodkas seem to have a "doctor's office" nose and taste that the better-price ones don't have.
My point is that many people get used to a certain taste and know it when they taste it (or not). I am reminded of a story in a biography of Keith Moon, the late drummer for The Who. He said he could tell the various brands of cognac then generally popular (Courvoisier VSOP, Remy Martin, etc.) even when mixed with ginger ale (a popular drink circa-1970, "brandy and ginger old boy!"). A doubting bartender set them up (5 or 6) and Keith Moon, probably not completely sober at the time too, picked them all to a "t".
I am trying to suggest that for some people, they do know what they like and can tell if they are being given something different. I believe this is true with an experienced vodka taster (which I am not), and believe too that generally the higher-price brands would trump the lesser, but beyond that cannot really say.
09-28-2007, 10:10
Why pay $35 for a bottle of premium vodka when you can pay $200 for a VINTAGE premium vodka! Ugh.
Kauffman Vodka
Ah, that's for a liter though, so a 750ml worth is ONLY $150:lol:
09-28-2007, 10:21
I don't understand the big argument. The majority of the people that want to tell you they can tell the good over bad vodka will walk up to the bar and order there Bellvidere and Cranberry, Diet Coke, Tonic etc.
I fell if you have your vodka with anything more than a glass or ice...your wasting your $$$ and you breath on the argument.
Not to argue with Gary's point because cognac's have a taste, on the other hand a good to great vodka should not.
I have tried the Stoli Elite on ice once and it is very smooth but how many $14 dollar drinks are you having at the bar for the evening. Not to mention $60 for a bottle.
I say Drink what you like! If your paying for it? and if you can expense it drink top shelf!
09-28-2007, 10:38
I agree fully. Even when taken on the rocks the ability to tell differences with vodkas will be minimal (let alone in mixed drinks). I'm speaking only of neat sampling and even then, at having one. :)
True, cognacs have a taste but Moon (or so the story goes) was able to tell them one from the other in mixed drinks. In that state, they would have more the kind of similarity sampling vodka neat would...
09-28-2007, 11:12
I did a blind tasting when I wrote a vodka article. Stoli Elit did not fare well. It was hotter than many of the others included. My #1 was Jewel of Russia Ultra (yes, it was the most expensive). #2 was Chopin which is not very expensive. Skyy 90 who claims a multi-million high-tech technique was rubbing alcohol smell and taste. I did the taste test chilled and neat. It was the only way to derive a true rating and taste. The major differences when trying 10 vodkas side by side was smoothness, overall heat, a certain thickness in the mouth feel (Chopin had this), and some slight hints of an aroma/taste. Jean Marc XO actually had cinnamon notes. Some citrus notes existed in some as well although I dont remember which ones offhand. I even remember a touch of vanilla in the Chopinl. Now when I say cinnamon, citrus, vanilla they are very very slight. Nothing like the complexity of cognac, bourbon, smsw, rum, etc. When we say vanilla exists in a bourbon I do believe its a major presence. Since the vodka tasting I have had maybe 2 vodka cocktails. Its just not my cup of tea anymore. I am a "brown" liquor guy. Just my 2 cents.
09-28-2007, 12:27
Put very well, thanks, I understand fully and you describe my own kind of experience perfectly.
09-29-2007, 11:22
I did a blind tasting when I wrote a vodka article...The major differences when trying 10 vodkas side by side was smoothness, overall heat, a certain thickness in the mouth feel (Chopin had this), and some slight hints of an aroma/taste.
Vodka isn't my thing, which will be obvious from the question that I have:
In tasting these ...very subtly flavored... spirits does the quality of the ice and the thoroughness of the dishwasher's rinse cycle become as large a factor as the difference between the spirits themselves?
For instance, would tasting one brand of vodka on the rocks at 10 different bars give as much variation as tasting 10 different vodkas on the rocks at the same bar?
09-29-2007, 11:54
I have been to Russia and took some Gray Goose with me as a gift. It was not popular at all and nowhere near as good as a dozen brands I had there which aren't exported out of the country. I like Stoli for shots and Smirnoff for mixing but that is more habit then anything else.
Here is something I copied from the 'net a while back that you may find interesting.
Title and verbage from "Russian Blog"
Russians are renowned for drinking a lot of vodka staying sober. Thats not something to do with biological inheritance but with the way we drink. Russians believe that foreigners dont know how to drink. They dont eat while drinking. They mix cocktails. They sip vodka instead of taking shots. They drink vodka with highly carbonated sodas. In short, they do everything to get drunk from the minimum amount of alcohol. May be it has something to do with innate Western avidity or expensiveness of alcohol.
Russians, on the other hand, do everything to stay sober while drinking as much alcohol as possible. How do we do it? We try to neutralize alcohol as long as possible. I try to outline the basic principles of vodka drinking for uninitiated.
One hour before the party
1. Eat a couple of boiled potatoes.
2. Drinks one or two raw eggs.
3. Drink one or two table-spoons of olive oil. Sunflower oil will also do.
Thus its guaranteed that at the Russian party you will stay sober for at least one bottle of vodka. Im not kidding. Raw eggs are the most important part of Russian pre-party preparations.
At the party
1. If you start drinking vodka drink only vodka. No beer or wine. No water or juice. Carbonated drinks are taboo.
2. Drink vodka only in shots. Never sip.
3. Eat immediately after taking a shot. Russian zakuskis are often translated as appetizers. Thats not quite correct. Zakuskis are something you zakusyvayesh with after taking a shot of vodka. They are very important to neutralize alcohol. Thats why they all contain two most important alcohol neutralizers acid and salt. I recommend taking the following sequence:
- immediately after taking a shot two slices of lemon;
- then some salted cucumbers, pickles, marinated tomatoes or caviar.
- then something with a lot of oil: herring (traditionally with cold boiled potatoes and onion), sardines, or shproty (small smoked sprats in olive oil);
- then traditional Russian salads, like Oliviye or Herring with boiled beet and mayonnaise. Almost all Russian salads come under heavy mayonnaise dressing. Remember acid, salt, eggs and oil. Ukrainians and Southern Russians prefer smoked lard with garlic but its a zakuska for professionals.
4. Only three first vodka shots at a Russian party are obligatory so to say. That means you have to take them if you want to show youre a friendly person but not an unsociable person. After that you can miss one or two shots. Just say, Ya propuskayu (Literally, I make it slip) and cover your glass with your palm. That doesnt mean you can abstain from drinking till the end of the party. It means (excusing yourself that youre a foreigner) can take one shot out of two your Russian guests take.
I think, some Russian party traditions need to be explained here. In Russia we party around a big table with bottles and zakuskis. We drink only when someone makes a toast and we drink all together. The person who makes a toast usually pours vodka to all glasses. Taking a bottle yourself and drinking vodka without others is a faux pas. Actually you (and all others) are ordered to drink after a toast. Everyone at the party is supposed to make a toast being a foreigner is not an excuse. So be prepared buy yourself a book on party toasts (there are a lot of them on sale in Russia) and learn some by heart.
5. Zakuskis part of the party take about an hour or something like 200 grams (4 shots) of vodka. Then comes goryacheye (hot dishes). Even though zakuskis could be very filling you should eat goryacheye if you want not be become drunk.
6. Actively participate in intellectual talks around the table. Mental activity is probably the best method to keep you excited but sober. Try, for example, to drink two pints of beer while reading a philosophical book and see the result.
7. At the end of the party come tea and cakes. Dont miss it too. This way you show your hosts that youre survived the party without dire consequences.
Now in the course of 4 or 5 hours you drunk a bottle of vodka (500 grams) and youre only slightly tight.
After the party.
1. Keep a small bottle of beer in refrigerator. Wake up at about 5 in the morning, drink your beer and go back to bed. It prevents hang-over in the morning.
2. If the early morning beer didnt help (it usually does), drink a glass of brine from the jar you kept you pickles in.
Many Russians recommend taking a shot of vodka in the morning to fights hang-over. Dont do it. It helps only alcoholics. If youre not, it will make things worse.
09-29-2007, 13:26
The Russians are indeed a great and glorious people.
09-29-2007, 14:58
I thought the part about food, specifically, raw eggs was interesting. Back in my single much heaver drinking days when everyone went to breakfast after the bars closed most of my friends would order omelets, pancakes and such. I would usualy order (ala carte) three to five eggs sunny side up with a double order of bacon and toast (gotta have something to sop up the runny egg yolks) And Ice tea or milk instead of coffee. Some times when I got home if I was still hungry I would eat a big 'Jethro Bodine' sized bowl of Ice cream just before crashing into bed.
09-30-2007, 18:08
Gorgeous post ABV!!! Much indebted!
09-30-2007, 19:55
Glad you liked it. BTW, it's AVB :)
Gorgeous post ABV!!! Much indebted!
10-01-2007, 14:35
Ciroc is the best Vodka I've ever had although I don't really know how it can be considered vodka because it is made with grapes in France.:slappin:
10-01-2007, 15:13
I don't think it would matter if it was made from fermented lawn clippings (laugh but we just might see vodka made from switch grass someday) so long as it was distilled out to very near the maximum ABV that fractional distillation is capable of producing and is therefore "tasteless". But then I'm of the opinion that to the extent one vodka is distinguishable from another its the water used to cut the proof that makes it different, or perhaps the different filtering processes used.
10-24-2007, 20:51
i think the packaging is getting really silly. that's a big part of the "premium vodka" experience.
true, comparted to bourbon, vodka "taste" is more subtle. i mean, SUBTLE.:slappin:
i pretty much prefer, when taking shots, one of these three:
Finlandia. Tito's. Luksosowa.
o heck, and sometimes Stolichnya and Glacier (from canada!)
(all are under $20...right?)
but only when temps dip deep into the teens and windchill is about 10 below!
no "flavored" versions please...
10-24-2007, 23:27
i think the packaging is getting really silly. that's a big part of the "premium vodka" experience.
Agreed. Since it's all the same to me I've been meaning for a while to pick up bottles of Ultimat Vodka for my vodka drinking friends when the occasion arises (it comes in a nice heavy decanter). Based on what I have tried, I'd simply give these gifts on the fact that they might recognize that I spent a few bucks on them and/or the fact that maybe the palette of the vodka drinker is far more advanced than that of those of us who drink spirits that are not created "as to be without distinctive character, aroma, taste or color". In the case of former, latter, or neither I don't really care as long as they enjoy their gift; sometimes the more they enjoy it does amuse me though. :)
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Northwestern State lost its ninth consecutive game on Sunday.
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NATCHITOCHES - Kevin Miller's 3-for-5 day coupled with Caleb Smith's solid started spurred Sam Houston State to an 11-3 win over the Northwestern State baseball team to complete the three-game sweep Sunday afternoon in Southland Conference action.
Miller had two runs batted in and two runs scored for Sam Houston (27-17, 12-6 SLC). Smith (5-4) pitched six innings and allowed only one unearned run on two hits and six walks.
The Demons (11-33, 2-16 SLC) were swept for the second straight weekend and lost their ninth straight. Miller notched his first RBI in the first inning when he singled to ...

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With a little over a month to go before the season opener, University of Hawaii women's volleyball season ticket sales are about 4 percent lower than last year's total, athletic department officials said.
UH said 3,369 season tickets have been sold through Monday, compared with 3,511 in 2010.
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UH was still totaling up its football renewals, which had been tracking slightly behind last year before call-backs.
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UH said 180 Rainbow Wahine season tickets have been sold since new sales began June 24.
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Wahine volleyball season tickets range in price from $75 (high school and under) to $165. Some seats in the most desirable locations carry an additional premium charge.
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Category: Oracle
OakTable World
This weekend begins Oracle's OpenWorld and there is something off the beaten path going on — OakTable World. There is a pretty good lineup of speakers, including myself, who will be talking on subjects that probably would not qualify for OpenWorld sessions for various reasons. My talk is entitled "Beyond the Relational Database" and in it I'll be talking about non-relational (Big Data) technologies and what they have to offer. Be sure to bring an open mind! Hope to see you there.
To make things easy here is an iCal file for my session.
Pitfalls of Using Parallel Execution with SQL Developer
[This post was originally published on 2012/02/29 and was hidden shortly thereafter. I'm un-hiding it as of 2012/05/30 with some minor edits.]
Many Oracle Database users like tools with GUI interfaces because they add features and functionality that are not easily available from the command line interfaces like SQL*Plus. One of the more popular tools from my experiences is Oracle SQL Developer in part because it's a free tool from Oracle. Given SQL Developer's current design (as of version 3.1.07.42), some issues frequently show up when using it with Oracle Databases with Parallel Execution. SQL Developer also contains a bug that exacerbates this issue as well.
The Issue
The crux of the issue with SQL Developer (and possibly other similar tools) and Parallel Execution comes down to how the application uses cursors. By default, SQL Developer has the array fetch size set to 50. This means that for any cursor SQL Developer opens for scolling, it will fetch the first 50 rows and when you scroll to the bottom of those rows in a grid, it will fetch the next 50 rows and so on. The array size can be controlled by going into Properties and changing Database -> Advanced -> SQL Array Fetch Size which allows for a max setting of 500 rows. This is good in the sense that the JDBC application can fetch an array of rows with a single JDBC database call, however, using this approach with Parallel Execution, the PX servers used for this cursor will not be released until the cursor is canceled or the last row is fetched. Currently the only way to force reading until the end of cursor in SQL Developer is to issue a Control+End in the data grid. As a result, any action that uses Parallel Execution and has not fetched all the rows or is not canceled/closed, will squat those Parallel Execution resources and prevent them from being used by other users. If enough users have open cursors backed by Parallel Execution, then it is possible that it could consume all of the Parallel Execution servers and will result in Parallel Execution requests being forced to Serial Execution because resources are not available, even if the system is completely idle.
The SQL Developer Bug
When experimenting with SQL Developer for this blog post I also found and filed a bug (bug 13706186) because it leaks cursors when a user browses data in a table by expanding Tables (in the left pane), clicking on a table name and then the Data tab. Unfortunately this bug adds insult to injury if the table is decorated with a parallel degree attribute because the leaked cursors do not release the Parallel Execution servers until the session is closed, thus preventing other sessions from using them.
This bug is easily demonstrated using the SCOTT schema, but any schema or table will do as long as the table has more rows than the array fetch size. For my example, I'm using a copy of the EMP table, called EMP2, which contains 896 rows and was created using the following SQL:
The steps to demonstrate this issue are as follows:
- Set up the EMP2 table using the above script or equivalent.
- Use SQL Developer to connect to the SCOTT schema or equivalent.
- Expand Tables in the Browser in the left pane.
- Click EMP2.
- Click on the Data tab of EMP2.
- Check the open cursors.
- Close the EMP2 tab in the right pane.
- Check the open cursors.
- Goto Step #4 and repeat.
I'm going to repeat this process two times for a total of three open and close operations. I'll use this query to show the open cursors for the Data grid query for the EMP2 table (adjust if necessary if you are not using my example):
If we look at the output (scott_emp2_cursors.txt below the EM graphic) from the query we'll see that the first time the EMP2 Data tab is opened, it opens two identical cursors (sql_exec_id 16777216 & 16777217). After closing the EMP2 Data tab, 16777216 is still open. The second time the EMP2 Data tab is opened, two more identical cursors are opened (sql_exec_id 16777218 & 16777219). The third time two more cursors are opened (sql_exec_id 16777220 & 16777221). After closing the tabs we still see three cursors open (sql_exec_id 16777216, 16777218 & 16777220), each of which are squatting two PX servers.
This behavior can also be seen in 11g Enterprise Manager (or dbconsole) on the SQL Monitoring page by sorting the statements by time — notice the (leaked cusor) statements with the green spinning pinwheels after all tabs have been closed (all parallel statements are monitored by default).
By the way, the cursor leak applies for tables without a parallel degree setting as well, but has more significant impact if the table is parallel because PX servers are a shared resource.
(scott_emp2_cursors.txt below)
My Thoughts
Obviously the cursor leak is a SQL Developer bug and needs fixing, but in the interim, DBAs should be aware that this behavior can have a global impact because Parallel Execution servers are shared by all database users. Also, if SQL Developer users are running Parallel Queries and keep the results grid open but do not fetch all the rows by using the Control+End functionality, those Parallel Execution servers will be unavailable for other users to use and could negatively impact other users queries leveraging Parallel Execution.
Personally I'd like to see a few enhancements to SQL Developer to avoid these pitfalls:
- Disable Parallel Execution for Table Data browsing.
Browsing data in a table via a scrollable grid is a "small data" problem and does not require the "big data" resources of Parallel Execution. This could easily be done by adding a NOPARALLEL hint when SQL Developer builds the query string.
- Add a property with functionality to read all rows w/o requiring the Control+End command (always fetch until end of cursor) or until a max number or rows are read (or a max amount of memory is used for the result set), then close the cursor.
By fetching until end of cursor or fetching a max number of rows and closing the cursor, the client will release any Parallel Execution resources it may have used. Obviously fetching all rows could be a problem with large result sets and cause SQL Developer to run out of memory and crash, which would be a bad user experience, but not releasing PX resources can easily lead to many bad user experiences.
I've seen the issue of potentially large result sets dealt with in other JDBC based GUI tools that connect to parallel databases by the tool appending a "LIMIT X" clause to queries where the user can control the value for "X" in a property setting. To the best of my knowledge, no other parallel databases support cursors in the way that Oracle does (being able to fetch rows, pause, then resume fetching), so there is no issue there with squatting resources with them (once they start fetching they must continue until the last row is fetched or the statement is canceled). As of release 11.2, Oracle does not support the LIMIT clause but this functionality could be done in the client by using some some upper limit on "array fetch size" * "number of fetches" or wrapping queries with a "select * from ([query text]) where rownum <= X" or similiar.
There are some "clever" server-side ways to deal with this as well, such as adding a logon trigger that disables parallel query if the V$SESSION.PROGRAM name is "SQL Developer", but a robust, clean client side solution is preferred by myself and likely other DBAs as well. It's really just a simple matter of programming.
When using SQL Developer or similar tools, be aware of the potential to squat Parallel Execution resources if the client tool has open cursors. Educate your SQL Developer users on how they can play well with others in an Oracle Database using Parallel Execution by closing unneeded tabs with open cursors. Be aware of the impact of the cursor leak bug in SQL Developer 3.1.07.42 (and possibly previous releases) until it is fixed.
Personally I'd like to see an enhancement to deal with this behavior and I don't think it would require much programming. It certainly would allow DBAs to feel more confident that SQL Developer is a tool that can be used on production systems and not result in any issues. What are your thoughts? Do my enhancement requests seem reasonable and warranted?
Visualizing Active Session History (ASH) Data With R
One of the easiest ways to understand something is to see a visualization. Looking at Active Session History (ASH) data is no exception and I'll dive into how to do so with R and how I used R plots to visually present a problem and confirm a hypothesis. But first some background…
Frequently DBAs use the Automatic Workload Repository (AWR) as an entry point for troubleshooting performance problems and in this case the adventure started the same way. In the AWR report Top 5 Timed Foreground Events, the log file sync event was showing up as the #3 event. This needed deeper investigation as often times the cause for longer log file sync times is related to longer log file parallel write times.
Top 5 Timed Foreground Events ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Avg wait % DB Event Waits Time(s) (ms) time Wait Class ------------------------------ ------------ ----------- ------ ------ ---------- log file sync 3,155,253 9,197 3 6.4 Commit
Drilling into this a bit deeper the two log file events reported the following in the Foreground Wait Events and Background Wait Events sections of the AWR report:
Foreground Wait Events -> s - second, ms - millisecond - 1000th of a second -> Only events with Total Wait Time (s) >= .001 are shown -> ordered by wait time desc, waits desc (idle events last) -> %Timeouts: value of 0 indicates value was ordered by wait time desc, waits desc (idle events last) -> Only events with Total Wait Time (s) >= .001 are shown -> %Timeouts: value of 0 indicates value was < .5%. Value of null is truly 0 Avg %Time Total Wait wait Waits % bg Event Waits -outs Time (s) (ms) /txn time -------------------------- ------------ ----- ---------- ------- -------- ------ log file parallel write 659,157 0 526 1 0.2 18.2
It is generally always worth looking at the breakdown of these times, as they are averages. We really want to understand the entire histogram of these wait events. For that we can look at the Wait Event Histogram section of the AWR report as below.
Wait Event Histogram -> Units for Total Waits column: K is 1000, M is 1000000, G is 1000000000 -> % of Waits: value of .0 indicates value was % of Waits: column heading of <=1s is truly 1s is truly >=1024ms -> Ordered by Event (idle events last) % of Waits ----------------------------------------------- Total Event Waits <1ms <2ms <4ms <8ms <16ms <32ms 1s -------------------------- ------ ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- log file parallel write 661.6K 84.7 9.7 4.7 .4 .1 .3 .0 log file sync 3138.K 14.0 42.8 30.4 7.9 2.3 2.6 .1 Wait Event Histogram Detail (64 msec to 2 sec) -> Units for Total Waits column: K is 1000, M is 1000000, G is 1000000000 -> Units for % of Total Waits: ms is milliseconds s is 1024 milliseconds (approximately 1 second) -> % of Total Waits: total waits for all wait classes, including Idle -> % of Total Waits: value of .0 indicates value was Ordered by Event (only non-idle events are displayed) % of Total Waits ----------------------------------------------- Waits 64ms Event to 2s <32ms <64ms <1/8s <1/4s <1/2s <1s =2s -------------------------- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- log file parallel write 52 100.0 .0 .0 log file sync 3535 99.9 .1 .0
One thing that you should notice here is there are two sections of Wait Event Histogram; the buckets less than 32ms and buckets greater than 32ms. It is also important to note that only the absence of a value means no timings fell into that bucket — so even though the report shows .0 there are still events in that bucket (read the section description as it mentions this).
We can see from the second histogram section that there were 52 times that log file parallel write was over 64ms as well as 3535 times log file sync was over 64ms. At this point a hypothesis is formed that the two events are correlated — that is, the belief is the long log file parallel write events may be causing the long log file sync. To find data that supports the hypothesis (or not) we can look at the Active Session History (ASH) data to get a more granular view of the wait events.
Diving Into The ASHes With R
If the hypothesis is correct, the ASH data should show times where we observe long log file parallel write and long log file sync waits. One could write SQL against V$ACTIVE_SESSION_HISTORY to collect all the samples that may demonstrate the hypothesis — e.g. collect a list of sample ids for each event and examine them for overlap, but a visualization is worth a thousand words.
One way to get quick and easy visualizations from ASH data is to use R. R has become a very popular tool for those doing statistical analysis and it has some quite useful graphing and plotting packages built in. R can connect to Oracle via a JDBC package which makes importing data trivial.
Here is a plot that I put together using R for ~300 sample ids (~5 minutes) from ASH (recall that TIME_WAITED is in microseconds):
As you can see from the plots, nearly every time there is a long log file parallel write there are also numerous long log file sync events. This data supports the hypothesis.
Averages Suck
Most any statistician (or anyone keen on numbers and stats) will tell you averages suck. This does not mean averages are not useful, but one has to keep in mind averages can hide infrequent outliers (which may make them a tad bit evil). For instance, AWR is reporting an average of 1ms for log file parallel write but we can see that there are several that are falling in the 20ms range in the 5 minute capture. If we zoom in on the graph (set the y axis at a max of 3ms), we can understand why:
Most of the log file parallel write events are coming in around 0.5ms so even with some 20ms outliers it still yields an average of 1ms, thus hiding the magnitude of impact for the outliers. This is why drilling down into the ASH data was important for us to understand the scope of the issue.
With More Data Comes More Questions
At this point, the visualization of ASH data shows a strong correlation between log file sync and log file parallel write outliers, but the root cause has not yet been identified. Perhaps there is more insight lurking in the ASH data?
Given this is an OLTP workload and log file parallel write is an IO operation, perhaps it's worth looking at another IO operation like, say, db file sequential read – single block IO times.
In the below plot, I've taken a 60 second window of ASH data and plotted all the db file sequential read events.
Interestingly, there are several samples where the IOs are taking significantly longer than most — the majority are below 10ms but we see a few samples where there are groups in the 20ms or more range. Let's add the log file sync events to the plot.
Hmmm… even more interesting. The data is showing a correlation between log file sync and db file sequential read. Any bets on what the plot looks like if log file parallel write is added?
Very interesting. The data is showing us that all 3 events are correlated strongly. Clearly we are on to something here…and using R to plot the ASH data was an easy way to present and understand it visually.
While this blog post did not go into specific root cause, it was a healthy journey in debugging and data driven analysis. Keep in mind that just because AWR averages look good, don't overlook the fact that the event histograms should also be reviewed to see if there are outliers. R allows an easy way to put scatter plots of event times together to get a nice visual of what is going on.
Source Code
Here is the code I used to do the analysis. It's pretty straight forward and well commented (I think). Enjoy!
I'll also mention that I use the RStudio IDE for R.
UKOUG – A Deep Dive into the SQL Monitoring Report
The UK Oracle User Group Conference 2011 is just around the corner and I just realized that I haven't yet highlighted this, other than the "I'm speaking" banner on my blog. I'll be speaking on one of my favorite and most used reports — the SQL Monitor Report. Below are the session details [direct link]. Hope to see you there!
|Presentation Title:
|A Deep Dive into the SQL Monitoring Report
|Mr Greg Rahn
|Presentation abstract:
|The SQL Monitoring Report was introduced in Oracle Database 11g and has become the single most used diagnostic report by the Oracle Real-World Performance Group and Oracle database development for SQL statement performance issues. This session will start with a technical overview of the SQL Monitoring Report and what metrics and information it provides. From there we'll deep dive into numerous examples from the field explaining how this report was used to diagnose and validate performance issues. There is a wealth of information in the SQL Monitoring Report and this session will provide the necessary knowledge to best leverage it.
|Presentation begins:
|05/12/2011 11:05
|Presentation duration:
|Presentation content level:
|2 (1 = indepth, 5 = strategic overview)
|Audience experience:
|All experience levels
|Audience function:
|Product Expert, Product User
|Speaker biography:
|Greg Rahn is a database performance engineer in the Real-World Performance Group at Oracle Corporation. He joined the Real-World Performance Group in 2004 and has been working with Oracle databases since 1997. His primary focus is performance and scalability for Oracle data warehouses, specializing in Parallel Execution and Query Optimizer subject areas.
|Related topics:
|Oracle RDBMS: Features and Options, Oracle RDBMS: Performance Managment
|Hall 5
Counting Triangles Faster
A few weeks back one of the Vertica developers put up a blog post on counting triangles in an undirected graph with reciprocal edges. The author was comparing the size of the data and the elapsed times to run this calculation on Hadoop and Vertica and put up the work on github and encouraged others: "do try this at home." So I did.
Vertica draws attention to the fact that their compression brought the size of the 86,220,856 tuples down to 560MB in size, from a flat file size of 1,263,234,543 bytes resulting in around a 2.25X compression ratio. My first task was to load the data and see how Oracle's Hybrid Columnar Compression would compare. Below is a graph of the sizes.
As you can see, Oracle's default HCC query compression (query high) compresses the data over 2X more than Vertica and even HCC query low compression beats out Vertica's compression number.
Query Elapsed Times
The closest gear I had to Vertica's hardware was an Exadata X2-2 system — both use 2 socket, 12 core Westmere-EP nodes. While one may try to argue that Exadata may somehow influence the execution times, I'll point out that I was using In-Memory Parallel Execution so no table data was even read from spinning disk or Exadata Flash Cache — it's all memory resident in the database nodes' buffer cache. This seems to be inline with how Vertica executed their tests though not explicitly stated (it's a reasonable assertion).
After I loaded the data and gathered table stats, I fired off the exact same SQL query that Vertica used to count triangles to see how Oracle would compare. I ran the query on 1, 2 and 4 nodes just like Vertica. Below is a graph of the results.
As you can see, the elapsed times are reasonably close but overall in the favor of Oracle winning 2 of the 3 scale points as well as having a lower sum of the three executions: Vertica 519 seconds, Oracle 487 seconds — advantage Oracle of 32 seconds.
It Should Go Faster!
As a database performance engineer I was thinking to myself, "it really should go faster!" I took a few minutes to look over things to see what could make this perform better. You might think I was looking at parameters or something like that, but you would be wrong. After a few minutes of looking at the query and the execution plan it became obvious to me — it could go faster! I made a rather subtle change to the SQL query and reran my experiments. With the modified SQL query Oracle was now executing twice as fast on 1 node than Vertica was on 4 nodes. Also, on 4 nodes, the elapsed time came in at just 14 seconds, compared to the 97 seconds Vertica reported — a difference of almost 7X! Below are the combined results.
What's The Go Fast Trick?
I was thinking a bit more about the problem at hand — we need to count vertices but not count them twice since they are reciprocal. Given that for any edge, it exists in both directions, the query can be structured like Vertica wrote it — doing the filtering with a join predicate like e1.source < e2.source to eliminate the duplicates or we can simply use a single table filter predicate like source < dest before the join takes place. One of the first things they taught me in query planning and optimization class was to filter early! That notation pays off big here because the early filter cuts the rows going into the first join as well as the output of the first join by a factor of 2 — 1.8 billion rows output vs. 3.6 billion. That's a huge savings not only in the first join, but also in the second join as well.
Here is what my revised query looks like:
with e1 as (select * from edges where source < dest), e2 as (select * from edges where source < dest), e3 as (select * from edges where source > dest) select count(*) from e1 join e2 on (e1.dest = e2.source) join e3 on (e2.dest = e3.source) where e3.dest = e1.source
First, I'd like to thank the Vertica team for throwing the challenge out there and being kind enough to provide the data, code and their elapsed times. I always enjoy a challenge — especially one that I can improve upon. Now, I'm not going to throw any product marketing nonsense out there as that is certainly not my style (and there certainly is more than enough of that already), but rather I'll just let the numbers do the talking. I'd also like to point out that this experiment was done without any structure other than the table. And in full disclosure, all of my SQL commands are available as well.
The other comment that I would make is that the new and improved execution times really make a mockery of the exercise when comparing to Hadoop MapReduce or Pig, but I would also mention that this test case is extremely favorable for parallel pipelined databases that can perform all in-memory operations and given the data set is so small, this is the obviously the case. Overall, in my opinion, a poor problem choice to compare the three technologies as it obviously (over) highlights the right tool for the job cliche.
Experiments performed on Oracle Database 188.8.131.52.
Github source code: https://gist.github.com/grahn/1289188
Exadata Smart Flash Logging Explained
I've seen some posts on the blogosphere where people attempt to explain (or should I say guess) how Exadata Smart Flash Logging works and most of them are wrong. Hopefully this post will help clear up some the misconceptions out there.
The following is an excerpt from the paper entitled "Exadata Smart Flash Cache Features and the Oracle Exadata Database Machine" that goes into technical detail on the Exadata Smart Flash Logging feature.
Smart Flash Logging works as follows. When receiving a redo log write request, Exadata will do
parallel writes to the on-disk redo logs as well as a small amount of space reserved in the flash
hardware. When either of these writes has successfully completed the database will be
immediately notified of completion. If the disk drives hosting the logs experience slow response
times, then the Exadata Smart Flash Cache will provide a faster log write response time.
Conversely, if the Exadata Smart Flash Cache is temporarily experiencing slow response times
(e.g., due to wear leveling algorithms), then the disk drive will provide a faster response time.
Given the speed advantage the Exadata flash hardware has over disk drives, log writes should be
written to Exadata Smart Flash Cache, almost all of the time, resulting in very fast redo write
performance. This algorithm will significantly smooth out redo write response times and provide
overall better database performance.
The Exadata Smart Flash Cache is not used as a permanent store for redo data – it is just a
temporary store for the purpose of providing fast redo write response time. The Exadata Smart
Flash Cache is a cache for storing redo data until this data is safely written to disk. The Exadata
Storage Server comes with a substantial amount of flash storage. A small amount is allocated for
database logging and the remainder will be used for caching user data. The best practices and
configuration of redo log sizing, duplexing and mirroring do not change when using Exadata
Smart Flash Logging. Smart Flash Logging handles all crash and recovery scenarios without
requiring any additional or special administrator intervention beyond what would normally be
needed for recovery of the database from redo logs. From an end user perspective, the system
behaves in a completely transparent manner and the user need not be aware that flash is being
used as a temporary store for redo. The only behavioral difference will be consistently low
latencies for redo log writes.
By default, 512 MB of the Exadata flash is allocated to Smart Flash Logging. Relative to the 384
GB of flash in each Exadata cell this is an insignificant investment for a huge performance
benefit. This default allocation will be sufficient for most situations. Statistics are maintained to
indicate the number and frequency of redo writes serviced by flash and those that could not be
serviced, due to, for example, insufficient flash space being allocated for Smart Flash Logging.
For a database with a high redo generation rate, or when many databases are consolidated on to
one Exadata Database Machine, the size of the flash allocated to Smart Flash Logging may need
to be enlarged. In addition, for consolidated deployments, the Exadata I/O Resource Manager
(IORM) has been enhanced to enable or disable Smart Flash Logging for the different databases
running on the Database Machine, reserving flash for the most performance critical databases.
Critical Skills for Performance Work
I was just watching John Rauser's keynote "What is a Career in Big Data?" from last weeks Strata Conference New York and I have to say it's an amazing talk. I would highly recommended it to anyone who does any type of data analysis, including any type of performance analysis.
I found many of the "critical skill" points John made to have a strong correlation to performance analysis work as well. Some quotations that really stand out to me:
On writing:
"[writing]…it's the first major difference between mediocrity and greatness." [10:39]
"If it isn't written down, it never happened…if your writing is so opaque that people can not understand your work, then you may as well never have never done it." [10:50]
On skepticism:
"If you take a skeptical attitude toward your analysis you'll look just as hard for data that refutes your hypothesis as you will for data that confirms it. A skeptic attacks the same question from many different angles and dramatically increases their confidence in the results." [11:40]
The main reason that I wanted to highlight the critical skills of writing and skepticism is I see (read) way too many blog posts from Oracle users that fail on both of those skills. The writing simply fails to clearly communicate the issue at hand, what analysis was done and what data was used to draw the conclusion. Many blog posts also are written without any level of skepticism–they simply "report" their findings and fail to question their own work for accuracy. I hope this talk inspires you to raise your bar when it comes to performance work. Enjoy!


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DeLaus was a winner in the 200-yard freestyle and 500 freestyle, while Burgwardt took first in the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke. ...


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Biography of the Principal of the Organization : Sayeed N Ghani
The principal engineer/consultant of this research and development (R & D) organization is Dr Sayeed Nurul Ghani. He is a native of
From 1966 to 1970 he was a Lecturer at Kingston Polytechnic (now
In 1998 he transferred his residency to the
His fields of interest are real-time computer control, electrical power systems, power electronics, control engineering, electrical machines, systems simulation, and optimization. He is an author of many technical publications, and is a Chartered Engineer and a corporate member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers,


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text: DraftExpressProfile: Ernests Kalve, Stats, Comparisons, and Outlook Loading NBA Mock Drafts 2016 NBA Mock Draft 2017 NBA Mock Draft Complete Draft History My Mock Draft 2015 Early Entry List 2015 Extended NBA Mock Draft Rankings Top 100 Prospects NCAA Seniors NCAA Juniors NCAA Sophomores NCAA Freshmen International 1994 International 1995 International 1996 International 1997 NBA Draft Eligible Features DX T-Shirts Complete Draft History Measurements History NBA Player Salaries NBA Contract Calculator Player Agents Listings NBA Agent/Agency Affiliations RSCI Early Entry List Team Clubhouses Draft Pick Transactions DraftExpress Podcast NBA Draft Lottery History Videos Scouting Reports Group Interviews Highlights Interview & Highlights Interviews NBA Draft Workouts Newest Popular Practice Footage Slow Motion Dunks Stats NCAA Stats NBA Stats Euroleague Stats EuroCup Stats Spanish ACB Stats Italian A1 Stats French Pro A Stats Adriatic Stats Greek Stats D-league Stats Team Stats Stats by Team Articles Archives NCAA Draft Prospects International Draft Prospects High School NCAA Commentary International Commentary General Draft Commentary NBA Pre-Draft Camp D-League NBA NBA Summer Leagues NBA Team Needs Interviews Humor Mailbag Site Announcements Sections DX T-Shirts DX Home NCAA Home International Home NBA Home High School Home D-League Home Columnists Jonathan Givony Matt Kamalsky Mike Schmitz Kyle Nelson Derek Bodner Josh Riddell Jim Hlavac E Weiss Jacob Eisenberg DraftExpress User Menu Edit Profile Log In Log Out DraftExpress DX T-Shirts About Us Contact Us Opportunities Privacy Policy Our RSS Feeds Ernests KalveTop 25s - Full List RankCategoryTotal 10FT%100 13WS/4012.9 11Pts/Pos1.34 14ORB/40p3.9 11ORB/404.1 14FGA/Pos1.02 23Tm Pos/g75.8 17Tm Pos/g75.8 Team: Barons Riga PhysicalsPositions Misc H: 6' 8" W: 205 lbs Bday: 04/04/1987 (28 Years Old) Current: SF NBA: SF Possible: SG/SF High School: Hometown: Riga, Latvia Basic Per Game Statistics - Comprehensive Stats - Statistical Top 25s Player Page  | Player Stats | Related Articles  | Add to My Draft Express   RBK Treviso Eurocamp 2006: Day TwoJune 13, 2006The local boy (Kalve plays for Benetton Treviso) executed to perfection in various in-game situations, showing a remarkable combination of athleticism and skills. He enjoys the prototypical tools that you look for in a wing. While hes 6-8 in shoes, he displays nice athleticism in terms of explosiveness, quickness and leaping ability (36 inches in the one-step vertical, 27 in static mode). His body looks very promising, showing nice strength and the potential to seriously add more. Fortunately, Kalve is not only about physical gifts. A solid shooter, he enjoys accurate mechanics and excellent elevation. Hes a decent ball-handler and can penetrate using his very good footwork, while he has the physical ability to finish strong, as he repeatedly showed yesterday with some remarkable dunks (easily finishing an alley-oop, a rather long slam-dunk in transition or another one in traffic challenging a rival). However, when it comes to creating his own shot, he still needs to learn how to effectively create separation between himself and the defender, but he should catch up soon, as he can easily knock down shots while pulling up off the dribble. Defense and intensity have been there too. All in all, Ernests is playing some serious basketball these days, emerging as one of the better wing prospects in the camp, and already one of the most productive despite his youth, as hes as 1987 player. [Read Full Article] The European Junior (U-18) Championships: The Shooting GuardsAugust 18, 2005The best scorer of the Championship ended up being this little known Latvian wing that has made a name for himself in Belgrade (he has since reportedly signed a multi-year contract with Benetton Treviso). He was clearly not a classic example of style and finesse on the court, but he surely got the job done, being the go-to guy in his National Team, and successfully leading team short on talent into the quarterfinal round. Although likely at a higher stage of development than most of his rivals, you dont see an extremely mature body in him. Hes not as physically or athletically superior as some of the other star players here, but his intensity and fearlessness using those attributes make the difference, not to mention his very nice size to go with it. But again, he has his fair share of interesting skills. To start with, Kalve terrified the rival defenses with his jump-shot, becoming one of the top shooters of the tournament. It wasnt only a matter of accuracy, but also of being capable of creating his own shot, firing off the dribble, with pretty good range out to the three point line, and even knocking down some wild jumpers. Hes not a pure gunner a la Zavoruev, and his mechanics didnt seem to be the most elegant featured here, but his effectiveness cant be overlooked. Like the Russian, his free throw percentages were pretty forgettable, although I dont think it should be a matter of concern. These type of players usually end up being very reliable from the line. Kalve is not a terrific ball handler at this point, perhaps a bit slow with the ball in his hands, but it didnt stop him from being a constant off-the-dribble threat, whether shooting or slashing. His aggressiveness and insistency paid dividends even at the cost of eventual over handling. Of course, it wont work that well against superior competition, so its an issue to address. Not a great passer, he can sometimes find a teammate while driving, but more creativity when it comes to helping out his team would greatly round out his game. Defensively, hes a solid player with the necessary tools and attitude to be effective. Kalve is an interesting player, perhaps not as intriguing as his production would make you think, as he featured a superior degree of maturity compared with most of the other players, but still with nice potential. [Read Full Article] © 2015 DraftExpress LLC All rights reserved.


text: Every time new consoles are on the horizon rumors and speculation hit all time highs. Everyone finds a different reason why this console maker will do this or that and for what reason. What we know so far is both Sony and Microsoft have new consoles in development which are more then likely going to launch in 2013 or 2014.


text:
Quiet Mind
A Beginner's Guide to Meditation
This unique book-and-audio program brings together some of the country's most beloved meditation teachers. Each contributor presents a short written teaching along with an audio recording of a guided practice. Quiet Mind features:Sakyong Mipham on shamatha, the practice of tranquillityLarry Rosenberg on vipassana, the practice of clear seeingEdward Espe Brown on zazen, the practice of freedomSharon Salzberg on metta, the practice of lovingkindnessJudith Lief on tonglen, the practice of transformationTulku… Read More
- edited by
- Susan Piver
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Finding the Still Point
A Beginner's Guide to Zen MeditationThrough Zen meditation it is possible to find stillness of mind, even amidst our everyday activities—and this practical book-and-CD set reveals how. John Daido Loori, one of America's leading Zen teachers, offers everything needed to begin a meditation practice. He covers the basics of where to sit (on a cushion, bench, or chair), how to posture the body (complete with instructional photographs), and how to practice Zen meditation to discover… Read More
Mixed Media$14.00+ Add to Bag