Best Wishes

Let SQL do the talking:

select decode
      (sign (floor (maxwidth/2) - rownum)
      ,1, lpad (' ', floor (maxwidth/2) - (rownum -1))
         ||rpad ('*', 2 * (rownum -1), ' *')
      ,lpad ('* * *', floor (maxwidth/2) + 3)) "Merry Christmas"
from all_objects
,    (select 40 as maxwidth from dual)
where rownum < floor (maxwidth/2) + 5

... and in case your wondering what the result would be, I added a screenshot.

ODTUG Kaleidoscope 2010: Accepted Abstract

My presentation on Analytic Functions is accepted for the ODTUG Kaleidoscope 2010 conference. The other abstract that I sent in is an alternate, standby if you will. As you can see on the right side, I have attended (and presented) at the ODTUG yearly conference since 2005.